Kumotta Sora

DISCLAIMER: Don't own FF:U, don't even own a copy of AS, don't get mad at me. I got this AS information from Wikipedia--they kindly included it in Kumo's bio. Hehe. The phrase "Kumotta Sora" means "Cloudy Sky" when translated into English.

Rating Warning: Rated M for nudity, rape flashbacks, and implications of incest. If you can't handle, don't read. This fic is NOT for the innocent--it plays partially on the view that the Earl kept Kumo around for sexually-based reasons, and on the conception that Kiri and Kumo's relationship was a bit more than brotherly.

"Kukuriyu?"

Scratched, bruised, bloodied, and exhausted, it was all she could do to keep searching.

"Kukuriyuuu!"

It had been an hour since Gaudium, the gray-and-black Castle of Chaos, had been destroyed by an immense explosion, the result of the desperate battle between the two summoned dragons, Ittouju and Hougekiju. Shattered fragments of the huge ugly thing had been raining from the sky for quite a bit since then; only recently had Crux been able to safely dart among the remnants, searching frantically.

She'd been in the nightmare structure when it had been destroyed, and looked rather the worse for wear--her tiny hands were scratched, there was a pale bruise on her left cheek, her sturdy pink armor was battered and filthy, and her lavender hair, unruly at the best of times, was just one great big frazzled poof. But she didn't care about her own condition; there was something far more important to her at stake.

In the moments of confusion directly after the deafening explosion, she had almost missed it, but by some miracle, she had seen it: the serpentine, Chaos-corrupted dragon Ittouju, battered and barely alive, had melted back into its original form--that of a white-haired, white-clad young man, badly wounded and pale from loss of blood. The tiny streak of white had shot down through the sky, apparently to land among the rest of the rubble.

Crux could care less about herself, or about any of the others who'd also been in Gaudium--the woman, those children, their scientist parents, and the man her masters had called the Black Wind--but this young man was everything to her. He had shown her kindness when she hadn't known the meaning of the word, had been a fleeting source of comfort among the horrors of her hateful home. His tenderness had sustained her when she thought she couldn't go on, had provided a lifeline for her even through his own darkest moments.

She had some general idea of where he'd fallen; she was combing the area now for any flash of white cloak within the churned-up snow and pieces of ugly shrapnel.

She would find him.

There was just nothing else for it.

---

Burns... it burns...

Oh, God, for this awful pain to end...

I can't stand it anymore... why can't sleep just come quickly like last time, a soft blanket of peace, a panacea for every earthly pain...? Adrenaline took care of the worst of it before, when I still had a task to complete... but now... I just can't stand it anymore! This is even worse than the agony I felt when I was wounded... worse than the crawling numbness of Chaos' control... why can't it just end? Why won't my life fade... why can't I die?

Somebody, anybody save me...!

Niisama...!

And now, on top of everything else, there's the pain in my throat. I have no idea whether or not I've really been screaming... all I can hear is the echo in my head.

Am I just going to linger until I lose the last drop of blood in my veins...?

I want to die... I just want to die so it can be over...!

---

There!

Seeing the tiny trail of periwinkle ribbon in the mess of white and gray below, she dove.

He lay twisted in the slushy snow, his clothes tattered and soaked in blood, his soft white hair fluffed and tousled by the wind, a pained and despairing look on his fair face.

Even as tears of gratitude stung her golden eyes, Crux felt a surge of pain in her chest.

Shiroi Kumo, the makenshi, the only one who had ever cared about her.

Landing beside him, she gently put a small hand on his shoulder and shook it, first tentatively, then more roughly when she got no response. "Ku... Kukuriyu...?"

Panic seized her, and she threw her weight into the motion, rocking his body violently. "Kukuriyu!"

Still no response... crying in earnest, although she didn't realize it, Crux raised her battered gauntlet to his slightly parted lips, hoping against hope. Holding her breath, she watched, then sighed as its surface clouded slightly when Kumo exhaled weakly. Thank God... for a moment, she'd actually thought...

