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The stairs leading up to Tenshukaku seem to stretch on infinitely.
Maybe it's the fear gripping Kazuha's heart. Maybe, it's his mental prayers to find Tomo alive and safe at the top of these stairs, but something deeper within him can't let go of the truth that he's praying for something impossible.
The wind bites, the harsh chill only fleeting as Kazuha flies up the steps, hardly allowing himself to acknowledge the goosebumps that litter his arms. They only worsen once he spots a shade of red he'd grown so familiar with in the form of Tomo's haori. Though, with the cold tones of the city around him blanketed in night, it appeared more of a deep violet.
His heart jumps, the panic rising in his throat as he unconsciously boosts himself up the stairs, his Vision glowing with unease and Anemo rapidly whirling around him. Perhaps it isn't the wisest decision to call upon his Vision when the Raiden Shogun is mere tens of metres away, but the state of his brain at this moment didn't exactly constitute being able to make rational decisions.
That spot of red only grew larger as he took in the image painting itself in front of him. The Raiden Shogun, her sword crackling with lightning and gleaming a blindingly bright lilac, bringing her wrist up from her heart as if to deal the final blow. Kujou Sara isn't far behind her, and she clutches her bow with the slightest hint of trembling hands, her head bowed down.
And Tomo, his face out of view from where Kazuha stands, with his arms up in surrender.
In surrender.
No, he can't let this happen right in front of him. Not when he's so close.
Without a second to consider, Kazuha throws himself into the scene, aided by Anemo again. He barely had time to register Tomo turning his head in confusion, which quickly morphed into shock at seeing Kazuha again after so long and at this moment. All this lasted a split second as Kazuha flings himself forward, throwing his arms out in a meagre attempt to push Tomo out of the way.
Hoarsely, he shrieks out, "Run!"
Unfortunately, time hadn't frozen in place as much as they both wished it would have. The Raiden Shogun paid no mind – or rather, her eyebrows raising a centimetre was the biggest concern she displayed in that moment – to Kazuha's sudden appearance, and the Musou no Hitotachi narrowly misses Tomo, a bolt striking Kazuha in the leg instead.
Tomo and Kazuha hit the ground with a thud, almost as loud in their ears as the lightning the Shogun had just brought down. But Kazuha can't bring himself to move a muscle.
He tries to hoist himself up, but even the thought of moving intensifies the electricity coursing through his veins and he falters. The expression on his face must have caught Tomo's attention as he peels himself and Kazuha off the wooden flooring, lifting Kazuha onto his back and instantly turning to flee.
More voices sound out, and Kazuha's foggy mind can at least infer that these ones are the guards plastered around Tenshukaku, if the swarm of 'after them's and 'for the Shogun's he understood through the ringing in his ears was any hint.
Kazuha's vision grows cloudy, his eyelids falling heavy as the two barrel down the stairs, swiftly preventing any guards from intercepting. If it had taken this little time to leave, he thinks, Tomo shouldn't have ever gone here.
The agonising pain coursing through his body he finally succumbs to, and his eyes fall shut for much longer than a blink.
⚡︎
When he comes to, they haven't travelled too far from Inazuma City.
Plains fill their view instead of the rigid structure of markets and houses on cobblestone roads, and it's as if a weight heavier than Tenshukaku itself was lifted off their shoulders.
Each step that Tomo takes progressively shortens, and he stops for a moment to catch his breath. Noticing Kazuha's eyelids cracked open ever so slightly, he decides to stop there and get Kazuha off his back – if only for a moment.
And almost instantly, Kazuha slumps down as if he were a ragdoll, sapped of all energy to keep any part of himself upright.
Tomo doesn't take another second to pick him back up, wincing at how lifeless he is. The only indicator that he even is alive is the sound of his weak heartbeat.
Inazuma City is still in full view. They haven't quite reached a place far enough for Tomo to consider safe. So, just to ease the weight on his back as they go further out, Tomo holds him up; his arm on Kazuha's left shoulder, and Kazuha's opposite arm looping around the other's neck being held by his hand.
It had become a habit – intertwining their fingers together as they walked side by side. Now, the love and warmth that brought is wilted, frigid as Tomo picks up the journey once again, Kazuha slugging beside him.
Where the Raiden Shogun had struck didn't start looking any better in the time they fled. Tomo had even realised the faint trail of blood that followed their tracks, but the adrenaline forcing him forward prevented him from stopping and treating him.
Glancing at it now, seeing discoloured veins branching out of the wound tinged a mix of purples and crimsons, nearly glistening in the moonlight from the blood seeping out – he has no idea how Kazuha is managing to stand on his feet.
Tomo needs to get them to a safe place quicker than this.
⚡︎
Only a couple of tens of metres were covered before Kazuha's entire body tenses up, the excruciating shiver of lightning traversing from his limbs to Tomo's, and Kazuha can't stop himself from completely falling limp.
"Kazuha?!" Tomo reflexively calls out with fear tainting his voice before letting Kazuha down and looking over him. His eyebrows are tightly furrowed, eyes only the slightest bit open as the dwindling strength in him moves his head up to look back at Tomo.
