Obscure character, GO!

[underthepines]

Mundane-san, I admire your dedication to scholarship in this instance, but truly, it's not necessary. I've done my part - the future is in their hands, now.

Comments

[japansnewdawn]

...Sensei.

[underthepines]

Katsura. It's been a while.

[japansnewdawn]

...yes. It certainly has.

[underthepines]

Have you been well?

[kidzura]

[someone is staring at you]

[someone is staring a hole through you]

[japansnewdawn]

[What's this? You seem familiar somehow.]

Ah... hello?

[kidzura]

[!!!]

[rather than shyly remaining half-behind that tree, he shouts back]

It's not hello, it's Katsura.

[kidzura]

[and then half-inching out from behind it]

...Are you a samurai?

<3

[underthepines]

Find something interesting down there?

[underthepines]

There's no need to apologize.

Re: ...sob

[kidzura]

[ALSO STARING AT YOUR BOOTS]

keysmash: on

[alastinglight]

...It can't be.

[He's allowed to be in denial, isn't he? Given just how fucked up it is in his head.]

[underthepines]

[His calm composure slips a little when he sees Takasugi's face, and the mark that the war has left on him. His lips thin a little, but he tries for a wry smile]

It is, though.

[alastinglight]

[And then you'll see that shock fade into an almost stoic mask. From the way he's tensed up, though, it's easy to tell that this doesn't sit well with him. (He doesn't know what to do.)]

I see you've spoken with the others already.

[cakefesta]

[he's sprawled out across a bench, arm flung out across the back of it, ankle resting on his knee as he munches on a double chocolate chip cookie]

[when he catches sight of the figure in front of him, he freezes, eyes slowly going wide as his muscles tense]

[self-delusion had always been Gintoki's specialty, and it's with that that he convinces himself that he must have somehow fallen asleep -- and at least, he thinks bitterly, the cookie box made it into the dream as well]

[and really, how goddamn cliche is this scenario? sitting on a bench when a person dear to you, long-dead, comes and sits in front of you and imbues you with wisdom and old sayings and leaves you to ponder their meanings upon awakening. his subconscious needed some creativity lessons, that's for damn sure.]

[but the more he thinks about it, the more he can admit to himself that his dreams have rarely taken such pleasant and peaceful turns]

[so it's with a sharp yet weary stare that he watches (what's supposed to be) sensei, and with tense movements that he lowers his other foot off of his knee to the ground]

all my joy \o/

[underthepines]

[Sorry, no mystical sayings. Not yet, anyway. Just a quiet smile.]

Gintoki.

that's my line. and i'm sorry for lack of decent icons.

[cakefesta]

[he wants (oh god oh how he wants) to embrace him, to bury his face in his teacher's shoulder and breathe in the scent of sandalwood and ink that was almost all that remained of his childhood memories (because even sensei's face had started to blur in his mind, melted by fire and marred by dirt)]

[he'd never frozen up like this during the war. in the heat of battle, he'd reacted to and with the others around him with little to no thought as to why he was doing it -- he'd had to protect them]

[but now, in front of the one man who protected him (in front of the one thing he couldn't protect), his own body has betrayed him]

[and when he finally, finally manages to find his voice, his voice is rough and scratchy, not even close to what he wants it to sound like]

[and all he can even say is--]

Got a lot of cookies here. There's eight in this box.

[a pause]

...Seven, now, I guess.

[itsnotzura]

Sensei...?

[the shock hits him like an entire wave of cold water, like the blinding lights of a spaceship, like a punch in the face sitting on the toilet]

[it happened all the time, on the Thor; people returning from the past, people returning from the dead]

[but that doesn't prepare him for this moment, and that voice -- after so long -- leaves him reelingseeking]

Sensei!

[underthepines]

[Okay, he can't help but smile a little wider at Zura's reaction]

[itsnotzura]

[he half-stumbles half-jerks forward, coming to his knees in front of the other in a sign of respect that's as much of a collapse as it is true prostration]

[he blurts out, bowing his head and trailing long hair (like Sensei's, he'd wanted to wear it as a child, and like Sensei's it looks now)]

Sensei, I... welcome back, sensei.

[and his fists curl a bit, beyond the other's sandals]

...It is my greatest wish that you may stay for longer, this time.

[kidzura]

[a small child bumps into the back of your legs]

[underthepines]

[He turns, surprised - which softens into a smile when he sees who it is.]

Katsura-kun.

[kidzura]

Waah! It is as sensei taught -- once I stopped looking for sensei, I found him! When I was looking, I found lots of other things.

[he holds up a small mouse]

[it is dressed in a dark purple waistcoat and speaking in Old English, perfectly non-understandable to both of them]

[it is gnawing industriously on his thumb, which Katsura does not seem to notice, in his excitement]

[in a perfectly serious tone]

Sensei, I think we might have come to a very strange place. But I'll protect you.