Nino Mod (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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ninoexchange2019-07-14 07:40 pm
nino_mod) wrote in ninoexchange2019-07-14 07:40 pm
Entry tags:
fic for selvage!
For: selvage
From: :3.
Title: The moon tells us the truth
Pairing/Focus: Matsumiya
Rating: PG-13 I think for some mentions of violence and deaths (no major character death)
Word count: around 9700
Warnings: minor character deaths, mentions of blood, mentions of wounds, swords, daggers, battles (anything you can imagine happens on battles involving samurai)
Summary: Jun and Nino are meant to protect each other and fall in love with each other but traditions are traditions and which decisions hurt the most? Leaving loved ones behind or not doing all you can do to protect them?
Notes: Dear cutselvage, I hope you like it. I had fun writing it, I swore sometimes during it as well when I started to forget words. I took your prompts for historical AUs, magical realism and Matsumiya and this is what happened. I chose the Heian-period from which I tried to use as many information that I could find and that would benefit this story in any way. But this is still fictional (and I’m bad at doing research) so there might be a lot of inaccuracies for which I’m sorry. If you find the references of the rest of the boys I’ll be overly happy (to be fair, Sho will be an easy find ;))
There is also a dictionary for the Japanese words at the end for the story. So if you don’t know what something is the chance is high it’s explained at the end
Jun looked at the boy beside him with a small frown. The other was of short stature, and his stance also looked terrible. He couldn’t believe that the other was one of the most genius samurai there were and perfect to be his partner.
Nino, on the other hand, was looking Jun over, a bit bored. He had never had any interest in the training of a samurai. He hated exercising and had always tried to skip out of it. Of course, his parents wouldn’t have allowed it of him. Coming from a family of samurai, it was only natural that he learnt to be one from the date he was born, even if his family was only a lower-ranked samurai. Jun beside him came from a noble family. He didn’t do anything else than train and take pride in his status as a samurai, Nino was sure. On the opposite, his family had to work on the farms as well to be able to earn enough to live comfortably. Then again, Nino didn’t mind the work on the fields. With that, he was able to communicate with the farmers and help them fight the lords if ever they decided to suppress them. At least for him, that was a much more noble cause than fighting for some daimyos that hated them and thought themselves better.
Jun bit his tongue not to say anything or make any noise as the other boy looked at him challenging. He had looked forward so much to this day. He had finally come to age and would be taken seriously. He had also hoped for a good partner for the future to support him in fights, but it seemed now as if the other would hinder him. But that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t be able to make his family proud, he decided after a moment, he just had to make sure to train even harder so that the other wouldn’t make him look bad.
“It is my pleasure to welcome you both to adulthood finally. I saw both of you grow up and get strong. Now is the day I will bound you by blood so that you may help each other during difficult times on the battlefield,” the eldest of their training ground said, looking down at them with a proud smile (maybe even a bit fatherly).
Again, Jun bit his tongue not to question his words. He neither could believe that the boy beside him was an adult now nor that he had shown any strength during his training days. He bowed his head and held out his right hand.
Nino snorted almost inaudibly at these words, but then he remembered his manners - his mother would probably kill him if she heard that he was anything but respectful today - and bowed his head as well as he stretched out his left hand. He could hear muttering around them as he did so, but he didn’t care. His teachers had tried to make him not use his left hand in training, and he could use both hands, but his left hand was his stronger sword hand, and the eldest knew and accepted it. Even if he didn’t believe in all this, he didn’t want to disrespect the man that had always defended him after his father had died in battle.
The older man took first Jun’s hand to cut the palm with a small, sharp dagger, before repeating the action with Nino’s hand. Nino watched small dribbles of blood falling to the ground before his hand was enclosed by the larger hand of Jun. He could feel how the bond formed between them and looked up, meeting Jun’s eyes for the first time.
“May your bond protect you in these dangerous times,” the eldest said, and the rest of the samurai around them repeated his words solemnly.
Jun didn’t hear them as the intense gaze of Nino caught his eyes. It was hard to look away, he found, and maybe, just maybe, Nino was stronger than his body showed. His eyes at least were blazing with a silent fire that promised that he would never bow down to anybody and give up without a fight.
“I hope you won’t get me killed,” Nino said with a bratty grin as he took his hand back. He looked at the blood with a grimace before taking the offered cloth to put around his wound carefully.
Jun huffed slightly at the words before doing the same. “Don’t worry,” he just replied as calm as he could be — his upbringing forbidding him to react to this taunt of the other youth.
Nino smirked before he let out a laugh turning around to join some of the jolly men around them for a drink. “Might as well appreciate the ceremony,” he offered Jun as he looked at him questioningly with a wink.
Jun groaned but tried to ignore his slight resentment of Nino’s attitude. He would have loved to fight against him to see if they were as compatible as their teacher seemed to believe, but instead of demanding for the other to come with him he turned around to rejoin his family, who congratulated him while also giving him sorry looks. Jun sighed as he nursed his drink, sitting down on a small bench, trying to remind himself that this was an important, great and wonderful step into the world he had always dreamt of.
—
Nino sighed happily when he managed to slip out right after the ceremony. His hand was still tingling, but the bleeding had stopped finally. The moment he entered the small wooden house his family lived in, he carefully took out the food that he had slipped inside the folds of his official sokutai and put it on the table. He was sure that the little ones would enjoy the treats the same as his sister and his mother after she had scolded him for stealing food from the clan, not that he cared. He still was mad at the elder samurai for not allowing any of his family to join just because they were female and of lower rank. He was sure that his mother and sister would be able to win against them if they had to. He sighed as he took off his clothes and put them neatly on a chair for his mother to unstitch and wash before putting them away until they had to use the clothes again. He slipped on his regular clothes, the hakama and hitatare, feeling more comfortable right away.
He left the house again to go to the small patch of land his family cultivated. It didn’t take him long to find them, and he grinned when his nephews ran up to him. He ruffled their hair before frowning slightly.
“Where are my mother and sister?”
“Kaa-san said to go get our bokuto. She is there,” they replied, making Nino roll his eyes.
“So you were a nuisance?”
The twins shook their heads with big eyes. “No, we helped! But the morning we had to rebuild the fence, so there was no training yet.”
Nino hummed in understanding, looking them over. “Then hurry, I will count the time, and if you need longer than a minute there will be a punishment,” he explained. Their eyes widened even more if possible before nodding and running back to the house to do as they were told with a loud shout of ‘Yes, sir!’
It didn’t take long for Nino to arrive at the fence his nephews had talked about nodding to his sister.
“What did you do?” she asked, and he shrugged.
“Told your sons to hurry or there will be a punishment,” he explained with a small smirk, making her roll her eyes.
“The worst you do is making them run an extra lap.”
Nino shrugged. He loved his nephews - his whole family, really - but he knew that their world was a dangerous one. It didn’t do them any good to pamper the children, and soon enough they would have to go to the school he had gone through. It was the best for them to learn to obey demands right away (or very sneakily not obey).
“How did it go?”
“Well enough, I suppose. I did as I had to. But the other is stuck up. I imagine him arriving here before the hour is over yelling at me for leaving without a note to him and then demanding to do as he said.”
“You did not?”
Nino shrugged as he clicked his tongue. “I was told to be there for the ceremony I was, that’s all they can demand.”
“Kaa-san will kick your ass.”
Nino grinned at the words. “Only if she can catch me,” he teased, yelling when a fist connected with the back of his head. He turned around with a small groan of pain.
“Are you calling me old?”
“I would never dare,” he answered with a sweet smile. She shook her head as she crossed her arms in front of her body.
For a moment it looked as if she was about to yell at him for disrespecting their clan but then she visibly deflated. He had done what he had been told after all, and it was no secret that she didn’t like the clan more than he did. “I didn’t raise you to laze around. If you are back, you can at least help with the rice fields,” she said instead.
Nino nodded before putting on his hat to protect himself from the sun. Just as he was about to leave for the fields, the twins were back, breathing heavily. He lifted an eyebrow as he looked them over. “You were slow,” he said at their unspoken question. “But I also was unfair with the one minute,” he added after a second looking down at them.
He could see the boys trying to decipher his words and decide their next cause of action. Instead of agreeing about his being unfair, they bowed deeply in front of him. “We are sorry for not fulfilling your demand,” they said in unison, staying low.
“Very good,” Nino praised before allowing them up again. “Off you go then, I want you to practice your swing at the straw man over at the trees. Me, your mother and grandmother will be watching you so be careful with your stance,” he instructed. “Oh, yes, and use your weak hand.” They both groaned at his order but nodded and walked away, dragging their feet, before picking up their pace when their mother called them out for it.
—
It took Jun longer than Nino had thought until he turned up at their home. But the stance was just as he had imagined. The other man was huffing and glaring at him for walking away without a word. Nino hid a grin when the stance Jun used reminded him much of his mother whenever she was scolding him. But he was smart enough to keep from saying that out loud.
“Hello,” he greeted as he carefully made his way out of the rice field, making sure not to step on any of the crops.
“What are you doing here?”
Nino lifted an eyebrow as he looked down at the basket where he had collected the ripe fruit and then back up at Jun. “Picking the crop.”
Jun groaned as he threw a hand in the air. “I don’t mean that. Why did you leave? You know we are supposed to get to know each other and practise together to know each other’s weaknesses,” he growled.
“It’s not my fault that they decided to do this right during harvest season,” Nino said with a shrug as he took off his hat. “And as the only male represantative of the family, nobody can expect me to be bored to death at some reception and watch the others drink themselves to oblivion and talking about mundane things. It was them after all that sent my brother-in-law to a mission.”
Nino could see Jun stiffen at the disrespectful tone he used, but he didn’t care. “So if you are here to drag me back to any training grounds to spend my days with useless practising instead of making sure that my family would survive the winter, I’m sorry to tell you that you did so in vain.”
“I can’t believe sensei thought matching me up with someone like you would be a good idea,” Jun mumbled with a frown etched on his face.
“Because he thought you would be good enough to keep up with me,” Nino said with an easy shrug. He knew he sounded arrogant, but he knew what he could do and that he was good. He had a sharp mind - something all of his family had shared - and fluid movements that other samurai secretly wished for while talking behind his back about he had to be secretly practising the doings of the hated barbaric ninja.
Jun opened his mouth to shout at him probably, but he took a deep breath instead. Nino could see him counting to ten before he opened his mouth again to say much calmer than Nino had expected: “And how do you think we should prepare then?”
“You can stay here.”
“What?”
“You can either come here to train each day or stay over. The house isn’t big, but there is still enough space for visitors.”
“Here is no proper training space!”
Nino shrugged carelessly again. “If you can only fight at the designated training spaces, I will pray to all entities that we will never have to fight in battle. Believe it or not: There won’t be just a big free space where two people will fight against each other.” Nino took the basket that he had put on the ground to leave the other behind as he entered the small hut again to prepare some hot water.
