Work Text:
„It hurts!“ the white haired man moaned, clutching his shoulder. Tears stood in his eyes and his companions face was full of sorrow.
“We'll be there in a few minutes, please hang on!” he was ramming his ankles into the sides of his kelpie, who huffed laborious. Akaashi prayed for him just to go a little faster.
“Oh my god! I'm gonna die!” the man behind him shouted when the kelpie had to jump over a particularly large trunk and landed on the uneven forest ground.
Akaashi had found the young man lying on the floor by a small stream, screaming in pain and without anyone there to help. He had considered to ride away, like nothing had happened, but the man had seemed to be in such agony he really couldn't make himself do that. The young man knew that he would get in trouble for this. To bring back a stranger in these times of war. Said stranger let out another scream.
“Please don't scream. We'll be there in a minute.” Akaashi said and urged his kelpie to go even faster. The animal wheezed, but obliged to it's owners orders.
Akaashi had helped the man to stand up and asked him, what had happened, but he was apparently in too much pain to answer even one of his questions. Now they sat on his kelpie and were careering to Akaashi's village.
Village was actually a little exaggerated if he was talking about the few tents between the old spruces. Exactly these tents now finally came into view and Akaashi turned to speak to the man a last time before they would arrive.
“We're here. Please be as quite as possible.” he said, knowing that that was probably a quite unrealistic request. His kelpie fell into a slow jog trot and then came to halt next to the strong river, which was flowing through the baiting-place of Akaashi's tribe.
The smaller man jumped of his kelpie's back and quickly turned to whisper some words into it's ear.
“Good job Blair. Thanks for not eating him.” The kelpie turned his head away and looked like it was pouting, but Akaashi was already occupied with the stranger again.
He took hold of the man's arm and pulled him of the kelpie's back, which immediately ran of into the river and vanished within seconds, leaving Akaashi stumbling around a little. The man was heavier and also a little taller than him.
As soon as they were standing Akaashi wanted to get going, but his companion toppled over and retched a few times, before vomiting violently on the ground. Akaashi was actually a little ashamed for looking away, because he had to gag, himself. It took him a few moments to finish and Akaashi didn't have the time to make sure he was done and dragged him along with him instead.
“Oh lord, Akaashi!” Komi shouted as they stumbled towards the tents and ran towards them. “What are you doing? Who is that?” he asked, clearly confused.
“May I explain that after you helped me to bring him into a tent?” Akaashi requested from his older friend. Komi made a face at that, but usually Akaashi wasn't one to request a lot of him, so he decided to help.
The both of them brought the stranger, who had started whining again, into Komi's tent and laid him down on the mat. “I'll die!” the man exclaimed as soon as his shoulders hit the floor. “Care to explain now?” Komi was breathing heavily, because he was reasonably smaller than Akaashi and the man.
“I found him in the forest and he's injured.” Akaashi said.
“We are at war, Akaashi! What were you thinking? He could be an enemy!”
“He is clearly neither a snake nor an eagle. And we made peace with the crows just recently. Maybe he's a cat.” Akaashi didn't believed in that one himself, but he didn't have any other explanation.
“Don't think so, but what's wrong with him, anyway?”
“I don't know that, but I think he might have a problem with his shoulder.”
To that, the subject of their conversation was nodding frantically. Komi knelt down beside him and loosened the strenger's leather harness. Under that he was wearing a blood drenched, blue shirt, which Komi ripped apart without hesitating.
What Akaashi saw made his breath freeze. There was a blood oozing wound near his armpit, where his harness didn't cover him. But the wound itself wasn't even the problem.
The problem was, that it was not only dripping with red blood, but also with a dark green substance. The flesh and skin around the wound were also starting to colour a sickening green.
“Snake venom.” he noted and got down next to the heaving stranger himself. He was shaking and tears were streaming down his cheeks.
“We have to clean that.” Komi said and got up to his feet. “I'm gonna go to fetch Konoha. Stay here.” Akaashi nodded. He hadn't planned to leave anyway. He ripped the man's shirt open a little wider and poured water over his shoulder, which he had taken from Komi's bedside table. The man writhed with pain and started to scream louder as the water ran over his bare flesh.
Snake venom had the consequence of slowly burning away the flesh, where it had touched the blood and also spreading through the body in a cruel and tardy way. The burning of the flesh could be stopped by, just as Akaashi did, pouring water onto the wound. If the stranger was lucky, maybe there would grow new flesh. Otherwise he'd have to live with the gap.
