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Nothing about the day felt particularly special if anything, it was like any other day spent living as the head of the Bofurin Clan, mundane and secure. No longer were they in the midst of a bitter and grueling war, peace had settled over Makochi, hard-earned and wonderful. Hajime wasn't going to prattle on about how he missed it, nothing could ever convince him to long for something that brought him and the people he cared about pain and grief. But it was odd.
He still woke up expecting to be told about members found in alleys, dead and desecrated, about videos of torture, about body pieces delivered to family homes. Yet, none of that came. Thankfully, none of that came.
Re-adjusting to normal living was harder than Hajime had expected but surely not impossible.
Clicking his tongue he dug the hole in the newly laid soil a little deeper, looking at the little plant of chile in his other hand, scrutinizing the pot-shaped dirt he held before putting an end to his digging. Gently placing the sprout into the hole, turning it here and there for a couple of seconds before it slotted into the earth nicely, humming lightly as he began the process of tucking it in with the dispersed soil.
Standing from his crouch, looking over the transferred plants and flowers to the ones still in pots, Hajime felt rather accomplished, only a handful were left to move and if he still felt motivated after a short break, then he'd be done by today. Picking up the empty plastic containers, and stacking them in one hand he was about to head toward the shed when he realized that standing behind him was Hiragi. Doing nothing but staring at each other for a couple of seconds, wondering how long his friend had been there, how he hadn't smelled him, or heard him coming before deciding he didn't really care.
"Hiragi!" Calling out to the man, smiling as he threw his arms out, careful of the stack of containers in one hand, he instead walked toward his friend instead of the shed, "great day to be out and about! A weekend too! What are you doing here? I thought you had asked for the day off?" All of his Knights had today off, as a very short, very-needed, and hard-earned vacation.
Grimacing, the alpha went to reach for his back pocket, where he kept his stomach pills but came to an abrupt stop, sighing as his entire frame dropped, "yeah well, half the time shit doesn't work out how I want it to," raising a hand to massage his neck, the man looked off to the side, probably thinking of how to tell him what was going on. Placing down the containers in the corner of a closed-off section of bell pepper sprouts, making a mental note to put them away properly when he first had the chance, maybe later, after whatever needed to be resolved was resolved and he had a break. "Kotoha was attacked—"
Hajime froze in the middle of taking his gardening gloves off, the smile that had easily graced his lips was cold and stiff. His blood had turned into ice in his veins, and his heart came to a near stop in his suddenly hollow chest.
"Nothing happened to her," Hiragi was right in front of him, eyebrows furrowed and looking somewhat pained as he stared into his eyes, "she's fine, we got there before things got serious, plus..." grimacing, from the scent of furious alpha or thinking about what had happened, Hajime wasn't entirely sure. He didn't care, too busy trying to get himself under control, "someone was kind enough to help..."
Normal again, Hajime picked up on his friend's hesitation, "but...?" Letting go of him, Hiragi stepped back, taking deep breaths as he ran a hand over his gelled hair, staring towards the house before sighing.
"But Kotoha insisted that he be repaid for his trouble and his injuries, even when the guy refused, and well... Kotoha is... very... strong-willed so... she literally dragged him here and..." Now the alpha reached back into his pocket and took out his stomach pills, popping out three and crunching them back. Meeting his eyes with something that resembled the long-suffering existence of a man doomed to never know peace, "it turns out he was the guy who gave us the information on Endo Yamato's hideouts and where Takiishi Chika was—"
Hajime was walking towards the house before Hiragi was even done talking, gloves completely off and thrown in the vague direction of where he kept his gardening equipment. Laughing as he slipped out of his rubber boots, "you should've said that sooner! He needs to be properly thanked!" Sliding the glass door to his house open, ignoring Hiragi as he scampered to keep up with him, Hajime stepped fully inside.
Blind for a moment by the sudden switch of lighting, he hummed at the sound of chatter hitting his ears, coming from the visitor's living room, a room over, "wait, Umemiya, hold on just—"
Slipping away from the alpha's floundering hand, laughing at his friend's worry, why? What was wrong? This was clearly a good thing, "now why would I do that? We need to give the man who saved our asses the proper respects he deserves—"
And then Hajime was staring at the most strikingly captivating person he had the blessing of laying eyes on. Nobody else in the room mattered, not Kotoha sitting beside him, or the two men sitting on a different couch that he recognized but couldn't care to conjure up their names for fear of interfering with the vision before him, not even Hajime himself mattered, except up to the degree that allowed him to behold the perfect man before him.
Pale with a brush of the most alluring shade of pink across his face, his hair was split asymmetrically, with the larger part a deep, almost ink black, his eye behind the dark bangs a sticking grey, shining as though polished, as though a liquid form of metal that was glossy to a near unnatural shimmer. The other part was white, more than Hajimen's own hair, his eye was of amber, of molten gold, of honey, rich and thick, speckled with fire embers.
Taking a couple of steps closer, Hajime realized the man was rather thin, almost as slim as Kotoha, though, probably taller, he fidgeted with hands that bared scarred knuckles, raw and red from a recent fight. Closer now, Hajime realized the man's lips were pink like some cherry blossoms were.
Unable to stop himself, Hajime leaned down, so he was face to face with the man, blush exploding from pink to red. Cute. Mismatched eyebrows furrowed in concentration, it was now that Hajime realized he could hardly smell anything of the man. Ah, so he was keeping his scent at bay. Chuckling, Hajime smiled, smiling wider when the man blushed even more, face going red like a stove set on the highest heat. So cute.
