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“So this is the fabled ‘Thief Thrasher’”
“...huh?”
Ayumi looked up from the ground to see that someone had approached her, seemingly not a thief trying to take her out in her sleep, but appearances could be deceiving.
Her appearance however certainly wasn’t normal, at least for a forest in Liyue. Their outfit seemed to be more attuned to the scorching heat of the Sumeru region, some sort of crimson belly dancer outfit.
“What’s a lady like you want with a bitch like me?” Ayumi had simply wanted to sleep after a day of mindless wandering, surviving off of the supplies of Treasure Hoarder camps she had...cleared out.
Ayumi likely could have just returned back to Qingce Village, her once home, to live there and pick back up her life, but she didn’t want to see that place again after what she lost there as well as what she had now become.
“It’s nice you know your place, I want you to come with me” The woman spoke with direct confidence and superiority.
Ayumi had almost no personal value at this point, but the attitude certainly annoyed her for someone who she could fairly easily slice up with the bloodied claymore that was stuck in the ground behind her back.
“Go find someone else to bother, nothing to give someone like you”
“Someone like me? It seems you don’t know your place after all” At this point her attitude was getting on Ayumi’s nerves, she wanted to lean against her claymore and fall asleep in front of the campfire, instead she was being bothered and ordered around.
Ayumi placed her hand around the hilt of the claymore and slowly began pulling herself up. “Listen lady if you don’t hurry up and leave I’ll-” Ayumi’s threat was immediately cut off from a sharp pain in her chest.
“It seems we got off on the wrong foot, my name is Uwaki...” She turned her hand, twisting the polearm she had just stabbed into Ayumi deeper “...mind telling me yours?”
Ayumi coughed up blood onto the spear, understandably caught off guard with it’s sudden appearance, speed and force. Despite Uwaki’s appearance, her strength overpowered Ayumi’s as she felt herself get dragged to lying on the ground.
“T-The hell do you want?” Ayumi struggled to speak with the spear still piercing her chest, trying to pull it out with her hands being unsuccessful as Uwaki loomed over her.
“I heard your vision gives you quite impressive healing, is that right?” Uwaki dislodged the edge from Ayumi’s torso, watching as the wound soon began closing up.
Ever since she got her Vision, Ayumi had gotten used to this healing ability, relying on it to defeat people who were naturally stronger or better trained by out lasting them.
Now however she felt like she was being used as an experimental pincushion by Uwaki as she stabbed her in the stomach, coughing up more blood.
“So what they say is true, quite impressive I must say” Uwaki’s eyes lacked remorse for her actions, like torturing others like this was a daily routine for her.
“...what do you want” Ayumi was even more curious now to what her motives were, it didn’t feel Uwaki had shown up just to kill her, was it to test her? For what?
“It’s like I said, I want you to come with me”
“Well, there’s a good chance I swing that way but- ack!” Uwaki twisted the polearm yet again to cut off Ayumi’s words.
“...I am the 9th Harbinger, the highest rank a member of the Fatui can obtain” Suddenly the situation made more sense to Ayumi, explaining this immense strength coming from someone who initially looked frail in comparison to her.
“I am in need of assistance, doing things on my own can be quite tiresome and you seem rather, devoid of purpose”
“...”
“Now then…” Uwaki leaned forward, pushing the spear further in while simultaneously holding out one of her hands for a handshake, asserting her power over Ayumi.
With slight hesitancy from Ayumi, she shook Uwaki’s hand. There wasn’t anything left for her so seemingly there was nowhere to go but up.
“Let us be off, shall we?” Uwaki dislodged the spear from Ayumi once again, slowly pulling herself up as Uwaki walked away.
‘I’ll mold them into my perfect slave, her only thoughts will be to serve me...how wonderful that will be…’
…
…
“Y’know whatever this guy is drinking, it’s pretty good”
“...”
