Beneath the soil (Kazuha x reader)

8 - Struggle

"Where are we going?” I asked. Keqing was leading us in a completely different way from the direction of the Qixing. She didn’t answer.
“Keqing? (Y/n) asked you a question. Keqing?” Kazuha lifted his hand to touch Keqing’s shoulder, but instead fell through it. Keqing dissolved.
“What the-” 
“Hahaha, delusions are so very convincing, yes?” A short man was walking towards us. An unusually large hat sat on his head. I pulled out my bow, and Kazuha held his sword. 
“Scaramouche, The Balladeer, Sixth of the Fatui Harbingers. I must say, I'm not very pleased to meet you.”
“Fatui!” Kazuha hissed under his breath.
“Kazuha, what's happening?” I frantically whispered. 
“Little girl, you just led you and your boyfriend into a very tricky ambush. Return to Inazuma, and no one will get hurt.” The man sneered. Instinctively, I backed away.
“You will not talk to her or get anywhere near her!” Kazuha loudly yelled, brandishing his sword and pulling me in close. Well he’s obviously not his calm self anymore. I hurriedly absorbed my bow with Geo, pointing it towards the man.
“Haha, don’t be silly. You would do as much damage as a fly would on me. Surrender. I have backups if it comes to force. The Raiden Shogun has ordered your return to Inazuma.” 
I let go. The arrow soared right towards Scaramouche, who vanished with a cloud of purple mist and re-appeared behind me.
“Missed me.” Scaramouche grinned, grasping my neck. Kazuha suddenly was in the air, anemo sigils swirling around and spurting towards Scaramouche. My neck was saved. The sky blackened.
“Stay behind me.” Kazuha told me, and I obliged gratefully. I was no use against this guy. 
But I was useful in aiming. Skirmishers ran out from the bushes, and I was able to hit them straight in the head. I rocked the ground beneath their feet, tripping them up and tossing away their buffs. Kazuha was trying his best, but Scaramouche was just dodging and teleporting with ease. 
“It’s no use struggling.” Scaramouche yelled as Kazuha almost hit him. Steadily more Skirmishers appeared and ran towards me.
I was taking damage. Frozen for a couple of seconds, an electro Skirmisher was able to slash his sword into me. I fell back, still shooting my arrows. They didn’t hit. I was becoming desperate. 
If I was desperate, it was nothing compared to Kazuha. No damage had been inflicted upon Scaramouche. 
“Not so confident, huh?” An electro slash came out of nowhere. Beidou?
Suddenly Beidou was in the battle. Her greatsword tore through shields, giving us all shields in return. Soon all the Skirmishers were dead. They crumbled and fell to the ground, throwing down smoke bombs and giving up.
Ningguang was helping Kazuha. Me and Beidou joined the boss fight, cornering Scaramouche for a split second before he teleported behind us. 
We were all almost down. Scaramouche taunted us, still taking no damage. Cursing, I lunged forward, predicting his move and clasping my hands around his throat.
“Not bad. But you’ll have to be better than that!” He plunged a dagger in my chest. Pain erupted in me.
“(Y/n)! No!” Kazuha shouted, kneeling down despite his cuts and bruises. 
“Kazuha, get her out of here!” Beidou gruffly yelled. I felt dizzy. Kazuha must have agreed, because suddenly we were flying. Ugh, the pain in my chest…
My consciousness was slipping in and out. 
“Stay here, please (y/n),” Kazuha clutched me. The fear in his eyes was scary. But I felt safe in his arms.
“Trying…” I tried to say. It must have been slurred, cause he glanced down, scared.
He landed somewhere, and lifted me on some table.
“No…” I pleaded, holding out my hands. “Stay with you…”
Kazuha gave me a sympathetic look before backing away. A cool hand was placed on the wound.
“This will hurt.” A quiet voice whispered. I screamed, crying, as the dagger was pulled from my chest. Kazuha winced in the corner. Immediately another hand used cryo on my wound. The pain was gone. 
“She’ll be ok. She needs rest though.” The quiet voice talked again. Kazuha nodded and as soon as the other person was out of the room, rushed to me.
“Are you ok!?” He whispered. I nodded, tears still sliding down my face.
“Hurts…” I mumbled, trying to reach my chest. 
“Don’t.” Kazuha grabbed my hand. 
“Is there blood?” I asked quietly. He nodded. “I’m sorry!” I suddenly burst. Started crying. What a joke. 
“Shh, it’s alright. Not your fault. We need to get as far away from Scaramouche as we can.”
“No!” I cried, cutting him off. He turned back to me, surprised. “I’m not leaving mum there! I have to get her back! Then we’ll leave!”
“Sh, there’s other patients...I know how you feel,” Kazuha assured me. My eyes widened as I realised.
“Oh…”
He leaned down and kissed me. I’m not going to say it took away my pain, but it certainly distracted me. This time I didn’t hold back. 
I ran my hands through his hair, soft and warm as he gently wiped away my tears. 
“OooOOoo. Sorry to ruin the moment, but we’ve arrived.” A mischievous voice came from the doorway. Beidou stood there, grinning. She supported Ningguang by her side. 
Kazuha coughed and stood up quickly, almost banging his head on the curtains. I turned bright red. 
“Is Baizhu here?” Beidou leaned down to a little purple zombie. Huh, so a zombie healed me?
“Baizhu is...weak. Too weak to come.” The little zombie said slowly. 
“We need to heal. Fast.” Ningguang gasped, holding her arm that was bloodied and bruised.
“What’s the situation?” Kazuha asked Beidou hurriedly.
“What, between you and (Y/n)?”
“Beidou!!”
“Oh, fine. Managed to defeat him for a moment. He’s gone. Probably tracking us. We need to get somewhere safe.”
“I managed to catch up with you guys as soon as I saw that fake Keqing. The real Keqing is ok.” Ningguang drawled from the corner. Beidou rolled her eyes.
“What, so you were spying on us!?”
“It turned out helpful in the end, didn’t it?” Ningguang retorted. “The ship is ready. Don’t know where you’re going next, but you better get out of here quick.” 
“I’m not hurt. I’ll go get it ready. (Y/n), you all good?” Beidou asked me, seeming generally concerned. I accepted her concern gratefully.
“I’m fine.”
“Kazuha’ll probably make you feel even better.” Beidou quickly added, scrambling out the door before Kazuha could reach her.
“What are you going to do?” Kazuha asked me quietly. Well, that was a question. What was I going to do? As soon as I thought of running away to Sumeru, immediate guilt filled me. Even thinking about abandoning my mother felt sick. 
“You know the answer.” I told him.