Week 5, Wednesday

[disilluded]

[You know what's dumb? It's dumb when Sousei is trying to reach for something stupid and unnecessary that's just out of reach.

It's even worse when it's a fan, which doesn't even seem that valuable.

It's even worse still when he is... leaning a bit too far over the edge of the pool to try to yank it off of a floatie thing.

This is terrible, and he's teetering, but he's trying so hard.]

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[randori]

[ tfw you can't swim so you're trying to avoid the pool at all costs, but somebody is about to drown, so you have to play hero.

The dumbest hero that remembers nothing about lifeguards screeching about how you shouldn't run near the pool, as Natsuo makes a lunge for the hem of Sousei's shirt to haul him back or at least steady him, and instead he just slips on the water and headbutts him square in the back. ]

[disilluded]

[Well.

The good news is that Sousei can swim--he topples forward with that unexpected headbutt and goes face first into the water, but only remains under briefly.

He's quick to resurface, shooting Natsuo an...incredibly dour look.]

What do you think you're doing?

[randori]

S-saving you! I'm saving you, so don't drown!

[ Clearly that's what he's doing, arms wrapped around Sousei's torso as he hangs on for dear life, trying to get one of his hands on Sousei's shoulder so he can push himself up and keep his head above water. ]

[disilluded]

[... Uh huh. Sousei just grabs Natsuo by the back of the shirt, drags him off (the buoyancy of the water really does help with this), and then swims over to the edge of the pool to deposit him there.

Go, go, shoo.]

Sit there and do not get into any more trouble.

[randori]

I'm not getting into trouble! I'm saving you, so be grateful!

[ He keeps insisting this, even as he hangs onto the side of the pool with enough self-preservation not to let go this time. ]

The water's dangerous, so! Come back!!

[disilluded]

I am fine. I am simply grabbing this fan.

[So chill, small yappy dog.]

Just stay there for a moment--

[That's like. The hope? The plan? The idea?

But naturally when he grabs that fan, they're getting bubbled instead. GOOD JOB, SOUSEI. Surely Natsuo has always wanted to see Sousei get shoved off a cliff.]

[randori]

[ GOODBYE SOUSEI.....

The panic spikes when he first sees the swords, and then crashes through the ceiling when Soramaru rushes in towards Sousei and shoves him backwards— there is no sitting still anymore; Natsuo leaps forward, unarmed and too slow to stop any of this from happening, but there's no way he can just sit still and watch this. He launches himself at Soramaru's back, grabbing at whatever he can reach to pull the pair of them back, but his momentum is wholly forward, intent on reaching them first and thinking about how he's supposed to actually save them later. ]

[disilluded]

[Natsuo, it's a memory... not that it isn't endearing, honestly, that he's trying to stop this from happening so fiercely, but... the memory fades, of course, Sousei and Soramaru fading into nothingness and leaving them both in the pool as they were before.

Sousei quirks an eyebrow at Natsuo, but moves back over towards him, fan in hand.]

You do not have to look so distressed. We were both fine.

[randori]

[ He didn't know it's a memory and for all he cares, it didn't matter— seeing somebody- two bodies- fall to their deaths right before his eyes isn't something he ever wants to experience, in this life or any other.

He'd lurched out from his spot on the side of the pool when the memory was playing, so that when he comes to again, it's with water up his nose, flailing to grab back at the slick tile before he somehow drowns in the shallow end. ]

—ugh. Fine- you guys weren't fine! You were fighting! He's Shiraru's friend- why were you fighting him?!

[disilluded]

[Even as Sousei's hauling himself out of the pool, reaching down to bodily haul Natsuo out of the pool properly (please don't drown in the shallows, it'd be sad...), there's...a very distinct change in his mood and expression at those words.]

... Excuse me? He's what?

[Oh...he's pissed now.

Not at Natsuo, at least, but--

Shirasu's friend? Shirasu doesn't have the right to call Soramaru his friend.]

[randori]

Friend! Or- more like family, aren't they?

[ Which is what I had almost typed, but then Sousei might've let Natsuo drown. He's safe now, though, clinging onto Sousei's upper arms even as they're both out of the water, and giving him a weak but desperate shake. ]

Maybe you didn't know, but! When you go back, don't fight with him anymore, or Shirasu will be sad!

[disilluded]

You must be joking.

[It's said incredibly coldly, as Sousei starts to peel Natsuo off with a shred of the humoring he usually shows for him. Not today.

Today he's angry.]

That man does not have the right to call them family or friends after what he did to them. Do not ever say such a thing in my presence again.

[randori]

[ It's a cold sort of fury that sends a chill down Natsuo's spine, much different from the hot, explosive sort of anger that he keeps inside himself. The fact that Sousei does not shout, that makes him back off. ]

What... did he do? They were smiling so happily around each other...

[disilluded]

He betrayed them, and was willing to let that entire family die for the sake of his own ambition.

[Sousei spits those words out, arms crossed and posture tense. Sousei can deal with a lot, but Kumous are and always will be a sore spot with him, and Shirasu's crimes are not crimes he ever intends on forgetting or forgiving.]

That man has no right to even say their names.

[randori]

[ That doesn't sound like the Shirasu that Natsuo knows at all, the man who stabbed him in the back and then turned around and won him over with sweets... but one who had such fondness in his eyes when he'd first mentioned that family. He was laughing then- it was such a happy laugh. There's no way he could laugh like that if he were the cause of their death, even the slightest amount of guilt would be too much. ]

You don't... think it's a misunderstanding? I've been betrayed before, abandoned to suffer a fate all by myself, but the other side was just scared. That was something I could forgive.

[disilluded]

I am quite certain of it.

[He breathes out a soft sigh at that, shaking his head simply.]

It was not a misunderstanding, it was an explicit choice. He is a Fuuma ninja--Shirasu Kinjou is a pseudonym only.

[He crosses his arms.]

And to the Fuuma, the clan comes before all else. He was quite willing to sacrifice all of them for the sake of throwing Japan into chaos, for the sake of something so petty as putting his clan into power...

[Bah.]

Believe me or don't if you wish, but that is the sort of man he is.

[randori]

[ They're things that point badly to Shirasu, but for Natsuo... one of his best friends is a ninja (or has deluded himself into thinking he's one, whatever) and pseudonyms are something he understands too. Clans and sacrifice and all that, those are what goes over his head, unable to comprehend something as wide a scale as that. ]

A clan is a family, isn't it? I also fought hard to keep my brothers safe, even if I got to make friends from the other sides. [ Not to the extent of murdering anybody, and he would never think to touch those he'd become friends with, but he wants to believe so badly in Shirasu. ]

He wouldn't trade one family for another... There's no way. I'll ask him about it, and make him tell me the real reason why, and then you two can forgive each other and get along again.

[disilluded]

I have already stated that this is not something I wish to discuss.

[Sousei just looks sour in response, looking away, arms crossed. Whatever Natsuo wants to believe, Sousei knows what he saw with his own two eyes. Knows the looks on Tenka and Soramaru and Chuutarou's faces when Shirasu was gone for good. Knows what it felt like to have his own protege kidnapped away from his when he looked away.

He hates Shirasu, and that will never change.]

Believe what you want. You asked, and so I've given you an answer. That is all I'm interested in discussing.