Broken Bird: Chapter 7 (End)
<<= Chapter 6 Beginning ArchiveEnd
Title: Broken Bird: Chapter 7
Author: saurgristiel (supplemented by b-sim)
Rating: PG-13
Pairings/Characters: Hyde (Hideto) & Gackt (Satoru), Ken, KAZ (Kazu), misc OCs
Genre: Historical,
Disclaimer: Don’t own them, just the idea.
Warnings: Language
Words: 1,722
Summary: Satoru and Hideto are sleep deprived from Satoru’s nightmares and Hideto tries to fix it.
Notes: Yay! Happy ending!
~~~
Hideto sat at his desk, scrutinizing Satoru as he made tea for them both. He noticed little trembles in some of Satoru’s movements, but that comes from his Satoru Sense. No one else would have noticed. It had been 21 days since Satoru’s abduction and rescue. 15 days since he’d been getting stronger every day.
And 14 days since the nightmares had started.
It wasn’t until 10 days ago that the nightmares had started disrupting Hideto’s sleep. They’d started out normal enough: Satoru startling awake, crying, snuggling, and going back to sleep. They were getting worse and Hideto worried that Satoru would accidentally expose their relationship, or that these nightmares might even break Satoru. No matter what Hideto tried, he couldn’t prevent them or stop them, or wake Satoru, once they started. All he could do was restrain Satoru so that he didn’t hurt himself.
And he couldn’t get Satoru to talk about it.
Something was eating at Satoru, he knew that. He guessed that it was something that happened when he’d been abducted. Satoru always had an imagination… Was his mind making stuff up? Hideto wished he could make Satoru tell him so he could fix it. But no matter how much he prodded, Satoru wouldn’t elaborate. It was costing him sleep and starting to make him irritable.
He turned his attention back to the papers in front of him. Something about someone… Blah blah blah. Six pages? Why was this drivel even on his desk?
“Hideto?”
“What?!” The sound of wood and ceramic hitting the tatami made him come back to his senses. He’d just snapped at Satoru. His Sa-chan. He never snapped at him, even when he felt his crappiest. “I-I…”
Satoru was shaking and starting to clean up what he’d dropped. He kept his face down, to try to hide the instant tears running down his cheeks. Stupid… “I-I’m sorry… I’ll clean this up and leave you al-”
“Sa-chan, I’m so sorry. I…”
Satoru’s hand lingered on a cup after setting it back on the tray. His shoulders jerked and he folded in half, sobbing with his face in his hand. He’d been trying so hard to put on a brave face. He was just so tired, more tired of these nightmares than Hideto was. He woke up exhausted and achy in the morning.
“Sa-chan…” Hideto got up, moved the tray, and pulled Satoru so he could cry on his knees. He stroked Satoru’s shoulders, trying to get him to calm down.
“I’m sorry…” They both started, but Hideto continued, “I didn’t mean to snap at you… I’m just cranky… And some of the papers on my desk are ridiculous. These two farmers are fighting over baby chicks…” That made Satoru’s shoulders twitch in a way Hideto knew wasn’t a sob. Hideto smiled a little and kept going, “One farmer’s rooster got into the other’s henhouse. Now they want me to decide who the chicks belong to… Such petty arguments…”
Satoru sniffed.
“Sa-chan…”
“I just wish things were back to normal…”
“So do I…” He stroked the back of Satoru’s head. “Why don’t’ you go do something with Ken or Kazu?” Satoru shook his head. Hideto had work to do… But Satoru always came first. “Want to go riding?” Another shake. “Sit on the porch?” Yet another shake.
~~~
They spent the afternoon like that, then got some dinner from the kitchen. Great tasting, but nothing compared to what Satoru cooks. At dark, they pretty much collapsed in each other’s arms.
That night was the worst one yet with the thrashing and screaming. It was enough to wake Ken and Kazu in their nearby rooms. Ken came inside to lend moral support and Kazu played interference just in case someone came wondering.
