Disclaimer: I do not own K-Project.

Sarumi is canon: Yes, yes he did just hit Fushimi with his bat, and yes, he has many issues that he is unwilling to address, maybe he will find it with in himself to look at those things from here on out ?

RosyRaven: Happy belated birthday friend! I know this chapter is a bit late, but the reviews have fueled me and so I've been working more actively on my writing. I really hope you had a great birthday and that you enjoy the next installation of "Coming Undone"

Coming Undone

Chapter Four: Castle Of Glass

The impact of the hit rebounded up Yata's arms, wide hazel eyes clearing in time to see Fushimi fall to his knees, a disturbingly placid expression on the others visage as red started making tracks down his face from the where the bat had connected with his head. An electric jolt of pure terror shot through Misaki and the red head hardly believed his own senses. His body felt numb, yet there was a prickling sensation everywhere. Yata saw, rather than felt his weapon fall from his tingling limp hands as he stood paralyzed in shock at what had just happened. The clattering of the wooden bat on the concrete was unnaturally loud as it filled the static stillness that filled the spaces around them.

Why didn't he…? He could've dodged! Icy dread was resurgent around his thoracic cavity, his breath stalled in his throat as he looked on in shock. Misaki hadn't expected to contact the other, he had been counting on Saru blocking him …So…why didn't he? The red head feared the answer

Fushimi's lips stretched into a thin smile, his blue eyes , desperate, were painted in the fevered light that indicated the blue soldier was further gone than he let on. The answer to Misaki's unspoken answer hung in the perpetual static silence in the interlude.

Things seemed to slow for Yata as he stood, trembling, yet frozen in place above his kneeling and bleeding opponent. The Ravenette hadn't tried to stand. Saru just watched Yata, a patient resignation, with and undercurrent of frenetic anticipation on his features. Does Saru want this?! The notion was alarming, and as much as Yata wanted to deny the truth of the thought, how could he when the evident was plainly displayed before him? If Yata was honest, he had watch Fushimi slowly succumb to his self-destructive ways, and he had spent most of his time trying to pretend he didn't see it; Hoping that it wasn't real. Much of the negligence was based on the betrayal that Yatagarasu had felt when the other male had left HOMRA, but that's not a valid reason to let him fall…to let him destroy himself…is it? Yata wasn't sure.

"OH, COME ON, MI-SA-KI!" Saru growled in frustration, a slight lilt of manic impatience edging his tone. This was taking too long, he needed Yata to break him! "You can do better, don't pity me now!" he chided sardonically A smirk that didn't reach his eyes. At least not in the way one would anticipate, unless you were familiar with the man.

There was a lull in the red's fire as Yatagarasu stood, trembling, frustrated, and fearful; Not for himself of course. Even though they fought every time they saw each other, even though Yata felt betrayed by his schoolmate, he worried for him all the same. He worried if he ate, or if he had been taking care of himself, or if the blues were taking proper care of his friend. It was painfully obvious that Saru needed help, and it was most likely because the ravenette denied it even if it had been offered from another.

Heated hazel eyes lifted and met cold blue one. 'ironic...' when had those blue eyes ever been warm? It seemed nothing had changed much, it seemed that being with the blues had not created the change that Saruhiko had hoped. Yata's lips thinned. His gaze flicking to the visible marks of self-mutilation on his old friends forearms. 'I had hoped….'

Frustration and shame ate at the red clansman, he felt heat rise in his throat and eyes, "You fuckin' Monkey!" he growled, voice tight and raw with the heat of his clan. How did he help Fushimi understand that this wasn't something he had ever wanted for him. He didn't want to see Saru break, he had never wanted that, to be the cause, was he the cause?

Fushimi seemed to think it was his fault. With a flash of red he launched forwards pinning his former friend to the snowbank beneath them unable to articulate all that he was feeling into words.

They fell into the snowbank Saru not even resisting a little. When Yata looked into the other's eyes he felt a chill snake down his back that wasn't necessarily from the cold. Saru had always carried a weight in his eyes, but in this moment they were so dark and vacant they looked like twin voids. The blue that Yata had long admired dulled to a grey, what little light that had been there, gone like a candle that had been blown out.

How long had they been like that and Yata simply hadn't noticed? He felt a pang of shame as he realized that the state his friend was in could really be his fault. He faltered; eyes wide as he struggled with this realization. But I never…is this my fault?

The ravenette used the moment of hesitation to grab Yata's white sweatshirt and flip them so he was on top. He grinned in a challenging manner as he pinned the redhead, "You'll have to try harder if you really want me to stop." He whispered silkily into the smaller male's ear. These words filled Yata with dread, it was hard to conceive just why Saru's word made his anxiety spike, but perhaps now wasn't the time for introspection. It was also startling to note, that despite Saruhiko's injury he was somehow stronger than the red head remembered as he began to struggle against the blue's hold, rising panic overwhelming his ability for rational thought.

