Monday, the 13th 11:23 pm
Rikuou carefully laid down the wet cloths over the angry and ugly welts that were crisscrossing Kazahaya's back in splashes of nasty red. Thankfully they had stopped bleeding some time ago, but even if there had been much left of the boy's shirt, it would have been too soaked and stained by the blood to have been much use any longer.
Kazahaya hissed, long and hard, through his teeth when the light strips of cloth touched his back. He could already see his partner's shoulder muscles tightening up automatically and he tapped the boy lightly on the back of his head.
"Hey, don't do that. It'll just hurt worse."
There was no response, but then again, Rikuou didn't expect one either. The tension was forced from those muscles and he wondered if it was because the pain had abated yet or if it was just from sheer will. He sighed and stood gently from the edge of the bed to go to the kitchen. He dumped the bowl that he'd brought from the bedside table to pour the dirty, bloody water into the sink and watched as it swirled in the drain.
So much blood. He'd seen far too much blood in his time and yet no matter what he did, it seemed like it wanted to follow him to remind him of all that he'd lost. Anger slashed through him as remembered what had happened to Kazahaya and he wasn't sure which he was angrier at: those that had done it to him or the boy himself. How many times had he warned him to be careful and above all, pay attention.
Despite it being muffled, he still heard the groan from the bedroom. In the complete silence in the apartment, devoid of almost any sound, it would be impossible for Rikuou to not hear it.
And of course, this just has to happen when Kakei and Saiga are off in the ozone somewhere and I can't get in touch with them.
He carried a fresh bowl of water and new strips of bandages back to the room and closed the window without a word. Winter was gradually losing its hold, but at night it still got pretty cold. The curtains stopped their faint fluttering and the apartment became as still as it had been before. No sound except their breathing; no movement except the single two occupants.
"You really are an idiot," he muttered, knowing that Kazahaya would hear, but what else was he supposed to do? He had an overwhelming amount of anger, but could only let it out in little snippets of irritation, otherwise Kazahaya would get lively and open his wounds.
"You have no common sense, I swear." He flicked on the bedside light, but it only illuminated the dried tear tracks on Kazahaya's cheeks. His fist clenched at his side and then after a minute, he knelt on the floor next to his partner's head. Normally Kazahaya was very loud, even injured, but now he was being suspiciously silent. Those eyes were closed and he wondered if the other boy were asleep.
But then those eyes twitched behind closed lids and he knew that he wasn't. Sighing, he gently dipped a cloth in the water and softly ran it across that one displayed cheek to wipe away the evidence of the fact that Kazahaya had been sobbing in pain a few hours earlier.
Rikuou figured that Kazahaya was cold, laying on his stomach on the bed for so long, but also knew that even if he covered the other boy with as light a blanket or shirt as he could find would only make the other boy feel more pain, so he figured that it was probably best to be cold.
"You're not asleep, so stop pretending to be," he murmured. Honestly, there was a very tense atmosphere in the apartment and he knew why, but they had also had an unspoken agreement never to talk about that. It was somewhat of a relief to treat Kazahaya's wounds because it gave him something else to think about.
One light brown eye swiveled open and it still looked bloodshot from the tears that Kazahaya had shed. It was wary, pained, and tired and Rikuou sighed. It wasn't as if Kazahaya had asked to be whipped nearly to death, but that didn't help the fact that he was conflicted with overprotection and anger toward him anyway.
"You want to tell me what possessed you to go in there by yourself without waiting for me?"
That eye only closed again on him and when no sound issued forth, he figured that he wasn't going to get an answer. Whether he'd ever receive one, he didn't know. In the end, Rikuou ended up sitting on the floor next to Kazahaya's bed all night long and didn't get a wink of sleep.
