Tale of the Flower Hashira

6. Brotherly Love, But Not in a Weird Way

"Wanna be my fourth wife Y/n?"

"Don't you have three wives already?"

"Exactly, that's why you'd be number four."

You rolled your eye and parried his next blow. "Did anyone ever tell you how annoying you are Tengen Uzui?"

"You call it annoying, I call it flamboyant."

"Different words for the same thing."

Your banter went back and forth like the swing of your blades. As a for of teamwork or more likely, torture, the master had required you to practice with each and every one of the hashira. This week you had already sparred with Obanai and Gyomei, two grilling ordeals you'd rather not repeat. Tengen Uzui was not your type of person in any shape or form but something about his opposing nature challenged you. The afternoon sped by and soon you found yourself panting and out of breath from the day's challenges. Tengen grinned at you and you made a rude gesture in his direction, it only made him chuckle. If only he would give up on the fourth wife jokes maybe the two fo you could be friends.

___

On your way home you saw a familiar flaming head bobbing down the path towards you from your house. Immediately you broke into a run and came to a stop before him.

"Kyojiro?"

"I was hoping I'd see you before I left!" His voice was cheerful as usual, if not a bit tired.

"Do you have another mission?"

"Yes, I will return in three days if all goes well."

"I'm sorry I wasn't here earlier, now you have to leave..." After his confession that he liked you, it was hard figuring out how to act around him. It was all happening so fast, you barely even knew the man.

"I must confess I came to meet with your brother. I needed to speak to him after what happened the other day." His words jolted you out of your thoughts.

"You went to see Sanemi? I apologize if he got angry with you or anything he has an awful temper."

"No, no, nothing like that." Kyojiro sighed. "Unfortunately, I must go now. But i'm very happy I got to see you. After a whole day of training and you still look so beautiful." He lifted your hand to his lip and kissed your palm lightly. "Can I send you letters?"

You blushed and nodded. "Of course. I'd really like that."

You could barely meet his eyes as he bid goodbye and took off on his next journey.

It was a half mile to your house and you already knew what was awaiting you at the end of it. You slid open the door to find your brother glaring at you. Despite his foul temper, Sanemi never took it out on you. Part of you thought it was because of the years of separation because he and Genya were always arguing and butting heads.

Sanemi stared at you sternly with folded arms. You looked anywhere but at him, the mat covered floor, the pile of Genya's clean clothes on the line outside, anywhere but at your brother's accusing eyes.

"Y/n, we need to talk."

"I don't see why." You tried to move past him but he blocked your way. "Come on Sanemi, I'm covered in dirt from sparring with that annoying sound hashira, the least you could do is let me take a bath first!"

"Do you like Rengoku?"

You fiddled with your fingers while heat burned in your cheeks.

"You know I saw the two of you the other day, making eyes at each other in the rain. So just tell me, do you have feelings for him?"

"I... I do like him." You tried to move past him but Sanemi stood his ground and kept you stuck in the doorway. "What do you want! I told you the answer now move!"

Sanemi poked your forehead and stared deep into your uncovered eye. "He came to see me today before he headed out on his next mission."

"He what? Why would he...?"

"Rengoku wanted to ask me about you, obviously."

"What did he say!" You burst out.

Sanemi poked your head again to silence you and then continued. "Your beloved flame hashira wanted to ask for my permission to pursue a relationship with you. Not like you'd care about that, but he certainly does. I'm the one who has to take care of your dumb ass so I'm glad he did."

"Sanemiiiiii!" You flapped your arms at him but he held you by the head at arms length and continued talking.

"You probably don't care what he had to say so go on and take your bath."

"Tell meeeee!"

"You sure?"

"TELL ME YOU IDIOT!"

"That's no way to talk to your elder brother, but fine I'll tell you if that's what you want."

"SHUT UP AND TELL ME!"

"Well he apologized for not talking to me sooner blah blah blah. Then he asked if I thought you really did feel the same way about him."

"What did you say!"

"I told him you don't talk much and if you said or did anything you most definitely meant it. I got to tell him all about the stubborn piece of work you are and how once you really get comfortable with someone you have the capacity to go absolutely feral... like now..."

You continued pushing against his hand, trying to whack your older brother.

"I also told him I approve." He let his hand go and you nearly fell onto the floor.

"You... you do?"

"Of course I do. He's a good man, I couldn't ask for anyone better to protect my little sister."

You jumped and hugged Sanemi around the middle. "Thank you, Onisan."

"Yeah yeah, you stink, go take a bath."

You pulled away and darted down the hall.

"One last thing." His tone changed, a hint of harshness creeping into his voice. "If you still have feelings for that boy and you think it would get in the way of your future with someone else then I suggest you break it off with Rengoku."

Your hand unconsciously darted to the mark on your neck. The lines of the lotus seemed to itch and burn.

"It won't be a problem."

He nodded and you darted away.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hello fine people, I am back. Finally I am going to start regular uploads of this fic on Tuesdays. Hopefully I can get in a writing grove again.