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If Heizou had to pinpoint a moment when things had started to become brittle between Kazuha and himself he couldn't have named one. It was a gradual process. Just like the oppression in Inazuma hadn't happened from one day to the other.
First it was the Shogun retreating more and more until she barely ever showed herself in public or interacted with the common people at all. What happened behind the palace walls of Tenshukaku or if high ranking Inazumans still had access to her, Heizou wasn't privy to despite his work as a doushin for the Tenryou commission.
Then it was certain businesses closing down and the atmosphere within the nation becoming more tense, as some old and influential clans fell from grace. Kazuha's was one of them but he had never cared for riches and power so he might have even been happier as he lost his noble status.
But then voices of rebellion were raised and soon enough people started to disappear. It was the first time Heizou ever remembers them having a serious argument. Heizou dutifully held on to his belief in law and authorities. He was convinced that the government and the tri-commission had nothing to do with it. While Kazuha was suspecting the commissions were behind it, Heizou refused to believe they were responsible.
Maybe that was when the first cracks in their relationship had formed. But they made up and Heizou thought they were fine. That those cracks were mended and no harm was done. He was wrong.
The breaking point for Kazuha was the death of his friend. In a foolish attempt Tomo had wanted to overthrow the Shogun's reign and defeat her champion in a duel. He'd acted alone, driven by the blind ambition of an idealistic dreamer.
Heizou predicted the outcome of the duel. Kujou Sara wasn't the general of the Shogun's army for show. She was a fearsome warrior who had led victorious battles against beasts and humans alike. Both skilled with a bow and a sword. Even though Tomo was an outstanding swordsman he couldn't win against the general.
Heizou had held Kazuha as he wept about the loss of his friend. He saw how broken it left his boyfriend but he never suspected that it was enough to break them apart too.
Heizou thought they were just having dinner, the mood was obviously down. Kazuha was still grieving, the wound his friend's death a few days ago had caused was too fresh. Heizou tried to be supportive wherever he could. He cooked meals, brought Kazuha tea and a blanket when he was curled up in a corner, absent and withdrawn, staring at nothing. Sometimes writing down his thoughts in the form of poems. Heizou made sure Kazuha was warm and comfortable and had assured him he was there to listen whenever Kazuha needed someone to talk.
So that day at dinner when Heizou had plated katsu and ramen Kazuha emerged from the spot where he'd been kneeling motionless, lost in meditation and his own thoughts.
Heizou had smiled at him, raising the chopsticks to his mouth and froze when Kazuha suddenly said his name.
"Heizou."
It was just his name but it held so much weight and emotion that it was enough to make Heizou feel uneasy. Kazuha sat but he didn't touch the food. He just looked at Heizou with those expressive sunset eyes that had been filled with tears over the past days almost constantly. Now his eyes were dry but not less sad.
"What's the matter, dear? Are you not hungry? Or do you want me to make something else? I can–"
"Heizou," Kazuha repeated. "Please be quiet for a moment."
Heizou closed his mouth and nodded, indicating that he would listen. Kazuha shifted, wrapping the folds of his haori tighter around himself as if he were freezing. Heizou wanted to reach out, offer his warmth and hold him close. But Kazuha was clearly trying to have a conversation and Heizou didn't want him to close off again. This was progress and he didn't want to jeopardize it.
"I can't do this anymore. I need to leave."
"Oh," Heizou said, not understanding. "When will you be back?"
"I won't, Heizou. Not until things have changed in Inazuma."
Heizou felt cold suddenly, slowly grasping that this wasn't a normal dinner conversation.
"What about me?" he asked slowly. "What about us, Kazuha?"
"You could come with me."
Heizou's first instinctual answer was no. He said it out loud. He had a life here, a job, a career. People were relying on him. He had active cases. He couldn't leave, he was needed.
"That is alright. I won't hold it against you."
There was no anger or resentment in Kazuha's words, not even disappointment. It was the emptiness in his voice that Heizou found most disturbing. He rubbed his forehead in frustration.
"No, wait. Kazuha, that's not what I meant. Let's… let's talk about this, okay?"
"Your reaction was honest and valid. I know you have your reasons and your principles, I respect that. But I won't change my mind."
