❄𝔗𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔡𝔯𝔬𝔭𝔰 𝔬𝔫 ℑ𝔠𝔢

[Koresephone]

Karleen flushed darkly as Seiji’s face was flattened against her, she pretended it was from annoyance but anyone with a brain knew that wasnt the reason. A sharp jagged gasp escapes from between her lips as Seiji tore the blade from her arm, closely followed by a half stifled whimper. The som of a b***h said on three!! She buried her growing anger in till Seiji opened his big dumb mouth. All at once her anger exploded, backed by almost two and a half weeks of utter fear. Her good hand reeled back and then lashed forward, landing a smack so hard the sharp noise scared birds off the trees.

The blonde female then grabbed Seiji by his tattered kimono and pulled him up to face her, her teeth bared in an angry snarl, her eyes filled with tears. The fury she felt, the sadness to hear him speak like this, caused her not to feel the gushing wound in her arm. “I dont want your damn riches! I dont want the ******** estate! I want you, dammit! I want you, Seiji Hattori! And I would rather rip out my own ******** heart with my own bare hands than to leave you to die. You are everything to me. EVERYTHING!”

Her breath hitched, a single tear falling and rolling down her cheek. She gripped his kimono tight, her arms trembling, her face leaking color as the force of her grip caused her arm to bleed heavier. “Sure, you are broken! But broken things can be fixed! You dont throw a beloved thing away, you mend it! And you are beloved. I spent weeks and months dreaming of nothing other than being with you again, I dont care if you’re hurt. I dont care if you’re lost... You dont abandon people you love. I wont abandon you, you a**... Every moment spent with you is a blessing...”

As if to drive her point home she brought him closer, face to face, nose to nose. Her face which was once warm started to cool as the color drained from it, her grip loosened it’s vice grip on him slightly as she closed her eyes and gently pressed her lips to his. This was definitely not how she had dreamed this would happen, but she was disoriented and blurry and she felt like this was the only way to drive her point in to his thick skull that she would never leave him. She tried to channel everything she felt in to the kiss.

Suddenly her the side of her face hit very cold snow, and she couldnt force her eyes open to see why.  

[Wolfe Whitehorn]

❄Crows cried out and fled the trees surrounding the Hattori Manor as a staccato crack split the solitude of the mountain pass. Their forlorn calls did little, if anything, to separate the Hattori lordling from the shock of the moment, but as Karleen slapped him and began to shout directly into his face he simply... existed.

He let her beat on him and vent her frustrations, nigh on a month this woman had seen to his every need and taken care of him as he had been bedridden from the Raikage's vengeance and his own lackluster self-preservation. He groaned as she yanked him in close and his body fell heavily as he caught himself in a half-kneel, eyes locked o to hers as he caught sight of her wound.

An arm reached to grasp her just as she collapsed into the snow.

"Idiot. Now we're both cold, but my heart is warm for the first time in my life." He said as he proceeded to turn her head onto his sleeve.

"Worked yourself all up over a dead man like me, and made me feel alive, only to try and kill yourself." He sighed. "Just relax, I'll do the heavy lifting for a little while."

With a groan and gasps for breath he lifted her off of the cold snowy soil and into his chest with what strength his solitary arm could muster. His arm wrapped beneath her rump and wrist hooked just beneath her thigh as he pushed her shoulder over his.

"Neither of us will survive if we keep beating each other up. I'll stop telling you to leave me, if you promise me you won't die." He said softly, his voice as rough as gravel.  

[Koresephone]

Karleen could barely feel Seiji carefully pull her close— that was bad, wasnt it? Fear struck through her as cold seeped through her bones like an invading force. Her arm had stopped hurting, despite it now being pressed against the Hattori. Weakly, her other arm gripped at his kimono, he sounded so far away but he was right here... her lip trembled softly.

She was dying, wasnt she?

“I’m scared...” she finally admitted, her voice weak and wobbling. She had never admitted her fear, not to anyone, not ever. Not when she had nearly been crushed in Kumo, not the numerous times Seiji had gotten hurt, not when Liori fell unconscious... Not when she was sure Seiji was going to die beside her as he lay feverish. Karleen never wanted to seem like a coward, but she was terrified.

Her eyes wouldn’t open, she wanted to see Seiji’s face. She needed something to tie her here, something to keep her awake. She didn’t want to die! She had just kept alive the person she loved, they finally had a chance! A tear rolled down her cheek, then another, then another as a shuttering breath escaped between her lips. She realized, startlingly, that she couldn't feel Seiji against her anymore.

“Seiji... Seiji, I’m scared...”  

[Wolfe Whitehorn]

❄ As he cradled the tender woman in his arms, Seiji shook his head and moved towards the interior of the manor. He looked down to her arm, the bleeding shouldn't have been too bad, but the shock and the cold from interaction with him. Silently he cursed his family's gift, the bitter chill of winter. Once he got her inside, he lay her on a fresh warm bed of blankets near the open hearth and ripped the edge of his kimono to make a bandage as to make her a temporary bandage. His eyes fell to hers and he leaned in close, breath shallow, and placed a tender kiss upon her lips. Each task more monumental with a singular working arm.

