Work Text:
“Still can’t believe that our little girl is going so far away!”
She let out a giggle.
“Easy, uncle Dumpling”, she said with a smile. “It’s only thirty minutes by train. It’s right there.”
“To me, it is the farthest I can imagine” he said with a trembling voice while squeezing her in a hug.
“Cut the tears, Dumpling”, said Ho. “She must do this. She’s going to study what she likes. Sooga village is too small for her.”
Pucca looked at him with endearment. Ho tucked a string of hair behind her ear.
He spent a long moment looking at his little girl, now so grown up. Her black hair, now long enough to reach her waist, was up in a ponytail with a red strip. Her red blouse, now looser and longer, seemed to flutter each and every time she moved. She was wearing tight, black pants made of technologic fabric, and dark combat boots as if she was already adapting to the life in the City that was expecting her.
“My turn!” Linguini squeaked, pulling Pucca into a tight hug while she giggled. “I left some food at home for you to take for your trip tomorrow. No one should travel with an empty stomach.”
“You are the best”, she said. “I’ll come visit all the time.”
Pucca was about to hug them again, when she noticed that something had caught uncle Ho’s eyes.
Her dark-brown eyes followed, and she saw him.
He was standing by the door, with slightly damp clothes from the rain outside. His sword was right by his waist, and he was wearing his traditional black clothes from the ninja training. The multiple rankings on his black and red belt showed how high his rank and experience were.
Garu smiled and waved, walking towards them.
Yet, his smile faded completely when Pucca walked right past him, in absolute silence, without as much as a glimpse at him.
She left the restaurant without looking back.
Garu stood there, frozen, while his dark, widened eyes tried to process what had just happened.
His shock was broken by the firm touch of Ho’s hand on his shoulder.
“Give her a break, Garu”, he said. “The move has not been easy for her. It’s always hard to say goodbye to everything you know.”
Ho’s eyes hardened when he realized that Garu seemed confused by his words.
“Garu, did you not know?”, Dumpling asked.
The ninja gave him a negative nod. There was now a heavy and deep mix of confusion and anguish in his eyes.
“Pucca is moving to the City to study”, Linguini explained. “She got a sports scholarship.”
Garu was stunned. He ran his hands through his hair, which he kept mostly up in a high bun, and tried taking a deep breath.
She was moving away, and he didn’t know. She was leaving everything behind, including him. He knew he wasn’t the one she would be looking for when she returned to visit. She hadn’t said a word to him about that, for who knows how long.
He turned to Ho, but found sternness looking back at him.
“What did you possibly think would happen, Garu?” he questioned, with an impatient tone. “Did you think she would keep running behind you and your missions? Considering that for all these years you have never returned the same effort?”
He felt his whole face turning red. He quickly turned around and walked back out.
“You guys don’t think he would…?” Ho’s question came out harrowing.
“No, no”, said Dumpling while fixing his apron. “He wouldn’t do anything to prevent her from leaving. That’s not the kind of person he is.”
“The real question is whether he will do anything about them”, said Linguini. “To me, he waited too long.”
The three chefs stood there a bit longer, looking at the open door and the rain outside.
…
That night, Pucca climbed to the highest spot of Sooga village.
The relentless rain was a bit calmer, and now felt more soothing. She walked up there with her hair and clothes completely soaked.
She watched the village for the last time before the big move.
Her chest was tight with a mix of joy and distress.
She was thrilled with the opportunity to study and be an athlete, to receive financial incentive to keep running and reach her full potential. However, she was also a bit distressed about leaving behind everything she ever knew. Her friends, to which she had already given her farewells. Her uncle-dads, who always cared for her and believed in her. The woods and forests in which she always enjoyed running.
She had been trying not to think about him for quite some time now.
Pucca couldn’t put her finger at the exact moment in time when she had finally accepted it. She couldn’t quite remember the moment it had clicked for her that they weren’t meant to be. All she knew was that she had felt it, with much pain and sorrow, and had fought very hard to stop feeling that pain.
She was so tired of running for him. So tired of the silence in his actions.
Suddenly, she heard a meow.
“Hello, Mio”, she said with a calm, low voice.
Garu’s black cat came closer to her, and settled next to her leg. He looked at her with his wide, yellow eyes that were as bright as a lighthouse, and not once did he look away.
“Did you come here to scold me?”, she questioned with a pinch of sarcasm in her voice. “For not telling him?”
His wide eyes kept staring at her. He meowed.
