Author: Nami-chan.
Pairing : :DateSana, MotoMoto, KoSasu, IeMitsu, and some other I won't spoil
Disclaimers : I think we all would like to have the on right Sengoku Basara, but it's not my case
Dragon Tales Book Two
Part 25
It always started the same way, like one of his nightmare. At first it was all black, and the anxiety of being alone in an infinite void. However, this was before any other thought can reach Masamune's dormant mind.
Soon, Masamune gained awareness that it wasn't his usual dream. The most difficult was the feeling of being totally abandoned by the world, that even his own body was failing Masamune. His lungs weren't functioning, they felt like being on fire, and he couldn't even get the will to breathe. Yet he walked, ignoring the pain, the fear. He walked in the darkness, forward.
It was uncomfortable, but not insurmountable. Not when he knew what awaited him in the end. What could he do about it anyway, if not accept it and wait? Never his meetings with Yukimura had been easy, even in a dream there was a challenge.
This is probably because he used to it that he no longer feared this step. Soon enough feelings returned to his body and he had full control again. Masamune could feel his lips stretch into his usual smirk. He flexed his fingers, to get rid of the last of the numbness and reached out in front of him trying to touch the star that twinkled in the distance. Then the light flickered before him, brighter and brighter, illuminating his way to his goal.
As Masamune crossed the border between his dream and Yukimura's, he was suddenly invaded by the strong impression that something was wrong here.
Of all the times he had managed to find this place, it had never been the same, so Masamune had expected that the house, or rather Yukimura's mental palace may have changed.
But not this much.
Masamune found himself unable to make the slightest gesture when he arrived in front of the building. His breath immediately formed a condensation cloud while he wrapped his arms to try to gain some heat in this icy atmosphere. Masamune would have liked to find out in a different way that his body was still as sensitive to the cold in this dream world as it was in the real world.
Everything was frozen. But it wasn't the cold as he knew back in Oshu, where snowfall could reach the roofs of the houses in the winter season. It was a white frost, a bitter and a deadly cold, a blanked of ice that spread along the walls, imprisoning and stifling any life nearby, trapping oxygen in its solid crystals.
The pavilion was entirely covered with a thin white film that sparkled in the eternally setting sun as it was how Yukimura loved it. Masamune came to regret that they cannot meet more often on Yukimura's dream beach, there he was certain that the temperature would be more tolerable.
Using all his will to move in this cold, Masamune made a few steps. His bare feet reacted as strongly as the rest of his body in contact with the frozen ground which creaked under his weight. Saying it was painful was an understatement, but it was still not enough to prevent him from seeing Yukimura.
Hoping with all his heart that the temperature was hotter inside, Masamune sought to find the entry under the ice layer. He quickly found it and rushed to the sliding door almost slipping in his rush on the ice covered engawa where the frost hadn't broken the board.
Using the sleeve of his yukata to cover his hand and protect is fingers, Masamune reached and pulled the handle to open the door.
In vain.
Like Masamune had expected, the ice had blocked the sliding door system and if had to guess, he was certain that would be the case of all the entries ways.
While Cursing and grumbling against that idiot Yukimura who couldn't be more difficult to attain, he vigorously rubbed his biceps to warm up. He had to find a solution and fast, the cold began to be more than he could bear.
Masamune still tried his luck and went around the little house, running. At least he found a bit of body heat in the act.
He had never really taken the time to detail the rest of the place that was supposed to house Yukimura's mind. From the visits he had made, he had only taken the trouble to notice the pavilion that had housed Yukimura's younger years. Masamune small run around had allowed him to notice that Yukimura had recreated the entire castle, just like it was before the fire.
At least just like Masamune remembered it.
It was annoying. Yukimura could be anywhere inside the castle.
Masamune's gaze returned to the pavilion. Although his face remained impassive, his good eye couldn't hide the intensity of his thinking. The cold was beginning to seriously to numb his members and his mind started to be disturbed too. There was no time to search the whole castle.
In addition, the only logical conclusion he could make was that there was no way Yukimura could be anywhere but in the pavilion. After all, they both greatly affectioned this place because it was here that most of their shared memories were made.
