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ruleofexception · 9 months

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A thorn in the sky (ch 5 excerpt)

A continuation of this.

If he weren’t still trying to fish his heart out of the pool of adrenaline it’s been soaking in since he walked out of the station, he might laugh. Double over and wheeze until his sides hurt, but-

“What the fuck, Obi?”

Pale chest rising and falling at a frantic pace – still holding a pillow over his junk with one hand and a can of bug spray in the other like it’s a baseball bat – the pink fluffy handcuff snapped around Suzu’s wrist jingles as he weakly waves the can at him in a way that, he’s sure, is meant to be threatening.

“That’s your weapon of choice? Really?” He does his best to act casual. Like his being home at this time is completely normal. A strangled laugh does its best to escape, and he gestures towards the bug spray shaking in Suzu’s hand. “And why are you holding it like that? Pretty sure it’d be more effective to spray it in someone’s eyes, rather than-”

“I should spray it in your eyes, you fuck!” Suzu bellows, “You scared the shit out of me – I thought you were at work!”

Somehow he doesn’t think he’s going to be able to tiptoe around this or distract Suzu by poking fun at the bug spray and pink handcuffs. Best keep this simple, then. Only say as much as he needs to.

“I was.” Obi shrugs, tight. Ignores the knowing gaze boring into him and leans to the side so he can shout down the hall past Suzu. “Hey Yuzuri.”

“Hi Obi!” Bubbly as ever, she hollers back; and yet her lack of appearance in Suzu’s door frame suggests they’re playing with more than cheap handcuffs today. “How’ve you been?”

Shitty. “Oh, can’t complain, I suppose.”

“Ha. You’re a terrible liar!” She says, a little too breathlessly.

“Yeah, I know.” The glass smile he wears is starting to crack and splinter. His chuckle is hollow.

He needs to drop his shit and get out of here. Maybe go grab a drink at the bar down the street and calm his nerves. Take the rest of today to wrap his head around it all, before he starts to worry about how the fuck he’s going to pull this off.

Finally lowering the can, Suzu – in all of his pale and scrawny glory – sidles up beside Obi with a jingle and concerned frown pulling at flushed cheeks. “What’s wrong? Why aren’t you at work?”

“I quit.” It’s a struggle to speak. The words burn and stick like bile in his throat.

“Bullshit. You love your job.”

Ah. How foolish of him; of course Suzu would see right through him. After all, they’ve only known each other for forever. Been almost inseparable since they were kids. Two scrawny outcasts, thicker than thieves and practically brothers, acting like a couple of idiots in the skatepark together.

Unfortunately, in some ways, Suzu may know him better than he knows himself.

Still, he tries to keep the lie alive with a grin grit between his teeth, “If you don’t believe me, I’m sure you can go on down to the station and ask. It’s probably all they’ll be talking about for the next week.”

Still not buying it, Suzu grips the pillow over his junk a little tighter and leans closer with a low growl, “What’s going on, Obi?”

Warm caramel gaze searching him with an intensity that makes him want to squirm; it’s not the first time Obi thinks that it’s the type of gaze that would make Suzu a good cop, should he ever get his shit together and finish the program.

Obi swallows hard. Licks his lips and whispers a low warning, “Nothing.”

“Yuzuri’s right.” The bug can sways lazily in his grip. He sighs, giving Obi a pointed look. “You’re a terrible liar.”

Bristling – frustrated that he can’t talk to anyone about this particular mission, and still not entirely sure how he’s going to accomplish this on his own with almost no leads – Obi pushes past Suzu with a grunt, before dropping his box of shit on the kitchen island.

Something inside shatters. Based on the contents he’d hastily crammed in there, while fighting back waves of tears and feeling like he might pass out, it’s likely the mug Kiki gifted him the day they solved their first case together.

Obi’s jaw clenches. Throat burns.

Not wanting to check in the box and see the broken pieces of his favourite mug – the shattered remains that resemble his career – and unable to find it in him to look Suzu in the eyes, he turns on his heel, making a beeline for the door he’s only just come through, and snaps, “And you’re good at sticking your nose in where it doesn’t belong.”

“Talk to me, Obi.” Ignoring the bite in his tone – somehow understanding that although it’s directed at him, it’s not meant for him – Suzu stumbles after him; the handcuff jangling with each step, “What happened?”

Suzu’s fingers catch at his sleeve – trying to get him to stay and explain what’s going on – and, without giving it much thought, Obi smacks his hand away with a low growl, “I can’t, Suzu.” Chest heaving and anxiety levels nearing critical once more, he pleads, “So please, don’t ask again.”

Without waiting for a response – dreading what kind of expression he might be met with if he were to dare turn around – he slips out the front door and stumbles his way through smoke-stained hallways, past nosy neighbours trying to catch a glimpse of the cop next door, and down the cracked stone steps towards the bustling street.

#obiyukibingo23 #ans #obiyuki #police au #BINGO #(barely)#my house got hit by lightning last week and this week has been a complete write-off (pun intended)#this was going to be significantly longer but I just do not have the time right now to finish it the way I'd like :(#so for now you get this excerpt #<3

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kitkat1128 · 10 months

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For the AnS asks: 3, 6, 14, 15, and 29 pleaseee 💖.

Thank you for the ask! <3 #3: Character who grew on you eventually Hisame! I didn't think I would be routing for him and I wasn't really threatened by him either. It was quite awesome writing that made me want to ship him with Kiki, despite being a MitsuKiki shipper! And the fact that he grew as a person as well was so wonderful to see. #6: Character you would date in real life Honestly, Zen would be a wonderful choice for me if Shirayuki wasn't dating him but then again he might not like me, maybe as friends? However, I can relate to Tsuruba a lot so if he were to ask, I would totally date him! #14: Most hated arc I... might be boring. The Lyrias-Olin Maris Research Arc for me was boring. The science-y part was fine, but I barely remember it and the interactions with Lata, Yuzuri, and Suzu are great, but it just doesn't peak my interest 😅 So, I would say not hate but just not interest. #15: Your controversial take I do not mind what anyone ships however they want whoever they want. However, I just don't like when it's at the expense of another character's personality. Such as how ObiYuki shippers still think that Shirayuki will dump Zen or that Zen is abusive in any way. Again, I respect ObiYuki shippers however, I have firm faith that ZenYuki is never to break. #29: Things you still don’t understand How on EARTH did the Olin Maris become what it is now, harmless and non-poisonous!?! Of course, maybe if someone gave it to me like I was 5 then maybe, and that I should just read the Olin Maris Research Arc but... no 🤣

Again, thank you, love! <3

#akagami no shirayukihime #ans #snow white with the red hair #赤髪の白雪姫 #asks

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kirayaykimura · 3 years

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It was an unremarkable Tuesday afternoon. Spring had still not sprung in Lilias, so Yuzuri had dragged Shirayuki into a tavern beyond the walls to complain about her terrible date the night before. And also to get some lunch.

“All I’m saying,” Yuzuri said as she claimed a table near the back of the tavern they’d ducked into, “is that I would like to be attracted to someone I actually like. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”

“It’s not,” Shirayuki agreed easily. She didn’t really understand how Yuzuri could be attracted to someone she didn’t like on a personal level, but clearly it was possible and Shirayuki didn’t want to invalidate that.

Apparently Yuzuri had been on a date with the “hottest man anyone has ever seen,” but answered every question with a long, extended, “Uh,” and then ended the night by asking if she wanted to bring him back to her place because he was technically homeless at the moment. (“Obviously I said yes,” Yuzuri had explained. “I mean, he was indescribably attractive. But I would like my mind stimulated as well, you know?” Again, Shirayuki did not know, but she nodded all the same.)

“It’s like my body rebels against me,” Yuzuri said. “I could be talking to the dullest man alive, but somehow my vagina will perk up and say, ‘Hi. Hello. I would like to meet you.’”

“Maybe you should train your vagina to stop jumping on people.”

“Like, take Suzu for instance,” Yuzuri continued, in full rant mode. “Sure, I could fuck him, but can I have an actual conversation with the man that doesn’t end with one of us wanting to tear our own hair out? Absolutely not.”

“Thanks.”

It wasn’t Shirayuki who had spoken, but a man behind her. She turned to find Suzu leveling them both with an unimpressed stare. It made sense that she’d missed him: his back was to their table and the restaurant was dimly lit on top of them being slightly snow-blind from their walk over, but she still felt bad. Even if Yuzuri hadn’t been talking about him, she hadn’t said hello. It was impolite.

Apparently she was the only one who felt bad, though. Sounding completely unashamed, Yuzuri said, “Oh. Suzu. When did you get here?”

Judging from the papers spread all over the table in front of him, he’d been there the entire time. Suzu simply gave Yuzuri a long, quiet look, then turned back to his papers.

“Anyway,” Yuzuri said, “my dating life sucks. How’s yours going? Let me live vicariously through you and your disgustingly perfect royal romance.”

Right. She’d forgotten to tell Yuzuri. Oops.

See, Shirayuki had meant to tell her basically the second it had happened. She and Zen had sat down for dinner in a nice inn down the road, eaten a bittersweet last meal as a couple before mutually agreeing that things weren’t really working out, and then she’d walked back to find Yuzuri and tell her everything, both because Yuzuri loved a bit of good romantic gossip and because Shirayuki didn’t really feel much of anything and she wanted to see if that was normal. But then she’d run into Obi first and was waylaid trying to console him about her break-up and it was all very distracting.

“Oh no,” Yuzuri said, obviously semi-correctly reading Shirayuki’s face. “What happened?”

“We broke up,” Shirayuki admitted.

“Are you okay? Do you need to cry? Do you want me to kick his ass? I mean, I know he’s technically my prince but I’ll do it.”

“No, no.” Shirayuki waved a hand to get her to stop. “I’m totally fine. It was all very amicable. It just…didn’t work out.”

Yuzuri eyed her. “You do seem fine. Why aren’t you a mess?”

Shirayuki shrugged. She had no idea how break-ups were supposed to go since this was her first. Maybe this was just how she reacted to them.

“So are you stuck here?” Yuzuri asked, leaning her chin on a wrist. “Are you considered an enemy of Clariness?”

“No!” Shirayuki said on a laugh. “We’re still friends. I think we both realized that we’d spent so long apart we didn’t know how to be together anymore.”

“You’re so well-adjusted it makes me sick,” Yuzuri groaned.

“Sorry.”

“See, that would be nice, to stay friends after a break-up. But I can’t bone down on my friends so there’s no friendship to save in the aftermath. I mean, we already covered Suzu.”

“I thought my problem was that I was hot but insufferable,” Suzu drawled.

“Why are you eavesdropping?” Yuzuri asked. She rolled her eyes at Shirayuki. “See? Insufferable.”

“Sure,” Shirayuki said, “but maybe it’s different with sex involved?”

There was a pause, then Yuzuri asked, “You never slept with Zen?” over the scraping of chair legs behind her as Suzu turned to their table.

“I’m not going to pretend I’m not listening in,” Suzu said. “You dated this man for how long?”

“Four,” Shirayuki said slowly, “years?”

The deeply judgmental silence that statement was met with pushed her to say, “Not every relationship needs sex! We were perfectly happy to take things slow. It was nice. But then one day he showed up for a surprise visit and I couldn’t remember that last time I even thought about him, let alone wished he was there, and also I was kind of annoyed I had to stop what I was doing to go out to lunch with him which is probably not what you should think about your boyfriend and then he wasn’t anymore. My boyfriend, I mean.”

Yuzuri blinked. “Wait, so does that mean you’re still-”

“I’m not answering that.”

Suzu whistled.

“Anyway,” Shirayuki said, “maybe that’s why we’re fine. Maybe you only get one or the other; physical or psychological attraction.”

“Or maybe one comes before the other,” Suzu said. “With your prince, the physical attraction never came so your relationship petered out. But maybe you’re out with a friend one day and they do something unexpected that catches your eye. For instance, they tuck their hair behind their ear but a little of it misses and sits just in front of their ear and you think, ‘I want to tuck that hair back properly,’ and then you’re left thinking about how it would feel to have your fingers in her hair, close enough to-” Suzu cut himself off abruptly. He cleared his throat. “Anyway, maybe this sort of thing takes time is all I’m saying.”

Amused, Shirayuki said, “If all it took was being friends with someone and noticing things about them, I’d be dating Obi.”

Yuzuri and Suzu stared silently at her for the few seconds it took to process what she’d just said.

“No,” Shirayuki said. “That’s not how this works.” She liked Zen. Liked Zen, she reminded herself. Past tense. And look where that got them: her heading down one path while he headed down another in a completely different direction. When she thought about her future and what she wanted to accomplish in her life, Zen wasn’t the end goal anymore. Neither was Obi, for that matter, but that didn’t mean Obi wasn’t there every step of the way, in every scenario her mind could conjure up. He was there. He’d always been there. She couldn’t imagine her life without him in it, and she hadn’t been able to for a very long time.

“I think I should marry Obi,” Shirayuki said after a lengthy pause.

“Hot damn!” Yuzuri said, smacking the table lightly with her palm. “That was a hell of a leap, but I’m into it. Go get your man.”

“This is a bad idea probably,” Shirayuki said, already standing.

“Only if you don’t mean it,” Suzu told her. His sarcastic edges softened just slightly when he smiled up at her. “Good luck.”

Shirayuki nodded numbly, then took off for…Obi’s post? She’d never really had to go looking for him before. Mostly, he found her. However, on the rare occasion she did go looking for him, she always had to ask multiple people where he’d gotten off to because he was never where the last person had seen him last. It might be a good thing in this case, though. It would give her time to come up with a good argument for marrying her (which so far consisted of, ‘I don’t want to go through life without you and I just realized one (1) minute ago that I think maybe I think you’re pretty and maybe if we give it some time you could think I’m pretty in the same way?’ As arguments went, it could use some work).

The moment she stepped through the gates and flashed her I-belong-here badge, she asked the attendant, “Have you seen Obi around?”

“Sorry, ma’am,” the boy said with a slight bow, “I have not.”

Another knight passing by slowed and asked, “You’re looking for Obi?”

“Yes, have you seen him?”

“Not in person, but I hear he’s on a hot date.” The knight winked. “You might have to fight her for him.��

She stood, rooted in her spot, while the knight strolled on as if he hadn’t just upended her entire worldview. As far as she knew, Obi was single. Was he dating someone she didn’t know about?

No, he would have told her. This had to be a first date. Like that time he was set up with that guy’s little sister. He wasn’t interested; this was just a favor to a friend. She forced her feet to move, one in front of the other, and pick up her pace. It wasn’t a real date, but if it was a real date, she should get in there sooner rather than later and stop things before they got too far. He deserved to be happy, absolutely, but she could make him happy too. They always had so much fun together.

