"Have you ever thought about growing your hair long again?"
Murata looked up at the question and lifted the corner of his mouth in welcome and in amusement at the ginger-haired man standing a few feet to the right of him. The boy had been spending some quiet moments away from the shrine maidens and their demands attempting to catch up on at least a few years of regional history when he had felt Yozak's quiet approach. Not quite sure if the stealth in those steps were intentional or habit, he had kept his nose buried in the thick tome in his lap until the man, after standing quietly for a few minutes, had broken the silence with this rather odd question.
Feeling suddenly and weirdly self-conscious, Murata pushed a hand into the tangled slightly wild strands of his dark hair. He chuckled lightly before squinting up at the tall man standing above him, who was smirking and quite obviously waiting for an answer.
"Longer than this?" Murata laughed, "Its kind of getting long, now. I was actually considering getting it trimmed next time I get back to Earth."
Taking the response as an invitation, Yozak closed the short distance between them and dropped down to lean against the same thick tree that Murata had propped himself against for the afternoon. His position somewhere between sitting and sprawling, he rested his head against the rough bark and looked not at the boy beside him, but at the hazy cut of horizon as he spoke.
"It looked nice when you wore it long, though. You know, back when you were The Great Sage. I was looking up at that big portrait in the hallway earlier today and it got me thinking,"
"Oh, that," Murata shrugged, feeling slightly embarrassed like he did each time someone brought up his past incarnation, "That was different."
"How come?" Yozak countered in a light tone still not looking directly at him.
"I was different," the boy replied and felt clear blue eyes finally turn to him. Observing the thin threads of unusual intensity held in that gaze, he continued, "Different hair. I Straight /I hair. If I tried to grow it like that again, well….I don't suppose you know who Gilda Ratner is, do you?" He rubbed at the back of his head and laughed sheepishly.
"Nope, Your Highness. Can't say that I know her," was the drawled reply before the man turned away again, faint smile still teasing his lips.
Murata waited for him to say more, and felt a bit uncomfortable when the silence between them stretched. This uneven tension was not something that he often experienced while in Yozak's company. Almost from the beginning, there had been an unspoken understanding and ease between the two of them; the kind that could only exist between habitual conspirators, that made their interaction easy and natural. The Sage couldn't quite figure what had placed undue strain on that relationship, and he found this touch of uncertainty unnerving. "I was different," he found himself repeating almost to himself, "I'm Murata Ken now, and I don't even like long hair."
All at once, the slight tautness in the body beside him eased, and Yozak's smile didn't so much grow as turn a bit more natural. He responded with a simple, "Ah" and Murata was puzzled to hear faint traces of relief in the softly spoken word. Then, the red-head glanced over at the book in his lap before looking up to catch his eye.
"You should read to me."
Murata choked out a surprised laugh.
"You want me to read from this? This is a book on regional history. It's pretty boring, you know."
"So?" Closing his eyes, Yozak slid down until he was most definitely sprawling, and Murata's thigh was warmed at the point where it now rested against the edge of the man's shoulder, "It's been a while since I was treated to a good bedtime story."
"I'm at the chapter where it discuses the planning and development of various sewer systems," he warned.
Yozak squinted an eye open. "Really? And you said this was going to be boring."
The squint turned into a lazy wink before the eye closed completely. Reminding himself that he was about 4000 years past the point where he should be learning how to blush, Murata began to read out loud.