Stay until we close our eyes, 'til your dreams hold mine
Characters: Naoki & Tatsuki [Narrative, Co-written with Syd]
Content: Naoki wakes up to find someone's been waiting for him.
Location: Tats' place at Latham Hotel
Time of day: Evening, backdated to Valentine's day
Warnings: Gross, they're kissing
Soundtrack: Finger Eleven - Thousand Mile Wish
It was actually quite a beautiful sunset that day, but from the mood in Arisawa Tatsuki's apartment, you'd never guess. As it was, there was company over.
Burned, bleeding company.
She'd been sleeping on the sofa the past week, which didn't exactly agree with her arm injury. Her head was killing her, and she was tired as all hell. Most of all, though, she was worried about Naoki. His body at the beginning was a sight to behold, and not in the way she'd have liked.
A gaping maw in his chest, and a slurry bleeding out of him that might once have been part of his insides. His arms were bone and ash and ragged bits of flesh wrapped loosely in bags of worn skin. His face-
More than anyone human had a right to survive.
After carrying him to her room, she'd stayed, watching his arms and face and everything else grow back as time had passed, layer by layer, bit by arduous bit. What else could she do?
She grimaced at the thought. Heh.
The fear dogging her was that he might not come out of it. Her worry hung heavy in the air.
One might say you could even taste it.
By the time Naoki awoke, it was already Saturday. Next Saturday.
Is it raining?
Water flowed across his chest in rivulets, and he opened his eyes expecting grey clouds and little daggers finding the hollows of his eyes. Instead, he saw an expanse of white...clinical in comparison to the dank and stark hell of the subway.
The Labyrinth's cousin, perhaps.
{"Where...?"} he whispered, noticing for the first time a weight on his chest, and he looked down. A familiar head rested on his chest, held in his arms. Tears dripped slowly from tired, almost-sleeping eyes, some long since dried on the both of them.
Tatsuki.
Now he remembered. She was there at the end. A guardian angel. Someone who would protect him. Would care for him. Would...
The eyes fluttered open and a look of shock overtook Tatsuki's face. Shock... and elation.
{"...Nao-kun?"}
She embraced Naoki with all the strength she could squeeze out of her good arm. {"Welcome back to the land of the living,"} she whispered...
...Right before delivering a forceful left hook straight to his jaw. {"Now don't make me fucking worry like that again."}
He barely flinched, even though his face looked like it would fall apart with the strain. {"...That's funny. I'm too hurt to fake being hurt."} A chuckle escaped his lips, and he opened his mouth. So many questions.
Are you a dream?
Did I die?
Only one question, however, would deign to come out.
{"Sakuri...what happened to Sakuri...?"}
The joy of seeing her friend awake again faded from her expression. {"So that was her?"}
Was.
His voice, when it came, was barely above a croaking whisper. {"...so she's..."}
{"I only helped who I could... I'm sorry..."}
The fragile silence after could have lasted for a minuteday. Neither knew for sure. Finally, Naoki spoke.
{"That doesn't matter,"} came the reply, somewhat surprising in the intensity of emotion in those simple words. {"Tatsuki...look up at me. Look at my face."} She did as he asked, finding a face that was...hard to read. So much sorrow...and yet so much joy. Drops of blood were tracing down his cheeks, a stand-in for the tears he couldn't cry. {"I finally did it, Tatsuki. I could taste the Magatsuhi in the air...she loved life. She wanted to live...she was at peace again. I saved her. I finally managed to save someone...!"}
He closed his eyes, trying to remember.
Did you see, Yuko-sensei?
Did you see, Chiaki?
Did you see, Futomimi?
Did you see, Isamu?
Did you see her face, Tatsuki?
The words were too slow to count as coming out in a rush, but Tatsuki could tell that that was what it was.
Her lips moved. {"Finally?"}
She gave the Demi-Fiend a stern look. {"Nao-kun. You look at my face. When you met me, I had given up on the things I cared about most. I was ready to die that day. There is no 'finally'."}
Leaning in closer, she locked her gaze with his, her words sure and clear.
{"You saved me."}
The words wouldn't come. Naoki's face wasn't even sure what to do with itself, settling finally on a pensive tension, a soap bubble that quickly popped as he gathered her up and pressed his lips to hers in a lingering kiss. A "heh" sound emanated from Tatsuki's vocal cords before she closed her eyes and kissed back.
Beat me to it there, pal.
