Chapter Text
Somewhat related to the previous chapter
Always being the type to keep his promises, Inu-oh had asked Tomoichi to come over at his residence, he couldn't call it home or even a house. He'd just use the most formal term that came to his mind, his vocabulary wasn't that wide but more than enough to pretty much deny any feeling of comfort or close relationship with the other 'human' residents. Yet both teens had learned that the line that separated human from monsters was thin, if not nonexistent.
"In two days meet me here, I'll take you there!" He had said, reminding the young priest of their arranged plans.
Tomoichi hadn't met with Inu-oh those last couple of days, both of them were busy sometimes. Especially Tomoichi since he needed to practice the biwa, occasionally play the instrument or chant with the other members of the troupe.
Plus a minor worry they had both discussed, it'd be best if they kept their meetings more private. At least for now. They were both fairly young, adults had power over them and Inu-oh wasn't all that accepted or welcomed. So if they snuck out everyday, it could make others suspicious of their meetings. Taking a break for two days wasn't much.
Not when they had somewhat risky plans for the next time.
As he put on his kimono Tomoichi took a deep breath, closing his eyes and just standing still for a few moments. Not only did he worry about the cruelty he or most importantly Inu-oh would face, but he had also learned one thing.
Two days weren't nearly enough.
"I never expected him to invite me! And I'm curious, i really am." He'd get to feel the dancing of the Hie za troupe leader, find a whole new world to explore with the most important person in his life, hear some really professional players and learn a whole new part about Inu-oh's world.
"Am I really ready though?"he said with a groan as he walked towards the meeting spot.
The habit of talking quietly to himself was present, his father wasn't really around anymore so he was truly talking to himself. It was just difficult to get rid off. At least for now.
His name changed pretty recently anyway...
"Oi Tomoichi!" Yelled Inu-oh, and the other didn't really need eyes to hear the grin in his voice or the way he'd swing his longer arm in excitement. By now that sound was way too familiar anyway, hearing his friend's wave cut through the air.
Just a greeting like that was enough to ease Tomoichi's worries, he had always been a careful planner, yet he knew be was patient and skilled enough to do whatever came to his mind while finding a way to deal with the consequences. They'd both be fine at least for today.
"Someone sounds pretty eager-"he commented smirking at his friend who laughed.
"Yeah as if I don't spend all of my days there..." As the masked teen saw the slight concern in his friend's face though he quickly spoke up again. "But i am excited about taking you there! Really, you'll meet the dogs, the musicians are good, even the dancing. I'll take you to great spots so you can really feel everything!"
With his fingers he was already counting all the nice places to hear and watch the dance practice from. That one window in the yard, the roof, the porch that lead to the entrance which was Inu-oh's main practice space.
Hmm that last option was probably a bit too risky though. They could practice and hang out there later, since it was nice there. Probably the only place with a floor that Inu-oh had access to... Really the fanciest place he could take his friend at.
"Don't expect any luxuries though, you might've guessed that already but it's not exactly cozy there, at least from my point of view."
Tomoichi never expected anything welcoming or warm from Inu-oh's house though. It wasn't difficult to assume that much.
"It'll be fun to sneak around with you, see your way in and out and run from people."
Getting older didn't mean they weren't partially kids anymore, especially since they had both been deprived of their childhoods in different but cruel ways.
Upon hearing Tomoichi's comment, the other laughed and ruffled his black hair. "Didn't realize you were the rebellious type of guy."
Inu-oh's hands were always so warm, it even made his face heat up slightly. Was it simply because of the size of his hand? No it just matched his bright and warm personality. Whenever be got to hold or those hands, or even be held by them - even the shorter one, since Tomoichi had by now touched some parts of Inu-oh's body - an immense feeling of comfort would rush through him. He just felt safe.
They didn't hold eachother much. But they had napped together close enough, once he had helped Inu-oh's legs with a small injury, or he got to touch his throat when he had fell down from a tree to check if he was alright and breathing.
It wasn't much. But it meant something for Tomoichi at least. A sign of trust.
Without realising it, Tomoichi had brought his own hands on top of his head, holding Inu-oh's hand in his own two hands and smiling over at him. Which did surprise inu-oh but it thankfully didn't show.
Physical touch especially affectionately was somewhat new.
They'd be alright.
So they finally arrived, it was a 20 minute walk, at least with Inu-oh's route because it was the most isolated one.
"Now you climb I'll go first and then help out!"
