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Tecchou Suehiro was a man of simplicity.
If he wanted to get something done, he would find the most straightforward and efficient way to do so. It made the most sense to him, after all - why would you not want to get things done the most efficient way? His coworker, Jouno, never understood this.
Maybe coworker was the wrong word to use.
Tecchou was a persistent, quiet fellow, who only seemed to annoy Jouno specifically. Nobody else seemed disturbed by his presence, as if he wasn't an incredibly annoying fellow whose heartbeat was always too loud and who always took everything at face value and acted like an idiot.
That was what Jouno presumably thought of Tecchou.
Tecchou, however, liked Jouno. Jouno was cold and uncaring on the surface, he was constantly yelling at him or threatening him or somebody else; Tecchou disliked the part of Jouno that was sadistic and violent, but he didn't let it determine his opinion of the man. Because, after years of being partners fighting alongside one another as Hunting Dogs, Tecchou knew Jouno. He knew Jouno wasn't a bad person, and that he found joy in helping the innocent.
Perhaps Tecchou considered them friends. Jouno didn't.
Tecchou barely dodged a blade that had been flung his way, the lack of precision in the throw uncanny. A reminder that who he was fighting, despite how he looked, wasn't Jouno.
Jouno was always precise. Jouno was a stickler for details, his appearance, fighting form, and strategy, all barely strayed from perfect. He would complain to Tecchou about the lack of precision in his own work, about how his hair was always messy and about how he lacked the ability to think ahead.
This Jouno was sloppy. Hair messy, blood dripping from the corner of their mouth, uniform barely kept together and attacks uncoordinated, all so unlike Jouno.
And yet, not once had Tecchou tried to slash his sword against him. He knew this wasn't fully Jouno - the effect of vampirism keeping the blind man under its wraps and preventing him from having any control over his actions - but he couldn't.
The idea of slashing Jouno with his sword made him sick.
Tecchou was prone to stabbing Jouno whenever the man would display his sadistic tendencies, but he felt it different. In those instances, he wasn't trying to hurt Jouno - however, it seemed to be the only tactic that worked in getting Jouno too distracted to continue his actions. This, though?
If he were to bear his sword against Jouno now, it wouldn't be to scold him. It would be to hurt him. To take him down.
Tecchou couldn't do that.
No matter how much he had to. He couldn't.
For once in his life, Tecchou couldn't take the most straightforward path to victory.
He jumped back as Jouno hissed at him, trying to slash him with his bloodied sword and missing. The brunette side-stepped to his right, trying to take hold of Jouno from behind and restrain him, but the blind man - vampire, he corrected himself - used his ability to escape his grasp before he could even touch him. Then, Jouno swung his sword at him again, and this time Tecchou wasn't far enough to dodge. He raised his sword to block the blow, their swords clinking together. It reminded Tecchou of the times the two of them would spar.
Except this time, Jouno wasn't Jouno.
Jouno ducked, bringing his blade away from Tecchou's and circling around him. Tecchou jumped forward and away from the vampire. He refused to look the blind man in the eye. It felt criminal. Tecchou had never seen Jouno's eyes open. He refused to let the first time be when Jouno was practically possessed by something. So he didn't look. Even if Jouno's eyes were entirely covered by the dark, reddish haze of the vampirism and even if Tecchou were to look, he wouldn't see Jouno's eyes, the brunette didn't look.
"Jouno," he protested. "Wake up!"
Of course, nothing happened. Jouno only growled and shifted, the wet blood coating his uniform glistening in the lights of the airport. Tecchou wanted to look away. He couldn't. He could only continue dodging endlessly as his partner moved to attack him again and again, silently praying that Kenji had managed to find the little girl and the lord of vampires by now and was helping them undo the vampirism.
If he had to keep this up for much longer, he wasn't sure what he'd do.
Sure, physically, he could handle it - he was a hunting dog, after all.
But the idea of fighting Jouno in this state made bile rise up to his throat. It didn't help to know that if Jouno kept going like this, Tecchou would eventually need to get on the offensive.
Tecchou knew Jouno could protect himself. He knew Jouno could tie with him in a fight, and Jouno had even bested him in sparring a few times - but that didn't change the fact that this Jouno wasn't Jouno . This Jouno was sloppy. Unfocused. Lacking anger.