Jun stood outside for a while, still stunned at what happened. He didn’t know what to do. How could someone disgrace all the teachings of the samurai so quickly? He couldn’t understand. Yes, he knew that the Ninomiya's were just farmer-samurais. Not proper samurai like he was used to encountering, but still, the teachings were the same. Jun couldn’t understand, as he had never understood how people like Nino could fight against their own and help farmers when they felt like they didn’t want to listen to their lords anymore. He sighed deeply as he rubbed his face. He felt tired suddenly. He looked back at the house - if one could call it that and after much contemplation, he entered it.
Nino was putting away the last of the crops when the door closed, before concentrating on the fire he had put in the the hole in the earthen floor to heat water. He poured it over tea leaves and put it in front of Jun.
“I’m a disappointment to you,” Nino hummed without any venom as he blew on the hot surface. He took a sip of his tea.
“I don’t understand sensei,” Jun said after a while of looking at the swirling tea leaves in his cup.
“That’s because of how you grew up. Samurai have grown power-hungry,” Nino said with a shrug. “I don’t blame them directly, but how can someone be proud of that?”
Jun wanted to disagree, but then he remembered about the Fujiwara clan who sought to be about being the next emperor and some of the other families that started battles to gain more wealth and stayed silent.
“Thought so,” Nino said before lifting himself again to leave him to his musings. Jun could hear him rummaging around in another room for a while until the door was thrown open.
“Uncle, we…!” the boys stopped in their tracks as they saw Jun and stiffened at the door. Their hands were finding each other automatically, making Jun smile a little bit. They were covered by dirt, and their bokutos were put over their backs, making Jun wonder where exactly it was that the Ninomiya family trained.
“Shirou, Gorou, this is Matsumoto Jun,” he explained with a nod before sighing as he looked them over. He put a hand under Shirou’s chin to lift it. “So did the straw man hit you back?” he asked as he observed the black eye that was forming.
“Gorou wanted to do a duel,” he said with a frown. Nino clicked his tongue at these words.
“I told you to practice your swings, not to do a duel. That means ten laps around the field, two more for putting the fault on Gorou for you.” He frowned when Gorou tried to hide a grin at those words. “And two more for you Gorou for agreeing.” Both boys grumbled, but Nino lifted an eyebrow. “Shall I make it ten more without dinner?” he asked warningly.
“We are going!” The boys were off without any other words, leaving Nino and Jun alone once again.
Nino shook his head at their antics. “I prepared a room for you if you decide to stay. I have to look after those two troublemakers that they actually do their laps,” he explained.
Jun chuckled as he got up. “I will accompany you,” he said. At least they probably could talk a bit on their way there as well. Nino nodded before leaving with Jun hot on his heels. Jun was silent beside him as he greeted some of the farmers, talking about their problems and thanking Nino for the help from him and his family for whatever they have done. On their small track to the field the Ninomiyas owned, Jun learnt that there was a different kind of respect from the fear he was used to and which made him wonder about the other man and how he lived.
—
Over the next few weeks, Jun learnt that Nino was very capable of what he was doing. He was faster, and it was easier for Nino to navigate over uneven ground than it was for Jun. Jun realised that some of his clothes were pretty impractical for a real battle and he got to prefer the comfortable clothes Nino’s family offered him after the first week.
Jun blocked a hit of Nino’s blade with his own and grimaced at the impact of it. He turned around halfway to hit another part of Nino’s body just to be blocked by his leather armour. But it was good to hit something else than a blade of his tachi or tanto or the thick leather on his shoulder Nino used as a shield.
They fell back after his hit connected, both breathing hard as Nino took of his somen to wipe his sweat. Jun’s eyes wandered to the lines decorating the left palm of Nino’s hand that was on his right as he frowned. “Why the left?”
“Huh?”
“You are meant to use the sword hand for those bounds. You fight with the right, so why the left hand?”
Nino grinned at his words as he fastened his somen around his face again. He changed the tachi to his left hand and the tanto to his right as he changed his stance slightly. “I was waiting for you to ask, actually. My strong hand is left, wanna try?” His eyes were bright and teasing, making Jun grow goosebumps all over his body at the confident look the other had.
He had already learnt not to underestimate the other, he thought, so why was he so surprised? An excited chill went over him as he realised how well Nino was trained and not for the first time in those last few days he thanked their old sensei for this decision.
With a yell, Jun attacked Nino again only to have the other dance out of the way. Only at the beginning of his time here, the uneven floor would have made Jun stumble, but he realised how easy it was now for him to find his footing again and follow Nino’s strikes with his own. He still didn’t know what else Nino hid up his sleeves, but he was pretty sure he would find out. Nino seemed to have slowly come to trust him now for which he was glad.
—
Jun sat on the bench in front of the house, relaxing after a hard day filled with training and the harvest spent observing Nino and the twins. The smaller man was teasing his nephews while making them practise with their bokuten and scolding them whenever they were getting too cheeky. A smile crept on his face when he saw Nino throwing his head back, laughing loudly when Gorou fell over after he tried a complicated hit with the bokuten. The sinking sun was painting the background in golden and orange colours, making Nino shine even more brightly.
++
Nino groaned slightly as he stretched out his back from where he bent down for half of the day to pick up the weed. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with a cloth as he looked back to see how far they had come. A grin appeared on his face as he saw Jun crouched down a few feet from him, staring at the different plants on the earth to decide which was the weed he needed to pull. His eyes were so focused and serious, and Nino felt something deep inside of him as he wished to be watched like that.
++
Jun lifted his sword hand to beg for a break before he let the bokuten fall. Nino relaxed his stance almost immediately.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah I just need a break, it’s hot,” Jun groaned as he fell. He put the hands behind him and laid his head to the ground. He had his eyes closed, and sweat was glittering on his body.
Nino felt slight goosebumps on his arms as he sat down more gracefully beside him. “We can stop if you want. It’s getting late,” he hummed thoughtfully.
Jun turned his head to look at Nino. The other man looked at the other side. His fingers were writing letters in the dirt absentmindedly. Jun was surprised to see that the other was more comfortable to use the onna-de than the usual kanjis.
It was cute, Jun thought and moved his arm closer to Nino. He touched Nino’s hip who stopped what he was doing, looking down at him with surprise in his eyes.
“You’re all dusty,” Nino laughed before he jumped to his feet. “Let’s go to the river. It’s hot. We can practise more tomorrow, let’s swim instead.”
Jun grinned as he let himself be dragged to his feet. “Swimming sounds good. What about Shirou and Gorou?”
“They still have to help their mother. Let’s go.”
Jun smiled as he watched the other, walking in front of him, humming a song under his breath.
++
“It’s awful,” Nino mumbled as he tried a bit of the food Jun prepared and frowned slightly at the bitter taste.
Jun pouted, trying hard not to blush. It was the first time he had cooked or helped with the cooking. The others had been out all day and since Jun had sprained his ankle when he was trying to teach the twins - much to Jun’s delight at Nino’s worried look - it had been decided that he should rest for today and prepare dinner.
“It’s not that bad,” Nino’s mother tried to deny even when the twins were discreetly pushing their plates away.
Nino lifted an eyebrow at their antics, hitting them slightly on the knuckles. “Eat what you get, or you go hungry. This food was grown with sweat and hard work. You are not going to disrespect it with not eating it. Even if it tastes awful,” he scolded. Shirou and Gorou pouted but still took their food back to finish it off hurriedly.
Nino finished his food again nodding at Jun and thanking him for his work. Jun had to turn around before anybody could see his happy face at those words. He knew it was awful, but it made him strangely delighted that Nino still ate it.
—
It was late in the evening, and Jun found Nino at the edge of the rice field sitting on the ground The harvest was finally over, and Jun was sure that their bond was strong at last. He sat down beside him when Nino invited him with a wave of his hand. They were so close that their shoulders were touching slightly.
“I suppose you want me to follow you now? After you agreed to stay here?” Nino asked slowly. There was a small insecurity in his voice that Jun hadn’t heard until now. He blinked as he realised that it didn’t cross his mind to drag Nino away from his family or leave him.
“Your brother-in-law isn’t back yet,” he answered instead. Nino smiled sadly as he pulled out a piece of parchment out off his sleeve.
“I got a message this morning. He won’t ever come back,” he explained as he showed him the paper. “I haven’t told my sister or mother yet,” he added with a small frown.
Jun’s eyes wandered over the small report about the death of the man with a note that there was nothing they could send the family back of him. He tried not to scoff at that as he was sure that there had to be a crest at least. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.
“It was the same with my father. Sending something back to the family to remember him doesn’t happen if you are not of a noble clan,” he explained with a grimace. “I suppose we are still lucky that we have his ceremonial clothes, same with my father’s. The twins can wear those when they need them.”
Jun kept silent as he didn’t know what to say. Death was something that they had all experienced. Some families more than others, but it wasn’t abnormal. Jun observed Nino’s faraway eyes as he looked over the field as the sun went down.
“People leave all the time,” Nino whispered after a while. It was seldom to see Nino that vulnerable and Jun couldn’t help himself as he leant closer, pressing their sides more firmly together as he took Nino’s hand.
Nino looked up in surprise at that action but didn’t say anything. “I won’t,” Jun promised.
Nino laughed slightly as he shook his head. “I don’t believe you,” he replied as he looked away again, trying to take back his hand. But Jun didn’t let him. He didn’t know why, but he wanted to let Nino see that he was serious.
“I promise,” he whispered as he moved even closer. Nino was staring up at him, his eyes begging him to stop and let it go because both of them knew there was no going back if this line Jun was about to cross was crossed. But Jun didn’t care anymore. He had held back so often, and now he couldn’t anymore. When Nino wouldn’t shove him back, he wouldn’t back down. And Nino didn’t, he stayed perfectly still, watching him silently as Jun finally closed the last of the space between them and kissed him. A shudder went through Nino’s body, mimicked by Jun as Nino reciprocated the kiss and put his arms around his shoulders.
Jun felt himself being dragged down on top of Nino as they shared kisses, hands wandering over the clothes they wore, under the folds and layers until they met soft skin and hardened muscles.
—
Nino stood in front of Jun; his eyes were defiant as he held out the opened letter for him. Jun lifted his eyebrow as he took the message into his own hands to read his name on the front.
“You opened my letter,” he said.
Nino didn’t back down but nodded in agreement. Jun could see in his eyes that he felt a bit guilty for that, but he also could see the pain that he was trying to hide with his careless attitude and for a second he feared what was written inside. He wanted to burn the letter and pretend it never arrived. But Nino knew the content so he couldn’t do that. He sighed as he straightened up on the futon in the shared room now shared with Nino and opened the letter slowly, carefully. He unfolded the paper to read the words slowly. His eyes were wandering over the onna-de his mother used to write.
To my son.
We looked long and carefully for the woman you will marry and who would bear a perfect heir to you. Come home soon so that we can introduce you to her and finalise the marriage with her family.
With regards,
Your mother.
“Kazunari,” he whispered at the end.
Nino didn’t say anything but shoved his clothes at him. “No.”
“Come on; we could still be together. I marry her, and you can be my lover.”
