Arrow 9680 is the Revelation
Title: Arrow 9680 is the Revelation
Fandom: Tsurune
Characters: Masaki & Minato
Summary: 97 days and nights he has stood in this position, arms raised in proper benediction to the sound of the bowstring, the pop of the target, the exhaled breath and beat of his heart the moment before release. 9,679 arrows. Each and every one the same.
Author's Note: Written for the AO3 Inter High 2019 challenge for sports anime (who knew I'd actually get so into sports anime that I watched enough to join a challenge?). I love Masaki and Minato in this series and it was so much fun to get to experience a pivotal moment in the show through Masaki's eyes.
He feels it as soon as they meet, this momentum pulling him forward. He doesn’t understand why or how. He doesn’t understand who this young man is or why he’s the one to pull him headlong down some new path. It doesn’t matter. The pull is too strong and he can’t break free of it.
97 days and nights he has stood in this position, arms raised in proper benediction to the sound of the bowstring, the pop of the target, the exhaled breath and beat of his heart the moment before release. 9,679 arrows. Each and every one the same.
With only 321 left in his vigil, he’s come to peace with his decision. He can’t make peace with his grandfather, but he can make peace with the past. Let it go. Set aside the bow and the painful memories that come with it.
Arrow 9,680 leaves the bowstring though and it is a revelation.
After the arrow strikes, he gently lowers his bow, and Who comes floating through the night and startles a young man who shouldn’t even be there.
Masaki feels it the moment their eyes meet. This means something. This young man being here isn’t just a coincidence. They are meant to meet, here, now, for whatever reason. He invites him inside with the excuse of taking care of his hand, but what he wants is to understand.
Where do you want to lead me?
***
Three days. 320 arrows later. He stands at the brink of something and he doesn’t know what. The final arrow. The last.
“End one thing, then start another.” The words come from his lips and he doesn’t know why he’s offering this. 10,000 arrows was the goal. 100 arrows for 100 days. A way to bury his past and move forward. It feels different now though.
Somehow, in some way Minato offers him another way. He can’t see what it is yet, but he can feel it. Masaki is supposed to be the adult, but something in Minato pulls him in, some common bond that is felt but not yet seen.
Masaki is a Shrine Priests. He knows the hand of a God when he feels it. Their lives have been intertwined and he can’t help but heed that.
He watches as Minato hesitantly takes the bow. His hand shakes slightly as he ties on his yugake, but the motions as still efficient and well-practiced. If he didn’t know he had experience with a bow before now, he could tell from that alone.
He stands back and watches in silence as Minato takes the proper steps to stand in front of the target. He bows and begins the formal movements, each action deliberate and concise.
There is a rhythm, a poetry to kyudo that those who don’t practice can rarely read. Minato is no master, not yet, but he has the promise to be one of the best. A destiny tied to his soul as surely as the yugake is tied around his wrist.
He’s in jeans and a tee shirt, with long sleeves beneath, simple socks on the floor of the kyudojo. No hakama to lend it’s elegant lines, but there is no need. The strength of his arm, the precision of his stance, the sound of breath and heart and bowstring are beautiful.
His form, though imperfect, is pure and caught in the moonlight’s graceful blessing, Minato is perfect.
The shot lands short, but Masaki has no illusion that their simple talks the last few nights have been enough to disrupt the target panic that pulls at Minato. He is simply happy to see the young man with the bow in hand again. He may never fully recover from his target panic - Masaki certainly doesn’t feel he will every be free of it - but feeling the weight of the bow again in his hand and the pull of the string is one step in the right direction.
He can hear Minato’s disappointment, a soft shudder of a breath that could break Masaki’s heart, but something changes in Minato before he lowers his back arm or bow. Something softens in him and the tension he held so tightly relaxes. Masaki is smiling before he reaches him because something happened and he has been blessed to witness it.
Minato’s face is flushed when Masaki joins him and he wants to take this moment and keep it written on his heart forever. Minato has barely been a footnote in the story of his life, for all that they’d only known each other four days, but his impact is already well beyond that. Like a single blossom blown on the wind. It lands where it will. In this place, in this time, Masaki knows that this seed between them will grow and blossom with far reaching branches, no matter if they see each other again after tonight, or if this is their last good-bye.
He fervently hopes this is not their last good-bye. He wants to see Minato in full bloom someday.
He doesn’t expect the question, because he knows as soon as he hears it that their answers are entirely entwined.
“Masa-san, you won’t quit, will you?” It is a question but the pull between them is too strong. Minato has to know the answer already.
“What about you?” he asks instead of answering. He needs to hear Minato put it to words.
“I won’t. I won’t quit either.” And in those words he hears the answer to both questions. He can hear the determination in Minato’s voice and the confidence that he speaks for them both. Masaki can’t help but smile a little wider.
“Going to go back?”
“Yeah.”
If nothing else came from 10,000 arrows, this would be enough good, to know that his appearance here might have helped Minato in some way means that every arrow flew true. “Good.”
When Minato leaves, he feels as if a silk strand had been strung between them. He has no doubt he will see Minato soon. He has no doubt that he will forevermore play a large part in the way Masaki sees the world. He has no doubt that their love of kyudo will bring them back together when the time is right.
10,000 arrows, but only one is needed to tie the soul and set his path careening in the opposite direction he had thought to take. Takigawa Masaki might be a shrine priest but life is as much as mystery to him as it is to anyone else.
Standing, staring out across the moonlight field, he can’t help but smile. It isn’t the first arrow that set his path, and it isn’t the last. The right moment, the right place, and everything is different that it once had been.
