Just...what...Hayate...?
Alarm shot through Hayate’s body as Faivish spoke to him. He was…alive!
Gently he pulled Fai into his arms, as close as he could not wanting to hurt him, but finding himself unable to let Faivish go. New tears spilling down his face as he kissed the man on the lips then hugged him again, his shoulders shaking. He didn’t care if Fai would remember this or not, he was just so happy that Fai wasn’t dead, that there was still some hope for him.
“Faivish," he whispered pressing his face again to Fai’s cheek, kissing at him over and over again, never remembering a time in his life he had been more happy, more relieved. His Faivish was alive!
“Move aside boy!â€? a gruff voice spoke suddenly from behind. Hayate suddenly jolted out of his revere turned to look at the audience surrounding them, a light stain of red forming on his neck and moving all the way up to his face. There must have been at least half the brothel all with curious, crying, or happy faces staring at the two men, and several other onlookers watching them like it was the best entertainment they had ever witnessedâ€"obviously clients who found this scene touching and at the same time, exciting.
“Way to go Hayate!� Someone shouted. “I knew Faivish couldn’t die so easily,� someone else said. “Well, that explains a lot!� someone else said laughing. “Nearly destroyed the room upstairs.� “Yeah, I thought Hayate hated…� "Damn, you were right, the boy can kiss..."
“I said, move aside boy!� the doctor said waving Hayate away. Not wanting to remove himself from Fai’s side, but knowing he needed medical attention he gently put him down, taking his shirt off and using it as a pillow to prop up Fai’s head from laying on broken glass. That seemed to draw the attention of a few females from the small crowd who all in unison sighed heavily as if it was the most romantic thing they had ever seen. He glared suddenly at the girls giggling beside him and stepped away, feeling himself get pushed and prodded away from Faivish as people began hounding him about the fight upstairs and how a few who had been outside had seen Hayate save his life.
He saved my life…?
That’s right, Hayate thought suddenly feeling ashamed at his earlier actions. He looked up to his bedroom window and looked away again not really sure why most of the people around were looking at him like a hero too. Hell he had caused all this. Almost killed him, including Fai. There were some onlookers who did look at him with somethingâ€"was that disgust? â€"and he turned away before they could see him notice this.
Not really knowing what to do and his own hands and legs bleeding thick sticky droplets of blood, he glanced down at the healer squatting beside him with his bag of medicines and tools and then back to Faivish now that he was alive…his mind working overtime on everything he had said and done publicly…
And how much did Fai hear just now? Did he hear him confess to him his feelings? Feel his kisses, his embrace? Damn he had even kissed the guy after Fai had woken up!
Well he didn’t necessarily tell him he loved him, even though it probably was quite obvious. It was to several other prostitutes who suddenly passed him winking at him, and patting him on the shoulder.
Does he know? Nah, he's too out of it to remember that...he just…just…
Hayate shook the nonsense aside. Nah, it was just panic, that’s all. He didn’t any feelings for Faivish! That was ridiculous! He was just suffering from shock and delusion, just like earlier when he…
Gods be damned! He wasn’t going to start thinking about THAT again!
Hayate looked around. Why the hell was everyone so cheerful? he thought suddenly angry at their lightheartedness. Because Fai is too strong to just die from…
Oh no, his wings! His beautiful wings! What had he done?
Hayate turned away and began crying silently. Then without warning he was being pulled further and further away from Fai until he couldn’t see him anymore, onlookers going up to see how the big guy was doing. Then someone tapped him on the shoulder. Hayate turned to see his good friend Rain smiling at him, a look of surprise on his face and sympathy.
“Rain,� he said turning to the older boy pulling him off to the side so no one could hear their conversation. After all their friendship was the deepest secret Hayate kept from Fai…and from everyone else.