“Oh, do not lecture me”, she said. “I have pulled away for weeks, and he did not notice. It changed nothing for him.”
Mio kept staring at her, this time in silence.
Pucca looked ahead, at the village.
She did not hate him, that was a fact. However, if she ever wanted to truly move on, she needed to tone down the importance he had in her life. And she had done that, painfully moving away from her feelings for him. Even if she had to do that alone.
At last, she turned to look at Mio. She felt as if those wide, bright yellow eyes could see through her. Those were patient eyes.
“Okay, okay”, she said, standing up. “Perhaps I should say goodbye to him one last time.”
She took the cat in her arms, and walked with him through the forest.
.
She walked until she reached his house.
Garu was there, sitting on a wooden base, with his legs crossed in a meditation position.
Mio chirped.
His dark eyes opened, and looked right at her.
Pucca let Mio go from her arms, and the cat shook its tiny body before entering the house.
“I’m sorry for just showing up like this” she said, trying to fix her soaked sleeves. “There is something I need to speak with you about, Mio convinced me to.”
She watched as Garu slowly got up and walked towards her. When he was closer, he offered a hand.
At first, in surprise, she didn’t move. She looked at his hand, then at his face. His dark eyes kept looking right at her.
Finally, she put her own hand on his.
His tight grip surprised her, as he took her inside the house.
Pucca sat on her knees on his living room floor. Garu opened a small cabinet, and came back to her with a soft, white towel.
He kneeled and reached for her hair, without touching it. His eyes were still locked at her. She gave a positive nod, and only then did he touch it. He dried it out with the towel as best as he could, and braided them. At the end, he tied the braid with her red strip.
Then, he got up and went to another cabinet. He picked up a soft, black robe and offered it to her. He signaled for her to take off her wet clothes and wear the robe instead.
He left the living room and closed the door behind him so she could do it comfortably.
For a few seconds, Pucca stayed completely still. That was the first time she ever entered his home. The first time he ever invited her inside, too.
Her eyes wandered around the room - simple, in mostly neutral colors, with a small bookshelf, a couple red poufs, and a few cabinets.
She finally changed clothes. Tried drying herself a bit with the towel, and tied the robe.
“I’m dressed”, she said.
Garu opened the door.
He picked up her wet clothes and walked away. She followed him, curiously and carefully, and watched as he hung the clothes up in a rope closer to a window, so they could dry up a bit.
It was only then that she noticed he was barefoot.
He walked back to her, and once again offered a hand to her. This time, she didn’t think twice before taking it.
Garu took her to the next room.
To her absolute surprise, the whole floor was bed. She noticed some shelves on the walls, a wooden nightstand in one of the corners, the surprisingly colorful pillows, and the sheets and blankets that were meticulously folded. Something caught her eye - a white plush rabbit, comfortably positioned above the nightstand next to a small lamp.
She looked straight into his eyes.
“I’m the one who gave you that rabbit”, she said as if she couldn’t believe it was right there. “I had no idea you still had it.”
Garu shifted his eyes to the rabbit, and quickly back at her and smiled.
She watched as he walked to the nightstand, opened a drawer, and got a small white board from there. Her eyes carefully watched as he wrote something there with a black pen.
For many years, Garu had been keeping a strict vow of silence.
He could hardly ever break it, only for life or death situations. Whenever he needed to say something specific, he would take the board with him and write in it.
He gave her the board.
"It’s pouring. Sleep here, and leave tomorrow for your trip."
She blinked.
He knew about it now, of course. Her uncle-dads had probably told him at the restaurant, right after she left.
“Garu” she finally spoke, returning the board to him. “I’m sorry for not telling you before. I… I couldn’t find the right words or the right moment. And it changes nothing for you.”
His face changed. In the split of a second, there was disbelief in his eyes. A pinch of anger, too.
He wrote again on the board and gave it to her.
"It changes nothing? Is that what you believe?"
“Garu” she said, now almost impatient. “It never changed anything. You have always run from me, and I ran after you. Our finish lines have never been the same. I am… I am so tired of running like this.”
Right there, she saw it. A glimpse of pain in his eyes.
Once more, he wrote on the board and gave it to her.
"I’m not hurt by your departure. I’m hurt for learning that you thought you shouldn’t, or couldn’t, come to me about this. It hurts me that you believe it changes nothing.”
Pucca stared at him as if, somehow, she could trespass him with her eyes.
