#kaze support

@murderofmuses 

“He can do whatever he damn well pleases, brother, but I won’t allow him to trample over father’s legacy as he does. If he wants to live the remainder of his life as ‘Asugi’, he’s free to do so. At the cost of losing his birthright and his father as well.”

Mozu had been hurrying towards her tent, her shawl off her shoulders and bundled around a small creature cradled close to her chest. It was odd that she’d found a fox kit all alone, perhaps abandoned- more likely orphaned as it had been weakly whimpering out in the woods for it’s mother. Something about the creature tugged at her heart strings, and honestly she had no idea if the fox was going to make it, but she was going to try.

“Shhh, it’ll be okay.” She urged, trying to comfort and yet keep the kit quiet. That was when a figure stepped out of a tent and she’d ran into him, suddenly falling back on her rear, her arms protective around the baby animal. When she looked up she noticed Kaze. 

It was unlike him to take any personal time off for himself. But he could make the exception this year. After all, it wasn’t just his day, was it? Kaze usually got to see so little of him, with his life shrouded in secrecy for the sake of his brother, his liege, his nation. 

Certainly, he deserved better.

In order to force himself to leave duty behind, he forewent most of his battledress and instead decided to dress himself in a simple blue yukata with dark stripes. Though he loathed to do it, he even left his mask behind. Today wasn’t about Saizo. It was about the birth of Tatsuo. 

Before he left, he caught a sight of himself in his mirror, and was momentarily startled by it. A grey hair, huh? he mused to himself as he inspected the rogue strand closer. Heh... I’ll be the spitting image of the Fourth before I know it...

風: Had it ever mattered? Father would not accept an excuse such as this one. Perhaps if Kaze had a dagger in his side, would he be exempt from his trailing, but as long as that was not the case… Kaze must continue.

“I will… complete the task,” he muttered, pushing himself back upright. Accepting pity was not in a Saizo’s blood, not even if that Saizo was the second-born. If his brother could complete his kata thirty times in a row, then Kaze must be able to too– even if he did not receive the same training the successor did.

Tatsuo growled, pulling Kaze back into his arms. “The hell you will,” he snapped, checking his younger twin over to gauge his rising temperature. “Gods above, Kaze, you’re burning up as well! I’m taking you to mother this instant. If he wants to double my training as punishment for defying his will, I’ll happily tell him to go fuck himself.”

@murderofmuses

Tragically Honest Asks

Asugi sighed quietly. “Well, at first I was tempted to say the only thing I’d change about you, Ojisan, was that I wished you could be my father instead of my uncle. That would make me very happy... And it’s something I’ve always fantasized about, really. But it seems like kind of a cop-out at the same time.”

“So if there’s one thing I wish I could change about you... I wish I could see you more. Growing up, I barely ever saw my dad, and when I DID see him, he was just checking up on my ninja progress. That’s why I always loved it when you dropped by and actually asked me how I was doing. But I barely saw you either.”

“Now that I’ve joined the army, I see my dad a LOT more. But it’s hardly a good thing. All he ever does is nag me about how I SHOULD be acting or baiting me into getting into screaming matches with him. But I still feel like I can barely ever catch you, and, well... You’re the only person I feel like I can talk about stuff like this...”

風: I will strive to be a better figure than my father. That is the thought that goes through any man’s mind, when given the responsibility of another’s human’s life. Saizo the Fourth had forsaken any fatherly duty, being nothing but a cruel taskmaster for these twins.

Kaze had already failed on this front. Asugi should have lived a normal life, free from the horrors of war and these chains of responsibility. Kaze should have been there at every stage of Asugi’s development, to have witnessed the growth of his nephew– to guide him at any time his nephew would want it.

… He had failed to be better than the Fourth.

But that didn’t mean he should give up. After Asugi had finished his evening supper, Kaze waited for his nephew, stopping him for a quick chat. “Ah, my nephew… I saw you were working so hard at training lately.” With that, he pulled Asugi in for a soft hug: “I’m so proud of you.”

Asugi’s eyes widened a little bit as he was welcomed into the gentle hug his uncle had given him. “O... Ojisan...?” he gasped in surprise. Was he really being given a hug just for training of all things? It felt nice, but still... It was a bit strange for the boy. He patted the man on the back with just the slightest bit of awkwardness, face flushing. “Um... I really didn’t do anything special...”

Indeed, ever since leaving his sensei back in the deeprealm, he’d shortened his daily training time from six to only two hours a day. Anything less than that and he would have felt slovenly and bad about himself, but for all intents and purposes, it was practically nothing compared to how he had been raised.

Still, he appreciated the sentiment more than he’d ever like to admit. Quite a change of pace from the usual ‘Why can’t you do anything right / just like ME’ he got from his dad. He melted a bit into the the hug with gratitude, returning it with one of his own.

“... But thank you...”