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Chiganemaru blinks. Points at himself, confused.
“You want a spar with me ?”
Hizen growls, impatient. “Who else would I be talking to? Get your ass in gear.”
And without further comment, he stalks off, just as suddenly as he had come. Which leaves Chiganemaru, standing stock still, staring at the space the other wakizashi had left in a daze.
Now, don’t get him wrong; he’s plenty happy — thrilled , even! — that Hizen had sought him out first for once. It’s usually Chiganemaru trailing after Hizen’s path, playfully prodding and teasing but never taking it too far, Hizen scoffing back but never bothered enough to tell him to go away and mean it. It’s usually Chiganemaru initiating these things, from their first meeting, their first sorties together, hell , their entire relationship even. And he never minded that fact, not at all.
But Hizen’s scent as he stood in front of him, even for the very brief moment it was, was off. Now he may not have the animal instincts that some other touken have, nor is he as well-known as an assassin’s blade as Hizen himself, but he at least has sense sharp enough for it. ( Being dai-nii’s shadow has never come easy, after all; but it’s his duty to protect his dai-nii and his chii-nii and he’ll never take that lightly. )
Chiganemaru mulls it over. If he’s remembering right, Hizen went on a sortie just earlier. (Yes, of course he remembers, Hizen had literally warned him of it last night — “so ya better not leave anything anyone can see, got it?!” Not that that even mattered, since the other wakizashi is covered head to toe anyway, but nevertheless Chiganemaru whittled down his protests with a few pointed bites above his scar that had dissolved his words into whimpers.) It didn’t sound like a big deal; their master received word of some lingering HRA presences and accordingly sent a party to deal with them, including a few newer additions to get them used to battle and their new bodies. If it were himself in a party like that, he doesn’t think that he would be sated after all was said and done. Maybe Hizen is the same, wanting to blow off that extra energy, and what better way than to fight it out with an opponent that actually stands a chance?
…Not the best explanation he could come up with, but it would have to do for now. For now, Hizen is probably waiting for him in the dojo, probably having beelined there right after intercepting him, maybe angrily (cutely) pacing across the hall wondering where he is…
Chiganemaru chuckles, a spring added to his step at the thought. Yeah right, there’s no way that would happen. A guy can hope, though. A guy can dream.
“Yer late.”
Chiganemaru just laughs, toeing off his sandals and stepping up to the wooden floor. “Sorry ‘bout that, Hi-chan. You know us from Ryukyu, we like to take things at our own pace. Or maybe you were just too excited to see me again, hm?”
Crimson eyes glare over at him. If it were anybody else, that single look would freeze them in place; but Chiganemaru, who is entirely too used to how the other sword acts, meets it with an even smile.
“Tch. Whatever, just get over here.”
“Got iiit.”
Hizen’s prickly as ever, and though he may not be on the level of Mutsunokami or Nankaitarou when it comes to deciphering the levels of Hizen’s prickliness, everything seems normal enough, Chiganemaru thinks as he weighs a few bokkens in his grip to get a feel for them. (Not that he truly needs to, or that he would really be able to tell the difference if there were any — the few wakizashi-sized practice swords don’t get a lot of heavy usage since it’s just the handful of them, and he often eschews one entirely in favor of his tei. It’s more for appearance’s sake than anything.) In the end he picks the lightest one — all the easier if he decides to throw it aside in the midst of battle — and shuffles to the center of the hall to stand across from Hizen, giving him a playful bow.
“Let’s have a good fight, Hi-chan,” he chirps, righting himself with a wink. Maybe he is coming on a bit too strong, because Hizen’s response is to lunge at him with his own bokken, the wooden point jabbing forward dangerously close to his face.
“Whoa!” Chiganemaru sidesteps, twirling just out of the blade’s reach and quickly swinging his own at Hizen’s exposed side. Hizen ducks, immediately leaping back into a hard-handed swing that he manages to block the brunt of with his forearm. Chiganemaru pushes, pushes forward while Hizen stumbles back to recuperate, pressing an open palm against the other’s chest and bringing his blade up with it.