Hideto resolved that he was going to make this better, starting in the morning.
~~~
Satoru forced his eyes open to the brightness of the room. He didn’t have to look around to know that Hideto wasn’t there. As tired as he was, he didn’t want to close his eyes. The nightmares had been too awful for words that night. Satoru shuddered at the thought of them. Why couldn’t he get rid of them? Was he cursed? Did he do something to upset the gods? The tears stung as they welled up in his eyes.
“Sa-chan, time to wake up.” Came Hideto’s cheerful-with a-hint-of-tiredness voice through the door. Satoru wondered what time it was since Hideto sounded so awake. The door slid open and Hideto smiled, happy to see Satoru awake, as he walked in with a four-level bento. “Good Morning Sa-chan.”
“Good morning…” He sat up and wiped “the sleep” from his eyes.
“You ready for some breakfast? Looks yummy today.”
“I’m not real-”
Grrrrrr
“Uh huh…” Hideto smiled at Satoru and handed him a pair of chopsticks. He took the top layer off and handed it to Satoru.
“I took the whole day off,” Hideto announced as he picked up the second layer.
“Mwhat?” Satoru said with a mouth full of food.
“Yep. You heard me.” Hideto looked at Satoru seriously. “Now eat.”
~~~
After breakfast and a bath, Hideto set down the rules for the day. Satoru didn’t like them, he wanted to run from them, but he trusted and loved Hideto. He had to do this.
“Now, you’ve been bottling it up for three weeks… What happened?”
Satoru bit his lip and spent the next hour telling Hideto what he knew had happened.
Satoru was now lying on Hideto’s lap, his features being traced by his lover. Hideto was once again upset about the violence done to his love, but his talk with Mizuho had cleared a lot of things up for him.
“What have the nightmares been about?” Satoru shifted with nervousness. “It’s been eating at you for three weeks, Sa-chan… It’s time to let it out…”
A tear slipped from Satoru’s eye. “Th-they’re all variations of what happened… They used to stop with real events and I woke up… But they’ve been getting longer and more vivid and they’re morphing into things that didn’t happen. L-Last night’s…” Satoru hiccupped, on the verge of crying, “Last… night’s…”
“Shhh… You’re alright… Tell me…”
Satoru’s reply was broken up with a lot of sobs, but Hideto could make most of it out: The nightmare men had overpowered Hideto, raped them both, killed Hideto, and kept raping the two of them while mutilating Hideto. No wonder he had thrashed and screamed so much. Hideto should have anticipated this. After he’d fought Itaraki and come home to an almost dead Satoru, he should have realized that something this bad could bring the nightmares back. Add that to the fact that Hideto was the only one Satoru wanted touching him in that way and now some other man had nearly done that…
Hideto spent the next two hours comforting Satoru and listening to his rambling.
It was soon time for lunch and Ken came by with the food. Ken ate lunch with them and then took the dishes back to the kitchen. Hideto had told him of his plans, and while he didn’t like the stress he’d seen in Satoru’s eyes, he could sense that maybe a small weight had been lifted from the younger man’s soul.
Hideto’s next event planned for the day was a walk into town. It was a fight and a half to convince Satoru, but he finally agreed. They got into town with no troubles and had Ken following at a distance just in case something happened.
Hideto meandered them both toward an alley while Satoru was too busy looking at the rest of the street to notice. “Sa-chan, let’s take this shortcut.”
“Hmm?” But they were already in the alley when he realized Hideto had spoken. He scanned the alley and slowed down. “H-Hideto...”
Hideto turned, his grip still solid on Satoru’s left wrist. He looked down at their hands and saw how much Satoru was shaking. “Sa-chan…” He reached up to stroke Satoru’s cheek.
Satoru flinched back and squeezed his eyes shut.
