thenearshore | 008

[Honestly, Yukine hasn't been feeling all that great. Drinking lots of tea and water on Bishamonten's advice he's been on the mend, but he still really just wants to go home.

Spotting his mentor sitting on a blanket near a sakura tree though, he gets an idea. Drunk... can also mean uninhibited. Kazuma-san is usually pretty cautious about what he talks about, even to the point of having evaded talking about how be became a hafuri! Yukine doesn't see what the big deal is. He's just curious, the way everyone had been curious about him when he became a hafuri.

Maybe now's a good chance to get him to talk about it. (...At the very least it'll kill some time.)

[Approaching with a fresh bottle of tea in one hand he waves slightly.]

Hi, Kazuma-san. Wha'cha doing?

[Enjoying the scent of the cherry blossom and the deceptive nature of the flowers, Kazuma gave Yukine a more leisurely sort of wave then what he normally gives to his student.]

Hmn? Right now, all that I am doing is sitting back and enjoying myself for a little bit. What are you doing?

["Recovering from being drunk of stupid trees" is the honest answer to that question, but being drunk is also something that never happened.
So.]

Avoiding Yato until it's time to go home. Other than that, not much.

Want me to pour you some tea? [He shows Kazuma the bottle of green tea, glancing down to see if he has a cup nearby. Watch him be super-polite!]

[Wow~ Such polite manners! It is a pretty good sign that despite how long he stays with Yato, the boy hasn't quite lost some of his homegrown manners.

Adjusting his glasses with just the edge of his thumb, Kazuma motioned towards the small traditional tea cup lingering next to his socked feet.]

Only if you have a glass yourself, Yukine-kun. It won't be fair for only one of us to enjoy some time off.

Um- I was just going to drink from the bottle after serving you...

[Not the way it's supposed to go, he's pretty sure, but he left his cup behind a while ago.

Opening the tea he takes Kazuma's cup and pours for him. Handing it back to him he tries to start into the topic he has in mind casually,]

It is kind of nice to have time off like this, isn't it. But Kazuma-san... would it be all right for you for me to ask you a question anyway, even though it's not lesson time?

[Laughing into his hand, Kazuma simply brushed away the bit of bad manners as something that didn't really matter nor important enough to fuss about. After all this was a party and he was just as much a victim as Yukine. Shrugging his shoulders dismissively, Kazuma smiled and accepted the drink.]

Sure? Based on just the way that you approached me, it has to deal with personal matters or something that is related to the nature of the classes?

[That’s Kazuma-san for ya… But Yukine doesn’t mind being found out.]

You’re right- it’s actually kind of both. Kazuma-san, I don’t really know anything about being a hafuri. If I want to serve Yato at my strongest, I want to know all I can about it. Won’t you tell me about how you became a hafuri?

[It doesn’t get framed much nicer than that. ~~Come onnnn, Kazuma. Spill the beans already, would you?]~~

[Leaning back a bit to look critically at Yukine, Kazuma pursed his lips out in thought. He knew that eventually Yukine would come to him and ask him about that, but to be poached when he was obviously less then steller? That was a bit of a cunning move on Yukine's part and as such- the boy deserved a reward. A honest answer would be a justified reward.]

What do you mean in particular? As an Hafuri yourself, you know at least one qualification it takes to become one.

[Ugh- Kazuma-san, don't make it so complicated...
But Yukine gives some consideration to how to answer.]

Well, yah. But qualifications aren't everything. If it was only 'giving up your name for the sake of protecting your god', there'd be a lot more hafuri, right?
So maybe there's something... inspiring in your story- something that'd be like- like a strength that I have that I didn't even see in myself.

[Or something! It's possible, right?]

[Simply closing his eyes in thought, Kazuma pursed his lips as he mentally debated with just what he should and should not share with Yukine. Sure, A shinki risking their a name for their god was a try and true tradition but there had to be something else to it as well- something extra that would prevent so many hafuri's from being created.]

I don't think the story of how I became a Hafuri would be as pure as yours. What I did was rather greedy actually. Ultimately, I am traitor to my clan mates and to be honest I may not of be the first traitor among Viina's shinkis. Just like I am your mentor I had my mentor, and an exemplar that I had to report too. Back then I was just a simple nail and my mentor her name was Touma. When... When Viina started to fall ill, it caused trouble for all of us. Nobody wanted to admit to being the one to cause our master harm... And unfortunately some one had to take the blame, and Touma fitted the bill. Back then Touma was just a pot lid and she and I got along pretty well because of our rather useless forms at the moment. But... Despite her vessel form... Touma...She was different then I was. When she stood up against the then exemplar, during the time when the accusations were flying, the exemplar pinned her for the crime of blighting Viina. I was powerless to save her when they dragged her away and tossed her into a pit of doom. When the blight continued and Touma's death proved ineffective... I just couldn't stand still once more as someone I treasure die before me. I had to do something, and at that time... Yato was a name whispered among us similar to a boogie man... and you... you know how the rest of the story goes.

[Finishing his story, Kazuma simply swirled the left over tea in his cup, his thoughts returning to the memories that he had just revealed to Yukine.]

Edited 2017-01-31 08:32 (UTC)

[Finally getting what he asked for, Yukine listens carefully.

So that was the background that led up to Yato killing Bishamonten-sama's shinki, which led her to resenting Yato with a bloody rage, which led to years of battle culminating in the one that he got stuck in. That he became hafuri in.

There is a certain gravity to learning the full picture.

But Yukine turns his mind to what to say next. After all, his mentor might expect that he got something out of the story.]

Thanks, Kazuma-san. It gives me a lot to think about, actually.

... Recently I realized that an exemplar needs to put greed behind them. We were human, but we're also shinki now. We can't get hung up on that stuff.
But ... maybe there's a different kind of greed that can be useful.

[He fowns slightly, looking down at his own tea. It's an idea that has only just now occurred to him, so it's not even close to formed or focused. But he... feels like he's on to something.]

008 | OVERFLOW

Kazuma and Yukine - Sakura

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