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tampered2007-01-29 01:13 am
prettywithawhip.livejournal.com) wrote in tampered2007-01-29 01:13 am
RP Log: Tatsumi and Yuuto
when; late evening, 27 January (after Tatsumi's incident with Seishirou).
rating; PG.
characters; Tatsumi Seiichirou (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
thrifty_shadow), Kigai Yuuto (prettywithawhip).
summary; When Tatsumi admits he is wounded, Yuuto drops by to check on his friend. Boy, is it hot in there or is it the mild sexual tension?
log;
It was a bit late in the evening, but such hours didn't seem to matter when a friend required some help. And to be honest, Yuuto really didn't mind - Tatsumi was a nice, pleasing person, really, and he had no doubts as to the quality of character in his choice of a social group. And it seemed that he had endured a battle with the Sakurazukamori. A battle was bad enough, but when the Sakurazukamori was involved... Yuuto had heard some things about that particular onmyoudou clan. Some things didn't need to be repeated in simple conversation, and most of the information pertaining to the Sakurazukamori's tasks fell into this category.
He was curious, he would admit that. Just what sort of injuries would he have sustained in a battle with the Sakurazukamori?
Finally, he was again at Tatsumi's door. Had he a cake in hand - he paused at the thought -, the situation would almost be deja-vu. He pushed the thought aside and, instead of knocking, he opened the door slightly. "Tatsumi-san, are you in there?" He hoped so, really - after all, he darted right out as soon as he had discussed with Tatsumi the battle. Naturally, though, he assumed that Tatsumi would be at his apartment. And usually, his assumptions were correct. At the least, he hoped that no one would be fool enough to leave an unattended apartment unlocked.
"Yes, I'm here," Tatsumi responded from the living room sofa. He was dressed simply, not bothering with his usual especially since he wasn't planning on going anywhere soon. A fresh new white shirt with its long sleeves rolled up to his elbows and a pair of pants was all he wore. He hadn't bandaged his wounds just yet, and now that Yuuto had come, he wondered if perhaps, he should have bandaged it much faster. As shinigami, such wounds no longer fazed him, but he wondered just how the still-living would react to the sight of large patches of skinless flesh and torn muscle on his arms and hands.
He seriously hadn't thought, even felt, they were that serious earlier. Perhaps it had been the adrenaline.
He smiled a little as his head peered in through the doorway, and then he pushed the door open completely as he stepped in. "Are you feelin-...." And then he saw the woulds Tatsumi had at the wrists. His wide-eyed stare still on those injuries, he managed to shut the door behind him with the push of a hand and he rushed over to the other man. Such injuries... and in such odd places. He had to wonder now what exactly the Sakurazukamori did to Tatsumi.
"Tatsumi-san! Why-.... What exactly happened?" he muttered at a fast pace before looking around the area. Did Tatsumi have the first-aide kit ready? Then he examined the wounds closer as he stood beside the sofa. Abrasions... the skin had been worn off. Most likely from struggling against some sort of tie on those wrists. Now he really had to know.
Too late for worrying about Kigai Yuuto's expression now, it seemed. At least the blond's eyes were only on the wounds on his wrists. There were similar wounds on his ankles and legs too, but those were concealed by his trousers. "Like I said, I made a mistake of challenging Sakurazuka Seishirou near his precious sakura tree--" He paused and stared at his damaged hands and wrists. They had stopped bleeding so profusely a while ago. While he was still facing the Sakurazukamori, he hadn't thought much about the damage. It was when he was finally back in his apartment that he'd realized just how extensive the damages were. "I miscalculated. Now I see I not only have to worry about his shikigami but his penchant for weaving elaborate illusions and his... tree too."
It seemed a sudden move out of the blue, but when Yuuto rose quickly from examining those wounds and rushing off to the kitchen area, it wasn't nearly as random as one thought. After all, while those injuries would be treated and tended to, he could start the tea at least. Quickly locating the kettle, he filled with with plenty of water and set it atop the stove. Perhaps something soothing would be in order. In the back of his mind he wondered if any chamomile or hibiscus tea was in that cabinet he had been shown before.
He really didn't get much of a good look the last time.
As soon as his quick bustling about the kitchen finished, he immediately made it back to the sofa and pulled that first-aide kit that sat on the coffee table towards him. "I didn't think he would be as strong when he's younger than he is...." He sighed a little, setting out a soothing balm and the appropriate bandages outside the white metal box. "At least he didn't do much more, Tatsumi-san," he exhaled in slight relief.
The kagetsukai's eyes narrowed. "It's not as if he can do anything more," Tatsumi said grudglingly. "It's not that he's powerful. He's just--" He stopped himself and corrected himself. "We've dealt worse than Sakurazuka Seishirou. I can't seem to... win over him. Yes. That's it. Either this city has put a cap on my powers or my abilities have deteriorated far more than I thought it would." Maybe. Too many maybe's.
Tatsumi simply wanted both Sakurazuka Seishirou and Muraki Kazutaka dead. Why was it so hard?
