Yeah, he really was a handful because life was a bitch and threw unexpected curveballs at them in the strangest of ways.

Kenjirou and Eita were together nearly every day, mostly in the evenings. There were the days when morning was included but that wasn't an everyday thing considering Eita was quite a fan of sleeping in and so was the copper-haired when he wasn't required to go in early. But even when Eita did surprise him and try to make him happy lest he begin sulking about deaths, his mood brightened exponentially and even Magui could tell.

She would smile smugly at him at first and then she'd make subtle remarks that he seemed happy and finally, she directly asked because frankly, she was desperate to know.

"You've been really happy these past three weeks," Magui had stated casually on one fine morning shift. "Girlfriend?"

"Boyfriend," Kenjirou had stated even though they weren't officially together. Just wasting time by spending their hours together in bed and occasionally stealing kisses─ Eita enjoyed that ever since he managed to steal some since Kenjirou had proven difficult to give in. Leaving it at that, Kenjirou had waltzed right into his office for a good day.

And it proceeded like that to the point that Kenjirou no longer felt as if he were being targeted to get shot at.

His life was slowly falling back into place, Eita was now a constant, and his patient reserved smile was beginning to come back. He had been unable to smile at patients for the longest but over time, it returned even if it was just a twitch of the lip. He seemed to get more fond of his job, his brain convincing him that many of the people that came in could be associated with a gang member and injuries resulted from illegal activities. It was scary to think of it like that but life had to go on.

At least he had one person that awaited him everyday.

"Morning. I have a surprise for you. Just walk down to the end of the street."

"What the fuck? Who the fuck is this?"

"Eita. Extra phone because I forgot my main one at home. Quickly, I'm waiting."

"In the rain? You're an idiot, come get me or wait until it's sunny."

Kenjirou frowned at his texts. Eita would never let him walk in the rain unless there was a damn good reason and if he didn’t give a good reason in two minutes, he'd straight up tell him to suffer or come to his house so they could do absolutely nothing. His shift wasn’t until right after lunch and being seven in the cursed morning, Kenjirou wondered what Eita wanted. Normally, he would be asleep but he was awoken by a random nightmare and the ping of his phones messages that suspiciously reminded him of gunshots once he thought about it.

"I wanna show you something. But you can only see it in the rain. Quickly now, isn’t rain romantic?"

Kenjirou grumbled at the reply and got out of bed, sending a quick message that he'd be there in ten. So with a slightly quicker than usual pace, Kenjirou washed himself, threw on jeans and a sweater he had stolen from Eita─ the man had a lot considering he had to hide most of his tattoos and threw on a raincoat so he could make a beeline and stay dry. He forgot the wig for then, figuring it'd be painful as hell to dry it if it got wet, and made his exit. Sure enough, he spotted Eita's car and made a slightly quicker jog, a smile on his face as he yanked the door open and dropped in right as a particularly strong burst of rain fell.

"Hello, Ei- Who the hell? Wrong car, I'll just-"

"Right vehicle, Shirabu Kenjirou, I've been waiting for this day," the man stated all too happily, a giant piece of flesh missing from his arm although it was still functioning and mostly intact.

Scary.

"No, no, really, wrong vehi-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP! WHY ARE YOU SO ANNOYING?!"

"It's a skill," Kenjirou muttered, hoping he wasn't heard as he tried searching for the door handle.

"Don't you dare try getting out. Knock him cold."

And before he could even begin frantically begging for his life, the world went dark and his nose tingled with cold. He wouldn't even complain if that was how he met his end because at least it was quick and painless.

Hot. Hot. Hot. He was feeling so hot. Lies fucking lies he told himself because he wasn't dead and he could very well hear and feel the damn sun ruining his life even more. He could feel his body get hotter and hotter, the sun burning him mercilessly, sand under his limbs.

What? Sand? How long were they driving to go from rainy morning to sunny sand? It had to be at least three hours. Why the hell was he in the Durango Desert and by the feels of it, deep in, surely his body would never be found once they decided to kill him or simply abandon him in the unbearable heat and let him die.

Slowly, he cracked open a single eye, peering at his surrounding without moving and that's when he noticed several things that he wished were all a lie.

