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When the messenger arrived two weeks ago with an invite to a grand celebration hosted by the Aoyagis, Rui was ready to tear it up and ignore it. It was some sort of diplomatic party, christening the new alliance with the next kingdom over. Entirely not Rui’s thing; the night was better spent tinkering at his machines and poring over research texts.
That was, until his knight got wind of it. Tsukasa had approached him, straight-backed and professional as always. Only his eyes, burning with childlike excitement, gave him away.
“I heard there will be a celebration soon,” he had said, politely. “Were you thinking of going?”
“No,” Rui had said, shortly.
Tsukasa had then fumbled through several “ah”s and “well”s and “maybe if I”s before Rui sighed and asked him to drop any formalities and speak freely.
Tsukasa had immediately raised his volume by several measures and said in one great breath, “Prince Aoyagi was a childhood friend of mine and being a knight I haven’t many opportunities to speak to him and it would be wonderful if I could see him again, so I was hoping I could go as your knight, but if you are busy that night then I wouldn’t want to bother you at all, so—”
And Rui, who would later curse how soft he was, simply answered, “Ah. Then we will go.”
It’s the memory of the way his knight’s eyes lit up, wide, unprofessional grin pushing at his cheeks, that gets him through tonight. Rui is sitting at a table, entirely disinterested in the lives and chatter of those around him. He knows that the conversations will be dry, no more than showcases of status and wealth. And his knight, who he is doing all of this miserable charade for, has flown off to chatter with his old classmates from the knight academy.
His only solace is that Mizuki is here, a now-knight who he knew as a child.
“I’d truly rather be at home right now,” Rui laments.
Mizuki laughs their clear-bell laugh. “Oh, trust me, I heard the lot of it from Ena earlier. She never wants to go anywhere.”
“Princess Shinonome, hm,” Rui muses, resting his cheek on his hand. “How is it, working under her?”
“Ah, she’s a riot,” Mizuki answers cheerfully.
“A…riot?”
“Oh, yeah. I poke fun at her all the time. And I mean, she’ll yell for the whole manor to hear, but won’t actually get on me for it.”
Rui raises an eyebrow. “And…you found this out firsthand?”
“Well, yeah. Why serve under someone who’s a hardass?” Mizuki glances up at somewhere behind Rui. “Oh, speaking of hardasses and Shinonomes. Yo, Ototo-kun! Over heeeere!”
Rui turns around and meets eyes with Akito Shinonome several feet away, who meets his gaze like he’s just been offered a dead rat. The expression melts into a polite facade as the knight turns to say something to the man he was speaking to; one of the servants who are acting as waiters tonight, it seems.
Rui turns back around. “Ototo-kun,” he echoes dryly. “Mizuki, I understand your Princess Ena is forgiving, but are you sure the Prince’s most trusted knight is as well?”
“Oh, Ena’s his older sister,” they snort, waving a hand. “He can’t do anything to me. Besides, he’s a big softie anyway, you should see when he comes over and brings—ah!”
Rui turns around again to see Akito headed their way, two glasses in hand. He sets them down on the table as he approaches.
“Call me Ototo-kun in front of an entire venue again and I’m telling Ena to pick a different knight,” he greets them with.
Mizuki laughs, carefree like they’ve heard this threat a hundred times. “For sure, Ototo-kun! Are those for us?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Akito sighs, meeting Rui’s eyes with disdain. Rui’s not sure if it’s because Akito looks at everyone like that, or because of the time Rui accidentally set off lit gunpowder in the knight academy courtyard. “The waiter heard you yelling after me and noticed you two and said to pass these onto you, as a,”—and here Akito raises his hands to form scare quotes—“thank you for your tireless work for the kingdom,” he finishes dryly.
“Nice,” Mizuki drawls. “Oh, that reminds me this one time—”
“Mizuki?”
Rui turns around (again, his neck is going to get sore if these people don’t choose a different direction to approach from) to see a young woman, purple hair tied into a curly side ponytail.
