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Scandalous. Shameless. Inexcusable. The audacity. Natsuki’s vocabulary didn’t have enough words to describe just how he felt about this morning scenery in front of him—
Nestled against his dear brother’s chest, sticky hand sprawled on the exposed skin, smiling like he was having the sweetest dream in the world…was Uruha. Fucking. Yoji.
His body moved before his mind, his hand was already unsheathing a blade before he even realized he grabbed ahold of it. The sharp scraping sound of the sword against its sheath seemed to have stirred awake the two master swordsmen still snuggled together on the bed. But between the two, only Ibuki opened his eyes and met his younger brother’s with a sleepy smile. Uruha just buried his face deeper into Ibuki’s robes.
“Morning, Natsu.” Ibuki greeted with a yawn. “Too early for a sparring now, is it?”
“What. The. Hell. Is happening here?” Despite his boiling rage, Natsuki had the mind to keep his voice down into hushed growls, mindful that they weren't the only people in this inn. “Why-why is he-“
“Oh, Uruha? I don’t know, he just wanted to sleep next to me last night.”
“And you let him?”
“Why not?”
Uruha groaned audibly then, unsuccessful in going back to his toasty comfortable sleep because of the early morning bickering. He rubbed his eyes and directed a sleepy gaze towards Natsuki’s direction.
“Oh, it’s Natsuki.” Then a smile. “Good morning!”
“Don’t good morning me, you idiot." He pointed a sorcery-charged blade towards Uruha's direction. "Why are you in bed with my brother?”
“I was cold last night. Ibuki-san’s warm.” There wasn't even a sliver of guilt on Uruha's face. In fact, the fool was pouting as if he was innocent and was being falsely accused of a crime.
“I don’t really get your issue with this, Natsu." Ibuki sat up on the futon, regarding Natsuki with an amused smile. "We slept next to each other a lot when we were kids, remember?”
"Until I was ten! He's already eighteen!"
"Next month!" Uruha corrected, hiking up the blanket to his chest, enjoying the warmth that Ibuki was still radiating underneath. It really was so comfortable here. Maybe he should ask Ibuki if he could sleep here for the rest of their stay. Samura's no good in this unusually cold winter. "It's not like I forced Ibuki-san."
Ibuki rubbed thoughtfully at his chin. Well, actually, it was kind of like that, with Uruha just suddenly appearing in his room and burying himself under the covers, not even asking permission. But Ibuki didn't have the heart to point it out. First of all, it really didn't matter to him; Uruha was like another little brother to him at this point. Second, Natsuki might explode on the spot if knew of this detail.
"Did you just miss sleeping next to me, Natsu?" Ibuki teased his already enraged brother. "You can have your turn tonight, if you want."
"I don't!" Natsuki exclaimed, his cheeks burning red. "I have my own room, thank you very much."
"Wait— are you jealous Uruha came to me and not you?"
"I'm not!" This time, Natsuki's outburst came with an explosion of small charges from the tip of his sword.
Luckily, Ibuki was already used to Natsuki's tantrums manifesting like this. With perfect timing, he redirected the current with a swift throw of a nearby slipper on Natsuki's elbow, shifting the course of the currents even before they could shoot out towards Uruha's direction. In under three seconds, the small charges spread out to other directions, searching for the nearest conductor, until they all found the wirings and appliances in the small room. With Natsuki's sorcery, they amplified on their own, spreading onto the rest of the inn's electric wirings, invisible to the naked eye. And then, the electricity went out.
"Whoa." Ibuki huffed a sigh of relief. "Just made yourself look guiltier here, Natsuki."
Uruha, with his lack of knowledge in physics and electricity and still huddled under the blanket, just stared dumbfounded at the two brothers, unaware that he almost got fried a few seconds ago. He did feel Natsuki's bloodlust though, so he had some awareness that Ibuki just averted something terrible.
The discharge of electricity seemed to have cooled Natsuki's head, at least. He now stared back at his brother with a sad, apologetic gaze as he sheathed back his blade. "Sorry."
"It's okay, it's okay. I teased you too much, didn't I?" Ibuki stood up from the bed and ruffled his brother's hair affectionately.
Natsuki looked sideways, as if contemplating on something. Ibuki was used to dealing with Natsuki's moods. After all, it had been just the two of them together since either could remember. But upon arriving in Tokyo, whenever it came to Uruha, it was harder to gauge just what Natsuki was feeling. Ibuki had wanted to become a mediator of sorts, after all, Uruha also seemed to be a good kid, but he had an inkling that it's not so simple to connect these two in a way that's smooth and peaceful. He was still learning the boundary to pushing too much— which was almost breached just a few minutes ago, by the way.
"You," Natsuki finally spoke, pointing at Uruha, much to Ibuki's surprise. "If you're cold again tonight, don't bother my brother anymore. Go to me instead. Got that?"
Then he dashed off, not even waiting for a reply from the other two.
Well, that was bold. Ibuki thought in amusement. He was finally getting a whole picture of Natsuki's predicament, he just feared Natsuki hasn't fully realized it yet.
Uruha, still laying on the futon, looked at Ibuki in confusion. "Can't we all three just sleep together? Won't that be more comfortable?"
Ah, this one's as clueless, too.