（ he wraps an arm around the man's shoulders, lazy with ease. he is no longer resistant to the physical contact with his friend, but it is still rare that he initiates it. ）
'All right' will suffice for now. Did any new talismans come of my absence?
[His eyes dart away sheepishly as he relaxes into Itachi's arm.]
No. I couldn't even tell you what I was working on. [He snorts softly and shakes his head.]
Nothing good ever comes from when I do my work like that. [He thinks of his time in the Burial Mounds with the Wen and the soul sacrifice summons, and wonders if Itachi will know what he means. Eager to shift the topic away from his relative uselessness over the last few days, his eyes flicker up to meet his friend's.]
（ what happened is still so new and precious he cannot decide if it is wound or weight. his mouth thins, and for a long moment he says nothing, his gaze faint and unfocused as he looks to a point over the man's shoulder.
wei ying is perhaps the only person aboard the station for whom he would consider divulging the story. not because he alone would understand, not because he alone would ask — but because itachi has always been private, and this... it is the sort of experience one must crack themselves open to share.
there is a shift of his weight, and then he reaches out to rest his and against the man's wrist, thumb stroking downwards against the vein. ）
[It is only because of what Edo Tensei is that Wei Wuxian remembers. Had it been one of Itachi's many skills that he hasn't seen in action, it's likely the name would have been lost to his memory, but he always remembers the names of abilities so close to demonic cultivation in nature.
And in remembering, his stomach tightens with anxiety, understanding dawning.
In response he nods, silently encouraging Itachi to continue.]
（ recognizing that anxiety in play, he leans over to kiss the man's shoulder. it's a soft gesture, accentuated by the slip of his hair to veil his face. ）
It was not bad.
（ it is simply so much to tell. it would almost be easier, to just dump the memories of his experience into the man's mind, but... a part of him balks at it. it would involve being too seen. ）
There was a man who desired war against the five great shinobi nations. An Edo Tensei is nearly indestructible — it can only be sealed, not killed. I was resurrected along many members of Akatsuki, and any great shinobi of the past century for whom the right conditions could be met. When you are revived in this manner, your actions are not your own — but to be at the apex of your power, your mind must be. I was sent with another to combat and capture Uzumaki Naruto and a man named Killer Bee.
（ his gaze slips to the ceiling. he finds himself studying that drum set again. ）
However... before I died, I had imparted Shisui's eye to Naruto. He was not aware of what it meant. And as I knew Sasuke would take my eyes, I had... intended that the use of their Mangekyō would trigger Kotoamatsukami. I knew Sasuke was on a dangerous path, and that if he continued on it he would be at odds with Konoha. So, I had attempted to set up a failsafe to save his life and my village. Instead, that failsafe was used on my body in the throes of Edo Tensei, and I was able to break control from the man who had chosen to resurrect me.
[To say it's a lot to take in would be an understatement. Still, Wei Wuxian benefits at least from understanding what Edo Tensei is and how it works. He'll admit he doesn't entirely understand how Shisui's eyes were meant to act as a trigger, but he understands enough to get an idea of what happened.
Itachi was brought back as a tool and it failed. He'd regained his autonomy.
Still, even the thought that someone sought to use him that way beyond death—as if he hadn't spent his whole life being used as a tool by different men—is enough to make his heart ache.]
Uzumaki Naruto. [He repeats the name out loud, searching his memory.] That was the boy who cared for your brother. The one you said might be able to change things.
[And Itachi had been raised to bring harm to him.
It failed, he reminds himself, and cools the embers of anger threatening to flare to life.]
Yes. He grew even more powerful after my death. It was truly magnificent to behold.
（ there is a soft fondness in his tone, and pride. naruto... the boy to change things indeed. ）
I sent him elsewhere, and then went after the one pulling the strings on Edo Tensei. And along that path, I happened across my brother. As it happens, after my death he was told the true nature of my deception by the man I knew as Madara — but who was, in truth, my cousin Obito.
