[The shadow is, in that instant, forgotten. First by the sight of that body, life cut short in the blink of an eye. Then comes the pained roar from a voice that, young though it may be, Kyojuro knows all too well.
Even if it leaves him vulnerable, Kyojuro moves. He does what he must to take first to the outside, and then to leap to the roof. There is nothing that can be done for the child that has been killed, but for the man — no, child — mourning it, perhaps there is hope.
Perhaps. He doesn't really know. Will he even be recognized like this? He has never experienced something quite like this spell, but there are vestiges that are familiar. Nevertheless, he doesn't know if Tengen will recognize him through the magic.
He hates it, but his hand shifts toward his blade, should he need to move swiftly to protect himself.]
rip to Kyojuro, in the "you can't change things" flavor of memshare-
[As the horrific scene plays out, several questions remain - is Tengen himself even here? Is Kyojuro capable of continuing to act as he would outside of this spell, if he's stepped into the place of another? Will there be recognition shattering the world they're in, or must the horrors play out to their end?
As Tengen throws his own mask to the ground and wheels on Kyojuro's approach, there is recognition in his eyes - they widen, and then abruptly narrow as he brings his already bloodstained sword up defensively.]
I'm done. We're done. This is-
[An answer, then. He's seeing someone else. Or, perhaps more accurately, Kyojuro is seeing this scene through someone else's eyes.
Someone else who is all too willing to draw that blade. Someone else who is quick - eager, he'll feel - to cut down the remaining pair watching, daring to step from the shadows, first another young boy, then a girl, with a brutality that Kyojuro will recognize ensured their deaths might have been quick, but they certainly weren't painless.
A name is shouted that isn't Kyojuro's own, but that will feel like his all the same. Pride. Disdain.
The night grows deeper. Mist gives way to rain. And memory will begin to fade slowly.]
[Try as Kyojuro might, he muscles don't move as he wishes. A feeling akin to claustrophobia kicks in, then rapidly turns to despair as his arms shift. He cannot stop himself as he cuts down two more souls, and can't even really spare a second to really, truly study their faces.
Even if it is a memory, it breaks something within him. He hears the name but does not process it. Though he wants to weep, he cannot. Whatever body he has found himself in, it does not matter. It is determined to see this through.
And so he doesn't process anything until the cold rain sinks into his sink, and he finds himself back within the Grove.
... What had he been doing. There was something more important at hand than his grief, than the sensation of something burning behind his eyes. He tries to recall it, but only sees lifeless eyes staring back at him.
Lifeless eyes, and then -
Tengen's face fills his mind. It isn't an outright balm, it does not fix his weary heart. But it is enough to remind him of the task at hand. He swallows his grief as he is so used to doing.
Surely, by now, Tengen's body had risen to the surface of the tree. He had to find him. It wasn't just his own heart on the line, but Sanemi's. But Shinobu's. But Genya's. The fact that he has been shaken to the core by even the sensation of killing — regardless of whether it is a mere memory — is not enough of a reason to relent.
[Surely, by now, Tengen's body had risen to the surface of the tree.
Surely, he would be easy to disentangle from root and bark and vine, left barely touched by corruption.
Surely.
Unfortunately, while Kyojuro will find his still form, any hope of pulling him down with ease would have to be left by the wayside, depth of hold and depth of corruption entwined with the branches and vines that support his body, wound tightest around his left side, around pieces already lost and the flesh nearest.]
Naturally, Kyojuro does not swear. Instead, he pulls out his blade. It's already been slightly dulled from the effort of freeing Sanemi, but he doesn't care. He turns it against the wood of the tree and begins slashing at the branches and roots furthest from Tengen's body. The first few glance away, leaving more damage to the blade than anything. The next few cut in just slightly, but not enough.
It's enough to make him roar with frustration. He doesn't dare use flamebreathing, for fear of making matters worse for Tengen, but he can at least try swinging with all of his might.
Finally, some of the roots come free.
Without thinking, the blade his tossed aside. Kyojuro grips the torn roots now, peeling them away from Tengen's body. Some of the bark cuts into his skin. Perhaps it sinks deeper still. Kyojuro doesn't notice.
He won't notice for some time.