Mizuki gasps. “Oh, Mafuyu?! It’s been forever!”
The woman—Mafuyu—tilts her head with a sweet smile. “It has, hasn’t it?”
There’s a pause, Mizuki staying oddly quiet, before they seem to realize something. “Oh, right, you can’t…ah.” Mizuki abruptly stands. “Sorry Rui, I’m gonna chat with Mafuyu for a little! You should go find your knight, yeah?”
“I’m being abandoned,” Rui mourns. Mizuki smacks him lightly upside the head.
“You sure are, ‘cause I’ve got other stuff to do.” Akito turns, eyes searching the crowd, likely tracking his prince. He apparently finds him, because he abruptly leaves without so much as a goodbye.
Yeah. Definitely because of the time he almost (accidentally!) blew up the knight academy courtyard.
He takes his glass of champagne, staring at it disinterestedly. He was never much for drinking; after the first experience, just to see what an altered state of mind felt like, he found it unsettling and entirely overrated.
He stands up. He supposes he’ll just dump the drink out somewhere. He searches around, but the way to the bathrooms is cluttered with nobles and servants.
His priorities shift. He wants some peace and quiet, first and foremost. He sweeps the room again with this new plan in mind, eventually spotting a door in the back of the room. Through its glass he can see the sky.
Perfect. He stands up, dips his head politely at anyone who glances at him, and makes his way over.
It’s a crisp, clear autumn night, the cold air blasting him as soon as he pushes open the door to the balcony. The sky is dark and purpling like a bruise. Not a particularly striking sight, if not for the sprinkling of white stars against the dusk.
Rui spares them only a glance. The stars never truly gripped him the way it did the court astronomer, Mochizuki. Instead, his gaze focuses on a deep indigo cape, a splash of bright blond hair.
“Tsukasa,” Rui notes with some surprise. His knight turns, and they share twin expressions before Tsukasa’s face is obscured by his hair. He’s bowing respectfully, hand brought up to his heart in deference.
“My lord,” he greets, a small but warm smile blooming. “Is something the matter?”
“At ease.” Rui approaches Tsukasa until they’re standing side-by-side, and rests his elbows on the railing. “I’m simply getting some fresh air. Things like this aren’t my favorite way to spend the night.” Rui keeps his eyes fixed on the (admittedly, now that he sees them closer, beautiful) stars, mindlessly swirling the champagne flute. “I’m surprised to see you, however. I thought you were speaking with Prince Aoyagi.”
“Oh, I was!” Tsukasa replies quickly, a bright warmth entering his tone that the knight academy had long stopped trying to train out of him. “Early on, actually, but you know how he’s so busy. Just now, though, I was speaking with a woman from the Hinomori family. She went back inside to see after her sister.”
“Hinomori,” Rui echoes. “A fellow knight of yours?”
“Hm? Oh, no! Not her. It was her older sister, actually—” Tsukasa stops, eyes alighting on the glass in Rui’s hand. He trails off, and Rui amusedly watches Tsukasa’s lips purse, probably trying to be proper and not ask for his lord’s drink.
Rui spares him the struggle and holds the drink to him. “It’s champagne.”
“A-ah, I see!” Tsukasa’s eyes fix themselves pointedly on the sky above him.
“I wasn’t planning on drinking it,” Rui continues. “You can have it, if you want.”
Tsukasa’s head immediately swivels back, stars in his eyes like a boy allowed to have liquor for the first time. “Really?!”
Rui laughs. “Yes, and please, next time just ask. You are my knight, after all.”
“I-I couldn’t!” His voice raises, indignant. “It would be unbecoming to ask after your food and drink! But, if you’re not going to have it—and only in that case!—I am a little thirsty.”
“I don’t think champagne will do very much to sate your thirst,” Rui points out, but he hands over the glass anyway. Tsukasa grins brightly, and downs it in one.
“Do you get to drink often?” Rui asks curiously, resting his head in his palm as he watches Tsukasa delicately balance the flute on the top of the railing.
