THE PRICE OF WAR [Taka x Reader]

VI. Two Liers

Since that day, Yrion and you became inseparable. You caught up on everything that had happened since he left the village. You told him how Hayltel had managed to get ahead without his men, how was the arrival of the Eastern troop and how the inhabitants expelled Mayor Guldyn, Erymid and you from the hamlet for supporting them. How you had lived together with the troop and how this fact had opened your eyes regarding the prejudices that your people had to each other. How you and Kyria decided to join his army and had left Hayltel. How you had discovered your power but not your name. Yrion listened to you carefully and asked you all kinds of questions. They had also been through something similar. He and his fellow Hayltelians met a small Eastern troop months ago after going through numerous hardships, until they decided to ally and fight together. Yrion learned to speak a little Eastern language in order to communicate with them.

From time to time you crossed a word with Tomoya and Ryota, but never with Taka. Yrion couldn't separate from you for a moment and treated you in a very loving way. He stole you a kiss every time you crossed and sometimes even dedicated you some improvised verses. But you just couldn't correspond him, no matter how attentive and caring he was. He softened your heart, but Taka set it on fire. He used it at will and kept you awake during the night. And deep down you knew that nothing that Yrion did would make you feel any of what Taka could do. But Yrion wasn't to blame. It was your fault for falling in love with an utopia, with an impossible dream. You still had Taka's bleak look engraved in your memory. "You did this to me. It's your fault."

Meanwhile, Taka barely spent time with anyone. He hated everyone. He hated Yrion, Hatsumi, war and himself. He hated himself for believing in the same utopia as you. Two people from two different worlds with nothing to do with each other. He felt stupid for trusting love for the second time and failing again. But the worst part was that the only person he didn't hate was you. He tried to distract himself from those thoughts by training with his katana, getting them out of his head at every hit he gave, although he knew it was useless. He trained far from the camp, under the bare branches of an old cherry tree where no one could disturb him. Until one afternoon someone altered his routine:

"Can we talk?"

Someone was standing right behind him, although he had noticed you from afar. After several seconds of complete silence, he chuckled.

"Talk?" he asked as he grabbed a piece of cloth and dried the sweat from his face and bare body.

"Yes... Please"

"We have nothing to talk about, Yumiko"

His answer hurt you deeply, as expected. He hadn't even turned around to look at you.

"Leave me alone" he said, as if his previous answer hadn't been hostile enough.

"Taka, I'm as surprised as you"

"Surprised?" he blurted, this time turning around.

He had considerably thinned since you had left Hayltel and his expression had changed from being young and dreamy to cold and distant. He looked like a soldier, ironically.

"I'm not surprised at all. In fact, I see everything clear now!" he mocked.

"What?"

"Look, I'll explain it so you can understand it too" he barked, trying to use the childiest tone and moves as possible "You are a soldier, and I'm a soldier too. And that's the only thing we have in common, okay?"

He quickly grabbed his clothes and headed back to the camp.

"That's not true!" you screamed.

Taka stopped dead and lowered his head.

"You know there's so much more than that!" you tried to say with a lump on your throat.

"Really? Then tell me a single thing that ties me to a person I even named myself because I don't even know what her real name is!"

"You said you liked it..."

"Stop lying at yourself!" he screamed "Stop lying at yourself and leave me alone!"

His voice scared you to the point your knees couldn't hold you anymore. You slowly sat on the floor as you bawled and he stared at you.

"No..." you finally managed to say.

"What?"

"You are the lier!" you snapped as you stood up again "I saw you! I saw how you looked at me! I remember your eyes, full of rage and sadness! So don't tell me to leave you alone!"

"I talked to you about Hatsumi, right? You know why I did it? Because I thought you deserved it to know! I decided to be honest with you and tell you the truth! But did you do the same for me? No! You decided it was better to shut the fuck up and hide the truth!"

"What truth, Taka?"

"That you have a lover! That you've always been in love with him and that when he left to war you decided to replace him as soon as you could!"

You stood silent as you shook.

"Am I lying... Lier?" he whispered to your ear.

"Yes, because you've done exactly the same thing with Hatsumi..."

"Don't you dare!" he exclaimed, visibly offended.

"What? Isn't it the same?"

You both stared at each other for some seconds.

"I'm sorry..." you said "I need to talk to Yrion about this..."

"And what are you going to tell him?"

You were about to answer when you saw Yrion coming straight to you both from the distance.