It's hard to tell in this light, what with it being well into the evening and Inazuma covered in hues of blues and purples, but Kazuha is pale. Almost sickly, the wound and pained expression not helping his case.
Instinctively, Tomo picks Kazuha up on his back again. Pressing his chest against his back, Tomo feels the unnatural racing of Kazuha's heart. He's not unfamiliar with hearing the sound of his heartbeat, but in a situation where he might not ever hear it again if he doesn't hurry up, he can't bring himself to bask in it.
It'll be a slower journey, but the state Kazuha is in only seems to be worsening, so what choice does he have?
He'll just have to pick up the pace.
⚡︎
When they arrive at a river bank, Tomo looks for anywhere to put Kazuha down while he ponders his next move. A nearby rock does the job fine enough, Kazuha slumping up against it.
Kazuha's breathing against his back seemed to even out the way there, which is at least one relief. Next is to deal with his wound… however possible that is.
Even in this state, Kazuha's mind managed to return to less than mush. And in that journey of being carried around – though foggy, thoughts swarmed his head. Why did he end up like this? Why would Tomo willingly do that? What do they do now?
He feebly parts his eyes open, adjusting to the dim light of the middle of nowhere. The rushing water of the river nearby is enough comfort as he observes Tomo pacing around, his hands on a corner of his haori.
Suddenly, he's much more aware of his entire body. He's tired, exhausted, and can't help himself from falling slack against the rock he's resting on as he ruminates on the situation.
His head is throbbing and his leg is in such unimaginable pain that he almost wants to fall unconscious again, but something else keeps lingering in his mind that he can't ignore.
Why is all this happening?
Tomo willingly went on what essentially was a suicide mission, and is now here scrambling to treat his wound that Kazuha suffered on his behalf. And Tomo seemed so eager to just die without even saying a final goodbye to Kazuha.
Kazuha is the one who had to intercept, to take the hit for him, while he stands in front of him now, fiddling with his haori.
Shaken up, just having narrowly escaped death, but still standing. Seemingly not remorseful about how he was attempting to leave Kazuha without so much as a word.
When Tomo succeeds in ripping a lengthy piece of his haori off and approaches Kazuha, he almost reconsiders being this furious.
… Almost. Tomo begins to treat Kazuha's wound, wiping down the dried blood with river water from his cupped hands and preparing to wrap his leg.
Then, "What were you thinking?"
Huh?
Tomo's expression, though mostly hidden from Kazuha's vision being muddy and him facing downward, is angry. There isn't any force in his hands – he's still being treated gently, but there's a harshness in his words that's almost nauseating.
"I had to… save you. It… was for you," Kazuha breathes out, his energy utterly spent and voice no higher than a whisper.
Despite that, Tomo hears him loud and clear.
"Well, when I go off on my own to challenge the Vision Hunters, I'd rather end the night sacrificing myself," and he tightens the piece of his haori around Kazuha's leg, drawing a clipped sound of pain from him, "rather than having you die."
"... I wouldn't… have you die," Kazuha sputters, his head throbbing more with each word.
The bandaging up certainly helped with the bleeding, but neither of them are sure how much it'll help everything else. Especially when Kazuha is actively lapsing in and out of consciousness during this conversation.
"This was my ambition, Kazuha. My sacrifice so that everyone else in Inazuma like us could live," Tomo enunciates, irritated by Kazuha's reasoning. "You're selfish, letting me live. Would you have stopped everyone else?"
…Selfish. You're the only one I have left, Kazuha imagines saying to him. When my entire clan has fallen apart and I've met someone as wonderful as you, I can't watch you leave too.
Instead, Kazuha turns away, hiding his face in his shoulder. We should have been by each other's side. It's a betrayal he's not unfamiliar with.
When he pulls his leg away with the sliver of strength he has left is when it hits Tomo that he should've kept his mouth shut.
"...Wait– no, not selfish," Tomo backtracks, his hands not knowing exactly where to go and uselessly flailing in the air. "No– you should have let me sacrifice myself, because who knows how many others will fall to the Raiden Shogun? My life is insignificant compared to that."
"Tomo," Kazuha begins, dragging his hand up and pinching two fingers to his forehead. "Please… stop talking. I don't… feel very well."
"Okay." A laboured exhale from Kazuha. "Okay, I'm sorry," spits Tomo, much more aggressively than he meant for it to come out.
Through the blinks of consciousness, it's hard for Kazuha to fight back the pooling in his eyes and burning at the tip of his nose.
He's being patched up, he survived, but he never should have skirted around death in the first place. It's precisely because of Tomo that they're in this situation.
Even then, can Kazuha really bring himself to be infuriated at him? There's still a love that brews, in the tenderness of Tomo's fingers and how he can't look at Kazuha in any other way than adoration, even in this moment when his stare is tinged with frustration.
Before he gets to think, Tomo rests his hand on the freshly bandaged wound and a spark bolts through his arm, sharply crawling through the rest of his body. He immediately draws back, muttering a curse under his breath.
The lightning flowing through Kazuha's bloodstream seems to have been disturbed by that, and suddenly Kazuha is falling in and out of consciousness until he can't anymore.
