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It’s in the Spring that tigers typically have their young. Sun gently showers the beautiful life it has birthed, showing all creatures the joys yet to be discovered in the vast act of living. A plethora of colors illuminate paths that have yet to be taken and provide optimal time to decide where the future awaits for its creations. Gently cradling the innocence of the newborn, the mother will do all it can to accrue good karma for her cub. It is only natural to want the best for such an undefined vessel.
The need to raise, protect, and nurture their cub is the driving force that houses their fierce outward appearance. It takes fear to be defensive, but the innate urge to protect is one done through love. The jaws that snapped and threatened others gently opened to clean their child, soothing and showcasing how powerful a mother’s love could be.
It also takes love to let go.
Tigers, if you can blame nature, are solitary creatures. Once a mother has raised her cub, it is up to the cub to decide the opportunities it will devour under the Sun’s graceful watch. To live the life of a tiger was to live a quiet and peaceful life.
Much like a cub, Haruka pooled from the Sun’s abundance of love and was brought into being a month into the Spring season.
It takes a vessel and a curious soul to discover there is more to life than nurturement and isolation. Water can be gentle and run down his leg in the bath, creating small waves that capture Haruka’s rapt attention as he wonders how short of a time the concentric circles exist within his field of vision. But he also learned how harsh a previously soothing entity could be, cruel cascades drumming on his skull and warning the young cub it is not an opportune moment to explore the yard. Unlike his previous mentor of changing natures, the trees that shared his name also served to teach the young cub the grueling truth of life. The sun would kiss the barren trees, and much like a mother, the rain would quietly nurture them, showering the germinating blossoms with love until their full bloom.
Yet, despite the love the pink petals would receive, Haruka would watch as the howling winds plucked the blossoms one by one, ending their short but blissful lives and making room for new life. A pre-paved life was sketched together for the flowers, from a life of nurturement to the isolation on the ground leading to death; this was the life of a Sakura.
As the saying goes, curiosity kills the cat. Haruka would have to act “incorrectly” and be reprimanded to learn what was expected of his person. No Haruka, you can’t go past the yard. It’s not safe. The caretaker would chide, pushing the child into a windowless room to encapsulate the restraint from freedom that was needed of him. It’s to reflect. They would scold, adding more time to his sentence. Reflect was such a strange word, as for something to reflect, light is necessary.
There was nothing to see in such a dark room, a tail curling around the child to shake off the ever growing absence of feeling. Little warmth could be provided by tatami mats at the end of their lives, his tiny body scrunching up on itself for some sort of comfort that it so desperately craved. Heat blistered his cheeks as white ears pinned back, the child losing composure and resembling a quivering leaf in the wind.
It was difficult to cry, either due to his poor hydration or curiosity getting the best of him several times before, teaching him No, you’re not allowed to cry.
He was better than that, since he is not a normal child. A beast is a more accurate title for him. To be alone, to get used to solitude as his parents have told him. That is the life given to the vessel of a yokai.
Since birth, it was very apparent to those around him that he was chosen to house Byakko. From the white and black hair that matched the tiger, to the heterochromic blue and yellow eyes that allowed him to see the spirits, Haruka was the prime candidate after all. As the scruffy little boy grew, so did the impatience of those around him. Their investment had yet to showcase any prowess, power, or possibility of having traits of a powerful yokai. All they had to show was a caged kitten that couldn’t listen to the directions of others.
Byakko had yet to be awakened, and neither had their interest in raising such a monster.
Raising was a stretch, since to learn there had to be an understandable reason as to why things were the way they are. Haruka was provided with an empty room, adequate meals, and caretakers, but another hunger festered inside of him that could not be pacified with a false perception of care. The love of a mother holding him close, or even a taste of freedom was what he craved.
Over time, however, Haruka learned he would never receive those things. A wooden door slammed as his body hit the dull tatami mat, the sound of a lock clicking reverberating throughout the vacant room.
That’ll teach that monster not to steal a caretaker proclaimed to another outside his enclosure.
What was stealing? Haruka wondered. All he wanted to do was eat so he set out by himself and grabbed a bowl of plain rice from the kitchen. If nothing belonged to Haruka but everything was for the very absent Byakko, what was his purpose of being alive?
The child sucked in air through his teeth, bringing his tail to his front and hugging it close.
If it was Haruka's decision, he would have been the dormant soul in his body. Wouldn’t everyone have been so much happier if he didn’t exist all together?
An earthquake from his stomach caused the child to cave into himself, trembling and insensate to whatever stimuli could present itself in this miserable hell. Slowly, Haruka felt his conscious give out, a cold throbbing spreading throughout his small frame. Byakko represented the Earth, and in this moment, the young child wished the ground would rise to his beckoning and swallow him whole.
Then, a loud crash resonated as the ears that sat on the top of his head pang up with the rest of his body. Howling winds raced through the hall, forcefully lashing against the door that confined him.
Within an instant, the wood door crashed down, the winds rushing to gather around Haruka and nudge at him like dogs reuniting with their owner.
“Be strong,” a voice whispered in the corner of his soul. Haruka was used to the voices that teased him from beyond the door, yet this one was oddly soothing with its reassurance. “Go explore the world, little cub. Show others how strong the autumn wind is.”
The consequence of curiosity could be death, but Haruka was willing to take that chance if it meant having the fleeting experience of life. Breathing in the invigorating air, the child felt more alive than he ever had walking out that door.
Like most mornings, Haruka awoke with a start. The cracking of joints and relieved sigh took the place of utter silence that occupied the small space, the boy rising to wash off the sweat of guilt that layered his skin from the previous night’s memories.
After showering, he would don the worn out clothing that has sufficed thus far, and then wring out the water that clung to the stubborn hairs of his tail. For an animal that was supposed to hate water, Haruka didn’t mind it. Animals fear out of misunderstanding. There were much scarier things out there that crossed Haruka’s mind.
Later, he would scour the cupboards in search of a sliver of food that could please his stomach’s insistent cries. If he found it, then the outlook of his day wasn’t all bad. The tiger host would spend his time laid supine, staring at the rotting ceiling of his rundown apartment and wondering what grandiose life he would have lived if he stayed stuck in that cage. On bad days however, he would grab a hoodie and search for jobs to do. It was an act of survival. All animals need to eat until they’re ready to meet their promised end.
Today was a new day, and one that called for deviation from Sakura’s usual rhythm of life.
Haruka grabbed his new coat of white lining with blue, fluffy tufts–forsaking his usual hoodie–and departed into the newly risen sun.
The walk to Furin wasn't long, but it surely wasn't a quiet one.
“What the hell?! Why are our uniforms so different?” Sakura yelled, his tail rigorously smacked with his displeasure.
Opposed to Nirei’s dark coat, Haruka’s was a bright white with stripes patterned on the back. Blue puffs decorated the collar and ends of the coat, mimicking the blue wisps that commonly appeared in the art of his heavenly beast. Despite his displeasure at being singled out, Byakko’s spirit warmed with pride within their shared vessel.
“I'm sure it's to show appreciation to Byakko, Sakura! It isn't every day a yokai host is among our class,” Nirei chided, letting out a bashful laugh to pacify him.
Sakura scoffed in return, whatever.
Still taking his response positively, Nirei smiled before redirecting his attention to the old board with their class lists. Curiously, Haruka watched Nirei’s observant gaze and noted the way his face fell flat as his eyes tracked down the list.
“Hey Sakura, how well can you control Byakko?” His suddenly high pitched tone asked.
“Huh?! What’re you trying to say?” Sakura spat back.
Nirei's hands shook as he made a gesture as if he was calming down a frightened horse. Except instead of an animal twice his size, Sakura was only a few inches taller, but still capable of doing the same damage if he was so easily subdued by Byakko’s rage.
“It’s not that you’re the problem!” Nirei corrected, almost a bit too loudly. “It’s just… have you ever been around another yokai?”
