Another KoMasa story.
Hope you enjoy :)
"How long have you been with your young master?" The Tiger of Kai asked.
They were resting for their last battle against the Devil King. Most of the soldiers had gone to sleep after a small celebration. The only ones left were Katakura, and Shingen.
"W-what," Kojuro found himself in shock at the bluntness of the question.
The tiger shook his head. It became apparent to him that the bond between the dragon and his right eye were stronger then he once thought. It didn't take long for him to deduce that they were lovers.
"How long had you been with your young master? It's not as if you go out of your way to hide it."
Neither of them had noticed at this point that Masamune had stumbled out of his room in search for his companion. He woke up to find that he wasn't there and couldn't get back to sleep without him. He was close to the door when he heard the conversation and stopped to listen for how Kojuro would respond.
"The situation is complicated." came a ruff reply.
"Really," the tiger snorted, "Is it because of your age. I can tell there is a bit of a gap." Date's stomach clenched at this. There was a seven year gap between them but he had seen girls at the age of fourteen, some younger, get married off to people who were close to death, so why should their relationship be frowned upon.
"It doesn't concern you."
"You mean the fact that you are taking advantage of the boy. I know his past, with everything that has happened to him he must have attached himself to anything that gave him the smallest amount attention. How old was he the first time you laid with him? Was he even able to understand what was going on?" the tiger sounded angry.
"Date-sama is a consenting adult. My job is to make him happy."
Masamune felt his heart stop at those words. Not able to listen anymore he pulled away from the door, stomping back to his room not caring if he was acting childish or if Katakura heard him. He flopped back on his bed pulling the blankets back around himself.
"Masamune-sama?" he heard the sliding door open and his retainer's voice calling out to him.
"What do you want?" He mumbled giving the other his back.
"What's wrong," the voice was gentle as the man sat beside him stocking his cheek. But Date wasn't going to yield that easily. He moved away from the touch and could all but hear Katakura's brow furrow. "Did you have a nightmare," he reached out to touch again only to be denied. "Masamune," he sounded defeated. He knew that when the dragon got into one of his moods it was hard to get him out.
After a bit a silence Date finally yielded, he even turned to face him as he spoke, "Do you really love me?"
Kojuro looked legitimately surprised and concerned, "Of course I do," he answered quickly, "What brought this up."
"I just," he looked away not able to tell the whole truth, "You don't have to pretend to want to be with me just because I want to be with you. I imagine there are other people out there who want to…"
"Where is this coming from? You know I love you, with all of my heart."
"I know I just," he was trying to blink back tears but it wasn't working. They steadily started to work his way down his face. He quickly moved to rub the m away. A sob broke through his lips. He rolled back on his side shaking and crying.
The thought that this whole time Kojuro had faked loving him just so to please him. Maybe it was the eye. Everyone he met had a hard time getting around that. But Kojuro had seen him with his eye patch off on a regular basis.
Now that he thought back to it he was usually the one who had to initiate contact. He was the one who had kissed the other first…
"Masamune?" Kojuro's voice broke through his thoughts. He hadn't even realized that he had been pulled into the right eye's lap, "Tell me what's wrong." Katakura looked desperate to ease his master's mind of whatever was troubling it.
He kept crying for a while longer shaking uncontrollably in his retainer's arms before he spoke, "I heard what you said, to Shingen, about how you're only with me to placate me."
Katakura's eyes widen, "I didn't mean it."
"Then why did you say it?" he sniffled wiping his eyes.
"Because, our relationship is none of his business, you know I love you and I know you love me. And in time like these that last thing you want to do is tell someone who may be an enemy in the future about your close relations with other people. They'll just exploit it in the end. And the last thing I wanted was for you to be in danger over something I said."
Masamune gave him a wide eye expression before blushing, not quit able to meet the others face. He gasped in surprise when he felt his eye-patch being taken off.
"I love you," he felt Kojuro's face nuzzle his face. "I didn't mean to upset you, please forgive my blunder."
"Are you sure you're not just saying it to appease me," he turned to move out of his hold.
"Masamune," his voice sounded sad, "Never doubt my feelings for you. There is no other person I would want to be with. And even if you were to tell me to leave, I would not be able to part from your side." He tilted the younger man's head to look up at him.
"Kojuro…" he was silenced by a kiss. All of the passion that was held for him was poured into it. Date melted into strong arms, responding back sweetly.
"I will never leave you. It is my duty because I can't bring myself to leave you."
Date hug him. Even if he was lying he wasn't sure his heart could take it. No one had ever admitted to loving him. His mother rejected him, he was forced to kill his dad and his brother resented him. Sure his men were devoted to him but he couldn't help but wonder if it was because of his position.
"Show me," he panted desperately when they broke apart.
Kojuro knew what he meant. He laid his master down and started to undress him. It wasn't long until they were moving against each other. Sweat slicked skin against sweat slicked skin. Masamune was withering on the floor holding on tightly.
He could tell his right eye was trying to be gentle to show how much he really cared. "I love you, love you," was being mumbled in his neck over and over again.
And he believed it, declaring his love as well.
Meanwhile Bunshichi, on of Date's men who wore protection on his lower jaw, was walking back to where the other men were. He gotten up to pee in the middle of the night and decided to check on Number One. He was still recovering from the gunshot wound though he insisted on going to fight the Oba.
What had caught him off guard were the groans that were coming from the dragon's room. Worried, he crack the door open enough to see inside.
