Disclaimer: I do not own Kamen Rider Kabuto, nor do I hold any rights to the song "The Light That Blinds" by Shadows Falling, I simply liked the lyric as a title. This is a fan fiction written purely for my own amusement, and hopefully the entertainment of others.

Author's Notes: Well, it's the first time in a while that I've written a fan fiction. It was my boyfriend who started me on the Kamen Rider series, and a while after he introduced me to Kamen Rider Kabuto, I came around looking to see what sorts of stories there were. I was slightly shocked and appalled to discover that the majority of them were Tendou/Kagami. It's not that I have anything against people writing slash between the two, but in my mind, the relationship between Yaguruma and Kageyama was so obvious that I was stunned to find not a single story amongst the handful of Kabuto fics.

I don't write fan fiction very often, as I don't feel I'm particularly good at writing other people's characters, but when I saw the woeful lack of Kage/Yagu, I had to do something to contribute. If anyone actually enjoys this and would actually like me to continue, I might write some more one-shots involving the pair. I think the way the show often cut from scenes involving Kageyama and Yaguruma left them open to interpretation, and it might be interesting to see where I could take them.

I would greatly appreciate if you would take a few moments to review after reading. I think my writing has gotten a little rusty, and it might help me improve by knowing what I'm doing well, and what I need to work on polishing. Thank you!

CS

The Light Betrays

by ChronicallySpaced

Aniki.

It was a warm night. Perhaps that was appropriate, Yaguruma Sou thought as he listened to the sounds of the darkness around him. The persistent buzz of cicadas resounded noisily in his ears, but he paid it no mind. He did not have to succumb to the night's siren song. This deep, dark emptiness around him, how it called to him; but however dark and deep, it held no sway over his mind. It was nothing compared to the painful shadow swirling within his soul.

Yes, he thought. This solitary darkness that no light can ever reach.

"Aniki..."

Yaguruma's eyes fell downward as the younger man stirred. "Troubled sleep, eh?" he wondered aloud, but there would be no answer. Kageyama Shun, the boy he called aibou, was still lost to the waking world, head resting on his aniki's lap. His brows were furrowed, a sure sign of a mind wrought with unpleasant apparitions. Sou reached idly to stroke the boy's hair, his touch uncharacteristically tender, a slow sigh escaping his body. "Do you even reach for it in your sleep, aibou? That light." A cold smile crossed his face. "Stupid."

Kageyama. Even in his days as a member of ZECT, Sou remembered him as being a little bit foolish. So headstrong. So intent. He probably would have followed Yaguruma to the ends of the earth if he had asked. Times had changed, but in a way, they had not changed at all.

Aibou, he thought with vague amusement, you always wanted to be a leader. Why do you follow me? Like a lost puppy, why do you always follow me?

Shun stirred again, fingers twitching slightly, interrupting Yaguruma's thoughts for the second time. The boy's hands tightened into fists and he tossed his head a little, as if fighting against some inner assailant. For a moment Sou simply watched, listening to his aibou's incoherent mumbles. Who was it, he pondered, that the foolish boy grappled against so violently? Was it that Tendou Souji?

Yaguruma's eyes narrowed, albeit somewhat lazily. "Tendou... Souji," he murmured under his breath. In his dark eyes spun a reflection of the arrogant Kabuto, hand raised to the heavens, as if the sun itself rested on his fingertip. "Tendou." The name tasted foul on his lips, poisoning his tongue. "If you truly are a god as you believe," he breathed, "you are a merciless, unforgiving god." A sudden laugh escaped, though not loud enough to wake his sleeping partner. "Are you so high, Tendou? Are you so bright that you must cast all those around you into this darkness? Are you?"

"Aniki," Kageyama whimpered, hands grasping until one found a firm hold in the fabric of Yaguruma's black leather duster. "Help... me..."

Sou heaved another sigh, taking hold of Shun's other hand a little roughly. "Aibou. Really... you really are... pathetic." Reaching with his free hand, Yaguruma slipped it behind Shun's head to lift it slightly as he leaned down, brushing his lips against the younger man's forehead. Resting his own head against Shun's, Sou stroked the back of the boy's hand with a thumb. "I told you, we can't be together forever," he mumbled, the slightest tinge of scolding in his tone. Still, Kageyama did not wake, though he seemed to rest easier than before. "What will you do?" Yaguruma asked. "Aibou... I can't trust you to take care of yourself, after all."

The man was surprised at the sharp pang of sadness that stung his heart. Sadness? Could sadness reach him even in the darkness? No, he thought. Sadness was for those foolish enough to reach for the unforgiving light. Sadness was not for him, not for those who dwelt in the abyss of hell.

"Am I a fool after all?" he wondered aloud in a soft voice, one corner of his mouth turning upward in a twisted smirk. "Aibou," he murmured, tracing the long scar on Kageyama's face with his fingertips, "perhaps I was mistaken. Perhaps... I did not bring you into this darkness. It may be that I dragged you down while... reaching for your light."

