[Team Two] Between the Battles
I'm excited for a new round. I decided to start off writing a new fandom for the first time.
Riou tilted his face up to the sky above them and closed his eyes.
"Does it hurt?" Jakurai asked.
"It's fine," Riou replied. They both knew it was a non-answer to an empty question. Yes, it hurt. No, he wasn't in any real danger. No, asking wouldn't make the pain go away, but it was familiar, and it filled the empty space.
Jakurai pulled the bandages tighter around Riou's ribs. They eased the ache, even if they made it harder to breathe.
"Your next territory battle isn't until next week," Jakurai said. "Rest until then, but take the bandages off tomorrow."
"I'll be fine," Riou replied, brushing away Jakurai's hand as he stood. He'd be more careful too. Jyuuto and Samatoki and their cushy apartments were clearly making him soft. He never would have dropped his guard like this before; it probably served him right to have been caught in a trap outside his camp while his head was in the clouds. He'd defeated the thugs trying to steal his hypnosis mic easily enough, but not without earning a couple of broken ribs for his troubles.
"Riou?"
Riou pulled himself back to the present to where Jakurai still stood opposite him. It was probably a mistake to drop one's guard around an enemy too, but Jakurai was different. Jakurai understood in a way that no one else could. Everyone knew about Riou's military-grade hypnosis mic (it was how he'd ended up here in the first place tonight), but no one seemed to remember that Jakurai's came from the same stock.
In a week, they would face one another as enemies in a territory battle. Now they were, if not allies, then at least neutral parties.
It wasn't the first time they'd met like this in the liminal space between battles, and it probably wouldn't be the last.
You're up clearlykero
Riou tilted his face up to the sky above them and closed his eyes.
"Does it hurt?" Jakurai asked.
"It's fine," Riou replied. They both knew it was a non-answer to an empty question. Yes, it hurt. No, he wasn't in any real danger. No, asking wouldn't make the pain go away, but it was familiar, and it filled the empty space.
Jakurai pulled the bandages tighter around Riou's ribs. They eased the ache, even if they made it harder to breathe.
"Your next territory battle isn't until next week," Jakurai said. "Rest until then, but take the bandages off tomorrow."
"I'll be fine," Riou replied, brushing away Jakurai's hand as he stood. He'd be more careful too. Jyuuto and Samatoki and their cushy apartments were clearly making him soft. He never would have dropped his guard like this before; it probably served him right to have been caught in a trap outside his camp while his head was in the clouds. He'd defeated the thugs trying to steal his hypnosis mic easily enough, but not without earning a couple of broken ribs for his troubles.
"Riou?"
Riou pulled himself back to the present to where Jakurai still stood opposite him. It was probably a mistake to drop one's guard around an enemy too, but Jakurai was different. Jakurai understood in a way that no one else could. Everyone knew about Riou's military-grade hypnosis mic (it was how he'd ended up here in the first place tonight), but no one seemed to remember that Jakurai's came from the same stock.
In a week, they would face one another as enemies in a territory battle. Now they were, if not allies, then at least neutral parties.
It wasn't the first time they'd met like this in the liminal space between battles, and it probably wouldn't be the last.
You're up clearlykero