Ooooh don't do that to me, do NOT do that to me.... Fuck it this is on YOU
(this has been sitting in my drafts for a year sorry)
Shiwoo has saw a lot of ugly injuried bodies and unrecognizable corpses in his job, but seeing Toji's guts slipping out of his body still left him in shock. He felt nauseous, but he still walked toward the body standing alone in the sunset. The smell of blood was overwhelming, but what really crushed Shiwoo's heart was the light smile on his friend's lips. Trembling fingers raised to touch his face, and a strong hand caught his wrist.
"Fucking shit !!" Shiwoo jumped in panic before he met tired but wary eyes. "You're alive ???"
The grip around his wrist got stronger but only a gluttural growl answered him. Shiwoo assumed that the man's vocal cords were flooded with blood now. Toji blinked slowly and even that seemed painful.
"I..." He strangled on his words even though he wasn't the one with his all insides going to do some touristic visit of the external world. "It's okay Toji, I... I'll help you, okay ?"
The dying assassin opened his mouth but only managed to cough blood on both of them. His mind was blurry, he could hardly see now, but Shiwoo's face was familiar enough that he recognized it. He didn't let go the wrist, not even knowing why he hang into it so hard. Was it scared of dying, after everything he's done ? After everything he's lost ?
"I'm here," Shiwoo whispered with a trembling voice, as if he could feel Toji's fears. "It's alright Toji, I'm here now."
He brought his free hand to the opened torso and vainly tried to put the fleeing organs back in the body. As if that would be enough to save the Sorcerer Killer's damned life. They both know the man, all blessed and superhuman he was, would never survive these injuries. There was nothing that could be done now, excepte staying at Toji's side and offering some peaceful last moments.
"Don't die on me you idiot, don't you even dare thinking this is over. I changed my mind, let's have dinner together, okay ? But you're paying, you owe me that."
Toji tried to smile but his body refused to indulge. Everything was so painful that his brain couldn't even process it. His mind kept wandering off, not so eager to follow the blinding light shining in front of him, not focus enough to stay input in his body, and not whole enough to know what it was doing. For now, Shiu's trembling voice and Megumi's fading memory was what maintained his counsciousness alive.
"Toji," the middleman pleaded again, growing more desperate as blood and guts ineluctably slipped through his fingers.
Another bloody cough answered him, then the strong hold on Shiu's wrist slid slowly to softly squeeze his hand. The Korean lift up his head to stare at the man, confused and panicked. Toji was staring back, inconcevable fear making his eyes gleam. If Shiu wasn't holding a half ruined torso in his hand, he wouldn't have thought it was a hallucination. Toji never showed any fear, no matter how dangerous the job was, how skillful were the targets, how strong was the curse. Toji faced everything with nonchalance and amusement. Fear wasn't an emotion the Sorcerer Killer was known to have.
"I'm not letting you go," Shiu assured him, not sure if that was the worry on the man's mind. "I'm staying here with you. I'll call the ER and some doctors will get you fixed, and then we'll go to that damn restaurant together, okay ? Don't forget your wallet this time, or I'm taking that off your next job's payment directly."
This time, Toji managed to smiled, thought it looked more like a difformed smirk. They both knew the medics couldn't do anything for him in that state. He probably wouldn't even still be breathing when they'd get there. There wouldn't be a next job and even less a shared dinner. This was a lie made up to ease Toji's messy soul. And it was working.
"What do you want to eat anyway ? You asked me to show you a nice restaurant but there's no way we'll get in some fancy building with you dressed like a hobo. If you want me to bring you somewhere nice, you should put some nicer clothes."
At this point, Toji couldn't see anything at all anymore, so he just closed his eyes. He could see Shiu's frowning face in his mind, scolding him as usual while wearing his ironed suit and agitating a cigarette between his fingers. If he focused a bit more, he could even imagine his late wife rolling his eyes as she reminded Toji to be more careful with his clothes, because she gets to wash them and blood isn't easy to get off white stuff. He could hear Megumi's babble as he crawls toward them, drooling along the way. He wonder if Gojo would take him in. That boy, as gifted and godlike he is, is just a kid too. He'd probably dismiss an assassin's last words and go on on his life. Toji wouldn't blame him. Still, thinking about his one son being left alone to confront this word -or worse, being handed to the Zenin Clan without an explanation- made his weakening heart ache.
Shiu kept talking, kept holding his opend side, kept trembling too. "I'll show you a nice korean restaurant at Akihabara. It's niche, it's not in a food street so many people miss on it, but it's really good. You like meat, right ?" He stopped to swallow a breathe, forcing himself to slow down his speed. He wasn't getting an answer anyway. "You'd love Korean Barbecue, I know it."
Toji didn't have a long life, he couldn't really say it was fulfilling either, but he did get to experince some life's impressiv gifts. He found love, he found a meaning for his life, he made a wonderful boy who will certainly grow up as a powrful sorcerer. He made lots of money, lost just as much too, he got to travel a lot thanks to his job, and he ate nice food too. He spent most of his life fighting, but he didn't regret it. He didn't regret much, expect perhaps never winning a nice bet on a big race, or that stupid impulsion to take that Gojo's kid challenge after the job was done. He regrets not getting to se Megumi grow up. He regrets not being able to watches him become the exact reflexion of his mother. He regrets not scamming more money from Shiu. He regrets not giving his new wife his bank codes, so she could use the money he gathered up to take car of the kids. Well, perhaps he did regrets more things that he'd thought. He doesn't want to go yet.
"Hangover soup is nice too," Shiu continued, getting a better control of his trembling voice. He leans closer and feels reassured to notices the man stlll breathng. "Have you tried it yet ?"
No answer, as expected. Toji's grip is getting lighter and Shiu realized that time is up.
"I got you, I got you," he repeated like a prayer. He wasn't letting that man leaving this world with fear and worry painted over his face. "It's going to be okay Toji. You're okay."
There was blood everywhere around them, and on them too, the scent was nausating, but they were both standing still. Toji opened his eyes again to check at nothing, and murmured through blood and teeth and unfathomable pain.
"S'rry Kong, maybe next time ?" His voice was even more awful than if he went into a ten-years coma and thes were his first words after waking up. It burnt all through his throat and exploded in his mouth lik a volcano. He just chose not to feel it, like the rest of his injuries.
Shiu's eyes widened up a bit, but no tear in sight. He never allowed himself to get too involved, letting business partners in his life always caused trouble. So he wasn't going to be sad about Toji's death, they weren't friend anyway. The fact that his trembling fingers were feeling the Sorcerer Killer's ribs meant nothing.
"Yeah, next time, sure," he lied back, wondering how even he understood that sentence when Toji could hardly articulate anything. Perhaps he hallucinated it. Perhaps he was already talking to a corpse. "See you in Hell then, I guess."
The hand around his palm fell down along what was left of a man's body. Toji was still standing, but his heart wasn't beating anymore, his lungs stopped breathing, and half of the flood supposed to circulate through his veins and arteries formed a scarlet pool at his feet. At least there were still two of them, feet. Shiu finally let go the fleeting guts and watched the memory of a killer refusing to rest in peace, even after passing.
"You've always been so full of shit. Who do you think you are, dying with that pose ? A hero ? Let me laugh, asshole."
He wipes his hands with a tissue and takes his phone out of his pocket. He needs to make a few call to move that absurdly huge body. Work sometimes ends like this, it's just the routine. It's fine.
