Disclaimer; I… I don't actually hafta say it anymore, do?
The Delinquent's Decision
Kurogane froze. I… no… No!!
He loosened his grip on Sohi, horrified.
"Kuro-sama?" The swordsman glanced over his shoulder at Fai, loosening his grip on the sword further as he turned back to Tomoyo. The blade had pierced her throat - she was dead almost instantly. The ninja's knees collapsed under him as her body fell backwards, landing on her son.
"M-mom?" the teen muttered, eyes wide with horror. A vague sense of sympathy flowed through the swordsman as he watched the teenager clutched at his mother's body, but it was quickly drowned in the realization of what he'd done.
Oh god. I did this. She's… I… I did this!
"Kuro-rin," Fai's soft voice was directly behind him. The swordsman glanced at him again.
"I… I did this," he muttered. "Tomoyo-hime… she's…"
"Kuro-chan," the magician whispered comfortingly, wrapping his arms around the ninja, burying his face into the larger man's back. "Kuro-mii, it wasn't your fault."
"It… it was my fault," the swordsman growled. "I… I killed her… I killed her!"
"No, Kuro-min," the wizard contradicted. "You didn't kill her. I saw you. You were fighting Evron, remember?"
"She jumped in front of him," the swordsman stared at his hands, looking at the blood that covered them. Tomoyo's blood…
"Kuro-love, you didn't mean to," Fai muttered, hugging him tighter. Kurogane tensed, growling.
"She was trying to protect her son," he hissed. "She just wanted to protect her son, and… and I… I killed her for it."
"Kurogane-sama," Makayla was there now, pulling him to his feet. "It wasn't your fault."
The ninja whirled around to face her, growling loudly.
"Wasn't my fault?!" he shouted at her. "All of this was my fault! Because I was so damn focused on trying to kill your brother I didn't even notice she was there! Everything was my fault!!"
"Kuro-pyon," Fai whispered, attaching himself to thee ninja's torso again. "It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have predicted this."
The ninja's body shook violently.
"Yes I could have," he growled. "I should have! I'd have done the same thing if it were my kid!"
"It wasn't your fault," the magician repeated. "It wasn't your fault."
"Yes, it was," the swordsman muttered, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend and burying his head in the wizard's hair. "It was my fault."
"I know how you feel, Kuro-woof." the wizard muttered. The swordsman pulled away from him.
"No you don't," he snarled. The mage smiled sadly up at him.
"You feel helpless, and angry," he said softly. "As if everything that happened was your fault, like you could have prevented it. And you feel guilty, because not only did she die to protect someone you were trying to kill, but because they didn't have nearly enough time together. Because you didn't want to do anything to hurt them, and you feel as if you did it anyway. Because if you hadn't been here none of this would have happened."
The swordsman stared at him for a moment, scalding tears filling his eyes as he pulled his boyfriend close.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry."
The mage didn't answer, not even when the tears spilled over the edges of the swordsman's eyes and landed in his hair.
--
"Are you okay?"
The swordsman glanced up at Makayla, nodding once before returning to staring at the floor.
"Evron's still with Daidoji-san," the writer continued. "He'll be there for a while, I think. He's taking the whole 'she didn't abandon me and now she'd dead because she wanted to protect me' shock pretty well, considering his mental condition."
"Right."
"We can remove the feather at any time, as long as he stays in the hospital."
"Whatever."
"We need to do it now."
"Uh-huh."
"Fai was saying he thought it would be best to get it over with as soon as possible."
"Sure."
"Seth and I are gonna pick up Dad and visit my father's grave later."
"Okay."
"Wanna come?"
"Uh-huh."
"After we get the feather from Evron."
"Whatever."
"I'm going to kill myself so he survives."
"What?" the ninja looked up at her, shock registering on his features. The author grinned.
"Making sure you were paying attention," she laughed. "Let's go."
"Go where?"
The writer's brow furrowed.
"You weren't listening!" she complained. "Me and Fai are gonna go get the feather Evron still has so you can go!"
The swordsman growled, fury flowing through him.
"You're going to go into Tomoyo-hime's room where her dead body lay," he said slowly, tone cold, "look her son in the eye, and then kill him, all on the same day as her death."
The twenty-one year old seemed to think about this for a moment.
"Yep," she confirmed. "That sounds about right."
"Why?"
"Because he has Sakura-chan's feather."
"That's not a reason, dammit!" he snapped, leaping to his feet. "She just died! That ass might be a sick, twisted, moronic little fucker, but he's still just a kid! Imagine how you felt when your father died! That's what he's going through right now!"
"Which is why we should get this over with now, when he might be willing to cooperate!" she replied. "This way you don't have your strength decreased, Sakura gets her feather, and I-"
She stopped, taking a deep breath.
"Look, just… don't argue with me, okay?" she pleaded. "You can still stay for her funeral, I swear, but we have to get this over with. Look, we'll just ask him, alright?"
"You'll just ask me what?"
Kurogane growled at Evron over the writer's shoulder. He looked like hell, the ninja had to admit. His eyes were red, and he looked as if he'd collapse at any moment.
"You want to know if I'll let you have the feather replacing my heart and half my right lung," he answered his own question, smiling. "I can answer you quite easily, actually."
The swordsman growled.
"And what exactly would the crazy murderous asshole choose?" he snapped. The teen glared at him, all pretense of amusement gone from his voice and behavior. Shit, this kid's a great actor. Even better than Fai.
"You aren't him," he said suddenly. The swordsman raised his eyebrow.
"I'm not who?" the swordsman asked, eyes narrowing. "If you mean Makayla's father, you're right. Finally realized it, huh? What tipped you off?"
"You cried," the teen shot at him. "And you apologized. Two things he never swallowed his pride enough to do. At least… not in front of others."
"What the hell's that mean?! I'm a good guy!" the swordsman snapped. The blonde growled.
"It doesn't matter," he snarled. "You need your dumbass feather, right?"
Without warning, the blonde tripped a passing nurse carrying a tray of surgical instrument, grabbing a scalpel and fingering it.
"How long will it take to remove?" he interrogated, turning his attention to his sister. "Only a few seconds, correct?"
The writer nodded once. Evron grinned unevenly.
"Then here's your answer," he chuckled. "Don't save me this time, okay?"
The ninja inhaled sharply as the boy grinned at him in turn.
"Later, dude," he joked, raising the scalpel until it parallel with his heart.
"Wait!"
The blonde grinned at his sister again.
"Buh-bye."
He plunged the knife into his heart.
A/N; See… Evron's not that bad a guy, really. Just really weird. And psychotic. He sure underwent quite a change in personality, didn't he?
Reviews, pretty pretty please?