Title: Idiots All

Prompt: When you're pushed, killing is as easy as breathing.

Group: KAT-TUN (Kazuya Kamenashi and Jin Akanishi - slight Akame) and Miura Haruma

Genre: Action, adventure, drama - mostly fighting  haha

Word Count: 5975

                It was cold, some combination of wet and dry in the wind.  The uneven ground was hard.  And he hurt all over.  Taking a shaky breath that made him cough, Haruma pried open one dark eye, briefly blinded by the flop of black hair clinging to his face.  He didn’t try to move it yet, listening first to and make sense of where he was.  Water nearby filled his ears with a quiet roar; wind rustled the leaves in the trees; somewhere a bird sang an ironically sweet tune.

                His lips pulled back to reveal his teeth as he hissed a breath between them, finally rousing himself enough to try and get up.  Cold fingers flexed into the damp, sandy soil and he picked his head up, feeling gritty debris clinging to the other side of his face.  His vision was hardly better through the other eye, but enough of his hair fell away to reveal a triangular patch of the surrounding.  A craggy wall rose immediately in front of him, blocking out the sun.  The river he was still partially lying in flowed downstream from his left, and when he looked to his right, another body was lying a few feet away, only slightly higher up the bank than he was.

                “Kazuya!” he grunted, wincing when the outburst made his head ache.  Closing his eyes, he took a shallow breath and quickly dredged his memory to recall how he ended up where he was.  There’d been a fight.  Something about taking some kind of treasure.  Their allies had them.  And he had… fallen.

                Steeling himself, he glanced to his right again.  Kazuya’s slender body was splayed out on his belly, his face hidden behind light brown hair and the extended arm reaching higher up the bank.  His undershirt was dry but the dark, off-colored stain on his leather jerkin showed he was still damp.  They couldn’t have been here too long if that was the case.  With a pained grunt, Haruma levered himself to his hands and knees, feeling alright enough to start crawling over to check on his companion.  Standing was a challenge he didn’t want to attempt yet.

                “Kazuya,” he called again when he was closer, reaching out a pale hand to grab the far shoulder and turn the other man over.  Light and limp, Kazuya rolled onto his back with boneless fluidity, his right arm resting over his abdomen and his face partially revealed to the sky.  Haruma shuffled his knees to rest against the other man’s side, reaching down to brush hair out of the covered face.  A puff of warm air against his hand assured Haruma his friend was alive and he let out the breath he wasn’t aware he was holding.  “Wake up, Kazu,” he encouraged with narrowed eyes and a worried frown, tapping the almost delicate face with his palm.

                 “Ungh…” Kazuya groaned, his pretty – if rather battered and bruised – face scrunching up in quiet complaint.  “Jin…?” he mumbled through barely parted lips with his eyes still closed.

                Figures he would ask for him first.  “Not here,” Haruma shook his head carefully, peering around once more just to double check.

                “Haruma.”  It was a statement, not a question and Haruma grunted in confirmation.  “That idiot,” Kazuya coughed, finally squinting up at the other man before he gave another groan and tried to sit up.

                “Easy,” Haruma soothed, offering a steadying arm against the other man’s back.

                “I got it,” the other snorted with the ghost of a smile pulling at the split lip.

                “Obviously,” came the dry, bemused response.  “Do you remember what happened?  How did we get here?”

                Kazuya raised a brow mostly hidden under his bangs and gave Haruma a side-eyed look.  “We fell off a cliff.”  Haruma frowned in confusion, not recalling that part.  “Eh.  More accurately, I was pushed – by Jin of course,” he added with a frustrated glower, “and we fell.”

                That was the missing piece Haruma needed.  “Idiot,” he echoed the earlier sentiment, his mouth twisting into an expression of distaste.  “Always trying to play the hero.”

                “Aye,” Kazuya nodded in agreement, brushing his bangs out of his face with slender fingers.  He flinched when he hit tender skin and he took a second to feel around.

                “You look like ,” Haruma snorted, knowing he probably wasn’t much better, if the stinging at the corner of his mouth and dull ache in his cheek and eye meant anything.

                “You’re one to talk,” Kazuya confirmed with that sleepy-eyed, half-smile of his, the expression highlighting one prominent cheekbone sharply.