（ the tangled uchiha web coming back to haunt him. he had met obito only once before he died, and his name was effectively scrubbed from the annals of history borne of that disgraceful failure. he had not even considered it as a possibility, and has not yet had a chance to unpack that deception in his own mind. that will be something to revisit later, when he is alone.
for now — ）
We fought together against the enemy. We won. I broke the jutsu. （ perhaps wei ying will note the language there. i. itachi has always been allergic to taking credit for affecting positive change, and yet there it sits — writ plain. ） I do not know if it was enough to achieve victory, but... it gave them a chance. （ softer — ） And I was able to tell my brother that I would love him always.
[By the time Itachi has finished speaking, Wei Wuxian's eyes are wet. He doesn't bother to wipe the tears way, letting them fall softly to the pillow beneath his cheek as a smile blooms across his face. It is so much better than the way Itachi's life had ended before.
He knows why he hadn't wanted Sasuke to know of his ruse, but it's relief he feels at the knowledge that the secret hadn't died with him. Maybe Itachi wasn't ready for the world to know his heart, Wei Wuxian understands why. Still, he's glad his brother found out the truth. (Even if he knows it's a sentiment he can't examine too closely for fear of opening one of his own wounds.)]
I'm glad you got to speak to Sasuke. [He breathes out quietly. Uchiha Itachi, still helping his brother and his village even after death. It's isn't surprising, but sometimes it still takes his legs out from under him just how good Itachi is. How full of love for his brother and loyalty to his village.
He loves him so much, his heart feels full enough to burst.]
（ he pushes himself up on one arm, and leans over to dab at those tears, thumbing them away with a whisper-soft touch. the press of his lips follows against one cheek. ）
You would love him, but those feelings would not be returned. He would think very poorly of you, and all the moreso for the fact you have stolen my attention. He never did quite master the art of sharing his elder brother. It was just the same with Shisui.
[He has a moment to smile softly and close his eyes at the press of lips to his cheek, and then he's raising a hand to cover his mouth as he bursts into quiet laughter at Itachi's direct assessment of his brother.]
Aiya, I think I'd love him all the more for it! [And perhaps tease him a little for it too.] I bet I could win him over eventually though. I'm vey persistent. [He winks and then reaches for one of Itachi's hands, grasping it in his own.]
I think I already love him a little [he admits, squeezing his hand]
（ he lets the man take his hand, and then uses it as a fulcrum by which to tug him across the bed and — neatly — half across his chest so they are splayed in a messy tangled x of limbs. ）
I believe he would be much harder to win over than I have been. You would have your work cut out for you.
[He is sentimental, but he doesn't have to go around saying it out loud like that! He laughs and allows himself to be tugged over, grinning and settling comfortably against Itachi's chest. He ducks to press a playful kiss to the underside of his jaw before meeting his eyes again.]
Mmm, I believe you. I think he'd be worth putting in the work though. He's your brother. [He pauses before adding] And I have at least a little experience with grumpy younger brother wrangling. [He winks. In truth he knows that if Sasuke were to ever appear on the station, the challenges he'd encounter trying to befriend him would be wildly different from the challenged he faced with Jiang Cheng, but it's still funny alright.]
（ not to, you know, kill the vibe, but as wei ying settles against him and itachi lifts a hand instinctually to card his hair — ）
Sasuke is still a kindhearted boy beneath the damage I did to him. You would be good for him. But I cannot say that I am displeased he has never come to the Ximilia.
[He hums softly in agreement. Whether it's because of what Sasuke's appearance would mean for Itachi or because his appearance here would indicate the desire to change a significant part of his life, he can understand the sentiment.]
It gets complicated and difficult, having people here from home. I understand. I've thought occasionally on what it would be like if Jiang Cheng was here and.. [He cringes.] His feelings would be understandable but disruptive to the mission, and it would be hard for him here.
（ that cringe is soothed away with a touch to his shoulder, bracing and calm. long fingers slip against the jutting wing of his collarbone, and his thumb presses into the anchoring muscle below. ）
I met her, you know. Your sister, in her time here.
