Yoko's "Protection," Suichi's Suffering...

Ok...so I lied when I said there were only going to be 2 or 3 more chapters XD oops. Sorry this took so long; I had no internet for a while.
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“You’re pushing him too hard, Yoko,” Kuronue said gently as Yoko tucked Suichi’s unconscious form into the soft furs.

“Pushing him—what do you mean!? I haven’t been pushing him at all!” Yoko sounded tired and hysterical at the same time.

Kuronue shook his head. “No, I mean—Yoko, you heard what Karasu did to him. Lessons like that won’t go away so easily. By telling him to not call you master, you simultaneously reminded him of what he now associates with not showing proper respect and of what he associates with disobeying orders. In his mind, not calling you ‘master’ results in pain, while at the same time not not calling you ‘master’ is disobedience, which also results in pain. Suichi is tired and traumatized and by trying to force him to stop the submissive behaviours he’s picked up you’re only making it harder for him, Yoko.”

Yoko whimpered. “Every time he says that word I—“ he stopped, and tried again. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take. His cowering and fearfulness is so painful, Kuronue…”

“…I don’t know what to tell you, fox,” Kuronue whispered. “Clearly his current behaviour can’t continue, but at the same time we can’t expect him to change it so fast.”

“Why doesn’t he realize I love him and would never hurt him!?”

Kuronue could tell the fox’s powers of deduction and logic—the traits that had always been Yoko’s strongest—were rapidly deteriorating under the constant emotional strain. He sighed. “I don’t think he remembers that you once loved each other, Yoko,” he said quietly. Yoko’s sob of despair was the reaction he had been dreading. “I think he remembers your face and your name and that you once were his master, and he remembers being captured and the promise you made to him, but beyond that I think he’s blocked out everything about you as a defense against the pain of losing you. Karasu’s forced, rapid conditioning transformed that simple act of burying you in the back of his mind to actual memory loss.”

“What am I supposed to do, Kuronue?” Yoko whimpered.

Kuronue sighed again, wishing he had a better answer. “Be patient with him, support him, make sure he knows you love him. Don’t let him see you break down so he feels like you can protect him. You can always come to me if you need to cry; don’t try and force your emotions away completely. Love him, Yoko. Try and ignore his…fearful complacency and treat him like you used to. Hopefully in time his training will wear off.” Kuronue scanned Suichi’s sleeping face. “He’s more animal than human right now, Yoko, like an abused dog. All he can really identify with are punishments and rewards, what’s good and what’s bad. His brain has shoved the part of itself that makes him human down under pure animal instinct and motivations.” The bat had no idea if anything he was saying was even the slightest bit true, but his voice and the words were soothing to Yoko, that much he could tell, and that was really all Kuronue cared about. Yoko looked calmer now as he stroked the boy’s damp hair, a smile almost lingering on his lips.

“Only when he’s asleep is he the Suichi I remember, and even then he’s so scarred it warps the way I think of him…” Yoko said quietly. “But no matter what you look like I’ll always love you, Suichi. Or at least…I’ll always love Suichi, not the empty shell that once was Suichi…”

Suichi stirred awake a few moments later, his eyes fluttering open. They met Yoko’s for only a split second before sliding away again, but Yoko smiled cheerfully despite the ache Kuronue knew was consuming his chest.
“M-master…”

“You scared me when you keeled over like that, love,” Yoko said, still smiling affectionately.

“F-forgive me, M-master, I—I couldn’t control it…” came Suichi’s whispered response.

“No need to apologize, love. I’m sorry if I overwhelmed you.” Kuronue’s heart panged as Yoko touched Suichi’s cheek gently, but he ignored the pain impatiently. His own heartbreak and the invisible scars left from his captivity would have to wait; Kuronue wouldn’t die from them as the fox would if he were left to suffer by himself.

