Murata had two reasons to stop by his room. First, he remembered that he kept a little book about the different mazoku tribes in his room ever since the picnic incident, and decided to take another look at it before continuing his search for information on the Salamander Demon Tribe in the library. Second, and most importantly, when he'd asked a guard about Wolf's whereabouts he'd learned that Wolf had asked the guards to wake him up, and that he'd be in Murata's room. Murata told the guards not to worry about it and headed over to his room at a rather quick pace.
The sight that greeted him when he opened the door had to be one of the most adorable things he'd seen in this lifetime. Wolf was laying peacefully on Murata's bed, hugging his nightshirt close. He didn't want to interrupt that beautiful image, but the force that compelled him to walk over and sit on the bed beside Wolf was even stronger.
He reached out to thread his fingers through the slightly disheveled blond locks. "Mmm...I missed you." He spoke softly, glad to see Wolf was alright after all.
Wolf’s eyes fluttered slightly and he opened one, “Ken?” he turned into the hand and rubbed his head against it. Murata’s first name was always spoken like a soft little husky whisper. “I saw you just this morning.” He snickered ruefully. Of course it had been really quick for a peck on the cheek and a quick morning breakfast before he was off to work. And then all hell had broken loose. It sure had seemed like a long morning.
And he was in one piece to. Reflecting on the battle, he was a bit surprised at that. If Gunter hadn’t shown up when he did, he didn’t want to think about what could have happened. He could fight against a Fire Mazoku but those Salamanders had tricks he wasn’t used to.
Then he realized he was still cuddling Murata's shirt like it was a security blanket and he blushed. "err..." He couldn't think of a single thing to say to explain it and simply just tucked it under his pillow, red-cheeked. "Heh..."
"Mornings are longer when you're gone." Murata smiled down at Wolf. "Besides, I was worried sick. I saw several bursts of maryoku in the forest, and the recent incident with the stones just made it that much more unsettling." He sighed, as if his worries were to leave with that exhaled breath.
"Well, at least you're here and in one piece now. Really, you seem to be disappearing into town quite often lately..." He grinned, remembering that keeping a fire Mazoku under control was about as difficult as taming fire itself.
He chuckled at Wolf's embarrassment, and gave him a happy little smile. "You know, now that I'm here you can cuddle me instead. I'm sure I'm much better at it than my shirt is." As he was moving closer, though, he noticed the state Wolf's foot was in. He straightened again, worry showing on his face, the same worry as when he'd seen the bursts of maryoku through the window. "Wolf, your ankle...what happened?"
“You worry too much!” Wolf brushed his hair from his eyes and pushed himself up on his elbows and smiled back at Murata. “I’m a good fighter. I’ll always come back to you.”
“Huh...” he shifted to look down and tried moving the ankle. “It was sore a while ago. When I was fighting with one of the Salamanders it lifted me upside down I thought I’d just bruised it or something. Ouch..” he grunted as twinge of pain shot up his foot. “Hurts a little.”
He shrugged. “Not that much... “ He tried to reassure Murata with another smile. Ah, conveniently he could dodge the question about town! Murata was focused on his foot. He reached over to grasp his lover’s jacket. “Come here and cuddle me then!”
"I just don't want to lose you, that's all." Murata smiled, but all the losses he'd experienced throughout his many lives unavoidably flashed through his mind. And now, there were other worlds to worry about. It was difficult, but having Wolf here with him now made it all worthwhile.
"It was a Salamander's doing?!" He immediately tensed. It had been a possibility he'd been dreading. He moved to inspect the ankle. "Well, at least it looks like your skin wasn't pierced." He sighed and relaxed again - the wound wouldn't be fatal.
He was caught off guard when Wolf took hold of his jacket. He happily complied to Wolf's request, and decided to catch him off guard in return by glomping him rather suddenly with a sheepish grin.
Though he had immediately noticed Wolf's desire to change the subject each time his trips to town were brought up. Well, Murata decided not to insist. Wolf would let him know eventually, he was sure of it.