"Do you fucking hear yourself? Stop you? Stop you from what you damn monkey!?" his voice cracked under the emotional duress, heat pickling the corners of his eyes, "Have you lose your mind!?" at some point Misaki's hands had found purchase on Fushimi's blood soaked shirt collar, "You're bleeding! Saru, your head is bleeding!" his tone was pleading, desperate to reach the ravenette that lingered above him. He hoped Saru might be able to feel the red's concern, but this hope was dashed the other male's face became stone. Misaki let out a primal sound of pure frustration as he shook Fushimi like a rag doll. The blue responded to this with a smile holding the Yata firmly until the red head couldn't take it anymore. With a feral snarl fueled by his fear and frustration Yata maneuvered his way out from underneath Saru and they rolled around in the cold snow, grappling with each other for a few moments before Misaki ended up on top once more , panting from his exertion as he sat on top of an equally breathless Saruhiko.

Misaki still had a firm grasp on the other collar, and still felt the heat from his fire fueling his frustration. He took the fire and shook Saru repeatedly slamming him into the snowbank for emphasis after each word. "Fucking. Stop. Just. Fucking. Stop. It!" He growled hot tears finally betraying him and slipping down his cheeks, "I don't fucking like it when you are like this, I fucking hate who you've become!" his frustration slowly waned as he clung to the ravenette. He realized what he'd done had not been in line with the care he was trying to express, but he just wanted Saru to hear him, and nothing appeared to be working. Even still, Saru seemed pleased somehow.

Fushimi lifted his hand from where it rested in the snow Misaki flinched expecting retaliation, what he received instead was a tender caress of his cheek from the raven-haired man beneath him. Hazel eyes blinked in confusion as he looked down at the blue, grey-blue shining, although the irises themselves were fairly vacant, a characteristic empty smile painting his lips.

"Too bad." Misaki felt his insides sink further at the two simple words. What did that mean? Hey keyed into Saru's voice as he continued to speak, "This is what you got; this is who I am." The ravenette's words were soft and surprisingly steady despite the potential concussion, "Every time you hurt me, why, it feels better than the last. To know that, at least for that time, all you can see and think about is me." He paused his lips thinning slightly and his expression growing darker, "If I were to die," Misaki didn't want Saru t continue this thought. The red felt terror in every fiber of his being, "I think it'd be okay, as long as it was you who killed me."

The words Saru had just said ripped so tangibly through Misaki's chest that it elicited a tangible reaction. His fist connected with Saru's cheek before he could stop himself. Tears tumbled anew down Misaki's cheeks, leaving frozen tracks as they fell. The red head felt oddly…hollow despite the burning anger at the way the bigger picture came together in his mind. The surrender in Saruhiko's visage, the marks openly displayed on his arms, the mutilated pride on his chest; Combine that with the words Saru had just said. What Saru had just said, "Don't fucking do this to me." Misaki couldn't take it, he just couldn't. his pride be damned, he would not let Saru make him his reaper. The redhead struggled to breathe and bowed his head and clutched at his chest with one of his hands. It hurt so much.

When Misaki looked up it was Saru's turn to be startled. The red head looked so utterly broken. His hazel eyes were wide with terror and his lips trembled and were parted as if he meant to speak but nothing would come out. Trembling hands came up to the blood-soaked collar, but there was almost no aggression in the way they clung to the fabric. Saru's vision was swimming a bit but the lost look on his friends face, well, it only seemed to make him feel heavier.

This isn't what I wanted. He hadn't anticipated that Misaki might care this much, he realized he crossed a line, and it was certain that there was no repairing it. he had pushed too hard. He always pushed too hard; this want anything new.

"…leave me…don't….Saru…" Grey eyes focused as he realized the other was speaking, he had really only registered his name because he had been so far in his head.

"Don't you dare leave me behind. Don't l-leave, don't you dare k-k-don't leave. Don't. Don't, please don't—Oh!" he choked on emotion struggling to find the breath to speak. "Why do you make me choose every damn time!" Yata he ground out from between clenched teeth as he struggled to control the raw emotion that was fighting to be free. The struggle felt like a coil in his gut and he folded over on top of Fushimi's prone form burying his face in the other male's chest.

Saru found it ironic, Yata crying on top of him, after beating him. Somewhere in his addled brain this was funny, and though he felt the darkness tugging at his consciousness he was fighting to stay awake. Why? Because Misaki had asked for him to stay. Realistically, Saru wouldn't be able to maintain consciousness much longer it was simply too much of a task for a man who had lost so much blood from his head wound. Despite his desire to follow the directive to stay, the ravenette succumbed to the dizziness and fatigue permitting the darkness claim him. Yata sitting on him and the outpouring of emotion from the smaller male created a warmth within the hollow shell of Fushimi's body, and the warmth only aided his submission to unconsciousness, despite the cold that enveloped them.

Misaki froze when the way the ravenette's body went limp under him. He hardly dared breath, waiting a moment to validate if he should follow the anxious impulse that currently paralyzed his system. When Fushimi remained immobile Yata's brain entered into panic mode, thought flooding his system. What did he do now? He knew the answer, but when it came to clan business, Misaki would rather not have police, or the blues, by extension involved. He was aware that every second was precious even as he grappled internally with the conflicting need to save Fushimi but to not notify the blues, his very skin crawled as the idea. Yatagarasu knew he needed to act, so in a moment of decisiveness he whipped out his phone and dialed, hoping he wouldn't regret his choice.

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Thanks again for reading, every review fuels my motivation! I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter of "Coming Undone".

~CGreyson ?