The whole situation was a little complex... in a way. Yuuto knew of Sakurazuka Seishirou, but not the young twenty-something man here. At best, he could predict some of the moods and behaviours that this Seishirou, at least a decade younger, would produce. A comrade, yes, albeit a distant, detached one. The Dragons of Earth really weren't as tightly-knit a group as the opposition, and he had already chalked that up to selfishness. Of course, he himself really had little part in that battle - merely gaining information on the others with Satsuki's help or occasionally battling, but not nearly as much work as what the Sakurazukamori had to deal with. Though he wouldn't dare bring this up in conversation with Tatsumi now.
"At least you were strong enough not to become too badly injured," Yuuto noted with a factual tone as he eyed the medicines before him on the coffee table. Then, he turned his attentions back to those wounds. "I heard of a sort of good luck ritual when someone gets injured... If someone else touches them, they won't get wounded there again..." Or maybe somehow he had mixed that up in his head - some sort of American superstition. They always were tougher to remember, it seemed. He looked up from the wrists he had in his hand and stared at Tatsumi with a frank, warm look. "You wouldn't mind if I tried....?"
It was hard to refuse anyone when the had that look of sincerity on their face. Naturally, Tatsumi found it impossible to refuse Yuuto's offer. "Perhaps not," he said quietly though he really would rather not be touched. He sighed and then confessed bitterly, "He was holding back. If he had wanted to, he would have done more. I should have killed him when he gave me the chance..."
The kagetsukai sighed again and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes as the image of Seishirou's helpless state flashed in his mind. He was so close. The Sakurazukamori's neck had been so vulnerable and he didn't! He couldn't take advantage of it! Damn his morals!
He could tell that the encounter Tatsumi had with the Sakurazukamori wasn't a pleasant one at all. The strange psychological effects of the battle lasted far longer than the actual fight itself. Strange how that seemed to be the case with the Sakurazukamori's victims who managed, at best, to walk away with some physical injury. Though it was hardly a surprise to Yuuto; Sakurazuka Seishirou was and, indeed, did fit as someone who believed less in the power of physical pain.
"You did what you thought was right," he replied to Tatsumi gently as he stared up with a reassuring smile. "You shouldn't punish yourself for what happened, Tatsumi-san." After looking at the wounds a bit more - they were so oddly fascinating, and he didn't know why - he finally pulled one of those wrists closer to him. Was it kiss or lick? He racked his mind for the correct anecdote, but he found nothing, and thus, without prelude, he delicately licked at the edge of the injury. It seemed a mild, neutral action, and if it wasn't, well, he could blame the American culture.
After the initial shock of feeling a warm wetness on the sensitive skin on his hands wore off, Tatsumi realized that he did not mind the peculiar action. It was odd, yes, but something Tatsumi couldn't refuse. Common sense told Tatsumi his best course of action was to pull his hand away, but all he could do was stare questioningly at the blond.
Had he become so needy for tender shows of affection?
"It wasn't right," Tatsumi said finally. "He deserves to die... after all." After all that he's done.
Yuuto smiled a little in a fit of nostalgia. Yes, he had a talk with Satsuki before about human death - an interesting topic, and Satsuki was likewise interesting, the eternal child with that naivete sometimes hidden beneath the complex wires and machinery of which she was so fond. But there had been something so sincere in that establishment of truth in that small Dragon of Heaven's cries. Killing people is wrong, she had said. But why?
Her answer was far too ingrained in the human personality that it seemed no one escaped it, even when asking that question.
He looked right up to the other with a furrowed brow. "Why do you think that?" he asked as he shifted into a comfortable distance from Tatsumi. If there was anything he remembered with Tatsumi, it was that he required some space on occasion. Yuuto probably had pushed it already, really. Though it wasn't looking like a repeat of that incident was forthcoming...
Tatsumi readily answered, but he kept much of the details to himself. "He's done enough to warrant it. Too much." He sighed and then gave Yuuto a sincere look of apology. "I suppose my morals are a bit wanting, Kigai-san?"
"You don't need to apologise," he replied softly as he reached for the balm on the coffee table. "Vengeance is a human thing to feel, you know." Yuuto had to pause a moment in brief thought - morals in need? Of course, everyone generally thought such a thing before, but just what kind of measuring stick were they comparing their morals to, anyhow? He kept that thought to himself as he began to carefully apply the balm on one of the wrists.
And just as he had smoothed some over the wound with small mutterings that it would sting a little, a whistle crescendoed in the kitchen quickly. He perked instantly and then looked over his shoulder. "Oh, that's right - what sort of tea would you prefer?" he asked the other as he rose to move into the kitchen. He'd have to act quickly - those bandages required much more medical attention than he had administered thus far.
"I'll have... anything." He sighed. "Anything will do right now." He'd wanted to tell Yuuto how he needn't fuss about his wounds -- they would heal quickly, and already he was feeling their were healing -- but the blond was already off to the kitchen with that look of determination. Tatsumi found himself weak against that.
That was one of the reasons Tsuzuki and, sometimes, Watari could get to him. He didn't have a secret really, and it wasn't just because of his fondness for Tsuzuki that he indulged the purple-eyed man... They simply were... persistent. Determined.
