A/N: Hello there! After a long time, I finally managed to write a new fanfic (during the exams, of all times.) Anyways, this is little one shot for the anime/manga-series: Owari no Seraph or Seraph of the End. I really love it and I had the sudden compelling need to write something.

So, that being said, this is a oneshot about Guren Ichinose and Yuichiro Hyakuya. This is NOT slash. So keep that in mind! The only 'shipping' you'll find here is more of a father-son-ish bond. (Kids, I know I am preaching here and this is a very unpopular opinion, but shipping a minor character with an adult character is pedophilia. Just keep that in mind, not everyone will approve of certain ships.)
...Okay, everyone hates me now.

Also, it came to my attention that some people say Guren abuses Yuu. And whilst I agree that he is rather rough with Yuu, I don't think he hits/kicks Yuu for fun. I think it is more of a reprimand when the kid steps out of line. I hope I got that point across in this fic.
Fair enough, for the ones still here and reading this, all that is left for me to say is: enjoy

Disclaimer: I don't own Owari no Seraph and its characters; any grammar mistakes are my own.

Fragments

The two wooden swords clashed against each other, the sound bouncing off on the concrete walls of Shibuya. With ease, Lieutenant Colonel Guren Ichinose parried all the wild reckless blows coming from his youngest subordinate: Yuichiro Hyakuya. The fourteen year old boy was sweating profusely already and his face was red, being it from the training or the fact that he couldn't land a single blow, Guren couldn't tell. Probably the latter however. The boy was frustrated, had been for quite a while now since Guren refused to grant him a real weapon. Many times Guren had gotten reports from soldiers saying that the child had tried to either bribe the men to get their weapons or take them with force.

Many times, Guren had to reprimand the boy in a rather forceful way. He never learnt however, as he was stubborn to the core. Not much unlike him however, tho' he refused to admit that. Guren, not a big fan of corporal punishment had found that the kid didn't learn by verbal punishment. This didn't mean he'd deliberately hit the brat but the kid seemed to respond better to a punch than a stern conversation. He'd rather not do it but the kid simply didn't learn.

Yuu on his part was getting furious. Stupid smug bastard Guren. Every one of his blows was being warded off and he got hit more than that he could defend himself. His arms were bruised and hurting. The abrasions were probably overlapping the old ones he already had. Guren was ruthless and in a way Yuu appreciated that. It meant that the Lt. Colonel didn't hold back for kids in order to prepare them for war. It also meant that the man didn't coddle him. He didn't want coddling. All he wanted was revenge. Revenge on the bastard vampire who killed his only family, Ferid Bathory. The vampire would rue the day he was born when Yuu got his own weapon. Yuu grinned broadly, energy renewed as he started slashing wildly again.

Guren raised an eyebrow at the sudden surge of power and sidestepped easily when Yuu lunged for his side. They fought for some more minutes until the boy was obviously tiring. Guren had learnt the hard way that the kid didn't stop until he either fainted – now that had been quite the scene - or until Guren disarmed him and called it an end. Yuu hated losing almost as much as he hated the vampire that killed his family. Guren was about to disarm Yuu when the kid suddenly stumbled. Looking back at it later Guren would say that the kid simply tripped because he was tiring, and use it as a helpful lesson to teach Yuu that he needed to save his energy as much as possible when dealing with the enemy. Yuu would discuss that he tripped over a fissure in the ground because why did they have to practice in a shitty parking lot anyway?

It didn't matter how it happened, Yuu stumbled at the same time as Guren swung his sword to disarm Yuu. The hit didn't land on its designated target: Yuu's sword, but smacked the boy square in the face. It had not been a light tap. At all. Together with the force of the blow and Yuu's lost equilibrium, the kid crashed onto the ground, face down.

Exhaling deeply, Guren put his own wooden sword on the ground and leant on it.
'What are you doing on the ground, Yuu?' he sighed, cocking his head. He brushed a strand of hair out of his face. The kid didn't move, his sword a few meters away from him. It hadn't been the first time that the kid had faked unconsciousness in order to attack Guren when he came to check him over. It had really scared Guren the first time all though he wouldn't admit it. Now he had learnt from that and didn't fall for the scheme again.
Leaning on his sword Guren gnashed his teeth. Stupid pubescent brat, he had better things to do.
'Are you really throwing a fit? This is not going to help you avenge your family, you know?' he sneered, trying to elicit a response from the kid. This usually worked but it didn't today, apparently.

Scoffing, Guren walked over to the kid, kicking the wooden sword out of hand's reach and poked the brat with his own sword.
'Get up, Yuu. If you'll behave as childish as this you'll never get a real weapon.'

Nothing.

True, he had hit the boy square in the face but the brat was usually more resistant than this. Squatting down, Guren watch the kid breathe. His face was on the ground and Guren wondered how he was even able to properly breathe. His eye caught the red liquid then, trickling over the ground. A frown appeared on Guren's face and he got up, rolling the kid onto his back.

Now, Guren did not gasp, okay? Did not. He didn't care about the brat whatsoever, all he knew is that he was a nuisance.
However, he didn't expect this.

