Work Text:
“Kujou Tengu! It’s time for our rematch!”
The bright midday sun shone through the tiny slits on the walls of Sara Kujou’s private room, but what really pierced through and interrupted her daily training was one particularly annoying oni’s booming voice. With an exasperated sigh, the tengu general wiped the sweat off her brow and put her bow back in its rack. She stepped out from her room and made her way to the entrance of her abode where the source of her daily stress came from, barely being held back by the guards that were stationed at the entrance of the Kujou Residence. He stood there, hands proudly on his waist as he flashed a cocky grin upon seeing her. She’d roll her eyes if she didn’t deem such behavior as rude and unprofessional.
“Kujou Tengu! There you are!” Arataki Itto bellowed. He attempted to walk towards her, but he was stopped in his tracks by the spears being pointed at his throat. At least they could do that much, she thought. “Stop chickening out from our sumo duel and fight me already!”
Coming out was definitely a mistake, but she couldn’t bear him causing a disturbance every single day any longer. Ignoring him didn’t work, threatening him didn’t work— Archons above, putting him in jail didn’t even work. She was truly at a loss, and Itto didn’t show any signs of giving up anytime soon.
Sara made her way towards him, her expression stern. “This charade has gone on for too long. You’ve not only been harassing me, but now you’ve even decided to disrupt my daily activities?” She shook her head and let out a small huff of irritation. Shooting him a glare, she asked, “If I finally entertain you and give you a so-called ‘rematch’, will you leave me alone once and for all?”
Itto didn’t seem fazed at all. Instead, his grin only grew wider and he laughed. If anything, it sounded as though he was mocking her. “Sure! If I win, that is.” He rubbed his nose coyly, never looking away from her piercing gaze. “I won’t stop ‘til I win against you.”
Simply infuriating. Sara regretted ever associating herself with this troublesome man. “Fine. I accept,” she finally replied, crossing her arms over her chest. If this was the only way that she could possibly have him leave her alone, then so be it. She didn’t like the implications of him never leaving her alone though— she knew she’d always win against him, so she’d practically signed a lifelong deal of him pestering her. Great.
Alas, it was too late to retract her statement, and the humongous buffoon before her could barely contain his excitement. “Finally!” he exclaimed, punching the air over and over before probably realizing how stupid he looked and coughed, regaining his composure, if he ever even had any. “I mean, uh— cool, sure, whatever.”
’That cool guy act isn’t fooling anyone.’ Sara shifted her weight to one leg, looking at him unimpressed. “Let’s just get this over with as soon as possible. Unlike you, I have an actual job to attend to.”
“Yeowch, harsh much?” Itto placed a hand over his chest; he looked like he was actually about to cry. It was just like dealing with a child, but worse, Sara thought. “Anyway, meet me at Araumi before sundown. Be there or I’ll consider it a defeat on your end, Kujou Tengu!”
She turned on her heel and began to walk away. Of all the jobs she’d taken on since becoming the general of the Tenryou Commission, this had to be the most troublesome. “Great. If I lose, you’ll leave me alone, right? I just won’t show up then.”
“No no no! Winning by default doesn’t count!” she heard him shout behind her, to which she responded by raising her hand, signaling her men to escort Itto away. “You’d better show up, Kujou Tengu! No take backs, you hear me?!”
When she finally couldn’t hear his screaming and yelling, Sara let her shoulders sag as she sighed, but only for a split-second. She did have important matters to attend to, and that crimson oni wasn’t going to distract her from her duties.
The time she’d been dreading had finally arrived. Sara Kujou was a woman of her word, so as much as she’d rather be doing literally anything else at that moment, she trudged all the way to Araumi, making sure that no one is following her; she would hate for anyone to see her on her way to meet that public nuisance of an oni, lest rumors start spreading about them.
Upon arriving, she noticed Itto’s familiar figure hunched over a boulder. He seemed to be shouting about something, but she couldn’t make out what it was. Knowing him, though, it was probably something idiotic that wasn’t worth her time.