（ but he has never brought it up before, and wei ying has never asked. he must have known the possibility existed that they had crossed paths. itachi predated him aboard the ximilia by some months, after all. but it is a difficult thing to say, i saw your sister's death. ）
[Instead of landing as a blow as he might have expected the words to land, Wei Wuxian finds himself inexplicably emotional at the thought. It passes after a moment and he gets control of himself, but the lingering emotion remains. The smile he levels Itachi with is a fragile thing, wonder, pain, and happiness all at once.]
I'd hoped you might have. [Because Itachi is right, it had crossed his mind. He wonders what Shijie had thought of him. She would have liked him, he thinks.] What was it like?
（ she was very nearly one of the first people he spoke to here. the situation may have been fraught, but there was something in her grace and gentleness and her concern, amidst everything, for him that had struck him as strange even then.
his gaze goes unfocused in memory. his hand stills against his friend's shoulder. ）
She was very kind. It... I was not accustomed to such things, then. I confess, I was suspicious of her motivations in being so.
[It makes his smile soften further to imagine it and he lets out a quiet huff of a laugh as he reaches out to catch one of Itachi's hands in his own.]
If she picked up on it, she wouldn't have minded it. It only would have made her consider that it was something you needed to experience more of. If she'd been here longer, I suspect she would have ended up cooking for you eventually. [He grows quiet for a while before he speaks again.]
She would have loved you if she'd remained. All she would have needed to see was that you made me happy. [It was all that would have mattered to her.]
（ being responsible of someone's happiness will never cease to alarm him. there is a weight to it, something that settles across his shoulders. but rather than feel like a burden, it's almost bolstering. his expression flickers to something imperceptible and then settles somewhere around fond. ）
I'm glad that I do.
（ in his darker moments, it's not necessarily something he can stand. but right now — it's enough. ）
[There's not much he feels inclined to say to that, so instead he leans forward and draws Itachi into a soft lingering kiss that better expresses what he's feeling.
When he eventually pulls away it's with a soft sigh of fond longing.]
Did you get a chance to see everyone you needed to see?
[Am I keeping you from the things you need to do? He doesn't ask.]
[A knowing understanding crosses his expression—he must have already discovered McCoy's absence then—but the feeling doesn't linger. As much as McCoy's absence hurts and will continue to ache for some time, right now the relief at Itachi's return is more powerful, and he won't turn away from it.
After a moment of contemplative silence, he speaks again, voice soft]
I would have been okay eventually. I wouldn't have let it consume me. I know it isn't what you'd want for me. [It would have been difficult and painful, but he would have made it out, he thinks. He isn't the same man that first arrived on the Ximilia. It feels important that Itachi knows this.]
But your place in my heart and in my soul would have remained unchanged for the rest of my days. [And this too, feels important to say.]
（ the words soothe something he had not yet examined well enough to name. his eyes flicker closed, veiling his sight, and he breathes out steady and slow.
then: ）
Thank you.
（ wei ying would survive.
sasuke will, too. ）
The nature of this place, when we return to our worlds... I did not recall you there. But you, too, were written in my soul. And returning here, and your side, is as much a homecoming as to Konoha.
[That elicits an involuntary sound from the back of his throat and he leans forward, clasping Itachi's fingers tightly in his own.
Homecoming. The same as Itachi's return had felt for him.
He had thought once that Lotus Pier was his home, but he finds now it isn't the halls he skipped as a child or the water of the lakes that he misses, as much loved as those placed were. It is his brother and his sister, his uncle, his shidis and shimei, and even Madam Yu. His home has always been people and his home has a new face now.
But he has never been claimed as home to someone else and his whole body aches with it.
He reaches up to hold Itachi's face between his hands and inhales tremulously.]
（ he can't help it. the word, singular as it may be, earns a soft laugh. itachi leans in, and kisses the bridge of his nose in a way that's almost playful. or, as playful as he ever is. ）
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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'All right' will suffice for now. Did any new talismans come of my absence?
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No. I couldn't even tell you what I was working on. [He snorts softly and shakes his head.]
