Work Text:
The sound of pen scratching across paper filled the room, rhythmic and soothing. The office itself was a professional looking room, not really made for comfort outside of the one that used the office.
Deep red upholstery for the desk chair and the two that sat in front of it. The desk itself was a medium toned wood and was neatly organized, clean and looking like it was more for show. There was a sitting area to the side, more creamed tones for the small couch and arm chairs with a deeper toned, low rising table in the middle. The rug an off-white color as it covered the dark wood flooring.
The owner of the office was sitting at her desk, short two colored hair held back as she leaned over paperwork. Usually she’d try to look modest, more presentable, but right now she was tired. It was dusk, no one would bother her, and she still had a shit ton of papers to go through.
She bit away at her dry lips, free of their usual red colored lipstick she usually wore. Navy blue eyes moving back and forth as she scanned the words on the page, wishing for once she could just throw it all in the fire.
Then things would be uneven. Missing. Kyouka hated when things weren’t in their place, that included paperwork. Unfortunately.
She had rows and rows of files for everything, all time stamped and in order. Like she was expected to have it.
Though if you were to ask her, she wouldn’t tell you anyways, but she’s never seen her parents be this organized. Her father’s office was a mess at all times, sack after sack of paper that he ‘hasn’t gotten around to cleaning yet’.
He doesn’t clean it, he has servants do it then get mad when they do it ‘wrong’.
Her mother’s office was a bit more tidy, but only because she cares about vanity. Papers will be put where they fit, regardless if one is a report being placed with a notice.
Her mother does clean her office herself though and does express frustration when she can’t find something.
Kyouka would have been punished for not doing things the right way, what was the right way? She honestly didn’t know, she did what felt like the cleanest and most comfortable way to do things.
She admits it might be a bit much, but it’s how she likes it and she knows where everything is all the time.
Kyouka looked up when she felt the air grow damp, followed by the soft padder of rain against the tiled roof of the ‘work estate’. She had the shoji like door open, only one half of the large door that would open to the main garden of the estate.
She must have forgotten to close it, not that she minded as the sound of the artificial rain during this time of year was always pleasing. Spring was the best time in her opinion.
It didn’t happen often, rain I mean, but when it did Kyouka found herself being lulled to sleep, especially at times like these.
The soft chime of glass drew her eyes to the furin hanging on the edge of the engawa, three of them all grouped together. One a ruby red, another a dull-ish yellow, then finally a blue one. Each one painted differently.
The ruby red one had white string going through it, blue tanzaku at the bottom and the bell painted with plum blossoms, snapdragons, and aster flowers. It wasn’t that good, she’d admit, but it was hers.
The dull-ish yellow one had a forest green string going through it and its tanzaku was white with golden writing. The bell was painted with yellow hyacinths, thistle, and purple carnation flowers. Goka always had a heavy hand so they were all deep in hue even after all this time.
The blue one had a purple string going through it, the paper being a red color with gold ink. The bell was painted with white iris, crocus, and forget-me-nots flowers. Zanka tried so hard to make each one yet they were still so shaky and some nearly faded fully.
The furin were only really meant to be hung in the summer, but Kyouka often found herself hanging them as soon as winter ended. It was childish.
She knew it was, despite everything in her preening when she saw them shining in the sun together.
Like they should be.
She refused to let anyone touch them, only trusting herself to put them up and down.
—————
She moved the brush along the red stained glass, glancing at the picture of the flowers she found most appealing. Her hand steady and brush strokes light, it was hard to move it around in the bell shape.
She looked at her brothers once she finished a petal. Goka hands were equally as steady as hers yet he was pushing down harder with his brush, the paint being wider and thicker than her own.
Zanka sat between them, tiny and leaned over his. He was constantly glancing back and forth from his painting to the pictures he chose, his hands shaky and his little face scrunched in focus. His lines weren’t straight, his paint was uneven, hell there was paint on him.
Kyouka made the right choice to put him in some older clothes, though he complained about being uncomfortable in it. She shut that down quickly, comfort was a luxury and sometimes he wouldn’t have it. It was something he needed to get used to.
Kyouka hated wearing heels yet that’s what her mother expected her to wear at times.
They waited for the bells to dry, sitting on the engawa with their feet over the edge. Zanka eating the blueberries they gave him, Kyouka was sure they were making him fat. His little face scrunched at the bitter taste, yet when given one he’d eat it without hesitation.
“Training starts early tomorrow, Goka, make sure to be ready.” Kyouka said, stabbing a fork into a melon cube and eating it.
“Yes, sister.” Goka answered, eating a few blueberries himself. Tasting the melon juice that coated them, he wasn’t a huge fan of melon but he didn’t mind the taste.
“Can I watch?” Zanka asked, looking up at them. Those navy blues not seeming so navy anymore as they lit up. He always enjoyed watching them spar and train, sitting to the side and looking with awe.
Kyouka hummed, stabbing another melon and holding it towards Zanka, “if you wish to, you need to wake early, understood?” Zanka took a bite on the cube, mouth too small to fit the whole thing, “we won’t be waiting for you.”
