Wordlessly
Summary: They didn't need words. They just needed each other.
Pairing: Sharrkan x Yamuraiha
Rating: K+
Genres: Romance, Hurt/Comfort
Sharrkan was loitering around the middle of the quiet hallway that led to a certain sorceress' room, pacing about in circles and listening out for any sounds coming from her room. For now, it was silent, and so he could only focus on the rhythmic clack of his sandals against the glossy marble flooring. Uneasily, he sighed and for the umpteenth time that day, wondered what on earth he was planning to do, waiting around outside her door. It was like he was begging to be discovered the moment she opened the door - not that she would be leaving her room anytime soon, it seemed.
After a while, the swordsman got tired and settled for lazily leaning against the wall while waiting for her. Folding his arms across his chest, he couldn't help but feel his heart clench at the memory of glistening tears streaming down her grief-stricken face from just a few hours ago.
He had only ever seen her like this once, and that had been after her father, Mogamett died in that war. It had lasted for a week, with her never leaving the room, only opening it to accept a tray of food placed outside her door and to place the empty tray back outside. Every day he had gone to visit her, hoping she would come out looking like her normal, thick-headed self. Every day he returned to his own room, disappointed. He had considered marching into her room (even though it would probably be securely locked with her weird magic nonsense) and pulling her out of her misery, but each time, he told himself he couldn't do it. He couldn't afford to further upset the already delicate girl. All he could do was listen to the faint sobs from outside her room, his heart breaking all the while.
Sharrkan ran his fingers through his hair, mussing it up even more than it already was. He was frustrated. Yamuraiha wasn't supposed to be crying. Yamuraiha was supposed to be fighting with him, insulting him and getting insulted by him. She was supposed to be frowning, with her cheeks flushing red and her nostrils flaring with anger whenever he provoked her into an argument, not looking away to hide her face or desperately trying to lift her lips into a fake smile around him before running off somewhere quiet to cry alone.
Damn it. He wished he could do something to comfort her, even if it would only make her feel better for a moment. He wanted her to smile again, to go back to being Yamuraiha, the Mermaid Sorceress Who Would Never Get A Boyfriend.
The only thing was, he didn't even know what had happened to her. He had probably been the first one to discover her after hearing the explosion coming from her laboratory. She had been on the floor, covered in shards of glass and bleeding from little cuts and scrapes all over her body. She had been lying in a pool of black water, her face frozen in both shock and grief as tears formed in the corners of her eyes.
The first thing he had done was yell at her, which probably hadn't been the best idea. But it was instinctive. What the heck was she doing, putting herself in danger for the sake of some stupid magic research? For all he knew, she could have died in there without anyone knowing! And to not even activate her borg before the explosion? What was she, an amateur magician? She had been in countless battles before and her reflexes, though nothing compared to his, were not exactly slow.
He had only stopped when she began to cry weakly, curling up into a little ball to hide her face from him. She seemed so much like a child then. Just a little girl who needed to be protected. And so he did. He immediately shut up, picked her up easily and carried her to her room to treat her. She had been too dazed or preoccupied with other thoughts in her mind to heal herself with her magic. She hadn't even protested when he removed most of her clothing - save her undergarments - to check for injuries and disinfect them too.
Ja'far and Masrur had both arrived after discovering the mess in her laboratory, but he had insisted they stay outside. Yamuraiha wanted to be alone, she had told him in a quiet voice after he tucked her into bed. She didn't want to talk about it what had happened no matter how much he asked her. Her silence had been his only reply.
Upset, he had left the room. She was always like this, thinking she could handle things alone when she clearly couldn't. What, was there some kind of magic to heal her emotions now?
And now, it was already the third day. He was still waiting for her to come out, or to let him in. Until then, he could only imagine what she might have gone through to end up like this.
