cafe_coimbra | [Fic] Kazethyst

inspired by the question: "how did raph lose his virginity?"
didnt turn out quite the way i expected it to though.
and realized its such a long story to make such a short point.
but i enjoyed writing it anyway, and i hope you enjoy reading it. :D

La Diferencia

A gash on his left arm. That’s how it started. He was mildly surprised to see a new doctor enter the room. She looked young… but then again, weren’t they all? Before applying the antiseptic, she warned him that it would sting. She must’ve known that he’d know that, but she said it anyway. He didn’t even wince. A nurse came in to give her some documents, and that was how he learned her name was Sofia.

The third time she found him in her clinic, he was rubbing the back of his head, and apologizing for troubling her... mumbling that his injury (a hurt ankle) really wasn’t that serious, and he had tried to insist that he could continue with the training exercises, but his commanding officer had forced him to get it looked at. She only shook her head, lips curving upwards just a bit, and said that she was happy to see him. No one had said that to him in a while.

After that, they would greet each other when they passed by in the hallways. Then they just happened to both be taking a late afternoon stroll in the woods once outside the camp, and decided to share the pathway. On the hotter days, they would look for the shade of a tree to sit in, and chat about things far from the war.

It became common for him to watch her work. Sometimes he even helped whenever and however he could. But it was a while before she ever saw him fight. When she finally did though, it was an event neither of them was likely to forget.

Alarm bells roused her from her sleep, just as the door swung open to reveal one of the lower-ranked soldiers she knew. She asked him what was happening. He replied with one word: bandits.

Their group of non-combatants watched the fray from the hill behind the camp. She couldn’t recognize friend from foe down there… they were all a blur of shadows. Without light, she mused, we’re all reduced to the same thing.

The soldier who led them assured them that it would be over soon, that their side was superior in power. Then a voice that could turn blood cold bit back from beyond the trees – yes, but they were also inferior in wit.

They turned around to find themselves flanked by the enemy. The man who had been standing at the back of their group, in an attempt to stay the furthest away from imminent danger and yet now finding himself closest to it, promptly screamed. He tripped backwards, falling on his behind, making him even easier prey. One predator wasted no time and moved in for the kill.

Sofia watched the scene before her that appeared to be unfolding in slow motion. The tip of the bandit’s sword was pointed straight at his victim’s heart, getting closer… closer… closer… and then it stopped. She blinked. Raphael was there, and his hand was gripping the bandit’s wrist. And then contrary to the last few seconds, everything that followed from this point sped by:

Raphael cut off his opponent’s head in one clean stroke; then charged at the others. The next one, still in a state of stupor at Raphael’s sudden appearance and his companion’s even more sudden demise, was an easy kill. But the rest regained their composure, and Raphael found himself fending off 3 of them at a time. He managed to barely dodge one of their attacks, and strike him at the back. Another was able to cut his shoulder before Raphael slashed him across the stomach. He pierced the yet another through the chest, but he couldn’t retrieve his sword as the body fell to the ground clutching it. Thus, weaponless, he faced the last two of the bandits. They grinned menacingly, thinking that they had him cornered. But he roared and sped towards them.

Had they noticed him wince at the pain in his shoulder, they might not have felt so intimidated, but they didn’t. Sofia, however, did. She watched him tackle the nearer one into a tree, grab a dagger hanging from his enemy’s belt and slit his throat. He stepped back as the blood sprayed from the wound onto his person. The only remaining adversary decided to be true to his word that they were smarter, and ran for his life.

Some time later, Raphael’s wounds were once more being bandaged by Sofia. They were alone in her clinic, as he was the last to be treated. Others had more serious injuries that needed to be catered too first, though not many had been hurt in the recent battle.

He stared at his red-stained shirt by his feet as she worked on his shoulder. When she finished, he didn’t move. But then he felt smooth silk ghost across his cheek, and he realized she was wiping the blood from his face with her thumb.

“I wish you wouldn’t fight like you were looking for death. What are you hiding from?”

He finally looked up, up into those eyes that were much sharper than any blade, able to penetrate and see into his soul. They glinted brighter than steel did in the moonlight too. Breathe became a stranger to his body. That is, until she started to move away.

Something instinctive made him reach for the hand on his face. There was a pause, and she watched the emotions flick across his face. She had snuck past his walls… and there was no telling what he would do next. He might hate her for it, or maybe…

He stood up, slowly, as though not to frighten her. She broke into a gentle smile, as thought not to frighten him. Her hand moved from his face to his neck as he stepped closer. Their breath mingled, lips brushing.

“If you make yourself at home in the dark, you don’t have to miss the sun.”

She closed her eyes, and he kissed away the lonely tear that fell from one. His hands came to rest on her hips, with the slightest pressure pushing her backwards towards the bed.

They fell together, and then he felt a little awkward, with reality coming to remind him that he didn’t know exactly what he was doing. She sensed that, leaning up to coo in his ear; and he let the same instinct that had made him reach out to her do the rest.

It was like her. Intense yet gentle.

When he woke up, she had left. And he was drafted out that morning.

He’s not sure he loved Sofia. He thinks he probably did.

But now, he finds himself in a relationship (as he would so shyly put it) with one Labrusca Demalion.

Labrusca is nothing like Sofia. One worked to give life, the other to take it. One was cool water, the other a scorching flame. Even the dark wild green of Labrusca’s is so different from Sofia’s somber jade. The sex was anything but gentle (and he is hardly, if ever, on top), and the words she whispers in his ear are not sweet. She doesn’t bother to tiptoe around his defenses; she’s going at them with a battering ram.

He’s not sure he loves Labrusca. He thinks he probably does.

How could he have the same feelings for two very different women?

“You’re not going to be able to get rid of me so easily, Raphy.”

The only difference that really mattered to Raphael was Labrusca was the one who stayed.