Kurashi didn’t know what possessed him to follow Masaomi that night.
Maybe he was just fed up. After all, his boyfriend was the leader of prominent color gang, and refused to give up his life of violence for him; that alone was enough to make anyone question the relationship at some point.
Maybe it was just the case of him being worried. Kurashi hated seeing Masaomi leave the house, and hours afterwards spent wondering whether he will see his lover again, or whether he will find out in the morning news that he has been stabbed, or beaten to death in some alley.
Whatever it was, Kurashi was there; and he wished, oh, so much, that he had stayed at home.
Masaomi was alone; his whole frame bloodied, but not with his own blood; at least majority of it wasn’t the blond’s. His hands were dripping with it; and the little drops of blood were a sight Kurashi knew he will have troubles ever forgetting.
The blond’s voice startled him; cold and calculating, it felt strange and unfamiliar, as if coming from a different person. Suddenly, Kurashi realised just how much Masaomi had changed since he has first met him. These little, subtle changed which were happening right under his nose culminated into this; and before him stood not a cheerful, blond-haired boy, easy to blush and laugh; no, before him stood a stranger; a man, so cold and distant from what he has just done he felt almost inhuman.
The realisation of it made the raven take a step back.
Masaomi’s explanation fell into Kurashi’s ears, at first seeming like some vague, incomprehensible idea. Threat. Protecting others. Words that fit the boy he knew, spoken in a voice that didn’t fit him at all.
And then Masaomi turned, and Kurashi took a few more steps back, his eyes widening; and for the first time when he looked at Masaomi, there was something apart from confusion, heartbreak and worry in his eyes.
He listened, transfixed, to the man’s explanations; noticing more how rambled they became than what the words meant. Kurashi’s hands started to shake; he came to the realisation, by now.
“No...” he whispered, shaking his head, taking a few more steps back. His eyes, now open wide in shock, were filled to the brim with fear, his body shaking, backing away from the bloody-handed stranger before him. “This... this is wrong... This isn’t... protecting, this isn’t freedom.” A trembling hand raised to Kurashi’s lips, covering them as he stared at the blond.