The only thing that matters is finally pulling Tengen down.]
[Finally, through some combination of strength and desperation, Kyojuro will be able to pull Tengen free from the boughs of the tree. He isn't left unscathed by the ordeal, though that should come as no surprise.
Veins run green under his skin as thin vines weave in and out, a capillary network weaving their way down his left arm to end in a facsimile of a hand, and then back up again, over and around his neck and higher, dying the scar over his eye bright green and then... blooming bright red flowers, in some mockery of makeup once worn.
Further corruption is left unseen, spreading inward, making his body feel not quite his own, but out of the labyrinth, out of the tree... at least he can begin to come to.]
[Sanemi's wounds had been brutal enough. Seeing the extent that they warp Tengen's body is almost enough to nauseate. Kyojuro makes a face, wondering if he should have gone back as soon as the wind hashira insisted. Would it have made a difference?
The thoughts are pushed to the back of his mind. He knows better than to pull and tug at the vines within the skin. Instead, he sets to cleaning up whatever blood and sap that lingers. It's the least he can do. He cannot hope to lift Uzui and carry him to the clinic.
Really, he should have asked one of the healers to come with him. Rattled as he was after the fight with Sanemi, however, and desperate as he was to find Tengen in the first place, the thought hadn't crossed his mind.
When there's nothing left to do, no wounds to tend to, Kyojuro can only hunch over Tengen's vulnerable form. His haori is sopping wet, but he still holds it over the man to keep him as dry as possible.]
[Maybe it would have made a difference. Maybe he would have simply been caught in a longer, painful memory while the tree worked it's corrupting magics. Maybe Tengen wouldn't have been on the surface of the tree yet at all by the time he arrived. No one could truly say.
What is known is how resilient the hashira are, even when they've been brought low. It may feel like an eternity, it may feel like only a few moments, but eventually Tengen does stir and his good eye opens slowly, only to see Kyojuro hunching over him in a mirror of their private little moment in the inn when magics were going haywire. A blessing, in it's own way, because it's that warm feeling in his chest at the memory that keeps him from bolting upright as more recent, more painful memories of the labyrinth filter in in sparse pieces.]
Kyojuro? Where's-?
[Surely he got Sanemi down first. That'd be the sensible thing to do-]
[The moment his eye opens, Kyojuro extends a hand, then presses down on his shoulder. Indeed, he expected Tengen to shoot up with all the urgency deserved in a moment like this. They were always thinking of others, and that included their fellow Hashira.
Kyojuro knew that all too well.]
He was the first to awaken. I have already taken him to the clinic.
[With those words out of the way, Kyojuro shifts his hand, lifting it to cradle Tengen's cheek.]
You are in rough shape, my friend. You will need to go there as well. Things... did not go well in the labyrinth, as I understand.
[The hand on his shoulder is entirely warranted - as almost as soon as Kyojuro presses down, there will be the resistance from an attempt to get up. He's fine, surely. He's had more brushes with death than he can remember. He's alive now, so what's he doing on the ground when-
When Sanemi is already at the clinic.
When Kyojuro is hovering over him, all reassurances and gentle concern and gentler touch.
He finds himself leaning into that hand all too easily, not even bothering to second guess the stolen moments.]
Yeah, we fucked up...
[Handicap or no, they should have been able to handle it.]
You did all that you could, Tengen. I know that to be true.
[He knows the forest all too well, knows what it's capable of throwing at them. Kyojuro has no doubt that it was a hellish experience.]
In a moment, you are going to get up. Gently now, take it steady. [The whole point of keeping Tengen from sitting up in the first place was to keep him from becoming lightheaded. Hopefully, a slower process would help.] Unfortunately, you will have to walk to the clinic. Even with my blessings, I do not think I am strong enough to carry you!
M'sure he told you we were chained by our good hands...
[It's not an argument against the idea that he'd done all he could... and yet it is all the same. Neither of them had been able to act - or react - as they normally might have been. Which was probably intended, surely, but... it still stung.]
Hah... if I could walk home after battling an upper moon, I can walk this off...
[Bravado, lest he allow worry to crash into him. Bravado, to maybe get a bit of that smile back on Kyojuro's face.
