Chapter Text
"I wish to see the Shogun."
Yae holds out her permission slip towards one of the guards in front of Tenshukaku with a stoic gaze, her demand very obviously not up for question.
The guards look at her, and her attachment, in slight question but quickly choose better than to not let her in. Knowing what sort of punishment would come upon them if they mispleased the Shogun’s familiar.
"Of course Lady Yae, you know where to find her Excellency."
Miko nods and makes her way into the building, having trouble opening the two doors with only one arm since her other one is occupied. One of the guards inside raises their brows as she enters, but with one stern look towards them, the two men immediately flee from the open room.
As soon as she has fully entered the room and she’s positive they’re alone, she notices the Shogun's gaze on her. She protectively turns her back towards the puppet in order to not let her see what the Guuji is carrying. Yae did know that the Shogun is as of right now unable to carry out any violent actions. However, the priestess wouldn’t put it past the machine to act out either way, especially with the current circumstances.
"Ei, could you come out for a second, it’s a bit urgent."
The puppet just stares at her and Yae can tell that it isn’t sure what do to with this situation. Questioning whether the woman was a threat or not. But with this gaze upon her, and no actual reply from Ei, Yae starts to get irritated, her patience wearing thin.
"Goddamn Ei, I know you can hear me and if you don’t come out now I’ll come in and drag your stubborn ass out."
After a few more breaths, Ei appears next to the Shogun’s puppet which immediately makes its way out of the room. Casting one last look towards the Guuji before it turns around by Yae shoots daggers with her eyes. She never liked this cheap copy of her Ei. It was nearly a disgrace to the god herself.
Ei smiles lightly when she sees Yae and her slightly irritated state, but that smile quickly turns into a frown as she notices what the priestess is carrying in her arms.
"Who's that?"
Yae turns around, readjusting the toddler on her hip.
"Sara."
"Wha-"
"Kojou Sara, General of the Shogun's Army? Ring any bells?"
"But why is she," she vaguely gestures towards the girl who continues to hide her face in Miko's shoulder, "a baby?"
Yae laughs, "She's hardly a baby anymore. I suppose she's around 3-4 years old probably. A toddler, therefore."
"But why-"
"Not too sure, the divine Priestess of Watastumi Island dropped her off after some fight between Fatui mages had gone wrong, I don’t know any further details but im pretty sure she’s investigating the matter right now."
She absently strokes the girl's hair as she speaks.
"And why-"
Yae sighed loudly but smirks lightly. "Do you have nothing else do to but ask questions I can not answer anyway? Here hold her for a second please."
She mindlessly hands the child over to Ei, who needs an extra few seconds to comprehend what Miko just said. Yae raises an eyebrow as she holds the child out to the other woman, waiting for her to take her. Ei’s confusion hanging in the air just as Sara currently is.
"Surely you must know how to hold a toddler, Ei." Yae laughs mockingly.
The Shogun does, in fact, not know how to do it but instead sits the girl down on her hip the way Miko just had. Supposing she couldn’t do anything wrong with that. Considering Sara looked pretty small and frail of a child or three to four years
Ei is momentarily worried Sara might be uncomfortable being switched to another person, but when she lays her head down on Ei's shoulder and tiredly gazes at Yae, she's pretty sure it will be alright.
“I presume you’re not too busy today, right? We need to get her something to wear. I'd rather not have her wearing this hand-me-down kimono someone donated to the shrine, for the entire day.” She pauses and scrutinizes the girl’s form, “And I believe some food wouldn't hurt either.”
"How are you so calm about this?" Ei wonders, nervously holding the girl in a grip that looks slightly too tight to be comfortable, but Sara doesn’t seem to mind much.
“I have no idea to be quite honest, it just comes naturally I think. However, I don't know if it’s such a good idea to bring her out with us. She seemed quite anxious on our way here."
Ei nods at that, completely agreeing that it might not be the best idea to walk through half of Inazuma with a child in her and Yae's arms. Who knows what kind of rumors would spread, none of them could need that. Also, they don't know how long Sara will stay like this. So, going out in public would simply make all of this worse and frankly, quite unnecessary. Even though Ei has to admit, there were worse things than having to worry about a toddler, who seems to be quite the calm one, for a few days. And knowing this child was Sara, didn’t even make her as uncomfortable as she thought it would.
"Alright, then let’s move this to my chambers, should we?"
Yae smirks devilishly at that, "My my Ei, you can't say that while carrying a child."
Ei just chuckles, "So we'll just ignore the way you cussed three times in one sentence just a few moments ago?"
Miko lets out a soft laugh and they make their way to the Shogun's quarters in silence. Which makes both of the women think. Of course, Sara must be some kind of scared of them. She was pretty calm and Yae just supposed it was because adult Sara knew both of them quite well, but for a four-year-old child, she assumed Sara would be talking more. Especially since adult Sara can't ever seem to get the words out of her mouth fast enough.