She had to get him out of this place. It was so cold, and Kumo's physical condition, combined with the thinness of his clothing, meant that if he remained for much longer, he might very well freeze to death. He was still losing blood at an alarming rate; with so little left, he wouldn't be able to keep warm. She had to get him away, somehow.

Somehow...

Crux looked at Kumo doubtfully. Once before, she had carried an unconscious human child all the way from Teros to Gaudium. It had been hard going, but she'd been able to get him there without taking a single break. Maybe she could do the same with Kumo, but he was sure to be heavier than the boy, and he was a lot bigger.

Still, it wasn't as if beggars could be choosers, and Crux was drawing a blank on any other options. She would just have to be careful, and make sure to rest every now and again. She hadn't in the least forgotten how sore carrying the boy had made her arms.

She'd just have to find Kumo shelter every night, and try to find some way to stop him from bleeding to death while she was at it.

Great...

Squaring her small shoulders, Crux reextended her wings, found a tight grip on Kumo's tattered cape and shirt, thought a swift prayer in hopes that his clothing wouldn't rip and drop him again, and rose slowly into the air.

---

It had barely been more than two hours, but Crux's body was already screaming in protest. She could go no further.

Spotting a stone outcropping that formed a bit of an overhang, she headed toward it, gently setting Kumo down in the granite's shadow before landing herself.

Almost sure she'd seen her joints sparking with the strain, Crux looked suspiciously at her shoulders and elbows, where her original Chaos-frame body had been loosely connected. She saw nothing, but that didn't quite allay her dark thoughts. It would be all too likely for a joint to break or disconnect, rendering her unable to get Kumo any further away.

There wasn't any debris or shrapnel here, but snow still coated the ground, and Kumo was cold enough--she could see him shivering. There wasn't much she could do, other than to try tugging his Maken out of the way so she could wrap his cape around his body, though the thin fabric would likely retain very little heat. She'd placed Kumo on the lee side of the stone, so he would be shielded from the cutting winds. That, at least, was one less thing for Crux to worry about.

Hearing the rasp of her swordsman companion's breath, Crux was filled with a brief flicker of worry; was there something else wrong with him? Even considering his condition when she'd found him, he seemed even weaker than before...

The answer came to her with almost blunt clarity. Unlike her, Kumo was an organic creature; he needed food and water to keep his body running. Without them, he would quickly waste away. Crux was a bit short on food, but the water was something she thought she could fix. Scooping up a tiny fistful of snow, she clenched her fingers around it and waited a few minutes, then held her hands next to Kumo's slightly parted lips and released the tiny amount of water. Though still unconscious, she could see that the swordsman's body had reacted reflexively; glancing to the side, she noticed the slight movement as he swallowed. Good.

Depositing a few more fistfuls of melted snow in the same way, Crux was relieved to see her still-sleeping charge relax somewhat. Knowing that now she could rest without worry, she curled up next to him, folding her wings in and tucking her face to his side. She would only take the time to recuperate her strength for the next jaunt, Crux told herself as she closed her eyes and snuggled closer. Just before wakefulness faded, she felt Kumo instinctively shift to cradle her against his chest.

---

I remember your face, those many years ago on that cold autumn night... how nervousness made your usually pale cheeks flame with emotion. Your hand trembled as you reached out to touch my face, your thumb tracing along my lower lip.

Your voice was shaking when you spoke the words I somehow knew were coming.

"Ototo yo... Kumo-chan." You paused, as if considering your words. "Anata wo... aisuru..."

You left me an eyeblink of surprise before you leaned towards me, steadied by the familiar lay of your hand on my cheek. I closed my eyes in expectation as your lips pressed against mine, brief and sweet, one flash of heady glory before you pulled back, head bowed in shame, your carmine hair falling into your face and shielding your eyes: my first kiss.

