A/N: Yeah, so... these are all going to be short little things based on prompts. Probably with a mix of manga and anime continuity (including a mix of terminology, because at this point I've read offical translations and scanlations, and seen the show subbed and dubbed, and I can't keep it all straight anymore.)
Fire
When he thinks of Kazuki, Juubei cannot help but think of him as two people--Kazuki before the fire, and after. Because though traces of the former remain in the latter, they are not the same people.
The fire burned him from the inside out, he thinks, the embers glowing for years aftterward, leaving the man he cherishes more than his own life hollow, a brittle shell. Where once there had been innocence and joy, there was now flame, flickering behind those seemingly serene brown eyes. He cannot know the younger man's pain. Juubei has his sister. He did not watch his parents die, and the one thing most precious to him survived the flames, though not unchanged.
Mugenjou made Kazuki strong, though it left him empty. The Fortress forged him into something quiet and terrifying all at once, and Juubei thinks that had he not known him before, he might have feared his friend. It took Raitei to draw out the damaged parts, pull all that scar tissue to the surface and elicit wounded smiles from the Thread Master. But it wasn't a cure, just an inversion. The hard, unfeeling parts are buried deep.
He knows, could he look into those eyes now, that he would not see fire. Somehow, it's not the comforting thought it should be.