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Good! Because that was exhausting!

[And like a bubble that was popped, Tenka is heaving a sigh that makes it seem like he carries the burdens of the world and slumping over entirely. His posture loosens and he makes an irritated face at Sousei.]

You're a really demanding partner.

[Disappear for ten years and then ask for information and complete honestly like for real, what's your beef, man. Regardless Tenka's grabbing his tea cup and Sousei's both now, standing and heading for the kitchen, probably to get more.

Does he need to have more tea? Absolutely. Does he need to stretch his legs after sitting and being so stiff? Yeah. Does he also need a little bit of space so that he can accept that now his partner knows everything and Tenka's starting to run out of room to run and hide? ... yeah, that too.]

[Of course he's a demanding partner. He always has been, hasn't he? He should be able to make demands of Tenka, of all people.

Sousei pauses as Tenka disappears to get more tea, and then slowly releases a breath, quiet and slow. It was tense for him too. And he still has too much to consider for it to be entirely relaxed even now. But...no.

This is what's necessary, because they were apart for so long. So when Tenka walks back into the room, Sousei will be sitting there, calm and placid, and--]

You may not recognize him from his current appearance. Takeda chose to join the Yamainu when he was old enough, after we had saved his sister from rōnin.

[It was a long time ago, after all--but Tenka had been there.]

Takamine's scar came from an incident in which he gave up his sword to rescue a hostage. [...] Ashiya came to live with us in the Yamainu dormitory when we moved there.

[Not about Sousei, perhaps, but...here's some of what Tenka missed over those 10 years in the Yamainu.]

.... We couldn't take a break?

[Though admittedly it's more of a joke than anything. He settles himself back on his cushion and puts one warm cup of tea in front of Sousei as he sips at his own. Then he's considering that more seriously and thinking back. A mission where they saved a kid's sister from the ronin...?]

Ah! I remember! That loud little snot.

[And he nods in understanding, as if he himself is not also a loud little snot at sometimes. Then he tilts his head at the rest before chuckling.]

Well, at least the scar looks really cool. [To be honest.] And it's about time! Ashiya always wandered around a ton.... it's good that he found a home.

[Just his idle commentary, not really anything meaningful but... well, there's no denying he's interested. The Yamainu were his good friends when he was young and he's missed them too. Not quite as much as he's missed having his partner or Kiiko's voice of reason but definitely enough.]

[Sousei just reaches for his tea then, sipping it quietly. He's thinking back, trying to think of things that Tenka missing the Yamainu over the past ten years that would be something to bring up now. He doesn't want Tenka to think that it's an unequal thing, or that he doesn't want Tenka to know where the Yamainu is now (though, in a way, he is shrinking away from the more serious things).

It's fine. He's the only one who really dealt with those things anyway.

And so he inclines his head in a nod, sipping at his tea again. And more quietly--]

Soramaru's strength has inspired Takeda to work harder.

Your..."death" influenced Sasaki to strive for more as well.

[In the end, the Yamainu have always been very influenced by the Kumou.]

[ . . . it's enough to give him whiplash. Two sentences and he has incredibly different responses to them both. He pauses for a moment before laughing quietly.]

Isn't my little brother great?

[He has to boast. He has to. He's always been proud of both of them and to hear that Soramaru has managed to inspire another person, that's... really reassuring. Soramaru will be just fine.

But on the other hand-]

... Kiiko's gonna be really mad at me, isn't she?

[To pull this stupid dying act and... it's weird. Yeah, Sousei was bound to know first, considering the fact that they're partners but... Kiiko's always been important to Tenka too. She was the only one to look back before the Yamainu left. The break with her had never been as clean as it was between him and Sousei.

It was probably even harder on her when he died. (Or so he's choosing to think.)]

[Well...he does think Soramaru is pretty great, it's true. He's someone that Sousei has decided to take under his wing, and for that reason, of course he thinks highly of him. He's sensible and works hard, and embraced Tenka's spirit and all it stood for when they had all thought he was dead.

... So he doesn't really need to respond to that. Of course Soramaru is great.

And they'll save him. As for Kiiko....]

She will be. [A sip of his tea, calm.] I will leave it to you to apologize to her.

Of course I will. [Kiiko's always been infinitely easier to deal with than Sousei, especially when it comes to apologies and the like. But she's always been scarier than Sousei too. So-] If I don't walk out of there in an hour, come save me.

[That has to be part of the partners contract.]

[.... ... ....]

An hour and a half.

[teasip.gif]

An hour and fifteen!

[THIS IS BETRAYAL]

Fine. Sasaki can have an hour and fifteen minutes with you.

[hahahahahaha tenka you didn't get out of anything.]

Maximum! [God, he's so afraid of her sometimes. She punches even harder than Takamine when she wants, he thinks.] An hour and fifteen minutes, maximum!