“You won’t!” ... “oof!” he was suddenly glomped and of course didn’t resist, he laughed slightly, hugging the other.
The laughter was short lived though. “Ah... how long have I been asleep? I have to go meet Gunter and the other Yuuri we’re going to track down the person who has the stones!” It couldn’t have been half an hour yet, he only just put his head on the pillow. He reached up to stroke his fingers against Murata’s ear.
“Please don’t worry.” He whispered softly. Just as he did that he couldn’t stop a slight cringe. Another sharp pain jutted up his ankle again. He started to flex it a bit to try and get the blood flowing again. He couldn’t afford to be limping around. Whatever was going on, he’d have to take the pain.
“I don’t want to leave your side, especially with these things about, but I don’t want Gunter to be the only one looking after the other Yuuri. He’s a Demon King in his world, I think and I have to be sure he’s protected as well.” He sighed. “Will you try and stay next to Conrad or Gwendal until I come back? Please?”
"Ah, leaving again. You really are restless." Murata leaned into Wolf's hand. "I won't worry." Too much. "I understand, it's your duty as a soldier to protect the Demon King." He gave Wolf his Sagely understanding look. "You're a great fighter, and I trust you will return safely. But please...promise me you'll be careful. The Salamander Demon Tribe is unpredictable due to their extremely different nature. Always keep an eye out for anything strange."
He noticed Wolf cringe slightly, and then watched as Wolf flexed his injured ankle. "You should take care of that as soon as possible. Make sure it's clean, at the very least. The less time your skin is exposed to the venom, the faster it will heal."
"Will you clean it for me?" Wolf asked beneath his lashes. It was a silly thing to say, of course. Who else would dare ask the Great Sage to clean his feet? He hadn't really thought about that. He just wanted Murata's hands down there, they usually made any pain go away.
"I will be careful." He stroked from his lover's ear down his neck to the base of his throat. "I think that they wanted to make some kind of statement, or make sure they got Yuuri's attention rather than start a war."
He wiggled his toes slightly, and pushed himself up to kiss Murata gently. "I wish you could come, but it's too dangerous to bring you too. Thank you for understanding." His fingers trailed down to flick open a button.
Murata smiled at Wolf - he looked so cute when he looked at him that way! "Of course, though I need to go get a cloth for that." The way Wolf was stroking his neck made that a difficult task, however.
"Yes, they probably weren't looking to start a war. Starting a war requires some degree of organization which they lack. The stones are simply symbols. Important symbols, but just symbols nonetheless. Chances are either they were trying to make a statement, or they were acting as a distraction, which would mean there's someone else behind all this..." Once again, Murata had gone into theory-brainstorming mode, though he was quickly snapped out of it with the kiss he received and the way a button was suddenly flicked open. He kissed Wolf back and ran his fingers through his hair again.
Now it was getting even more difficult to will himself to get a cloth to clean Wolf's ankle.
"You're probably right." Wolf agreed, of course he was, he was Geika.
Wolf sighed into the kiss. Kissing Murata always made him feel pleased, since he was the only one allowed to taste such forbidden fruit. He smiled and slipped his fingers down to the next button; he flicked it open and then lay back on the bed with a light-hearted giggle he tried to suppress. He put his hands behind his head, gave Murata a saucy, expectant look and wiggled the toes of his foot. Stretched out like that he was quite a treat to look at, and he was well aware of it too. “Please?” He ventured, knowing that would be the clincher to get what he wanted. "It shouldn't take you that long to get a cloth..."
Who didn’t want to hear that word from a Wolfram, anyway?
He even managed to wince a little from the pain of wiggling his toes.
Murata looked down at the tempting figure beneath him and giggled as well. Wolf knew exactly what to do to get what he wanted. It was quite impressive, given his age. Of course, Murata would expect no less from his Wolf.