Nothing good ever comes from when I do my work like that. [He thinks of his time in the Burial Mounds with the Wen and the soul sacrifice summons, and wonders if Itachi will know what he means. Eager to shift the topic away from his relative uselessness over the last few days, his eyes flicker up to meet his friend's.]
What happened?
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wei ying is perhaps the only person aboard the station for whom he would consider divulging the story. not because he alone would understand, not because he alone would ask — but because itachi has always been private, and this... it is the sort of experience one must crack themselves open to share.
there is a shift of his weight, and then he reaches out to rest his and against the man's wrist, thumb stroking downwards against the vein. ）
I told you once of Edo Tensei. Do you recall?
（ is what he says, finally. ）
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And in remembering, his stomach tightens with anxiety, understanding dawning.
In response he nods, silently encouraging Itachi to continue.]
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It was not bad.
（ it is simply so much to tell. it would almost be easier, to just dump the memories of his experience into the man's mind, but... a part of him balks at it. it would involve being too seen. ）
There was a man who desired war against the five great shinobi nations. An Edo Tensei is nearly indestructible — it can only be sealed, not killed. I was resurrected along many members of Akatsuki, and any great shinobi of the past century for whom the right conditions could be met. When you are revived in this manner, your actions are not your own — but to be at the apex of your power, your mind must be. I was sent with another to combat and capture Uzumaki Naruto and a man named Killer Bee.
（ his gaze slips to the ceiling. he finds himself studying that drum set again. ）
However... before I died, I had imparted Shisui's eye to Naruto. He was not aware of what it meant. And as I knew Sasuke would take my eyes, I had... intended that the use of their Mangekyō would trigger Kotoamatsukami. I knew Sasuke was on a dangerous path, and that if he continued on it he would be at odds with Konoha. So, I had attempted to set up a failsafe to save his life and my village. Instead, that failsafe was used on my body in the throes of Edo Tensei, and I was able to break control from the man who had chosen to resurrect me.
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Itachi was brought back as a tool and it failed. He'd regained his autonomy.
Still, even the thought that someone sought to use him that way beyond death—as if he hadn't spent his whole life being used as a tool by different men—is enough to make his heart ache.]
Uzumaki Naruto. [He repeats the name out loud, searching his memory.] That was the boy who cared for your brother. The one you said might be able to change things.
[And Itachi had been raised to bring harm to him.
It failed, he reminds himself, and cools the embers of anger threatening to flare to life.]
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（ there is a soft fondness in his tone, and pride. naruto... the boy to change things indeed. ）
I sent him elsewhere, and then went after the one pulling the strings on Edo Tensei. And along that path, I happened across my brother. As it happens, after my death he was told the true nature of my deception by the man I knew as Madara — but who was, in truth, my cousin Obito.
（ the tangled uchiha web coming back to haunt him. he had met obito only once before he died, and his name was effectively scrubbed from the annals of history borne of that disgraceful failure. he had not even considered it as a possibility, and has not yet had a chance to unpack that deception in his own mind. that will be something to revisit later, when he is alone.
for now — ）
We fought together against the enemy. We won. I broke the jutsu. （ perhaps wei ying will note the language there. i. itachi has always been allergic to taking credit for affecting positive change, and yet there it sits — writ plain. ） I do not know if it was enough to achieve victory, but... it gave them a chance. （ softer — ） And I was able to tell my brother that I would love him always.
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He knows why he hadn't wanted Sasuke to know of his ruse, but it's relief he feels at the knowledge that the secret hadn't died with him. Maybe Itachi wasn't ready for the world to know his heart, Wei Wuxian understands why. Still, he's glad his brother found out the truth. (Even if he knows it's a sentiment he can't examine too closely for fear of opening one of his own wounds.)]
I'm glad you got to speak to Sasuke. [He breathes out quietly. Uchiha Itachi, still helping his brother and his village even after death. It's isn't surprising, but sometimes it still takes his legs out from under him just how good Itachi is. How full of love for his brother and loyalty to his village.
He loves him so much, his heart feels full enough to burst.]