As soon as he heard Tatsumi call out his preference (which was none, really), he had made his mind up already. Something definitely relaxing - he was hoping some sort of chamomile tea was there, if not a hibiscus - was in order for the occasion. Of course, he himself had to make a mental note not to drink too much of it. Yuuto wondered over how awake he could be for waking merely half an hour ago. And in the middle of the night.
Finally, he set down a tin of hibiscus tea - thankfully Tatsumi didn't have as limited a selection as he had thought. While he busied himself, he stared over at Tatsumi a few times with quick, fleeting glances. "It should be ready quickly," he replied after he had poured the water in over the tea. Good that Tatsumi seemed as ready to make tea as any person should be.
Again he sat on the sofa, quickly looking at the clock on the wall - three minutes - and he turned again to Tatsumi and his wounds. Only... they looked to be healing already. "Tatsumi-san.... were those that healed before?" he asked curiously. He had noticed that many involved in the End of the World had unusually rapid rates of healing, but it wasn't anything compared to this...
And finally, that question. Lightly, he touched the healing wounds on his right wrist and then sighed. "That's why I didn't think I'd need the bandages, Kigai-san. They would heal quickly enough. Give it a few hours and it would look like it had never been touched before," he explained quietly. And he wondered if Yuuto would ask further. If he did, then Tatsumi would answer truthfully. He had nothing to fear from Yuuto.
Yuuto blinked, looking from the rapidly healing wound to Tatsumi with a puzzled sort of stare. It wasn't that he hadn't ever seen something like that - he had seen far stranger things in his lifetime before, some of which he himself had instigated - but he had a curiosity now as to just why. Tatsumi, he was certain, wasn't involved with the Apocalypse. So why?
"Do you mind if I ask....?" he trailed off while staring up to the other. He wanted to be as polite as he could while in this state of mind, but he feared he was breaching that while he pulled a wrist closer for inspection.
Tatsumi found himself unable to resist another sigh. "It's not a problem. I had forgotten -- I thought you had an idea already. Sakurazuka Seishirou definitely did later on--" He cut himself off, remembering suddenly the effects that curse had on the Sakurazukamori. He continued in quieter voice. "You didn't see then, Kigai-san? Sakurazuka-san's post...." The one where the Sakurazukamori told the whole city he had enjoyed having a pen driven down his throat.
"Well.... no, I didn't, Tatsumi-san... but-...?" Now he was a little confused. What did that have to do with this incident at all? Well.... Yuuto blinked in thought. Possibly a lot. He knew Seishirou had ways of provoking others, and Tatsumi definitely didn't seem to like him at all. But, then again, why did he need to intrude upon someone else's daily life if he had no interest in it? It was a little invasive, when he thought about it...
Finally he looked to the other man seriously. "You're not involved with the Apocalypse. So why....-?" With intent to emphasise his point, he again stared to the quickly-healing wrists - surprising how the skin appeared to grow right before his eyes.
Tatsumi really wished Yuuto had read the Sakurazukamori's entry instead. He was in a bit of a loss as to how exactly he would word what Seishirou's entry contained. Without even thinking, he brought a hand up to the glasses perched on his nose and pushed it upwards. It stung a little, but having experienced far worse, Tatsumi wasn't affected.
"Sakurazuka-san made a comment about how I manage to heal even after he stabbed me in the throat. Simple as that-- I'm not involved in an apocalypse of any kind, not in the literal sense, or the apocalypse you speak of, perhaps." He paused there and gave Yuuto a quick glance before continuing. "I'm shinigami, Kigai-san."
And then he waited for the reaction, because, really, all the shinigami the blond has ever seen were probably the Seiretei ones and they were hardly a good model for shinigami...
"Shinigami..." The term seemed to roll right off Yuuto's tongue, as though it were a practised word in his vocabulary. Yes, he had heard of them - small little myths about them, usually, and then the mass population of them within the City, itself. It really didn't seem to faze Yuuto much as he pondered over it, unless one counted the look of dawning comprehension.
"No wonder... Forgive me, but I had thought you were merely out of place from your own time...." He chuckled a little, smiling in a bright, comic way before he again rose from the sofa and crossed the area to the kitchen. Well, he did have some suspicions of him being shinigami as well, but don't ask, don't tell. Such a helpful ideology, really. "Do you take sugar with your tea, Tatsumi-san?"
The kagetsukai blinked at Yuuto, surprised at how the blond took that in. "I don't mind sugar in my tea," he said and then frowned. "You're not the least bit fazed, Kigai-san? Even at the possibility that you'd just hit on and slept with once with a man over a hundred? Not that I am over a hundred...."
He closed his eyes and seemed to nod at his own statement. "Even I would find that somewhat disturbing were I still living... and normal."
While he rifled about the cupboards for proper tea cups, Yuuto paused to stare at the other from over his shoulder. "And would you be at all fazed at that possibility given your identity as it stands?" he asked with a carefree smile. Why would anyone be shocked by the news, really? Yuuto saw no problem in it, honestly - after all, his own circle of comrades didn't seem to fit the normal ideal of humanity. Normal. He chuckled at the notion.
"It doesn't make much difference to your character, so I see nothing wrong. Shame you have no honey," he continued while pouring the tea into the selected tea cups - they didn't quite match, but really, not that it mattered.
