[ficlet] [oneshot] Meltdown
Title: Meltdown
Fandom: X
Characters/Pairings: Kamui, Yuzuriha, Karen, Kusanagi
Genre: Angst
Words: 574
Notes: I wrote this a while ago, but never posted it anywhere. But if my Milestones series is about healing, this one is... decidedly not. ^^;; Post-series.
They rounded a corner, carefully avoiding the debris in the street as they entered what used to be Shibuya's One-oh-Nine building. The others fanned out behind him; he heard Inuki whimper somewhere off to his left. No doubt the puppy's owner and Kusanagi were all together. Karen probably also hovered nearby, but, as with everything else, Kamui couldn't bring himself to feel one way or the other about their presences.
He stood silently, staring up at the crumbling concrete and steel support beams that had already begun to rust. Shibuya's kekkai had been one of the first to fall. He remembered Kotori's prediction in the midst of her withdrawal from reality. He didn't recall ever visiting the area when he was a child, and his return hadn't exactly left time for sightseeing.
A shriek cut through the reverent silence, startling Kamui badly enough to send his heart up into his throat. Karen gently touched his shoulder, her face pinched in concern, before they both looked toward the source of the sound.
A middle-aged woman, clutching a brown paper bag, wove through the rubble of the scramble crossing. Not far behind, a trio of youths followed, shouting obscenities. The woman stumbled and fell against an overturned lamppost, and the young men pounced, ripping away her bag and dumping it out onto the street. Loose apples tumbled down and rolled away; other meager foodstuffs dropped out of the bag.
Kamui started running toward them, barely realizing that he had moved at all. For weeks, he had felt as if he were living outside his body; the numbness had spread until he had been little more than a walking corpse, a doll with human-like expressions when he remembered to use them. Suddenly, everything snapped back into vibrant color, and all he saw was red.
Someone cried his name - Yuzuriha, it sounded like - as his fist smashed into the first thug's nose. The crunch of bone and cartilage seemed louder in the heat of the moment as the scent of blood filled the air. Kamui dodged easily as the second youth lunged. His knee found a solid place in the man's stomach.
Arms wrapped around him, pinning his arms and Kamui began to struggle. "Let go!"
"Kamui-san!" Kusanagi's voice said softly, but firm. "Please calm down."
The violet-eyed boy barely heard him. He watched as the three men eyed him, then the woman they'd attacked, and turned to flee. A feeling so powerful welled up in Kamui's chest that he feared he'd suffocate. "I killed him for YOU!" He screamed, the words pouring out before he had a chance to remember where he was and who was with them. "For you!"
He tasted salt in his mouth as he continued to struggle against Kusanagi's hold, but the soldier never wavered. "I should have let you die!" A great sob shook him, and all the rage suddenly abandoned him. "It should have been me..."
Kusanagi carefully let him go, and Kamui slumped to his knees, arms wrapped around himself. The pain was there, the regret, the grief; all the emotions he had tried to push back surged to the surface, all fighting to be felt first. For a moment, he simply curled in on himself, choking on the breaths he drew and coughing out the sobs. No one touched him, not even Inuki, as he knelt on the pavement and broke apart.
Fandom: X
Characters/Pairings: Kamui, Yuzuriha, Karen, Kusanagi
Genre: Angst
Words: 574
Notes: I wrote this a while ago, but never posted it anywhere. But if my Milestones series is about healing, this one is... decidedly not. ^^;; Post-series.
They rounded a corner, carefully avoiding the debris in the street as they entered what used to be Shibuya's One-oh-Nine building. The others fanned out behind him; he heard Inuki whimper somewhere off to his left. No doubt the puppy's owner and Kusanagi were all together. Karen probably also hovered nearby, but, as with everything else, Kamui couldn't bring himself to feel one way or the other about their presences.
He stood silently, staring up at the crumbling concrete and steel support beams that had already begun to rust. Shibuya's kekkai had been one of the first to fall. He remembered Kotori's prediction in the midst of her withdrawal from reality. He didn't recall ever visiting the area when he was a child, and his return hadn't exactly left time for sightseeing.
A shriek cut through the reverent silence, startling Kamui badly enough to send his heart up into his throat. Karen gently touched his shoulder, her face pinched in concern, before they both looked toward the source of the sound.
A middle-aged woman, clutching a brown paper bag, wove through the rubble of the scramble crossing. Not far behind, a trio of youths followed, shouting obscenities. The woman stumbled and fell against an overturned lamppost, and the young men pounced, ripping away her bag and dumping it out onto the street. Loose apples tumbled down and rolled away; other meager foodstuffs dropped out of the bag.
Kamui started running toward them, barely realizing that he had moved at all. For weeks, he had felt as if he were living outside his body; the numbness had spread until he had been little more than a walking corpse, a doll with human-like expressions when he remembered to use them. Suddenly, everything snapped back into vibrant color, and all he saw was red.
Someone cried his name - Yuzuriha, it sounded like - as his fist smashed into the first thug's nose. The crunch of bone and cartilage seemed louder in the heat of the moment as the scent of blood filled the air. Kamui dodged easily as the second youth lunged. His knee found a solid place in the man's stomach.
Arms wrapped around him, pinning his arms and Kamui began to struggle. "Let go!"
"Kamui-san!" Kusanagi's voice said softly, but firm. "Please calm down."
The violet-eyed boy barely heard him. He watched as the three men eyed him, then the woman they'd attacked, and turned to flee. A feeling so powerful welled up in Kamui's chest that he feared he'd suffocate. "I killed him for YOU!" He screamed, the words pouring out before he had a chance to remember where he was and who was with them. "For you!"
He tasted salt in his mouth as he continued to struggle against Kusanagi's hold, but the soldier never wavered. "I should have let you die!" A great sob shook him, and all the rage suddenly abandoned him. "It should have been me..."
Kusanagi carefully let him go, and Kamui slumped to his knees, arms wrapped around himself. The pain was there, the regret, the grief; all the emotions he had tried to push back surged to the surface, all fighting to be felt first. For a moment, he simply curled in on himself, choking on the breaths he drew and coughing out the sobs. No one touched him, not even Inuki, as he knelt on the pavement and broke apart.