"Alright, alright. But only because you asked nicely." He spoke playfully, leaning down for one more light kiss before getting up and heading over to the other side of the room where he found a suitable cloth. He dampened it a little using the water in the washbasin and was swiftly made his way back to the bed where Wolf was waiting for him.
He sat cross-legged by Wolf's feet and took a closer look at the ankle. It was swollen and would've been in a better condition if Wolf hadn't decided to ignore it, but at least there wasn't any internal damage. It was the kind of wound that was seen very frequently on a soldier who gave priority first to protect others, even if it meant ignoring his own injuries. And Wolf's innate stubbornness didn't help with that either.
Murata took the cloth and began gently cleaning the ankle, stroking it in circular motions while making sure not to put too much pressure on it. "Tell me if it hurts. You've been walking around with your ankle like this for a while, haven't you?" Typical.
He was quite concentrated on the task, though he wouldn't stop his eyes from trailing up Wolf's body several times, smirking a little each time he did.
Wolf whimpered slightly and closed his eyes when Murata’s hands began to work. “Thank you." he said in a soft small voice. "I've been noticing a twinge since the battle this morning but I guess I hadn’t realized how tight his grip was.” It was a blessing that he always wore boots. “It doesn’t hurt too much” he tried to reassure his lover.
If he said it did they might make him stay behind and he couldn’t, not now. “That feels good” he smiled as he opened his eyes again. “You’re hands always feel good. I have to be able to fight today. I have to protect the other Yuuri. That’s what his Wolfram would do, I’m sure.” He couldn’t imagine a Wolfram who wouldn’t though he supposed one would exist somewhere given all the various universes.
His tone changed to a more serious one. “Can you do anything to make it better temporarily? I’ll be careful, I just need to be able to ride and fight.”
Murata smiled at Wolf, realizing that the other was trying to reassure him. Years of experience had taught him to recognize small things like that in the tone of voice and facial expression.
"I'm glad it's helping. It'll hurt much less once I'm done, but that doesn't mean you can run around recklessly either, alright?" Wolf's version of being 'careful' could be quite strange sometimes.
He shrugged at the remark. "Well, who knows. Other worlds can be radically different, and can even be the complete opposite of this one. But...yes, a Wolfram who wouldn't protect his Yuuri is about as difficult to imagine as a dumb and oblivious version of me." He chuckled, obviously having praised himself with that remark. His expression then turned a little sweeter. "I'm glad you were the Wolfram who made it to this world. Do you think it was destiny? Or Shinou's doing, maybe?" He'd asked casually, but he was sincerely curious as to what Wolf would answer.
Murata closed his eyes and allowed some of his energy to flow through his hands into Wolf's ankle, as he had done the day the zombies attacked. It wouldn't heal it, but at least it would remove the pain temporarily and give Wolf the energy he probably would need later on. "There's only so much I can do here. You should still have a healer look at it as soon as possible."
Wolf grinned, “I’ll do the best I can not to get hurt.” It’s really all he can promise, after all. His ankle already felt better and he could put his boot back on and head out without any problems. He sat up and reached to take both of Murata’s hands in his. “You’ve done exactly what I need.” He reassured the other. “Whatever it was, I’m happy.” He let go of his lover’s hands, shifted himself closer and bent down to rest his head in his lover’s lap. His arms circled Murata and he gave a soft shuddering sigh.
Wolfram was quite flexible, as Geika knew. “I don’t know what it means.” He whispered honestly. “I was afraid of giving in to you, of accepting this. It’s so easy to lose when you have it.” He knew the consequences of that and how hard it had been to deal with. He’d felt like his heart might as well have stayed ripped from his chest.
“Shinou knows I didn’t handle it well. I’m not sure if he did it for me or you but whatever happens, I’m glad.”
“I...” he was about to say that he loved Murata but held himself back. He wasn’t sure why kept stalling. I love you.
How hard those words were to say when you had loved and lost so much. When the ring was finished, Murata would just know.