Whatever was wrong with his body came extremely useful when it came to situations like this. Getting over the house's thin wooden fence was really simple. Then he brought it over to the other side and supported Tomoichi's hands as he climbed up.
The black haired teen's landing wasn't as smooth though as he fell on Inu-oh, making both of them laugh. For two kids who grew up with eachother, playing and running around in the woods or rooftops and bridges around Kyoto this wasn't painful.
Normal really...
"Shhh!!" Tomoichi soon was trying to quiet down his laughter as be pressed his hand against Inu-oh's mask wanting to shut him up before someone noticed this.
He'd touch his face, but from what he had felt the two or three times he had touched the other's face he realised his mouth wouldn't be all that easy to cover. Plus it was only on moments when Inu-oh had trusted him enough to let him do that. He'd always wait and ask or permission.
After Tomoichi got off and they weren't snickering like little kids anymore, inu-oh retrieved the other's walking cane from the other side of the wall.
Admittedly he didn't use it around inu-oh much. Not only had he gotten used to not seeing and relying on his other senses, he'd also trust his friend to guide him around or warn him about anything dangerous. Interesting things to feel, or tricky roads and paths.
How long had it been since he last used it around inu-oh?
"C'mon, practice starts soon! It's not his best performance, but he does some warm-up dances and songs before he starts training with his sons." Explained inu-oh, the pattern was easy to notice. The routine of the rigorous everyday training of that man was always the same, strict, plain and scheduled. Yet the costumes did seem amazing, no matter what that guy was wearing.
Inu-oh then guided his friend around the yard, a couple of dogs spotting them quickly and running around them happily, Tomoichi made sure he wouldn’t hurt any of them and his steps became more hesitant and careful. Sensing hyper, unpredictable dogs wasn’t exactly the easiest.
As he noticed this small thing, this really minor detail, Inu-oh smiled softly, but didn’t say anything instead continued his way towards the window.
Both of them were pressing against the wooden wall of the house, their faces close to each other as they were resting their chins on the windowsill. It was only some years ago when Inu-oh would need to jump in order to look through that window, back when they hadn’t noticed his glances and the thin sheet wasn’t covering it. Even after his legs transformed he’d need to step on a rock, or stand on his toes to look through that.
Now both him and his friend were tall enough, comfortably reaching the sill.
Interesting.
They had grown up.
This wasn’t as fun as Tomoichi thought, he could tell from the tapping and the music that the dance was flawless in form and music. It just lacked character and emotion, not something that would keep someone entertained at least in his opinion. Especially not a blind person. He mainly relied on feelings and senses, right now he was only sensing a basic pattern. No stories to tell, just left, right, right, left.
A good school for Inu-oh, but it only worked because his friend was such an interesting person. All those thoughts, the stories, the feelings at once! Everything about the Hie za troupe seemed, swallow.
Somehow this got worse, the practice with the sons was even more boring. The lame dance routine and instructions would get interrupted by yelling and violent sounds every few minutes. Noticing the bored and slightly horrified expression on Tomoichi’s face though, the brown haired teen decided to do something.
Happily he backed away from the window and started dancing himself. “Join me! We can practise too.”he whispered, chuckling.
Tomoichi turned to his friend, a small smile on his face as he considered the idea.
“You don’t have your biwa, might as well learn something from a good dancer.”
Really he was a good dancer when it came to technique, he just was a bad performer and a bad person. That type of ugliness didn’t fail to show in the way he moved his body or sang.
Hesitantly the young priest searched around for his friend’s hand, only to hold it and let it guide it to him. Now next to each other Inu-oh started dancing. “Listen to their steps, follow the music and the instructions!”
Only Inu-oh could follow such tips with such an emotional manner. Somehow he managed to stay in tune with the music instruments, do the moves correctly from what Tomoichi could tell at least but add so much emotion.
The leader lacked those feelings, his dance meant nothing, he was just flexible enough to follow the format of Noh dancing. The sons lacked interest and technique. And Tomoichi wasn’t exactly all that graceful. It was fun to dance really, trying to learn and feeling Inu-oh’s large hang around him whenever he was about to trip or do something wrong, gently helping do the move correctly.
Even those small assists didn’t disturb that guy’s dancing. Was Tomoichi the only one who could see this!? Who would feel so many emotions just from sensing his friend dancing?
“Let’s do something else now!” hummed the brown haired boy after some time and then went to show Tomoichi around his yard. Because this yard was his home.