She asked another knight where Obi was and followed his directions into an unfamiliar wing with a lot of closed doors. Thankfully she wasn’t forced to knock on them at random until Obi answered because she rounded a corner and found him leaning against a doorway about halfway down the hallway. His back was to her, but she’d know that back anywhere. The toned lines of his body. The easy sprawl that hid his frankly alarming reflexes. The short hair that somehow always managed to be just slightly messy, as if, like the rest of him, it refused to be completely tamed.

She followed his gaze out to a woman at the end of the hall, too far away and gone around the corner too soon to make out more than lanky and brunette.

Obi turned away once she disappeared, and his fond smile morphed into something more surprised and pleased when his eyes caught on Shirayuki.

“Miss!” Obi said. “What are you doing in this neck of the woods?”

There were a lot of things Shirayuki should start with, but instead she blurted out, “Don’t marry her.”

“Okay,” Obi said easily. Then, “Who?”

“The woman you were just with.”

Obi cocked his head to the side and said, “What?”

“The woman just now. Don’t marry her. Because-“ she took a deep breath, “you should marry me.”

“What?” Obi yelped.

“I know. I know you’ve never thought about it before-”

“Whoa whoa whoa. Hold on just a-“

“-I just realized it ten minutes ago, but think about it. Nothing has to change. We can stay exactly the way we are now. I just-” she paused to collect her thoughts. She really should have thought of a better argument on the way here. “-I don’t want to go through the rest of my life without you in it.”

“Okay, I have no idea what’s happening here,” Obi said with a slight shake of his head, “but you never have to.” The smile he gave her was soft and small and made her feel like she was standing in the mid-summer sun in the middle of winter. “You don’t have to marry me to keep my by your side, Miss. I’m there no matter what.”

“But it’s different with you than it is with Zen, or Yuzuri, or Ryuu. You don’t feel the same to me as they do. That means something, right?”

Obi looked stunned, and for the first time she started to doubt herself. Maybe he’d only ever seen her as his friend and here she was pushing these other ideas on him.

“I didn’t think any of this through on the way here,” Shirayuki admitted.

“That sounds about right for you,” Obi said, amused. “Always jumping in before that big brain of yours can catch up.”

“Right,” she said, wishing that big brain he swore she had would come back online and tell her how to immediately abort mission and save at least a little bit of her dignity. “So let’s just forget this ever happened.”

“Do you want to see her?” Obi asked before Shirayuki could take more than half a step back. “The girl I was just with?”

Not even a little bit. What the hell?

“Come on.” He took her hand, and she pathetically found herself committing the feeling of it to memory. They rarely touched and she was sure it was going to happen even less now that she’d botched…whatever the hell she’d just tried to do, so she wanted to remember the exact placement of his callouses, exactly how much bigger his palm was than hers. He led her down the hall, then another before stopping just outside a small mess hall, where he pointed to a knight - Shaumaker, she thought, maybe - and a, well, girl on the far side of the room. She could only see their profiles, but-

“She looks young,” Shirayuki said before she could think better of it.

“She is,” Obi said, clearly trying not to laugh. “She’s twelve.”

Shirayuki turned to him with wide eyes. She hadn’t thought he was the type to-

“I was babysitting!” Obi clarified quickly.

“Oh.”

“Well, we called it hanging out. She’s getting to the age where she doesn’t want a babysitter, but her brother still didn’t want her running around a place with inattentive scientists and large men with dangerous weapons unsupervised.”

“That seems wise.”

“Yeah.”

They stood quiet for a moment, watching as the girl and probably-Shaumaker chatted merrily.

“So,” he said, casually leaning back against the wall and pulling her in until she stood toe-to-toe with him, “you wanna marry me?”

She looked down at their hands - still entwined. That was a good sign, right? He’d said no before, but at least he wasn’t repulsed by her. They could get past this.

“Sorry,” she said. She willed her hand to let go of his, but her hand wouldn’t cooperate with her brain. If this was all she got, she was going to savor it.

“What brought this all on anyway?”

“Yuzuri.”

“That explains it.”

When she gave him the quick run-down of what had occurred at the tavern, she’d expected him to laugh at her and the whole ridiculous situation, just like he’d been doing since she showed up in front of him. Instead, the thumb he’d been casually sweeping along the base of her own thumb stilled and his ever-present smile disappeared into something serious. Before she had time to be truly worried, he asked, “What do you notice about me?”

His eyes were almost all pupil as they held on hers, and she felt a pleasant shiver run through her body. She had no idea it could feel this good to be wanted by a man. Usually when someone looked at her with such blatant desire, it made her want to run as far and as fast as she could. This still made her heart speed up, but, instead of running, she found she wanted to plant her feet on either side of his and lean in closer.

“You’re attracted to me,” Shirayuki said before she could think better of it.

Obi nodded once.

Wait. Pushing through the chemicals currently making soup in her brain, she asked, “If you’re attracted to me, what’s the problem here?”

That broke the spell. Obi laughed, and Shirayuki shook off the pull she felt towards him. She took a step back, finally releasing his hand. As long as he let her see him laugh - completely uninhibited, no walls up - she thought she could be just fine with however the rest of this conversation played out.

Obi settled into his normal, fond expression as he said, “I didn’t want you to think you needed to do anything in order to keep me around.”

“I didn’t think that.” Shirayuki paused. “Well, until I heard you were on a hot date from one of the guards outside.” At Obi’s raised eyebrows, Shirayuki said, “I now realize that was a joke.”

Obi huffed out a laugh.

“I was serious, you know,” Shirayuki said. Some of that earlier nervousness made itself known again, but it kept to a low, manageable simmer. She trusted Obi to handle her heart carefully. “I think I realized something today that I should have realized a long time ago. You’re my best friend, Obi. You’re my favorite person. This is more than enough for me.” She paused, watching him for understanding. When he nodded, she continued, “I know I sprung all of this on you, but if there’s a chance you might be open to more in the future, I would like to try, too.”

Now that it was all said and done, she felt a blush steal across her face and…yep, there it was. The old urge to run away.

“Okay,” she squeaked, “that’s it. I’m going to go now and let you think about it.”

Obi snagged her wrist before she could move and hauled her into his chest.

“Wha-” was all she got out before Obi said, “What if I told you I’m open to more right now.”

She leaned back just far enough to look up at him and say, “I don’t want to pressure you or anything.”

Obi laughed again, but quieter this time. She felt it more than she heard it, which was kind of a strange feeling that she wanted to experience again and again for the rest of her life. He raised the hand not gripping her wrist to cup her cheek and told her, “No pressure, and without being pressured, I am going to kiss you now.”

“Okay.” Shirayuki nodded slightly. “Yeah, that-“

Obi’s lips cut off her nonsense ramblings, but that was honestly for the best. This was a better use of their time. Instead of overthinking everything, she let her mind go pleasantly blank aside from oh. She must have unconsciously mouthed the word too because suddenly Obi’s tongue was sweeping in through her parted lips and that should have been weird, but instead it made her shiver pleasantly again. It got even better when she tentatively flicked her own tongue out heard Obi lightly groan.

He pulled back some time later. She hadn’t even realized she was leaning forward to not break the kiss until she felt him smile against her lips. She felt him rest his forehead against hers.

“What made you think I’ve never thought about it before?” he asked.

He expected her to think after that? To process words?

Obi chuckled and pulled back just far enough that their faces weren’t touching anymore and waited, looking like he knew exactly how frustrated she was that she had to use her lips for something other than what she really wanted to be doing at the moment.

“What do you mean?” Shirayuki asked.

“Well, you keep implying you think I’ve never thought about marrying you before.”

“Wait, have you?”

Obi titled his head and made an enigmatic noise.

“You have?” She planted her palms on his chest and leaned back. “How long?”

Obi hummed. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll tell you in my vows.”

#i was writing that other fic where shirayuki is demisexual and doesn't realize she's attracted to obi #and part of this was the original conclusion but it didn't fit but also it was too funny to me to not do anything with it #snow white with the red hair #my fic #i apologize for the numerous typos i'm sure are in here #somewhere in this fic is a spinoff of yuzuri and suzu getting the ans version of married in vegas #and they wake up hung over as hell and yuzuri is like 'my life is a series of bad decisions'#then they have to learn how to live with each other because yuzuri refuses to get a divorce #(and suzu's been in love with her the entire time surprise!)#meanwhile obi and shirayuki watch the mess unfold like 'how? how did they beat us to the altar?'#obiyuki #i just really like the idea of shirayuki getting an idea in her head and running full steam ahead #which is absolutely canon and very funny when applied to 'obi you should date me'#the weekend voice *obi's into it*

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sabraeal · 3 years

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Documented for Posterity, Part 2

[Read on AO3]

1:20 Method 1: Subject attempts to sleep off effects

In those first few halcyon moments before Yuzuri reaches for the lamp, Suzu has high hopes. It’s not the first time he’s slept off an inappropriately pitched tent; college dormitories and trips to the field don’t leave much in the way of privacy. He prefers other methods, of course, but as he settles down against a pillow of his jacket and a blanket of Yuzuri’s cloak, he’s got a good good about his chances.

But then her fingers flip the flame down to the faintest flicker, light dancing through the glass with a demure wave, and--

Well, now he’s just locked in a dark room with stiff cock and a girl dressed not only in a clinging chemise-- there’s a flirty ripple of lace sewn to the curve of her decolletage that he’s personally finding very hard not to dwell on-- but also smelling like apples and vanilla. His heart gallops triple time in his chest, not sure if he’s ravenous for pie, biscuits, or her cunt.

It’s a bit much, that’s what he’s trying to say.

“It’s hot in here,” he complains, because anything else will almost certainly end with him doing a walk of shame in his long johns and boots across the university’s main floor. “Don’t you think it’s hot in here?”

“Just try to sleep already,” Yuzuri sighs, impatient, somewhere behind his head. He can’t see her; she’s moved away from the lamp’s hazy glow, and from the sound of it, is back at the table, pen scratching at the rough parchment of the page.

Experiment one, she must be writing, in the looping, fat hand he’s seen in the log book and on placards in the hothouses. Subject trying to sleep away erection of middling size. In this researcher’s experience, it should only take fifteen minutes to reduce to its normal size, though the standard deviation for cocks--

“I can hear you thinking.” Her pen skips to a stop. “Stop it.”

“It’s hard.” He rolls over, half on his stomach before he’s reminded-- ah yes, not a good plan having that touch...anything. Even if it’s just cold storeroom floor. “I’m very smart, you know.”

“I can’t see how.” He can’t see her, but he knows how her mouth is pinched, elongating the elegant oval of her face, and her arched brows drawn down to look like the sternest librarian fantasy. “It’s not like you do it regularly anyway.”

He nearly corrects her-- once a day, whether he needs to or not, just to keep the pipes working and his sheets clean-- but she’s not talking about that.

“Hey.” Suzu’s in no position to put his hands anywhere near his hips, but spiritually, they’re there, arms indignantly akimbo. “I have plenty of ideas--”

“Then have more of them about sleeping,” she informs him, stocking feet scuffling on the floor. “It’s impossible to have results if a test subject refuses to participate in the experiment.”

“Fine.” His arms fold across his chest in a huff. “I will. But you should know--”

“Suzu.” The way her mouth wraps around his name, so soft and resigned, has every bit of him standing at attention in all the best worst ways. Or worst best. He can’t quite decide. “Shut up.”

2:10

Suzu would like the record to show-- if Yuzuri would be kind enough to oblige him, which he knows she won’t be-- he does give it an honest effort.

Five minutes of honest to goodness silence settles him-- at least, enough to realize he’s too scrawny to ever lay on a stone floor in comfort. His shoulder blades jut oddly into the mortared edges, and when he rolls into his side, his ribs grate. It’s cold too; even in his woolens, Suzu feels the frosts of winters past riming his spine. And quite honestly, warm as his coat is, it’s nothing next to a good down pillow. Most bedding doesn’t smell of lab chemicals and yesterday’s lost dumpling. And Yuzuri’s cloak--

Well, it’s soft, warm-- and it smells like her. And, fool that he is, Past-Suzu thinks that’s a plus. Oh, Past-Suzu just catches that hint of dessert on the air and sticks his nose right in, huffing down that sweet scent of apple crisp, letting the soft, flickering of the lamp lull him. He can’t see her, but line of sight has never been necessary, oh no, not when a semi-eidetic memory meets an imagination as overactive as his.

Yuzuri sits up on her chair, one stockinged leg tucked beneath her, the other dangling, foot arched as her toes strain to press against the floor. Her golden hair falls over one shoulder, leaving the other bare, chemise sliding down its pale cusp. It’s chilly in here; she raises a hand to guide it back up. Her fingers hesitate-- maybe it would be better if they shared heat. Suzu, after all, looked so cozy there on the floor. Angelic, even, with the way his hair curled over his jacket.

Slowly, she stands, padding over, dropping to her knees. Her breasts strain against the soft linen of her chemise, nipples aroused by the contact, her hand reaching--

“Nope!” Suzu bolts upright, hunching over his knees. It’s a bit of a feat, now that his tent had expanded into a pavilion. “This is...definitely not working.”

The valve squeaks, the shadows deepening as the lamp brightens. The glare Yuzuri levels at him over the table describes all the way that his fantasies will stay firmly in the realm of imagination, aphrodisiac-induced arousal or not. “Really?”

“Yes,” he informs her a little more manic than he would like. “It’s giving me far too much time to think.”

Yuzuri hum, flatly. “I can see how that might be dangerous to your health.”

“It’s not funny,” he snips, head snapping over his shoulder. “I’ve had an erection for two whole hours. That’s-- that’s at least a whole hour longer than I’ve ever done before.”

The pen scratches across the page, but he could swear he hears a muttered, hour fifty-five.

He frowns. “What was that?”

Yuzuri doesn’t bother looking up. “What was what?”

“You said something.”

“No.” Her mouth forms the word carefully as she crosses her ankles, legs drawn tight together from knee to thigh. “I didn’t.”

His mouth purses, annoyed. “I don’t think you’re taking this very seriously.”

“I’m handling it with the seriousness it deserves,” she informs him primly, her tone implying another half to the sentence, which is none.

“I’ll have you know it hurts.” At least it does now, now that he’s said it. Stings, quite honestly, like skin pinched in a hinge, too full for too long.

