Visiting House [Blade of the Immortal, Anotsu/Rin, PG-13]
Title: Visiting House
Author: lanoyee
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Worksafe, but possibly not brainsafe.
Prompt: Blade of the Immortal, Anotsu/Rin: trapped in close quarters, confessions, unexpected rapport - When we meet what we're afraid of, we find out what we're made of
Word count: 1822
Summary: Dōa is a troublemaker. So Rin really shouldn't be surprised when she brings Anotsu Kagehisa home.
A/N: This is entirely unbeta'd and slightly... whacky. I hope the requester likes it anyway. Might be crossposted to my LJ.
Dōa is a troublemaker. She breaks things and insults and generally acts before she thinks. The very first morning she stayed at the Asano house, she broke in a wall, and when communication was in order, she always implicitly ordered Isaku to do it. Just like that, with that bossy look in her eyes, without even saying a word. And Isaku went along with it, of course. Anyway, Dōa is a troublemaker - so Rin really shouldn't be surprised when she brings Anotsu Kagehisa home.
But the truth is, the sorry truth is, she isn't prepared for that at all. Anotsu Kagehisa is standing in the entrance like a block of granite in a mass of chalk: solid and obtrusive and way more persistent than anything else. She's a little scared of the not-solid things he might attract, ghosts and memories and unpleasantness. But he doesn't; right now, he doesn't, he's just standing there smirking with a hint of incredulity (yeah, he better). His eyes meet hers head-on; staring match. That damn smirk doesn't leave his face, and that's enough to have her seething inside, because it's like he's saying: I still win. He still wins and, if he had the chance, he'd do the same thing all over again. Cold, cold triumph.
Dōa's expression is unreadable. „Brought the Tōshu along,“ she says in a casual manner.
„Take your shoes off,“ Rin tells both of them, because she's seen Dōa lift her foot to step on the wooden planks, and really, the girl's gotta learn to stick to some rules. So be it, is what she thinks, and it sounds way too much like capitulation, so she tells herself that she's taking up the challenge. Meeting things head-on, too. Anotsu isn't the only one around here who can resist ghosts.
When they've taken her shoes off, obligingly, Dōa tells Rin to go make tea. „Make it yourself; you're the one who invited him,“ Rin retorts in a tone that is decidedly sour. Dōa gets that strange glint in her eyes, or rather, one not quite like the ones she's seen before, and Rin should be suspicious, really, especially as Dōa skips off without a word of protest.
So there's only Anotsu left, still obtrusive, and she glares at him. „You seem to be doing quite well,“ he says, still smirking.
Rin smirks back. „As you can see,“ she answers, just as conversationally, and leads him to the front room, the same room where, two and a half years ago, he killed her father and gave his men permission to have their sick, sick ways with her mother. She does it deliberately. It's the only room he should, by all means, be allowed to enter in this house. Ever. And she knows he'll remember; that is also why. She's just petty enough for that, and okay with being so. Gosh, do forgive her a little pettiness toward the guy who ruined her life.
They sit down, and Rin watches Anotsu's eyes graze the walls as he kneels across from her, mannerly and almost demure. He has the decency not to smirk now, and he even refuses to make eye contact for a moment. Rin doesn't know if she's glad for it; it's congruent with the new picture of Anotsu Kagehisa that's been painted in her mind during their trip to Suwa - a more human Anotsu. With failings, like everyone else. Like her. And now that he's here, in her house, she's not sure if she's ready for it. She thought she'd dealt with it quite well, but it's one thing to learn something new in a strange environment, and another entirely to integrate that new thing into the oldest part of her life. Having him in her own home. Intrusive, like before. It's awkward, and she's smarting just a little.
He's been looking at the walls, the paper screens, and the floor, not at her. They're clean. They've been clean since the day after it happened; she had spares. Back then, she needed to cleanse it, even if part of her felt like it was erasure. Washing the horror away too soon. But it lingered long enough where it mattered, and at that moment, she just needed, desperately, to live.
So their eyes meet, again, and she clears her throat. „So,“ she says, but goes nowhere with it. Silence swallows her mouth up whole, keeps her words stuck in her throat, at the back of her brain, before they even really form. And Anotsu, he looks at her with that attentive gaze. Waiting. Giving her the first word, it seems. It's that strange parlor courtesy of his; she's seen a glimpse of it in Kaga (right before he left his wife to her fate, whatever that ended up being). But right now, all she can do is pull down the corners of her mouth into a frown.
