KINTSUGI ⊳jin sakai x yuna

じゅうさん (thirteen)

The sky is clear once the sun starts to rise, and the air is fresh, almost cuttingly so. A dream of his uncle still haunts the back of his mind when he awakes, but Jin doesn't remember the details of it. And frankly, he doesn't even want to remember.

His hands and feet seem cold enough to be frozen, but his left shoulder is warm. When he opens his eyes, laying on his back, he sees that Yuna has rested her forehead against his upper arm, where the deltoid meets the biceps. Her hand rests on top of his shoulder, over the wound. There's stains of blood, probably from the way his injury had opened a little back when he'd jumped onto the roof of the house. But the weight of her hand is light, he feels no pain from it.

He could get used to sleeping next to someone, again. Those instances had been nonexistent since the mongol invasion, and if he's being honest, he can't remember the last time he woke up with the weight of someone else against his side. Even before all of this.

It's a very welcome change.

She usually wakes before him, Jin figures the hours of riding through the snow must have worn her down her much more than him.

At first, he wants to call out her name. He decides against it just as he opens his mouth.

Wouldn't it be unfair to disturb her, when they had such little peace to begin with?

She looks so perfect like this. Expression soft, hair mussed, lips slightly parted, slightly chapped, slightly rosy. She's so close that he could kiss her, if he wanted to.

Jin takes in a breath of surprise at his own thoughts.

Kiss her?

It's not a new thought, he's had it before, once or twice. Back when she'd found him on the beach after the battle with the Khan, and also the night before the Yarikawa siege.

But it takes him by surprise, even now.

Why is he behaving like a child about it? He's had women before — not as much as, per se, Ryuzo (though he's not where Ryuzo's ego ends and where his truth starts), but there have been a fair amount of people that had no complaint about spending the night with a samurai. And the Jito's nephew.

But Yuna's different, he tells himself. She's a friend, one of the only people he has left. He can't let his own mind taint her image which such thoughts.

She's too valuable for that.

"Gods, you just woke up and you're already frowning?"

Brows raised with surprise, Jin glances down at Yuna, who removed her hand and slowly rises to lean back on her elbows.

He can feel her tense by his side, muscles taut as she stretches like a sleepy cat. It's endearing to witness.

"Good morning to you too, Yuna."

"The sun's already rising. You should have woken me up sooner." She moves to sit, legs crossed. Jin follows her lead, rising, then kneeling beside his tatami mat. With a yawn, he's starting to roll it up.

"You look like you could have use some more sleep," He argues, and she rolls her eyes, sparing him a glance over her shoulder as she cards her fingers to her untied hair.

"And you don't?" She's looking outside the window while her hands are working at her hair and tying it into its usual style.

Jin huffs. "I'll sleep when the mongols are dead."

"Once they are taken care of," She pauses as she ties her hair into a ponytail. "I'm sure you'll find something else to worry about."

Jin smiles lethargically. He probably will.