hanahaki ( ha-na-ha-kee )

( chiefly Japanese fiction ) An illness in which a person bearing an unrequited love coughs up flower petals until they die or their feelings are reciprocated. The disease can also be cured by a surgical procedure that removes the flowers, but this will result in them losing their feelings of affection and all memories of the person they loved.

If someone asked Yoru if he ever believed that hanahaki existed, he would've laughed in their face and teleported away. As a little kid, his mother told him stories of hanahaki but that's all they were to him. Stories.

The tiny golden puff of a flower in his hand, the one he just coughed up, proved to him that they were not just stories.

Fuck this. Who would he even be crushing on?

He was too competitive for it to be any of the duelists. Definitely not Phoenix; respectfully, he didn't swing that way. Jett was cute but not his type. Neon was too much like a little sister to him. He was pretty sure Raze had a thing with Killjoy, and Reyna was just a little too intimidating to have a crush on.

He thought about who else he knew.

Viper? Hell no.

Astra? Too out there.

Sage? Too motherly.

Fade? Too creepy.

Skye?

Shit, it was Skye.

When an agent joins the protocol, there's a lot of celebration and traditions that happen. Parties are held, dicks are drawn on foreheads (mostly Breach's by Raze), and people get drunk. Custom guns are designed, rooms are decorated, and schedules shift to accommodate the new recruit.

Yoru was no different. He was a lone wolf, the best and sharpest. But a wolf was still a pack animal and he learned to work with a team easily. Within a few weeks, he was cleared for missions.

His first mission was with Viper, Omen, Phoenix, and Skye.

COMM LOG: BIND - MISSION 324

OMEN: Mirror Sage spotted B garden.

PHOENIX: It's quiet near A bath. I'm going to move in, keep me updated on positions.

(Yoru was sitting in the corner of the Window. Maybe a predictable spot to camp but he had a Gatecrash in the back of B site that he could escape to.)

OMEN killed [O]SAGE

SKYE: Quiet on A. Rotating through portal.

(Her voice was always calm during missions. It was calming to Yoru.)

YORU: Careful, I'm starting to hear footsteps outside portal, estimating three. Omen, keep an eye out for one more.

OMEN: Copy.

VIPER: Setting up a toxin wall for cover.

(Yoru could've sworn he heard a light groan from teleporter. Did Skye have issues with Viper?)

YORU: Skye, I'm in window and there's three out there. Mind flashing for me then we both swing?

SKYE: Take me out to dinner first.

YORU sputtering, PHOENIX laughing.

SKYE: Just messin'. Tell me when, riftwalker.

YORU: Three… two… one… now!

SKYE: Got all three!

YORU killed [O]BREACH

YORU killed [O]RAZE

SKYE killed [O]KILLJOY

PHOENIX: Nice! Leave one for me, yeah?

YORU: Shit, I got hit bad.

VIPER: One left. Sova spotted B long.

PHOENIX: Moving to flank.

SKYE: Yoru, cover me and I can heal.

(Yoru remembers retreating to Window, Skye half carrying him. The other three can take care of the Sova.)

(All he remembers is those beautiful grey eyes that glowed the prettiest green when she healed him and the look of relief she gave when he was fully healed... He would give her life for her over and over again if he got to see that look in her eye.)

PHOENIX killed [O]SOVA

He was at the Range when someone else found out. He was training with Phoenix and Jett, like they always did, competing at who's the best shot (Jett), who's the stealthiest (Yoru), and who could do the most pushups (Phoenix).

Yoru was doing pretty damn well at the firing range, hadn't missed a single shot yet.

Just as a holobot appeared, he felt a lump rise in his throat. It was quick and painless but he wasn't expecting it. Just as he pulled the trigger, he retched, spitting out the yellow puff and making his entire body convulse. His hand flew up and the bullet made a loud pang as it shot through the ceiling and into the open sky.

"Whoa! You alright, mate?"

Yoru turned to see Phoenix and Jett staring in concern. Their faces morphed into terror as they saw the thin petals fall to the ground from his mouth.

"Yoru," Jett said cautiously, "Tell me that's not what I think it is."

Jett was Korean (and a total sap for romance TV), of course she would know about Hanahaki disease. Shit .

"It's not what you think it is," he said gruffly, and turned to go back to shooting.

Phoenix and Jett gave each other a look.

