Work Text:
The heat in her father’s workshop is stifling. But it’s her first place to go when she didn’t know what else to do. She knows her father is always there for her.
She’s sitting off to the side, just watching her father work. He’s humming along to a melody she doesn’t know.
After a while, he spoke up. “What’s the problem this time, little fox?”, asks her father, already knowing why she’s here.
She likes it when he calls her that. He said with all the pranks she plays; she always reminds him of a mischievous kitsune.
“Am I really that obvious?”, answers Kiriko disappointed. Her father chuckles and nods. “It’s just…”, she sighs, “I don’t know”, she frowns, avoiding eye contact.
“You already know you can talk to me about anything. I won’t judge”, Toshiro assures her, smiling at her softly.
It’s true, he never does. Even when she complains about her mother being too harsh on her. Or that one time she accidentally broke one of the Shimada’s vases while playing around with Genji.
“Ugh, fine”, Kiriko groans, keeping her eyes on the floor, “I keep training and training, but Genji and Hanzo always beat me. I’ll never be as good as them!”
No matter how hard she tries, she’s always slower, weaker, clumsier. It’s frustrating.
Her mother always tells her, “I was at that point too once. You’ll get to where they are as you get older.” But she wants to get there now. She’s convinced if she just puts in enough training, she can be as good as them, even at her age.
Her father thinks for a few seconds and speaks again as he spots something on his workbench. “I see.”
Kiriko looks up as he sees him walk over to it and grab a tanto he is currently working on. “Here, take this and really look at it. What do you see?”
She takes the tanto and holds it up into the light. It’s beautifully crafted, like every one of her father’s blades. But even to a child’s eyes it’s obvious. “It’s dull.”
“Exactly!”, her father exclaims, “If you use a blade repeatedly without a break, it dulls.”
Toshiro takes the tanto back from her hands to his whetstone. Kiriko attentively watches him on as he carefully sharpens it. He makes it look easy.
“Now look at it again”, he orders her. “What do you see now?”
Kiriko holds it up to the light again, doing an experimental slice through the air. The difference is night and day. “It’s sharp now.”
“Exactly! A blade is useless if you don’t take the time to take care of it”, he explains to her.
“But what has that to do with me?”, Kiriko asks confused, head cocked to the side.
Toshiro gently lays a hand on her shoulder and looks her in the eyes. “Little fox, if you don’t take breaks to take care of yourself, you’ll also be useless.”
Kiriko lets her eyes drop the ground again, almost embarrassed. “Oh, okay.” Am I really useless like this, she considers. Then an idea pops into her head and she starts grinning. “Oh! I can ask Genji if he wants to hang out! The last time we did something fun was so long ago!”
“You get it!”, he chuckles and ruffles her hair.
“Hey, rude!”, she frowns in mock offense, then also joins in on laughing.
Toshiro gets back to working on his blades, but Kiriko isn’t leaving yet. Watching him work calms her. Nobody is telling her what to do and she can just enjoy the moment.
Then suddenly her ears perk up as she hears a loud noise. The barks of a dog. But that’s impossible. They don’t have any dogs because they know Kiriko is afraid of them. “Papa, did you hear that?”, she asks her father frightened.
“Did I hear what, dear?”, Toshiro pauses and looks at her confused.
The barks grow louder and louder. It’s not just one dog. It’s an entire pack of dogs. She is starting to shake.
“The– “, before Kiriko can finish, the door smashes open.
In the door loom five men in black and gold suits. A large man in a golden eagle mask screams, “It’s your time, old man! Your skills are needed with the Hashimoto! Your dirty family just wastes it!”
The masked man who seems to be the leader points at one of the other men. A shorter man without a mask. “You there! Grab the child!”
The shorter man comes straight for Kiriko without any care for his surroundings, smashing everything in his way.
Despite her trying to fend him off, he roughly grabs her by the shoulders and smashes her into the ground and holds her there, painfully pushing a knee into her back. “You stay there!”, he screams into Kiriko’s ear.