Out of 10,000 arrows, arrow 9,680 is the revelation.
Fandom: Tsurune
Characters: Masaki & Minato
Summary: 97 days and nights he has stood in this position, arms raised in proper benediction to the sound of the bowstring, the pop of the target, the exhaled breath and beat of his heart the moment before release. 9,679 arrows. Each and every one the same.
Author's Note: Written for the AO3 Inter High 2019 challenge for sports anime (who knew I'd actually get so into sports anime that I watched enough to join a challenge?). I love Masaki and Minato in this series and it was so much fun to get to experience a pivotal moment in the show through Masaki's eyes.
He feels it as soon as they meet, this momentum pulling him forward. He doesn’t understand why or how. He doesn’t understand who this young man is or why he’s the one to pull him headlong down some new path. It doesn’t matter. The pull is too strong and he can’t break free of it.
97 days and nights he has stood in this position, arms raised in proper benediction to the sound of the bowstring, the pop of the target, the exhaled breath and beat of his heart the moment before release. 9,679 arrows. Each and every one the same.
With only 321 left in his vigil, he’s come to peace with his decision. He can’t make peace with his grandfather, but he can make peace with the past. Let it go. Set aside the bow and the painful memories that come with it.
Arrow 9,680 leaves the bowstring though and it is a revelation.
After the arrow strikes, he gently lowers his bow, and Who comes floating through the night and startles a young man who shouldn’t even be there.
Masaki feels it the moment their eyes meet. This means something. This young man being here isn’t just a coincidence. They are meant to meet, here, now, for whatever reason. He invites him inside with the excuse of taking care of his hand, but what he wants is to understand.
Where do you want to lead me?
***
Three days. 320 arrows later. He stands at the brink of something and he doesn’t know what. The final arrow. The last.
“End one thing, then start another.” The words come from his lips and he doesn’t know why he’s offering this. 10,000 arrows was the goal. 100 arrows for 100 days. A way to bury his past and move forward. It feels different now though.
Somehow, in some way Minato offers him another way. He can’t see what it is yet, but he can feel it. Masaki is supposed to be the adult, but something in Minato pulls him in, some common bond that is felt but not yet seen.
Masaki is a Shrine Priests. He knows the hand of a God when he feels it. Their lives have been intertwined and he can’t help but heed that.
He watches as Minato hesitantly takes the bow. His hand shakes slightly as he ties on his yugake, but the motions as still efficient and well-practiced. If he didn’t know he had experience with a bow before now, he could tell from that alone.
He stands back and watches in silence as Minato takes the proper steps to stand in front of the target. He bows and begins the formal movements, each action deliberate and concise.
There is a rhythm, a poetry to kyudo that those who don’t practice can rarely read. Minato is no master, not yet, but he has the promise to be one of the best. A destiny tied to his soul as surely as the yugake is tied around his wrist.
He’s in jeans and a tee shirt, with long sleeves beneath, simple socks on the floor of the kyudojo. No hakama to lend it’s elegant lines, but there is no need. The strength of his arm, the precision of his stance, the sound of breath and heart and bowstring are beautiful.
His form, though imperfect, is pure and caught in the moonlight’s graceful blessing, Minato is perfect.
The shot lands short, but Masaki has no illusion that their simple talks the last few nights have been enough to disrupt the target panic that pulls at Minato. He is simply happy to see the young man with the bow in hand again. He may never fully recover from his target panic - Masaki certainly doesn’t feel he will every be free of it - but feeling the weight of the bow again in his hand and the pull of the string is one step in the right direction.
He can hear Minato’s disappointment, a soft shudder of a breath that could break Masaki’s heart, but something changes in Minato before he lowers his back arm or bow. Something softens in him and the tension he held so tightly relaxes. Masaki is smiling before he reaches him because something happened and he has been blessed to witness it.
Minato’s face is flushed when Masaki joins him and he wants to take this moment and keep it written on his heart forever. Minato has barely been a footnote in the story of his life, for all that they’d only known each other four days, but his impact is already well beyond that. Like a single blossom blown on the wind. It lands where it will. In this place, in this time, Masaki knows that this seed between them will grow and blossom with far reaching branches, no matter if they see each other again after tonight, or if this is their last good-bye.
He fervently hopes this is not their last good-bye. He wants to see Minato in full bloom someday.
He doesn’t expect the question, because he knows as soon as he hears it that their answers are entirely entwined.
“Masa-san, you won’t quit, will you?” It is a question but the pull between them is too strong. Minato has to know the answer already.
“What about you?” he asks instead of answering. He needs to hear Minato put it to words.
“I won’t. I won’t quit either.” And in those words he hears the answer to both questions. He can hear the determination in Minato’s voice and the confidence that he speaks for them both. Masaki can’t help but smile a little wider.
“Going to go back?”
“Yeah.”
If nothing else came from 10,000 arrows, this would be enough good, to know that his appearance here might have helped Minato in some way means that every arrow flew true. “Good.”
When Minato leaves, he feels as if a silk strand had been strung between them. He has no doubt he will see Minato soon. He has no doubt that he will forevermore play a large part in the way Masaki sees the world. He has no doubt that their love of kyudo will bring them back together when the time is right.
10,000 arrows, but only one is needed to tie the soul and set his path careening in the opposite direction he had thought to take. Takigawa Masaki might be a shrine priest but life is as much as mystery to him as it is to anyone else.
Standing, staring out across the moonlight field, he can’t help but smile. It isn’t the first arrow that set his path, and it isn’t the last. The right moment, the right place, and everything is different that it once had been.
Out of 10,000 arrows, arrow 9,680 is the revelation.