“Oh, well. The students at the knight academy would have alcohol all the time. But it was all very…” Tsukasa wrinkles his nose, and presses a hand to the side of his stomach.
“That bad?” Rui laughs.
“Hm?” Tsukasa’s brows furrow. “Oh—oh, right, yes. It wasn’t very good.”
“I imagine.” Rui takes the now-empty glass and tilts it back and forth. “I’m sure it’s all very cheap beer. At a fancy party like this, there’s all sorts of wines and liqueur to try, if you’re interested. I’m sure you’ve seen all the waiters inside.”
“Mm, I might,” Tsukasa says in a soft, low voice. Again, that same odd wince passes over his face.
“…Tsukasa?” Rui turns to fully face his knight, thrown off. Tsukasa’s voice is, for the most part, incredibly loud, and only soft during pre-set phrases drilled into him from training, like yes, of course or at once, my lord. Then again, maybe he just doesn’t see a need to yell out a simple acknowledgment—
His thoughts are cut off by a sharp noise from Tsukasa, something like a cough. Momentarily, he presses the back of his gloved hand to his lips, before immediately bringing it back down to his side.
“Tsukasa,” Rui repeats, startled.
“Sorry, I just.” Tsukasa’s back straightens, drawing himself to full height. His face is kept very carefully blank. “I just—remembered that I. I’ll be right back. Excuse me.”
With that, he turns heel, and leaves.
Rui blinks after him, at his quickly retreating form visible through the glass of the door. He moves quickly and efficiently, then turns a corner and Rui can’t see him anymore.
…Odd.
Tsukasa is incredibly focused on formalities. If the knight academy trained him to greet his liege with a kneel, a bow, a form of respectful address, he would do it every single time, no matter how many times Rui told him to (politely) relax or (less politely) knock it off. Not only greetings, but this also applied to Tsukasa’s farewells, sweeping and grand.
No, Tsukasa cannot do anything simply or blandly.
Rui’s hand tenses around the stem of the champagne glass. He goes to follow his knight.
The air in the venue is warm compared to the outdoor chill, compounded by the amount of bodies milling around the grand hall. It makes it difficult to navigate the direction Tsukasa was heading in, as he constantly excuses himself and weaves around noble after faceless noble.
“Rui!”
He stops only when he hears a familiar voice shouting his name. It’s Mizuki, and as he turns to face them, he sees their eyes are blown wide with sharp terror.
“Oh thank God, I finally found you,” they gasp, voice high with panic. “Are you okay? Do you feel sick? Dizzy?”
“What?” Rui replies, completely flabbergasted. His own heart starts pounding—even if he has no clue what Mizuki is talking about, he has never seen them so plainly afraid without good reason. “Why? What’s the matter?”
“The drinks Akito brought us,” Mizuki gets out in a rush. “I have this nail polish Ena gave me. On contact with poison, it turns black. Look.”
Rui looks down. On his upper arm, Mizuki’s hand, wrapped around tightly. Four fingernails painted bright pink.
Their index finger, thin and pale, stark against the black polish.
He feels something in his chest tighten and snap in one sharp burst.
“We have to get you to a medic,” Mizuki urges. “I know where we can find one, she—”
“I didn’t drink it.” The words leave him, completely and falsely calm. A high note, like squealing strings on a strained violin, rattles out somewhere close by. “I wasn’t the one who drank it.”
He doesn’t elaborate. He turns, and runs, in renewed pursuit of his knight. He hears Mizuki yelp behind him, their footsteps inevitably following behind, but he ignores all of it.
My knight, Rui thinks, one-tracked. My knight.
“Who did?!” Mizuki whisper-shouts behind him, catching up. “Shit, who did, Rui?!”
“My knight,” Rui says. It only happens to be a response to what Mizuki is asking him.
Mizuki swears beside him. They grab his arm, and veer him off to the left. He chokes out an indignant noise, giving them a fiercely questioning look.
“He must have gone to the restrooms,” they gasp out in explanation. “You see which way he went?”