„I see you've met Dōa,“ he says, finally, and now he's genuinely smiling. „That was unexpected, I'll admit.“
„Oh, was it?“ Her eyebrow is twitching.
„Indeed. She didn't tell me where she was staying before.“ And his gaze goes past her, through the open shōji at the other side. „You have a fine garden.“
„Why, thank you,“ she says, not bothering to hide her sarcasm. Where is Dōa, she wonders. Is she gathering Anotsu's books from all the corners of the bedroom she threw them into to give them back to him? Not that she actually read the things; Rin could probably tell him more about their contents than Dōa could. Not that she isn't trying (and it's kinda cute in a way), but her attention tends to wander. Besides, they're busy.
But hey, now that he's here already, she might as well question him. „So, how're you doing right now?“, she asks, with her best effort at nonchalance and a too-sweet smile on her face.
„As ever,“ he answers, and there's that smirk again. He's caught on to her ploy immediately, of course he has. Then he gets serious, and waits a beat, then he says: „We're undercover.“
That takes her by surprise, and that's when she realizes she wasn't truly expecting him to divulge anything. She also realizes it's no small thing; if he didn't trust her be quiet, he would've fared better not mentioning it at all. It makes her feel - she doesn't quite know how it makes her feel. Strange, unknown, but neutral.
„My apologies if Dōa is being... difficult,“ he continues, businesslike. „She still has a lot to learn.“ Rin thinks she can detect something like a hint of caring, maybe even of pride in a pupil in him. And that's weird, that's unprecedented. Anotsu Kagehisa has comrades, but Rin has yet to hear of him having pupils.
Well, that would explain the books. Rin almost feels like giggling, there's something distinctly funny about the mental image of Anotsu, the jerk, taking Dōa, the brat, under his wing. Probably Isaku, too, and that makes it even funnier. Maybe she should giggle, but fourteen years of social conditioning get in the way of that. She's the hostess. Won't do to be rude. So she stows the image away to treasure it, to lord it over her mental Anotsu (saying something like: „Hah! Even you are not immune to cuteness!“) at another time.
Scarcely done with those thoughts, she licks her lips that are feeling a little dry, and then her eyes refocus and halt on Anotsu's. He's watching her, she notes, like a cat on the prowl. And then she thinks, the holy Amida only knows what faces she's been making while lost in her own thoughts. It causes her to blush, and her tongue is still stuck between her lips and teeth (she's lucky she didn't bite down on it - that would've made Anotsu laugh for sure!).
„Ah, don't worry“, she then says, still blushing. It gets lost in the something that's come up between them, the same strange ties that developped while she watched him lose his strength and speech and carried him around for who knows how many ri. Something that was uncomfortable at first, but is less so now that they're both healthy and not forced onto each other; and now that this new mark upon their souls had time to fester. It is a mark, because they know that neither of them came out of that trip unchanged. She knows that he knows it. It's in his eyes and his whole demeanor.
Finally, she pulls her tongue back and then her body just moves of its own accord, forward on hands and knees, towards Anotsu, who's watching her calmly. She sits down in front of him, close, and his fingers touch her hand, then grasp it, then entwine both their fingers together. That makes her blush grow hotter, and she only looks at him briefly before kissing him.
His lips are soft, almost soft enough to be feminine, but Rin isn't really surprised. She knows he takes care of himself, is conscious of what he represents and how and styles himself accordingly, because of vanity (because he is pretty damn arrogant) as much as the fact that he thinks everything through.
They're kissing, and they're not really moving a lot, yet Rin feels something gathering at the base of her abdomen, and she's pretty down with that. Asano Rin is not a girl unfamiliar with these things. She's a girl who's spent her critical years in and out of teahouses, ears always open for whenever the name of Ittō-ryū might be mentioned, but soon also finding herself very attentive to women's talk when they thought no one was listening. So, she's thinking, that something is not really the weird thing. It's kind of par for the course when you're kissing a guy on the lips. So the weird thing is really the kissing. She should stop that.
It takes her a bit, more hesitation than she will later admit to herself, ever, but she pulls away eventually. She opens her eyes again, to see that Anotsu even looks a little perplexed - surprised at himself, if you will. Rin wonders if he's not actually used to stuff like that happening - well, he'd hardly be used to exactly the same thing happening, the circumstances are really kinda out-of-the-ordinary, but you know - but he grabs her attention when his eyes move away from her and his mouth opens just a little.
He's looking at the door, like there's something worth looking at there. Rin turns around and looks too.
Dōa is standing in the doorway with a tray in her hands, a steaming teapot and three cups on it. Her expression is utterly unreadable.
