Title: Scars
Characters: Kasumi/Ryu
Rating: Teen
Disclaimers: I do not own anyone/anything from the forum Dead or Alive. Team Ninja owns Dead or Alive and its characters. There is no copyright infringement intended. I do not make any profit/money or take any credit.
Summary: His body is covered in scars and each one of them tells a different tale
A/N: Prompt for February 4th – Kasumi/Ryu – Scars – 'His body is covered in scars and each one of them tells a different tale.'
Timeline: Post DOA 4
Word Count: 683
Betaed: No
~~~~Scars~~~~
She knew that he didn't like it when people stared at his scars. It was one of the reasons why he refused to anywhere without a shirt. People tend to stare at him wondering what happened to him. It's not as if the scars are that bad, it's just there are a lot of them, some old and some fresh.
She worries about him when he comes home bleeding from different parts of his body. He doesn't mind the blood or the pain, he has learnt at a young age to push the pain to the back of his mind. So has she. It was part of their training, they couldn't let pain distract them but it still scared her to see him cut up and bloodied.
Each night, after she has finished cleaning and bandaging his wounds, they would lie side by side in their bed and she would trace each new wound, becoming familiar with them. After all, they were a part of him now.
This night, it had been a particular bad day for him. He had gotten into a fight with the black spider clan, a clan that was constantly at war with his own clan. While he had gotten away alive, he had been heavily wounded. Kasumi was silent as she patched him up before helping him into their bed and watched as he fell asleep but she had been unable to sleep so she decided to watch him sleep.
Ryu Hayabusa, a man who had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He always took so many things on, refusing to share the burden. The scars were proof of those burdens. She felt her heart sigh with heaviness. He had been through a lot, almost lost his family and had been cut down as a result. It had taken him a while to forgive himself for it; she still held doubts on if he had fully forgiven himself.
Tracing her index finger over the scar that started from his right shoulder down to his left him, she bit her bottom lip. She had almost lost him that time. Just looking at it made her heart go cold, sending shivers down her spine as she tried not to think about it.
Moving her fingers on, she traced the smaller scattered scars that covered his bodies. Those hadn't been life threatening ones, just deep enough to leave a scar but not enough to kill him. She had once questioned him on the scars and he told her that he didn't have time to stop and clean up his wounds at the time. She had been annoyed with him for neglecting himself before he pointed out that she had been through the same. She was on the run from her clan. He wasn't. He backed down shortly after that argument, much to Muramasa's amusement as he had been around to help clean out Ryu's wounds.
Kasumi sighed as she traced the scar that was on Ryu's left shoulder before moving down to one that was on his lower torso, oblivious to the movement that was beginning to stir below his torso. She was too intent on memorizing every single one of Ryu's scars, as if she could somehow take them into her and remove them from his body so he wouldn't have to carry the memories anymore.
Kasumi came out of her thoughts when a large hand wrapped itself around hers and she lifted her head to meet the light green eyes of her lovers.
"Sleep," he told her, his other hand slipping into her hair and tugging her down. She went willingly and rested her head on his chest, sighing when she felt his lips press themselves against the crown of her hair.
Ryu waited for a moment until he heard her breathing deepen and evened out. Letting out a sigh of relief, a wry smile crossed his face. Kasumi continued to surprise him everyday. Shaking his head, he closed his eyes and fell back into a deep sleep, hoping she wouldn't wake up to trace him again.
The End