“So, at any time” she said, feeling tired. “Has it ever changed a thing?”
Garu stood up and walked again to the nightstand. He searched a different drawer, and came back to her with a small box.
He sat, and she moved to sit right in front of him.
Garu opened the box, and gently pushed it towards her. Pucca felt her eyes widening.
Letters. Hundreds of them. Absolutely all of them were about her.
Her fingers chose a few older ones, and a few that were more recent.
“I wished to tell her, but I couldn’t. I ran before I could embarrass myself further in front of her. I’m a coward.”
“She runs a lot. She is, without a doubt, the fastest runner I have ever met in all villages. Her spirit feels unbreakable. She could be the most excellent ninja.”
“No doubt that she has become the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. However, I feel her pulling away from me these past few days. She avoids my paths, doesn’t look at me. There is something happening, but I have no clue what it could be. I’m afraid to ask her and discover something that may ruin me completely.”
“There are moments in which it is physically painful to be silent around her.”
Pucca let go of the letters. She slowly closed the box.
Her eyes found his, and were filled with tears. Her chest was boiling with conflicting feelings.
“I need to go” she said, standing up abruptly.
However, she felt his hand grab her arm before she could take a single step.
She turned to look at him.
“Please.”
The unexpected sound of that word struck her like lightning, and she lost her breath. Took her a few long seconds to process.
He had just broken his vow of silence. For her.
His dark eyes stared intensely at her, as if her next move or decision could snap him in half.
Pucca chose to sit back down in front of him.
Before she could form her next thought, he came closer until his face was only a breath away from hers.
He touched her lower lip with one of his fingers, and there was a question in his eyes. She nodded positively, and he kissed her.
She felt his hand on the back of her neck, and her lips opened up to him.
In a single move, he made her lay down. He got on top of her without weighing down, and kissed her again. He slowly tasted her lips and felt the warmth of her breath. He touched her tongue with his, and his hands gently contoured her body. His lips moved the kisses to her neck, while his fingers pressed against her skin and he enjoyed the loud sighs she was letting out.
Then, his lips and tongue found their way down that soft skin to the collarbones. Garu touched the rope of fabric that was tying her robe.
He looked at her, once again with a question in his eyes. She nodded positively, and he untied it.
He let the robe slide down around her body until she was fully exposed. She was, undoubtedly, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
Pucca felt her breathing become quite irregular, with a mix of anticipation and surprise in her chest.
She watched, fascinated, as his lips went down her abdomen in a trail of wet kisses until he reached the point between her legs.
Once again, he looked at her. And, once again, there was a question in his eyes.
She nodded positively, and laid her head back.
The first touch of his tongue came up as an electric shock, and she felt a spasm rush through her whole body. It was so different from her own fingers, so unpredictable. His hands made her bend her legs upward, while he held her tightly. Her fingers held to the fabric of the robe, fully open around her body, and she choked on a sigh.
She stood there for a few long minutes, with her fingers pressing against the soft fabric and her eyes closed, feeling his lips and his tongue kissing her on her other lips.
Then, suddenly, she felt an explosion. It spread through her whole body, and it took all the air from her lungs. Her body arched up without permission, and she covered her mouth to muffle the scream. She felt a strange, unexpected urge to laugh and cry at the same time. Tears fell from her eyes.
She watched as Garu stood up on his knees and undressed himself.
The years of hard ninja training had defined every inch of his body. She watched his muscles moving and tensioning as he got undressed. She suddenly felt her mouth water.
“Can I… Can I touch you?” she asked, with her voice almost a whisper. He nodded positively.
Again, in a single move, he gently changed positions with her so she could sit on top of him.
Pucca touched his face, and he closed his eyes.
Her fingers gently contoured his lips and his chin line. She touched his closed eyelids and his nose. Then, her fingers kept going to his neck, and later to his chest. She moved them over his abdomen, feeling and contouring his muscles.
However, when she reached the low part of his abdomen she felt a knot in her stomach.
“I…” she struggled to say. “I’m not ready.”
Those words made him open his eyes.
Carefully and gently, he moved her so she was laying down in bed again.
She watched with the corner of her eye as he reached to his pants and put them back on.
Garu came back to her, laying down and gesturing for her to lay her head onto his chest.
“I’m sorry” she rushed to say, trying to find the right words. “I have no idea why I…”
He put one finger over his lips, gesturing for her to be silent. He stretched a bit, reaching for the white board, and wrote something on it.
