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“Brother, I need to speak to you, is it a good time for it?” Kaze asked in a tentative tone as he slide open the door of his brother’s quarter in the Astral Realm castle—both Nohrian and Hoshidan factions had chosen rooms fitting to their cultures, taking advantage of the versality of the Dragon Vein’s energy and Lady Corrin’s generosity. He was kneeling in the ground as he did so, his head hanging low, not looking at Saizo directly.
Kneeling in the middle of the room, the elder brother was polishing his weaponry, a silver shuriken in his right hand and a cloth in his left one.
Saizo grunted in acknowledgement, indicating him to proceed, looking from the corner of his sane eye at his brother.
They were twin brothers, born the same day, raised almost the same way, yet they had never been particularly close. Their life style demanding detachment from the mortal world and devotion to their masters down to the point of giving up their lives didn’t help; their father’s death just deepened the gap between them. Ironically enough, it wasn’t until they joined under the same banner in times of war that they finally started to close that fissure in their bond.
In the past, Kaze would have not come to him with such vulnerability, even less consult him with anything. Both just looked away and bottled everything up, carrying their burdens in silence.
Seeing Kaze remained quiet, Saizo sighed loudly, closed his eye, and left the shuriken abandoned in front of him.
“What’s the matter. A Saizo never hesitate.” He stated with a rough edge that was jarring by how the otherwise non-menacing body language with which he faced his twin.
Seeing his brother was willing to hear him out, Kaze entered the room, closing the door behind him.
“I wanted to share with you some news.” Kaze paused, his fists squeezing the fabric of his pants as he steadied his heart. A part of him, knew already his brother’s reaction; Saizo was deep down a transparent man with his feelings, no matter that he didn’t acknowledge them or not. “I’m getting married.”
Saizo raised an eyebrow, confused on why that was something that had Kaze so anxious to share.
“Is that so, who’s the lady?” Saizo asked without much reaction, his stomach tying in a knot as Kaze delayed the issue—yet he remained stoic in his expression, making Kaze’s shoulders relax. His gut told him there was a bad new, his brother’s expression added to that supposition, but he tried to rein his temper—Lady Sakura would be happy knowing he was trying to be less uptight and explosive, especially with Kaze.
Kaze lowered his gaze, his gaze hooded as a tense smile raised in his lips.
“… it’s one of Princess Camilla’s retainers, Selena.” He finally said, a long-drawn-out breath following his words. Then, he raised his face, even when a deep frown tugged his solemn face, there was resolution shining in his eyes—no matter what, he wasn’t backing down from his decision. His voice softened as he proceeded, surely thinking of the fiery redhead he had fallen in love with. “I’m marrying her; I proposed last night, and she accepted.”
Saizo didn’t answer instantly, instead, he crossed his arms, squeezing the cloth under his fingers.
“… you know the Saizo clan won’t accept a Nohrian woman, right?” Saizo asked with sharp accuracy, words stinging in his brother’s ears as he said them, though, he was sure Kaze knew what he was risking, otherwise, he wouldn’t have worn such somberness in his visage. Kaze knew the weight of the situation.
“I’m ready to face their wrath when that moment comes.” Kaze said with an oddly calm tone, a smile rising to his lips before jabbing back at his brother. “And is not as if they will be happier knowing you’re marrying Princess Sakura, brother.”
Saizo didn’t answer to that, both knew that marrying someone of the royal family was an unbreachable term for the Saizo clan, one of their upmost taboos. Breaking those was equal to committing a crime.
The older brother simply cleared his throat as blush showed even under his mask.
“Regardless, why are you willing to risk you getting erased from the familiar record for that woman?” Saizo bit his tongue down before giving more backhanded comments about Selena and refrained to pointing out his concern—the only time they ever interacted they ended up fighting with real weapons. In his case, it was harder to disinherit as he was the bearer of the Saizo name, but there will be an uproar once the news reach Igasato; even if inside the army such hostilities have stopped, the rest of Hoshido and Nohr still held hatred for each other.
Kaze looked at him directly in the eye, his gaze serene as he answered with his heart in his sleeve, no shame in his words nor his feelings.
“Because, from the moment I saw her, my heart was hers.” Kaze said gently as he closed his eyes, his voice overflowing in tenderness as he thought of the charming, pigtailed retainer.
At that, Saizo scoffed, uncomfortably fidgeting in his seat at the lack of discretion in his brother, to be speaking to openly like that wasn’t the Hoshidan way.
Kaze seemed to lack apprehension in the face of the future hardships he was sure to face. In a way, he was always the fearless twin, the one willing to risk tradition for what he believed in—deep down, Saizo admired that quality even if he disapproved of it.
Even if he didn’t directly tell him so, Saizo knew Kaze wished to at least count with his blessing. He didn’t come to be deterred of his decision nor ask permission. Before such strength, Saizo couldn’t do nothing but smile under his mask.
Without a word, he moved closer to Kaze, their knees touching. At this, he raised his head confused but didn’t ask, he simply watched how his twin brother planted a hand over his shoulder, squeezing it. At this, he raised an eyebrow, confused.
“Come the time, let’s both face it together.” Saizo declared with a rough voice, squeezing harder Kaze’s shoulder.
At this, purple eyes widened at the surprise of his brother’s sudden statement.
“Brother, that’s not-”
“The future of the Saizo clan depend on the both of us, Kaze.” Saizo interrupted him, his voice loud and clear, shutting Kaze down. His gaze was strong yet had a gentleness underneath, trying to transmit to his kin the raw emotions he was unable to voice, but was sure his brother would be able to understand.
Kaze closed his eyes and simply grabbed his brother by the shoulders, pushing him towards him—their hug was awkward, a bit tense and lacked any tenderness; yet both understood the kinship behind it, squeezing each other close for the first time in years.
In their hearts, the made an oath to support each other from then on.