thebastion | Day 91 | log

Entry tags:

Day 91 | log | [CLOSED]

Who: Kaoru Hitachiin (

individuates ), Abe no Seimei (

yinyangfox )
Open: Closed
When: Day 91
Where: Seimei's pad
What: Bribing Seimei with cake.
Format: Log
Warnings: None! Just two guys eating cake.

Kaoru had to admit it. As dubious as he had been in the beginning about Seimei’s little house, once all its walls were erected, and its insides (mostly) furnished… it actually hadn’t turned out so bad.

He could give himself a pat on the back for some of the work, too. Not that he had sourced all the wood himself. Or lacquered it. Or fit it together in a house-shape. But he had slaved away on the furnishings, which had definitely helped with the effort. He had managed to figure out how to quilt blankets from his scraps – they were easy – but he had no idea how to make a futon other than to sew together his blankets. Which was precisely what he did.

Well it was the best he could do, with the resources at his disposal. In hindsight, he could have just bought one with shards and saved himself the trouble, but never mind. He had delivered the futons the previous day – if Seimei had had a terrible night’s sleep on them, he could always run back to the Monument and buy real ones.

He had finally made his first purchase from the Monument with the shards he had been holding onto – a small strawberry shortcake and forks and plates to eat it with. Nothing as grand as they had eaten or used at the host club – and not antique either, or if they were, certainly not antiques he recognized. But they looked good and, really, they were fit for purpose. And the cake smelled simply heavenly.

So with the bag of cake in one hand and one hand resting on Tama-chan slung across his chest, he started down to Seimei’s. The egg had been rocking since a few days ago, tapping sounds coming from within. Perhaps it would hatch soon – until then, Kaoru was keeping a careful eye out.

He stepped into the small gardens around Seimei’s house, raising the bag and giving a bright, slightly teasing smile.

“Sei-chan~!”

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"I imagine you should. It is not every day one has the greatest onmyoji at their beck and call," he remarked with a wry smile, tapping the fan against his lips once more.

"Nor a being quite so unique as myself. all the magic aside, it is no small thing to have the favor of the kitsune."

"That must make me extremely lucky, especially considering that I'm a lowly human." He took a sip of his tea, settling a little more comfortably. "Though in itself not a compelling argument for you to consider any of my suggestions, I know."

"I have never been terribly fond of humans, to be honest. So it says a great deal about you that I harbor this interest. While as a whole humanity is largely a disappointment, I do pride myself on judging by the individual."

He folded his tessen closed, tucking it away once more to regard his companion without a paper wall between them.

"Granted I avoid the lot entirely but on occasion a person manages to prove worth the effort of coming out of seclusion. You are one of those bright stars, Kaoru. The sort of person who enriches the lives of all they meet. I will forever be grateful for having met you, and granting a few wishes is a small price to pay for your company, I assure you."

"You don't have to pay for my company, Seimei," Kaoru shook his head slightly, holding his tea in his hands and balancing Tama-chan in his lap. "...I enjoy spending time talking with you. Even though..." he hesitated, setting down his cup to gesture. "...you make me blush. And flail. And stutter. And... and make all these undignified faces."

He did not feel like a bright star, sometimes. He often felt childish and clumsy, like a toddler who hadn't quite figured out how to walk and still had a propensity to crash into things. He glanced down at the egg settled in his lap.

"...I would like to see you without having to peer around that fan for once. I would like to see you outside from time to time. I don't want to see you shut yourself away."

"Would it make you feel better to know that you often put me off balance as well?" he asked, glancing off to the side and resisting the habitual urge to retreat behind the fan again.

"I often do not know what to say. You make me feel...shy. Normally I do not care about the opinions of others but yours seems to matter. How you regard me matters. I cannot say that I have ever flailed, but I have had difficulty finding words more than once. And I doubt my face has ever been particularly undignified, but I imagine it has failed to find an appropriate expression on occasion."

