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There was once a man upon this earth who folded steel to make a sword. His hands gripped upon some pliers to keep the steel steady, and his arm grew sore from bringing the hammer down to strike the infant blade. Sweat dripped down his neck and his forearms grew hot with the heat of the metal before him. He surely believed that he was making something strong and sturdy, able to withstand the test of time… The fool!
Hasebe groaned as he looked up at the ceiling of his room. He knew it was past noon, yet there he lay on his futon, like some slacker. But it was honestly not his fault, if it was up to him, he would be up and running around the citadel, ignoring his fever to instead ensure stability in his master’s name. Alas, despite his determination being as solid as the steel of his blade, his body was still “human” and with his body being as sore as it was, could not fight back against the man who was next to him at this very moment.
“Hasebe-kun, you need to drink some more water. Here, sit up and I will help you.”
Hasebe turned a sharp eye to his nurse, Shokudaikiri Mitsutada. In an act of defiance, Hasebe turned his back towards the tachi.
“Leave me alone.”
With a smile, Shokudaikiri grabbed Hasebe’s shoulder and pulled him to lay flat on his back again. In his other hand was a glass of water, dangerously looming over the fallen sword. Hasebe's lips pursed in discontent and reluctantly sat up. How was he supposed to get well when this whole ordeal was giving him a headache?
It, of course, all began in the morning. It was by a stroke of ill-luck that Hasebe overslept due to his disposition and was absent from breakfast. With overseeing breakfast that morning, and a companion of Hasebe, Shokudaikiri took it upon himself to go check what was wrong, and upon seeing Hasebe with his face flushed trying to get dressed, it was only clear what must be done.
Nurse time.
Hasebe coughed up some of the water upon hearing a knock on the wood of his screen door. Who…?
“Yo!”
Oh no.
“Tsuru-san, glad you could come by. Did you bring the medicine like I asked?” Shokudaikiri pulled away the cup of water and could only glance at Tsurumaru as he talked, now busy with patting dry the front of Hasebe’s now-wet clothes.
Tsurumaru jumped and sat next to Hasebe’s futon, pulling out some vials from the folds of his clothes. "Yup! Fresh from the clinic, Toushirou certified." Hasebe felt that the throbbing in his head intensified.
“Here, open up Hasebe-kun.” Shokudaikiri popped open one of the vials after a moment of inspection and offered it to Hasebe. It is not that Hasebe was against medicine or anything, but his trust in either of the two men in his presence was very low, especially since the vials were not labeled at all!
“Oh? Someone doesn’t want to take their medicine it seems. Here, I will hold him down and you make him drink!” Hasebe’s head shot to look at Tsurumaru and his very sudden plan. His head whipped back to the other side upon hearing Shokudaikiri give agreement to the idea.
“What!? Let go of me, hey! Stop, help--!”
Hasebe’s eyes widened as the purple liquid tipped in its bottle, and with being unable to resist, his lips were pursed open. Why must this fever render him useless to attacks!
And then suddenly, an angel appeared!
“… … …”
“Oh, hello Kara-bou!”
“Kara-chan!”
Never mind, he was going to die.
Ookurikara’s eyes narrowed at seeing such a strange scene play out before him. His foot was already stepping back to leave the other men to do as they wish and not get himself involved, but he was suddenly pushed from behind into the room.
“What is going on here?”
“Sada-chan, you are here too!”
Hasebe felt really dizzy. Was the whole citadel going to be at his bedside? Oh master, wherever you are now, please save your humble servant from this situation!
With the arrival of two new guests, the vial was put to the side. Mitsutada stood up to embrace Taikogane as if they hadn’t been in each other’s company earlier that day. Ookurikara, now within the threshold of Hasebe’s room, found it very difficult to leave without the other three dragging him back in, and thus, he sat against the shogi of the room choosing to be a silent observer for the moment.
Tsurumaru, though distracted, still held Hasebe down. “You sure surprised me! Why are you two here?”
