[ There's a lot here, so much he could poke and prod at but he won't. That's not who Natsuno is. He's a good listener despite the airs he puts on, and in some ways maybe that was his problem with everyone else all along. Going through the motions was tiring, teasing out and following etiquette was tiring. Why bother when everything would be simpler if everyone just spoke their mind. He hated politics and all the other noise inbetween. ]
I guess you could do whatever you wanted. But they were all still there. Celestials doing their self-righteous thing, infernals doing their cowardly thing, humans doing what humans do best, and the Protectorate going along for the ride pretending they weren't, while hanging onto your tail.
You could do whatever you wanted, but they were still there reminding you of it all. There were still expectations, even then. It's not the same but... I think that was the most disappointing thing about not dying the first time. I wasn't human any longer so I could ignore their rules, but I had to follow the shiki ones now instead. It was just natural to side with them, so why wouldn't I? I was only one of three jinrou, I was valuable and expected to play my part for "my" side. No one ever understood why I wanted nothing to do with humans, shiki, or jinrou. But I couldn't just ignore them either. I had to destroy them or it was going to crush me. One way or the other.
[ ... ]
No one understood though, until you. [ And though their experiences don't line up all the way, that doesn't matter. Natsuno accepts all of it. He could just say that but instead, instead he pulls back just as little as he needs to and kisses the bundle of pink nestled on his shoulder. ]
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I guess you could do whatever you wanted. But they were all still there. Celestials doing their self-righteous thing, infernals doing their cowardly thing, humans doing what humans do best, and the Protectorate going along for the ride pretending they weren't, while hanging onto your tail.
You could do whatever you wanted, but they were still there reminding you of it all. There were still expectations, even then. It's not the same but... I think that was the most disappointing thing about not dying the first time. I wasn't human any longer so I could ignore their rules, but I had to follow the shiki ones now instead. It was just natural to side with them, so why wouldn't I? I was only one of three jinrou, I was valuable and expected to play my part for "my" side. No one ever understood why I wanted nothing to do with humans, shiki, or jinrou. But I couldn't just ignore them either. I had to destroy them or it was going to crush me. One way or the other.
[ ... ]
No one understood though, until you. [ And though their experiences don't line up all the way, that doesn't matter. Natsuno accepts all of it. He could just say that but instead, instead he pulls back just as little as he needs to and kisses the bundle of pink nestled on his shoulder. ]