Nino rolled his eyes as he shook his head again. “No, I refuse to become a gou-sai,” he said with a shake of his head. “If you want to follow the instructions of your family, you can go right now. I promise to come whenever you call me to battlefield, but I won’t see you outside again,” he said.
“You can’t claim you didn’t expect this?! We are supposed to get heirs to carry our families’ names. It’s something that everyone does.”
Nino shook his head, his eyes growing distant and cold at his words. “Not me. I’m not everyone, Jun, if you want to follow your family’s wishes I won’t stop you, but I won’t come with you.”
Jun bit his lips he wanted to convince him somehow, but he knew Nino was stubborn. He sighed as he took his clothes and started to put on his clothes. He was hurt that Nino didn’t for once do what he asked him to but if it was like that he wouldn’t force him. If Nino could ignore what happened between them so easily, so could he, he decided as he took his stuff, and stood.
“Okay then, expect my letter whenever I need you,” he said coldly, ignoring the small wince of Nino as he bowed his head.
“As you wish, my lord,” he said calmly.
Seeing Nino so subdued hurt more than Jun had expected, but he didn’t say anything as he left the silent house just as the sun began to crawl over the horizon.
Why did he ever believe in a promise, anyway? His eyes burned with unshed tears, and if he didn’t leave his room for the next few days, his family thankfully didn’t mention anything about it nor about Jun’s long absence.
—
The letter arrived early in the morning, and if he was honest, he had already expected it. There had been rumours about a clan trying to overthrow the Fujiwara clan who had already gotten so much power that they were finally on the top of the hierarchy. Most of the samurai clans had sworn loyalty to them, and Nino knew that Jun’s family had done so.
The Matsumoto clan had hoped to climb up higher in the ranks with the union of their daughter with one of the sons of the clan and Nino was sure that the betrothed woman to Jun was a daughter of the same house.
He packed his things in a cloth and put it on his back as he got ready. He knew that neither his mother nor his sister was happy to see him getting ready for battle. It didn’t matter that this was for what he had trained since he was a small child. Still, he smiled as he knelt in front of Shirou and Gorou. He put his hands on top of their heads and ruffled their hair softly.
“I expect you both to listen to your baa-san and kaa-san.”
“Yes, sir,” they replied, trying hard to sound chipper and serious, but their voices were shaking slightly, showing just how scared they were to lose another family member. Nino remembered how he felt whenever his mother had been out of the house the months following the death of his father. He supposed that he was lucky not to have lived with other male figures watching them go to fight a battle that wasn’t theirs.
“Continue to practise. I will see if you slack off and if not me, the sensei will when you start school this summer,” he said sternly. “And no dilly-dallying anywhere. You will have to help in the fields and do your best to replace me for the time I’m gone.”
“We will make you proud,” Shirou promised after a moment, standing a little bit taller as he said it.
“You sure will.”
“We will protect kaa-san and baa-san,” Gorou added after a second. Nino had to stifle his laughter since he was sure that both women were more than capable of protecting themselves from anybody. But he just nodded and hugged the twins for a short moment.
“Now do me a favour and go outside to look for the horse un promised to send,” he asked them before he stood. He watched them leave the house with a small frown they turned to his mother.
“You will do your best to fulfil your duty, you hear me? And you will come back. Your father and I trained you to the best of our abilities. Don’t you dare to vanish.”
Nino bowed his head carefully as he agreed silently. “I will do my best,” he promised. “I won’t disgrace our family and run away from the battle. So don’t you worry. Send a note to our friends in the East if there is anything you need.”
“Don’t worry about us. I raised you and your sister,” she said with a smile. “I put your formal clothes back together and packed them. Make sure not to tear them.”
Nino grimaced at the thought of having to wear the fine cloth for the official meetings at Jun’s property. “Thank you, mother,” he said as he stepped forward to press a kiss to her cheeks. He hugged his sister, who buried her face into his shoulder as she silently wept. The pain and memory of her killed husband were too prominent, right now.
“I will revive you and kill you again if you dare to fail,” she whispered fervently as they separated.
Nino laughed out loud as he looked her over. “Scary. Then I should do my best. I’m praying for our reunion to the Gods,” he promised as he made sure that he had his weapons and armour all packed up. “Farewell mother, sister,” he said as he turned around after another bow and left the house. He talked to his nephews, making them once more promise to listen to their mother before getting on the horse. With another look back to his home, he finally turned the horse around to make the half-day travel to the Matsumoto property.
—
Nino watched the house as he came closer to it. It was as big as he had thought and for a second he had to wonder what exactly made Jun agree to stay with him at first. He knew that he was used to a much more luxurious life then, but he had no idea how much. He sighed as he brought the horse to a stop in front of the small wall that encircled the house and tried to decipher for a second if he needed to call out for someone individually or if he had to wait here in front of the door until someone decided to grant him entrance. He patted the neck of the horse, his head swirling with different kinds of emotions and thoughts that he didn’t want to observe too carefully.
He almost jumped when the door opened before he could make up his mind, and someone he didn’t know opened the door. The man bowed deep in front of him as he asked him to come inside, and from his demeanour, Nino could tell that he was no samurai. No samurai would bow their neck so profoundly and leave themselves so vulnerable.
“I’m here to see Matsumoto Jun. He sent for me. Tell him that Ninomiya Kazunari answered his demand,” he said to the man who bowed.
“I will, my lord,” he said with a small frown at the clothes he wore.
Nino smiled lazily before handing over the reins of the horse to another man when he motioned for them. “No need to call me lord. I’m sure your lords already told you that I’m nothing of that sort,” he said.
“I wouldn’t dare, my lord,” the man said with almost scared eyes, making Nino wonder once again how others ruled over their servants.
“Very well, do as you dare, but please make sure that your lord knows I’m here,” he said, biting his tongue. He didn’t want to call Jun with his name. He had forbidden himself to think about him as Jun. He had become lord Matsumoto, and he better make sure to remember that.
The man nodded again as he led him through the courtyard. “Of course, please let me bring you to the reception room. I will tell my lord you arrived,” he said.
“Thank you,” Nino murmured as he followed him. His eyes wandered around the courtyard, and he made sure to remember the small parts of the wall where it was weak and where the stables were. He wasn’t surprised to realise there wasn’t much weakness at all and that the living quarters were separated from the horses by a wide-open courtyard. It was easy to protect the living quarters that way since everybody who would want to run away would be spotted easily.
Nino clicked his tongue as he realised that at the same time, it was quite easy to be shut in if there were any enemies in front of the walls trying to get to the Matsumoto clan. He didn’t know if there were any hidden pathways under the living quarters, but somehow, he doubted it. The Matsumoto’s were proud samurai. They would choose seppuku over fleeing from the enemies. He thanked the man again when he realised they had arrived at their destination. Nino sat on one of the benches along the wall and leant back as he waited.
He was surprised with how soon Jun appeared as he had thought that the other man would make him wait and grow nervous but soon enough the other man was entering the room again, stopping just slightly in his steps when his eyes met Nino’s. Jun had changed a lot, Nino thought. He looked much more like the man that had detested him at the ceremony. His clothes were finely woven and colourful, just as the rich people were supposed to wear while they tried to educate themselves in the fine arts. Nothing Nino had the chance nor the time to do. Jun also looked older, more defined, his stance was rigid, and he finally wore the sakayaki just as was expected from a samurai of his rank.
Nino raised from his position to bow slightly in front of Jun, keeping him just in his eye line as he did so. “Lord Matsumoto, you called for me,” he said in greeting.
“Ninomiya..-san,” Jun repeated slightly stumbling over his words as he did so. “We were called by Lord Fujiwara to protect the emperor, and we have to do so.”
“You mean it’s your duty and mine to serve you if you need me,” Nino scoffed slightly. “Wasn’t that what you told me? You would call me when you needed me again?”
Jun bit his lips as he looked to the side at his words. He didn’t answer, making Nino sigh slightly.
“Very well. I don’t suppose we are to leave before tomorrow at least? I would appreciate it if your servant would show me to my room so that I can get presentable. I don’t think you would like your family to see your battledfield partner like this?” he asked without much humour in his voice.
“Of course. I will show you the way. Please follow me.”
“No need, you can tell your servant and I will be fine. I’m sure you will need to talk with your advisers or maybe with your fiancee?” he asked, feeling small joy in the way Jun openly winced at his words. “But then again, I suppose that it would be nice of you to tell me more about the battle I am to face or am I supposed just to do as you tell me?”
Jun looked down at his words before he sighed softly. “Of course not. I will tell Sakurai-san to bring you to your room and to make sure there are food and warm water for you to clean up. Then you can rest. The rest of the commanders are just arriving, and we will have a tactical meeting before dinner. I will have him fetch you then.”
“Thank you, lord Matsumoto.”
Jun looked at him, opening his mouth as to say something but Nino turned around to look at the beautiful tapestries as to not give him a chance to do so. The silence lingered for a while longer, until there was another sigh from Jun and soon after his steps were heard as he left the room to call for Sakurai-san who appeared shortly after to escort him to his room.
—
“I knew I would find you here.”
Nino looked up as he heard Jun’s voice. He frowned as he saw Jun standing in the doorway to his chamber and sighed as he slid down from the windowsill he was sitting on. He bowed again slightly in front of him. “What can I do for you now, lord Matsumoto?”
“You could stop calling me that,” Jun said with a groan. “For starters at least.”
Nino tilted his head as he watched Jun entering his room fully and closing the door behind him. “What else should I call you then?”
“Jun, like you did before.”
Nino scoffed slightly as he crossed his arms in front of his body and leant against the wall. “Jun was the name of my lover, you, lord Matsumoto, aren’t that.”
“Nino, please… I can’t disobey my family,” Jun said.
Nino lifted a hand as if to stop the other from approaching him. “I don’t demand you to do that. I told you what I would be able to do and what not. I won’t change my mind, so stop trying to make me do it. I want to keep a clear head if we go to war tomorrow to actually survive and I would prefer it if you would do the same. A celebration right before a battle? Really?” he asked.
Jun shrugged as he sat down on the chair across the room. Nino relaxed slightly as he realised that Jun wouldn’t try to approach him again just now. He didn’t need the turmoil so shortly before life-threatening things.
“It’s a tradition and meant to strengthen morale.”
“I’m sure hang-over samurai is the best for a battlefield. We are no ninja that drink and take fights as a play,” Nino scoffed slightly. “Here they are talking bad about them, but they aren’t better than them at all.” Nino rolled his eyes. All that distinguished them was their clothing, he thought.
“Again, you surprise me with how highly you think of them,” Jun mused in wonder.
Nino moved his shoulders slightly. “I have my secrets,” he said with a small smirk. “And I would be no good if I were to tell them all right away, right? I tell you that my father was killed when I was still very young and my mother wasn’t the only person who taught me before I was allowed to the school of samurais. And I’m not as blind as you are to follow all their teachings without questioning them.”
A small smile appeared on his face as he remembered the sleepy-looking man who had helped his mother just as much as the Aibas of the East had when he was small, and the winters were hard. His flexibility and agility were mostly thanks to him, and it had helped him survive more than once already.
