Chapter Text
You'd been in Ayato's life for as long as he can remember.
He's heard the stories, of course. Handpicked, chosen from the newest generation of Shuumatsuban to serve as his closest companion. They'd found you abandonded under Mt. Yougou, and that alone had been a cause for concern when Lord Kamisato brought you home. But Lady Guuji had promised you would flourish under the Shuumatsuban, and no one ever dared question the Lady Guuji.
Demon, they call you. Unnatural, cruel. You are a monster, they whisper. To keep you within the Kamisato Clan household is a curse waiting to happen. Keeping a demon of this caliber, Lord Kamisato, this isn't safe.
But Ayato does not care. Because as far as he is aware, you have been a part of his life ever since he was born. You are normal. Natural.
He does not question your fangs. He does not question the hungry glimmer in your eyes or the way your nails stick out too long to be anything but claws. Because the more interesting thing to him are the fluffy ears atop your head, and there is no denying how hard your tail wags whenever you are with him. You are happy with him, and he with you, and it is all that matters to him.
-
You don't talk, though. It's one of the few things Ayato questions about you. He assumes that the rough scarring that circles your neck has something to do with it.
It doesn't stop you from laughing. It's wheezier, from your lungs and belly, and it shows off the pointy, scary fangs in your mouth. As amusing as the sight is, Ayato has to warn you to stop when you laugh in front of guests, especially after someone faints from how quickly the color leaves their face.
He can still read your amusement in other ways, of course. Your tail wags, your ears perk upwards. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you still smile and have to cover your mouth with your fan. It's a very lady-like gesture that you'd been taught by Mother. It looks very wrong on your body.
Yes, he decides one morning while he watches you train. Mother's lessons do not fit you at all.
It's summer. Sweltering heat beats at the earth. Even in the shade of the house, Ayato is almost drowning in his sweat, and he isn't even moving.
You are, though, and you've long forsaken your armor for just your undergarments in a desperate attempt to stay cool. That, or you're just lightening yourself to keep up with the Shuumatsuban's fleetfooted elite.
There's blood everywhere. Sweat and dirt cling to you like a second skin, and any reservations they'd been given are thrown out the window, having special permission to do so by Lord Kamisato himself. While the others are armed with kunai and swords and any weapons they could use, you are emptyhanded. You still managed to best five of the ninja before someone managed to land a hit on you.
By the time Lord Kamisato calls for the end of today's session, there is a gash along your temple and several more against your spine. When you run up to him, you are all smiles and delight. Still, you bow and maintain a respectful distance from him, just as ordered. Sweat trails down every curve of muscle. Ayato's eyes accidentally wander.
That night, Ayato has a dream that he does not like to think about in the morning. But yes, he decides, you look much better when you're training.
-
The morning Ayaka is born, Ayato realizes he a bit more selfish than he thought.
He loves Ayaka, really. She's squishy and cute, and her presence will surely ease some tension in his (their, now, he supposes) mother's shoulders. It also keeps attenion away from you and him, freeing him up to pull off more trickery.
But then Lord Kamisato tells you that you are to protect both children, not just Ayato, and suddenly you are no longer there.
When Ayaka cries, you are there to hold her close. When food spills fron her lips, you scoop it up and push it back in her mouth. Lady Kamisato is forever grateful for your presence, and your tail wags in delight whenever she pats you between the ears.
And, again, Ayato loves Ayaka. In the future, he is sure he will be grateful to how much you cater to them both, and Ayaka will eventually be old enough to no longer need your attention.
But...you're his. You're supposed to be his and his alone, serving him and only him. He's...well...
Once, Ayato and you are together. A peaceful moment playing shogi. He's winning, but your brows are knitted in concentration. It is the first time in five months you've been able to sit down and play between your busy, busy schedules. He'd thought he'd been holding it together just fine, but the more he talks, the more spills out of his mouth like a waterfall.
He tells you about his calligraphy practice, his calluses from practicing kenjutsu. He tells you about how his father managed to outmaneuver a rivaling clansman who tried to undermine a recent deal. He tells you a funny story about a cat that he saw on a morning stroll with his mother and Ayaka who'd gotten startled by a dog's bark and knocked over a grocer's wares.
That one gets a raspy laugh out of you. It makes his chest a little light.