“I’m here, oni,” she announced, causing Itto to jump and let out a surprised yelp before hurriedly turning to her, obviously hiding something. Sara squinted at this; he’d always been suspicious, but this was way *too* suspicious, even for him. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing! Psh— obviously nothing.” He floundered about, sweating profusely as he attempted to obscure her vision from whatever he’s hiding on that rock. Every time she tried to sneak a peek, he’d scramble to block whatever it was from her field of view. “I’m telling you, it’s nothing!”
Sara rubbed her temples in defeat before pointedly glaring at Itto, looking down at him as he refused to tell her the truth. “I can’t believe you’ll resort to cheating with whatever that is that you’re hiding. Honestly, even I expected more from you.”
“Hey!” Itto stood up and towered over Sara, and that admittedly made her lose her composure a bit, what with his height and build and all, but she remained firm under his fiery gaze. “I’ll never do that. Ever. My pride as an oni is on the line.”
Sara did not understand the sentiment, but she at least respected the look Itto had in his eyes. Admittedly, the townsfolk, especially the children, seemed very fond of Itto. All they’ve ever arrested him for were minor disturbance cases anyhow; it wasn’t as though he’s a real threat. He couldn’t possibly be one, even if he tried— he was way too dumb to come up with anything beyond causing a ruckus at the Tenryou Commission’s gates every day.
As he was too busy confronting her, Sara was able to see for herself what Itto had been hiding. It was a couple of onikabuto, wrestling with their horns. “Were you… beetle-fighting?”
Itto jumped at the question before attempting to regain the bravado he had a few seconds prior. “Yeah— yeah, that’s right! I was beetle-fighting, and I’m not ashamed of it!” With a couple of blinks and an averted gaze, he murmured, “I mean, anymore,” which he followed with a cough.
Sara sighed. “Why were you trying so hard to hide it? It’s not like it’s illegal. Your suspicious behavior caused me to doubt you in the first place.” She walked away from him, glancing behind him to see if there really was nothing else. No, just the onikabuto. She knew that he wouldn’t be able to pull off any cheats, but she had to make sure anyhow.
“What does it matter to ya anyway?” Itto was flustered; his words lacked the usual bite they had. He seemed genuinely embarrassed, which surprised Sara. She always thought him to be a shameless buffoon. “Are you suddenly interested in me or something?”
She didn’t even think that comment was worthy of a response. With one swift motion, Sara drew her bow, her tengu wings appearing behind her. “Assume your position. I will not go easy on you.”
“Wait, what? We agreed on a sumo duel! No weapons!” Itto took two steps forward before assuming a sumo stance, stomping on the ground as he shook his head vigorously. Oozing with confidence (it was more narcissism in Sara’s opinion), Itto yelled, “Come and face me like a man! Or, you know, woman. That’s cool too. Gender equality. Point is, we should fight!”
Just as she was about to snap back at him, she felt the ground rumbling. She backed away slowly, assuming an alert stance while looking for the source of the disturbance. It was getting stronger by the moment.
Itto looked up and broke his sumo stance, arrogantly staring Sara down with a toothy grin. “What’s wrong? Getting cold feet now that you’ve seen my super awesome Oni Sumo King stance? You ain’t seen nothing yet, baby! Lemme tell you—”
“Will you shut it?!” Sara couldn’t believe how dense the stupid oni was. Tightening her grip on her bow, she responded with, “Can’t you feel the ground rumbling, you brute?!”
Itto’s ears perked up, twitching as he tried to look for the source of the rumbling himself. “Now that you mention it, the ground here doesn’t normally do that—”
He was abruptly cut off by an even stronger rumble, one that almost made him stumble, but he regained his footing just in time before a Ruin Destroyer emerged from the ground, whirring about as its iron prongs dug into the earth surrounding it. It was locked on target: the two of them.
“Oh f— Look out!” Itto dove towards Sara who had already dodged the attack, so he ended up landing face flat on the ground. He quickly picked himself back up and shook away some grass and dirt that found their way onto his face. He manifested his claymore into existence with the help of his Vision which glowed faintly with the warm amber hues of Geo. “Heh. You’re quick. I’ll give you that.”
“Stop messing around for a second, will you? If you won’t help me get rid of this thing, then don’t get in my way,” she admonished him. This was no time for jokes; one wrong move and they could seriously get injured. Even worse, this Ruin Destroyer could find its way into a nearby village and wreak havoc. As the general of the Tenryou Commission, she simply couldn’t allow that to happen.
