Last Breath
Hold on to me, love
You know I can't stay long
Jin lay in a field, eyes half open, watching the grass around him become stained with his own blood. He was used to the sight of blood, just not his own. He watches until temptation becomes too strong, and he closes his eyes.
"You idiot! How could you let this happen!"
Jin blinks. He thinks, by the words, that it must be Fuu. That is, until he feels the arms that are lifting him up. Arms much too strong to be a woman's.
"Dammit! Bastard, don't you dare die on me now!" He's shaken roughly, and his eyes open halfheartedly. "Dammit!" By now, of course, Jin knows exactly who it is that's holding him. It makes what he knows is going to happen just a bit easier to take. Still, he can't resist questioning his own senses.
"Mugen?" "Don't play dumb, you know damn well it's me."
All I wanted to say
Was I love you and I'm not afraid
His voice is strained, as if he's trying to hold back…something. Jin just smiles. "Foul language, as always," he gasps out.
"How can you even try to joke at a time like this," he says gruffly, trying and failing miserably to hide his concern because his hands are shaking. If Jin didn't know any better, he would've thought Mugen was afraid of losing him.
He tires to laugh, but the motion is too much for him, and his eyes become unfocused as they try to slip shut again.
Can you hear me?
Can you feel me in your arms?
But a moment later, he is slapped across the face. "Hey, hey! Get back here! I told you, you're not gonna do this to me!"
Jin tries to smile again. Even as good as Mugen is at denial, he can't deny that that scared him. He's shaking even more so. Jin had also thought, for a moment, that he had been leaving this life. But it would've been too soon. They hadn't gotten to his deathbed confession yet.
All through the night, Mugen talked to him, trying to keep him awake. He rambled on and on about useless things, until Jin lifted his hand and pressed it against the other man's lips, gently stopping him.
"Wait…please. I have…something…to tell you."
I know you hear me
I can taste it in your tears
Before the words can even come out, Jin feels something wet hit his face. Jin could say that this is the moment he knew he was truly dying.
The smallest of smiles gracing his face, Jin reaches up again, pulling Mugen's head down to kiss him softly on the lips.
"I love you," he whispers, so inaudibly that not even the creatures in the grass just below them could've heard. But he knows that Mugen has heard.
Inhaling slowly, Jin closes his eyes yet again.
Holding my last breath
Safe inside myself
Are all my thoughts of you
Sweet raptured light
It ends here tonight
When he next awakens, everything is clear. Too clear. He knows it will end soon. He looks up at Mugen, who is shaking his head slowly. There are still tears in his eyes. A sight Jin never thought he'd see, even in death.
"No…" he mouths, no sound coming out, as Jin exhales.
Say goodnight
"Jin, please…you can't…"
Don't be afraid
"I can't…not without you…"
Calling me, calling me as you fade to black
"…I…love you…"
fin