I know what that's like, you know. Seeing someone suffer and not being able to do anything about it.
[The hand resting on the back of Yamato's head moves, until it's gently cradling his face instead. Souji is still smiling, although it hurts to hear his sword think so very little of himself - it's a feeling that he knows all too much about. It had been like an empty pit inside him when he was still a child, the sense that he could do no good, and to want acceptance was selfish and wrong. In a way, when it came to having a human body, Yamato really is a child, isn't he? A child with hundreds of years of pain with nowhere to go.
How can he make that okay? He can't promise like Hijikata had promised, can't give Yamato a place in the world because this... this isn't their world, and even if it was, he is only a human. Even without his disease, he would perish while Yamato remains.]
You know... we really are alike, aren't we? We only really know how to do one thing. We fight, and that's what we exist for. So there are some things we just can't do. [Now his hand moves to his own chest.] You could never cut the oni out of my chest without killing me as well, right? And I couldn't attack the hurt in the hearts of the people I love, not without cutting out all the good things as well. So there are things we can't save people from, and it's really scary.
[He very gently bumps their noses together, one arm still wrapped around Yamato.]
You did all you could, and for me that's good enough. Both you and Kashuu Kiyomitsu... I love you both. [He lets out a shaky little sigh, carefully measured and controlled so it won't catch and cause more coughing.] I can only promise to do my best in turn, to stay with you and not leave you alone again. I know it's not much, but... it's all I can do, see?
wraps self in blankets defiantly
[The hand resting on the back of Yamato's head moves, until it's gently cradling his face instead. Souji is still smiling, although it hurts to hear his sword think so very little of himself - it's a feeling that he knows all too much about. It had been like an empty pit inside him when he was still a child, the sense that he could do no good, and to want acceptance was selfish and wrong. In a way, when it came to having a human body, Yamato really is a child, isn't he? A child with hundreds of years of pain with nowhere to go.
How can he make that okay? He can't promise like Hijikata had promised, can't give Yamato a place in the world because this... this isn't their world, and even if it was, he is only a human. Even without his disease, he would perish while Yamato remains.]
You know... we really are alike, aren't we? We only really know how to do one thing. We fight, and that's what we exist for. So there are some things we just can't do. [Now his hand moves to his own chest.] You could never cut the oni out of my chest without killing me as well, right? And I couldn't attack the hurt in the hearts of the people I love, not without cutting out all the good things as well. So there are things we can't save people from, and it's really scary.
[He very gently bumps their noses together, one arm still wrapped around Yamato.]
You did all you could, and for me that's good enough. Both you and Kashuu Kiyomitsu... I love you both. [He lets out a shaky little sigh, carefully measured and controlled so it won't catch and cause more coughing.] I can only promise to do my best in turn, to stay with you and not leave you alone again. I know it's not much, but... it's all I can do, see?