(I own nothing and I hope you enjoy. Good day and God bless.)
Higekiri let his innocent and childlike gaze linger on the small blue bird perched in the branches of a pine tree towering above him.
He didn't really know why but here, in the mountain breeze with the seer beauty of natural forests surrounding him, this small creature was what stole his attentions. He was utterly enraptured by the flow of its light blue feathers down it's small light body and the glow of the light against its pure black eyes.
One might think the bird had hypnotized him some way as he reached his hand out in one delicate motion. He smiled softly and looked the bird straight in the eyes, becoming for it to come forward and perch on his hand.
It was a scene straight out of a Disney movie.
But the truly unusual thing was that the bird leaped off its branch soundlessly, glided in the light mountain breeze, and landed right on Higekiri's outstretched hand.
The bird seemed to return his smile in a bird sort of way and the odd pair of new friends just stood there in that position for several minutes like this was perfectly normal.
"Elder brother!" Said a loud, borderline frantic voice from nearby, the owner just making his way up the hill, "Where have you gone?!"
Higekiri snapped his head around to meet the eyes of his younger brother and lifted his finger to his lips to silence him.
Somehow, being silenced by the person he was looking for in no way quelled how happy he was to see that his older brother was alright.
"Oh, thank goodness. I thought you were lost again." He said with a relieved sigh before he, too caught sight of the bird resting on his brother's fingers, "Elder brother, what is that?"
"Hmm?" Higekiri hummed pleasantly, "It's my new friend."
The younger of the two seemed mildly irked by this new development, shown in the way his eyebrow twitched. Since when did his elder brother make friends with birds and why was the thing smiling like that?
He would not admit to suddenly feeling quite jealous, but he was. Even a mere blue bird could see that he was.
"I think we should call it this bird Hizamaru." Were Higekiri's next words as he glanced at his younger brother with a smile as bright as the sun, "Don't you agree?"
There was a silence.
Just a couple of seconds for the entirety of the surrounding area to realize what was just said.
Of course Higekiri was utterly oblivious and had absolutely no idea why his younger brother, unbeknownst to him the true Hizamaru, suddenly looked completely heartbroken.
"Eh?"
Hizamaru spun on his heel just quickly enough so that Higekiri did not see the tears forming in his eyes and began to stomp down the hill, far away from his beloved elder brother and his stupid blue bird.
"W-Wait! Come back...um….. Pizamaru, where are you going?"
Higekiri began to walk after him but Hizamaru walked faster.
He would never admit to being jealous or currently crying over his jealousy but both were painfully obvious.
The swords immediate thought was that his brother was trying to replace him which was the absolute worst thing he could ever think of and only made him cry more.
He officially decided he hated birds. Not just blue birds, all birds of any sort.
But what Hizamaru didn't see coming was that his tears blurred his vision and therefore he did not see the brick wall until he smacked right into it, face first.
He stumbled back, shocked. He lost his balance and quickly found himself on the grassy forest floor.
"Oh dear." Said a deep monotone voice, "Watch where you are going next time, yes?"
Hizamaru froze. He lifted his clenched fist to wipe some stray tears from his eyes and clear his vision. Once he did, a bitter taste came to be in his mouth.
He had not bumped into a brick wall but rather the new Naginata, Tomoegata. The new one that never seemed to leave the master's side unless strictly ordered to.
The man was clad in a pure white robe to match his complexion, boots and hair but aside from that, he had a long almost cape like carpet of feathers hanging off one of his shoulders.
Yes, his feathers were beautiful but the fact that they were blue feathers just made Hizamaru all the more angry.
He ignored the man who watched him thoughtfully through his spectacle and pushed himself off the ground, grumbling angrily.
He then proceeded to stomp away into the distance, still crying, without so much as breathing an apology to Tomegata for bumping into him.
But the bird like Naginata's gaze did not leave him till he was completely out of sight.
He was a blade without history or story. He had no experience with this sort of situation nor did he know what could possibly cause it.
