Author's Note.

Sorry for such a long wait. 2020. What more can I say. Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing. Seriously, the reviews gave me some smiles when I really needed them.

Now, please enjoy!

Chapter 2

"I'm really fine," she said for the hundredth or so time. Sometimes she appreciated Tomoe's protectiveness. This was not one of those times.

He'd Carried her to one of the bathrooms and sat her down on a stool in the corner before gathering a bowl of water, cloths, and medical supplies she hadn't known they possessed.

Though she was glad—ridiculously so—to be home and back with Tomoe and the others, she just wanted to be alone so she could get cleaned up and think about what had happened. And, more importantly, what she was going to do.

Should she confront him? How would she even find him? Kami, even if she did, what good would it do if she got too freaked out to do anything more than run away again?

Maybe she didn't have to do anything. After all, there wasn't really a good reason for them to talk, right? She could just ignore him, act like today hadn't happened. It wouldn't be the first time. She was good at pretending.

Tomoe's irritated voice interrupted her thoughts. "You are bloody, bruised, and exhausted. Not to mention filthy. Do any of those sound 'fine' to you?"

She opened her mouth to agree because she really was just more shaken up than actually injured and she honestly just needed some time to herself.

"Nanami," he scolded before she got the first word out. She subsided. No point in arguing with him when he was in one of these moods.

He turned over her right hand and hissed. She glanced down at it and winced. It hurt a lot more now that she could see it. The skin on her palms was torn and raw, bits of degree caught in the scrapes and blood dripping down her fingers. Her left hand was a similar mess. Her knees, from what she could tell, weren't quite as bad, a little less bloody at least. Though the fronts of her calves were beginning to send throbbing pain up and down her legs. What had she fallen over, a rock?

"How did this happen?"

Tomoe picked up the water and one of the cloths and set to work cleaning her hands. It stung, a lot, and she had to fight hard not to yank her hand away. Something of her struggle must have shown on her face though.

his lips thinned into a hard line and his touch, already light, softened further.

"I'm sorry. I'll be as careful as I can."

Guilt surged through her. She'd worried him. It felt like she was always doing that. And now he was blaming himself because she was too weak to keep from flinching at a little first aid.

"It's okay," she told him.

She wanted to say more. Wanted to tell him that she'd had worse and turned out fine. That she wasn't fragile, despite how easily she bled. But he cut her off.

"It's not." He looked up at her with eyes gone steely. "It's never alright for you to be in pain. Now tell me what occurred."

She tried to gather her thoughts into some sort of coherent story. Walking out of the shop. Seeing him. The memories. Running.

She couldn't tell him the truth. That she'd seen…him, and had run like an animal from a hunter. He already saw her as weak and helpless. She couldn't bare it if he had such absolute proof of how pathetic she really was.

"I just fell."

"You just fell," he repeated, not sounding at all like he believed her. "All of this happened—" he gestured to her scrapes and cuts—"because you simply fell down?" He set the cloth and bole of water down on a counter top with an ominous thud.

She gave him her brightest smile. "Yep! You know me. God of clumsiness."

"Someone was chasing her."

The voice made her jump. Tomoe steadied her with a hand on her shoulder but his attention was suddenly on Mizuki standing in the doorway.

"What?" Who?"

"Kurama didn't know. He didn't notice any demons around, but he said she was definitely trying to get away from something."

When Tomoe turned back towards her, his expression was coldly furious. For a moment, he wasn't her friend, or familiar, or even the man she'd fallen in love with.

She saw her father.

She flinched and jerked backwards, knocking her head against the bathroom wall.

"Nanami!"

Blinking spots out of her eyes, she focused on the voice. Worried. Upset even. But not angry. Nothing like her father's.

"What is wrong with you?" Tomoe demanded. The question was sharp, his tone almost—afraid?

She was scaring him. Mizuki too she realized, noticing that he had moved to stand beside Tomoe to gaze down at her out of eyes gone wide with concern.

She took a deep breath. Held it for a few seconds before exhaling. Calm. She needed to be calm for them. There would be time to think about—him—later. Time to lock all the memories back into the deepest darkest part of her mind where she hopefully could never think about them again.

"I'm sorry," she started, looking from one familiar to the other. "I—I thought I saw someone I used to know. It startled me. That's all."

"Kurama said you were trying to get away from someone," Mizuki said.

She smiled again, rueful but genuinely. "Only some memories."

Tomoe's expression stayed hard for a moment; deciding whether or not to push the issue.

She tried again to come up with a better explanation. Couldn't. She felt tired and shaky. She was very aware of the bruises and scrapes she'd acquired and wanted nothing more than to get cleaned up and go to bed.

Something of her pain and exhaustion must have shown on her face. Tomoe sighed and picked up some of the medical supplies on the counter.

"You will tell me more about this person later. Am I understood?"

She nodded. So grateful that he wasn't pushing her, that he was helping her, that she had to fight back tears.

His fingers wrapped around her wrist, gentle and warm. "Mizuki. Go and make our lady something for her pain."

She opened her mouth to downplay her injuries again. Closed it when she caught Tomoe's stern look.

"On it," Mizuki said cheerfully. He smiled at her. "I'll be back in no time."

"Thanks, Mizuki."

After tending to her hands, Tomoe turned his attention to her legs. He worked off her left stocking and swore. She blinked in surprise. He didn't usually curse around her. She craned her neck to see the reason.

Her shin-where she'd crashed into something the first time she'd fallen—was beginning to swell and turn a deep shade of purple. She had no doubt that her other leg was in the same state. Her knees were—rather Grose looking if she were being honest. The skin was raw and red where it wasn't scraped open and bleeding.

She looked away from the damage and into Tomoe's horrified eyes.

"I-" she started.

Tomoe cut her off, the horror in his expression turning to a steely resolve.

"We will talk about this later. Now. Tell me truthfully. Is this the worst of the damage?" When she opened her mouth to agree, he glared hard into her eyes. "Do not lie to me."

She considered. Then nodded slowly. "Yes. I'm just a little tired and sore."

He cupped her face between his hands and stared at her with a look she couldn't read for several seconds. Then, "very well then. Come now. You need rest."

He carried her to her room and put her to bed with strict instructions to rest until dinner. Whatever potion Mizuki had given her made her sleepy. The world felt distant and unreal. Part of her mind realized that this state could be dangerous, that words might slip out that she'd regret. The rest of her mind simply enjoyed the warm floaty feeling rushing through her.

"Tomoe?" she asked as he pulled the covers up around her.

"Yes?"

"I'm safe with you, right?"

No hesitation. "Always."

She felt his big hand smooth her hair. Once. Then again.

"Tomoe?"

"Yes?"

"Why?"

His hand stopped; claws gently tangled in long waves.

"Why do I protect you?"

"Mmmm."

A long pause. So long that she was more asleep than awake.

"Because you're mine."

Author's Note

Next time:

She threw herself sideways but was grabbed around the waist before she could get any further. She clawed at the arm, jerked and thrashed to get free. The hold tightened and she screamed.

"Let go! Get away!"