“S-So you’ve never been inside?”asked Tomoichi, now a small dog was sitting on his lap as he and his friend rested inside a small warehouse. Which was probably the current dog house. “No, not really? Maybe when i was really young but i don’t remember it.” He must have been inside at least once? He must have come from somewhere, he must have gotten cold and sick at least once?
Really it had crossed his mind that he was related to them, that the woman that died some years ago was his mother, the cruel man his father and those two rude boys his brothers. But he refused to face those thoughts. They were surely getting harder to ignore as he grew up, he just didn’t feel ready.
“It’s cool here though! Keeps most of the rain out and the dogs are great!”
By now Tomoichi had met all of them, he didn’t really remember their names but he was getting along with most of them. Especially the younger ones who were more social and curious.
The warehouse did smell funny at first, but this wasn’t his first time in a smelly place. It wasn’t even all that hard to get used to it.
“If you ever need a place, especially from the weather i could …” he started, but stopped as he realized he didn’t exactly have a home either.
“Nah don’t worry, I’m good here for now anyway! You haven’t forgotten i plan on becoming famous right?”
His friend chuckled and nodded quickly “Of course, i could never forget. Promise me to remember me when you do that though.”
“You can always join me… In fact you should!”
Had Tomoichi thought of this many times? Yes. Did he want to follow Inu-oh? Yes, he was the only person he could stick to anyway, at least the only one that understood him. Could he do it?
No.
“Heyyyy Tomoichi! What’s with the silence!?”
The dark haired boy nodded quickly, snapping out of his thoughts. It’d lead nowhere to think about this all over again. “I don’t think it’s really for me, you know…”
“I think it suits you-”
Tomona needed to become Tomoichi for his parents, his whole family. In order to figure out what had happened to him and his father, who caused his mother’s grief. That was his purpose.
“We’ll see.” he replied smiling, not wanting to continue this conversation. Despite being able to see through Tomoichi’s smile, the other didn’t really push the topic more and instead just stood up. “Do you want to see my porch? Not mine but I love dancing there!”
The only floored space of the house Inu-oh went to. Stepping and dancing there even felt soothing, much more comfortable than the bridges, dirt or rocks he was used to. At least he had a pair of old, wooden shoes now. Their conversation had gotten way too serious for the both of them, at least for now. So the answer was simple, Tomoichi just stood up and held the other’s hand as they walked to the porch.
“Ready to dance again!?” This was really all Inu-oh did to pass the time, he played games with the dogs but as he got older, those would get even more dull gradually. Not that he’d ever forget them, he’d always dedicate some time to his fist friends but now it’s just that dancing was much more fun.
In the back of his mind there was the possibility that maybe he could transform again. Hopefully he’ll feel more free. Which was true, even if he was physically the same person he kept feeling a bit more at peace, as if a part of his soul was more free now.
Tomoichi chuckled and nodded “Sure, but you know i’m the musician type…”
“Doesn’t matter! We can hum as well. I do that all the time!” Inu-oh started humming a tune. A soft one as he tapped one of his legs on the wooden floor, his friend soon following his lead with the tapping and later on with the melody the other was singing.
Of course Inu-oh had started dancing long before Tomoichi started confidently humming the tune, his steps sounding elegantly as he moved around on the wooden floor, his hand tapping on the floor as well. Either for jumping and doing cooler moves or because Inu-oh just dragged it along.
Even those sounds seemed to fit the melody.
And after a few minutes Tomoichi was dancing as well, in his own more awkward and stiff way, letting Inu-oh’s hand help him occasionally. “So you grew up here? Is this your stage?”he asked his friend who laughed and nodded “I guess you could say that… It kinda looks like a stage doesn’t it?” he asked, now jumping on top of the short fence of the porch, perfectly balancing on top of it and continuing his dancing there.
“From what i can tell it’s above the ground, it’s spacious. It is like a stage.” He hadn’t really seen a stage before but they all seemed to be like that.
A place, preferably higher than the crowd, to draw all of the audience’s attention to the performers.
“HEY! You!”
The sudden yell sent shivers down the two teen’s spines as they turned around to face whoever had yelled at them.
“It’s not the master of the house-”whispered Inu-oh, bending closer to Tomoichi but still standing on the fence.
Which did make Tomoichi let out a relieved sigh. As if they had both decided that the only problem here, the final boss, was the leader of the troupe. Who kind of was…
“Are you talking to me?” asked the priest, because he assumed he was the new face here. So he might have been mistaken for a thief?