Rui’s mouth works. “D-down this hall,” he manages. “After that—no, I—”
Mizuki ignores the rest, pulling him along as fast as the both of them can manage before stopping at the restrooms.
Rui tries the doorknob. His heart falls to the floor as he finds it’s locked.
“Tsukasa.” Again, that false calm, voice leaving him in a thin, frigid line. “Open up.”
Silence on the other end. Then, the sound of fabric shifting.
“Out the way,” Mizuki commands brusquely, and places one precise kick below the doorknob. The door flies open and pings against the inner wall with shattering force.
Any other time and Rui would be impressed. Anything he would feel, however, is immediately taken up by the all-consuming whirlpool that is currently crashing somewhere behind his ribs.
His knight, on the floor.
His knight, who looks up in shock at the explosive noise, whose face is grayed out under a dull sheen of sweat.
Rui feels his canines against his lips.
“My—” Tsukasa positions his legs beneath himself, and hurriedly stands up. He lists violently forward, barely catching himself, a hand placed over his heart, gripping the fabric tight.
He bows.
“My lord,” he forces out, before his knees buckle.
A flash of light, the sound of boots against tile. Rui’s hands under Tsukasa’s arms, supporting him before he cracks his head on the floor.
“Tsukasa.” The name tastes like blood on his tongue. His mind has been whited out, a total blizzard of staticky panic.
“Get him to—get him to throw up,” Mizuki instructs. They run over, bending down to feel at Tsukasa’s pulse.
“Did,” Tsukasa mumbles against Rui’s chest. “All…already did…”
“Your pulse,” Mizuki breathes out, and a moment later Rui feels it too, bringing his hand to his knight’s neck. His heartbeat flutters intensely against slick skin, like a caged bird’s wings.
Tsukasa realizes this. He pulls himself away sharply, and once again tilts too far back before correcting himself. His pupils are blown wide. “I’m okay, don’t worry,” he reassures them, a small, wan smile spreading over his face like a trickle of water. “Just—apparently more of a lightweight, than I, aha—”
He suddenly seizes with a thin cry, falling forward, and Rui catches him once more. He can feel—Tsukasa’s skin moves under him, and all thought is scratched out.
“Muscle spasms,” Mizuki notes tersely. “Shit. Shit, that’s really bad. Let me—”
“What the hell is going on in here?”
The new voice makes Mizuki and Rui jump, and they swivel around to see a nonplussed Akito in the doorway, eyebrows raised in mild surprise.
For a moment, theres silence, before Akito jerks his chin over to Tsukasa. “He drink too much?”
The blizzard in Rui’s head clears, and all that can be made out is white-hot rage. He processes the next few seconds in snapshots—the feeling of tile under his heel as he pushes off, the feeling of fabric in his left hand, and a bruising pain over his knuckles as his fist makes contact with Akito’s jaw.
“Rui!” Mizuki gasps.
“What did you give him,” Rui roars.
Akito pulls his face away from the direction Rui’s fist knocked it into, turning to stare at him in complete and utter shock. “What the fuck,” he yells.
“The drink,” Rui snarls, pressing him hard against the wall. His hand shakes in Akito’s white uniform. “What did you do.”
“The fuck are you talking about, I got it from the waiter, he said it was for us—”
“Oh my God, and you didn’t check it?!” Mizuki presses their hands to their forehead, mortified. “They were poisoned, Akito!”
“I—WHAT?!”
“…Poisoned?”
The chaos in the room suddenly shrinks, condenses to one point—Tsukasa, kneeled on the floor, hand still wrapped tightly in the fabric around his heart. He blinks slowly, brows furrowing.
“I’ve been poisoned?”
A wobbling, confused voice.
Akito is dropped, all Rui’s rage forgotten. He turns on his heel, kneels in one fluid motion, and takes Tsukasa’s hand. “You’ll be okay,” he says, stupidly. “We’ll—we’re getting a medic.” He looks up to Mizuki, pleading.
