nekokoban

Dear world: finals suck STOP. I have a cool new book about food STOP. I probably should've waited and bought that as a 'reward' for surviving my Biochem final STOP. Too late now haha mineminemine STOP.

Also it's my hour-break for lunch (see how I'm not eating? |D) and I was going through files and I found this. I, uh, think I was supposed to post this a while ago, but. I write slower than molasses and then I forget to post. |D

P.S. Anastasia from Shadow Hearts: Covenant totally grew up to be Anastasia from the animated Don Bluth movie. Dimitri is kind of like Yuri's dorky Russian cousin, it works. ~~Or something.~~

Gravelight
Shadow Hearts -- Yuri/Alice
for

miss_arel and

wenlet
1024 words
Fluffy dorklove. BECAUSE I LIKE THAT SORT OF THING EH. Timeline ranges, but ends after the Graveyard scene in Blue Castle. |D

+++++

The last soft light of the Cure spell faded away, and Alice closed her bible. "There," she said, "how does that feel?"

Yuri rolled his shoulders back, considering, then cracked his neck. "Not bad," he said. "You're pretty good at this sort of thing."

She giggled, covering her mouth with both hands. "Well," she said, "I've had a lot of practice! You're always getting into trouble, after all."

"... Shut up." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I can't really protect you if I spend all my time running away, right? You gotta take some hits when you're in my position."

"Of course," said Alice, still smiling. "We'll be leaving in the morning, so ..."

"Yeah," he said. "G'night, Alice."

"Good night, Yuri."

+++

"Ho ho ho," said the Staff Mask, its empty eyes glittering. "Do you wish to quiet the Malice, boy?"

Yuri put his fists up, smirking. "Yeah," he said. "You gotta problem with that?"

+++

He staggered into breakfast late the next morning,trying not to limp obviously; it might've been his imagination, but it seemed that the Malice was getting nastier as time went on, and the bastards bit hard.

"Good morning, Yuri," Zhuzen said, then paused to squint at him. "Lord, boy, what's wrong with you? You look like hell."

"Bite me," Yuri muttered and dropped heavily into a chair. Alice frowned and got to her feet.

"You're pale," she said. "What happened?"

"Eh," he said, and rubbed the back of his neck. "Not much, don't worry about it."

"Yuri," she said sternly, and it kind of surprised him how good she was at looming; this was the universal tone of a warning mother. "You look awful. Where did you get these injuries?"

"Injuries?" he asked weakly. "Heh, I don't know what you're talking abou--"

She flicked a finger against the center of his chest and he cut himself off with a loud yelp, doubling over.

"I thought so," she said grimly. "You've been out fighting again, haven't you?"

"Er, Alice, that's not --"

"You don't have to go out and challenge anyone you meet, you know," she said sternly. "I'm not incapable of taking care of myself, you know."

"I --"

"Try to take a break, okay?" She looked worried now, and damnit he was weak to big sad blue eyes, especially when her lower lip shook like that. "I worry about you."

"Ah ..." He watched dumbly as she opened her bible to the appropriate page for the Cure spell. "I'll try to be more careful next time?"

Alice pressed her lips together and shook her head. "You'd better," she said.

+++

"Haha," whined the Grail Mask. "Do you wish to quiet the Malice?"

"Bring it on!"

+++

"Again?" Alice sounded exasperated now. "This is the fourth time this week! Yuri!"

He resisted the urge to cower as the Cure spell enveloped him. "It was an accident," he said. "Me'n the shower didn't agree so well --"

"Oh, you're impossible."

+++

Six months later, Yuri woke to the sound of knocking on his door. He sat up, bracing his weight on his hands. "Whossit?"

The door opened, and Alice peeked inside. "Yuri ... ?"

"Oh," he said, and straightened further, patting the bed beside him a bit awkwardly. "Hey. Come in."

She smiled hesitantly and pushed inside, coming over to sit beside him. "Um," she said quietly. "Yuri, about what happened at Blue Castle ..."

"Hey, forget about it." He waved. "Serves me right, for hitting you first."

"No, I meant ..." She laced her fingers together and glanced down. "When I was in that graveyard, I saw a bunch of masks ..."

"You did?" Yuri eyed her. "So ..."

"They mentioned something about something called 'malice,'" she said quietly. "Do you recognize the word?"

"Heh!" Yuri shrugged and leaned his head back. "Yeah, it happens whenever I kill monsters. They resent it, so they sort of gather in here." He tapped his temple. "Eventually, I gotta get rid of 'em -- it's sort of like cleaning stuff out."

"Then ..." She hunched her shoulders a little. "It's in your head, right? But you fight them, and the injuries open up on your body when you wake ..."

"Something like that." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't really get it, but it works out somehow. If I go too long without cleaning up, things like that Fox Face sort of came after me."

"Oh." She looked down, then sidelong at him. "You should have told me," she said. "I thought you were out doing stupid things, but instead you were actually just trying to keep yourself safe ..."

"It wasn't anything that big," he protested. "I just ... had to do it. So I did. I --"

"I feel bad," she confessed. "I yelled at you all those times because I thought you were being foolish and hiding things from me, and instead you were fighting that 'malice' ..."

"Nah, don't," Yuri said. "I could've told you, I just didn't want you to worry."

"I don't mind worrying," she protested. "Yuri, I want to be able to help you. If you're going to protect me, you have to let me do something in return."

"Alice--"

"No, really," she insisted. "Yuri, let me help you."

Yuri rubbed the back of his head, slightly embarrassed. "Er," he said. "You already do."

"I do?" she blinked. "How?"

"Heh, well." Yuri shrugged a bit. "After I get knocked around a bit, you always patch me up again. That helps. So, uh. That's enough for me, really." He shifted and glanced away, still rubbing his neck. "And, hey, you snapped me out of that stupid suicidal funk in the first place. I think that's plenty."

"... Oh." She considered for a moment, then shifted a little closer and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I'm glad to be able to do something ..."

"... Yeah," he said. "As long as you're here, that's a lot you do for me."

"Then," she said, in a voice gone quietly shy, "is it all right if I stay here right now?"

Yuri grinned to himself, and put an arm around her shoulders; she was soft and comfortably warm against him. "Hey," he said, "that's just fine with me."

--end--

Date: 2006-03-12 07:53 pm (UTC)

From:

miss-arel.livejournal.com

no subject

One word:

AAAAAWWWWWWWWWWW.

That is all. You may now return to your regularly scheduled finals. *waves pom-poms* Ganbare!

*rolls around in the cute fluffy woobie love of doom zomg*