It seemed that was the last straw as blooming cherry blossoms burst from the man, hitting Hajime like a strong gust of wind, filling his lungs with something sweeter, something softer, of apple blossoms, a skirting freshness like lemon grass. Sweet and sweeter. Lathering his tongue in a coating that reminded him of a mythological form of caramel gaze, if honey could precipitate like water.
Dropping to a knee, deaf to the gasps ringing around him, endeared by the look of shock on the man, face round and soft and red, big eyes wide with surprise, following his every move as Hajime took one of his hands. Flicking his gaze down to it, running a thumb over the sensitive skin covering the back of the appendage, over the tendons and veins, noting how the skin was flushed here too.
How cute, so, so, so cute. Pretty.
Raising the hand to his face, making sure he was making eye contact with the man, Hajime smiled, relaxing, hoping that his attempted calmness leaked into his pheromones and helped ease the distressed omega. Kissing the back of the hand, relishing in the little gasp that escaped the man, Hajime beamed.
"Hello, I'm Umemiya Hajime," lowering the hand, thumb lightly rubbing where he had planted his kiss but a second ago, he let go of the hand with great difficulty. "Would you be kind enough to grace me with your name?"
Impossibly so the man blushed harder, a little strangled noise of distress escaped his mouth as he snapped his hand to his chest, covering it with the other hand, blinking, eyes slightly damp, he floundered for a bit before licking his lips. Hajime could do nothing but follow the movement of the little pink tongue, could do nothing but wish it were his tongue. (Focus, not now, he's about to talk, he's about to tell you his name. Listen, remember. Never forget. You can't forget.)
"'m Sakura Haruka..." the man, the omega croaked, ragged but with hints of strength, if some roughness.
"Is it because you smell like cherry blossoms?" Sakura Haruka jolted, as though he had been shocked, (cute cute cute) Hajime could do nothing but chuckle, settling into a proper seiza right there and then, where Sakura Haruka was right in front of him, his beauty, his wonder, his scent, all of it for Hajime to consume, "say, can I call you Haruka?"
Furrowing his eyebrows, fidgeting with the hands to his chest, the omega appeared to think about Hajime's out-of-the-blue request, lips falling into a pout so pretty, so cute, Hajime felt himself slip into a momentary form of insanity. Fuck, the man was pretty enough to forget gods existed, a blend of soft and sharp features, his eyes were round, the ends of them curved ever so to give them the illusion of a winged edge. His nose was small and curved, the delicate bridge an almost straight line.
"Um..." he began, a little more stable than earlier, "you can—" Hajime lit up, perking up like a dog who had been offered leftover scraps, "only if you let me call you Hajime."
"Of course!" Breaking out into a grin, Hajime laughed, there was absolutely no need to think it over, "you can call me whatever you want!" You can do whatever you want with me. You can ask whatever from me. You can have me. Everything, anything. All of it. The world. The universe. Yours yours yours, all yours. (Please be mine). Why was it that his name sounded so precious falling from these plump little lips? When was the last time he found he wanted, well and truly and sincerely, wanted someone to call his name? It wasn't that the vowels were said with care and delicacy, it wasn't that Haruka sounded like he was saying something priceless.
(It was just his name, just his name. His. Him. Form in phonetic symphony. An engraved part of him. Names, calling signs, marks, identities. His name fell out of Haruka's mouth, birthed from his throat. Floating into the air, as invisible wisps.)
From his body flowed hallowed, sacred revelations.
"Hajime's fine," muttering, Haruka dropped his hands onto his lap, looking down at Hajime for a moment before raising an eyebrow, "Nirei said you were the Head of Bofurin Clan but you don' look like much to me," Haruka's eyes moved away from him, to something behind Hajime, he mourned the second long absence of them as he laughed.
"That's right! I'm on break right now, if I'd known I was meeting you today I would've cleaned up a bit..." rubbing the back of his neck Hajime savored the return of the fire-hot blush back on Haruka's perfect face.
"Why?" Haruka suddenly looked angry, "because I snitched on Endo and that crazy animal he chained himself to?"
Caught off guard, Hajime scooted closer to the omega, gently taking the man's much smaller hands into his own, though by no means benign, balled up as they were they seemed to thrum with danger, "you did help us, a lot," in the air the omega's scent seemed to wither, going slightly sour, "there are people who're alive today thanks to you..." letting his words sink in, squeezing the hands in his, leaning in closer so he was looking at Haruka up from where the omega was hanging his head, Hajime allowed his face an ever illusive genuine smile, the ones that he meant from the depths of his heart, "but... I think you and I can... learn a lot from each other. There's so much I still don't know and I think we can learn that one thing, together."
Haruka gaped at him, bursting into cherry and apple blossoms, so lovely, of lemon grass tea, so thick, Hajime felt light-headed.
(Heaven. A lost paradise God had locked humanity out of as punishment but one she had blessed Hajime with a key to. Entrance was not forgiveness because he knew, like how he knew breathing, that true forgiveness lay with Haruka.)
"Please, don't stop on our behalf, we'll just patiently wait until the two of you finish flirting," Hiragi's sharp words cut through Hajime's thoughts.
Haruka flushed a shade of red so dark, he worried the man was going to faint from the blood rush but before he could make a move or even ask if he was alright, a fist hit him across the face, hard enough to paint the edges of his vision with black spots and knock him back on his ass.
"Shut up!" Screeched Haruka, panting and smelling of an embarrassment so profound Hajime felt himself blushing along with the omega.
Fuck, Hajme was in love.