"I know things sound a hundred miles away right now, but focus on my voice. I need you to do that much. You're not going anywhere, I didn't hold on for you, just to lose you, Karleen. Now, let's fix this." The flustered Hattori said as he turned on his heel and grabbed a kettle and settled it over the flames to boil fresh water for her.

The hindrance of his arm wheeling freely so distraught Seiji he looked to the limb and straightened it, focused momentarily upon the pain, until he felt the bone align as close to home as possible, and coated the surface in Hyoton to lock it in place and allow him to use it at the shoulder and wrist.

"This... I've never been good at this kind of thing." He admitted as he took a towel and soaked it in warmed water and wiped the blood free from her wound before he set to dress it properly.

Setting two more pots above the flames, he worked on preparing a weak stock, and keeping warm water available. He knew she had neglected herself to take care of him, which included a lack of eating. And the water would help warm and clean the wounds as he slowly worked to bounce her health back.

Where she had spent months now doting on the poor, broken Hattori, he had to revitalize the woman he nearly killed. The only person outside of himself he could honestly admit he had loved.

"Don't you dare fade into that darkness. That's my journey, you damned spitfire. Come back to me, I don't want to know love only to lose it." He cried, the tears crystallized on his cheeks as cold winds poured off of him and threatened to extinguish the flames and his work.

He had to pull back. Stay strong, resolute for Karleen. Like back then.  

[Koresephone]

Everything was cold, and not like refreshing cold that Seiji was.... the blood loss must have been getting to her because he was the only thing left on her mind now. When he kissed her softly, all Karleen wanted to do was to keep him there, close to her. But when she went to move her good arm to make him stay, it only raised a few inches before weakly dropping back down to the ground. Then Seiji was moving away, talking again, but he was like a whisper. Seiji told her to hold on, to stay with him but she was so tired...

She dreamt about the festival in Takumi, about their first kiss. About the countless hours spent with Seiji that made her feel like nothing mattered. Then there was the months of utter hell she went through in Takumi without him— the borderline physical abuse, the isolation, the loneliness. She had hung on, told herself she needed to hold on for him, for those memories when it felt like time had stopped. She dreamt of the hours drinking alone, wanting to forget, wanting to forget the pain of not being near him...

When Seiji pressed warm cloth against her wound, suddenly sharp green eyes snapped open as a loud gasp rattled it’s way out of her chest. It burned, holy hell it so bad. Barely conscious, Karleen squirmed, her free hand gripping the bedding below her. Every second of searing hot pain brought her closer back, ever gasp, every second of her heart hammering in her chest... and then the pain slowly faded, leaving her exhausted but awake.

Her green-gold eyes were dark now as they trailed up Seiji to his face, and despite the circumstances she managed to faintly crack a smirk at the Hattori. It faltered only for a moment when she noticed the frozen track of tears on his cheeks. He had been crying... he must have been so scared... ”Look at us... we’re a wreck.” With her good arm, she dragged Seiji down on to the bedding with her once he was done tending to her arm, despite the food cooking and the fire burning, despite feeling like she could fade away to dust at any given moment. Karleen buried her face in to his neck, sticking as close to him as she could. Her breathing, though shaky, was strong and rhythmic.

She was so cold and for once he felt warm to her. Her eyes fluttered shut, but she was still awake, mulling over the irony that she was cold for once. The pulsating pain in her arm was enough to remind her to stay awake, to stay alive, to stay tethered to here. Her arms wrapped around him, letting out a soft sigh. ”I’m okay.. I’m not going anywhere... please don’t cry anymore.”  

[Wolfe Whitehorn]

❄Seiji laughed as she relented at their broken status, only to be pulled into Karleen and tossed among the loose bedding. His fingers danced among her hair as she spoke to him, and he listened to her shaky breaths.

"Please... Don't ever give me a reason to cry anymore." He whispered as he leaned in and kissed her once more, his forehead pressed heavy to hers, the teardrops fading as their bodies warmed one another and his hands wrapped around her waist.

His last moments focused away from her were simply to move the pots of food and water to the far side of the hearth, to keep them from burning out while he held to her through the silent night.  

[Koresephone]

Wolfe Whitehorn

Karleen didn't sleep at all, not one second. She spent the night clinging to Seiji like he'd keep her tethered to this world. She was scared to close her eyes, scared that if she did she'd fade away and Seiji would wake up in the morning to find her gone. She couldn't do that to him, not after having gone through it herself. Karleen passed the time by playing with Seiji's hair and thinking of better days.

When the sun rose she could barely keep her eyes open, but it didn't matter. She made it.