"Kazuha, please," Heizou tried again. "I know you're still grieving. If this is about Tomo's–"
"Of course it's about Tomo's death," Kazuha cut in, emotions finally breaking through the empty mask. "I cannot live in an environment where ambitions and visions of a brighter future are punishable by death. And you know it's gotten bad, Heizou, don't deny it. The Shogun's rule enforced by the tri-commission is oppression. I refuse to bend to their rules when they limit my freedom and take the lives of people I love. I cannot sit idly by, suffocated by injustice while other people suffer."
Kazuha's voice cracked, unused to speaking so many words after days of near silence. He cleared his throat and continued before Heizou could get a word in.
"If there is anything I can do to make a change I will do so, even if it entails fighting and bloodshed."
A spike of fear struck Heizou, painful and paralyzing right through his chest.
"Kazuha, what are you…", his voice broke.
"Don't worry, I won't request a duel before the throne."
Kazuha smiled faintly but it didn't reach his eyes and it didn't make Heizou any less worried. He waited for Kazuha to continue, breath caught in his throat and the unusual lack of warmth from Kazuha made the room feel chilly.
"Tomorrow I will be heading to Watatsumi. It is said the people of Sangonomiya are preparing for battle."
"Battle for what?" Heizou heard himself say, somehow as though he was watching this absurdity of a situation as a bystander. Because it was surreal that it was happening to him.
"Change, Heizou. And if you can't see that it is needed then this is where we part ways."
Heizou felt numb. He shook himself out of the stupor and forced a smile.
"You should sleep over this," he said, a fake lightness in his voice that he didn't feel.
He stood, taking his bowl to the kitchen, appetite suddenly gone.
He didn't hear Kazuha's next words, brittle, almost whispered.
"I've slept over it for the past week."
The next morning Kazuha was gone, leaving with one half of Heizou's heart, carved cleanly in two as though Kazuha had taken his sword and sliced his chest right open. It hurt like that too.
A month later Inazuma was at war. Heizou despised violence but when spring came and the anniversary of the day when Kazuha had kissed him for the first time under a sakura tree with petals settling in their hair, he enlisted in the Shogun's army.
~
The battle had raged for hours. Kazuha's blade was slick with blood, the light pink fabric of his uniform's right sleeve soaked with red, almost no difference in color compared to the left. Some of it was his own blood, most of it wasn't. He had suffered only shallow cuts, an arrow that could have struck him right in his eye he dodged and it had only grazed his cheek. He could feel the hardened bloody crusts on his face and where the blood had dripped down his neck, seeping into his collar.
It was more the exhaustion than injuries that made Kazuha stumble on the uneven ground, that made the swings of his swords less precise and his focus less sharp. Those were errors that got you killed. But it was too early to claim victory.
The Watatsumi rebels had pushed the Shogun's troops back from the shore of Nazuchi Beach up the hillside. Tricky terrain, the constant thunderstorm and heavy rain over Yashiori Island and the steps of hundreds of boots turning the slopes into mud slides if one wasn't careful. Kazuha had watched more than one man lose his footing and tumble over the edge of the massive gorge, where agonizing death awaited them in the polluted water.
Kazuha was lithe and agile, had been trained in swordsmanship since he was a child but even he found his feet slipping as the ground dampened further, both blood and rain seeping into the earth.
A soldier clad in purple, now stained from blood and mud, came onto Kazuha fiercely. The way he wielded his spear didn't speak of much experience with the weapon but he made up for it with the determination that guided his attacks.
A righteous man believing in the cause he was fighting for was a dangerous man. Fear wouldn't make him falter and injury would only spur him on. And with his focus set so fiercely on Kazuha this would end with one or both of them dead.
A swing of the Shogunate soldier was aimed for his head and Kazuha attempted to twist out of the way. His foot slipped in the mud and the brief second he needed to steady his stance was enough to make his opponent's spear collide with his helmet. The impact rattled through his skull painfully and made his ears ring. The piece of armor was knocked sideways, obscuring his view and disorientation made him stagger.
Kazuha knew that half blind he had no chance of defeating the enemy in a noble honorable way. While a fight to the death in a duel was respected, honored even, war didn't allow such privileges. Taking lives on the battlefield was dirty, conniving and using every bit of vulnerability the opponent showed to the own advantage.
He dropped to the ground, calculating where the purple-clad soldier had been standing when he had struck and rolled right into the man, knocking his legs out from under him.
