Day & Night

Final Selection

Tsukie and the mothers of the two families were a mess, to say the least. Ruka and Akira were crying, holding their youngest children close to them, and Tsukie was rubbing her bottom lip, waiting for her turn to hold the two boys. Senjuro was as much a brother to her as her own brother was.

"Come on, dear, Keiji and Senjuro need to head up the mountain before waiting until fall to make the next final selection," Tsukiya said, placing hands on his wife's shoulders.

"Ruka, you have to let Kyojuro and Tsukie have their moment, too dear," Shinjuro said, doing the same to his wife.

Once the mothers let go of the two young boys, they walked to their older siblings. Tsukie was going back to her dark place, remembering the mission a while back when she watched the young Slayer kill herself. But the only thing, or really one person to drag her from those thoughts, was the man standing beside her. Kyojuro placed a hand on Tsukie's back, somehow feeling those thoughts shadowing her mind.

They stood in front of their older siblings, taking a deep breath. Then, as the ritual of the families, Tsukie and Kyojuro took their swords from their hips and into their brother's hands. Since their swords were in use and their minds would be occupied, Master always allowed close family the week off from any missions. This was to help prevent mishaps while out on missions.

"May we stand beside you in spirit on your journey to fighting the demons," Kyojuro said, smiling warmly at his brother. "As older siblings, we give you our blessings."

"And maybe protect you against harm in the same journey," Tsukie said, trying not to cry by smiling her way through. "As Hashira, we give you our blessings."

"Good luck in final selection. We'll be here waiting," Tsukie and Kyojuro said together before bidding their brothers goodbye.

Once they were more than mere specks, Tsukie turned, let out a breath she held and joined the mothers.

"Oh, what a hell of a week we have in store for us," Shinjuro said, chuckling at the women.

"Tsukie is taking this extra hard. She has a strong bond with her brother, but I didn't think she would be this worried about it," Tsukiya said, watching his daughter turn her head back in the direction of the young boys every so often.

"She didn't tell you about the nightmares?" Kyojuro asked as her father looked at him. Kyojuro told Tsukiya and his father all about the mission and described the nightmare she was having.

"I knew she had bad nightmares after rough missions, but I didn't know that was what the screams were about," Tsukiya said, rubbing his jaw and looking at his daughter. "I should have known better. I used to do the same thing, nightmare still haunt me even after years of retirement."

"She's ok now, but I know she'll be having them again now that our brothers are gone for a week," Kyojuro said

"If you told her about your project you've been working on, I'm sure that would preoccupy her thoughts," Shinjuro said as Kyojuro cut his eyes at his father, grinning.

"Project?" Tsukiya asked, now intrigued.

"Next time I do anything, I'm just telling Tengen and Senjuro, and that's it because if I told Mother, you would know. Neither of you can keep a secret," Kyojuro huffed out, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Are you asking for my daughter's hand in marriage?" Tsukiya's face lit up.

"I'm not answering that right now," Kyojuro said, walking off, but he turned to the two men before he was out of earshot. "You tell him, and I will make work a living hell."

After that conversation, Kyojuro tried everything in his power to keep final selection off Tsukie's mind. Since they weren't allowed on missions for a week, they still had work to do. When there was time for just them, Kyojuro took every chance to take Tsukie on a date, late-night drives, and it was a long shot, but he even tried to make love to her. For Tsukie, there were moments of peace in her mind, but until she could lay eyes on her brother and Senjuro, that pleasure was short-lived.