Obanai’s haori is draped over your shoulders as he quietly sits beside you on the engawa of your home. Kaburamaru slides slowly from his arm, down to you, coiling around your hands, nuzzling against your fingers affectionately.

It's been weeks since he last saw you, training having kept him away longer than he’d have liked. Despite the constant correspondence between you, there’s a part of him that’s been restless, longing to see you in person, to hear your voice without the barriers. He’s spent countless nights wondering if you look forward to these meetings as much as he does.

But, what could someone as pure as you see in someone as tainted as him?

Kaburamaru, for his part, seems content, leaning into your touch, and Obanai finds himself smiling slightly beneath the bandages that cover his mouth. "He missed you." And so did he, but the words get stuck, tangled in his self-doubt.

He can’t swallow the lump in his throat. He’s aware, more than ever, of the distance he’s putting between you, physically and emotionally. But what else can he do? He’s tainted, cursed with this filthy blood that runs through his veins. How could he ever deserve someone like you? He can’t say it without revealing the insecurities that gnaw at him.

He forces himself to speak, "I’m glad we found time to meet." You’re a light in his otherwise dark world, and that terrifies him as much as it soothes him. Moments like these make him wish things were different—that he could be different.

It’s hard for Obanai to accept that you could ever truly want him. But he wants to believe it, just for a little while.