He didn't know how well a Jouno who wasn't Jouno would do against him in a fight.
The brunette groaned as he dodged another swing of Jouno's sword, hissing when it grazed his back. He was at a disadvantage; Tecchou was more used to being on the offensive, and he was barely used to having to dodge.
And, thanks to his ability and other factors, Jouno was fast. Tecchou jumped further away from the blind man, stumbling a little. He had taken an embarrassing amount of hits, thanks to his insistence on staying on the defensive. About halfway through the fight, he'd noticed that whatever injuries Jouno had sustained that had caused the blood all over his uniform had already closed, which brought him an immense sense of relief - but his own wounds didn't heal. He could bear much more than an average human could, due to all his enhancements, but he wasn't invincible. If Jouno kept landing hits on him, his movement would at the very least be restricted which would only lead to more injuries.
"Stop this!" He tried to reason with the vampirified figure of his partner. "Jouno!"
The man, of course, didn't listen. He lunged at Tecchou again, and the brunette struggled to dodge - then, his entire train of thought was cut when the communicator he bore on his hip sprung to life.
"Tecchou!" came Teruko's voice through the speaker. "Get over here, now! The agency has the lord of vampires!"
Tecchou faltered. Teruko didn't believe the agency yet, he knew that. Just a few minutes prior, he hadn't either, not before he and Kenji had fought. But, the reminder that technically, he was now against his own vice commander made his mind go blank.
In those few seconds that he wasn't paying attention, Jouno had snuck up behind him. Tecchou fumbled for his communicator, trying to think of something reasonable to say to Teruko, but he never got the chance.
The communicator fell from his hand when Jouno's sword pierced his stomach. Tecchou gasped, his footing faltering before he quickly stumbled away, his hand moving to his stab wound to try and stop the bleeding. He distanced himself from Jouno the best he could, then unclasped his cape from his neck. He ripped the fabric, sloppily wrapping his torso with it the best he could - it was a horrible fix and would fall off soon enough, but it was the best he had for now.
The wrapping probably would have been better, too, if he didn't have to keep actively dodging Jouno's frantic attacks while he did it.
Tecchou glanced at the communicator he had dropped on the ground and hopped towards it in an attempt to respond to Teruko, but Jouno materialized on top of it and stomped the device to pieces.
Great.
Jouno jumped towards the brunette again, and Tecchou struggled to dodge. He moved out of the way just in time, causing Jouno to jump straight into a wall - but, as expected, this barely even slowed him down. The wall cracked from the impact, but the vampire only turned around and used the wall as leverage to jump to Tecchou again.
Tecchou hissed as he leapt out of the way, the wrapping around his wound already coming loose. He couldn't afford to tighten it now either, it would leave an opening.
Jouno hissed, dematerializing right before he was to reach Tecchou. The brunette whined in surprise, quickly trying to move farther away from his previous spot and looking around frantically so he'd spot Jouno when he was to materialize again, but he barely even had time to react when the vampire appeared in front of him and stabbed him with their sword again.
Tecchou choked. He was already injured before this, thanks to his fight against Kenji.
Let's just say that a sword piercing his lung wasn't very helpful.
He coughed up blood and tried to rip the sword from Jouno's hands, but his hands were shaky and Jouno wasn't yielding. He gasped, trying to move away, when his eyes locked with those of the vampire.
Red. Inhuman.
Tecchou stumbled away, pulling the sword out of his chest in the process. The vampire tried lunging at him again, but Tecchou fell to the ground, effectively dodging the upcoming blow.
The brunette hissed, his left lung filling with blood and the wrapping around his stomach wound loose. He grabbed his ripped cape and threw it off.
It wasn't stopping the bleeding, and it would only hinder his movement. It was better gone.
Tecchou tried to move further away from the vampire, circling around his comrade, but to no avail; Jouno turned to particles and reappeared behind him with a growl. Tecchou elbowed him in the stomach and stumbled away, but the vampire only hissed at that and threw his sword at the brunette. Tecchou yelped and ducked out of the way.
This was yet another tactic that Jouno never used. He was always against throwing swords, as it wasn't their intended purpose and only let off Tachihara for doing so since the youngest member's ability accommodated for such treatment of his sword.
