Watermelon Sugar - Bokuto Kotaro X OC

Hope to Die

"Are you sure?" Obaasan asked "You worked so hard for this you even had to let go of Sei-"

"I don't think there's anyone more deserving" Bokuto smiled while signing the papers. "Besides I'd age twice as fast in that office."

"But will you still work at the office?"

"I will. I will have to fully come back one day but... I haven't told Sei chan yet. I got into MSBY Black Jackals and I'll tell her when I see her in the evening today"

"WH- YOU DID?? That's so amazing! Oh, I'm so proud of you!" She crushed him with a hug. "OH, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! Your mother would be so proud of you"

Seikan, on the other hand, was having an extremely difficult day at the gallery. She scoffed in dismay wondering if her day could get any worse. By the time she closed she looked like she could use a bag of IV.

As promised, Bokuto came to pick her up. They were to visit Akaashi's grave, it had been a year since he passed and he knew she couldn't do it all by herself, he didn't want her to. He eyed her silent figure as she sat beside him, her hands tightly clutching onto the bouquet of white tulips, Keiji's favourite. She even had a long conversation with his sister Kiyomi, who had grown very fond of the pink haired girl.

She sat by his grave with Bokuto still not being able to comprehend the fact that he had passed, let alone having the year pass without him. Without being married to him. She missed how he looked at her, she missed his loving warmth, his care. She missed having him cook delicious things for her. She missed wearing hoodies that smelled like him. She still had his hoodies but they barely had his scent anymore.

He had a very gentle persona, the one she'd gotten used to having around. Now she sat in the cold wondering where it all went wrong. Her heart broke into more pieces every time her eyes ran over the name on his gravestone. Death really did them part.

Breaking her thought was Bokuto wrapping her in his jacket, trying to comfort her at a distance. He didn't belong there, in her grief. He wasn't there for her to share it with. He had panic attacks and sleepless nights after having lost his best friend but that... was his own grief. He wondered how his father could be so less of a man, taking away lives that mattered to even a few, the most.

After a while she didn't want to leave. "Sei chan..." Bokuto called her again. She wasn't crying or sobbing or fully breaking but he didn't want her to dwell on it any further and hurt herself.

"Oh, just leave me here" she sighed "I'll come home later"

That was when he paid full attention to her. Her face looked stoic, her eyes dark, like she looked the very first time he saw her, like she looked every time he pestered her for sitting alone in class.

He remembered how Keiji thought she was shady back then and had a small smile on his face. The guy almost married her.

She looked at Bokuto, waiting for him to leave but he froze again like he did the first time he saw her. He still thought her eyes were the most beautiful ones he'd ever seen and this time he couldn't look away. "I'll... wait" he hazily said, watching her every movement, her every gesture. He'd wait for her, for eternity.

He looked at Keiji's grave again 'Is this all because of me?' He went into his own trance wondering how the chain of events were to turn out if HE never left.

"We'd all be dead by now" he whispered to himself, assuring his mind that he did his best to keep them safe. He felt her presence beside him and felt grateful to even have her in his sight. If he'd lost her too he'd have gone mad already.

The ride back home was silent. He stayed silent on his MSBY news, it wasn't the right time. He parked the car near a cafe "Let's get you some strawberry slush"

"You go ahead, I need to get a few things"she said and he agreed. He was, however, slightly worried about her. She was rather absent-minded while crossing the road and that caught his attention "Sei chan?" She wasn't paying attention to him and before even a second passed a truck appeared out of nowhere and she stood there in shock. Bokuto didn't have the time to think enough and dashed back to get her out of the way.

On Akaashi Keiji's anniversary, she held dying Bokuto in her arms while the ambulance arrived.

She could not comprehend how or when her body stopped functioning while she watched the truck head straight at her, the truck which was awfully similar to the one she saw on the footage, totalling Keiji's car on his wedding day. She'd seen the footage so many times she wouldn't get it out of her mind even if she'd want to.

And now there was someone else dying in her arms that day.

She blankly looked around as they were rushed to the hospital. She sat in shock while his grandma tried to get her to say something. Anything. The bruises on her limbs and her face from being pushed out of the way didn't even hurt as they poured the antiseptic over them. She didn't know what she was feeling.

12 hours later when the doctors rushed to inform them of Bokuto's condition the only thing she could say was his name.

"Kou san?" She whispered.

"He's alright" Obaasan sniffled, softly running her hand over the warm shawl she'd wrapped Seikan with.

Bokuto was slightly awake, his eyes wandering desperately to find her and when he did, he realised he couldn't even talk. He slowly extended his arm to feel the warmth of her skin while she quietly sat on the edge of his bed, with an apparent expression of worry her face. His fingers delicately grazed over the small plasters on her face as she bit her lip, hating the feeling that was building inside her.

He watched the tears form in her eyes. He knew she didn't like crying, the last time she did, he'd never hated himself more.

"Come here" he let out a soft whisper as he laid head her against his shoulder with his injured hand, a little away from his broken ribs. She was careful enough to not touch his fractured hand that was in a cast or his legs that he could barely even feel anymore.

He held her tightly in despair as she softly sniffled against him, her mellow scent instantly reassuring him, calming him down.

He weakly placed a kiss on her temple, being grateful for having her safe in his hold as he softly whispered against her sleeping figure "Till death do us part"