Series: Sengoku Basara.
Characters: Oichi and Tokugawa Ieyasu
Summary: Oichi encounters a very familiar object to us all.
Warnings: First time drabbling with Ieyasu and Oichi, so they might be out of character. Made in celebration that I cleared Oichi's story mode for the first time.
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Oichi let out a small sound of surprise, as a small rounded object rolled into her view. Halting her wobbly feet, she started to tilt her head from left to right. She was curious about the thing but didn't approach it.
“Oh it's a ball!”
A cheerful voice sounded by her side and a tall man walked forward, in bright yellow garb.
“A Ball, Lord Happy?” Oichi repeated like as Ieyasu bent down to pick up the ball lying on the ground, patting the surface a bit to dust off dirt. Ieyasu’s turned to the curious woman and looked at her with warm eyes.
“Yes, it’s something you play with. I played a lot when I was a child.” Chuckles left Ieyasu’s mouth, “Lady Oichi, we could play a simple game”. He passed the ball from his hand to the other “We pass the ball to each other and say the first thing that comes to mind from the last letter of the word the other has said.” Oichi nodded bringing her open palms ready to catch the ball.
“I say...cat.”
The ball was thrown and landed with ease in her hands, it was soft and not hard like she had expected. A warm feeling filled her chest. “Trader, Lord Happy” She threw the ball in a curve; Ieyasu leaned forward to catch the ball safely.
“Retries”
The ball left his hand, back to Oichi. She stared at the ball, a grieved expression formed as dark thoughts pooled in her head and she wobbled close to Ieyasu. Close enough to pass the ball straight into his hands. “Sadness…” the word passed her lips, filled with pain.
Ieyasus brows furrowed together in worry for a moment, but the smile on his lips didn’t falter. “Smile” He took the ball into his hands “because Lady Oichi deserves to be happy.” The smile on his face could banish the deepest of darkness.
Tokugawa soldiers suddenly jumped a bit and turned to see their lord kneeling on the ground comforting a crying Oichi. Ieyasu was just laughing nervously, saying hushed calmed words.
Oichi might have been shedding tears, but inside she was happy and smiling.
Kojuro stared at the harvest count papers in front of him intently, while trying to make his Lord to return to his duties by ignoring him. So far it hasn't worked; his lord was content on sitting behind him not moving an inch.The young lord’s moist breath teased the back of his neck and hands gripping Kojuro’s aching shoulders, rubbing thumbs over the muscle.
“Shut up, just do whatever you are doing” the rough voice answered and pressed his fingers harder. A small grunt of annoyance sounded from the older man, but he didn’t try to push the youth away. Masamune let a grin touch his lips and traced the shoulder blades with his fingers, kneading and rubbing fingers in circles.
“You can be so stubborn, working day in and day out”.
Kojuro wanted to object, insist that his charge shouldn't bother. “Let me do something for you kay’?” The voice was soft, it made Kojuro’s protest die in his throat. Lips sealed in a thin line, shifting his eyes back to the table and tried to continue reading the numbers. To not concentrate on the caress given to his shoulders was hard. Eyelids were closing shut and all the importance of harvesting forgotten. His body becoming more and more relaxed.
Suddenly the hands were gone from the shoulders, reaching out from under Kojuro’s arms and pulling him closer. The retainer’s eyes widened from the sudden change, but allowed himself to fall back into his lords cradling arms.
Masamune tightened his arms around Kojuro, watching as the other man leaned his head on his shoulder. The youth wanted to give his caretaker for once a thank you and gratitude. A touch of a calloused hand on his hand and brought him back from his thoughts. He saw Kojuro’s hand on top of his own and the curve of his mouth was in a smile.