A year had passed since that day, and everything hadn’t exactly gone as Uwaki planned. Ayumi’s level of strength had grown to a higher level than she had planned, being roughly on the same level as Uwaki making her rather tough to control. The relationship was more bickering partners than the intended master and slave dynamic.
“He he * hic* yeah girl, this some premium shit” Uwaki had come across a drunken guard, one she believed she could get some information out of them by using her seductive charms.
“Dunno if it’s working on him but it’s workin on me, oh great Lady Uwaki ” Ayumi had seemingly also gotten drunk, sitting in the back of the room drinking out of the bottle the guard recently had on him.
Despite her often using the title “Lady” which was what a lower Fatui member should call their superiors, Ayumi managed to make it sound mocking whenever she used it.
Ayumi very commonly hit on Uwaki, but she decided to take the advances as teasing, getting annoyed at Ayumi was a far easier feeling to process than any other that may come with her words.
Uwaki continued dancing in front of the guard, next to committing mass acts of murder, this was her other specialty. “How has your work been? Being a guard seems so stressful”
“Naaaaah, it’s good it’s good, just go check out where we gotta go”
“My my, these routes must get boring after all this time”
“No no, you get used to it, I just go to uhhhhh… it doesn’t matter that's all boring stuff...” The guard quickly went off topic, rambling on about unimportant aspects of their life.
Normally activities like this would be above a Harbinger, but Uwaki didn’t find herself ordering around other members to do her work for her, only keeping Ayumi close to her.
“This guy’s a lost cause you know”
“Well at least one of us trying to further our goals”
“Huh? Goals? What are you talkin about?” The guard seemed to be coming to his senses a little, shaking his head and looking around the room.
“ *sigh* Ayumi deal with them”
“Alright then” Ayumi took another drink from the bottle and put it on the table before walking over to the guard. “H-Hey, what are you-“ Ayumi effortlessly pulled the guard up and put them in the position to proceed to snap their neck.
Killing this casually was something Ayumi had grown used to over this past year, the remorse for her actions slowly faded until snapping necks felt like a common daily occurrence.
“Do we really have to kill them every time? Probably had a wife and kids y’know?” Ayumi had lost that genuine empathy a long time ago, but still questioned why they did it.
“I simply pride myself on how well my secrets have been kept, no loose ends should be allowed to exist”
“Yeah, a 6’2 woman walking around in native Sumeru dancer clothes in Liyue sure doesn’t attract any attention”
“I may put myself out there if the reward is worth the risk”
“Oh, was I worth it then, Lady Uwaki?” Uwaki had let out a form of gratitude to Ayumi’s companionship, something she hated whenever she did as Ayumi ate it up like a starving puppy, perhaps a starving kitten was the more appropriate metaphor.
There was some truth in those words, having a close companion over this past year has meant a lot to Uwaki even if she wouldn’t admit it.
Every other person was simply an acquaintance, the other Harbingers being a means to an end. Ayumi had grown from someone who was initially meant to be a servant into somewhat of a friend.
“Maybe you gotta change up your seduction tactics this time”
“What do you mean?”
“You know instead of dancing you could just suck their-” Ayumi promptly felt herself get forcefully flicked on the forehead for ever even thinking of suggesting what she did.
“You’re free to try that if you want, but the art of dancing is my specialty, none could be equal”
“What, you just move your ass and hips around a bunch and people go crazy for it” Uwaki looked immediately angry, for someone like Ayumi to downplay her skills to Uwaki’s mere basic visual appeal.
“...We’re going shopping”
“Huh? Why?”
“If you think it’s so easy, I want to see you do it” Uwaki was not planning to let Ayumi get away with that comment, her pride was on the line.
“...Alright then, just let me dispose of the body first” Ayumi threw the body over her shoulder and began carrying it out of the room. While Ayumi was about 10 inches shorter than Uwaki, she was certainly the physically stronger of the pair due to swinging a claymore around for all this time.
