yuwin ✧ animus

Five

Sicheng flipped through the brittle, ripped pages of the dictionary, reading off of certain words, thinking back to Yuta's voice to assure himself the pronunciation was somewhat close.

The front door slightly shifted ajar, Kun peeked in. After his sight drifted to Sichengs figure on the floor, the pair, made eye contact. Walking in, Kun sat down beside Sicheng,"What are you doing?"

Sicheng closed the book and put it on the opposite side of him,"Nothing."

Kun  tiredly exhaled, reaching over Sicheng and pulling the book out from under him,"Come on." He opened the book, instantly identifying the hiragana and katakana lined with hànzì. He looked directly at Sicheng,"Where'd you get this?"

Sicheng tugged the book out of Kun's grasp, holding it against his chest,"It's nothing."

"Why was there Japanese writing in there? You-," a light bulb seemed to flickered in the boy's thoughts,"That one soldier you were talking about, he gave it to you, didn't he?"

"It's not-", Sicheng cut himself off and diverted his gaze diagonally with an embarrassed, peach tint faded on his cheeks.

"You should stop seeing him or whatever you guy's do," Kun shortly paused, his tone transitioning from soft to passive-aggressive. "If anything happens or anyone finds out there's a high possibility you'll both get killed. I can't lose you too."

Sicheng brushed his palms against the dust of the floor, placing the book on the stone,"Nothing will happen, Kun."

Kun slightly nodded in an unsure manner. He leaned his head back against the wall and diverted his eyes to the opposite wall. There was a slightly long pause before he began again,"What do you think would happen if we tried to escape to the other side of China. The side where there's less military presence. I've also heard that the Japanese were unable to defeat forces in Shaanxi. We could try to make it there with hopes that it's better."

Sicheng's expression softened as he looked over at Kun's side profile,"You wanna escape?"

The latter slowly exhaled,"I mean, who doesn't right now? But, do you think something would happen if we did?"

Sicheng answered the boy's interrogation with another question,"What if we got caught though? You, me, Xiao Jun, Chenle- That's a lot of us. We don't even have the resources or money to."

"You wouldn't rather die trying then die being treated like this?"

Sicheng bit the flesh of his cheek, his eyebrows grew closer to each other in a furrow,"I don't know. I'm just scared."

"Sicheng, we can't just stay in the Shanghai ghetto forever, waiting to get killed. You already know what happened in Nanjing. I don't want that to be any of our futures."

Their conversation was put to a stop when the wooden door faintly creaked as it was being pushed in from the outside. Both boys bodies perked up and stiffened, though only Sicheng's halted and loosened when he recognized the half of Yuta's face.

Yuta flashed a comforting smile at Sicheng, one which lowered his tense demeanor. His eyes then drifted to Kun and scanned the latter's body.

"Sicheng-," Kun began in a worried tone once he caught the slightest glimpse of the olive uniform.

His counterpart assured him however,"It's fine, Kun."

Despite the words that easily rolled off Sicheng's tongue, Kun remained on edge, especially with the reputation and animosity lingering in the back of his mind. Yuta curved a closed half smile at the boy beside Sicheng, attempting to convey the fact that he was no threat to either of their safeties.

Yuta held a stitched, beige bag in his palms which he passed over to Sicheng's grip. Kun eyes locked on the sack, then turned full-bodied to Sicheng,"Is he the reason why you've had such an abundant amount of food and why you've had so much to spare?"

Sicheng pressured his fingertips against the stich, his lips parting open to reply yet just replying with a nod instead.

Kun eyes Yuta than directed his focus back to Sicheng,"Can he understand Mandarin?"

Sicheng shook his head no.

Kun sharply sighed before beginning,"Okay, and what's going to happen if the Japanese realize they're losing more food? What makes you think he won't pin it on you. You're powerless but his word has power, Sicheng. Befriending one of the Japanese isn't a safer option. You're putting yourself in more danger."

Sicheng didn't respond, mentally resting on the statement for a while longer.

"We might die either way, Kun. I don't want to starve to death. I don't want to see you starved to death."

Yuta began conversing in Japanese, folding his hand horizontally from each other to form a book as his gaze diverted around from Sicheng's eyes to the surrounding area of the room. 

"The dictionary." 

Sicheng nodded with an understanding from Yuta's simple gestures. He picked the dictionary off of the stone slab that Kun placed it on earlier, handing it over to the Japanese boy. Yuta began to flip through the pages.

Kun observed Yuta as he scanned each page, he focused his attention on Sicheng who seemed somewhat eager.

"This is the way you guys communicate, I'm guessing?"

Sicheng turned his head, scratching the back of his neck with his right hand,"As difficult as it is, it's the only way for now."

"For now?"

"Nevermind."

Kun simply observed as Yuta and Sicheng pushed the dictionary back and forth between each other, choppily forming sentences that allowed them minimal means of communication. 

Kun remained at the residence until Yuta had left, which wasn't too long after. 

"I'll see you tomorrow, if possible?" Kun placed his hand resting against the wall of stone.

Sicheng nodded in response, his eyes shutting in the process and his lips curving into a closed smile,"Yeah. Be careful on your way back."

"I will. Sicheng?"

The latter perked his head and shoulders up in response.

"Just- About him-"

"Yuta?"

"Yeah. Just be careful around him, okay?"

"Oh, um, yeah, I will."

Kun softly nodded while sheepishly smiling. He then parted from the house, walking against the debris covered roads and pathways back to his residence. 

the fact that it took me like 5 mf months to update this shit without writers block

~~~~