Chapter Text
Mitsuri huffed as she pushed the branches and leaves in the bush she was hiding in out of her field of vision, giving her a decent look into the house.
And more importantly, a better look at the mysterious boy that laid on the futon inside.
Two days ago, the village was expecting some of the local merchants to return back after traveling to get a variety of food and spices to stock up on and trade. According to Mitsuri’s father, they were expected to return home that evening, so many of the villagers stayed up in anticipation, and to offer assistance if they needed.
When it was hours after their expected arrival time, well into the depths of the night, Mitsuri’s father and others knew something was wrong.
So they went to investigate, and not far from the village were their destroyed carts. The merchants were covered in blood, barely hanging on to life. They wrote it off as a bear attack, after all what else could have done this much damage to well-travel merchants?
They still couldn’t figure out why a bear would attack just the humans and not go after any of the food that remained untouched.
As they were hauling the injured men back to the village, a soft groan caught their attention. They had checked, all men were accounted for, no one had died luckily in the attack. This was an outsider.
Mitsuri’s father checked, and just passed one of the demolished carts, lying on the grass in their own blood was a boy. A boy with a peculiar uniform, it had some western inspiration which was uncommon when they were so far from any city, and gripping an odd shaped katana tightly. Swords were rare nowadays to own, it was banned in many towns and cities, and a child of all things having one was also unusual.
The boy was unconscious and hurt, bleeding out right in front of them. So Mitsuri’s father put the boy on his back and carried him back to the village.
Before they could even treat his wounds the boy awoke. Confused.
Well, confused seemed to be woefully inept to fully describe the situation.
This young boy, even with wounds worse than the merchants, had awoken first. It was only natural they wanted to know what happened to everyone.
“Boy,” Mitsuri’s father had taken the boy off his back, pointedly looking at the mysterious child, “what happened back there?”
The boy blinked, his gaze unfocused. “H-huh…?”
Mitsuri’s father explained later to Mitsuri that the boy had a concussion, which they attributed to his dazed state. There was a good chance his memories of the events then were blurry.
So, he went to the second most pressing issue. “Who are you? Can you tell us your name?”
“Name…?” he parroted back. His purple eyes, still unfocused, perked up slightly. “I have one of those…”
Mitsuri’s father let out an honest chuckle. “I do as well. Can you tell me yours?”
“I have one…” Mitsuri’s father had to grip the boy, he was swaying back and forth too much, it couldn’t have been good for his hurt head. “...but I don’t remember it.”
After that, Mitsuri’s father left the boy in the care of the village leader. He had enough room to accommodate the boy, but Mitsuri’s father did give the boy some of her younger brother’s kimonos to wear, since they seemed to be around the same size.
When that was happening, Mitsuri had gotten her first look at the boy. Covered in blood, wearing a torn white haori, scraps and bruises littered his entire body, his short black hair and purple hair disheveled. Deep purple eyes, even while dazed, shined brightly.
Handsome, this boy was absolutely handsome.
So, it was only natural that Mitsuri had to get to know the boy better.
Of course, all the adults made that nearly impossible. Always doing check-ups on the boy's health, even with no real doctor in town at the moment, and asking if he could remember anything about himself or the incident.
Thus leaving Mitsuri’s only option on seeing the boy to sneak through the town’s leader back property. Which is why she is currently crouched in a bush, hoping her kimono doesn’t get ripped.
Mitsuri was close enough to hear the boy let out a huff. Well more like the boy did not bother not hide his annoyance and huffed loudly.
“You can come out. This attempt at you spying on me isn’t any better than your last eight.”
The comment made Mitsuri’s face flush. She jumped up from the bush, not even bothering that leaves got tangled in her braids. “That’s not true!” she replied back defensively. “It’s only been seven!”
The boy pushed himself up from the futon that he laid in. Bandages had been applied to his face, a patch on his left cheek and a wrap around his forehead. He was wearing one of her little brother’s kimonos that her father offered the boy. Mitsuri had seen the uniform the boy was found in on a laundry line in the backyard yesterday. Somehow he looked even cuter.
“No it’s been eight, I’ve kept track.” A smirk graced the boy’s face. He raised his fingers to count. “This is your third time in the bushes, you’ve climbed on the fence twice, one time up on the cherry blossom tree in the back, one time you tried to hide behind the laundry, and one time you tried getting in here directly with your father.”
Mitsuri put her hands to her mouth and gasped. “You knew about that last one?!”
“Your pink hair is hard to miss,” he shrugged. “What are you doing here anyways?”
“Oh!” Mitsuri’s face flushed even more, embarrassed to be put on the spot. She reached into a pocket in her kimono and pulled out a sakura mochi. “I, ah, I wanted to give you this. As an offering.”
The boy’s brow rose, “Offering?”