For the first time since this whole debacle started, a real thrill of fear rushes through him. The whole situation is ridiculous and mortifying and carries the vague threat of ending his career if someone with more pearls to clutch than Yuzuri found out he was sporting an erection in an educational institution, but it hasn’t seemed dangerous. But now he nudges his cock, just the barest bit, and tears spring to his eyes. Something might actually be medically wrong. This could have lasting implications.

“Oh, honestly.” Yuzuri squiggles in her seat, thighs rubbing together in a way that brings new meaning to the words painfully hard. “Can’t you just jack yourself off?”

Suzu, age twenty-five, of sound body and mind, nearly has a cardiac event.

“What?” He stares at her hard enough to pop a vessel-- which he doesn’t, but it’s a close thing, considering. “Right here?”

“N-no, Suzu!” A blush blooms over the rosy rounds of her cheeks. “I’m not just telling you t-to whip it out in front of me!”

He nearly asks why not-- it’s not like it will be the first penis she’s seen outside of a clinical setting-- but his teeth snap shut around the impulse. That’s one of those things that could be career limiting, if one considered the bedroom a place of employment. Which he didn’t; it was his sanctum sanctorum, the place in which he rested his head at night, but--

Well, if he had a reason to be employed in there, he might. He’d at least like to be conducting interviews, instead of, ah, self-review.

“I meant that you could, I don’t know, go around the corner.” She waves her hand vaguely towards the back of the stockroom. “Use a shelf for cover or, um, something.”

“There’s a closet,” he says, because elaborate self-sabotage could be listed on his curriculum vitae under professional skills. “We use it for storing light sensitive materials.”

Against all reason, she actually lifts a finger to her chin and ponders the suggestion. “You’re able to do it in the dark?”

He could find his cock blind, deaf, mute, and one-handed, but that strikes him as a relatively unimpressive feat, considering how it’s attached to him.

“Yeah,” he says instead, “if you, ah, don’t mind.”

There is a distinct, heavy hesitation before she replies, “Well, it’s not like you’ll be in the same room.”

“No,” he agrees, technically.

“I think--” she worries at the edge of a page, thoughtful-- “that as long as we’re, ah, recording our findings, then it’s fine to be...scientifically rigorous.”

He swallows, hard. It makes a noticeable thunk.

“Right,” he says, weakly, rising to his feet. “Scientifically...rigorous.”

2:15 Method 2: Subject attempts manual stimulation

“What?” Suzu squawks, peeping out of the closet. “You can’t write that!”

Yuzuri flattens the journal against her chest-- that’s not helping what going on down in his whole...Pavilion Street reconstruction down south. “Why not?”

“People are going to read that!” He makes a terrible, uncoordinated swipe for it. She easily sidesteps him, giving him a withering glare. There was a reason Kirito always asks Obi to be on his team for the little snow battles him and his rascally friends enacted on the quad and not Suzu.

“That’s the point,” Yuzuri deadpans, “it’s being documented for posterity, like all you scholars love.”

“Right, yes, I get that.” He shuffles, cock bobbling painfully in his pants. Really, something has to be done about this. “But Shidan will read it.”

Her mouth pulls thin; or at least it would, if her lips weren’t full and quantifiably kissable no matter their configuration. “Shidan is a person, yeah.”

“Which means I’ll have to talk about it.” He licks his lips, nervous, and Yuzuri watches him with ever-increasing incredulity. “In, you know, a meeting.”

She stares for a long moment, then opens the journal with a sigh.

2:15 Method 2: Subject attempts manual stimulation to self-administer proposed course of treatment

“That’s better.”

Yuzuri glares up at him. “Just get in the closet already.”

2:19

This should be easy. After all, Suzu always joked-- with Obi, alone, door locked after surreptitiously checking the halls to make sure no one was lingering too close to hear through the solid oak-- that if they’d handed out doctorates for masturbation, he’d have three. He is, in as much as one could be at a private practice with no grading rubric, a professional.

But as soon as he unbuttons the fall of his trousers, letting his cock sit heavy in his hands, he’s just...lost.

It should be a relief. When he’s left to his own devices, there’s no bigger rush than making it to his room before midnight, work finished-- or at least, avoided-- and stripping down to nothing. Just him, his bed, and a bottle of vanilla-scented oil, with the whole night before them.

But now he stands here in the dark, cramped closet, the scent of herbs so heavy he can feel it pressing against his skin, and even with his aching cock, he just can’t quite, well--

Get it up. No, wait, it’s definitely up, but--

But there’s nothing sensual about this. No romance. No chemistry. Like the dates Yuzuri always complains about-- no dinner first.

“How’s it going?” The wood muffles Yuzuri’s voice, but he can hear each word as crisp as an accusation. “Getting close?”

Suzu’s tongue falls in an exasperated cluck, swiveling his neck toward the door. “Just how long do you think this takes?”

“In my vast experience,” she drawls, her tone vibrating at the frequency glass shatters, “you should already be done.”

He’s tempted to balk, maybe even disparage her previous paramours, but, well-- if she was here, her soft, slender hands wrapped around his cock, whispering encouragement into his ear, Suzu doubts he’d fare much better. His cock gives a good twitch of agreement, and promptly continues to get absolutely nowhere.

“Well,” he manages, mouth utterly dry-- another factor making this whole venture both uncomfortable and unlikely-- “I can’t do it when you’re right out there, listening.”

Even through the door her sigh is heavy, frustrated. “I’m taking notes!”

“I don’t see why,” he snaps, giving his shaft a vengeful stroke. It, like all the others, feels good while also being irrevocably, disappointingly wrong. “It’s not like you’ll be describing this in Methods.”

“Because if I take notes, this is experimentation,” she explains haltingly, “and if I don’t, then...”

Then he’s just a young man fruitlessly jerking off in a closet while she listens, no matter the details. She could sit back at the table, of course, folding those shapely legs beneath her, biting her lip with a longing glance over her shoulder but--

But it wouldn’t change anything. He’s still in a closet, hand around his cock, hoping for some relief, and she’s enabling him. The science is the only thing between her and a scandal.

“It’s just...” His palm squeezes the base of his shaft, a spark of arousal zipping up his spine. “It’s like trying to pee when there’s someone in the next stall.”

There’s a long moment of silence, enough that he wonders if she’s wandered away after all, ready to wash her hands of the whole thing. It’s his problem, after all, not hers, and she--

“Suzu.” Her voice is low, the kind of deep-throated whisper that sends static swirling over his skin. “Are you a shy pisser?”

His cheeks sting, heat prickling like a rash. Unfair-- by any natural law, or at least the ones in his repertoire-- he shouldn’t have the blood to spare for a blush, let alone one that fully threatens to expand its horizons in either northern or southerly direction. Any moment now he’ll start to get dizzy, maybe even pass out in this tiny bolthole of a closet, and Yuzuri will have to drag him out with his pants around the ankles before she goes and writes something like, subject’s delicate constitution precludes finishing trial, and--

“NO ONE LIKES PEEING IN FRONT OF PEOPLE.” His breath huffs out of him in ragged pants, and for once it has nothing to do with the state of his erection. Well, tangentially it does, but-- “honestly, Yuzuri.”

“Strange stance to take when you can pee on any tree you want,” she mutters, just audible through the oak. “Now are you going to finish this up or what?”

Suzu looks down at his cock-- still painfully hard, ridiculous jutting out from the ruin of his trousers-- and glares.

“Why are you even still here,” he grumbles, shoving it back behind his fall, buttons fumbling out of the grip of his trembling fingers. “Nothing about this is arousing.”

2:20

“I just don’t see what the big deal is,” Yuzuri says, incredulous, for what had to be the twelfth time since he’s stumbled out of the closet, desperately aroused and with no relief in sight. The repetition has not made the observation any less embarrassing. “You must do it all the time.”

Suzu hunches over his knees, willing himself to disappear. Like everything he wants, invisibility remains frustratingly elusive. “I’m not talking to you about-- about--”

“Jerking off?” Her brows make a rousing bid for her hairline. “It’s a little late for that, don’t you think?”

He shrivels sullenly. “It’s not fair.”

Yuzuri sighs, but she tips her head to look at him, hair falling like a solid sheet of gold over her shoulder, neck curved in an elegant line, ready for a mouth to--

Ugh. Suzu buries his face between his knees. His suffering is unending.

“How is this unfair?” She asks, annoyance adding spikes to every oblivious word that falls from her lips. “Just because your genitalia is external and obvious?”

It should be impossible to be so angry and so aroused at the same time, not without blissfully passing out to avoid both states, but here he is, still conscious. Still conscious, and the tatters of his brain-to-mouth filter frittered away by the ache in his crotch.

“It’s not fair,” he seethes raggedly, “because nothing is happening to you!”

The silence his shout leaves behind is deafening. What was he thinking? He never raises his voice, not like this, and especially not at Yuzuri. Yuzuri who could be doing anything else instead of sitting here, nursing him through the worst night of his life.

“What?”

He can barely bring himself to look up, to look at the confusion furrowing her perfect alabaster brow.

“I know it’s not your fault, but--” he should really stop himself, but an object in motion stays in motion, and there’s no friction he can provide that can stop the truth from barrelling out of his mouth-- “here I am, experiencing death by erection, and you--” he waves his hand vaguely in her direction-- “are immune or something.”

“Immune?” The word hisses between her teeth, sharp as a page’s edge. “Suzu, I’m dying. I-- I can barely sit upright, but someone has to write this down.”

Suzu stares. Properly this time, gaze fixed to her face, and-- she’s flushed, pink blooming around the gathering at her collar, and twinging up her neck, flooding her cheeks. “W-what?”

“What do you mean ‘what?’“ she snaps. “It’s not like I’ve been hiding it! Just because I don’t have external genitalia doesn’t mean I’m not--”

She throws up her hands, the noise she makes halfway between a grunt and a scream,all frustration. Her one arm drops, wiping at her forehead--

Her forehead, which is coated in sweat. Wiped by her hands, which are trembling. Right above her eyes too, too dark even for the dimness of the room. And her thighs, they rub together, pressed tight at their apex--

His mouth dries. Her chemise is wet, right where it settles over her crotch. The scent in the room now is not just herbs and alcohol, but something earthy and tantalizing, something he’d like to taste on his tongue.

“Yuzuri,” he says slowly, heart pounding in his ears. “Are you...horny?”

She turns to him with those too dark eyes, breath huffing out her small nose.

“You,” she sighs, trembling fingers pressing to her temples, “are an utter moron.”

#suzuri #akagami no shirayukihime #snow white with the red hair #my fic #ans #somewhere on the citrus scale but god knows where it is #definitely not a lemon but limey??? maybe???#listen I know I said this would show up in February #but obviously things rarely work out the way i wish they would #i'm hoping to have the third and definitely final part out this August #but that all depends on bingo and obiyukiweek!

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rekutopia · 4 years

Text

In which Shirayuki met Obi's assistant

A part of the Flatmate AU

“I’m going to install the cabinet today,” Obi suddenly said as he arranged their used plates and mugs into the dishwasher.

“It’s about time we do it – the empty space is slowly getting on my nerves.” Shirayuki placed the half loaf of bread back into the bread box and glanced at the clock. It was already a little after ten. “But then you’ll need to hurry. You only have three hours until the quiet hours. Or do you plan to do it in the afternoon?”

She heard Obi snort and she rolled her eyes. Quiet hours. It was one of those typical things in this country which took Obi a while to get used to. She could understand why, though. Surely there are people who want to take an undisturbed nap after lunch on a Sunday, but sometimes it limits other people’s time to do things in their homes, like playing music, or installing kitchen cabinets. Especially when they only have Sunday to do these stuff.

“Nah, I’ll do it in a bit. Won’t take that long. Besides, I’ll have an assistant,” Obi said, smirking.

Shirayuki frowned. This was unlike Obi. Usually he would have told her days before if he needed her help. “I can’t be your assistant, Obi. I’ve already promised Yuzuri to accompany her to this coffee exhibition, remember? Unless you could wait until I’m back? I can’t tell you for sure when I’ll be back, though...”

Obi chuckled, “Of course I remember, sweetie. Don’t worry, it’s–”

Just then the building’s doorbell rang. Obi grinned at Shirayuki. “I’ll get it. That should be my assistant.”

Shirayuki watched as Obi slammed the dishwasher’s door closed and trotted to the front door. He pressed the buzzer to let the person in and waited until they arrived at their floor. Who could that be, Shirayuki wondered. Obi rarely talked about his friends, other than Suzu. And even then, it was always in a work context. She wondered whether they were even friends outside of work. Creeping to the corridor Shirayuki hid herself behind the wall and peeked around the corner, just as the door opened.

“Right on time, Aki-chan!”

“Hi, Obi.”

Shirayuki’s eyes widened. The assistant was a big guy, half a head taller than Obi, muscular and proud of it, judging from the tight tee he was wearing. A second later he was pulling Obi into a tight embrace, his platinum blonde hair a stark contrast to Obi’s dark one. His face was beautifully carved, with a high nose bridge and thick, hard angled eyebrows. His eyes were closed and a huge smile was on his lips, showing a row of pearly white teeth.

Oh wow.

Obi’s chuckle brought her back from her fascination. “Why are you hiding, sweetie? C’mere. This is my friend Aki-chan. Aki-chan, meet my flatmate, Shirayuki.”

“Nice to finally meet you, Shirayuki,” the guy shook her hand excitedly. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

A pity I can’t say the same about you, Shirayuki thought. “Nice to meet you, uh, Aki...chan?”

The guy laughed. Even that sounded infuriatingly charming. The corner of his eyes crinkled as he continued to smile at Shirayuki. “You can just call me Aki. It’s embarrassing enough that Obi uses ‘-chan’ on me. I mean, it’s not that I look like a little Japanese girl, right?”

“U-um…”

Obi slung his arm around his friend’s shoulder. “Aww, come on, Aki-chan. It’s cute, and you’re cute!” He poked Aki’s cheek playfully and Aki pretended to bite his finger. “Besides, ‘Aki’ is also a Japanese name, so, why not?”

Shirayuki suddenly felt out of place in front of the two guys bantering about proper use of names and name ender, like a third wheel on a date, though this wasn’t one. Or wasn’t it? In any case, Shirayuki could do without watching her flatmate flirting with a hot hunk and started to head back to the living area. She had to get ready to meet Yuzuri anyway. She almost managed to escape to the bathroom when a hand on her arm stopped her.

“Whoa there, young lady.” Obi was scowling at her. “I wasn’t sure this morning but now I see it clearly. What’s wrong with your feet?”

Damn, she was found out. She had been hoping that Obi wouldn’t notice her slight limping. The pain had started yesterday after work. She had been wearing ballerinas that day, on Yuzuri’s insistence.