"Hmm." He muttered to himself, "I wonder why that strange man was crying."
"Don't know." Sighed Kashuu Kiyomitsu who stood beside him, arms full to the brim with newly gathered firewood, "Probably the usual reason."
"The usual reason."
"Not telling." Kashuu grumbled as he began to head back to the camping ground, "You'll find out eventually."
He could feel Tomoegata staring holes into his back like he was a space alien or something but he didn't care. He was already having quite the miserable time in this wretched forest, so he had zero tolerance for the Naginata's usual childlike innocence about every aspect of life down to the kitchen sink.
Awkwardly, Kashuu tried to walk like he wasn't in any pain due to his high heels to the camping spot the masters had picked out specifically; A place he knew to be invaded by Awataguchi swords which may or may not have meant that absolutely nothing was going to get accomplished.
Upon arriving at the site, a clearing of grass and dirt surrounded by healthy pine trees, he realized that he was more or less right.
The large maroon tents, six arranged in a crescent moon shape around the place where the campfire was supposed to be, were about halfway finished which was rather impressive sense they only started an hour and a half ago.
On the other hand, though Hasebe was here now to interrupt the Awataguchi swords progress.
Last Kashuu checked. Hasebe was assigned by the master to get everyone's bags and all the food needed for the camping trip. Judging by the three large orange bags he was currently searching through, he was not even close to being done with his job. The man also looked quite distressed and Kashuu could not really figure out why.
Once Kashuu dropped all the firewood in the proper area, he was able to properly hear what was going on.
Hasebe was kneeling in front of the contents of the bags, searching through them in full view of Gokatai, Midare and Maeda and, judging by the looks on their faces, they appeared to be getting quite the lecture.
And, of course, the other swords stood back but still looked very displeased with how Hasebe was talking to the children. Even Nakikitsune looked displeased and that was very rare.
"You didn't pack a toothbrush? None of you?!" Hasebe fussed, raising his voice a bit higher than necessary.
"M-M-Maeda said I'd just lose it anyway, so….." Gokatai stuttered, obviously on the verge of tears.
"W-Well Namazuo told me he would, so…." Maeda declared, obviously distressed at the prospect of being punished for telling his brother that.
"W-W-W-Well, I didn't want it to get dirty or something, so…" Midare stated regretfully, obviously distressed at the prospect of getting ugly brown teeth from one night of not brushing.
"No toothpaste, no blankets, no change of clothing!" He declared before putting his face in his hands, "Honestly… If the masters wanted a vacation, they shouldn't have taken the tontous, for all our sakes… You lot are nothing but trouble..."
And, as usual, Hasebe did not watch what he said about the tontous. In that way, he was similar to Okanehira but only in that way. The two just never realized that some of the tontous had an older brother who could hear insults from five miles away.
Kashuu had seen this scenario play out so many times that he knew what was coming.
In the distance, you could hear the sound of heavy footsteps that seemed to shake the ground and something being drug across the grass. It was coming closer and closer, approaching at a frightening pace.
The first the immerge from the darkness in the trees was, as expected, a rather angry looking Ichigo Hitofuri looking like he was ready to hit somebody.
The second things to immerge were Tsurumaru Kuninaga and Yagen Toushirou, both of which were not walking but were grabbing hold of Ichigo's shirt and collar, trying to hinder him from running to Hasebe by for his comment and doing something he might regret later. Unfortunately, Ichigo was in a sort of rage that allowed him to walk there anyway, dragging Tsurumaru and Yagen behind him.
"Dude!" The crane groaned, "Calm down!"
"Ichi," Yagen hissed, "He didn't mean it. Please stop."
Ah, but Ichigo kept going like any good big brother would. He would be there to defend his brothers, no matter which sword held him down.
As Tsurumaru was yanking on his collar, whatever intimidation Ichigo was trying to convey vanished and his voice came out strangled and shrill.
"... They…. Can just…. Use their…. Fingers…." He choked out, "And…. If you were…. Gonna be a…. Jerk…. About it….. Perhaps you should…. Just leave…. Instead….!"
