『バウンド』 Bound

An Unfateful Decision

"I passed out again, didn't I?"

Tatsumi stared up dazedly from the cot while Lubbock nodded beside him in a chair. He remembered crying in Lubbock's chest before feeling dizzy. After that, he awoke in the bed all the way back in the medical site far from the town.

"Um Tatsumi. Do you uh... feel any different?" Lubbock asked hesitantly. Tatsumi looked at him from the corner of his hazed eyes.

"I feel like stabbing my head." Tatsumi responded, referring to his world-ending headache. "How long have I been out?"

"About three hours and-"

"Three hours!? But... But I slept fine last night!" Tatsumi yelled as he quickly sat up before collapsing back on the bed with a groan from his dizzy spell.

"That's why Najenda is keeping you here for the time being." Lubbock said and moved a hand to stroke Tatsumi's hair. "I'm... not supposed to tell you, but she's keeping Incursio in her office so you don't do anything... rash."

"Of course she would. She's acting like I'll go insane any moment." Tatsumi muttered. When he heard no response from Lubbock, he turned his head. "You... don't think I will, do you?"

Lubbock smiled gently. "Of course not."

"Thanks for being the only sane one." He said. Lubbock laughed.

"It's what I'm here for." Tatsumi smiled back at the response. "Anyway, I've been trying to tell you about what happened."

"Huh? But you already did." The brunette said with a blink.

Lubbock laughed nervously, causing Tatsumi to become a little worried.

"Oh god, what now?"

Lubbock, who already had his hand in Tatsumi's hair, moved his hand more to the right. This caused Tatsumi to jolt and swiftly grab Lubbock's wrist tightly.

"Wh-What was that?" He asked at once. Lubbock leaned in with a shaky smile.

"Let's just say you're becoming even more like a dragon."

...

After Lubbock had departed back to the Capitol, Tatsumi laid in his bed while glaring deeply at the wall ahead. If only he had a mirror to see the cursed ears in his hair. It was after a while that Tatsumi began having more of a sensitive hearing. Naturally, he would growl at any doctor who slammed the door open and talked in a very loud voice. At least, that's how it sounded to him after the multiple times a nurse apologized and said she barely nudged the door.

Leone had walked in one hour and happily exclaimed about being animal twins. Tatsumi, however, made a move to scratch her severely, but she jumped back while shaking her index finger as if he was a child.

"No mutilating your friends, bad boy." She teased. Apparently, she had a lot of fun messing with him and Tatsumi hoped that one day, just one day, she will drown in a nearby lake.

"Leone, irritating me does not help." Tatsumi muttered, exhaling to keep his blood pressure in control. He was having a harder time controlling the spirit's instincts within him.

"Ah you're right. This is serious." Leone said with a stern look. It was silent and suddenly, a hand dashed toward one of Tatsumi's ears and the male ducked his head with a growl before her hand could grab it.

"Leone!"

"Ahaha! Gotta go now!"

As the sun set, Najenda had walked into his room and Tatsumi immediately asked his first question.

"Where's my sword?" He asked, knowing exactly where it was. Najenda sighed.

"He told you, didn't he?"

"I swear I'm fine." Tatsumi said at once, pursing his lips when she gave a look of disbelief. "Somewhat."

"We're taking safety precautions. It's nothing about mistrusting you."

"Oh? Then I'll go ahead and just take back Incursio."

"It's about making sure you don't get yourself killed."

Tatsumi muttered 'Figures' under his breath once Najenda left the room, not before leaving him the Teigu guide book. Obviously she wanted him to read up on Incursio, but he placed the book on the side table and laid back.

...

Waking up in the morning was always an issue. That is why Tatsumi grew in the habit of opening his green eye first, then slowly opening the red one. If he were to flick both of them open at once, he would have a hell of a wake-up call involving a burning right eye and coarse thumping at the temple of his head.

"Did you always do that?" Lubbock asked with a raised eyebrow. He had came in the following day.

"Not until lately."

"Hmm. Do you ever wonder if you'll go back to normal?" Lubbock questioned with a thoughtful look. Tatsumi had not really thought about it. He was always busy focusing on not smashing every mirror in sight from the physical transformations.

"Not really. I'll be fine, stop worrying."

"I'm not worrying. You just seem to be taking this a bit too lightly." Lubbock said. Tatsumi mentally admitted, but at the same time it sounded as though Lubbock was accusing him of not caring at all.

"I didn't know you could read minds now." He responded.

"It's obvious you've grown too used to this. Perhaps your mind is starting to ease up from the possession-"

"What happened to you saying it was fine when all this first started?" Lubbock sighed.

"I hadn't known it was this bad until Najenda told me."

"Right. I'm sure it's the same reason why she took Incursio." Tatsumi muttered. Lubbock nervously fidgeted in his seat.

"I-I... actually... it was my idea." He admitted.

Tatsumi's eyes widened and he stared at Lubbock in disbelief. "What!? But, why!?"

"After what happened during the war, I got worried." Lubbock answered at once. "I know how you are, you'll keep pushing yourself no matter the risk and that's what scares me about this whole situation."

"Yes, because it was necessary for you to lie about it." Tatsumi said with crossed arms.

"I thought you would have found it more reasonable if I said it was Miss Najenda. If it came from me, like right now, you'd be a lot more angry and feel like I'm against you, which I'm not!" Lubbock said.

"You're basically saying you don't trust me by taking Incursio. It's not like I can do much anyway so I don't see why you had to make a big deal out of it. You're the one who said I wouldn't go insane." Tatsumi retorted.

"It's just until we find a way to clear things up. I swear it's not about mistrust-"

"Why don't you bolt the door while you're at it?"

"Just please understand and bear with it."

Tatsumi sat quietly and when Lubbock raised a hand, he moved away from being touched. In response, there was a sad exhale and Lubbock stood and exited the room. All Tatsumi felt was anger and hurt. Lubbock, the only supportive person, had said before that he trusted Tatsumi would never turn against anyone. Why now, is he learning that Lubbock is basically thinking like everyone else? Why couldn't his own lover trust him?

With his emotions running wild, Tatsumi glanced at the teigu guide book on the nightstand and grabbed it with a heavy sigh.

Who exactly is the wrong one?