Just what do you think you’re wearing?! This is your first lunch with him! You know how extremely little time Zen has! You can’t waste time going to your locker to change shoes! Just wear these today, they’re lady-like but don’t have heels so you should be fine!

But Shirayuki was not fine. Not at all. Apart from the numbing pressure she felt on her soles at the end of the day, intermittently there was a pricking pain at the base of her right big toe. She was assuring herself that the pain was only temporary and that it would go away after she cushioned her feet in her comfy sneakers today.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just a bit of pain. It’ll go away soon.”

To her surprise, Aki stepped forward and squatted in front of her. He looked thoughtful as he eyed her bare feet. Shirayuki held back the urge to curl her toes and hide them from his scrutiny. “Have you been wearing too small shoes lately? Your skin looks raw in some places.” Then, to Shirayuki’s horror, Aki reached out his hand towards her and she took a step back in reflex.

“Really, it looks worse than it actually is. Don’t worry about it.”

“Hmmm…” Aki stood up slowly, looking unconvinced. He threw a glance at Obi, then back at her. He jerked his thumb at Obi, raising his eyebrows. “You do know your flatmate does physio?”

Well, duh. It’s not like Shirayuki hadn’t considered asking Obi for help. But Obi deserved his rest. She just couldn’t let him work 6 days a week and have her as an additional patient on a Sunday. Besides, she wouldn’t know how to feel if he said no. Hell, she wouldn’t know how to feel if he said yes. Shirayuki would never admit to anyone, not even to Yuzuri, that she sometimes dreamed of having Obi’s lovely fingers roaming over her body, caressing her tenderly, squeezing at the right places–

In any case, she was worried that things could turn awkward between them.

Before she could protest she heard Obi say, “Why didn’t you tell me, sweetie? I’d be happy to check it out for you.” Did she just imagine it or did he look slightly dejected?

“You’d better listen to him,” Aki said, rubbing it in. “And he’s really good at massages, right Obi?”

Shirayuki wanted to ask how he knew that. She was also curious whether it was common practice for Obi to give others treatment outside of work. But she couldn’t find the appropriate words without sounding so nosy, so she just sighed, resigning to her fate and promised Obi she would let him take care of her later.

*****

Seven hours later Shirayuki found herself laying on the couch with her right foot resting on Obi’s thigh. The door to the balcony was open, letting some breeze in. It would still take a while until the sun set, but at least the air had cooled down a little.

Obi’s fingers probed carefully, stretching her big toe away from the rest. His hands were so big they looked almost comical encircling her foot. From time to time he looked questioningly at her, searching for signs of discomfort.

Shirayuki hummed quietly, keeping a small, reassuring smile on her lips. She did feel a little embarrassed at the beginning – her feet being not her favourite body parts – but Obi’s pure professionalism put her at ease.

Her eyes wandered back and forth from Obi’s focused face to his clever fingers. She had never seen him in such a concentrated state before. She didn’t think it was possible for her flatmate to look even more attractive than usual, but today she was proved wrong.

Watching him work, Shirayuki wondered whether this was how Obi’s patients felt during their sessions. She wondered whether he would be that one talkative, flirty therapist everyone was fond of. She also wondered whether the way his long, slender fingers moved ever made any of them felt ...aroused. Just like how they made herself feel now–

A twinge in her chest jolted Shirayuki back from her musings. Where did that come from? She should stop being ridiculous. Obi is gay. The hot assistant from this morning was another proof.

She mentally shook her head and drew her attention back to Obi, who was lecturing her. Well, actually he was lecturing Yuzuri. He had been going at it for a while. Good for Yuzuri that she wasn’t here. He would have chewed her ear off.

“–sure she works more at the back office, but she’s your coworker! She should know how much time you spend on your feet! To let you run around in flats like that! In borrowed flats! You both may have the same size, but every person’s feet are different! Borrowing shoes should be made illegal! I can’t believe you did that! Thank goodness it was only for one day! One day was bad enough! You could’ve seriously injured yourself–”

His words were scolding but his tone was soft, worried. “Hey, are you even listening to me?” He ground his knuckles into the middle of her sole.

“Ow-ow-ow-ow! I’m listening! And for the last time, I’m sorry!”

Obi sighed. “Promise me you’ll never do such a stupid thing again? If you’re worried about wearing clogs to your future lunch dates I’ll get you a nice pair of Birkenstocks, okay? Those are closed shoes, so your prince would never ever see your cupcake print socks.”

Shirayuki flung a cushion at Obi’s head. “He’s not my prince! And it was just a lunch, not a lunch date. I've only known him for a little more than a week!”

Obi hummed, smirking and not at all convinced. Shirayuki desperately searched for a way out of the embarrassing conversation.

“A-anyway, I’ve been wondering. Is Aki a model?”

“Huh? Aki-chan?” Though he seemed surprised by the drastic change of subject, Obi decided to humour her. “Does he look like one to you?”

Shirayuki raised a brow. Doesn’t he look like one to you? “W-well, he’s very handsome, a-and very well built, just like those male models from the magazines, so I thought...”

“Heee…” Obi’s smirk grew wider. “And here I thought your type is more of a delicate, classy looking bocchan like your prince.”

Shirayuki gritted her teeth in frustration. This change of subject was not working well. To her mercy, Obi dropped his teasing, though not his smirk, and answered her question. “Believe it or not, Aki is also a physiotherapist. He works at that big health centre near the main station.”

Ah, a fellow physiotherapist. That explained his actions this morning, Shirayuki thought. “I see. And how did you two meet?”

Obi gently replaced her right foot with her left one on his thigh. “Let’s see...We met at that training I went to in January. We had to work in pairs and he was assigned to be my partner. It wasn’t long before we found out that we both speak English and immediately after that we kind of clicked. It turns out he’s also from here. So we’ve been staying in touch since then.”

“Oh, then you’ve known each other for quite a while.” Shirayuki wondered why Obi had never mentioned him to her before. Though she was burning with curiosity, Obi must have had his reasons, so she held back her questions. “Is that how he knows how good you are at massages?” she asked instead.

Obi shrugged. “He and I help each other sometimes. Being in the same profession we know the problem zones well, so it’s more or less for practical reasons.”

“He’s right, though. You are amazing.” Shirayuki winced and groaned as Obi put the right pressure on the right spot. When she looked up again she thought she saw a tint of pink blooming on Obi’s tanned cheeks. “Why, sweetie, you know it’s always a pleasure for me to satisfy all of my patient’s needs,” he gave her a wink. Shirayuki threw another cushion at him and he dodged, laughing.

Adjusting her position on the couch, Shirayuki thought about the new gained information. Now that she knew more about the hot assistant, there was only one more thing still nagging at the back of her mind.

“Say, do you often give treatments outside of work?”

Obi pursed his lips. “Nah, why should I work for free? I mean, I’d totally do it for a friend if they asked, like Aki–” His fingers suddenly stopped working and he gazed intently at Shirayuki. “Speaking of which, you haven’t told me the reason you didn’t come to me?”

Shirayuki cursed inside. That was an unexpected turn of the conversation. “I-I…” Think, Shirayuki, think! “...I didn’t want to bother you on a Sunday,” she settled for the safest answer she could think of. It was the truth anyway, at least one of them.

“Hmmm…” Obi tickled her sole and Shirayuki pulled her foot away with a yelp. When he turned to her his expression was kind. “Next time don’t hesitate to come to me, okay? Even if it’s on a Sunday. I’ll always have time for you.” Then his expression turned stern, “Though, I forbid you to come back with this kind of stupidity again, you hear me, young lady?”

Shirayuki gave him a mocking salute. “Yes, sir!”

“Good. I’ll go grab the salve for your chapped skin.”

Shirayuki watched Obi disappear into his room and then blew out a long breath. That was close. She hoped Obi believed her. It’s not like she could tell him she didn’t know how to handle getting turned on by the view of him massaging her feet. She patted both her cheeks firmly.

Better order that Birkenstock soon.

——————–

Notes:

I’m not participating in the ObiYukiMadness20. It’s just a coincidence that I’ve started writing again during this event. Basically I just want to write some ObiYuki domestic fluff.

In case any of you is wondering, Aki is American born Finn and is based on the Finnish model Otto Seppäläinen.

Coffee exhibition do exist.

Guess in which country this was set? :D

Big thanks to @claudeng80 for beta-reading <3

#myfanfic #akagami no shirayukihime #obiyuki #flatmate au

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realtacuardach · 4 years

Text

Breath of Life (Obiyuki Kissathon)

This is my first entry for the Obiyuki Kissathon, hosted by snowwhite-andtheknight! The prompt was a “from death” kiss. Thanks to the Obiyuki discord, especially jhalya and sabraeal for their help! Enjoy!

***

"Incredible," Zen marvelled, his breath clouding in front of him as he leaned back in the stirrups and gave Shirayuki an admiring look. "To fuse seed and stone until the plant is no longer poisonous, but a beacon!"

Shirayuki shook her hair out of her eyes, feeling the brush of her ornament's tassels against her flushed cheeks. "Well, I can be stubborn as stone myself, I wasn't about to give up and let everyone down. And I had lots of help - Suzu and Yuzuri and Ryuu and Obi…"

Her voice trailed off a little in thought, and Zen smirked before nudging his horse's flank against hers. "I'm losing you, Shirayuki."

She straightened up, her flush bright enough to stand out against the redness brought by the harsh winds. "I'm here, I'm here!" She shot him a playful glare. "And I'm hardly yours to lose anymore. How is Kihal?"

Zen flushed in a gratifying way. "Kihal's fine - although she was sad to miss the chance to visit you. But she couldn't leave the messenger bird trainings."

"I thought that was you, your highness," Kiki wryly commented from atop her steed, "you certainly have spent a lot of time looking out at the training sessions." Her eyebrows raised and the corner of her lips lifted as Mitsuhide appeared to oscillate between amusement and scandal.

Scandal was appearing to win out, and Mitsuhide was opening his mouth to interject when a snowball hurtled out of the trees and struck him squarely in the shoulder. Only his experience in horsemanship kept him upright, and he leveled a righteous glare into the surrounding forest. "Obi!"

The only response was another snowball, this one hitting him in the center of his forehead. As Mitsuhide sputtered and started scrubbing out the snow embedded in his hair, Kiki reached for her sword, placing her scabbard in front of her face protectively as her eyes skimmed the woods. Obi apparently valued his life more than the chance to surprise attack her, as his next snowball whizzed nearly past Zen's ear, painting the tree trunk near him in a splatter of white.

"Obi!" Zen called, his attempt at sounding stern undermined by the undercurrent of laughter in his voice. "Get down here!"

Obi smoothly descended from the trees, landing in a crouched bow in front of them, and looked up at his master with a toothy grin stretching from ear to ear.

Zen shook his head wryly, grinning back at the sight of his immediate knight and friend. "Is that the best way to greet your fellow knights?"

If anything, Obi's grin broadened. "Keeps me in practice, Master. And keeps Mitsuhide on his toes!"

Zen laughed, the sudden tension draining from his shoulders as he relaxed into the saddle; beside him, Shirayuki let out a quiet sigh of relief. It was a blessedly nostalgic feeling to see Obi teasing his master - it was an occurrence that hadn't been seen for the past few months. Obi had taken the dissolution of the romance between second prince and herbalist even harder than the two themselves, for some reason that he had never told her. Although he had treated Shirayuki much the same as ever, albeit with a delicacy for the first few weeks that was better suited to handling fragile seedlings, Zen had experienced what it was like to deal with an Obi who was all business. He had done his job and done it well when his services had been required, but that was the only time he would interact with Zen. Gone was the teasing and quips; the immediate knight's words were short, clipped, and to the point, and then he would vanish with a brisk nod until summoned again.

Zen had tried to be understanding, but his dismay and uneasiness about the situation could easily be read between the lines of any correspondence between him and Shirayuki. In a way, she knew that Obi was just being protective and she appreciated the steadfastness of her friend; however, she wished he could understand that she herself felt that it was for the best. Zen would always be her first love, but the two had grown, both together and apart, to find that their friendship felt more right than pursuing a romance which had cooled and dissolved with the passage of time.

At last, she could see her friends all interact without a blade of sorrow stabbing her in the stomach. And, with Zen, Mitsuhide, and Kiki so far away most of the year, their times together were rarer and even more precious to her than before. She would stomach the sorrow if it meant seeing it, but it was a relief to have it gone.

Obi fell into step beside their horses in his usual controlled lope, the leather of his uniform creaking in time with the horses' hoofbeats in a way that was familiar and comforting.

"Where's your horse, Obi?" Mitsuhide asked.

"Back in the stables."

Zen's attendant clicked his tongue in disapproval. "You really should have it with you on patrol," he said, "it helps when you need to get quickly about the perimeter."

Midori, a new guard just out of Obi's training sessions that had been riding a few lengths behind the others, almost fell off his horse in his eagerness to come forward. "Sir Obi, you can use mi-"

Obi held up a hand and shook his head with a smile. "Not necessary, Midori." He looked up at Mitsuhide. "And when you know how to ride a horse on fortress walls, I'm all ears. Otherwise, it's quicker for me to - "

His words cut off suddenly, and his head suddenly moved to the side with the sharpness of a hawk scouting out its prey. His muscles grew languid as he looked around, before coiling like a panther about to pounce.

Zen frowned, looking around himself. "Obi, what is - "

The next few seconds were a blur. Without preamble, Obi leapt into the air, a flash of black leather and tanned skin as he passed before his master and mistress and towards the trees. The telltale twang of an arrow being loosed plucked the air and Obi's hand closed in a fist as he landed in the snow. "Archer!" He growled as he took off towards the trees, feet barely touching the ground as Mitsuhide and Kiki swiftly dismounted and followed afterwards, with the new guard enthusiastically if belatedly trailing behind them.

Zen, never one to sit back and let others fight his battles for him, swung down and hooked his horse's reins on a nearby tree branch. "Stay here," he cautioned the herbalist before disappearing into the woods.

And Shirayuki, never one for following orders when she felt she could be more of use disregarding them, slid off her mount and checked to make sure her ever present satchel was secured to her waist. She gave the horse a reassuring pat on the nose before making her own way towards the others.

She found them at a tall tree, Zen and his attendants surrounding the trunk and glaring up like hunting dogs who had treed their quarry. The quarry in question was a young man who already looked somewhat worse for wear, his clothing disheveled, a swelling already forming at the corner of his jaw, and his quiver dangling from his shoulder by a torn leather strap. He looked like he was about to faint; the only thing keeping him upright was Obi's tight grip on his shoulder as the knight leaned against the trunk, his other hand clamped on his own upper arm.

