The blade needs a sheath.

Tsukayo understands what the saying means. She sees it well enough in her life.

The blade needs a sheath or else it will kill and maim without consequence, and in the end, lose its sharp edge. If the blade is to keep its edge and remain a useful weapon, the sheath must protect it. It must be the right sheath, made especially for the blade, for even drawing the blade the wrong way from the sheath will damage the edge of the blade minutely.

Tsuyako knows full well that she is a blade. Her life, bullied as a fat girl, then trained in camp as harsh as a military camp, gave her all edges. She is a blade, deadly dangerous, one who needs a sheath.

The young man beside her makes a sudden movement. And Tsukayo laughs.

"But even I am not as dangerous a blade as you, Satou," she says out loud, continuing her silent soliloquy. "You who so needs a sheath, who so needs this particular sheath, and who might tear this particular sheath with your edge."

"Hmm," Satou drags his eyes away to give her a sideways look, annoyed. He enunciated each word in his next sentence very clearly and slowly, "What are you talking about, Tsukayo?" It was a measure of his irritability.

They have been watching Yoshida at the school cultural festival, dragooned as a server at their class's café. And Satou is annoyed that Yoshida is animatedly talking with a girl. One who seems to know him quite well.

"Ah, don't mind me," Tsukayo says affectionately. "Just ruminating on your angel and his utility as your sheath." Or how long he might be able to protect you, she adds in her head.

But, of course, Satou is no longer listening as he stands and walks over to forcefully interrupt the conversation. Naturally, Tsukiyo thought, because Yoshida was his.

010101

The blade needs a sheath.

Torachin understands what this means. He sees it in the people of his life.

Torachin, despite the way he looks (practically screamed "muscle-head delinquent"), is actually one of the sharpest people that the school has. For instance, he understands that while many think that Yoshiyoshi lucked out in being Satou's friend, because well, you know, Satou is an amazing idol, smart, handsome, and popular; while Yoshiyoshi is a slant-eyed midget monkey, actually, it is the other way around.

Satou had been so mechanical, when he first came to the school. Like a robot. And it was only when he became close to Yoshiyoshi that he seemed to genuinely have fun. It was only when he became close to Yoshida when he seemed to smile sincerely.

Because Yoshiyoshi was that kind of extraordinary ordinary person. Pure-hearted, the kind who would stand up for someone and stay friends with you even if you were unpopular. The real deal.

Satou would be blunted by Yoshiyoshi well enough. Torachin just hoped that Satou would not hurt Yoshiyoshi. A blade to tear the sheath.

010101

The blade needs a sheath.

Yoshida thinks he might understand the saying. It seemed so appropriate, not just in a sexual way, when they first did it.

Ironically enough, Satou had been so careful with his ass, pleasuring him first, and opening him slowly with his fingers, before penetrating Yoshida. Yoshida had not felt any pain. But as soon as Satou was driving Yoshida, thrusting into him deeply, making Yoshida cry out, Satou took great pleasure in biting Yoshida's neck and sucking up the skin.

It hurt. Even drowning in the intensity of feeling Satou moving inside him and spilling his fluid all over inside, Yoshida could feel Satou's teeth. And especially when Satou came, Yoshida's cries weren't just from the pleasure, but from the pain that Satou inflicted with his teeth.

When they were done, and Satou was carefully cleaning him, a half-smile on his face (always a little bit cruel, to Yoshida), Yoshida had spoken without thinking, "I wonder what would have happened if we hadn't met each other."

Satou's brows rose, half-smile lost. "And, why do you wonder, Yoshida?"

"Would…would you really have destroyed the school?"

Satou said nothing, but he half-smiled again.

Yoshida shivered. "Satou."

"What?"

"I—I'm glad that I am here, by your side. But I hope that one day you'll feel like this world is actually not a bad place, one that you need to burn. What I mean to say is," Yoshida has had to look up because he's starting to become red. "I'm really glad that I became special to you, otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to know you, but I hope that you find that people aren't that badowowowowow, Shatou, shtop that."

Satou was pinching his cheek. "Stop spouting nonsense." He let go of Yoshida's cheek and started to kiss Yoshida again, and the smaller boy forgets what he's trying to say with Satou's hands roaming his back and shoulders, slowly and with great tenderness.

010101

The blade needs a sheath.

People think that they know the saying quite well. If one were to ask people, some might say, well, it's a metaphor for dangerous people. They need something or someone to balance them, to keep them from going off the deep end.

But as Satou has dinner with his family and Yoshida, listening to the carefree laughter, Satou understands instinctively that the saying is not as tidy as that. Look at what Yoshida has done to his family.

He is still uneasy. He has never liked his family. They never had faces to him, as a matter of fact, for as long as he can remember. They were simply, mother, father, older sister. No names, no tics, no habits, nothing special to mark them. The same as every other insignificant being on this earth that one day would be swept away once the end came. Even his cute little brother was a stranger.

But an apology from them…Satou turns his face away, still uneasy. He had not wanted to have Yoshida meet his family. It felt like tainting what he has with Yoshida. Yet Yoshida had persisted, and so Satou brought him.

And in the beginning, hadn't they acted the way Satou had expected they would act? Angry that he would shame them with his homosexuality, thinking nothing of Yoshida's feelings. Satou had lashed out at them coldly, his father's voice had begun to rise, his older sister cursing him out. It had been pandemonium

The only thing that stopped the melodrama was Yoshida calling everyone's attention, as he noticed Satou's mother had been whispering, greatly upset. When Satou's father asked gently what she was saying, she repeated, "I have never seen Satou like this before; I have never seen him care." And the sound in the room was sucked out, leaving a deafening silence.

Later on, they apologized to him. For their rudeness to his guest. But it felt like they were apologizing for other things, too.

That had been the start. Now, slowly they are regaining faces, this mother, father, and older sister. His baby brother is no longer a stranger.

At their university, as well, people haven't batted an eyelash with their relationship, and they have not fawned so much over Satou. Classmates are becoming…people with faces to Satou.

Satou understands that when one says the blade needs a sheath, it means that love is needed. The blade and the sheath don't stand infor people in a relationship; the blade and the sheath mean wounds and love. The blade needs a sheath, and for people's ragged edges (anger, despair, hate) to heal, one needs love.

It does not mean that Satou doesn't lie easily anymore, or tease Yoshida unmercifully, or give out fake smiles.

But Satou's world is no longer a dark place of high walls and angry beasts to be subdued.

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