Hi everyone,

Once again, thank you so much for your kind reviews and patience. I am honored that there are still readers who are following my fanfic. This chapter is named after Joe Hisaishi's composition, "The Wind of Life" from his album Piano Stories II. It's a beautiful composition so do check it out! :)

Chapter 8: The Wind of Life

"Hotsuma, are you awake yet?" the brunet gave two sharp knocks onto the door of Hotsuma's bedroom. As he expected, there was no reply from inside the room. He let out an inaudible sigh and turned the doorknob.

"I am coming in, Hotsuma," he said as he entered the room. He inwardly sighed once again when he saw a pile of clothes strewn over the floor. He went towards the king sized bed at the end of the room and could not help but smile a little when he saw his mentor sleeping soundly.

As much as he would love for Hotsuma to get more rest, he needed to wake the blond. He shook Hotsuma's shoulders gently.

"Hotsuma, Hotsuma" he said out.

Hotsuma's body shifted, his eyes opened hazily as he groaned out.

"Shuseiiiiii" he said in a pitiful tone. "Five more minutes," he yawned out loud as he closed his eyes once more. Shusei sat down at the edge of the bed and his expression softens as he saw his mentor.

Despite him training under the blond for close to eight years now, Shusei felt like it was just yesterday that he first met Hotsuma. Shusei chuckled at the thought of how immature Hotsuma can still be at times, despite the cold exterior the blond has.

"Hotsuma, you are already thirty-four years old. Stop acting so childishly," the brunet said in a teasing manner to his mentor.

The sleeping figure – or rather the now awakened Hotsuma opened his eyes. Shusei could swear that he saw a glint in those golden eyes before he found himself being pulled by the arm and his back hit against the covers of the bed.

Hotsuma held onto both Shusei's wrists and pin them against the side of his face. Their faces were only mere inches apart.

Shusei's mind froze. 'Wha…'

Shusei thought he saw a flash of sadness in and longing in those golden eyes, until Hotsuma grinned down evilly towards Shusei. "How dare you tease me about my age, Usui Shusei. Unfortunately, I may be old but this old man can bring you down in a mere second," he said a little cockily and raised an eyebrow.

Shusei made eye contact with Hotsuma. The golden eyes were staring at him intensely again and Shusei felt like he could not stare away. He was flustered at their position but he refrained from letting it show it on his face.

Over the years, he had managed to control his emotions well. Afterall, killing Duras, protecting humans, the people he had failed to protect – he had gone through and seen so much in his training with Hotsuma that he has developed the ability to hide his emotions. He guessed that Hotsuma saw through him since the beginning - when he first went onto his first mission as a Zweilt pair with Hotsuma. When he turned sixteen, he killed for the first time.

Everyone was proud of him for the success of his first mission but deep down, he felt numb. He had killed for the first time – and it was a strange feeling. He refused to acknowledge this feeling he had, as he knows that if he did, he would break down at once. Hotsuma confronted him a few days later after the completion of his first mission. His mentor pulled him close, and embraced him.

'"Ho-Hotsuma?" he said, voice threatening to choke up at the sudden warm contact. Hotsuma did not say anything else, except that Shusei felt himself being pulled even closer to the embrace. The blond finally spoke out, his voice threatening to break.

"Killing for the fist time is never easy, despite it being a Duras," he rubbed gentle circles around Shusei's back. Shusei bit his lip, his hands curled into fists. "I know that eventhough you did not hesitate to kill the Duras, you felt like shit after that, right?"

Shusei forced out a chuckle, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. "Heh.. you saw through me, I guess?" he wrapped his arms around the solid body, burying his face into the crook of Hotsuma's neck. He took a long breath as he inhaled the distinctive scent of Hotsuma. His scent reminded Shusei of a mixture of the forest and a unique scent that is Hotsuma.

"I am sorry, Hotsuma. Sorry that you had to see this side of me," he finally whispered out. Hotsuma felt tears soaking up his shirt but he did not care. He merely closed his eyes and held onto the brunet even closely.

"Crying is not a weakness, Shusei. It means that we have the strength to continue moving forward. Crying means that we care," he softly said, his heart also breaking as he saw his beloved Shusei breaking down.

.

Ever since then, their teamwork has improved greatly. It was like as though he knew Hotsuma since forever. He felt his eyes always searching for Hotsuma, whether it is during meetings or during meals. He has noticed many things about Hotsuma, and more questions often come up due to this. 'What happened to his previous partner?' was one of the first questions he was dying to know. He knew that Zweilt guardians worked in pairs, and strangely, no one ever talked about Hotsuma's previous partner.

He remembered clearly that he had asked this question once when they were training together - and when he saw Hotsuma's shocked expression, he immediately regretted asking the blond.

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about," he immediately said out, wanting to brush off the topic. The guilt he felt burnt a hole in his heart as he saw the blond's expression changed – Hotsuma looked so vulnerable then and Shusei had never seen his mentor put on that kind of expression before. Hotsuma's gaze shifted down, his eyes were hidden behind blond locks, making his expression unreadable.

After 1 few long seconds later, Hotsuma gazed up gently and rested a hand on Shusei's head.

"Shusei… I promise I will tell you about my previous partner one day," he said.

.

Hotsuma groaned once before releasing Shusei's wrists, heaving himself out of the bed with unwillingness. "Go ahead with breakfast first Shusei. I'll join you in a minute," he said as he pulled off his t-shirt and headed towards the bathroom.

Once the bathroom door was closed, Shusei let out a breath that he was holding. His heart thumped softly but definitely faster than usual as he recalled the comforting weight of Hotsuma resting on him when he was tugged down the bed just now. He slowly lifted his palm and glanced at it, remembering feeling of being pinned down by Hotsuma.

The 18 year-old closed his eyes to even out his breathing and opened them once again when his breathing has evened out. Then, he picked up the dirty laundry that was scattered around the floor and headed for breakfast.

.

"Good morning, Shusei-kun," said Yuki as he was just finishing setting up the tablewares.

Shusei, in his usual Izumimari third year school uniform smiled at the Wielder of God's Light. "Good morning, Yuki… Luka," he addressed Luka as well when he saw the Opast standing against the corner. Luka merely nodded back at Shusei. Shusei then went to Yuki. "Please let me help you," he offered when he saw the petite man carrying around a dozen porcelain plates to be distributed out. He carefully took the tableware from Yuki's hands and went about to set up the table for breakfast as well.

A few minutes later, Toma the cook brought out a generous platter filled with bacon and sausages. "Tuck in everyone," he said enthusiastically.

"Wahhh.. this looks delicious, Toma-san," said Toko as her mouth watered at the sight of the breakfast.

"Toko-chan, what about your diet?" Tsukumo chuckled at the adorable sight of her older sister. Nothing ever really changes, he guessed as he remembered that his sister loves good food.

Hotsuma then came in and gave another yawn, to which Shusei smiled at when the blond took a seat next to him.

"Ittadakimasu," everyone said before they tucked in.

Everyone was halfway eating their breakfast before the phone rang and Tachibana went and answered the call. Hotsuma observed as the curator's facial expression turned serious. The blond inwardly sighed as he knew what to expect when they received a serious phone call so early in the morning.

As expected, Tachibana interrupted "Shu-kun, Boss wants to meet you after breakfast today in his study."

Please review and let me know your opinions, my darling readers.

xoxo Kimihearts