Suddenly, Yaguruma felt disgusted with himself. He released Kageyama as if the boy was filth, pausing only as he slipped away to pull off his jacket, bunching it into a makeshift pillow for his partner. The man got to his feet, staring downward at the sleeping boy for only a moment, lingering for reasons he himself could not be entirely certain of. Regret? Was he so attached to the other man? Kageyama was more of a burden than anything, so why did he hesitate? Frustrated by his thoughts, Yaguruma turned rather abruptly, pacing away with quick footsteps, the stirrups on his boots clanking loudly each time a foot hit the ground.

"Aniki?"

The footsteps slowed to a stop, but Yaguruma did not turn around. "Go back to sleep, aibou," was all he said. He heard a shuffling noise, and knew that Kageyama was getting to his feet.

"Where are you going?" Shun demanded, his voice containing a hint of betrayal. He was always like that, or so it seemed to Yaguruma. Demanding. For all of his blind loyalty, Kageyama had no concept of how to make a request. Perhaps the habit of giving orders was a difficult one to break.

As Yaguruma expected, his partner rapidly grew impatient. "Aniki!" Kageyama raised his voice, snatching the jacket from off of the ground. "Where are you going?"

Sou tilted his head back, exhaling slowly as he stared up at the stars. "Kageyama," he began flatly, stunning the boy by using his name, "just how long do you intend on clinging to me?"

Shun fell silent for a moment, shocked. "Aniki," he murmured, indignation draining into confusion, "what can you mean by that?"

"I told you before, didn't I?" Yaguruma replied, almost icily. "When I first tried to reach for you from this darkness." The man extended a hand, closing his fist as if grasping at something that was slipping through his fingers. When Kageyama made no response, he dropped his hand to his side looked over his shoulder briefly. "Not to expect that we could be together forever." The words had barely escaped his lips when he felt his balled-up trench coat hit his back with a soft paff.

"Bastard!" Kageyama shouted, picking up a rock and hurling it at Yaguruma, though it missed the other man completely. "Stop fucking around!" The high pitched tenor of his voice gave away his desperation, and for some reason, Sou felt that stabbing sadness again, like a dagger twisting in his heart. The boy flung another rock, then another, each failing to connect with its target as his eyes clouded with tears. "Do you think you can just bring me to hell and leave me behind!?" he shrieked, throwing one last stone as he sank to his knees. It clattered across the ground pitifully, bouncing to a stop far short of its intended mark. "Aniki," he sobbed, tears beginning to roll down his cheeks, "you said we would walk in the darkness together." Shun tightened a hand into a fist, slamming it on the ground. "YOU SAID SO!"

"Aibou," Yaguruma sighed. Turning to face his partner, the man reached to lift his jacket up out of the dirt, pulling it on. Slow, jangling steps cleared the distance between them, and Sou knelt down, reaching to rest a hand on Shun's shoulder. Kageyama flinched away from his touch, and Yaguruma reached to take hold of his chin roughly. "Aibou," he spoke again, but this time his voice was firm. "This hell of mine... I'm starting to think you don't belong in it. You, who always search out the callous, unfeeling light."

Kageyama looked up at him, a mixture of fear and loathing in his eyes, still swimming with tears. "I want to stay with you, aniki!" he cried, throwing his arms around the other man's waist and burying his face in his chest.

Yaguruma grunted slightly in response, listlessly reaching to pull the boy close. He said nothing, simply holding Shun in his arms as the boy wept, unsure of what he had done to garner such unwavering devotion. Somehow, with Kageyama held safely in his strong embrace, his soul did not feel quite so heavy.

After Shun had calmed down to a degree, Yaguruma drew away just enough to grasp his partner's face in his hands, wiping away any tears that remained. "Aibou," he said with a smirk, his voice colored with a hint of affection, "you really are an idiot." He pulled Kageyama tight against him before the boy could protest, the motion hardly gentle; but then, Yaguruma was no longer a gentle man. Cupping the back of Shun's head in a hand so he could not turn away, Sou kissed him. He felt the boy tense at first, apparently too jarred to react, but it did not last long. As his bewilderment dissipated, Kageyama held to his aniki all the tighter, fingers curling in the fabric of his duster, returning the kiss. Yaguruma kissed him more deeply, a feeling of possessiveness washing over him. Shun was his, his partner, his companion. When the world had betrayed and forgotten Kageyama Shun, Yaguruma had been the one to see him. He would always be the one to see him, the one to look after him.

"Aniki..." Kageyama breathed as their lips were separated, though still hovering mere millimeters apart.

Yaguruma chuckled, though he was not aware as to why. "Smile, aibou," he murmured lowly in his deep voice, the statement uttered for Shun's ears and his alone. "Smile." As a timid grin spread across his partner's face, Sou could not help the fondness that swelled within his chest.

Well, he thought to himself, holding to that small moment of hope in his heart. Perhaps it is not so bad after all, having someone to walk beside me in this darkness.