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Nishiki had been part of this small army for a month or so now, and he was enjoying himself. He'd initially joined them to pay back his debt, but then they would defend him during battle, so he had to add that to his tab, and then something else would come up... but honestly he wasn't keeping track any more. Everyone was friendly and had interesting stories to tell, especially those who had originally come from Nohr. It sounded like such a different place; dark, barren and cold, yet it couldn't have been that bad if people like Joker and Cyrus came from there... and Kamui.
She was the most interesting of them all. And the kindest; she always made time to talk with everyone, always looked out for them during every fight, and was always fun to be around. Plus, she was almost as good as petting and grooming as he was. Nishiki's fur hadn't had such good care from someone else since his mother. He bet she would have liked Kamui, even if she had never much liked humans before. Kamui was... something about her seemed to set her apart. Also, she was really pretty – shining red eyes and long wavy hair that cascaded down her back.
That same hair caught his attention as the young woman entered the mess hall, where most of them were currently taking their midday meal. “Listen everyone – Saizou just got word of a gang of Faceless nearby. We're going to head out to stop them from getting near anyone else.” Nishiki's eyes slipped to where Mozume was sitting, face white but otherwise determined. “Departure is in half an hour, get ready.”
There had been more monsters than anyone had expected, so it had been a good thing they had gone out so soon. Nishiki had long ago given up trying to dodge the goo and black blood the creatures spewed out, resigning himself to a thorough grooming session once they got back home. He was currently out of beast form, taking a breather as he surveyed the battlefield. Most of the creatures had been dealt with, but as most of the group had picked up some small injury or other during the battle the last few were taking a while to go down. Hinata and Kamui were side-by-side taking on one, while Asama wasn't too far off with another. A few others were further along the way, but he couldn't tell who they were.
He started making his way towards the war priest, still a while off when suddenly the Faceless reared up and got a critical hit in. Asama was thrown back, his cry seeming to catch Kamui's ears as she spun around and ran to him. She managed to get in front of him to block the next attack but only just in time; enraged, the monster screeched and reached out at her. She clearly hadn't expected it so soon after the two attacks, and the monster got hold of her hair.
The scream she let out was horrifying, and Nishiki switched to his beast form and sprinted to get to her. He saw Hinata in the corner of his eyes doing the same, and from behind him an arrow flew by to catch the creature in the shoulder. It reeled back, but in doing so tugged Kamui with it and she let out another scream. Nishiki finally got close enough to leap and sink his teeth into the arm that was holding her, which seemed to loosen the grip partially.
Kamui was leaning forward, yelling out, “Cut it, cut it!” and it wasn't until Hinata's blade swung through the air that Nishiki realised she was talking about her hair. Kamui dropped forward, hands flying to her head as Hinata managed to finish the monster off with Lord Takumi, who had gotten closer. Nishiki changed back, picking the princess up and pulling her towards Asama, who had recovered enough to stand up.
“Asama, do something!” He yelped, only now seeing blood trickling from her hairline.
“Oya, that doesn't look good... I only have a weak staff left, milady, so I can only take off the edge of your pain,” the priest murmured as he started to heal what he could. Kamui was biting down on her lip, face pale but otherwise making no sound.
Knowing that he couldn't do anything to help, Nishiki ran off to try and find Lady Hinoka.
The elder princess had collected Kamui and taken her back to the barracks, with Tsubaki racing Lady Sakura back to continue the healing process. The rest of the group managed to finish off the last of the Faceless, and slowly made their way back. Walking past the monster that had attacked Kamui, Nishiki saw that the fist still held onto the ends of her hair, and a sick feeling pulled at his chest.
It stayed with him as they all got back to the barracks and he made his way to the infirmary, where he saw Lady Sakura come out, wiping her hands on a cloth.
“Princess Sakura, is... is your sister okay?”
“O-Oh! N-Nishiki...” she startled slightly, not expecting him to be so close. “Um, Kamui's not too b-badly hurt, aside from some tears along her hairline. T-They'll heal fine, but her head will be tender for a while.” She brought her eyes up to meet his. “S-She said that you got her to Asama quickly... that helped a lot, so t-thank you.”