Did she get rejected by some boy? Probably not. Was Sinbad dead? Last he checked, which was yesterday, their king was still alive and kicking and stopping by to check on her - not that she had let him in either. Did something happen to Magnostadt? Certainly not; if so, they would have been gathered by Sinbad to lend aid to their ally. Did she fail another magic experiment of hers? Unlikely, because failures only seemed to get her more pumped up or frustrated, never like this.
What could it be? Sharrkan's patience was wearing thin. He glanced over at the still shut door, fighting the urge to barge in there like he had initially wanted to since morning.
Just then, he heard a strange 'thud' sound coming from the room, followed by a groan. Alarmed, he rushed to the door. "Hey, Yamuraiha!"
No answer. Only another groan that he could barely hear through the door. "Hey, what happened?" Had she fainted or something? It wouldn't be surprising since she hadn't eaten anything since yesterday.
"Yamuraiha, if you don't answer me I'm coming in," he warned sternly. Usually this threat was all it took for her to give him a curt answer just so he would leave her alone.
But this time, there was no reply from her. Worry and anxiety got the better of him, and without thinking, he took a step back and with one swift kick, he kicked the door open with a resounding bang. He had been learning a thing or two from Masrur.
"Yamuraiha?!"
She was lying on her side on the floor, unconscious. Her face was unnaturally pale, and her breathing was weak. He cursed loudly and carried her back to her bed, all the while calling her name, hoping she would respond to him. Her body felt too hot. He checked her forehead, and was none too pleased to find that she was running a rather high fever.
All he could do was wrap her up in her blanket on her bed before racing out to find Ja'far.
"She's fine for now. She just needs to sleep her fever off and eat more so she can recover quickly," Ja'far concluded, much to the relief of everyone in the room. Sinbad stepped forward, gazing worriedly at the sleeping sorceress. "Yamuraiha... does anyone know what happened to her?"
"All we know is her lab exploded because of some kind of experiment she was working on. It was probably some magic research she was working on," Ja'far replied grimly. "But this is still strange."
"She won't talk to anyone about it," Sharrkan spoke up, folding his arms across his chest. "Just like that time." Everyone nodded thoughtfully, understanding what he was referring to immediately.
"She just needs some time," Hinahoho said. "She'll get better soon."
Sinbad then gestured for everyone else to leave. "We should let her get some rest," he said, and waited for the generals to clear the room before calling out for Sharrkan, who incidentally, was the last one to leave.
"Yes?"
"Sharrkan, I want you to look after Yamuraiha for tonight."
The swordsman furrowed his brows, a little confused. 'Why me?' he wondered, but seeing the look on Sinbad's all-knowing face, he decided Sinbad had a good reason for asking him specifically to look after her. Besides, he was sort of glad that Sinbad chose him - he didn't know if he would be able to go to sleep with Yamuraiha in this state.
"Leave it to me," he said with a half-smile. He closed the door after Sinbad left, and then turned to look at the peacefully sleeping woman. Walking over, he sat on the chair that Ja'far sat on earlier while treating her and ran his fingers through her blue hair.
It's soft... With interest, he continued scrutinizing her sleeping face. She was actually pretty cute, with her stupidly big hat off her head and conch shells behind her ears gone. She looked just like a normal, gentle girl, someone who wouldn't randomly burst into grand speeches about magic or angrily insult his swordsmanship skills.
Absently he ran the back of his hand down her cheek, marvelling at how soft and smooth her skin was, like a doll. At that moment, to him, she was like a porcelain doll to be treasured and protected from everything else. As much as she was strong, or tried to be in front of other, times like these reminded him that she had her weaknesses as well, and she needed people to protect her.
And for some reason, he felt an overwhelming need to be one of those people guarding her by her side. It was almost instinctive. The thought of her getting hurt anymore than this brought a strange ache to his chest. He couldn't bear it, and he wondered why. He had never felt this way around any other woman before.
Correction: he had never allowed himself to feel this way around other women before.