                Pained amusement shadowed them as the two carefully helped each other to their feet.  They could feel bruises hiding under their clothes, but fortunately nothing seemed broken.  Thank goodness for small mercies.  And they appeared to be alone, which was bad – since they were missing Jin, but good as well – none of those treacherous s were here either.  Shuffling in a small circle, Haruma got a better view of the surrounding area: the stony wall from earlier, a wide river running behind them, a stand of trees beginning to grow towards the downstream area, and what looked like some kind of path to get out of here winding up the hill just past them.

                “That way,” he pointed, glancing at the play of light on the opposite embankment.  It was probably getting late in the day.  It had been somewhat early when they’d had their… disagreement after all.

                “How do you know?” Kazuya asked, squinting in the indicated direction.

                “I don’t, but do you have any better ideas?” he wondered with a snort, gingerly circling his arms around to test his mobility.

                Kazuya took a breath as he looked around for himself and then shook his head with another snort.  “No.”

                “Let’s go then,” Haruma waved, taking the lead with a stifled groan.  He was stiff and walking was a pain; he didn’t even want to think about potentially having to climb anything.  He half expected Kazuya to say something about him being bossy, but the other man remained silent, focusing simply on keeping up with Haruma’s slightly longer legs.  Besides, those kinds of remarks were more Jin’s style anyway.

                The trees provided unwelcome shade and made their footing treacherous.  Going was slow as they stepped over roots and walked around detritus in their way.  He couldn’t exactly see where he was going either, what with the leafy canopy blocking his view overhead, but he could hear the water to his right.  Somewhere to the left was their way out and he focused on that as opposed to wondering if Jin was alright or not.  It was so like him to try to sacrifice himself to save them.  Of course he never did ask if they wanted that.  Idiot.  Kazuya seemed to echo his sentiments as well.

                “I’m gonna kill him,” the quieter man muttered after he caught himself against a tree when he nearly fell because of a raised root.

                “No you won’t,” Haruma chuckled with a glance over his shoulder to make sure his companion was doing alright.

                “I will,” Kazuya scoffed, shuffling faster to catch up.  “You know he’s not dead.”

                Haruma wasn’t so sure.  Their allies hadn’t exactly been entirely… human anymore, the last time he saw.  But… “He is surprisingly resilient.”

                “And worth more alive than dead,” Kazuya stated bluntly.  It was the reasoning they were both clinging to.  Of course, the other possibility hung unspoken in the air between them.  If Jin was dead, there would be hell to pay regardless.

                It took well into the evening hours to find their way back to familiar territory.  Worse, they had to figure out a place that was safe for them without having to worry about their former ‘friends’ chancing upon their location.  Fortunately, Kazuya and Haruma did have an ace or two up their sleeves.  Along with Jin, they’d never entrusted all their secrets to the rest of the group once they’d become a gang of sorts.  By the time they finally found the secluded, short, and partially modified cave mostly hidden by fallen brush, they were both leaning on each other as supports.

                Some blind digging around by Kazuya located the buried safe box of flint, tinder, and the sealed torch.  Haruma waited for the gentle illumination of the flickering flame before he tried to clear out the small living space.  Grabbing a lengthy, fallen stick so he had some kind of weapon, he waited for Kazuya to flush any residents out.  A couple stray rodents quickly became their meager dinner, cooked over a tiny campfire.  Just inside the cave was a sealed wooden box with emergency water sealed in wax lined leather bags.  Resting with it was a small set of first aid supplies and, even more importantly, spare weapons.

                Haruma started checking the swords in the dim light while Kazuya bandaged himself up, still nibbling on his dinner.  When he was finished, they switched, handling their tasks in contemplative silence.  There was hardly enough food and barely enough water, but it was an acceptable start.  They had weapons and with a night of not nearly enough rest, they might be ready for the morrow.  As it was, they were further from their last camp than they wanted to be, but it was what it was.

                Despite knowing they needed the rest though, neither wanted to call it first, but when they caught each other starting to nod off around the dying fire, the two laughed.  “You go on.  I’ll get the fire,” Haruma encouraged with a wave towards the dark, mouth of the cave they’d have to crawl into.

                “Mm,” Kazuya nodded in understanding, grabbing the swords and pulling them in with him.  He hunkered down, set the weapons along the wall, dragged a thin blanket to spread on the dirt, and then flopped on the ground with his feet just visible inside the mouth.

