Work Text:
The problems started when the saniwa got Tsurumaru Kuninga as her translator.
See, she did not understand a word of Japanese so she had to have someone to translate for her. It wasn’t a big problem with some of the older swords (who had heard enough English in the museums to understand her, at least) but those who had been summoned from the past simply did not understand a word of English.
As such, she asked for volunteer translators. And Tsurumaru had volunteered (having lived in the Imperial Palace, he understood more English than most) so it seemed like a logical idea.
===
Tsurumaru was handing out assignments for the swords for the day. While most of the assignments were pretty standard, Kogitsunemaru was dumbfounded at his new assignment.
“What do you mean, fieldwork is cancelled?” he asked, looking at the unintelligible scribbles on the roster.
“Exactly that,” Tsurumaru said impatiently. “Apparently, the harvest was more than sufficient and there have been reports of the roof leaking so the saniwa asks you to do a quick check and to clean out any clogged drains,” he said before stalking off, apparently stopping any further questions.
Kogitsunemaru mumbled something about strange tasks before heading out to do…whatever is was Tsurumaru wanted him to do.
===
The saniwa could not work in peace.
There was, apparently, someone making quite a lot of noise on the roof. So she went out to check what the fuss was about and she was shocked when she saw the fox on the roof.
“…What the heck are you doing there?” she mumbled under her breath before searching for the nearest ‘translator’- who happened to be Ichigo Hitofuri at the moment.
“Could you perhaps tell me what Kogitsunemaru is doing on my roof?” she asked politely although her tone was anything but.
When she heard about what Tsurumaru told Kogitsunemaru in halting English, she facepalmed. “Please ask him to get off my roof, I never told him to do anything today. Not even fieldwork.”
And she added as an aside to Ichigo. “Please, if you know anyone at all willing to translate, just… I think I might need a new translator.”
===
The thing was, there was no one else willing to replace Tsurumaru. And the other thing was, in general, Tsurumaru’s translations WERE right. It was only the 10% margin of error that was troubling.
In a span of one week, she had Kashuu yell at her after she had supposedly made him chop firewood for the chefs and he had broken a fingernail (when she had merely noted that Kashuu wasn’t supposed to be on duty for the next few days), Hotaru distracted by a sweets shop and getting lost after she had supposedly sent him out to purchase tea (she had a ready stock) and Mitsudata crying after supposed instructions to remove the eyepatch during fieldwork (something she would never dream of doing).
In other words... She needed a new translator pronto.
===
The final straw came when she invited her friend for dinner with the swords.
At first, everything went well. However, they eventually got into some sort of petty argument (she didn’t remember about what). However, it got heated enough that Sayo came over, asking her a question that she did not quite know.
“Tsurumaru, what is Sayo asking?” the saniwa asked, frowning.
“Oh, he’s just asking… if he could take more ice cream.”
The pause should have been cause for suspicion. But the saniwa generally trusted her swords a little too well.
“Of course,” she said, giving a nod before the rest of the stunned swords could answer.
Then all hell broke loose as Sayo unsheathed his dagger and lunged at her friend. The saniwa screamed, pushing her friend away. “TSURUMARU! What the hell is this?!” she yelled at the sword as Souza and Kosetsu worked to pull their brother away. Everyone turned to look at Tsurumaru before Shishou piped up.
“What Sayo was asking if you required him to kill your enemy. Based on that, I recommend that you get a new translator, saniwa-sama.”
The saniwa swore under her breath before registering herself for introductory Japanese classes in school that very night.
===