Tatsumi's mouth opened, ready to answer to that last comment on instinct, but then he managed to stop himself because for one, Yuuto definitely wasn't making a comment at his love life. If he could blush, then perhaps he already was -- feeling his ears warm slightly, he consciously pushed his glasses upwards.
"You're right," he said, agreeing. "It doesn't make much difference to my character... and have you checked the fridge...?"
"Mm, this will do," Yuuto called to the other as he poured in some sugar into the tea cups. He stopped for a moment to think - did Tatsumi like a lot of sugar, or did he not really prefer it? He sighed a little before deciding that one teaspoon would do, and then he took both cups into the den area. "Here you are, Tatsumi-san." He then sat back onto the sofa in the same place where he had been - or perhaps it was closer now to Tatsumi. He didn't seem to notice either way before taking a sip of tea calmly.
Tatsumi thanked Yuuto before taking his cup. He drank slowly and in silence. He really had no idea what to do now. He did like the company -- especially with Tsuzuki having disappeared again -- but he really hoped tonight wouldn't be a repeat of that time with the cake.
"It's getting late--" Tatsumi began after a while. "--are you... staying over?" He disliked having sounded awkward, but who in their right mind would ask so confidently that? It seemed like the right thing to ask -- it was getting late and he certainly hadn't been thinking of anything... questionable when he asked it and yet, having already said it he felt silly.
"I mean, there's a spare room," he added a bit too hastily.
The tea he had made was quite good, actually. As though he were lost in rapture over the cup he held in his hand, he stared on at it even after Tatsumi posed his question. However, he then turned about, rather like snapping out of a deep reverie. "Staying over?" He had a feeling why Tatsumi had tacked on the announcement of that spare room, and not that he blamed the other man. That last encounter, while strangely nice, was a little embarrassing in nature. Especially once they awoke the next morning.
He frowned a little, looking again at the clock - yes, it was late, indeed. "I don't have to stay if you don't want me to, Tatsumi-san," he replied quietly. And, really, he didn't mind either option.
Tatsumi took a deep breath and then sighed. "I don't mind... I mean-- I would appreciate the companionship very much. It has been a while since I... hadn't been alone. A little break from the endless ticking would be... pleasant."
He missed Tsuzuki, really, he did, but he knew telling Yuuto the only reason he wanted him to stay was because Tsuzuki was absent would not do him any good.
"Are you sure?" Yuuto could feel the awkwardness that hung between them both, and he knew precisely why it was so with them both. Their last time in this apartment, well, it hadn't been the most flattering moment for them both at all. And even though Yuuto really had privately admitted to himself that it was enjoyable on some level, Tatsumi had made it clear he was uninterested nonetheless. Yuuto had to respect that on some level, after all.
He looked again to Tatsumi with a hesitant smile on his face. "It wouldn't be a problem with me either way, Tatsumi-san. Your decision," he replied placidly before taking in another drink of tea. Though, really, he wanted to stay, if not just because he felt quite eager to rest again.
Tatsumi confirmed. "I'm sure," he said and then resumed drinking his tea quietly. After a while, he spoke again. "I don't think I've said this before, Kigai-san, but you make good tea."
He seemed to noticeably brighten when Tatsumi complimented him so. "I don't think too much of it, Tatsumi-san," he replied quickly as he leaned back into the sofa. Why did it feel so cosy.... like he could sleep right there? He already was grateful for Tatsumi's offer, truly, but he did not want to nod off right where he was. How rude would that be?
"I'll stay, then, if that's what Tatsumi-san wants." Yuuto smiled brilliantly to the other as he desperately tried fighting off the wave of fatigue overtaking him. Quickly, though, did he give in and shut his eyes. He still could be awake with his eyes closed.... "It is getting late, after all..."
Before he could even stop it, he faded off into sleep and slumped a little in the sofa with a light snore.
The kagetsukai didn't notice his blond companion drift off to sleep, having been too preoccupied with staring off in the distant as he enjoyed his tea. "Kigai-san...." When he turned to the direction of the blond, he realized Yuuto had fallen asleep. Curiously, he watched the blond for a while before sighing and shaking his head. If Yuuto slept on the sofa, he would wake up with cramps. That wouldn't do, at all.
He left his cup on the coffee table and stood up. Yuuto had fallen asleep with his cup in his hands. Tatsumi was thankful the tea didn't spill on the sofa. Not that he would be very angry if it did spill. It was understandable -- it was so late at night. What on earth possessed Kigai Yuuto to come this late at night? He sighed, again, and carefully scooped the blond into his arms. Being a lot stronger than he looked, Tatsumi was able to carry the blond without much trouble to the spare bedroom. There, he deposited Yuuto on the bed and walked over to the cabinet, where he kept the extra blankets and Tsuzuki's clothes.
