"Are we… friends, Akutagawa?"
He was hardly prepared for such a question from Atsushi. They were sitting on the rubbled ground, waiting for a pick up from… someone from the scene of the battle. Their mission hadn't gone very well. Akutagawa looked a mess and Atsushi looked worse. Each had taken their fair share of beatings fighting the bomber (a little unexpected as he wasn't supposed to have an ability), and Akutagawa had a feeling that was why the man-tiger had brought it up. It was a hard battle and Atsushi should have died in it. The only reason he hadn't was because Akutagawa was there.
Shock of all shocks, the bomber's ability had to do with explosions. Any form of rock he touched would become explosive, even the ground if he wished it. It took them a while to figure that out though.
Akutagawa had barely noticed the tiny pebble in the bomber's hand, but the moment he aimed it right for Atsushi's head, panic erupted in his chest. That pebble was going to do some damage, he knew, so he used Rashomon to protect him.
The pebble somehow managed to throw him back and blow that bit of Rashomon to smithereens. But, it dampened the blow more than enough to save Atsushi's life.
So he guessed that's what Atsushi was talking about now. Akutagawa had hated him from the start, and even though now they were partners forming Shin Soukoku, he knew Atsushi felt that that partnership was fragile. He wasn't surprised that left Atsushi wondering why. Why save him?
But Akatagawa had an answer through his lips the moment the surprise wore off. It wasn't an answer he had to think about because it was more than obvious to him. "No," he said.
He was not Atsushi's friend. He didn't feel that way in the least.
What he did feel for him… well, that was a mess he hadn't sorted out himself.
"Then…" the man-tiger sounded so lost, confusion leaking into every sound, "Why did you save me?"
Akutagawa's eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he looked off into he distance. Of course he would ask that. He could tell that Atsushi didn't feel like he was worth saving.
"You lost…" Atsushi trailed off, staring at the spot his arm should have been, "Does your arm… shoulder hurt?"
"No."
"Yasano will—"
"I know."
It's strange to Akutagawa that the fact he lost his arm while protecting Atsushi was the least important part of it all. He didn't care because he was okay. For some reason, the fact that the man-tiger was safe was more than enough.
How strange…
"I saved you because I wanted to," was what he finally managed to tell him in explanation. How Atsushi would take such an answer he didn't know, but he wasn't sure he would take it well. It was a more emotional answer than Akutagawa would generally care for. "Because keeping you alive is…" important to me, he finished in his head although he couldn't get himself to say it out loud.