After Ayumi had disposed of the guard, the two walked into the main square of the town looking for a shop to purchase an outfit for Ayumi, luckily Uwaki already had a place in mind.
“Ah Uwaki, what brings you here today?” An elderly shopkeeper stood at the front of a small tailors, while the place wasn’t extravagant it was where Uwaki trusted the most to have quality outfits for sale.
“I need an outfit similar to mine but for her size, about 5’5”
“Ah yes, you would want to match with your gir-“
“Not another word old man”
“He he, alright I won’t tease, give me just a moment.” The old man walked into the back of the store out of sight, clearly gone to look for Ayumi’s outfit.
“So what you been telling him, hmm?” Ayumi had latched onto another teasing opportunity yet again. “I don’t tell him anything! Not like there’s anything to tell anyways!”
“Whatever you say Lady Uwaki”
It didn’t take long for the old man to return with a bag before stating the price of the outfit, Mora was mostly a non issue for Uwaki with the amount she got from being a Harbinger. Uwaki peeked inside of the bag to check the outfit out.
“So uh, do I get to see it or no? Ayumi leaned over slightly to try and get a peak at what Uwaki had purchased, but she moved it away from her view.
“Ha, as if, you won’t get to see it until you put it on as punishment for disrespecting my talent” Similarly to how Ayumi took up opportunities to tease Uwaki, Uwaki often did the same back. Due to Ayumi’s uncaring attitude most of the time, anytime she showed a form of interest like this was a perfect time to hold it over her head.
The old man waved goodbye as the pair walked off together, walking down the path to return home. “Ooooh, we should get food from this place, I heard it’s great”
“Hey wait a second!” Ayumi ran off from Uwaki to a nearby food stall, already placing an order. “Don’t you forget who’s the one with the Mora” Uwaki at the very least always had this over her.
“Oh please Lady Uwaki, I’ll do anything you want”
“A-anythi…no, you won’t get me with that bait, I’ll allow you to purchase the food.” Uwaki didn’t want to admit that she was hungry too, Ayumi’s offer to do anything Uwaki wanted was tempting but Uwaki considered it just that, temptation.
“I really would’ve done it you know, how about I let you rub my ears?”
“As if I would want something like that, how childish” Truth was that Uwaki completely wanted to rub Ayumi’s ears, but didn’t want to ruin her image as a hardened evil criminal by requesting to do an act that was so innocent, Ayumi was completely aware of this.
“Suit yourself” Ayumi went back to ordering their food, deciding to purchase dangos with milk. The combination seemed rather absurd but it had quickly spread all over from Inazuma for a reason they could not tell.
“Mmm, delicious” Ayumi had begun eating her food on the walk back, putting a wooden stick in the dangos and dipping them into an attached tray of milk before eating them whole.
Meanwhile Uwaki’s hands were full with both the bag of clothes and the tray to be able to eat hers despite her wishes. Ayumi, seeing this, grabbed the wooden stick off of Uwaki’s tray, stuck it into a dango and dipped it in the milk.
“Say aaah”
“Don’t patronize me, I’ll never say something like tha-'' Ayumi shoved the dango into her mouth while she was ranting, Uwaki, initially caught off guard, began chewing the food.
“Don’t you dare do that again!”
“Aww, but feeding your partner is so romantic”
“We’re not- *sigh* ” Uwaki gave up on arguing with her, going any further was pointless with her.
Ayumi suddenly began staring at the ground as she walked, her joking tone suddenly vanishing.
“Thanks for being with me”
“Where is this coming from?” Ayumi didn’t often take things seriously, whenever she did it naturally caught Uwaki off guard.
“Was thinkin about when we first met earlier, y’know when you tortured me with a spear and threatened me, and tried to take me in as a slave and had me take countless innocent lives”
“You don’t sound grateful”
“Gave me meaning at least, someone actually wanted me again, and it’s different now then it was back then right?”