At his words, Hasebe just raised an eyebrow and got to his feet, looking just as ready to fight as Ichigo was.
Tsurumaru and Yagen paled a little bit, releasing Ichigo's shirt. The damage had already been done.
The two swords, Ichigo and Hasebe, walked up and faced each other.
"Your brothers are ill prepared for this and who's fault do you think that is?"
"I let them pack their own bags, thank you very much!"
"That was your first mistake!"
"I put faith in my brothers because I'm not a mad control freak like you."
"Only a coward doesn't admit their own mistake."
"The only reason you're complaining in the first place is because you wanted to be alone with the masters!"
"T-That is not true-!"
"Deny it all you want, but all you are is a pervert."
"W-Well all you are is naive!"
And the fighting continued. Every sword around could practically see sparks flying between them and, if they weren't scared of being caught in the middle of it, they would have stopped the two in fear that they would start a forest fire.
Gokatai and Akita had tears forming in their large eyes and Yagen and Tsurumaru rushed forward to comfort them.
"N-Now now," Tsurumaru pleaded, "Don't cry!"
"L-Let's go somewhere else for now…" Yagen ushered before catching sight of the fireplace a few yards away filled with woods, "Look! Kiyomitsu brought the firewood!"
Kashuu was a bit surprised at hearing his name being said.
"Yah!" Namazuo cheered, grinning from ear to ear, "Let's start a fire and tell ghost stories~!"
And the three smallest swords screeched in fear as they usually did at the mere prospect of a scary tale but hurried to Kashuu's handy work, anyway.
As they all gathered there, Yagen quickly whispered a thank you to him.
"Don't mention it." Was Kashuu's reply as he began to walk, not wanting to get roped in with the Awataguchi swords after the interesting spectacle he just had the pleasure of witnessing.
He figured that, since Hasebe was busy with being childish, he would take over his duties and bring the belongings and food to the camp single handedly. He was sure that would win him some praise with at least one of the masters.
After a while, the voices faded into the distance and Kashuu was alone. The silence was actually quite pleasant but as he walked, he couldn't help but groan in pain.
He could feel the blisters forming all over his feet yet he would not dare touch one of those shoes intended for wildlife exploration.
The air was humid and he could feel the filth clinging to his skin. He utterly hated it out here like he hated rust and the history retrograde army.
It was safe to say that he wasn't an outdoors person simply because he didn't like getting dirty for no reason but he wasn't afraid of it.
He had no reason to be afraid of being in the forest all by himself, being a trained swordsman and all.
He thought that was that until he heard something that caused his spine to tingle in fear.
"Oh? Is that you over there, Kashuu?" A familiar voice said melodically.
Almost mechanically, said Kashuu turned his head to take in the obvious silhouette of Mikazuki Munechika in the distance, standing beside the stump of a once very large oak tree.
"Well, this is just splendid." He chimed, "We wondered where you went."
It was just Mikazuki, right? It was only his familiar ally, right?
Kashuu was not entirely sure why but something was far too unnerving about the mere concept of being alone in the forest with him. He may have seemed like a kind old man to most but something about him really creeped Kashuu out.
He swallowed. Mikazuki took a step towards him and Kashuu, not really sure what to do, took two steps back.
The sword then began to walk towards him at that steady serial killer pace you see in movies and Kashuu, resisting the urge to run for his life, began to walk in the other direction towards the car.
"Is something wrong, Kashuu?"
His heart kept inside his chest. His head shot up to see the clear silhouette of Kogitsunemaru far off, walking towards him at an equally steady and intimidating pace.
Kashuu began to feel frantic. He could hardly handle being alone with one Sanjo sword, let alone two.
He still had yet to comprehend that both these swords were still his allies and had yet to wrong him even once. He was too busy creating a plan on how to avoid the two of them.
In one sharp motion, he twisted to the right, taking a sharp turn and broke into a mild jog, hoping to lose them both halfway.
