Chapter Text
It had been raining for three days straight.
At this point Usagi’s rain cape was more an expression of hope than actually keeping the wet off, and the bottom of his hakama was stiff with mud up to the knee. Ahead of him, Leo’s usually bouncing stride had been whittled down to a trudge; the turtle had seemed steadfastly determined not to be bothered by the rain itself, but their two nights spent trying and failing to coax fire from soggy wood meant very little rest for either of them.
Usagi nearly collided with Leo’s shell before he realized the other man had stopped. His neck creaked as he lifted it from a miserable hunch for the first time in hours. “Something the matter?”
“Nah, hoping it’s the opposite,” Leo pointed through where a break in the trees showed the tops of buildings at the bottom of the hill they were on. “I’m thinking… hot baths. Can you imagine hot baths? Seems like an eternity since water could be hot.”
Usagi huffed a laugh, glancing at the gentle switchbacks the road took below them. “I’ll even risk hurrying in this if it gets us there before dark.”
“Mhm mhm, OR. Or…hear me out on this-“
Leo reached an arm out to wrap around Usagi’s shoulders, his other hand already holding a katana and drawing a circle of blue around them. Usagi staggered, his mud-caked sandals slipping on the new ground, grabbing for Leo’s arm as the only thing keeping him upright.
“I distinctly recall Raph telling you that was only for emergencies.”
“Whaaaat? I can think of at least three emergencies walking downhill in mud could make. Besides,” Leo flicked the brim of Usagi’s hat, sending water dripping down the back of the rabbit’s neck and grinned at the scowl he got in return, “-we’re the only ones stupid enough to be out in this mess. Come on, long-ears, I’ll buy the noodles.”
Usagi decided that what Leo’s family wasn’t told neither of them could be lectured on, and followed at a much more eager pace than before.
Leo’s portal had placed them at the bottom of the hill, but it was still nearly half an hour of walking before they reached the town gate and saw another person at all. Leo raised his hand in greeting to the guard and had directions to the bathhouse before Usagi was able to rouse himself enough to do more than nod his thanks.
It was a good sized town, prosperous enough to have paved streets and gutters, and Usagi had hopes he might see his socks before they found an inn. Having a task and goal seemed to revive Leo into his usual spirits, once again reaching the bath house attendant before Usagi was able to do more than pull his hat off and shake the water from his ears. Since Leo had already pulled his purse out, Usagi decided he could keep being slow.
“They’ll get your clothes too if you leave them through there,” Leo pointed at the low door that led down into the baths. “I’ll be back with your spares before you’re done.”
Usagi paused in the middle of shedding his rain cape and frowned up at him, “‘Back’? Aren’t you-“
“Oh for sure, but the inn is two doors down, and I want to leave our packs somewhere to dry. Go, go on, you’re carrying enough mud to plant half a rice field in.”
Usagi couldn’t help his burst of laughter, even as he swung a fist at Leo’s shoulder, “and I have met tokage with better manners than you. But since you’ve volunteered, I’m not arguing.”
Leo stood still long enough to allow the blow to hit his shoulder, before grinning even wider and heading out the door. “Your profuse thanks have been noted, Miyamoto-san.”
There were a handful of other bathers in the room when Usagi was done attempting to fold his mud-stiffened clothes into something less than a heap for the laundry, but none of them seemed inclined to initiate conversation, for which he was deeply grateful. The energy it took scrub, scrape, and at some points peel three days of mud off left little attention or energy to spare for offering up news of the road. He was nearly finished with the last layer when Leo ducked into the room and slid into the bath up to his chin in one smooth motion.
Usagi snorted as the swell of displaced water slapped over the edge of the bath, “Should I be glad you didn’t jump in?”
“Yes. I have magnanimously decided against making it cannonball day,” Leo pushed himself up with a groan and reached for a brush, “maybe next time I won’t be so generous.”
It was almost worse to step out into the rain again now that he was clean, warmed, and had fresh clothes on. Leo huffed at the glower Usagi was sending the sky from the doorway before gripping his shoulder and pushing him outside.
“Two minutes in the rain and you get warm noodles, come ooooon.”
