One-Shots

I'll Have Your Back || Gurenshin

Guren is sixteen.

Guren is sixteen, and there's blood staining the uniform he wears. But it's not his.

Guren is sixteen, and clear blue eyes stare blankly up at him, and he clutches the body in his arms as a deafening scream forces itself out of his throat. He places a hand gently on the cheek of the body he holds, brushes silver-white hair out of his face, and cries when Shinya doesn't react.

Guren is sixteen, and he holds his dead best friend in his arms.

Guren is sixteen.

"Ne, Guren?"

Guren looks over, violet meeting sky blue, and raises an irritated eyebrow. "What, Shinya?"

Shinya doesn't smile, doesn't tease him, merely stares at him as if he were a complex puzzle he was trying to figure out. "Are you scared?"

It's a simple enough question, but Guren can see the hidden questions in Shinya's eyes;

Are you prepared? Are you ready to fight?

Are you ready to risk everything?

Guren stares for a moment before he shrugs and turns away. "Nah. I've got you watching my back, right?"

The body he carries feels like a ton of bricks in his arms.

"As long as you're there, I've got nothin' to be scared of."

Guren can see Shinya frown at him in his peripheral.

He lies Shinya down gently into the coffin, hands shaking as he runs a thumb gently across Shinya's cheek.

"But...what if I die? What happens to you then?"

Guren places the sword in the opening.

"You're not going to die, Shinya. I'll have your back too."

"I'm so sorry, Shinya."

Guren closes his eyes.

"Promise?"

"I promised."