Their embrace deepened, mirroring the passion in their lips and eyes.
Didn't people normally close their eyes in this sort of situation?
They finally parted, starved not for breath, but eye contact. Naoki's gold eyes searched hers, trying to make sense of the rush he was feeling. Everything was moving...everything was still. Everything felt cold and afire all at once.
His breath was unsteady. {"That was my first kiss, Tatsuki."}
Don't blush too much there, Demi-Fiend.
A smile. {"Mine too."} There was a pause as she looked aside, almost grumbling the continuation. {"...Russel doesn't count."}
Weakly smiling, he nudged her with his elbow. {"The truth doesn't stop being true even if people don't believe it."}
{"You're right,"} she replied, poking her tongue out. {"It's true that it doesn't count."}
Resisting the urge to lean towards her as she did so, he ribbed her a bit more. {"You're doing an excellent job of convincing yourself."}
The mischief in her grin faded, but the smile itself stayed. {"Well...this is the first one that meant something. That work?"}
{"Like a charm,"} he said, actually starting to laugh...at least as close to it as his still-broken body allowed.
Be careful that you don't cough up something you'll need later.
She took his hand in hers, staring out the window at the now blood red sky. The headache wasn't getting any better. {"Hell of a way to spend Valentine's day, isn't it?"}
His voice was a touch steadier, soft rather than wavering. {"Better than grumbling at couples on the street, though..."}
{"It's funny. I was always one of the grumblers. Now here, I actually started to make plans, and then, well..."} She trailed off. A half-smile drifted its way across her face. Karma really takes its toll, doesn't it?
{"Plans?"} He guessed that she surprised herself more with that realization, but there was plenty of surprise left over for him. {"Mind letting me in on that?"}
{"I'm not even sure anymore. The usual romantic deal, I guess. Put on a nice dress - imagine that, right? - set up a nice candlelight di-"}
She paused at that. {"Oh, right."} Planting her palm firmly against her face, she wondered how to prepare dinner for someone who doesn't eat physical food.
Think delicious happy thoughts, maybe?
Not that it mattered now, of course.
{"It's okay,"} he said, rubbing her back gently. {"I would've eaten it..."}
He paused to smile, coming about as close to sparkling as he would have considered possible. {"...because you made it."}
That. That made her blush. It took a lot to do that, but leave it to him. Then again, when you've literally been through hell, she figured giving a girl the vapors must've been a cakewalk.
The silence afterwards itched at them, almost forcing Naoki to look around at the room.
Don't dwell on her leaning against you...at least not too much.
That was when he finally saw the crutch leaning against the wall.
And since when was that sling on her arm?
{"...a lot happened while I was unconscious, didn't it?"}
She scratched the back of her head. {"Eight days is a long time around here, I guess. You slept through the blackout. I killed sixteen crabs out there, in one go."}
A blackout...so mundane by comparison, but with plenty of danger, it seemed. Hell never goes dark. {"I'd expect nothing less from you, sensei. So your leg and arm...?"}
{"All the power in the city went out for, like, sixteen hours, I think it was. Water, heat, and phone lines, too. We were lucky we started bracing for a Lord of the Flies situation, or the crabs would've overrun the hotel. Funny thing, though? The crabs came after I got hurt. I actually just missed a step at the top of the stairs."}
Well, now. That was impressive, though not unexpected. {"A warrior to the core, Tatsuki...never doubt that about yourself. From the moment I saw you, you were a fighter. Even going down, you'd take one last swing...I remember that."}
Tatsuki smiled, scratching at her hair, suddenly thinking it too unruly. It was something that had, indeed, nearly always been true of her.
Nearly.
{"It's like I said. You're the one who brought that back out in me. Truth is, I sort of lost that edge back home. Wasn't long before I came here, that Orihime disappeared. I don't mean, like, just went missing or something... I can just, y'know, sense her. Sort of like a connection we have, y'know? Then one day... I couldn't feel her anymore. She was just gone. At first, I blamed one of my friends, at least until I realized he was just as worried as I was. Maybe even more, if that's possible. That was when it occurred to me... I couldn't always be the one to stand up for her. That I wasn't as invincible as I thought I was."} To her credit, she did a decent job of holding her tears back. {"Thinking about it now, Ichigo's not the same whiny little brat I used to beat up at the dojo when we were four. He's a Shinigami. I can trust him with her now, if I have to."}
But, even if we let this old world continue to exist, it would eventually lose all its power...