                The sight was amusing, to say the least.  Haruma shook his head with a wry grin before he kicked the fire out, spreading the coals around to make it look more natural.  Sniffing once in satisfaction, he blinked in surprise at how dark it was without any firelight to see by, and carefully stumbled towards the cave with the rest of the first aid supplies in his hands.  By feel alone, which earned him surprised grunt from Kazuya when his left hand brushed what he assumed was the other man’s , Haruma lined himself back to back with his companion.

                For a moment, he listened to the quiet sounds of Kazuya breathing and the outside serenade of chirping insects, reassured by the constant noise, and then shivered involuntarily.  It was chilly at night, surrounded by stone and with no blanket to pull over him.  Too late for that now.  Closing his eyes, Haruma barely had time to lament being cold as his exhausted senses pulled him into slumber nearly immediately anyway.

                Annoyingly cheerful birds and a strange, warm-cold sensation roused Haruma from his sleep.  It wasn’t pitch black anymore, but he was briefly confused by the light brown hair in his face when he opened his eyes to look around.  The peculiar warmth he was feeling on his front half, as opposed to his back, helped solve that riddle, and he picked his head up to sleepily acknowledge his and Kazuya’s intertwined bodies.  His right arm was numb under Kazuya’s head, his left arm had wound around the other man in their sleep, and their legs were hopelessly entangled.

                “Kazuya,” he mumbled, his breath ruffling strands of brown hair.

                “No,” his companion grumbled back, curling harder into the shallow hollow of Haruma’s body.

                It made Haruma flinch.  The gentle fingertips curling against his chest and ribs tickled while his legs tingled from the slight friction.  “Hey,” he tried again, clearing his throat with a shrug of his right arm.  “You’re a nice blanket but I’m not Jin,” he reminded with a crooked smile.

                “Warm,” Kazuya huffed, though he did begin to untangle himself with tired but easy grace.  He made it to his knees with his head bowed so he didn’t hit it on the ceiling.  “Alright,” he mumbled, rubbing at sleepy eyes.  “Let’s go get Jin,” he nodded, grabbing their swords from his side before he started to scoot backwards out of the cave.

                “Good morning to you too,” Haruma laughed once, waiting for Kazuya to get clear before he sat up enough to crawl forward.  “Here,” he called, tossing the remnants of the one waterskin to the already standing man.

                “Thanks,” Kazuya nodded, already looking more awake and alive now that he was standing and in the daylight.  The bruises on his face were pretty colorful, but he looked like he felt better.  That was the main thing.

                Standing up, Haruma stretched carefully, testing his range of motion again.  Still sore but not too bad.  With the walk ahead of them, he should be fine by the time they got there.  He could only hope they could say the same of Jin too.

                “Catch,” Kazuya warned before tossing the sheathed blade to Haruma.

                The taller man snatched it from the air with one hand and tossed his bangs out of his eyes with a flick of his head.  “Ready,” he declared, watching the confirming nod from Kazuya at the same time.

                Side by side, the pair retraced their steps, going back to where things had been fine two days prior.  Their relaxed postures belied their tense thoughts as they recalled the successful hit on the traveling caravan they’d ransacked.  Dispatching the unusually skilled guards had been a welcome challenge, but that should have been the first warning sign.  Shutting up the mystic traveling with them hadn’t sat well with them, but they’d never been ones to put too much stock in magic and otherworldly things.  And the rewards had been more than enough to make them forget the brief concern about why a mystic would be traveling with such a well armed group in the first place.

                But even they recognized that there were some things that shouldn’t be meddled with.  When they looked through their spoils in the safety of their haven, Jin had found the small sealed box with strange symbols etched on the bindings keeping it shut.  With a nod from Kazuya and Haruma, he’d taken it to investigate later, but some of the men had seen it too.  They thought he was stealing from them, seeing only the monetary value of the potential item.  Jin being Jin, he simply told them not to worry about it and kept it in his possession.

                Maybe if they’d tried to explain, things would have worked out differently.  Maybe.  But it was a moot point.  They’d always shared everything evenly.  That was part of the draw of staying together without having to fight over everything.  And though Jin, Kazuya, and Haruma had felt something was off about the box, their men had been more concerned about what might be inside it to worry about the consequences.