Until there's an earsplitting wail.
You're on your feet in an instant. It's Ayaka. You mumble out a farewell, but you only take a step before Ayato says, "Sit."
Your eyes widen. You look between him, then the door. Your ears twitch when Ayaka's wailing grows louder.
"Sit," he repeats.
Your mouth falls open in protest. You cannot speak, of course, but the conflict is clear. Ayato knows he should feel disgusted. Horrible. Forcing you to choose (as if you had a choice). Another part of him relishes in the struggle in your body.
You finally cave and sit. The concentration in your eyes is gone, however. You lose in two moves, then continue to stare at the table until Ayaka's sobs finally cease.
The next morning, Ayato is called into his father's office. You are already kneeling there, head bowed so far that your chin is basically glued to your collarbone.
"Where were you," is all he says. Ayato tenses. Out of the corner of his eye, your entire body trembles. You still cannot talk.
"What happened, Father?" he asks.
"Ayaka was hurt last night," his father says without acknowledgement. "Where. Were. You."
"Father-" Ayato flinches when his father glares at him. He is no fool. The wrath of his father is-it is not something he wishes to incur.
His father dismisses him. The next time he sees you, it is a week later, and Ayato immediately sinks to his knees and presses his forehead to the floorboards.
"Forgive me," he gasps. "I never meant for you to get in trouble. I was selfish. It was cruel of me to do this to-"
You haul him to his feet with ease. Your brows knit as you stare, and you smooth his hair back with a soft smile.
"Do you...forgive me?" he asks nervously.
You blink, tilting your head. A fog almost seems to drift through your eyes. Then you nod easily and the cloud is gone. Your tail is wagging. You're smiling.
Ayato doesn't know what to think.
-
Time moves on. Ayato is now twelve, and he assumes you are the same.
Ayaka can walk, now. It causes you a lot of strife, keeping up with her toddling, but your tail wags with delight whenever Ayato accompanies you and his sister in walks through the estate. It makes his mother smile. It makes his father watch even closer than before.
His training is progressing smoothly. Father does not want him to spar with you just yet, but he does allow him to actually watch you train with other members of the Shuumatsuban, instead of hide behind the pillars. Although you seem to favor your fists and claws, you take to ninjutsu with delight. Your steps become faster and softer. When someone calls for you, you appear with a flicker, not a thump.
It delights Ayaka. You also seem elated whenever you manage to startle Ayato successfully. It certainly leaves Ayato feeling incredibly awkward around you in the morning, when dredges of his dreams cling to his thoughts.
But with your success comes more missions. Father often sends you on reconnaisance alone, never long enough than a few days, but enough that Ayato feels a bit less guarded than before. Ayaka seems to realize it, too. She cries the first time you are out on a mission and cannot attend to her.
Milky eyes, blank smile-it pushes Ayato to hug his sister and explain. Please, do not cry! You are a busy soldier and can't always be there for them, but you would hurt so badly if you saw her crying. Smile, so that when you return, you are not scared.
Ayaka is barely two. She still seems to understand. When you return from the mission, she yells your name and cheers when you scoop her up in one arm.
Time passes. Father does not hurt you like before. Mother adores you like you are her own child. Everything is fine until it isn't.
There is a thunderstorm. Ayaka is watching the lightning with awe while Ayato counts the seconds of silence before thunder rolls through the earth. You're out on a mission and he hopes you're staying dry when a shrill whistle cuts through the air.
It's a Shuumatsuban cry. They are returning with wounded.
Ayato is quick to put Ayaka in her room and assign guards to her doors before following his father outside. Two of the regular guards are already trying to help (or kill) the ninja, but he recognizes the snapping and snarling of his personal guard. When the crowd parts, he almost faints.
It's you, alright. And you're carrying another boy in your arms. There's a sword buried deep in your shoulder and a bundle of arrow shafts in your back, but you're too preoccupied with the boy in your arms to care.
Still, Ayato shouts your name. Your ears perk, and you jostle the boy until his eyes peel open. Before he can catch a glimpse of the color, golden hair unlike anything he's ever seen in Inazuma blocks the view.
[thoma intro, he's taken in, ayato separates reader from them, gets jealous at how excited reader seems to be around thoma]
His name is Thoma, and he looks very, very confused.
