drabbles; vortex world vignettes

[beech]

→ for Kia
→ naoki, yang

→ triumphant
Naoki’s not one for boasting, unless it’s the type that’ll heckle an unwilling demon into battling with him or joining him… No, he can’t really feel triumphant after his victories when he doesn’t like fighting in this world. He wouldn’t have liked it before, either, he’s never been the type to turn to his fists first and words later.

But—

Enjoying Yang’s triumphs are an entirely different story.

When she slams a demon down with a well-aimed punch, eyes bright and a grin on her face as she brings her feet back to the ground with a solid thud… and when she’s dusting off her palms and turning to face him with a cock of her head… he can’t help but grin along with her.


→ glow
The first time Naoki’s marks had glowed yellow instead of green, Yang hadn’t known what to do—he seemed just as surprised. A curse, they learned later, and Yang teased him for a time over him giving her such an easy indication of when things went wrong…

But, she never wanted to see those marks glow red.

It meant supporting Naoki as he struggled to stand or it meant fighting harder to protect him as they neared the end of a battle, not there yet but so close, she had to win or he might, he might—

She came to appreciate green much more in the Vortex World. Sometimes, when they were that colour, normal, and Naoki was distracted enough that it’d take him a moment to react (with one of those blushes she liked seeing), she’d wander over to him and lean to press her lips to one dark line edged with green in silent gratitude.


→ pressure
“Nng—gah—”

Naoki was facefirst in his own arms, groaning something as Yang pressed her palms against his back, still balking at how tight his muscles were. “You can take it, demon lord,” she encouraged, heels of her hands pressing up, tight to skin. He’d probably taken worse from demon after demon… and that was probably why his body was all wound up tighter than anything.

She had to wonder if his reactions were all pain, given that his shoulders were rucking up (subtle, but she was paying attention) every time she slid her hands up his back to warm the muscles, rub massaged places soothingly. There was no avoiding the marks on his back…

Maybe that was why. Yang looked down at the back of his head and she was sure Naoki knew about it (he had a tendency to know things like when he was being watched) but his ears only reddened and he didn’t turn his head.

Grinning, she cracked her knuckles.

“By the way, that was just a warm up.”


→ caress
Yang’s not often caught off guard, especially in the Vortex World that needs the high guard, but sometimes, Naoki manages. Not like she’ll let him know that. On occasion, he touches when she doesn’t expect it, after a battle, his tattooed fingers reaching out to her hair, tucking an errant piece behind one of her ears.

He always has a thoughtful look when he does, and she notices how gentle his caresses are, the careful touch of his fingers to her ear or her jaw.

Like she’s made of glass.

Its why, occasionally, she has to remind him that she’s not. She’ll plant her hand on his chest, back him up to a wall to his shocked expression, trace and scratch ever so gently at the lines along his throat and chest until she has him shuddering and weak-kneed and he forgets his silly thoughts of how she’s a delicate human.


→ choice
One of the things that made Yang angriest about the Vortex World was that, more often than not, it never gave them a choice. Not a true one. Maybe everyone who could come up with a Reason had a choice, but then, what about Naoki?

While she might have heard that voice in the beginning, she also had no desire to try and recreate the world… but Naoki was pushed this way and that and she saw the toll it had on him. How, as time passed and more things happened, as his friends slowly became pseudo-Fiends and turned away from him, how it wore him down, hearing again and again that what he might be fighting for was an exercise in futility.

But he didn’t have a choice but to keep fighting.

That’s why, at least when they were together, she tried to give him the ones that she could. Even if they were small—the choice to take her offered hand, the choice to turn into her if she held out her arm to him while they rested, a choice in the way that he wanted to be with her, close to her…

Yang wanted to do that much for him. He was worth more than that, but sooner rather than later he’d have more. She was determined to fight with him, fight for that freedom of his as much as the world he fought so hard for.


→ finale
It’s the final fight, the end of it, the finale, the last act before the curtain falls. Kagutsuchi curses them, curses their freedom, for defying all of the Reasons given to them and Naoki’s grim-faced and worn after everything. Yang clasps his hand tight in hers before the fight, exchanging a look with him.

Determined. Nervous. But, not enough to stop them now. Nothing could stop them any longer, not after they’ve been through hell completely.

Both she and he fight like they never have, with the knowledge this is the last time they’ll have to do so, the only chance that they get to try to set it right, to fix everything that everyone else broke and left to them and only them—

And as light pours over them, as Kagutsuchi’s body bursts into arrows of light, Yang slips her hand into Naoki’s again.

“I’ll find you there,” he says, glancing over with a smile that’s much at odds with the way his hand violently shakes in hers. She tightens her grip.

“I don’t think so.” Laughing, she tips her face up as the light grows blinding, too much for them to see each other any longer. There’s only the warmth of their hands connected with each other and words before everything fades completely: “I’m definitely going to find you.”