She's in for a thorough questioning later, that much is certain.
Author: lanoyee
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Worksafe, but possibly not brainsafe.
Prompt: Blade of the Immortal, Anotsu/Rin: trapped in close quarters, confessions, unexpected rapport - When we meet what we're afraid of, we find out what we're made of
Word count: 1822
Summary: Dōa is a troublemaker. So Rin really shouldn't be surprised when she brings Anotsu Kagehisa home.
A/N: This is entirely unbeta'd and slightly... whacky. I hope the requester likes it anyway. Might be crossposted to my LJ.
Dōa is a troublemaker. She breaks things and insults and generally acts before she thinks. The very first morning she stayed at the Asano house, she broke in a wall, and when communication was in order, she always implicitly ordered Isaku to do it. Just like that, with that bossy look in her eyes, without even saying a word. And Isaku went along with it, of course. Anyway, Dōa is a troublemaker - so Rin really shouldn't be surprised when she brings Anotsu Kagehisa home.
But the truth is, the sorry truth is, she isn't prepared for that at all. Anotsu Kagehisa is standing in the entrance like a block of granite in a mass of chalk: solid and obtrusive and way more persistent than anything else. She's a little scared of the not-solid things he might attract, ghosts and memories and unpleasantness. But he doesn't; right now, he doesn't, he's just standing there smirking with a hint of incredulity (yeah, he better). His eyes meet hers head-on; staring match. That damn smirk doesn't leave his face, and that's enough to have her seething inside, because it's like he's saying: I still win. He still wins and, if he had the chance, he'd do the same thing all over again. Cold, cold triumph.
Dōa's expression is unreadable. „Brought the Tōshu along,“ she says in a casual manner.
„Take your shoes off,“ Rin tells both of them, because she's seen Dōa lift her foot to step on the wooden planks, and really, the girl's gotta learn to stick to some rules. So be it, is what she thinks, and it sounds way too much like capitulation, so she tells herself that she's taking up the challenge. Meeting things head-on, too. Anotsu isn't the only one around here who can resist ghosts.
When they've taken her shoes off, obligingly, Dōa tells Rin to go make tea. „Make it yourself; you're the one who invited him,“ Rin retorts in a tone that is decidedly sour. Dōa gets that strange glint in her eyes, or rather, one not quite like the ones she's seen before, and Rin should be suspicious, really, especially as Dōa skips off without a word of protest.
So there's only Anotsu left, still obtrusive, and she glares at him. „You seem to be doing quite well,“ he says, still smirking.
Rin smirks back. „As you can see,“ she answers, just as conversationally, and leads him to the front room, the same room where, two and a half years ago, he killed her father and gave his men permission to have their sick, sick ways with her mother. She does it deliberately. It's the only room he should, by all means, be allowed to enter in this house. Ever. And she knows he'll remember; that is also why. She's just petty enough for that, and okay with being so. Gosh, do forgive her a little pettiness toward the guy who ruined her life.
They sit down, and Rin watches Anotsu's eyes graze the walls as he kneels across from her, mannerly and almost demure. He has the decency not to smirk now, and he even refuses to make eye contact for a moment. Rin doesn't know if she's glad for it; it's congruent with the new picture of Anotsu Kagehisa that's been painted in her mind during their trip to Suwa - a more human Anotsu. With failings, like everyone else. Like her. And now that he's here, in her house, she's not sure if she's ready for it. She thought she'd dealt with it quite well, but it's one thing to learn something new in a strange environment, and another entirely to integrate that new thing into the oldest part of her life. Having him in her own home. Intrusive, like before. It's awkward, and she's smarting just a little.
He's been looking at the walls, the paper screens, and the floor, not at her. They're clean. They've been clean since the day after it happened; she had spares. Back then, she needed to cleanse it, even if part of her felt like it was erasure. Washing the horror away too soon. But it lingered long enough where it mattered, and at that moment, she just needed, desperately, to live.
So their eyes meet, again, and she clears her throat. „So,“ she says, but goes nowhere with it. Silence swallows her mouth up whole, keeps her words stuck in her throat, at the back of her brain, before they even really form. And Anotsu, he looks at her with that attentive gaze. Waiting. Giving her the first word, it seems. It's that strange parlor courtesy of his; she's seen a glimpse of it in Kaga (right before he left his wife to her fate, whatever that ended up being). But right now, all she can do is pull down the corners of her mouth into a frown.
„I see you've met Dōa,“ he says, finally, and now he's genuinely smiling. „That was unexpected, I'll admit.“
„Oh, was it?“ Her eyebrow is twitching.