“Sa-chan…” He pulled his lover into his embrace, trying to calm him. They were halfway through this alley already, maybe…
“Sa-chan…” He heard Satoru sob. “Shhhh…” He stroked the back of his head and neck and very slowly took a step back, bringing Satoru with him. Apparently that was too fast because Satoru tightened his grip with a soft ‘no’.
He continued to coddle Satoru and gently bring him through the alley. What should have been a quick 20 strides took them half an hour.
As they were about to pop out onto the street again, Hideto said, “Sa-chan, look up.” And put his finger beneath Satoru’s chin.
Scared eyes looked at Hideto and then realized they were nearly in the street.
“Nothing happened to you, Sa-chan.” Hideto smiled up at him.
“N-n-nothing…” Satoru’s breathing started to calm.
“And, I guess if you want to stay home all the time and not go out, I could understand that… But I’d miss all our walks and such…” He looked up to see if he could guilt trip his lover.
“Th-That one…” He couldn’t even look back at the alley. “That was… Three weeks ago…”
Realization hit Hideto. “Where you were abducted from…”
Satoru nodded and stumbled a little with the force of Hideto’s hug.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know…”
“It’s okay…” He cautiously hugged Hideto back; they were in public after all. Which Hideto realized and stiffened back up.
Though, Satoru’s prettiness could come in handy. From a distance, the Lord might just be hugging a woman. A very tall woman.
“Let’s finish your errand from that day, huh Sa-chan?”
Satoru sniffed, wiped his eyes, and nodded.
~~~
That night, Hideto stayed awake for as long as he could, watching Satoru sleep. There were some twitches and soft murmurs, but nothing like the nights before. But that was how it usually was.
Satoru would seem to be sleeping just fine, Hideto would fall asleep and well before morning Satoru would be in the claws of a nightmare. It kept Hideto awake the rest of the night, like a guardian spirit. This fear kept Hideto in a light sleep, but his weeks of exhaustion made him give in and he found a deep, restful, dreamless sleep.
As did Satoru.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Poll
<<= Chapter 6 Beginning ArchiveEnd
Title: Broken Bird: Chapter 7
Author: saurgristiel (supplemented by b-sim)
Rating: PG-13
Pairings/Characters: Hyde (Hideto) & Gackt (Satoru), Ken, KAZ (Kazu), misc OCs
Genre: Historical,
Disclaimer: Don’t own them, just the idea.
Warnings: Language
Words: 1,722
Summary: Satoru and Hideto are sleep deprived from Satoru’s nightmares and Hideto tries to fix it.
Notes: Yay! Happy ending!
~~~
Hideto sat at his desk, scrutinizing Satoru as he made tea for them both. He noticed little trembles in some of Satoru’s movements, but that comes from his Satoru Sense. No one else would have noticed. It had been 21 days since Satoru’s abduction and rescue. 15 days since he’d been getting stronger every day.
And 14 days since the nightmares had started.
It wasn’t until 10 days ago that the nightmares had started disrupting Hideto’s sleep. They’d started out normal enough: Satoru startling awake, crying, snuggling, and going back to sleep. They were getting worse and Hideto worried that Satoru would accidentally expose their relationship, or that these nightmares might even break Satoru. No matter what Hideto tried, he couldn’t prevent them or stop them, or wake Satoru, once they started. All he could do was restrain Satoru so that he didn’t hurt himself.
And he couldn’t get Satoru to talk about it.
Something was eating at Satoru, he knew that. He guessed that it was something that happened when he’d been abducted. Satoru always had an imagination… Was his mind making stuff up? Hideto wished he could make Satoru tell him so he could fix it. But no matter how much he prodded, Satoru wouldn’t elaborate. It was costing him sleep and starting to make him irritable.
He turned his attention back to the papers in front of him. Something about someone… Blah blah blah. Six pages? Why was this drivel even on his desk?
“Hideto?”
