Oh, huh. I was wondering, since Saburo didn’t seem like the type who would burn stuff up. Was Michi the one who burnt Hieizan, then? I haven’t been up to date since Yoshinari died D:
Yes, it was Micchi! It was his idea to begin with, and in fact he claimed the Demon King title then.
A/N: Sorry if it’s short-ish?? But I really hope you like it, I hope everyone does ^.^
Rays of the sunrise filtered through the canopy above her head and twigs snapped against the ground beneath her feet. Making her way down the familiar route deep in the forest, MC couldn’t deny the haste in her steps. Aside from that fact that she had secretly slipped out of the castle early in the blue hour, she knew better than to linger around here unnecessarily.
Reaching her destination, she couldn’t help but smile through her fatigue. Knocking quickly on the wooden door before going inside, she was greeted by a crackling fire and warm eyes. Although they looked more surprised than anything at the moment.
“… You came,” Kennyo spoke softly, with the same awed expression he had every single time she came to visit.
“Of course,” she replied with a smile, “you knew I was coming, but you still look surprised.” It was always like this. At first, he vehemently denied her presence, telling her that she no business being near him. He never forced her to leave though, and that was when she knew that deep inside Kennyo yearned for another person’s company just as much as anyone else, if not more so.
So from then on she decided that regardless of what others said about him, she wanted to help permanently bring the kindness back into his eyes and heart. Slowly but surely, she had managed to get closer to the gentle monk that lay just beneath the surface of his rough exterior. He let her in.
Narrowing his eyes at her, he gestured to the fire, “you’re cold, are you not? Come and warm yourself up.” Nodding amiably, she sat down beside him in front of the fire. There was a pot above it; he was cooking something.
“Is that breakfast?” She asked, barely able to keep her hunger in check. By deciding to leave early, before everyone else was awake, she had inevitably sacrificed breakfast. It’s what she had planned and judging from the larger size of the pot Kennyo had predicted that as well when she told him she’d be there at the crack of dawn.
A slight smile on his face, Kennyo spooned out equal halves of the rice porridge before pulling out a pouch from inside his kimono. Tugging at the string and opening it up, he revealed a small selection of berries before placing each individually one carefully into her bowl.
Keeping his eyes down on what he was doing, he explained. “Even though you would be better of staying away from me, I’ve learnt to accept that you are a woman who will do what she wants, when she says she will,” looking up, he gave her her bowl before picking up his own. “I’m afraid this is all I can offer-”
“Kennyo, please, you know I love your porridge,” she couldn’t help interrupting him. “I don’t care if it’s ‘all’ you can can make, you make it. That’s all that matters to me.”
Shaking his head slightly at her words, he continued, “despite all my shortcomings, you still come. So I at least wanted to make this nicer for you. I… studied plants and such when I was at the monastery, so I can promise that these berries are safe to eat.”
Eyes widening, she pointed at the small pouch, “you only got those for me?” She couldn’t believe it. “Even though you thought I wouldn’t come?”
Kennyo averted his eyes at that, opting to take a bite of his food rather than give an answer. His surprise when seeing her was always genuine, he knew he didn’t deserve her and that there was nothing stopping her from leaving him. There was nothing special he could offer her after all. But there was always a small part of him that hoped. Hoped that she would come like she promised. And that small part of him became ever-so-slightly bigger every time he saw her. Not that he could ever admit that he collected the berries solely in anticipation of her showing up.
Accepting his silence, she surveyed his handiwork. Biting her lip she noticed that he had actually put berries in a pattern on top of the porridge. Cute… Saying thanks, she gratefully ate the whole thing, almost feeling bad for ruining his hard work. But the tenderness in his gaze when he saw her eat all his food washed away any guilt she felt, leaving only happiness.
Afterwards, they spent the rest of the morning comfortable and at ease. She told him random and seemingly insignificant things about her daily life, but he listened to everything she said and even asked her questions about herself. In return, while he didn’t speak about himself exactly, he did share some of his knowledge with her, along with a few memories he had from Hongan-ji.
A while later, Mike turned up, wanted to be fed. MC watched Kennyo dote on the small creature with a smile, stifling a yawn when she thought he wasn’t looking. When the little cat was done eating, he decided to curl up on MCs lap, content with her stroking his back as he snoozed. Watching Mike sleep elicited another yawn from her; waking up early did have its consequences.
Settling beside her, Kennyo scrutinised her face. Meeting his intense gaze, MC couldn’t help but shift in her seat, desperately trying to look awake. A moment later, the man sighed before taking Mike from her and placing him is his lap instead.
“You need to get some sleep, even if it is a nap,” he told her. “I wish I could send you back so you can rest but… that wouldn’t be safe,” he finally finished his sentence.
“It’s okay, I don’t want to leave just yet either,” she spoke the words that he couldn’t say instead. His widened eyes made it clear that that was he wanted to say. “I guess a short nap wouldn’t hurt,” she trailed off as she looked around the room for a place to lie down.
“No, I won’t allow you to sleep on the floor, it’s too cold. I may live this way but that’s no reason for you to,” he spoke a matter-of-factly. Then he slowly wrapped his arm around her, letting her head rest on his broad shoulder. “You will be warmer this way,” he said without looking at her, refusing to meet her firstbewildered, then joyous face.
Finding absolutely no reason to refuse, she muttered a soft, “thank you,” before closing her droopy eyes and finally succumbing to sleep.
-
When she woke up, she was immediately made aware of something touching her hair, stroking it. Staying exactly where she was, MC kept herself calm as she slowly realised that Kennyo was running his large fingers delicately through her strands. Wanting this moment of bliss to last as long as possible, she decided not to let him know that she was awake, knowing that he was likely to stop if he knew.
A seemingly infinite amount of time passed before his hand stopped, reaching down to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. “I know you’re awake,” he whispered into the silence, but it still shocked her into opening her eyes.
Sitting still against him, she grinned into his sleeve, “how?” She asked simply, wanting to know how he caught her out.
“As a monk, you learn the importance of breathing both for meditation in general life affairs. Your breathing changed marginally a while ago, you did well keeping it steady, but I could still tell.” When he met her eyes, there was a slight smile flickering inside his own, the curve of lips was almost affectionate.
“You can really tell that much from someone’s breathing?” She sat in amazement, once against humbled by his skills.
“Under specific circumstances, yes. But when it comes to you, everything is much easier.” The hand on her head was a comforting presence, his words draping over her gently, “for staying with me, for bringing the brighter parts of the world to me even though I am bound for hell, for showing my happiness. Thank you.”
He reached his other hand out and laid it on top of her own, slowly curling his fingers around her. They didn’t say anything for a long time after that, but they needn’t bother. The sound of their synchronized breathing was more than enough for them…
Hello, I hope you don't mind me asking. Is the Coco and Hector "not bad for a dead guy" GIF from a clip that's available online or is it from the DVD/Blu-ray? I keep on seeing that GIF, but not the original video clip (TT__TT) Sorry to bother you
Hello! it’s no bother at all don’t worry<3
i wish i had the Bluray! but that clip It’s actually from a featurette! here you go: [ x ]
@daeva-agas reblogged your post: 13 Days (Mitsuhide Akechi)
Aw, you didn’t mention his battle against Hide…
You could always write your own? I am not aiming to write a full historical encounter in any of my oneshots. I just add little note tidbits at the end that I think some people might find interesting.