Except Hizen grabs his wrist in a death grip, jerking the arm down harshly and kneeing him in the gut before roughly shoving him backwards again. It’s only thanks to Chiganemaru’s balance that he doesn’t go flailing to the ground, but still he barks out a sharp laugh.
“Playing dirty! That’s just like you, Hi-chan, huh!” Chiganemaru grits out, grinning wildly as he rears back, stepping out of his makeshift stance to direct a kick of his own at Hizen’s torso. He hears a low growl back at him, the high-pitched whistle of Hizen’s weapon through the air as it slices towards him.
Hizen, as always, is beautiful when he fights. The surety of his movements, the intensity of his presence. Every strike is laced with killing intent, even when the stakes are low. And unlike himself, still in his citadel wear since he didn’t want to keep the other waiting too long, Hizen had come straight from the battlefield, the flowing dark fabric of his half-haori fluttering behind him yet never hindering any of his motions.
He’s like an angel of death.
One that he’s eager to drag down to meet him.
Chiganemaru shuffles his feet into a different kata, and this time when Hizen launches himself at him he pivots, then springs himself into the air. If he could take a moment to behold the shock that flashes through Hizen’s eyes, he absolutely would; now, with a “haaai-yah!” he extends his leg for a kick, intent on letting it crash onto his opponent’s face —
He feels more than sees it — the heel of his foot cracking against the brittle wood of Hizen’s bokken, the shaft snapping into pieces and falling to the floor with a clatter.
Oh. Whoops.
Chiganemaru lands, and his muscles most definitely twinge in disagreement with how he stuck it but he doesn't pay them any mind, swiveling his head to look at Hizen.
He’s staring down at the broken piece of practice sword still in his hand. From Chiganemaru’s vantage, the fringe falls around his face, obscuring his expression. If not for the subtle rise and fall of his chest as he breathes (and the ache in his own body), Chiganemaru wouldn't believe he was alive, let alone that they were just fighting.
(Even like this, Chiganemaru thinks him a sight.)
“...ck.”
Shit, with a reaction like that, he has no idea what to expect. Chiganemaru hisses through his teeth (and he's not sure how much of it is because of pain), hobbling over to Hizen. “Sorry, Hi-chan, I probably went overboard there. Are you alright?”
“Shut the fuck up.”
Before he can protest, he is tugged forward sharply, a sharp pain blooming on his bottom lip, and the taste of blood pushed onto his tongue by Hizen's own shoving itself alongside it.
Okay. Not exactly what he expected from this sparring session, but he is certainly not complaining.
Just as suddenly, though, Hizen rears back and punches him square on the mouth. Quite literally, just where his own lips were. Chiganemaru falls to the hardwood with a thud, ears ringing. “Agh…”
“I don’t fucking get it ,” Hizen growls, low in his throat, looming over him. His eyes are stormy, unseeing. “How the hell’s he callin’ me the one on a collar. How the fuck are you so full of the bloodlust he kept harpin’ about! How the fuck can you act like a goofy idiot one minute and turn around and do this —”
His knuckles turn white from how hard he still grips the broken bokken. (Are Chiganemaru's senses just too impaired right now, or is he… shaking…?)
“—Like it's so fucking easy ! Then what the fuck am I doing!?”
The empty dojo echoes an angry reverb.
“What the fuck am I doing …”
“Hi-chan…” Chiganemaru whispers.
(“ There's a story, of a certain family in the Tosa domain. A certain young master, the two heirloom swords of his lineage, and how he gave one to his friend, lower on the social pecking order than he was. You know the rest, right?”
The uchigatana gives a wry smile.)
Blood red eyes glare down. They threaten to swallow him, chew him up and spit him less than whole.
Chiganemaru still reaches forward.
“Hi-chan,” he repeats, gingerly extending his hand to Hizen. The faintest touch to the clenched grip, and it collapses. Hizen throws the splintered thing somewhere else in the room, kicks aside Chiganemaru’s own long-forgotten bokken, and roughly seats himself atop Chiganemaru’s thighs.
“Don’t fucking say anything,” Hizen spits back, hands scruffing the front of his shirt and biting their mouths together again. And despite the rational part of his brain screaming at him to do something , anything else , Chiganemaru's arms act first, on instinct, taking the other by the hips and pulling them flush against each other.
