a gift from Kojiro (open to all)

[hogwarts_kojiro]

Bei Nacht und Nebel, when all through the House, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse, Kojiro left an early Yule present for everyone.

He installed it in the Great Hall, right inside the entrance door, where everyone would be sure to see it.

It was a fortune-telling machine, its slots modified to take generic tokens of any kind -- a

Comments

[sasuke_sarutobi]

This certainly wasn't the kind of fortune telling Sasuke was accustomed to, but he decided to give the... machine? a try, anyway. He used the currency of the wizarding world, and it read his fortune: "To one who waits, a moment seems a year." He looked at the strange thing with a stricken expression. The 'fortune teller' had clearly hit home with that one.

[elegantsamurai]

Yukimura had meant to pass by, but the expression on Sasuke's face stopped him. He didn't need a machine to tell him his future. He'd had a peddler and a seer tell him that. What he was unsure of would resolve itself in time. "I don't think I've seen that expression in a long time," Yukimura said gently, leaning against the doorway, far enough away that he couldn't have seen what Sasuke was reading.

[sasuke_sarutobi]

Sasuke hadn't been so absorbed with the strange machine that Yukimura's presence or voice could startle him; it was likely he'd been aware of his master even before he'd set foot in the Great Hall. When the shinobi turned slightly to glance up at Yukimura, his expression was already becoming closed off again, by this point purely out of habit.

"Yukimura," he said quietly, partly a greeting, and mostly because he didn't know what else to say, at the moment. Yukimura hadn't surprised him, but the oddly appropriate fortune had.

[elegantsamurai]

Yukimura tilted his head slightly, watching as Sasuke retreated from him again. "If it's something you'd wish to discuss..." he offered, meaning it in the most general sense of the words. "Or would you prefer to spar?" he asked, pushing away from the doorway.

[sasuke_sarutobi]

In truth, he wasn't really in the mood for either just then, but knew better than to lie.

"It just surprised me," he admitted, hesitating for a long moment before holding out the little printed fortune, offering it to Yukimura. "I didn't expect to find any meaning in something like this."

[elegantsamurai]

Yukimura read over the words and then looked at Sasuke a long moment. "What is it you wait for?" he asked gently, handing the paper back. There had to be some point that they finally discussed what they've danced around before.

[sasuke_sarutobi]

Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly as he briefly looked Yukimura over. There were exceedingly few aspects of Yukimura's life at Hogwarts that his shinobi was unaware of, and those minor details that were unknown to him remained so out of willful ignorance; as a courtesy and out of respect for his master's privacy.

Without looking away, he considered his answer. Courage was not anything he'd ever lacked-but this called for more than mere courage. It required he be prepared for consequences he could never truly be prepared for. "You," he said simply.

[elegantsamurai]

The answer was almost shockingly direct, but refreshing, in an odd way. Finally, they would speak of what weighed Yukimura down, what perhaps weighed them both down. "Me?" he said, for once his voice serious. "And, how is it you want me?" he asked, his voice completely free of any innuendo. "Tell me what you seek, Sasuke."

[sasuke_sarutobi]

It took considerable effort now not to duck his head or look away, as he had so many times before, but he managed it, steadily looking at Yukimura. "Just you," he replied quietly. "However I can have you."

His gaze faltered then, lowering, a hint of his prior stricken expression returning. "Not like others have you. I want..." More, he thought, but wasn't sure that was right, either. "I would never ask for more than you will freely give," he said, hoping Yukimura would understand. He'd never wanted to tie Yukimura down, or change him-he'd been offered that choice months ago and hadn't taken it, and wouldn't ask for it now. It wasn't his place to.

It wasn't his place to ask for even this much.

[elegantsamurai]

Yukimura reached over and lifted Sasuke's chin gently. His thumb caressed the shinobi's cheek. "There is one I cannot give up, and one that I should not, but I can limit it to those, if more distresses you. This I offer freely." He smiled at the boy. "You, of all, have more right to ask," he said. "Please, speak freely, Sasuke," he asked, the request reaching his eyes.

[sasuke_sarutobi]

"I've only ever wanted you to be happy. I don't ask that you... change." Partly because he wasn't sure he was ready to offer himself in their place, for that one particular favourite pastime of Yukimura's. He also couldn't be sure Yukimura would ever even want him for such. This was all new to him.

"I'd been considering leaving," he quietly admitted. "Trying to return home. I'd been planning to tell you. I thought things would be better that way, now that you..." He was aware of the demon, though the demon likely wasn't aware of him unless Yukimura had mentioned him. "I didn't want to complicate things for you."

[elegantsamurai]

"It would hurt me deeply if you had left," Yukimura said, his voice barely carrying between them. "Your arrival brought great joy, and your presence is a comfort. I only regret that you have felt 'unneeded' when that is not the case. You have brought great comfort to me, knowing you are here." He considered a moment leaning forward to kiss Sasuke's cheek and instead ruffled his hair. "You are the one I want," he said. "That one I cannot give up may be the fulfillment of another prophecy, but that does not change that I want you, Sasuke," he said, laughter softening the impact of the words.

[sasuke_sarutobi]

Sasuke's reasons for wanting to leave were also partially selfish, but he didn't point that out. He coloured when Yukimura kissed him, eyes wide in surprise, both at the action and his words. If he was the one whom Yukimura wanted, then...

What had he said?

He is the second, though, to tell me that I will receive what I need, not necessarily what I want.

"But not the one you need," he said levelly, no discernible emotion in his voice. He wasn't upset, exactly. It was strange to think Yukimura would need anyone at all. And why the demon, then, as he was presumably the one Yukimura couldn't give up? Perhaps not even Yukimura knew himself.

[elegantsamurai]

"I wouldn't want to be without you, Sasuke," Yukimura replied. "I do need you in the sense that I do need a shadow." He ran his fingers through Sasuke's hair. "I want you to be here with me and I know that is a selfish thing to want," he admitted. He sighed. "I also know you are unhappy here, thinking yourself useless, which is not true." He paused, not sure what else needed to be said.

[sasuke_sarutobi]

Sasuke reached up as though to stop Yukimura from mussing his hair even more, but ended up merely touching the hand in his hair, his fingers briefly skimming along Yukimura's wrist before he dropped his own hand back to his side.

"Is it selfish if it's also what I want?" he asked, wondering at the strange, but not entirely unfamiliar, sense of longing he felt. "I'm not unhappy... when I'm with you." But he couldn't argue that he had been feeling useless, and the rest of his Hogwarts experience had admittedly left something to be desired, though he did recognise that was likely because he'd mostly kept to himself.

[elegantsamurai]

Yukimura smiled. "If it is what you want, then it is selfish of us both, isn't it?" he teased. He let his hand fall to Sasuke's shoulder. "Though I am pleased that I make you happy, I would like if you were happy more, too," he said softly.

He considered a moment, then grinned. "We could explore this world, if you think you'd like to. That should be entertaining," he laughed. "You could find out about it and then take me to those places that most interest you. Many things have changed in it. There are the boxes with moving pictures the Baron calls 'televisions' that reveal many things."