Mitsuri took the absence of rejection as a signal to walk toward the house and was now standing right outside its back entrance. She held out the mochi and bowed deeply. “I..! I really want to get to know you! Please take this my way of saying that!”
She was sure of it, her face had to be completely pink now. Her heart was pounding so fast, she dared not look up to see the boy’s expression, if he was judging her or not.
“....What is that anyways?”
“A sakura mochi!” Mitsuri looked the boy in the eyes, her fears gone at the idea of someone not knowing mochi. “Have you not had it before?!”
The boy’s purple eyes looked lost for a moment before he blinked hard, and then several times. “Oh yea…mochi. I know that.”
Mitsuri crooked her head innocently and frowned. “Does that have to do with your memory loss?”
The boy brought his knees up to his chest and held them tightly. He nodded before responding. “It’s like there’s this…fog in my mind. Once something shows up in front of me or is explained to me it disappears and I go ‘oh yea! I know that’ like I just did. It was really bad at first, the leader here gave me some rice yesterday and I didn’t realize I was supposed to eat it until he asked why I hadn’t touched it.”
Mitsuri frowned and felt pity for the boy. That situation must be hard. Memories are one thing, but not even remembering that you're supposed to eat? What other basic things could this boy have forgotten?
She took her sandals off and crawled into the traditional style room with one hand, mochi safely held in her other hand. The boy, usually so aware of his surroundings, must have been lost in thought about his situation, because he didn’t even notice Mitsuri until she was right next to him and jumped slightly at the proximity.
His face had turned slightly pink, he was adorable, but that wasn’t the pressing issue right now.
“Have it!” she smiled, hand right in front of the boy. “If you remember the taste of sakura mochi then you got a sweet treat! If you don’t remember then you get to taste the most amazing thing in the world!”
The boy’s face remained a light pink, but he let out a low, “Okay…” and grabbed the mochi from her. Mitsuri got a glance at his hands. They were full of calluses and scratches, not like her dainty ones that only ever arm wrestled others or reached out for food. The boy put the mochi in mouth and chewed.
Mitsuri was not one known for patience so she pressed, “Well?!”
The boy put his hand up, indicating to her to wait a moment, and then swallowed. He beamed at her, “It’s really good!”
The boy’s smile, full and wide, was too much for Mitsuri’s heart to handle. She pointedly turned away from him, her face going from pink to red. She was going to start sweating at this rate.
The boy did not say anything about Mitsuri’s actions, maybe he didn’t remember you're not supposed to be beat red from a smile unless you like someone. Instead he continued, “Well, I guess I accept your offer.”
Offer…? Her short-circuited brain tried to remember.
That’s right!
“Really?!”
The bright smile was replaced with a smaller, relaxed one. “Sure. Having all the adults around me asking questions is honestly suffocating. I really would appreciate your company.”
In a burst of emotion, Mitsuri did not think about her actions, making her jump onto the boy, wrapping him in her arms, and squeezing tightly.
“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!”
She held him like that for a moment until she felt those callused hands on her shoulders and pushed her. Strange, she thought a boy around her age would be stronger.
“Th-that’s enough of that for now.” The boy took a breath to regain his composure and then looked at Mitsuri once more. “So…?”
Mitsuri only blinked, and parroted back. “So…?”
“You’re supposed to introduce yourself after meeting someone,” the boy replied. “I remember that much with all the people I’ve met here.”
Gosh, how did she forget that part?!
“I’m so sorry!” She bowed quickly. “I-I’m Mitsuri Kanroji! It’s nice to meet you!”
“Right, it’s nice to meet you, Mitsuri-san.”
Her heart skipped a beat.
She was too flustered to say anything. If she opened her mouth now she would surely announce that he makes her heart go wild and she loves it, him maybe, but she knew that was wholly irresponsible to do so soon after meeting someone, especially this boy who might not even remember the concept of relationships.
“I can’t give you my name back,” the boy frowned. “I know I have one but I don’t think until I hear it, would I remember it’s mine.”
“Th-that’s fine!” Mitsuri squeaked out, her voice higher pitched than usual. “When you remember it, you can introduce yourself then!”
The boy grinned, “Sounds good.”
Mitsuri finally noticed the lack of lighting in the room, it had gotten dark since she snuck out to meet the boy. Her parents might have a heart attack if she doesn’t get back soon. She pushed herself up from the floor abruptly and grabbed her sandals.
“I have to get home!” she explained as she put her sandals on. “I, uh, I can visit you tomorrow…if that’s alright?”
The boy fell back under the covers of his futon and nodded, his purple eyes bright and full with eagerness.
“I’ll be waiting for you, Mitsuri-san.”
Maybe it was too soon, she didn’t even know his name, but Mitsuri knew this boy was different. Different from other crushes she had on the boys in the village. Her heart was quick to jump, yes, but the boy’s smile made it flip.
There was no doubt about it, Mitsuri was in love with the boy.