Prompt: Scars

If he was honest, Karma wasn't sure how to feel about the scars Nagisa carried.

He was proud of them in a way, yes. It took courage to go out and kill people everyday, knowing how heavy the consequences of faltering even for a second could be. Being an assassin was undoubtedly a dangerous job with various high risks that would make most people cringe at the sheer thought of the things that could happen to them if they chose that career. Every scar was a reminder of the things Nagisa went through daily and survived. Not many people could take a bullet to the shoulder and survive, after all.

So while it was worrying and stressful for Nagisa to have scars, it was also amazing and impressive. Karma was fine with the physical scars, honestly. They had never bothered him in the least aside from the few that were life-threatening to get.

What Karma felt indecisive about was when the mental scarring was added.

He could see the affects of those scars in Nagisa's mind when Nagisa became flustered and worried every time Karma saw one of his scars marring his body. Karma heard it in the way Nagisa's voice trembled everytime he asked Karma whether or not Karma would love him still even with a scar-ridden body. He felt it in the way Nagisa's body stiffened in his arms whenever Karma's hands trailed down Nagisa's body and felt the raised skin. Sometimes the way Nagisa reacted made him want to hunt down the people who made Nagisa think his scars were shameful.

There were other mental scars as well that didn't come from being an assassin. Ones that came from long ago before Nagisa carried the burden of being an assassin and seeing his once unmarred body become ridden with different marks. Even after all this time, Nagisa still bore the scars of his childhood.

Those were the main scars that had earned his hatred.

Nagisa's uneasy smile when people mentioned how feminine he looked was beginning to eat at Karma everyday (of course, he still teased Nagisa for it, but that was a different matter; it was something that was understood between the both of them). He disliked the way Nagisa would suddenly look unsure of himself because of a stray word that caused flashbacks from his childhood to appear. Karma hated the way Nagisa flinched whenever the topic of his mother was brought up.

But the scars that Karma really despised were the ones that were the reason for all of Nagisa's worries and uncertainties spawning from these scars and the poisonous thoughts that bled from the still painful wounds because of the world. Scars that had no real origin due to everything causing them from Nagisa's mother to the effects of being placed in the E for End Class to even killing Korosensei.

Every time Nagisa earned a new scar, he would ask Karma "Will you still stay?"

And every time Karma responded with a "Like you could get rid of me."

Because while Karma knew he couldn't heal old scars or take away the pain, he sure as hell knew that he was going to do his damndest to make sure new ones don't appear. He would do what he could to prevent scars from forming and try to salve the pain of old scars who refuse to leave and likely never will.

So every time Nagisa came home with a new scar from a job, Karma would dress it, something he had gotten better at as of late, and would tease the boy for being so careless to earn it. (His favorite line was "Were you distracted by the local girls? Or maybe the boys?" But it was all teasing though. He knew Nagisa would never stray just as Karma never would). Late into the night when no eyes could see what was happening was when he held Nagisa close and made sure to kiss every scar, dodging around the newer ones to make sure there was no pain for Nagisa. Despite Nagisa's complaints and slight struggles, Karma could see the appreciation in his eyes and how his shoulders relaxed as though the stress was being lifted directly off of his back. It was a sight that Karma tried to burn into his mind every time he saw it.

Because there was something so innocently wonderful about it. Karma had lived without helping others as a child, preferring to stick to himself and not let people near. Nagisa had changed that though. He had managed to open Karma if only enough to slide himself inside of Karma's world. So helping anyone was still something new to him and shocking. It was..nice though. Especially when it was aimed at Nagisa.

Nagisa blinked and eyed him warily, suspicion dancing in his eyes.

"What are you so happy about?"

Karma looked at him with fake innocence lighting up his eyes.

"I'm just so happy that you can finally achieve your dreams of becoming a character in the next Vocaloid DIVA game coming out. I've heard the Miku model is going to be top notch."

Nagisa huffed and turned away with a small smile on his face before pausing and sending a "My hair isn't even that long anymore!" over his shoulder.

Not that Karma would ever really let Nagisa know Karma what Karma was really thinking, of course. That would ruin half of the fun he had with him.