arrays | [closed] for sisi

[ Xian Le is in such disarray after the decision - after losing Shinobu, Baren, and Wei WuXian all in one fell swoop - that perhaps Ookurikara should never have made the choice to leave. But he did, almost immediately. Why, exactly, Wei WuXian had turned traitor has never really mattered. He’d made his choices, and Ookurikara is determined to make him regret it.

"Letting him go will just give him the chance to ruin you from outside the city," he says, the day he leaves. "I won’t let him hurt you again."

And so, he goes. He rarely writes (though Shinobu, when he finds her, cheerfully threatens him into it), and he only receives snippets of news regarding the situation back home. But his eyes are focused elsewhere, nose to the grindstone and ear to the ground, looking for any trace of their traitor. It’s a personal offense, on some level, that Wei WuXian would attack Xie Lian after all he’s done to establish peace, all while pretending to be their friends - to be Ookurikara’s own friend, putting up the front of the neutral friend who could sympathize with their problems when he was the root cause of them.

Ookurikara has never forgiven himself for having believed it. There’s an irrational part of his mind that tells him that somehow, he should have known. He should have put a stop to it before things got that far. He failed Xie Lian, for failing to find the traitor beforehand.

So he keeps going, and loses track of how much time has passed. And if the Eastside is a little quieter without him, Ookurikara doesn’t seem to care. Life goes on, and Xie Lian has others to work for him, after all. Jiang Cheng wouldn’t allow anything else to go wrong, now that the traitor is gone.

Some time later, though, when Xie Lian returns to his office on an overcast morning, he’ll find Ookurikara’s sword sitting on his desk, and a wooden practice sword from one of the training rooms beside it. With no note to be seen, it seems the message should be clear from that alone.

Ookurikara has returned to Montevallo. ]

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[ after everything, it's easier to just let it be. xie lian has so many questions for ookurikara, and he's not sure even now if he wants to know the answers. what matters more than anything is that he's returned home--that ookurikara was not just another bridge that xie lian tried to keep from being burned. he hasn't been alone, per se, but jiang cheng has been angry (and righteously, rightfully so--it surprised xie lian a bit that he didn't go chasing after wei wuxian too) and he's been holding up the mantle of what was left more or less by himself. xie lian's had no time to mourn anything. not the loss of his closest friends, not even the loss of his parents. for the first time since everything really ended, he's willing to release a tiny bit of the burden.

he can catch onto the soft look in his eyes, and xie lian glances down at the practice sword in his own hand, then back at kara. his own emotions are a confusing storm, and xie lian has never been that great at dealing with them (actually, the amount of difficult emotions he's had to deal with has changed exponentially in the past two or so months, but that's besides the point.) so, he's going to do what he does best.

his mouth quirks up into a smile, faintly more familiar, less trying to apologize for something and more xie lian. like he's thinking of doing something. kara knows him too, so it's probably not surprising that his first action is to lift the practice sword and dash forward, going for an attack with his usual clever footwork, his well-honed, well-trained swordsmanship as deadly accurate as ever.

when was the last time he came down to the training rooms? when was the last time he held one of these in his hands? it hearkens back to simpler times, and xie lian may not know how to tell kara how glad he is that he's back, how important he is to him, but he might be able to show it like this. out of the frying pan and into the fire has been the way that xian le functions, and xie lian is no exception to these rules.

if you're really back, he hopes your skills haven't dulled any, because a spar might be exactly what he needs to get out everything he's feeling--no words involved for either of them. ]

[ now that is a smile kara is intimately familiar with, that instantly puts him on his toes. by the time xie lian charges, he's already throwing himself into a defensive stance, relinquishing only a step or two before blocking the practice sword and holding his ground. his lips stay in a firm, focused line, but his eyes are bright with excitement.

sparring with xie lian... he's missed it. it's why he'd waited here, instead of meeting xie lian in his office like a better subordinate might have done. for the two of them, though, having a conversation was always easier through action than words. this was always the best way for them to reach an understanding, through every argument and triumph and everything in between, and it had been far too long, even before ookurikara had left, since they'd last spoken this way.

so when he meets xie lian's eyes over the wooden swords, there is a challenge there. it's the same it's always been - come at me, show me what you mean to do, and I won't back down until one of us is done - confident that his skills are just as sharp as they've always been. a moment later, kara shoves him back, stepping forward into a wide sweep at xie lian's feet. whether or not it connects - and if he's honest, kara doesn't expect it to; xie lian is too well trained to fall for something like this right out of the gatte - he'll pull the sword back into a double-handed grip and move into a jab at xie lian's chest. ]