Usagi grumbled under his breath, but Leo’s hand was warm and firm on his shoulder as he steered them down the street, not bothering to take it away before they were inside again.
The inn was larger and of a better quality than Usagi would have chosen were he on his own, and he tried to shove away the mental recount of his purse which was full, and enjoy his food which was excellent. Leo poured him a cup of saké and seemed content to eat in mutual silence, though Usagi could feel the turtle’s attention focused on him even warmer than the braziers set around the room. About halfway through his food, Usagi gave up and set his bowl down.
“Is there something else you need, Leo-san?”
Leo glanced up from his bowl, all innocence, “beg pardon, Miyamoto-san?”
Usagi took a sip from his saké, not breaking eye contact, “Were you in need of my attention, or are you just ’looking’?”
Leo smirked and raised his own cup, “Anything wrong with me just ’looking’?”
“Not so far,” Usagi drained his cup and set it down to pick his bowl up again, “I am just hoping you won’t be disappointed later.”
Leo’s smirk softened into something fond as he poured the last of the saké into Usagi’s cup, “With you? Never.”
They lingered over their food until Leo flicked Usagi’s ear and told him he wasn’t allowed to fall asleep at the table when there were perfectly good rooms upstairs and he could either walk or be carried. The threat was delivered with a smile, but the tone was mountain steady and Usagi knew he meant it. Their room was larger than most Usagi tended to stay in, though he suspected it was on the smaller side for this inn. Their packs were against the wall, capes hanging and dripping into bowls. There was also a folded mat with a bowl of steaming water set on it by the door, that Leo started to unroll as soon as the door closed.
Usagi stopped halfway to the bed, “I am tired, Leonardo…”
“You’re one stiff breeze from falling over,” Leo dug in his pack until he came up with a tied leather wrap and flopped back into a tailor’s seat next to the mat, “-and you’re damp and been shedding for days. You sleep like that now, you’ll wake up all matted, c’mere.” He unrolled the leather wrap to show a selection of brushes, a comb, and a tiny pair of scissors.
Usagi blinked, caught off guard, “It hasn’t been that-“
Leo reached over and plucked a tuft of hair easily off his arm.
“Drifts of white in spring/
Walking among cherry trees?/
No. It’s rabbit fur.”
Usagi sputtered, batting Leo’s hand away, “that’s TERRIBLE.”
Leo grinned up at him, wrapping an arm around the rabbit’s waist and tugging him towards the mat, “oh really? Want to hear the rest of them? I’ve had whole three days with nothing else to do.”
“You are not being very convincing,” Usagi tried to brace, but even sitting down, Leo’s head was nearly to his chin and Usagi wasn’t sure he wanted to test the turtle’s ability to lift him.
“Come oooon, I’m good at this, we used to help Uzuki every spring when we were kids.” Leo tugged at the strings of Usagi’s haori with his free hand until Usagi pushed him away to shrug out of it.
“Just as long as you’re not quoting poetry at me.”
“Not even a little? I had one that starts ‘invisible way/walking with no trace be-ACK-!”
“I’m going to tell Uzuki you used her name against me,” Usagi stretched out on the mat, folded his arms underneath him and ignored the spluttering as Leo pulled the hakama off his face, “I’m going to tell her and hope she feels honor-bound to put on my grave marker that I died of your terrible haiku.”
“Wait, wait wait wait, are you telling her before or after you’ve died?”
Usagi’s shoulders twitched at the feeling of a hard bristle brush against the grain of his fur, “After. My ghost will wander the mountains until I reach Shinshou and never rest until everyone knows your awful verse was what sent me.”
Leo switched to the comb, working his way along Usagi’s shoulders. The smile in his voice was obvious, “No need to bring Uzuki into it, I’ll have the marker made myself; big enough to have your name, cause of death, and the poem that did it all written out.”
“That’ll cost you a small fortune.”
“No no no, it’ll cost me all my fortune!” Leo’s voice took on the timbre Usagi usually associated with wild gesticulations and jumping on tables, but his hands were gentle with the comb, occasionally pausing to pull out the accumulated hair and toss it into the bowl of water. “It’ll be large enough to tell the life story of a ronin skilled enough to get himself out of all the incredibly stupid messes he kept jumping into, only to be felled by his most hated foe; bad poetry- hey, if you laugh while I’m combing, I can’t be held responsible for the tangles!”