„Indeed. She didn't tell me where she was staying before.“ And his gaze goes past her, through the open shōji at the other side. „You have a fine garden.“
„Why, thank you,“ she says, not bothering to hide her sarcasm. Where is Dōa, she wonders. Is she gathering Anotsu's books from all the corners of the bedroom she threw them into to give them back to him? Not that she actually read the things; Rin could probably tell him more about their contents than Dōa could. Not that she isn't trying (and it's kinda cute in a way), but her attention tends to wander. Besides, they're busy.
But hey, now that he's here already, she might as well question him. „So, how're you doing right now?“, she asks, with her best effort at nonchalance and a too-sweet smile on her face.
„As ever,“ he answers, and there's that smirk again. He's caught on to her ploy immediately, of course he has. Then he gets serious, and waits a beat, then he says: „We're undercover.“
That takes her by surprise, and that's when she realizes she wasn't truly expecting him to divulge anything. She also realizes it's no small thing; if he didn't trust her be quiet, he would've fared better not mentioning it at all. It makes her feel - she doesn't quite know how it makes her feel. Strange, unknown, but neutral.
„My apologies if Dōa is being... difficult,“ he continues, businesslike. „She still has a lot to learn.“ Rin thinks she can detect something like a hint of caring, maybe even of pride in a pupil in him. And that's weird, that's unprecedented. Anotsu Kagehisa has comrades, but Rin has yet to hear of him having pupils.
Well, that would explain the books. Rin almost feels like giggling, there's something distinctly funny about the mental image of Anotsu, the jerk, taking Dōa, the brat, under his wing. Probably Isaku, too, and that makes it even funnier. Maybe she should giggle, but fourteen years of social conditioning get in the way of that. She's the hostess. Won't do to be rude. So she stows the image away to treasure it, to lord it over her mental Anotsu (saying something like: „Hah! Even you are not immune to cuteness!“) at another time.
Scarcely done with those thoughts, she licks her lips that are feeling a little dry, and then her eyes refocus and halt on Anotsu's. He's watching her, she notes, like a cat on the prowl. And then she thinks, the holy Amida only knows what faces she's been making while lost in her own thoughts. It causes her to blush, and her tongue is still stuck between her lips and teeth (she's lucky she didn't bite down on it - that would've made Anotsu laugh for sure!).
„Ah, don't worry“, she then says, still blushing. It gets lost in the something that's come up between them, the same strange ties that developped while she watched him lose his strength and speech and carried him around for who knows how many ri. Something that was uncomfortable at first, but is less so now that they're both healthy and not forced onto each other; and now that this new mark upon their souls had time to fester. It is a mark, because they know that neither of them came out of that trip unchanged. She knows that he knows it. It's in his eyes and his whole demeanor.
Finally, she pulls her tongue back and then her body just moves of its own accord, forward on hands and knees, towards Anotsu, who's watching her calmly. She sits down in front of him, close, and his fingers touch her hand, then grasp it, then entwine both their fingers together. That makes her blush grow hotter, and she only looks at him briefly before kissing him.
His lips are soft, almost soft enough to be feminine, but Rin isn't really surprised. She knows he takes care of himself, is conscious of what he represents and how and styles himself accordingly, because of vanity (because he is pretty damn arrogant) as much as the fact that he thinks everything through.
They're kissing, and they're not really moving a lot, yet Rin feels something gathering at the base of her abdomen, and she's pretty down with that. Asano Rin is not a girl unfamiliar with these things. She's a girl who's spent her critical years in and out of teahouses, ears always open for whenever the name of Ittō-ryū might be mentioned, but soon also finding herself very attentive to women's talk when they thought no one was listening. So, she's thinking, that something is not really the weird thing. It's kind of par for the course when you're kissing a guy on the lips. So the weird thing is really the kissing. She should stop that.
It takes her a bit, more hesitation than she will later admit to herself, ever, but she pulls away eventually. She opens her eyes again, to see that Anotsu even looks a little perplexed - surprised at himself, if you will. Rin wonders if he's not actually used to stuff like that happening - well, he'd hardly be used to exactly the same thing happening, the circumstances are really kinda out-of-the-ordinary, but you know - but he grabs her attention when his eyes move away from her and his mouth opens just a little.
He's looking at the door, like there's something worth looking at there. Rin turns around and looks too.
Dōa is standing in the doorway with a tray in her hands, a steaming teapot and three cups on it. Her expression is utterly unreadable.
She's in for a thorough questioning later, that much is certain.