“Wait,” Akito commands, recovering remarkably quickly. Although, Rui supposes, a punch from a noble should really be nothing to a trained knight. “Akiyama, alert Toya first. He’s right down the hall on your right in the banquet room. He can provide one of the rooms for Tsukasa to rest in. If someone walks in here and sees him, we’re gonna have an incident.”
It is a testament to the dire situation that Mizuki, who has never taken well to being ordered around, simply obeys without word, leaving the bathroom with the swishing of a long cape.
Akito’s gaze fixes to Rui. No resentment is held there, only the laser-focused strategizing known of Prince Aoyagi’s first knight. “I’m going after the waiter. Wait for Toya’s return.”
Rui watches him leave. His heart pounds, blood roaring in his ears.
How could he have let this happen, Rui thinks, seething. How could a trained knight appointed by a prince not check the—
“Rui,” Tsukasa breathes out.
If there’s anything they teach the knights, wouldn’t it be something as simple as that? The alternative is that Shinonome is in on it, is—
“Rui.” His voice is weak, the hand gripping at Rui’s shirt weaker. “Not…’s not Akito’s doing.”
Rui’s hold on him tightens. He can’t bring himself to respond.
“Akito is…Toya’s trusted knight…and Toya wouldn’t easily appoint someone wh—who—” Tsukasa’s breath leaves him in a gasp, and once again his body tenses and shakes uncontrollably in Rui’s grip.
“Tsukasa,” Rui whispers.
“Not…your fault, either,” his knight gets out through gritted teeth.
His vision blurs violently. “My knight,” he breathes, brushing Tsukasa’s hair from where it sticks to his forehead.
No, even if Akito placed the poison in that drink himself, it would still be Rui’s fault. Who takes a drink without seeing it get poured? Doesn’t matter that this is a diplomatic event. Doesn’t matter that Rui never planned on drinking it. Rui is the one who let his guard down. And Tsukasa, who trusted him, took the drink with not a shred of wariness. Because it is Rui’s job to make sure things like this don’t happen.
“Someone tried to kill me and Mizuki tonight,” Rui chokes out. “And they got you.”
Tsukasa’s breathing is shallow and fast. “Then I’ve done my job…as a knight…to protect you.”
“No.” Why did nobody tell Rui? “No, this isn’t your job. I should have…” Why, when he stood above Tsukasa, touching a sword to each shoulder and making him his, why did no one say anything? “It was my carelessness that let this happen. Taking the brunt for my mistakes is not your job. It should be me on this floor, not you.”
Why did no one warn him of the soul-consuming terror that his knight might die for him?
“Tsukasa-senpai!”
They both look up, and Rui feels a flood of relief to see Prince Aoyagi in the doorway.
“T’ya,” Tsukasa slurs out, rueful smile on his face. “You’re a prince…you don’t have to call me…your senior.”
“You’ll always be Tsukasa-senpai to me,” Aoyagi says, rote, like he has said it a million times. He shakes his head, and comes to kneel in front of him, meeting Rui’s gaze. “Akiyama said he’s been poisoned?”
“Yes,” Rui replies shortly. “Mizuki is going to get a medic, but we need to get him somewhere better, somewhere he can lie down…”
“Upstairs there are bedrooms. Tsukasa-senpai, can you stand?” Aoyagi’s voice has always had a steely, calm quality to it, even in crises, which makes him efficient as a leader. This close, though, Rui can see the shake in his hands, the too-wide set of his eyes, that speaks of how much the young prince must care.
Tsukasa swallows thickly before responding. “Yes, of course…I might need a little help, but I’m alright.”
In what world, Rui wants to scream, but he simply takes Tsukasa’s left arm, and Aoyagi moves to take his right.
“On three, then,” the prince murmurs, and they lift him to his feet.
Tsukasa staggers with a sharp hiss, pressing the hand of the arm Rui’s holding flush against his heart. “I’m alright,” he repeats thinly, before either of them can say anything.
Raised up, he’s closer to the lights in the room, and Rui can see how pale he is, can see the shadows under the muscles in his face that twitch erratically.
Rui realizes, with a slow, dawning grace, that he is going to kill whoever did this.