“I see…” Jun looked Nino over for a moment while the other man was looking outside the window as the starts lit the sky accompanied by the full moon. Nino’s face looked beautiful, Jun mused as he remembered their first night together. The moon had shone down on them then as well. “Will we survive?” he asked after the silence had stretched for almost too long. He grimaced at how childish the question sounded to his ears and was surprised at how fearful he felt.
Nino looked back at him with a small smirk on his face. “If you go to sleep and don’t try to drink yourself to oblivion we just might. You have a good head on your shoulders. As long as you don’t panic, it will be fine,” he said as he moved forward to Jun.
He lifted his hand to touch his forehead with just his fingertips. “I liked your hair earlier more,” he whispered as he pressed his lips to his fingertips before putting the fingers to Jun’s lips. “But seeing you here like this makes it clearer that we are not meant to be together. I don’t belong here, Jun, so stop trying to convince me otherwise. Leave and go to your soon-to-be wife. I promise you will be able to come back here safely again.”
“Kazu…” Jun started, but Nino stepped back before he could catch his hand and shook his head sadly.
“No, goodbye, Jun,” he repeated before going back to the window sill to look outside. This time Jun didn’t linger as long as he stood and left the room with heavy steps. Nino closed his eyes, this time not being able to stop the tear running over the cheek as he prayed for Jun’s safety.
—
Today was the sixteenth day since the battle has started. There had been losses on both sides, and Nino had mourned them all. He still thought that this fight was just stupid and not his to fight, but he would do anything that needed to be done to keep his promises to Jun and himself as well as trying his best to keep the promise to his family.
The movements of their enemies had grown slower, not as fast nor as reliable as they had been before. Their movements were more sluggish now and more inaccurate. But so was theirs. Nino knew that nobody had the upper hand anymore. In the beginning, it seemed like the Fujiwara clan was the one on the winning side. But soon enough Nino had come to realise that the other side even if not as skilled as they were, were more brutal in their hits and that his party was outnumbered by them.
Nino huffed as he blocked the hit of a samurai. The man was bigger than he was and trusted more in his strength than in his speed. With a small groan, Nino managed to move the tachi away from his throat and quickly moved the tanto in his left hand to just under the armpit that was unprotected because of the broad movement the man had done. He felt blood soaking his fingers as he moved away quickly again out of reach. He looked the man over, but it didn’t look as if he would be able to lift his sword hand again, so he left him to scan his surroundings for Jun. The other man had vanished from his side now, and Nino was getting frustrated.
Their bond only worked if Jun was close enough to listen to his warnings. How else was he supposed to tell him when a deathly hit was approaching? Nino rolled his eyes as he looked at all the emblems on the backs of the fighting men and sighed when he finally found Jun lost in a battle with two men. Nino played with the small shuriken he had hidden in his armour. He knew the samurai around him would demand his death by seppuku if they knew of his underhanded methods to fight his enemies if needed. He carefully wiped away the sweat from his eyes that collected under his somen and changed the tachi to his left hand as he made his quick way over the battlefield to where Jun was.
Jun was looking at him suddenly, his whole body going stiff as Nino could see his eyes widen behind the somen he wore. Nino frowned as he saw that only one of the enemies he had been fighting went down with a cry of pain.
Time seemed to run slower as he watched Jun trying to yell something, but no sound came over his lips. Nino carefully moved out of the way of one enemy his eyes still on Jun as the man behind him lifted his katana. Nino’s warning was too late as the sharp blade quickly found the gapin between his somen and armour and sliced through his neck, killing Jun instantly.
Nino stumbled on the path as he tried to evade a hit from a man to his right side. He could feel the sharp pain of metal meeting his skin just to the underside of his wrist, but he could still move his fingers so that he quickly pushed his hidden dagger through the bottom of his enemy’s sword hand. Thanking the Gods for that small fault in their armour.
He moved around, his eyes still on Jun. He knew his warning was too late. It was too loud around him, and Jun was still too far away from him. He would kill him when he got his hands around his neck, Nino decided as he stopped running to take a deep breath and said a small quick prayer as he took the hidden shuriken from under the folds of his clothes. He took deep breaths to calm down his pounding heart and to stop the small shivering of his hands as he concentrated on Jun’s enemy.
Jun turned around just as he had seen in his vision. His eyes were filled with shock as they found him easily on the battlefield - too easily, Nino thought, but he didn’t have time to question it as he threw the shuriken. Just seconds after it left his fingertips he felt the sharp blade of a sword entering the flesh of his side, burying deep inside of him. The pain was surprisingly little as he fell to the ground with a sharp intake of breath.
“Nino!” Jun cried out as he appeared beside him, anger was blazing within him, and without really thinking what he was doing he killed the man, striking the other with a strength he didn’t know he had left. He was breathing harshly as he sank to his knees beside him, ignoring the noises around him as he looked Nino over and took his hand into his.
Nino groaned slightly as he felt pain running through his side as Jun tugged at his arm, moving the blade inside him. “Jun,” he mumbled as he opened his eyes slightly, having difficulty seeing Jun clearly.
“What are you doing, idiot? You promised we would survive!”
Nino laughed before he ended up coughing. God, his mother, was going to kill him, he thought blankly. “No, I promised you would survive,” he disagreed with a weak smile as finally, a triumphant cry rang along the battlefield. For now, Fujiwara’s enemies were defeated. “And it seems like I could keep my promise. Jun… Promise me you’ll take something back to my family. Not another empty grave,” he whispered as he closed his eyes. His hand was going to the side where blood was still pouring out of his wound. It still didn’t hurt as much as he had thought death would hurt, but this was fine. He preferred that to the pain. He closed his eyes as he realised that it was too hard to keep them open and focused on Jun. He also feared that he would feel the pain the moment he saw the blood coating his hands and fingers.
—
“I brought you Nino’s things,” Jun said when Ninomiya-san opened the door. He waved at the twins who were looking at him curiously with big eyes. He was sad that he had stolen their beloved uncle from them. “I brought you sweets from the city,” he told the boys as he knelt to be at their height. “They are just outside, so how about you go and get them?”
“Yes, thank you.” Shirou and Gorou bobbed their heads as they headed outside in a much more sedate way than he was used to them. He watched them leave before the woman asked him to come inside.
“They think they have to be the men of the house now that Kazunari is gone. Those boys are real troublemakers similar to how their uncle had been,” she scoffed slightly as she took the bundle of clothes Jun had brought. A small smile was on her face when she touched the coat of armour stitched on the sleeve of the clothes. “His father had worn it before… It was his to inherit it and use until growing old.”
“I’m sorry,” Jun said as he bowed his head gravely.
The woman sighed as she shook her head, looking Jun over. “It was his decision. He had always been stubborn; it’s just very lonely without him around. The boys are not yet strong enough to take over some of his duties.”
“If you ever need help, please tell me. I will make sure you have all the help you need.”
The woman waved him off as she went to prepare tea. “Thank you. We will if it comes to that. How are you?”
“Healing slowly,” Jun said with a smile before he stood. “Your son rescued my life, after all, helping you all is the least I can do. I’m sorry I should head back. I can’t stay today, maybe the next time.”
She laughed before she shook her head. “It’s fine. Tell him my greetings.”
“I will.” Jun stepped outside to get back to his horse. He saw Shirou and Gorou eating the sweets at the side of the rice field and grinned when he went closer. “Don’t laze off, right?”
“Yes, sir, we’ll train hard to be as good as uncle!”
Jun laughed before he nodded. He waved at them before finally leaving the place to go home.
—
There was smoke coming from the hut as he approached it and climbed from the horse. He clicked his tongue as he made sure that the horse was dried off and put away safely before entering the small house he had built in the last few days.
“You should rest,” Jun scolded as he saw the small figure kneeling in front of the fire trying to make it grow to put a kettle on top of it.
“I was bored. I’m not an invalid.”
“You are still not recovered fully,” Jun sighed as he came closer to help the other man.
Nino looked at him before he shrugged. “Help me up?” he asked, making Jun frown at the realisation that Nino wasn’t able to do so himself.
“I told you not to do anything.”
“And I didn’t listen. So will you help me up or do I have to keep sitting on this cold floor?”
Jun huffed but carefully put his arms around him to lift him. Nino groaned as the stitches on his side were pulled slightly at the movement but relaxed when he was allowed to sit on a small stool. “Stay there.”
“Yes. Tea, please?”
Jun sighed as he continued where Nino had left off to prepare them the hot drink and put it on the table before Nino. Nino took the cup into his right hand, blowing the hot tea softly before drinking it with a happy smile. “So what did my mother say?”
“That I should send her regards and that we should stay for longer then. She also said that the armour was meant to be yours.” Jun’s eyes clouded over as he looked at Nino’s left arm that was still held tightly by a sling. Nino wasn’t allowed to move it too much. Not that he could without being hurt. Nobody thought that he would ever be able to use it fully again, Jun thought bitterly.
Nino moved his right shoulder slightly before drinking again. “I will when I can sit on a horse again,” he said with a groan. “The walk on foot is too much for me, and I’m no lady that has to travel by a cart.”
Jun rolled his eyes at those words but bit his tongue.
“Also I have no use for the armour anymore. I can’t fight ever again. So it’s more useful for the twins if they decide to use it instead of their father’s,” he said with a soft smile. He finished his drink before slowly getting up. He held out his right hand with a smile.
Jun frowned but took it without a second thought. Nino smirked as he yanked him up with surprising strength.
“Tonight I’m not hungry for food. Join me in bed?”
Jun laughed at the words but nodded as he followed Nino to the small bedroom they called their own now. He knew he had given up on many things and that his family would never recognise him as a Matsumoto again, but Jun honestly couldn’t feel it in himself to be sorry about his choice. The last few weeks here in their small hut close to the lands of the Ninomiya family were paradise and much more worthwhile than anything else.
-End-
Dictionary:
somen = face mask for samurai either a half mask or a full mask could be made of steel or leather
tachi or katakana: long sword of the samurai, they are of slightly different length
tanto = small dagger that is worn together with the tachi by samurai
bokuto = training sword made of wood
sokutai = official ceremonial clothing during the heian-period
hakama and hitatare = two pieces of clothing with a kind of trousers and a short kimono on top
onna-de = the letters woman used to write since they were not allowed to use the Chinese Kanji. It is a form of today’s hiragana
gou-sai = side-wife (I couldn’t make out what the male equivalent would be called, sorry)
shuriken = a Japanese concealed weapon that was used as a hidden dagger or metsubushi to distract or misdirect (I know that Samurai used this as well, but as it was more honorable to fight with the sword one against one and this story is all about pride and honour I hope you can accept it)
seppuku = a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment
daimyo = powerful Japanese feudal lords who, until their decline in the early Meiji period, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings.
sakayaki = haircut with hair shaved in a half-circle from the forehead to the crown with the remaining hair arranged in a "mage" topknot
selvageFrom: :3.