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（ he pushes himself up on one arm, and leans over to dab at those tears, thumbing them away with a whisper-soft touch. the press of his lips follows against one cheek. ）
You would love him, but those feelings would not be returned. He would think very poorly of you, and all the moreso for the fact you have stolen my attention. He never did quite master the art of sharing his elder brother. It was just the same with Shisui.
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Aiya, I think I'd love him all the more for it! [And perhaps tease him a little for it too.] I bet I could win him over eventually though. I'm vey persistent. [He winks and then reaches for one of Itachi's hands, grasping it in his own.]
I think I already love him a little [he admits, squeezing his hand]
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（ he lets the man take his hand, and then uses it as a fulcrum by which to tug him across the bed and — neatly — half across his chest so they are splayed in a messy tangled x of limbs. ）
I believe he would be much harder to win over than I have been. You would have your work cut out for you.
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Mmm, I believe you. I think he'd be worth putting in the work though. He's your brother. [He pauses before adding] And I have at least a little experience with grumpy younger brother wrangling. [He winks. In truth he knows that if Sasuke were to ever appear on the station, the challenges he'd encounter trying to befriend him would be wildly different from the challenged he faced with Jiang Cheng, but it's still funny alright.]
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Sasuke is still a kindhearted boy beneath the damage I did to him. You would be good for him. But I cannot say that I am displeased he has never come to the Ximilia.
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It gets complicated and difficult, having people here from home. I understand. I've thought occasionally on what it would be like if Jiang Cheng was here and.. [He cringes.] His feelings would be understandable but disruptive to the mission, and it would be hard for him here.
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I met her, you know. Your sister, in her time here.
（ but he has never brought it up before, and wei ying has never asked. he must have known the possibility existed that they had crossed paths. itachi predated him aboard the ximilia by some months, after all. but it is a difficult thing to say, i saw your sister's death. ）
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I'd hoped you might have. [Because Itachi is right, it had crossed his mind. He wonders what Shijie had thought of him. She would have liked him, he thinks.] What was it like?
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his gaze goes unfocused in memory. his hand stills against his friend's shoulder. ）
She was very kind. It... I was not accustomed to such things, then. I confess, I was suspicious of her motivations in being so.
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If she picked up on it, she wouldn't have minded it. It only would have made her consider that it was something you needed to experience more of. If she'd been here longer, I suspect she would have ended up cooking for you eventually. [He grows quiet for a while before he speaks again.]
She would have loved you if she'd remained. All she would have needed to see was that you made me happy. [It was all that would have mattered to her.]
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I'm glad that I do.
（ in his darker moments, it's not necessarily something he can stand. but right now — it's enough. ）
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When he eventually pulls away it's with a soft sigh of fond longing.]
Did you get a chance to see everyone you needed to see?
[Am I keeping you from the things you need to do? He doesn't ask.]
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（ he holds no delusions about the others. few care about him the way that wei ying and yennefer do, and mccoy is — mm. ）
Presently, I would prefer to stay with you.
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After a moment of contemplative silence, he speaks again, voice soft]
I would have been okay eventually. I wouldn't have let it consume me. I know it isn't what you'd want for me. [It would have been difficult and painful, but he would have made it out, he thinks. He isn't the same man that first arrived on the Ximilia. It feels important that Itachi knows this.]
But your place in my heart and in my soul would have remained unchanged for the rest of my days. [And this too, feels important to say.]
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then: ）
Thank you.
（ wei ying would survive.
sasuke will, too. ）
The nature of this place, when we return to our worlds... I did not recall you there. But you, too, were written in my soul. And returning here, and your side, is as much a homecoming as to Konoha.
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Homecoming. The same as Itachi's return had felt for him.
He had thought once that Lotus Pier was his home, but he finds now it isn't the halls he skipped as a child or the water of the lakes that he misses, as much loved as those placed were. It is his brother and his sister, his uncle, his shidis and shimei, and even Madam Yu. His home has always been people and his home has a new face now.
But he has never been claimed as home to someone else and his whole body aches with it.
He reaches up to hold Itachi's face between his hands and inhales tremulously.]
お帰り.
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That was not one I taught you.
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