It had been a few years since Sakura could say he had. Yokai, in and of itself, are extremely rare in their current setting. Back a few centuries ago, it would have been common to see yokai and humans paired together, a symbiotic relationship to keep the both of them alive. But as the world aged, the need for yokai to survive was an outdated thought.
It was just a nekomata spirit he had seen last, one too similar to him in appearance and disposition towards all things living. “Be careful, kid.” They had said to him, unsure if this was the human or spirit speaking a warning. “Hunters of yokai are on the rise. They’ll do anything to claim a spirit as rare as you.”
The spirit was right, as the group wasn’t quiet in their efforts to hunt yokai. Haruka was lucky the parts of him that defied what it was to be human were so easily hidden. Afterall, humans already hated his mismatched eyes and hair, they weren’t keen on looking too closely at him to notice his other unsightly features.
“Yeah I’ve been around other yokai, the hell’s the issue?” Sakura replied, burying the memory that arose as quickly as it came.
Nirei gave him an unsure look, but still moved closer to talk.
“You can’t give this guy any weird stares, or try to challenge him because he’s a yokai host. Please try not to fight with him, the last thing we need is the school getting destroyed,” Nirei reprimanded him like a kitten, muttering the last part to not give Haruka any bright ideas.
“ Whatever ,” Haruka scoffs. This guy can’t be that special.
Humans were strange, Haruka had thought after meeting Nirei, Kotoha, and Suo. Someone who didn’t know how to fight but was going to a delinquent school, a shop owner that insisted on giving him meals without charge (Sakura didn’t know economics that well but that can’t possibly be good for business), and a chronic liar that Haruka couldn’t tell if he was seriously a yokai or not. They were all contradictions to what Haruka had learned to be normal human behavior.
Humans weren’t going to stop him from achieving his goal of being on top.
“I’m gonna be the top of this school,” Sakura declares, picking up his shoulders in an act to make himself appear bigger.
A shift, one that warns Sakura of incoming danger, swirls in his core and forces his control to Byakko. It was a natural, preventative measure. One he had adapted over the years in agreement with the yokai.
The scent of a storm breaks through the room, warning of the striking punch that thunders afterwards towards Sakura’s face.
A growl reverberates in his throat, growing in intensity as the wild eyes of a beast face mirrors his. The beast towers over him, horns and tail longer than his own features. Just like Haruka, it had also learned how to warn others of its own power, greeting him with a matched snarl, showcasing his sharpened fangs. With all the features that screamed fear me, fear me, Haruka couldn’t help but get absorbed in the sharp hazel eyes that flickered down his body, contrasting the blue scales that littered the other’s face.
Their brief meeting was cut short by the brazen swinging of claws at Haruka’s face, claws that would have made contact if Sakura’s instincts weren’t as trained and dead set on keeping him alive as they were after sixteen years. The tiger bent himself backwards, kicking up at the chin of the beast and watching him back up.
Huh. Humans couldn’t stop Haruka from being on top, but another celestial beast might be a bit of trouble.
Just as Sakura went for his next jab, a loud static broke through the building, stopping the both of them in their tracks from moving forward to continue their fight. His attacker froze in his place, the irritated focus he had Sakura now fixed at the loudspeaker to what was being said. What had stopped Haruka was how horrifically loud the volume was, the cat-eared boy desperately using both hands to protect himself from the static that infested his head.
After a short moment, the announcement ended, words that Haruka couldn’t currently process being exchanged. Then, the pissed off dragon left as fast as he had arrived.
The scent of the storm still lingered, leaking into Haruka’s mind. The yokai host had made quite the impression on Sakura.
“That guy was annoying .” He complained to Byakko before going on with the first day of class. “As long as I don't run into him often, it’ll be okay.”
It hadn’t taken long for Umemiya to catch wind of the scuffle that occurred between their two resident hosts, and decided to take matters into his own hands.
“From now on, the two of you need to patrol together every time it’s class 1-1’s turn,” Umemiya assigned to the both of them in private.
That freaking dastardly dragon had the gall to glare at him but still nod at Umemiya’s command like a faithful dog. It pissed Sakura off to see how two-faced he could be in front of their leader, yet the tiger host just let out an “okay”, his body language displaying how displeased he was.
Yet, Umemiya just smiled, patting the both of them on the back and sending them on their way.
If there was one thing Haruka had learned, it was that being with someone and engaging with them were two different things.
Sugishita was more than willing to bend his belief of hating Haruka to listen to what Umemiya had told them. Back in the classroom, Sakura had tried to pair himself with Nirei and Suo for patrol, only for them to offer remorseful smiles and watch as Sugishita awoke from his slumber. The dragon host had no problem dragging Haruka out of the building, the shorter boy hissing as he dug his feet into the ground to try to create some resistance.
Now that they were in town, Sugishita wouldn’t even look at him, keeping his gaze on the shops and people. Whatever, Haruka didn’t want to be acknowledged by him anyway. When the dragon had his back to him, Sakura tried to slip off. He could patrol on his own.
But sharp fingers grappled at his wrist, yanking him back. As if he was on a leash, Sakura couldn’t go more than a few feet without being pulled back, being stuck with the boy that hated him.
He gave it two more weeks of this burden until Sugishita gave up on him.
During one of his laborious days of punishment, Sugishita and Haruka were helping a shopkeeper move his plants out into the sun to take advantage of the nice weather. Regardless of his poor attitude towards anything Sakura-related, Sugishita mellowed out the moment an older person asked for help.
He’s not so tough after all , Sakura thought to himself. Byakko dug out the memory of him bending to help others when food was involved, humbling their host in an instant.
But outside of his mind, something caught his attention, the boy freezing and placing the flower pot he currently held to pin his ears up and listen out. “Help… me…” a voice cried weakly, almost lost to the busy bustle of everyday life if the wind had not carried it to him.
Sakura had looked at Sugishita, the taller boy giving a strange glance at his patrol partner. Only he had heard it seemed.
The dread of being wrong clambered at his hand, making the cat sweat as he considered how pissed the dragon would be if it just seemed like he was trying to escape his duty.
“We have to go,” Haruka decided, before racing off from the shop down the street. Consciously, Sakura had no clue where this person was, but his instincts directed the motion of every step, dragging him through endless backstreets.
In the distance, heavy steps followed behind him, not losing his path despite all the strange turns he had made. It only took a few minutes before Haruka stopped, being met by a child that cowered behind a trash can. They had a gash on their head, blood slightly crusted on their temple. Their lips trembled, pitiful eyes looking up at Haruka in fear.
There was a reason only Sakura had heard them, which was confirmed when Haruka sensed the aura that collected around the young child.
“Release your ears,” he spoke lowly, relinquishing control to Byakko as his frame shifted to hit that of a God more than an adolescent. Haruka wasn’t the best at comforting others, and the thought of having to talk to another yokai host for so long worried him. He didn’t have the best record considering the dragon that lagged behind and just found him now.
The child scratched at their head, round ears popping out and a fuzzy tail revealing itself. A tanuki host , Byakko relayed to Haruka.
“What happened?” Byakko asked through their vessel.
“Hunters were after me. I managed to hide but they hurt me before that,” the child cried, lunging forward and trapping Byakko in a hug. The God used Sakura’s hand to pet the child’s head, soothing them in the process.
Staggered steps approached him, making Haruka’s body react before he could process who it could have been, the tiger baring its teeth.
Sakura took initiative in taking control of his body from Byakko and feeling his form relinquish its godly features before staring up at the other. Sugishita stared down for a moment, an eyebrow raised at the others demeanor but not too impressed by his showcase of protectiveness.
Without waiting for the tiger host to calm down, Sugishita directed his phone for Sakura to read.
To Umemiya-san:
We found a hurt kid on patrol
From Umemiya-san:
Oh no!
Really?
Send me your location and I’ll come help
To Umemiya-san:
Location Sent
“He’s on his way,” Sugishita said shortly after.
The child heard and picked their head up, innocently staring at the dragon host before moving in closer to Sakura and turning their head in a way that asked who?
