bakerstreet | Sworn to the Sword

Sworn to the Sword

SWORN TO THE SWORD
shipping meme

It's textbook, really. Or, more accurately, parchment, because you've either found yourself or always been in a time (it doesn't necessarily have to be medieval) where swords - and possibly sorcery - are the weapons and the mindset of the day; at the very least, the rough and tumble attitude that comes with a knife's edge permeates the land. And you know how to wield a weapon, be it a blade, your own body, or something else entirely, so you've put it to good use.

You've become a sworn sword to protect someone.

It could be out of the goodness of your heart, out of heritage, or stemmed from a desire for compensation or power. No matter what the cause, however, one fact remains the same, and that's how you cannot let emotions cloud your judgement.

Of course, that may be a little easier said than done. When you're so close to a person, in order to keep them safe, and when you put your very life on the line...

...ah, but you must persevere. Your duty does not allow you to falter.

Comment with your character, role, and preferences.
I forgot to mention, feel free to AU.
Reply to others.
Thread.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Crown Prince needs a bodyguard. Cross-canon very welcome!]

[Protected.]

[ definitely the sword guy. i'm open to some kind of mutual swearing too though. au, f, m, cross-canon, cross-medium etc are fine. however shippyness might or might not happen, since he has uh... some very specific preferences which is hard to foresee without previous cr. ]

Yamamoto let out a content sigh as he leaned against the stump he had claimed as his. Shigure Kintoki was beside him as he closed his eyes and listened. He might seem at ease, and part of him was, but senses were alert has he waited for Squalo to return.

In front of him the fire crackled merrily, with a nice cozy campfire smell. Camping with Squalo was always fun. Sure the older man beat him unconscious to bring him out here, but that was part of the tradition apparently. These trips were becoming more and more frequent lately. Yamamoto didn't mind; he liked hanging out with Squalo to the confusion of his friends. Squalo was a pretty cool guy in his book.

He cracked an eye open, looked around. No sign of the Varia swordsman yet. He yawned. Today had been busy. Squalo had shown up after baseball practice, dragged him out here and spent at least... five? six? possibly seven hours? sparring. It was a lot of fun, but now his body wanted rest and food. He yawned and cracked his neck, hoping Squalo would come back with food soon. He checked his watch. Ten minutes. He'd give the other swordsman ten more minutes and then he'd go look for him.

Rejoice, Yamamoto, for sempai has noticed you. Or something. Still, Squalo fitted pretty well into his tendency to befriend people who had tried to kill him at least once, so could his other friends really talk? ~~(Especially you, Gokudera.)~~

This whole arrangement was obviously the fault of that Future Battle. Once Squalo got the idea that Yamamoto could be his apprentice of sorts, apparently he decided not to waste time waiting what the future might bring and get working on it right now. Maybe he saw it as a form of legacy, maybe he just liked having someone to boss around (and let himself recover from the Constant Cranial Trauma that he was subjected to back home). Hard to tell. Either way, he was spending significantly more time with the boy now.

It doesn't take ten minutes for him to finally show up. Eight, maybe. Instead of getting Chinese or whatever normal people eat out, though, he seems to be lugging a goddamn boar. Look, it's not a decent day of male bonding if it doesn't include cooking meat that was running around half an hour ago.

"Bored?"

Oh, Yamamoto did rejoice! He rejoiced by happily trying to kick Squalo's ass as Squalo tried to kick his. Truth be told, Yamamoto never really thought about this tendency of his, and Squalo was the only one that anyone, Gokudera mostly, questioned. He and Kaoru were still part of the baseball team, so that explained that. And he never took Gokudera's early attempts on his life all that seriously.

He didn't really think all that much about Squalo's reasons for this either. He did once, and he figured it was mostly about Squalo's pride helped out by the Future Battle memories the former Arcobeleno granted them and their allies.

When Squalo appeared he looked up and gave the older man a smile. "A little bit." He looked at the boar, and raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure we can eat all that in one day?"