"Mate, it's getting worse, you have to go to Sage about this. I could care less about who it is but you're just hurting yourself at this point." Phoenix tried to make eye contact but Yoru averted and looked to the side.

It's been weeks. The coughing fits are nearly hourly.

He hasn't gotten a good night's rest in about eight days, he keeps waking up and spitting out flowers. The bowl on the nightstand is always full of bloody petals by the morning.

It's wearing Yoru out, and he knows it.

Phoenix put in a tip to Brimstone to not put Yoru on any missions anytime soon, although the reason the Brit gave was that Yoru was very close to a breakthrough lead on a personal mission.

"Yoru, please. I don't beg for nothin' but I'm begging you now. I'm your friend and I'm worried about you."

"Fine! I'll go talk to Sage about it. God." Yoru rolled his eyes, huffing.

If not for his own sake, then for Phoenix's. The guy worried too much for his friends and not enough for himself.

He trekked towards sickbay. In the three minute walk, he coughed up four more bloody flowers right into one of the trash cans in the hallway.

Thank fuck no one was around.

All he had to do was make it to sickbay without him seeing-

Skye was in sickbay when he opened the door.

Shit.

"Hey, uh. Is Sage around?"

"Sage is taking the day off to train, so I'm in charge of the infirmary today." Skye grinned. "What can I do for ya?"

Double shit .

"Oh uh, I just, uh. Needed to talk to Sage about something… medical. That's all." Yoru fumbled over his words.

This was bad, he needed to leave .

"Don't go botherin' Sage about that stuff on her day off." Skye rolled her eyes lightheartedly. "Come on in, you can tell me about it."

I can't, I really can't.

"Oh, it's nothing serious, it was just a question-"

"Yoru." Her voice turned cold and stony. "You look like shit. Get in here now."

I'm in for it now.

Sage could be scary when she was mad, but Skye was by far the scarier healer.

Yoru chose life rather than running. He trudged over to one of the beds and sat down on it. He hadn't realized how exhausted his legs felt until he wasn't using them.

"Alright, so what's the trouble?"

Her usual green combat gloves were replaced with blue medical gloves. Why was he looking at her hands? Yoru just couldn't look her in the eye. And yet, he couldn't resist her.

"Uh, I've been coughing a lot over the last couple of weeks. Sometimes, coughing up blood."

Keep it vague.

"Do you know the reason you're coughing?"

"No idea. It's been keeping me up at night, so I haven't gotten much sleep lately. Hence, why I look less than pristine."

Skye held back a giggle as she noted something down on a clipboard.

"Mind if I take a look?"

Moment of truth?

Yoru opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue, like he did when he was little for doctor visits. Skye held up a small flashlight and examined his throat for a few moments. She pulled away, and wrote something else down on the clipboard before she pulled off her gloves.

"Alright, I can give you some boring, normal medicine or I can do what I do best, if you'll humor me for a walk and a few minutes?" Skye smiled mischievously, cocking an eyebrow and extending her hand.

Yoru blinked. "Uh, sure."

He took her hand and immediately, his mind was flooded with the thoughts of her. Her hand wasn't smooth but it was soft. He could feel the callouses on her hands from her weight training. Her hand wrapped around his was gentle but he knew that her grip could crush glass.

Beautiful and deadly. Just like this hanahaki.

Before he knew it, Skye was opening a door and bright light poured through. Why was she leading him outside?

With her other hand, she pulled a carving from her hip pouch. Yoru recognized it as her wolf. He watched as she brought it up to her lips and whispered to it softly. It began to glow green with what he knew was Skye's radiant powers and started to grow.

Skye dropped the carving on the ground as it grew to its full size. It kept its distance and was careful not to trip either of them as it started to prance around the two of them, excited like a month-old puppy, making Skye laugh.

Yoru could listen to that laugh all day.

"Hey there, Jimmi." She smiled. "I like to let him roam when I'm outside, same with Ava."

"Ava is your eagle?" He guessed.

"Brown goshawk, actually. Hawk for simplicity's sake."

"Where are we going, by the way?"

"The greenhouse." Skye revealed with a grin and a squeeze to Yoru's hand.

He pretended like his heart didn't skip a few beats.