“A friend. He won’t hurt you,” Haruka spoke, watching how fast the child nodded in a way that was too trusting. Maybe it wasn’t trust in him, but who he housed.
Hunters. Sakura thought as they waited for Umemiya to meet them. He wondered how long he would be able to stay in Makochi.
Public humiliation had to be the most suitable word for what Sakura was experiencing at the moment.
It had been four weeks of their patrolling, and despite how little experience Sakura had on his resume about being a Class Captain, Sugishita was surprisingly easy to read.
As distant and uninterested in Sakura as he wanted to appear, he too was a person with interests and dislikes. The dragon host made it clear he hated Haruka, not caring if he was in midconversation before dragging him out of the classroom to go on patrol. But he also made it clear he enjoyed tea, always stopping at the end of patrol to get one from the vending machines near Furin. Surprisingly, Sakura always noted the way Sugishita would accidentally purchase a drink twice, getting Haruka the brand of water that he preferred. Haruka really didn’t expect Sugishita to have been paying attention in class when he told Nirei about how he could taste the difference in waters, disgusted at the “spring waters” that still had hints of chlorine in them. Whenever they sat somewhere to drink what they had gotten, Haruka would watch as Sugishita pulled slightly on his clothes, not enjoying the proximity of them to his body.
Another one of his interests seemed to be watching as cats followed Haruka around on patrol.
It started when they saw a stray cat on their way to a shop. Sakura, as always, had heard it before seeing it, his senses in tune with the animal that was half of him. The small cat simply peered out of a box, making a small meow in recognition before chattering at Haruka. Sugishita watched in slight fascination as Sakura scowled at it, looking around before pausing on a deli and excusing himself for a minute. Both the dragon and cat watched him leave and return with a tiny plastic bowl, two fish laying inside.
“There you go,” he muttered, placing it before the cat and it meowed in appreciation before eating.
A small act–of weakness as Sakura called it when Sugishita asked–had turned into this mess. On the next few patrols after that, more cats lined up to follow Haruka down the street, meowing and chatting at the tiger yokai in a language Sugishita had assumed he could understand by the way his place flushed at some of their remarks.
Just like a cat, Sugishita gave into his curiosity in what they were saying during one of their patrols.
“What did the white one say?” Sugishita blankly asked.
Haruka gave him a puzzling look before looking at the chatterbox of a cat that chirped at him, happy to be recognized by a God.
“She asked for good relations, since they all think I’m a divine messenger,” he mumbled. The white cat meowed in confirmation, coming up to the duo and rubbing against Sugishita’s leg before letting out another string of meows.
“What now?” Sugishita mumbled while reaching out to pet behind her ear.
“Nonsense in human words,” Sakura lied, face burning red as he turned away from the other’s watchful eye.
“Are you two a bonded pair? I wish to have a relationship like that.”
Pure nonsense. Sugishita didn’t even like him as a person.
One of the days of Sakura’s grueling and cruel sentence, three children approached them, enamored by the dual appearance of a cat human and dragon human.
“Mister God, are you a cat?” The tallest one prodded, pointing at his tail and ears like his anomaly wasn't evident enough.
“Tiger,” Sugishita replied, with a deadpan expression that didn't match his sudden interjection.
“Why the hell did he answer for me?” Sakura mentally asked Byakko, to no surprise when the spirit didn't answer.
This reply only seemed to excite the kids more as they circled around, trying to get a better look at his feline features.
“You're so fluffy!” One of the children commented, seeming to be holding back their impulse to pet his tail.
“Can you turn into a big tiger?” Another asked.
The answer to their question was simple: yes, I can, but Sakura knew this wasn’t what was being asked. Years back, children of Sakura’s age had wondered the same when he went to class. They constantly harassed him and bothered asking if he was just cosplaying, or if he was really a tiger spirit.
I am. He would plead to his peers, but this was before he had learned to sharpen his claws and wear his fur roughly. Byakko had explained to Haruka as a child that he would only be able to shift into his tiger form in the Fall, and that any other time of the year would have consequences. Yet, it being other seasons never stopped the child from cracking his bones out of place, giving into the negligent pleas of the other children.
It hurts. This hurts. Sakura would cry, his words falling on deaf ears. It wasn’t their fault, humans can’t speak the language beasts do. Without giving into his need to cry, how would his peers know that his bones felt like they were on fire and his heart moved too fast as the panic set in? They were just kids though. Could Haruka expect these kids to understand, or would they just pester him until he gave them what they wanted?
Anxiety picked at his brain as Sakura began to raise himself up. If he transformed fast, it wouldn’t hurt too bad and the ache would go away in a few hours. If he only showed them once, they wouldn’t bother him about it again, right?
Though, it seemed his dragon counterpart was two steps ahead. “No, he can’t.” Sugishita answered for him once more, relinquishing his tail from its duty of being wrapped around his leg and spraying it on Sakura’s lap.
Sugishita continued to listen to the children’s rambles, while Sakura stared mouth agape at the audacious and invasive nature of what he just did. Haruka denoted the unusual wag to the end of the dragon’s tail, but he couldn’t distinguish if it matched that of a happy dog or an annoyed cat.
What the hell is this guy’s problem?
Like all things in Sakura’s life, they eventually fall flat. Comfort and familiarity was only a temporary feeling, one fabricated by false hope and the craving of being accepted.
Haruka thought he was starting to learn how to read Sugishita, and all the little micro expressions he supplied in their days together. The tiger host notices how his gaze lingers on hair products, seeming to contemplate which one would be best for his endless supply of hair. He really had no idea how the dragon could handle it, Sakura having to cut his hair every so often to avoid it from growing too long and matting.
(Sakura had made the mistake of asking once about how long his hair is. Sugishita just stared at him with a grimace, not amused by his pitiful attempt at conversation.)
He also noticed how Sugishita was less on guard around him, still wearing his signature scowl, but not being prepared to yank the shorter boy back into place when he tried to flee to be on his own.
It had been a day like all the others of this horrible–but maybe not so bad–life sentence he had been served for his first year that all this progress went sour.
BANG .
The two dashed down the street, following the vibrations of where they heard the loud noise. Being part animal, it was easier for them to locate trouble, but maybe that was because trouble seemed to plague the lives of yokai anyway.
Turning the corner, a man in leather had an older couple backed up against a wall, his loud and expressive gestures pinging Sakura’s danger sense in an instant.
“Come on, just loan me a bit of yen and I’ll make sure to pay it back,” He pestered gruff with an accent Sakura couldn’t recognize as being from nearby Makochi.
“Please, we really can’t. Me and my wife are both retired,” the older man reasoned in a fearful voice as he hid his cowering wife behind him.
“Do it or else!” The thug shouted, banging his hand against the metal building once more.
Haruka tensed with anger when arriving at the scene, almost jumping in immediately before he heard a warning growl to his side. The hair on his arms raised as the tiger host darted his head over at the dragon host, staring like a deer in headlights at the way his pupils constricted and visceral rage was the only emotion he could make out of the typically inexpressive boy.
In an instant, Sugishita jumped and kicked the shit out of the thug, sending him flying away from the old couple. Jumping back, the couple watched in fear before scurrying over to Haruka and offering their thanks as they went to hide.
Sakura just nodded, but kept his eyes on his patrol partner. There was something so familiar about the way the dragon curled his fist before making his way over to the thug. Illustrious hair only fit for a deity raised on edge, as the sky above them darkened. Wide eyes of the bruised man looked up, a jumble of words racing to find their way out before another kick could be dealt.
“That was all just a misunderstanding! You don’t get it-” The thug cried, before being kicked again in the jaw and collapsing. Yet, that wasn’t the end of his beating, more kicks meeting his unconscious body as heavy breathing was the only noise accompanying them.
Sugishita had lost control.
“Shit!” Sakura cursed, pouncing forward and grabbing Sugishita by the waist in a hug and flinging the angered beast away from the battered criminal.