Jouno was more fond of guns and knives.
The sword pierced the wall with a loud crack, and Tecchou straightened back up, his eyes locking on Jouno; except Jouno wasn't there anymore. Tecchou looked around frantically, which didn't help his slight lightheadedness caused by the head wound he got from his fight with Kenji. He heard a hiss, and quickly leapt out of the way - or so he thought. Instead, he only stumbled straight into the vampire, who had retrieved their sword from the wall, and got stabbed through his armpit, the sword piercing his Axillary artery.
Tecchou choked.
Okay, Kenji and the agency would have to hurry up with undoing the vampirism. As much as Tecchou's body was enhanced, if he got hit in any more vitals...
He quickly tried to stop the blood flow spurting from his arm, applying pressure the best he could while gaining distance on Jouno. He gritted his teeth. He couldn't afford to stay on the defensive.
The vampire growled again as he jumped away, and didn't react when Tecchou drew his sword, only moving to attack him again. The brunette frowned, but with a hiss, he extended his sword and hit Jouno in the side.
The vampire hissed like some animal but didn't even try to move away, only continuing their pursuit. The ground was tilting under Tecchou's feet, and he stumbled as he struggled to dodge yet another attack. His breathing was heavy, and he was already coughing up blood and bleeding from his stomach and shoulder - if this continued he wasn't sure he would make it.
He had broken multiple ribs while fighting Kenji, and now he was pretty sure one of them was about to pierce his still in-tact lung.
He collapsed.
When Jouno came to his senses, the first thing he registered was that the burning pain in his limbs was gone. His heart was beating rapidly in his chest, he was sweating, and his uniform was covered in clots of dried or damp blood.
Jouno was alive.
The second thing he realized was that he had a horrible headache - his eyes were open. He frowned, shutting them quickly, his grip on his sword handle tightening.
His sword? Didn't he lose it?
The handle was sticky, a familiar kind of sticky. It was coated in blood, he wasn't sure if it was his own or someone else's, and he wasn't sure which option he liked less.
The vampirism had been undone, he figured. The vampirism explained his healed wounds, and being awoken from it explained how he was still alive and standing now.
With a deep exhale to calm his nerves, the man sheathed his sword and focused his senses. He was pretty sure he was alone, he hadn't immediately picked up a pulse in the room he was in, but it never hurt to check.
Sure enough, after a few seconds of complete silence, accompanied by the metallic smell of blood flooding his senses, his ears picked up a pulse.
It was faint, slow and quiet - dying.
He frowned. Who was that? With steady steps, he walked towards the weakening pulse, cringing as he heard them struggle to breathe, the noise croggled like they were drowning. Impaled lung, most likely. He reached the body, and kneeled down, silently listening, trying to figure out who it was but to no avail - no matter how familiar a heartbeat was, if it was this faint he wouldn't be able to recognize it.
His hand reached to touch the body, carefully grazing what seemed to be their chest. First, he of course noticed the blood covering their clothes, but underneath the layer of blood, he recognized something else.
A familiar fabric, a familiar metal ornament on the right side of their chest.
Whoever this was, they were wearing the hunting dogs’ uniform.
With growing urgency he tried to pick up hints of who it was, anything, a familiar scent, a familiar skip in their heartbeat - but there was nothing. All their own scent was covered by the smell of blood, their heartbeat too weak to recognize. He was left with physical attributes.
His hands urgently roamed the person's body, and he quickly came to the conclusion that it wasn't Teruko, which left him with Tachihara and Tecchou. It wasn't Fukuchi, either, that man was significantly bigger in size than the rest of them.
He frowned, his hand reaching higher, and he froze when he grazed a lock of hair.
This wasn't Tachihara either.
"Tecchou?" Jouno whispered, but there was no response, just a struggling breath.
Jouno's heart picked up, panic starting to rise. His hands reached for Tecchou's face, and he cringed when he felt hot blood trickle down his hands from Tecchou's lips and forehead. The brunette's eyes were half closed, but now that Jouno was closer he could hear his faint breaths easier.
It didn't provide him with any reassurance.
He quickly reached for the communicator on his hip, praying to whatever gods above that it wasn't broken.
