Work Text:
It’s only by coincidence, Izutsumi tells herself, that she’s around when Toshiro and Falin come back to visit the Golden City. Laios and Marcille look ecstatic to see Falin back. Neither Kabru nor her felt particularly strongly about Falin bringing Toshiro in tow with her, but Marcille, somehow, seemed to wither at the reminder of his presence.
So it’s all a coincidence when the ship pulls into the dock, and Izutsumi is at the front of the group, searching for a familiar face on the deck. She had merely followed Laios and the others out of curiosity. There was no particular desire to see anyone, horned or otherwise.
Of course, right when Izutsumi has convinced herself of that, she sees her. The year apart has done Inutade well. There is obvious muscle building under the curves of her body, and the youthful round cheeks Izutsumi had grown familiar with had begun to shed, revealing high cheekbones.
With a quick glance at the pier below, Tade smiles brightly at the sight of her. She’s not dressed in the usual armor she preferred for dungeon exploring (the armor Izutsumi last saw her in), but Izutsumi is not naive enough to believe that makes her any less dangerous. She watches Tade make a running start down the deck to meet her.
Once she’s on the pier, Tade waves her arms about in greeting and shouts, “Asebi!”
There’s a horrible feeling in her chest that she doesn’t know what to do with. She finds her fur on edge and lets the first words on her mind come out of her mouth. “Don’t call me that! That’s not my name.”
Tade’s smile fades. “I’m sorry, it’s out of habit. Let me try that again. Hi, Izutsumi.” She walks up to her, only a little bit shy after the mix-up.
That, her real name coming out of Tade’s mouth with sweetness and fondness, calms the tightness in her chest.
Just as quickly as that relief flows in her, annoyance crawls back in as she looks past Inutade and finds the rest of the guests slowly approaching.
She tries to find some change in the rest of their faces, but they all seem to be just as forgettable as the last time she saw them.
Tade leaves her side for a moment to help with the bags they had packed for the journey, and their large group gets ready to head to the castle.
Though Izutsumi and Tade speak for much of the journey, surrounded by everyone else, their conversations stay short and impersonal. By the time they walk through the castle gates, Izutsumi is itching with questions left unsaid.
“We’ve arranged for all of your rooms to be close together in one wing, Toshiro, so that you won’t have to worry about being far from your retainers. Falin is another wing closer to us, I hope those arrangements work for everybody,” Laios says kindly, a dopey sort of smile on his face.
Izutsumi knows that Laios is just happy to have his sister and an old party member back. The dopey smile still annoys her though, as do most things Laios does whenever she’s in a bad mood.
“If they’re all sleeping in the same wing, then Tade doesn’t need to be shown around. I wanna take her to see my room.” Used to roaming around freely and being actively encouraged to leave the vicinity during important political discussions, Izutsumi is already grabbing Tade’s sleeve to show her the way. She takes a step, and finds resistance on her next.
Tade has a conflicted look on her face as she stands stock still. She turns to Toshiro, “Young Master, may I?” Her voice trails off, unsure of how to phrase her request. Izutsumi scowls at the honorific. There’s one of the many things she’ll never miss about being Toshiro’s retainer.
Toshiro, to his credit, does not seem upset by the voiceless request. He takes a considering look around before responding, “We are amongst friends and in no danger in this castle. Go have fun, Tade. Just come back for dinner.”
Maizuru begins to squawk in indignation at the mere idea of a retainer having a life outside of Toshiro. Izutsumi briefly recalls a particularly noisy parrot she had hunted down just the other day. Before she can get too lost in the memory, Tade squeals in delight beside her. “Thank you, Young Master!” She turns to give Izutsumi a full view of her brilliant, joyous smile.
Unable to think of much to say, Izutsumi resumes pulling on Tade’s sleeve to guide her. This time, Tade lets herself be tugged down the halls.
When they arrive at her room, Izutsumi finally remembers the one thing she’s forgotten about in the rush (coincidence) to get to the pier. Her room is a mess.
Various objects have been knocked down to the floor and left to collect dust. The sheets on her bed are ruffled, her blanket left where she threw it off of herself in the morning. There is a faint tinge of embarrassment in the back of her mind, but she refuses to show it.
