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[unsaid]

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[unsaid]

[yea we absolutely need shinobu it's cool it's fine, jiji just doesn't want to be so obviously in need of care]

... and emotionally -

How are you?

[preowned]

[ his mouth twitches upward, amused. of course mikazuki would ask him this after he had a terrible day. ]

Why would anything be wrong? I'm taking care of someone very dear to me.

[unsaid]

[ . . . . . .

and finally, finally, there is a ghost of a laugh. not quite, but it is there in his sigh.]

.... one could say I have had rather poor luck lately.

[one could

suggest that]

[preowned]

Your luck has been pretty bad.

[ simply atrocious. the only way it can go more south is if he's dead by this weekend, even if oocly i would kill you.

he places his hand against mikazuki's cheek for a moment. ]

You should stop leaving my sight. Things happen when you do.

[unsaid]

[he leans into the touch, slowly.]

Claude may grow jealous.

[preowned]

Of me or you?

[ he glances over at the closet, thinking that he needs to find spare clothes for him. he sets the thought aside for just now to just

press a kiss to the top of his head. gentle, gentle. ]

[unsaid]

[mikazuki's spare outfit is probably this one because i haven't had to commit to the body sock so far so i guess i won't

anyway,]

Have we begun to lose track of our tale, my crane?

[preowned]

It's not a tale if it's true.

[ it's not true.

but he steps away to go grab more clothes, looking down at the puddles of blood and water that mikazuki had dragged in. he makes a mental note to clean that later. ]

[unsaid]

[mikazuki also glances toward the trails - these poor tatami mats for his room, damn - before he just lets his gaze drift elsewhere

honestly, probably to the moon out by the engawa.

it will prompt him to ask - ]

What do you believe is the core of your heart, Tsurumaru Kuninaga?

[preowned]

[ the question makes him freeze.

it's just for a second, and he resumes shifting through what's in the closer to pull out a suitable outfit for mikazuki. tsuru wanders back, sets the yukata onto the bed, and resumes his inspection of the other. gently, gently. ]

Why do you ask?

[unsaid]

[hm.

he watches the freeze and tilts his head to the side.]

Is it a question that gives you pause?

[preowned]

No, it just surprised me. You asked it out of nowhere.

[ he'll double check that he's cleaned mikazuki as well as he can with the injuries, and then he'll pull out his sword to cut up the remaining towels; he needs temporary bandages until shinobu can get a look at him. ]

[unsaid]

I suppose I did.

[tsurumaru is such a good nurse. mikazuki will... slightly help? in the sense that he will take one of those towels, and then reach for his own blade

there are remnants of blood on it, and he will set to quietly cleaning it]

And your answer?

[preowned]

I will welcome any surprise, even if it's a hard one to swallow.

[ the bandages aren't as good as they can be, but the material isnt the best for it. still, it should at least help with the bleeding until someone can do better.

he'll move away to pick up the yukata next. ]

[unsaid]

[it's enough that jiji won't immediately bleed through his yukata and then alert everyone else to his injuries, and that's pretty much all he wanted from this!

yay.

though when tsurumaru comes closer with the yukata, he will lean in a bit closer]

Do you believe that could ever change about yourself?

[preowned]

No. I do not.

[ he'll lean in again, pressing their foreheads together. gently, gently... ]

But I would prefer if you did not try to test that, Mikazuki Munechika.

[unsaid]

[forehead press.... even without a dare this time. mikazuki will close his own eyes in thought at that, focusing on the feeling.]

... I do not seek to.

[ . . . ]

But if you were to get taken away on one of these excursions - I wonder what you would do. [a beat] What I would do.

[preowned]

Well, if I am injured, you can simply tend to my wounds. [ ... ] Watch someone else tend to them.

[ he doesn't move away. ]

I will be fine. I always am, after these things.

[unsaid]

[yea jiji would just carry tsuru straight to shinobu and that'd be the most he'd manage

but he pauses at that before he lets himself lean forward as though to claim a kiss - but first he murmurs against tsuru's lips]

I think your heart more open than that, my crane.

[before letting the space between them close.

tsurumaru often appears as fine - mikazuki knows this well. exasperation and stubbornness tend to appear hand in hand on his expression, but there is so rarely an acknowledgement of what his heart must feel. it is a consistent thing.

but they cannot both be the types to shoulder all on their own]

[preowned]

I am not the one having bad luck here.

[ he gives him a second kiss, and then another, and pulls away only so he can actually grab the clothing to help change mikazuki into.

there is a level of vulnerability here that he's not sure what to do about, since mikazuki is tipping it towards tsuru's direction instead of his own. it's a little frustrating, the way he turns where the spotlight points to. ]

So right now, I am fine, other than my worry for you.

[unsaid]

... sometimes it is worry for others, when you can do not but look on and wait for the culminations of their fates, that cuts just as deeply.

[it is an admission - of both mikazuki's time as lune, and perhaps about his own feelings as a sword warrior in the course of history.

but even as he lets tsurumaru help him, moves slowly enough as to not aggravate his wounds further, that he can't help his curiosity.

just as tsurumaru had asked him before - ]

If you are always worrying after others, who is worrying after you?

[preowned]

[ his reply comes easily, ]

Claude.

[unsaid]

[preowned]

[unsaid]

I wish you every happiness.