"Hello?" He spoke into the receiver, thanking his luck when the machine made a clicking sound. "Hello?! I need help, Tecchou's injured, I can barely even hear him!"
The deafening silence that followed burnt his nerves, his free hand moving to Tecchou's chest and trying to put pressure on the wound. Fuck, fuck, FUCK!
"Jouno?" A voice crackled through the communicator. Jouno's heart skipped a beat.
"Vice commander! Tecchou needs medical assistance, now!" He spoke to the receiver, his hands shaking more than he would ever like to admit. He tried to strain his ears so he could hear Tecchou's faint breathing.
"You- Oh shit, okay, well," Teruko spoke over the intercom. "I'll send the agency doctor your way. I'm not sure if she'll make it in time, she's very busy."
Jouno didn't have time to wonder how Teruko was now working with the agency, and frankly, he didn't really care as long as Tecchou got help and soon. He didn't like the sound of Tecchou's heart slowing down, the sound of his lungs filling with blood. He replied with a small sound of affirmation to Teruko, before placing down his communicator and putting his other hand over a wound as well.
"Tecchou. Wake up, goddammit," he said through gritted teeth. "I swear to god if you die here like an idiot I'll spit on your fucking grave."
The words didn't do much, other than elicit a cough from Tecchou. Good enough. At least that was reassurance that the brunette was still alive. Jouno focused on keeping his hands steady on Tecchou's chest wound, even if he was painfully aware it wasn't doing much of anything for Tecchou. He could still hear the blood entering Tecchou's lungs, could hear his heart slow down.
There, alone with Tecchou's slowly dying body, Jouno realized just how terrified he was of losing him.
As much as Jouno claimed to hate Tecchou, even he himself knew that wasn't true. As much as he wanted it to be true, as much as he willed himself to convince others and himself that he despised the brunette, there was little to no truth behind it.
When on missions, he always caught himself listening to Tecchou's familiar heartbeat. He hated being around Tecchou, the man was so naive, so blindly caring and kind, it made him feel sick to his stomach. Tecchou, who was always pushing Jouno to be better. Tecchou, who always did whatever he could to keep others safe. Tecchou, who was so stupidly idiotic, Tecchou, who had taken Jouno's heart and patiently unwrapped all the protective layers surrounding it.
Tecchou, whom Jouno could never admit he had fallen in love with.
Jouno cursed when he still heard no approaching footsteps. If help didn't come soon, Tecchou might-
No, no, shut the fuck up brain. Tecchou would make it. He'd been through worse. If he could survive being blown to bits, he could survive this.
Right?
The brunette coughed again, his body nearly fully limp in Jouno's arms. It seemed the brunette was now awake enough to register his surroundings somewhat, as he suddenly tried to speak. Instead, he coughed again - the blood filling his lungs and throat made speaking very difficult. Jouno frowned.
"Don't speak, you oaf", he berated. "You'll just make it worse."
Tecchou let out what sounded like a whine, and yet continued to disobey.
"Jouno," he managed to choke out, his voice weak and raspy, gargled up thanks to the blood. "Jouno."
The mentioned man only hissed, trying to get Tecchou to shut up. Speaking did nothing good for him, especially when Jouno still couldn't hear footsteps approaching. He continued putting pressure on the wound, but at this point, it really only made him look desperate. Which he was.
"Shut up," Jouno growled, his gloves coated in Tecchou's blood. "Stop talking."
"You're-" Tecchou coughed, interrupting his own speech. Jouno hoped that would shut him up, but of course, nothing could be so easy. "You're back to normal," Tecchou rasped. "You're okay."
Jouno gritted his teeth. "Well, you're not going to be okay if you keep fucking talking!"
While the white-haired man couldn't see, he could tell Tecchou was smiling, and the fact that he could hear Tecchou's muscles moving to achieve a smile was only a fraction of how he could tell. Tecchou coughed again and sucked in a strangled breath. Jouno cursed under his breath.
"I'm glad," Tecchou gargled, his voice holding an odd tone of finality that made Jouno feel sick to his stomach. "I'm glad you're here. I'm glad I'm not..." he coughed. "alone..."
Jouno swallowed.