“What?!” The sound of wood and ceramic hitting the tatami made him come back to his senses. He’d just snapped at Satoru. His Sa-chan. He never snapped at him, even when he felt his crappiest. “I-I…”
Satoru was shaking and starting to clean up what he’d dropped. He kept his face down, to try to hide the instant tears running down his cheeks. Stupid… “I-I’m sorry… I’ll clean this up and leave you al-”
“Sa-chan, I’m so sorry. I…”
Satoru’s hand lingered on a cup after setting it back on the tray. His shoulders jerked and he folded in half, sobbing with his face in his hand. He’d been trying so hard to put on a brave face. He was just so tired, more tired of these nightmares than Hideto was. He woke up exhausted and achy in the morning.
“Sa-chan…” Hideto got up, moved the tray, and pulled Satoru so he could cry on his knees. He stroked Satoru’s shoulders, trying to get him to calm down.
“I’m sorry…” They both started, but Hideto continued, “I didn’t mean to snap at you… I’m just cranky… And some of the papers on my desk are ridiculous. These two farmers are fighting over baby chicks…” That made Satoru’s shoulders twitch in a way Hideto knew wasn’t a sob. Hideto smiled a little and kept going, “One farmer’s rooster got into the other’s henhouse. Now they want me to decide who the chicks belong to… Such petty arguments…”
Satoru sniffed.
“Sa-chan…”
“I just wish things were back to normal…”
“So do I…” He stroked the back of Satoru’s head. “Why don’t’ you go do something with Ken or Kazu?” Satoru shook his head. Hideto had work to do… But Satoru always came first. “Want to go riding?” Another shake. “Sit on the porch?” Yet another shake.
~~~
They spent the afternoon like that, then got some dinner from the kitchen. Great tasting, but nothing compared to what Satoru cooks. At dark, they pretty much collapsed in each other’s arms.
That night was the worst one yet with the thrashing and screaming. It was enough to wake Ken and Kazu in their nearby rooms. Ken came inside to lend moral support and Kazu played interference just in case someone came wondering.
Hideto resolved that he was going to make this better, starting in the morning.
~~~
Satoru forced his eyes open to the brightness of the room. He didn’t have to look around to know that Hideto wasn’t there. As tired as he was, he didn’t want to close his eyes. The nightmares had been too awful for words that night. Satoru shuddered at the thought of them. Why couldn’t he get rid of them? Was he cursed? Did he do something to upset the gods? The tears stung as they welled up in his eyes.
“Sa-chan, time to wake up.” Came Hideto’s cheerful-with a-hint-of-tiredness voice through the door. Satoru wondered what time it was since Hideto sounded so awake. The door slid open and Hideto smiled, happy to see Satoru awake, as he walked in with a four-level bento. “Good Morning Sa-chan.”
“Good morning…” He sat up and wiped “the sleep” from his eyes.
“You ready for some breakfast? Looks yummy today.”
“I’m not real-”
Grrrrrr
“Uh huh…” Hideto smiled at Satoru and handed him a pair of chopsticks. He took the top layer off and handed it to Satoru.
“I took the whole day off,” Hideto announced as he picked up the second layer.
“Mwhat?” Satoru said with a mouth full of food.
“Yep. You heard me.” Hideto looked at Satoru seriously. “Now eat.”
~~~
After breakfast and a bath, Hideto set down the rules for the day. Satoru didn’t like them, he wanted to run from them, but he trusted and loved Hideto. He had to do this.
“Now, you’ve been bottling it up for three weeks… What happened?”
Satoru bit his lip and spent the next hour telling Hideto what he knew had happened.
Satoru was now lying on Hideto’s lap, his features being traced by his lover. Hideto was once again upset about the violence done to his love, but his talk with Mizuho had cleared a lot of things up for him.