Sharrkan wasn't stupid. He did have some feelings for Yamuraiha, though he wasn't exactly sure when they developed or how. Seriously, when he first met her, she had been at the very bottom of his list of potential wives. She wasn't cute, didn't yield easily to him, was quick to get angry with him, never let him get his way, always had a bone to pick with him, called him bald of all things, and the list went on and on. There were so many reasons to not like this... this... Beluga Whale.
But maybe it was precisely because there were so many reasons to not be attracted to her that when her cute moments came, she was especially mesmerizing to him.
Moments like now, for example, drew him in more and more.
He didn't even realize when it was that he had leaned so close to her face, but when the rational part of him noticed, his lips were brushing the tip of her cute little nose.
In a flash he withdrew from her, putting some space between them. Man, if he wasn't careful he might accidentally wake her up, or worse, have her wake up only to catch him making some underhanded move on her.
Just then she stirred, and he froze, wondering if he had actually jinxed himself.
"Dad..." she whimpered, the corners of her lips turning down and her eyebrows furrowing. "Come back... Don't go..."
Sharrkan frowned. Mogamett? Why was she calling for Mogamett now? Was Mogamett really the reason for her strange behaviour?
"Don't leave me alone..!" He hadn't been expecting her to suddenly get up and nearly fall off the bed entirely. Thankfully, he managed to catch her just before she could hit the floor. "Hey, get a grip, Yamu!"
"Daddy... no, Sharrkan..?" She slowly tilted her head to look at him. Her eyes were moist and there was a stray tear on her cheek. He stared for one second too long before setting her back on her bed. "Yes, it's me," he said drily, slapping the wet cloth back on her forehead. She winced as expected, shooting him a glare, which he nonchalantly shrugged off in response.
"What happened?" she demanded.
"You fainted in your room because you had a fever and Ja'far said you have to rest up in order to recover."
"Then what are you doing here?"
He shrugged. "King Sinbad told me to take care of you tonight."
"No need, I can handle myself," she muttered grumpily, turning on her side so that her back was facing him. "You should go back to your room and get some rest."
What a nasty witch. Oh well, if she was acting this way around him, it meant she was getting better, even if only slightly. "It's too early to sleep and I've got nothing else to do, so I might as well stay here and do what King Sinbad told me to."
He could just imagine her rolling her eyes at his mock-gentlemanly tone. "Just leave me alone, you baldy."
"Man, do you have to be this difficult even when you're sick?"
"You—" Yamuraiha was cut off by a sudden coughing fit. Sharrkan went to her side and poured her a glass of water. "Here," he said, handing it to the sorceress.
She accepted it, muttering a word of thanks before gulping the water down.
"How long do you plan on staying like this?" he asked. She stiffened, almost as if she had been anticipating this question from him right from the start. "Are you jinxing me? A fever like this is nothing. I'll recover in no time." She pretended to laugh it off, but he could tell from the way her fingers gripped the cup even harder that she was putting on a tough act. Again.
He didn't bother hiding the scowl on his face as he snatched the cup from her and slammed it down on the table, startling the woman. "Yamuraiha."
His commanding tone seemed to erase all hope of maintaining a façade in front of him. Honestly, she should have known better than to think that he, of all people, would fooled by her nonsense. "Not now, Sharrkan," she murmured weakly in reply, averting his hard gaze.
"You mean, 'not ever', don't you?" he replied, before sighing in exasperation. He knew her. He had known her long enough to know that what she needed was to someone to talk to, not to keep avoiding the issue. "Yamuraiha, you've been this way for the past three days and when I saw you like that at the lab, I don't think this is something you can handle alone."
"I'll get over it in time," she said coldly. "Don't underestimate me."
"Yamuraiha, that's not the point."
"Why do you care?"
He froze, the question stunning him for a moment. "I don't know what you're talking about." He knew that he wouldn't get away with feigning ignorance, but like hell he would give her an answer so easily when she wouldn't give him a satisfactory explanation.
"Why do you care?" she repeated, looking at him suspiciously. Annoyed, he set his jaw and balled his hands into fists. "What, so I can't be concerned about you as a friend now?"