With a flap of her jet black wings, she was transported two steps back within the blink of an eye. Electro Vision crackling at her hips, she focused all its power onto the tip as she pulled back the bow’s string, aiming dead ahead at the Ruin Destroyer’s weak spot; paralyzing it would enable her to dispose of it without much of a hassle.
“Kujou Tengu!” she heard Itto call out, but why? Suddenly, her knees gave out at the sharp, piercing pain she felt in her wings. She looked back and saw that she’d been shot by a Ruin Cruiser that was in her blind spot, and her wings were bleeding. She retracted her wings with much agony; she winced and panted hard, struggling to stay kneeling. Her vision was blurry and her ears were ringing; she'd been shot straight and she was none the wiser. She cursed her own weakness under her breath.
Itto rushed to her side, shielding her with his body while checking up on her. He looked so concerned, Sara noted. She didn’t understand why. “Hey, you okay?” he asked, his voice low, almost a hush— uncharacteristic of him. Sara was all the more puzzled.
She tried to push him away, but he didn’t budge. The proximity somehow made Sara meek. “I’m fine,” she replied, scooting away from him since she couldn’t push him away. She attempted to stand, almost falling over a couple of times but eventually being able to with a bit of assistance. Itto refused to leave her side though. “I have to get rid of these machines before they ravage the nearby villages.”
“Hey, hey, hey! What about your injury? You’re in no condition to fight!” Itto would block Sara every time she tried to leave his side, but Sara would keep trying nonetheless.
Sara glared at him before giving him one last forceful shove that was enough to send Itto a couple of steps back, which Sara took advantage of by walking past him and drawing the string of her bow once again. “This is nothing to me.”
She heard Itto sigh behind her before she saw him walk past her, claymore at the ready. “Fine, but at least lemme help, yeah? C’mon, it’s faster this way.”
“Suit yourself. But if you’re in the line of my shot, I’ll shoot either way,” she coldly replied. Crackles of lightning surrounded her once more, all before zeroing in on the tip of her arrow. She had her sights set on the wretched Ruin Cruiser that threw her off her groove. “Try to keep up.”
Itto chuckled at her. “Keep up?” He gave her one last glance before facing their enemies once again, getting ready to charge at them. “Heh, I’ll have you eating your words later, Kujou Tengu!”
Dragging his claymore behind him as he rammed towards an enemy, Itto laughed as he let out a barrage of attacks against the Ruin Destroyer that appeared first. Sara directed her attention to the Ruin Cruiser which seemed to be charging up for another attack, exposing its own core in the process. A swift release of her arrow, and Sara landed a clean shot, piercing the Ruin Cruiser’s core, causing it to malfunction and ultimately get paralyzed, if only for a few minutes.
Sara glanced over at Itto, who was now fighting against the Ruin Destroyer from earlier and a Ruin Defender that had just appeared. She was about to run towards him and help, but before she could, a powerful aura encompassed Itto’s entire body, bits of the earth levitating around him each time he took a step. His claymore had turned into a colossal kanabou which he looked to be holding with ease. The way the markings on his body glowed together with his eyes and his Vision almost made him seem like a different person: like a monster, but a fine beast, one worthy to walk amongst the ranks of the Shogun’s most trusted. Sara wondered if she looked the same whenever she wielded her Vision’s power.
Letting out a thunderous roar, Itto swung his kanabou over and over at the enemies before him, unrelenting, getting faster after each swing, as though his body had become one with his weapon, nothing but an extension of his arm. He made it seem so effortless, and Sara found herself entranced by the way he carried himself in battle, something that she’d always admired about him but would never voice out. It was like being transported back to the days of old, when there were no complicated things such as politics, structure, and society— just the blood, honor, and dignity of a warrior. Something so raw, so feral... Sara has been suppressing that part of herself since the day the Kujou Clan took her in, but seeing that man— that oni ravaging his enemies and laughing while doing so— it was as though a switch had gone off inside of her.
