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"You're so easy to read."
Yasusada says it casually like he wasn't busy over-analyzing the small frown at the corners of Kashuu's mouth, or the slight furrow of his brow as they watch him banter with all the other swords.
"Committing yourself to being a nuisance today? Annoying, but not unexpected," Kashuu says, with more of a bite than he really means, and later he might apologize by laying out Yasuada's futon, or not nagging him into the baths; But right now, he was on edge. All the words coming out of his mouth wanted to hurt something, someone, who couldn't easily get under his skin. Someone who didn't call him son, or acted like he knew so much better than he did- like how to be loved, to the point of not being abandoned, who knew how to use beauty alone to be treasured.
"Still sore, huh?" Yasusada says just as nonchalant, breaking through Kashuu's stormy mood with a lopsided smile as is his want. "You can keep picking on me, but I don't think it helps all that much," he says, taking a seat on the engawa next to his partner, who turns away indignantly from him. "You're rather confident in yourself and your assumptions today," come the less bitter words, a frown deepening on Kashuu’s lips.
"Is it an assumption after I've known you this long?"
That has the scarlet-eyed uchigatana turning his crimson gaze back onto a pair of cerulean ones that seemed as though they were staring right through him. “You know, no matter how you feel about him, he’s still gonna be here. Not much we can do about that,” Yasusada offers bluntly, a refreshing cool wind of reality on the sore skin of his petulant wishing that somehow the sage had made a mistake, that the sword who heralded the realization that Kashuu Kiyomitsu- who left on a journey to grow and learn how to take pride in the past- still isn’t over some things.
He isn’t over a lot of things. “He’s old. I’ll send him out to do my chores and he’ll probably break before the day is out,” Kashuu says, dismissing the thoughts and the pain that came with it. “I still can’t figure out where you got this dramatic persona from,” Yasusada says with a laugh, rocking back onto the heel of his palms. “Hey, I’m not being dramatic. Leave it to you to not see how dire the situation is-" he pauses a moment before he lets his own internal panic tries to bite at Yasusada again. "Why don't you go bother someone else with your observations?" Kashuu says, words betraying the welcome presence of his partner and his gentle probing.
"This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen you sulk, you know,” his soft voice says as blue eyes turn to gaze at Norimune, the current object of Kashuu’s ire. “Well, this is the first time you decided to be nosy about my feelings. It wouldn’t hurt if you could take me a little more seriously if you’re going to insist on pestering me,”
That brings those deep blue eyes back onto Kashuu as the corners of them are tickled with the beginnings of a smile. “And let you get lost in your head? One of us has to be tethered to reality sometimes, you know. You make sure I still stay here, in the present, I’m just doing the same for you.” Yasusada says a touch softer at the end, a slight pink dusting his cheeks. Kashuu knows enough what he means- on nights where he wakes to a tear-stained face and gentle hiccups; The same nights that he shushes his partner back to sleep with the same words as he always uses to keep the nightmares at bay, “You’re okay, you won’t be left alone anymore-” so he doesn’t press any further, just lets Yasusada try to reciprocate his comfort in the uchigatana’s own clumsy way.
"Don't you want to... I don't know- ask him if it's true?"
Kashuu ventures. It wouldn't hurt to know if Yasusada was even a little disturbed as he was- that there could be a sword both so close and yet so far away from them in memory. That beauty and status alone were what brought him into myth because wielding two difficult to handle swords wouldn't make a good enough story. "Hm? Well, I've thought about it for sure but... it doesn't change anything. No matter what narrative people like better, no one can take away the fact that we're Okita's swords. We were the ones he chose to wield- and even if that guy was another sword Okita had, I have no doubt that Norimune... does not have the skill that only a true sword of his has," Yasusada says resolutely. 'Was not loved the way that we were loved,' Kashuu sees in his words, still walking the fine line of his own feelings regarding the matter.
"I suppose you're right," Kashuu says with a slight sigh, mimicking Yasusada's own lax posture as he begins to try and let the worries roll off with his partner's reassurances. "I am?" the other sword says, with an almost comically shocked expression. "What? You made a good point and staring at him isn't gonna make him go away anytime soon. If only looks could kill," petulant lips drawn into a pout sigh, earning an eye roll and melodic giggle from Yasusada in kind. "Don't say things like that, I'm sure Master would be upset. Brattiness isn't very cute, you know,"
"Speak for yourself, I'm cute no matter what," is the indignant response before the slowly easing atmosphere is interrupted.
