Yami no Matsuei, Souryuu/Touda, war and peace
The world is broken stone and ash when the war ends. Soryu has never felt such relief as he does the day the Emperor declairs peace. Only faith has kept him going. He needs to believe, or else everything he's done is meaningless. The countless dead he has slain, the earth he has destroyed, and Kurikara.
Kurikara is the betrayal that hurts the worst. The straw that nearly broke the Azure Dragon.
It's hard to believe it's all over. Even harder when he sees Touda polishing the blade of his katana, still wearing the black leather tunic he favored in battle. Soryu watched deft hands run cloth over the oiled length of steel and felt something shiver in his soul. Touda never looked so serene and calm as when caressing an implement of death and destruction.
What would he do now, in a time where such things were obsolete?
For a moment Soryu watched Touda handle his sword and let himself imagine a world where they were both allowed to simply be. Where the Emperor's hold on the snake didn't interfere with Soryu's claim. Maybe he could convince the serpent to live in his palace with him, since Touda had no properties of his own. He could dress the man in silks and braid that ebony waterfall into something less like a living cat-o-nine tails.
Maybe now they could do more than fuck with fury and blood lust riding their veins. He wanted to see those gold snake eyes hazy with pleasure, taste the passion on his lips and find out what it took to make Touda moan.
"Soryu."
Ah, he'd been staring too long.
"The war is over Touda, shouldn't you put that thing away?" he waved a manicured hand at the naked steel, a relaxed smile stretching his lips for the first time in years.
Touda blinked at him slowly, hands steady on the blade. when he spoke, Soryu could almost feel the serpent's venom rushing cold through his heart.