And anyway, Tade doesn’t seem to mind. She looks around Izutsumi’s room, taking every detail in. Still, Izutsumi would prefer for Tade to spend as little time staring at the piles of forgotten clothes in random corners of the room as possible, so she drags Tade to her desk. Shyly, Izutsumi takes out the leather-bound journal she’s kept with her through her travels.
“Senshi encouraged me to start drawing. I don’t know how to write in our mother tongue yet, but I’ll learn soon.” She flips the book open to a page filled with sketches of birds she saw out of her window the last time she stayed in the castle.
Tade gasps excitedly and moves closer to take a look. She reaches to flip the page, and though Izutsumi has never let anyone go through her journal before, she lets Tade take free reign of the book.
There’s rough sketches of dishes Senshi has made, rushed scribbles of Senshi himself making various expressions, and tucked into one corner, is a messy scrawl of characters from a menu she tried to copy the one time Senshi and her had found an Eastern restaurant to eat at. Tade sighs after a page full of flowers Izutsumi found in a field.
“Izutsumi… You’re really seeing the world, huh? Has it been fun?” There’s a strong wistfulness to her voice as she speaks, her eyes still firmly on a small daffodil etched in charcoal.
She thinks for a moment before responding, “There’s a lot of days where I have fun, but a lot of days where I get bored too. I’m not sure if I’ll do this forever, but I know I like it well enough right now.”
Tade looks up at that, a slight shock evident in her face. “You don’t know what you want to do for the rest of your life?”
Izutsumi tries not to be shocked right back. “Why would I? Do you know what you want to do?” She knows that was the wrong thing to say when she sees Tade’s face fall.
“Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it? I’ll continue to serve the young master. But, even if I didn’t, I’ve served him for so long, I’m not sure what I could do. Be a bodyguard for another noble, maybe.” Her voice is small in a way Izutsumi has rarely heard it.
They stay in silence for a moment before Izutsumi lays a light hand on Inutade’s arm. “We’re not monsters. We have the whole world out there for us.”
Tade smiles. “Thank you. I mean that, Izutsumi,” she says, looking into her eyes.
A layer of discomfort crawls over Izutsumi. “I don’t want to call you Tade anymore. That’s not your name. I don’t care about Toshiro and his rules, you’re more than his retainer.”
Izutsumi knows that Tade would have never kept her job if she wasn’t careful enough. Izutsumi tries hard not to get her hopes up. She sees Tade stiffen up, and she almost begins to panic before she realizes that Tade is assessing their surroundings. Tade throws a glance at her closed windows, and then stands to listen for sounds out in the hallway, anywhere they could be overheard from. And the Izutsumi remembers, Tade would have never been a ninja for this long if she didn’t know how to keep a secret to herself.
Izutsumi waits, letting Tade take her time to be assured they’re truly alone. With one more glance around the room, Tade huffs. She leans into the shell of Izutsumi’s ear, her warm breath making them involuntarily twitch. “Hijouhi,” Tade says so quietly that if Izutsumi was any further away it could mistaken for a sigh.
Izutsumi knows the depth of this secret she’s been given, so when Hijouhi straightens back up, she jumps up to throw her arms around her. Having grown used to Izutsumi leaping about over the years, Hijouhi automatically opens her arms to support Izutsumi’s waist.
“You’ll always have me, no matter what,” Izutsumi says with her head pressed against Hijouhi’s cheek. In her arms, Izutsumi lets her own training kick back in. Her ears flick against her head as she strains to try to find any sign of an unwanted guest. When she’s assured that nobody has wandered by to collect them for dinner, Izutsumi leans into her again and whispers in kind, “You can trust me, Hijouhi.”
She feels Hijouhi’s strong arms hold her just a bit tighter, and a giddy warmth spreads through her body.
She feels the urge to run away with Hijouhi at this very moment, but Senshi has taught her a thing or two about patience. She takes a deep breath, breathing in the smell of Hijouhi’s hair. There will be time later to get lost in plans and wild escapades. For now, she listens to the soft sound of the other girl’s giggles. And if one of Hijouhi’s hands creeps up Izutsumi’s back to idly scratch her spine, and if Izutsumi instinctively starts to purr in delight, no one will know except for them, just like all the other little secrets they have only ever told each other.