Alive and on Fire
{ 29 January 2010 } Written for InuRomp. Prompt: "Sango/Kirara."
I groan awake, unbelievable body-wracking pain overwhelming me, drilling my spine upward in a perfect arc to where you've been waiting, leant over me concerned…and I can't believe it. Even when accidentally, you mash your face into my chest and, deciding you don't care about embarrassing positions, nuzzle against it, reassuring me of your presence, letting me know in your special Kirara way that everything—even this—will pass, I can't believe it.
I want to believe you, I really do, but first, I need to know that I'm awake; that I'm not dead or dreaming this bittersweet scene. Faster than my injuries should have allowed, my hands fly toward you, confirming your realness. Next, I find my own fruition in soft, luscious fur and I thread my fingers through your warmth, pulling you closer…closer…
Impossibly close.
When the space between us is nonexistent, your tongue darts out. For something so rough textured it sweeps me in the gentlest, smoothest strokes and in them, I feel your love. I feel you, and it feels good but likewise, it hurts me, because the reality I find in you confirms that the nightmare around me is living and breathing. I want to cry. I want to die at the realization of our victory's price: their lives when it should have been mine.
'I've never felt so alone.'
Brought back by a growl, as if you had sensed me slipping, I face you, desperate.
"Kirara?" I whisper, arching into you, needing you now more than ever. Everyone but us is gone.
"Don't leave me," I beg. "Don't ever leave me, please."
And with the most loving tongue and the softest mewl, you assure me as you always have that you're here, I'm here—yes, the nightmare is here, too—but you and I…
We'll get through this. We'll survive.
…together.