Sharp claws met his arm, scratching at his skin and leaving small cuts. Haruka winced at the sight of dark blood, still putting himself in between Sugishita and the man. Sakura knew what it was like to be consumed by rage, reverting to an animalistic form until he was able to snap out of it. Sakura knew the enraged beast definitely saw the way blood dripped down his forearm, mimicking the rain Seiryu was associated with.
It didn’t take a genius of course to notice by the way his face fell flat and his pupils had the sole focus on the red that consumed Haruka’s pale skin.
And then the dragon did something unexpected for such an auspicious beast.
He ran away.
“Are you serious?!” Haruka growled, fidgeting with his pockets until he could feel his phone. Tapping the screen harshly, irritation flowed through the cat as he sent out a signal for someone to come pick up the beaten thug.
Maybe it was the winds that felt the anger of their master that pushed Sakura’s steps to be lighter and faster than they had been in the past. It was second sense to know where he had to go, which Sakura didn’t dare to think of the fact of how well he knew the other by now. That stupid dragon loved his heights. In no time, the tiger host was slamming open the metal door to the rooftop, scanning for the other beast’s presence.
A tall figure stood near the edge of the room, looking at Sakura with a scornful expression. A trickle of rain pelted from the clouds overhead that gathered to shut out the sun, Haruka took note of the feeling of water gathering up in his fur and how it made his skin uncomfortable after a while. Sugishita had known that of course–learned from one of their pointless conversations during patrol–and was trying to shut him out.
“What the hell was that about?” Sakura growled out, baring his teeth. “You can’t just go around trying to kill people that make you mad!”
The anger that swirled inside of him didn’t feel right, and neither did the act of growling. Yet, his whole body stood alert as a dangerous aura swallowed the rooftop, the clouds that covered them blotting themselves with dark gray paints, the intensity of the rain picking up and calling for the wind to fight back.
The dragon host in front of him had a tick in his jaw and matching glare that only intensified as his form shifted into one that resembled a beast more than a person.
Towering over him was the dragon, full formed and rumbling the ground with a warning snarl. The look in the eyes that crazily watched him was one of fear, one that Sakura was familiar from looking into the mirror, but the aggressive aura that lunged at Sakura didn't warn him of actually being harmed. The tiger was going to stand his ground.
Channeling some of Byakko’s strength, Sakura could feel his tail lengthen and the wisps that sat on his shoulders grew more dense.
If someone came onto the roof now, they likely would have thought they stumbled upon a movie set, the standoff being one fit for centuries before their time.
Sharp howls could be heard from the wind bidding to its master’s call, ferocity feeding into Sakura’s heightened sense of fight back, fight back, fight back . He could boil it down to being upset at being left behind, but a tinge of worry bubbled under his skin and chided in the back of his head. It's not as simple as that, little cub.
Despite being in a more powerful form, Sugishita definitely had the height advantage on Sakura, the size of his jaws being almost as long as Sakura’s arm. If he wanted to, he definitely could bite him in half. Dragons were made to strike first and fast, taking out the enemies in front of them with no hesitation or difficulty.
Tigers on the other hand had sharp claws, but bodies built to be able to withstand the winds. Maybe if Sakura was lucky, he would be able to take a blow or two from Sugishita if he got too upset. However, his innate senses didn’t warn Haruka of any danger, and unlike most of his experiences in life, he had become deeply intune with his self-preservation system.
The warning snarl reverberated in the air as Sugishita drew closer, jaws dangerously in range of Haruka’s person. If it was anyone else, it would be deduced that Sugishita was going to kill him because that was just the nature of beasts. Only the fittest survive.
But the ingrained feeling of survival that Sugishita felt was only one that Haruka could reciprocate in understanding. The dragon wasn’t acting out of anger, but fear .
Instead of backing up like his instincts demand of him, Sakura moves forward, reaching forth and placing a hand in the jaws of the beast before him. Glaring up at Sugishita, a bewildered expression caught his eye as his pupils were no longer hazed over, diligently watching the figure that dared to approach him.
“I’m not afraid of you ,” Sakura forces out with a low guttural growl. “So stop being a prick and just tell me what the hell set you off,” he cursed, tail angrily flickering as his focus stayed on Sugishita.
The two refused to break eye contact, as Sakura reasoned he wouldn’t show weakness. An indiscernible look crossed Sugishita’s face as Sakura felt the tension in his jaw weaken, almost cautionary and aware of the situation they were in.
Not a muscle was moved as they both kept a watchful eye on the other. It was a game of bluff. Fighting would solve nothing in a match that required communication.
The metal door slammed open, followed by the panicked sliding of sneakers on the wet floor.
“You two, knock it off!” Hiragi yelled, drawing close to their standoff. Ultimately, he was powerless to stop rampaging beasts alone.
“Sakura-kun, we should go,” Suo said with a smile, although Haruka could see the familiar hesitance his expression wore while Nirei was a step behind him.
They weren't scared. It was only natural to protect yourself in front of a monster and the angry forces of nature.
“Okay,” was all Haruka had to say in return, feeling his frame shift as Byakko released his control. Giving a glance to Sugishita, he couldn't help but feel upset at the both of them. The dragon caught his eye, bewilderment painted more clearly than the graffiti that covered the school. Sugishita’s eyes looked at Haruka’s blood crusted arm, the injury already healed due to the celestial soul that was tied to his.
Without verbal acknowledgement of the look the other cast upon him, Sakura turned his back and left with the winds that so swiftly brought him there.
The absent presence of Sugishita was not one that was normally an issue. Furin students had known the yokai host slept through classes and skipped to go tend to whatever Umemiya shaped task caught his interest elsewhere.
What they weren’t used to was how the other yokai in their care would react to the obvious skipping due to his appearance. A group watched in the back as Haruka opened the classroom door, his sharp pupils immediately dropping on the empty desk of a certain boy. His ears pinned back for a second as he scoffed, lurking over his own desk and sat down, waiting calmly.
Though Anzai doubted how calm Sakura could be as the wind outside picked up, the unlucky students that just arrived on campus had to fight against their classmate’s angry gales.
Looking at his other classmates, they sheepishly glanced at the boy in concern, fighting if they should or shouldn't be the ones to comfort him.
The door opened once more, their upperclassman peaking in and stopping once he landed on Sakura. “Hey Sakura, patrol with your vice captains for the time being. Umemiya’s orders,” Hiragi spoke, leaving just as soon as he arrived.
Sakura gave a resigned “okay”, looking towards the window and zoning out from the chatter around him.
Just what had happened?
“So that’s what happened…?” Nirei questioned, putting down his cup of tea to respond to Sakura’s recollection of his fight with Sugishita.
“Yes,” Haruka retorted, not wanting to be a man of many words with how upset he was. Perhaps it was the influence of Byakko, or it was Sakura finally being allowed to express his emotions that made this ugly feeling fester and crawl under his skin, knowing the exact points to poke and prod at to get a reaction out of him. It wasn’t just his body that whipped in agitation, but the winds as well, Haruka’s influence changing the weather in Makochi to be stormy and gloomy for the past days.
It was a lot for him to process, just enough that he wanted to lock himself in his apartment and have time to calm down like a little kid.
Nirei gave Haruka a sparing smile, looking to Suo for input on the situation. However, the other continued to enjoy the fresh tea Kotoha had served minutes before. “Maybe Seiryu isn’t very fond of Byakko? He doesn’t have the best attitude, but Seiryu might be an added factor to how he reacts to you.”
The theory might have one of merit if Haruka hadn’t been living out a sentence of being in forced proximity to the dragon host. Sugishita had never mentioned anything about Seiryu’s thoughts, and barely gave the yokai control of his body.
It wasn’t like Byakko had adverse reactions to yokai either, never making Sakura aggressive towards them.
Frustration was a word Haruka had learned to describe the feeling gnawing at him subconsciously as he dug further into his mind for an explanation. Nothing bad happened, and Haruka didn’t think he was too harsh towards Sugishita during their standoff.