He sniffled slightly and cursed himself for being emotional every time he thought too much about Yuuri from his world and what he was doing here.
"That's all I needed to hear." Murata smiled and allowed Wolf to rest on his lap. His hands made their way to Wolf' hair again, gently stroking the locks to soothe his lover.
"It's better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all." It wasn't something easy to see at first, but when Murata looked back on his memories, he knew he wouldn't give up any experience, be it good or bad.
"You handled it just like anyone would have if they were in your position." He'd done things like that in his first few lives, he had to admit. "But no matter what, I'm glad as well."
He noticed Wolf's slight sniffle and he slowly moved his hands in slow circular motions to stroke the base of Wolf's neck, lingering near the white ribbon, then moved back up to his ear. He remained silent, cherishing the moment and giving Wolf time to think and gather his emotions.
That’s what he needed, just to be handled like that. Murata always seemed to know just what it was he was looking for, that’s what made him so special. He felt a hundred times better now and wished he could just settle in here and just let himself heal. It was only a little pain and he could handle it. Yuuri needed those stones back before the dignitaries got there. “Thank you.” Wolf said softly. His voice sounded much stronger now that he’d had time to collect himself.
Every day that he was in this world seemed strange and surreal. How long had it been again? 7 days? Sometimes he could barely control his emotion but he had to. He had no choice. He was given a second chance here.
“Just let me rest a few more minutes, and I’ll head out to meet Gunter.” His world was different than this one; he could see the many ways now. Subtle differences in relationships, Conrad and Wolfram, himself and Gunter and so forth, he supposed that he only had a better relationship with Gunter in his world because of the war.
He closed his eyes, everything he needed was right here, wrapped in his arms. If that was so, why did his heart still feel conflicted? Was it because he didn’t fully accept the situation? He didn’t know. He supposed it would take time. He also supposed he was still afraid. He was afraid to lose what he had gained, afraid it was a dream. With those lingering thoughts in his mind, he finally drifted to rest for a little while. In the next ten or twenty minutes he would simply think of nothing but the way Murata's fingers felt in his hair and he would be ready.
The sight that greeted him when he opened the door had to be one of the most adorable things he'd seen in this lifetime. Wolf was laying peacefully on Murata's bed, hugging his nightshirt close. He didn't want to interrupt that beautiful image, but the force that compelled him to walk over and sit on the bed beside Wolf was even stronger.
He reached out to thread his fingers through the slightly disheveled blond locks. "Mmm...I missed you." He spoke softly, glad to see Wolf was alright after all.
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And he was in one piece to. Reflecting on the battle, he was a bit surprised at that. If Gunter hadn’t shown up when he did, he didn’t want to think about what could have happened. He could fight against a Fire Mazoku but those Salamanders had tricks he wasn’t used to.
Then he realized he was still cuddling Murata's shirt like it was a security blanket and he blushed. "err..." He couldn't think of a single thing to say to explain it and simply just tucked it under his pillow, red-cheeked. "Heh..."
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"Well, at least you're here and in one piece now. Really, you seem to be disappearing into town quite often lately..." He grinned, remembering that keeping a fire Mazoku under control was about as difficult as taming fire itself.
He chuckled at Wolf's embarrassment, and gave him a happy little smile. "You know, now that I'm here you can cuddle me instead. I'm sure I'm much better at it than my shirt is." As he was moving closer, though, he noticed the state Wolf's foot was in. He straightened again, worry showing on his face, the same worry as when he'd seen the bursts of maryoku through the window. "Wolf, your ankle...what happened?"
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“Huh...” he shifted to look down and tried moving the ankle. “It was sore a while ago. When I was fighting with one of the Salamanders it lifted me upside down I thought I’d just bruised it or something. Ouch..” he grunted as twinge of pain shot up his foot. “Hurts a little.”
He shrugged. “Not that much... “ He tried to reassure Murata with another smile. Ah, conveniently he could dodge the question about town! Murata was focused on his foot. He reached over to grasp his lover’s jacket. “Come here and cuddle me then!”