He was kinda hoping that Squalo would have brought a fish, but he wasn't going to complain. Squalo was the one who had gone off to get food, and beggers couldn't be choosers.

That was clearly one of his most glaring problems. Not taking things all that seriously. Things could be serious, damn it. Squalo had hope he'd manage to beat at least some of it into the teen during training and... hanging out, since apparently they were doing that too now, but it wasn't going as well as he would have liked.

"Should've come with, then," he flashes his teeth and drops his catch near the fire before sitting down on a tree trunk and fishing out a knife from his supply bag. Time to get that thing ready to eat. Which is going to take a while, but hey, suffering through hunger was probably part of some kind of training in his book as well. "If not, Alo can always finish it. Or we'll hang it out to attract wild animals." Because that sounds like safe fun for the whole family.

"I like the idea of using it as bait," Yamamoto said cheerfully. "I wonder what it would be like to fight a bear!"

He's serious. Bear fighting sounds like good fun. And he does take things seriously. Like the Mafia "Game" he takes it very seriously. He needs to, otherwise he can't protect his friends.

... He just won't call it a game right now in front of Squalo. Squalo's reactions would probably be funny, but he does want to go to sleep sometime soon.

He watches Squalo with interest. He's watched his dad prepare sushi all the time, but he's never watched anyone prepare boar before. He guesses it would be considered pork. "Do they have boars in Italy?"

"If we've got any luck, you'll find out," Squalo promises pointedly. This might be something Ryohei is better known for, but hey, nothing like some good old wild beast mangling.

To be fair, he could do that. Squalo's figured some things out about Yamamoto by now. That he's competitive as hell, for example. That it's possible to draw out at least a little of his bloodthirsty assassin genes by hurting his friends.

And that calling something a game is the highest acknowledgement, promise of his utter focus and dedication that Yamamoto is capable of giving.

"Ha, of course we do. They constantly cause trouble in the vineyards, especially around Toscana."

Ryohei might be rubbing off a bit on him. But, hey, if Squalo's for it it can't be that bad of an idea. Extreme or otherwise.

"Toscana that's... Tuscany in Japanese right?" Yamamoto thought for a moment. Reborn had given him, Tsuna, and Chrome an Italian Geography lesson just last week. "That's... west coast. Bordering... I forget the sea." He looked over at Squalo. "Is that where you're from?"

He found himself really wanting an answer to that question. Squalo knew a lot about him, his father, his school, his friends. Probably a bit on how his brain works. But he knew very little about the older swordsman. He wanted to know. Squalo interested him, more than most. Squalo had handed him his first real defeat. Squalo was constantly pushing him to be better. His father was proud of Yamamoto, but he was bound by how he was taught the sword, and couldn't show Yamamoto anymore.

Squalo was. And Squalo demanded more. which Yamamoto found himself responding to.

"Yeah that's it," he confirms easily, actually looking... well, not quite fond, but in a somewhat calm good mood which is a rare thing for him. "Tyrrhenian sea." He snorts, probably because it has Tyr in it, then shakes his head. "No."

He'd leave it at that, but... he probably figures some of what's going through Yamamoto's head right now, and he supposes it's fair. This is supposed to be a bonding exercise or something, and there's really no harm in that particular piece of information. ~~Which is complete headcanon but hey guess it won't be proven wrong anymore.~~

"Sicilia," he says and leaves it at that. The Varia's HQ is further north in the mainland, so it's not like he's there often, and usually only on business, but... he guesses it's a pretty nice place to remember.

"Sicily?" Yamamoto thinks about what he knows about the island. "The birthplace of the mafia isn't it?"

He stands, taking his sword in hand and heads over to Squalo. "What's it like there?"

He had wondered for awhile now what made Squalo Squalo.

"If you want to get historic." He's pretty sure mafia's all over the world at this rate, but he supposes there's certain symbolism to it. Plus the capital's probably one of the lesser safe places. "It varies. There's always harbors and fishermen and tourist shops, but they're more prominent in the small towns. Palermo's more like your usual concrete jungle with some excess chaos and underground presence."