She turned back to the Ruin Cruiser that she had paralyzed, noticing it slowly getting its gears back in motion. Sara charged towards it with a fearsome cry of her own, adrenaline coursing through her veins as she bombarded the Cruiser with her arrows, moving at a speed even she didn’t know she was capable of achieving. Revering her Archon under her breath, she felt a surge of energy rush within her, all being released at once as she released one final arrow that would render the Cruiser immobile forever. She released the arrow, and it flew straight into the Cruiser’s core, shattering it permanently, and the machine laid lifeless on the solid ground.
Sounds of metal breaking and being thrown about could be heard from Itto’s direction, and Sara saw that he had successfully taken down the Ruin Defender, while the Ruin Destroyer barely seemed functional anymore. With one fervent swing, Itto smashed the body of the Destroyer, leaving it a crackling, mangled mess. He retreated a couple of steps to admire his handiwork, and with a proud smile, he slung his kanabou onto his shoulder which turned back into his old claymore. He turned to face Sara, his grin widening, and he called out to her. “Heh, whaddaya think of that?”
Unbeknownst to Itto, the Ruin Destroyer still had enough energy for one last burst. “Behind you!” Sara shouted, but the damned contraption had already released the ball of energy it had been charging up straight onto Itto’s back. Within a split second, he was able to spring to the side, but not without his arm being grazed by the attack. It was preparing a follow-up shot when Sara swiftly drew her arrow, shooting the Destroyer’s only functional core, rendering it a useless pile of junk once and for all. She let out a sigh of relief; it was over. All of the Ruin Sentinels had been dealt with. She had to report this back to the Tenryou Commission right away; she had no idea that these things were still up and running in this area. She’d make sure to have this area scouted as soon as she’s able to.
She picked herself up and dusted the dirt off of her clothes before walking away, to which Itto called out to her with, “Hey, hey, hey! Where are you going?”
Sara didn’t even spare him a glance; she just kept walking. She could hear Itto’s footsteps following her. “I’m going back to the Tenryou Commission. I have to report what happened here today. I’ve already wasted enough time on this excursion.”
“No, what? You’re walking all the way back? What about your injuries?” Itto stopped her in her tracks yet again, blocking her path. Try as she might to break past him, his massive build was preventing her from doing so. Curse his stupid oni bloodline. “C’mon, lemme treat them for you.”
“No, thanks. I can handle myself just fine,” she stubbornly refused, shoving past him just like earlier. As she did so, she felt a spike of pain shoot up in her spine. The adrenaline from the battle was wearing off, and she could feel the fatigue and the throbbing of her extremities, especially from where she’d been shot. She couldn’t help but kneel on the ground, and Itto swiftly came to her aid and assisted her before she could fully collapse.
“See? You can barely stand. C’mon, it won’t take long. I’m just gonna do some first aid.” If Sara was none the wiser, it would almost sound as though Itto was pleading to care for her. She really couldn’t understand why this troublesome oni would go out of his way to do all these things for her.
Sighing in defeat, she said, “Fine. But I have to get back as soon as possible, so make it quick.” Sara seated herself on a nearby rock, crossing her arms in protest.
Itto sighed himself, but it sounded more like relief than anything. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” He knelt in front of her and rummaged for something within a small pack attached to his waist. “Lemme see your wings,” he instructed.
Trying her best to ignore the searing pain she felt from unfurling her wings alone, Sara kept a straight face and a rigid pose as Itto continued to fish around in his pouch, with him later revealing a bunch of herbs and leaves within his palm. “It’s not much, but it should be enough until we get you to a doctor,” he told her with a smile on his face, staring intently at the leaves in his hands.
Sara only stared at him. For someone normally so loud and bothersome, Itto looked surprisingly gentle at that moment, like he was reminiscing about something in a distant, bittersweet past. “Do you even know how to do this?”
“Of course I do! I wouldn’t offer to do it if I didn’t.” The way he switched from gentle to offended and back again was almost comical. ’He’s certainly an animated fellow, this Arataki Itto.’ “I had to live on the streets for a while, so I had to learn how to care for myself. I got injured a lot, so I kinda had to learn which plants work for treating injuries and stuff.”
Sara shifted in her seat, watching Itto crush and mix a couple of leaves together before setting them inside of a larger leaf which he fashioned to look like a little bowl. “You got injured a lot? Why?”