He paused for a while there, fingers lightly touching the one of the black blazers hanging inside the cabinet. When he had nothing better to do, he would organize Tsuzuki's cabinet just because. Perhaps it was a bit.. obsessive of him to do so, but without the consuming work Meifu dished to him, he often found himself at his wit's end on what to do with his time
Finally, he picked one of the folded thick blankets and walked back to were Yuuto was. Gently, he wrapped the blanket around the blond's sleeping form and when he noticed his wounds fully healed, found it in himself to thank the blond quietly. It had been most pleasant. He wouldn't mind... being friends with Kigai Yuuto at all.
rating; PG.
characters; Tatsumi Seiichirou (
thrifty_shadow), Kigai Yuuto (prettywithawhip).summary; When Tatsumi admits he is wounded, Yuuto drops by to check on his friend. Boy, is it hot in there or is it the mild sexual tension?
log;
It was a bit late in the evening, but such hours didn't seem to matter when a friend required some help. And to be honest, Yuuto really didn't mind - Tatsumi was a nice, pleasing person, really, and he had no doubts as to the quality of character in his choice of a social group. And it seemed that he had endured a battle with the Sakurazukamori. A battle was bad enough, but when the Sakurazukamori was involved... Yuuto had heard some things about that particular onmyoudou clan. Some things didn't need to be repeated in simple conversation, and most of the information pertaining to the Sakurazukamori's tasks fell into this category.
He was curious, he would admit that. Just what sort of injuries would he have sustained in a battle with the Sakurazukamori?
Finally, he was again at Tatsumi's door. Had he a cake in hand - he paused at the thought -, the situation would almost be deja-vu. He pushed the thought aside and, instead of knocking, he opened the door slightly. "Tatsumi-san, are you in there?" He hoped so, really - after all, he darted right out as soon as he had discussed with Tatsumi the battle. Naturally, though, he assumed that Tatsumi would be at his apartment. And usually, his assumptions were correct. At the least, he hoped that no one would be fool enough to leave an unattended apartment unlocked.
"Yes, I'm here," Tatsumi responded from the living room sofa. He was dressed simply, not bothering with his usual especially since he wasn't planning on going anywhere soon. A fresh new white shirt with its long sleeves rolled up to his elbows and a pair of pants was all he wore. He hadn't bandaged his wounds just yet, and now that Yuuto had come, he wondered if perhaps, he should have bandaged it much faster. As shinigami, such wounds no longer fazed him, but he wondered just how the still-living would react to the sight of large patches of skinless flesh and torn muscle on his arms and hands.
He seriously hadn't thought, even felt, they were that serious earlier. Perhaps it had been the adrenaline.
He smiled a little as his head peered in through the doorway, and then he pushed the door open completely as he stepped in. "Are you feelin-...." And then he saw the woulds Tatsumi had at the wrists. His wide-eyed stare still on those injuries, he managed to shut the door behind him with the push of a hand and he rushed over to the other man. Such injuries... and in such odd places. He had to wonder now what exactly the Sakurazukamori did to Tatsumi.
"Tatsumi-san! Why-.... What exactly happened?" he muttered at a fast pace before looking around the area. Did Tatsumi have the first-aide kit ready? Then he examined the wounds closer as he stood beside the sofa. Abrasions... the skin had been worn off. Most likely from struggling against some sort of tie on those wrists. Now he really had to know.
Too late for worrying about Kigai Yuuto's expression now, it seemed. At least the blond's eyes were only on the wounds on his wrists. There were similar wounds on his ankles and legs too, but those were concealed by his trousers. "Like I said, I made a mistake of challenging Sakurazuka Seishirou near his precious sakura tree--" He paused and stared at his damaged hands and wrists. They had stopped bleeding so profusely a while ago. While he was still facing the Sakurazukamori, he hadn't thought much about the damage. It was when he was finally back in his apartment that he'd realized just how extensive the damages were. "I miscalculated. Now I see I not only have to worry about his shikigami but his penchant for weaving elaborate illusions and his... tree too."
It seemed a sudden move out of the blue, but when Yuuto rose quickly from examining those wounds and rushing off to the kitchen area, it wasn't nearly as random as one thought. After all, while those injuries would be treated and tended to, he could start the tea at least. Quickly locating the kettle, he filled with with plenty of water and set it atop the stove. Perhaps something soothing would be in order. In the back of his mind he wondered if any chamomile or hibiscus tea was in that cabinet he had been shown before.
He really didn't get much of a good look the last time.
As soon as his quick bustling about the kitchen finished, he immediately made it back to the sofa and pulled that first-aide kit that sat on the coffee table towards him. "I didn't think he would be as strong when he's younger than he is...." He sighed a little, setting out a soothing balm and the appropriate bandages outside the white metal box. "At least he didn't do much more, Tatsumi-san," he exhaled in slight relief.
The kagetsukai's eyes narrowed. "It's not as if he can do anything more," Tatsumi said grudglingly. "It's not that he's powerful. He's just--" He stopped himself and corrected himself. "We've dealt worse than Sakurazuka Seishirou. I can't seem to... win over him. Yes. That's it. Either this city has put a cap on my powers or my abilities have deteriorated far more than I thought it would." Maybe. Too many maybe's.
Tatsumi simply wanted both Sakurazuka Seishirou and Muraki Kazutaka dead. Why was it so hard?
The whole situation was a little complex... in a way. Yuuto knew of Sakurazuka Seishirou, but not the young twenty-something man here. At best, he could predict some of the moods and behaviours that this Seishirou, at least a decade younger, would produce. A comrade, yes, albeit a distant, detached one. The Dragons of Earth really weren't as tightly-knit a group as the opposition, and he had already chalked that up to selfishness. Of course, he himself really had little part in that battle - merely gaining information on the others with Satsuki's help or occasionally battling, but not nearly as much work as what the Sakurazukamori had to deal with. Though he wouldn't dare bring this up in conversation with Tatsumi now.