She lowered her gaze, clearly taken aback by his icy tone. She bit down on her lower lip hesitantly. "You... you know what I mean."
"What do you think?"
A blanket of silence covered the room then, with neither of them knowing what best to say next. Sharrkan was still trying to settle himself after getting thrown off by her sudden question. She was basically trying to get him to confess, wasn't she? That sneaky mermaid.
But that meant that she had the same feelings for him too. Actually, somewhere deep down inside of them, they knew that their relationship had gone beyond that of 'friends'. That was why they fought with each other so much — to hide it from the others and to some extent, from themselves too.
Neither of them needed to say anything. Inside, both of them knew. They knew what the other meant to them, and what they meant to the other.
There was really nothing stopping them. It was just... for a lack of a better word, it wasn't the right time. They just didn't know how to approach it, neither having ever committed to a relationship before, and both scared of hurting the other or making mistakes they would regret for the rest of their lives.
Wordlessly he stepped over, the sound of his movement alerting the sorceress, whose eyes widened as he pulled her into a strong embrace.
There was no need to explain anything. She simply understood. The woman sniffled, trying her best to hold back her tears as she clutched at his clothing and pressed her head closer against his neck. "I tried to bring him back," she managed in between sobs that were growing wilder, and it took every effort for Sharrkan not to squeeze her too hard in his arms. He hadn't been there for her when it happened, and he hadn't managed to protect her from it.
"I thought I was doing something right, but then... but then my experiment failed, and for a moment I remembered his back and saw him walking away from me again, and—"
"Don't say anymore," he cut in, feeling his own heart breaking at her words. Her wounds from that time had never really healed, which was to be expected.
He didn't know how long they stayed like this, but he didn't mind. As long as he could make her feel a little better. Eventually she stopped crying, and her body became still. His body was getting a little numb in this uncomfortable position, and it was probably getting late. His eyelids were getting heavier by the minute.
"Yamuraiha?"
No reply. Was he really that comfortable to sleep against? Women usually didn't like sleeping on him like this because his muscles were too hard and not the best makeshift pillow for them.
Deciding it was time to leave, he carefully took her by the shoulders and attempted to pry her off of him. He was surprised when she stopped him; she wasn't asleep yet.
"Don't go," she mumbled against his shoulder, obviously not wanting him to see her swollen face.
Ah, she could be really cute when she wanted to be. "Don't worry, I won't."
And that was how Sharrkan ended up staying the night in Yamuraiha's bed, holding her in his arms and watching over her as she slowly drifted off into sleep. Her head rested in the crook of his neck, and he wrapped his arms around her petite frame, caging her body against his. He could hear her soft breaths as she slept, feel the warmth of her skin against his and smell the scent of her shampoo. It smelled like lavender.
He planted a tender kiss against her forehead and closed his eyes. Someday. Someday he would be able to hold her like this every single day and protect her from anything or anyone that ever dared to hurt her. That was why he had learned sword fighting in the first place - to protect the ones he loved.
The ghost of a smile played on his lips. Well, finally one of them was being honest about their feelings. If only the stupid whale would hurry up and get a clue...
The next morning, Yamuraiha awoke with a flaming hot face after finding herself pressed so closely against her rival's body, and the first thing she did was to scream an ear-piercing screech right in his ears, shocking him right off the bed, which then quickly escalated into a childish fight between the two.
Sinbad and Ja'far were both on the way to check on Yamuraiha when they heard the shouting and sounds of crashing coming from Yamuraiha's room. Ja'far pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed while Sinbad grinned victoriously, and both quickly decided that they could just drop by a little later.
Some things just never changed.
A/N: I'm totally in crazy writing mode because of this couple. Omg. They are just. The. Cutest. Dorks. Ever.
:'D Please get married and make babies soon.
Oh look, new fanfic idea. XD
Thanks for reading and do leave a review to tell me what you thought about it! (: Have a great day!