Shaking his head, Usagi threw a lazy elbow back, was blocked, and had his wrist grabbed and pinned to the mat.
“Now was that nice?”
Leo’s breath was warm against his face and Usagi knew his ears were twitching, unrestricted by his topknot. Leo nuzzled against his cheek and held him a moment longer before sitting back and continuing his task. They both spent a moment’s silence pretending that Usagi’s shivering was from the bristle brush moving further down his back.
“And what will you do? After you’ve spent your fortune on a ronin’s shrine?”
“Oh easy,” Leo switched to the comb again, “I’ll wrap myself in white silk and waste away from the grief of it all. And my ghost will only repeat the last stanza that killed my lover until no one goes near the place. There will be plays written about it. Not a dry eye in the house.”
“Hmmmm,” Usagi readjusted his arms, trying not to flinch at the feeling of Leo’s comb scraping up the small of his back. “But you said you spent your whole fortune on the shrine; where does the silk come from?”
“Oooh, good point.” Leo switched for a soft hair brush and began brushing Usagi’s fur back in the right direction. “MmmmmMikey. He gets it for me and writes the first play; it’s a sensation, there’s a dozen copycats and he comes back to complain to me about plagiarism and how everything is derivative now.”
“And you can only quote a single bad haiku at him?”
“…yeah, that’s a problem. Hey, you’re laughing! My brother is weeping over our shared tomb and you’re laughing!”
“Your brother will write better poetry into his play to attribute to you just to save the honor of your house!”
“Unappreciated in my time…” Leo sniffed, scraping the soft brush into the water pot and picking up the bristle brush. “Doing your legs now, so don’t kick me.”
Usagi leaned his forehead back onto his arms, doing his best not to twitch at every brush stroke. “You really don’t have to do-“
“This,” Leo tapped the flat of the brush against Usagi’s thigh, “Is sheer self-interest. If you don’t get brushed out means you won’t get dried properly overnight even if you don’t get any mats, and that would make anyone grumpy, and considering how much you hate being wet.. So I’m really and truly doing this for my benefit, as your traveling companion.”
“Ah, I understand completely, Hamato-san,” Usagi turned his head to watch the growing shadows from the window dance along the wall. This part of his task seemed to be taking up enough of Leo’s concentration that he let the conversation lapse, and Usagi found himself drifting; lulled by the sound of rain on the other side of a wall.
He came back to himself at the sound of metal on metal, reaching for Willow Branch and finding it out of his sight.
“Ah, wait wait wait, hold on, don’t kick- okay, it’s just scissors, I swear!”
Willow Branch was leaning against the opposite wall, next to the bed, which stopped Usagi from scrambling to his feet, but did not stop the glare he threw over his shoulder. “What was THAT-?“
Leo held up the tiny pair of scissors in one hand, the other dropping Usagi’s foot, “Okay, in my defense…you slept through the other foot.”
Usagi kept up the glare, “For WHY?”
“…your fur has grown a finger’s length past your foot, long-ears.”
“Yes? It’s supposed to grow there.”
Leo heaved a sigh before leaning over to slide the scissors back into their cords. “Alright, I’m sorry…I didn’t want to wake you.”
The jolt of adrenaline was fading, leaving behind shaking muscles and loss of the comfortable warmth that had sent him to sleep. Usagi bit down on several sharp (if deserved) retorts and settled for “Did I kick you?”
“Give a turtle ninja some credit,” the grin was back, but Leo wasn’t meeting his eyes, focusing instead on brushing up loose hair from the floor and tossing it into the bowl. “I didn’t knick you anywhere, did I?”
Usagi pushed himself up into a tailor’s seat, glancing down at his feet and seeing no flecks of blood. They did look much neater now than they had when he’d climbed out of the bath, though one was uneven. “No.”
“Wonderful,” Leo slide the bristle brush into its slot, before glanced quickly at Usagi’s face and away. “You alright if I finish the front then?”