Rain, a gawky, short and pox-faced servant was the opposite of Fai and Hayate in every way. He didn’t want to call the guy ugly because well he liked him (especially since he was the only guy he didn’t faint around) and because they were good friends. Hayate and Rain though kept this facade to themselves, always acting like mortal enemies when in public, secretly doing that though so Fai wouldn’t know and interfere with the relationship they had or tease Hayate about his friendship. A completely platonic one of course. Rain already got enough crap from other vain and bossy whores. Rain had been his best friend for the two years, when everyone knew the two lads to be sort of enemies. Rain ragging on Hayate every chance he got to show people he just didn’t really like the young prostitute. Worked of course. Rain just wasn’t that noticeable and spent most of his time cleaning and doing chores than anything else.
“Look Rain,â€? Hayate said quickly handing him that large bag of gold he had with him. “Take this, go into town, there is a small little hut up the hill a bit, a man sells rare medicines, herbs and other goods. Get something called Black X, the big bottle and bring it back to meâ€"hurry!â€?
“What’s Black X?� Rain said.
“It’s a medicineâ€"a sort of paste, but it also is suppose to heal scars fast so they don’t show, and have some kind of pain killer in them.â€?
“Yeah, sure, you sure it really does that?� Rain said looking skeptical. “It sounds like some sort of hoax.�
“It’s not,� Hayate said growing impatient. “I saw one of the other prostitutes using it before. It’s very hard to come by, expensive, and I know that trader has a bottle.�
Rain still didn’t look convinced. “Hayate, this is three years of your life savings. It can’t cost that much!� he whispered shaking the bag some. “And you sure you want to use it on...Fai of all people?�
Hayate suddenly growled at Rain his expression darkening. “It does work and yes I want to use it on Fai. I owe him that much!â€? Hayate said. “It’s very expensive, and rare and I don’t think Fai has any because well look at himâ€"“ poor example “â€"I mean the guy is flawless! Does he look like someone who needs to be fixed up a lot?â€? Again, bad example.
Rain nodded. “You sure about this? I mean two years is a long timeâ€"â€?
“Of cheating Fai out of his money,� Hayate said completing the boy’s sentence. He wasn’t proud of himself for not handing over this money like he was suppose to, and had to stash it away for the day he would set out and run away, but hell he didn’t have much to begin with anyway. So he lied to Fai and didn't give him all the profit he should. But he couldn’t live with himself if Fai would be disfigured for life, of any part of his smooth and supple skin turned ugly. He just couldn’t live with himself. He’s hate himself for the rest of his life.
Rain could see Hayate was serious about this and then took off running down the hill…
Please hurry back, Hayate thought turning to look at Fai. Most of the onlookers were gone and Hayate walked up to Fai and the healer, not sure what to say at the moment. He had to do something so he turned to the nearest servant and started bellowing out orders.
“You!â€? he said pointing. “Bring fresh blankets and hot water to Master Fai’s room, immediately!â€? He turned to someone else nearby whom looked strong enough and told him to clear out the upstairs hallway of anything that was blocking people from walking by his room because of the door he had completely ripped off its hinges. To another servant he gave instructions to have some soup and water brought to Fai’s room and to anotherâ€"
“Yes master Hayate,� the girl said running off.
Master Hayate? He jerked his head toward the servant not sure he heard right. What the hell? He didn't need any title he thought looking sourly at poor Fai. No, I deserve much worse.
Suddenly he was grabbed from behind. Someone he didn’t recognize was looking over his hands with an annoyed look on his face. “Boy, what the hell did you do to yourself this time?�
Pulled away over towards Fai, someone he didn’t know all too well began pulling shards of glass from his hands noticing how pale the boy looked himself from loss of blood. Carefully they sponged his wounds and wrapped his hands up, telling Hayate to go up to his room while the healer would be along later to check up on him. Hayate had been running on pure adrenaline and it was beginning to subside, and his body was aching like nothing he had ever felt before, his hands throbbing with pain that made him sick to his stomach.
Still, that didn't stop him from secretly taking a piece of Fai's broken wing and pocketing it...