“No! Let me go!”, she starts sobbing. Every attempt to defend herself seems useless. Just like the dull blade. She is useless.
The tears continue to fall as the men smash everything in her father’s workshop.
Tearing off the blades from the walls – her father’s favourite blades – and flipping over his workbench. They even start laughing as they do it. Like animals. They are having fun destroying her family.
Toshiro tries to rush to one of his katana but the man in the mask is faster and punches him in the face. His nose immediately starts bleeding, most likely broken.
As he attempts to recover, the large man punches him again. And again. And again. “You’re coming with us, if you like it or not!”
Kiriko desperately tries to get up and help him, but she can’t do anything about the man kneeling on her. Every attempt to free herself only makes him use more force on her. Useless.
“Please, at least leave my daughter alone! She doesn’t deserve any of this!”, her father pleads weakly as he lies defenceless on the floor, bruised and bleeding.
“No worries, you old sack! We have no use for stupid kids!”, the masked man slaps him in the face.
Two of the men violently grab Toshiro by his arms, dragging him out of his workshop. He can’t even fight back in his beaten state. As he gets dragged out, he hastily gets a few last words across. “Please don’t worry about me, little fox! Everything will be okay!”
“Papa, no! Let him go! No!”, Kiriko screams louder than she ever has before in her short life. She screams until her lungs feel like they might explode. As if her pleading could ever change their minds.
“Well, I’m done here! Have fun!”, the man holding her lets her go. He gives her a pat on the back but before he leaves, he gives her one last kick to the ribs. Kiriko crumples up in pain. Useless. If you just were better, you could have saved him.
She doesn’t get up. She can’t. She doesn’t want to. If she gets up, all of it becomes real. They took her father. And she can’t change any of it. It’s all her fault. So, she just stays on the ground. Where she belongs.
All there is left to do is cry. Cry for her father. Cry for her pain. Cry for her loss. Nothing will ever be the same again. Nothing will ever be okay again. She just cries. Like the useless blade she is.
Kiriko snaps up in bed. Panicked. Sweating. Hyperventilating. Tears are stinging in her eyes.
She wipes at the tears with her hands. “It’s just a dream, you’re okay”, she repeats to herself over and over again until she calms down.
She has those nightmares almost every night. Sometimes about Genji and Hanzo. Sometimes about Kanezaka. Sometimes about her grandma. This time about her father.
Normally her dreams aren’t too intense, as she has learned to deal with them. But recently she always thinks back to her father. I’m so close to seeing him again, she thinks to herself.
Once she has calmed down enough, she quickly looks over at Mizuki, checking to see if she woke him up.
He’s out like a rock.
It’s not a surprise. He stayed awake the longest to take care of one of the Overwatch agents after yesterday’s mission. He even started drooling on his pillow in his sleep. It’s adorable.
“Ugh, gross”, Kiriko whispers to herself with a quiet chuckle.
Usually, she would sleep at her own apartment. But this time it’s different.
Overwatch has sent two agents – Ye Anran and Ye Wuyang – to the Yokai to investigate Talon’s connections to the Hashimoto. According to Overwatch, Talon is getting supplied weapons made by their captive bladesmith. Her father.
She decided that while the Overwatch agents are stationed here, she would sleep at the Yokai’s group housing – right outside of Kanezaka – instead, sharing a space with Mizuki.
Mizuki has become her closest friend in the Yokai, even reminding her of a brother. Like Genji and– No, don’t think about them, she tells herself, forcing back the tears.
He always tries to act nonchalant, but Kiriko knows there is more to it. Even though he rarely likes to talk about his personal life. Sometimes she wishes he would let her in more.
Just take a walk, that will make it better, she convinces herself. She drags a hand over her face and then stretches, feeling the ache from yesterday.
When Kiriko stands up and gets her jacket to leave, she turns back a moment to look at Mizuki. “Don’t do anything I would do while I’m gone!”, she whispers to the room, smiling.
