Much ado about Fruits

By Izzu

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Ryoma clapped his hands as Takatora finished shooting the last round of targets that have been set up in front of him. Takatora disarmed himself as the armour disappeared. He took out the Grape lockseed and stared at it for a moment before tossing it towards Ryoma; who barely caught it.

"Careful… we don't want to break the lockseed." Ryoma grinned before skipping towards his friend. Takatora gave him the sideway glance.

"'Ryuhou ha ha ha ha'? You're really enjoying this, isn't it?" he asked as Ryoma shrugged it off.

"Pity you didn't get the joke. The least you can do is laugh properly, Takatora. Then the pun wouldn't have sounded so bad…" Ryouma pouted, "And can't I be excitedabout it? We're finally getting ahead with the lockseed applications after we resolved the issue with the driver... so give me a break on this one."

Takatora snorted at him. "Who'd have the mood to laugh in these kinds of situation?" he asked as he looked over a bunch of other lockseeds on the table beside him. Ryoma passed him back the Grape lockseed as Takatora placed it on one side of the table.

Ryoma took a peek and noticed how organized Takatora had been, separating the lockseeds that had been tested from the ones that he didn't try yet. He smiled at the dedication, Takatora always tend to be so focused with his work whenever he was serious about something.

"So, you have the Grape being guns, huh?" Takatora suddenly spoke.

"Yeah… well, grapes did come in a bunch and guns usually needs a lot of ammo."

"Then, the chinese motive?"

Ryoma shrugged. "It's all about the puns… Takatora. You know I love my pun jokes…"

Takatora nodded to himself as he made his mental notes. "Then… Orange… with sword. Which can also be combined with the sabre…"

"I also used the Date Masamune reference for that one. Japanese armor type… black body... since, you know why… and a slanted crescent moon crest on the helmet. I originally thought to have you initiate the driver using that one… then I felt you shouldn't be using a black armour. You wore black all the time anyway, it'll get boring. So, I decided that Melon should be IT," rambled Ryoma on and on before he turned to see Takatora glaring at him.

'You think I'm your Barbie doll, is it?', the look Takatora gave seemed to shout at him. He giggled. He answered back in his mind gleefully, Indeed, Takatora. Indeed…

Takatora turned back towards the array of lockseeds as he separated another one from the lot. "Banana… and a lance. Or a cross with a large blade or something," he turned towards Ryoma. "'Knight of spear'?"

Ryoma rolled his eyes at Takatora. "Well, a lance is a pole-type weapon as well as as spear type; for use by a mounted warrior—well I did also combined several other references—I mean, from Korean ancient weaponry there's 'woldo' and 'danwoldo'; 'woldo' is also a type of spear... and the 'danwoldo' is kinda similar to a giant crescent blade, and bananas aren't exactly straight…"

Takatora nodded hastily to that to stop Ryoma from continuing his brief lecture on weapons as he commented, "I… see. So I guess the European Medieval theme was no accident then?"

It's obvious that by now Takatora has activated Ryouma's geek mode as Ryoma started jumping around excitedly. "You have NO IDEA! You might not noticed it since Zangetsu's basic form would hinder you to be able to show you the full forms for the other arms… but I should show you my original sketch on how the Arms would look like if someone initiate their drivers with them… it's glorious…"

Takatora gently pushed Ryoma aside, "Okay… I get you. Later then," he said as he stared at the other lockseeds that he haven't tested yet. He sighed. "Strawberry, Kiwi… you even have a few nuts here—I thought we're just going to use only fruits?—Mango, Pineapple… you're really working me to the extremes, huh?"

Ryoma shrugged. "Well, you did say that you wanted to be the one doing the most dangerous tasks… testing out the lockseeds' powers. And I'm keeping the options open now; who knows we might need different types of weapons..."

Takatora sighed as he picked out the most exotic type of all amongst the stacks of lockseeds. He made a face at Ryoma. "Durians... seriously?"

The grin on Ryoma's face was so big he couldn't help laughing it off. He chuckled to himself as Takatora scratched the side of his head in amusement. "Looks like I had my work cut out for me…."

xxx

Hours later, back home… Takatora immediately head to his room to get the sleep he'd been wanting to get. Honestly, between long board meetings, extensive lockseed tests or any other side projects involving Helheim… he wasn't sure anymore which of the those that sapped his strength the most everyday. Somehow he envied other people whose office work weren't so demanding…

"Nii-san? Going to bed already? But you just got home..."

Takatora paused and turned around to cast a tired smile to his little brother. "Ah… sorry, Mitsuzane. Today the work pile was so hectic I didn't have any time left to take a break. So I… well, I'll take a nap first—I really needed one right now—and after that I'll come over to keep you company. How's school?"

Micchi shrugged as he caught his brother yawning and nearly falling asleep standing beside the railings. "I-it's fine… you looked really tired, I guess you really needed to get that sleep… nii-san,"

Takatora nodded. "Yeah… sorry 'bout that. Had dinner yet?"

Micchi shrugged again. "I just asked the Head Cook, she was about to cook me something—do you want anything? One of the maids brought a fruits basket…"

Suddenly an uncomfortable feeling of sickness started to well at the pit of Takatora's stomach. He cringed. To think there would be a day he would feel sick at any mentions of fruits…

"It's alright, Mitsuzane. I didn't feel hungry," said Takatora as he headed towards his room.

Once inside, he just threw himself on the bed… not even bothering to change his clothes. He sighed gratefully. The comfortable bed felt so welcoming… it seemed to soothe every fibre of his tired body. Sleep wouldn't be so hard to…

Few minutes later, Micchi walked in to find Takatora fast asleep. He clicked his tongue at the sight of his brother.

"Honestly, you could at least take off your coat…" he muttered under his breath as he gently removed the piece of clothing from his older brother's body. Micchi also placed a pillow under Takatora's head and covered his body with the comforter. He sighed to himself before picking up the tray he left outside of the room and placed it on top of Takatora's desk.

"You probably gonna be hungry later, so cook told me to take these to you anyway…" Micchi spoke aloud before eyeing the melon slices beside the bowl of chicken porridge. He grinned to himself as he snatched one slice.

"Sweet dreams… nii-san," said Michi before closing the door behind him.

A/N: Yeah... since I was currently obsessed at the Arms