“I just want you to know I won’t ever hurt you, Suichi, no matter what you do. I love you,” Yoko said softly. There was no trace of his earlier breakdown left. Suichi whimpered softly in confusion, his eyes wide and bewildered. Kuronue watched, silently, as Yoko cupped the redhead’s cheek in his hand and kissed him gently, his hand tracing his jaw softly. Suichi didn’t fight, but nor did he respond to Yoko’s touch. Kuronue could almost feel the fox’s frustration as his own.

Kuronue’s sharp ears caught a sound that seemed…out of place. He frowned, concentrating. He could hear the rapid fluttering of Suichi’s heart and the stronger thrum of Yoko’s, the air as it escaped three sets of lungs. Kuronue spread his senses into the woods outside the cave, beyond the chatter of the birds and the bustle of normal forest life, listening for that wrongness again. It had been subtle, nothing as obvious as a twig snapping or leaves crunching underfoot, a minute rustle that just…shouldn’t be there.

“Kuronue, what—“ Kuronue waved Yoko quiet; he’d heard it again, slightly louder this time, but still too quiet for even Yoko’s ears. He redirected his attention in the direction the sound had come from, blocking out sound from anywhere else. There—he recognized it now; it was the soft swish of cloth against tree. Cloth did not belong this far out in the woods.

“Yoko, there’s someone coming,” he said quietly, still focusing. He heard them both freeze, two hearts speeding up to thunder painfully in Kuronue’s ears.

“Who?”

“Don’t know,” Kuronue said. He had a nasty feeling he could take a guess, however. His ears caught the sound again, and by the twitch of Yoko’s ears Kuronue know the fox had heard it this time. Suichi whimpered as Yoko rose silently, ears pricked to funnel sounds, nostrils flaring. Wind rustled the trees outside, and they both heard it blow through the approaching demon’s hair, whipping it into tree branches.

Yoko’s ears flicked back in anger. “He was foolish to approach from downwind,” he hissed. “I’d recognize that gunpowdery stench anywhere…” As he spoke the forest seemed to suddenly bristle with glistening, acid-dripping fangs. Yoko smirked. “Karasu made his last mistake when he followed me here…”

Kuronue snorted softly. Even without the fox’s foresight, woods this dense were Yoko’s playgrounds. As it were, Yoko had various surprises hidden sporadically throughout the woods; combined with the fox’s ability to turn even dandelions into snarling, man eating monsters, the forest had become a weapon only Yoko could utilize.

Yoko turned as Suichi whimpered. “Don’t be afraid, Suichi. Karasu won’t hurt you. I’ll kill him before he can get any further than the cave mouth.” He met Kuronue’s eyes. “You stay here, Kuro. On the slim chance that he slips past me I don’t want Suichi alone.” Kuronue nodded.

“Please…Master…” Suichi whispered, daring to meet Yoko’s eyes for a second. “Be careful…”

Yoko smirked, hiding his glee at Suichi’s concern well. “Don’t worry, love. The moment he stepped foot in these woods he played himself right into my hands…” He kissed Suichi’s forehead and was gone.

For a moment, there was silence, and then Kuronue heard the soft murmur of voices. He did not endeavor to understand the words, only pulling out his scythe and shifting closer to Suichi. A loud snarl ripped through the woods and Suichi whimpered. A second later they both heard a pained yelp and the accompanying velvet-smooth maniacal laugh. Kuronue felt Suichi’s fingers grasp at his vest and he pulled his eyes away from the cave mouth to look down. He met a pair of terrified green eyes, laced with panic, staring up at him from where Suichi had pressed himself against Kuronue’s chest.

Suichi whimpered as Yoko yelped again and rested his forehead against the bat’s chest, trembling. Kuronue laid his hand on Suichi’s head, unsure how much consolation he could offer when he too was petrified for Yoko’s life.
It was agonizing, hearing the sounds of their struggle without being able to see anything. Explosions, whip cracks, snarls, the hiss of Yoko’s plants…and then silence. The fight and moved too far away for them to hear anything any longer. Kuronue waited, trying to suppress his own anxieties, gently stroking Suichi’s hair, for someone to emerge from the edge of the forest.