“Ha, your still my lackey don’t get it twisted”
“Sure...thinking about it if you hadn’t showed up I probably would’ve…nevermind.” Uwaki was aware of what Ayumi was alluding to, but didn’t touch upon it any further. While she may have been evil, she wouldn’t prod at a partner’s mental issues for the thrill of it.
“Well then you better stay with me, clearly you’re hopeless without a strong capable master like myself”
“Heh, right...”
The two walked together in silence, only broken up by the sounds of Ayumi chewing her food and the occasional sounds of people in the town chatting away.
Soon they made it back home, the house wasn’t anything particularly special, but if you’re trying to keep your identity as a mass murdering war criminals no one would want to stand out to begin with.
The home was a one story house with a joint living room and kitchen, a bathroom and a single bedroom with Ayumi and Uwaki having to share the bed. They had enough Mora to purchase better accommodation certainly, but for the low profile they were trying to keep this was enough.
“Now hurry up and get changed” Uwaki forced the bag into Ayumi’s hands, now empty after disposing of her food while Uwaki could now finally begin eating hers.
“Alright then, prepare to be wowed” Ayumi strutted over to the bathroom entrance which was directly across from the couch where Uwaki placed herself.
Uwaki removed her mask and headdress while she sat and waited for Ayumi to get changed, a fair amount of time passed before Uwaki felt like Ayumi had been in there too long.
“Will you hurry up already? We don’t have all day!”
“...you know maybe I don’t have to come out…”
“Don’t tell me you’re embarrassed? You of all people?”
“It’s not that no…I just looked bad in it that’s it” Uwaki ate this up, Ayumi seemed to have almost no shame in any action they did or anything they said, so hearing her sound so embarrassed over the outfit was delightful.
“You’re hardly the most hideous woman I’ve laid my eyes on, just come out already it can’t be that ba-” The door swung open, Ayumi not wanting to open it slowly or she felt like she’d end up closing it again halfway.
The two just stood in silence for a time, Uwaki checking out the outfit on Ayumi, looking her up and down. Needless to say, Uwaki was feeling something she didn’t think she would feel towards Ayumi today.
She thought the black and white dancer outfit fit her perfectly, the mask covering her face enhancing her purple eyes and her abs being out in the open, clearly visible. Uwaki had thought it would make sense for Ayumi to have them, but never saw her exposed like this before.
“...So uh...what do you think?” Ayumi broke the silence, snapping Uwaki out of her trance.
“...Oh, you look...passable…”
“Didn’t think my abs would look good like this, nobody’s interested in those on a woman right?”
“...Y-yeah of course not”
Ayumi was glad for the mask covering her face to hide her immense blush, she was so used to flirting and saying some embarrassing things, but this was apparently more than she could handle.
‘N-no, I’m a Fatui Harbinger! I can’t be blushing like some silly teenage girl!’ Uwaki had to tell herself firmly to not fall for this and simply continue on as planned.
“Alright then, time for you to learn to dance” Uwaki got up and quickly made her way over to Ayumi, looking down on her as Ayumi looked up towards her.
“Oh god you’re tall”
“You’re noticing that now?” This situation made Ayumi feel vulnerable in a way she hadn’t felt in a long time, typically that would come from fights, but thanks to her Vision death didn’t really feel like an option most of the time.
In this scenario however she was faced with something she couldn’t just fight or heal her way out of, with her state of embarrassment Uwaki suddenly felt intimidating to Ayumi in a way she hadn’t felt since they met.
Now a much taller, confident dancer was looking down on her and telling her to perform, clearly Ayumi was too flustered to tell Uwaki wasn’t holding up much better. “A-Alright then just uhh, lead the way”
Uwaki turned away from Ayumi and took a deep breath. ‘You’ve got this, you’re stronger and more confident than she is!’ Uwaki psyched herself up one last time before beginning her dance, Ayumi followed suit trying to copy her movements.
“No no, your posture is all wrong!” Uwaki stopped her dance after a few seconds and moved behind Ayumi, placing her hands on her sides to readjust her stance.