...The world spins all the same when he begins to sit up. Maybe this did take more out of him than he'd like to admit.]
Maybe when I've recovered we test those blessings of yours.
[Kyojuro does not smile. Some part of him knows that Tengen is trying. Another part tells him to suck it up and smile through the pain. But it has been an exhausting night.
He still hears Sanemi, yowling and spitting in frustration. He feels the blade used to kill innocent in his hand. And he cannot shake the memory of Tengen, unbreathing.
It is all so much to bear. He will do it, but for once he does not try to grit our a smile.]
The clinic first.
[Kyojuro rises to his feet. His hand extends -- at the very least, he should be able to help Tengen up, and then he offers his shoulder to lean on.]
[It's not a quick process, but with Kyojuro's help, Tengen does rise to his feet, though he doesn't immediately take advantage of the offered shoulder. Maybe he should - the world is still spinning a bit, after all - but... the dark voice in the back of his mind telling him if he stays planted he'll be fine is easier to listen to than it ought to be.
After all, he's on his feet, he's fine, or will be.
But Kyojuro isn't.
So he puts his hand - his real hand - on that offered shoulder, before dragging it up to his cheek, mirroring the gentle touch he'd woken up to.]
Hey. Let it out.
[His frustration, his pain, his exhaustion all reads plain on his face, but as soon as they return to the settlement, there will be others around, more reason to bottle it up, ignore it.
[Kyojuro winces, the moment the attention is turned on him. He might have thought his mask a little tighter, his composure a little stronger.
He'll have to try harder.]
I am fine, Tengen. You are not. [He takes a step forward in an effort to coax the other man onward.] That tree left something beneath your skin that I cannot mend. The clinic will need to assist you, and perhaps reach out to someone else from there. The longer we wait, the worse I fear it will get.
[Duty must be carried out above all. Kyojuro reminds himself of this again and again as he forced his expression to smooth out. He could not crumble when there was more to be done.]
[Most others would have been fooled. Most others would have seen a man who was, rightly so, shaken by what he'd seen, but willing, able, to press onward for the sake of duty. Unflappable. Reliable.
Tengen wasn't most others, and he's risking his own mask by pressing the issue, surely, but... he's alive. He's out of the worst of the danger. His concern is, unfortunately, never himself first.
But he could relent, just a bit. Just this once.]
If I don't argue, will you stay with me in the clinic? You're less fine than you want to be, and I've still got one good shoulder to lean on.
[The relief doesn't show on Kyojuro's face, but it certainly washes over him. At the very least, he can kick this argument down the road. Not that he particularly wants to deal with at all.
But he can come up with excuses later. And in any case, he did want to check in on Sanemi, even if he's certain the other man will rankle at his presence.]
It will do well, to have someone to watch over you both.
[Something in the back of Kyojuro's mind reminds him that either man could succumb to their corruption. Thus, it was all the better that he remained close.
Still, he is quick to add, as another out:]
Not for too long. Senjuro will start to worry, given the current state of things.
[An excuse is an excuse and Kyojuro has just given him two - someone to watch over them, someone to look after Senjuro. He... can't exactly argue with the latter, he'd hate his own stubbornness to be the cause of Senjuro having to go through something horrifying, and yet his voice holds reproach.]
[There's a degree of forcefulness within his voice, anger that he hates bubbling beneath his skin. He hates feeling like this, hates when it gets so close to the surface that he begins to sound like his father. Images of the man dance behind his mind, and he flinches visibly.]
With two of our number now meant to recover, there are less of us to protect those of the Grove. We cannot afford to sit back.
[He cannot afford to sit back. Not when his brother, or any of the other children, could just as easily be swept up in this mess.]
Let us begin moving. We have already taken up enough time.
[He'll relent... to a point. He'll walk with him, will lean on his shoulder - pointedly with the side less marred by corruption - but will not drop the issue entirely. How could he, when its so incredibly obvious that something is eating him alive from the inside out.]
Will you tell me what's wrong while we walk at least? There's time...
[A huff of a sigh, another small allowance-]
I'll drop whatever it is when we get there if it means you just... talk to me, Kyojuro.
