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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Looking down at the strawberry, then up at Kaoru, seimei's face colored slightly, eyes drifting to the side. Licking a bit of syrup from his fork without thinking, he cleared his throat to break the silence.

"I could in turn indulge you with fare from ancient Kyoto, though I doubt we ate anything strange or exotic by the standards of your time. Food rarely tends to fall back; it progresses forward and adds more flavors, but never really loses anything it already had."

He tilts his gaze back to to strawberry, eventually impaling it on his fork and eating it. Accepting food placed on your plate by another person was a fairly big deal where he was from. He doubted it held the same meaning to Kaoru, but he felt it significant, either way, to accept.

"Then we should get you acquainted with all the food that all the worlds have to offer!" He couldn't help brandishing his fork in enthusiasm. He couldn't help thinking his summation from a few days earlier was right - Tono had definitely rubbed off on him. "What if we throw you a house-warming party? We could have a menu full of sweet treats! Or we could ask people to contribute anything they'd like to share from their own world."

Loading up his fork, he carefully placed another strawberry on Seimei's plate in an effort to win him over.

"It doesn't have to be for long..."

It was working, even if Seimei didn't notice himself. After all, kitsune were weak to a lot of things and the onmyoji was no exception; food, flattery and comfort were the worst vices. despite his willingness to do what Kaoru wanted for the sake of pleasing the boy, he was still reluctant.

"No one would come to something like that, Kaoru. Most people cannot afford any luxury - I worked very hard for mine - and furthermore, while most people attempt at civility, some cannot be bothered with even passing attempts. I made a minor outreach and was met with derision. I can only imagine how laughable a gathering merely to celebrate the completion of my home would be. I do not fault you for your enthusiasm, I am simply saying you should not get your hopes up."

He ate the second strawberry with considerably less hesitation, though the color in his cheeks barely faded enough to consider him used to the act.

Even in his own world, Kaoru had a tendency to forget that not everyone could be as free with their money as he and his peers. He couldn't help it - it was a by product of his upbringing.

"What about an open house, then? People could just drop in as they wanted. I can supply some food!" In the Bastion, is wasn't so much that he had been saving his shards as that he just wasn't sure how to use them. He would need to be very careful, going forward, not to spend shards he might need later. But this was a special occasion, and really it was all for Seimei's cultural betterment in the end.

The blush was simply adorable. He really needed to fuel it a little more, but he was out of strawberries. Though there were still a couple more on the remains of the cake...

He sighed softly, shaking his head and glancing off to the side across the small but thriving garden. Eventually he relented and raised both hands in surrender.

"If it is what you want, and you think it is best, I will go along with it. I cannot promise to be pleased about having people in my home when it is supposed to be a personal sanctuary, nor can I share your optimism in that people will even bother coming. However, I will attempt to have a good time. Only do not be disappointed when it does not turn out as you seem to believe it will. It is one thing to publicly snub me, it is entirely another to disrespect you. I will not tolerate that."

"If" He corrected gently. "Not when. If. It's much to early to give up on the whole thing." Picking up his fork again, he carefully picked the last couple of strawberries off the cake. Never mind keeping it in one piece. "I don't think that anyone meant to make you feel as uncomfortable as you did but... you don't have to take my advice or even decide right away - I mean, I'm just a kid, what do I know? - but don't shut yourself away just yet, okay? Even if nobody comes. We can just eat sweet things and hang out." Kaoru would have to be selective though, for fear of bankrupting himself.

A frown flickered across his face and he shifted a little on his cushion, pulling Tama-chan out of her sling and crossing his legs to make a little nest. It wasn't the right way to sit, but the egg's wobbling usually decreased when he held her like that. He blew his fringe back in mild annoyance anyway, though. "So fidgety, Tama-chan. Or did you have a problem with something I said?"

Finishing off the rest of his own piece, Seimei watched Kaoru with the egg curiously. eventually he turned to gaze across the garden entirely.