Pulling her further into a hug, Naoki's brow furrowed with realization. {"You're so much like my civics teacher back home. Takao Yuko. She was...so smart. Everyone looked up to her. She was a teacher, and I do mean a real teacher. I thought that...well...she could explain even the most boring bits of legal history ever and we'd listen to every word. She didn't, though. She helped us figure it out ourselves, and she never failed to let us know that we did figure it out. We all loved her...and I won't deny that she was probably my first crush. She looked...very nice. I heard from the rumor mill that she was single...couldn't believe it, considering how she was...well."}
He took a deep breath before continuing. {"...One day, she called in sick. No big deal, right? Everyone gets sick once in a while. Well, three days after, my friends and I went to see her. That was the first time I went to Shinjuku General Hospital."} At that, he looked at her and nodded. {"I told you the rest of it when we first met. Hikawa was there, but I never told you who the Maiden was, did I?"}
A slight shift to keep the hug going. {"You can guess by now. I met her on the roof, and she spoke to me in a voice not unlike yours. She spoke about how she felt powerless...that people all around her were letting the world and themselves stifle and die. Her voice was so starved...eating of itself, trying to find something to hold onto, but failing. She killed the world, killed it out of despair, and even after that, when she wanted to build something new from the ashes, I...
I couldn't save her."}
Looking down, he looked almost lost, but grew steadier as he went on. {"That's why...that's why I wanted so badly to save Sakuri...and why I'm so glad I saved you. My teacher asked for my help, and I failed her. My friends became monsters, and I had to kill them. I had to cut everything away from my previous life. In a way, Tatsuki...you saved me, too,"} he finished, reaching to wipe her tears and cup her face gently. {"My anchor...my friend...my love."}
{"Thank you."} The tears finally came again as they hugged, flowing into another kiss and clutching each other close against the flood of emotion.
So much later. Tatsuki was getting more and more tired. Her head throbbed and her eyelids grew heavy. She let them fall shut, tired of trying to stay awake. It had already been worth the wait.
{"Hey, Nao-kun... I'm feeling tired. You'll hold on until I fall asleep... Right?"}
The air tastes of acceptance.
Naoki breathed deep, hugged her close as she slumped down, stared up at the ceiling, and didn't let go.
Content: Naoki wakes up to find someone's been waiting for him.
Location: Tats' place at Latham Hotel
Time of day: Evening, backdated to Valentine's day
Warnings: Gross, they're kissing
Soundtrack: Finger Eleven - Thousand Mile Wish
It was actually quite a beautiful sunset that day, but from the mood in Arisawa Tatsuki's apartment, you'd never guess. As it was, there was company over.
Burned, bleeding company.
She'd been sleeping on the sofa the past week, which didn't exactly agree with her arm injury. Her head was killing her, and she was tired as all hell. Most of all, though, she was worried about Naoki. His body at the beginning was a sight to behold, and not in the way she'd have liked.
A gaping maw in his chest, and a slurry bleeding out of him that might once have been part of his insides. His arms were bone and ash and ragged bits of flesh wrapped loosely in bags of worn skin. His face-
More than anyone human had a right to survive.
After carrying him to her room, she'd stayed, watching his arms and face and everything else grow back as time had passed, layer by layer, bit by arduous bit. What else could she do?
She grimaced at the thought. Heh.
The fear dogging her was that he might not come out of it. Her worry hung heavy in the air.
One might say you could even taste it.
By the time Naoki awoke, it was already Saturday. Next Saturday.
Is it raining?
Water flowed across his chest in rivulets, and he opened his eyes expecting grey clouds and little daggers finding the hollows of his eyes. Instead, he saw an expanse of white...clinical in comparison to the dank and stark hell of the subway.
The Labyrinth's cousin, perhaps.
{"Where...?"} he whispered, noticing for the first time a weight on his chest, and he looked down. A familiar head rested on his chest, held in his arms. Tears dripped slowly from tired, almost-sleeping eyes, some long since dried on the both of them.
Tatsuki.
Now he remembered. She was there at the end. A guardian angel. Someone who would protect him. Would care for him. Would...
The eyes fluttered open and a look of shock overtook Tatsuki's face. Shock... and elation.
{"...Nao-kun?"}
She embraced Naoki with all the strength she could squeeze out of her good arm. {"Welcome back to the land of the living,"} she whispered...