He sighed softly, pursing his lips and side-eyeing Kaoru as he set his tessen aside on the floor.

"I promise not to retreat entirely from the community, but I cannot swear to become the social butterfly that you are."

Edited 2013-07-30 06:46 (UTC)

Kaoru gave a light chuckle, leaning forward slightly.

"I don't know much about this sort of thing, but I think they're the right feelings to be having. The fact that it's mutual also helps." He watched Seimei put the fan down, unable to deny that he felt a little thrill in his heart, knowing he had done that for him - set aside that, and countless other traditions.

"Well, it takes a little while for the wings to come. And like I said before - we all need to rest our them from time to time." Another soft laugh. "...especially those of us just figuring out how to fly."

Sitting there in silence for several moments, Seimei soon tilted his head to watch Kaoru laugh and smile, his own lips quirking at one corner. Eventually the onmyoji leaned forward a fraction, then a bit more, expression not changing until he was a foot from the red-head's face and Kaoru's eyes were open and turned his way. Color crept up his collar and he jerked back with a faint cough.

Clearing his throat he looked away, face assuming a bland expression even as heat radiated from his ears.

"There is a bit of cake on your cheek, there," he gestured vaguely with one hand that was curling against the hem of its sleeve. There was no crumb or cream, but far be it for Seimei to be completely honest. A good save was a good save from any angle when you were embarrassed.

Time for a subject change.

"When would you propose this party of yours?"

He blinked, a little startled to find Seimei leaning so unexpectedly close, and blushed partly at his proximity, and partly at the thought of having eaten so messily.

"Ah-" his thumb swiped cautiously at one cheek, then the other to make sure he'd managed to catch it. "Better? At least you didn't lick it off..." Gosh. He was usually so much tidier, so much more refined than that. Unless he was doing it on purpose.

"For a housewarming, I'd suggest that sooner is probably better. In the next few days, perhaps, if you want to do it..."

Lick it off?

Color rushed fully into his face, head shaking slowly as if to say he would never do anything so horribly invasive. Naturally Kaoru mentioning it meant Seimei imagining it and he briefly wondered if he was feeling the effects of an early heart-attack. Swallowing audibly the onmyoji darted dark eyes down for something to distract himself, eventually settling on refilling their tea, not expecting Kaoru to fill his cup. Traditions? Might as well pretend they didn't exist sometimes, right?

"I have my misgivings about the idea, but I will do it for you. At the least, you seem to believe I am having social difficulty and I wish to prove that it is not out of a desire to be a hermit but out of natural friction and irreconcilable differences."

"I'm not saying you would have. But I might." He couldn't help throwing it out there at the interesting colour Seimei had gone.

"And I'm not pushing you to be with people all the time, either. Even I'm quite happy to go a day without seeing other people." Tilting his head slightly towards the Bastion at large. Did Seimei perhaps take his meaning? "But it's not worth closing the doors on everyone completely..."

"I suppose I should be grateful I am not trying to court you in my time and place of origin. I was considerably less social, and back there, I had a steady occupation and was expected to make appearances at court. Hm. Either way, Kaoru, if it is your wish, I will consent to this gathering and do whatever you deem necessary to make my home fit. If you require shards, I have some, and will gather more as soon as possible to facilitate your plans."

Shaking out his sleeves, the onmyoji leaned back and straightened his spine, turning enough on his cushion to face out at the garden. the better to calm himself down and banish less than seemly thoughts.

"It serves no purpose to fight the changes to my life I have to make in order to accommodate you. That includes socializing. I must accept that you are more appealing to others, and I would be doing you a disservice if I expected you to change instead. It is cruel to cripple birds and clip their wings. It is far more sensible to encourage belligerent birds to leave the roost."

"It's going to be great, believe me. If all else fails I'll make sure there are plenty of sweet things. Like different cakes. Oh, and chocolate. You can keep busy trying new foods."

As Seimei turned out to the garden, Kaoru looked down at the egg in his lap, rubbing the shell gently.

