Chapter Text
Despite Yukki’s complaints about doing housework and not fighting Shuuki when he had started out at Unit 7 of the Demon Defense Force, he had grown to cherish the brief moments of peace in the base he had now called his home. When they were not off eradicating hoards of Shuuki from Mato, or training to the point of exhaustion, or planning with the other Units on how to deal with the Thunder Gods.
It was sort of comical how domestic the base of unit 7 could be in those moments. Yuuki cooking in the kitchen for their dinner with enthusiasm as he sizzled the meat and cooked the noodles just how his teammates (especially Himari) liked it. By his side with a bright smile on her face, Nei was diligently helping him by cutting the vegetables for the stew, all while telling him about her day at school. Himari on the couch in the common area while reading a cheesy romance manga that she hid under a book cover to hide it from the others, though they all knew what she was really reading and just chose not to tease her (for now anyway). Shushu was on the other end of the couch, playing video games on her switch while doing her best to not to shout when she died. She failed miserably, startling them from time to time as her character met a grisly end and she had to start over. And Kyouka was in the middle of the living area, cleaning and polishing her sword as sat cross legged, almost in a meditative position. Though she did well to hide it, the soft smile on her face and relaxed posture of her shoulders indicated that she enjoyed the quiet and fruitful conversations of her subordinates.
Seeing everyone so at peace with themselves, he really did come to enjoy it. Even when nothing was happening, there was an heir of color and liveliness in the base that he truly cherished with all his heart. It reminded him of the warmth of a home, a true home, surrounded by the people he cared about. A feeling of love that he hadn’t felt since his sister---
A loud, blaring alarm sounded off in the base, startling them all to attention as they all knew what it meant. Leaving whatever they were doing behind, they all scrambled into formation to receive their orders from their Chief. When he heard the alarm of Shuuki in the area, his anticipation for action was tinged with a hint of disappointment that he made sure to push down in an instant. This was his duty to fight off and protect the earth from the monsters of Mato, he needed to focus on that and nothing else.
Kyouka had her hand outstretched to him, looking at the man with eyes burning in authority and determination, verbal commands unnecessary for what she was ordering of him. Kneeling down in submission and kissing her hand, a powerful bright light was emitted that forced Himari and Shushu to cover their eyes for a moment. When the light had dyed down, Yuuki was not there. Gone was the human man that was the caretaker of Unit 7, but a Shuuki like attack dog that towered over his teammates, ready to follow his master into battle without hesitation. Mounting onto his back, she commanded him to rush forward towards the area of Shuuki, Shushu and Himari following closely behind in the jeep.
Jumping into the hoard of Shuuki, the former human had pinned and bit down on one of the monsters with his massive sharp jaws, tearing and violently shaking it from side to side like a canine would to its prey. A few Shuuki had tried to attack from all sides at once, but were swiftly cut down by Kyouka’s blade. On her command, the slave rushed forward with claws extended out as he and Kyouka worked in perfect sync of the other, mowing down Shuuki after Shuuki.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see in the distance that Shushu’s giant form was handling a massive Shuuki, with Himari standing on her shoulder providing extra support with her machine gun arms.
Compared to other missions, it was all going well, just standard routine. Though he was relieved that they weren’t struggling or being overwhelmed, a part of him couldn’t help but be a little confused. Perhaps he was being paranoid, but this whole operation felt a little too easy. Like at any moment, the ease of this victory would ---
He felt a light pressure on what he was standing on. In an instant he moved to throw Kyouka off of his back, her cry of alarm and confusion quickly morphed into shock as two Shuuki burst out of the ground where she had been and jumped onto Yuuki’s back. His howls of pain when they started to claw and bite into his flesh as he struggled to get them off fueled a rage inside of her as she rushed forward to help him, cutting down any Shuuki foolish enough to get in her way.
Just as she was about to reach him, another Shuuki had burst from the ground and swatted her away. Recovering quickly while landing on her feet and making her way to cut it down, she stilled for a second as she heard the ground beneath her quaking. In an instant, there were dozens upon dozens of Shuuki bursting from the ground, surrounding Unit 7’s chief. What had been a small hoard was now quite large. Larger than what one member could handle.
Still pinned down by Shuuki, the former human tried all he could to tear them off him, feeling akin to a rampaging bull. But even as he tore one of them off of him, two more came to pile on, their claws and bites puncturing and tearing into his body.
Out of the corner of his increasingly obscured vision, he could spot Kyouka viciously fighting and mowing down Shuuki after Shuuki, a ferocious fire in her eyes that threatened to burn down everything around her. Even though she was holding her own, he could see that she was slowly but surely getting worn down. The woman was badly bruised, her uniform ruined with many cuts and stains of blood from her wounds. He could see that her precise strikes were getting sloppier and more disoriented as more and more Shuuki surrounded her. Her legs were shaking, barely able to hold herself upright. Her teeth gritted, preventing her from grunting in pain at every successful strike a Shuuki landed on her. And yet, as they both caught each other’s eyes, he could see that fire within her burning brighter than ever as she continued to make her way towards him.