Itto looked her straight in the eye, giving her an expression that seemed to say ’shouldn’t you know why?’ “Cuz I’m an oni. Humans hate our kind.”
Sara could only muster an almost inaudible “oh” at Itto’s response, breaking eye contact with him as she did so. How could she forget? She’s heard tales about the oni since she was young, and truth be told, they were nothing like the one before her. Oni were described to be ruthless, merciless, and cruel creatures who brought misfortune and despair to humans; Itto was anything but. He was kind to the people of Inazuma despite some of them having a strong aversion to him due to his bloodline, with a few of them even going out of their way to openly slander him and shun him away. However, Itto never retaliated, even though everyone was expecting him to, and even though in some times, there was a perfectly good reason to. Sara wasn’t exactly fond of him, but she could at least respect his ideals.
As Itto reached out for her wounded wings with the herbal remedy he concocted in his palms, he had an expression of fondness on his face; it reminded Sara of the way he looked whenever the kids would go home after a day of playing with him. There was… satisfaction, almost. Nevermind the brutish features he possessed; at that moment, Sara thought she was looking at the kindest man she’d ever known.
Upon this realization, Sara felt her face flush, her wings pulling away from his touch along with the rest of her. “Hey, sit still! I can’t put the medicine properly if you keep moving,” Itto scolded, to which Sara complied by relaxing her shoulders and easing back into her seat. She could feel the way he carefully ran his fingers through her feathers as though they were the most fragile things in the world. The gesture made her heart pound, palms sweaty as she gripped her clothes in anticipation for each stroke, all the while stealing glances at his face full of wonder.
“Your wings are really pretty, Kujou Tengu,” he eventually said, almost a whisper. His gaze was still fixated on her wings, but Sara couldn’t help but feel exposed, like he was peering through the windows of her soul and seeing everything about her. “You should take care of them more. Would be a shame to see them injured again.”
“I don’t need advice from the likes of you,” she murmured, her voice small. How unbecoming, she thought, that she, the esteemed general of the Tenryou Commission, the spear of the great Narukami Ogosho, was sitting there, flustered and fidgeting over the gestures of some unemployed delinquent who probably thought nothing of this sort of thing. That was the most frustrating part.
‘Well, what if he did think something of it?’
Sara buried her nails further into her skin, her knuckles turning white at the intensity of her grip. She didn’t just seriously consider that, did she? The battle must’ve done some mental damage to her as well if she even thought for a second that she and this… oni would ever be…
‘Be what?’
“Agh! Shut up, shut up!” she unconsciously screamed, after which she covered her mouth. Her eyes darted to Itto, who was staring at her, perplexed.
“Huh? I didn’t say anything, though,” he said, clueless. Seeing his dumbstruck expression was enough to snap her back to reality and erase any and all thoughts of… romance. Ugh. Even thinking of the term was enough to make her queasy.
“It’s nothing. Just finish up already,” Sara eventually replied, crossing her arms and legs in annoyance. This oni had been invading her space so much that he even wormed his way into her thoughts. Simply detestable.
Itto shrugged. “Whatever you say.” Luckily for Sara, Itto was too much of a blockhead to understand. She heaved a particularly long sigh; she was stressed. Yes, that had to be it. Perhaps after this, she would make plans to visit the bath house to relieve her body and mind of stressors, including the one knelt in front of her. “Hey, Kujou Tengu.”
Her ears perked up, even though she really didn’t want to hear whatever idiotic thing would come out from his mouth. “What is it?”
“Do you wanna go out with me?”
If Sara was drinking water at that moment, she’d have spit it out in a moment. She almost jumped away from him, her face burning from secondhand embarrassment, while the ignoramus himself looked like he’d just asked about the weather; he wasn’t fazed by his own question at all. Sara felt like she was the fool for reacting so violently.
“E-excuse me?! What do you think gave you the right to ask that question?!” Her voice was an octave higher; Itto looked like he was about to burst out laughing. Sara swore on her clan’s name that she would eradicate all oni from existence. “Are you making fun of me?!”