[He doesn't want to. His role is one of protection. Burdening others with his woes goes against everything he's been taught to stand for. But even he can see that he will not be getting out of this unscathed. Not without talking about himself.
In the end, he chooses something recent. Something that will surely distract Tengen, and leave him more concerned with someone aside from Kyojuro himself.]
Shinazugawa and I fought. He was most upset that I did not return immediately to find you, even after I insisted that you would be upset if I did not see him to the clinic first.
[The distraction is momentary, and his tone in response is affectionate. Tengen can picture how the fight had gone, neither one of the stubborn men he cares for so deeply willing to give an inch.
The reasons running deeper under the fight, though, were of more concern... and not something he had the ability to put to rest. He could help shoulder the pain, surely, but either one of them - or, ideally... laughably, both - would need to open up before he could.]
It's still bothering you? Or... is there something else?
[Considering the way their bodies have settled against one another, Tengen will undoubtedly feel the way Kyojuro stiffens. If he were a swearing man, an oath might have escaped his lips. He wants nothing more than to leave this conversation behind them, and focus instead on Tengen's recovery.
He says nothing for a long while, hoping that silence will be enough of an answer. When it only eats at the back of Kyojuro's mind, he instead shakes his head.]
I told you, I do not wish to speak of this right now. [In the distance, through the rain, Kyojuro makes out the clinic.] We are almost there, and I would not wish to upset Sanemi by hashing out the details in his presence.
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sticksandbones2026-05-01 12:05 pm
no subject
Even if it leaves him vulnerable, Kyojuro moves. He does what he must to take first to the outside, and then to leap to the roof. There is nothing that can be done for the child that has been killed, but for the man — no, child — mourning it, perhaps there is hope.
Perhaps. He doesn't really know. Will he even be recognized like this? He has never experienced something quite like this spell, but there are vestiges that are familiar. Nevertheless, he doesn't know if Tengen will recognize him through the magic.
He hates it, but his hand shifts toward his blade, should he need to move swiftly to protect himself.]
rip to Kyojuro, in the "you can't change things" flavor of memshare-
As Tengen throws his own mask to the ground and wheels on Kyojuro's approach, there is recognition in his eyes - they widen, and then abruptly narrow as he brings his already bloodstained sword up defensively.]
I'm done. We're done. This is-
[An answer, then. He's seeing someone else. Or, perhaps more accurately, Kyojuro is seeing this scene through someone else's eyes.
Someone else who is all too willing to draw that blade. Someone else who is quick - eager, he'll feel - to cut down the remaining pair watching, daring to step from the shadows, first another young boy, then a girl, with a brutality that Kyojuro will recognize ensured their deaths might have been quick, but they certainly weren't painless.
A name is shouted that isn't Kyojuro's own, but that will feel like his all the same. Pride. Disdain.
The night grows deeper. Mist gives way to rain. And memory will begin to fade slowly.]
no subject
Even if it is a memory, it breaks something within him. He hears the name but does not process it. Though he wants to weep, he cannot. Whatever body he has found himself in, it does not matter. It is determined to see this through.
And so he doesn't process anything until the cold rain sinks into his sink, and he finds himself back within the Grove.
... What had he been doing. There was something more important at hand than his grief, than the sensation of something burning behind his eyes. He tries to recall it, but only sees lifeless eyes staring back at him.
Lifeless eyes, and then -
Tengen's face fills his mind. It isn't an outright balm, it does not fix his weary heart. But it is enough to remind him of the task at hand. He swallows his grief as he is so used to doing.
Surely, by now, Tengen's body had risen to the surface of the tree. He had to find him. It wasn't just his own heart on the line, but Sanemi's. But Shinobu's. But Genya's. The fact that he has been shaken to the core by even the sensation of killing — regardless of whether it is a mere memory — is not enough of a reason to relent.
He marches toward the tree.]
no subject
Surely, he would be easy to disentangle from root and bark and vine, left barely touched by corruption.
Surely.