There’s iron and salt on his taste buds when Hizen breaks from him, breath heaving. He smirks, a hand reaching down to grip Chiganemaru in his shorts, Chiganemaru yelping with the stimulation.
“You jus’ can never get enough, huh? Well, ‘s fine for me now,” Hizen mutters, rubbing at him with friction that just slightly is too much, and at the same time not nearly enough . He shucks his leggings, tossing them wherever their weapons went, and a flick of the wrist later he’s sinking himself down onto Chiganemaru’s cock with a hiss.
It squeezes around him, almost deathly tight. Chiganemaru chokes between a moan and a whine of pain.
“Hi-chan, you—”
His words cut off in a fizzle as Hizen grabs his face in one hand, forcing him to stare into those glaring eyes. (Not that he would want to look away.)
“I said, shut up . ‘f you’re so damn worried, I… prepared . For this. Earlier.”
Having said that, his bravado falters, eyes going shifty. Chiganemaru's panicking thoughts calm, and lo and behold there is a slight slickness present as Hizen rocks his hips to prove it. (The slightest hitch in his breath that escapes him as he does it is too cute .) “First it's him implying I’ve gone soft. I don't need you thinking I can't take a hit either.”
A bead of sweat drips down Hizen’s chin, along the line of his neck, meeting its end in the wrap of his bandages. Gods.
“So let me take. And give it back twice as hard.”
Hizen punctuates the statement by raising his hips and slamming down on Chiganemaru’s lap, hard . From there he sets a breakneck pace, blunt nails trying to dig into his skin with each movement. Chiganemaru presses his fingers deep in return, making Hizen hum low with approval.
The question of this mystery him aside, Chiganemaru thinks he’s finally grasped the situation enough. And as much as the tender, romantic part of him would like to hold Hizen close and whisper reassurances in his ear, that’s not what he needs from him, because that would feed right back into the whole idea that had gotten in his head.
(Chiganemaru knows this especially. Living as a concept is easy , even when you don’t necessarily need to, or even if you don’t especially want to, when there’s nothing else that you have known. A faceless shadow, or a cold-steel assassin.)
Hizen needs— wants to get rough, to go at it without restraints, and if there's blood shed from it then all the better.
Sex is a lot like a fight in itself, anyhow.
So the next time Hizen drops downward, Chiganemaru snaps his hips up, off-beat, which nets him a very satisfying cry from Hizen, one that goes to both his pounding heart and his throbbing dick.
The next thing he registers is the back of his head, a dull pain pulsing through it; his vision, unsteady for all but the shadowy outline of Hizen above him. Hizen, a manic grin pulled across his face, fucking himself on Chiganemaru’s cock.
Chiganemaru meets him with one of his own, grabs the loose end of Hizen’s bandages, and pulls .
And with a muffled groan, it’s not long until Hizen comes, crashing limp-bodied against Chiganemaru. Chiganemaru wraps his arms around his partner’s prone body, slowing his thrusts to a more regular rhythm while Hizen catches his breath.
That is, until Hizen gives him a dirty look, squirming in his hold. “I told ya. Give it back .”
“But Hi-chan, you…”
Hizen continues to glare up at him. Chiganemaru sighs.
“I swear, you’re way too stubborn—” Chiganemaru thrusts hard upwards, chuckling at the choked moan that runs through Hizen’s body in a tremor.
“But, well, that’s why I like you so much, isn’t it?”
( “You and that Ryukyuan guy… now isn’t that a sight?”
Hizen scowls. “I don’t see what any of that has to do with you.”
The uchigatana laughs humorlessly. “Oh, no, I’m sure it doesn’t. It’s just, he’s got those eyes. You wouldn’t expect that out of a bright guy like him, would ya? I wonder what his story is…”
“Shove off.”
And since Hizen stomps away, he doesn’t catch what next leaves the uchigatana’s mouth.
“Haha. I’d watch out if it were me; the dog off its leash can be unpredictable in the worst of ways… but I’m sure he knows that more than anyone.”)