Kazuha heard him shout in surprise and maybe pain as he toppled over, falling on top of Kazuha. He grunted at the added weight but quickly used the moment while the other was caught off guard to yank off the dented, askew helmet. He dropped it there, damaged as it was, it was more baggage than protection.
Kazuha elbowed the Shogunate soldier hard in the ribs and air escaped him in a choked wheeze. But he was hard to grab, squirming like a fish trying to escape a fishing hook. He twisted and right as Kazuha was trying to crawl out from under his body, the soldier managed to straddle him and his hand pressed down hard between Kazuha's shoulder blades, flattening him into the mud. His other arm shot forward, grabbing Kazuha's wrist, bending it forward so roughly it made Kazuha yell out.
His fingers uncurled against his will, the grip around his sword loosening and the soldier on top of him wasted no time, plucking the sword from Kazuha's hand and chucking it away in the distance.
Well shit. This was bad. The other man had Kazuha beneath him in the dirt, disarmed and trapped. If he didn't do something fast this would be the end.
A fist buried itself into Kazuha's hair, yanking, and a painfully familiar voice spoke right into his ear.
"Got you, bastard."
It was breathless from exertion, hoarse from shouting and yet…
Fate must be playing a cruel trick on Kazuha. But he wasn't ready to die here. Not like this, not by his hands. He bucked his hips violently, making the man above him lose balance, before throwing himself sideways right over the edge where the ground gave way and in a tangle of limbs they rolled down a steep slope.
Thorny branches were tearing at their clothes, their skin and every rock and bump fired a new wave of pain through Kazuha's already bruised body. He could hear the other groan and when they finally came to a stop Kazuha was sprawled across his chest and was staring down at the face he'd only allowed himself to think of in rare vulnerable moments over the past year.
Heizou's hair was a mess, his helmet lost during their ungraceful descent, twigs and leaves caught in it, blood seeping from a laceration in his hairline, staining the burgundy strands almost black and trickling over his forehead.
Recognition flickered in his eyes as he stared up at Kazuha and his expression twisted into something raw, vulnerable and hurt before rage took over.
His fist collided with Kazuha's jaw, pain exploding and he tasted blood. The lying position didn't allow Heizou to swing properly which was a good thing because Heizou's fist with full force would have knocked Kazuha out cold. It still hurt like hell.
"You!" Heizou hissed. "You fucking–"
His voice broke, a horrible choked sound between a sob and hysterical laughter escaped him.
It was too much, the broken hearts, the year of separation, the guilt, the regret, the pain and the adrenaline of this violent reunion. Kazuha blanked.
The next moment his mouth was on Heizou's, blood smearing between them from Kazuha's split lip, his grip bruising around Heizou's chin, holding him steady while brutally reclaiming the man he loved and had left. He pushed deep with his tongue, biting, sucking and Heizou did it right back, responding despite himself. The kiss tasted of copper and desperation.
Suddenly Kazuha couldn't breathe, Heizou's hands were wrapped around his throat, choking him out. He gasped for air but nothing would reach his lungs, Heizou's fingers squeezing too tightly. His head started spinning, black spots dancing at the edge of his vision, his nails clawing uselessly over the back of Heizou's hands.
Heizou was going to kill him.
No. Not yet.
Kazuha stopped trying to pry Heizou's fingers off and instead fumbled for the small blade hidden in his sleeve, the one he kept there in case he had to turn it against himself to escape a worse fate. He found the handle and slid the blade free from the lining of his sleeve.
He brought it down without hesitation, the lack of oxygen and interrupted blood flow to his brain already had him getting weaker and sloppier and he needed to do this as long as he still had enough strength left.
The blade sliced down where Heizou's chest plate didn't cover him and sank deep, right into the soft spot near the armpit where collar bone met shoulder joint. Not lethal but effective enough to break his hold around Kazuha's neck.
Heizou screamed and he let go of Kazuha, hands flying to the wound. Kazuha coughed violently, taking in huge gulps of air, dizzy, his head pounding and his throat raw from the strain.
"You fucking stabbed me!" Heizou accused, outraged, his hands turning red where he pressed them against his shoulder.
"You were choking me," Kazuha defended himself. His voice sounded funny, damage to his vocal chords probably. Something might have ruptured, he thought distractedly.
Heizou's brows drew together. He was still furious, Kazuha could feel it radiate off of him in waves. Kazuha's own aggression was starting to bleed out of him, but Heizou wasn't done.
