Kaito/hanataro 24 and 25

anonymous

(24: Soulmate AU, 25: Fairy Tale AU)

Hanataro sighed and slumped against the tower’s crenelations, exhausted from a long night of healing and wanting nothing more than to sleep but knowing he couldn’t. Not when there were more warriors awaiting healing. Not when he was the only healer in this Lord’s… employ.

(Unwilling though it was.)

(But when the option had been his service or his brother’s life…)

(Well, Seinosuke wasn’t the best brother, but he was Hanataro’s brother and that was all that mattered.)

He closed his eyes and rubbed at his temple, tucking his senses and his magic away, trying to ignore the press of pain-anger-despair from below and the weight of phantom chains across his soul and–

A hand cupped his chin. Tilted his head up. Settled warm fire-cool shadows-soft fur across his body and–

The chains binding him to his Lord shattered like so much brittle iron.

Something settled beneath his skin in its place, not a binding but a release, an extension of himself into another, breath and bone and blood, a soul gleaming bright despite its shadows and–

Hanataro opened his eyes. Met mercurial grey-green. Swallowed against the realization that this– this was his soulmate, his partner, the one thing that he’d always been certain he didn’t have and–

“Hello,” the man murmured, a tiny, almost bashful smile curling at his lips. “I didn’t expect to find my soulmate when I came to raid supplies.”

Hanataro blinked and licked his lips, sweeping his gaze over the man perched atop the crenelations like it was level ground. He was dressed in deep, dappled blues, his flaxen hair pulled back into a tight tail and two blades strapped to his back. 

He looked… dangerous.

(His hand was so gentle…)

The man’s smile grew larger. “Cat got your tongue?”

Hanataro huffed and leaned a bit more into the man’s touch. “No,” he said, then pressed a hand over his mouth to cover a yawn. “J-just tired…”

The man hummed and jumped down from the wall, rising to his full height.

(O-oh, oh, he was tall.)

“Well, I suppose I should ask if you want to stay here or return with me then,” the man said. “I still need to grab some supplies, but… it won’t take very long.”

“I… I…” Hanataro paused. Turned to stare at the door to tower. Wondered–

(He wasn’t bound anymore.)

(Didn’t need to fear, anymore.)

“I want to go with you,” Hanataro murmured, glancing up at the stranger – at his soulmate – with rising hope.

The man grinned. “I was hoping you’d say that. I’m Kaito, by the way. May I know your name?”

(Kaito?)

(He was soulmates with the legendary son of one of the rebel leaders?)

“Hanataro,” he answered, breathless with wonder and incredulity.

(Who would ever think that he would have a soulmate like this?)

Kaito’s grin brightened. “Nice to meet you, Hanataro-san. Want to help me loot them blind?”

Laughter bubbled up and Hanataro nodded, accepting Kaito’s hand, reveling in the touch, the presence, of something he’d never thought he’d have.

(Maybe there were good things in the world after all.)