As she leaves the building, the cool night air hits her. It’s the best feeling after a horrible night and a terrible day.
Kiriko stretches once again but she just can’t get the ache to leave her body. Not even her healing can do anything to make it better. She just has to tough it out.
Then her ears pick up a quiet sound. A voice. Cursing. Frustrated. It’s coming from the courtyard. She sneaks over to the secluded area she hears the sound from. And there she finds her. Anran. She’s out here training in the middle of the night.
Anran and Wuyang have been staying with the Yokai for a month now.
Recently there have been multiple weapon shipments for Talon going through Kanezaka. Just yesterday they disrupted a deal together.
But not without a tough fight.
Several Yokai and even Wuyang got hurt and Kiriko tried her best to take care of everybody with the help of Mizuki. After a long day, Kiriko had to convince Mizuki to finally get to bed and rest himself.
She’s glad the Overwatch agents are supporting them right now. Because with their help, they could maybe finally free her father. After all those years, she might finally see her father again.
But there are also other, more selfish reasons Kiriko is glad about their presence.
To say that Kiriko didn’t find Anran’s determination and drive attractive would be a lie. No matter what, she always gets back up. It’s truly admirable, really.
Anran also cares a lot about the people around her. Especially her brother, which reminds Kiriko of herself and the Shimadas. It would be weird to not be attracted to that – or so Kiriko tries to tell herself.
But Kiriko didn’t miss Anran’s glances at her either. Glances that lingered just a little bit too long. Or that one moment while planning for the most recent ambush.
On the desk in front of them lies a building plan of the occupied warehouse.
“Okay, two people sneak in here with Mizuki”, Anran points at a small back entrance. Then she looks at Kiriko. “You and I go through the front. Wuyang and the others hold off until they notice us. It’s safer that way.”
Wuyang frowns and looks like he’s about to say something but then decides against it. Mizuki notices it too and puts a hand on his shoulder. He whispers something to him that Kiriko can’t quite make out.
Wuyang’s frown softens and then he nods in agreement. “Yeah, sounds good”, he says but Kiriko could still hear a tinge of disappointment in his voice.
After a few more chatters, Mizuki, Wuyang and the handful of Yokai present slowly pour out of the room.
The only ones left are Kiriko and Anran.
Anran is already deep in thought, going over the plans again, not acknowledging Kiriko. So, for a while she just watches her work. It’s calming. She always found watching others work calming and reassuring.
But she couldn’t keep quiet forever.
“You know, if you keep talking like that, the Yokai might never let you leave again”, Kiriko smirks at Anran, “They might even try to replace me with you! Should I start worrying about my position?”
Kiriko waits for an answer, but it never comes. Anran is still lost in thought, mumbling to herself. “This has to be perfect”, is one of the few things Kiriko understands.
Okay, let’s try again. “Hello? Earth to Anran? Are you still with us?”, she says louder to get her attention. When she still doesn’t get an answer, Kiriko hooks a finger under her chin to lift up her face.
At the realization of what she just did, both of them still.
KAMORI, WHY DID YOU DO THAT, YOU STUPID IDIOT!
It feels like they’re just staring at each other for an eternity. Until Anran finally speaks up. “I– You– Me here”, she clears her throat and quickly looks away, “I meant– Yes, I’m here.” Kiriko swears she can see her blushing.
Considering how hot her face feels right now, she probably doesn’t look any different. If not worse.
Anran pulling away finally makes her able to move again.
Play it cool, you got this.
She scratches at the nape of neck with the hand that betrayed her. “I was just wondering if…”, think, Kamori, think, “If you wanted to hang out later? There’s this one donut shop, the old lady working there is always so nice. She always gets me free extras because she says I remind her of herself when she was younger!”, Kiriko gets out with a nervous laugh.
You saved it. You’re a genius.
“This plan has to be perfect, we can’t risk anybody getting hurt”, Anran tells her, already about get lost in the work again. As she’s about to walk away from her, Kiriko grabs her wrist.
NO, YOU DID IT AGAIN!
