[Band Yarouze] The Wolf at Night 2/?

[duckiesandlemons]

Title:  The Wolf at Night 2/?
Rating:  T (overall rating E)
Fandom:  Band Yarouze
Character(s):  Takara Kyo, Shinonome Yamato
Summary:  Their days continue on idly, but peace does not last forever.
Warning(s):  None

05

He doesn’t know how to breach the subject with Yamato.  Every time that Kyo thinks he has time to speak with Yamato, insecurities and doubts bubbling underneath his breast, Kyo holds his tongue.  He could be wrong, after all.  That Yamato smells like the stench of rotting flesh, similar to the demon the wolf had killed that night, could be entirely coincidental.

He left to go see his family, right?

Yet it eats and eats and plucks at Kyo’s mind, driving him mad in the silence of the church when Yamato was out helping the townsfolk.  Is that wolf Yamato?  Is Yamato perhaps a night crawler, similar to demons, and waiting for the chance to catch their town off guard?

Kyo tries to push it all down, bury them deep so that they no longer see the light of the sun despite their attempts to wriggle to the surface.  Kyo needs to have more trust in Yamato.  Yamato is not like those beasts, with their dripping jaws and thirst for blood, so similar to the forests beasts and the demons that roam at night.

Every dinner that passes, every time he sees Yamato smile, every time Yamato laughs, the worries increase--the burden grows--until one dinner the dam bursts.  Kyo’s let the insecurities sit too long, has let them fester and rot until they rest heavy in his chest and make him sick.

He can barely take a bite of his food.

“What’s wrong?” Yamato asks, staring at him with inquisitive eyes that are bright, bright, bright just like that wolf’s.

“...Yamato, the forest,” Kyo starts, “on the full moon...did you really go home to your family?”

Yamato’s smile drops.  It’s a brief flash, a bare second of hurt, but the eyes that stared Kyo down in that second shook him to his bones.

“Of course!” Yamato’s grin is false.  “I wanted to say hi since I’ve been away so long and thought to give them some of what the townsfolk gave me!  We’re poor, y’know, but--”

“Yamato,” Kyo cuts him off.  He’s forgotten about his food, more focused on trying to figure out why Yamato so obviously lies to him.  “Please answer me--that forest beast you found me with, wasn’t that you?”

Yamato doesn’t say anything.  His lips twist into a pained smile, so different from his usual ones.  Kyo’s heart clenches, regret at causing Yamato to make that face replacing his earlier doubts and fears.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” Yamato’s voice is quiet.

“Of course.”

“Can I stay?”

The chair topples over in Kyo’s haste to get up.  Yamato flinches, expecting the worse, but Kyo doesn’t chase him out.  He walks over in purposeful strides to where Yamato is and wraps his arms tight around him.  Kyo does not know what Yamato’s been through, does not know what Yamato has been through, but he knows that it’s been painful enough to force Yamato to wander from town to town.

Slowly, Yamato winds his arms around Kyo’s waist, burying his face in Kyo’s shoulder.  His body starts trembling, his sobs muffled.

Kyo lets him cry.

06

They never bring it up again, but Kyo’s suspicions are confirmed.  He never brings it up again either, though some things that Yamato does finally make sense.

His strength, how he never seemed to wither in the heat of the fields, or how fast he moved--it all clicks together in Kyo’s head.  That Yamato is a creature of the night, that he is a wolf chased from town to town, explains how he just seemingly appeared in the dead of night without fear of demons.  It is demons who need to fear Yamato, and it is demons who are kept at bay from the village by Yamato’s presence alone.  

And like this, the days pass and the moon continues to wane.

“Where did you go?” Kyo asks one night, as he finishes polishing the last of the church’s silver and puts it away.  “When you disappeared.”

“Hmmmm,” Yamato is hunched over by the fire, prodding it every now and then, “I guess I just roamed around the forest and the fields--kept demons at bay so they wouldn’t try and pollute the crops or anything.”

“Anything else?”

“...I did wanna go home, y’know?  My pack lea--my old pack leader, Dizzy, doesn’t say much but he always watched over us.”

There’s the sound of another log being tossed into the fire.  Kyo just takes all of Yamato’s words in, taking a seat next to him when the silver had been put away properly.

“Then why did you leave?” Kyo asks.

Yamato shrugs, “I gotten injured, I felt listless, useless, so I started wandering--now, I don’t really know why I left.”

07

The new moon comes around faster than Kyo expects it to.  Perhaps it is because the days go by faster now that Yamato has opened up to him, now that there is no longer a secret between the two (not including Kyo’s own, which he keeps locked in his heart).  They perform their tasks efficiently, eat dinner together, and sometimes they even go out to take in the sun when their duties are light.

It’s incredibly peaceful, and it’s too good to be true.

That’s why Kyo’s not surprised when the new moon comes and people are tossed into a frenzy when at night another man comes in much the same way that Yamato did.  He’s tall, cutting an imposing figure, and when Yamato sees him Kyo thinks he saw pure dread creep across his face.

“Yamato,” his voice is deep, baritone, commanding fear and respect all at once.  None of the townsfolk say anything, their eyes turning expectantly to Yamato.

Yamato is still, hands clenched into fists at his side.

“S-shuji!” the cheer is forced.  “Nice to see you!”

The man, Shuji, narrows his eyes.  There is no kindness coming from him, no eagerness that Yamato held.  The difference is night and day, the sun and the moon, and Kyo steps forward to stand next to Yamato.  He doesn’t say anything, but Yamato relaxes just a bit with Kyo by him.

Shuji doesn’t seem too pleased, “...so this is where you were.  Dizzy’s been looking for you.”

“Ahaha, that’s hard to believe,” Yamato says.  “But as you can see I’m fine!  Don’t tell me you came here under his orders?”

Shuji doesn’t say much.  He takes a few steps forward, the air becoming oppressive.  Kyo tries to move in front of Yamato yet he’s stopped by a firm arm.  Yamato’s gone from looking tense to looking irritated, shoulders stiff and the same oppressive aura coming from him.

It happens in a heartbeat, Shuji lashing out to grab the collar of Yamato’s shirt.  Everyone panics, hands trying to separate the two.  A loud snarl rips through the air, forcing everyone to separate.  Shuji and Yamato fall to the ground, nails clawing at each other and fists flying.  It’s a dirty brawl that only finishes when a particularly nasty kick from Yamato leaves Shuji winded.

“Tell...Tell Dizzy I’m happy here,” Yamato wheezes as he gets up.  “Tell him I’m not going back--I found a place I--I found someone I love!”

Kyo wonders why his heart throbs at that admission.

08

Shuji leaves with these words:

You can stay here, but know that you can’t keep it hidden forever.

Yamato is oddly silent after it all, the situation the exact opposite of what it is before.  Kyo eats normally, but Yamato barely eats.  No matter how much Kyo tries to coax him, because Yamato needs to eat more than usual to keep his strength up.

“You think I did the right thing?” Yamato asks.  “Denying everyone like that?”

“....I don’t know,” Kyo answers.  “You said you didn’t want to go back.”

Yamato sighs.  It’s weird, different from usual, and Kyo wants to hug Yamato again.  He keeps to himself, instead cleaning up their meal.  There are no answers that Kyo can give Yamato.  He wishes he could.

When Kyo wakes up, Yamato is gone once more.  There is no note, his meager belongings still neatly put up.  It causes panic to well up in Kyo, and he dashes out of the church.  The townsfolk look at him in shock as he charges to the fields, yelling Yamato’s name.

“He’s not here,” one of the farmers say.  “He left not too long ago without saying a word.”

Kyo runs to the forest, panic and desperation bubbling up once more.