Running barefoot in the grass.
The title for this fic is taken from the 31 Days theme for September 10, 2008.
Sometimes, when living as one's own person separate from their master and the Fighter's school becomes too much for her to bear, Kouya wakes up and ventures out of their tiny little apartment somewhere in the city, to wander barefoot like some sort of living ghost, hair hanging over her face, eyes unseeing. Nakano has become used to this, so used to it that she always manages to catch Kouya just in time now, getting to her before she ends up straying too far from their new home.
There's something both beautiful and frightening about walking down to the empty, grassy lot behind their building and finding Kouya out there in the moonlight so perfectly disheveled, putting one foot in front of the other towards a destination whose name she will never know. She smells less like herself and more like her lover, Nakano realizes, the moment she's close enough to wrap her arms about Kouya's waist and reel her in. It's rather interesting, being able to smell one's self on another person.
"Kouya, come."
Leading her back upstairs is like guiding a child, or maybe a pet; attending to her is like playing with a doll. Nakano arranges Kouya back on the bed, sitting her down, pulling at the snarls in her hair, talking lightly of the things they will do tomorrow (read: things that will draw Kouya's attention away from the fact that they are abandoned children and dead to the only woman who matters to them). She is kneeling in front of Kouya and checking her feet for any injuries she might've gotten while she was in the garden when Kouya pitches forward, plopping her forehead against Nakano's shoulder. Something wet drops upon her clothes, soaking through the cloth.
"…I feel lost."
Nakano only smiles. She brings Kouya's foot close to her face and kisses it, grass stains, old injuries and all.
"You're with me. Everything will be fine."