riptide | kyojuro rengoku

X | luxury

"ARE YOU AWAKE?" 

It was a pretty stupid question considering you were far from awake, but once he started talking, you had woken up. Your head still hurt a little bit, but you were feeling a lot better than earlier. "Go ahead and eat, it's tasty!" He had a positive tone in his voice again and you smiled, muttering thanks before taking the mango he set on your lap.

After you had passed out, he had carried you to the bottom part of the ship and double-checked the supplies. Not everything was lost, luckily, but he still wondered how such a threat could ruin you to this point and knock him out, but almost everything you two had worked for had still stayed.

He didn't want to question it more than he had thought, just hoping that you were at least awake enough when all of this happened. "I set a box on the rope, so I can relax for a bit!" Kyojuro seemed to cheer for himself over his own genius idea but you simply laughed, raising a brow in his direction.

"And if there's another threat?"

"I'm fast, I'll be there in no time! Besides, I said I'd protect you, didn't I?"

Heat flooded your cheeks and you wondered if Kyojuro understood the weight of his words. You nodded shyly, returning to your fruit as he chuckled softly at your reaction. "How close are we to the island with the cove you were talking about?" You changed the topic, hoping the heat in your cheeks would disappear already.

Kyojuro set his finger on his chin, humming thoughtfully. "Close!" He concluded with a cheerful smile, reassuring you slightly as he ruffled the top of your head. "But don't worry about it, I'll let you know as soon as we get there!" You nodded, quietly taking another bite of the fruit. His brows furrowed slightly, his tone abruptly becoming serious.

"You. . . you saved us back there, didn't you?"

He clearly wanted to know the entire story, but still didn't want to push you, trying to make sure you weren't too weak for now. You shrugged, "Honestly, I'm not sure myself. I managed to steer the boat away from the entire thing, but I couldn't keep my grip on you." You laughed dryly, pointing at what you hoped was his forehead wound.

He didn't have the guts to tell you that you were pointing at his eyebrows but hummed understandingly. "Well, thank you for saving my life," Kyojuro patted your head again, your heart fluttering at the sensation. "This time, I guess you were my hero!" Your cheeks grew hot at the praise and you hid your face with the mango, eating more of the fruit.

"Here's a bottle of filtered water, I stopped earlier to get some more. We'll get more when we stop again." He patted your head one last time, dropping something cold and cylinder-shaped in your lap before he disappeared, his footsteps receding. You could hear the door close afterward, letting you know that he was sitting at the top part of the boat now.

You leaned your head against the clump of blankets, sighing when you realized you were still stuck in the clothes from earlier. I'm glad he didn't change me or something. . . You thought to yourself, your hands reaching for the bag with your belongings. You shuffled through it, finding another set of clothes and quickly changing into them.

It was a t-shirt that Amane had traded for a while back, but she had left it with you when she and Kagaya had left you. You also had another pair of shorts packed which were similar to the ones you were previously wearing. You sighed, raising a hand to your hair afterward. It felt dry and frizzy, your nose scrunching at it.

Back when you were at home, you would often kill your time making all kinds of self-care products. With the many fruits outside your window, the water, and some of the clay, you would make all kinds of self-care masks and sometimes Amane would bring you special products. Now, you weren't able to have that kind of luxury.

Part of you was tempted to ask Kyojuro if there was any village to stop by, but you knew better than that. The only reason you two were out here was to find his brother; it's not like he would bother to fulfill his own wants right now. You cursed yourself for being selfish, piling your dirty clothes onto one end of your bed.

You'd deal with that when you could; leave it for later. Just like you used to when you were home. You couldn't lie, you were a bit homesick at the moment, especially since traveling gave you bad memories. It had scared you a lot earlier too considering you did lose control of the boat; you didn't need another repeat of what happened last time.

"Y/n!" You finished the last of the mango, wrapping it in some leftover fruit skins you two had sitting around. You could toss it in the island you two next stopped at, so it wasn't that big of an issue. Making your way to the top, you nearly tripped over the last stair, but Kyojuro quickly caught your arm with a light laugh. "I got you!"

He said it in a more playful tone, but the comfort of it still shone through and you smiled in his direction, making your way to the rim of the boat. Even if you were sick, it was still up to you to make sure you two weren't near any other threats. You gasped; everything looked so beautiful. There were layers of seaweed that drifted, smaller creatures feeding off of them.

Underneath it, there were some sea anemones and clownfish, there were even some oysters. If you had been with any other crew, they would've. . . You shook the thoughts out of your head, continuing to stare in awe. 

"Is it a pretty view?" Kyojuro asked, turning his head to look back at you. You laughed softly, realizing the irony of it all. He could only imagine the things that you saw and you could only imagine the things he saw; yet, in the end, there was beauty in it all. "Yeah," You nodded, speaking quietly.

"It's beautiful."