deontology: (XX.)
Abe no "screw the rules" Sousei [ 安部 蒼世 ] ([personal profile] deontology) wrote2014-10-09 11:04 am
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This is Abe no Sousei. Leave your request promptly.

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sunshrouded: (☀ fuck anything in the morning)

[personal profile] sunshrouded 2015-01-12 05:03 pm (UTC)(link)
[Tenka doesn't move for a few more moments.

There are times where he just wants a hug and haunted by the memory of his parents as he is right now, this might be one of them. But considering that this is Sousei, this level of closeness is enough. Tenka will probably demand a hug from Soramaru in the morning to make up for it. So Tenka just nods faintly, even against Sousei's shoulder, before just flopping back down onto the futon.

He's too comfortable here but it's also invasive and obnoxious - just like when they were kids. Tenka can't help but feel a bit nostalgic in the face of.... everything.]


Fine.

[He sighs, even as he's already broken his point of contact with Sousei. Alright Tenka. Keep pretending you're in charge.]
sunshrouded: (☀ well see about that)

[personal profile] sunshrouded 2015-01-12 05:21 pm (UTC)(link)
[The thing is that Tenka almost doesn't follow.

He's tired and he could just fall asleep here - or so he wants to convince himself. In truth he knows that even if he went to his own room first, he would've tossed and turned until he gave up and went to wake up Sousei even later. This is something that's important and has to be talked about between the two of them. As partners.

But some time later than usual, he gets up and does wander out to the living room. He moves to the table and sits there - nodding gratefully when the cup is set down in front of him and moves to take a sip after blowing on the tea. It feels good when it moves down his throat and he pauses.

Then the words tumble out before he can stop them.]


Do you ever miss Mom and Dad?
sunshrouded: (☀ o shit lemme call u back)

[personal profile] sunshrouded 2015-01-12 05:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[Tenka expected that answer and he might've just been asking the question as a lead-up but.... but he can't say it right away. He can't say "I know who killed them" or "I was betrayed before I even knew it" or anything of the sort. Rather.... his expression crumples for a moment as he puts down his tea cup and there's a sad smile on his face. Not one that's forced, but a smile that's genuinely tinged with bittersweet feelings.]

.... I thought I grew out of wanting their praise. [When he was young he would ask for it at any little thing. Look Mom, I ate all my veggies before Sousei! Look Dad, I mastered the sword trick you taught me!] It's been so long.

[Just about as long as Sousei's been out of his life but the difference is that Sousei is back with him now. He's sitting across the table, living and breathing.

A hand makes its way up to Tenka's face as he covers one side of it, a grin pulling at his lips.]


It's been rough without them, you know? Raising their kids and knowing they could do a better job but - what choice did I have? They always told me that it was the eldest's job to pass down the love from the parents to the younger siblings....

[But could one heart really love enough for two?]
sunshrouded: (☀ sad smile are my hobby)

[personal profile] sunshrouded 2015-01-12 05:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Of course I love them with everything I have.... [of course he did, he loves them more every single day] but - it also meant losing you and Kiiko. The Yamainu. They were family too.

[Tenka's family has always been big to him. Bigger than just his bloodline because for 8 years and then some, he'd had even more.

No, they didn't all live together - it was already terribly cramped with just the Kumous and Kiiko and Sousei - by it took more than just seven bodies to fill the shrine with as much laughter as it saw everyday.]


I've already apologized but -

[But he'd had the weight of the world on his shoulders at 14 and couldn't find an answer. Even now, he's afraid to look and see if there was something his dumb teenaged self had missed.]

It's been a burden on a lot of people.

[and that's always been his greatest fear]
sunshrouded: (☀ you kept trying to highlight my face)

[personal profile] sunshrouded 2015-01-12 06:08 pm (UTC)(link)
[Tenka laughs faintly at that because no matter how you look at it, it's a new development. He hadn't seen the Yamainu in 10 years, though it can't be denied that it was still friendly and affectionate every time they did cross paths - for the most part.

Even though Sousei hated him.

They're not there anymore though and he reminds himself of that. That's why he needs to tell Sousei.]


.... I just don't think it would've gotten so bad if Mom and Dad hadn't....

[... He sobers up a bit, trailing off.]

.... It was a Fuuma, you know. I guess you wouldn't have seen, but before I passed out - I know it was a Fuuma.

[Maybe he should've been more wary of when he found that Fuuma child in the snow, knowing that much.]
sunshrouded: (☀ well see about that)

[personal profile] sunshrouded 2015-01-12 08:36 pm (UTC)(link)
[Tenka trusts that Sousei is at least getting an idea of what happened now. Regardless, Tenka nods his head once and takes some more of his tea, as if the warmth of the liquid will manage to soothe his nerves as he becomes anxious just retelling his train of thought.]

I couldn't see their face since they were wearing a fox mask but... it wasn't a man - they were hardly bigger than I was. I didn't think about it at the time. Eventually when I heard that the Fuuma clan was wiped out by a single child from Shirasu, I realized that the same person had some issue with my family. But they were caught and put in the Condemned Prison Gate.