Yamamoto nodded, enraptured. Had it been anyone else he wouldn't have paid half as much attention. Maybe Gokudera or Tsuna, but that's it.

"Will you take me there one day?" he asked. "I want to see it. I mean, I will see it once Tsuna becomes the head of the Vongola. But will you take me there before then?"

As usual he feels no need to sugar coat it. Squalo and the Varia hate it, but it's the truth. Tsunayoshi is the Decimo and Neo Primo.

"Is that where you learned how to use the sword?"

He'll get a dark look for that mention of Sawada, but it's not like he's wrong. The damn brat's pretty much set to becoming the Don, but it doesn't matter, because Xanxus will never bow down to him. Or acknowledge him, probably. Still, they don't have to like it.

"Started, yeah. Would you believe school fencing club?" He probably learned elsewhere too, but. ~~Is Iron Fortress in Sicily? Do we know anything about it? Since if not, he won't be any more likely to visit it than he is now even with them moving countries or whatever.~~ "As for you going there... I might." No promises, though.

"Fencing club makes sense."

Yamamoto responded to that dark look with an innocent looking smile. Feeling a little bit satisfied at the reaction. He knew the reasoning, knew that the Varia hated Tsuna because of their victory over them (and it was a victory, even if a bitter one, even if Bel and Mammon cheated after Tsuna bested Xanxus).

He has to admit that he's jealous of Xanxus, for Squalo's devotion to him. Because Squalo won't like Tsuna's rule so long as Xanxus doesn't acknowledge it. Which, in Yamamoto's opinion is stupid. Somethings in life you have to accept no matter how much you dislike it.

Ha, like he can talk.

"I'd like that," he said. "I want to see where you grew up."

Was that sappy? Probably. Does he care? No at all.

No it wasn't, they had lost fair and square (mostly) but then Xanxus just had to show off his power and give the doe-eyed brat another chance. They gambled and lost and the shame would stay with them forever etc etc.

And most people are, probably. At least Dino seems to be. But Squalo's loyalty is absolute, so it's not like he cares. And accepting that shit would mean defeat, and they're not gonna do that. The whole Varia still believes that one day Xanxus will be the boss, no matter how unlikely it might be. It's just the kind of bunch they are.

Squalo snorts, finishing to skin the boar and cutting it open to get rid of the entrails. "You're weird," he finally says. "What difference does it make?"

He's aware of this. Like he's aware of one day the Varia will probably be made obsolete by the direction Tsuna wants to go and he can't imagine any of them liking that. Maybe Mammon if they pay the illusionist enough. But even then, the greedy bastard does have a fair amount of loyalty to Xanxus.

He dreads the day they have to go up against the Varia again. He can't see it not happening, but he hopes it never will come to that.

Yamamoto makes a face when the entrails come out. Yeah, this is always his least favorite part. Still, he's proud that he didn't loose his lunch right there.

"Well, it'd be fair," he reasons. "You've seen where I grow up, where I go to school. I want to see those of yours." He gives a little grin. "Isn't it normal for the student to want to know more about his teacher?"

Is it normal for the student to have a puppy crush on his teacher? Probably not.

Maybe then they will finally win. And if not, Squalo supposes he'll at least find peace in the fact that he's prepared a proper executioner for himself. No pressure, Yams.

...or, you know, maybe New Vongola will just leave them be and do their own thing as an own little mercenary family or something. That'd be the compromise with the least Vongola blood spilled, probably.

Funny how similar people and pigs can be on the inside, huh?

"I have?" Squalo sounds like that's genuinely news to him, albeit uninteresting ones. "I wasn't really paying attention to that."

Grounds where they were supposed to trash some teenagers, sure. The place where his then-future apprentice grew up? Not so much. How times change.

He gives him a flat look as he flings a tumble of innards into the bushes. "Do I look like someone you ask about normal?"

That would be ideal. Everyone lives a little bit longer that way!

