Sara twitched hearing that. She knew a bit, and what little she knew made her anxious.
"Don't worry, I won't mess with it without knowing what I'm getting into" Kenshin quickly reassured Sara, sensing her uneasiness. "I am now happy as I am, and I won't put my happiness and yours in danger. I don't know what will I do about it, but that's in the future, and will be a decision I will make with all of you".
Sara felt a bit better, but she knew that Kenshin was too stubborn to forget about it.
"But for now, I am busy with Inazuma, things were really bad" Kenshin chose not to speak about the Kujou Clan. They were too corrupt, and Sara had an inkling about it, but now was not the moment to rip off the band-aid. "And I expect it to keep being that way for a few years".
"And after that?" Sara asked closing her eyes to enjoy Kenshin's slow heartbeat.
"Try to move forward with this romantic thing we have going" Kenshin replied with a tender smile, still softly combing Sara's hair with his hand. "Maybe start a family, who knows? My parents aren't getting any younger, and I think they would love some grandkids".
Kenshin touched on a delicate theme, the obvious difference in lifespan.
Sara got up, sensing that this was a serious theme they had to talk about. She sat again, but moved to be in front of Kenshin.
"What are we going to do?" Sara was not only talking about her and Kenshin, or even Kenshin's parents. "I am probably ageing slower than normal humans due to my bloodline, and I will probably be able to live for a very long time. Obviously not as long as Yae, but close. But Jean, Shenhe, and that Fatui girl? Or even you" Sara's voice trembled a bit at the end.
"I don't think you should be worried about me" Kenshin replied with a smile. "I still don't know the specs of this body. As you know, my soul is incredibly strong, and it's 'made' of a special material that lets me 'send' energy and other things. It's also special in the sense that makes me able to interact with 'that' thing, and that's why I was able to get Makoto back. I crafted this body with my soul, so I think that even if I'm not monstrously strong, at least physically, I will live for a long time".
"I see" Sara sighed in relief. She could imagine Kenshin slowly ageing while she is still the same, and finally Kenshin dying leaving her behind.
"Shenhe is special she is practising Adeptus arts with a human body. As you know, she is monstrously strong, and I think it's having an effect on her body. Even if she doesn't live for as long as an Adeptus, I think she will live for as long as you. Of course, all these are hypotheses" Kenshin clarified.
"And the other 2?" Sara asked, seeing Kenshin's grimace.
"They are human, at least Jean is, Arlecchino's soul has something weird. But for all intent and purposes, they are human" Kenshin sighed. "Even if people with a Vision are long-lived, they will still die relatively soon. Arlecchino told me that a few Harbingers are very old, more than what they should be, but she didn't know why".
"Are you considering making a deal with the Tsaritsa? You should be careful" Sara knew how interested the Fatui were in Kenshin.
"I will see. My only option is to offer them the same ball I used and help them have an 'unaging' body like mine. I am not immortal, but I will probably live as long as you, and I can use another ball to craft another body, but that's a bit too far in the future. I think I will be able to convince Jean even if it takes me years, but Arlecchino....." Kenshin sighed.
"What's wrong with her?" Sara didn't like Arlecchino that much, she 'took' Kenshin's first kiss in a way that befitted her title, 'The Knave'.
"She is also a mess. Her soul is incredibly attractive to me, but she is like a candle burning" Kenshin sighed again, and rubbed his forehead. "I don't know what she will do when there is no more wax left".
"You have until then to help her" noted Sara. "But if you can solve that problem, all is good right? What about your parents?".
"I will make the offer to them" replied Kenshin with a pained look. "But I don't think they will take it. And even if they did, their souls are average. I think Jean can use the ball because her soul is very strong for a human, and I can help her take the last step, but my parents.....".
"They can't?" asked Sara worriedly. She knew how much Kenshin loved his parents.
"Ei told me the reason she was meditating all the time after a battle" Kenshin couldn't call the fight 'spars', they were too violent. "There is something called Erosion, it's like ageing for gods or people that live for long. Jean can't use a lot of balls to make her live for millennia, her mind would crumble because of the Erosion".
"What's that about?" asked Sara curiously. She never knew something like this existed.
