The battlefield had gone silent, dust still hanging in the air over scorched ground and broken remnants of the fight, but the stillness wasn’t peace—it was aftermath, and at its center you lay injured after stepping in to protect him.

Kyojuro Rengoku knelt beside you immediately, his usual brightness completely shaken as he held you steady, voice sharper than ever. “Stay with me—don’t you dare close your eyes yet!” he said, panic breaking through his composure as he checked your breathing again and again, forcing his hands to stay calm even as everything else in him wasn’t.

“Why did you move like that… you didn’t need to,” he muttered, cutting himself off as he leaned closer, refusing to let even a sliver of distance form between you and him. “I’m here. You’re not leaving.”