The cold was beginning to make his teeth chattered and he had no choice but to bite his tongue to try to curb this instinct. Then, his eye widened when he realized an obvious thing. Masamune felt the urge to roll his eye at himself. How could he forget about it ?
This world was a dream, the reaction of the body to the cold was because of his mind conditioning. He was reacting to something unreal because he thought it was real !
Taking a deep breath to concentrate, Masamune rested his arms along his body and closed his eyes. A heat wave invaded him, he could feel the actual temperature of his body, and he had to refrain not to sigh in pleasure when he felt his hot blood flowing back into him.
He felt a little frustrated that it took him so long to realize that all this wasn't real. It was so simple to warm up, all he wanted could take shape here. Yukimura's dream was his too.
Masamune has allowed himself to be confused by all the frost and ice that came out of nowhere. He had allowed himself to be engulfed by a bad feeling.
Determined, he returned to the pavilion with a confident stride, determined to move this door open even if he had to tear it down. Yukimura's defense will fall.
"Oho!" Suddenly a voice sounded above him. "So oneiromancy practice is still in our blood, as I can see."
That voice,both sweet and powerful, slightly hoarse from often being used loudly. Yet, that mocking tone... the change was subtle, however, but he it hadn't escaped Masamune. It was indeed Yukimura's voice, but it wasn't him who was using it.
Looking up toward the source, Masamune's eye darkened. This place was their sanctuary, to him and Yukimura no one else, a sacred place, and it was difficult to accept that an abject being had indeed managed to get inside. Even so, Masamune should have prepared for this eventuality. The demon had reached Yukimura's heart further than he thought. Masamune despised that feeling.
The demon was adding one more thing that Masamune would make him pay for.
The list was getting a bit lengthy.
Masamune found him sitting casually on the ceramic tiles, looking all smug and happy. He had his legs crossed and his foot was impatiently beating the air while his arms were behind him, supporting his half reclined body.
He wore the same clothes as Yukimura, this red jacket and those white pants. It was this body that Masamune knew on his fingertips, that flawless skin that was marred by few smalls scars only. It was now dotted with pure white scales looking as corrosive and burning as the frost on the walls. His long silky brown hair that were Yukimura's pride were now as black as ebony. This almost sadistic look on a face that was usually so expressive, a face which couldn't hold any lie, which knew nothing but honesty... It was just so... wrong.
"Orochi." Masamune bitterly noted, his anger sullen and contained. If eyes could kill, then the demon would have suffered a thousand deaths.
The other wasn't impressed in the slightest and made a dismissive hand gesture. "Please, we have been acquainted long enough for you to start calling me by my given name, right?"
A smile fallowed his tirade, but the black haired Yukimura didn't move further, taking advantage of its high viewpoint to look down on Masamune, having fun just to see him shudder with an aggressiveness and a contained fury.
Masamune growled, shaking his fists at his side. He could almost feel his blood loudly pumping in him, it wasn't like him to be angered this easily, but he wasn't about to loose his cool yet. He refused to give any opportunity to the demon in front of him. Yukimura was perhaps his weakness, but he also drew his strength from him, with that in mind it was easier to gather all his self-control to keep a cool head.
"As if your name could cross my lips, demon! No joke!" Masamune hissed between his clenched teeth.
He was torn between joining up the bastard and let his fists do the talking, or wait and try to get information by playing the demon game with his own rules. It had not escaped him that the other liked to talk, a lot. Kojuuro would probably have recommend the latter.
And although he listened only too rarely Kojuuro's good advice of, this time something in Masamune led him to choose the second option.
"What are you doing here? Where's Yukimura?" Masamune exclaimed, his words full of resentments and heavy with hidden meaning. But even more, Masamune felt bad for having allowed such a being to defiles his love's dreams.
The other Yukimura rolled his eyes, visibly annoyed by these predictable questions. He barely hid a yawn behind his hand.
"I am at home here." he answered simply as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "As for Yukimura, I don't want to let you reach him before me. That idiot knows how to protect his mind, I can grant him that." he finished his sentence by lying completely on the roof, his arms folding behind his head to serve as cushion.