Title: The moon tells us the truth
Pairing/Focus: Matsumiya
Rating: PG-13 I think for some mentions of violence and deaths (no major character death)
Word count: around 9700
Warnings: minor character deaths, mentions of blood, mentions of wounds, swords, daggers, battles (anything you can imagine happens on battles involving samurai)
Summary: Jun and Nino are meant to protect each other and fall in love with each other but traditions are traditions and which decisions hurt the most? Leaving loved ones behind or not doing all you can do to protect them?
Notes: Dear cutselvage, I hope you like it. I had fun writing it, I swore sometimes during it as well when I started to forget words. I took your prompts for historical AUs, magical realism and Matsumiya and this is what happened. I chose the Heian-period from which I tried to use as many information that I could find and that would benefit this story in any way. But this is still fictional (and I’m bad at doing research) so there might be a lot of inaccuracies for which I’m sorry. If you find the references of the rest of the boys I’ll be overly happy (to be fair, Sho will be an easy find ;))
There is also a dictionary for the Japanese words at the end for the story. So if you don’t know what something is the chance is high it’s explained at the end
Jun looked at the boy beside him with a small frown. The other was of short stature, and his stance also looked terrible. He couldn’t believe that the other was one of the most genius samurai there were and perfect to be his partner.
Nino, on the other hand, was looking Jun over, a bit bored. He had never had any interest in the training of a samurai. He hated exercising and had always tried to skip out of it. Of course, his parents wouldn’t have allowed it of him. Coming from a family of samurai, it was only natural that he learnt to be one from the date he was born, even if his family was only a lower-ranked samurai. Jun beside him came from a noble family. He didn’t do anything else than train and take pride in his status as a samurai, Nino was sure. On the opposite, his family had to work on the farms as well to be able to earn enough to live comfortably. Then again, Nino didn’t mind the work on the fields. With that, he was able to communicate with the farmers and help them fight the lords if ever they decided to suppress them. At least for him, that was a much more noble cause than fighting for some daimyos that hated them and thought themselves better.
Jun bit his tongue not to say anything or make any noise as the other boy looked at him challenging. He had looked forward so much to this day. He had finally come to age and would be taken seriously. He had also hoped for a good partner for the future to support him in fights, but it seemed now as if the other would hinder him. But that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t be able to make his family proud, he decided after a moment, he just had to make sure to train even harder so that the other wouldn’t make him look bad.
“It is my pleasure to welcome you both to adulthood finally. I saw both of you grow up and get strong. Now is the day I will bound you by blood so that you may help each other during difficult times on the battlefield,” the eldest of their training ground said, looking down at them with a proud smile (maybe even a bit fatherly).
Again, Jun bit his tongue not to question his words. He neither could believe that the boy beside him was an adult now nor that he had shown any strength during his training days. He bowed his head and held out his right hand.
Nino snorted almost inaudibly at these words, but then he remembered his manners - his mother would probably kill him if she heard that he was anything but respectful today - and bowed his head as well as he stretched out his left hand. He could hear muttering around them as he did so, but he didn’t care. His teachers had tried to make him not use his left hand in training, and he could use both hands, but his left hand was his stronger sword hand, and the eldest knew and accepted it. Even if he didn’t believe in all this, he didn’t want to disrespect the man that had always defended him after his father had died in battle.
The older man took first Jun’s hand to cut the palm with a small, sharp dagger, before repeating the action with Nino’s hand. Nino watched small dribbles of blood falling to the ground before his hand was enclosed by the larger hand of Jun. He could feel how the bond formed between them and looked up, meeting Jun’s eyes for the first time.
“May your bond protect you in these dangerous times,” the eldest said, and the rest of the samurai around them repeated his words solemnly.
Jun didn’t hear them as the intense gaze of Nino caught his eyes. It was hard to look away, he found, and maybe, just maybe, Nino was stronger than his body showed. His eyes at least were blazing with a silent fire that promised that he would never bow down to anybody and give up without a fight.
“I hope you won’t get me killed,” Nino said with a bratty grin as he took his hand back. He looked at the blood with a grimace before taking the offered cloth to put around his wound carefully.
Jun huffed slightly at the words before doing the same. “Don’t worry,” he just replied as calm as he could be — his upbringing forbidding him to react to this taunt of the other youth.
Nino smirked before he let out a laugh turning around to join some of the jolly men around them for a drink. “Might as well appreciate the ceremony,” he offered Jun as he looked at him questioningly with a wink.
Jun groaned but tried to ignore his slight resentment of Nino’s attitude. He would have loved to fight against him to see if they were as compatible as their teacher seemed to believe, but instead of demanding for the other to come with him he turned around to rejoin his family, who congratulated him while also giving him sorry looks. Jun sighed as he nursed his drink, sitting down on a small bench, trying to remind himself that this was an important, great and wonderful step into the world he had always dreamt of.
—
Nino sighed happily when he managed to slip out right after the ceremony. His hand was still tingling, but the bleeding had stopped finally. The moment he entered the small wooden house his family lived in, he carefully took out the food that he had slipped inside the folds of his official sokutai and put it on the table. He was sure that the little ones would enjoy the treats the same as his sister and his mother after she had scolded him for stealing food from the clan, not that he cared. He still was mad at the elder samurai for not allowing any of his family to join just because they were female and of lower rank. He was sure that his mother and sister would be able to win against them if they had to. He sighed as he took off his clothes and put them neatly on a chair for his mother to unstitch and wash before putting them away until they had to use the clothes again. He slipped on his regular clothes, the hakama and hitatare, feeling more comfortable right away.
He left the house again to go to the small patch of land his family cultivated. It didn’t take him long to find them, and he grinned when his nephews ran up to him. He ruffled their hair before frowning slightly.
“Where are my mother and sister?”
“Kaa-san said to go get our bokuto. She is there,” they replied, making Nino roll his eyes.
“So you were a nuisance?”
The twins shook their heads with big eyes. “No, we helped! But the morning we had to rebuild the fence, so there was no training yet.”
Nino hummed in understanding, looking them over. “Then hurry, I will count the time, and if you need longer than a minute there will be a punishment,” he explained. Their eyes widened even more if possible before nodding and running back to the house to do as they were told with a loud shout of ‘Yes, sir!’
It didn’t take long for Nino to arrive at the fence his nephews had talked about nodding to his sister.
“What did you do?” she asked, and he shrugged.
“Told your sons to hurry or there will be a punishment,” he explained with a small smirk, making her roll her eyes.
“The worst you do is making them run an extra lap.”
Nino shrugged. He loved his nephews - his whole family, really - but he knew that their world was a dangerous one. It didn’t do them any good to pamper the children, and soon enough they would have to go to the school he had gone through. It was the best for them to learn to obey demands right away (or very sneakily not obey).
“How did it go?”
“Well enough, I suppose. I did as I had to. But the other is stuck up. I imagine him arriving here before the hour is over yelling at me for leaving without a note to him and then demanding to do as he said.”
“You did not?”
Nino shrugged as he clicked his tongue. “I was told to be there for the ceremony I was, that’s all they can demand.”
“Kaa-san will kick your ass.”
Nino grinned at the words. “Only if she can catch me,” he teased, yelling when a fist connected with the back of his head. He turned around with a small groan of pain.
“Are you calling me old?”
“I would never dare,” he answered with a sweet smile. She shook her head as she crossed her arms in front of her body.
For a moment it looked as if she was about to yell at him for disrespecting their clan but then she visibly deflated. He had done what he had been told after all, and it was no secret that she didn’t like the clan more than he did. “I didn’t raise you to laze around. If you are back, you can at least help with the rice fields,” she said instead.
Nino nodded before putting on his hat to protect himself from the sun. Just as he was about to leave for the fields, the twins were back, breathing heavily. He lifted an eyebrow as he looked them over. “You were slow,” he said at their unspoken question. “But I also was unfair with the one minute,” he added after a second looking down at them.
He could see the boys trying to decipher his words and decide their next cause of action. Instead of agreeing about his being unfair, they bowed deeply in front of him. “We are sorry for not fulfilling your demand,” they said in unison, staying low.
“Very good,” Nino praised before allowing them up again. “Off you go then, I want you to practice your swing at the straw man over at the trees. Me, your mother and grandmother will be watching you so be careful with your stance,” he instructed. “Oh, yes, and use your weak hand.” They both groaned at his order but nodded and walked away, dragging their feet, before picking up their pace when their mother called them out for it.
—
It took Jun longer than Nino had thought until he turned up at their home. But the stance was just as he had imagined. The other man was huffing and glaring at him for walking away without a word. Nino hid a grin when the stance Jun used reminded him much of his mother whenever she was scolding him. But he was smart enough to keep from saying that out loud.
“Hello,” he greeted as he carefully made his way out of the rice field, making sure not to step on any of the crops.
“What are you doing here?”
Nino lifted an eyebrow as he looked down at the basket where he had collected the ripe fruit and then back up at Jun. “Picking the crop.”
Jun groaned as he threw a hand in the air. “I don’t mean that. Why did you leave? You know we are supposed to get to know each other and practise together to know each other’s weaknesses,” he growled.
“It’s not my fault that they decided to do this right during harvest season,” Nino said with a shrug as he took off his hat. “And as the only male represantative of the family, nobody can expect me to be bored to death at some reception and watch the others drink themselves to oblivion and talking about mundane things. It was them after all that sent my brother-in-law to a mission.”
Nino could see Jun stiffen at the disrespectful tone he used, but he didn’t care. “So if you are here to drag me back to any training grounds to spend my days with useless practising instead of making sure that my family would survive the winter, I’m sorry to tell you that you did so in vain.”
“I can’t believe sensei thought matching me up with someone like you would be a good idea,” Jun mumbled with a frown etched on his face.
“Because he thought you would be good enough to keep up with me,” Nino said with an easy shrug. He knew he sounded arrogant, but he knew what he could do and that he was good. He had a sharp mind - something all of his family had shared - and fluid movements that other samurai secretly wished for while talking behind his back about he had to be secretly practising the doings of the hated barbaric ninja.
Jun opened his mouth to shout at him probably, but he took a deep breath instead. Nino could see him counting to ten before he opened his mouth again to say much calmer than Nino had expected: “And how do you think we should prepare then?”
“You can stay here.”
“What?”
“You can either come here to train each day or stay over. The house isn’t big, but there is still enough space for visitors.”
“Here is no proper training space!”
Nino shrugged carelessly again. “If you can only fight at the designated training spaces, I will pray to all entities that we will never have to fight in battle. Believe it or not: There won’t be just a big free space where two people will fight against each other.” Nino took the basket that he had put on the ground to leave the other behind as he entered the small hut again to prepare some hot water.
Jun stood outside for a while, still stunned at what happened. He didn’t know what to do. How could someone disgrace all the teachings of the samurai so quickly? He couldn’t understand. Yes, he knew that the Ninomiya's were just farmer-samurais. Not proper samurai like he was used to encountering, but still, the teachings were the same. Jun couldn’t understand, as he had never understood how people like Nino could fight against their own and help farmers when they felt like they didn’t want to listen to their lords anymore. He sighed deeply as he rubbed his face. He felt tired suddenly. He looked back at the house - if one could call it that and after much contemplation, he entered it.