“We heard screaming, so we came to check it out. We figured you had something to do with it, but I didn’t think Hasebe and Micchan were here as well!”
Tsurumaru laughed out loud, and Hasebe took the opportunity to wiggle himself free from his captor. If his cry for help attracted this sort of crowd, he better not try that stunt again. Best to settle things like any respectable vessel should—with violence!
“W-wait, what are you doing with that?!”
Hasebe felt his blood run cold at seeing Ookurikara unsheathe his blade, inspecting it with little interest. Was… his blade that uninteresting? No wait, this was to be expected from Ookurikara’s character.
“…What do you think?”
“Oh! Good idea!" Taikogane sat near Ookurikara, looking at the blade. "I heard that if there is something wrong with your blade, it affects your body too! Maybe Hasebe has been neglecting to polish his blade?"
Hasebe almost coughed out blood at the accusation. Him? Neglectful? Never!
Tsurumaru jumped to be beside the other two, taking the hem of his sleeves and wiping at the blade. “Looks pretty clean to me? Unless…” Tsurumaru scrunched up his nose and lifted the blade from Ookurikara’s hands and raising it into the air as if some relic.
“Unless…?” Mitsutada leaned forward in anticipation. Tsurumaru held the tension for a moment before speaking in a serious tone. “Unless the filth is from within!”
Now Hasebe certainly wanted to have his body be broken down into a pocket change amount of charcoal and steel!
“Can you all just… leave.” Hasebe’s request was ignored, the three others suddenly drawn into a discussion of what ‘filth’ possibly meant and how it related to Hasebe’s current ailment. After having his request ignored, there was only escape left.
“Tsuru-san, are you saying that Hasebe-kun is… dirty? Inside his blade?”
“Exactly!”
“This is stupid. …He would be sick all the time.”
Tsurumaru waved his finger at the logic. “As Sada-bou was saying, blades can affect our human bodies. But, couldn’t it also work the other way?”
The room got quiet, letting the information sink in before Mitsutada and Taikogane gasped.
““You can’t be saying that Hasebe(-kun) is—””
“--Eating unhealthy!”
“--Doing drugs!”
“A pervert.”
Everyone looked at Ookurikara for a good moment after his bold exclamation. Ookurikara took this as his cue to tilt his head down and stop engaging in this ridiculous conversation.
“Actually, it means he is… Hey, where is he?” Tsurumaru suddenly dropped the sword on his lap and looked around the room. Sure enough, Hasebe had escaped!
Outside, Hasebe walked slowly away from his room, his whole body feeling heavy and off balance. He must quickly go to the saniwa's room, where he would be useful, where he would be safe.
“You don’t look so good. Are you alright?”
Hasebe turned his head to face the speaker. Kashuu Kiyomitsu stood leaning against a wall, a stick of dango against his chin. Somehow, though slightly relieved it wasn’t any of his captors, he wasn’t too too relieved.
“I am fine, just doing rounds.”
“Rounds?” Kashuu squinted for a moment, looking over Hasebe’s features before the corner of his mouth turned up in a smirk. “How can you be doing rounds when you aren’t the secretary today?”
If Hasebe had more energy and was perhaps in a more stable state of mind, he could have thought of some quick retort and made the fellow uchigatana fall silent. However…
“Don’t matter. Rounds. Bye.”
Kashuu looked at Hasebe’s back as he walked away, the smirk never leaving his face. Yasusada soon appeared from where Hasebe came from and looked at Kashuu, dango in mouth. He was about to take the sweet away and ask something, but Kashuu silenced him with a finger to his lips.
"As the secretary, it is my job to take care of the citadel, right? Then I think we need to take care of someone who is sick. Come on."
Yasusada slowed his chewing, looking at his partner before following behind, not quite sure what was going through Kashuu’s head but heck, there was nothing better to do today.
Hasebe only got so far before he was stopped again. In a perfect world, he would have simply walked past these characters but the moment he saw them, goosebumps exploded on his skin.
“Fufu, you look like you have seen a ghost.” Nikkari smiled, which in itself would have put Hasebe on edge but beside him was…
“Is there something about me that bothers you?”