                They remembered waking to a dark, ominous presence.  Someone had taken the box during the night and opened it, releasing whatever foul curse had been inside.  Mutiny.  As soon as they had stepped out, all eyes had fallen upon them with darkness in their gazes.  No longer fully human, they were filled with something ‘other.’  Something foul that turned them against the three and made them fight, weaponless, until they had to run; run until they had no more ground to cover.  And damn Jin…  Stupid pretend hero.  It would have made sense for him to jump off the cliff too.  But no!  He wanted to make sure they were distracted or dealt with or something of the like.  And he knew damn well he couldn’t take them all.

                “Haruma.”  The soft sound of his name pulled him from his thoughts to focus ahead.  They were close.  Guards hadn’t been set but he could hear voices nearby: loud and entertained.  It certainly sounded like they were in a good mood…

                A pained, choking sound made them both look at each other, their hands tightening on the sword hilts simultaneously.  “Don’t kill him yet,” they heard, the voice vaguely familiar but warped.  “We won’t be able to play with him anymore then.”

                Exchanging silent looks, Haruma and Kazuya nodded once.  Together, they freed their blades and sprinted the rest of the way, coming into view of the sloppy campsite.  Tents were falling down and the spoils they’d carefully gathered over the past several weeks had been strewn about like some sort of open storage.  Seven figures lazed about the area, while one sat on what had to be some kind of modified throne, and in the midst of all them, a crumpled Jin was lying on the ground, pinned under the foot of another man.  A bloody chain hung loosely from his hand, ready to be used again.

                “Hey!” Haruma shouted, glaring at the crowd of former allies they no longer recognized.

                In a tense repeat of the day before, every head turned to look at them, dark eyes clouded and malevolent.  Jin groaned weakly on the ground, picking up his bruised and bloody head to look at them through his swollen eye, vision partially blinded by clumped, wavy strands of dark brown hair.  “Kazu.  Haru,” he rasped, the sound tense and desperate.

                “Jin,” they whispered in response, the word a reaction more than a conscious thought.

                “Well, well.  If it isn’t Miura and Kamenashi,” the figure on the ‘throne’ chuckled, standing up at their appearance.  “Looks like they survived after all, Akanishi,” he smirked, reaching down to grab the sheathed sword leaning against the chair.

                Jin clenched one hand into a fist and a strangled sob emerged.  “You were supposed to run,” he cried, upset and angry and utterly powerless in that moment.

                “Not without you,” Kazuya immediately promised, shifting his sword in Haruma’s periphery.

                The four nearest him stepped forward, all reaching for some manner of weapon in turn: a length of chain here, a short sword there, a mace rising up to rest on someone’s shoulder.  “We won’t go easy on you,” Haruma promised, turning the edge of his blade so that sunlight glinted off it brightly.

                “Looks like you can all play after all,” their leader deigned, his tone graciously magnanimous as he gestured towards the two newcomers.  “Enjoy,” he grinned, the expression feral and dangerous.

                Edging together slightly, Haruma and Kazuya braced themselves for the charge.  When muttered words became excited shouts, they broke with the wave coming at them, sprinting towards their targets intently.  Haruma’s sight narrowed strictly to the foes in front of him as he trusted Kazuya to hold his own.  Jumping up, he blocked the short sword attack with his sheath and kicked the first attacker down to the ground, following to land in a low crouch.  He wouldn’t have the surprise advantage again.

                A presence to his left made him dodge, hearing the whistle of a chain through the air.  It crashed into the ground and he swallowed, slashing at his opponent quickly.  Sparks flew, blinding the other man when he blocked.  Haruma tried to attack again to finish him with a backhand strike, but a glancing blow from a mace nearly crushed his shoulder.  Instead, his arm went numb and the adrenaline rush dulled the pain, but he was forced to drop the sheath.  Reaction demanded he roll forward, away from his attacker, bypassing the original target.  It brought him closer to a fighter that was focusing on Kazuya.  His right arm was still good so he used it.  A downward strike hamstrung the figure and a reverse, upward slash cut his head off before he knew he was dead.

                “Haruma!” he heard in warning, tensing in preparation for the blow he couldn’t see.  But Kazuya jumped over the falling body he’d just slain to snarl a chain with his sword, keeping it from ensnaring Haruma instead.  Holding firm, he kept his sheath ready to defend as Haruma moved back to back with him.