Nino was putting away the last of the crops when the door closed, before concentrating on the fire he had put in the the hole in the earthen floor to heat water. He poured it over tea leaves and put it in front of Jun.
“I’m a disappointment to you,” Nino hummed without any venom as he blew on the hot surface. He took a sip of his tea.
“I don’t understand sensei,” Jun said after a while of looking at the swirling tea leaves in his cup.
“That’s because of how you grew up. Samurai have grown power-hungry,” Nino said with a shrug. “I don’t blame them directly, but how can someone be proud of that?”
Jun wanted to disagree, but then he remembered about the Fujiwara clan who sought to be about being the next emperor and some of the other families that started battles to gain more wealth and stayed silent.
“Thought so,” Nino said before lifting himself again to leave him to his musings. Jun could hear him rummaging around in another room for a while until the door was thrown open.
“Uncle, we…!” the boys stopped in their tracks as they saw Jun and stiffened at the door. Their hands were finding each other automatically, making Jun smile a little bit. They were covered by dirt, and their bokutos were put over their backs, making Jun wonder where exactly it was that the Ninomiya family trained.
“Shirou, Gorou, this is Matsumoto Jun,” he explained with a nod before sighing as he looked them over. He put a hand under Shirou’s chin to lift it. “So did the straw man hit you back?” he asked as he observed the black eye that was forming.
“Gorou wanted to do a duel,” he said with a frown. Nino clicked his tongue at these words.
“I told you to practice your swings, not to do a duel. That means ten laps around the field, two more for putting the fault on Gorou for you.” He frowned when Gorou tried to hide a grin at those words. “And two more for you Gorou for agreeing.” Both boys grumbled, but Nino lifted an eyebrow. “Shall I make it ten more without dinner?” he asked warningly.
“We are going!” The boys were off without any other words, leaving Nino and Jun alone once again.
Nino shook his head at their antics. “I prepared a room for you if you decide to stay. I have to look after those two troublemakers that they actually do their laps,” he explained.
Jun chuckled as he got up. “I will accompany you,” he said. At least they probably could talk a bit on their way there as well. Nino nodded before leaving with Jun hot on his heels. Jun was silent beside him as he greeted some of the farmers, talking about their problems and thanking Nino for the help from him and his family for whatever they have done. On their small track to the field the Ninomiyas owned, Jun learnt that there was a different kind of respect from the fear he was used to and which made him wonder about the other man and how he lived.
—
Over the next few weeks, Jun learnt that Nino was very capable of what he was doing. He was faster, and it was easier for Nino to navigate over uneven ground than it was for Jun. Jun realised that some of his clothes were pretty impractical for a real battle and he got to prefer the comfortable clothes Nino’s family offered him after the first week.
Jun blocked a hit of Nino’s blade with his own and grimaced at the impact of it. He turned around halfway to hit another part of Nino’s body just to be blocked by his leather armour. But it was good to hit something else than a blade of his tachi or tanto or the thick leather on his shoulder Nino used as a shield.
They fell back after his hit connected, both breathing hard as Nino took of his somen to wipe his sweat. Jun’s eyes wandered to the lines decorating the left palm of Nino’s hand that was on his right as he frowned. “Why the left?”
“Huh?”
“You are meant to use the sword hand for those bounds. You fight with the right, so why the left hand?”
Nino grinned at his words as he fastened his somen around his face again. He changed the tachi to his left hand and the tanto to his right as he changed his stance slightly. “I was waiting for you to ask, actually. My strong hand is left, wanna try?” His eyes were bright and teasing, making Jun grow goosebumps all over his body at the confident look the other had.
He had already learnt not to underestimate the other, he thought, so why was he so surprised? An excited chill went over him as he realised how well Nino was trained and not for the first time in those last few days he thanked their old sensei for this decision.
With a yell, Jun attacked Nino again only to have the other dance out of the way. Only at the beginning of his time here, the uneven floor would have made Jun stumble, but he realised how easy it was now for him to find his footing again and follow Nino’s strikes with his own. He still didn’t know what else Nino hid up his sleeves, but he was pretty sure he would find out. Nino seemed to have slowly come to trust him now for which he was glad.
—
Jun sat on the bench in front of the house, relaxing after a hard day filled with training and the harvest spent observing Nino and the twins. The smaller man was teasing his nephews while making them practise with their bokuten and scolding them whenever they were getting too cheeky. A smile crept on his face when he saw Nino throwing his head back, laughing loudly when Gorou fell over after he tried a complicated hit with the bokuten. The sinking sun was painting the background in golden and orange colours, making Nino shine even more brightly.
++
Nino groaned slightly as he stretched out his back from where he bent down for half of the day to pick up the weed. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with a cloth as he looked back to see how far they had come. A grin appeared on his face as he saw Jun crouched down a few feet from him, staring at the different plants on the earth to decide which was the weed he needed to pull. His eyes were so focused and serious, and Nino felt something deep inside of him as he wished to be watched like that.
++
Jun lifted his sword hand to beg for a break before he let the bokuten fall. Nino relaxed his stance almost immediately.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah I just need a break, it’s hot,” Jun groaned as he fell. He put the hands behind him and laid his head to the ground. He had his eyes closed, and sweat was glittering on his body.
Nino felt slight goosebumps on his arms as he sat down more gracefully beside him. “We can stop if you want. It’s getting late,” he hummed thoughtfully.
Jun turned his head to look at Nino. The other man looked at the other side. His fingers were writing letters in the dirt absentmindedly. Jun was surprised to see that the other was more comfortable to use the onna-de than the usual kanjis.
It was cute, Jun thought and moved his arm closer to Nino. He touched Nino’s hip who stopped what he was doing, looking down at him with surprise in his eyes.
“You’re all dusty,” Nino laughed before he jumped to his feet. “Let’s go to the river. It’s hot. We can practise more tomorrow, let’s swim instead.”
Jun grinned as he let himself be dragged to his feet. “Swimming sounds good. What about Shirou and Gorou?”
“They still have to help their mother. Let’s go.”
Jun smiled as he watched the other, walking in front of him, humming a song under his breath.
++
“It’s awful,” Nino mumbled as he tried a bit of the food Jun prepared and frowned slightly at the bitter taste.
Jun pouted, trying hard not to blush. It was the first time he had cooked or helped with the cooking. The others had been out all day and since Jun had sprained his ankle when he was trying to teach the twins - much to Jun’s delight at Nino’s worried look - it had been decided that he should rest for today and prepare dinner.
“It’s not that bad,” Nino’s mother tried to deny even when the twins were discreetly pushing their plates away.
Nino lifted an eyebrow at their antics, hitting them slightly on the knuckles. “Eat what you get, or you go hungry. This food was grown with sweat and hard work. You are not going to disrespect it with not eating it. Even if it tastes awful,” he scolded. Shirou and Gorou pouted but still took their food back to finish it off hurriedly.
Nino finished his food again nodding at Jun and thanking him for his work. Jun had to turn around before anybody could see his happy face at those words. He knew it was awful, but it made him strangely delighted that Nino still ate it.
—
It was late in the evening, and Jun found Nino at the edge of the rice field sitting on the ground The harvest was finally over, and Jun was sure that their bond was strong at last. He sat down beside him when Nino invited him with a wave of his hand. They were so close that their shoulders were touching slightly.
“I suppose you want me to follow you now? After you agreed to stay here?” Nino asked slowly. There was a small insecurity in his voice that Jun hadn’t heard until now. He blinked as he realised that it didn’t cross his mind to drag Nino away from his family or leave him.
“Your brother-in-law isn’t back yet,” he answered instead. Nino smiled sadly as he pulled out a piece of parchment out off his sleeve.
“I got a message this morning. He won’t ever come back,” he explained as he showed him the paper. “I haven’t told my sister or mother yet,” he added with a small frown.
Jun’s eyes wandered over the small report about the death of the man with a note that there was nothing they could send the family back of him. He tried not to scoff at that as he was sure that there had to be a crest at least. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.
“It was the same with my father. Sending something back to the family to remember him doesn’t happen if you are not of a noble clan,” he explained with a grimace. “I suppose we are still lucky that we have his ceremonial clothes, same with my father’s. The twins can wear those when they need them.”
Jun kept silent as he didn’t know what to say. Death was something that they had all experienced. Some families more than others, but it wasn’t abnormal. Jun observed Nino’s faraway eyes as he looked over the field as the sun went down.
“People leave all the time,” Nino whispered after a while. It was seldom to see Nino that vulnerable and Jun couldn’t help himself as he leant closer, pressing their sides more firmly together as he took Nino’s hand.
Nino looked up in surprise at that action but didn’t say anything. “I won’t,” Jun promised.
Nino laughed slightly as he shook his head. “I don’t believe you,” he replied as he looked away again, trying to take back his hand. But Jun didn’t let him. He didn’t know why, but he wanted to let Nino see that he was serious.
“I promise,” he whispered as he moved even closer. Nino was staring up at him, his eyes begging him to stop and let it go because both of them knew there was no going back if this line Jun was about to cross was crossed. But Jun didn’t care anymore. He had held back so often, and now he couldn’t anymore. When Nino wouldn’t shove him back, he wouldn’t back down. And Nino didn’t, he stayed perfectly still, watching him silently as Jun finally closed the last of the space between them and kissed him. A shudder went through Nino’s body, mimicked by Jun as Nino reciprocated the kiss and put his arms around his shoulders.
Jun felt himself being dragged down on top of Nino as they shared kisses, hands wandering over the clothes they wore, under the folds and layers until they met soft skin and hardened muscles.
—
Nino stood in front of Jun; his eyes were defiant as he held out the opened letter for him. Jun lifted his eyebrow as he took the message into his own hands to read his name on the front.
“You opened my letter,” he said.
Nino didn’t back down but nodded in agreement. Jun could see in his eyes that he felt a bit guilty for that, but he also could see the pain that he was trying to hide with his careless attitude and for a second he feared what was written inside. He wanted to burn the letter and pretend it never arrived. But Nino knew the content so he couldn’t do that. He sighed as he straightened up on the futon in the shared room now shared with Nino and opened the letter slowly, carefully. He unfolded the paper to read the words slowly. His eyes were wandering over the onna-de his mother used to write.
To my son.
We looked long and carefully for the woman you will marry and who would bear a perfect heir to you. Come home soon so that we can introduce you to her and finalise the marriage with her family.
With regards,
Your mother.
“Kazunari,” he whispered at the end.
Nino didn’t say anything but shoved his clothes at him. “No.”
“Come on; we could still be together. I marry her, and you can be my lover.”
Nino rolled his eyes as he shook his head again. “No, I refuse to become a gou-sai,” he said with a shake of his head. “If you want to follow the instructions of your family, you can go right now. I promise to come whenever you call me to battlefield, but I won’t see you outside again,” he said.