"At least you were strong enough not to become too badly injured," Yuuto noted with a factual tone as he eyed the medicines before him on the coffee table. Then, he turned his attentions back to those wounds. "I heard of a sort of good luck ritual when someone gets injured... If someone else touches them, they won't get wounded there again..." Or maybe somehow he had mixed that up in his head - some sort of American superstition. They always were tougher to remember, it seemed. He looked up from the wrists he had in his hand and stared at Tatsumi with a frank, warm look. "You wouldn't mind if I tried....?"
It was hard to refuse anyone when the had that look of sincerity on their face. Naturally, Tatsumi found it impossible to refuse Yuuto's offer. "Perhaps not," he said quietly though he really would rather not be touched. He sighed and then confessed bitterly, "He was holding back. If he had wanted to, he would have done more. I should have killed him when he gave me the chance..."
The kagetsukai sighed again and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes as the image of Seishirou's helpless state flashed in his mind. He was so close. The Sakurazukamori's neck had been so vulnerable and he didn't! He couldn't take advantage of it! Damn his morals!
He could tell that the encounter Tatsumi had with the Sakurazukamori wasn't a pleasant one at all. The strange psychological effects of the battle lasted far longer than the actual fight itself. Strange how that seemed to be the case with the Sakurazukamori's victims who managed, at best, to walk away with some physical injury. Though it was hardly a surprise to Yuuto; Sakurazuka Seishirou was and, indeed, did fit as someone who believed less in the power of physical pain.
"You did what you thought was right," he replied to Tatsumi gently as he stared up with a reassuring smile. "You shouldn't punish yourself for what happened, Tatsumi-san." After looking at the wounds a bit more - they were so oddly fascinating, and he didn't know why - he finally pulled one of those wrists closer to him. Was it kiss or lick? He racked his mind for the correct anecdote, but he found nothing, and thus, without prelude, he delicately licked at the edge of the injury. It seemed a mild, neutral action, and if it wasn't, well, he could blame the American culture.
After the initial shock of feeling a warm wetness on the sensitive skin on his hands wore off, Tatsumi realized that he did not mind the peculiar action. It was odd, yes, but something Tatsumi couldn't refuse. Common sense told Tatsumi his best course of action was to pull his hand away, but all he could do was stare questioningly at the blond.
Had he become so needy for tender shows of affection?
"It wasn't right," Tatsumi said finally. "He deserves to die... after all." After all that he's done.
Yuuto smiled a little in a fit of nostalgia. Yes, he had a talk with Satsuki before about human death - an interesting topic, and Satsuki was likewise interesting, the eternal child with that naivete sometimes hidden beneath the complex wires and machinery of which she was so fond. But there had been something so sincere in that establishment of truth in that small Dragon of Heaven's cries. Killing people is wrong, she had said. But why?
Her answer was far too ingrained in the human personality that it seemed no one escaped it, even when asking that question.
He looked right up to the other with a furrowed brow. "Why do you think that?" he asked as he shifted into a comfortable distance from Tatsumi. If there was anything he remembered with Tatsumi, it was that he required some space on occasion. Yuuto probably had pushed it already, really. Though it wasn't looking like a repeat of that incident was forthcoming...
Tatsumi readily answered, but he kept much of the details to himself. "He's done enough to warrant it. Too much." He sighed and then gave Yuuto a sincere look of apology. "I suppose my morals are a bit wanting, Kigai-san?"
"You don't need to apologise," he replied softly as he reached for the balm on the coffee table. "Vengeance is a human thing to feel, you know." Yuuto had to pause a moment in brief thought - morals in need? Of course, everyone generally thought such a thing before, but just what kind of measuring stick were they comparing their morals to, anyhow? He kept that thought to himself as he began to carefully apply the balm on one of the wrists.
And just as he had smoothed some over the wound with small mutterings that it would sting a little, a whistle crescendoed in the kitchen quickly. He perked instantly and then looked over his shoulder. "Oh, that's right - what sort of tea would you prefer?" he asked the other as he rose to move into the kitchen. He'd have to act quickly - those bandages required much more medical attention than he had administered thus far.
"I'll have... anything." He sighed. "Anything will do right now." He'd wanted to tell Yuuto how he needn't fuss about his wounds -- they would heal quickly, and already he was feeling their were healing -- but the blond was already off to the kitchen with that look of determination. Tatsumi found himself weak against that.
That was one of the reasons Tsuzuki and, sometimes, Watari could get to him. He didn't have a secret really, and it wasn't just because of his fondness for Tsuzuki that he indulged the purple-eyed man... They simply were... persistent. Determined.
As soon as he heard Tatsumi call out his preference (which was none, really), he had made his mind up already. Something definitely relaxing - he was hoping some sort of chamomile tea was there, if not a hibiscus - was in order for the occasion. Of course, he himself had to make a mental note not to drink too much of it. Yuuto wondered over how awake he could be for waking merely half an hour ago. And in the middle of the night.