"And who know, maybe this one will be almost ready to come out by that time."

He couldn't help ducking his head and chuckling about Seimei's comment, repeating it quietly to himself and Tama-chan. "Appealing to others...?"

"Yes. You are more sociable, more...modern; which many of the inhabitants of the Bastion are. At the very least you are more forgiving. I do not take kindly to derision."

He sniffed faintly, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair that had come loose from the top knot to rest behind one ear.

"You are younger and more charming by far. Socially you are more fluid. There are many things I will do in order to court you in a way you find acceptable, including making minor changes to myself. However I will not change myself for others and I see no reason to simply accept when others are disrespectful. And I am not going to make myself available to those with no interest in forming friendships. These are simple facts."

"I think there are those who want to make friendships though. And there are people still coming in. Some may need the guidance that you can give."

Such as himself. Losing Hikaru, all his friends, it had all been too sudden and jarring for him to get through properly on his own. "...I really don't think I would be doing so well without your help. I never really thanked you for that..."

He rested his chin lightly on top of the egg, considering carefully.

"But... have I ever disrespected you in some way? Or... or what if I did? Or if I did without knowing that I did?"

He paused, thinking about the question for several moments before tilting his head to regard Kaoru thoughtfully.

"I believe you would know. You are more empathetic than most and you have a natural sort of tact, normally. You sometimes say things that I find...vexing, but you have yet to say anything disrespectful. Other people do not care about how they speak to others, and in the end their lives are poorer for it. Courtesy is a currency paid as an investment. Some people pay and enjoy the future, some people squander what they have and find themselves needy later on, begging for the scraps offered by better men."

Clearing his throat and looking back to the garden, the onmyoji lifted his tea to sip before adding, "And if you did so, and it was on accident, you would apologize were it brought to your attention. You are better than most people, Kaoru, and we are from worlds apart. I cannot fault you your foibles when are so considerate of mine."

"Sometimes I overstep boundaries without realising it, though." He hummed softly, biting his lip. "...the thing is that you don't know how bad we were. We didn't care at all about others. To be honest, they were just toys to us and we could throw them aside once we were done with them. Because they were... I don't know, 'Not-Us', it didn't matter what we did to them." A quiet sigh, chased by the admission - "...we changed a lot over the past year or so, but it doesn't change the fact that we hurt a lot of people."

He had always understood people a lot better than Hikaru did. Did that make him the bad one, then, for knowing what they were doing and still allowing it to continue?

"...I do try not to vex people all the time. Just tease them gently..." Vexing was never a good thing. "...how is it that I vex you?"

"I imagine I know precisely how bad you were. You forget that I deal in demons and that I observe humanity from a distance, avoiding them as much as possible. And you forget that I was a child once, and that I hated everything and everyone around me."

He smirked faintly, shifting his weight and resting his hands on his knees.

"I felt isolated from the rest of the world, too different to be part of anything; everyone was an enemy. An outsider to my private world. And you forget that I am half kitsune. Were I any less human, I would be a capricious and often spiteful creature, completely self absorbed and interested only in my own personal amusement. Children are children, Kaoru. No one ever has to apologize for being one. They simply have to make up for it when they grow out of it."

Sighing deeply and straightening his back, the onmyoji took a moment to side-eye the red-head.

"Vexing. Oh...why do we not leave it at the natural complications we face under our unique circumstances?"

Kaoru's cup had been raised to his mouth as if to drink, but he didn't - not while Seimei was speaking. He continued to hold it in both hands as he listened.

Seimei's story was almost identical to his own - discounting the half-kitsune part. Even so, he couldn't quite accept that Seimei had been as bad as he made out. Nor could he accept that Seimei had any notion of how difficult a child Kaoru had been. But arguing the point was useless - instead of protesting, he took a sip of his tea to silence himself.

"...do you think Tama-chan's going to be just as difficult? Just as vexing?"

