❝What a grand day! Truly, a day worth remembering!❞ Shouted to the heavens. Loudly shouted. He just wants to make it so for all those kids who didn’t have a good day. Come, and be loved.
It wasn’t uncommon for alcohol to circulate these halls. In fact, it was more common than not, and that was due in part to Lord Kenshin’s own habits. Kanetsugu did not often partake, as his tolerance was dreadful-- not to mention how awful he invariably felt the following day. The rewards never seemed to outweigh the risks. However, he was particularly weak to the idea of a good time, and so here he was again, ignoring that little voice in the back of his head that said he probably shouldn’t.
It wasn’t long before his voice was slurred and loud, before he was finding out how close he could sit to people before they moved, one way or another. That voice? He couldn’t hear it over his own, and even if he could, he’d likely tell it to lighten up, maybe even cackle at it with exaggerated enthusiasm. It always started like this-- he’d wax obnoxious, wane inconsolable, and then...
Well, after Keiji did his best to quell a sudden and inexplicable shower of tears, and neither of them could really recall how they went from point A to B and then to C, they lost control of their hands. That happened sometimes-- you gave a man a hug, and you found your fingers in the most unexpected places. It wasn’t so bad-- their clothes were still on, after all. Which was odd, simply because it was so hot. Was it ever this hot in Echigo? It was strange, as though they’d tumbled into a fire.
Tumbling into a fire, he had to point out to himself, was not merely strange.
There came a point where he thought it was a good idea to kiss Keiji-- and when was it not? But beside that, his mouth was messy, hot, and probably tasted horrible, if either of them were sober enough to care, but more notable was just how close their bodies were. Right up against each other, they were. It didn’t matter where it was at the moment: friction was friction and it only served to escalate things.
Well, so he thought. He wouldn’t remember anything past that, anyway.
War was a brutal, heartless thing. It took and it took, under the pretense that it aimed to prevent further taking. It was a bad cycle, but in these times, one could believe that it truly was necessary. The taking and all.
Today, it almost took Setsuko. In an odd twist of fate, he had been injured in battle. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t stop him from continuing to rip through the enemy with the precision he had come to be known for. It was only after the battle was over that he seemed to even notice-- but then, Kanetsugu was never very good at reading people. How could he not notice that he was bleeding from the gut? It must have hurt, if nothing else.
These were his thoughts as he made it his personal duty to apply bandages to Setsuko’s wound. He blamed himself-- of course he did. He so keenly felt every loss to Kenshin’s forces; of course he felt the sting of this injury as if it were his own. If he were stronger, if he were faster... if he were more than what he was, then maybe such things could be prevented.
He finished tying off the cloth, trimming it with surprisingly deft fingers before brushing his lips against the freshly-wrapped, sensitive skin. the careful touch like gossamer. ❝There. To help it heal faster,❞ he hummed, laughing in accompaniment to his words.
humans are so cute, when we say goodbye we put our arms around each other and to show we love someone we bring them flowers. we suck the cum out of peoples dicks like a gogurt. we say hello by holding each other’s hand, and sometimes tiny little dewdrops form in our eyes. for pleasure we listen to arrangements of sounds, press our lips together, smoke dried leaves, get drunk off of old fruit. we’re all just little animals, falling in love and having breakfast beneath billions of stars
If you told me today our being together would result in heartbreak, I would still choose to be with you because I believe that truly living life is in the experiences, not the outcomes.
Kathryn Vance-Perez, Love and Truth (via thelovejournals)