"You two really are rather close. It's good to see kids getting along so nicely," A smooth and annoyingly familiar voice breaks the lax pace of the conversation. Kashuu can't help but deadpan, shifting his eyes into a slight glare while Yasusada makes it a point to be visibly unbothered. "We're not kids. Don't you have better things to do?" Kashuu bites out with an angry scowl. "I could ask the two of you the same thing. It is a little uncomfortable to be ogled by people whilst minding one's own business. Anything you two want to talk about?" Norimune says with a shit-eating grin, eyes turning ups with mirth as both swords sputter.
"As if, you shitty old man," Kashuu mutters, despite Yasusada's chiding stare. "Don't say things like that,"
"At least this son knows how to respect his elders. I suppose it'll take some more time for you to learn that though, shitty son," Norimune drawls with slight satisfaction as Kashuu jumps up and storms off, leaving Yasusada to bow awkwardly. "Sorry about that- I told you he may not be so welcoming. But you shouldn't push him so much, you know," the uchigatana says, a little defensively towards the end. Even if they have their quarrels and he was more than acquainted with other ways Kashuu was hard to handle, it didn't bring Yasusada any joy to see his partner thoroughly antagonized. "Do you think so little of his fortitude?" Norimune asks, lazily shifting his gaze to the other sword. "He can handle it, and it doesn't hurt to give him that reminder. You two are, after all, Okita's swords, no? If he can handle the nonsensical ramblings of this old man, I'll know that he can handle himself just as easily. That's what you two were talking about, right?"
"...It's a little disturbing to be analyzed that thoroughly," Yasusada mutters, leaving the tachi to let out a good-natured laugh as an earnest smile paints his lips. "Don't worry son, it just comes with age. Let's speak more another time though, I'm sure I've kept the two of you from each other long enough," Norimune says with a wink, walking off as Yasusada's cheeks flush. "What a weird guy," he sighs to himself.
When he slides the shoji doors to their room open, Yasusada is thoroughly surprised to find Kashuu lazily pulling a comb through his hair instead of sulking around like he was prone to do when he was upset. Scarlet eyes look up to him as the uchigatana walks in, taking a spot next to his partner by the small vanity in their room. "Hey, took you long enough. The elderly sure love to talk, don't they?" Kashuu says, nothing giving even the slightest impression of the previous upset he had. "I guess... you're in a better mood?" Yasusada ventures lightly and the playful hum he receives is confirmation enough. "Hm? It seems that way. That guy is still annoying but I don't think it matters too much. I have better things to worry about anyway," Kashuu says thoughtfully, putting the comb down and giving his partner a small smile.
Without another word, Yasusada pitches himself forward and begins pressing soft kisses across the porcelain expanse of the other sword's face, caressing his soft face with his own shaped lips before gently catching softer ones with his own. He relishes in the small hum of surprise and the feel of slender hands sliding down to his hips with a gentle grip and pulling him onto Kashuu's lap. The pace begins to pick up when sharp teeth catch onto his bottom lip, and the grip slowly tightens to a more firm embrace, encouraging the blue-eyed uchigatana's own hands to tangle themselves into chestnut locks of hair, a devious tongue taking advantage of his small gasp to push into his mouth.
Lacquered nails scrape up his sides to bury themselves into Yasusada's hair in kind before pulls back to gasp for air. "W-Where did that come from?" he asks, blue eyes a little dazed as they settle onto Kashuu's smirking face. "What do you mean? You were the one who started kissing me suddenly, what do you expect a guy to do when he has someone as cute as you in his lap?" Yasusada can't help the color rising to his cheeks once more, or the playful shove he gives his partner. "Not that I'm complaining," Kashuu continues, trailing his hand to Yasusada's fringe, playing with the tips of the hair by lovingly pinching the soft strands.
"I'm not either," Yasusada responds in kind, still deciding if he wanted to get swept up in the escalating mood or continue letting his mind dwell on what had him pressing tender kisses to his partner so eagerly. It still felt weird to know that the illustrious tachi knew them well enough to over analyze the pair, Kashuu especially- but it was more of a comfort to think more about just how much his partner grew. Easy to read as he may be, Kashuu still has grown in ways that Yasusada himself wasn't familiar with yet but the relatively new habit of letting things go was enough to make the uchigatana swell with some pride in his partner's development.
"Well then, I suppose we're fine as we were," Kashuu says, breaking his partner from his own thoughts as he brings his partner's face towards his own to meld their lips together once again. Yasusada makes the decision to go with the other uchigatana's pace and reciprocates the gentle and insistent pressing together of their lips.
They definitely were fine as they were, he thinks resolutely.