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Who: Sousei and Tenka
When: 10/25 ; night
Where: their ~~currently~~ shared apartment
What: There's a lot of canon to catch up on. Alcohol definitely makes that much ~~worse~~ better
Rating/Warning: drunk people, Manpain

[Living with Tenka is simultaneously really, really familiar and also a little irritatingly different. Cutting contact for years will do that, he supposes--but nonetheless, as easily as they fall back into the groove of being partners, there's still a lot under the surface that needs to be said.

Neither of them wants to say it, though.

Sousei still doesn't like this place, certainly, and has no intentions of playing along with them--but at the very least, acting as a kendo instructor is calming. It's familiar, and separate from all of this futuristic nonsense, and while he's doing his best to adapt, it isn't bad to have something very like home to ground him.

There's that, and there's Tenka.

So when he gets home from said work, he expects it to be another night of them trying and failing to return to the place they were before, when all they had had to do was be partners, and the understanding came right along with it.]

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Shut up.

[SO LOUD...]

And go to bed.

[ . . . jeeze.

Tenka's just going to slump against the floor then and sigh.]

Can you hand me a pillow?

[he probably meant in an actual bed, tenka]

In your actual bed. [Honestly.]

Did raising your brothers not mature you at all?

[another yawn and he's just pillowing his head on his arms now]

You tell me. How'd pulling the Yamainu together go?

[they both had to grow up really fast

though admittedly Tenka does enjoy being able to revert pretty hardcore around Sousei. it's easy and familiar.]

[...Slowly, Sousei sits again at the table. And he sighs quietly. How did it go...?

...]

I did not have to do much of anything. Kumou-sensei founded the Yamainu. They would follow anyone he appointed.

[They...are loyal to Sousei, but he's still honestly not entirely sure how much of that is from being loyal to Taiko, and how much of it is loyalty to him as an individual.]

[are they ever going to make it to bed

probably not

but at that Tenka actually raises his head because he didn't expect a serious answer. Then he's... honestly just going to laugh again.]

You sell yourself too short, Sousei.

Those guys love you.

...No.

[It's not that he's denying either of those accusations, because he suspects either of them might be correct. They do care for him, as he cares for them too. And he may be selling himself short on some things.

But when it comes to this...]

They fight for a shared dream.

[A vision that Tenka granted them.]

That is why the Yamainu is still here.

[ . . . and Tenka snorts faintly at that.]

You and Kiiko were the only ones in the room then, Sousei.

[If the shared dream is the one he's thinking of... but honestly-]

... so I guess thanks for passing it on to the others too. You guys...

[Normally this would be too much information, too much honesty- but the combination of Sousei and alcohol manages to make Tenka's lips loose too.]

You guys are still like family. When everything's all over and done... you should come over more. I want my little brothers to get to know all of you too. And... I think Mom and Dad would like it.

[Tenka's dream...Taiko's determination and purpose--those are why the Yamainu is together. And when their purpose has been accomplished, then...then he'll disband them properly. Not like Iwakura, throwing a fit like a child. No, with dignity and respect, as they all deserve.

For now though... it hurts, but in a good sort of way. He misses them too, Tenka's parents, his foster parents.

But nonetheless he manages a smile, going for smug.]

You've been absent too long, Tenka. Soramaru has already invited me in your place.

[Now he has breakfast over there...and watches out for the brothers as best he can when they're there. It's a change, he knows it is.]

[Tenka blinks at that, a bit surprised. But... ha. Of course. Soramaru would invite his master over. That said-

He snorts.]

Not everything's about you, Sousei. I mean everyone. Kiiko, the old man, Shi-san, Takamine, Ashiya - even the new kid.

Unless you've been throwing parties at the shrine since I've been gone-

.... It'd be nice for everyone to get together, don't you think?

[If Sousei and he could mend their bridges, then why not build up a few more between their families?]

[Hm... Yamainu over at the shrine... everyone spending more time together again? It'd be nice, he thinks. They probably couldn't go back to living together all too easily, but...if it's just a little work, then work they will.

It'd be worth it, for the end result.]

Of course. Everyone has been looking out for your brothers, Tenka.

[Ashiya, working on finding a way to save Soramaru. Kiiko, always, a given. Takamine, supporting Soramaru even after his injury. Shi, doing his best to get them to work together. Takeda.... being Takeda.]

[ . . . that just gets him to laugh a bit as he finally sits up, stretching idly. Then he shrugs, but the pride shines through in his voice.]

That's because I have the best little brothers in the world. Soramaru always does his best to be strong and even Chuutarou's growing up.

[Hah. It does strike a pang of loneliness into his heart but-

Now he's just going to give a smile.]

They're not going to need looking after for much longer. But pass my thanks on to the team for doing it so far.