“We’ll move quickly,” Aoyagi says grimly, and they set off.
They have to bear most of Tsukasa’s weight, and several times he nearly stops completely; but all the same, Tsukasa raises his head, and focuses his gaze straight forward.
“I cannot believe this has happened.” The only indication of Aoyagi’s rage is the tense set of his jaw. “In my manor. At a celebration. That someone would attack you, Tsukasa-senpai, I can’t—”
“It wasn’t supposed to be Tsukasa.” Rui matches his knight and only stares straight forward as he speaks. “It was meant for me. I let him drink it before even checking that it was safe.”
“You told me…y’weren’t going to drink it…so I should have…checked it myself,” Tsukasa gets out between increasingly frequent pauses for air.
Rui’s heart tightens. He wants to argue, but he knows that Tsukasa, in his kindness, would argue back until the poison took his very last breath. Rui won’t put him through any more exertion than his body’s already fighting through.
They’re almost to the nearest bedroom, the door in sight, when suddenly Tsukasa sags in their grip, head ducking down as he retches weakly.
Barely anything comes up; he must have already done all he could in the restroom earlier. But Tsukasa raises his head slightly, and makes a small noise of regret.
“Oh…oh no, I’m sorry,” he mumbles, words slurring together. “I’ve…made a mess, I…”
“No, don’t apologize,” Rui says fiercely. He runs a hand over his knight’s back. “That’s good. Get it up, if you can.”
“Toya, your manor…” Tsukasa continues as if he hadn’t heard. He’s staring at the floor in devastation that seems disproportionate. “I got it dirty…sorry.”
“The floor can be cleaned. As Kamishiro said, please, focus on your—”
He doesn’t finish. Tsukasa suddenly goes complete deadweight in their hands with a groan.
Rui’s heart is in his throat. “Tsukasa!”
“Hurry,” Aoyagi commands, and they half-carry half-drag him the rest of the way.
The bedroom is quiet, the curtains and expensive rug muffling the sounds of the party outside. Tsukasa sinks into the bed with another small sound of discomfort, eyelids fluttering weakly.
There’s a tense silence, strung taut like a bowstring, before Aoyagi takes a quiet, steadying breath.
“I’ll stand outside so Akiyama knows where to go when they come with the medic,” he murmurs.
You’ve known Tsukasa longer than me, Rui thinks. Should you be the one to stay by his side instead?
Selfishly, he says nothing. He takes Tsukasa’s hand in his and simply nods.
Rui turns to look down at Tsukasa, bringing his pale hand up to his lips. “My knight,” Rui repeats, a broken record. The ache in his chest is crushing, amplifying with each weak breath Tsukasa takes. Rui’s own breath shakes with it.
Tsukasa’s eyes flutter again. “Rui,” he murmurs.
A flurry of footsteps.
“I’m here.”
Mizuki’s voice. Rui sinks with relief, kneeling at Tsukasa’s side.
“Where is he?” Rui looks up, and sees the purple-haired woman from earlier—Mafuyu, Mizuki had called her. The doll-like smile painted on her face from before is gone, replaced with something colder, more mechanical—more efficient.
“Just here.” Rui looks back down at Tsukasa. The woman makes her way over, with empty eyes and clipped movements. “In the bed. Please, if you can do anything—”
“Mizuki,” the girl interrupts, eyes only on her patient. “Water. As much as you can bring.”
Once again, Mizuki does not question the order, and simply moves.
Rui takes his cue to be silent, watching each of Mafuyu’s moves like a hawk.
“Symptoms.” Her hands are quick, clean, checking pulse and temperature with rote movements.
“He’s—breathing too fast. His muscles keep twitching uncontrollably. A moment ago he lost all strength completely. Nausea,” Rui rattles off.
“Tachycardia as well,” she murmurs under her breath, holding a hand over Tsukasa’s chest. “No knowledge of the poison?”
