2 a.m.
Time: Future Arc, Before the invasion of Melone Base
The clock ticks and tocks, each repeating two note melody reminding Shoichi how late it is and how he should be fast asleep snuggled under his thick duvet and cold cushy pillow underneath his head. But instead he tosses and turns in his bed, mind too preoccupied with mindless thoughts to fall into the sweet bliss of dreamland.
During the day, Shoichi is able to push aside all these useless thoughts and focus on his tasks, focus on being a Captain, focus on fooling Byakuran and bury himself so deep into his research until thinking about anything else other than his current papers would lead to catastrophic accidents of forgetting strategic plans and battle formulas.
But during the times when he overworks himself to the point of near collapse, when his mind is too weary to work on, his thoughts take the chance to prey on his weak mind and drag the bothersome thoughts out from the darkest corners of his mind to torture and torment the redhead. They tease and taunt him with ideas of failure and spin detailed tales of his death, Tsunayoushi's death and humanity's end until he ends up curled in a pitiful ball on his mattress with arms clutched around his aching stomach, eyes screwed shut with loud music blaring through his headphones fitted snugly on his ears, which act more as comfort than distraction from his unavoidable thoughts. His breathing quickly gets ragged with fear and worry and sometimes he forgets how and why he's breathing before breaking out in cold sweat as his thoughts run wild. At times when the pressure and pain gets too much to handle, tears can be found trickling down his face as he bites on his bottom lip to stop the hiccups and loud sobs that threaten to pour out the moment he opens his mouth.
It is times like this when Shoichi begins to questions the higher beings why they chose him, why was he the one to have caused Byakuran to be like this, why is he entrusted the fate of the world, and begins to resent and regret being alive and staying alive for so long. It was hard, so very hard holding everything in all the time and struggle to put up a brave front and risk his life every day, every second he stayed in this wretched base. The worst part is Shoichi is forced to stay silent and keep his ever growing fear to himself, that he feels all alone in this operation and no matter how much he feels like screaming at the top of his lungs and high tailing out of the base at the first opportunity presented in front of him, he knows he has to stay and face another day with the white haired commander.
But he will not be alone for long. Tsunayoushi and his guardians are coming; friends and comrades are waiting for him, relying, depending on him and his resilience in order for their plans to succeed and for them to be able to meet again. These warm thoughts sooths and comforts the agitated man and brings a smile to his face, stops the tears from dropping. He remembers how to breathe again, his shaking form relaxes and his stomach doesn't hurt as much anymore. For tonight, his worries and anxieties are put to rest and he is able to drift off in light sleep, his beliefs and trust in his comrades the only things holding his tattered mind together.
He will be fine, at least for tonight.
A/N: I've been wanting to do the 64 prompts for a while now, and the current character im obsessed over is dear sweet Shoichi so i'll be doing all 64 prompts based on him, with cameos from other characters! I will try to do one per day and I hope you enjoy all of them uvu
Also none of the characters from Katekyo Hitman Reborn belong to me!