The next moment Konoha hurried inside and let himself fall to his knees just beside Akaashi. He was holding a jar in his hands and quickly got the lid off. It contained a dark reddish brown substance with chunks in it. It consisted of resin, blood of some animal and other things Akaashi wasn't able to recall. Producing remedy wasn't his speciality.
“It's gonna hurt!” Konoha yelled to the man, who was heaving and keeping his eyes shut.
“I doubt he's understanding you.” Komi whispered. Suddenly Konoha turned to Akaashi. “When we're done I expect you to explain!” he hissed. Akaashi nodded and felt guilt pool in his guts again, but then he looked at the man again and thought about how much guilt he would have felt, if he hadn't took him.
Konoha smeared some of the paste into the gash. The horrific scream that filled the whole room made their stomachs lurch and Akaashi's eyes very nearly filled with tears. He writhed and his torso lifted from the mat, before he fell back, all limb. He had gone unconscious.
“Does that mean it works?” Komi asked into the sudden silence. Akaashi shrugged, still shocked by the crushing agony that must have overcome the poor man to knock him out.
“I never had to use it before, so I have no idea.” Konoha admitted, what wasn't all to reassuring. He added some of the sticky paste to the area around the gash, where the flesh had already started to burn away.
“Now care to explain Akaashi?” Konoha glared at him.
“I found him. He was in pain and he is clearly not a snake. I'd say he's some kind of bird.”
“You just told me you'd think he's a cat!” Komi interrupted them.
“But look at his shoulders. They're too strong.”
“I think so to. But still, don't you dare to do that again Akaashi!” Konoha said.
Akaashi looked at him calmly, but with his hands clenched to fists. “He would have died, Konoha. Excruciatingly. It would have burned him from the inside and outside. You know what snake venom does.” Konoha looked at him, obviously torn between agreeing, because that was just common sense, or arguing that Akaashi was endangering them all. In the end he didn't say anything at all.
“Could you go and get your kelpie, Akaashi? We need to declare a state of emergency to the cats and the crows. They deserve to know that there was a snake attack and also that we have a stranger among us.” Komi asked.
Akaashi nodded reluctantly and went outside. He walked to the river and called for Blair. The spirit slowly got out of the river and drained the water from it's gills. It trotted towards him to await his commands. The young man took hold of his kelpie's reins. “You'll have to deliver a message to the cats. Please shape shift when you reach them. They're afraid of the water, you know.” he informed it.
They walked to the tether polls, where he Akaashi left his kelpie. “Good luck, Blair.”
He informed Komi that he had readied his kelpie and went back to the tent.
Konoha was still sitting there, now reading a book. “You're here, Akaashi. I didn't want to leave him alone, so I waited for you. You watch him now.” the older one said and got up to leave the tent. “I'm sorry, but I do think it was the right decision.” Akaashi informed the blond before he could leave the tent. Konoha nodded and walked out.
Not knowing what to do Akaashi sat down beside their 'patient'. The man couldn't be more than a year or two older than him, so he was actually more of a boy than a man. His hair was white with black streaks in it and his now closed eyes were amber, if Akaashi was recalling it correctly. The guy was very muscular and and tall, but not that much taller than Akaashi himself. The clothes he wore didn't hint that he was very rich or very poor. They didn't hint his species either.
When the man didn't move for a while Akaashi took a book and started to read, still sitting on the ground. To be specific it was a handwriting that dealt with cats and their behaviour.
He sat there quite a while and had already gone through three handwritings when the man started to make sounds again. He laid the book to the side and leaned over him. Akaashi listened to him moaning in pain for a few seconds, before he touched the uninjured shoulder to wake him up. The man opened his eyes and looked around confused. He touched his chest near the gash and winced.
“What Happened?” he croaked with a thin voice. Akaashi reached for the leftover water and gave it to him. The man thankfully accepted. “What's your name?” Akaashi asked instead of answering the question. “Bokuto Koutarou.” he answered.
“You got hit by a venomous arrow.” Akaashi told him and took the glass back. “Venom?” talking seemed to pain the man, so he probably meant “What kind of venom?”.
“Snake venom. But we treated it early enough, apparently.” Akaashi explained and watched all the colour draining from Bokuto's face. “You found me, didn't you? You were riding that horse.” his voice grew stronger as he spoke. Akaashi was surprised that he had recognised him. He nodded. “Thanks. What's your name?” A stupid thing to ask in such a situation in Akaashi's opinion. But at least that was a question he could answer. “Akaashi Keiji.” Bokuto looked him in the eyes. “Nice name.” the man was crazy, Akaashi was absolutely sure about that. Or at least he had gone crazy during the torture.
