Chapter Text
The air was thick with dust, poofing up along with fast movements that a mortal eye could not dare to follow.
A swing and a block, a hit and a grunt, a grin and a scowl.
One would call their fight a beautiful dance, bodies moving with practiced ease and avoiding lethal attacks with little to no issue.
None of them were aiming to kill each other, but the thrill was still there nonetheless.
After a particular rough clash, both of them slid backwards, digging their heels into the ground to stop the movement.
The fox had a feral grin on his face, tail swaying with joy that should not be present at a situation like this.
Xiao found it weird, yet he would be lying if he said that he wasn’t completely enchanted with this creature as a whole.
A soft giggle snapped him out of his daze, making him look at the ginger that snapped the polearm into two- twirling the blades and halting them to his sides.
“That’s a cute scowl on your face~ a mora for your thought, o’ powerful adeptus?~”
The yaksha sighs and relaxes his shoulders, standing up straight and placing the hilt of his spear on the ground.
“Xiao.”
The fox blinked owlishly at that, tilting his head and letting one of his big ears droop to the side
“Xiao?...”
His face lights up in realization
‘’Oh!!! That’s your name, right?”
He grins toothily again, asking with a soft laugh.
“Did I finally earn your name?~”
Xiao raises his brow at that, somewhat expectantly as he stares at his sparring partner.
He stays silent, not answering his question just yet…
The fox pouts at that, but his ears perk up again with a smile
“Ah you’re waiting for /my/ name now, aren’t you?~”
He grins smugly and taps his chin, looking up as if he’s debating if he should tell him or not
“I don’t know, you haven’t quite earned mine yet…~”
Instead of getting the flustered sputter from the other like he gets from anyone that he teases like this- he gets a blank stare.
…
Xiao just makes his weapon disappear and starts walking away.
The fox lets out a surprised gasp, waving his weapons away before he whines and starts jogging towards the other.
“Wait nooooo stooop, don’t leaveeeee-”
The yaksha stops and looks at him with a raised brow, looking at the fox’s pitiful pout.
Ah, that’s pretty cute…but that will not make him falter.
The ginger sighs and slumps in defeat, ears folding back on his head as he fiddles with the hem of his yukata.
He’s still pouting as he mumbles
“Ajax… my name is Ajax.”
Seeing as ajax dropped the teasing attitude, xiao sighs and turns to him.
“Don’t even dare about causing trouble or charging at people like you did with me, understood?”
The fox sighs, hanging his head and drooping his tail
“Fine…”
Xiao smiles at that a little. He sounds sincere at the very least so he’ll take the chance to leave him be.
He nods at him, bowing his head slightly to bid him farewell
“Good, then i shall take my leav-”
Before he could vanish, Ajax took hold of the hem of xiaos sleeve, looking at him with furrowed brows and a frown
“W-wait…will i get to see you again, at least?...that fight was um…”
He lets go of him and rubs his own arm, somehow seeming shy like that.
“Really fun...and i’d really like some company…”
Ah, that caught xiaos attention. Did this yokai come here alone without anyone to accompany him?
He hasn’t seen anyone with him, but he assumed they were elsewhere.
He has no time to be a babysitter or an entertainer for someone, he’s a yaksha for petes sake… but something about the pleading look that ajax gives him makes his resolve crumble just like that.
He closes his eyes in thought, crossing his arms and humming.
It is unwise to leave a yokai to it’s own devices, but is it wise for him of all people to take him in?
Maybe if he asks another adeptus…
Ah, but that would just be rude to pass down his responsibility to someone else.
The more xiao thinks, the more of ajax expression drops…he’s assuming the yaksha will just straight up say no to him…
It’s not like he can’t handle himself, but being away from home is making him feel pretty lonely.
He would always hang around his older sister or the other shrine maidens, he had plenty of friends in inazuma that would happily hang around him…but in liyue, he knew absolutely no one. He has been here for few months already, yet the only one that has not avoided him yet was the yaksha before him.
“Alright.”
He was quickly snapped out of his thoughts as he looked at the other, blinking with confusion as he lifted his ears to actually hear what the smaller male said to him. .
“Huh?...”
“Do you have a place to stay?”
Now that baffles the fox further… stunned, he decides to answer by shaking his head.
Why does it matter if he has a place to stay? Did the yaksha wanted to visit him?
“Then follow me.”
The yaksha turns, walking off with a confident stride- leaving the fox to stare at his back dumbly.
“H-HUH???”
Xiao keeps walking, not paying any mind to the fox’s confusion. It’s not worth explaining until they get back to wangshu inn.
Ajax had no other choice so he hurried to catch up to him before he disappeared from his sight.
Well…it’s gonna be quite the challenge to explain to the boss why he brought a yokai back to the inn. Xiao just hopes that she wouldn’t mind.