The red rope in Kikkou’s hands snapped and Hasebe felt his knees go weak. Not because he was into bondage, but because his body was at its limit, his mobility cut in half, and he knew there was no escape.
Hasebe woke up with Kashuu sitting next to him, smiling. He didn't have to move around to know that he was bound up, feeling the tension of the ropes against his body. That wasn't a surprise. What was a surprise was the fact that he was laid beside someone much larger than him, and at his feet was Ishikirimaru, mumbling something underneath his breath. Beside him was Nikkari, to no surprise. He was, after all, one of Hasebe’s assailants.
Wait, where was he? It was dark and though he did pass out at some point in his scuffle between Nikkari and Kikkou, it did not feel like it was nighttime.
“Don’t worry, Maeda Toushirou is bringing us some drinks. In the meantime, you should just rest and get better, ok?” Kashuu propped his chin on his hand, delighted at having fulfilled some sort of personal quest. Whatever did Hasebe do to deserve this?
Actually, maybe a lot of things. Last week he didn’t let Kashuu stay out late with Midare and Jirou because they were too loud. And then the previous week, he might have thrown away something of importance thinking it was trash. And also…
Oh no, this was revenge wasn’t it!?
“I understand revenge well, but how satisfied will you be kicking an ill man?” Hasebe scowled, half lecturing and half hoping that he would be let go. Kashuu only let out a small laugh.
“Revenge? Not my style. I am just doing my job as secretary. You need to get better, don’t you? For being such so considerate for everyone’s wellbeing, you sure are stubborn when it comes to your own.”
Hasebe was stupefied. Was Kashuu being… kind? It almost made Hasebe smile but that didn’t explain what was happening. Like, why was he tied up, who was next to him, and why was it so dark in here?
“Kashuu-san, I am back with tea. Oodenta-san, are you alright? You look gloomy.” Maeda chirped from the doorway to wherever he was, a stream of light pouring into the darkness as he pushed open the door… The storehouse door!
Oh.
He was sleeping next to Oodenta all this time wasn’t he.
Hasebe could only turn his head a bit to see a bit Oodenta’s messy hair from over his shoulder before he grew tired of trying. In his mind, the pieces slowly fell together.
Kashuu sent Nikkari and Kikkou to capture him, bring him to the storehouse to be beside Oodenta to hopefully chase away the illness, while also securing Ishikirimaru to ensure his health.
It made sense but why did it not make Hasebe pleased? Oh right. Because he was tied up as if he was some sort of model and this whole situation reeked of malice!
“Fine, I will stay here but can I be set free? These binds are a bit tight.”
“Hm… Nah.”
“Excuse me.”
“What guarantee do I have that you won’t run away the second we let you free? Not taking the chance.” Kashuu sighed, though Hasebe could tell it was a bit forced for theatrics. He could just accept this and rest while bounded up for a few hours and let whatever ailment he had be treated. But. No.
He knew he must thrust aside his pride away for his own sake!
"Kashuu Kiyomitsu… Thank you for everything. I take back everything I have ever said to doubt your credibility as both a sword and as a secretary to our master. I won’t run, I will follow your order.”
After all of this, Hasebe thought, he would have to rethink his way of treating others. Is this revenge for being so strict? He could almost remember the soft cries of the tantous as he sat them all down to eat all of their bell peppers and felt a transformation in his character begin.
“Found him!”
Hearing Taikogane’s voice from the entrance of the storehouse, Hasebe’s body (as well as character development) went cold.
His captors, they have found him! With all these storehouse shenanigans he almost forgot the events of that morning. To make things worse, he was at even more of a disadvantage against them now, being tied up and all.
The storehouse suddenly got more crowded, now with four more people to share the limited space with. And the room got really quiet.
“…I won’t run. I will follow your order.”
Hasebe pressed his lips together, making sure that he didn’t accidentally repeat his earlier words but no, he didn’t. His mouth was sealed the whole time. Then how—
In Kashuu’s hand was a thin black device.