“I’m not afraid of you.”
The phrase boomeranged itself back into Haruka’s memory just as harshly as it originally came out of his mouth.
Huh.
Maybe I hurt Seiryu’s ego by saying that, Haruka thought days later. Although he wanted to pretend that the separation wasn’t affecting him, his displeasure grew stronger the more he was ignored by Sugishita. Hadn’t they just started getting along? Perhaps he had read the situation wrong, Haruka wasn’t the best at making friendships.
“Byakko, how do you think I can apologize-”
“SAKURA!” A voice boomed through the dark clearing they were occupying, warning him of the impending danger that met his jaw and caused the boy to stagger backwards. Throbbing erupted as he winced in pain, clawing at the gang member that struck him. A back pressed against his, the presence giving him temporary relief to tune back into what was happening in the moment. “You can’t zone out,” Anzai reprimanded. “Sugishita isn’t here to cover you.”
A true statement, but one that made Sakura’s chest constrict in a weird way. His chest was being scrunched like how one would make a tie dye shirt, bright colors weaseling their way out and contrasting the utter dull space of his soul.
“Got it,” Haruka curtly replies before rushing the next unfortunate soul that dared to attack. Fighting Bofurin was difficult, but fighting a god in the body of a teenager? Even Sakura couldn’t imagine what kind of beastly appearance he currently wore.
Getting on all four, he swept his foot around, knocking out gang members like bowling pins before pouncing on them to get to the next thug.
“That’s strange… There are too many today.” Byakko warned, voicing Haruka’s thoughts aloud. These weren’t gang members they typically fought, too old, too experienced. If they weren’t teenagers looking for a fight of strength, why were they here?
“You know the little dragon brat?” A voice in the distance echoed through the alley way. Haruka’s head pinged to the source of the noise, seeing a well built man that had to be around thirty. His cells burst to life at the mention of “dragon brat”, only knowing what person that could refer to.
“What about it?” He spat, watching the man’s expression shift from a cocky smirk to an eerily dangerous grin that consumed his face.
“Have you seen what a monster he can be once he loses his cool?”
That's strange. Haruka can feel the wind picking up, and the bristling power that beckons his limbs to strike. For once in his life, he feels genuinely enraged.
“What did you call him? ” Haruka growled.
“Hey, you must think the same,” he chided, waving his hand like he could put out the raging fire that lit Haruka. “You know the dragon and tiger don’t get along in mythology, right? It’s only a little bit of time before one of yous kills the other one, and if I had to bet, I would say your buddy wouldn’t be the one to go down.”
His words were only said to bait Haruka into attacking. They had no true value behind them. There was no reason for Sakura to feel strongly about them, or react.
Yet, he couldn’t help it as he lunged forward, swinging his leg at the attacker and kicking him a few feet back.
“Don’t talk like you know me,” Haruka warned, only to be met with a laugh. The man stepped towards him again, feinting a step to the left before grabbing Sakura by the tail and yanking him, the yokai host losing his balance.
“Kid, everyone knows what you are. A hunter has to know the habits of its prey, does it not?” He teased, pulling his arm back and jolting it towards Haruka.
A sharp pain met his thigh, the cat hissing in pain and reeling back like a wounded animal when his tail was released. The effect was almost instantaneous, his vision swirled, colors dulling as he viciously rubbed at his eyes. It didn’t stop his body from losing balance, and Haruka stumbled back as a familiar scent of Bofurin caught him.
“Thank you for participating in our game of cat and mouse. Do let us know your results,” the twisted voice playfully laughed as Haruka felt himself be lost to the dark oblivion.
Unconsciousness was a friend of Sakura’s. To be unconscious means you can’t be aware of how your frame starves, or how cold your surroundings are. As a kid, Haruka was grateful that at night he could forgo the feeling of his body rotting from the inside out.
But as much as it was a comfort, now the loss of feeling was unfathomably nauseating, the view of a small dark room blotting his vision.
He was there again. Locked up. It didn’t matter how much he cried out for the aid of others, cried for someone to understand this isn’t how he was meant to live. To them, he was meant to be a house pet for others to put on display.
In the moment, Sakura felt as small as he once had, wrapped around himself and softly crying into his chest. Then in the next, he felt as if someone wrapped their arm around him and held him tight, consoling the child within him.
“You’re okay,” it whispered to him. “ Water will always flow, and you will continue moving forward, little tiger.”
In his best guess, this was likely a spirit speaking to him. But before Sakura could confirm if that was Byakko or someone else, the door keeping him caged opened once more, the boy scampering to flee and return back to the new life he had earned.
Struggling against his mental tides, Haruka’s vision swirled as he hazily came back into possession of his consciousness. The dark cage was no more, light shining through and reflecting the truth of his current reality.
Fighting against the nausea that tried to consume him, Haruka groaned, watching two figures in the room cease their whispering and dart their attention towards him.
The shifting of the room came to an eventual stop, the tiger host’s eyes clearing to make sense that the two people that sat at his side were Suo and Nirei, the two that were almost always there for his worst moments.
A crease twisted in both of their eyebrows, the only difference being Nirei’s eyes were puffy and tinged with red. “Sakura-san, are you okay?” Nirei spoke, scooting closer to look over him.
“Yeah,” he groaned, willing himself to sit up without too much pain jabbing at his vessel. Thank Byakko for their insane healing ability or else he probably wouldn’t have been up until another week. “What happened?”
“You got injected by some sort of tranquilizer, Sakura-kun. It’s been quite the issue while you’ve been asleep the past few hours,” Suo said, the worried tone he held not being usual for how aloof he wanted to portray himself as. “The sample that was still on you was given to the police in a nearby town. Apparently they’re working on a case about yokai hunters.”
All the fear he had buried away a few weeks ago came rushing back, cramping Haruka’s heart with the burdensome force he presented himself to be. Hunters were approaching, and once they locked interest on their prey, they wouldn’t give up.
“You guys need to let me handle this by myself. They’re just gonna keep coming after me,” Sakura said, his true feelings leaking through the words he couldn’t rehearse.
The two had a telepathic connection, looking at each other before facing Haruka with the same look of concern. “He said the same thing when he didn’t want to leave you alone,” Nirei spoke carefully, trying to insinuate who was here through something other than words.
The twitch of his nose made it so that he couldn’t help himself from taking in a deep breath of air, breaking down what he was smelling mentally and jarring his mouth open just like a cat.
It smells like rain.
The world shook and waved around him as Sakura angrily got out of bed, wincing at the movement and pain it brought slamming into his temple. Jittery hands reach out to grab him, but his tail smacks down on the bed, acting as a warning for Nirei and Suo that the tiger host was not to be deterred.
That dragon had the gall to watch over him when he was asleep but not to face him in person the past few weeks?
Stumbling, momentum kept Haruka upright as he darted up the stairs, setting his mind on the only place that stupid dragon could be right now. Slamming the door open, rain crashed down on Sakura as he hastily caught his breath. Across the rooftop sat that avoidant serpent, obviously shell shocked by Sakura’s appearance with the look of disbelief he momentarily wore before carefully walking over.
Lowering his head to Sakura’s eye level, Sugishita attempted to push Haruka back to the door with the side of his face.
The cat just hissed in return, dodging the dragon’s face and making his presence absolute on the roof.
“You don’t get to ignore me and then pretend like you care when I’m hurt!” Sakura yelled, unsure of where this was coming from. Byakko could be the one talking right now, but the tiger wouldn’t have this much emotion driving him to be upset at Sugishita. So what was this devastating feeling? “Either decide that you can tolerate me or that you hate me,” he forced out between pained pants.
The rain slowed and Sakura watched as Seiryu breathed out mist before his form shifted into the smaller frame Sakura was used to.
Before him, Sugishita stood wide eyed. The dragon spirit had a strange look on his face, one Sakura couldn’t make out from how ingenious it appeared. There was a crinkle in his eye, and potentially a slight pleasant smile if Sakura squinted at him. What the hell had Sugishita acting like this?
