Kaedehara 'Kujou Killer' Kazuha

Wind and Wine

For just 2 years now Kazuha had been living on the crux.

The crew adored him, despite his closeness to the captain they could not harbour ill feelings towards the gentle youth, simply dismissing his reluctance to leave Beidou's side as intense gratitude for her saving him. 

During the storms he would play his music below the deck or read his poems out loud. The crew would always gather round and the soothing melody brought peace to them despite the raging waves outside. This, adding on to how he helped them with various tasks and came to their aid whenever they fell ill, made all of the crew warm to him considerably and so, when Kazuha told them that the millelith would blame him for the death of Beidou and he would face a public execution at the hands of the tianquan they swore they would do everything to hide all they knew about him. 

"Erase my existence friends, forget the wanderer whose life you saved". They agreed of course, blinded by grief and illusions Kazuha had so cleverly conjured up, they provided him with a small boat. They asked where he would go but he refused to tell. "My journey with you has finished, more abruptly than I wished it to" he said "Though we must all part ways and never speak again my song will be the wind and my words the weather, though you must forget me I will not forget you, until my dying breath my friends I shall think of you and I shall sing to you, hoping my words will be carried through the waves of the sea, to you"

His speech had worked of course, he had always had a strange way of speaking, almost like he spoke in poems and that had worked in his favour. He had only left the ones who had full trust and devotion to him alive, they had nobody to question their beliefs of him, he had made sure of that when he slit the throat of Juza.

Kazuha knew how close he and Beidou were, he knew that if Beidou suspected him she would go straight to Juza who may then go to the crew, best not to let that happen...

Kazuha remembered the look of realisation,betrayal,fear and grief in Juza's eyes before they were silenced, dimming until the soul that once thrived in them was gone.

He counted it off on his fingers

Inazuma- 10 missing and 8 never found, of course they were just few among the missing people list, nobody else knew what separated them from every other missing person, only Kazuha knew, and he liked his secrets.

 Liyue- 14, He was most proud of Beidou's death there, of course. Till this day people wondered how such a brave captain, one who had defeated the great Haishan, could be taken down. One of the biggest unsolved mysteries and also the downfall of the invincible crux.

Chaos and destruction fell upon the land of contracts, even the fatui were impressed.

Monstadt, the city of freedom next, the city of freedom with an archon no longer around to even try and protect the people from harm.

-

Kazuha looked different now, even more ethereal than before.

His hair had gotten slightly longer and was bleached whiter with the sun, surrounding his face in a halo of purity, his pupils however, were small dots now, shrunk from the insanity.

Windmills turned slowly and dandelions swayed in the breeze. Kazuha's vision glowed, the anemo resonating with the environment around it, he felt a wave of freshness pulsating through him as he passed windrise. The huge tree stood proudly and kazuha watched as the crystalflies danced between its branches. Herons stretched their legs before dipping gracefully to drink. He walked on with dandelions swirling around his feet, there always seemed to be a constant breeze in Mondstatd. He decided to visit the tavern first. After all, the people were known for their love of drink though it wasn't necessarily them he was after.

-----

Diluc had decided to take over the bar to give Charles a holiday, it was quiet and he had nothing else to do. A couple of the usual patrons were in but he knew their orders like the back of his hand. He grimaced as Nimrod threw back another beer. If he has any respect for his wife...

The door swung open dragging Diluc from his thoughts, his eyes fell on the white haired man, clearly not local judging from his attire. "Youre the owner?" he asked gently. "I am. What can I get for you today." Diluc replied with a curt nod. The man garnered a thoughtful expression on his face before grinning "i'll just have a grape juice". He turned and sauntered to the notice board, ignoring Diluc's raised eyebrows. Kazuha watched out the corner of his eye as the red headed man got his drink, his brows furrowed and lips pursed seemingly in thought. He smiled. He knew the grape juice line would work, he strolled back to the stools and plonked himself down. 

"So.." he said as Diluc turned to give him his attention. "You drink much?" a shake of the head "hm me neither, i must admit its unusual for a wine tycoon such as yourself to not indulge but I suppose it is stranger for a traveller to come to the city of wine and not want to drink". Diluc turned to face him properly now "You dont drink at all?" he asked curtly. Kazuha shook his head 

"Diona will like you then" Diluc replied, a shadow of a smile ghosting his face. 

Kazuha noted he looked rather drawn. "You're closing soon?" Diluc nodded again. "Perhaps you can show me what else Mondstadt has to offer? I don't think many others would know other attractions besides the tavern". Diluc gave it some thought for a moment before nodding briefly. "Fine, I have nothing better to do." he took himself by surprise while saying this, he would never usually agree to helping a random traveler, let alone giving them a tour. It was done now though, he would be quick, show the traveller the main attractions, drop him off at an inn and leave. 

Kazuha smiled at him "how about i treat you to a grape juice? To celebrate our newfound friendship" Diluc raised an eyebrow, he hardly considered it a friendship, he didn't do friends. 

He glanced at the framed photo hidden out of view from patrons, under the counter. A blue haired man grinned back at him, his eyes twinkling. He had just scared a maid and was now being chased. The image froze his laughter and the maids amused annoyance. Diluc's eyes were drawn to the menu "Special offer! Free Chicken Mushroom Skewers!" he felt something in his heart, an almost constricting feeling. He pushed it aside and gave the white haired man a small grimace that could potentially pass as a smile as he slid a drink over and made his own. "Some type of charity event going on? Whats with the free skewers?" Kazuha asked lightly, he only meant to distract Diluc for a second, just long enough to slip something into his drink. Diluc turned away. 

"I just like skewers" 

He did not meet Kazuha's eyes which was just as well as the man was grinning from ear to ear.