And you can't even be a second late!

Don't underestimate me.

[please. He doesn't have to be afraid of Kiiko, he has her faith and support and general protection.]

I wouldn't be late to something we agreed upon.

Yeah, yeah, Captain Serious. I better still have all my fingers by the time you come in or else I'll have a lot more to complain about.

[To be honest. ... but well, it's good to hear that regardless, Kiiko will be okay. The rest of the Yamainu are old now so he figures that they're fine. Shi and Inukai seem to be the same as Tenka remembers them.

But alright, they made their way down the list. Now to the part that Tenka feels like Sousei is either avoiding or actually... forgetting to even consider...]

What have your ten years looked like?

[He sure as hell hopes that they've been easier than his own, at least.]

[...It's difficult to consider his ten years separate from the Yamainu. His ten years have been the Yamainu. But in a way...it's true there have been things he didn't want to talk about.

The way Iwakura has gone downhill. The way the Yamainu became an unwitting tool for a corrupt government. The way that it became so easy to heap abuse on them as a group.

He held his head high nonetheless, because this was his master's creation, but still... He takes a sip of his tea, musing on that.]

Most of it you can imagine, or have already heard. Working with the Yamainu and the government has been all there is of note.

[It's not a lie, it's just...more simply stated.]

[ . . . ]

Do I need to get another bottle of sake to get you to open up to me or what?

[He gets Sousei being tight-lipped, he does. But he already knows that there have been things that are off. The fact that he's part of an experiment that is being administered by the government is a pretty big tip off.]

Knowing what is of note doesn't tell me anything about how you're dealing with it or how you feel, you know....

[And as much as he does care about the state of the government and the state of Japan, he's also unfathomably more interested in the state of his partner.]

I'm not drinking with you again.

[That's a pretty immediate response...though a moment later, he sets his tea down, considering, fingers still wrapped around the glass that isn't really very familiar at all, despite their best efforts.

But he's always been rather bad at discussing this sort of thing. Tight-lipped, not particularly emotional, and the captain--these weren't things he was supposed to talk about. But this is Tenka, and... that's different. His partner, the person who would likely understand the most. The person who has the same stake in the Yamainu, even if he's no longer a part of it.

He drops his gaze to that tea.]

... I won't say it has been easy. [Keeping the Yamainu together after they were rocked that badly by that tragedy, and then Tenka's leaving... and this nonsense with the government.

But he really doesn't have any interest in making Tenka feel any guiltier than he already does by things they've already discussed.] But I accepted that when I took on the task. [So whatever followed was just...something he had to accept.]

Edited 2014-12-06 01:05 (UTC)

It's fun to drink with me!

[Nah, it just got really gay.

Though honestly Tenka just listens to that, taking a moment of actual quiet to really considering it. No, it hasn't been easy but... well, from what he saw, everyone seems to be doing fine. They tell him that the Yamainu has changed, but he's seen them now. Kiiko's all grown and goes on bodyguard missions where she's suited to enjoy a higher class lifestyle. Inukai and Shi haven't been deterred and there has to be some reason why Soramaru chose to run after Sousei for instruction.

As for Sousei himself... well, Tenka's mostly only seen a change for the better. He's so much more driven now and even though Tenka does feel bad for putting unnecessary weight on his partner... he also thinks that the Yamainu are so solid together that he's proud just watching them.

So he just chuckles quietly after a moment.]

Doesn't mean much from me, but I think the Yamainu's in good hands with you, Sousei.

[He doesn't think Tenka entirely understands the situation even now--but then, he doesn't exactly expect him to either. It wouldn't be fair, when Sousei hasn't said a word about it. About the times Iwakura threw a book at his head, or threw him out of his office. About the times the Yamainu was nearly disbanded because of a wrong word or move. About hearing of Takamine being nearly killed, or leaving the Yamainu to face a massive force there's no way they could handle--all because they believed him best to face the Orochi.

He knows it's not fair to keep that to himself when Tenka has finally opened up to him.

But he wouldn't even know where to start.

So instead, for now, he takes Tenka's words for what they are, inclining his head in response and taking a deep breath. Because now, the Yamainu are his as much as they are Tenka's and Taiko's. And surely...the means something.]

...Thank you.

Nobody here has given up. That is what allows us to continue forward with our heads held high.

[It's enough to get him to laugh. Because stuff like that - it makes him really happy. The world has thrown so much at all of them, not just Tenka himself, but undoubtedly the Yamainu too. But the spirit of not giving up that runs through the veins of his father's squad... It's really something that brings Tenka a lot of happiness.]

Of course. The entire squad's stubborn. Probably picked it up from their captain-

[Just saying.

But then he's tilting his head and... well, this is Tenka. So he doesn't really hesitate to keep pressing-]

What else?