Alas his fragile hopes were shattered when he looking in the distance and saw the black outline of Iwatooshi in the trees with what appeared to be Imanotsurugi seated on his large shoulders.
He was probably just being paranoid but he did not like how still and silent the normally lively pair was. It felt as though it wasn't them at all but, just in case it actually was, he wanted to avoid them, to.
He took yet another sharp turn in the opposite direction, completely ready to run towards the camp like his very life depended on it, fully believing that it did, but as soon as he did that minor action, he ran face first into a brick wall.
The impact threw him back and into the ground where he struggled to find his footing.
"Oh my. Sorry, I didn't see you there."
And there he was. Ishikimaru stood right in front of him in all his six feet tall purifying glory, which wasn't intimidating on its own as he was the nicest of all five Sanjo swords but that did not decrease his fear of all of them all around him at once.
He frantically pushed himself back, away from the five swords who circled him like predators or some sort.
A pit filled his stomach once he realized there was no way to escape them and they were sure to make him do something he didn't want to do; Something wierd like catch each of them a fish with his bare hands from a nearby river.
Silently, Kashuu swallowed his pride and accepted his fate, knowing that if he were to die, this was definitely a better hair day to die on and that he had very few regrets in this life.
He heard them coming closer and closer, just inches away and he closed his eyes tight.
But that's when he heard a sixth person.
"What are you doing on the ground, Kiyomitsu?"
His eyes snapped open once more and he found himself staring into Yasusada Yamatonokami's gentle blue ones.
Yasusada, his friend for many decades, was just a few inches away from his face instead of the Sanjo swords he had anticipated.
His first thought was that he had been pranked somehow.
"...What?" Kashuu asked pitifully.
Yasusada just blinked, "You bumped into Ishikimaru, fell and haven't gotten up since. Why is that?"
A silence.
Kashuu glanced over Yasusada's shoulder to see that Ishikimaru was still standing there, looking rather concerned like Kashuu himself had done something crazy, which he kind of had.
But the second thing he noticed after looking at the oodachi a bit longer was that he had the appearance of being bigger than usual because at his sides were six very large duffle bags, the sort that belonged to the Awataguchi swords.
Another silence.
He glanced over to see that Iwatooshi had about ten very large bags in his arms while Imanotsurugi, who still sat seated on his shoulders, held a bag of marshmallows and a watermelon on his head.
Kogitsunemaru, who stood beside him, held about seven bags of food against his stomach with one arm and three duffle bags in the other. Honestly Kashuu was unsure how he didn't notice all the things they held before.
Turning once more to Mikazuki, he was utterly shocked to see the load he, one of the five great swords of Japan, was holding; Midare's tiny purse. That was it.
"Me, Yasusada and my brothers went to go get the food and everyone's bags," Mikazuki said with his usual borderline sinister smile, "But we were curious to see you walking around by yourself. We wondered if you were lost or something."
"Yah," Iwatooshi laughed, "It can be scary out in the forest all by yourself!"
"Really scary!" Imanotsurugi echoed, chipper as ever.
Another rather awkward silence.
Before Kashuu let his embarrassment find him, he let out a long and miserable sigh; The sort that impressed even an old man like Mikazuki.
Yasusada took that as a sign that he was okay and proceeded to ask with hand outstretched, "So, are you going to come back to camp with us, or…."
"No." Was his his simple and blunt reply.
Another silence.
"Why not?" Asked Yasusada, looking mildly hurt.
"Yah!" Imanotsurugi chimed in, "Don't tell me you like it out here…"
Kashuu hid his eyes from the rest of them by looking down do it was hard to tell if he was angry at them for some reason or not.
The Sanjo swords hoped he wasn't as they weren't really sure he'd ever tell them what they did wrong if he had.
But Kashuu spoke, hid eyes still downcast, choosing every one of his words almost a bit too carefully, "I'm not going…. Because I can't walk."