"Andrius," he keeps saying. "Where's Andrius? Is he okay? He saved me from the camp. I thought-I thought I was going to die..."
[bleh]
Their tail wags. They almost approach Thoma, unordered, only to freeze and bow their head. Lord Kamisato app
-
Between his lessons and your duties, there isn't much free time to spare, but when Ayato finally has the chance, he gifts you an ink brush.
"I will teach you myself," he promises. "Your opinion matters to me. I want to know what you're thinking. A conversation can't be one-sided."
Your eyes water at the gift, and he swears your hips will break from how hard your tail wags.
It is a challenge at first. You break a few brushes in your grip, and your hand trembles when you try to write. Strokes are either too heavy or too light, blending together into illegible blots of ink.
Mother finds them one night practicing, and while you panic, Ayato insists.
"How else would I know what they're thinking?" he asks. Your eyes go even wider, but Mother smiles and laughs, stroking your hair.
"Of course," she says. "Here, allow me."
Lady Kamisato takes over calligraphy lessons from there.
It takes a few months. At one point, Ayato is forced to leave with his father to attend a meeting. Lord Kamisato does not want to bring you along, so you see them off at the gates, little Ayaka in your arms and Lady Kamisato behind you.
He returns a week later, exhausted but triumphant, and your tail wags as you hold out a paper.
Welcome home, Young Master.
It is progress. Ayato takes it as a sign to continue with his research.
-
"What are you?"
I don't know.
"Do you recall anything from your past? Family? Towns?"
No. I woke up under Mt. Yougou. Lord Kamisato brought me here. That is all.
Ayato frowns, rereading your writing. You aren't much older than him, he thinks, but he'd grown up with you at his side. At least the rumors about finding you under Mt. Yougou were true.
"Do you know of the Hakushin Clan?" he asks.
You frown. Foxes. Tricky. Mean.
Ayato chuckles. "Yes, them." His eyes drift up to your ears and tail before saying, "Do you think you are related to them? Half, perhaps?"
Your tail swishes slowly. I don't know.
It is the answer for a lot of his questions. He isn't sure why he bothered asking, really. You'd been raised right alongside him. To you, the Kamisato Estate is your home. You live to serve them and the Shuumatsuban.
But Ayato refuses to give up. He digs through his family's archives. He studies their stories, their myths.
And, hilariously, it is Ayaka who finds a breakthrough.
"Shugosha!" she calls. It's one of her favorite words to yell, and Ayato feels like she knows just because they always arrive just seconds later (and because he thinks his little sister is a devil and likes to steal you from him). "Shugosha! Look!"
You had been with Ayato when she called, rising the moment their name escapes her mouth. You smile at scoop her up, and she giggles and hands you a drawing.
It's a dog, he thinks.
And that's all Ayato registers before he's running to his family's archives.
-
The Inugami is a myth among the people of Narukami Island. They are the reason people are afraid of tripping while on the path up Mt. Yougou. They are the reason why people often fed the stray dogs for good luck on their journies.
The act of summoning an Inugami is outlawed, of course. Even though the methods itself are unknown (having died with the great Harunosuke Taruna himself), the rumors and attempts had only grown. The most ignorant believe it can be summoned by torturing a poor dog. The more intelligent turn to the mystical arts. No one had been successful, but it didn't stop people from trying.
After all, an Inugami is a powerful spirit to have in one's possession. A loyal creature capable of haunting enemies, tearing them apart with wild fangs and driving them mad. What surviving scraps of history that came from the war 500 years ago describe them as feral and untamed as the lighting that flies from the Musou Isshin.
Still, the only known Inugami had been killed by the Almighty Shogun and the blade that it had rivaled in strength. Harunosuke Taruna had sealed it away in some unknown location, never to be disturbed.
So why, then, does an Inugami now walk the streets of Inazuma? And why does one serve him, Kamisato Ayato?
He wants, desperately, to ask his father. He'd been the one to find them. He'd been the one to bring them back to the Kamisato Estate.
Unwillingly, his thoughts turn to that night. He thinks of the fear in your eyes, the way your body twitched, as if you'd been fighting yourself from the inside.
You are loyal to the Kamisato Clan. Never have you resisted an order. Not from himself, not from his father.
All this time, he had thought it was out of your own will. Now he has no idea what to think.