“What species are you?” Akaashi asked the question, that was apparently what everyone first thought of, when they saw the man.
“Great horned owl.”
Akaashi exhaled, deeply relieved not to have brought an enemy into their village. The man moved his head and winced in pain. Akaashi noticed that there was still blood coming out of the open wound and he decided that enough time had passed to put an bandage on the gash. He got up. “I'm am going to get a bandage. I will be back in a minute.” he informed Bokuto and left the tent to fetch a pad and a bandage from their supply stock.
When he came back Bokuto hadn't moved and was looking at him curiously. He took his former place besides the man again and started to tend to his wound by pressing the cotton pad onto it and fastening it with the bandage. That, however, was easier said than done, because Bokuto kept hissing and whining, what greatly distracted Akaashi. Even worse was that he fidgeted around, what caused Akaashi to slip and caused Bokuto to suffer even more. A doom loop.
“Hold still.” Akaashi told him firmly and gripped his other shoulder to press it onto the mat. Bokuto looked at him in pain, but nodded, probably intending to say, that he would try. Eventually Akaashi managed to bandage the wound and Bokuto was heavy breathing and stroking over the bandage. “Thanks, Akaashi.” he said and smiled at him. It was a worn and weak smile, but it reached his eyes and made Akaashi see the man's honest gratitude. “You are welcome, Bokuto.” Akaashi answered and watched the man drift away into a light sleep again. After he had made sure Bokuto wouldn't wake up in the next few hours, he left his side and went to inform Konoha about everything he had managed to find out.
“A great horned owl?” Konoha asked, the surprise clearly audible in his voice. “Yes.” was the only thing Akaashi said and continued to look at him. “How is he?” Konoha seemed to believe Akaashi. “He is sleeping right now. Still weak.” Konoha nodded and sighed.
“I guess we have to keep him, then?”
Akaashi's features visibly relaxed at that offer and he nodded, the corners of his mouth slightly raising. “Don't get attached to him, Akaashi. He will want to go back, where he came from.” Konoha warned him and Akaashi was slightly confused about that statement. “I'm not getting attached, why should I do that?” He asked and Konoha chuckled. “Getting attached isn't something you do, Akaashi.” was the last thing he said, before leaving to sleep.
Akaashi went to bed shortly after that and spent a whole lot of time thinking about the day, before finally drifting to sleep.
The next morning started pretty much like every other morning in Akaashi's life. He got up and walked outside to see if everything was well and they hadn't been attacked. At this point the normality of his morning ended, because a unicorn was standing by the tether polls. Akaashi walked straight up to it, still in his sleeping gown.
“Shape shift back, Blair, you are making a fool of yourself.” he told his kelpie, which bowed it's head to the ground and started transforming back to his usual form of a wet black horse with sharp fangs. He tied the creature off and let it run towards the water.
After that he decided to get dressed and look for Bokuto, who was probably still laying in Komi's tent.
Bokuto was indeed laying there, staring at the ceiling and smiling when Akaashi entered. “How is your shoulder?” Akaashi asked. “It's been better, but I guess it's also been worse.” was the answer. Not very informing.
“Where does your tribe live?” Akaashi asked, remembering what Konoha had said to him yesterday, about Bokuto wanting to go home as soon as possible. “My tribe doesn't live anywhere.” the white haired man answered and looked honestly at Akaashi. “What? Are your people itinerant.” asked the confused, raven haired boy.
Bokuto shook his head. “No, we used to live in hollow trees. My people are dead.” he said.
Akaashi stared at him in horror. He had never heard of the extinction of a species, before. “All of them?” ha wanted to know. Bokuto nodded. “The eagles came first, killing and devouring the young ones. A few moths later the snakes, who shot all the other ones. I ran away.” Bokuto's voice had become a little bitter. “I'm sorry.” Akaashi said. Where would the man go when he was ready to leave?
“I wanted to find a new tribe to stay with.” Bokuto told him and looked at, his expression somewhat pleading. At that point Akaashi began to understand. “Do you mean here?” he asked. “Yes.” Bokuto replied bluntly and looked at him, now with that smile of his again.
“I will have to talk with my people.” Akaashi informed him. Bokuto grinned. “Thank you, for trying Akaashi!” for some reason that made Akaashi fluster and turn his face away.
“I hope I can stay, I like it here.” he continued and looked around the room.
“I'm sorry to let you down, Bokuto, but we will have to move you out of Komi's tent, once you can move again.” Akaashi actually smiled a little while saying that.