These awkward silences were getting quite old do Yasusada, with his eyebrow furrowed, decided to end it. He retracted his hand and stood straight up.
"You twisted your ankle, didn't you."
And now it was time for every other sword to sigh long and hard about the matter while Kashuu just hid his now coloring face.
On the way back, Yasusada had to pull Kashuu's arm over his shoulder and helped him limp all the way back to camp, much to the formers irritation and the latters shame. Kashuu remained rather silent while Yasusada mumbled and grumbled all about how silly high heels were.
Kashuu had truly hoped the embarrassing encounter would stay between that group and only that group. Of course that wouldn't happen.
The moment they stepped into camp, Mikazuki was able to give a detailed account of exactly what happened to every sword in the citadel, including the masters who now sat comfortably by the fireplace that the Toushirou swords still had yet to successfully start.
Somehow they were all thankful for that. Namazuo might not know what to do if he started a real fire. He had problems with that sort of thing because of all that happened to him.
In the end, it was Okurikara who started the fire. It was on his first try and it began to blaze almost immediately. Kogitsunemaru jokingly commented that the flames had taken a liking to Okurikara which he, looking straight into the bright flames with his usual death stare, promptly replied with, and I quote, "I don't intend to get friendly with you."
Ichigo and Hasebe were quick to make up. Even though they had the tendency to bicker about the silliest of things, they were still friends and could never truly hate each other.
Hasebe apologized to the Tontous by handing out graham crackers and chocolate bars so that all the children could make s'mores. They liked that idea quite a lot, despite never having them before.
By this point, it was sundown and everyone had a genuine smile on their face,
The scent of smoke and burning hotdogs was somehow very pleasant in the nightly air.
One master, the less mature of the two, ate three hotdogs in twenty minutes while the other didn't have any; She only ate a bag of marshmallows that she reserved all to herself all the while hugging a pillow she refused to leave back at the citadel.
No one was sure who started it but the younger Awataguchi swords, and soon the other childlike swords, began to sing kumbaya, a song the masters taught them, around the campfire. It was a sweet melody of children's voices that seemed to put elderly swords like Mikazuki or Kogitsunemaru to a light sleep.
Kuniyuki, for some reason, found that he could not go to sleep to this. Aizen told him that it was because Hatorumaru was singing along with the choir but Kuniyuki denied such a claim, saying it was simply because the fireflies were too bright for him to sleep.
Osayo and Imanotsurugi were playing an unusual game with said fireflies in which they would wordlessly catch as many as they could in a sixty second period before returning to their brothers and showing them the insects. They stopped playing when Osayo realized that the game was not fun for Souza as the prospect of keeping such pretty bugs captive like that made him feel minorly sick. Luckily once he dropped out, Imanotsurugi found a new playmate in Taikogane who always seemed to beat him at the game every time.
Kikkuo and Sengo just sat back and watched the children play under the supervision of Tonbokiri.
Fudou, who was oddly sober this night, was sitting next to Yagen on a log as they ate s'mores, telling stories about Oda Nobunaga, funny stories about their day and even riddles.
Nikkari Aoi sat confined in his tent were he made rather impressive shadow figures with his hands. His impression of a crane was so good, it even suprised Tsurumaru. The whole show was enough to bring a smile to even Hachisuka's usually bitter face,
Nagasone and Urashima were wondering the campgrounds, talking about everything and anything they could and they both had an excellent time. Nagasone, after all he had been through, had found a special peace here in this citadel where he had family and friends and this trip only further reminded him of that fact.
And, as unusual as it was, Izuminokami Kanesada stayed in his tent. He didn't have any particular reason, he just wasn't feeling all that sociable today. Horikawa understood and kept him company the whole time.
Yamanbushi, as enthusiastic as ever, began to sing as loudly as he could, some of the best melodies he knew at the camp fire. He sang them so loudly that even Yamanbagiri felt the need to approach him and tell him to stop but, in the end he only got roped in and was nagged to sing till he finally caved. On that day, the entire citadel learned that Yamanbagiri has the voice of an absolute angel and no one would ever convince them otherwise.