One, he was, in fact, in the desert but seeing it made it all the more real, two, there were way too many men crowded in front of him and he was sure there was more behind him, and three, there was an open fire several feet in front of him. Were they going to roast him alive? Were they going to kill him and burn his body? Were they going to throw him in for a while, take him out, shoot his legs, and leave him half alive? If any of those were the case, he wanted Sebastian alive NOW so he could inject him with acid and call it a day.

He closed his eyes, trying to figure out what he was supposed to do. He could roll? He wouldn't get that far, per se, but he'd have a two-foot head start which was better than nothing. And if he somehow ran far, or fast enough, he potentially wouldn't be shot? Mayhaps it'd miss? It was honestly a very optimistic thought from a very pessimistic him and a very far stretch but hey, a dying man could dream.

He wasn't even binded and he couldn’t tell if he should feel offended or relieved.

Offended because that meant they didn't expect him to make it out at all and if he managed to run, they could shoot him. And relieved because if he somehow managed to escape, he had no restraint.

"Everyone shut up," a man gruffly said, the mumbles Kenjirou hadn’t noticed instantly shutting up. "We will kill him according to my plan. One-eyed bitch will shoot him in the leg so he can't run, we will chop off his arms and feet and then throw him in the fire, got it? We will take his hands and feet back so we can mummify them and put them with our collection, agreed?"

A chorus of stiff agreements ensued and now Kenjirou really wanted to be injected with acid. Where the hell was Eita when he needed him?

A click of the gun loading, a shuffle of feet in sand, men surrounding him and pulling out machetes, and a single man with an eye patch and mask aimed at Kenjirou's leg. He had opened an eye to see by who his life would end and by the looks of it, it'd be painful and dark, he could see his years of hard work and money go down the drain. He could see his body never found, his diploma and Tsutomu's one discarded. He could see his parents' assets get handed to the bank and he could see Eita's eyes.

No, he really could see an eye.

A single eye familiar among men but not once did it comfort him. The gun was still aimed at him and unlike the usual cheer in his eyes, Kenjirou could see disgust and hatred. Mayhaps it really was best if he died. His heart hurt seeing Eita look at him like that and for once, he wished he had never become a Doctor if it led down to that path of pain. Seeing Eita look at him like that even if it was with one eye and all of his features were concealed under layers of clothing hurt like hell.

"¡Tres! ¡Dos! ¡Un-"

The man that appeared to be in charge was suddenly cut off, a gunshot ringing out as a thud sounded right after, along with a stunned silence. Kenjirou peered at Eita, a tear just about slipping out upon seeing the direction of the gun pointed elsewhere. In that split second of confusingly stunned reactions, three more rings carried along with more thuds.

Kenjirou didn't know what was happening anymore.

One moment his life was ending with Eita hating him, the next moment men were falling dead and Eita had pulled off his eyepatch which resulted in a jumbled yell of Japanese and Spanish. Kenjirou lay motionless on the ground, feeling blood splatter him every now and then as he tried figuring out if he should run or not. He could stay there and hope Eita would kill everyone─ hey, he could accept killing in a situation like this─ or he could get up and run and hope he wouldn't be shot.

But his final option was revealed by a loud yell at him.

"Kenjirou, RUN!"

He had half a second to react and although that half second could've been enough to make a drastic life change, he took an extra, crucial, second laying there trying to process what was said which resulted in a shock so great travelling up his arm that he completely forgot how to scream. His mouth dropped open in a silent horror-filled scream and eyes blew open with tears pooling out in astounding amounts. Complete silence but muscle memory had him reacting as if he had screamed in agony.

“¡Moriras, no importa qué!” a venomous voice whispered.

("You'll die no matter what!")

His arm felt as if it were about to fall off, hanging on its last skin but he knew his bone was still there. A large chunk of flesh lifted clean off of where it was supposed to be and right as he thought another terrifying blow would be landed, a gunshot rang out and a body collapsed on him.

"COVER FOR ME! I'LL HELP KENJI!"

"He falls in love and suddenly he can't help someone and defend himself," someone grumbled, standing guard anyway because of the ten cartel members there, only two remained upright on their feet and fully alive.

Kenjirou could smell, feel, hear, taste pain, he could feel his life slipping away and Eita pulling the weight off of him. He blearily spotted a weird wound on the ash blond's shoulder dropping blood and he gave a weak smile showing that no matter what, he knew Eita would actually take care of him even if he doubted him at first.