I didn't know how you thought you'd just soiled my still-pure soul, defiled me with your own "wicked" lusts. I only knew that somehow, I had been waiting for that gentle press of lips on lips for years.

I took a tentative, creeping step towards you, cautious, heart fluttering in shyness. "Niisama?" My voice quavered, knowing how important it was to both of us that you heard me speak.

You looked up, despair in your eyes, sure of my rejection.

"Daisuki."

And drawing close to you again, I stood on tiptoe and kissed you back.

You put your arms around me as I instinctively yielded to you, reveling in the taste of you flooding through me.

That was the start of our time together, the most beautiful time of my life.

Oh, Niisama... if only nothing had happened, if only I could wake up still tucked into your arms, knowing that everything that has happened to me since has simply been some horrible nightmare...

Niisama...!

---

Crux woke with a start, letting out a squeak of dismay as her eyes snapped open. The soft darkness of a clear night had fallen over the snowscape; the full moon was high, the stars twinkling in wicked merriment. Judging by the position of the heavens, she'd been asleep for at least four hours.

At least Kumo, still asleep beside her, was still warm. He had loosely clutched her to his body much like a dreaming child might cuddle a teddy bear; held against his side, Crux had absorbed a good deal of his released body heat. As a result, even in the desperate cold of the snow, she was pleasantly warm as she cautiously slipped out of her charge's hold, took a fresh grip on his clothing, and hauled him into the air.

Crux was grateful that Kumo was so light for his size. He was easily almost two feet taller than the boy she'd had to carry before, but the added weight was only about twenty or thirty pounds. If he'd been any heavier, she'd have had to stop even more frequently, and would probably sleep at each one. As it was, she was able to carry him for three hours this time, escaping the heavier, deeper drifts of snow to ground that was only slightly frosted, an area with trees, beneath which were bare earth. It was a much better place to set Kumo down than in the midst of a bank of wet, cold snow.

The brief stop gave Crux the opportunity to address one of her more pressing concerns: the awful wound through Kumo's body, about six inches below his diaphragm. The bleeding still hadn't stopped, though it had become much more sluggish. Though there was some clotting, Crux knew better than to jump to the conclusion that it was starting to heal. The slow flow of the blood was simply due to the fact that Kumo didn't have as much blood to lose.

Over the last jaunt, Crux had noticed how labored Kumo's breathing had become. His blood loss was starting to affect his oxygen intake, and that was very bad. Now that they were in slightly more temperate conditions, Crux could take the time to try to find herbs and berries that would staunch the bleeding and help him regenerate some of the blood he'd lost so far.

For once, it would pay off to have spent so much time in Herba's quarters back at Gaudium. The plant-woman had certainly known her curatives--one section of her deadly "garden" had been devoted to them, with each labeled, its effects neatly defined.

In fact, Kumo had been known to raid the little patch of panaceas in order to care for the various wounds Crux obtained while following Kaze and the Comodeen rebels.

Flitting around though the underbrush, Crux looked wildly around at the various plants in her path. If she was lucky, she might find some bloodwort or sanguicynth--they were some of the best herbs to use on a patient who'd lost as much blood as Kumo had.

Within about ten minutes, Crux had accumulated a tiny stock of silver aster (prevented certain infections), blue soapwort (a very gentle cleanser), Hanuman's mint (promoted overall healing), and Monarch's Daisy (contained a chemical that clotted blood). The environment was completely wrong for sanguicynth, and bloodwort was rare in cold conditions, so she would have to make due with what she'd gotten already. Raiding a patch of winter peas in passing, Crux returned to where she'd left Kumo.

Touching down, she carefully deposited her herbs by Kumo's hand and ripped a length of cloth from the end of his cape as a makeshift bandage. Squaring her shoulders determinedly, she carefully loosed the Mistbelt and swordbelt from Kumo's waist and peeled back his blouse from the wound.

