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queer_festTitle: The Simplicity of Connection
Author:samuraiter
Fandom: Samurai Shodown 5 / Samurai Spirits 0
Pairing / Characters: Yumeji / Gaô
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: Any fandom, any character. Always living in the grey spaces: Whether it is being bisexual, trans*, genderqueer, etc., or more than one, sometimes ze wishes ze was part of the binary.
Summary: As the insurrection draws to a close, the general and his foremost lieutenant, before they go to their respective confrontations, try to clear the air between them.
Warnings: Canonical character death is implied.
A / N: Yumeji is a rare instance of a character – a formidable boss, no less – having no assigned gender in canon, and the creators of the game are on record as leaving it up to the player to decide.
* * * *
Silence filled the encampment, perhaps because the soldiers of Hinowa had all started to realize that the day to come had every chance of bringing them certain death at the hands of the Shogunate. Despite that, they did not desert – they prepared, taking the opportunity to center themselves and make their peace. Yumeji appreciated that. Lord Gaô had never intended to defeat the Shogun, preferring to sacrifice himself and all of his retainers to arouse the government from its torpor and have it address the famine that it had so long ignored, and yet his troops continued to serve beneath him.
As did Yumeji, for Gaô had been eager to accept a sword as gifted as that of the house of Kurokouchi, regardless of whether or not it had been discharged from that family in a state of disgrace. He respected talent, and he respected loyalty, two qualities that the glass house of "honor" under the rule of the Tokugawa had diluted to the point of absurdity. And what role did that "honor" play in a world that had been upended by a famine so terrible that demons – all the horrors of myth, alive, in the flesh, and all too real – stalked the earth to slake their endless thirst from the wealth of suffering?
A silhouette appeared at the entrance to the tent – Gaô, no doubt. No one else had the right to visit Yumeji, the "right arm" of the insurrection, unannounced. That "right arm" acknowledged the Lord of Hinowa by nodding once, gesturing for him to sit at the same shrine – a relic of the prefecture, made portable for the use of the army – that had been accepting prayers all day. He did, saying nothing, and the air became heavy between them. That had been happening more and more as of late, and Yumeji had a suspicion about it, one that might have to be addressed before the end came in the morning.
Not the tension of combat. They had fought more than once, if only for the sake of testing each other, for each to sharpen edges that had become dull in the other. No, the heaviness that Yumeji sensed, the tension that had been growing in their encampment for weeks, and then months, that represented only one thing. Gaô had been too polite to address it directly, but there might not be another chance to bring it up, and there it lay. No words passed between them, only the invisible push and pull of emotions between the neutral faces that they had both been taught to cultivate for "honor".
Gaô, after a long moment, decided to speak first, his voice as stern and strong as Yumeji had learned to expect from him as he said, "As disciplined as our soldiers are, they still make rumors amongst themselves. Your name is public knowledge, as is your expulsion." Yumeji nodded, both of them still facing the shrine, not each other. "But the reason for that expulsion is a secret, and that is the source of the rumors." He closed his eyes, and his voice softened. "I wish to remind you that the reason is unimportant ... to me, if not to you. I have long sensed your anxiety, though I have not pressed you."
"There is no need for you to press now, either, my lord," Yumeji replied, "and I will be content if that secret follows me to the grave, come morning." No more needed to be said, but Gaô had turned his face from the shrine, and Yumeji could not mistake the smoldering in those eyes – or, indeed, the pounding heart that those eyes inspired. "The wound is old, but still painful, my lord. I will gladly lay thousands of lives at your feet before I speak of it." And yet – "You have asked little of me. If I answer this question, what will you think of me? What if the answer holds disgust? Horror?"
Gaô tilted his head, silently encouraging Yumeji to say more: "Your feelings are known to me, but –" Death awaited in the morning. Could a secret carried to the grave fester and become yet another demon? "– I upheld the honor of my family, I fulfilled all the teachings of my master. I did nothing ... wrong." Hard to meet those eyes, but they longed for truth. "It was not what I did. It was what I ... am." The truth. "Beneath these robes is a body, my lord, but it is neither man ... nor woman. It is –" A shake of the head. "No word exists for it ... and no place existed for it in my family, either."
"I see," the Lord of Hinowa replied. "Uncovered in a vulnerable moment, expelled for a lack of understanding." He shook his head. "One of the most gifted individuals I have seen to hold a sword, and they cast you away for a reason – a trifle – that has nothing to do with either swordplay or honor. Foolish." His eyes, normally dark and unknowable, continued to burn. "And beneath those robes is not a body, but a person. Is it a body that takes life? No. Is it a body that receives love? No. Only a person can do either one of those things." Also a truth, one that he clearly felt all the way to his bones.
He continued, saying, as he enfolded Yumeji in his arms, his embrace feeling so warm and all-encompassing that it seemed as if it could contain all the peoples of the earth, "Remember why I am offering up this army to the swords of ignorance. It is to change a world that has become deaf to the pleas of the people. That world may have no word for you, but, if we succeed, then –" A smile, hinting at both his determination and the exhaustion that lay behind it. "– nothing is impossible. Nothing. I promise you that, no matter what happens tomorrow, you, of all of us, will live to see it all change."
Gaô proved to be true to his promise. His death at the hands of Yoshitora, the young Shogun-to-be, made that boy accept his responsibility, and the government started to gather all its resources to combat the famine. Yumeji, expecting to die alongside the Lord of Hinowa as a martyr, instead survived, disappearing into the shadows to turn the sword of the Kurokouchi against all the demons that had been unleashed by the long darkness across the land, becoming the only member of that august family to escape their wrath and inspire fear in their ranks, both on the earth and in Hell.
The only secret that went to the grave was the night that Gaô and Yumeji spent together before rising to meet the challenges laid before them.
