Mizuki was walking towards the border of Rivania for his guarding shift he had every Tuesday. He didn't really like it as he easily got bored. There was nothing to do but just stand there. Sometimes, he would talk to the other guards but he didn't have a lot of friends that were guarding the border.
Since Mizuki started his guarding shift, there was never an intruder from Yarisha that had tried to break in. He heard that a couple of years ago this was a very frequent situation.
They would cross the border, kill the guards and then they would throw bombs at their facilities and citizens.
It was horrible.
As Mizuki turned a corner he heard a loud scream. He immediately started running towards the direction and his eyes widened at what he was seeing.
There was a man, a man with the uniform of Yarisha holding down a woman with a smirk as she struggled under him. Next to them was a child.
A bleeding child.
He could be dead.
Mizuki didn't hesitate to take his gun and raise it to the man's face.
"Stop!" He shouted and the man raised his head to face him.
"I won't." He said and moved his hand till it was laying on the woman's throat and then he started squeezing, cutting off her airway.
Mizuki didn't realize what was happening, because one moment he was telling the man to stop, and the next his finger moved towards the trigger and he pulled it back.
There was a deafening noise that rang around them before the man fell in a heap next to the woman with a bullet right in between his still wide open eyes as blood trickled down the side of his face.
Mizuki felt paralyzed as he stared at the man. The woman pushed herself up and crawled to her child as loud sobs wracked her body.
She screamed, a loud chilling scream that snapped Mizuki out of his panic.
And out of his dream.
Mizuki groaned as he slowly blinked his eyes open and rubbed at this throbbing head.
He didn't understand why he was having this dream, it had been awhile since they stopped popping up.
Maybe because you killed someone again yesterday?
He didn't appreciate the reminder that his subconscious gave him.
He remembered the trauma he went through after he had killed that intruder. He would have nightmares practically every night. He would wake up with a scream and a sweat covered body.
Because of that he started sleeping less and less until he became an insomniac.
He would be extremely tired all the time and his father and Rin had noticed.
His father was confused as to why Mizuki was feeling that way. So many of his soldiers had also killed but almost no one faced a trauma like his son did.
He didn't realize how soft hearted his son could be. How much guilt he carried for doing something that had to be done.
Rin had started to take Mizuki every week to do some meditation to help him relax and then she would sit with him and listen as he talked about whatever that was on his mind.
Slowly but surely Mizuki overcame the guilt and the terrifying image of the man with his eyes wide open and a bullet pierced in between them.
And the chilling scream of the woman that haunted him.
It wasn't only the guilt of killing the man that overcame Mizuki but the guilt of not arriving quick enough to save the child.
He was only 6 years old.
"Oh, you're awake." Mizuki turned his head to see Ren walk out of the back of the cave with the blanket in his hands.
When he saw Ren he realized that he was part of Yarisha. He was part of the reason Roy and that child was dead.
Not only was he part of the country but he was a royal member.
"Yes." Mizuki replied, running his hand over his face to clear his thoughts.
Of course he knew that Ren wasn't good. Ren was an enemy. Mizuki couldn't be wanting to touch his freckled face or feed him with his own hands.
No matter how sweet one looked Mizuki could not let his guard down.
When he looked up at Ren he noticed his eyes were red and that he had dark circles under his eyes. It didn't look like he had enough sleep.
Mizuki was itching to ask him if he has any problems sleeping but he had to swallow his words.
He shouldn't care whether Ren slept or not.
It shouldn't matter.
"We're going to hunt today. And we need to start moving towards the border." Mizuki said, getting up.
"Your border?" Ren asked with wide eyes, a flash of fear passing through his eyes.
"Yes. You didn't think we would just be staying here did you?" Mizuki asked with raised eyebrows and Ren averted his eyes.
"Come on, let's go." He said getting up from his uncomfortable position on the ground and he started walking out of the cave.
He smiled when he saw Niko nibbling on the grass and he ran his hand over his head gently.
He waited with Ren standing behind him awkwardly until Niko would stop eating.
"What happened to your horse?" Mizuki asked.
"I don't know." Ren mumbled and anyone could hear the concern in his tone. "He was with me one second but then we heard gunshots and he ran away. I tried looking for him but I couldn't find him."
"Oh."
Mizuki tightened his hold on Niko'a reins. He didn't even want to imagine losing Niko. He would surely lose his mind.
He loved Niko.