"How dare you?" he hissed. "How dare you leave me because of some noble intention that only led to war and more killing. Was it worth it? Is this what you and your precious rebels want?"
He pummeled Kazuha's chest with his fists, wincing but ignoring the pain of the stab wound. There was no real force behind it and Kazuha let him.
"Stop, you're hurting yourself."
"Fuck you! Fuck you Kazuha. For a year you made me hate you and miss you and despite everything I still want you and I hate that I want you and now you're here acting like you care if I get hurt when you're the one who felt no remorse breaking my heart."
Kazuha furrowed his brow.
"Is that what you think? That I didn't regret that I left? That I didn't feel guilty and missed you every damn day? That it didn't hurt me too?"
It was hard to raise his voice. Speaking hurt but Kazuha had to keep trying to get through to Heizou. Heizou said his heart broke that day. Kazuha pulled his own heart out of his chest and left it behind when he sneaked out of Inazuma City. And the hollow in his chest had ached like an open wound ever since.
Heizou's expression was cold.
"But you didn't want me enough to stay."
"I couldn't stay because there were things at play that were much bigger than you and I. But I did and still do want you so much it hurts."
Kazuha pressed his hand against his chest and his damaged voice broke.
"Prove it," Heizou suddenly demanded.
"What?!"
"Prove it. Because I don't believe you."
Kazuha froze. There was no doubt in which context Heizou wanted him to prove it. He suddenly became very aware of their position. Him straddling Heizou's waist and Heizou below him, chest heaving, staring at him with a challenge in his eyes and his jaw set stubbornly. Heizou shifted his hips and even through the fabric of both their clothes Kazuha could feel his arousal.
This was wrong, this was twisted. Their reunion should be sweet, with words of love instead of anger, a safe place instead of the edge of a battlefield, gentle not violent.
But with their emotions in turmoil, betrayal and broken trust, maybe brutal and violent was the only reunion that was possible. Kazuha would be hesitant but here Heizou was, spiteful, stubborn and he was asking for it. And suddenly he wanted, wanted to claim Heizou and mark him in a way that screamed mine for everybody to see.
"Are you sure?" he asked hoarsely. "Because you have no idea what I'm thinking about right now."
Heizou's lips parted in a sharp inhale as Kazuha ground his ass down in Heizou's lap. He could feel Heizou harden further.
"Do it. Prove it," Heizou repeated. He wasn't begging. He was commanding. For now.
Kazuha snapped. He caught Heizou's wrists and slammed them into the ground above Heizou's head. He groaned when it tore the stab wound but Kazuha ignored it. He kissed him again, hard and demanding, opening Heizou's lips with his own. It was a battle of tongue and teeth and Kazuha was winning.
Heizou squirmed, his hips shifting up and they both moaned when it pressed their clothed erections together. Kazuha let go of Heizou's wrists to fist his hair instead, yanking his head back and diving in to ravish his exposed throat with kisses. Heizou gasped when teeth scraped his skin. He tried to reach with both arms but bit back a cry and cursed when he realized the pain didn't allow him to move the wounded shoulder. One arm rested uselessly on the ground while he fumbled one handed with the strap holding Kazuha's shoulder guard.
It came loose and Kazuha chucked it away impatiently, going straight for Heizou's belt next. Heizou tried to help but Kazuha slapped his hand away, cupping Heizou's cock over his pants and giving it a hard squeeze that made his mouth fall open in a moan and arch into the sensation. Kazuha worked the laces open and sloppily yanked Heizou's pants halfway down his thighs.
Heizou gasped when his cock was exposed to the frigid air but it turned into a yelp when Kazuha took him in his fist, pumping roughly and smearing pre-cum over the sensitive head and into the slit.
"Fuck Kazuha!"
Heizou's hips rocked, desperately chasing the touch, wordlessly demanding more. It was almost as though he couldn't help it, body moving of his own accord even if it jostled the wound, making him groan in pain and a trickle of fresh blood seep into the fabric of his uniform.
His sounds, his eager body, that Kazuha remembered exactly as though he had seen it just yesterday and not a year ago, all of it was driving Kazuha wild.
He let go of Heizou's cock and flipped him onto his stomach. He whimpered in pain and whether it was the injury or his weeping cock grinding against the rough ground Kazuha didn't know, didn't care.