“Oh, good,” Nishiki sighed, relief flowing in. “Is she allowed visitors?”
Sakura chewed on her lip before nodding. “You can go in, b-but... she's not in a great mood.”
Nodding in acknowledgement, he moved past her into the building, walking past a few empty partitions before coming to one with a curtain pulled alongside it. He carefully stepped past it, not sure what he would see.
Kamui was sitting up in a low bed, still wearing her armour but her head had a bandage winding right around. Odd lengths of hair were falling out, with an uneven chunk tied back as well as it could be. The young woman had been staring down at the sheet covering her legs, but looked up at him now.
“... Nishiki. How did the fight go? Was anyone hurt badly?”
“Uh, it... it was fine, we got them all cleared out. A few people got some scratches but nothing serious.” he replied, putting on a smile.
“Good, no one was as silly as me, then.” Kamui sighed and rubbed at her face. “I can't believe I let it grab me.”
“Kamui, I don't think anyone could have dodged it,” Nishiki said, moving closer. “I was nearby and was surprised as you were.”
She motioned at the seat near the bed, so he sat down. “Still. To be grabbed by one's hair... how embarrassing.” A hand reached up to fiddle with a lock which rested near her ear.
“It... it looked like it hurt a lot. Your scream was...” Nishiki's ears twitched back, his tail flicking anxiously as he remembered the sound. “It was scary.”
A small smile curled on Kamui's face. “I'm sorry. It was mostly from the shock. It was painful, and it still hurts now, but...” The smile disappeared as her hand dropped from the hair. “Losing the hair itself almost hurts more. Which is silly, I never thought I was so vain.”
Nishiki knew what it was like to worry about one's looks, but he was pretty sure there was more to it than just that, so he kept quiet. After a moment, she continued. “Camilla... my older sister, back in Nohr... has the prettiest hair. Long, purple hair that falls in curls. I used to play with it all the time when I was little; I probably pulled on it but she never once complained. As my own hair grew out she helped me take care of it, showing me how to brush from the ends and to never rub too hard when drying it. I had gotten it just about like hers before... I left.”
Kamui paused, gripping her hands together. “I love my family here, and all of you, but... I do miss them back home. And whenever I brushed my hair, I would think of Camilla, and that would bring back some old memories. But now... it must be a huge mess. Camilla would cry if she saw... how ugly it's become...”
Kamui's eyes were starting to fill with tears, so Nishiki reached out and covered her hands with his own. He was always happy to see different types of expressions cross the princess's face, but seeing her look so upset was distressing. “Hey, you're... it's not ugly. Once your scalp has healed, if you like, I can cut it neatly. I'm pretty good with that kind of thing, so...” Realising how bold he was being, touching her, he started to blush but he didn't pull away. Kamui was free with touching others so she probably wouldn't be upset with him.
She was looking at him in surprise, but not the bad kind. “You would do that?”
“Of course! You have done so much for me; a hair cut barely starts to pay back my debts!” Nishiki said, tipping his head back.
Kamui laughed, her shoulders relaxing slightly. “You're still trying to keep count of that sort of thing? You're one of us, Nishiki, you owe us nothing.”
“It's a youkai's pride to repay one's... debts...” Kamui had pulled one hand loose and was rubbing behind his ear, quickly distracting him. It wasn't fair how good she was at doing that. “Kamuuuiiii...”
She laughed, pulling back her hand to brush his hair back in place. “Thank you, Nishiki. For coming here, and for before. I'll come see you as soon as Sakura says everything's healed up.” She was still petting his head lightly so he was in no hurry to move away, but the noise of someone clearing their throat made him jump back and release the hand still in his own.
It was Prince Takumi, an unimpressed look on his face. “Kamui, shouldn't you be resting?”
“Takumi! I'm fine, there's no need to be worried.” The younger brother spluttered at that, denying that he was, but Nishiki took this moment to leave. That boy had been slowly warming up to his new sister but wasn't willing to show it to her, let alone in front of other people; best let them be alone. He headed back to his room to finally clean up.