Finally, he set down a tin of hibiscus tea - thankfully Tatsumi didn't have as limited a selection as he had thought. While he busied himself, he stared over at Tatsumi a few times with quick, fleeting glances. "It should be ready quickly," he replied after he had poured the water in over the tea. Good that Tatsumi seemed as ready to make tea as any person should be.
Again he sat on the sofa, quickly looking at the clock on the wall - three minutes - and he turned again to Tatsumi and his wounds. Only... they looked to be healing already. "Tatsumi-san.... were those that healed before?" he asked curiously. He had noticed that many involved in the End of the World had unusually rapid rates of healing, but it wasn't anything compared to this...
And finally, that question. Lightly, he touched the healing wounds on his right wrist and then sighed. "That's why I didn't think I'd need the bandages, Kigai-san. They would heal quickly enough. Give it a few hours and it would look like it had never been touched before," he explained quietly. And he wondered if Yuuto would ask further. If he did, then Tatsumi would answer truthfully. He had nothing to fear from Yuuto.
Yuuto blinked, looking from the rapidly healing wound to Tatsumi with a puzzled sort of stare. It wasn't that he hadn't ever seen something like that - he had seen far stranger things in his lifetime before, some of which he himself had instigated - but he had a curiosity now as to just why. Tatsumi, he was certain, wasn't involved with the Apocalypse. So why?
"Do you mind if I ask....?" he trailed off while staring up to the other. He wanted to be as polite as he could while in this state of mind, but he feared he was breaching that while he pulled a wrist closer for inspection.
Tatsumi found himself unable to resist another sigh. "It's not a problem. I had forgotten -- I thought you had an idea already. Sakurazuka Seishirou definitely did later on--" He cut himself off, remembering suddenly the effects that curse had on the Sakurazukamori. He continued in quieter voice. "You didn't see then, Kigai-san? Sakurazuka-san's post...." The one where the Sakurazukamori told the whole city he had enjoyed having a pen driven down his throat.
"Well.... no, I didn't, Tatsumi-san... but-...?" Now he was a little confused. What did that have to do with this incident at all? Well.... Yuuto blinked in thought. Possibly a lot. He knew Seishirou had ways of provoking others, and Tatsumi definitely didn't seem to like him at all. But, then again, why did he need to intrude upon someone else's daily life if he had no interest in it? It was a little invasive, when he thought about it...
Finally he looked to the other man seriously. "You're not involved with the Apocalypse. So why....-?" With intent to emphasise his point, he again stared to the quickly-healing wrists - surprising how the skin appeared to grow right before his eyes.
Tatsumi really wished Yuuto had read the Sakurazukamori's entry instead. He was in a bit of a loss as to how exactly he would word what Seishirou's entry contained. Without even thinking, he brought a hand up to the glasses perched on his nose and pushed it upwards. It stung a little, but having experienced far worse, Tatsumi wasn't affected.
"Sakurazuka-san made a comment about how I manage to heal even after he stabbed me in the throat. Simple as that-- I'm not involved in an apocalypse of any kind, not in the literal sense, or the apocalypse you speak of, perhaps." He paused there and gave Yuuto a quick glance before continuing. "I'm shinigami, Kigai-san."
And then he waited for the reaction, because, really, all the shinigami the blond has ever seen were probably the Seiretei ones and they were hardly a good model for shinigami...
"Shinigami..." The term seemed to roll right off Yuuto's tongue, as though it were a practised word in his vocabulary. Yes, he had heard of them - small little myths about them, usually, and then the mass population of them within the City, itself. It really didn't seem to faze Yuuto much as he pondered over it, unless one counted the look of dawning comprehension.
"No wonder... Forgive me, but I had thought you were merely out of place from your own time...." He chuckled a little, smiling in a bright, comic way before he again rose from the sofa and crossed the area to the kitchen. Well, he did have some suspicions of him being shinigami as well, but don't ask, don't tell. Such a helpful ideology, really. "Do you take sugar with your tea, Tatsumi-san?"
The kagetsukai blinked at Yuuto, surprised at how the blond took that in. "I don't mind sugar in my tea," he said and then frowned. "You're not the least bit fazed, Kigai-san? Even at the possibility that you'd just hit on and slept with once with a man over a hundred? Not that I am over a hundred...."
He closed his eyes and seemed to nod at his own statement. "Even I would find that somewhat disturbing were I still living... and normal."
While he rifled about the cupboards for proper tea cups, Yuuto paused to stare at the other from over his shoulder. "And would you be at all fazed at that possibility given your identity as it stands?" he asked with a carefree smile. Why would anyone be shocked by the news, really? Yuuto saw no problem in it, honestly - after all, his own circle of comrades didn't seem to fit the normal ideal of humanity. Normal. He chuckled at the notion.
"It doesn't make much difference to your character, so I see nothing wrong. Shame you have no honey," he continued while pouring the tea into the selected tea cups - they didn't quite match, but really, not that it mattered.
Tatsumi's mouth opened, ready to answer to that last comment on instinct, but then he managed to stop himself because for one, Yuuto definitely wasn't making a comment at his love life. If he could blush, then perhaps he already was -- feeling his ears warm slightly, he consciously pushed his glasses upwards.
