A/N: For shalinilahiri on request. Intentionally this short, complete, and won't be updated, so please don't ask.
Enjoy!
Prompt: Kikyou x Kohaku, 'fireworks'
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Startle
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It was in a city they found each other, which was ironic as neither of them were city people.
A great capital, the night of a festival, sake soaking into the dust of the streets, raucous laughter roughening the air-- both of them felt uncomfortable in these surroundings, but neither had a choice.
He was there on orders from Naraku, looking for certain items to make his master more comfortable.
She was there on her own business, likely to find items which would make his master decidedly less comfortable.
They met in a back alley, he stumbling into her and her catching him with an instinctive arm around his armoured shoulders. "You," she said softly upon seeing his face, "how unexpected."
"Who?" he asked. It would have been a sarcastic question if he'd been capable of it, but he wasn't-- me, who? Who am I?
Chinese rockets exploded violently overhead in a shower of hissing red-gold sparks that splattered onto the street amid the drunken revelry, on occasion scorching unlucky flesh. Fireworks were beautiful, but unsafe at the best of times.
He'd recovered his balance by now and looked blankly up into her eyes. "Excuse me. I have an errand to run."
Kikyou's face rippled through an expression that might have been sorrow. She moved aside, but on a whim, slipped a charm of protection into his small waistpack unnoticed. She could still see his soul, even if he'd lost track of it himself. His was a soul capable of lighting the night like the searing fireworks above and around them, but he was caged in a prison of paper walls and silence. He didn't want to remember his own truth, and so he could not.
She would remember for him.
He bowed slightly, old manners embedded in his muscles even if he couldn't consciously recall them, and vanished into the swallowing darkness of the alley.
"Your name is Kohaku," she said to his back when she was sure he could no longer hear. "I remember you."
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