It was about a week before Nishiki was visted by the princess. Kamui had left the infirmary the night of the battle, but she had been instructed to put a medicinal cream on her head twice a day. She only had a small bandage going around one side, but otherwise kept her hair pinned back as well as she could and wore a scarf over the top to keep it all in place. Finally Sakura must have told her it was healed well enough, and Kamui had come to the fox's lodgings.
“Hey, Kamui!” He greeted her at the door, and leaving it open went back inside to collect some tools. “Take a seat.”
“Oh, we're doing it here? Won't it make a mess?” Kamui asked, taking a small step inside.
“It's okay, I've got a sheet to put down to catch everything.” He picked up the folded sheet as he walked back to her.
“That's not the sheet for your futon, is it?” Nishiki didn't say anything, so she sighed. “Nishiki, you needn't go that far. We can go outside to do it.”
“But then you can't watch me do it, and make sure I'm doing a good job.” He motioned to the mirror he set up on top of the low dresser. “Oboro lent me that one, it's big enough for you to see what I'm doing.”
“What, you mean you don't have one yourself? How do you check your grooming?” Kamui teased, sitting on the stool that had been set up.
“I do, it's that small one lying nearby.” He replied, kneeling behind her on a pillow after putting the sheet and his tools down. “It was my mother's.”
“Oh.” She reached out and traced the lacquered edge, looking at the camellias painted on the back. “It's beautiful.”
Nishiki waited until she looked up into the main mirror before smiling. “Thank you. Now, you've just washed your hair, right? It's still a bit damp?”
“Yes, but you said to do that, didn't you?” She asked, reaching up to pull away the scarf.
“Yeah, since your hair has a curl to it, cutting it too wet might make it uneven in places, but if it's completely dry it's a little hard to handle.” Nishiki helped pull the last few pins out, and finally got to see how much damage had been done.
Hinata had cut cleanly with the one stroke, but considering the circumstances, it had ended up on an angle, the right side and bottom layers longer. He ran his fingers through it lightly to settle it, and asked, “Your scalp is definitely okay? I mean, I'm not going to be pulling hard at all, but...”
“It's fine, Nishiki, go ahead.” With her permission, he got to work.
Any sort of grooming relaxed Nishiki, whether he was giving it or receiving. Parting the princess's hair into sections, cutting and clipping until it all fell together neatly put him almost into a trance, and Kamui seemed to be the same; not a word fell from her lips as he worked, and she tilted her head however he instructed her to with light touches. Eventually, it was just about done, and he ran his fingers through it to make sure it all came together and to help dry it out more. It wasn't until Kamui leaned into it that Nishiki realised he was basically petting her. He looked into the mirror and saw that her eyes were closed and a peaceful look graced her face. He swallowed hard and withdrew his hands.
This caused her eyes to open and Kamui finally looked into the mirror. She gasped, leaning forward and turning her head this way and that to see it. Nishiki stood up, reached around to get his mother's mirror and held it behind her head so that she could see that part. He had cut it so that the hair curled just above her shoulders; once it was fully dry the ends would probably curl up more, but there was still enough length to it that her normal head band would hold it all back easily. “Is it... okay? I know I cut quite a bit more off, but since you didn't say anything, I...”
“It's wonderful! Nishiki, thank you so much!” Kamui leapt up from the stool and threw her arms around him in a warm hug. He was surprised but returned it easily, happy that he had pleased her. “It's beautiful.”
'You're beautiful' was on the tip of Nishiki's tongue, but he bit down on it as he felt fingers thread through his own hair to scritch at his ears. She knew his favourite spots well, but he made no attempt to escape it. It was probably a bad thing to take advantage of Kamui's affectionate manner like this, but he really liked it.
He really liked her.
Eventually, once he had confessed his feelings to Kamui, Nishiki got to touch to her once more. She let him run his hands over her shoulders, rub his thumbs over her cheekbones, and finally brush his fingers through her short curls once more as he brought her face to his.