He looked, he saw, he walked away in shock.
"What's wrong?" Mago, the fat one asked.
Bunshichi shook his head unable to put words to it.
"You can't just come back looking like that and not tell us what happened. Are we under attack or something?" the one with the weird hair asked.
"I-I saw…"
"You saw what?" the one with the glasses urged.
"I was Master Katakura on top of Number One!" he almost cried.
"What do you mean on top of?" the afro on asked.
"They were… doing stuff."
"You don't mean?" the one with the glasses face scrunched.
Bunshichi nodded sadly. They were quiet before they decided they couldn't tell the other men that this happened. Actually it would be best if they never talked about it again.
The next day Masamune left earlier than everyone had planned after disbanding that Date. Now his army sat around not knowing what to do. Oddly enough Katakura seemed perfectly calm.
"You're not going to go after him?" Yukimura had asked hysterically not getting an answer from the right eye. The tiger cub soon decided to go help him. And not too much longer after that Katakura announced that they would be leaving as well.
The battle raged on for what seemed like forever. But they had one. The Devil King was dead and they could now work at going back to peace and trying to unite the lands. Everyone was cheering when Yukimura and Masamune came back down.
All except for Katakura who rushed to his young master side when he saw that his wound had reopened. He got there just in enough time for Masamune to almost collapse in his arm. This sight, however, draws back some unwanted memories for the four men who knew about what had happened between them the other night.
Nor did it help when he drew him into his arm bridal style and started to carry him to where the other injured soldiers were being treated. Date always got his own tent and more times than not Katakura was the one to treat his wounds.
Date men went back to Kai before they started the trek back to Oshu, for medical attention that they were unable to get on sight. Date still wasn't awake and was being carried by his right eye on the way there. Katakura had carefully maneuvered the dragon so he sat in front of him but was leaning back on his chest in support.
By the time they got back Date was already awake and protesting at the position he was stuck in saying he could ride on his own horse. Katakura was ignoring him at this point more concerned about the young man's heath than his pride.
The dragon stopped complaining once he realized this was one of the times when Kojuro wasn't going to listen to what he said. He even didn't protest when they arrived at Kai and Katakura carried him. The wound on his side was making it painful to move no matter how much he pretended to suck it up.
"You had me worried," Kojuro said when they were alone. He was currently working on rewrapping the wound on Masamune's side.
"It's just a scratch," Masamune said trying to ease the other's worry, "It's not like I haven't been wounded before."
The quiet was looming over them again with the tension from last night still at their side.
"I'm sorry about last night," Masamune said causing Kojuro to look up from what he was doing. There were very few times when ever Date felt he needed to apologize for anything. "I don't know what was wrong, I guess I was nervous or something about today fight and…"
"You don't need to explain yourself."
Date smiled back at him, one of his self-assured cocky smiles. Kojuro smiled back, he liked this Masamune better. The one that knew where he stood in their relationship, the one who would rush into battle without much of a second thought. He was reckless and carefree, which is what Kojuro liked about him.
"Thanks, for taking care of me. How are the others?"
"For the most part everyone is fine. Yours was the worst injury. Once you're completely healed, and I mean completely healed. We will be able to leave. Until then I sent the uninjured back to Oshu so it wouldn't be left unguarded for too long."
Before Masamune could respond Yukimura entered the room bowing immediately, "Masamune-sama, my lord has sent me to see if you were awake, but seeing that you are would you like anything to eat."
"Sure, bring something for Kojuro as well."
"Yes sir," Yukimura left quickly.
"I guess he really is always as energetic as he is on the battle field," Masamune laughed leaning into Katakura for support. He knew that no one would think anything of it because of his injury, and he found comfort in the man's presence.
Kojuro intertwined their fingers together, resting his head on top of his young master. It wasn't long until he heard Masamune's breathe even out and a few soft snores pass through his lips. He moved to lay him down without jostling him too much.
"Number one," four of his men came tumbling into the room, "We heard that you were awake and…" they paused. From where they were it looked as if their Master Katakura was over Number one in a kiss.
"W-we're sorry," they stammered out, "We didn't mean to interrupt. We'll just come back later."
"He just fell back asleep," Katakura finished laying the other down and moved out of the way for the others to see, "What did you mean by interrupt?"
"U-uh, we though he was still asleep," they said backing out of the room.
Kojuro raised an eyebrow, "What's wrong with you guys?"
"N-nothing, we're going to go make ourselves useful to the rest of the camp. Bye," they ran out before Katakura could question them anymore.
It was a few weeks before Kojuro deemed Masamune ready for the long trek back to Oshu. He could tell that the army under Kai found it amusing when Masamune, the feared One Eye Dragon, would all but throw a temper tantrum about wanting to leave.
"Is he always like this," the Tiger of Kai asked the day before they left.
"No usually he's worse. This is him trying to preserve some of his dignity," Kojuro said easily tuning out Date's pleads to leave, even when he lifted his shirt to show the healed wound.
"I want to apologize about my question earlier. It really isn't any of my concern what you two are to each other, and Masamune seems like the kind of person that wouldn't let something happen that he didn't want."
Kojuro only nodded excepting the apology, before turning to deal with Date.
He smiled seeing Masamune glare as he was berated for his childish behavior. He knew that this man was the one he wanted to spend his life with. No matter what happened he wanted to keep him safe and was willing to die for him.
Fin