[He scoffs at that.]

Give them your thanks yourself.

[OKAY.]

They've been waiting for it.

[...and for this... Sousei's aware enough to know that they've been waiting for him to get over it and repair his relationship with Tenka.]

[ . . . ah, right.

Tenka blinks at that before snorting.]

Okay. I'll do that. But you bring them over for dinner sometime so I don't have to travel all the way to your office. That sounds so stuffy.

...That won't be difficult to convince them of.

[Soramaru's cooking is so much better...

...and also there's the little fact of--]

We may not be there much longer, regardless.

[He's kind of completely disregarding his orders to bring Soramaru back for experimentation

yolo]

[That gets Tenka to raise a brow.]

No? Why? Mold problem?

[tenka why]

[He's still vaguely drunk.

He's said all of those other things. They've talked about everything. They've hugged it out.

And still, Sousei finds it hard to say this. Mostly because he finds it hard to wrap his head around it himself. He's...not following orders. He's not doing what they've been told to do. He's decided that he knows better than the government, and isn't that a haughty thought?

For a moment, he's quiet, eyes narrowing. And then he sighs.]

I have decided to not follow Iwakura-sama's orders in this situation.

[Who's the traitor now, really... though he's always decided to protect and serve the country, this line is splitting hairs, and he knows it.]

[ . . . and that actually manages to get Tenka to snort - not Sousei's answer, but the fact that Sousei was actually hesitant to admit it.]

No? You're not following the orders of the old guy who's interested in Orochi experiments conducted on yours truly? Couldn't ever imagine why.

[It makes sense now that he's given that answer, though. So he's just shrugging.]

I wouldn't feel too bad about that one, Sousei. Old man Iwakura's changed.

[Even then, he followed orders. Even after that...because he felts that it was all he could do. Just like the Abe family, with their nonsense of sacrificial people... even then, he followed and obeyed.

But...]

...He intended for us to capture the Orochi [Soramaru] and return with it alive for further experimentation.

[Needless to say, he has no intentions of doing so.]

[Tenka's blood runs cold for a moment - a second of fury - before he exhales shakily.]

.... Well I guess I'm glad you're not following orders then.

[Though his smiles has turned quite a few degrees sharper. It's not anger directed at Sousei or the Yamainu, not at all.

Just anger directed at the fact that Iwakura's become a man who would take a teenager who is already suffering and then force him to submit to further tests and experiments that Tenka himself finds all too haunting.

He's accepted what's happened to him. He's accepted the cuts, the incisions, the scalpels, the pain. But he'd die again, a thousand times over, before he lets them get their hands on his brother.]

[That's about the reaction that he was expecting. In return, Sousei is utterly unflappable. He's already made his choices. He's not going to second guess them now.

Even if it's so strange, to not be following orders...well, this is where they've come.

He'll take the consequences of that on his own shoulders.]

Of course not. [As if it was so easy as that, when it was nothing of the sort.] That is not compatible with what we agreed to do.

[They agreed to get rid of the Orochi, not perpetuate this nonsense. They agreed to protect the country from the shadows, and allowing this to continue is not that.]

Not even close.

[Letting Tenka's little brother get experimented on? Definitely not what they agreed to do. Though admittedly this is getting Tenka more and more anxious about something.

So even though it's already getting later and later into the night, he can't help but think that with all the answers he's gotten, he won't be able to sleep if he doesn't have this one in particular:]

... Sousei, have you ever met Shirasu? Kinjou Shirasu, I mean.

[The shrine keeper, Tenka's confidant, their brother.]

[... haaa. Of course it had to come up. Sousei pauses for a moment, and that's probably ominous enough--but nonetheless, eventually, he speaks. Calm and measured.]

Kinjou Shirasu was the one who kidnapped Soramaru.

[It's stated flatly, as the fact it is, with none of Sousei's irritation bleeding through. He has enough of a grip to manage that, at least.

But Ashiya knew it was coming, and still, he was too slow. Stupid, really. He should have known.]

[ . . . and despite how made he was at Iwakura just seconds ago, Tenka's face is completely devoid of any form of anger. No, the farthest it gets is irritation. Why? Simply-]

... I don't understand. [Well it's simple, Tenka. Your must trusted person just so happened to betray you.] Shirasu's our brother-

[And his face pinches and again, it's too much information but well, alcohol is good at blurring those lines.]

... I'd asked him to take care of them for me.

[As his last request.]

[... Of course. Tenka had cared so much for Shirasu. That's just Tenka's way. Always taking in strays--like Sousei himself.

Sousei will be angry on his behalf, then, eyes narrowing and fist clenching.]

...He chose otherwise.

[A faint sigh.]

His plan all along had been to revive the Orochi, alongside his twin within the prison.

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