She was fighting to the point beyond exhaustion to save him, he realized. And here he was, unable to help her in the slightest. Pinned down by these monsters as his master was doing everything she could to get to him. But he could see Kyouka, his chief, his savior, wasn’t going to last much longer despite her determination. He needed to get up. He needed to fight back. He needed to get to her. He couldn’t fail again. He wasn’t going to lose another loved one, not when he had the power to stop it.
With a new found resolve, he dug his claws into the ground as best he could and lowered himself. As soon as one of the Shuuki was close enough, he grabbed its legs with his jaw and bit down as hard as he could. Before the Shuuki could do anything, he used all the strength he could muster, turning his head and throwing it at the other monsters pinning him. The other Shuuki were momentarily disoriented at the sudden action, which allowed the former human to break free from their hold. Not letting a second go to waste, he grabbed onto two other Shuuki by their legs and started using them as living baseball bats on the other monsters.
Just like with Kyouka, he was now mowing down the oncoming Shuuki, albeit with a lot more blunt force than a blade or claws would allow. Shuuki after Shuuki, it didn’t matter how many he had to beat down. All that mattered was making sure Kyouka, that his teammates were okay as he tried to form a path towards his Chief. It was a slow process eliminating the hoards of monsters, but they were slowly regaining the advantage. With a quick glance, he could see that Himari and Shushu had been ambushed by multiple Shuuki as well, but had managed to fight them back, albeit with some fresh wounds and deep cuts to their bodies.
For what felt like hours, Unit 7 had cut down Shuuki after Shuuki until the battlefield was covered in nothing but Shuuki corpses. When it seemed that there were no more living Shuuki, the former human dropped his Shuuki clubs (long since dead from their use) to the ground, breathing heavily as he staggered towards his master. Said master was just a few meters away from him, breathing heavily with the blood of Shuuki covering her entire body, sword still gripped tightly in hand as she maintained her firm, yet shaky, stance. Still poised to attack any remaining Shuuki dumb enough to still be breathing.
“Kyouka,” she heard what her slave had managed to croak out, turning to see him crawling on all fours to support himself lest he collapse from exhaustion. His monstrous yet familiar voice causing the Chief to snap out of her rage fueled stupor as she looked at his beaten and battered form, grip on her sword softening as a relieved smile contrasted with the cuts and blood on her face.
“Yuuki,” his master breathed heavily, voice much more hoarse and pained from the battle, limping towards him with an almost relaxed gait. Passing over all of the Shuuki corpses, she paid them no mind, all her focus was on making sure her subordinate, her slave, her friend was alright. Unfortunately, she was far too exhausted to notice a Shuuki slowly rising among the corpses, even with its many wounds and parts of its body missing.
But Yuuki did notice. His relief for his master quickly turned to fear as the dead Shuuki rose to its full height, towering over Kyouka as it raised its sharp claw and struck down with lightning quick speed for the kill.
What had happened next felt like a blur. One moment he was watching in stunned dread as a Shuuki was about to stab Kyouka. The next, he was standing where she had stood, right before the Shuuki that went for the kill on his Chief. Judging by how the Shuuki had fallen to the ground quickly after his intervention, it seemed that he had struck right before it could strike Kyouka. Though, he wasn’t paying it any mind beyond that it was now dead, but rather at his Chief. Turning his head towards her, he found she now standing off to the right side, far enough away from the monster’s strike. He opened his mouth to ask if she was alright, but paused when he saw her expression. It neither looked relieved nor at ease at escaping the potentially fatal blow. Rather, her mouth was wide open, her eyes went wide and weirdly still, her body was slack but not in the way it did when she was relaxed. She looked utterly terrified. It was an expression he had never seen on her before, so foreign and wrong on his master’s face as she continued to stare at him. It unnerved him.
He made to ask what was wrong, but he strangely couldn’t get the words out. He tried to ask again, this time forcing himself to speak, but was surprised to find not words but rather blood coming out of his mouth. Before he could process that, he had started coughing. His coughing had only brought out more blood, his body seemingly compelled spit out more and more than what he thought was normal.
Suddenly, he felt a pain in his chest. A pain that felt more like a scalding inferno, burning him more than his other wounds he had received today. Lowering his now human hand (when had he transformed back to normal) to where the pain was, he found the reason for his pain, the blood, and the fear on his Chief’s face.
His eyes widened in terror as he found a portion of his chest missing, a bloodied and gaping hole right where apart of his upper right chest should’ve been.
His mind went blank for a moment, unsure of how to process what was happening. How was he supposed to react? The question almost felt pointless to ask, but his numb mind couldn’t come up with anything else, the sudden annoying ringing in his ears becoming the only thing he could process about this.