“Just…wait a moment.” Pushing himself to his feet was harder than Usagi wanted to admit; muscles loosened from the soak gone stiff again and he hid a wince as he crossed the room to his swords. Setting them down within reach, he settled on the mat again, “yes, we can finish.”
Leo brightened, unfolding his legs and gesturing for Usagi to sit between them, “Great! Shouldn’t be- oh don’t give me that look, I swear on my honor and not even the ninja honor. It’s this or laying on your back, Miyamoto-san.”
Usagi let the silence deepen for three heartbeats before sighing and moving to sit with his back against Leo’s chest. Instantly the turtle wrapped all four limbs around him and squeezed.
“Ah, FOOLISH SAMURAI! YOU HAVE STEPPED RIGHT INTO MY-ack no no no MERCY!” Leo flopped back, grabbing for Usagi’s hand to pull it away from where his leg went into his shell. “I’m sorry! I’ll be good now, swear it!”
“Now that I’ll believe you’re swearing on your ninja honor,” Usagi said with some satisfaction. “You said you wanted to finish this, Hamato-san, so?”
“And I will, no tricks,” Leo settled behind him again, comb in hand. “I can’t say I won’t find the ticklish spots, but I’ll do my level best not to press the advantage.”
“I will make no such promise if you try.”
“Ah, the ninja honor has been rubbing off on you.”
Usagi only rapped his knuckles against the edge of Leo’s shell in response, tilting his head back onto the turtle’s collarbone as he started to work the comb against the grain of Usagi’s fur once again. This position had the advantage of being surrounded by Leonardo’s body heat, and Usagi once again found himself drifting, though Leo’s comb working through the occasional tangle brought him back quickly enough.
“Where did you get these?”
”Mm?” Leo pulled another handful of fur out of the comb and attacked the same spot with enough vigor that Usagi hissed through his teeth and batted him away until he slowed down.
“The kit. You don’t need any of it.”
“Oh right. Bought it before we left the last market.” He was working his way down Usagi’s side now, switching to the soft brush whenever Usagi started to twitch. “I was planning on doing this outdoors where there wouldn’t be such a mess but-“ a shrug “Weather. This works fine.”
Usagi turned just enough to watch the side of Leo’s face, tense with concentration. The forehead crease that seemed to be a Hamato trait was making an appearance as Leo brought the comb up to work along Usagi’s other side. He paused in the middle of cleaning the teeth as Usagi’s thumb came up and pressed between his eyes.
“Uh. So what’s-“
“If you aren’t careful,” Usagi kept his tone light, rubbing his thumb until the crease disappeared, “You’ll actually have to say out loud that you enjoy my company.”
“As Donnie would say; “scoff”, that doesn’t sound like me.”
Usagi’s hand dropped as Leo’s arms tightened around him briefly. The silence rose around them again, broken only by the swishing of the soft brush resettling Usagi’s fur.
He came back to himself again at the feeling of Leonardo shifting behind him and the soft clacking of the brush kit being rolled up. With a wordless mutter, Usagi turned his face to better burrow against Leo’s neck, the closest source of warmth he seemed to have.
“Yeah, yeah I know, but we’re done now. Usagi? Hey, you need to wake up enough so you don’t start biting when I lift you, there’s a time and place… Alright. I have your swords, Usagi.”
The world tilted briefly, and Usagi was horizontal and finally, blessedly being covered up enough to get warm. Helped along by the firm shell settling at his back. The part of him that never went off duty asked how long it had been since he’d let himself be this unguarded around another person, and he roused himself enough to retort he was not unguarded. The proof was close enough to put his hand on.
“Leo.”
“Mm?”
“I enjoy your company.”
In the dark and tired as he was, it was far too easy to imagine it as a wave; the sense of something larger, not all the way mortal, turning and rolling over him, inexorably wrapping around him, too strong to fight and too kind to need to. Living armor at his back, fond and warm.
Then Leo’s voice against his neck, and the illusion broken, just the two of them again.“I’m glad.”
Usagi felt a kiss at the hinge of his jaw. Lingering; a promise of later, with the joy of knowing there could always be a later. His last conscious thought was wondering if he’d only imagined the whispered;
“And I hope you always will.”