"Children often are. Whether she is sentient or not, she will no doubt be trouble and you will face your pitfalls in raising her. The only thing you can do is be the best parent or owner as possible. Give her love without reservation, encourage healthy growth and teach her morals and value that she can understand. Whatever she is, I will be able to speak with her an--....you know it only just occurred to me that my ability to speak with animals is magical in nature. I wonder if it is something that could be taken and learned from the Bastion per shards in some way?"

He paused, shaking his head and dismissing the thought to go back on point.

"What I mean to say is, if she has the capacity for human understanding, teach her to be good, and teach her why. If she has an animal mentality, reward her for good behavior, keep her mind distracted with tasks and promote higher function reasoning skills. In the end, Kaoru, no one will fault you for her behavior. We are all just as lost as you in this."

"...it sure would be great if I could talk to her..." He rubbed the surface of the egg lightly, tracing over one of the splotches with his fingertip. "I'll have to see how much she understands from me first, though and take it from there."

He cocked his head to one side, looking Seimei up and down as if appraising him. How would he fit into Tama-chan's little family? Rin-chan had already taken the position of aunt, so what would that make Seimei?

"I may have to think about taking her outside, depending on what she is. I don't know how big she'll grow, but she'll need some space to roam..."

"That's true enough. And you'll have no shortage of people to go with. Plus the areas closest the Bastion are relatively safe, even for casual explorers. I would never hesitate to accompany you, Kaoru. I doubt many other people would, either."

He caught the look, offering a questioning expression in response but saying nothing as he looked away over the garden once more.

"I will help you in whatever capacity you need. You are not alone, Kaoru. Not in this, not in anything else."

At Seimei's look, Kaoru couldn't help but laugh, rubbing the back of his head apologetically.

"Sorry, sorry. I just... I don't know I guess I'm kind of putting together Tama-chan's Bastion family and was wondering how you'd fit into it. I guess technically speaking I'm the mother - there's no helping that..."

A little seriousness came creeping into his expression though and he lowered his head, still a little soft, a little fond,

"...I know. I know I'm not. Thank you."

A faint dusting of color crept out from Seimei's collar, but he said nothing about Tama-chan's makeshift family. Where he fit in was up to Kaoru and Tama-chan, he supposed. He had no business making suggestions that would be tasteless anyways.

Nodding in reply to Kaoru's thanks, they eventually left each other in companionable silence, the onmyoji's gaze distant, longing for a breeze to shake the leaves, the sound of birdsong, the patter and peaty smell of rain.

"This world seems so...stagnant. I wonder if it will ever be a real world or if we are doomed to silently drift, no matter how how large this place becomes?" he mused aloud, eventually looking down into his teacup.

"I miss the rain," He admitted quietly, looking out over Seimei's garden. "I miss watching it. I miss sitting by our window and reading while the rain fell outside. But if it ever rains here I might just stand outside and enjoy it, just in case it never comes again."

Not just the rain. Breezes through open windows. The feeling of stepping out of the cold into the warm. It should have almost been December - or at least he roughly guessed so, from the day he arrived. Yet he was still dressing like it was early autumn.

"This world may be a little stagnant, but that doesn't mean the rest of us have to be." His gaze slid over to the onmyoji before calmly drifting back outside again. "There are other ways to shake things up. For instance I'd love to know what it was you thought that made you colour up like that, though I doubt you'd tell me."

Edited (Past fricking tense ._.) 2013-08-07 07:47 (UTC)

"Hm..." the onmyoji smiled slowly, imagining the red head in Kyoto during a warm rain, standing in his old overgrown garden in Heian fashion. He had to snort a soft laugh when he couldn't imagine Kaoru in the more common dull colors of masculine fabrics. Florals and bright summer and spring colors were all he could see. He had a sudden urge to paint and shook his head in amusement.

"You want to creep into my head and now all the good and ill, but what do you propose in return, Kaoru? I am not a flower, blooming and opening myself to others despite the risk of exposure. Am i not allowed my secrets?"

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