Zanka went to speak but Goka’s bigger hand pinched his cheek, “no speaking with your mouth full.” he scolded, sounding harsh and pinching too hard but he didn’t look all too annoyed. Slightly annoyed at best.
Zanka whined but did as told, rubbing his cheek as he finished chewing, “okay, onee-chan.”
Kyouka and Goka sighed, both having told Zanka to stop addressing them in such manners. Their names were fine, though they were sure he’d come up with something else to call them if he did start calling them by their names.
Kyouka didn’t bother to scold him though, just pushing the rest of the melon into his mouth.
The next morning, Zanka followed them like always out to the training ground. He sat on the engawa and watched them and the rising sun, yet when they finished and looked over they found him asleep on the hard wood.
“Can’t even stay up,” Goka muttered, “we need to work on that.”
Kyouka hummed, “indeed, he needs to be prepared.”
Yet they simply sat next to him, basking for just a moment in the morning sun and cool breeze as soft chimes rang across the silent training ground.
—————
Kyouka wrote a response to the report the Cleaners sent, Raiders having been reported in a town just west. They were a constant pain in her side.
She sighed softly, painted nails tapping against the wood of the desk. Raiders were, admittedly, not her core focus. They were an issue, yes, but they were hard to catch and there were others that were easier to go after that caused just as much trouble.
The wind picked up slightly, not by much, and the chimes got more persistent. She shuffled the papers, moving them into piles to be put away earlier as she started working on the next thing to sign. Or, if the angels curse her, write a follow report on.
As she started reading the next paper she heard something hit the wood of the engawa, her head snapped up as she immediately noted the lack of the chime sound.
Pushing away from her desk she walked, rushed, outside. The fragile glass broken, having her immediately crouch and pick up every piece she could lest the wind blow them away.
The glass cut into her hands but she barely noticed as she held the broken glass carefully, making sure it was all there. She walked back into her office, placing all the broken bits on her desk.
She could fix it.
Kyouka always fixed everything, granted sometimes she knew when there was no hope. But this wasn’t one of those times.
She went looking for her tape or glue, yet found she must have used all of it already and simply forgot to replenish because she’d been so busy. She choked back a groan, frustration building. She left her office once again and started her way to the supply room.
The estate was broken up into who halves. One side was for the living part; Sleeping, eating, bathing, and guests. Sometimes the central area was used to host events and the like, not often though because there was a whole separate building that was considered the Hellguards HQ.
The other side was for work; the occasional personal meeting, office work, training grounds, the occasional bigger Nijiku clan meeting. Again, the working side was mainly for the family themselves and if they choose to have any personal students or meetings. The Hellguard HQ had most of the meetings and training done there.
Kyouka knew the building like the back of her hand, she did grow up here after all, and found one of many supply rooms easily. It was only for office supplies, so there were papers, ink, pens, pencils, ect.
She walked in a bit deeper, looking for some strong glue or tape. There was none.
She paused. It was odd that there was none but also sometimes people simply forgot to check they had them in stock still, though she still found it irritating.
She grunted, looking around for something. She reached far up on the shelf, moving her painted nail around against the smooth wood. When they clicked against something, she grabbed it and pulled it close.
It was a small jar, a golden liquid inside. The label read: ‘Golden Lacquer’.
Kyouka knew immediately what she could do, going to another shelf and grabbing a fine point brush. She went back to her office, closing the door as she sat at her desk.
She first separated the colored glass, making even piles of everything. The strings and tanzaku put to the side for now.
Then, She started with hers first. Finding out which parts were missing and what went together. It was like a complex 3D puzzle.
She then opened the jar of lacquer and dipped the brush in it, painting it on the broken furin’s edges and slowly building it back.
It was a practice called kintsugi. Kyouka had seen it being used before, watching her nanny fix a vase the same way when a little Kyouka accidentally broke it. She panicked and her nanny had been understanding, fixing it and keeping quiet about it.
It took hours.
Hours of Kyouka sitting at her desk, making a mess, and fixing the delicate glass. Then waiting for it to dry before she rethread it and fixed the tanzaku back onto the bottoms.
She sat back, looking at the glass wind chimes. The golden color only added to their pretty appearance, though she hated they had to break to make such beauty. Her desk had some of the golden lacquer on it, she knew there was no way to get it off now.
She didn’t want to put them back outside.
She couldn’t risk them breaking again.
She looked around her office before she got an idea, moving her chair over to the sitting area. She reached up to the ceiling and got some old twine she had from whenever she decided to tie some letters closed. She hooked three pieces through old hooks that were there, cutting them at slightly different lengths.
She then brought the chimes over, having moved her chair back, and tied them to the twine. Kyouka’s sitting the highest and Zanka’s sitting at the lowest point. It hung over the low table like a type of chandelier.
It might look weird to some but Kyouka didn’t really care for once. She liked it.
She liked that they were inside.
That they were within her view constantly.
That if they get damaged then she’d know where to find their broken parts.
She put the golden lacquer in her desk, using twine to tie the brush to the jar. She needed to know where it was just in case.
She sighed, going to sit on the small couch and looked at the wind chimes. She’d keep them together.
She’d make sure they never broke apart.