Haruka watched as the other approached, his hands reaching into his pocket and grasping at something he concealed. Slowly, Sugishita raised his arms and spoke.
“Lower your head.”
In the past, Sakura had been taught it was disrespectful for the tiger host to bow for anyone. You are above them, Haruka. Let others know you hold more worth than them. The whispers of faraway voices filled his head, but he mentally shook them away. It wasn’t like that anymore.
Lowering his head, Haruka felt something hit his chest. Laid low on his sternum was a green pendant that reflected his curious eyes back at him.
“Byakko, what is this?” He mentally asked, receiving a delayed response. “ My cub, it’s a jade pendant. You must figure out the rest.”
Looking at Sugishita, the dragon’s eyes deviated from Sakura, seeming to find literally anything else in the moment interesting. Haruka didn’t miss the slight blush that meshed into Sugishita’s blue scales, or how his tail that usually wrapped around his leg swayed hazardously above the floor.
“Yeah, like he’s gonna tell me.” Haruka mentally scoffed, but Byakko didn’t take pity on him and declined a response.
An unusual pain clambered in his chest as Haruka stared at Sugishita. What the hell is happening to him?
“You purr in your sleep,” Sugishita muttered with an unusual fondness to it. If Sakura was any keener, he could mistake it for affection.
Just like the short rain, Sugishita also left in a hurry, leaving Sakura even more confused–but less upset–than he had been before coming to the roof.
“Pay attention!” A voice snapped. Within an instant, Haruka was flipped on his back with a forceful thud echoing through the expansive room.
“ Ouch ,” Sakura hisses, rubbing at the base of his tail that aches with pain. Unlike humans, he very much had a tail and vertebrae there to support it, meaning it hurts like shit when he falls ass first.
“Are you tryin’ to get hurt?” Kaji says rhetorically.
In return, Sakura musters out a growl that sounds like a no and gets up to continue their practice. Getting into place, a sensation of eyes on him startles the boy as he quickly turns his head to scan the room for impending danger.
Yet, he's only met with the cautionary gaze of Sugishita, which he could have mistaken if he was a millisecond later.
“This is foreign to you, is it not?” Byakko laughed in his head, not helping Haruka’s growing confusion. Whatever, he would just ask Nirei and Suo later.
“We're not gonna kill each other alone on patrol,” Sakura grumbled as he walked down the street with Kiryu in between him and Sugishita.
The pink haired boy didn't look up from his phone for long, but still found the time to give Sakura a look that screams yeah sure before returning to finishing collecting his dailies on the game he currently had pulled up.
“That's not what Suo and Nirei recalled after finding you two fighting on the roof~”
A displeased grunt as all Haruka could give in return, crossing his arms and pinning his ears back as they continued with their patrol.
It had been a few months since their fight, and even though they had another minor fight since then, they didn't kill each other. Although Sakura didn't want to admit it, he had grown to miss the company of the dragon host when it was just the two of them. It was oddly comforting to have that time together.
“Sakura-chan, be a dear and come help me with this!” An elderly voice yelled from down the street. Just like a cat, he scoffed at the chan in his name, distinctly remembering demanding to have that dropped, but still trotting over from the call for him in interest.
A brown sign laid newly repaired on the ground, the hinges no longer making the deafening noise that he complained was bothering his ears every patrol session.
The older man looked to be proud of his work, giving Haruka a wide smile before pointing up to the hangers that were barren. “Could you please put that back up? I’m too unsteady on a chair to hang it up myself.”
It wasn’t very high up, so Haruka opted to grab the chair then take the wooden sign, looking up to figure out what exactly he had to do. Humans had so many “clever” interventions that they forget to maintain a simplicity with how to use them. Unlike a regular sign, this one included some sort of fancy system to fasten the sign on.
Cocking his head, Sakura tried his best to squeeze the hinges and place the sign on the stand, stepping off the chair and moving out of the way to see if it was on well enough. Raising his hand, he willed a wisp of wind to push at the sign to determine how well he did his task.
Good news, the sign wouldn’t fall off and hit a random civilian. Bad news, it made a warning noise as it swung off, flying right to hit Sakura square in the head.
With little time to react, Haruka picked up his hands to cover his head, fur rising as someone yanked his backwards by the waist and made him stumble. There was a lack of a crashing noise, Sakura being happy the man’s business sign didn’t break before even being used, but he couldn’t ignore how much larger the figure that protected him was.
Looking up with dilated eyes from surprise, the face that looked back at him was impasse, seemingly not surprised at how reckless he could be. That stupid dragon looked at him for a moment longer, before letting go and retrieving the sign from his tail that held onto it.
Sugishita departed such oh-so-smart wisdom onto him. “Be more careful,” he said, not needing a chair to rehang the sign the correct way.
Haruka watched in anger, feeling it boil over later during the week.
“Then he said, be more careful, ” Sakura said, mimicking the dragon’s gloomy voice. “No shit! Does he think I’m stupid?”
While ranting, Haruka could feel the way his feline features animated him, tail waving in annoyance as his ears dipped back down with every pissed off line he spouted. The cast at his house was the usual Suo, Nirei, Kiryu, and Tsugeura, all indulging in the snacks they gathered to try and watching the comedy show along with it.
“Maybe he’s just coming around to like you, Sakura-kun.” Nirei humored, taking a bite of the mandarin Suo delicately peeled for him.
Though, his statement had the opposite of a soothing effect with the tiger host, making him jumble his words with a heightened tone. “That’s not true!”
“Sure~ That’s not how it seemed on patrol a few days ago when he held you oh-so-warmly in his arms and wanted you to be safe,” Kiryu teased, stealing one of Nirei’s mandarin slices. Instead of reprimanding Kiryu, Suo raised an eyebrow, attention suddenly being reserved for Sakura’s melodrama.
“Oh? Is this true?” The one-eyed boy asked in a tone that was too curious to be good.
“No!” Sakura yelled, slamming his hands down onto his lap. His ears pinned back in defense, red tingeing his face and making the black and white stripes under his eyes more visible.
“Maybe he likes you~” Kiryu continued to tease.
“It’s virtuous to be in love!” Tsugeura added in from the corner where he practiced his weight training.
As much as Sakura wanted to yell back, his jaw went slack at the accusation, body trembling and overheating. From the Cheshire smile Kiryu was giving him to the amused look Suo also wore; they definitely meant romance.
Romance?!?!
What the hell did romance have to do with Haruka?
“H-he didn’t say anything romantic!” He forced out, recalling the events that happened on the roof as he held onto the jade that sat on his chest. “All he did was say I purr in my sleep. What the hell does that mean?”
Nirei's eyes lit up at the statement, the blond taking his notebook out and flipping through a few pages until he reached one with Sugishita’s name on it. The page had a sketch of the dragon on it with other information scattered around compiled from the few months that they’ve been in school.
“Sugishita’s feelings correlate with the weather during the Spring,” Nirei pointed out, showing him the page that had that very sentence written. “The rain did stop when you talked to him, right? Maybe he was happy to see that you were okay.”
While helping himself to more tea, Suo hummed out in a childish tune. “And you were happy for him to be around when you were passed out, Sakura-kun.”
“Huh?!” The tiger host yelps, his yokai laughing in the back of his mind.
“It was just like a magic trick. You would only purr in your sleep when Sugishita was in the room.”
The gears in Haruka’s head jammed as he heard that, looking to Nirei for confirmation just to see the blond avert his head with a sheepish laugh. His traitor yokai was no help as Byakko just kept laughing at the comedy show its host had gotten involved in.
Sakura could only sit there as his tail wagged in embarrassment and he averted his eyes, suddenly extremely interested in all the cracks in the flooring. The conversation eventually progressed to other things, but the heavy feeling that came with the thought of someone having a crush on him stuck in the back of his mind, melting itself into the grooves of his thought until it was impossible to completely remove.