“What have the nightmares been about?” Satoru shifted with nervousness. “It’s been eating at you for three weeks, Sa-chan… It’s time to let it out…”
A tear slipped from Satoru’s eye. “Th-they’re all variations of what happened… They used to stop with real events and I woke up… But they’ve been getting longer and more vivid and they’re morphing into things that didn’t happen. L-Last night’s…” Satoru hiccupped, on the verge of crying, “Last… night’s…”
“Shhh… You’re alright… Tell me…”
Satoru’s reply was broken up with a lot of sobs, but Hideto could make most of it out: The nightmare men had overpowered Hideto, raped them both, killed Hideto, and kept raping the two of them while mutilating Hideto. No wonder he had thrashed and screamed so much. Hideto should have anticipated this. After he’d fought Itaraki and come home to an almost dead Satoru, he should have realized that something this bad could bring the nightmares back. Add that to the fact that Hideto was the only one Satoru wanted touching him in that way and now some other man had nearly done that…
Hideto spent the next two hours comforting Satoru and listening to his rambling.
It was soon time for lunch and Ken came by with the food. Ken ate lunch with them and then took the dishes back to the kitchen. Hideto had told him of his plans, and while he didn’t like the stress he’d seen in Satoru’s eyes, he could sense that maybe a small weight had been lifted from the younger man’s soul.
Hideto’s next event planned for the day was a walk into town. It was a fight and a half to convince Satoru, but he finally agreed. They got into town with no troubles and had Ken following at a distance just in case something happened.
Hideto meandered them both toward an alley while Satoru was too busy looking at the rest of the street to notice. “Sa-chan, let’s take this shortcut.”
“Hmm?” But they were already in the alley when he realized Hideto had spoken. He scanned the alley and slowed down. “H-Hideto...”
Hideto turned, his grip still solid on Satoru’s left wrist. He looked down at their hands and saw how much Satoru was shaking. “Sa-chan…” He reached up to stroke Satoru’s cheek.
Satoru flinched back and squeezed his eyes shut.
“Sa-chan…” He pulled his lover into his embrace, trying to calm him. They were halfway through this alley already, maybe…
“Sa-chan…” He heard Satoru sob. “Shhhh…” He stroked the back of his head and neck and very slowly took a step back, bringing Satoru with him. Apparently that was too fast because Satoru tightened his grip with a soft ‘no’.
He continued to coddle Satoru and gently bring him through the alley. What should have been a quick 20 strides took them half an hour.
As they were about to pop out onto the street again, Hideto said, “Sa-chan, look up.” And put his finger beneath Satoru’s chin.
Scared eyes looked at Hideto and then realized they were nearly in the street.
“Nothing happened to you, Sa-chan.” Hideto smiled up at him.
“N-n-nothing…” Satoru’s breathing started to calm.
“And, I guess if you want to stay home all the time and not go out, I could understand that… But I’d miss all our walks and such…” He looked up to see if he could guilt trip his lover.
“Th-That one…” He couldn’t even look back at the alley. “That was… Three weeks ago…”
Realization hit Hideto. “Where you were abducted from…”
Satoru nodded and stumbled a little with the force of Hideto’s hug.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know…”
“It’s okay…” He cautiously hugged Hideto back; they were in public after all. Which Hideto realized and stiffened back up.
Though, Satoru’s prettiness could come in handy. From a distance, the Lord might just be hugging a woman. A very tall woman.
“Let’s finish your errand from that day, huh Sa-chan?”
Satoru sniffed, wiped his eyes, and nodded.
~~~
That night, Hideto stayed awake for as long as he could, watching Satoru sleep. There were some twitches and soft murmurs, but nothing like the nights before. But that was how it usually was.
Satoru would seem to be sleeping just fine, Hideto would fall asleep and well before morning Satoru would be in the claws of a nightmare. It kept Hideto awake the rest of the night, like a guardian spirit. This fear kept Hideto in a light sleep, but his weeks of exhaustion made him give in and he found a deep, restful, dreamless sleep.
As did Satoru.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Poll
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