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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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...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.

[Sousei's anger inspires Tenka's own need to get defensive. People have doubted Shirasu to his face before, that's nothing new. But before, even when his own family doctor who had been with him for years, thought to talk badly about Shirasu, Tenka's answer was the same.

If people said anymore, he would get mad. Because Shirasu was definitely his friend.

.... what does he say now?]

He has to have his reasons. [Whatever those reasons may be and Tenka's not even sure what could happen to possibly excuse treating Soramaru badly but-] I'll talk to him when we go home.

[They're family.

When Tenka didn't have anyone - when he'd separated from the Yamainu and Kiiko and Sousei - he'd always had Shirasu. For ten years, he had Shirasu. Every single secret and doubt and horrible traumatic memory - he'd only shared them with Shirasu.]

... there has to be a reason.

[...That answer is not particularly surprising either, but it still irritates him. Tenka is too trusting. That's what gets him into these situations--but they all accept that. They accept him as trusting.

But being so trusting even after they are revealed to be traitors?]

... You're too soft-hearted.

[They kidnapped your little brother, Tenka--and Sousei's disciple. Shirasu betrayed them, and Tenka.

Sousei certainly isn't happy about it, nor willing to forgive it any time soon.

...But there's nothing else he can say in response to that.]

... He was my closest friend after you all left. All I had were my brothers and him.

{To be quite honest.

Tenka knows he should probably feel angrier, should probably be against Shirasu with every fiber of his being because his brothers are the most important people in the world to him. The only problem with that is that after ten years, Shirasu started to feel like family too.]

I just want to hear what he has to say too.

I've made some really bad decisions. I probably would've made even more if he wasn't there.

[How can Tenka hate him?]

[Even though Shirasu had probably intended to play him all along...? Well, Sousei's honestly not one to truly know much about family. The only family he's had was Tenka's.

Maybe that's why he doesn't understand it now.

But he just makes a noncommittal sound, turning his head.]

... The fact remains. [Still too soft-hearted.] But I won't stop you.

[Couldn't, even if he wanted to.

And yet...]

I, however, do not intend to forgive him for kidnapping my disciple with that intent.

[ . . . hah. Tenka just sighs at that before resting his head on his arms again, atop the table.]

Just let me get to him first.

[Tenka thinks he deserves at least that much.

A lot of things are vaguely starting to make sense to him now. His brothers are 'alright' for the time being. Chuutarou is definitely safe at least. Soramaru is alive and they've found a way to separate him from the Orochi.

... It's a start.]

[It is a start at that... and Sousei simply inclines his head in a nod. He'll let Tenka talk to Shirasu-- no, "let" isn't the right word. That implies that he's allowing him to, and he's never been able to forcibly stop Tenka from doing anything. That's not what it means to be partners.]

If I have nothing to do with him again, I would be content with that.

[He's Tenka's problem, not Sousei's.]

Make that the case. [Don't get into a situation with Shirasu where he has to intervene.]

Edited 2014-11-09 01:30 (UTC)

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