It was the weekend, which warranted a well deserved break. Or well, that's what Tsubakino had told Haruka as he invited him and his vice captains to a cafe. Suo had been unable to make it, but still promised to go at a later date to try whatever teas they had to offer. How the hell that guy lives without eating is something Sakura couldn't understand.
So now, he and Nirei traveled together to meet their upperclassmen for a snack and whatever he wanted to chat about. Haruka felt himself grow agitated as he thought more as to why they were meeting. It was obvious it had something to do with him and Sugishita.
Maybe I can ask him about the pendant, Haruka wondered, unconsciously picking it up in between his fingers and fiddling with the jade.
The randomly gifted jewelry had a different shine to itself today, appearing brighter than usual. It was strange, what could have happened to change the gem’s appearance?
Sakura picked it up to the light to see if the sun was playing a prank on him, when he felt it. Warning prickled down his spine as his ears pricked up to absorb all the sound they could.
Nirei stopped his idle chatter to look at Sakura, the crease of his brow forming as he also looked around. “What's wrong, Sakura-san?”
But in his heightened state of worry, Haruka couldn't respond. Byakko hummed in his mind, agreeing with the thought that just pooled and flooded his senses entirely in a matter of seconds. Eyes, he confirmed to himself. There are eyes on us.
The tiger host grabbed his friend’s hand, Nirei complying with the sudden change in behavior and letting himself be dragged down an alleyway.
Despite their deviation from the main path, Haruka still felt eyes on him, watching his every step. He should have left Nirei behind. They're after Byakko.
Taking the maze of backstreets, tugging insisted at controlling his consciousness, the beast demanding Haruka to give him access to the vessel.
Sakura gently pushed Nirei in front of him, and gave his friend an all-knowing-look before feeling his shift frame into a slightly larger one with more god-like features.
“We need to get you away. They're after me ,” a deeper voice spoke, Byakko talking through Sakura like a puppet.
“Who?” Nirei asked in concern, already pulling out his phone to send a message to the class group chat.
As Sakura went to answer, light in his peripheral vision refracted off of something, the boy turning around and swatting at the projectile that threatened to pierce his nape. The darted tranquilizer was slapped onto the ground, the appearance similar to the other that was set aside earlier for police investigation.
Nirei’s face went pale as the realization, snapping a picture before typing faster to the group chat. Silence was limited as footsteps approached, a group of about fifteen people filling the space with a collection of weapons and a seemingly limitless count of the tranquilizers that took him out in just one shot.
“Hey little tiger,” the largest dude from the front, shifting his body armor with a cocky grin. “Just let us take you and your scaredy cat friend can go harm free.”
As enticing as the offer felt, a fire lit in his chest, threatening to burn his soul as the teen staggered back into a protective pose. These hunters knew what they were getting into by hunting him down, he couldn’t find an ounce of regret for fighting them now.
“It's Summer. It is not safe for you to shift, little cub.”
“I'm either going to die shifting or me and Nirei will die by their hands,” Haruka growled back defensively, knowing those jackasses wouldn’t keep their promise. “ I'm going to die.”
Silence followed. Haruka knew he trapped the tiger spirit in a logical checkmate. “ Very well then” Byakko muttered back.
It took a few seconds, in which Haruka wondered if maybe he had grown to be unaffected by other season’s constraints, then this soul’s resistance hit him like a storm.
“Ah!” He cried, hands jolting out to grasp at his chest. Tears immediately welled up as his whole body lit on fire internally. He was okay with this. Everyone would be safe.
“Har-, ar…. -kay?!” Nirei’s voice came through his ears like a radio feedback, static buzzing and making his mind feel fuzzy.
It was too much to process. Lightning struck at his core, trying to split his psyche from this body while thunder numbed his mind to any senses he had left. He could feel his soul stretching, the power that was held back by Byakko flooding through him as the gates broke. Falling to his knees, Haruka could feel the spiritual power imbuing his limbs, shifting from a human form to that of a tiger the size of elephant.
The last thing Haruka could sense was Byakko using his tail to nudge Nirei away, howling in anger at the punks that dared to try to hurt someone dear to his host. These are the punks that dared to injure generations of yokai hosts because of their own prejudices.
They had to pay.
Like a human sponge, Haruka absorbed all of Byakko’s rampant anger and felt as his limbs willed themselves, pushing Haruka further and further into the black sludge of nothingness. Just like that, he returned to the ocean that swallowed him, watching his friends yell from above him but float to the top as he sank like a stone. Haruka found that the deeper he sunk, the less light could reach him. After a while, the light gave up and Sakura thought maybe he should too.
Then, a light in similar hue to his necklace made its way towards him, the appearance of a dragon making Haruka think this was all a trick of his mind. The beast looked at him with eyes that were too fond to be that of a monster, jaws carefully grabbed at him, careful not to nick his fragile soul. In the grasp of the dragon, Haruka felt the pressure lessen around him as he returned to the surface of the ocean that his mind surrendered him to. A rain storm caught him, filling his senses with its soothing presence and lulling him back to sleep with the arms that wrapped around his battered figure.
Unlike his last time, the sleep that soothed Sakura pillowed his soul, tucking it safely into a box until it needed to be retrieved again. This was likely the closest Haruka would get to experiencing what death was like for yokai, his tiny, inexperienced spirit enjoying the thought of hiding until being needed by people again.
It was difficult to think what previously happened, a loose grasp on the limbs that ached and spasmed as they struggled to dullen the hellfire of inflammation that ate away at his function. Haruka could feel himself fall deeper into the pillowed comfort of the unknown, letting himself sink further and further as the little light he let off dimmed to how expansive the empty space was.
Haruka was so tired.
Despite how isolated and lonesome his safe haven was, a cooling touch worked to guide him as it tugged at his soul, its insistent yanks towards the surface gentle, but not unintentional. It was strange, nobody had fought this hard previously to have him by their side.
“Wake up, little tiger,” Byakko spoke in a hush voice.
Control was slowly diffused back into his control, the first thing he could feel being his lungs expanding and taking in much-needed air for a human, and the last thing being the numbness in his hand that tingles under the touch of a slight pressure.
Much like a newborn, it took Haruka a moment to open his eyes in a daze, immediately closing them at the light that filtered the room so dramatically. From the rundown infirmary to the blocky windows, it was clear he was resting in Furin. But the one thing that threw the newly awakened Captain off was the absence of his Vice Captains, and the presence of a very upset dragon in their stead.
“Maybe if I close my eyes, he’ll go away,” Haruka spoke to Byakko, trying to not acknowledge the blush that was rushing to his pale features and threatened to disclose his very awake state. It hadn’t been just his imagination, he confirmed from his single glance, Sugishita was actually holding his hand.
It had only taken a moment before that pesky dragon spoke, too observant for his own good. “I know you’re awake.” With a few seconds pause. “Your breathing changed.”
Haruka jolted up before wincing at just how exhausted his body was. “You can’t just say creepy crap like that!” But Sugishita couldn’t care less, only shrugging his soldiers before meeting him with an attentive stare.
The difference was like the change from winter to spring, the hardened features of the tall boy melting away with the realization that Sakura was awake, and a small smile struggling its way through coarse crevices to bloom. However a storm still erodes away his features, Sugishita once more giving Sakura a scrutinizing glare.
“What’s your problem?” Sakura snaps, taking his hand away and sucking in a pained breath through his teeth. His whole body stung from the little movement he willed, Sugishita standing up immediately as Haruka closed his eyes to help process the feeling.
I misspoke. He’s gonna run away again. Haruka reprimanded himself in anger, expecting to hear footsteps signifying the dragon’s departure. Instead, hands cold to the touch gently lifted him, puffing the pillow on the bed, and repositioning him to sit up and be comfortable. Haruka opened his eyes to see Sugishita looking at his work, nodding to himself before sitting back down.