Taroutachi and Jaroutachi were being unusually quiet as they pleasantly conversed with Uigusumaru. It was unusual seeing Jaroutachi being so calm but it was nice either way.
Okanehira and Yoshiyuki seemed to be having a very heated discussion over who knows what but they were considerate enough not to start anything on this pleasant night.
Several hours passed and night had fallen deep upon the land. Several of the Awataguchi swords were asleep now and the camp was infinitely quieter.
Ichigo, seated on an old stump, just stared at the crescent moon and all the stars in unusually deep thought. He had sat there because he was designated by the masters as the gaurdian of the remaining marshmallows and he was determined to serve his post well and yet his troubled mind couldn't help but wander.
Wander to his long awaited brother who still yet to come home.
After several minutes of this, he let out an uncharacteristic sigh.
"I wish…" He muttered sadly, "That Mouri could be here to see this…"
"Yah." Said another voice beside him, "I wish Souji was here to see this, to."
A silence.
A really really really long one.
Ichigo quickly jerked his head around to look at the owner of that voice, his expression rather confused.
Yasusada sat beside him, hugging his knees, his large blue eyes still gazing at the bright stars above. This whole scene would have been normal to Ichigo but he could have sworn he heard something else.
"What?"
"What?" Was Yasusada's quick reply as he shot Ichigo a look like he hadn't even said anything worth questioning.
Another very long silence.
Ichigo, in a weak attempt to justify what he heard, lifted up the bag of marshmallows from his lap.
"Do you…?" He asked pathetically, "Want some…?"
Yasusada just shook his head, politely declining.
After that brief exchange, Ichigo suddenly felt far too exausted to stay awake. Despite this, he forced his eyes open and continued to gaze off into the beauty of the moon.
Now Ichigo did not see because it was rather dark out but beside Yasusada sat a rather miserable Kashuu who held an ice pack that Yasusada himself had provided, tenderly against his swollen ankle.
Kashuu, who was not strung up in the past, had ears for the present to hear something unusual that ever so slightly distracted him from his misery.
Lazily, he turned his head to the side to see the faint glow of a lamp in the distant trees.
He had already recognized the lamp as a belonging of Kogarasumaru but further than that, he small the old sword in its light, moving like he was dancing which was something he usually did.
Looking a bit down, he quickly saw what appeared to be Hizamaru hugging his knees, curled up on the forest floor, far away from camp. It was unusual but not the most unusual thing the sword had done before.
From this distance, he could not really see their expressions or what they were feeling but he could take enough from the words he heard.
It was faint but it sounded distinctly as though Kogarasumaru was comforting Hizamaru to the best of his ability, even going as far as to lightly massage the younger swords shoulders.
"Come now," He said in his usual soft voice, "Why don't you tell this father what he can do to ease your broken heart."
Kashuu smirked at the older swords unusual antics and at how childishly Hizamaru was handling his jealousy.
He wasn't sure what he was jealous of exactly but Kashuu had seen him react this way long enough to identify the feeling. It had various different causes but It was always about his elder brother, Higekiri and it was always something overly childish.
At this point, Kashuu had lost interest and proceeded to gaze at the stars.
But, over on Ichigo's side, Ichigo had a whole other range of hearing that caused him to hear something highly unusual.
What he heard Yasusada say earlier was debatable but what he heard now was clear as day, if not a little muffled.
He heard Higekiri's voice from behind a tree, chanting "Pretty bird Hizamaru," Over and over and over again.
He said it so sweetly, Ichigo thought he might have been talking to a pet but how he said it did not concern him. What truly concerned him was that Hizamaru was not a bird nor was he very pretty, but Hizamaru was Higekiri's younger brother.
Now, if Ichigo didn't have brothers of his own, he would have thought this sort of behavior was a little odd but he would have turned a blind eye to it. Unfortunately, Ichigo had about fourteen brothers and knew that this was far from normal behavior.