"You would have been very popular with the demons of my era. It is very rare to find a human of your caliber - someone so accepting and willing to learn. I avoid growing emotional over the loss of my family - it was a very long time ago - but I do think mother would have liked you. She was always more fond of humans anyways, though your care with the egg would no doubt have amused her greatly. I imagine when it finally hatches you will be fully prepared to raise whatever comes next. Would that I could tell you what it is - I should hate for you to be saddled with a young tengu or kappa!" he laughed, turning back to regard Kaoru again.

"I have to admit, I'm starting to get a little bit impatient. Especially now she's moving. You know, it's like, are you coming out or aren't you?!" He pushed the egg back and forth gently, rocking her safely in the circle of his legs. "I still have no idea how long I have to wait - or what she's going to be. She might not be anything I recognise, even vaguely - everything else in this place is so different."

His expression softened a little as Seimei spoke of his mother. These days he tried not to think of his own family too often, either.

"I have to admit, I feel no more prepared than I did when I first got her. But I'm looking forward to meeting her properly."

Edited 2013-07-30 02:51 (UTC)

"I think it will be good for you. you have a very....maternal air about you, I suppose is the best way to describe it. You want to make everything 'okay', you want people to get along and you worry about others more than yourself. Whatever happened to you before you came here, whatever you lost; I hope you gain enough back to make this new life bearable. I think that, even should you later rebuke me and my courtship, you will find a comfortable life here should you be able to raise your Tama-chan well. I wish this for you."

The onmyoji nodded, looking away once more, expression distant - not particularly distracted, just thoughtful, wondering. Taisan knew everything, all the secrets of time and space as any God would of any rank and yet the creature was bound by rules of his own to impart no knowledge of it. It frustrated Seimei to have the answers so close and so inaccessible. He wanted to tell Kaoru that everything would be fine, he wanted to reassure himself. Alas, it was not to be.

"Thank you for visiting today, Kaoru, and thank you for the cake. It has been delightful. I cannot really tell you just how pleased I was."

Kaoru hummed quietly, leaning his chin on one hand, the other still rocking Tama-chan almost automatically.

"...thank you for that. But I don't expect I shall be rebuking you." A slight flush spread across his cheeks as he continued a little boldly, "...I might even go so far as to say you're stuck with me."

It was funny, though, the way things went in circles. How he had been dragged into Tamaki's Host Club Family, and was now all but making his own little family in the Bastion. Had Tama-chan not fallen into his lap, he knew he might not have been as quick to reach out to others. Most likely he would still be hiding in his own room.

"Stuck with you? Hm. I do not think that would be so bad. I suppose I can tolerate you, if I am forced," he sighed dramatically, snapping open his tessen after drawing it from a sleeve and fanning himself.

"You do give me exceedingly difficult choices," he drawled playfully. "Whatever should I do? Hm? With this charming youth bearing a head full of sunset and eyes like honey haunting me? A warm house indeed," he chuckled.

He laughed delightedly despie his blush, drawing up his knees and hugging the egg to his chest.

"You say that like I've been giving you choices! I haven't been giving you choices so much as putting forth suggestions for you to consider, that's all! It's up to you to accept for refuse them.

...or am I to take it that if I just swish my hair and bat my eyelids I can get anything I want?" He could have made all manner of suggestive jokes about warming the house even further, had he been so inclined, but it was nice enough like this - just teasing each other across the table. He grinned widely, peeking over the tops of his knees. "Do I hypnotise you, Seimei?"

"Hypnotize?" the onmyoji questioned, lips quirking on one side, rising along with one brow. "I suppose in a manner of speaking. You have an allure I cannot deny, and you bring me to moments of speechless silence. If that is being hypnotized then I must admit defeat."

Tapping the fan to his lips, Seimei eventually nodded in answer.

"You would hardly even have to expend the energy in such tawdry ways, Kaoru. Merely ask and I would do what was in my power to grant your wishes."

"Hypnotise." He confirmed, rocking back slightly. "I will be sure to remember that for the future. But I'll certainly keep the hair-swishing and the eyelid-batting in my arsenal just in case."

Closing his eyes as he rocked, he listened.

"...my wish is your command? Then I may have to think of some wishes..."

"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."

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