“What? No!” Itto inched closer, to which Sara responded by drawing a kunai she kept hidden under her skirt in case of emergencies, and this was very much an emergency in her opinion. “Woah, hey! Easy with that thing!” She didn’t heed him and kept the blade pointed straight at his chest even after he’d backed away. “Do you really think I’d joke about something like that?”
Sara’s glare was sharper than the blade she was pointing at him, but the intensity of her gaze was offset by her blushing face. “Then what in the Archon’s name could you possibly mean?”
“That I’m interested in you?” Itto’s face was riddled with confusion and so was Sara’s. He ran his fingers through his hair with a sigh, as though he was explaining to a child. “Why do you think I go out of my way to challenge you to a duel every day? I have things to do too, you know!” Sara rolled her eyes at this. Itto coughed in response. “Well, okay, maybe not, but still!”
Itto clasped Sara’s hand within both of his own, leaving Sara weak and at a loss for words. She’d have let go of the blade by now if Itto wasn’t holding her hand. “Kujou Tengu. You’re a powerful woman, not just physically, but also mentally. You maintain this strong image because you gotta, and whenever I see you, I just— I dunno…” Itto himself was getting flustered now, a faint blush creeping up on his cheeks, avoiding her bewildered gaze. Sara felt as though her heart would jump out of her chest. “I kinda wanna devote my life to you, I guess.” His grasp on her hand softened, and he held it with much more care, just as he did with her wings. “But sometimes you look so lonely, like you could use someone who cares for you. I know how that feels, you know?” Itto looked into her eyes once more, a solid resolve present in his amber eyes. Sara supposed his Vision suited him; unmoving and steadfast, like the earth on which they roam. “Whether you’re at your strongest or your weakest, I like you all the same. I promise I’ll support you no matter what. So, go out with me, please?”
Sara’s throat felt dry. It all happened so fast; her mind was a whirlwind of thoughts, and her heart was in the middle of a thunderous storm, beating like crazy. If he’d asked her on any other day, she would have outright said no, but after seeing these sides of him— that ferocious beast from earlier, and the earnest and genuine man before him— she somehow couldn’t bring herself to reject him. Sara found herself intrigued, at the very least; this man was capable of making her feel all these emotions, and more importantly, she made him feel like as long as he’s with her, she’s allowed to feel weak, even for just a moment, because he’d be there with her.
Clearing her throat, she eventually said, “Fine.” She couldn’t look him straight in the eye after that. “But don’t go blabbing about it or I’ll kill you myself.”
Itto slowly grinned from ear to ear. He couldn’t contain his joy. “W-wait, really?! No take backs!”
Sara glanced at him. He looked like a dolt, smiling like that. He was like a dog, really. Not that Sara minded. “Don't make me regret it."
In the blink of an eye, she found herself within Itto’s arms, locked in an embrace. The contact startled her at first, but she eventually eased herself against his body. This kind of warmth… How long has it been since she’s felt something like it? “You just made me the happiest oni alive. I promise I won’t let you down!”
’Something like this is enough to make him happy?’ Sara didn’t quite understand, but she caught herself smiling, too. Gingerly, she placed an arm around his back to try and return the hug. She felt awkward doing it, but perhaps someday, something like this would come naturally for her.
’Arataki Itto’s lover…’
“General Kujou? We’ve been looking for you all afternoon, ma’am.”
Upon hearing the voice of one of her soldiers, Sara violently shoved Itto away, knocking him onto the ground in the process, like she was just caught committing a crime. “I-it’s not what it looks like!” Her voice was shrill once again, and poor Itto looked like he’d hit his head. Panicking, Sara blurted out, “Soldier, arrest this man!”
Itto was barely conscious when he heard her orders. “Wait what—”
“Right away, ma’am!” Three other soldiers appeared behind him and they picked Itto up from the ground, apprehending him. Itto, now wide awake from having his wrists shackled, looked to Sara for an explanation, who was crossing her arms and refusing to look at him.
“Kujou Tengu?!” Itto’s voice was full of disbelief. “Hey, what’s the meaning of this?!”
“Take him away!” she commanded with much fervor, and her men began to take Itto away who was screaming her name and professing his love for her and his feelings of betrayal in the process. Sara didn’t really mean to do that; she was just flustered, that’s all.
Ah, well. She’d just get him out of prison later, maybe bring him an apology gift too.