* * *
Akaashi was sitting on the ground nearby the river, watching Bokuto, who was trying to put reins on a young kelpie. It turned out that Konoha had been right, indeed. Akaashi had gotten attached. Maybe he had been attached from the very start, but there was no way of saying that with certainty now. He felt his chest warm up a little when he saw Bokuto dancing around the annoyed looking kelpie and fearing to get bitten.
If he wouldn't make it in the next ten minutes, Akaashi would come to help him.
He vividly remembered Bokuto's expression when he first learned that Blair was, in fact, not a horse, but a flesh-eating water beast. The man had nearly fainted. And now he was going to get one of his own. A beautiful one, Akaashi thought. More muscular and a little taller than most others. It fit perfectly for Bokuto.
“Akaashi! She wants to eat me!” the struggling man cried out and looked over to him, searching for help. Akaashi had to chuckle. “You are right Bokuto, I can not deny that.”
Bokuto looked at him in terror and immediately turned back to face the kelpie.
“That was a joke, Akaashi! Does she seriously want to eat me?” Bokuto was obviously panicking now and Akaashi sighed and walked up to him.
“You have to lull her into a false sense of security. And then you gotta attack her fast.” he explained and kept standing nearby. He didn't like watching Bokuto struggle like this, fearing for his life, but Akaashi wasn't able to help him further than this. If he would put the reins on the kelpie, she would belong to him.
Bokuto was standing still for a while, until the kelpie felt safe enough to turn it's head away. Then he lurched forward, throwing the reins at it with his right hand. When they managed to land around the kelpie's neck, he pulled the snaffle over it's head and fastened it as quick as possible.
He looked over to Akaashi, heavily breathing and grinning. “I'm gonna name her Rhona.”
“Nice name.” Akaashi agreed. “Do you want me to help you to mount her?” he offered.
Bokuto smiled at him, a little bitter. “I wish I could do it on my own.” he said, not letting the bitterness reach his voice.
“I know you do, Bokuto.” Akaashi replied, looking and his friend's arm. It was lying limply in the loop around Bokuto's shoulder. They had noticed it a few days after they had tended the wound, when Bokuto was trying to move his arm again. He wasn't able to. The venom had caused way too much damage.
Komi and Sarukui had suggested to take the arm off. It would make life easier and the limb wouldn't disturb Bokuto in his every day life. The look Bokuto had given them after that suggestion had completely clarified that this was not an option.
Sometimes Akaashi thought Bokuto looked like he still had hope for his arm to move any second. And he admired that. Actually he admired quite a lot about Bokuto. His ability to stay positive, his strength, his power to lead. That last one was just a temporary trait, though. But a immobile arm was definitely not a thing that could hinder Bokuto being any of these.
Then Akaashi helped him to get on the back of his kelpie, a broad grin on his face, the bitterness from a minute ago forgotten.
* * *
Bokuto and Akaashi were sitting on the floor of their shared tent, exhausted after a long negotiation with the crows. The head of their group had recently lost his beloved mate and was particularly moody today, which was, of course, absolutely understandable. All the other crows had seemed griefing as well, one of them with his wings out. He had probably not been emotionally stable enough to keep them inside.
Akaashi sighed. “I am so sad for Daichi!” Bokuto exclaimed after they had sat there for a while. Akaashi nodded and looked over to him. He had always wondered what Bokuto's wings would look like. “Sugawara was a really good person.” the raven haired boy said.
“Have you ever seen your own wings?” Bokuto asked after a while, looking curiously at Akaashi. He shook his head.
“No. My life really wasn't that exciting up to this point.” he told Bokuto, not mentioning that his life, in fact, had become much more exciting since he had met the white haired man.
“Have you ever seen yours?” he asked then.
Bokuto nodded, a pained smile forming on his face. “When my people got attacked I panicked and tried to fly away. The arrow hit me mid air. Then you found me, so apparently they must have gone back in themselves.”
Akaashi looked at him with wide eyes. “You have flown?”
Bokuto scratched the back of his neck, smiling proudly at Akaashi's amazement. “Yes, but I don't remember too much of it.”
Akaashi wished to able to fly one day, as well.
* * *
If Akaashi had to choose, he would die in Bokuto's arms.
The next attack had surprised all of them. It had been during another meetup with the crows and the cats. Eagles had suddenly started coming out of nowhere, burying there strong claws in everyone they could reach.
Other than snakes, who killed for the sake of killing, eagles killed to eat their pray, after tearing it apart in the most violent way.
Bokuto hadn't thought twice and took hold of Akaashi's arm to drag him into a nearby pit, where he had thrown himself over the younger one immediately. If Akaashi hadn't been so terribly frightened, he probably would have tried to stop him from exposing himself so badly.