He would never dream of calling any of his brothers pretty or birds, much less saying it over and over again.
To make matters worse, Ichigo knew that Higekiri was completely incapable f remembering his brothers name so what kind of mysterious occurrence could possibly cause that to change?
Somehow it made it worse that he could not see Higekiri as he only heard his voice coming from behind a nearby pine tree.
Ichigo almost didn't want to know what was truly happening and the mere prospect of finding out filled him with a sort of fear and yet, as most of the Awataguchi swords were, he was controlled by a strong curiosity and he did not think he could sleep tonight if he did not find out.
Ever so quietly, he rose from his stump, marshmallows still in hand. He took soft and steady steps like he was stalking a wild animal, which he kind of was. The last thing anyone in the citadel wanted to do was to spook a sword like Higekiri.
But of course, Yasusada wouldn't let him go quietly so, before he said anything, Ichigo made sure to quiet him with a finger to his lips and a pointed look.
Even though the sword really wanted to say something, he, like most of Ichigo's brothers, shut right up.
Ichigo continued his silent stalking, inch by inch, step by step, breath by gentle breath. His heart was pounding heavily in his chest and he wasn't entirely sure why.
The rough bark of the tree was within reaching distance, Ichigo finally caught sight of Higekiri.
The sight was stunning but it was nothing short of anticlimactic.
Ichigo let out one heavy sigh because Higekiri sat plesently on the forest ground with his legs crossed, minding his own buisness. In one hand, he held a happy little blue bird and with the other, he stroked its gentle feathers as he countinued his chant over and over and over again.
Ichigo didn't know what he expected but it certainly wasn't this.
Having enough and desiring an explanation, had cleared his throat and that got Higekiri's attention immediatly.
"...H-Higekiri…" Ichigo began shakily, not really sure how to phrase his sixty questions, "Why do you have a bird?"
The sword being questioned tilted his head in confusion, "I don't know. Why do you have marshmallows."
Another long silence was all it took to make the older Awataguchi sword realize that he probably needed fifteen hours of sleep to get rid of all of this.
"Y-Yah… But… Why did you can it….?" He began.
"Hizamaru?" The other countered with a delicate smile, "It's a suiting name, is it not?"
"But… It's your brothers name."
Quiet filled the air. It was not quite a silence as Higekiri's mind processing what was just said was almost audible.
"No it's not." Was his abrupt reply. Ichigo could see that he actually believed that statement.
"... Yes it is."
With a soft laugh, making sure not to hurt the little blue bird. the sword pushed himself off the ground to stand in front of Ichigo. They were around the same height do he was able to look him straight in the eye.
"Ah," he said, "So little matters when your as old as me so I guess I would forget a silly name like Pizamaru…"
Ichigo almost deadpanned but then he reminded himself that alhiemerz is no laughing matter.
He should pity him, rather than getting angry.
Those two swords continued their small talk on the matter but soon returned to the stump where Ichigo was sitting before all this. The two showed each other various constalations and Ichigo made note to show them to his brothers tomorrow night.
But Kashuu, who was pinned to the ground by his sprained ankle, had very little idea what was going on so he proceeded to ask Yasusada what all the fuss was about.
"Oh, it's nothing." His friend said with a smile, "It's just that Higekiri has a new pet bird and he likes it very much."
Yasusada's word was usually trustworthy so Kashuu let himself put two and two together to see the true situation.
"Oh," Kashuu smiled in realuzation, propping himself up on his elbows," That must be why his brother is so jealous then."
The two friends shared a short lived and ignorant laugh because they had no idea what it was that they just said.
You see, like any good older brother, Hugekiri, to could hear things said about his brother from five miles away so he heard what Kashuu had said so carelessly as clear as the clearest day.
"What? My brother? Jealous? Why?!".
Kashuu and Yasusada jumped in fear when they saw Higekiri hovering over them a bit too close for comfort. He really was not there two seconds ago and Kashuu was now convinced the man could teleport somehow.