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"It was a Salamander's doing?!" He immediately tensed. It had been a possibility he'd been dreading. He moved to inspect the ankle. "Well, at least it looks like your skin wasn't pierced." He sighed and relaxed again - the wound wouldn't be fatal.
He was caught off guard when Wolf took hold of his jacket. He happily complied to Wolf's request, and decided to catch him off guard in return by glomping him rather suddenly with a sheepish grin.
Though he had immediately noticed Wolf's desire to change the subject each time his trips to town were brought up. Well, Murata decided not to insist. Wolf would let him know eventually, he was sure of it.
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The laughter was short lived though. “Ah... how long have I been asleep? I have to go meet Gunter and the other Yuuri we’re going to track down the person who has the stones!” It couldn’t have been half an hour yet, he only just put his head on the pillow. He reached up to stroke his fingers against Murata’s ear.
“Please don’t worry.” He whispered softly. Just as he did that he couldn’t stop a slight cringe. Another sharp pain jutted up his ankle again. He started to flex it a bit to try and get the blood flowing again. He couldn’t afford to be limping around. Whatever was going on, he’d have to take the pain.
“I don’t want to leave your side, especially with these things about, but I don’t want Gunter to be the only one looking after the other Yuuri. He’s a Demon King in his world, I think and I have to be sure he’s protected as well.” He sighed. “Will you try and stay next to Conrad or Gwendal until I come back? Please?”
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He noticed Wolf cringe slightly, and then watched as Wolf flexed his injured ankle. "You should take care of that as soon as possible. Make sure it's clean, at the very least. The less time your skin is exposed to the venom, the faster it will heal."
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"I will be careful." He stroked from his lover's ear down his neck to the base of his throat. "I think that they wanted to make some kind of statement, or make sure they got Yuuri's attention rather than start a war."
He wiggled his toes slightly, and pushed himself up to kiss Murata gently. "I wish you could come, but it's too dangerous to bring you too. Thank you for understanding." His fingers trailed down to flick open a button.
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"Yes, they probably weren't looking to start a war. Starting a war requires some degree of organization which they lack. The stones are simply symbols. Important symbols, but just symbols nonetheless. Chances are either they were trying to make a statement, or they were acting as a distraction, which would mean there's someone else behind all this..." Once again, Murata had gone into theory-brainstorming mode, though he was quickly snapped out of it with the kiss he received and the way a button was suddenly flicked open. He kissed Wolf back and ran his fingers through his hair again.
Now it was getting even more difficult to will himself to get a cloth to clean Wolf's ankle.
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Wolf sighed into the kiss. Kissing Murata always made him feel pleased, since he was the only one allowed to taste such forbidden fruit. He smiled and slipped his fingers down to the next button; he flicked it open and then lay back on the bed with a light-hearted giggle he tried to suppress. He put his hands behind his head, gave Murata a saucy, expectant look and wiggled the toes of his foot. Stretched out like that he was quite a treat to look at, and he was well aware of it too. “Please?” He ventured, knowing that would be the clincher to get what he wanted. "It shouldn't take you that long to get a cloth..."
Who didn’t want to hear that word from a Wolfram, anyway?
He even managed to wince a little from the pain of wiggling his toes.
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"Alright, alright. But only because you asked nicely." He spoke playfully, leaning down for one more light kiss before getting up and heading over to the other side of the room where he found a suitable cloth. He dampened it a little using the water in the washbasin and was swiftly made his way back to the bed where Wolf was waiting for him.
He sat cross-legged by Wolf's feet and took a closer look at the ankle. It was swollen and would've been in a better condition if Wolf hadn't decided to ignore it, but at least there wasn't any internal damage. It was the kind of wound that was seen very frequently on a soldier who gave priority first to protect others, even if it meant ignoring his own injuries. And Wolf's innate stubbornness didn't help with that either.
