KOTORI
«KOTORI!»
The moment I hear his scream, a strong light envelops me...
It's a truck...and it's about to hit me...
Suddenly, two hands push me away, and a few seconds after I hear a the noise of something being invested and a groan of pain.
No...
It can't be true...
I instantly jolt upward, and I run beside him...
Oh my God...
YUMA!
His body is laying limp on the asphalt, limbs bent in random and unnatural positions.
His head and various other parts of his body are bleeding. Heavily.
YUUUMAA!
I grab his head, and I turn him towards me. His face is dirty and contorted by the pain. He struggles to open his eyes and coughs. My blood frozes as I realize he's coughing more blood. «Yuma! Why you did this?!» I scream in despair. He attempts to smile, but he fails, moaning. «Do you really think... I would let you be... injuried like this?» he murmurs.
I can barely feel the ardent tears that are wetting in my eyes and cheeks. «Please, don't...» I struggle to actually force myself to say that word. «...don't die!» I press my forehead against his, ignoring that doing this I'm staining myself with his body fluids. «One of us... should have died... today...» He starts sniffling, his eyes dampening as well. «And I refuse... to let you be that one...» I grasp his clothes tightly. «But I don't want to leave you!»
He wobblingly raised his arm, still moaning in pain, and grabs the Key. With some difficulty, he slips it off his head, and put it around my neck. It glows faintly for a moment, then I see a blue humanoid figure slowly materializing besides Yuma. He has a greatly shocked and worried face. «What the...»
«He's... Astral...» He whispers.
Astral?
The ghost who supposedly followed him everywhere?
«Please Kotori... take care of him... for me...» The being cocked his head to look at me. He has the same expression of a child who is seeing something horrible, and is desperately trying to understand what's going. «Yuma... is dying?» he asks with a deep voice. He makes me shiver, but it could still be my body shaking. With our faces so close, I don't have enough time to react when he moves his own on mine, and kisses me with deep passion. I'm so shocked that I don't even move until he detaches, and leans on my chest. «I love you Kotori...» he breathes. «...this is reason... I let you live...»
«But... I can't live without you...» I whimper. He smiles sadly. «Believe me... you can...» His lids slowly close. «I'll always watch over you... I... promise...» As soon as the last word left his mouth, his chest stopped moving. Astral slowly floated to the ground level, staring speechless at him and me.
N-no...
Come back...
I beg you...
«YUUUUUUUUUUUUMAAAAAAAAAAAAA!»
. . .
Kotori jerked upward from the bed, panting heavily. A horrible nightmare. Again. With everything she, no, they had been through, she had one sometimes.
With one hand wiping the sweat from her forehead, she probed the nightstand with the other one. Finally finding her aim, she grabbed a bottle of water, and downed a good portion of the content. Catching her breath, she started shivering, and she blamed her agitation.
«It's everything alright?» asked Yuma. Kotori turned at him, relieved at the sight of him. His sturdy build as an adult seemed even more beautiful after seeing him die so young. «More or less...» she whispered. He pulled her in an embrace, and all she could think was "Oh. That's why I was shivering." as she realized they were both bare. Between his warm arms, she started recalling the few previous hours of passion.
«Nightmare?» he asked lowly as he started rocking her slowly. She leaned her head on his chest and nodded, caressing his muscles with her fingertips. «And what you dreamed of?» Biting her lip, she buried her face in his chest, taking in his scent, so strong and manly, so relaxing and reassuring. «The day you Dueled Kaito for the first time... only that he didn't arrive... and you were run over by the truck...»
She could feel him tense up. He then pulled her tighter and stroked her cheek, both letting out a quiet hum at the feeling of their skins brushing. «Sounds... macabre.» Her hand felt his pec, then the neck, and after that stroked his cheek as well. «You can't imagine how much.» Yuma lowered himself to be at her face level, gave her a kiss, then ran his fingers in her hair. «Now everything is fine though. I'm here next to you. You can get back to sleep, I'll protect you.» Kotori looked in his eyes. «How?» she asked. Yuma gave her his grin. «What a question! If a nightmare comes to take you, I'll slap it with my bare hands!» Kotori giggled, pressing her forehead against his. «You disappoint me. I thought you'd Dueled it.» Yuma chuckled.
Yawning, Kotori buried herself fully into him, entwining one of her hands with one of his. Wrapping the free arm around her neck, he took a whiff of her hair, a scent so sweet and relaxing. "Sweet dreams, honey..." he whispered in her ear, resting his head on top of hers. "Sweet dreams, darling..." she murmured, pressing her face in his warm shoulder.
And after a few minutes, both were sleeping, together, their hands still linked, their soft breaths lulling each other.