“No. Mizuki had a nail polish that—”
Once again, Mafuyu interrupts. “I’ll assume from the symptoms thus far that it’s potassium based. I’ll proceed with that in mind. Stand back.”
Rui blinks and obeys. He feels an intense, crashing wave of relief that someone who undeniably knows what they’re doing is here to help.
From Mafuyu’s hands, a dim purple light shimmers across Tsukasa’s chest. He lets out a gasp of someone breaching air after minutes underwater, eyes squeezing shut in apparent pain.
A streak of—something fire-hot lashes across Rui’s chest. Something like an enraged animal. Don’t go near him, he wants to shriek. Don’t touch him.
Which is incredibly irrational. Mafuyu is obviously a very skilled medic and mage, her focus towards the treatment clear and unwavering even for a complete stranger. But when he sees Tsukasa’s face tense in pain, noises coming from him scared and small—
Rui raises his hand to his heart. He can’t put a name to the feeling. It feels…heavy. Like it might set him ablaze or crush him, whichever comes first.
“I’ve neutralized most of the poison,” Mafuyu reports, taking her hands away, looking completely unfazed. “He’s not completely out of the woods. When Mizuki returns, get him to drink as much water as you can, within reason. He’ll have to flush the rest out himself on the oncoming days, but he is no longer in critical condition.” She stands in one fluid motion. “I will be inspecting the poison remnants on the glass to see how I can further combat it.”
“Thank you.” Rui is breathless. He cannot think of a way to properly show his gratitude, to—
“Toya!” Akito’s voice rings out through the room, and Rui looks up to see Akito running in, harried and breathing hard. “Witnesses said they saw the servant leaving the party. Shall I set up a force to go after him?”
“At once,” Aoyagi replies swiftly. “Take Shiho with you. Let me come to help organize it.”
Rui stands. “I’m going as well.” His voice sounds unfamiliar to him, frigid and dark. His teeth are sharp against his tongue as he speaks. “Whoever did this to my knight will—”
He is stopped.
A hand is clutching at his sleeve. Weak.
Rui turns, and sees Tsukasa. Eyes wide. Afraid.
“Don’t go,” he whispers.
The rage melts. Sputters out. The crushing, too-hot, all-consuming feeling from earlier returns, doubled in force.
Akito and Mafuyu have already left. Aoyagi stalls for only a moment more. “Then, will you be coming with us?”
Rui’s lips part. “My…” he swallows, and kneels at the side of the bed. “My knight has made a request of me.”
“I see.” Aoyagi gives a small smile Rui does not see, focused only on Tsukasa. “Then I will be off.”
Footsteps down the hallway. Then silence.
Slowly, Rui takes Tsukasa’s hand in his. Tsukasa, still weakened, squeezes back faintly. Rui feels his pulse returning to normal, just under the seam of his glove.
“My knight,” Rui whispers.
Tsukasa’s head turns to face Rui completely, hair spread out behind him in a golden halo. In this large, royal bed, he looks too small for his regal uniform.
Rui’s vision hazes. “I nearly lost you.” Tsukasa stares at him, eyes glazed in his exhaustion. “Oh…oh, Tsukasa…”
“I’m sorry,” Tsukasa mumbles. His other hand reaches out, shaking, and runs across Rui’s cheek feather-light. “I’ve made you worry.”
Oh, and isn’t this dangerous. Rui isn’t…supposed to get this attached. Because what if, in battle, Tsukasa truly does die protecting him? What would Rui do, in the event that Tsukasa goes where he cannot follow?
“You’re…thinking too hard.” Rui’s head snaps up, and sees a small, tired smile on Tsukasa’s face. “I can tell. Please, no blame…none of any of that.” Strength returns to his hand as he squeezes Rui’s tight. “For now…if I could be selfish…just, until my heart settles down…will you stay by my side?”
Rui takes a minute to respond. His answer trembles in him before it can even leave his mouth, a burden he can’t let go of. He’s not even sure when he took it on.
“Always,” he gets out. He’s kneeling at his knight’s side, and presses a gentle kiss to the back of his hand. “If it’s you, always.”