Obi crooked his head in question to his comrades down below, who responded with a decisive nod. He coughed before saying with a levity that didn't match the steel in his eyes, "Looks like there's only room up here for one of us. And you're not supposed to be here, anyway, so…out you get."

And then he let the archer go.

It was only a few feet to fall, and the snow was lightly packed so it was cushion enough, but the archer still had the breath knocked out of him as he attempted to stand before Mitsuhide's imposing stance encouraged him to stay still.

"Who are you?" Zen asked the man who had begun to manage a defiant grimace.

"Just a simple archer," he spat, "what is the meaning of this?"

"Why were you shooting at us?" Zen persisted.

The man shrugged. "I guess my hand slipped. I certainly wasn't trying to shoot anyone here, your highness."

Mitsuhide stepped forward. "You don't seem to have anything to keep your catch in, no bag or cords."

A tinge of nervousness appeared in the archer's eyes before he blinked it away. "I'm something of a novice, this is the first time I've gone out hunting."

A tongue clicked up in the tree branches, and they looked up to see Obi shaking his head mockingly down at the archer. "Don't sell yourself short," he interjected, holding the arrows and quiver in one hand while he examined them closely, "this quiver's got some good wear on it, and these arrows certainly look like they were made by someone with experience…" He took the hand from his upper arm, and the dark smears of blood on his palm made Shirayuki's heart stutter. Smoothly, he took the arrows in both hands before snapping them in half. "Oops."

The archer groaned as Obi dropped the quiver and splintered arrows in the snow.

"Couldn't have done that riding a horse," he mused casually, which was met with a snort from Mitsuhide.

Obi then swung himself down onto the ground, his boots landing right in front of the group, sending snow into the stranger's face. The archer flinched back while Shirayuki flinched forward at the sight on the dark stain growing on his armor, spreading from where the arrow had pierced him.

"Obi!" she gasped, stepping forward as her hands reached for her satchel.

He wrenched the arrow out and looked at it with distaste. "I'm fine, Miss," he assured her, "just losing my touch. I used to be able to catch those." He held up his hand so the others could see the line scored through the palm of his glove from the arrow's flight, a red line already beginning to well up. "It barely hit me, but still. I'm getting fat and lazy, how am I going to get the guards to listen to me now?"

Given that the one guard present looked about ready to faint in awe, Shirayuki didn't feel he had much to worry about in that regard.

"We should go," Kiki said, "he may not have been working alone, and we have more resources to persuade him up at the fortress." Her face gave nothing away, and the archer's face paled. Mitsuhide wrenched him to his feet and secured his wrists behind him. Obi gently shook off Shirayuki's attempts to examine or dress the wounds.

"They'll keep until we get inside," he grinned good-naturedly, "and then you can unleash little Ryuu and all the other herbalists on me."

Shirayuki gave in reluctantly, if only to speed up the process so they could return to the pharmacy for proper assessment and treatment. Obi walked behind the rest, keeping watch for any other movements that would give the presence of potential accomplices away. She turned back a few times to check on him, but only got a cheeky wave and grin in response. So she swallowed the persistent feeling that something was wrong and focused on the return trip, letting the familiar cadence of his footsteps calm her frazzled nerves.

Her mind froze for a moment before thoughts began to hurtle past at dizzying speed. She shouldn't be able to hear them here.

In the fortress, in town, in the castle back at Wilant, the steady clip of his boots striking the floor was a familiar sound that at times provided her with a great deal of comfort. But she wasn't used to hearing it outside, where he could perch on stone walls, jump from branch to branch, or track through grass or leaves or snow with the silence of a shadow. She shouldn't have been able to hear him.

She felt a bolt of unease, which only intensified as the brisk, efficient pace began to sound much slower and heavier. She couldn’t keep herself from turning as his steps began to loudly crunch behind her, and the bolt became a stabbing fear.

The increasingly loud and belligerent complaints of the archer had drowned out the sounds of Obi’s breathing, but with her eyes focusing on him with clinical scrutiny, she tuned out all other sounds. Shirayuki winced at the pinched look his eyes had taken as his mouth gaped almost laughingly wide, the air whistling in and out of his mouth in shuddering gasps. She gripped her reins hard and pulled her steed into a stop, just like he’d taught her. “Obi?”

Obi raised up a hand to reassure her. “Don’t worry, Miss, I’m - “

And then he dropped into the snow, his limbs splayed out like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

“Obi!” She screamed, and the others turned in shock as she nearly fell off the horse trying to get down.

“Sir!” Midori cried equally loudly, rushing over to Shirayuki’s side just in time to help her turn Obi over, to expose his mouth and nose to the air.

“We need help,” Shirayuki said, pulling her satchel in front of her, “Midori, go to the pharmacy and bring back a stretcher.”

She was never more grateful for their respective trainings, in hers for her ability to give clear directions despite emotional duress, and in his for his ability to swiftly follow them.

Snow kicked up from the horse’s hooves as Midori rushed the remainder of the way to the university. The others rushed over, paying no heed to the whining of their prisoner as he was dragged along.

Zen took in the figure of his fallen friend, a gleam of fear in his eyes before it reforged into steel. He glared daggers at the man now being forced to the ground at his feet. “What was on the arrow?”

The archer narrowed his eyes in response. “I don’t know what you - “

Zen’s sword sang as he pulled it from his scabbard, and the grips of his retainers on the enemy’s shoulders tightened until their knuckles were white. “Spare us your lies - what have you done to my knight?”

The archer looked around, and was met with fire in Mitsuhide’s eyes and stone in Kiki’s. He swallowed and slumped. “You might as well say your goodbyes.”

“What?”

“The arrows were poisoned at the tip, and I wasn’t given any antidote.” He looked up at Zen with malice. “We weren’t planning on taking prisoners.”

Zen lunged forward with a growl and Mitsuhide blocked him, giving his liege a look and shaking his head. The prince relaxed, somewhat unwillingly, and took a deep breath.

“Luckily for you,” the archer felt the sting of steel against his throat and looked up at Kiki`s unyielding stance and blade, “we do. Although how lucky you are remains to be seen.” Mitsuhide joined her and placed his blade at the other side of the man’s neck.

Zen stood in front and glared down. “What. Poison. Did you use?”

Shirayuki had been listening to all that was going on behind her, as she checked on Obi’s state. Her fingers felt for his pulse (slowing considerably and distressingly thready) and hovered over his mouth to feel the breeze of his breaths. She didn’t let her hand tremble as she pulled the leather away from the arrow wound in his arm and the score on his palm. No infection that she could see…

“Poison,” she whispered as she scrambled around for a moment, trying to find the quiver where Obi had dropped it when he fell. She pulled out a broken arrow, the blasted arrowhead blessedly intact, and examined it carefully. The poison came off on her gloves and she sniffed tentatively. “No smell…”

“I don’t know,” the archer spat, “something to do with frogs.”

“Frogs,” Shirayuki repeated to herself, and shut her eyes and tried to remember if she had seen anything like that in her books. Her heart froze as her mind focused on a page that she remembered Yuzuri showing her. “Curare.”

She could hear the rush of people from the university as Obi sagged into the snow completely.

…

The rush back to the clinic and the pharmacy was a blur for Shirayuki. Between the other herbalists and the onslaught of guards, Obi was quickly swept onto a stretcher and borne to the warmth of the clinic.

Yuzuri ran out to meet them and began jogging besides Shirayuki. “What happened?”

Shirayuki panted beside her. “He’s been shot. With curare. I need the catspaw you brought back from your last trip.” She came to the split in the halls where she had to go one way for the greenhouses and other for the clinic, and dithered a moment. She didn’t want to leave him, but -

Yuzuri shoved her towards the clinic. “Go,” she barked, fear making her voice brisk, “I’ll get the catspaw. You get to your man.”

Despite the urgency of the situation, Shirayuki stumbled, her cheeks burning hot. He's not my -

But Yuzuri was already gone, and out of the corner of her eye she could see the stretcher making its way towards the clinic. She broke into a run and nearly crashed into the clinic doorway. Ryuu looked up where he was setting up bowls and pestles on the nearest table, a cluster of trainees hovering nearby.

“I heard what he was poisoned with,” he said plainly, “and I thought I had better be ready. You can observe,” he continued flatly as he looked towards the trainees, “when we’re finished. This will be a delicate procedure.”

The trainees filed out quickly, and Shirayuki looked at the master herbalist and felt her heart sink at the stress building up between his eyes. She walked over and squeezed his arm. “We can do this. Obi is strong, and we know how to help him.” Ryuu let the corner of his mouth tilt upwards before it sank back into a pensive frown. Somehow the comfort didn’t feel complete without Obi following it with an arm slung around their shoulders.

“Here’s Sir Obi!” Midori yelled as he ran into the room ahead of the other guards carrying the stretcher.

“And I have the catspaw!” Yuzuri shouted as she ran after them, her fist lifted in triumph.

Shirayuki clapped her hands together once. “Let’s get to it.”

As the pounding of pestles started behind her, she took it upon herself to peel away his glove and torn sleeve for easier access to the wounds. A sick feeling pooled in the pit of her stomach as her hands ran over the muscles of his arm that were now relaxed to the point of near stillness. He shouldn’t look like this.

She swallowed hard and began cleaning the skin around the wounds, keeping an ear on the progress of the catspaw poultices. The sleeve kept rolling back over the arm wound and, in a fit of frustration, she ripped the cloth back to the point where pieces came off in her hand.

Oh, she admonished herself weakly, he really likes this shirt.

If you wanted my clothes off so badly, Miss, she could almost hear him saying, all you had to do was ask.

Shirayuki continued to clean the skin, willing herself not to be undone by how badly she wanted him to be awake and saying that to her. A mortar was stuck in front of her and she blinked up at Ryuu.

“We ground the catspaw,” he said, “does it look ready?”

He would know as well as she that it was, but she appreciated what he was doing. She nodded and smeared a liberal does on a bandage before plastering it on his arm, Ryuu moving in sync to wrap the arrow score for safe measure.

“And now we wait?” Shirayuki asked, one hand gripping Obi’s wrist to check his pulse while the other brushed the hair dripping with snowmelt out of his face.

Ryuu pulled up a chair and stared intently at their wounded knight. “Yeah.”

Time passed painfully slowly, although it should really have been just a few moments, as the two kept vigil. Shirayuki kept the twin heartbeats of hers and Obi’s pulsing at the back of her mind, as she wondered what the others had gotten out of the archer. Were they safe? Did they need to grind more catspaw in case of another attack? Where were they? Why wasn’t Obi waking up?

His pulse pushed more and more slowly against her thumb, and she counted under her breath the moments between them. It kept her mind steady and focused when all she could do was monitor the situation and wait. She turned to ask Ryuu to check outside the window to see if anything else had happened when she froze. She wasn’t feeling anything.

“Obi?” She held her hand above his mouth. Nothing. She drew her hairpin from behind her ear and held it over his face, watching the tassels for movement. Nothing. Her heart stopped.

His heart wasn't beating.

"Ryuu!" She barked, and the younger herbalist jolted in his chair. "He's not breathing, and I can't find a pulse." She rolled up her sleeves and climbed up on the bed beside him. "I'm going to start compressions, go get help!"

Ryuu ran out of the room so quickly that his chair overturned. Shirayuki could hear his steps and shouts fading away, but turned them out as she fell into the rhythm of compressions.

Sweat dripped down past her ears as she felt the impact of his muscles and sternum reverberating in her shoulders. He was supple and strong, and she hoped she wouldn't crack his bones. If he had to be bedridden because of this, she would never hear the end of it.

Oh, I'm easy to get into bed, Miss.

She leaned down. One breath, two breaths.

This wasn't right. Obi wasn't supposed to be like this. She had felt the muscles of his chest against her several times over the years they'd spent together, whether it was when he caught her if she stumbled, or when she'd leaned against him to avoid the bustle of a hectic, crowded town square. He was warm and strong and always ready to spring into action. Now he was limp and cold and -

She leaned down. One breath, two breaths.

She missed his warmth. The warmth of his corded muscles that made her feel so safe. The warmth of his ready smirks and smiles when she needed to see them most. The warmth in his eyes when he regarded her, especially when he didn't realize she was looking. The warmth that she had only recently realized filled her heart to overflowing when she saw him -

She leaned down, blinking back tears. One breath, two breaths.

"Please," she whispered as she resumed compressions, the tips of her fingers growing icy as the fear stabbed her heart. "Please, Obi…"

He didn't answer. He had never ignored her before, even when he'd felt brave enough and secure enough in their relationship to have disagreements.

She leaned down, her lips trembling against his. One breath, two breaths.

"Please!"

She resumed compressions, although she could barely see now. The trained professional in her knew that she was fatiguing rapidly and was emotionally compromised, and that for Obi's sake, she needed for someone to relieve her soon. But...she could not bear to let go of him.

She stopped a moment to catch her breath. Her arms were quivering and her compressions were becoming irregular, which was not in Obi's best interest. Her hand felt for his pulse, and found nothing.

"Obi," she whispered, longing to curl up into him and to wake up from this nightmare, "please don't leave me."

She shook the tears from her eyes and steeled her shoulders again to resume pounding his chest when she felt something stirring beneath her palms. She leaned back in surprise and looked at his face, his eyes still closed. She grabbed his wrist, paused for a torturous moment - and then nearly fainted with relief at the weak but steady rhythm beneath her fingers.

Shirayuki slumped forward, resting her head on his chest to hear that blessed beat for herself. His chest rose and fell for a few seconds before he began to cough, causing her to bolt upright. “Obi! You’re awake!”

Obi’s eyes opened just enough for her to see the glint of gold, and he smiled weakly. “‘Course. I couldn’t leave you, Miss.”

Relief and joy coursed through her in a rejuvenating rush, leaving her feeling almost as intoxicated as Roka fruit liquor. The relief was so great, that she leaned forward and, against all medical and rational knowledge regarding a patient recovering from respiratory and cardiac arrest -

Kissed him.

Obi let out an involuntary gasp as Shirayuki nearly fell on top of him, but his heart beat strong - if not a little fast - against her palm as she leaned down. The medical veneer having been discarded now that he was safe, she let her senses flood her as she brought her lips down to meet his. His mouth, windburned and slightly chapped at the top by the harsh Lyrias winters, felt warm and right and perfect against hers. He grunted a little as her nose crashed into his but she didn’t care, her heart jumping as her top lip slid between his. She retracted back apologetically. “I’m so sorry,” she murmured, brushing her hand across his face.

Then her sense came back and she yanked herself away, color flaming in her cheeks. “Oh, Obi, I’m so sorry!”