“You can’t claim you didn’t expect this?! We are supposed to get heirs to carry our families’ names. It’s something that everyone does.”
Nino shook his head, his eyes growing distant and cold at his words. “Not me. I’m not everyone, Jun, if you want to follow your family’s wishes I won’t stop you, but I won’t come with you.”
Jun bit his lips he wanted to convince him somehow, but he knew Nino was stubborn. He sighed as he took his clothes and started to put on his clothes. He was hurt that Nino didn’t for once do what he asked him to but if it was like that he wouldn’t force him. If Nino could ignore what happened between them so easily, so could he, he decided as he took his stuff, and stood.
“Okay then, expect my letter whenever I need you,” he said coldly, ignoring the small wince of Nino as he bowed his head.
“As you wish, my lord,” he said calmly.
Seeing Nino so subdued hurt more than Jun had expected, but he didn’t say anything as he left the silent house just as the sun began to crawl over the horizon.
Why did he ever believe in a promise, anyway? His eyes burned with unshed tears, and if he didn’t leave his room for the next few days, his family thankfully didn’t mention anything about it nor about Jun’s long absence.
—
The letter arrived early in the morning, and if he was honest, he had already expected it. There had been rumours about a clan trying to overthrow the Fujiwara clan who had already gotten so much power that they were finally on the top of the hierarchy. Most of the samurai clans had sworn loyalty to them, and Nino knew that Jun’s family had done so.
The Matsumoto clan had hoped to climb up higher in the ranks with the union of their daughter with one of the sons of the clan and Nino was sure that the betrothed woman to Jun was a daughter of the same house.
He packed his things in a cloth and put it on his back as he got ready. He knew that neither his mother nor his sister was happy to see him getting ready for battle. It didn’t matter that this was for what he had trained since he was a small child. Still, he smiled as he knelt in front of Shirou and Gorou. He put his hands on top of their heads and ruffled their hair softly.
“I expect you both to listen to your baa-san and kaa-san.”
“Yes, sir,” they replied, trying hard to sound chipper and serious, but their voices were shaking slightly, showing just how scared they were to lose another family member. Nino remembered how he felt whenever his mother had been out of the house the months following the death of his father. He supposed that he was lucky not to have lived with other male figures watching them go to fight a battle that wasn’t theirs.
“Continue to practise. I will see if you slack off and if not me, the sensei will when you start school this summer,” he said sternly. “And no dilly-dallying anywhere. You will have to help in the fields and do your best to replace me for the time I’m gone.”
“We will make you proud,” Shirou promised after a moment, standing a little bit taller as he said it.
“You sure will.”
“We will protect kaa-san and baa-san,” Gorou added after a second. Nino had to stifle his laughter since he was sure that both women were more than capable of protecting themselves from anybody. But he just nodded and hugged the twins for a short moment.
“Now do me a favour and go outside to look for the horse un promised to send,” he asked them before he stood. He watched them leave the house with a small frown they turned to his mother.
“You will do your best to fulfil your duty, you hear me? And you will come back. Your father and I trained you to the best of our abilities. Don’t you dare to vanish.”
Nino bowed his head carefully as he agreed silently. “I will do my best,” he promised. “I won’t disgrace our family and run away from the battle. So don’t you worry. Send a note to our friends in the East if there is anything you need.”
“Don’t worry about us. I raised you and your sister,” she said with a smile. “I put your formal clothes back together and packed them. Make sure not to tear them.”
Nino grimaced at the thought of having to wear the fine cloth for the official meetings at Jun’s property. “Thank you, mother,” he said as he stepped forward to press a kiss to her cheeks. He hugged his sister, who buried her face into his shoulder as she silently wept. The pain and memory of her killed husband were too prominent, right now.
“I will revive you and kill you again if you dare to fail,” she whispered fervently as they separated.
Nino laughed out loud as he looked her over. “Scary. Then I should do my best. I’m praying for our reunion to the Gods,” he promised as he made sure that he had his weapons and armour all packed up. “Farewell mother, sister,” he said as he turned around after another bow and left the house. He talked to his nephews, making them once more promise to listen to their mother before getting on the horse. With another look back to his home, he finally turned the horse around to make the half-day travel to the Matsumoto property.
—
Nino watched the house as he came closer to it. It was as big as he had thought and for a second he had to wonder what exactly made Jun agree to stay with him at first. He knew that he was used to a much more luxurious life then, but he had no idea how much. He sighed as he brought the horse to a stop in front of the small wall that encircled the house and tried to decipher for a second if he needed to call out for someone individually or if he had to wait here in front of the door until someone decided to grant him entrance. He patted the neck of the horse, his head swirling with different kinds of emotions and thoughts that he didn’t want to observe too carefully.
He almost jumped when the door opened before he could make up his mind, and someone he didn’t know opened the door. The man bowed deep in front of him as he asked him to come inside, and from his demeanour, Nino could tell that he was no samurai. No samurai would bow their neck so profoundly and leave themselves so vulnerable.
“I’m here to see Matsumoto Jun. He sent for me. Tell him that Ninomiya Kazunari answered his demand,” he said to the man who bowed.
“I will, my lord,” he said with a small frown at the clothes he wore.
Nino smiled lazily before handing over the reins of the horse to another man when he motioned for them. “No need to call me lord. I’m sure your lords already told you that I’m nothing of that sort,” he said.
“I wouldn’t dare, my lord,” the man said with almost scared eyes, making Nino wonder once again how others ruled over their servants.
“Very well, do as you dare, but please make sure that your lord knows I’m here,” he said, biting his tongue. He didn’t want to call Jun with his name. He had forbidden himself to think about him as Jun. He had become lord Matsumoto, and he better make sure to remember that.
The man nodded again as he led him through the courtyard. “Of course, please let me bring you to the reception room. I will tell my lord you arrived,” he said.
“Thank you,” Nino murmured as he followed him. His eyes wandered around the courtyard, and he made sure to remember the small parts of the wall where it was weak and where the stables were. He wasn’t surprised to realise there wasn’t much weakness at all and that the living quarters were separated from the horses by a wide-open courtyard. It was easy to protect the living quarters that way since everybody who would want to run away would be spotted easily.
Nino clicked his tongue as he realised that at the same time, it was quite easy to be shut in if there were any enemies in front of the walls trying to get to the Matsumoto clan. He didn’t know if there were any hidden pathways under the living quarters, but somehow, he doubted it. The Matsumoto’s were proud samurai. They would choose seppuku over fleeing from the enemies. He thanked the man again when he realised they had arrived at their destination. Nino sat on one of the benches along the wall and leant back as he waited.
He was surprised with how soon Jun appeared as he had thought that the other man would make him wait and grow nervous but soon enough the other man was entering the room again, stopping just slightly in his steps when his eyes met Nino’s. Jun had changed a lot, Nino thought. He looked much more like the man that had detested him at the ceremony. His clothes were finely woven and colourful, just as the rich people were supposed to wear while they tried to educate themselves in the fine arts. Nothing Nino had the chance nor the time to do. Jun also looked older, more defined, his stance was rigid, and he finally wore the sakayaki just as was expected from a samurai of his rank.
Nino raised from his position to bow slightly in front of Jun, keeping him just in his eye line as he did so. “Lord Matsumoto, you called for me,” he said in greeting.
“Ninomiya..-san,” Jun repeated slightly stumbling over his words as he did so. “We were called by Lord Fujiwara to protect the emperor, and we have to do so.”
“You mean it’s your duty and mine to serve you if you need me,” Nino scoffed slightly. “Wasn’t that what you told me? You would call me when you needed me again?”
Jun bit his lips as he looked to the side at his words. He didn’t answer, making Nino sigh slightly.
“Very well. I don’t suppose we are to leave before tomorrow at least? I would appreciate it if your servant would show me to my room so that I can get presentable. I don’t think you would like your family to see your battledfield partner like this?” he asked without much humour in his voice.
“Of course. I will show you the way. Please follow me.”
“No need, you can tell your servant and I will be fine. I’m sure you will need to talk with your advisers or maybe with your fiancee?” he asked, feeling small joy in the way Jun openly winced at his words. “But then again, I suppose that it would be nice of you to tell me more about the battle I am to face or am I supposed just to do as you tell me?”
Jun looked down at his words before he sighed softly. “Of course not. I will tell Sakurai-san to bring you to your room and to make sure there are food and warm water for you to clean up. Then you can rest. The rest of the commanders are just arriving, and we will have a tactical meeting before dinner. I will have him fetch you then.”
“Thank you, lord Matsumoto.”
Jun looked at him, opening his mouth as to say something but Nino turned around to look at the beautiful tapestries as to not give him a chance to do so. The silence lingered for a while longer, until there was another sigh from Jun and soon after his steps were heard as he left the room to call for Sakurai-san who appeared shortly after to escort him to his room.
—
“I knew I would find you here.”
Nino looked up as he heard Jun’s voice. He frowned as he saw Jun standing in the doorway to his chamber and sighed as he slid down from the windowsill he was sitting on. He bowed again slightly in front of him. “What can I do for you now, lord Matsumoto?”
“You could stop calling me that,” Jun said with a groan. “For starters at least.”
Nino tilted his head as he watched Jun entering his room fully and closing the door behind him. “What else should I call you then?”
“Jun, like you did before.”
Nino scoffed slightly as he crossed his arms in front of his body and leant against the wall. “Jun was the name of my lover, you, lord Matsumoto, aren’t that.”
“Nino, please… I can’t disobey my family,” Jun said.
Nino lifted a hand as if to stop the other from approaching him. “I don’t demand you to do that. I told you what I would be able to do and what not. I won’t change my mind, so stop trying to make me do it. I want to keep a clear head if we go to war tomorrow to actually survive and I would prefer it if you would do the same. A celebration right before a battle? Really?” he asked.
Jun shrugged as he sat down on the chair across the room. Nino relaxed slightly as he realised that Jun wouldn’t try to approach him again just now. He didn’t need the turmoil so shortly before life-threatening things.
“It’s a tradition and meant to strengthen morale.”
“I’m sure hang-over samurai is the best for a battlefield. We are no ninja that drink and take fights as a play,” Nino scoffed slightly. “Here they are talking bad about them, but they aren’t better than them at all.” Nino rolled his eyes. All that distinguished them was their clothing, he thought.
“Again, you surprise me with how highly you think of them,” Jun mused in wonder.
Nino moved his shoulders slightly. “I have my secrets,” he said with a small smirk. “And I would be no good if I were to tell them all right away, right? I tell you that my father was killed when I was still very young and my mother wasn’t the only person who taught me before I was allowed to the school of samurais. And I’m not as blind as you are to follow all their teachings without questioning them.”
A small smile appeared on his face as he remembered the sleepy-looking man who had helped his mother just as much as the Aibas of the East had when he was small, and the winters were hard. His flexibility and agility were mostly thanks to him, and it had helped him survive more than once already.