"It’s okay. I want you to feel comfortable with this, not anxious.”
Pucca closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath.
She laid on her side, and gently pulled him so he could also lay on his side while facing her. She kissed him, slowly, and they stayed like this for a few long minutes.
“I will be thirty minutes away”, she said with a low voice. “I’ll return to visit the village all the time.”
He took a deep breath and nodded positively.
“However, before I go”, she added, “I need to know what’s to be of us.”
Garu stood on one of his arms to better look at her. He took the white board again and wrote on it.
“What are your thoughts on long-distance relationships?”
Pucca stared at the words on that board for a long time. She then looked at him, searching for even a glimpse of doubt or hesitation, but there was none. His eyes were filled with resilience, almost determination.
Garu, however, noticed some doubt and hesitation in her eyes.
He took one of her hands, and placed it onto his chest. Right over his heart, so she could feel it. With her hand still there, he took the board and wrote again.
“My heart is yours. It has always been yours. I did not have enough courage before, and that almost cost me what’s most important to me.”
He waited until she finished reading, and wrote again.
"We can see each other on weekends, when you are able to. During your vacation time, or holidays. You come here, or I go there. Whatever it takes, I’m on it.”
He looked again, and there were no more doubts or hesitation in her eyes.
Pucca stretched herself to be even closer, and kissed him. Garu leaned partially over her, and let his hands slide through her body.
“Boyfriend”, she whispered in his ear while bringing him closer. “I think we should add this ranking to your belt.”
“I love you”, he whispered back to her.
Her eyes, once again, widened. She pulled him closer and hugged him tightly, burying her face into the curve of his neck and breathing in the scent of his skin.
“I love you too”, she whispered at last.
…
Pucca sighed heavily as she opened the door of her home.
The walk from Garu’s house to hers was silent. He told her to go ahead without him to fetch the food and her bags, and that he would meet her at the train station. Mio went with her.
She grabbed the bag with most of her clothes, the backpack, and the thermo bag with the food prepared by uncle Linguini. In her pocket, she had brought the letter in which Garu wrote about how most times it was physically painful for him to be silent around her. She looked back at the house as if it was the last time.
“I know I will come back many times to visit during my studies”, she said. “But I’ll most definitely miss my room.”
Mio rubbed his tiny, warm body against her leg and purred.
“I know, I know” she said with a smile. “He already told me I can stay with him whenever I visit.”
Pucca reached the train station with fifteen minutes to spare.
Her uncle-dads and Garu were already there. She hugged her uncle-dads with all her mighty strength.
“I know I will be back soon to visit”, she said. “But I miss you already.”
“I have been missing you since yesterday!” Dumpling cried, putting one hand over his forehead.
“Oh, will you stop that?” said Ho, impatiently. “Soon enough, she will be back. The four years of college will fly by, you’ll see. And, even if she decides to stay in the City, what is thirty minutes by train?”
“He’s right”, said Linguini while checking the thermo bag one last time. “You should have enough food for the first couple days. Remember what we have taught you.”
“I would never, ever forget”, she said with a smile.
“Seems like you got the boy sorted, right?” Dumpling said with a laugh, before getting elbowed by Ho.
She turned to look at him.
This time, he wasn’t wearing his training kimono. He was wearing the fighting clothes, more tight on the body. And, as always, he had his belt on.
Pucca came closer to him, and it was then that it caught her eye. At the tip of the belt, with all his rankings, there was a beautiful, small, embroidered heart. She took the tip of the belt on her hands, and pressed a finger onto the tiny red heart.
“So this is why you told me to go ahead without you earlier”, she said.
Garu opened the leather bag he carried across his body, got the board, and wrote on it.
“Someone told me I should add ‘boyfriend’ to my rankings.”
She smiled, and stood on the tip of her boots to kiss him. Garu held her by the waist with both hands, and pulled her a bit closer. He then hugged her, breathing in her scent one last time before her departure.
They let go of each other upon hearing the train whistle.
She grabbed all her bags and leaped into the train. Then, she appeared in one of the windows to wave at them. Garu waved back with a smile, and watched as the train gradually increased speed and moved away.
Mio leaped into his arms, and he held him. He turned his face when he felt Ho’s hand on his shoulder.
“That was close, huh?” he whispered.
Garu nodded, agreeing. One of his hands went down to hold the tip of his belt, and he squeezed it.
Garu would run through the night if he knew Pucca would be there at the finish line.
…