But would Xanxus' pride stand for it? Yamamoto's not so sure. And Yamamoto's slowly coming to terms with the fact that he and he alone would be the one to kill Squalo.

It hurts, but less then it should, because he always knew he had to defeat Squalo. He would never let the other swordsman, or any swordsman or swordswoman, defeat him again...

He gives a crooked little smile at himself. He's already taking the sword thing more seriously then he thought.

"Yup! That was my school! Man, Hibari-senpai was pissed with all the destruction. He loves that school. The alma mater is his phone's ring tone, and he taught Hibird to sing it! How's that for crazy!"

He grins back at Squalo. "I guess not. You are pretty weird. I like that though."

Edited 2016-05-04 15:57 (UTC)

Who knows. He would technically be the boss then, but of course that's not the same as having Vongola under their power. And Yamamoto would be the one to kill him if Xanxus didn't do it first, though that was starting to look less likely with passing years. Still, Squalo would be proud of that resolve if he knew of it. Don't you dare ever get defeated again, boy. And if you do... well, then that means that you weren't worthy of living on.

"Shouldn't that guy have graduated by now?" Squalo's just gonna go for the obvious. Hibari's love life (heh) doesn't interest him, but he'd lie if he said he wasn't curious about that kid. He was strong.

"Gross," Squalo retorts to that admission of liking, and hands Yamamoto a piece of bloody hog skin.

"Probably, but you know Hibari, no one can make him do anything he doesn't want to."

Hibari's obsessed with Namimori in general, but the middle school holds a special place in the prefects heart. Yamamoto's beginning to suspect that the school is the thing Hibari loves most.

Yamamoto just laughs when Squalo said gross. It wasn't like he expecting anything else.

He holds up the hog skin, looking at it curiously. "Can we tan this out here?" he asked. "Otherwise what am I supposed to do with it?"

Squalo barks a laughter. "Amazing. A kid takes over a school and nobody bats an eye. Authorities truly are blind." At least Varia actually had to bribe officials sometimes to continue their free reign, but then he supposed it wasn't impossible Hibari's family did, too.

"Dunno, I'm not a craftsman," he retorts blankly and works on the meat. He'd hoped holding a bloody anything would shut the kid up, but of course he'd underestimated him. Again. He had no plans for anything that wasn't becoming bbq (and wild animal bait), so really, Yamamoto could do whatever, he didn't care.

"Hibari bites them all to death otherwise," Yamamoto said cheerfully as he went to throw the skin away. He chucked it far into the forest, so when it started to smell it would get to them. He had no idea what Hibari's parents did. Or if Hibari even had parents.

That was kind of a scary thought.

He walked back to the camp, poured a small amount of water on his hands and then wiped them on a tree.

"Okay, that's taken care off."

Clearly Varia should try to recruit that guy.

He makes a non-commital sound at that - good, that surely will draw wild animals' attention - and continues working. Soon enough, the boar's turning over the fire, and Squalo's cleaning his hands, grumbling something about getting grease off leather.

"And now," he says happily, once he's reached an acceptable level of cleanliness, "we fight."

He won't join. He barely tolerates being one of Tsuna's Guardians. Put him under Xanxus and that's asking for trouble in Yamamoto's opinion.

He smiled and lunged for his sword, already getting into a defensive stance and pulling out the Necklace of the Rain in case needed to summon Jirou and Koujirou.

"Ready!" he chirped.

But trouble is fun! He'd fit right in with that appetite for destruction. Ah well. Unlike the tenth gen, Varia doesn't need a Cloud. They're perfectly capable with just the six of them.

Squalo doesn't wait for a confirmation, already circling the boy like a bloodthirsty shark to try and strike at him from behind. It's not unlike their very first fight, really; time to see how much you've grown, etc.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sworn to the Sword

Theo Raeken | Teen Wolf

Laurent of Vere ; Captive Prince ; M/M

Mary Crawley | Downton Abbey | M/F

Superbia Squalo // KHR!

o7

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

cassandra pentaghast | dragon age: inquisition