(no subject)
Like a drifting cloud,
Bound by nothing:
I just let go
Giving myself up
To the whim of the wind
He has nothing.
"No-good Tsuna!"
He wants nothing.
"Can't even pour the shogun some sake without tripping over his own feet! Is asked to carry a lantern and ends up burning half the building down!"
He is nothing.
"But …"
A soft voice speaks and it is a katana that cuts through the hushed whispers. Tsuna looks up, lifting his head from the penitent position it holds against the waxed wood floor.
Is it too much to ask?
"Sawada, there is something you can do, though I fear it may be too difficult…"
As much as Tsuna would like to refuse, he is in need of the money. His father has been long gone from the family and his mother is only a poor maid in one of the lower samurai's households. So it is with a grim heart that he shakes his head.
"I-I can do anything!"
Stupid herbivore, what is he getting himself into?
---
The fire in the hearth flickers; all night a steady rain
Pours off the banana tree.
Now is the time I wish to share my feelings -
But there is no one.
His new living quarters are rather nice, which surprises him. Tsuna shyly reaches out a hand to touch the fabric of his new blanket-he reaches once, pulls back. Reaches out again, pulls back again. Perhaps, he thinks, it will burn like fire. This is merely a prank that the higher-ups like to pull. But deep down, Tsuna is more afraid that once he believes that it truly exists and belongs to him, it will disappear.
It takes all of his courage, which is not something he has in great supply, to rub the fabric with his hand. It's cool silk, nothing at all like fire.
"Sawada!"
"Y-yes!" Tsuna quickly pulls his hand from the blanket and bows.
"The daimyo is currently on the roof of the west tower. You are to go to him immediately and comply with any demands he may make of you."
"Yes!" he replies fervently, mustering up just a little bit more confidence as he remembers how nice the silk was. Perhaps the daimyo is a kind man. Perhaps, just this once, Tsuna won't make a mistake.
He has nothing.
"You fool! This is the east tower!"
He wants nothing.
"You can't go this way; the lords are having a meeting."
He is nothing.
"How long have you made the daimyo wait?!"
"B-but why … why is he on the roof?"
A curt shove serves as his only reply. The sliding door is slammed shut behind him. Tsuna feels a soft breeze and slowly turns to face the afternoon sun. Just there, a mere few feet away, is a young man dressed in a dark navy yukata, laying lazily on the roof and drinking in the brilliant light. "Ex-excuse me!" Tsuna calls out to the stranger. The latter stirs, his brows furrowing as he is irritated by the noise, but does not wake. "Sir!"
Storm-cloud eyes meet Tsuna's fiery gaze. That's all he can describe them as, nothing more, nothing less.
"You … are you prepared to pay with your life for disturbing my nap?"
"I'm sorry, I'm just … looking for the daimyo. I was told that he was up here."
"Perhaps you should have your head examined. I said I'm going to kill you for daring to wake me up."
"Yes, yes, whatever, I don't want to talk to you, I need to find the daimyo!" He's used to death threats, one more won't hurt him. "I'm working for him, so you better not lay a hand on me!" Incensed by his comfortable new living arrangement, Tsuna lets out a bit more defiance than he is used to.
"And I'm going to bite you dead. I'm the daimyo, Hibari." Thus Tsuna is repaid for his defiance in full.
---
Passersby turn and question me:
“Why are you carrying on like this?”
I just shake my head without answering
Even if I were able to say something
how could I explain?
"Let us play a game. I am going to take a nap. If you make a sound, I'll wake up and kill you. Thus you lose."
The daimyo is grinning, but completely serious. Tsuna has gotten used to this over the past few weeks. Certainly, the daimyo's idea of killing is not quite the same as death, but it is torturous pain, which is just as bad.
"Hiiiiiii! I'm not sure I like this game much, my lord..."
He has nothing.
"Did I say you had a choice?"
He wants nothing.
Within moments, Hibari is asleep, his head in Tsuna's lap. Surprised, he blushes and almost lets out a squeak, but clamps a hand over his mouth. He can't afford to make a sound now.
He is nothing.
Tsuna is left on the roof with only his thoughts to keep him company with the sleeping lord. The lord that he so admires.
He looks down at the sleeping Hibari in his lap. So peaceful. This lord was known for his strength in battle-able to defeat 100 men without once getting off his horse. The daimyo's natural habitat, someone once said, is a sea of bright red blood. It covers him and holds him so he doesn't have to worry about anything else.
"Is there room for me in that world?" Tsuna whispers.
"You certainly like to lose, Tsunayoshi." The daimyo growls and lifts his head from his servant's comfortable lap.
"Ahh--!" Tsuna quickly realizes his mistake a moment too late. "I'm-I'm sorry, my lord, please don't 'kill' me!"
Hibari sighs, closes his eyes. Lays his head back down. "Just you."
Tsuna freezes. "P-pardon?"
"Just you, I won't kill."
---
The rain has stopped, the clouds have drifted away,
and the weather is clear again.
If your heart is pure, then all things in your world are pure.
Abandon this fleeting world, abandon yourself,
Then the moon and flowers will guide you along the Way
The daimyo is off for another battle for dominance. He will kill again. Tsuna isn't naïve enough to believe in the possibility that the daimyo himself might die. For the moment he believes in it, it might come true.
He has nothing.
"Sawada! Bring these to the daimyo!"
He wants nothing.
Tsuna runs clumsily up the stairs. He stumbles a few times, but it no longer hurts. His heart is no longer weak. He throws the sliding door open, fumbles onto the roof. "M-my lord! Your armor!"
"Put it on for me." For once, he is not napping. Hibari is too excited by the thought of war. Of killing the weak. After all, that is his world.
Tsuna layers the armor on top of the daimyo's hitatare. Tightly ties the straps, his hands running across the rough material, scratching his skin as he helps his lord. But it doesn't hurt. Like a fire, his heart consumes everything else that is unneeded.
"Are you sure I can't come with you, my lord?"
"And why would my army need someone as useless as you?"
"I … I just thought …" Tsuna finishes with the armor. His hands linger against Hibari's back. "I might be able to be help you, that's all."
"I ought to bite you dead for daring to suggest that I need your help."
Tsuna closes his eyes as he flinches in anticipation of a hit on the head, but feels nothing. He opens his eyes and the daimyo is smiling-a real smile, one with no malice.
"You belong only in my world. But if you go with me and die, who would I play my game with?"
Hibari turns and walks away without another word. The sound of the closing sliding door echoes inside Tsuna's heart where something is starting to grow.
And perhaps, he thinks, he just might be not nothing, but something, after all.
『TITLE』 be not nothing.
『RATING』 PG to avoid lawsuit.
『CHARACTERS』 Hibari Kyoya, Sawada Tsunayoshi (KHR)
『WORDCOUNT』 1,337 (that wasn't even planned)
『NOTES』 Uhh something I wrote for practice. I'm not sure I have this pairing down yet. Also, I have an odd fascination with feudal Japan, shut up. >.> Poetry by Ryokan.
『SUMMARY』 (AU) Tsuna takes one step into the bloodstained world of Hibari.