"I- um, what?" Was Kashuu's usual default reply in these sorts of situation since the troubled look in Higekiri's normally innocent eyes startled him quite a bit.
It took a lot to make Higekiri loose his composure and none of them, not even Higekiri himself, had any idea that this was it.
"Oh, never mind!" He grumbled frantically while scanning the nearby forests with his eyes, "Where is he anyway?"
Kashuu silently lifted a single shaking finger in the direction of the lamp light where he knew Hizamaru to be.
Once Higekiri saw the area, he blurted a thank you and proceeded to powerwalk to it.
In his violent movements, the blue bird struggled from his arms and flew away. Higekiri hardly seemed to notice or care.
"Don't know," Kashuu said before Yasusada could ask him what it was all about. Honestly, the sword must have thought he could read minds.
"And you don't care!" Yadusada finished.
Kashuu raised an eyebrow and the other just laughed. They continued their stargazing for the rest of the night without a care in the world.
Ichigo soon returned to his tent with the marshmallows, convinced that whatever had Higekiri so riled up would soon fix itself as the two brothers could never really stay mad at each other for long.
But as far as Hizamaru went, the last thing he expected was for his elder brother to come after him, looking quite upset, even when Kogarasumaru warned him about his coming before disappearing into the night.
It all happened very quickly.
But from the view of the swords Souza and Osayo who were playing in a nearby feild of flowers, they saw that Higekiri was angry with Hizamaru, telling him that it was wrong to be jealous and that if he turned into a demon from his jealousy, he would be far more upset than he could bare.
He said that, no matter what happened, Hizamaru would always be more important to him than anything and that, after all these centuries, he was all that truly mattered anymore.
He went into grave detail. It was truly a beautiful tearjerking speach that Hizamaru, in all his drowsiness, appeared as though he was enjoying far too much. They truly had not seen Hizamaru this happy all week and it was funny to see that it was all brought on by that silly blue bird.
Souza glanced up at the free bird flying through the air gracefully and he could not help but feel a sort of kinship towards it. Souza, to, hoped to find his true freedom.
But back in Higekiri's mind, he looked to th bird feeling a bit of sadness. He liked his nice little blue pet and wished it did not have to go.
Hizamaru tried to comfort him by telling him that the wild was where it belonged and that it would live a much longer and happier life that way.
Higekiri clung to that thought and let it comfort him-
-Until, upon flying over the two Samonji brothers in the field they played in, pooped and its white feces fell right on Souza's unsuspecting shoulder.
A silence filled the valley. Everyone who saw, even Kashuu and Yasusada, even Ichigo, even Higekiri and Hizamaru, were pretty sure that ever fiber of Souza's being froze in a shock.
Osayo hadn't moved and he stared blankly as his beloved older brothers face went from shock to the sort of look that said 'This is only fitting for something like this to happen to me. I am but a bird in a cage, after all.'
It was the sort of face that Osayo did not like on his brother. So, without further ado, the small boy got to his feet and rushed foreward, his body blurred with speed and his movements like lightning.
He dashed onto a tree and used his speed to run up its side and gain height. Once he did this, he kicked off and let himself glide through the air.
The silly little blue bird hardly had any time to understand what had just happened before Osayo's small blade came down and the bird was cut clean out of the air.
As silent as an assassin, Osayo fell and landed gracefully back beside his brother, holding the dead blue bird in one hand and his bloodied blade in the other like a trophy.
He walked straight up to Souza wordlessly and showed him exactly what he had done.
"Aha…" Was all Souza could find to say.
In the distance, all Kashuu and Yasusada could seem to do was clap in amazement. They really weren't sure what else to do.
But back by the darkness of the trees were Kogarasumaru was putting out his now dimming lamp, all Higekiri could do was stare and all Hizamaru could do was stare at Higekiri, completely unsure of what to say.
Things stayed that way for what seemed like several hours under the moonlight.
Yes. Tonight was certainly a long and very unusual night.
And to think this was only the first night of the three day camping trip the masters had designated.