"It's a kind of 'mental exhaustion'. You get worn out by the countless years, and your memory starts to fail, and you get more irritable, or unresponsive, it depends. Even Morax is subject to this, more than anyone else. His 'power' as he put it could delay it, so I think there is some way to fight against it. But anyway, being subjected to the Erosion may turn violent, and that's why Ei was meditating after discarding her own body, she feared destroying Inazuma herself".
"I can't imagine that" Sara noted. The former Shogun had almost destroyed Inazuma in a different way, but she always thought that the former Shogun loved Inazuma.
"Me neither, but the possibility was there according to her. But the fact that Morax is able to delay it makes me think that maybe I can help. Power comes from the soul, at least the non-physical one, and I still don't know if there is something I can't do when souls are involved. The hilichurl curse aside, I haven't tried since I was 4 years old" Kenshin explained with a pondering look.
"How does this affect your parents?" Sara returned to the original topic, making Kenshin sigh.
"Even if they use a ball like I did, they won't be able to live for long before their minds crumble under the weight of so many experiences, feelings and traumas. So I am assuming that I will live longer than them. It's normal, I am their son, but still" Kenshin said with a grimace, he loved his parents, and didn't want to think about burying them.
"They are not even 40 yet" said Sara, seeing that the talk was getting depressing. "They have a long life, and Adeptus art or something like that will make them live longer".
"Yes, you are right" Kenshin rubbed his face. "I'm hungry now".
"Then let's eat" animatedly said Sara. "I bought a lot of things, but I will be trying a lot of them for the first time".
They had a relaxed meal, not thinking about things that would happen at least 40 years in the future, and enjoying each other's company.
.
.
.
"So this is the dessert" mused Kenshin looking at a few biscuits with different shapes drawn on top.
"Yes, they are biscuits with different flavours, but all of them are sweet" nodded Sara. "Which one do you want?"
"The one with an eye drawn of course" Kenshin didn't hesitate for a moment. He was proud of his eyes, and people told him they were beautiful.
"Then I will take this one" Sara picked one with a bird drawn. "At the count of three. One, two, three!".
They ate their biscuit, and they slowly chewed it.
"Hmmm, it's like Lavender Melon" said Sara, enjoying the sweet savour spreading in her mouth. "What about yours?".
Kenshin couldn't answer. Sara said that it was sweet, so he ate it without worry. But it was not sweet.
It was spicy as hell, and he couldn't speak.
"What's wrong?" asked Sara with a malicious smile. "Kenshin, is something the matter?".
Kenshin was sweating, and couldn't open his mouth. He feared introducing air into his mouth, something might explode.
"Oh, to think my love interest is ignoring me in such a cruel way" Sara was having the time of her life. "Did you think I wouldn't get revenge? Did you? Truly?".
Kenshin saw a stream of water coming out of a crevice, and without worrying about anything, he went to spit the biscuit and drink as much water as his stomach could hold.
"Dammit Sara, I didn't expect it from you" Kenshin said after he felt that his tongue wasn't melting anymore. "What was it made of? I can't feel any traces in my breath".
"I don't know" said Sara when she stopped laughing. "That girl said that it was an experimental recipe".
"I will hire her to make the food for my wedding" muttered Kenshin. "Well played birdie, this gentleman knows how to admit defeat".
"Eat this one" said Sara with an amused smile. "The girl told me these 2 were mint-flavoured".
Kenshin nodded and ate it, not doubting her word.
"Hmmm, that one is good. It's almost like I'm eating the plant itself" Kenshin was admiring that girl's culinary talent, and he was considering hiring her as the Shogun's chef, in other words, his.
"How would you know that?" asked Sara, wondering which one should she take next.
"I was a curious kid" replied Kenshin.
They spent the afternoon under the same tree, sensing its shadow move in response to the sun's movement.
They played cards, that ended with a laugh when Kenshin, despite using his ability and all kinds of cheats he could think of, was not able to win even a single time.
They took a stroll around the nearby ruins, talking about their respective jobs and problems.
They lay down in the blanket looking at the sky, simply looking at the sky with their hands holding each other.
And night fell.
"I need to go for a while, that biscuit is waging war inside me" Kenshin said, leaving a sighing Sara in the blanket.