                “They’re better than normal,” Haruma panted, finally starting to regain feeling in his left arm, though it was mostly pain.  Even with their injuries from the other day, they should have been able to match these guys.

                “Of course,” their new nemesis laughed, amused.  He held up his sword hand and pointed at the ruby set, broad banded bracelet on his wrist.  It swirled with a dark glow reminiscent of the look in their eyes.  “We have power now,” he smirked, giving a testing swing with his blade.  It hummed through the air as it cut the wind with ease.

                “You never should have opened that box,” Haruma scowled, shaking his left hand as he flexed his fingers, getting a feel for his mobility.

                “But we did,” the figure standing over Jin snorted, reaching down to grab a handful of blood soaked hair before hauling him to his knees.  Jin grabbed at the hand holding him with a choked gasp, but he couldn’t free himself as his captor pulled his head back, revealing his face for everyone to see. 

                Kazuya and Haruma gave involuntary gasps, their eyes widening as they saw his still bleeding nose and split lip.  The entire front of his clothes were liberally drenched in red, and he could barely stay upright without swaying.  Haruma’s eyes narrowed and he looked over his shoulder to catch Kazuya’s gaze, his face tenser than normal with holding the chain at bay.  They still held a similarly murderous expression though.  Silence reined and in a matter of heartbeats, Haruma glanced at Kazuya’s chain wrapped sword, then towards the man holding Jin.  A nearly imperceptible nod followed.  The six figures surrounding them became one more obstacle that simply fell away as they moved in tandem.

                Pivoting around Kazuya as the shorter man ripped his sword free with the sound of keening metal and ducked under him to start a wide, two handed arc, Haruma grabbed the proffered sheath from him in mid transition, holding it like a shield against his arm.  Coming out of his turn, he made a dashing lunge towards the man immediately between him and Jin.  Reflexively, he blocked with a short sword just enough to get his head out of the way.

                Haruma was hoping he’d do something like that.  Coming to a moving stop directly in front of his opponent, he moved into a crouch as he the ball of his right foot and brought his left foot a half step behind him, closer to the man he’d just missed.  It exposed his back but allowed the sword in his right hand to draw a splitting smile in the belly of the man that had been on his left.  At the same time, the sheath in his left hand rose to block the downward swing of the mace from the man on his previous right.

                The shock hurt, reverberating agonizingly through his already weakened shoulder.  It made his arm go numb again, and it was only sheer, dogged determination that kept him from dropping the sheath.  Unable to stop it entirely, his arm collapsed against his body, bringing the mace dangerously close to his head.  He had to use his sword to stabilize himself, stabbing the tip into the ground. But his first opponent was stalled, unable to get a clear shot with his ally looming over Haruma.

                “Haru!”  It was a quiet shout amidst the roar of combat, but it was enough.  Glancing up, he saw Kazuya running his way, gaze fixated beyond the trio caught in combat.

                He needed to clear a path.  Forcefully, he dragged his sword to the ground so he wouldn’t cut himself, praying the dirt would be loose enough it didn’t snap.  He let the force against his left arm overpower him so he could roll to the ground on the flat of his back, leaving him partially open to attack again.  But he fisted a handful of dirt and threw it at the mace attacker.  It clouded his vision and kept him from striking again.  And when he stepped back with a cry of pain, the short sword wielder stepped closer, into his opening.  Haruma was ready and he brought the sheath up to block, just in case.  More importantly, his right foot kicked out and caught the short sword wielder in the groin as he tried to close the distance.

                His own momentum pinned him painfully to Haruma’s heel as he doubled over, providing the perfect platform for Kazuya to use.  Haruma glanced backwards to get an upside down view of Kazuya taking a running, jumping swing that took off mace guy’s hands as it opened his throat.  Using the forward momentum from the attack, he planted his left foot on Haruma’s opponent’s back and jumped again, raising the sword over his head with both hands as he came down straight at the man holding Jin captive.

                Haruma lost sight of him when he had to focus on his opponent falling on him from Kazuya’s jump.  Dead weight collapsed over his legs, trapping him under the equally heavy man with a short sword uncomfortably close to his side.  The sound of a chain snapping and a gargled cry registered and then disappeared as he heard a commotion behind him instead.  Glancing back hurriedly, he saw there were still two men standing and he was the closest target.