Obi grinned up at her as he gasped for air. “You take...my breath away, Miss.”

Really, if he hadn’t been recovering she would have smacked him. She pulled herself back further, hiding her face in her hands.

“Hey,” his voice gentled as he pushed himself up on one elbow. She was so spellbound by the look in his eyes that she didn’t notice his hand winding its way through the tendrils of her hair at the back of her neck. “It’s okay. Besides,” he grinned cheekily as he brought her head closer, “I didn’t say I didn’t like it.”

Shirayuki’s eyes widened. Then she blushed as she let herself sink down as he pulled her slowly back towards him. Tears sprang to her eyes as the look of naked adoration in his gaze as he craned up to meet her, sealing their lips together. Although she and Zen had kissed many times over their relationship, this was beyond any sensation Shirayuki had ever known. Their hearts beat in unison, and everything was heat and fire and a feeling like coming home.

They separated for air, and she traced her fingers across his cheek, his jaw, the scar over his eye, revelling in the feeling of warmth and life. For his part, he appeared to have run out of energy to do more than lay back and purr under her ministrations like a contented housecat.

“I thought I was going to lose you,” she whispered.

“Never,” he promised, “I’m yours as long as you want me.”

She was about to show that statement the kind of appreciation it deserved, in lieu of the words her heart was too full to speak yet, when the door creaked behind them.

“Is that really,” Suzu asked from the doorway, “the best way to treat respiratory - ugh!”

“Stop ruining the moment!” Yuzuri scolded, removing her elbow from his side. “We waited too long for this! Speaking of which,” she held out her hand, “pay up.”

The next few moments were filled with the sounds of grumbling and gold changing hands. However, the two on the cot were too occupied to care.

***

I hope you enjoyed!

#obiyukikissdraft #obiyuki #Snow White with the red hair #akagami no shirayukihime

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k-itsmaywriting · 4 years

Text

Adrift in the Snow (1/2) : One Month

Content warning: vomit mention

They arrived at Starlight Gate when the sun was at its highest.

The journey back from the last house in the northern region of Clarines was not rushed. Though it was tiring, horse-riding for long days and sleeping in unfamiliar beds for longer nights, Shirayuki, Obi and Ryuu weren’t close to dozing off on the last leg of their travels to Wistal.

Shirayuki could only hope the others wouldn’t realise she was stalling.

She had been anticipating that day for a long time – one where she held her head high in front of Izana, the fruits of her hard work over the years beared before him. At times she imagined Obi and Ryuu with her, at others it’d be Zen. It was his side she worked to stand by for so long, after all. And for years that ambition was as clear as day, and if she had to prove herself to a king, then she would.

But when she stood in his Majesty Izana’s office, blinding sun spilling through the tall windows, only grey clouds filled her head.

Izana gently flicked through the final pages of their report, speaking as he read. “Each house you’ve visited in the north has agreed to the plantation of Phostyrias before the start of the next winter.” With a small smile on his lips, he looked up at them as he laid it on his desk. “Congratulations, you’ve successfully completed your mission.”

Shirayuki’s heart lifted, and for a moment she could focus on the joy. “Thank you,” she breathed. “We couldn’t have done it without all the people who believe in the Phostyrias as much as we do.”

Perhaps she was projecting, or maybe the sun was too bright, but she swore she could see Izana’s smile warm.

“Miss and Little Ryuu convinced them first,” said Obi. There was a lightness in his voice that made him sound so gentle that Shirayuki couldn’t help but look at him. “That was the whole point.”

Ryuu stood up straighter. “It was the three of us, together,” he said. “Obi was chosen for a reason too.”

Shirayuki wanted that moment to last forever. The three of them, standing together after all they’ve been through. She had felt so strong then with their support.

Yet so weak, knowing it wasn’t going to last.

“But speaking of Ryuu and Shirayuki specifically,” Izana interjected, “this does bring up our next discussion, and that’s regarding both of your transfers to Wilant Castle as Royal Pharmacists.”

Both, he had said. And Shirayuki’s stomach dropped to the floor.

Izana looked at Ryuu first. “You initially deferred your transfer in order to accompany Shirayuki and Obi on their mission around the north. Now that that has been successful, I expect that you will be transferring within the next month.”

Ryuu nodded firmly. “Yes, your Majesty.”

Izana then looked back at her. “And Shirayuki.”

The skin of Shirayuki’s neck broke into sweat. It was the moment she’d been dreading. The decision. One she thought she already made up her mind on for long but…

If Izana noticed anything, it did not stop him. “Since your first time in Lilias, I have been impressed with your work, your dedication and your potential. And with the success of the Phostyrias throughout its entire process, I believe you’ve proven yourself to me enough.”

It was as though the room centred in on her, caging her, as he said, “I trust that you will do well, as you have here in Wistal and in Lilias. You will be going with him.”

She expected nothing different from his Majesty, Shirayuki thought, that it wasn’t a question. He gave nothing away – neither what he knew nor what he didn’t. All she could give him then, like the first time she ever met him, was honesty, even if it meant those who ever doubted her might’ve been right.

Taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth and…

--------------------

“One meatball and one cabbage soup?”

Shirayuki sits a little straighter and smiles as the waitress sets the bowls on the table. She glances across her towards Suzu, who is already eating the cabbage with his eyes, and stifles a laugh.

Suzu deadpans at her when the waitress leaves. “What?”

“Nothing.” Her grin widens as she picks up her spoon. “I’ve just never seen you look at cabbage so intensely.”

“After the amount of vomiting that went on all afternoon, I do not want anything hearty sloshing around in my guts.”

Shirayuki grimaces, but she tries not to let the image ruin her meatball soup. She deserves this. It’s been a long day and they’re in for a cold night. It’s just too bad the amount of complaints from stomach bugs and food poisoning meant the university kitchens would be closed for the night while they figured out what went wrong.

The town swelled with a sudden influx of hungry scholars searching for dinner. But with the snowy winds outside, she and Suzu settled for speed-walking across the town into an inn restaurant they didn’t know instead of waiting in line.

At least there’s a big fireplace, Shirayuki thinks while she lifts the spoon to her mouth. And decent soup. Obi would like it, if he was there.

In-between slow bites, she looks out the window next to her. They’re past the town square, but not so far that the streets aren’t lively. There are a few shop names she recognises from Yuzuri and Kirito’s recommendations. Then, further out and around the corner there’s an inn larger than the others. She sees the sign out front and—

Her heart drops, though it doesn’t have very far to fall. It feels more like tripping up a stair and hitting her knees on the next. Short, but still with a tang of bitterness in her mouth. It makes her frown.

“What are you looking at?”

Shirayuki rests her chin on her hand, gaze still out the window. “That inn across the road. Zen and I got stranded there in a snowstorm that time he came to visit.”

Suzu leans over the table and peeks outside. “Oh.” Then he slowly plops back down awkwardly in his chair. “Haven’t heard about him in a while. I don’t really know what happened after that, but…”

What happened was that Zen’s jealousy got…Shirayuki shakes her head and doesn’t finish the thought. There’s no use going down that road again, thinking about the trespassing and the close calls that almost cost her reputation and the Phostyrias mission. She can only be glad now that neither of those things were lost. But still, in all the years of aiming to stand by his side, thankful for the kind hand he reached out to her that very first morning by the border of Clarines, she didn’t think he’d be a reason for it all to almost come toppling down.

She would be lying if she said she wasn’t grateful for Zen. She doesn’t know where she’d be if he hadn’t helped her. But even though they agreed that they’re still important and dear to each other and could still be close friends, they still haven’t written to each other. It was sobering to realise that wasn’t actually new. It made her wonder, underneath all those secret kisses hidden away in forests and between great pillars, whether faith without real communication or trust was all they had. And how long ago it had become that way.

“Maybe after being away from each other for so long,” she says, “he could only remember what I was to him, but not who I was. Like he forgot what it meant for me to stand on my own feet and walk my own path.” Or to fight her own battles and emerge victorious through sincerity that blooms hopes into bright futures, the way she always has and always will.

“Was that the deal breaker?”

Shirayuki turns to look at Suzu’s blank face. He’s not judging, just curious because he cares. So, she nods.

Suzu nods back. “That’s fair.” And he continues eating like the conversation never happened. “So, has Ryuu written from Wilant yet?”

--------------------

“No.”

The air in the room dropped two degrees. Silent. She couldn’t look anywhere but at Izana, surprise flashing across his face for a moment. But she still had much rather looked at him than either of the people beside her.

Izana smooths his expression into neutrality. “No?”

“I…” Shirayuki looked down at her hands. “I don’t…I don’t know…”

“Miss?”

She knew it was a mistake to look up at him before she even did it. Her heart wrenched.

Obi’s eyes were wide with disbelief, holding his breath the same way Shirayuki’s was trapped in her chest and clawing at her lungs. “You’re really…?”

She couldn’t tear her eyes from Obi’s. It was torture, watching the thoughts of what went wrong and how and what it meant rushing through his head when the decision was hers and hers alone. “If I were to leave for Wilant tomorrow,” she said, “I wouldn’t be able to tell you that that is what I truly want right now."

“You do realise, Shirayuki, that I unfortunately cannot wait for you forever,” Izana said calmly. “And unlike Ryuu, there was no current mission that you can undertake that will allow you to defer your offer.”

The storm still brewed inside her head. She didn’t know which decision would ease the turbulence, but she nodded solemnly regardless. Choosing one. “Yes, your Majesty. I understand that fully.”

They left Izana’s office in silence.

Obi lingered by the door as it closed behind them. “Is it because of Master?”

Shirayuki stopped. As she stared into no particular space in front of her, Ryuu excused himself and left in the direction of the pharmacy.

It was a lie to say no, but yes wasn’t entirely accurate either. There was more to it that she couldn’t explain.

“I thought that even though your understanding is over,” Obi murmured, “you’re still important to each other. That’s what you said, didn’t you?”

Shirayuki turned around. “We did. It’s just…It’s just that things have changed. I can’t act like I know for certain that what I want now is the same as before, as if I love Zen like I used to. Because I…” She looked down at the ground, defeated. “I’m sorry, Obi. I know you wished for our happiness for all these years.”

Obi’s footsteps drew closer, his shadow right behind. When Shirayuki looked up at him, he was smiling at her sadly.

“But above all else, Miss, I wish for yours.”

--------------------

It’s been a month since then.

Ryuu’s absence is deafening. Shirayuki still looks to her side, searching for his thoughts written in the way he furrows his eyebrows and the sharp focus of his gaze.

She never really talked to Obi about her decision, neither before nor after that morning in Izana’s office. She feels like a bad friend for not. She wants to, if only she can fully explain with words the heavy confusion that rolls inside her gut.

She’s been wandering back-and-forth through the halls of Lilias like a ghost. Without any new research to undertake, she’s been picking up extra shifts in the pharmacy and spending long nights in the library studying. But it doesn’t fill the void she’s trapped in. It’s as though there are cracks in the mirror where she sees herself, a whole piece that’s gone missing right where her eyes are supposed to be. Where she now finds nothing when she tries to look forward.

--------------------

The front door to the dormitories shuts out the snowy winds. As they catch their breath, Shirayuki and Suzu shake the snow out of their hair and off their coats. She can feel the warmth of the lanterns in the hallway seeping into her skin, little by little.

Suzu unwraps his scarf from his neck. “Well, I’m heading straight to bed. I’ll see you at the pharmacy tomorrow morning?”

Shirayuki smiles and nods. “Yeah. See you. And thanks for inviting me out today.”

“No problem,” he says, backing towards the left hallway that leads to his room.

Then Shirayuki is alone again, storm raging on and all.

--------------------

She draws her hand away from Obi’s door.

She worries her lip and steps back. She feels so…silly, turning up at his door again at night. She just wants to feel like things are normal, like they can talk for hours and sleep in the same bed when it’s cold. Like there’s nothing she’s keeping from him.

Why is it suddenly so hard?

She huffs and turns away, tugging the ends of her nightgown sleeves over her hands. He’s sleeping, she thinks. But she takes two steps down the hall when suddenly the door clicks and creaks open. “Miss?”

Obi’s voice is but a husk, and Shirayuki turns around again, apology already on her tongue. “I’m sorry, I know you have an early morning tomorrow so just…forget that I—”

“You know that I don’t mind, Miss.” he says softly. “All you have to do is knock.”

Obi steps back as Shirayuki enters his room. Pitch black envelops it as he closes the door behind her, but even though she can’t see, it’s only a matter of seconds before she crawls onto the bed and snuggles into his blankets.

In the darkness, Obi’s laugh is a low rumble, warm like summer lightning. “You know, a man’s going to get ideas when you keep turning up to his room late at night like this.”

The bed dips next to her. Obi is barely under the blankets when Shirayuki instinctively entwines their ankles, and he wraps an arm around her shoulder. His body is a furnace – Shirayuki’s close to falling asleep right then and there, but she fights it. She wants to tell him. She wants him to know. “Obi?”

Her eyes are still adjusting to the dark, but she can see that Obi opens his and looks at her. Waiting patiently.

He’s always so good to her it…it almost doesn’t feel fair anymore. “Can I be honest with you about something?”

His breathing stills. “What is it?”

Even though they’re so close now, she can’t help but think about how far away from him she felt in that morning inside Izana’s office. When she had told him no. And the way Obi had looked at her…

“I feel like I’ve made a mistake, telling Izana I didn’t want to go to Wilant,” she says. “Not because I want to go now, but…” She breathes deep, lets the air slowly fill her chest. “I spent so long working, trying to prove myself to people so that I could stand by Zen’s side because I…I loved him. But now I don’t and I just…don’t know what to do next.”

She feels like she’s floating in a dark void, not knowing where she is or how she can move. She hates the way it makes her feel. Like she’s…

It hits her. And she whispers, “I feel lost because it’s only about me now. Not me and Zen, just me.”

Shirayuki’s eyes flicker up to Obi’s. He’s staring back at her, eyes as wide as hers.

Suddenly it seems so obvious that Shirayuki can’t help but laugh at herself. “Goodness, how was that so hard? It’s been years since I only needed to think about what I wanted, and what was good for me. But now that I’m not chasing Zen, I’ve turned away the exact thing I came here for in the first place and now I’m just…lost.”

“And I’m sorry I haven’t talked about it with you until now,” she blurts. “I knew you were upset about Zen and me. I just felt like…” Her voice lowers. The shakiness in it is one she doesn’t recognise. “I was afraid that you were going to be disappointed in me.”

“No, no – I’d never…” he breathes. “I didn’t know it was going to change your decision. But like I told you then, I wish for your happiness more than anything else. I didn’t want you to be sad alone.”