END.
Author:
samuraiterFandom: Samurai Shodown 5 / Samurai Spirits 0
Pairing / Characters: Yumeji / Gaô
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: Any fandom, any character. Always living in the grey spaces: Whether it is being bisexual, trans*, genderqueer, etc., or more than one, sometimes ze wishes ze was part of the binary.
Summary: As the insurrection draws to a close, the general and his foremost lieutenant, before they go to their respective confrontations, try to clear the air between them.
Warnings: Canonical character death is implied.
A / N: Yumeji is a rare instance of a character – a formidable boss, no less – having no assigned gender in canon, and the creators of the game are on record as leaving it up to the player to decide.
* * * *
Silence filled the encampment, perhaps because the soldiers of Hinowa had all started to realize that the day to come had every chance of bringing them certain death at the hands of the Shogunate. Despite that, they did not desert – they prepared, taking the opportunity to center themselves and make their peace. Yumeji appreciated that. Lord Gaô had never intended to defeat the Shogun, preferring to sacrifice himself and all of his retainers to arouse the government from its torpor and have it address the famine that it had so long ignored, and yet his troops continued to serve beneath him.
As did Yumeji, for Gaô had been eager to accept a sword as gifted as that of the house of Kurokouchi, regardless of whether or not it had been discharged from that family in a state of disgrace. He respected talent, and he respected loyalty, two qualities that the glass house of "honor" under the rule of the Tokugawa had diluted to the point of absurdity. And what role did that "honor" play in a world that had been upended by a famine so terrible that demons – all the horrors of myth, alive, in the flesh, and all too real – stalked the earth to slake their endless thirst from the wealth of suffering?
A silhouette appeared at the entrance to the tent – Gaô, no doubt. No one else had the right to visit Yumeji, the "right arm" of the insurrection, unannounced. That "right arm" acknowledged the Lord of Hinowa by nodding once, gesturing for him to sit at the same shrine – a relic of the prefecture, made portable for the use of the army – that had been accepting prayers all day. He did, saying nothing, and the air became heavy between them. That had been happening more and more as of late, and Yumeji had a suspicion about it, one that might have to be addressed before the end came in the morning.
Not the tension of combat. They had fought more than once, if only for the sake of testing each other, for each to sharpen edges that had become dull in the other. No, the heaviness that Yumeji sensed, the tension that had been growing in their encampment for weeks, and then months, that represented only one thing. Gaô had been too polite to address it directly, but there might not be another chance to bring it up, and there it lay. No words passed between them, only the invisible push and pull of emotions between the neutral faces that they had both been taught to cultivate for "honor".
Gaô, after a long moment, decided to speak first, his voice as stern and strong as Yumeji had learned to expect from him as he said, "As disciplined as our soldiers are, they still make rumors amongst themselves. Your name is public knowledge, as is your expulsion." Yumeji nodded, both of them still facing the shrine, not each other. "But the reason for that expulsion is a secret, and that is the source of the rumors." He closed his eyes, and his voice softened. "I wish to remind you that the reason is unimportant ... to me, if not to you. I have long sensed your anxiety, though I have not pressed you."
"There is no need for you to press now, either, my lord," Yumeji replied, "and I will be content if that secret follows me to the grave, come morning." No more needed to be said, but Gaô had turned his face from the shrine, and Yumeji could not mistake the smoldering in those eyes – or, indeed, the pounding heart that those eyes inspired. "The wound is old, but still painful, my lord. I will gladly lay thousands of lives at your feet before I speak of it." And yet – "You have asked little of me. If I answer this question, what will you think of me? What if the answer holds disgust? Horror?"
Gaô tilted his head, silently encouraging Yumeji to say more: "Your feelings are known to me, but –" Death awaited in the morning. Could a secret carried to the grave fester and become yet another demon? "– I upheld the honor of my family, I fulfilled all the teachings of my master. I did nothing ... wrong." Hard to meet those eyes, but they longed for truth. "It was not what I did. It was what I ... am." The truth. "Beneath these robes is a body, my lord, but it is neither man ... nor woman. It is –" A shake of the head. "No word exists for it ... and no place existed for it in my family, either."
"I see," the Lord of Hinowa replied. "Uncovered in a vulnerable moment, expelled for a lack of understanding." He shook his head. "One of the most gifted individuals I have seen to hold a sword, and they cast you away for a reason – a trifle – that has nothing to do with either swordplay or honor. Foolish." His eyes, normally dark and unknowable, continued to burn. "And beneath those robes is not a body, but a person. Is it a body that takes life? No. Is it a body that receives love? No. Only a person can do either one of those things." Also a truth, one that he clearly felt all the way to his bones.
He continued, saying, as he enfolded Yumeji in his arms, his embrace feeling so warm and all-encompassing that it seemed as if it could contain all the peoples of the earth, "Remember why I am offering up this army to the swords of ignorance. It is to change a world that has become deaf to the pleas of the people. That world may have no word for you, but, if we succeed, then –" A smile, hinting at both his determination and the exhaustion that lay behind it. "– nothing is impossible. Nothing. I promise you that, no matter what happens tomorrow, you, of all of us, will live to see it all change."
Gaô proved to be true to his promise. His death at the hands of Yoshitora, the young Shogun-to-be, made that boy accept his responsibility, and the government started to gather all its resources to combat the famine. Yumeji, expecting to die alongside the Lord of Hinowa as a martyr, instead survived, disappearing into the shadows to turn the sword of the Kurokouchi against all the demons that had been unleashed by the long darkness across the land, becoming the only member of that august family to escape their wrath and inspire fear in their ranks, both on the earth and in Hell.
The only secret that went to the grave was the night that Gaô and Yumeji spent together before rising to meet the challenges laid before them.
END.