Unable to think of what to do, he looked up at his master for … for … what? Comfort? Orders? To Apoligize? He wasn’t sure what he wanted to say, but he knew that as soon as he looked at her, he immediately regretted it.
His master’s expression was marred in anguish, mouth agape in utter shock and eyes trembling at the sight of him. Her beautiful features scarred in a mess of grime, dirt, blood, and now streaming tears pouring like waterfalls out of her eyes. Yuuki wanted nothing more than to reach out and caress her face, to comfort and reassure her that everything was going to be okay.
So he tried putting one foot over the other to do just that. But his body had finally failed him. His vision started to blur as his legs had given out and he fell to the hard ground with a stiffening thud. He thought heard someone screeching his name, though he could barely make out who with all the ringing in his ears.
His life began flashing before his eyes, no doubt his mind’s last attempt to try and figure out how to get out of this alive, no matter how fruitless. All the memories he cherished and would rather forget. His sister’s ever bright smile, a constant presence in his life even after she disappeared. How she played and rewarded him points for doing his chores. How she promised to always be there for him no matter what. The anguish he felt and the tears shed when he realized Aoba was gone and never coming back. The boring life he had before entering Mato, the one where he wished nothing more than to have more excitement in his life. Being saved by his future master Kyouka, and being offered a chance to be apart of Unit 7 of help defend the earth from Shuuki. Meeting Shushu, Himari, and Nei. Every embarrassing moment who had with them. All of the training exercises they did together. The teasing from Shushu that slowly morphed into playful banter and playing video games with her. Helping out Himari with her training and reading cheesy manga with her, the small smiles she made when she thought he wasn’t looking contradicting her proclamations that she didn’t like spending time with him. Helping Nei with her homework and her helping him with cooking, cherishing what almost felt like having an enthusiastic little sister by his side. Helping and training with Kyouka in order to help her achieve her dreams of becoming Commander and getting justice for his village, two people learning to work as a unit and supporting each other as such. Creating a wonderful meal for all of them, sitting down to eat and talk among themselves, a feeling of peace surrounding them. Almost like a family.
He was going to miss that, he mourned with a grim acceptance to his fate. He was going to miss them. And judging by what he assumed to be the cries of his teammates through his muffled hearing and blurry vision, they were going to miss him too. His heart ached with guilt at the pain he was causing them. The same pain that he had felt when he lost his sister.
His sister. Despite himself, his lips quirked up in a bloodstained smile. If he were to meet her again, would Aoba look at him with pride for his heroic deeds, or disappointment for his life ending so young. She had disappeared from his life, and he could do nothing about it. And yet …
Before he had lost consciousness, he had one last thought. One that brought him at least some peace for all the pain he was causing his team, his family.
“Better me than them,” before all went dark.
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Yuuki missed his sister. Since the day she disappeared, it had felt like a part of him was torn away forever. His life now felt incomplete without her.
Her suffocating hugs that felt so warm that the world now felt like an ice age without them. Her wide smiled that made whatever grievance he had with the world irrelevant. The protective barrier she offered him when he needed her most, shielding him from all the horrible parts of the world.
He missed her, and he wished nothing more than to have her come back, no matter what. To be reunited with the only person that really cared about him, the only one that understood him and loved him.
His parents tried to care for him as best they could, before and after his sister’s disappearance, and he did appreciate them for that. He never went hungry, nor was he punished too harshly for his bad behavior as a child. He knew he was lucky in that way.
But they too were just as grief stricken about their daughter being gone. And with both needing to work to pay the bills, that meant they had even less time for him. Not that they had much time for him before. There was a reason his first words were Aoba, and not mama or papa.
She had practically raised him. Her constant encouragements in teaching him to clean and cook so he could be useful in the future, teaching him defend himself and protecting him when he couldn’t, disciplining him when he did something bad and teaching him why it was bad, and caring for him whenever he was sick or needed support. Despite their efforts, his parents couldn’t fill that space where his sister had once been. Eventually, with how Yuuki returned to an empty home more often in the years following Aoba’s disappearance, it felt like his parents left him too. Not that he could blame them.
Why would they want to be around the worthless son compared to the ever glowing daughter? Why would anyone want to get close with him, when he had nothing special to offer them? Why couldn’t he have been taken away instead of his sister, he would ask himself on those nights where he would wake up screaming her name, wishing for her to hold him in her arms again like she used to. And when she didn’t come, he would wonder why she didn’t get the chance to live her life, rather than the waste of space that was him.
It should’ve been him, he would often think. After waking from his night terrors, during random parts of the day where he couldn’t distract himself, seeing the solemn and almost soulless looks of his parents faces.
It should’ve been him.
And if he had the chance, he would’ve gladly taken her place. Traded his life for hers. Better he die so that she could've lived.