Tears prick at Shirayuki’s eyes. She blinks them away, but her heart swells regardless as she rests her forehead against his chest. “Thank you.”

A hitch catches in Obi’s throat. But with a slow exhale, he softens against her. “We don’t always know where we’re going, but sometimes we end up staying in places we never thought we would.”

“I may had worked to prove myself to Izana,” she says, “but I also worked to prove myself here, in Lilias. I’ve made friends for a lifetime and been challenged in ways I never would’ve imagined when I was back in Tanbarun.”

She feels Obi smile into her hair. “Yeah. Exactly.”

His heart beats softly against the palm of her hand. If she moves it up, she’d touch the scar on his chest. But instead she wraps her arm around his side and pulls herself closer to his chest, breathes deeply of the smell of warm, brown earth, sighing.

Closer now, Obi’s fingers are still against her back. But slowly, he exhales, fingers shyly playing with the long strands of her hair.

“I know you don’t talk about Tanbarun much,” Obi murmurs. “But what things did you look forward to back then?”

Shirayuki hums, pondering. “I would just try to help the customers who came in each day. I made sure I had the supplies and the money to make it to the next one. It wasn’t anything big, but it was already enough to keep me busy.”

“But were you happy?”

She thinks about the open fields on the outskirts of town, of wildflowers and the deep forests of her childhood, of the smiles of the villagers and their good health. Of healing.

The thoughts make her smile from somewhere light, deep in her heart. “Yeah.”

She supposes that it’s not all different from back then. Instead of breezy winds, she wakes up to snow under the soles of her boots and sees colour return to the faces of soldiers and exhausted academics. Her forests have been replaced with libraries. Solitude with company.

She doesn’t have to run forward to reach for the next place in her life just yet. For now, she can just be.

--------------------

The storm has calmed by the next morning.

Shirayuki cracks her eyes open one at a time, waking up wrapped in blankets and Obi’s limbs. It’s a little brighter than expected for this time of year, but she’s not complaining.

Outside, Lilias’ bell tower chimes throughout the campus. She counts the great tones under her breath, letting the sound wake her.

When there’s one more bell than there should be, she gasps and starts furiously tapping Obi’s shoulder. “Obi, wake up!”

He groans. “Five more minutes, Miss…”

“We can’t, it’s already eight!” She snakes out of Obi’s arms and out of the bed, padding towards his window to throw open the curtains. Sunlight spills into the room. Obi rolls onto his back and throws an arm over his eyes, groaning more. To an exaggerated degree, even.

She turns around and crawls back onto the bed next to him. “We might be able to get breakfast if we hurry, Obi.”

In one smooth motion, Obi sits up. He droops forward and lets his head fall, bringing a hand up to scratch his endearingly messy bedhead. “Surely the trainees know what to do without me telling them at this point.”

Shirayuki sighs, rolling her eyes in an attempt to hold in the smile that threatens her.

“Alright, I got it, Miss,” Obi turns his head to her and grins widely—

But not before Shirayuki grabs his face in both her hands and promptly kisses his nose.

When she pulls back, Obi is stunned to silence. The tips of his ears are searing red.

“Come on, Obi,” she says, sliding off the bed. “We’ve made it to today. Let’s do our best.”

#obiyukikissdraft #obiyuki #akagami no shirayukihime #'WOW THIS IS MY LAST FIC FOR 2019' i say as though i've written more than 5 things this year #also does tumblr not do those line breaks anymore btwn paragraphs or am i tripping #akagami no shirayuki hime #kiss on the nose

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claudeng80 · 4 years

Text

Pen Pals, ch. 2

Once a problem has been identified, the next step toward resolution is to solicit feedback with an eye toward identifying solutions. Ryuu and Suzu would be no help and asking Yuzuri and Obi is far too dangerous, so Shirayuki turns to her pen pal for advice.

***

Dear Unknown Guard,

As much as I’d love to argue with you, I’ve been forced to admit that you may have a point. I don’t get out much, except for work, and I’m not going to be in Lilias forever, so I should definitely experience what I can while I’m here. Do you have any suggestions for me? Anything I should try?

***

Dear Mysterious Scholar,

Given your reaction to my earlier suggestions, I suspect you need to work up slowly through the basics before attempting advanced shenanigans. Have you considered taking a picnic up to the lookout point in the crags? I’ve been told you can see everything from there, all of Lilias and Wirant and, on a clear day, all the way to the ocean. That part might have been an exaggeration, but it sounds like an amazing view.

***

Suzu says he’s good with maps, so he’s in charge of navigating. Yuzuri packed the picnic that Obi carries, and Shirayuki walks with Ryuu so that when he gets distracted by plants along the trail, they don’t leave him behind. For the most part, it just means they get distracted together, speculating about the variant aconites and discussing the soil mix they’ve been using down in the greenhouse. Her pen pal was right. She’s needed this, a change to get out of her routine and do something fun. It’s impressive how, knowing only what she’s told him in letters, he can diagnose her so well. She’s been so fortunate.

Ryuu pauses again, inspecting a clump of malformed leaves on another aconite, and Shirayuki takes the chance to stretch, spreading her fingers out against the blue sky. The breeze curls against her wrists, and she breathes deep.

When she looks down again, Obi’s there waiting, looking pleased. “Suzu thinks we’ve got about another mile to go. How are you holding up?”

Her calves are a bit tired, but no worse than she gets standing over a particularly long chemical process. His hand hangs relaxed by his side, and she wonders what he’d think if she reached for it, curling her fingers around his broad palm and squeezing. “I’m great. I really needed this, and I’m so glad you wanted to come along.”

He’s just staring at her smile, and it takes him a second to respond. “Good.” He swallows, and he’s himself again. “I’d heard it was nice, just didn’t think you’d be interested. Hope the view’s worth the walk.” His boots shift on the rock. “Come on, little Ryuu, we’re getting left behind.”

Ryuu drops the leaves and falls into step beside Obi, and Shirayuki stands a second watching them go. The aconite stem bobs gently, swaying back into stillness as they crunch into the distance. Ryuu’s tight stride takes him twice as many steps to go the same distance as Obi’s loose saunter, and her heart swells in her chest watching the contrast. In the distance, up the slope, Yuzuri and Suzu are bent over the map, bickering. She can’t see it from here, but she knows Suzu’s thoughtful frown, Yuzuri’s bared teeth. She wants to explode with fondness.

Obi looks back. “Problem?”

“No problem!” Shirayuki charges up the trail, feet slipping a bit in the loose rubble, and Obi laughs as she skids in beside them. Clarines opens out before their eyes and, just for a moment, everything is perfect.

The problem waits for them to start setting up their picnic spot, the trailing wisps of mist giving way to a thunderstorm pounding over the peak. The picnic blanket bells in the sudden wind, dragging Shirayuki a step toward the cliff before it’s ripped from her hands. Obi grabs at her elbow as Suzu and Yuzuri tackle Ryuu, bracing against the stinging onslaught of rain. The sodden blanket whips over the edge into nothingness, and water pours into Shirayuki’s eyes as she watches it go. That could have been her.

Obi’s voice is so close to her ear the warmth of his breath cuts through the chill. “We need to find shelter.”

He’s still that close when she turns to answer, his hair comically flat and his eyes amber in the dim light. “We didn’t see anything on the way up.”

“Come on, you two, we need to get down from here!” Yuzuri’s voice cuts through the roar of rain and wind, and they all struggle onto the path.

The way down is endless. Shirayuki’s calves are burn constantly, the soles of her feet throbbing every time her boots lose purchase on the slick rocks. The only good luck is that they’re out of the wind, shielded by the very mountain they’re sliding down the side of. Obi’s backpack bobs in front of her, shedding streams of water with every step. Lunch is a loss. Their outing is a disaster. Giggles bubble out of her with a spray of rain off her lips, and she can’t stop.

The longer it rains, the more running water cascades down the trail underfoot. Her giggles subside to chuckles, then rise to a shriek as she loses her footing. Water pours into her boot as she slides toward the dropoff, not knowing through the deluge whether she’s a few feet above a switchback or perched on the edge of a cliff, and then she’s caught.

Obi’s arm around her ribs is just on the right side of painful, but he’s steady and secure and she knows she won’t be falling over a cliff when he’s holding her. He’s always in motion; she knows he can be this immovable foundation as well, but it’s so easy to forget. “I owe you another,” she says, her voice barely a whisper from the way she’s being crushed.

Her leg slides along his as he lowers her down, the ground steady under her feet again. As though the weather’s been waiting, the rain slacks for a second, enough that she can hear him loud and clear. “Don’t scare me like that again and we’ll call it even.” She’s still for a moment by his side, supporting her own weight again but still pressed against him, before she realizes she’s the one keeping him from moving, her hand clutched in the sodden fabric of his shirt.

He shudders as she lets go, probably from cold water running down his pants, another thing she feels sorry for. She doesn’t go far, though, grasping his hand with her own. His fingers are wrinkled and chilly, but she feels steadier instantly. “Is this all right?”

“It’s one way to keep my heart from stopping,” he answers, blunting the sarcasm with a gentle squeeze. He doesn’t let go.

They’re nearly back to Lilias when the rain finally slows to a drizzle. Suzu stares at the lingering clouds as though challenging them to come back and finish the job. Yuzuri strips off her shirt to wring it out, which sends Ryuu into an unexpected burst of speed nobody else has the energy to keep up with. Yuzuri laughs, and Shirayuki wishes she were wearing as many layers so she could get away with the same. It’ll just be a few more minutes back to their rooms, then she can bury herself in dry towels and hot tea for as long as she needs.

Her stomach growls, too loud to miss, but the Lilias gate-guard hails them before Obi can start in with the teasing. He looks them up and down, from Yuzuri’s wrinkled overshirt to the stream of water still pouring off Shirayuki’s ponytail, and his mouth twitches more than once as he takes in the full sight of Obi. “What happened to you?” He pauses a second, still fighting the laugh they don’t need to hear to know is there. “Sir?”

Shirayuki frowns. Obi’s in no hurry to defend himself, looking like his thoughts are miles away in Yuris or Tanbarun or the other side of the sea. He’s going to look bad in front of his men if she doesn’t do something, and it’s not like any of it was his fault. “We got caught by a storm on the lookout trail,” she says. “I’d heard the view was amazing.”

“Oh, it is!” His attention is caught entirely, now. “You can see the ocean on a clear day! But you really need to check the weather predictions first. I thought everyone in Lilias knew that.” He presses his lips together, a single snort escaping, and waves them in. “Welcome back. Better luck next time.”

Obi’s sigh is prolonged. “I guess I learned something,” Shirayuki pipes up before anyone can start blaming anyone else. It was her idea. “It was a good idea, though. We’ll have to try again sometime.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever be dry again,” grumbles Suzu, turning off toward his apartment.

Yuzuri peels off a minute later, waving as she calls back, “Who’s up for the bathhouse later?” Obi flashes her a rude gesture, and if Shirayuki weren’t so tired she’d agree.

Obi’s room in the barracks is in the entirely opposite direction, but she knows better than to even try to convince him she doesn’t need an escort. “Do you want to come up and dry off?” She has extra towels. Space would be a bit tight, but he wouldn’t have to drip all the way across town where every single guard would see him.

It takes him a second to answer, standing by her building’s door. It bothers her, the second he needs to react every single time she tries to offer him something. He’s constantly unprepared, always surprised at every gesture. And then his first reflex is always to turn it down, which is why she’s not offended that he shakes his head. His cheeks are more colorful than usual, and she makes a mental note to watch him for fever for the next couple of days. “I’ll just take care of it in the barracks,” he says, but doesn’t go anywhere.

She stands there, waiting. He should go get dry, and she’d certainly like to as well, but she’s not moving until he does. Another drop of water coalesces out of his hair, and he wipes his cheek on his shoulder. It feels like he’s waiting for something, a tension in the air buzzing between them just a little closer than usual, within hand’s-reach-

His hand. She drops it as though she’d closed her fingers on one of Lata’s crucibles. “Don’t catch a cold,” she orders as she spins and runs for the door.

***

Dear Mysterious Scholar,

Perhaps my last suggestion was offered a bit too hastily. A hiking party got caught in the rain on that trail recently and completely drenched. Ruined their picnic and everything, and people almost died on the rocks on the way back down. Please check the weather report before you try climbing. I’d really hate to be the cause of something happening to you.

***

She’s not about to tell him she found that out the hard way. She does have some amount of pride, after all.

The weather takes a cooler turn once the clouds have blown through, enough that Shirayuki and Yuzuri can face the thought of a visit to the hot-spring bathhouse without shuddering. Shirayuki sets her towel aside, wincing at the way her cold fingers sting in the water.

A wave of sulfur-tinged water washes across her mouth, and she opens her eyes to Yuzuri, far too close. “Finally, we’re alone,” she says, and Shirayuki doesn’t know where to look. Yuzuri’s face, usually the only safe place for her gaze, is so feral with glee it makes Shirayuki uncomfortable. It’s going to be trouble, somehow. “You can explain now.”

“Explain what?”

“What you’re doing! Coming out of the lab to go drinking with me, suggesting hiking trips? It’s unusual for you.” She leans even closer, sending another wave over Shirayuki’s shoulders. “Holding hands with Obi?”

“That was practical!” Her voice comes out far too loud for her audience being six inches away. Heads on the other side of the pool turn, and Shirayuki sinks into the water down to her chin. “I almost fell off the trail. He was keeping me safe.”

“Obi always keeps you safe. You should let him get you into some trouble instead.”

“I’ve explained to you before-”

“Yes, your prince back in Wistal. You’re working toward a future together, blah blah blah. I do listen, you know.” That’s not what it sounds like to Shirayuki. “But are you happy now?”

***

Dear Unknown Guard,

Do you ever feel like you just can’t make people happy? I’ve been trying all kinds of new things and my friend refuses to be satisfied. She doesn’t appreciate that I’m making an effort, even when she’s the one responsible for the most embarrassing experience I’ve ever had in a public bath and the six new hangover remedies I now have memorized. Instead all she wants to do is talk about men, and when it comes to me, one in particular. And it’s not the one who’s waiting for me, it’s a friend who I’m sure has never looked at me that way in his life, and that’s just fine!

***

Dear Mysterious Scholar,

Here’s the question. Are you trying new things for her approval? Or for your own good?

I’m sorry to hear she’s being difficult. I have friends who do exactly the same, constantly hassling me about a particular friend, and it’s a real pain. Clearly she’s in the wrong, if you say so, although I have to argue with you on one point. He’s looked at you that way. I don’t know either of you, but he has. You can trust me on this.