An antsy feeling pestered Sakura as he brought his fluffy tail to wrap around his waist, fixating his hands on petting himself while he spoke. “You don’t need to watch over me, y’know …” He trailed, trying to convince the other it was okay to leave. Sakura fought the tiger that swatted at him mentally, trying to dissuade the boy from being stubborn in the moment.
Though, Sugishita didn’t fall for his words, giving Sakura an askance look before speaking up. “I want to take care of my partner,”
Haruka’s heart jumped into his throat at the statement.
“Partner?! Like, patrol partner?” He tried to clarify.
“Romantic.” Sugishita corrected, eyes on Sakura’s chest.
The tiger boy looked down, seeing the gifted necklace in its full glory. The jade shone at him, its meaning now crystal clear and caused an obnoxious blush to manifest from Sakura’s bewildered emotions.
Maybe he likes you~ an annoying voice echoed from his memory.
“That was a love confession?!” Haruka yelps, his head darting up from his view of the jade pendant to the other in the room.
“What else could it have been?” Sugishita states like it was the most obvious thing in the world, a secret that everyone had been let in on except Sakura.
If it wasn’t for the clock that ticked in the background, Haruka would have thought he unlocked the power to freeze time out of the graces of the gods so he could curl into a ball and die of embarrassment. Blood rushed to his head to help the blush that grew like a wildfire on his face keep its red color, causing Haruka to sway before falling back onto the bed with a thump!
“What the hell?! Don’t pass out again!” A worried voice demanded, drawing closer and once more helping Sakura sit back up. This time, he sits closer, trying hard to keep a deadpan look while Haruka’s face burns. Though worry still weasels its way out of his grasp as Sugishita’s pointed ears droop, tail following in a similar fashion.
Sakura’s sharp hands cover his face as his tail whips viciously on the bed, accentuating the utter embarrassment that threatened to swallow him whole. There was a pause before his ears twitched, hearing the sound of Sugishita nervously shifting in his chair.
“Do you accept?” He said, in a voice that was all too small to sound like Sugishita, but the room was too empty to be anyone else but him.
The tiger host took his hands off their protective hold on him, looking at the other for a moment. The dragon indeed didn’t shapeshift, but sat there with a fragile gaze, one similar to a child gently cradling his heart as he offered it out to him. Unlike the kids that used to play jokes and lie to Sakura telling him that they liked him just to laugh afterwards, the genuinity that met him came off as foreign, but not unwelcome.
“I don’t know how to be a partner,” Haruka returned in a smaller voice, trying to not let his heart escape his throat and leave him laid out to bleed. “I’m not saying no, just that I don’t know how to…” He trailed off, self-conscious of how pessimistic he was sounding. It was hard to teach a hurt animal how to love, and even harder to have patience with ones that bite.
A small smile found its way to Sugishita’s face, fondness creeping through the ways his eyes crinkled with a growing realization for the acceptance he was just given. “That’s okay,” he assured, the tips of his ears slightly glowing red.
The promise of patience went unsaid.
Just like all life, they are also subject to the laws of time and space. Time passes, with each autumn and spring anew. Haruka had once believed that death was the only guarantee in life and would meet him in his darkest hour. Yet, he had been proven wrong.
Being loved and caring for others was also another guarantee in finding what living was truly like.
Time had passed, and Sakura’s frame surely shifted into a slightly larger one. Despite not being as tall as Suo or Kiryu had grown, the scrawny, malnourished boy that was discovered by Furin two years ago had grown out of the small shell that previously housed him. Byakko was also pleased by his newfound skill for grooming, his tail no longer matted and a shiny, snowy white.
Though, Haruka had to admit that something never changed. Instead of Byakko’s impulsive host being laid in his deathbed for the third time this month, it was Seiryu’s equally impulsive host that rested after their tough fight.
Pulling at the necklace that loosely looped around Haruka’s neck, he couldn’t help but fiddle with the jade pendant that was the sole decoration on it.
Sugishita had grown along with Haruka, transforming from the standoffish, troubled teen he once was to a more gentle and reserved individual. Sakura knew Kyotaro was no means the friendliest, but neither was he (being overtly nice was the job reserved for Nirei). Now Sugishita held himself to be more relaxed, and more at peace with who he is.
There of course will always be comfort in someone who can understand your every thought of how much it hurts to be different. But it wasn’t just that. Understanding could be fabricated, yet true acceptance could only be genuinely whispered to Sakura in the midst of the night after he woke up from a nightmare, or a comforting touch as he looked at himself in a mirror and grew welcoming to the traits he once hated.
Now he lived in a colorful hue of greens, blues, and bright colors. It made sense. Jade was said to be a stone that grants the wearer protection and brings about harmony to their restless life.
“Stop messing with that. You’ll break the string,” a groggy voice reprimanded. Newly awakened, and upset as ever from being awoken, Kyotaro manipulated his tail to swat Haruka’s hand away from his necklace before curling around him and pulling him closer.
Despite his desire to give in and rest with his boyfriend, Haruka wasn’t a fool to fall for the intimate act so easily. His arms reached out to pin between Sugishita’s head, refusing to fall into his grasp, as his fluffy ears darted backwards in playful anger. “You weren’t so concerned about Seiryu breaking your body though when you let them take over!” He barks, which is rather contradictory for a cat. “It’s Autumn, my season . You know it’s my job to protect you if we get into dangerous situations during this time of year,” Haruka reprimanded, flicking at Kyotaro’s forehead in punishment.
Sugishita scrunched his face as a result and pushed down on Sakura with his tail, this time successfully lowering the tiger host to his level before wrapping him in strong arms. Comfort is different for everyone, and Haruka had learned that Kyotaro favors when he is in his reach. He had heard from one of Suo’s endless poetry books that the closest two hearts can be to one another is when hugging, but Sakura had thought that Sugishita intertwined their souls once he accepted his confession, defying their mortal bodies to establish a celestial tie. It was difficult to imagine a life where they wouldn’t find one another.
A rumbled murmur met Haruka’s ear, mimicking his own purring. “I promised to always protect you,” Kyotaro gently reminded, eyes closed and acting oblivious to the blush that contrasted his boyfriend’s stark white hair. Haruka’s tail thumped down viciously, embarrassed at how sickeningly sweet Sugishita could be sometimes.
If their first year versions were to randomly appear, Haruka would know neither of them could fathom how the hell they were currently acting. It seemed so otherworldly two years ago, but now to Haruka it was simply routine.
Surrendering to Kyotaro’s grasp, Haruka let himself be absorbed by the selfish hold of his clingy boyfriend. Thank the gods they were resting at Kyotaro's house, because Sakura could only imagine the reaction the first years would have to being exposed to their “overly domestic tendencies” as Suo had called it. Like Suo and Nirei were any better, Haruka cursed mentally.
Something shiny caught Haruka’s vision on the bedside table, the tiger host struggling to reach out to grab it. Despite feeling how Sakura was struggling, Sugishita only watched with small fascination, not open to letting go of the other.
“You greedy brat,” Haruka huffed out, using his nails to nudge the object towards him before successfully grabbing onto it and placing it on Kyotaro’s chest. “You were worried out of your mind if your hairpin was okay but can’t even let me go to give it to you.”
The mentioned hairpin was untouched from battle, despite usually being on Kyotaro’s person. Its design mirrored Haruka’s necklace, the protective jade being embedded into the hairclip and resembling the promise between the two of them.
Sugishita’s attention didn’t dimmer as he gingerly reached out and picked up the hairpin, careful to not scratch it with his nails. Peaking at it, he cocked his head while checking for damage, seeming to be pleased with the condition as he placed it back into its position in his hair.
“Thank you,” Kyotaro murmurs, a fond smile taking form as he brushes his hand against Haruka’s face. It takes the course of rubbing against his cheek before trailing to the ears on the top of his head, a sensation that triggers echoes purred against his chest.
“Stop that,” Haruka scolds, the following words being unsaid as he gives in to rest as well.
An additional image by cl0udz of both Sakura and Sugishita's designs!