"Tch, he grew up surrounded by ninjas, his mind and his heart are as strong as his physical body could be. You certainly are an annoying one, huh ? You talk and you talk just because can you do nothing beside being a noisy little bitch. Chatter all you want I'm still removing you and together we will send you into the void." Masamune crossed his arms over her chest, talking about Yukimura with an unfeigned pride . " He can do it, he isn't my rival for nothing."
"Oh? And yet I already have his heart, but I guess hoping is to living." From the roof Aisu didn't move, but Masamune heard sighing noisily, just to let him know that Masamune's words weren't reaching him.
Masamune felt like he was about to explode, but he calmed himself down deciding it was wiser to ignore the demon, it was useless to argue with it if he didn't know how to reach Yukimura's mind. It would be a great loss of time to fight with him in this world of illusions. This frustrated Masamune greatly but he could feel the night nearing his end and his sleep would end with it. He had to see Yukimura, that was the most important.
Indifferent, Masamune continued to advance towards the pavilion.
Nevertheless he hadn't dropped his vigilance and stopped dead before his body comes into contact with his enemy.
Aisu had appeared before him in a blink of an eye, having obviously decided that his conversation with Masamune wasn't over yet.
Taking a step back, Masamune assumed a defensive stance. He knew his limits and Orochi was obviously more accustomed than he to this world. It took Masamune some time to stop the cold, he didn't know if he could hurt his opponent while his opponent could surely hurt him.
"You speak of him with such esteem, yet weren't you the first to abandon him when he needed you the most? Aren't you the one who damaged his heart enough so that I can penetrate it? Look at what you did, you come timely because I just took my final shape. Do you know what that means? " Aisu completely ignored Masamune's aggressiveness, preferring to tease him some more, taking a step toward the one-eyed dragon with each new sentence.
Masamune's eye never left the other gaze now that he could see him in front of him. Malaise settled deep in his stomach because there should have been pair of eyes hazel warm and full of life, but he could only find two glazed blue eyes with slit pupil, as cold and deep as a lake frozen. Beneath the apparently calm and motionless surface, a clever mind could distinguish a natural perfidy and a wickedness that was so foreign on this face.
Again Masamune's fist clenched, printing out the outline of his nails into the palm of his hand.
This game had lasted long enough, the taunts reached Masamune more than he would admit it. Wanting to shorten this pointless conversation, Masamune looked for an opening to bypass the other. But he could only note with concern that the rampant layer of frost on the walls intensified, as meeting his state of mind and at the same time reducing his chances of finding Yukimura in time.
"What are you doing to him?" Masamune let out, suddenly clutching Aisu's jacket.
This frost wasn't a mental defense originating from Yukimura, Masamune was certain now, that cold wasn't like him. The frost responded and intensified because Aisu liked to play with his nerves. The demon was changing the environment itself which sheltered Yukimura's subconsciousness and Masamune knew that it was how he intended to reach him. The uneasy feeling Masamune had while he crossed the border of their dreams was making sense.
"You are so full of yourself, demon. For now all I see is that you can do nothing more than play into this world when I already had found a way to destroy you, our next meeting will be the last, not so good, huh? " Masamune couldn't help but to taunt in turn. He brought Aisu closer. "You won't seem so smart when I'd have torn away from the body to pierce you with my blade." he whispered, threatening.
The other did not seem impressed by this sudden move, he contented to give another smirk, as if amused by the situation. Masamune could still make threats, it was he who had the upper hand here.
A new beat of eyelashes and Masamune found himself standing a few feet away, a long enough distance so that his arms couldn't reach Aisu. Yet he swore that the other hadn't touched him or even lifted a finger. Before he had time to realize what had happened, ice wrapped around his ankles.
"Don't go so fast. Yukimura had you long enough just for himself, no it's my turn." the demon looked falsly disappointed that Masamune wouldn't be more cooperative.
Masamune watched his members with a scowl while ice crystals went up to his knees. It wasn't painful, but he didn't like the idea that this thing could cover him completely if he didn't do something soon.
"Shit." he muttered, too angered to focus his mind and get rid of the obstruction.
