It was too much. Mitsunari Ishida stared down at his fists, clenched tightly against his knees where he sat on the large blanket beneath the sakura blossoms, the petals falling around them in the gentle breeze.
"What was the point of this again?" he muttered, watching the fabric of his yukata crinkle beneath his fingers. "Besides humiliating me, of course."
"I just wanted to go cherry blossom viewing with you, Mitsunari, it's nothing bad…" Ieyasu laughed, and Mitsunari glanced up in time to see him tilting his head back to laugh harder, and felt the flush rise in his face.
"I never said it was 'bad' I just…" A sigh. "I don't understand why you wanted to go with me." He forced his hand out of the fist, reaching out to pick up the sake cup, lifting it to his lips and tilting it to pour over his lips. The wine was cool and crisp and sweet on his tongue, tasting of fruit. It almost wasn't even a wine at all, until the smooth burn of the alcohol lingered in his throat and mouth.
"You're my friend," Ieyasu retorted simply, and Mitsunari had nothing to retort to that. "I just wanted to share some sake and a quiet afternoon with my friend."
Their banter continued, and as the pleasant warmth of the sake seeped through him, Mitsunari was more inclined to relax, as Ieyasu kept insisting that he wasn't, and he shifted out of seiza, legs stretching out across the blanket as he lay back, watching the delicate pink petals dance towards the ground. Ieyasu flopped back a moment later, himself, and grinned over at Mitsunari.
"See, it's not that bad. Another?" he lifted the sake bottle, and they shared another drink. His limbs felt heavy as he sat up, watching the clear liquid spill into the small clay containters, and sipped it until it was gone. And suddenly what he would never dare to do in another state of mind seemed to be the best course of action he could possibly take.
He leaned forward, as Ieyasu set his cup aside, not seeing the advance from the other samurai until it was too late, and Mitsunari had planted his lips firmly against Ieyasu's. He sat back, flushing from not just the alcohol, and stared straight ahead.
"To friends," he murmured, returning to a stiff silence as Ieyasu chuckled.
