Rai’s Vow in the Rain

POV: Rai Kurosawa

Rai never liked the rain.

It reminded him of blood that didn't wash off.

Of screams buried in puddles.

Of the night his mother died.

But tonight…

He stood in it anyway.

No coat. No blade. No mask. Just wet silk clinging to his skin and wind lashing against his bare throat.

He felt like a boy again.

A boy who had once believed his father's empire would make him strong.

That pain was a gift. That control was love.

That women were to be caged to be kept.

Then she came.

Anika.

A girl with quiet fire and soft hands, who shattered his rules by bleeding without begging.

Who stared at him after the worst of him was unleashed — and chose to stay.

He'd taken her.

Ripped her from a world of peace and stitched her into his battlefield.

And yet… she stood in front of him now.

Soaked. Breathtaking. Terrible and divine.

"You didn't answer me," she said softly.

He blinked rain from his lashes.

"I didn't hear a question."

She stepped closer. "Was it real… what we did?"

He didn't look away. Couldn't.

"Yes."

She looked at him like she was trying to see through every scar.

"I need to know, Rai. I need to know I'm not just some fantasy you play with until you get bored. That you won't toss me aside when the war comes. When your father's ghost starts whispering again. When the clan demands blood."

The thunder roared like an omen.

And something inside him broke.

"Anika." His voice cracked. "You think I don't wake up every night—seeing your throat in my hands? Hearing your footsteps running from me? Do you know what it's like to be so full of someone you want to tear your own skin off just to make space?"

She stared. Silent.

He moved closer. Slowly. Carefully. Like she was still something sacred.

"I was never taught how to love. I was taught how to own. How to punish. How to bury pain so deep it calcifies in your bones."

A breath.

"But you…" His voice lowered. "You ruin that."

"You ruin me."

The wind howled.

The rain blurred the sky and the world.

And he dropped to his knees.

Right there. On the rooftop. In front of her.

She gasped, but didn't stop him.

"I vow this," he said, head bowed, voice trembling:

"I will never chain you again."

"I will never touch you without your fire meeting mine."

"I will burn the world before I let it take you from me."

"And if I ever forget… remind me who I became for you."

She was crying now.

So was he.

But it didn't matter.

Because in the middle of that storm, amidst all that ruin—

She knelt too.

Took his face in her hands.

And kissed him.

Not like surrender.

Like a promise.