Eros. (Benimaru Shinmon)

四十二❊

Fire... the flames transform their prey into the most transient of beauties, hot ribbons of light. There are times it sparks as if it wanted more than one crazy way to dance, as if it needs to leap, to fly, willing to land where it may.

My perception of time distorted, everything slowed down until there were nothing, only me and the sky above, the sky that seemed to swallow me whole.

"I'm all burnt out..." I thought to myself.

I closed my eyes, smiled, and surrendered myself into the infinite sky above. I couldn't care if I had died ending that infernal, I was just happy to prove to that mismatched-eyed idiot that I had the potential to fight the infernal even after all this time.

"Inori!"

Fear, I could hear it in his voice as we fall. I guess this was an ending for both of us because if we were equal in power, and we both fought a demon infernal...he should be in the same state as me. And if Shinra is the only one who can fly...he would have to choose considering the distance between Benimaru and I.

I opened my eyes the moment I heard a quick roaring, crackling sound of blaze and then felt hands encircle around my waist and pulled me towards warmth as the person buried his their face into the crook of my neck and they clung tighter as we both fell.

"Inori..." He whispered, "you are still so stubborn and yet I can't seem to love that about you."

"Must of used the remnants of his Matoi... and he calls me stubborn...considering the fact that he just pushed himself pass his limit just to hug me," I thought to myself as I closed my eyes, only remembering the site of the infamous Crimson Moon.

---------------------------
My eyes opened, my eyelashes faintly batting against my lids when I blinked. Everything was blurry. My muscles felt weak, just like my energy.

The sound of people chatting could be heard, hammer hitting, and drills. It must be them working on repairs. I let out an exasperated sigh, I looked around and my vision became clearer. Even though I was able to hear Asakusa bustling citizens, my vision was settling into the view I wasn't use to seeing... my old home prior to me leaving Asakusa two years ago.

Before I was amazed on how he got the details of the exterior down to the exactness of the structure but I was more amazed on the fact that he even got the interior down to.

Immediately, my mind crawled back towards the idea of his WiFe and children. Why did he bring me here rather than bring me to the guardhouse?

I heard footsteps coming towards the room and turned my head towards the door frame and noticed Benimaru with a kit in his hand.

"Nice to see that you're awake," Benimaru said lazily before walking into the room and sitting beside me, "I need to clean your burn."

"I really don't need your help," I spat as I tried to get up from the bed only to be held down in place, "Benimaru."

"If you don't clean your wound, it will be infected," Benimaru answered coldly as he incinerated the old bandages and took some alcohol from the kit and placed it on the wound. I drew a quick breath from the pain. It wasn't like a fire burn, it was a chemical burn and honestly they were worst than the burn inflicted. He then pulled a small jar and lathered its contents on my wound. From the medicinal properties, I knew that it was aloe vera. Guess that day, he took a page from my book and figured out to make a burn ointment.

He then took a clean cloth and began to slowly wrap it around my torso. I rarely let another man besides Akitaru to touch me like this, but he was adament about getting me patched up and though I was replenished and my flames were back; I was still too mentally drain to pick a fight with him.

Soon he closed the cloth, I expected him to retract his arm but instead, he kept it in place.

"Fire Force Secret Ops Captain, huh?" Benimaru said suddenly.

I honestly didn't even know where this was coming from, it was all so sudden.

"I tried everything in my power to not get you involved in the fire soldier lifestyle," Benimaru muttered as he lowered his head, "I wanted you-us-to be a family...I even had plans to propose to you after the night we were attacked but then Konro tells me that you were killed by an infernal..."

I sighed. I knew that he would bring this up but I just didn't think he would bring it up so soon.

"I shouldn't be your concern anymore," I responded, "but thank you for cleaning my wound."

"Yeah..." Benimaru said somberly.

But why would he sound as if he was sad...I mean he did have a family...right...?