Chapter Text
She looked cute.
She looked impossibly, adorably cute, beaming at Hideyoshi and trying to explain in stumbling, giddy detail the process of gutting a fish. In fact, if he was being honest with himself–and he tried to be, always, in all things that didn’t involve her–she looked so cute that he wanted nothing more than to drag her against the wood of the shop stall and kiss her senseless.
Instead, he closed his eyes (which only served to make him more aware of her voice, sweet and familiar) and took another very, very large gulp of sake, slamming his cup down for more in hopes that the pleasant buzz would serve to cloud the impulse of desperate kisses to bright lips. He opened his eyes, and tried not to hate how they went to her automatically once more.
Her sandal, which had been dangling precariously anyway as she swung her feet freely and let it hang from a single toe, fell free. He found then that he wanted to pull her in his arms and keep her there forever, safe from the world that would steal her sweet smile and leave only scars. She swayed like bell when she reached for fallen shoe and his heart stopped. His hand flew out to snatch the cup away from in front of her and he found himself scowling ferociously upon discovering it was empty. Even worse, so was the bottle next to it. The scowl folded into dark fury as he decided whose fault that was, “Damnit, Hideyoshi, what the hell are you thinking, letting her get drunk?"
Golden haired as an angel and ten times as tricky, his impossible friend only smiled. "Oh dear, we have had a bit too much haven’t we.” There was something slippery there, and through his own drunken haze Inuchiyo knew it wouldn’t end well for him, but he never could keep up with the monkey when it was heads instead of fists. Sure enough, the other man was suddenly up and away, flitting off after a pat to Toshiie's shoulders and a singsongy, “Get our girl home safe, okay puppy?"
"Don’t call me–argh!" But he was gone, and Inuchiyo glared fiercely at his retreating shape, until her hand gripped his sleeves and tugged like a child.
"Are we going home?” It broke him, the trust and sweetness of her, looking up at him with slightly parted lips and wide pools of golden brown eyes. He looked away, grumbling over a scarlet swathe on his cheeks he wanted badly to blame on sake. His glass had been refilled, and before he stood he downed it all.
"You are. Come on.” But habits died hard, “The hell are you thinking, drinking so much?“
"It’s sweet,” she insisted, and his heart raggedly answered like you, “And if I drink with you, I can spend time with you."
That hurt. It shouldn’t, but it did, the easy, careless admission that his time mattered to her, and he reminded himself she was including Hideyoshi in ‘you’ and wished he could forget. She stumbled, and he caught her shoulders as she pressed against him and made him think…she was frozen, some graceless wild thing, all wide, beautiful eyes and trembling lips that watched him and had him trembling in turn.
She smiled, sweet and bright as sunshine, stare dreamy and sleepy from the drink, "Are you gonna kiss me, Inuchiyo?"
He spluttered, swore, and whirled back to the stall, stretching over and yanking a fresh bottle off of the shelves and slamming his coin down before taking a long pull, not bothering with a cup, because he needed to be more drunk than this to handle her soft, slim hand reaching for his with a giggle, tugging him in the general direction of his home. His own shook as he tightened it, praying she wouldn’t notice. Against his better judgement he handed her the bottle with the other, and she took it, still beaming like stars on cloudless nights, and it struck him, not for the first time, that he didn’t care if it killed him, he’d see her home every night for the rest of his life, for even the chance of seeing for himself that her smile was safe.