[Ten years, Sousei. You can tell him it hasn't been easy and that you'll keep moving forward even though it's difficult, but he's not going to be satisfied with that answer. It's just a little bit really vague.]

[The stubborn part of him that Tenka is just now referring to makes Sousei want to ask "which captain"--but that's him being unnecessarily obtuse, he knows. Tenka is handing over the Yamainu, despite the two Kumou captains before. He should accept that as the way it is.

As something he has accepted and earned.

But honestly, Tenka... Sousei still doesn't know where to start or what to say. "What else?" He's drawing a blank. Sure, there are all of those things that Tenka doesn't understand about how the squad has changed, but...bringing them up out of the blue feels either like complaining or trying to heap more guilt onto Tenka's shoulders.

Neither of which is something Sousei is interested in.

So for a moment, he's silent and still, lifting his tea cup but not taking a sip, trying to consider how to respond to that with something solid and real.]

[ . . . and it's enough to get Tenka to tilt his head because that's... a pause. It's been ten years and Tenka can probably fill up another hour with stupid anecdotes about things that happen around the shrine, not even getting close to mentioning what happens in the entire village. There's so much that he can share and yammer on about.

He doesn't know how to feel that it's taking Sousei so long to answer. Does that mean he didn't have a life outside of the Yamainu? What about their meals - who cooked anyway? Does Sousei still collect stamps? How loud do dinners get? They have a dormitory right, so how does that work out? Do they ever bicker amongst themselves and wrestle it out?

. . . of course these are all stupid things that only Tenka would care about anyway.

Still though, he snorts. Because honestly-]

Throw a dog a bone here, Sousei. Preferably before I think that I get talked into sharing my life story too easily.

[Every single secret he has kept for 10 years was given out to Sousei because Tenka's soft-hearted enough to think that being partners means that Tenka can trust Sousei with his entire life. Maybe he shouldn't be expecting for the favor to be returned but waiting for something and getting nothing in return still kinda hurts.]

[He can sense that hurt, and that more than anything is enough to spur him into answering. He still doesn't know what to say or how to say it. He's kept all of this to himself for all of this time, because to tell the Yamainu would be to hurt them with how little they are cared for or trusted by their superiors, and there was nobody else he could trust enough.

He doesn't know if this is right, but Tenka wants him to share what things were like over the past 10 years, and so he says it, blurts it out really, if in the same quiet tone as he always uses.]

Iwakura-sama had taken to referring to the Yamainu as little more than useless dogs. [For the record. For what it's worth.] He grew a temper with his worsening health, and would often throw things when what he wanted did not go his way.

[Namely at Sousei's head--or threw Sousei out in general.

...And only just now is it striking Sousei that this is probably not what Tenka was asking for, but it's too late to stop now.]

I am aware of the fact that the Yamainu have been placed on the watch list of the other factions of the government. [Either to take out if they made a move that was too radical, or to follow to find dirt on either them or Iwakura.]

That...is what we have come to.

[It's a little bit like the calm before the storm.

None of that was what Tenka expected. Yeah, Iwakura changed and Tenka was able to sense that much. He wanted to serve that man so badly before and be a hero but then meeting up again at the party, he didn't feel the need to give any respect toward the person he saw. Instead, he got mouthy to the Minister of the Right.

But "useless dogs"?

Throwing things?

And to be on the watch list - that has a lot of extra implications that Sousei definitely knows better than Tenka but he understands just enough to get that much more riled up about it.

It's enough to get him to utter out one sentence (if it can be called that) in warning:]

That dirty bastard.

[Oh.]

[Tenka, being the king of wearing his heart on his sleeve that he is, is not going to take this sitting down. Literally. He's standing up, not really caring for if he rattles the table as he does so and isn't really holding anything back.]

Who the hell does he think he's calling useless?! Not like he's doing anything but sitting on his cushy chair all goddamn day while you're all doing the actual apprehending of criminals and ground work! See how far he gets without a squad to boss around - he'd be scrambling to get anything done! Minister of the Right, more like Minister of the Up Yours, Asshole!!

[He's never really been the type to be delicate. It's enough to get him to scoff now and even if Sousei's the type to not show his emotions or express much outrage about this, then Tenka's more than ready to do it on his behalf.]

Tch! If I knew when I saw him at the party - man I would've said a lot more to him than I did!! Man doesn't know how good he's got it! Just because you're body's decaying doesn't mean your heart and mind have got to go too - does he even have a brain anymore?!

[Apparently that's enough to get Tenka to come to a conclusion as he sets his hands on his hips.]

Sousei! I've decided! Next time I'm in Kyoto, tell me where this guy's office is...!

[he seems to have forgotten the world is in danger and he might not be able to walk.

ok.]

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