“No not you! That thing-” said another voice. The second brother, who had now rushed to be by the first one’s side. Tomoichi guessed that much from their voices as well as the second one’s clumsy running.
Inu-oh’s shorter hand pointed to himself and he saw the two older teens nod at him. They didn’t look aggressive. They had never been too mean anyway, when they were younger the two of them would even play with Inu-oh, give him little tricks or run around with him. Of course they cried when and if Inu-oh was able to catch up to them, out of fear. Which would end badly for him.
Still, once they grew up a bit they just stopped bothering with him. Unlike their father who had always despised him.
“How are you doing that?” said one of the brothers, the two of them were now walking closer to the younger pair of performers.
“Doing what?”
“Dancing…” admitted the other one, his expression looking a bit awkward.
Despite wanting to look down on Inu-oh, they couldn’t.
“Well…” Inu-oh started, only to swallow his words and turn to look at Tomoichi who looked just as shocked as he did. This had never happened before. He had been around this place since he could remember himself and he had never spoken so calmly with those two.
Tomoichi moved a bit closer to Inu-oh, leaning against the fence and standing on his tip-toes to hold his friend’s shorter arm as a sign of support. His desperate attempt to somewhat break the silence between the three residents of the house.
The masked teen knew well how harsh the leader could be. Even with his sons. His scoldings and beatings were somehow gradually becoming even more violent, his greed seeming endless to all three of his sons. Yet, Inu-oh couldn’t be any more different than him.
“It’s not really a matter of copying what your dad does, you need to feel the music! I listen to it and follow it. There’s always a story behind any beat you know, you just need to quiet down, go along with that but with passion!”
Surely his dancing was unconventional, it always had a beat though. And Inu-oh spoke with such kindness and generosity in his voice, making Tomoichi hold his hand even a bit tighter. Gently rubbing his thumb on Inu-oh’s hand.
“This is my biwa player, we … we can help you out?”he offered awkwardly looking down to see Tomoichi nodded. The two teens seemed too confused for a lecture on how he treated his ‘performances’.
Swallowing all of their pride, the two teens bowed for a few seconds. Bowed to the monster they had been afraid of growing up, then they got used to it, and now they were asking for it’s help.
“Get him a biwa.”
“You two can pick for yourselves, c’mon…” said the older teen, taking the responsibility of letting a beast and a stranger inside the practice room. His smile was small and awkward, but sincere which made Inu-oh hesitantly get off the fence and walk closer to the practice room along with his friend and with his two brothers leading the way.
Yet as he reached the door he stopped, looking down in hesitation.
“I-it’s alright.” said the teen moving inside to check for anyone else in the room. Thankfully it was empty.
Inu-oh guided his friend inside the room and to the place where they stored the instruments at. So many options, it made the dark haired teen feel a bit overwhelmed but he had never felt more excited. Sure he loved his own biwa more than any instrument here. Still this was a once in a lifetime opportunity for him. A few minutes after he picked one, not standing the awkward silence that fell upon the four of them once again.
The two brothers were probably scared of the master of the house finding out, while Inu-oh had long forgotten his fear and was just staring at the room, simply standing in the centre of it. He had never gotten the chance to be inside his house…
Soon enough their lesson started. Inu-oh never touched or guided the other two, unlike his gentle guidance with Tomoichi. Instead he just let the priest pick the tune and followed it along with the other two while giving them tips.
Even with the various footsteps and the sound of the expensive biwa, Tomoichi could still tell Inu-oh’s footsteps apart, making him smile softly every time he’d notice them. Occasionally he’d slow down, his friend quickly realizing his intention as he’d also make his movements simpler and slower.
Really the two future leaders of the troupe weren’t that bad. They lacked interest and passion, but they were doing far better than they had been during today’s practice with their father.
Their practice got interrupted by the growling stomach of the younger brother, who chuckled as he heard his loud stomach, kind of helping to break the ice between the four of them. As a thank you, the older teens went and brought some food for all of them, eating it in the porch. Where the house met their yard. It really was the safest place.
A middle ground between what Inu-oh saw of his house and what his brothers - who he didn’t acknowledge as his brothers yet - saw.
His visit hadn't been that bad after all ...
They weren't on friendly terms their relationship hadn't improved. Inu-oh and the two teens of the house didn't talk much afterwards. But they had at least spent a couple of hours together, just sympathising for eachother because they were all aware of their father's harsh methods.