“Come on, just for a tiny bit!”, Kiriko tries to convince her with the best puppy eyes she can muster.
And it’s at that moment Kiriko realizes they stand a bit too close to each other. So close that Kiriko can see the details in Anran’s gorgeous, beautiful eyes. They remind her of burning flames. Fitting.
They stand so close she could just lean down and–
A moment passes in silence, like Anran is deeply pondering her question. She sighs in defeat. “Yeah, fine, you’re right”, Anran still not making any attempt to free her wrist.
“But only because you are the one asking”, she adds quietly, barely audible to Kiriko.
Just thinking about it makes Kiriko blush again.
She has had multiple crushes before. But with the Yokai to care for, she never has the time to act on them. As much as she wishes to.
The furthest she’s ever gotten was making out with a girl after a second date. But she had to abandon that because it was right before the Hashimoto made several large attacks in Kanezaka.
Now, watching Anran like this, she’s not so sure anymore if it’s just a crush.
Her moves are those of a life-long dancer. Elegant. Rehearsed. Like she was born to do this.
But Kiriko can sense something is off.
Anran keeps repeating the same steps. Over and over again. All while she mutters curses under her breath.
Before she can further ponder what might be the issue, Anran catches her staring.
“I can see you watching”, Anran says without even addressing her. She’s not stopping.
“Busted!”, Kiriko throws up her arms in mock surrender.
Anran is continuing to go through the same steps, slightly panting. “Why are you out here so late?”
“Weird. I was just about to ask you the same thing!”, Kiriko throws at her. After a beat she answers truthfully, “I was just taking a walk but then I heard someone fighting their demons. And I knew this time it’s not Mizuki.”
After that, Anran finally pauses for a moment. Her face drops ever so slightly. She rolls her neck and stretches her arms. “I’m fine, really. No need to worry about me.”
Then she starts moving again. The same exact steps. Again and again.
“At least let me join?”, Kiriko already starts walking towards her, “I bet Wuyang already told you about how good I am!”
The other day, Wuyang was looking for someone who can practice close-quarters combat with him – someone who isn’t his sisters. Usually, Kiriko only trains with Mizuki but she couldn’t turn down the offer.
She flipped him before he even knew what’s happening.
Anran stops again and this time she smirks. “You do know I’m way better than him, right? I never lose a spar!”
Now Kiriko is determined. She is going to flip her too. With no ulterior motives whatsoever. “Prove it to me then, Suzaku!”
Both Anran and Kiriko get into position. Now that she’s closer, Kiriko can see the tiredness in Anran’s eyes. She most likely hasn’t slept at all. She must have been out here all night.
Kiriko counts down from three and they start.
With how exhausted she is, she needs to really focus to keep up with Anran. She has been doing this her whole life, just like Kiriko did.
But with every strike she throws at her, Kiriko always manages to be just slightly faster. Dodge right. Block left. Just like her mother taught her.
Kiriko finally sees an opening to attack. Anran grabbed unto her forearm and Kiriko uses that opportunity to bend her attacking arm backwards, getting ready to throw her.
Suddenly, Anran screams up in pain.
Kiriko immediately lets go of her, worried that she might have hurt her.
As always, you mess everything up, she tells herself.
“Anran, are you hurt? Let me see!”, Kiriko orders her as she lays her hand on her hurt shoulder.
But Anran just shrugs her off. “I’m fine!”, she almost yells. Anran carefully tries to roll her shoulder a few times. She winces.
Kiriko tries to look her in the eyes, but Anran is avoiding eye contact.
“You don’t need to worry about me!”, Anran tries to tell her again, unconvincingly.
“Please, you know I can help you with this! Just let me have a look!”, Kiriko pleas with her.
Anran doesn’t answer. She just keeps looking at the ground, defeated. Standing there like this, she almost looks childlike.
“Fine”, she breathes out, barely audible.
With that confirmation, Kiriko carefully put her hand back on her shoulder. Before going further, she stops for moment. She looks at her for silent permission. Anran understanding what she means, nods.
