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There was no sound except the slow drip of the clock, each drop striking the metal bowl with a soft little brassy chime.
It was late.
The Palace was asleep, and he should head to sleep too but …
A shuffle at the door.
He glanced at the clock, frowning slightly and turned just as the door pushed open.
"It is done, Danzou-sama," Kagami said.
"You're late."
"My apologies, Danzou-sama."
Danzou deigned to turn and take in his General. His hair was a flattened mess, curls plastered to his forehead and temples by sweat and blood, and a streak of bloodied soot smeared against his brow where he probably had wiped his face with his sleeve - no, he glanced down to see that the back of Kagami's knuckles matched that same smear.
"I came as soon as I was done." He stood at the doorway, perfect - the perfect soldier. Waiting -
And Danzou stood up, walked towards him. In the dimmed lamp light, shadows turned the streaks of blood and soot the same colour, and in the quiet of the palace, Danzou could hear his General breathe between his own soft silk-lined footfalls against the carpet.
Carpet that Kagami was scrupulously not standing on, his boots thick with mud and gore.
He had come straight from the battlefield, that was obvious - he hadn't waited to wipe his shoes.
Danzou stopped in front of his General - and before Kagami could drop to his knees, he caught Kagami's chin with his fingertips, tipping his face up, thumb carefully smearing the - ah, still wet, still sticky, arterial blood spray over that finely arched cheek bone.
"But it is done." It wasn't a question - in the dark of Kagami's eyes, Danzou could hear the screams of the dying as his General cut bloody swathes through them. He didn't need the verbal confirmation, but he wanted to feel it, vibrate against his fingertips -
And when he leaned down to kiss Kagami, he could taste that confirmation against his tongue.
"The rebels have surrendered," Kagami said as soon as Danzou drew away, his breath warm, damp against Danzou's lips. "Once I had their leader's head."
"As happens with any army," Danzou said. "Well done."
Kagami's gaze was steady, pools of darkness in the shadows of his lamps, searching Danzou's gaze. For confirmation of his truth, for affirmation that his deeds were recieved and that Danzou was pleased.
"It is only my duty," Kagami said, quietly. "I should leave you to rest, Danzou-sama."
"You came straight from the field," Danzou said, and instead of letting him go, dropped his hand to the ties of his shoulder plates.
"Danzou-sama." the slightest rise of his voice - a faint resistance - and Danzou kissed him again, tugging and undoing them and - pushing the jointed plates off his shoulders.
"Danzou-sama," Kagami tried again, but he surrendered his arms easily enough, letting him unlace the cuffs wound tight to his wrists, relinquishing the belt with barely a breathed protest.
Danzou didn't say Let me - he'd said it many times before, and each time Kagami still protested - still tried to back down, as if Danzou would care that this - the dirt, the grime…
He caught Kagami's wrist, now, and pulled it up to his mouth, pressing a kiss to the blood-smeared knuckles. Blood and soot. Kagami's breath caught, his gaze riveted to Danzou's lips.
"You earned this, in the course of my orders."
"It is my duty," Kagami said. Soft, ever soft, because kagami was never anything but soft if he wasn't shouting orders across a field.
Danzou reached for his other hand - to do the same, and caught Kagami wincing just a little. The tiniest flinch and narrowing in the corner of his eyes.
He frowned, and drew back to check - the smear of shadow across Kagami's ribs stank of metal - fresh blood.
"You are hurt."
"It's nothing, Danzou-sama," Kagami said, and tried to tug his hand back. Danzou refused to let go, frowning harder.
"How is that nothing? My own General is hurt in the course of his duties, in carrying out my Will. That is not nothing."
He urged Kagami to his private bathroom, ignoring the protests; why should he care about carpets being mucked up? They were just carpets, mere decoration.
Kagami was the extension of his Will and Power, infinitely precious and irreplaceable.
"You're my Blade," he told Kagami, as he made him sit on the edge of the tub, and stripped of his armour with as gentle hands as he could manage, pushing off the layers of batting and peeling back everything to lay bare his General to his gaze. "How can I not take care of you?"
"It is my duty and honour to be injured in my work for you, Danzou-sama."
"And am I to not care if you get injured?"
Danzou went down to his knees to get Kagami's boots off, ignoring the small, strangled sound that Kagami made, which only got louder when he cupped a hand down Kagami's calf, pressing his forehead to his knee, just for a moment, before working the boot off.
"You allow me to help make your vision come true," Kagami said, soft and intent. Fervent. And Danzou looked up to meet Kagami's gaze.
Completely, utterly, wholly loyal, his General, and eternally his. How could he not want to make the world anew, worthy of such loyalty?
Kagami let him remove his other boot before he was reaching down to Danzou's hands, and tugging- pulling him up to stand between his spread knees. "I will do anything for you, Danzou-sama." And he kissed Danzou's knuckles, one by one, soft press of lips between words. "Every life to keep you safe. To enforce your vision."
He looked up at Danzou. "If you only keep me by your side, to use me as you see fit. I am content, Danzou-sama."
How could anyone ever think he would treat this man, this epitome, physical manifestation of the God of Loyalty himself, like something disposable?
"I would never spend you carelessly." Danzou caught Kagami's face. "You're mine. And I take care of what is mine."
"Yours to use," Kagami said, "For the good of Konoha."
"And I would never allow anyone to hurt what is mine," Danzou said. "Am i not ruler of Konoha?"
He didn't wait for Kagami to answer, he was leaning in and kissing his mouth again, tasting that blood on his teeth. "You're mine, my extension of Will, just as I am Konoha. Never, ever. Let yourself be hurt again."
"Yes, Danzou-sama." Kagami breathed against his mouth. "For Konoha."
"For Konoha."