Yuu's face was scraped up, probably from falling, and across his face was a large red welt. Blood was steadily dripping from his nose, painting his grimy face red.
'Well fuck.' Guren muttered, squatting down once more. He checked Yuu's pulse finding it beating steadily. His breathing was a tad laboured but Guren surmised it was most likely because of the direct hit to his face and the bloody nose. He carefully rolled Yuu to the side so the blood could flow onto the ground and not into his throat, or worse, his lungs. They didn't need him to have aspiration pneumonia.

His knees and arms were scraped up as well, most likely from the fall. Guren rubbed his face with a sigh.
Now Guren Ichinose was not a brute. He was stern, strict but not a sadist. Grunting, he picked up the kid, swearing when he got blood on his white shirt.
'You owe me for this.' He grouched as he carried the kid back to the dormitory block where he stayed.

He patched up the kid as well as he could. Like everyone in the army he had gotten first aid. There had been the possibility of expanding that knowledge and whilst he had not wanted to, he had taken the extra course.
In hindsight he was rather grateful for that. (And maybe he owed Shinya one after all)

Yuu hadn't broken anything, whilst the hit had been firm it had not been hard enough to shatter anything (he might have dented his sword though.) Yuu was primarily left with a red abrasion over his face and road rash on his hands and knees. Guren was about to scrub Yuu's bloody face when the kid stirred. Holding his breath, Guren leant a bit back, wash cloth in his hand dripping water onto the floorboards.

Yuu whimpered and his forehead creased. A hand went to his face to carefully touch his nose.
'Fuck.' He hissed through clenched teeth. His eyes opened and to Guren's dismay there were tears in his eyes.
'Yo, are you finally awake?' he queried, not all that uninterested. Somewhere, in the deepest pit of his soul he felt something alike guilt. After all, he had hit the kid with his sword. Guren pushed the thought away, well the kid shouldn't have stumbled or be so bold.

Yuu's bright green eyes shot over towards him and the shock went over into anger.
'You did that on purpose!' he wailed, as he shot up. Guren raised his hands in surrender.
'I did not such thing. You were just too clumsy and brash. If you had paid attention to your surroundings none of this would have happened. What do you think would happen if you trip over your own two feet whilst fighting a vampire? You'd be dead before you hit the ground.'

Yuu's lip trembled. He knew Guren was right, it had been stupid but still...didn't mean the Lieutenant Colonel had to go full out just to prove his point by teach him a rather painful lesson.

Seeing the boy's defiance, Guren sighed and chucked the wash cloth at Yuu. The kid caught it, wincing as the rough cloth touched his scraped hands.
'Clean up your face. You look like hell.'

Yuu pouted as he carefully wiped over his face.
'Yeah, well I feel like it, no thanks to you.' He reiterated huffily.

Guren sighed. Sitting on his usual chair, he watched the kid clean himself.
'How's the pain?' he asked after a few seconds. He had to be sure if there was no lasting damage. Maybe he should have Yuu sent to the doctor, just to be safe.

Yuu stopped scrubbing his face to look at Guren with an unreadable expression on his face. Then he narrowed his eyes and looked away.

Guren raised an eyebrow.
'I am serious, Yuu. I need to know if you are okay. Or should I send you to the infirmary?'

Yuu's scraped hands clenched around the soiled washcloth, bloody drops falling on the pristine white bed sheets. Then he shrugged.
'I'll be fine. If it gets worse I can hold you accountable.' The kid snarked, earning a glare from Guren.

Guren rubbed his face, dropped his hands between his legs and looked at Yuu for a couple of moments. Yuu, not liking the way the man looked at him, squirmed uncomfortably. The Lieutenant Colonel then nodded, as if he had silently agreed on something, and got up.
'Well, then I guess we'll call it a day. Get some rest. I'll have someone bring some icepacks for the swelling.' The man turned around and walked towards the door. Before he went out, he stopped, hands on the doorknob.

Yuu didn't know what he expected. An apology maybe? He knew it was wishful thinking and he pushed the thought away, there was no way that Guren would apologise for hitting him. Even if it was by accident.
'I should have paid attention to my surroundings, right? It was my own mistake for screwing up.' Yuu suddenly said, thoughtfully looking at the stained washcloth in his scraped hands.

A sigh affirmed that suspicion.
'Yes, you should have. But I should have paid attention as well. I could have disarmed you in many different ways. I bet ramming you in the face wasn't the best option.'

Yuu looked up and saw Guren smiling gently at him, showing a side of him Yuu had barely seen ever since he lived in Shibuya.

A grin appeared on Yuu's face.
'I am glad you realised your mistake, Guren. It won't happen again!' he grinned and tossed the washcloth at Guren's head. It thudded against the door and fell to the ground with a splat.

Guren smirked as well.
'Don't get cocky with me, kid. We'll have many practice sessions and I will kick your whiny arse.'

They smirked at each other and then Guren opened the door and headed out with a: 'See ya later, brat.'

Yuu chuckled softly and he laid down, looking out of his window at the sky. Maybe Guren wasn't that bad after all. He would argue on that point later on when he found out Guren had put girly band-aids on his knees and had made pictures of it. As retaliation, Yuu nicked Guren's practice sword and painted it pink with red flowers. That idea blew up in his face however as Guren made him switch swords and refused to give Yuu a new one. Despite scrubbing, Yuu never managed to get the pink paint off completely.

Even when Yuu got a proper sword he kept the wooden one, locked away in his closet. It always managed to get a smile on Yuu's face when he had to get his uniform and saw the faint flaking pink paint.

Einde.