Murata took the cloth and began gently cleaning the ankle, stroking it in circular motions while making sure not to put too much pressure on it. "Tell me if it hurts. You've been walking around with your ankle like this for a while, haven't you?" Typical.
He was quite concentrated on the task, though he wouldn't stop his eyes from trailing up Wolf's body several times, smirking a little each time he did.
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If he said it did they might make him stay behind and he couldn’t, not now. “That feels good” he smiled as he opened his eyes again. “You’re hands always feel good. I have to be able to fight today. I have to protect the other Yuuri. That’s what his Wolfram would do, I’m sure.” He couldn’t imagine a Wolfram who wouldn’t though he supposed one would exist somewhere given all the various universes.
His tone changed to a more serious one. “Can you do anything to make it better temporarily? I’ll be careful, I just need to be able to ride and fight.”
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"I'm glad it's helping. It'll hurt much less once I'm done, but that doesn't mean you can run around recklessly either, alright?" Wolf's version of being 'careful' could be quite strange sometimes.
He shrugged at the remark. "Well, who knows. Other worlds can be radically different, and can even be the complete opposite of this one. But...yes, a Wolfram who wouldn't protect his Yuuri is about as difficult to imagine as a dumb and oblivious version of me." He chuckled, obviously having praised himself with that remark. His expression then turned a little sweeter. "I'm glad you were the Wolfram who made it to this world. Do you think it was destiny? Or Shinou's doing, maybe?" He'd asked casually, but he was sincerely curious as to what Wolf would answer.
Murata closed his eyes and allowed some of his energy to flow through his hands into Wolf's ankle, as he had done the day the zombies attacked. It wouldn't heal it, but at least it would remove the pain temporarily and give Wolf the energy he probably would need later on. "There's only so much I can do here. You should still have a healer look at it as soon as possible."
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Wolfram was quite flexible, as Geika knew. “I don’t know what it means.” He whispered honestly. “I was afraid of giving in to you, of accepting this. It’s so easy to lose when you have it.” He knew the consequences of that and how hard it had been to deal with. He’d felt like his heart might as well have stayed ripped from his chest.
“Shinou knows I didn’t handle it well. I’m not sure if he did it for me or you but whatever happens, I’m glad.”
“I...” he was about to say that he loved Murata but held himself back. He wasn’t sure why kept stalling.
I love you.
How hard those words were to say when you had loved and lost so much.
When the ring was finished, Murata would just know.
He sniffled slightly and cursed himself for being emotional every time he thought too much about Yuuri from his world and what he was doing here.
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"It's better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all." It wasn't something easy to see at first, but when Murata looked back on his memories, he knew he wouldn't give up any experience, be it good or bad.
"You handled it just like anyone would have if they were in your position." He'd done things like that in his first few lives, he had to admit. "But no matter what, I'm glad as well."
He noticed Wolf's slight sniffle and he slowly moved his hands in slow circular motions to stroke the base of Wolf's neck, lingering near the white ribbon, then moved back up to his ear. He remained silent, cherishing the moment and giving Wolf time to think and gather his emotions.
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Every day that he was in this world seemed strange and surreal. How long had it been again? 7 days? Sometimes he could barely control his emotion but he had to. He had no choice. He was given a second chance here.
“Just let me rest a few more minutes, and I’ll head out to meet Gunter.”
His world was different than this one; he could see the many ways now. Subtle differences in relationships, Conrad and Wolfram, himself and Gunter and so forth, he supposed that he only had a better relationship with Gunter in his world because of the war.
He closed his eyes, everything he needed was right here, wrapped in his arms. If that was so, why did his heart still feel conflicted? Was it because he didn’t fully accept the situation? He didn’t know. He supposed it would take time. He also supposed he was still afraid. He was afraid to lose what he had gained, afraid it was a dream. With those lingering thoughts in his mind, he finally drifted to rest for a little while. In the next ten or twenty minutes he would simply think of nothing but the way Murata's fingers felt in his hair and he would be ready.
Gunter would wait.
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