The ice stopped up to mid-thigh and Aisu advanced towards him, turning around Masamune and watching him as if he were a trophy. Slowly, he put a hand around the neck of a body that shouldn't be his, slowly running his fingers on his skin, tracing the muscles of the torso and abdomen that should belong to only one person, Aisu stopped to his uncovered navel.
"Don't you like this body, this appearance? You should start getting used to it because that's what your lover will look like when I have finished with him. I already have almost all of hi heart... which only left his place, and soon enough it would be mine too." the demon whispered in Masamune's ear, approaching dangerously.
A nauseous feeling disturbed Masamune, it gave him goosebumps. Aisu playing with Yukimura's body had shaken him more than it should have. Mustering all his will to remember it wasn't the real Yukimura, he spat in Aisu face.
Aisu seemed more than satisfied by Masamune's reaction while he wiped saliva from his cheek, gathering it on his gloved hand. Then, he licked his fingers taking an expression of pure pleasure.
He couldn't contain his laugh anymore, the vision of a Masamune overflowing with rage was the most funniest thing for him. It was a real treat to provoke this dragon.
"It's decided I'll keep you, you truly are a marvelous!"
With a sudden movement, Aisu grabbed Masamune's hair, forcing him to look him in his eyes. "The king of the dragons will pay the dept all of his people have toward me, I swear it." he spat.
This time he was serious, no longer laughing. This threat was genuine, hatred and anger distorting his features.
"I'm tired of playing with you, you'll wake up now."
The demon lifted his free hand as if he was about to hit Masamune with his closed fist.
Still unable to tame his swirl of emotions Masamune could only watch helplessly when Aisu fist loosened and crystalline long claws crossed the leather of his glove.
In response, the one-eyed dragon felt his fingers flex, he couldn't, didn't want to wake up after that damn demon had played with him. Taking a deep breath he focused as best he could, imagining the shape, the weight and the feel of his sword in his hand.
Finally, he felt his hand tighten on the leather handle and just when Aisu was about to pierce him, Masamune retorted, parrying the attack with his sword.
That was the way it should have happened, but Aisu's hand never came near him. Instead the demon was violently thrown to the ground, tackled down by a small silhouette. When Masamune realized, Aisu was gone and the child who banished the demon stood up, growling in pain and vigorously brushed his black hakama.
He eventually turned himself and lifted a pair of sparkling hazel eyes towards Masamune, armed with a smile, he touched the hand wielding Masamune's sword.
"Come quickly Masamune. I forced him to wake up but it will come back soon. Follow me."
"Yuki?" Masamune wondered.
The child arched a skeptical eyebrow, do Masamune had become deaf? Hadn't he realized they didn't have time to talk?
The young Yukimura tugged on Masamune's sleeve, pulling to help him be free from the ice that imprisoned him.
He had another choice but to follow this child he knew only too well? As the ice broke and Masamune found back the use of his leg, he felt his anger and bitterness gradually being replaced by the sweet feeling of nostalgia. Taken aback by a childlike desire to run into the castle, he let himself be led around by the child.
Now that Masamune was an adult, the back before him seemed very small. Yet he remembered that he had long resented the fact that Yukimura was growing faster than him. It was nice to feel all his childhood memories resurfacing in contact with the young Yukimura.
Nonetheless, one thing the disturbed him. If Yukimura was inside the pavilion, who was this child?
Oooooooooooooooo
Aisu woke with a start in Yukimura's bedroom. His host was still sleeping soundly, leaving Aisu plenty of time to enjoy his human body. Feeling the air snapping back into his lungs. To Breathe... it wasn't something he was used to do anymore.
"You little bastard, just you wait." he hissed still strongly committed to his remaining resentment.
He passed his hands over his face. In his intangible form, he was only able to feel one strong emotion at a time, but now that he brutally awoke, too much emotion invaded him. The fact that he hadn't taken possession voluntarily this time aggravated the feeling he had that he couldn't control his environment at all.
Masamune certainly gave him tit for tat. Now Aisu was feeling as helpless as Masamune may have felt in the dream world.
The shutters and the window had remained open and the autumn wind had greatly cooled the atmosphere of the room. Just like Aisu loved it.