[ . . . . ] Revenge is pointless and hateful. I wasn't going to waste time and energy that I could spend with my brothers chasing an old vendetta when the culprit was caught and thinking about their sins everyday.

[That was his punishment. A life without laughter and without comfort - a proper punishment for someone who had taken the exact same things from Tenka. Any more would've been cruel.]

But when you told me that there were Fuuma twins and Shirasu's running around calling himself Fuuma Kotarou, the head of the clan-- [He cuts himself off, wincing faintly as he feels the ache in his chest again.

Still, he imagines Sousei would understand. That's why Tenka couldn't sit around anymore. That's why his thoughts grew so complicated. That's why he left right after dinner to get answers.]
sunshrouded: (☀ a horse told me not to drive home)

[personal profile] sunshrouded 2015-01-12 08:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[When Tenka meets Sousei's eyes, his expression is only one of understanding. Not pity, not sympathy - he was in the exact same place as Sousei and finds nothing pitiful about this. It's an ache that he understands all too well. The simple fact that Tenka had thought that their parents' murderer was already locked up and dealing with his sins.

Except it wasn't fact at all.

When he continues on, he's quiet himself. Partially because he doesn't want to deal with Soramaru or Nishiki waking up and overhearing. But mostly because he's barely able to admit it to himself.]


... I had to know. I had to ask Shirasu - I'd told him about that day and the fact that Soramaru couldn't remember and he'd- he was sympathetic. I thought he understood if the same killer had taken his clan away from him.

[His hands ball up into fists on the table, knuckles turning white.]

So I... I asked him. I thought that Shirasu ordered it and that his brother did it or --

[Or something that was less cruel that the truth.]

... but he said he did it.

[Despite himself, tears prick at Tenka's eyes. He doesn't cry often and almost never cries in front of other people. Through the sadness, he laughs and makes jokes, he finds a way around encountering different concepts like mortality and loss.

But this time the sadness wins.

Ten years of companionship through hard times and loss of family fight with the memories of warmth and laughter and nothing but love and affection from his parents until they were taken away from him. Why is it that even memories that were once so happy cause him pain now?]


Shirasu killed Mom and Dad.
sunshrouded: (☀ you said they were minions of evil)

[personal profile] sunshrouded 2015-01-12 09:14 pm (UTC)(link)
[Tenka had gotten up when he noticed that Sousei had apparently forgotten to breathe. The shock is strong and Tenka knows that it's a lot - all at once. Tenka had years to consider who killed their parents and what became of them, thinking about all the small pieces that slowly added up. Except even then he was wrong.

But that was when he and Sousei didn't speak for ten years. That was when Sousei wanted nothing to do with him and hated him and everything he stood for. There was no way for Tenka to share the information, even if he wanted to. And he also knows himself well enough to realize that then, at that time, he wouldn't have wanted to.

That distance has long since been closed and Tenka, open-hearted and instinctively protective as he is, doesn't plan on sitting across the table for much longer. Rather, he moves to sit beside his partner and plants both of his hands on his shoulders, looking him in the eye.

His words sting. They hurt. Tenka can't say anything because they're true.]


Sousei.

[Come on, partner, stay with him here.]

Sousei, breathe.
sunshrouded: (☀ well see about that)

[personal profile] sunshrouded 2015-01-12 09:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[When he's shaken off, Tenka winces.

Is Sousei mad at him too? Tenka wouldn't blame him. More than anything else, Tenka knows that he's not one to dictate another person's feelings or actions. Tenka has always been strikingly independent, someone that would do what they pleased always - but by asking Sousei to not hurt Shirasu before and having Sousei agree, it's restricting his partner's freedom.

And when Sousei admits that he thought of them as his parents too, Tenka's face crumples and it feels like his heart's being crushed. Sousei never said that - he never called Taiko 'Father' but always 'Sensei'. But he remembers Dadpatting Sousei's head or picking him up so easily and he remembers Mom chastising Sousei just the same as she did Tenka - with firmness and so much love it was suffocating.

It's why Tenka was so angry at Shirasu. Tenka's never felt fury on his own behalf but it wasn't only his childhood that was taken from him. Soramaru, Chuutarou, Sousei, and Kiiko - they all suffered too.

But Sousei and Kiiko had moved on separately from Tenka. He never had a chance to take care of them and never did, knowing that he could never give them the same sense of direction that leading the Yamainu would. Yet as he's sitting here, watching his partner struggle and become overcome with emotions, he refuses to be motionless for long.

So even though he was shaken off earlier, he's determined now as he wraps his arms around Sousei and pulls him into a hug, as if that'd hold the broken pieces of his partner's composure together.]


I know.

[He struggles for words, not sure what to say. He couldn't even comfort himself, how could he manage to help Sousei?]

They loved you.

[Tenka shuts his eyes as his fingers cling onto the fabric of Sousei's clothes. Don't shake him off again, partner.]