“Here you just have to move like…” Uwaki suddenly froze up, realizing the situation she was in. Her palms rested on her sides while her fingers had made their way to her abs.
“Heh, you got something for abs?” Ayumi managed to get out a clear cheeky response, contrasted by her intense internal screaming.
“I’m just re-adjusting your pitiful form, that's all, don’t overthink it!” Uwaki fought the temptation to move her fingers over Ayumi’s abs, sadly she didn’t fight hard enough as they found themselves moving while her palms readjusted Ayumi’s stance.
“T-this isn’t going to work!” Uwaki removed her hands to stop herself from doing anything further. Ayumi let out a sigh of relief as she had been holding her breath during the process, trying not to let out any sort of noise.
Uwaki walked over to the nearby curtains, pulling them closed causing the room to go dark. “Oh no, what are you gonna do to me in the da-” Ayumi was cut off by the nearby candle on the table being lit, Uwaki putting her Pyro Vision to use.
‘Wait shit is she actually...nah it’s just some cool lighting for dancing that’s it, yeah’ Ayumi had some hope for a moment but quickly put it out of her mind.
“Not even an idiot like you could mess this up with me leading you” Uwaki put out her hand for Ayumi to take, after a bit of hesitation Ayumi placed her palm in Uwaki’s and got pulled closer.
“Ballroom dancing, it’s not my specialty but it shouldn’t be too hard for you to pull off, just don’t step on my- shit!”
“Whoops” Ayumi had accidentally stepped on Uwaki’s feet once they began moving. “I’ll get you back for that later!” Uwaki regained her composure and continued to move with Ayumi, her right hand in hers and the left behind her back.
“My my, how romantic”
“Shut up, it’s just practice, you got that?”
“Sure sure…still wonder where you learned all this stuff, a year later you haven’t told me much”
“Hmph, my past isn’t important, just the great person I am now”
“Of course…”
The pair continued their waltz, continuing to move around together as Ayumi got more and more used to the movement.
“Hey you want to do the spin thing?”
“Ayumi, we’ll fall”
“No, I got this it’ll be fine”
“...fuck this up and I’ll kill you” Uwaki raised her right hand hand up, spinning Ayumi outwards, seemingly managing to pull it off. Uwaki then spun them back in, almost making it back to the normal position until Ayumi tripped over her own feet.
“Oh shit”
“God damnit Ayumi!”
Ayumi, still holding Uwaki’s hand, fell to the ground with her. The pair hit the ground with Uwaki falling on top of Ayumi. Uwaki took a moment to pull herself up, once she did she realized she had Ayumi below her, pinned to the floor.
The two of them were breathing heavily to catch their breath after the fall. Ayumi pulled down her mask to get air easier, uncaring about the blush that was spread across her face.
“H-heh, this is the perfect position to-“
“Fuck it”
“Wait wha-“
Uwaki threw all caution to the wind and leaned in further to Ayumi, pressing their lips together. Ayumi was completely caught off guard by Uwaki’s immediate advance, but leaned into the kiss as fireworks went off in her brain.
Uwaki meanwhile was unsure of what came over her, taking these feelings she constantly rejected and dismissed and putting them into an expression like this felt so sudden to her, but at that moment she couldn’t have cared less.
The kiss lasted for what felt like an eternity due to the countless thoughts running through each of their minds, despite it actually lasting about seven seconds or so.
Uwaki pulled herself away from Ayumi, both left speechless as they gazed into each other’s eyes.
“...That’s my favor redeemed” Uwaki immediately retreated back into some sort of excuse for her actions.
“Your...oh, that’s all it is hu-” Uwaki cut her off again by leaning in and planting another kiss on her lips, Ayumi was even more confused by this one than the first, that feeling lasting until she pulled away again.
“That one was because I wanted to”
“...”
“What?”
“...that’s too smooth for someone like me…”