Gradually he regained his composure, allowing his breath to regain normal rhythm. He tried to understand what had so suddenly expelled from Yukimura's unconscious. It was dangerous to gave him full control and Yukimura wouldn't had allowed that, well, he indeed was threatening Masamune and the only able to do this was Yukimura himself ... but Aisu had made sure that if he had to hide in the pavilion he would be trapped there. His current mind was a mess, Aisu couldn't give a proper guess
"You have some hidden capacity, little tiger..." he admitted.
For now, he had no way of knowing why he was awaken unless he go back to sleep. But he who had ordered his men to lay low was now really tempted to enjoy his corporeal form.
It was late, and there was indeed no one who would notice that he wasn't Yukimura.
Aisu left his bed, unable to decide whether he would first make a run in the kitchen, to taste the famous food that his host was so fond of or if he should quench a different thirst that his host didn't shared with him. Aisu couldn't have thought that a man could miss a woman body this much.
He shook his head, this idea seemed stupider every second that went by. He was not going to risk what little trust he had successfully earned in his host for some carnal desire.
It was a very annoying host on that field.
The light from the moon cast his shadow backward against the wall. There on a dresser lay an object which attracted Aisu's gaze. Bottling up his desires until later, the demon walked toward the object.
The spherical object was covered with a black silk cloth, and Aisu didn't resist the temptation to gently lift the silk revealing what it hid.
He quickly stepped back, as if the mere sight of this object burned his eyes.
"The Seed of Izanami." he exclaimed, using his hand to shield his face.
He gathered his wit and he began to contemplate the pearl, oh so dangerous for him now that he had a human body. A beautiful black pearl the size of an apple, large enough to fit in his palm. The moon reflected softly on the pearl edges, making it shine with a gloomy glow. His whole mind was vibrating near this object, Aisu couldn't be mistaken. It couldn't be anything else but the ancient pearl.
Masamune had said to have found a way to defeat him, Aisu had took it for lip service but now... no, this had been brought into his room, leaving him or Yukimura the only master of it. But Yukimura wouldn't know what to do with it, so he remained the only one in full possession of what could be a weapon or a shield.
Aisu leaned toward the peal, watching with fear and admiration at a time. In his first life he remembered that he would have sold his own parents to get his hands on such a thing.
A golden reflection on the pearl caught his attention. His eyes widened when he recognized an essence, a familiar soul imprisoned by the power of the pearl. He sat up, covering the offending object with the silk cloth.
"My poor Sukuratchi ..." Aisu said, shaking his head. He truly felt sorry for his friend now a prisoner of the pearl. "So that's your goal ... Hisahide, you want to see if I will trade my precious servants for a guarantee that I'll win."
Although he thought he understood the strange human scheme, this didn't mean that Aisu wasn't troubled by his intentions. His impression was assumed that by leaving the pearl like this in his room, Hisahide couldn't have ignored that Aisu knew how to make use of it.
Shaken by doubt, Aisu turned to look at the pearl. He ultimately couldn't resist the temptation to hold it in his hand. The power The Seed of Izanami literally wet through his hands and he felt intoxicated.
And if Masamune wasn't lying...would this little thing help?
"My very dear Masamune, it looks like someone is always one step ahead of you." he whispered stroking the pearl with a semblance of affection.
Hisahide was right about one thing by offering him this pearl. It was that Aisu was indeed not afraid of anything to win.
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooo
The young Yukimura stopped running when he was sure that he and Masamune were safe and well hidden in an empty box at the bottom of the stables.
Breathless after their frenzied race through the castle, Masamune took some time before speaking.
"Yu-Yuki, I thought ..."
"Hush, lower the volume." Yukimura said in a low voice, standing on guard.
Masamune didn't know why but he found nothing to say against it, opting instead to watch Yukimura make sure no one followed them.
"It remain me of when we tied to escape the guards." Masamune whispered back.
Yukimura answer came after few second while he sat himself in front of him on a haystack. Faced with Masamune's affirmation, he just slightly tilted the head to the side in confusion.
Masamune couldn't hold the slight laugh that crossed his lips. Yukimura would often have the same expression when they were children, especially when Masamune was telling him something beyond him.