He had no clue how many time had passed, before the horrifying screams stopped and he dared to take a few shaky breaths. Slowly, Bokuto's torso lifted from his own and the horned owl looked around. Akaashi didn't see anything yet, but Bokuto's distressed expression told him nothing good. He now lifted completely from Akaashi and allowed the young man to sit up and take a look himself.
And when he saw the field of death he felt his head go a little dizzy at the sight. Body parts were dispersed all over the place and a few wounded people were lying on the floor, with their friend tending to their injuries.
“Oh my god! Look over there!” Bokuto called out and jumped to his feet. He ran towards a more or less whole looking body, which lied near them on the ground. It was one of the young crows, tall and blond and now with a missing shank and a huge peace of flesh ripped out of his waist. The eagle, who got him had probably been too weak or too small too pull the giant crow up.
Akaashi and Bokuto approached the body. “Is he dead?” Bokuto whispered with a shocked tone in his meek voice. “I think so.” Akaashi answered, eyeing the boy. “Actually I hope so, for him.”
But all of that wasn't the worst of the situation, because, in that very moment, they heard a distraught cry and saw another crow running towards them. It was a further boy, maybe eighteen years old, who let himself drop to his, already bleeding, knees next to the body. This one was dark haired, with a face covered in dark freckles and tears. He took the face of the boy, who had approximately been his mate, into his hands and let out yet another scream, while he pressed the face into his chest.
All of that made Akaashi feel like crying, but the tears wouldn't come.
Then the blond boy lifted his hand to lay it on his mate's arm. It was a small movement, but changed the whole situation and made the freckled boy cry even harder and triggered one more thing. Suddenly Akaashi and Bokuto weren't able to see a thing of the scene, because a mass of black feathers covered everything. Giant wings had sprouted from the boys shoulders and were now protecting him and his dying mate. The only evidence they were still there, were the muffled cries of “I love you!”s, which could be heard through the wings.
It was then, that Akaashi decided this was probably the most desirable death possible.
To die in the arms of someone, who truly loves you, just like the freckled boy had loved the tall blond one.
So the crows had suffered their second big loss within a few moths. The owls hadn't lost any of their people.
The cats had, though. Among their losses was a young man named Yaku, whom Akaashi didn't know a lot about. The other dead one's weren't recorded, yet.
* * *
“Let's shake hands on this, Ushijima.” Bokuto said, his voice firm and his gaze not leaving Ushijima's face for a second. Akaashi was standing next to him. He wore his best clothes, which were made out of silk in many different shades of dark blue, decorated with black leather boots and gloves. Bokuto was wearing something similar.
Today was the day, all of them had awaited since four whole years. The leader of the owls was about to enter a peace contract with the leader of the eagles. That meant war would be over, since the snake's had surrendered last week, after a long fight against the cats.
Akaashi would have never thought that he would witness this day. But about two years ago, he wouldn't have thought he'd bring a stranger into their small, good protected village, but a day later he had done it. And when he looked at Bokuto, dressed in beautiful blue silk and flapping his huge black and white wings in the air, Akaashi knew it had been the best decision in his whole life.
Carefully he reached Bokuto the wooden bowl of hot, fluid, golden wax, which the man dribbled on the sheet of paper, the contract was written on. Ushijima pressed his sign onto it first, then Bokuto repeated the same.
The crowd behind Akaashi started to cheer, screams of delight replacing the tense silence and even some of the eagles seemed happy enough to fall into each other's arms. They also had suffered some losses, after they got attacked by a bunch of crows, who wanted to take revenge for their dead companions.
Ushijima and his scary, red haired vice leader however, looked like they still wanted to tear them into shreds.
Bokuto flashed him a grin, which was so bright, Akaashi thought he was looking into the sun. He grinned back at him.
* * *
“I'm so excited to see your wings, Keiji!” Bokuto called out one day before their ceremony.
“And I thought you were excited to tie knots with me.” Akaashi answered while putting his custom-made suit away again. It was made of silk, the best material anyone in this forest had at hand.
“I am! You know that!” the white haired man exclaimed. Akaashi chuckled. “Of course, I know. I love you.” he said and placed a light kiss on his mate's cheek.
The life here wasn't easy and as far as Akaashi Keiji was able to say he had just had really good luck. But he also believed that this luck meant hope. Hope to get through bad times and hope to find love in unexpected places.
Akaashi had found his love during war and was going to marry him tomorrow. And no matter, what it would bring to him, Akaashi was really looking forward to his future, because Bokuto had made his future worth exploring it. He was so glad that Konoha had been right, back then.