[ as a child, xie lian was a bit of a terror when it came to his sword practices. not on purpose--rather, he was insatiable, and had run several masters out of the xian le house complaining about the mafia scion's son. (in xie lian's opinion, which hasn't really changed, perhaps they should have just been better and fit their names as masters and not been schooled by such easy techniques.) but there was one person who he never bored of sparring with, who constantly brought new, exciting challenges, and that was kara.

kara was just as obsessed with it as he was. they were kindred spirits in many ways, but this one perhaps the most, and when kara fights back, xie lian meets him with that same fervor. there's a glimmer in his eyes that has been there in months, too, and he seems to come more alive as kara attacks him back. he knows ookurikara will never go easy on him. he knows he will never baby him, or get bored and try to make him move onto other things. it's exactly what he needs and everything he loves about sparring with him. it's everything about why xie lian's immediate first choice for a right hand was ookurikara.

as he strikes inwards, xie lian springs back. the hop over the wide swing at his feet lets him lean out of the strike, back arching as he catches his hand on the floor and uses it to spring out of the way, flipping himself over and back on his feet in a moment. relentless, offensive, and refined has always been xie lian's style, and he rounds on ookurikara when he's back to his feet to clash the practice sword against his, turning with the momentum and lashing out with a kick in quick succession.

he loves this. he loves it. it's hard, and ookurikara won't back down for a second. every strike he gives kara is with the same relentless drive forward, a sign that xie lian has not given up. that he's still xie lian, still willing to fight for what's left with everything in him. ]

[ as a swordsman, ookurikara is relentless, with offensive and defensive skills at the top of his class. his technique is bold, but each move he makes only serves to prove his expertise as he continues to press forward. agility is one advantage that xie lian will always have over him, though, so it's no surprise that despite kara's efforts to pull back, the kick lands, grazing his side. while it doesn't quite knock him off balance, he does stumble, and has to rework his grip on the sword.

of course, it isn’t enough to stop him. every new development in battle is another opportunity to turn it around, so kara uses this one to swing the practice sword in a wide, upward arc while xie lian is close, with the intent to push him back.

and if xie lian looks close enough, he might see a hint of a smile, right before the sword connects. it feels like a lifetime since they’ve done this - since ookurikara has had this much fun. he hadn’t even allowed himself a chance in these past few months, so there won’t be any holding back now. not that anyone would ever say he went easy on xie lian, but sometimes you pass up what would be, logistically, the better move to make in a real battle for something a little more fun.

which is why, the second he gets a chance, he swings for xie lian's wrists - more to see how he'll evade than to knock the sword from his hands, but kara wouldn't pass up the chance to boast a little if h did, either. ]

[ he's paying attention to ookurikara's every movement, and gets pushed back as he has to put his strength into blocking his next strike. where ookurikara's nearly smiling, xie lian is too - his face is lit up with the sense of challenge, and they clash blades, again and again. when the swing comes at his wrists, instead of taking the hit, xie lian releases his practice blade, hand opening wide and arm moving up, so for the briefest moment, it seems like he's disarmed.

but, as the momentum comes down, he grabs the sword by the hilt in his non-dominant left hand again and swings around, pivoting as light as a feather on the tip of his toes to get behind him. in another world, he'd be long hair and flowing silks; here, there's just the rustle of the fine fabric of his suit as he comes around kara, and this time, he'll hear xie lian's breathless laugh. it's not mean, or teasing, or cruel, it's --

it's delight is what it is.

it's certainly a bold way to dodge, but ookurikara can probably expect nothing less from xie lian, who is only conventional in the way that he's mastered how to be and how to avoid it. this is something he loves about ookurikara too, though - he is unbelievably, unbelievably talented, and every sparring match with him could carry on for hours.

sometimes saying things is hard, even for xie lian, who is as sincere as they come. but the movements he applies here scream so much more of his emotions than anything he could say. the care he puts into sparring with him, the expressions on his face, the easy flow and dance of communication that comes out of years of martial arts with a partner you know like the back of your hand. i missed you, it says, with every strike forward, pushing ookurikara now towards the back of the room with a more aggressive series of strikes, when he gets two hands on his blade again.

i missed you, i'm so glad you're here, i missed you, i needed you, i'm so glad you're home. ]

[closed] for sisi

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kicks your fucking door open