...Right before delivering a forceful left hook straight to his jaw. {"Now don't make me fucking worry like that again."}
He barely flinched, even though his face looked like it would fall apart with the strain. {"...That's funny. I'm too hurt to fake being hurt."} A chuckle escaped his lips, and he opened his mouth. So many questions.
Are you a dream?
Did I die?
Only one question, however, would deign to come out.
{"Sakuri...what happened to Sakuri...?"}
The joy of seeing her friend awake again faded from her expression. {"So that was her?"}
Was.
His voice, when it came, was barely above a croaking whisper. {"...so she's..."}
{"I only helped who I could... I'm sorry..."}
The fragile silence after could have lasted for a minuteday. Neither knew for sure. Finally, Naoki spoke.
{"That doesn't matter,"} came the reply, somewhat surprising in the intensity of emotion in those simple words. {"Tatsuki...look up at me. Look at my face."} She did as he asked, finding a face that was...hard to read. So much sorrow...and yet so much joy. Drops of blood were tracing down his cheeks, a stand-in for the tears he couldn't cry. {"I finally did it, Tatsuki. I could taste the Magatsuhi in the air...she loved life. She wanted to live...she was at peace again. I saved her. I finally managed to save someone...!"}
He closed his eyes, trying to remember.
Did you see, Yuko-sensei?
Did you see, Chiaki?
Did you see, Futomimi?
Did you see, Isamu?
Did you see her face, Tatsuki?
The words were too slow to count as coming out in a rush, but Tatsuki could tell that that was what it was.
Her lips moved. {"Finally?"}
She gave the Demi-Fiend a stern look. {"Nao-kun. You look at my face. When you met me, I had given up on the things I cared about most. I was ready to die that day. There is no 'finally'."}
Leaning in closer, she locked her gaze with his, her words sure and clear.
{"You saved me."}
The words wouldn't come. Naoki's face wasn't even sure what to do with itself, settling finally on a pensive tension, a soap bubble that quickly popped as he gathered her up and pressed his lips to hers in a lingering kiss. A "heh" sound emanated from Tatsuki's vocal cords before she closed her eyes and kissed back.
Beat me to it there, pal.
Their embrace deepened, mirroring the passion in their lips and eyes.
Didn't people normally close their eyes in this sort of situation?
They finally parted, starved not for breath, but eye contact. Naoki's gold eyes searched hers, trying to make sense of the rush he was feeling. Everything was moving...everything was still. Everything felt cold and afire all at once.
His breath was unsteady. {"That was my first kiss, Tatsuki."}
Don't blush too much there, Demi-Fiend.
A smile. {"Mine too."} There was a pause as she looked aside, almost grumbling the continuation. {"...Russel doesn't count."}
Weakly smiling, he nudged her with his elbow. {"The truth doesn't stop being true even if people don't believe it."}
{"You're right,"} she replied, poking her tongue out. {"It's true that it doesn't count."}
Resisting the urge to lean towards her as she did so, he ribbed her a bit more. {"You're doing an excellent job of convincing yourself."}
The mischief in her grin faded, but the smile itself stayed. {"Well...this is the first one that meant something. That work?"}
{"Like a charm,"} he said, actually starting to laugh...at least as close to it as his still-broken body allowed.
Be careful that you don't cough up something you'll need later.
She took his hand in hers, staring out the window at the now blood red sky. The headache wasn't getting any better. {"Hell of a way to spend Valentine's day, isn't it?"}
His voice was a touch steadier, soft rather than wavering. {"Better than grumbling at couples on the street, though..."}
{"It's funny. I was always one of the grumblers. Now here, I actually started to make plans, and then, well..."} She trailed off. A half-smile drifted its way across her face. Karma really takes its toll, doesn't it?
{"Plans?"} He guessed that she surprised herself more with that realization, but there was plenty of surprise left over for him. {"Mind letting me in on that?"}
{"I'm not even sure anymore. The usual romantic deal, I guess. Put on a nice dress - imagine that, right? - set up a nice candlelight di-"}
She paused at that. {"Oh, right."} Planting her palm firmly against her face, she wondered how to prepare dinner for someone who doesn't eat physical food.
Think delicious happy thoughts, maybe?
Not that it mattered now, of course.
{"It's okay,"} he said, rubbing her back gently. {"I would've eaten it..."}
He paused to smile, coming about as close to sparkling as he would have considered possible. {"...because you made it."}
That. That made her blush. It took a lot to do that, but leave it to him. Then again, when you've literally been through hell, she figured giving a girl the vapors must've been a cakewalk.
