(no subject)

[rootless]

[He tries to ignore it, really. The way Raikou acts in his sleep, long after he doses off. Certainly, Tsuyukusa is a heavy sleeper, so it isn't so hard to pretend that he's out cold when Raikou wakes, still halfway caught in his own night terrors.

But after a while, it's too much to ignore, too much to pretend not to notice. So this time, when Raikou jolts awake, the tree spirit rolls over, wraps his arms around him and tucks him in close against himself. He has his single eye trained on Raikou's face, carefully checking for his reaction, but he isn't likely to let go any time soon.]

Comments

[lovehurts]

[Sleeping next to someone regularly has helped. When another body is close, it's instinct not to thrash around too much, to kick or scream. But it's pretty regular for him to toss and turn and mumble protests and the names of people who are dead. Sometimes it gets really bad, and there is screaming and struggling against nothing.

Tonight's one of those nights. Heihachi is off spending some time with his other friends, and Raikou wakes up shouting "no", pale as a sheet. Tsuyu's touch is at once helpful and not. It's good to be held because it's warm and smells like earth and leaves instead of the cold iron and steel and blood in his dream. It's bad because it's restraint when that's the very thing he's fighting against in the nightmare. So though he's half-awake, he's still not entirely back to reality yet, and he shoves at Tsuyukusa, closing his eyes and tensing as if bracing for a blow.]

Let go of me!