Haikyuu Creature Collection

Deep in the Heart (Kazuma Numai)

"Is... is it wrong? How I feel towards Kuguri?"

The girl's question caught me off guard. "Why do you think it would be?"

When my boyfriend had brought home an old friend of his, I hadn't really known what to expect. All I had been told was that he had nowhere else to go... and that because of his current injuries, he couldn't be left alone

It wasn't until Kuguri was here that I got to hear the full story. He had gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd and ended up a Collector, though I really hadn't understood what that meant at the time. During that time, one of their captives had grown quite fond of him and when he'd gotten injured during a raid on the compound, she did everything she could to protect him.

The sweet little angel girl had told me her side of the story a few times. "Anytime I tell anyone about it, they say it's wrong... that I don't actually care for him... that... that I was brainwashed into thinking I am..."

"And what do you think?" I can't say that I blame anyone for thinking that... Kuguri was part of the group that had kidnapped her and many others, so why would she fall for him? Then again, Kuguri had also been kind to her and hadn't been like the others.

She was quiet for a moment, her hands stopped peeling the potato that she'd been very slowly working on. "I... I think it's real... but... but what if they're right?"

Carefully I reached over and took the knife and half-peeled potato from her hands, setting it on the kitchen counter before taking hold of her hands. "The only one who can tell you if your feelings are real is you. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks."

I heard the front door open and close, followed by a voice. For the moment, I ignored it. "What you did... You saved his life, you know that? No one else would have done that for him... and I know that Kazuma is grateful for that... and so am I... even if I don't know Kuguri all that well. The way I see it, you're the only one willing to look past the bad things that he's done and judge him as the man that he is and not what everyone thinks he is."

Slowly she smiled. "You... you really think that these feelings could be real?"

Numai stepped into the room but kept silent. He didn't want to interrupt. "Of course... but the only one who can decide if they are or aren't, is you." As I continued, Kuguri joined my boyfriend. "Take some time and look deeply in your heart... that's where you'll find your answer... but no matter what that answer is, remember that it's never wrong to love someone..."

It was then that she did something I didn't expect... she threw her arms around me in a hug. When we parted, I smiled and sent her off so I could finish making dinner. As much as I love her help, it would be much faster to finish it up by myself.

While she ran off to spend some time with Kuguri, I turned my attention back to the vegetables I had been preparing. I didn't get very far before arms wrapped around my waist from behind. "Kazuma, I can't make dinner if you keep doing that."

The werewolf merely nuzzled my neck. "Maybe I just wanted to snuggle my sweet little wife for a moment."

"We're not married, you know..."

"Hmm... not yet... but we practically are already..."

I raised an eyebrow at his words. "Yet? Should I take that as a proposal?" Not that we really needed to make it official... but it would be nice if he really was my husband and not just a boyfriend.

Numai gave a small hum. "Marriage isn't always that big of a deal to most nonhumans... it's always been more of a human thing..." Didn't stop nonhumans from marrying, of course. Some were so used to living like humans that they just naturally followed human customs. "I can see myself staying with you for the rest of my life though... so might as well make it official... If you'd want to marry me, that is..."

I turned just slightly to see him. There was just the slightest tinge of red to his face. It was rare to see him get embarrassed. "Kazuma, of course I'd marry you..." The proposal was hardly romantic, but it suited us just fine. We knew that we wanted to spend our lives together... we didn't need some fancy proposal to know that. "There's no one else I'd rather spend my life with."