Now I know it's you [KyouHaba]

Chapter 11

The sun was long down when they finally were able to get ready for sleep. Yahaba was watching Kyotani the whole time by the corner of his eye. Something about the other changed, but he couldn't figure out what.

"Are you ok?"

Kyotani stopped digging in his bag and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm perfectly fine. Why?"

Yahaba bit inside of his cheek. He wasn't sure why he asked in the first place, but now his curiosity couldn't be silenced.

"You act ... different than in the Castle. Or on our previous hunts for the matter."

"You are imagining things."

"No, I'm not. You are not as snarky as before. That's not like you at all."

Now that he said it out loud, he realized it's true. Ever since their conversation in the hot spring in the Castle, the blond hunter seemed somewhat nicer. He wasn't as distant towards Yahaba as he was before during their hunts together. The sudden protectiveness was another new thing. It's not that Kyotani would let Yahaba get hurt before, but he always seemed to focus solely on getting to fight the monster and finishing the task as fast as possible, as if he wanted to spend the least amount of time possible with the silver-haired man. Now, he seemed genuinely concerned for Yahaba's well-being, and Yahaba wasn't sure how to work with the new development.

Kyotani shrugged and returned to his bag, where he looked for who knows what.

"I can go back to normal if you want."

Yahaba's eyes widened. The fact that Kyotani didn't deny his statement meant he was well aware of it too, and apparently did it on purpose. Which meant something must have changed. Could it be...

Don't!

"No no," he defended quickly, "At least I know you are not a complete asshole."

"Thanks," snorted Kyotani, underlining the irony in his voice.

"I mean it. I eh... I like you like that. You know, the nicer side of you."

Kyotani froze for a second with his mouth half-open.

"Oh. Ok then."

He hid his face, but even in the little lighting they had from the lamp, Yahaba could see the crimson spreading over the blond's back of the neck.

Yahaba counted it as a personal achievement even though he was as flustered as the other man.

A silence settled between them during which Yahaba's brain tried to process all the events of the day. He still felt bad for mentioning the Elemental manipulation as a means to get back on Kyotani. He knew the other had some sensitive topics he didn't want to discuss, his unused talent being one of them. No matter how hurt he was by the other's words, he shouldn't have brought that up.

He actually tried to ask other members in the Castle if they knew the reason why Kyotani chose to be a Slayer even though he possessed much bigger talent. But not even Iwaizumi knew, which meant the blond didn't tell anyone.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked before he could stop himself. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to," he quickly added, aware he was moving on thin ice.

Kyotani stopped whatever he was doing and measured Yahaba with narrowed eyes.

"Go ahead."

"Why do you refuse to use your Elemental manipulation?"

The temperature in the room immediately dropped by several degrees. Kyotani clenched his jaw.

"Yahaba..." he warned in a low tone, his eyes burning up.

Yahaba felt his heart speeding up and raised hands in defence.

"I'm sorry, I know it's personal. I-I was just curious. I mean, you could be one of the best Hunters in the Guild, especially with fire Manipulation."

Kyotani watched him without a word for a while, and Yahaba started to worry if he just destroyed whatever bond formed between them. He startled when the other spoke up.

"What if I don't want that?" he said, his eyes softening a bit. "What if I'm content like this?"

That was something Yahaba never really thought about before. It was so rare for Kyotani to be this open about his feelings it didn't occur to him that the man could actually be happy how he was. His heart fluttered, and he realized that with every piece of Kyotani's soul he discovered, he was falling even more for the blond man, so much it scared him.

"Still," he said after a while, "you could go on much more exciting hunts. Isn't that what you want?"

Kyotani took a deep breath and looked away.

"Maybe. But I don't want to risk hurting people around me."

Oh.

There was deep hidden sorrow in his voice, and Yahaba suddenly understood.

"Did something happen before?" he asked quietly.

Kyotani didn't look at him and buried himself into his bedroll.

"I don't want to talk about it," he muttered, his voice gruff but without any bite in it.

Yahaba nodded, letting the whole thing be. He learned enough, and he didn't want to make Kyotani uncomfortable in any way. He lowered the flame of the lamp and leaned his back on the wall next to the door, so he could watch the whole village in front of him.

"All right. But if you want to talk, I'll listen."

He heard a quiet hum in which he swore he caught a hint of gratitude. He smiled and started his watch.