                “!” Haruma cursed, panic beginning to well up when the man over his legs started to stir again.  Frantically, he lunged for the handle of his sword.  Grabbing it, he pulled the weapon straight up until it was freed from under his shoulder, if backwards in his hand.  The grip was awkward but his fear made him strong as he rammed the hilt into the back of the man’s head, making the opponent on him go limp.  It only trapped him more.  Eyes wide, he tried to ready his weapons to hold them off as long as he could.  Upside down, they were terrifying with a long sword and a mace raised above them.

                He was going to die.  There was no way he could win.  This was it and he just hoped Kazuya was able to save Jin.  He’d done what he could.  He was finish- A loosely coiled loop of chain spun into view, wrapping around the sword and smacking the wielder in the face when he tried to slice it away.

                Haruma gasped when the weight on top of him got even heavier for a second, and then he blinked to see Kazuya jumping over him in another two handed attack.  The mace wielder batted the attack aside, sending Kazuya reeling into an awkward roll when he landed, but it fully distracted them in the meantime.

                “Haru!” someone else shouted while hands grabbed at his vest.

                “Jin!” he gasped, focusing immediately on the weak and bloody man trying to help haul him to his feet.

                “Come on!” he urged, falling when his legs wouldn’t support him enough to stand and haul the other man up.

                That was how he saw the leader.  Sword raised, eyes gleaming with rabid delight, running as he was going to cut them both down in one strike.  “Watch out!” he gasped, punching Jin in the chest with the hilt to make him move while he shifted enough to finally free most of his legs.  He had no time to stand or prepare a better defense other than to literally fall on top of Jin’s legs and throw himself in the way.

                Jin cried out as Haruma’s weight settled on him.  Both hands rose up with the sword and sheath resting against his forearms.  Through the slit between his arms, he saw the attack come down, the edge of the blade aiming for the center of his skull.  Haruma cried out when he was hit, the impact nearly knocking him senseless as his arms slammed against his head.  Something cracked but he didn’t know what it was.  He couldn’t tell.  His body betrayed him and he went limp as his vision turned to pinpricks of light in the distance.

                “Haruma, no!”

                Their voice sounded so far away and he had no idea what they were so worried about.  Then pain sank its teeth into him, gnawing at one of his ribs while something else tried to rip into him.  He screamed and everything came back into focus.  The traitorous leader on top of him, viciously leering face growling down at him.  Jin’s hands coming from behind, desperately trying to push him away.  And the sword stabbing into his rib.

                “No,” he choked with a metallic tang in the back of his mouth, not sure what he had anymore.  His left hand was completely unresponsive but the right came up when he willed it to.  Grimly, he was still clinging to what was left of his broken sword.  He blindly struck at his target, lashing out as he used the weapon like a dagger.  His opponent cried out when the edge bit into his shoulder, snarling on the bone.  It was enough to make him rear back, eyes mad with pain and combat euphoria.

                “Back off!” Jin growled behind Haruma, the harsh vibrations reverberating in his ears.  And then there was a cracked sheath coming into view as Jin’s hands held it in front, planting the tip against the other man’s chest to keep him out of range.  He was still holding the broken sword, still looming over them, ready to attack, but even as he grabbed the case to move it out of the way so he could finish them off, he jerked with an utterly surprised look on his face.  Haruma watched in morbid fascination as the red tip of a sword blossomed from the other man’s belly.

                Just behind him, Kazuya glared at the back of his head with sharp eyes.  In the brief calm, he yanked the sword free and pulled it back with both hands.  “Die,” he hissed, putting all the power of his slender form behind the strike that took the traitor’s head from his body.  It arced unevenly through the air before hitting the ground and bouncing once, facing away from them as it did so.  But then the body fell forward, collapsing limply on top of Haruma and Jin when the latter was unable to keep the dead weight away.

                “Dammit!” Haruma groaned breathlessly as Jin just coughed.  Both worked to push the body over but it wasn’t until Kazuya showed up to haul it the side that they succeeded.

                “Are you okay?” he asked with wide eyes, not sure where he could touch for fear of hurting either of them.

                “Of course.”  “Sure.”  Jin and Haruma answered at the same time, wincing as they did so.

