Risks are Worth Taking for Friends
Mitsukiki Week, Day 2, Prompt B: I got your back, no matter what!
Title : Risks are Worth Taking for Friends
Synopsis : Kiki gets injured protecting Mitsuhide during the infamous fight with the bandits. What will happen afterward?
SPOILER ALERT : This is the retelling of episode 4 of AnS (chapter 7 & 8 in the manga) with a twist. Do not read this if you do not want it spoiled for you.
Disclaimer : I DO NOT OWN AKAGAMI NO SHIRAYUKIHIME! All rights belong to Akiduki Sorata. All the characters mentioned in this fan-fiction are her creations. Any references to actual people are purely coincidental.
“Too slow!” Zen taunted Mitsuhide when his three aides joined the fight.
“Sorry, we were all listening to you!” Mitsuhide shot back, holding his own against a bandit.
Kiki was clashing blades with another bandit who she swiftly disarmed and knocked out. Two other bandits closed in on her and Mitsuhide and forced them to be back-to-back as they held out their swords.
“On the count of three,” the turquoise-haired man ordered under his breath.
One.
Two.
Three!
They rushed towards their attackers and engaged in battle with them. Kiki quickly landed a blow to her opponent’s side while Mitsuhide took a bit more time with his. She turned around to watch them and practically yelped when she saw another bandit rushing towards him, trying to catch him unawares.
There’s no time to warn him, she analyzed in her mind. What should I do?
She rushed forward without another thought and intervened the bandit before they could reach Mitsuhide. She was rewarded with a dagger in her side. She suppressed her scream of agony to a small muffle and took out the small dagger.
“Kiki, are you all right?!” Mitsuhide called out, glancing at her from the side of his eye as he brushed his sword against his opponent’s.
The blonde swordswoman gave a small nod in his direction. Slowly raising her sword and trying to ignore the searing pain in her side, she looked her opponent in the eye. “You’ll regret ever trying to harm my partner.”
The man in question gulped, shakily taking his sword out of its sheath. “B-Bring it on!”
It didn’t take that long for her to overcome her opponent, even with her injury. She dodged his strikes and countered one with one of her own, causing him to topple backward. She whacked him over the head and rendered him unconscious.
Luckily for her, that was one of the last bandits. Obi had tied up the last one a minute after she had finished doing the same to her opponent. Mitsuhide rushed over to her side almost immediately when he saw she was done.
“Kiki, are you all right?!” He asked once again, giving her a once over. His eyebrow furrowed ever so slightly in concentration as he mentally assessed her injury.
She turned her grimace into a tight-lipped smile. “For the most part. I’m sure it’s nothing a good night’s sleep couldn’t cure.”
Kiki took a step forward and suddenly felt dizzy. What’s happening?
“Kiki!” She heard someone call out in the distance. Her eyelids suddenly felt very heavy and she closed them, seeing nothing but black.
She felt as if she were falling. Falling into a deep abyss.
Then everything went blank.
Kiki slowly opened her eyelids, blinking a few times to erase all the blurriness in her vision. Once she was aware of everything that had happened, she bolted straight up on her bed. Once she did, she immediately wished she had not. She grimaced as she put a hand to her side. “Whoa, easy there!” Mitsuhide cautioned, sitting in a chair next to her bed. He placed a hand on her forehead. “How do you feel?
“All right, I suppose. How long was I sleeping?”
“Well, it’s the early afternoon right now. You’ve been asleep almost the entire day,” He informed her, lowering his hand to his side.
She let out a low sigh, smacking her forehead. The entire day?! Prince Zen must be so worried about me…
She opened one eye and looked at him. She opened her mouth to ask him a question but he beat her to it. “Zen is completely fine with you missing a day,” he assured her. “He wants you to rest for as long as you can. He said that you can take the week off, if you’d like.”
She shook her head stubbornly. “No, no, I couldn’t possibly do that! I’ll just take the rest of today off and try to come back tomorrow.” “You really should rest,” Mitsuhide advised her. “I was the one who bandaged your wound.”
This caused her to glance down at her side before looking back at him with wide eyes. “You… you bandaged my wound?”
He blinked, confused for a moment, before realisation dawned on him. He waved his hands frantically in the air. “Y-Yes, but I didn’t undress you! Shirayuki did that and placed a cloth over your chest. She was too busy with other patients to finish bandaging you, so she gave me the task.”
“How did I end up wearing a shirt?”
“Shirayuki came back and dressed you in one of her shirts. I swear I left the room when she did!” He clenched his fists and bowed slightly in chair.
She let out a soft chuckle. “That’s so like you, you know? Being chivalrous is part of your identity. No wonder you’re such a good fighter.”
“Speaking about fighting…,” he began before lifting his head and giving her a firm look. “Why would you risk yourself protecting me?”
“You’re my partner. Wouldn’t you do the same for me?” “Of course I would, but I’m not someone of consequence!” He sharply told her. “You’re a noblewoman and the heiress to an important family. If something were to happen to you, your father would be devastated.”
“And no one would be devastated if you were to get hurt?”
“That’s not the point! You have a duty to your family foremost. You cannot think so carelessly about your own well-being, especially when it comes to a lowly soldier such as myself.”
“It doesn’t matter if I have a different status than you,” she responded back softly, looking down at her hands. “You’re my best friend, Mitsuhide. I mean that with all my heart. These past few years have been so great with you around.”
She looked up at him and saw his gaze soften. “I feel the exact same way, but that’s not the point. Both of us have a duty to protect Zen, not each other. I’d risk my life for yours, but I do not expect you to do the same in turn. I don’t have anyone who would be devastated if harm were to come to me.”
“You idiot,” she chided him softly as she placed a hand on his cheek. “ I would be so devastated if something were to happen to you. If you’re so busy protecting Zen, who will protect you ?”
He placed his hand on hers and closed his eyes. “I can protect myself.”
“And I can protect you,” she told him gently. “If you’d just let me, I’d be glad to do so.”
“Kiki…”
“Don’t,” she stated swiftly and with conviction. “We both know I won’t change my mind, so it’s better to just accept it.”
He opened his eyes and smiled at her. “Okay, okay, I’ll let you protect me, but you have to let me protect you as well. Deal?”
“Deal.”
