To Love and Protect

Not Yet

You stood by the sidelines, watching as Ayato looked around desperately after hearing your voice.
--
"(Y/N)?..." He knew it wasn't possible, hearing your voice not coming from your lips but he heard it nonetheless. Were you... Dead? Was that the voice of your ghost?

No... It couldn't be. Ayato didn't believe in ghosts, after all.
--
You knew something wasn't right. You couldn't be outside your body, things didn't work that way.

Slowly, the realisation that you could be dead hit you. You rushed to your body side and touched your own face. It was difficult at first since Ayato had you in his arms and he kept shaking you but eventually he stopped so you quickly pressed the palm of your hand against your face.

You felt so cold. "Please, don't let me be dead... I'm not finished yet... I have so much left to do... Someone I need to be with longer..." You whispered to yourself as tears rolled down your cheeks. You slowly looked up at Ayato, his usual angry expression was replaced by a tragically sad one. His eyes were red and moist, his mouth quivered slightly.

"Please, please, please..." You took your hand off your face and placed it against Ayato's cheek, "don't make me leave him all alone... I don't want to be alone, either..."
--
You woke up with a loud gasp. Your lungs burned and your throat felt raw.

"You're alive..." You heard someone say before you felt a body pressed against yours and a pair of arms around your waist.

Just a moment ago you were kneeling by your unconscious body. You looked around in a daze and realised that you were back! You were still alive and with him.

"Ayato..." You said softly, your arms wrapping around him. "I'm back... I'm back..."

The two of you stayed in that position for a moment before Ayato remembered that the battle against the Doves wasn't over yet. He stood up abruptly with you still in his arms, he positioned your legs to be hooked around his waist before he took off, following the scent of his sister.

"We're not safe yet, (Y/N)," he said as he ran, "the Doves want us dead... They won't exactly get what they want, though."

He couldn't wait for the moment he could leave this shithole with you, to return to your small home in that remote town where everyone, regardless of species, lived in harmony. He couldn't wait to oversleep with you every morning. He couldn't wait for the nights where he could make love to you for hours. He never wanted children but maybe he'd have them if you wanted, after all, life was fragile and he needed to spend his fragile life with yours.
--
Ayato began to doubt if his wishes would come true.

After he met up with Touka and the rest, they were ambushed by CCG Investigators. In order to protect Hinami, he ended up being wounded. His entire body felt like it was burning, his mouth tasted like blood and his right eye was coated with red. He painfully turned his head to look at you. He'd left you behind Banjou and Hinami, making sure you weren't entirely vulnerable.

Ayato felt his body become unbearably heavy, so as his eyes, "I can't die now, not yet... I can't leave her..."