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When they died, she thought her entire world had ended. She didn’t expect to ever be able to move on yet somehow she did. She was alive and even if she felt as though she had broken parts of her here and there, she felt whole.
She felt different too. As if her old self had died with her husband and children and an entirely new version of her had risen with the smoke that had captured the home she once knew. Whether she liked this new version of herself was undecided but it was certainly far different from the old.
Her old self would never had expected to be used as a personal teddy bear to a man who looked like he could be an actual bear; that much was certain.
It wasn’t intentional, the samurai was sure, as this safehouse definitely was not meant to hold more than maybe two or three people at once, leaving most of the task force to find their own place on the cramped living room floor. Rick had offered her the bedroom but she declined, given that at least someone had to make sure there wouldn’t be too much chaos and more sleep. Thankfully, most of them were too tired to cause any kind of trouble beyond a small argument about who got to sleep on the couch before it went to Waylon.
So there she lay, curled on the floor as wide awake as she could be while a certain smelly Australian tightly clung onto her as though she were his pillow. And he snored. And he drooled. And his sleep talking was even more incoherent and rambly than when he was awake. When he first grabbed her, she wasn’t quite sure if he was actually asleep and doing it as a trick, but now she was certain he was dead asleep.
He was muttering something about unicorns. That much she could make out. His accent and slang made it very hard for Tatsu to understand most of it, but even she couldn’t deny that it was a little adorable the way he was so fond of a fictional animal. She personally was fond of dragons, but she could respect his choices even if they were wrong.
“Boomerang.” The woman started, trying to ease her way out of his grip to no avail. How was he this strong even when he was asleep?
He didn’t budge at all, merely tightening his grip around her waist and muttering something about “Pinky” and how he shouldn’t go running off like that without him. Odd. She tried once more to tug her way out of his grip but he truly did act much like a bear and held on tight.
“ Boomerang .” Tatsu raised her voice a little louder this time, but not loud enough to wake anyone else in the room.
Again, she was met with no results and was left to try and sleep the best she could in his vice-like grip and while pressed against his coat that left her breathing in a surprisingly intoxicating mix of truly horrible cheap cologne and beer. She still wrinkled her nose at the smell wafting off of him-- she certainly hoped he would take a shower some time between now and when they finished the mission-- but after all this time, there was something more inviting about it. No longer was it strange and new. No longer was he strange and new. In the span of however many missions they’d go on together, she’d grown accustomed to his odd yet somewhat flirty comments and the way their styles had been mashed together until they eventually worked hand in hand. Being around Digger was so confusing-- one moment she was ready to kill him and the next she was fighting tooth and nail to make sure he didn’t get killed.
And this . She would never let this kind of close contact go by without at least a few attempts at severing a limb. Now she was only somewhat tempted to stab him and not even anywhere fatal. That had to mean something. Even if she despised the fact that such a big oaf could mean anything to her.
A soft sigh left Tatsu’s lips as dark eyes fell on the sword still attached to her side. What would Maseo think of these new feelings she had? She had spent so long staying faithful to him after his death that she didn’t even think about whether she could move on or not. Staring at the sword with pleading eyes as she slowly undid it from her belt, she merely hoped he could forgive her if she found herself loving another.
Well, maybe not quite love yet. She was still pretty shaky about that in general. Maybe like. That would be a good place to start.
“ I think I am losing my mind, Maseo. ” Tatsu whispered in her native Japanese, running her fingers over the hilt gently. This was no place for her to start going soft.
Somehow, that of all things was what managed to wake the beast up, bleary, thoroughly exhausted eyes meeting her surprised ones. At some point, she had started wondering if bruises and black eyes were just part of his natural complexion.
“What are ya doin’ up, darl? Ya need your beauty sleep just as much as the rest of us.” His eyebrows furrowed together and the rest of his face scrunched up in a way she couldn’t help but find all too nice to look at.
“Well, maybe a lil less than the rest of us.” She doesn’t even have to look where he gestures as she knows it has to be towards the sleeping giant of a man on the couch.
“I find it is hard to sleep when I can barely breathe.” It’s a lie, but he seemed all too tired to notice. Good.
The scruffy man only rolled his eyes and barely loosened his grip on her small waist. No matter how insignificant the newfound distance seemed, it did earn a little pang from her heart as she seemed to miss it a little.
“Get some rest, sweetheart. We’ve got a long day and I need ya awake to save my ass.” A brief pause before he shoots her a signature toothy grin that she’s memorized a thousand times over. “But I’m willin’ to be your own teddy bear if ya want. I don’t mind a little squeezin’.”
Tatsu tried to repress a smile the best she could but the edges of her lips curved up regardless of what she wanted. And she knew he saw it too. Even if the shift in his features was almost as imperceptible as hers.
“Good night, Boomerang.”