⚡︎
A few hours pass with Kazuha teetering between being awake and asleep.
One brief moment, he's awake. And if he tunes his ears to it, he can vaguely hear the sound of rustling somewhere around him.
Some kind of animal? Whatever it is, he doesn't have the strength to deal with it. Even if he's more than upset at Tomo, he trusts him enough to keep him alive and safe.
At the very least.
⚡︎
Then, the hours become days.
Kazuha is fighting for his strength – he's gotten better at not passing out, but he still has to be carried around.
The wound on his leg, though, is only worsening. And the sudden shocks of lightning that grip his whole body are not very welcoming, either.
Even through all that, he's struggling to entirely forgive Tomo.
Leaving everything behind just to get himself killed, for a hope that might not even come true… it's not something Kazuha can understand.
Though, because the only place he's able to venture nowadays is his own mind, he's left to ponder for the time that Tomo has been keeping them safe.
Maybe he can see a point of view where Tomo was right. The lives of all of Inazuma will always outweigh one, but when that one life is Tomo's, it's hard to stomach.
Someone else should have sacrificed themselves, he's found himself thinking. But he doesn't think it for long when he realises it would just be a similar situation – where that someone has their own Kazuha.
… Maybe Tomo wasn't entirely wrong, calling him selfish.
It's easier to keep his eyes open now. The world around him is uncomfortably bright, leaving a pounding in his head. Regardless, he lays with his back against a tree, watching Tomo.
The scene isn't so different from that night. Tomo kneels over a flowing river, mindlessly staring into the water rushing from one side to the other. It's times like this that Kazuha wishes he was able to read minds.
What he can observe is that Tomo looks almost deflated. His eyes are just barely open, eyebrows furrowed and lips tightly pressed together. There isn't a hint of light in the lavender of his eyes.
Something else is that it's frighteningly quiet between them. The only music that accompanies Kazuha's ears is the rushing of water and, occasionally, birds chirping. But they haven't spoken a word to each other.
"Tomo," he begins, noticing the other perk up at the mention of his name, "Don't you think you should treat your wounds?"
Tomo nearly seems shocked at the question. Days before, when Kazuha still wasn't always fully conscious, he briefly saw a lesser-dressed Tomo blanketed in fresh scrapes and scars, attempting to wash himself. He hadn't been able to help, but that image hadn't left his mind either.
"Oh. Well– yeah." Tomo rolls a sleeve up and glances at the marred skin looking back at him. "I, uh, didn't think much of them. Considering I need to take care of you first, of course," he gestures to the scar with purple lightning painting Kazuha's veins, branching out his leg.
Stubborn, like he always has been. With a considerable amount of effort, Kazuha pushes himself up onto his feet (with great struggle on the left) and limps towards Tomo. Which, obviously, is taken with great concern, and Tomo meets him quickly enough that Kazuha hardly needs to walk.
When Tomo's hands intuitively hold on to the sides of Kazuha's shoulders to keep him upright, his heart flutters for a moment. And looking into Tomo's eyes, surrounded by scratches that reach out to deeper scars, he's reminded all too easily why he cares so much in the first place.
This isn't someone he wants to lose.
"Let me," Kazuha declares, bold enough you'd think he wasn't being held up by the very person he's offering to take care of.
Without the willpower to refuse, Tomo sits them both down, shrugging off his haori to reveal the dulling wounds covering his body. Kazuha winces seeing the dried stains of blood on the inside of his clothes.
Neither of them move for a moment, until Kazuha gets up seemingly in search of something. He reaches a tree and slashes two cuts into the bark, watching the resin slowly drip into a sizable leaf he had cupped.
"Could you start a fire?" He requests. Tomo doesn't object, finding discarded branches and kindling nearby and assorting them into a pile. Then, methodically, he firmly rubs two sticks together, smoke gathering at the tip of one. He blows on it, and the fire is lit.
When the fire picks up, Kazuha returns and holds the leaf a short distance above the campfire. The resin begins to melt, pleasantly warming Kazuha's hands up.
The resin softens enough for Kazuha to continue, smearing it over Tomo's scars gently enough to not burn him. While Kazuha focuses, he feels the pierce of Tomo's eyes on him the entire way through.
Looking back up when he finishes, Tomo's eyes are almost watery, and he falls into a tight embrace with Kazuha. The hug, thankfully, is reciprocated.
Like this, Tomo can hear Kazuha's heartbeat, and Kazuha his. It's a soothing melody to Kazuha – slow, rhythmic. And to Tomo, it's reassuring; Kazuha is okay, he's breathing fine, his heart is fine.
Kazuha chooses not to point out the growing dampness on his shoulder. Mostly because he stuffs his face in Tomo's shoulder too, afraid to lose this embrace.
The silence surrounding them rings in their ears. The only sound, though faint, is the other's heartbeat, slow and gentle.
When they pull back, Tomo immediately turns away. The redness at the tips of his ears tells Kazuha the reason.
"I love you," Kazuha says aloud, letting the words linger in the air as Tomo looks back at him.
A smile forms on Tomo's face, warm enough to alleviate Kazuha's pain for that very moment.
"I love you too."