“A recorder!?”
"Yup. Mutsunokami lent it to me. Knew it would come in useful someday." Kashuu waved it around a bit before he himself got a shock—Tsurumaru taking it from his hands and inspecting it.
“Can I borrow this? You can really surprise someone with this!”
Kashuu frowned at Tsurumaru for taking away his toy, but it didn’t seem to bother him enough to try and get it back. “No way, you can get your own. You guys were looking for Hasebe?”
“Yes. He ran away earlier when we were nursing him so we worried about him. Glad to see you are taking care of him.” Mitsutada smiled at Kashuu before looking down at Hasebe. It seemed he didn’t find it concerning at all that Hasebe was bound. Actually, no one really did. When did the members of this citadel lose their morals?!
“Hm… We do need more help to take of him. He won’t run away this time, right Hasebe?” Kashuu patted Hasebe’s shoulder before standing up and stretching.
“Does Oodenta-san still have to lay down next to Hasebe-san?” Maeda asked, kneeling next to his friend. Kashuu hummed once again and shook his head.
“I am sure Hasebe will do just fine with the spiritual energy in this place alone. You too Ishikirimaru, you can stop.”
“I haven’t cut the disease yet though. I suppose it is a better time than any. Aoe-san, can you continue the sutras and see if any spirits speak to you?”
“I don’t think any of that is necessary now, no offense.” Kashuu’s frown returned at the image of Hasebe being pierced by such a large sword such as Ishikirimaru’s all for the sake of healing. “It is almost lunchtime, right? Let's go eat."
Eat? Hasebe is not sure if Kashuu is being kind to send as many people away or irresponsible!
“Oh, it’s that time already? Karachan, do you want anything in particular?”
“I don’t plan on getting friendly with you.”
What was happening now…
“I want whale! Can we get whale?”
Taikogane exclaimed at Tsurumaru’s suggestion and pulled at his sleeves to stop joking around. As if forgetting all about Hasebe, Tsurumaru began convincing Taikogane on the wonder that was Mitsutada and whales. Slowly but surely, they began leaving the storehouse. Actually, wait, everyone was suddenly leaving! Even Oodenta was being dragged by Maeda out, and Nikkari had an arm wrapped around Ishikirimaru’s, telling him they can finish later.
Suddenly the crowded storehouse turned empty, save for Hasebe, Kashuu, and Mitsutada.
“Will Hasebe-kun be alright by himself?”
"He will be fine. We will bring him food afterward, right?" Mitsutada nodded at Kashuu’s words and in a very caring, nurse-like way, left the room and abandoned his patient. Kashuu only let out a small laugh under his breath and turned to Hasebe, who was speechless.
“Now be good and stay here as I order you to, ok?”
“You little--!!”
Hasebe looked around the now very dark and very empty storehouse. Is this his end? To perish like a dog all alone, bound up and sick, without his master by his side to at least give him comfort? What a terrible end for a sword such as himself.
Except, obviously he wasn’t going to die. In the dark and dusty room, lying still and with the time to reflect… He actually felt a little better. He couldn’t test to see if his fever had gone away, but his body did feel cooler. Could it be… because of everyone’s help?
However, it was also likely that with everyone being so close to him all day and all the stress of trying to escape that his body had just naturally heated up and had no chance to calm down till this moment. Did anyone end up helping him or were they all the cause for his weakness.
Hasebe started laughing. How silly this whole thing was! He could almost hear the sigh of his smith from hundreds of years ago, the scoff of all his masters including his current one! His tone of his laughter turned low. Once he was free, if anyone else got sick (besides his dear master), he would personally “take care” of them and make them their own medicine!
Outside, Nihongo stopped Hakata from pulling the storehouse door open.
“Eh, why did you stop me? We need to save him!”
“Do you hear that laughing!? I think… he needs some time alone. He must really be sick in there.” Nihongo gave Hakata a comforting pat before pulling him away, leaving Hasebe to overcome his illness and thoughts all alone, for the meantime.