The silence afterwards itched at them, almost forcing Naoki to look around at the room.
Don't dwell on her leaning against you...at least not too much.
That was when he finally saw the crutch leaning against the wall.
And since when was that sling on her arm?
{"...a lot happened while I was unconscious, didn't it?"}
She scratched the back of her head. {"Eight days is a long time around here, I guess. You slept through the blackout. I killed sixteen crabs out there, in one go."}
A blackout...so mundane by comparison, but with plenty of danger, it seemed. Hell never goes dark. {"I'd expect nothing less from you, sensei. So your leg and arm...?"}
{"All the power in the city went out for, like, sixteen hours, I think it was. Water, heat, and phone lines, too. We were lucky we started bracing for a Lord of the Flies situation, or the crabs would've overrun the hotel. Funny thing, though? The crabs came after I got hurt. I actually just missed a step at the top of the stairs."}
Well, now. That was impressive, though not unexpected. {"A warrior to the core, Tatsuki...never doubt that about yourself. From the moment I saw you, you were a fighter. Even going down, you'd take one last swing...I remember that."}
Tatsuki smiled, scratching at her hair, suddenly thinking it too unruly. It was something that had, indeed, nearly always been true of her.
Nearly.
{"It's like I said. You're the one who brought that back out in me. Truth is, I sort of lost that edge back home. Wasn't long before I came here, that Orihime disappeared. I don't mean, like, just went missing or something... I can just, y'know, sense her. Sort of like a connection we have, y'know? Then one day... I couldn't feel her anymore. She was just gone. At first, I blamed one of my friends, at least until I realized he was just as worried as I was. Maybe even more, if that's possible. That was when it occurred to me... I couldn't always be the one to stand up for her. That I wasn't as invincible as I thought I was."} To her credit, she did a decent job of holding her tears back. {"Thinking about it now, Ichigo's not the same whiny little brat I used to beat up at the dojo when we were four. He's a Shinigami. I can trust him with her now, if I have to."}
But, even if we let this old world continue to exist, it would eventually lose all its power...
Pulling her further into a hug, Naoki's brow furrowed with realization. {"You're so much like my civics teacher back home. Takao Yuko. She was...so smart. Everyone looked up to her. She was a teacher, and I do mean a real teacher. I thought that...well...she could explain even the most boring bits of legal history ever and we'd listen to every word. She didn't, though. She helped us figure it out ourselves, and she never failed to let us know that we did figure it out. We all loved her...and I won't deny that she was probably my first crush. She looked...very nice. I heard from the rumor mill that she was single...couldn't believe it, considering how she was...well."}
He took a deep breath before continuing. {"...One day, she called in sick. No big deal, right? Everyone gets sick once in a while. Well, three days after, my friends and I went to see her. That was the first time I went to Shinjuku General Hospital."} At that, he looked at her and nodded. {"I told you the rest of it when we first met. Hikawa was there, but I never told you who the Maiden was, did I?"}
A slight shift to keep the hug going. {"You can guess by now. I met her on the roof, and she spoke to me in a voice not unlike yours. She spoke about how she felt powerless...that people all around her were letting the world and themselves stifle and die. Her voice was so starved...eating of itself, trying to find something to hold onto, but failing. She killed the world, killed it out of despair, and even after that, when she wanted to build something new from the ashes, I...
I couldn't save her."}
Looking down, he looked almost lost, but grew steadier as he went on. {"That's why...that's why I wanted so badly to save Sakuri...and why I'm so glad I saved you. My teacher asked for my help, and I failed her. My friends became monsters, and I had to kill them. I had to cut everything away from my previous life. In a way, Tatsuki...you saved me, too,"} he finished, reaching to wipe her tears and cup her face gently. {"My anchor...my friend...my love."}
{"Thank you."} The tears finally came again as they hugged, flowing into another kiss and clutching each other close against the flood of emotion.
So much later. Tatsuki was getting more and more tired. Her head throbbed and her eyelids grew heavy. She let them fall shut, tired of trying to stay awake. It had already been worth the wait.
{"Hey, Nao-kun... I'm feeling tired. You'll hold on until I fall asleep... Right?"}
The air tastes of acceptance.
Naoki breathed deep, hugged her close as she slumped down, stared up at the ceiling, and didn't let go.