Trying not to stare too hard at the bloody hole, Crux chewed a few silver aster leaves to line the wound. It wasn't as though the cut was messy--far from it, in fact. The razor edges of the Maken had kept the awful cut's edges even and clean. However, due to that cleanness, if you stared long and hard enough, you could actually see into the wound, which Crux did not want to do. The one time she had, she'd realized that the Maken's edge had slightly nicked the side of Kumo's intestines. She would never forget that sight, and didn't want any more ingrained in her mind.

Having placed pulped silver aster, Monarch's Daisy petals, and soapwort leaves on both sides of the wound, Crux carefully pressed the sides of skin against each other. A fresh trickle of blood slipped lazily across Kumo's skin, and the swordsman flinched in his sleep, giving a muted whimper, but Crux refused to let go for several seconds. Seeing the skin stick slightly, she quickly began to wind the makeshift bandage around Kumo's waist, pulling it as close as she could without restricting his breathing. Finished, she tucked the loose end beneath another part of the strip and leaned back, sighing. It might not be the cleanest job she'd ever done, but she'd have time to adjust it later. More carefully, Crux pulled Kumo's shirt back down and refastened his belts over it. There--one unpleasant task over and done with.

Only one more left. Hanuman's mint had to be ingested for it to work properly, and the peas were the only meager sustenance she'd been able to forage for Kumo for the past nine hours. If she couldn't get him to wake, which was pretty likely considering his condition, she would have to chew it herself and pass it to him, forcing him to swallow it.

It was just part of nursing someone this weak back to health, but Crux was a little leery of the process. Passing food from your mouth to your patient's was just so personal. And besides, to do that... she'd have to as good as kiss him.

Awkward didn't even begin to describe.

However, if she wanted him to live, she would have to. Which left her no other option.

Sighing a little, Crux turned to the peas and mint leaves, her face already starting to flame.

Just as she'd picked them up, a soft moan made her start and wheel around. Miraculously, Kumo had opened his eyes.

"Crux...?"

Almost dropping her precious finds, she scooted over to him, wide-eyed in anxiety. He was still so pale, so weak... and his voice was so soft. Even more worrying, his beautiful jadeine eyes seemed slightly unfocused, almost dizzy.

"Kukuriyu..." Feeling like she could cry from tearing worry and simultaneous relief, she did her best to explain what she'd been able to do for him so far.

Blinking slightly, Kumo managed a weak smile for her. "Thank you."

Starting to blush again, she held out the peas and mint leaves. "Kuu..."

He closed his eyes, tried to shake his head. "I'm sorry... I... don't think... I'm strong enough."

Crux felt like smacking her head against a tree. Of course. If she'd been in his condition, she doubted she'd be able to chew, either. "Kukuriyu."

He sighed, a sad, tiny sound like the last bit of air rushing out of a badly inflated balloon. "You don't have to do that..."

Scowling, she glared at him. "KuiYU." What was he, stupid? He needed the nutrition.

He sighed again. "Alright." He was silent, with only the barest flicker of eyelids betraying his wakefulness.

The blush returning yet a third time, Crux almost grudgingly chewed a mouthful of mint leaves. If someone had told her yesterday she would actually argue with Kumo in favor of passing food this way, she'd have laughed herself sick.

Well, it wasn't like she could back down now. Reluctantly, she pressed her lips to his, feeling his weak swallow moments later.

They went back and forth with the remainder of the mint, then the peas, until Crux was sure that Kumo had gotten everything. "Kuu."

He gave her another tiny smile, too weak even to open his eyes. "Kansha suru," he managed in a whisper, and to all appearances, was asleep again.

Sighing, Crux leaned back against his arms and closed her eyes, half-dozing for the next hour or so.

When she awoke, she would continue her southward journey, trying to find a safer, more convenient place for Kumo to rest and recover.

(TBC)