The last time he had seen that face was when Masamune had told him he would have married him had he been a girl.
Masamune's face darkened at the memory... if only everything had been so simple to definitely link their destiny.
"You have changed Masamune." Yukimura commented, pulling Masamune out of his growing melancholy.
Masamune ran a hand through his hair he thought taking a dramatic pose. "I became the handsome prince you dreamed of." he teased.
The young Yukimura made a pout, the tips of his ears blushing slightly.
Masamune had forgotten how this adorable expression could fail him. The adult Yukimura never pouted like that. The adult Yukimura put his fist in his face when he annoyed him.
"Masamune is always so silly." Yukimura grumbled.
Masamune ruffled his hair. "You are a some par of Yukimura's unconscious, right?" and it wasn't a pun on his small size.
It was the feeling Masamune had deep down, it wouldn't be so surprising if he remembered his conversations with the adult Yukimura's subconscious, but yet he had to wonder if it was normal that Yukimura mind was so fragmented . Maybe he should worry about that too.
For now it wasn't the most important matter, and if having a dissolute mind allowed Yukimura to continue to resist to the demon then so be it...
The young Yukimura withdrew Masamune's offending hand from his hair. "Huh-huh." he replied. "But I would tell him if Masamune wanted to tell him something important."
"You will ?" Masamune didn't know whether the child should take the risk of exposing himself to the demon.
While opening his mouth to answer him, Yukimura startled and quickly turned towards the stable closed entrance. "Damn, he's already back to sleep." he whispered.
Seeing the expression of deep disgust on the child's face was enough to understand who he was talking about.
"Masamune will soon wake up too, he should hurry and tell me if he want to say something to big brother Yukimura." the child urged him.
Masamune seemed hesitant at first, talking to a child version of Yukimura wasn't feeling like speaking to the real Yukimura. Then with a sigh, he murmured :
"Tell him I'm not mad at him for having joined Mitsunari's side anymore, although I'll still kick his ass into the dirt... you see?"
The child nodded vigorously but said nothing, waiting for Masamune to finish. This kid knew him well, he instinctively knew that Masamune hadn't yet clarified what he truly wanted to tell.
"I want to see him, in real this time I... I have a very important proposal to make, you think he can slip away and join me?"
Yukimura shrugged. "It doesn't depend on me."
The back Masamune's head bumped against the wooden fence behind him when he leaned wearily. Waking up in this dream world was like falling asleep in the real world, his body gradually grew numb and his eyelids became heavy.
"This conversation won't be pleasant and I don't know if it will be okay... but ... if I have no other choice but to claim his life... I want at least to..." Masamune yawned, feeling himself sleeping in and out of consciousness.
"Masamune wait !" the young Yukimura suddenly exclaimed. "You know, you could have stand up to this demon if you had more faith in you. Believe in yourself, okay? He may have been what you would never be but that demon isn't you, Dragon King. And don't worry about big brother. He know to defend himself."
"I know." Masamune answered mechanically, affection by folding his voice. He didn't knew why, but hearing Yukimura say it to him gave him confidence. He felt all warm inside.
The look of the young Yukimura on him had fired up when he took his hands in his. In contact with their skin Masamune realized something.
"You are not a simple part of his unconscious. You are his lost childhood memories. Why are you..." Masamune wasn't expecting something like that and he struggled to continue this conversation.
Yukimura raised his free hand to silence him before he had time to say more. "Does Big brother need me to be happy?"
Before Masamune had time to find an answer to this question Mikawa warm sunshine came to his closed eyelids.
"Masamune-sama?" like every morning at the same hour, Kojuuro's voice pulled him out of the last meanders of sleep.
"I'm awake." Masamune replied to warn his vassal.
Kojuuro opened the door, bustling to prepare the parts his master armor in order to help him wear them.
"The Lord Ieyasu wants everyone to gather in the great room." Kojuuro didn't lose one second in casual conversation, which wasn't usual.
Still busy massaging his temples and trying to cling to the last pleasurable sensations of his dream, Masamune wasn't even surprised.
"So we are leaving for the battlefield. The time has come."
TBC
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Thanks for reading !