He shoved up the thick fabric of Heizou's uniform, baring his ass. Soft skin, deliciously curved and firm muscle. Beautiful, he thought for a second, before squeezing the cheeks hard, nails digging into the tender flesh, leaving fiery crescent shaped marks, and parted them.
Heizou made an undignified sound when his hole was exposed unceremoniously and Kazuha could see the muscles clench. His own cock twitched greedily wanting to be inside. He wouldn't deny it.
He yanked open his own pants, just enough to free his erection. He spit in his hand, sloppily slicking himself up while leaning over and a second glob of saliva landed between Heizou's cheeks, trickling down the cleft of his ass.
Kazuha gathered the wetness with two fingers of his free hand and pressed them against Heizou's hole. He winced, muscles clenching and fighting the intrusion but at the same time he greedily pushed his ass back growling at Kazuha to hurry up, muffled against his own arms and through clenched teeth from the discomfort but still sounding so demanding and bratty that Kazuha couldn't wait to fuck all that attitude out of him.
His fingers sank in deeper when Heizou relaxed and he started pumping them, loving how the smooth curve of his ass moved with every jab and every rock of Heizou's body. Heizou was moaning and when Kazuha found his prostate and applied pressure mercilessly he whimpered, thighs shaking and hole fluttering around Kazuha's fingers.
That was when Heizou lost patience.
"Kazuha, fuck me!" he spat over his shoulder, wrecked and breathless. "Prove it! Fuck me and prove that you still want m–ahhh!"
Heizou's words ended in a yell when Kazuha replaced his fingers with his cock in one powerful thrust. Heizou's hole was gripping him so tightly, his insides clenching and Kazuha was overwhelmed by the feeling of it. The tightness, the heat. It was dizzying and wonderful.
The lubrication wasn't adequate, the prep wasn't adequate, in fact, nothing about this intercourse was adequate and yet it felt like coming home. Their bodies knew each other and the closeness, the intimacy, it all was a dance they had done a thousand times before.
Kazuha fucked Heizou hard and fast, listened as his voice grew louder, more desperate, filthy sounds punched out of him with every thrust until he was trembling. Heat started building up in Kazuha's core, sparks of pleasure shooting up his spine. Heizou mumbled something, a curse, maybe more before his hole clenched rhythmically and whatever he was saying got lost in a long moan as he shook and came untouched all over the ground.
The pressure as Heizou's hole milked his cock was what pushed Kazuha over the edge too. It took three forceful thrusts before he pressed himself in as deep as it would go, his orgasm filling Heizou with hot spurts of cum. Kazuha's vision whited out, the climax feeling like an inferno and he collapsed on top of Heizou, shaking and spent and as strange as this situation was, at peace.
~
They had cleaned up and put their clothes back on. The anger had left them and Kazuha had sat Heizou down on a rock and was tending to the injury that Kazuha had inflicted himself. Heizou flinched but didn't make a sound when Kazuha dressed the wound. They stood in silence for a moment, Kazuha's hands resting lightly on Heizou's shoulders.
"What now?" Heizou asked quietly.
Kazuha stared up at the top of the slope they had fallen down when the battle was still raging. Now there was eerie silence.
"Our fight isn't over and I will not rest until all people of Inazuma can live in peace."
He couldn't return with Heizou, not yet.
"So this is what it's going to be? Us meeting on the battlefield? I'm tired of fighting Kazuha."
The bitterness in Heizou's voice made Kazuha's heart squeeze. If he was honest with himself he didn't want to say farewell to Heizou and the next time they met they would be enemies again. A thought formed. A reckless, twisted thought.
Kazuha walked around Heizou, kneeling down before him and took his hands in his own.
"What if I took you as a war prisoner? We'd be together and you wouldn't have to fight anymore."
Heizou's eyes were wide and he let out a short disbelieving laugh.
"The rebels would execute me."
Kazuha reached up, cupping his cheek. Something hot and exciting coiled in his stomach.
"Not if I say I have much worse than death planned for you."
Heizou's breath hitched.
"Can we pull that off?"
Kazuha ran his thumb over Heizou's lower lip in a soft caress.
"I can. What about you?"
He saw Heizou's pulse jump then he swallowed. He reached down, picking the strap of Kazuha's discarded piece of armor off the floor. A small conspiratorial smile tugged at his lips when he held out his hands, palms up, wrists together.
"Alright criminal, take me as your prisoner."