When they reach her room, they wordlessly settle around the kotatsu in the center of the room. Before Ei sits herself down though, she gently pries the girl off her clothes where she suddenly had a death grip on. She helplessly looks over to Miko who gracefully sits down on the ground, smiling humorously at Ei's attempt of bringing the girl to let go. She clearly never really had close contact with a child ever before. But who could blame her for that?
"Sara baby," Yae smiles then, "Ei has to set you down first, otherwise she can't sit down herself okay? But she won't leave, I promise."
The girl suspiciously looks between the two women, the way she frowns looking dangerously close to her adult self, but then she chooses to nod and goes limp in Ei's hand, letting her put her down. And just like promised as soon as Ei is seated she lets Sara climb into her lap. The girl immediately leaned her head against the woman's chest and promptly closed her eyes.
Ei looks down at her for a while not noticing the way a smile is growing on her face. Yae however holds one hand in front of her smirking lips. “I knew it would be a good idea to come here.”
Ei shakes her head but gently sets her hands on the girl’s back, slowly drawing them up and down as Sara seems to fall deeper and deeper into sleep.
“What do we do now?”
“Nothing. She looks pretty comfy.” Yae shrugs.
“No I mean- on a long term. I mean as long as she’ll stay like this.”
“Well, I presume we need to watch her. As an alternative, we could drop her off in front of the Sangonomiya shrine door and hope for the best.”
“Miko that’s this is so situation to make jokes. I'm serious.”
“I know,” Miko sighs,” I guess we’ll just have to hold up until then. Make sure she’s happy and fed.”
They sit in silence for a while, listing to Sara’s soft breathing until Miko realizes that Ei won’t be a big help at this moment and slowly raises from her seat on the floor..
“I'll go and search for some clothes, also food for her. What do children eat? Do you think she likes to draw?”
“Miko I have absolutely no idea, I think she’ll be content with whatever. Can’t be worse than her actual childhood.”
Yae sighs. “Yeah probably. Alright, I’ll see you both in a bit then. Behave”
And instead of assuming that she points her finger in Sara’s direction, Ei instead finds it pointed towards her.
“Are you sure you should-”
“Yes, I most certainly am. She’s sleeping anyway, I’ll be back before you know it, okay? You’re doing a great job, Ei.”
She smiles gently and Ei turns her face to the side to hide her blush. “See you two soon.” And with that, the doors behind her fall closed and the Shogun is momentarily worried the child in her lab woke up. But as she looks down, she still sees the tiny girl sleeping soundly. So she waits.
-
Yae returns roughly an hour later, which was already way faster than she anticipated. When she pushes the doors to the Shogun’s quarter open again, she’s met with a sight that makes her want to coo.
In the middle of the room is Ei. Laying on the ground. One hand lazily draped across her eyes. Her other hand is resting against the little girl’s back who is sprawled out against her entire upper body. Both of them appear to be asleep until Yae sets her bags down and is met with the sight of sleepy yellow eyes staring in her direction.
Yae smiles gently as she watches the girl fully wake up and regain her bearings. She presses herself up on the Shogun’s stomach with two tiny hands, crawls off, and sits down next to the woman’s sleeping form. She frowns slightly as she watches the Shogun and even Yae is stunned to see Ei being asleep even after had Sara utilized her body as a mattress.
Yae sits down on the floor again and gestured her hands for Sara to come over. The girl quickly got the hint and wobbles over the Miko where she sets herself down into the woman’s lap as if it was her assigned seat. Miko didn't mind though, she’d let both Saras sit in her lap as much as they pleased.
This time however she reaches for one of the bags and pulls out a pair of children’s clothes and holds them up for Sara to see, whose eyes immediately light up and she happily bounces up and down.
Yae smiles at her. “Wanna put them on?” Sara nods and immediately goes to stand up.
After Sara is changed Ei is still laying on the floor like she’s been beaten unconscious, Yae walks over. “Ei. Ei, wake up.”
The Shogun stirs and slowly opens her eyes. She looks around and sees Yae hovering over her and it takes her a second to notice that she’s laying on the ground. She then quickly remembers how this situation took place and hastily reaches around herself to locate the little girl.
“She’s here, Ei.”
She looks over and then sees Sara’s little hand clutching a few of Yae’s fingers.
“I brought food, you want some?”
They sit around the table again, this time Sars is sitting in Yae’s lap, getting fed tiny scoops of fried rice. When Sara is busy chewing, Yae managed to eat some herself. While eating, she and Ei are maintaining some light conversation about what they should do with a child. Just because she was behaving and a quiet child right now, doesn't mean she would always be.