                Kazuya made a face at how absurd that question was and then hurried to at least help shift Haruma up enough to allow Jin to scoot out from under him.  “Oh , that looks bad!” he gasped, finally catching sight of the oozing gash in Haruma’s side.

                “Could have been worse,” he hissed, trying not to look at it.  But he had limited mobility with only one working arm and it was easier just to lie on the ground anyway, watching the afternoon sun appear behind clouds at random intervals.

                “He stabbed you with a sword, Haru!” Kazuya scolded tensely, searching for something to bind the wound with.

                Wisely, Haruma remained silent.  He had been stabbed after all.  And the only reason it wasn’t worse, he knew, was because that has missed his belly and gotten caught on a rib instead.  Oh, but damn he hurt.

                “What are you doing, Jin?” Kazuya asked, drawing Haruma’s attention back to the present for a brief moment.

                “Destroying this thing!” he grunted, using Kazuya’s sword to attack the bracelet around the traitor’s wrist.

                “Wait!” Kazuya and Haruma called at the same time, reaching as if they could stop him.  But the sword connected, froze for an instant as it hummed violently, and then exploded, sending Jin flying.  Kazuya fell over top of Haruma, shielding him from the shrapnel.

                When they finally managed to look again, the sword and the bracelet were gone, along with most of the traitor’s arm.  Jin was several feet away and Kazuya had tiny blood spots all over his back.  “Jin, you idiot,” Kazuya exhaled tiredly.

                For a moment, Jin didn’t seem to have anything to say.  But then he sat up with a pained look and pointed at them in frustration, “You’re the idiots for coming back here!”

                “Because you were doing so well on your own,” Haruma snorted, but then fell still when it hurt too much.

                “I could have handled it!” he retorted.  Both Kazuya and Haruma just looked at him and he crossed his arms with a frown.  No one chose to say anything for a moment.  Kazuya was busy taking care of Haruma and Jin had his own hurts to address, though none as obviously severe as the former’s.  “Thanks,” he finally mumbled when he came back to check on them again, taking Haruma’s hand gratefully.

                “This guy,” Haruma gave a very shallow, breathy laugh that didn’t hurt too badly.  When Jin frowned in confusion and looked to Kazuya for an explanation, the other laughed in turn.

                “That’s what friends do.  Idiot,” he added, though he was smiling and his tone was surprisingly gentle.  “I’m glad you’re alright,” he smiled harder, reaching across to trace Jin’s cheek with his fingertips.  “But they beat you so bad,” he winced with a pained laugh.

                Jin grabbed Kazuya’s hand and laughed once as well, a crooked smile in place.  “Have you seen your face?”

                “Guys…” Haruma groaned, lying directly between them as they spoke over his body.

                “That goes double for you, Haru,” Jin scoffed with a motion that could have been an attempt at a wink or a genuine wince; it was too hard to tell with the bruising around his eye.

                “Shut up,” he commanded softly, closing his eyes with a very real desire to just rest.  Jin was safe, they were back to where they were supposed to be (with all the supplies and such that entailed), and their allies turned enemies has been disposed of.  He could rest now.

                “Come on, Haru,” Kazuya urged, gently tugging at his shirt.  Haruma wanted to punch him for not letting him fall asleep.  “At least let us get you to a tent instead of just lying out in the open.”  Okay, so maybe not punch him hard anyway.

                “Just for a little while?” he whined anyway, just so damn tired and hurt.

                “No,” Kazuya declined, peering down at him when Haruma opened his eyes at last.  “Tent first.  Then sleep.”

                “What he said,” Jin seconded, pointing to Kazuya as he Haruma tried to look to him for help.  He should have known better.  They always backed each other.  It wasn’t fair…

                “Fine,” he groaned, wincing preemptively as the two struggled to get him standing.  He almost felt vindicated in his resistance when he nearly passed out in trying to get to his feet, but then figured they’d never let him live it down.  “Next time, Jin.  I’m throwing you off the cliff,” he grumbled into Jin’s ear as they finally started to shuffle their way to one of the tents that were still standing.

                Jin snorted.  “There won’t be a next time.”

                “You say that now,” Kazuya tossed back from the other side of Haruma.

                “Shut up,” Jin mumbled.  Haruma just shook his head and laughed, limping along between them.