The first time he met Niko was when he was 6 years old and it was like love at first sight. He started practicing horse riding on Niko for the first time and he really wanted Niko to be the only horse he would ever ride on.
They grew together and Mizuki hoped they would continue to grow together.
"Let's go." Mizuki said once he saw Niko stopped eating and Ren nodded.
They started to walk deeper in the forest where they knew they would find a prey to catch. Mizuki had made sure to grab Ren's bag because he had a bow and arrows.
"We should try to catch rabbits and then we could skin the fur with my knives and cook the meat by starting a fire back near the cave." Mizuki said and Ren nodded, mutely.
Mizuki wishes he would talk more but then again he could understand why.
"Alright." Mizuki, said stopping and getting the bow and arrow out. He glanced at Ren to see him glaring at him for touching his weapons.
"Can I do it?" Ren asked and Mizuki hesitated.
But he also knew that he sucked at shooting arrows and it would be extremely embarrassing if he messed up.
"If you try anything I promise I will not let you go." Mizuki warned and Ren rolled his eyes.
"Just untie me, I'm not gonna run away." He said.
Mizuki untied the ropes and hesitantly handed the bow to Ren.
In one quick moment Ren raised the bow and positioned the arrow to Mizuki's chest making his eyes widened.
"Hey!" He yelled, shoving the arrow away and Ren laughed.
He laughed.
Mizuki's scowl dropped as he watched his hostage's face form into a smile, his cheeks line appearing and the twinkle in his honey eyes washed away his anger and replaced it with an unknown feeling.
The sound that tumbled out of Ren's mouth was soft, filled with amusement but still restrained and Mizuki wondered how he would sound when he would he let out a full blown laughter.
Mizuki wanted to hear it.
"It's not funny, I told you not to try anything." Mizuki said, snapping out of his brief shock.
"I didn't shoot, did I?" Ren retorted.
Mizuki realized that he could have shot. He realized that Ren could have killed him and got away.
But he didn't.
"Why didn't you?" Mizuki asked.
"What?"
"Why didn't you shoot me?"
"Do you want me to shoot you?" He asked and Mizuki sighed.
"No, but I don't understand why you're not trying to run away. You're untied and you have a weapon." Mizuki realized that he maybe shouldn't be saying all this but his curiosity was getting the best of him.
"Because I don't want to." Ren mumbled and turned away.
Mizuki stared at him as he slowly walked.
He didn't want to run away?
Why would he want to be a captive?
Mizuki snapped out of it and ran after Ren just in time to see him draw his bow back and shoot. He saw the arrow fly through the air and pierce straight into a white rabbit.
Ren walked towards the now dead animal, grabbing the end of his arrow and walked back towards Mizuki to drop it at his feet.
"Happy?" He asked and Mizuki scowled at the sass in his voice.
"Do you think you can catch another one?" He asked and Ren nodded, walking away and Mizuki made sure he's still in his sight before he got his dagger out and grabbed the rabbit to skin the fur.
As he finished Ren came back with another one and then Mizuki handed him another knife and they continued to work in silence.
When they were done Ren gave back the knife to Mizuki and they got up to search for wood to make fire.
After gathering enough wood and some rocks they walked back to the cave and Mizuki started to create friction and hoped to god that it would work.
After 15 minutes the wood finally caught a spark of fire and they sighed in relief as it spread to the rest of the firewood.
"Alright let's start." Mizuki said and Ren nodded as they started cooking the meat.
They slowly ate, silence surrounding them and when Mizuki looked at Ren from the corner of his eyes he couldn't help but smile at the disgusted expression on the boy's face.
"You don't like it?" Mizuki asked and Ren shrugged.
"I'm picky, I don't like a lot of things." He replied.
"Well there's no room for your pickiness in the middle of a war. You have to eat." Mizuki pushed and Ren sighed, taking another bite.
Mizuki made sure Ren ate everything before putting away the fire and grabbed their bags. He made sure to grab the blanket and some of the food supplies in case there won't be some in the next cave they arrive.
"We're going to have to ride if we want to move quicker." Mizuki said.
"You do realize I don't have a horse?"
"Well you're going to ride with me on Niko." Mizuki said and hid his smile when he saw Ren's eyes widen in horror.
Hello!
Another update so quick jsjs. I'm proud.
Thoughts?
Also I can't promise that the updates will be this frequent all the time but I'll promise to try my best.
-till next time ð¤