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How Hideyoshi got in this situation, he didn’t know, but all he was aware of at the moment was that he was backed up into a wall and Mitsuhide was very, very close. Trickster golden eyes trapped amber in their gaze, and an ever present smirk upon Mitsuhide’s face made Hideyoshi’s blood start boiling. It’s that smile. That damned smile that got to him.
“Mitsuhide, I swear if you don’t back away by the time I finish this sentence─” Mitsuhide took a deliberate step back away from Hideyoshi, grin never once faltering.
“I can see when I’m not wanted,” he replied cooly, holding his hands up.
“Of course I don’t want you right now, I have very pressing matters to attend to, as you should be well aware of as we both just got out of the same war counsel not moments ago,” said Hideyoshi, leveling a glare at him.
“You wound me, Hideyoshi,” said Mitsuhide as he clutched his heart in overdramatic agony, with exaggerated facial expressions to match.
“You’ve had worse. You’ll survive,” said Hideyoshi bluntly as he straightened up. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I must go see to Lord Nobunaga.” Mitsuhide finally looked away, eyes lowering in a dramatic manner, looking the most forlorn as a human could possibly get.
“I understand,” he said as he heaved a sigh, “You are departing for the front come morning, and so this will be your last chance to say good-bye to your love. Ah, I’m quite jealous, actually.” Hideyoshi, who had been halfway turned around to walk away, choked and spluttered, turning back to Mitsuhide.
When he finally got ahold of himself, the tips of his ears red, he exclaimed, “My love? Jealous? What in all the hells are you going on about, Mitsuhide?”
“I should have known,” said Mitsuhide, “that I would never stand a chance with you whilst I stand in the shadow of our Lord Nobunaga.”
“Now listen here─”
“After all, you’ve given your body and your life to him, and now I can see that you’ve given your heart to him as well.”
With a growl of rage, Hideyoshi shoved Mitsuhide back and down into a nearby pillar and slammed a fist above his head.
“I’ve just about had enough with you!” he roared, face a shade of deep crimson. “My relationship with Lord Nobunaga is strictly professional. He saved me at my lowest point and I am in turn forever in his debt for that, gladly. And what you are insinuating trivializes that bond we have as lord and vassal and makes mockery of my debt to him. How dare you!” Hideyoshi was panting now from his outburst, staring down Mitsuhide.
And Mitsuhide's eyes never once left Hideyoshi’s during that impassioned speech. Silence hung in the air for several moments, neither one of them daring to make a move. At last, Mitsuhide broke the tension.
“So you do love him,” he said simply. Hideyoshi couldn’t be sure, but he thought he heard an edge of wistfulness in his tone.
“I─” Hideyoshi started. “I-It─ Well… It doesn’t matter,” he said, choking on his words. “I am his vassal and he is my lord. It does not matter what my feelings are, and there is nothing more to say about it.” He sighed.
“You know…,” said Mitsuhide cautiously. Hideyoshi suddenly found it very hard to look back into those boring, snake-like eyes of his. “I leave for another mission at dusk. It’s going to be very dangerous, you know.” Hideyoshi glanced up and away.
“Your missions are always dangerous and I haven’t heard you brag about any of them before.”
“I do not like to dwell on the difficulties of my missions. I find that thinking too much beforehand about the danger distracts me from my goal. It is better for me to face things as they come, whether or not they follow the plan.”
“I… I did not know that,” Hideyoshi said finally.
“You’re leaving for the front in the morning, and I leave for a mission at dusk.”
“Yes, I am aware. I was at the war counsel too, you know. Keeping an eye on you the entire time, I might add.”
“I’m flattered,” Mitsuhide smirked.
“Don’t take that the wrong way! You know that I want to trust you, but you just make it so. Damned. Difficult!” Hideyoshi’s voice was once again raising in volume.
Unflappable as ever, Mitsuhide responded with, “Well now, if I told you what my mission was, then it wouldn’t be a secret mission, now would it?”
“It’s not about that! It’s about you shouldering everything by yourself!” bellowed Hideyoshi, grabbing Mitsuhide’s collar. “It’s about you being so self-sacrificing that you take no care of yourself! It’s about how everyone thinks you’re going to betray us and you just continue to smile and let them think that! You’re just so aggravating! Some days, I don’t even know why I try!”
Throughout the tirade, Mitsuhide stood calmly and let him let loose his pent-up frustrations. When it seemed like he was done, Mitsuhide spoke.
“You care about me after all.” Hideyoshi once again flushed bright red.
“Shut up.”
“I’m touched, truly.”
“I said, shut up.”
“If I cannot speak, then perhaps this will convey my feelings?” Mitsuhide then took one of his hands and trailed it over Hideyoshi’s cheek, one pale, slender finger lingering on his chin. Hideyoshi froze, eyes wide, while Mitsuhide noticeably lowered his eyes to the other's lips. The whole conversation up to that point had been fraught with tension but this… But now...
Mitsuhide drew closer, close enough to notice the faint trembles in Hideyoshi’s shoulders. Close enough to see the near-invisible freckles on Hideyoshi’s blushing cheeks.
And then Hideyoshi came to his senses. “Lord Nobunaga is expecting me,” he said in a rush. With that, he shoved himself away from the pillar, away from where he had been caging Mitsuhide with his body, and took off down the hallway, at a pace that he would admonish anyone else in the castle for.
Mitsuhide’s smile softened as he watched his comrade disappear in a raging storm of embarrassment.
“Ah, well, it was worth a try,” he mused to himself, out of earshot to anyone who might have overheard Hideyoshi’s outbursts, before turning the opposite direction. The sky was turning orange as Mitsuhide pushed thoughts of Hideyoshi out of his mind and took a step back into the shadows as his own reached back behind him.