Yoru had never been inside the greenhouse before. He remembered when he joined the protocol, it was overgrown, unkept, and wild. He guessed Skye must have made some changes since then. He joined only a couple months after she did, so she might not have gotten any work in yet.

Now it was just as wild, but clearly kept and loved. Hanging baskets and vines from the ceiling, ivy climbing the interior and exterior walls, it was like a fantasy in here. There were flowers and herbs everywhere you looked, except for a decent sized workstation in the corner by the door, where Skye was now.

She turned to him, "Can you find me sage?"

"I thought you said not to bother her."

"Wh- Oh! You're funny. I meant the flower sage, it's a bright purple and kinda looks like lavender. Could you find me some chamomile too? It's white and daisy-like." Skye started rummaging through the cabinets that were near her workstation.

Honestly, Yoru didn't know what lavender looked like either. He started searching the shelves of plants and was extremely relieved to see the plants were labeled. He carefully picked the ones he was told to and returned to Skye, holding out the flowers to her.

This would be romantic if you just told her.

"There's a reason we call her Sage, the flower has healing properties. It's one of the four flowers I use for my combat healing pool." Skye ground the purple and white petals with a mortar and pestle. He watched curiously as she added water to it, then pulled a jar from a cabinet and put a dollop of honey in the mix.

She turned and handed Yoru the bowl, who took it with a blank look. "What do I do with this?"

"Oh, just hold it." Skye instructed before closing her eyes and holding her hands out around the bowl. She started to whisper and the mixture started to glow green before shaping itself and solidifying.

Skye took back the bowl and pulled out what looked like a piece of small hard candy, a purple flower with tiny vines of green magic pulsing throughout it.

"It's safe, I promise. Swallow this and your throat should be good in no time." She smiled as Yoru took the flower from her hand.

She might not know what's going on but she seemed to be proud of her work and Yoru would be damned before he let her down for something she was proud of. He put the flower in his mouth and swallowed it. The taste was actually quite pleasant. The honey was sweet and the chamomile was calming, and the sage warmed his throat that had actually been aching from throwing up all the petals.

"Well, did it work?" Skye looked at him, expectant and excited.

Yoru opened his mouth to answer but a lump of petals shot through his airpipe and the only thing that came out of his mouth were those stupid, stupid -

Tiny, bloody, golden puffs of petals fell to the floor.

"That is not the flower I just made you swallow." She joked as she knelt to examine the yellow flower, careful not to touch it.

Shit, shit, shit.

A moment passed.

"Yoru."

It's over.

"Do you know the reason you're coughing?" Yoru recognized this as the exact question she asked earlier. His response was ' No idea .'

What a liar you are.

"I- I do." He sighed in defeat. He slumped to the floor and put his head in his hands.

"Have you told anyone about this?"

"Phoenix and Jett know and I'm willing to bet money that Cypher knows somehow. They might have told others but I have no clue."

"Do they know?"

"Who?"

"Yoru, don't think I don't know what hanahaki is. I'm not stupid. Have you told them you love them?"

He went silent.

"That's a no, then." She sighed, adjusting so she was sitting next to him up against the cabinets. "Have you considered it?"

"No…"

"Why's that?"

He didn't respond.

"I recognize this flower. I know it well, actually. It's very resistant to drought, wind, and bushfires. Why are you coughing up this flower, Yoru?"

He mumbled something that Skye didn't quite catch.

"Come again?"

"'Cause you're pretty. And you're kind and wild and free." Yoru admitted. "And that is something I…"

"Something you love?" She offered.

"…Yeah."

"You don't have to suffer from this, Yoru."

"Oh yeah? Why's that?"

She took his chin and turned to look him in the eye.

"Because I love you too, you idiot." She pulled him forward into a kiss, gentle and loving.

Yoru's hand made its way to the back of Skye's neck, and as he kissed back, he felt a weight lift from his chest. He could breathe easier.

He was cured. Skye loved him back.

His grin made them break the kiss.

"What's that stupid flower called anyways?"

"It's a golden wattle flower, mate. National flower of Australia." She grinned softly. "Y'know, had anyone else known that, it would've been pretty obvious who you were coughing up for."

He hadn't even considered that. Skye giggled at the blank look that appeared on his face. "You've been coughing up that flower for weeks and never once thought to look it up?"

"I've been busy."

"Oh, I'm sure ," she laughed.

Yeah. Yoru could listen to that laugh all day.