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"A mission?" Y/n stretched her arms above her head as Ijichi spoke.
"Simple one." He spoke, passing Megumi the tablet.
They were outside the school, in front of a sleek black car as the older male spoke. Y/n leaned over Megumi, head near his chest as she looked over the information on the tablet.
Megumi stiffened slightly at the sudden closeness, hating how she didn't think twice about getting so close to him. It made him feel weird, weird in a way he hadn't felt before. He'd long since acknowledged his crush on the girl, after months of denial, of course.
They were second years by the time he had admitted it to himself.
At first, he hadn't liked her at all, honestly. He thought she was loud and didn't take things as seriously as she should, and she was always beating him in hand to hand combat.
In short, she pissed him off.
But slowly, very slowly, she wormed her way into his life. He didn't even notice it at first, when he started to tolerate her more. A few group movie nights here, a soft smile after a hard mission there. One thing about y/n was that she loved to talk, but she knew when to be quiet when it was needed.
It was weird, the way she could read him so easily and tell what he needed. More than a few times he had woken up to his favourite snacks on his bedside table after a rough mission, a stupidly drawn on sticky note next to them.
It was her, it was always her.
"Grade three? This'll be easy." The girl grinned and pulled back, slipping into the backseat of the car.
Megumi cleared his throat and got in beside her, handing the tablet back to Ijichi.
~
"This place is disgusting." Y/n said as they walked into the abandoned building, a veil dropping over the area behind them.
"It is abandoned." He said dryly, looking around.
"Shut up, gumi." She rolled her eyes, but she was grinning.
The tips of his ears turned red at the nickname, like they always did. If it was anyone else, he would've been annoyed, but it was y/n.
"Stop calling me that." He rolled his eyes, please don't, he thought immediately after.
"No can do." The girl smirked up at the taller male before making her way up the stairs, Megumi following behind.
"Can you feel that?" He asked lowly as they got closer to the top floor, steps stalling.
Y/n hesitated before continuing up the stairs. "Yeah, it feels... stronger than a grade three."
Just as she finished her sentence, she was thrown through a wall. Megumi's eyes widened, immediately yelling.
"Y/n! Are you okay?" He asked loudly, blocking a hit from a large, mangled blue arm.
"Fuck! That shit hurt!" Y/n suddenly appeared next to the male, bleeding from a cut on her forehead.
"You're bleeding." He looked at her briefly before blocking another hit.
"I'm fine! Fuck- this thing is pissing me off!" She yelled, eyes narrowing.
Megumi summoned his demon dog, it immediately going for the leg of the curse. Just as it swiped a nasty arm again, y/n jumped up, running up the arm and to its head. She had a small dagger in her hand and imbued it with cursed energy, launching it straight into the curses eye.
It squealed and howled, suddenly grabbing y/n with an arm that sprouted from its back, throwing her like a rag doll down the stairs. Megumi's eyes widened, his heart stalling in his chest when he saw her at the bottom of the stairs, not moving.
He struggled for a bit against the curse alone, but eventually exorcised it, the only thing running through his head was how it needed to be over so he could check on y/n. He was bleeding from a cut on his arm, but that was the least of his worries.
He ran down the stairs, skipping a few before he dropped next to the girl, picking her up with an arm under her back.
"Not you." He whispered, eyes stinging when she didn't move, she barely looked like she was breathing. "Wake up! Come on, you're stronger than this."
He shook her lightly, panic setting in when she still didn't move, didn't open her eyes, just nothing.
"Shit." He swore and slid his other arm under her knees, picking her up carefully. "You can't leave me like this."
He rushed out of the abandoned building, trying not to jostle her too much as he ran to Ijichi.
"What happened?" The older male asked worriedly when Megumi slid into the car with y/n held close.
"Curse was stronger than it was supposed to be. Hurry up." He demanded, cradling the unconscious girl closer to his body, the only thing keeping him from falling apart was the steady rise and fall of her chest.
~
Two days.
That's how long y/n had been unconscious for. Shoko said her body just needed to time to heal, that she'd taken a hard hit by being thrown down the concrete stairs.
Megumi never left her side, staying beside her bed the whole time, barely sleeping, barely eating. He knew she would chew him out for it when she woke up.
When she woke up.
It cut deep, making his mind swirl with unwanted thoughts. What if she didn't? What if he never got to tell her how he felt?
All these what if's were crushing him.
It was like he didn't know how to breathe properly without her there. He never realized how much of a constant she had become until she wasn't there anymore, and it crushed him.
If only I was stronger, I could have protected her from this. It should have been me, he thought miserably.
Two days, and not even a twitch. He was going to lose his mind.
~
On day four, y/n groggily blinked her eyes open, body throbbing, her hand feeling heavy. Her fingers twitched, registering someone was holding her hand.
"Y/n?" She heard someone say, a head of black spiky hair appearing in her field of vision suddenly.
She smiled weakly, noticing how tired he looked. "Gumi."
He breathed out a sigh of relief, slumping back against the uncomfortable chair next to her bed. The girl turned her head slowly to the side, taking in the fact he was wearing black sweatpants and a loose shirt.
"I missed that stupid nickname." He mumbled, hand still clenched firmly around hers.
She gave his hand a weak squeeze. "I'm fine."
"You were unconscious for four days." He glared at her slightly, but his eyes immediately softened at the look on her face.
"Four days, huh?" She looked back up at the ceiling. "Sorry for worrying you." She sighed softly.
"Never do that again." He spoke quietly, the rawness of it making the girls eyes widen, quickly looking back over at the male.
He looked miserable.
"I can't handle that happening again." He looked up, eyes meeting hers.
"Megumi..." She whispered, lips parting in surprise.
She had never heard or seen him express such emotion before.
"I love you." He said suddenly, squeezing her hand.
Her eyes widened, cheeks flushing slightly. "You do?"
"Don't make me say it again." He grumbled.
She felt her lips quirk up, a soft smile spreading across her features. Megumi relaxed seeing that, he desperately missed her smile.
"I love you too, dummy." She squeezed his hand back.
He breathed out a sigh of relief, half expecting her to reject him.
"I've always loved you." She added on.
"You have?" He eyed her, a bit surprised at the confession.
"Of course, stupid." She rolled her eyes. "Was it not obvious or were you just too emotionally constipated to notice?"
He narrowed his eyes slightly. "It was not obvious."
"Whatever you need to say to make yourself feel better." She grinned and shrugged, immediately wincing after. "Ow, okay, that was a mistake."
Megumi was immediately on his feet, standing over her. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, gumi." She assured him, the throbbing in her shoulder dulling. "Just sore."
He eyed her suspiciously before sighing and sitting down gently on the bed next to her. "You really worried me, idiot."
"I can tell, you look like shit." She grinned up at him.
He scoffed but his ears betrayed him, turning red. "You look worse."
"Duh." Y/n pressed her lips together. "You gonna kiss me or what?"
His eyes widened before he swallowed thickly, slowly leaning down, his other hand on the bed next to her head.
Y/n let her eyes flutter shut at the feeling of his lips pressing against hers, sinking into the bed. She slowly reached one arm up to grab the back of his neck, moving her lips against Megumi's.
He pulled away after a bit, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked away from her.
"Am I your girlfriend yet or do we have to kiss again?" Y/n asked, amusement filling her tone.
"Tch." He looked away, but his lips were quirked up just the slightest. "Yeah, I want you to be my girlfriend."
"Good. You're all mine now." She smirked.
Megumi acted annoyed, but he was happy, truly happy.
Y/n was okay, and she was his.