"You're right," he said, agreeing. "It doesn't make much difference to my character... and have you checked the fridge...?"
"Mm, this will do," Yuuto called to the other as he poured in some sugar into the tea cups. He stopped for a moment to think - did Tatsumi like a lot of sugar, or did he not really prefer it? He sighed a little before deciding that one teaspoon would do, and then he took both cups into the den area. "Here you are, Tatsumi-san." He then sat back onto the sofa in the same place where he had been - or perhaps it was closer now to Tatsumi. He didn't seem to notice either way before taking a sip of tea calmly.
Tatsumi thanked Yuuto before taking his cup. He drank slowly and in silence. He really had no idea what to do now. He did like the company -- especially with Tsuzuki having disappeared again -- but he really hoped tonight wouldn't be a repeat of that time with the cake.
"It's getting late--" Tatsumi began after a while. "--are you... staying over?" He disliked having sounded awkward, but who in their right mind would ask so confidently that? It seemed like the right thing to ask -- it was getting late and he certainly hadn't been thinking of anything... questionable when he asked it and yet, having already said it he felt silly.
"I mean, there's a spare room," he added a bit too hastily.
The tea he had made was quite good, actually. As though he were lost in rapture over the cup he held in his hand, he stared on at it even after Tatsumi posed his question. However, he then turned about, rather like snapping out of a deep reverie. "Staying over?" He had a feeling why Tatsumi had tacked on the announcement of that spare room, and not that he blamed the other man. That last encounter, while strangely nice, was a little embarrassing in nature. Especially once they awoke the next morning.
He frowned a little, looking again at the clock - yes, it was late, indeed. "I don't have to stay if you don't want me to, Tatsumi-san," he replied quietly. And, really, he didn't mind either option.
Tatsumi took a deep breath and then sighed. "I don't mind... I mean-- I would appreciate the companionship very much. It has been a while since I... hadn't been alone. A little break from the endless ticking would be... pleasant."
He missed Tsuzuki, really, he did, but he knew telling Yuuto the only reason he wanted him to stay was because Tsuzuki was absent would not do him any good.
"Are you sure?" Yuuto could feel the awkwardness that hung between them both, and he knew precisely why it was so with them both. Their last time in this apartment, well, it hadn't been the most flattering moment for them both at all. And even though Yuuto really had privately admitted to himself that it was enjoyable on some level, Tatsumi had made it clear he was uninterested nonetheless. Yuuto had to respect that on some level, after all.
He looked again to Tatsumi with a hesitant smile on his face. "It wouldn't be a problem with me either way, Tatsumi-san. Your decision," he replied placidly before taking in another drink of tea. Though, really, he wanted to stay, if not just because he felt quite eager to rest again.
Tatsumi confirmed. "I'm sure," he said and then resumed drinking his tea quietly. After a while, he spoke again. "I don't think I've said this before, Kigai-san, but you make good tea."
He seemed to noticeably brighten when Tatsumi complimented him so. "I don't think too much of it, Tatsumi-san," he replied quickly as he leaned back into the sofa. Why did it feel so cosy.... like he could sleep right there? He already was grateful for Tatsumi's offer, truly, but he did not want to nod off right where he was. How rude would that be?
"I'll stay, then, if that's what Tatsumi-san wants." Yuuto smiled brilliantly to the other as he desperately tried fighting off the wave of fatigue overtaking him. Quickly, though, did he give in and shut his eyes. He still could be awake with his eyes closed.... "It is getting late, after all..."
Before he could even stop it, he faded off into sleep and slumped a little in the sofa with a light snore.
The kagetsukai didn't notice his blond companion drift off to sleep, having been too preoccupied with staring off in the distant as he enjoyed his tea. "Kigai-san...." When he turned to the direction of the blond, he realized Yuuto had fallen asleep. Curiously, he watched the blond for a while before sighing and shaking his head. If Yuuto slept on the sofa, he would wake up with cramps. That wouldn't do, at all.
He left his cup on the coffee table and stood up. Yuuto had fallen asleep with his cup in his hands. Tatsumi was thankful the tea didn't spill on the sofa. Not that he would be very angry if it did spill. It was understandable -- it was so late at night. What on earth possessed Kigai Yuuto to come this late at night? He sighed, again, and carefully scooped the blond into his arms. Being a lot stronger than he looked, Tatsumi was able to carry the blond without much trouble to the spare bedroom. There, he deposited Yuuto on the bed and walked over to the cabinet, where he kept the extra blankets and Tsuzuki's clothes.
He paused for a while there, fingers lightly touching the one of the black blazers hanging inside the cabinet. When he had nothing better to do, he would organize Tsuzuki's cabinet just because. Perhaps it was a bit.. obsessive of him to do so, but without the consuming work Meifu dished to him, he often found himself at his wit's end on what to do with his time
Finally, he picked one of the folded thick blankets and walked back to were Yuuto was. Gently, he wrapped the blanket around the blond's sleeping form and when he noticed his wounds fully healed, found it in himself to thank the blond quietly. It had been most pleasant. He wouldn't mind... being friends with Kigai Yuuto at all.