I'm sorry.

[For letting their murderer into his house and then into his heart. For never telling Sousei for years and then telling him all at once. For everything that was his fault and then some.

He's sorry for everything.]
sunshrouded: (☀ a horse told me not to drive home)

[personal profile] sunshrouded 2015-01-12 10:45 pm (UTC)(link)
[It's too much. It's far, far too much.

Tenka has been on an emotional roller coaster ever since Sousei told him that there were Fuuma twins. In the course of a day, he'd gone from laughing and lecturing children to bantering with his partner to actually confronting Shirasu in terms of all the pain and suffering he'd had to go through. There's nothing about Tenka that's stable in this moment.

He would often laugh when he wanted to cry but when faced with the first tragedy of his life, the one that stole not only his parents but also his mobility, his squad, and his dreams from him, he can't laugh. There's nothing funny and even though they're fine now, there is still too much sadness. He can feel himself slowly crumbling underneath all of it, the tears prickling at his eyes even as he tries to be there for Sousei.

Yet when he feels Sousei return the hug, hesitant and slow as he is, it's the last of Tenka's own tenuous hold on his calm.

His forehead rests on Sousei's shoulder again, just as it had when he first came in, and his fingers curl that much tighter around his clothes. The hug becomes Tenka clinging onto the one person in this world that understands his pain and came back to him after a decade of separation. Taiko and Koyuki aren't here anymore, they can't support him or tell him when he's right or wrong or hold him when he's upset. Sousei can.

So his shoulders shake even as he clings tighter onto his partner, tears escaping his eyes silently. There's nothing shameful about crying, he'd said for so long, but after years of laughing even when he felt his heart about to break, he's out of practice.

This is what has become of your boys, Mom and Dad.]
sunshrouded: (☀ o shit lemme call u back)

[personal profile] sunshrouded 2015-01-12 11:10 pm (UTC)(link)
["Let it all out. Cry and grow stronger."

When they encountered sadness and unfairness as children, Tenka would always throw a fit over it. He'd wipe away his tears as if they were shameful in front of his father and he would be told that to cry is to be human. Then, even if he was sniffling and sobbing afterward, Tenka would cry. There was never any scolding over it, because his parents were kind people who were expressive and affectionate and loud and lived every moment of their lives with everything they had.

Tenka misses them. Tenka never stopped missing them from the day he walked into the room and found them both dead. But instead of crying and mourning, letting the process happen, he got caught up in duty. He had to shove the Yamainu out of his life to get them to grow without him. He had to take care of his brothers. He had to become the Head of the Kumou at 14 years old and watch over Shiga.

He had to cry too, but he never let himself have time for that until now.

Now that his partner's forgiven him again and the Orochi is officially dead and Soramaru is grown and Kiiko talks to him and their small family is growing yet again, he's letting himself cry.

Mom and Dad's murderer was Tenka's best friend. Shirasu was only a bit older than him as well and Tenka should hate him. Tenka should want him to be confined and in the Condemned Prison Gate, thinking about his sins and how many lives he's ruined. But after getting one good punch in, Tenka let him go.

Because ten years was more than enough time for Tenka to care about Shirasu and even now it's hard for him to reconcile that the only other person he's confided in besides Sousei was also the one to ruin his life. Tenka knows that he should hate him, that he should never want to see him again, but... he still doesn't know how to hate. That was never something that his parents taught him. Even for the Orochi, to kill the vessel was never an act of heroics for Taiko. It was not out of hate for the poor soul that was chosen - but rather to save them.

Even as Tenka's eyes run out of tears and he's left taking shaky breaths against his partner's shoulder, he still wonders if he's doing the right thing, trying to save Shirasu instead of seeking revenge.

But even if it's not, he has a sinking feeling he won't be able to bring himself to do anything else but this.

It's just how he's always been.]
sunshrouded: (☀ these keywords got lazier)

[personal profile] sunshrouded 2015-01-12 11:26 pm (UTC)(link)
[Tenka winces faintly at that, even as he doesn't really move. His grip on Sousei looses as he calms down, though he doesn't pull away. Rather, he just slumps and puts more of his weight on Sousei than anything. Nothing will really beat the tiredness that he feels in this moment, between all the unbearably emotional decisions that he's had to make today and how he still has no idea where he completely stands with Shirasu.]

.... sorry. [He can only imagine Sousei's anger, not even tempered by the reluctant affection that Tenka still feels for Shirasu.] For what it's worth, I might've broken his jaw.

[Or at the very least, it was definitely already bruising pretty badly by the time Tenka left him.

But even as he keeps his head on Sousei's shoulder and sighs, Tenka just mumbles.]


Just... don't get hurt, whatever you decide to do.

[Shirasu deserves whatever's coming to him - Tenka knows that. Especially in the eyes of the Yamainu Captain, probably. But Tenka trusts Sousei not to fatally injure Shirasu - he just wouldn't accept it if Sousei got hurt in return.]

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