“I see…” Jun looked Nino over for a moment while the other man was looking outside the window as the starts lit the sky accompanied by the full moon. Nino’s face looked beautiful, Jun mused as he remembered their first night together. The moon had shone down on them then as well. “Will we survive?” he asked after the silence had stretched for almost too long. He grimaced at how childish the question sounded to his ears and was surprised at how fearful he felt.
Nino looked back at him with a small smirk on his face. “If you go to sleep and don’t try to drink yourself to oblivion we just might. You have a good head on your shoulders. As long as you don’t panic, it will be fine,” he said as he moved forward to Jun.
He lifted his hand to touch his forehead with just his fingertips. “I liked your hair earlier more,” he whispered as he pressed his lips to his fingertips before putting the fingers to Jun’s lips. “But seeing you here like this makes it clearer that we are not meant to be together. I don’t belong here, Jun, so stop trying to convince me otherwise. Leave and go to your soon-to-be wife. I promise you will be able to come back here safely again.”
“Kazu…” Jun started, but Nino stepped back before he could catch his hand and shook his head sadly.
“No, goodbye, Jun,” he repeated before going back to the window sill to look outside. This time Jun didn’t linger as long as he stood and left the room with heavy steps. Nino closed his eyes, this time not being able to stop the tear running over the cheek as he prayed for Jun’s safety.
—
Today was the sixteenth day since the battle has started. There had been losses on both sides, and Nino had mourned them all. He still thought that this fight was just stupid and not his to fight, but he would do anything that needed to be done to keep his promises to Jun and himself as well as trying his best to keep the promise to his family.
The movements of their enemies had grown slower, not as fast nor as reliable as they had been before. Their movements were more sluggish now and more inaccurate. But so was theirs. Nino knew that nobody had the upper hand anymore. In the beginning, it seemed like the Fujiwara clan was the one on the winning side. But soon enough Nino had come to realise that the other side even if not as skilled as they were, were more brutal in their hits and that his party was outnumbered by them.
Nino huffed as he blocked the hit of a samurai. The man was bigger than he was and trusted more in his strength than in his speed. With a small groan, Nino managed to move the tachi away from his throat and quickly moved the tanto in his left hand to just under the armpit that was unprotected because of the broad movement the man had done. He felt blood soaking his fingers as he moved away quickly again out of reach. He looked the man over, but it didn’t look as if he would be able to lift his sword hand again, so he left him to scan his surroundings for Jun. The other man had vanished from his side now, and Nino was getting frustrated.
Their bond only worked if Jun was close enough to listen to his warnings. How else was he supposed to tell him when a deathly hit was approaching? Nino rolled his eyes as he looked at all the emblems on the backs of the fighting men and sighed when he finally found Jun lost in a battle with two men. Nino played with the small shuriken he had hidden in his armour. He knew the samurai around him would demand his death by seppuku if they knew of his underhanded methods to fight his enemies if needed. He carefully wiped away the sweat from his eyes that collected under his somen and changed the tachi to his left hand as he made his quick way over the battlefield to where Jun was.
Jun was looking at him suddenly, his whole body going stiff as Nino could see his eyes widen behind the somen he wore. Nino frowned as he saw that only one of the enemies he had been fighting went down with a cry of pain.
Time seemed to run slower as he watched Jun trying to yell something, but no sound came over his lips. Nino carefully moved out of the way of one enemy his eyes still on Jun as the man behind him lifted his katana. Nino’s warning was too late as the sharp blade quickly found the gapin between his somen and armour and sliced through his neck, killing Jun instantly.
Nino stumbled on the path as he tried to evade a hit from a man to his right side. He could feel the sharp pain of metal meeting his skin just to the underside of his wrist, but he could still move his fingers so that he quickly pushed his hidden dagger through the bottom of his enemy’s sword hand. Thanking the Gods for that small fault in their armour.
He moved around, his eyes still on Jun. He knew his warning was too late. It was too loud around him, and Jun was still too far away from him. He would kill him when he got his hands around his neck, Nino decided as he stopped running to take a deep breath and said a small quick prayer as he took the hidden shuriken from under the folds of his clothes. He took deep breaths to calm down his pounding heart and to stop the small shivering of his hands as he concentrated on Jun’s enemy.
Jun turned around just as he had seen in his vision. His eyes were filled with shock as they found him easily on the battlefield - too easily, Nino thought, but he didn’t have time to question it as he threw the shuriken. Just seconds after it left his fingertips he felt the sharp blade of a sword entering the flesh of his side, burying deep inside of him. The pain was surprisingly little as he fell to the ground with a sharp intake of breath.
“Nino!” Jun cried out as he appeared beside him, anger was blazing within him, and without really thinking what he was doing he killed the man, striking the other with a strength he didn’t know he had left. He was breathing harshly as he sank to his knees beside him, ignoring the noises around him as he looked Nino over and took his hand into his.
Nino groaned slightly as he felt pain running through his side as Jun tugged at his arm, moving the blade inside him. “Jun,” he mumbled as he opened his eyes slightly, having difficulty seeing Jun clearly.
“What are you doing, idiot? You promised we would survive!”
Nino laughed before he ended up coughing. God, his mother, was going to kill him, he thought blankly. “No, I promised you would survive,” he disagreed with a weak smile as finally, a triumphant cry rang along the battlefield. For now, Fujiwara’s enemies were defeated. “And it seems like I could keep my promise. Jun… Promise me you’ll take something back to my family. Not another empty grave,” he whispered as he closed his eyes. His hand was going to the side where blood was still pouring out of his wound. It still didn’t hurt as much as he had thought death would hurt, but this was fine. He preferred that to the pain. He closed his eyes as he realised that it was too hard to keep them open and focused on Jun. He also feared that he would feel the pain the moment he saw the blood coating his hands and fingers.
—
“I brought you Nino’s things,” Jun said when Ninomiya-san opened the door. He waved at the twins who were looking at him curiously with big eyes. He was sad that he had stolen their beloved uncle from them. “I brought you sweets from the city,” he told the boys as he knelt to be at their height. “They are just outside, so how about you go and get them?”
“Yes, thank you.” Shirou and Gorou bobbed their heads as they headed outside in a much more sedate way than he was used to them. He watched them leave before the woman asked him to come inside.
“They think they have to be the men of the house now that Kazunari is gone. Those boys are real troublemakers similar to how their uncle had been,” she scoffed slightly as she took the bundle of clothes Jun had brought. A small smile was on her face when she touched the coat of armour stitched on the sleeve of the clothes. “His father had worn it before… It was his to inherit it and use until growing old.”
“I’m sorry,” Jun said as he bowed his head gravely.
The woman sighed as she shook her head, looking Jun over. “It was his decision. He had always been stubborn; it’s just very lonely without him around. The boys are not yet strong enough to take over some of his duties.”
“If you ever need help, please tell me. I will make sure you have all the help you need.”
The woman waved him off as she went to prepare tea. “Thank you. We will if it comes to that. How are you?”
“Healing slowly,” Jun said with a smile before he stood. “Your son rescued my life, after all, helping you all is the least I can do. I’m sorry I should head back. I can’t stay today, maybe the next time.”
She laughed before she shook her head. “It’s fine. Tell him my greetings.”
“I will.” Jun stepped outside to get back to his horse. He saw Shirou and Gorou eating the sweets at the side of the rice field and grinned when he went closer. “Don’t laze off, right?”
“Yes, sir, we’ll train hard to be as good as uncle!”
Jun laughed before he nodded. He waved at them before finally leaving the place to go home.
—
There was smoke coming from the hut as he approached it and climbed from the horse. He clicked his tongue as he made sure that the horse was dried off and put away safely before entering the small house he had built in the last few days.
“You should rest,” Jun scolded as he saw the small figure kneeling in front of the fire trying to make it grow to put a kettle on top of it.
“I was bored. I’m not an invalid.”
“You are still not recovered fully,” Jun sighed as he came closer to help the other man.
Nino looked at him before he shrugged. “Help me up?” he asked, making Jun frown at the realisation that Nino wasn’t able to do so himself.
“I told you not to do anything.”
“And I didn’t listen. So will you help me up or do I have to keep sitting on this cold floor?”
Jun huffed but carefully put his arms around him to lift him. Nino groaned as the stitches on his side were pulled slightly at the movement but relaxed when he was allowed to sit on a small stool. “Stay there.”
“Yes. Tea, please?”
Jun sighed as he continued where Nino had left off to prepare them the hot drink and put it on the table before Nino. Nino took the cup into his right hand, blowing the hot tea softly before drinking it with a happy smile. “So what did my mother say?”
“That I should send her regards and that we should stay for longer then. She also said that the armour was meant to be yours.” Jun’s eyes clouded over as he looked at Nino’s left arm that was still held tightly by a sling. Nino wasn’t allowed to move it too much. Not that he could without being hurt. Nobody thought that he would ever be able to use it fully again, Jun thought bitterly.
Nino moved his right shoulder slightly before drinking again. “I will when I can sit on a horse again,” he said with a groan. “The walk on foot is too much for me, and I’m no lady that has to travel by a cart.”
Jun rolled his eyes at those words but bit his tongue.
“Also I have no use for the armour anymore. I can’t fight ever again. So it’s more useful for the twins if they decide to use it instead of their father’s,” he said with a soft smile. He finished his drink before slowly getting up. He held out his right hand with a smile.
Jun frowned but took it without a second thought. Nino smirked as he yanked him up with surprising strength.
“Tonight I’m not hungry for food. Join me in bed?”
Jun laughed at the words but nodded as he followed Nino to the small bedroom they called their own now. He knew he had given up on many things and that his family would never recognise him as a Matsumoto again, but Jun honestly couldn’t feel it in himself to be sorry about his choice. The last few weeks here in their small hut close to the lands of the Ninomiya family were paradise and much more worthwhile than anything else.
-End-
Dictionary:
somen = face mask for samurai either a half mask or a full mask could be made of steel or leather
tachi or katakana: long sword of the samurai, they are of slightly different length
tanto = small dagger that is worn together with the tachi by samurai
bokuto = training sword made of wood
sokutai = official ceremonial clothing during the heian-period
hakama and hitatare = two pieces of clothing with a kind of trousers and a short kimono on top
onna-de = the letters woman used to write since they were not allowed to use the Chinese Kanji. It is a form of today’s hiragana
gou-sai = side-wife (I couldn’t make out what the male equivalent would be called, sorry)
shuriken = a Japanese concealed weapon that was used as a hidden dagger or metsubushi to distract or misdirect (I know that Samurai used this as well, but as it was more honorable to fight with the sword one against one and this story is all about pride and honour I hope you can accept it)
seppuku = a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment
daimyo = powerful Japanese feudal lords who, until their decline in the early Meiji period, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings.
sakayaki = haircut with hair shaved in a half-circle from the forehead to the crown with the remaining hair arranged in a "mage" topknot
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I'm happy if you liked it I tried to put as many details in it without making it overwhelming. And I really loved your ideas and it was easy to come up with a storyline :D
And yeah of course a happy end XD For a second I thought about ending it before the kind of epilogue, but I couldn't help myself, so sorry if it is rushed in any way <3