thenearshore | Things Are Getting Better All The Time

Who: Kija; anyone who feels like tripping over him.
When: The morning of September 11.
Where: The Far Shore.
What: Kija is asked for haircare tips and adamantly refuses to get in a fight which happens anyway, then spends two weeks in a basement, then things get really weird. Then he ends up back in The Far Shore which might or might not be a relief, but to say he really isn't in any mood - or any condition - to deal with it would be something of an understatement.
Warnings: Potential spoilers for Akatsuki no Yona up to Chapter 147.

He feels like he's been hit by a train, and that's the first clue.

There are two ways Kija could approach this situation, namely lying, bloody and battered and face-down, somewhere he has no right to be lying. The first is to make no sudden movements and in fact remain absolutely still in the hope that it will hurt slightly less, and hope that whoever trips over him first is a doctor, or at the very least carrying herbs. The second, far more favorable route - especially if the Princess were to ask after him, or his brothers - is to declare that he is absolutely fine, that this is nothing he cannot walk off or, in a pinch, sleep off instead and most assuredly needs no help or any worry wasted over him and then work out how he plans to get to his feet. Except for the part, to be discreetly left unmentioned, where he feels like he has been hit by a train.

He should have no idea what a train is--

Except he does. Or he does now. Or he does again.

He is not at all clear on why he aches so badly, where he is or what is going on or why he cannot (and two-year-olds can reliably manage it!) cannot seem to make himself move, still less get to his feet: he knows what a train is. And chocolate and the Internet and supermarkets, where food is sealed away from sin in bags full of air, and zippers in clothing and - oh, why?! - bathing costumes, and shinki and sparkling water. Suddenly he's got half a headful of knowledge that he has absolutely no right to, or he has it again, and he understands that this is not good either and, this time, he most assuredly has better things to be doing and places to be. Suddenly, the headache seems all too explicable.

Whatever is happening to him now, Kija is absolutely certain of this: it is very definitely not the thing that was happening to him when he closed his eyes.

He wants to get up, he really does. He simply cannot seem to achieve it.

He may have to ask for help.

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[ It's not long after Kija's return that Yona hears about it and immediately teleports herself over to his temple. She's been fretting for days now, the only consolation that he wasn't gone-gone being that his temple was still most definitely here and Luke still bore his Name.

Arriving outside his gate, she lets herself in, peering around the interior of his temple. ]

Kija? May I come in?

[Of course, he would not wish to stop her even if he were capable.

[The issue of whether or not he is capable even of standing is, Kija owns, troublesome. It is considerably less troublesome to be doing such thinking within the four walls of what, in this place, passes for home than outside in the streets, where his presence could only prove troubling in itself. If he concentrates on lying still and tries to ignore quite how badly he wants a bath (taps, they have taps here: there are compensations) then he feels as if it must surely be possible and he is merely being over-dramatic--

[Actually trying to rise from his bed is another matter entirely. It is not terribly appropriate to greet any young lady from the prone position, never mind the Princess! and yet that would rather appear to be the position she has found him in. Never mind, he can always correct that--]

It is quite all right, princess, please, do not trouble yourself--

[Ah-- nearly had it there. Why should this be so very tiring?

[He really should be trying rather harder.]

[ But the moment she hears his voice, she's in the door and headed in the direction it had come from, zeroing in on his location with single-minded determination.

Peeking her head in the doorway to find him still on his bed has her hurrying towards him, her expression one of mingled worry and relief. ]

Oh, Kija! You're back! I suppose it's a silly thing to be grateful for, but, oh, I'm glad to see you. [ And then she promptly throws her arms about him in a quick hug as she comes to kneel on the edge of his bed. ] Are you alright? Were you hurt?

I am sorry. I should not have left--

[The hug is startling, it is too intimate, it is nothing but welcome.

[It feels like such a long time, since they last were able to talk. It has been.

[Oh, what can he say to her of all that has happened since he last saw-- no since he last was here. How much can he share of their future? The logic of it seems undeniable: if a man were to know exactly what the consequences of his actions could be, would he still be so willing to risk them? He cannot - and never mind his own experiences - quite believe that to leave this place would mean being wiped clean of all one had learned there.

[He cannot even say, we must never go to Xing, and know it for good counsel. Too simplistic, and even now he is not sure if it is true, if they have made anything more of straying across the border than a terrible tangled mess.]

You must not worry, Princess. I will be quite all right.

[ She settles back after hugging him, still staying near enough that she's pressed up against his side, perched beside him on the bed as she takes in his face. And the injuries and bruises he still bears. It makes her heart clench and she reaches out, brushing her fingers against his cheek, sorrow glinting momentarily in her eyes. ]

You have been hurt. And badly. Did it happen here? Or...

[ Or had he returned to their land, their time, only to be brought back like this once more? She'd heard of that happening - had assumed that because his temple had remained that he would return to them soon, but she had not anticipated he would return looking like this.

She doesn't know what he's endured, but she remembers all too well the dangerous scenes she'd witnessed that had led to both Hak and Jae-Ha's deaths. Had Kija also been taken to there, perhaps? ]

[This

[is

[extremely

[distracting]

[and may possibly be worse than the pains of his various injuries. Pain Kija understands. The Princess's sheer physical proximity is something quite different and it is making it extraordinarily hard to concentrate on what is actually afoot. She is warm: she is gazing straight at him in naked concern and knowing that she would do that for anyone (truly, she is too good) is not actually making the bearing of it any easier why is she touching his face--]

[Focus.

[The least he can do is have the decency to pay attention.]

[The instinct is to fill in the gaps, all of them, and never mind that Kija is still not quite sure where, for the Princess, that gap would begin. A long time ago, he thinks, and longer still now... The impracticality of it is a good enough reason not to. She does not have all day. Focus, he reminds himself, on the question.]

There is no new danger here, Princess. I merely returned home for a time.

Home?

[ She echoes this with a moment of alarm, her eyes flitting over him once more, over what has healed and what will still be happening slowly.

She pales, staring at him, her eyes suddenly looking too-large in her face. ]

All this happened back home? Oh, Kija. I'm so sorry.

[ What has she dragged them all into? ]

Things Are Getting Better All The Time

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[1/2]

[I lied. 2/3]

[3/4, the lies just keep on coming.]

[4/4]

lmao Kija you poor darling