Kiriko pushes her shirt aside and then she sees it. Anran’s shoulder is completely blue and purple. This bruising didn’t just happen. It must have happened during the ambush yesterday. Why–
“Why didn’t you say something?”, Kiriko asks her alarmed, “Mizuki took care of Wuyang, I was free to– “
“That’s exactly it!”, Anran suddenly bursts out, cutting her off. Finally, she looks at her.
Kiriko has spent a lot of time around grief and sadness, but she has never seen such a sad and defeated look on someone’s face.
Even the darkness of the night can’t hide the lonely tear rolling down Anran’s face. Kiriko is fighting every urge in her to wipe it away.
“Wuyang got hurt because of me! It was my fault!”, Anran sobs, “If I was more prepared– If we went over the plans again– If– “
“Stop!”, Kiriko puts both her hands on her shoulders now, trying to ground her again. “It’s not your fault! You couldn’t have known!”
During yesterday’s mission, Anran got surrounded in the fight. Four Hashimoto circled her in. Just as they were about to pounce on her, Wuyang intervened but got slashed across his whole chest in the process.
If Mizuki wasn’t immediately there to help him, they don’t know what would’ve happened.
“He almost got killed because of me!”, she desperately screams at her, “I don’t deserve anybody taking care of me!”
“But I want to take care of you, please!”, Kiriko pleads with her, now also tearing up.
Then suddenly, Anran pulls her into a desperate hug that almost makes her fall backwards.
Kiriko can feel her quietly sob into the crook of her neck. She reciprocates the hug and uses it as an opportunity to heal her bruised shoulder.
A golden light shines out from her ofuda, illuminating them for just a brief moment.
She can feel Anran hug her tighter.
For a while, they just stand there. Kiriko holding Anran like she’s the most precious thing in the world.
Then she can hear Anran whisper something. “Thank you.”
“Always”, she whispers back, putting a hand on the back of Anran’s head.
Kiriko pulls back enough so she can look at Anran again. “You know, there’s this thing pa– my dad used to tell me”, she tells her with a crooked smile.
Anran looks at her attentively, waiting for her to continue.
“Little fox, if you keep using a blade, it dulls. If you don’t take the time to take care of it, it’s useless!”, she tells her, badly imitating her father, which gets a watery laugh out of Anran.
Anran looks at her confused. “How does this relate to this?”
“I’m telling you to take a break”, Kiriko explains to her, “Walk with me for a bit? I want to show you something.”
“I think I would like that”, Anran quietly replies to her, wiping at her own tears.
“We’re almost there, promise”, Kiriko assures Anran who is out of breath besides her.
They’re walking up to a vermilion torii gate at the bottom of a set of stairs. The stairs are flanked by kitsune statues on either side.
“Okay, we’ve made it!”, Kiriko exclaims as they reach the top of the stairs.
She brought Anran to a small, secluded Inari shrine. It’s the only place where she can pretend everything will be okay.
Kiriko noticing her still trying to catch her breath, just keeps talking. “I… I come her often to clear my head.”
She comes here more often than she would like to admit. After a hard mission. After a nightmare – like tonight. Or just when she just feels like it.
Or when she tries to comfort the prettiest girl she’s ever met.
“You didn’t tell me why, by the way”, after a brief moment Anran continues, “You didn’t tell me why you were out taking a walk.”
Kiriko frowns and looks at the ground, avoiding eye contact with Anran. Then, she urges her to sit down with her.
“It’s just… I don’t know”, Kiriko sighs and tucks her knees up to her chest.
It’s always hard for her to talk about her feelings. If she wants the Yokai to function and Kanezaka to be freed, she has to keep it together. She has to deal with it on her own.
It’s not like anybody ever asks her how she’s doing, anyway.
But then she can feel Anran laying a hand on her back in a way that says, ‘You can trust me’.
Kiriko has a hard time trusting others or letting others close to her. She’s afraid they’re going to betray her or she’s going to lose them. She really can’t take any more loss.