Unfortunately, while Kyojuro will find his still form, any hope of pulling him down with ease would have to be left by the wayside, depth of hold and depth of corruption entwined with the branches and vines that support his body, wound tightest around his left side, around pieces already lost and the flesh nearest.]
no subject
Naturally, Kyojuro does not swear. Instead, he pulls out his blade. It's already been slightly dulled from the effort of freeing Sanemi, but he doesn't care. He turns it against the wood of the tree and begins slashing at the branches and roots furthest from Tengen's body. The first few glance away, leaving more damage to the blade than anything. The next few cut in just slightly, but not enough.
It's enough to make him roar with frustration. He doesn't dare use flamebreathing, for fear of making matters worse for Tengen, but he can at least try swinging with all of his might.
Finally, some of the roots come free.
Without thinking, the blade his tossed aside. Kyojuro grips the torn roots now, peeling them away from Tengen's body. Some of the bark cuts into his skin. Perhaps it sinks deeper still. Kyojuro doesn't notice.
He won't notice for some time.
The only thing that matters is finally pulling Tengen down.]
body horror...
Veins run green under his skin as thin vines weave in and out, a capillary network weaving their way down his left arm to end in a facsimile of a hand, and then back up again, over and around his neck and higher, dying the scar over his eye bright green and then... blooming bright red flowers, in some mockery of makeup once worn.
Further corruption is left unseen, spreading inward, making his body feel not quite his own, but out of the labyrinth, out of the tree... at least he can begin to come to.]
body horror
The thoughts are pushed to the back of his mind. He knows better than to pull and tug at the vines within the skin. Instead, he sets to cleaning up whatever blood and sap that lingers. It's the least he can do. He cannot hope to lift Uzui and carry him to the clinic.
Really, he should have asked one of the healers to come with him. Rattled as he was after the fight with Sanemi, however, and desperate as he was to find Tengen in the first place, the thought hadn't crossed his mind.
When there's nothing left to do, no wounds to tend to, Kyojuro can only hunch over Tengen's vulnerable form. His haori is sopping wet, but he still holds it over the man to keep him as dry as possible.]
no subject
What is known is how resilient the hashira are, even when they've been brought low. It may feel like an eternity, it may feel like only a few moments, but eventually Tengen does stir and his good eye opens slowly, only to see Kyojuro hunching over him in a mirror of their private little moment in the inn when magics were going haywire. A blessing, in it's own way, because it's that warm feeling in his chest at the memory that keeps him from bolting upright as more recent, more painful memories of the labyrinth filter in in sparse pieces.]
Kyojuro? Where's-?
[Surely he got Sanemi down first. That'd be the sensible thing to do-]
no subject
Kyojuro knew that all too well.]
He was the first to awaken. I have already taken him to the clinic.
[With those words out of the way, Kyojuro shifts his hand, lifting it to cradle Tengen's cheek.]
You are in rough shape, my friend. You will need to go there as well. Things... did not go well in the labyrinth, as I understand.
no subject
When Sanemi is already at the clinic.
When Kyojuro is hovering over him, all reassurances and gentle concern and gentler touch.
He finds himself leaning into that hand all too easily, not even bothering to second guess the stolen moments.]
Yeah, we fucked up...
[Handicap or no, they should have been able to handle it.]
no subject
[He knows the forest all too well, knows what it's capable of throwing at them. Kyojuro has no doubt that it was a hellish experience.]
In a moment, you are going to get up. Gently now, take it steady. [The whole point of keeping Tengen from sitting up in the first place was to keep him from becoming lightheaded. Hopefully, a slower process would help.] Unfortunately, you will have to walk to the clinic. Even with my blessings, I do not think I am strong enough to carry you!
[He tries to smile, but it fades on his face.]
no subject
[It's not an argument against the idea that he'd done all he could... and yet it is all the same. Neither of them had been able to act - or react - as they normally might have been. Which was probably intended, surely, but... it still stung.]
Hah... if I could walk home after battling an upper moon, I can walk this off...
[Bravado, lest he allow worry to crash into him. Bravado, to maybe get a bit of that smile back on Kyojuro's face.
...The world spins all the same when he begins to sit up. Maybe this did take more out of him than he'd like to admit.]
Maybe when I've recovered we test those blessings of yours.
no subject
[Kyojuro does not smile. Some part of him knows that Tengen is trying. Another part tells him to suck it up and smile through the pain. But it has been an exhausting night.
