For These Scars
~Chapter 33~
Written by: RinoaDestiny
King of Fighters, Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami, Saisyu Kusanagi, and Benimaru Nikaido belong to SNK
He heard.
He heard the sounds of flame, of grunts, of movement around him. He heard the voices – the words – surrounding him. Two were stern, voices deeper and harsher. One wasn't, but the person with that voice didn't speak much. The sounds drew away from him, but then returned. Again, the older voices, commanding. Then a loud noise he couldn't place – he knew the saying, though – and all the sounds fell away.
It was silent. Quiet where he was.
He heard footsteps running towards him, the soft whisper of grass beside him, and then a voice, broken with pain right by him. He knew that voice – the one who didn't speak much earlier.
Kyo. Kyo Kusanagi.
Later, another familiar voice – Nikaido – asking a question.
Kyo answered. There was so much pain in his voice. So much.
Nikaido said something, to which Kyo responded.
He heard it all, clearly, and through his awareness – ephemeral, scattering like leaves in autumn – realized that was all he did. Sounds, voices, disturbances in the distance. He heard them but couldn't respond. Couldn't do anything but listen.
Now, all was silence.
Time no longer mattered. He couldn't feel anything. Just drifted, afloat in this lightness, as though carried.
Footsteps. Sounds in the distance, which then faded away.
Kyo hadn't said anything since he'd last heard him. Only footsteps, tread heavy, against pavement. The sound of his breathing nearby, which meant he was close. That…that made him happy, in the fleeting moment he became aware of it. Darkness around him and weightlessness and Kyo's presence – although he couldn't see – and it was everything he needed.
Kyo…
He wanted to say something but words were beyond him now.
He listened and the sounds changed. Pavement – did it always sound so loud? – to the hushed whisper of grass. The footsteps disappeared, yet Kyo's breathing didn't and that told him the other man was still there. By him. Where were they now?
The laughter of children in the distance. The hum and flow of traffic.
Those were left behind, falling away like cicada shells in summer.
Time flowed, endless – unable to be measured or counted – and in between, the bark of a dog, the rustle of clothing, the murmur of voices, and the occasional footsteps that resounded and then faded. They were going somewhere – he wasn't sure where – and Kyo's breathing had changed. Was going ragged, as though…
Awareness slipping by. A nascent thought forgotten.
He drifted, lost in darkness.
When he resurfaced – thoughts glimmering on the edge of memory like fish darting through water – it was different again. Gone were the sounds of human activity. Instead, he heard wind – there had been a breeze, right? – and nothing else. Silence and silence, encompassing – a quietness he'd never heard before.
The only other sound was Kyo's breathing and it was still close.
Where were they?
Footsteps, soft now and the rustling of grass around, silken in the wind. The clattering of small stones being dislodged. Kyo's curse, muttered under his breath. If he could, he'd smile, hearing that. Silibance surrounding them – gentle without threat – which meant they were among the grass. Wild grasses, to make that noise. The call of a bird. A bright answer, trilling high.
He knew where they were.
"We're at the sparring ground, Yagami. Remember that place?"
Yes. How could he forget?
Kyo's first words since they left the park. They were outside the city now. Far away from…from where darkness claimed him. How long had Kyo been walking? Carrying him? How much time had passed?
How much time did he have left?
"The tree's still there."
Footsteps again. Steady, sure, and heavy.
The tree. The tree where they used to relax after fighting. The tree where they…
Awareness fading – tendrils of memory, of faint images lost.
Darkness subsumed him. He was borne upon it, passing through incalculable spans of time. When its hold on him released – momentarily – memory was but flickers. Small, insubstantial – he grasped at them, at what they held.
He was fading. Wouldn't hold on for much longer.
"Yagami, you still there?"
Kyo's voice. It sounded broken. Pain and grief.
"The tree has flowers. I'd thought they'd come in later. There's a bird nest, too."
He could see it when Kyo described it like that. The tree. Leaves in full abundance – they would be green now – and flowers. A bird nest – same as the birds he heard before? Maybe not. They'd been too far away before.
Limbs entangled beneath the cover of leaves and branches.
Kyo muttering nonsense into the crook of his neck, clutching him tight.
No wind that day – an open sky, clouds rising high, and sunlight gilding the field gold.
Kyo's cocky smile. An extended hand, finger raised with its orange flame.
He'd smiled. Smiled and fallen into stance. Issued his challenge, knowing it was just play between them now without its usual sting.
Memories. Each of them dear. Each of them slipping away.
"Yagami?"
Raggedness in Kyo's voice. Was he crying?
Kyo in his room, flipping through the channels on his TV.
Kyo's hand gentle along his cheek, along his hipbone. Kyo was gentle, no matter what.
Two more memories lost. Discarded amongst the gathering darkness.
"Yagami…"
Kyo leaning in to watch as he wrote a new song, jotting down notes and symbols on sheet music.
Kyo asleep on the couch, catching what he'd called an "old man's nap" after a heavy lunch.
Kyo standing by the door – the first time. The first of many times.
Gone. Three more.
"Yagami…I'm…"
No. Don't apologize. He'd say this to him if he could. He has nothing to be sorry for.
"Yagami…"
Kyo at fifteen. Kyo at twenty. Kyo at twenty-three. Always nine months behind.
Kyo in the park, eyes fixed on him even as darkness and pain hammered down.
Two more gone and with them, his awareness – that final lingering brightness – tearing away, swirling into nothingness. Like fallen snow, melting. Like fireflies – brief flickers of light, vanishing too soon.
"Yagami…"
Kyo's voice from a distance, the gulf widening.
Kyo…
"Yagami…please…"
I love you, Kyo. Last thought – a spark of dying flame – before it went out.
"Yagami…"
Kyo's voice a mere echo in darkness.
A final heaviness, pressing down – an absolute whiteness. Then, nothing.
Nothing at all.