But she can feel deep down that Anran is different.
“Nightmares. Almost every night”, Kiriko reluctantly tells her, “Recently, I have them a lot about my dad.”
Anran already knows about her father. How he was taken and how he is the one making weapons for Talon.
“I wasn’t even there when– “, Kiriko stops, trying her best to hold back the tears, “But I keep imagining what if I was there.”
She can feel Anran suddenly laying her head on her shoulders. During any other moment, this would make her heart-rate skyrocket.
But right now, it’s just calming. Grounding.
“But even then, I can’t save him. Even in my dreams I’m useless”, like the dull blade, she finishes in her head.
Anran touches her knee again. “You’re not useless. You’re one of the most capable people I’ve ever met. If one person can free Kanezaka, I know it’s you.”
This is what finally breaks her. Kiriko can’t hold back her tears anymore. She starts to sob.
Nobody ever told her she’s capable. She always has to prove herself. Even her own mother doubted her.
Kiriko wipes at her own tears. “It’s just that I always feel like I have to– “
“–prove yourself? Yeah, I get it”, Anran finishes her sentence. Like she shares the same burden.
Anran intertwines her fingers with Kiriko’s. The closeness is finally starting to get to her.
The thoughts about how incredibly close Anran is, are drowning out the thoughts about all her doubts and fears.
Kiriko can feel her heart beating in her throat.
Does she know–
Then Anran suddenly stands up.
Anran offers her hand out to her. “I think I know what can help you.”
Kiriko takes her hand and also stands up, almost tumbling into Anran.
Like she can read the question in her mind, Anran continues. “Spar with me again?”
“Like, right here, right now?”, Kiriko tries to confirm with her, really hoping the answer is yes.
She’s right. Getting to finally beat Anran fair and square would make her feel better.
Anran tries to nod with a straight face, but Kiriko can see the hint of a smirk coming through.
They both get into position and Kiriko counts them down again.
This time I got–
Before Kiriko can react, Anran tackles her to ground, pinning both her wrists to the side of her head.
Kiriko isn’t sure if she accidentally fell asleep and this is one of her rare, great dreams.
But if her heart almost exploding and her face almost catching fire is anything to go by, this is very much real.
“Got you, little fox”, Anran whispers to her, sitting on top of her.
Their faces are only a few centimetres apart now and Kiriko can’t help glancing at Anran’s lips for split second. Her beautiful, gorgeous lips.
Maybe she’ll take the hint and–
Anran’s lips crash into hers. The kiss is desperate. Kiriko can feel Anran wanted to this for as long as she did.
Kiriko is trying to touch her but Anran still isn’t letting her go. At that, Kiriko sinks even further into the kiss.
She has wanted this for so long. And now she can’t believe she finally has it. She is kissing Ye Anran.
She didn’t believe good things could ever happen to her.
Anran finally lets her hands go and she immediately grabs the back of her neck. Trying to pull her even closer when they’re already impossibly close.
With her other hand, she finds the hem of Anran’s shirt.
But then it hits her. She remembers where they are.
Kiriko breaks the kiss, as hard as it is. “Maybe we shouldn’t…”, she points to the shrine, “It’s like super disrespectful. But I want to finish this some other time.”
It takes Anran a moment to realize Kiriko was talking. She clears her throat. “Oh! Yes, yeah! You’re right!”
Anran quickly gets up and brushes of her clothes, then helps Kiriko get up too.
“I think it’s time to head back”, Kiriko tells her. She kisses her again but this time gentler than before.
“You’re right”, Anran nods and puts her forehead against Kiriko’s, “Just… please don’t tell my brother about this. I don’t want him to get weird about it.”
“Oh, you mean your brother who spends a suspicious amount of time with Mizuki?”, Kiriko tells her while trying to hold back a small laugh. Which gets her a playful hit in the shoulder.
They part and make their way back. This time, hand in hand and smiling.
Kiriko doesn’t know what she did to deserve this. But she is incredibly grateful either way.