"Stop talking like that," he protested sharply, and in any other situation, he would've hit himself for how evident the desperation was in his voice. "I swear to god, if you fucking die here I'll never forgive you." His breath caught in his throat when he spoke.
Tecchou let out a gargling noise, which was probably meant to be a laugh. Jouno glared, his hands faltering on Tecchou's chest.
"I won't come to your funeral," he hissed, and Tecchou only weakly coughed in response. "Just shut up and stay still. Help should be on the way."
Tecchou was silent, and for a while, Jouno dared hope that the brunette had finally taken his words for granted, but no, the world hated him. It was like Tecchou was doing this on purpose.
"I'm so glad you're okay," the dying man spoke as if all his own wounds brought no distress to him. "Jouno, I-" he coughed again, Jouno's anxiety grew by the second. He refused to have his partner die in his arms.
"I told you to shut up, you imbecile !" Jouno commanded, the strictness of his voice broken as his voice slightly cracked. "You can't ever just do what you're told, can you? You-"
"Jouno," Tecchou interrupted, his voice shaking, a weak, bloody hand brushing against Jouno's own, still settled on the brunette's chest. "I want you to know, that you-" he coughed, and Jouno stifled the urge to hit the man.
"I said stop talking!"
Jouno hated this. He wasn't going to listen, no, he wasn't going to let Tecchou speak like he was saying his last words. Tecchou was- as much as Jouno hated to admit it, Tecchou was different. Jouno had bared his claws to the brunette, and the soldier had taken his hand and gently clipped and filed them down with way too much care for someone like him. The feeling of Tecchou's bloody, limp hand on top of his own made his stomach turn.
This wasn't the first time Tecchou had gotten severely hurt on a mission, this wasn't the first time Tecchou was close to death.
But it had never been this close.
Never to the point where Tecchou was trying to say his last words, and Jouno refused to let him.
"I swear, if you even try to pull that ‘last words’ bullshi t on me, I'll strangle you myself," Jouno hissed. "I-"
"Hello?" Jouno froze when the voice of a woman echoed a few hallways away.
The doctor! It was her! She was here now, she could save Tecchou!
"Here!" Jouno yelled back, ignoring how it made his own ears ring. Tecchou flinched slightly at the noise but made no sound. The brunette's grip on his hand was getting weaker. "You better not fucking fall asleep right now or so help me," Jouno urgently hissed. "I'm not carrying a dead body back home with me today."
The footsteps of the doctor came closer, approaching with growing speed before she eventually burst into the room and let out an acknowledging hum as she spotted them. Jouno moved, albeit with more hesitance than he'd like to admit, giving the doctor a better view of Tecchou.
"You're lucky for your enhancements you know," she muttered. "any normal person would've died ages ago. I have no idea how he's still breathing."
Jouno sent a cold glare her way. "Will you help him or not?"
The doctor sighed. "It's nothing my ability can't fix. Thou shall not die!" Jouno heard the telltale sounds of her ability at work, he heard Tecchou's bones instantly repair themselves, heard his muscles move back into place and heard his wounds close.
Most importantly, he heard Tecchou's heartbeat return to its steady, normal state.
The doctor left without a second thought - she probably was very busy going around the airport, but she did give them a short "You're welcome" before running off.
Jouno's attention was elsewhere.
He stood up and walked back over to where Tecchou was, offering the man a hand. He never did such things before, but his mind was all over the place right now and he frankly didn't care anymore. Tecchou took it, hoisting himself up, and Jouno hissed.
"You absolute moron," He immediately yelled. "Why did you keep talking?! You could've actually died if you kept that up you-"
Then Tecchou's hands were on his cheeks, and he no longer thought about finishing his sentence. As Tecchou's lips softly connected with his own, he barely hesitated for a second, before grabbing the other by his collar and deepening the kiss. It was by no means perfect, Tecchou's lips were chapped and bloody, and his own weren't much better, either, but it was fine. The kiss was… fine.
When they broke apart, Tecchou buried his face in Jouno's shoulder, his hands gripping the man's uniform. Jouno sighed.
"I hate you," he muttered. “Never do that again.”
Tecchou gripped Jouno's uniform harder.
"I love you."
“Shut the hell up.”