He still hears Sanemi, yowling and spitting in frustration. He feels the blade used to kill innocent in his hand. And he cannot shake the memory of Tengen, unbreathing.
It is all so much to bear. He will do it, but for once he does not try to grit our a smile.]
The clinic first.
[Kyojuro rises to his feet. His hand extends -- at the very least, he should be able to help Tengen up, and then he offers his shoulder to lean on.]
no subject
After all, he's on his feet, he's fine, or will be.
But Kyojuro isn't.
So he puts his hand - his real hand - on that offered shoulder, before dragging it up to his cheek, mirroring the gentle touch he'd woken up to.]
Hey. Let it out.
[His frustration, his pain, his exhaustion all reads plain on his face, but as soon as they return to the settlement, there will be others around, more reason to bottle it up, ignore it.
Right now, it's just them and the trees.]
no subject
He'll have to try harder.]
I am fine, Tengen. You are not. [He takes a step forward in an effort to coax the other man onward.] That tree left something beneath your skin that I cannot mend. The clinic will need to assist you, and perhaps reach out to someone else from there. The longer we wait, the worse I fear it will get.
[Duty must be carried out above all. Kyojuro reminds himself of this again and again as he forced his expression to smooth out. He could not crumble when there was more to be done.]
no subject
Tengen wasn't most others, and he's risking his own mask by pressing the issue, surely, but... he's alive. He's out of the worst of the danger. His concern is, unfortunately, never himself first.
But he could relent, just a bit. Just this once.]
If I don't argue, will you stay with me in the clinic? You're less fine than you want to be, and I've still got one good shoulder to lean on.
no subject
But he can come up with excuses later. And in any case, he did want to check in on Sanemi, even if he's certain the other man will rankle at his presence.]
It will do well, to have someone to watch over you both.
[Something in the back of Kyojuro's mind reminds him that either man could succumb to their corruption. Thus, it was all the better that he remained close.
Still, he is quick to add, as another out:]
Not for too long. Senjuro will start to worry, given the current state of things.
no subject
[An excuse is an excuse and Kyojuro has just given him two - someone to watch over them, someone to look after Senjuro. He... can't exactly argue with the latter, he'd hate his own stubbornness to be the cause of Senjuro having to go through something horrifying, and yet his voice holds reproach.]
You're running away.
no subject
[There's a degree of forcefulness within his voice, anger that he hates bubbling beneath his skin. He hates feeling like this, hates when it gets so close to the surface that he begins to sound like his father. Images of the man dance behind his mind, and he flinches visibly.]
With two of our number now meant to recover, there are less of us to protect those of the Grove. We cannot afford to sit back.
[He cannot afford to sit back. Not when his brother, or any of the other children, could just as easily be swept up in this mess.]
Let us begin moving. We have already taken up enough time.
no subject
[He'll relent... to a point. He'll walk with him, will lean on his shoulder - pointedly with the side less marred by corruption - but will not drop the issue entirely. How could he, when its so incredibly obvious that something is eating him alive from the inside out.]
Will you tell me what's wrong while we walk at least? There's time...
[A huff of a sigh, another small allowance-]
I'll drop whatever it is when we get there if it means you just... talk to me, Kyojuro.
no subject
In the end, he chooses something recent. Something that will surely distract Tengen, and leave him more concerned with someone aside from Kyojuro himself.]
Shinazugawa and I fought. He was most upset that I did not return immediately to find you, even after I insisted that you would be upset if I did not see him to the clinic first.
no subject
[The distraction is momentary, and his tone in response is affectionate. Tengen can picture how the fight had gone, neither one of the stubborn men he cares for so deeply willing to give an inch.
The reasons running deeper under the fight, though, were of more concern... and not something he had the ability to put to rest. He could help shoulder the pain, surely, but either one of them - or, ideally... laughably, both - would need to open up before he could.]
It's still bothering you? Or... is there something else?
no subject
He says nothing for a long while, hoping that silence will be enough of an answer. When it only eats at the back of Kyojuro's mind, he instead shakes his head.]
I told you, I do not wish to speak of this right now. [In the distance, through the rain, Kyojuro makes out the clinic.] We are almost there, and I would not wish to upset Sanemi by hashing out the details in his presence.