Through The Forest Of Flames

Chap 43- Two Kids

A loud crash echoed as something broke, the sound bouncing off the cave walls and filtering into your ears. Your eyes shot open briefly, slowly closing to half lidded in an attempt to fall asleep again, but another crash stopped you.

You rolled your eyes around, forcing your brain to take in your surroundings as you tried to remember where you were. The memories of the past few days flooded your thoughts, a quiet groan leaving you.

Oh, right

A warm hand brushed some of your h/c locks behind your ear, your other senses kicking in to register the lap you were laying on. You carefully turned your head, your sleep filled eyes meeting cerulean ones.

"About time you woke up," he said, his face neutral as his hand rested on your hip, his other hand cupping his chin with the elbow resting on the box next to him.

"Well-" you cleared your throat of sleep, "-someone is being fucking noisy."

His eyes looked up at something before falling back on you; "blame your brother."

That made you sit up a little, looking around the cave to see the boxes that got destroyed in Tomura's path, who was resting against a corner of the cave with his eyes closed. It seems after everything that's happened, his tantrums would never be a broken habit.

Maybe it was because you were tired, or maybe it was something else you couldn't pinpoint, but seeing Tomura tucked into a corner like that gave you a weird sense of Deja vu. It was like a flicker in your mind the longer you stared at him, the scared little ten year old tucked into a corner of his room as he wept, blood staining his fingers no matter how much he washed them.

You didn't know how long you were staring at him until Touya lightly tapped your hip, prompting you to look at him after a second.

"Go talk to him," he said, nodding his head towards Tomura. You appreciated his attention to your want of reuniting with your brother, nodding and giving his cheek a chaste kiss before standing.

You were glad you fell asleep in Touya's jacket, using it to fight off the cold cave air as you wrapped it around yourself. Your legs were aching, but you pushed aside the pain to walk over to Tomura. In the time he was gone, his body changed and it shocked you that you didn't notice until now. He had more muscle, was he taller too? And where did the damn cape come from?

You shook the thoughts out of your head, stopping right at his feet as his eyes didn't open to your sudden presence. You carefully sat down onto your knees, slowly bringing your hands up to rest them on his knees. His eyes shot open, red irises looking around the cave before they settled onto you, his face relaxing a little as you gently smiled at him. Any and all words you planned to say left your brain as you took in his exhausted face.

A few seconds ticked by before he said anything; "what do you-." You cut him off as you launched forward, throwing your arms around him in a tight hug. It caught him off guard as he stiffened before one of his hands came up to gently hug you back.

"I missed you, you reckless dumbass," you said into his shoulder. You sat back, resting your hands back on his knees as you took him in, all his scars, burns and bruises that seemed to be healing rather quickly. "Didn't think we'd be reuniting this way."

"Well, pests got in the way, but it's fine," he sighed, his face lacking emotion as he held your eye contact.

"But where did you go?" You asked, squeezing his knees.

"Off. To be better. To take the leap into what I need to be."

"But-"

He cut you off with a raise of his hand; "I know I left you with nothing, but it had to be done." His tone was cold, almost too put together than what you were used to. Your jaw slowly shut as his words sunk in. You shifted around on your knees, unsure how to bring up what you wanted to talk about. This Tomura seemed.. different. You know a few days prior, back during the beginning of this seemingly on-coming war, that Tomura was off, but you were pretty out of it too from overworking yourself. It's easy to say you brushed it off.