But if you’re not interested, that is what it is. What’s this about someone waiting for you?

***

Dear Unknown Guard,

Maybe “waiting for me” was the wrong way to put it. I have an understanding with someone far away- we write to each other and someday we’ll be together. We’re working toward it. I just don’t bring him up in conversation because people don’t understand.

If we’re going to talk about this, I have to ask. Do you have someone special?

***

“Thinking about the master?”

Shirayuki’s elbow scrapes against the railing as she pushes herself out of a slump. It’s a beautiful evening, mist rolling off the mountains lit in the last orange of the setting sun, and at least for a while she had the balcony all to herself. It’s a private place for thinking in silence, and it would have been a good place for missing Zen if that were what she’d been doing. Instead she’s been asking hard questions about her life and the quiet isn’t offering a lot of answers. “I haven’t heard from him in a while,” she says.

“He had that conclave, right? And then the state visit from, um-”

She doesn’t remember either. This conversation already sounds like so many they’ve had before. The details change, but the facts don’t. “Right, them. I know he’s busy. But even Raj writes more often.”

His eyebrow lifts, sending the scar on his forehead hiding under his hair. “Did you really just compare Master with Prince Raj?”

“You can never tell him I said that.”

“My silence can be purchased with baked goods.” Obi’s spine curves as he leans against the wall, deceptively relaxed. She knows better. “Shall I come back later?”

The last arc of the sun slips below the mountain’s edge, the naked concern in Obi’s face fading along with the highlights and deep shadows. As the light settles into a more uniform dimness, she shakes her head. “No.” She doesn’t need to stand and stare into the dark when she can be down in the market getting dinner with Obi. “Let’s go eat.”

#fanfic #in which shirayuki has a pen pal #I'm going to come up with a title at some point before chapter 6 #i swear

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another-miracle · 6 years

Text

[hanahaki], three

one / two / three (end)

The sound of the door closing behind them is ominous, and Obi immediately looks around the room for a window.

Shirayuki’s back toward him, Obi brings a hand up to his shoulder and grinds down. It brings him little relief. Small coughs tremor through his body despite the lump in his throat, and Obi waits in trepidation for the storm.

“...how long?”

Obi winces. Straight into it - that’s his Miss.

“...a while,” he mumbles.

She turns, all fire, and Obi finds himself stepping back. Her eyes burn through him, a frown etched on her face. She steps into his space, and his gaze turns upward.

Then, as sudden as she is incensed, she deflates. A rush of air leaves her lips and Shirayuki sounds more tired than he’s ever heard her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Obi looks down and sees her red crown of hair. He doesn’t want her sounding like that, ever - especially not because of him. His hand drops to his side. Still-

“What could you have done?” Helplessness bleeds subtly into anger, and Obi reins it in because this isn’t her fault- it’s his, and she has every right to question him for the choices he made. Even if he doesn’t want her to feel responsible, he knows she does. As ridiculous as it sounds.

“Something!” Shirayuki’s voice ricochets off the walls. “Anything! Not- this- waiting around passively until you die! We could find a cure, anything! Why didn’t you tell me, Obi?”

“Ah, Miss,” god, it hurts, “there’s only one cure, and it says it right there. I’m not going to force feelings out of you just so I can breathe easier,” Obi laughs. “Sometimes, Miss can do the impossible, but I don’t think this is something that can be solved by brewing some herbs.” Little Ryuu tried- it didn’t work.

Shirayuki’s face falls, and she looks- so sad, and Obi has never been good at seeing his Miss like this. So he reaches and lifts her fingers a little with his own, and gives her a sad smile.

“For what it’s worth,” Obi tells her, fingers entwining with hers, “I couldn’t think of a better way to die.”

“I always knew you could make flowers bloom, Miss.”

He earns a small slap on the arm for that, then a hug. Shirayuki trembles in his arms, and Obi continues loving her the only way a dying man can- stupidly, selfishly, perfectly.

Now that Shirayuki knows, Obi doesn’t think to hide it from anyone else anymore. After emerging from that room and returning to the pharmacy, Obi catches Ryuu’s eye and gives him a smile. It must come out a little broken because Ryuu frowns before returning back to his work.

Obi sighs. Sorry Little Ryuu, he thinks, it was never going to be this easy.

The greatest surprise that Obi has from all this is how...accommodating everyone is.

When Obi coughs up a few petals in front of Suzu and Yuzuri for the first time, they look stunned for a moment before glancing at each other. In an instant, Suzu is plopped down next to him, an arm around his neck, and Obi finds himself very much entrapped in a bear hug. When he looks up, Yuzuri is sitting across him, face in palm, a exasperated smirk of sorts on her face. She drags over a glass of water on the table toward him.

“Drink,” she says. And so he does.

Obi thinks that perhaps this is what having siblings is like.

His men aren’t as forgiving - but they care for him in their own ways. When he hacks away in front of his platoon, the men take one look at the retreating back of Miss Shirayuki and immediately fall out without his permission. Some slap him roughly on the back and others grip him by his shoulders. The more subdued ones offer him their canisters, but all of them bury him with hugs.

No better way to die, they tell him. And Obi isn’t a stranger to death, but is inexperienced as a soldier- and he supposes his men have seen more lives lost to worthless causes than he has. He also supposes a life lost to love isn’t that much of a life lost at all.

But with his impending doom over the horizon, Obi can’t help but live life more recklessly. He decides to step up and step out more. If he were to die, he’d do so without regrets, he tells himself. He’d do so surrounded by people - because he has existed so long without, and if this disease took away from him, surely he can be selfish and give himself to others more.

So he goes out of his way for others; getting Yuzuri that cute pouch from the plaza in Lyrias, helping Suzu with the heavy work involved in creating Olin Maris stones, even helping Ryuu reach for books in the library more often.

He thinks that if there’s anyone he’ll miss being dead - save Shirayuki - it’s Ryuu. The boy, now teenager, follows him around sometimes when he isn’t busy with his own work. They go for long walks around the plaza, and while there are few safe trees to climb in the vicinity, Ryuu lets Obi teach him how to climb anyway. Sometimes they use the shelves in the library for practice, much to Shirayuki’s chagrin, and one day, Ryuu even manages to get to the higher shelves to obtain his own books, much to Obi’s delight.

Obi laughs and loves and lives to the fullest. He doesn’t know when it will all end.

The petals come at a relentless rate tonight. Obi thinks it’s because he saw Shirayuki running off from the dinner table with an envelope sealed with a familiar blue crest. It’s the first in a while, despite him telling Master in his letters to write more often. She glanced at him briefly before scurrying off, and Obi buried his face in his arms in response, feeling the rise of a coughing fit stirring in his throat.

His bed, now littered with petals and at least four full blooms, trembles under the weight of another cough shattering through his throat. Obi feels like hurling, but all his energy is sapped, and all he wants is to sleep but he can’t. He thinks death may be a viable option at this point, and briefly falls into the hysteria of contemplating the dagger strewn across his dressing table.

He is in the midst of hacking up a fifth full bloom when a knock resounds through the room. Breathing heavily, Obi removes his head from between his knees. Ah, he thinks. I must’ve woken her up.

Obi staggers over to the door and opens it gingerly. There stands Shirayuki, grim-faced, and in her night gown, a shawl over her shoulders. Her lips are set in a straight line as she looks up at him, eyes sad yet determined. She takes a breath, and steps toward him.

“It’s cold,” she says. “Can I stay here?”

Obi wants to scream at her.

“Hah, Miss,” Obi breathes out harshly, hand swiftly going for his shoulder. He wants to scream at her. “What would Master think?”

Shiryuki doesn’t reply. Doesn’t move either. He panics. The vines in his chest are unravelling again, but there’s no Master around.

“Why are you doing this,” Obi states blankly. His hand is gripping the doorknob so tightly, he’s sure his knuckles are white.

Chest heaving, he bites out, “I don’t need your fucking pity.”

Obi moves to shut the door, but she catches him by the hand. Obi’s eyes close. When he is attacked by coughs, it’s...easier with Miss; he doesn’t wish for it (he does), but Shirayuki holds his hand while he coughs. Sometimes she pats his back, and sometimes when it feels like his lungs are about to fall out, she encases herself around him, cheek on his back, and breathes, waits. It stops faster, but he hates the look in her eyes once he’s stopped - as if this is her fault, as if she wants to be everywhere else but there with him. But he can’t bring himself to shy away, not when her touch has become so often, less of a luxury and more a ubiquity.

She drags her hand up his arm to his face, turning it toward her. Obi’s gaze drags itself up to her face. Her expression is unchanged, but she cups his jaw in the gentlest of ways, thumb brushing over the tears trailing down his cheeks.

Obi surrenders, because that’s the only thing he knows how to do nowadays. And he welcomes her in.

Days pass, and letters from Master come few and far in between. The last he heard is that Elder Highness has refused Master’s stay at Wilant due to diplomatic relations, and Obi seethes. More often than not, Obi’s heart pulses for Zen to the beat caught between it’s a prince’s fate to have love and lost and Master, I’m going mad, please, when are you coming home?

Because Shirayuki’s smiles have taken on a different shade, and he has fallen so deep, he feels the air in his lungs will never see the light of day. Once, he coughs out an entire flower - stem and all - in front of her, and Shirayuki bursts into tears whilst holding him. Obi can’t help but hold her back- because it’s easier, because he is selfish, because Master, I’m going mad, please. Still, he buries her face in her hair, and wants to cry when the tension seeps out of him.

It scares him to death.

When a letter with the blue seal of Wisteria arrives, Obi finds Shirayuki sitting by the window watching the snow fall. The silence surrounding her isn’t coloured by panic so he knows nothing bad has happened, but it strangely isn’t one filled with joy either. If anything, she looks...settled, at peace. The letter is left on display next to her. As he approaches, she turns to smile at him, soft, and hands it to him.

Dear Shirayuki, I regret to inform you that my time at Wilant may not ever arrive. Brother has sent me to Geulin on behalf of Clarines. It is a prince’s duty to his country, but I am to be betrothed to the Princess of Geulin in the coming summer. I am so sorr-

“Miss,” Obi bites out. “What is this.”

Shirayuki hums. “It is what it is, Obi.”

“No- wait- this, you- we don’t have time Miss!” Obi grabs her hand and tries to get her to stand. “Let’s go to Wistal now! Surely there must be something you can do.”

She tightens her grip on his hand. “It’s done, Obi,” she says, voice hard with certainty, and no- no, “my life is here.”

“But Miss-”

“Obi,” Shirayuki interrupts. Obi turns back to her.

She smiles.

“I think it’s about time you call me by my name.”

Obi runs.

He avoids her for a week.

In the midst of doing so, he pens letters to Master, a desperate attempt to salvage the situation when Miss clearly has no intention of doing so.

Dear most esteemed Master, I have heard about your conquest from the lovely Miss. May I enquire as to how you expect her to move on from thi-

He doesn’t visit the pharmacy when he’s hurt. Makiri slaps him on the back of his head when he stumbles into formation with a poorly bandaged right forearm. Blessedly, he doesn’t tell him to get it checked out.

Master, if you think doing this can save you the trouble of coming to Lyrias, perhaps the air in Wistal has become to thin. Perhaps a trip up north will do you good-

When she comes knocking at night, Obi doesn’t open the door to her. He’s sure she knows because his coughs freeze in his chest and the room immediately quietens down. He wait a moment, then two. A soft sigh releases itself through the cracks, before footsteps sound and gradually disappear. Obi finds his coughing fits only growing more violent as the nights pass. What scares him the most are the marked lack of full blooms leaving his mouth.

Master, what the hell gives you the fucking right to do this? She waited for you for-

Obi eventually takes on the night shift at the gate furthest from the labs. His men don’t question his sudden appearance, nor do they query about the coughing fits he has throughout the night. At one point, Obi finds himself slumped against one of the walls. When his eyes open, there is light coming in through a curtain by a window, and Obi sits up in the makeshift bed at the guard post. With growing horror, he realizes he has slept through the night without coughing once. He then collapses back onto the bed with a breath that passes through his lungs far too easily.

Zen, you must know- please. Why are you doing this-

Shirayuki finds Obi sitting by her door one morning, head hanging low over crossed arms on perched knees. He is done, there’s no running away from it anymore, no words left to say- there’s nothing he can do.

She crouches down before him, and he stiffens.

“Hey.”

Obi turns his head and peeks at her. She lets out a small laugh. Sighing harshly, he unfolds himself and leans back against the wall, legs outstretched on the floor in front of him. Glancing down at her, his heart pulses once.

“Hey Shirayuki.”

An awkward smile plays at the edges of his lips as he witnesses Shirayuki positively glow with happiness. She laughs with tears forming at the corners of her eyes, face red, and blubbers his name over and over.

Obi immediately gathers her into his arms and holds her tight against his chest. He breathes freely and realizes that perhaps he has been doing that for awhile now.

The petals do not come again.

Later on when he tells Ryuu, the boy - the gangly teenager almost his height - gives him a knowing look. He tugs at Obi’s sleeve and smiles at him softly.

“It makes sense. Because you two are always together.”

Obi grabs Ryuu and crashes him into his chest.

#obiyuki #Akagami no Shirayukihime #hanahaki AU #yixin's fic

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akagami-no-rae · 6 years

Text

Wilant - ANS Week Day 6 - WOOD

The door to the pharmacy slid shut behind Ryuu and Obi. Ryuu was off to inspect the hothouses and Obi to escort him then surely sneak off and explore the rest of the strange new palace. Shirayuki couldn’t help herself from smiling. They’d made it to Wilant, she thought giddily

Akane suddenly spoke from behind her, “I’ll not have anyone with dyed hair working in this pharmacy.” It took Shirayuki a moment to realize that she was talking about her.

“My hair isn’t dyed, Chief, this is my natural color.”

Akane puffed her pipe and narrowed her eyes at Shirayuki.

“Alright,” she finally said with a cloud of smoke pouring from her mouth, “But if I see your roots growing in, so help me, I’ll make shaved heads a part of the dress code.”

“It’s real, I swear,” Shirayuki said nervously.

Akane walked away grumbling, “Kids today, with

their red-hair fads. Filling their heads with nonsense, no room for anything but vanity.”

Shirayuki waited until Akane shut the door to her office then hurried to open the window. The cool mountain air was bracing and the scent of pine needles filled her lungs. The pharmacy was on the ground floor of Wilant, just a view of the forest floor, unlike the library where she could see over the tops of the trees to the mountains.

The way the thick forest looked like night in the middle of the day filled her with excitement. She was finally here and with Ryuu who was preparing to become the head pharmacist and Zen who was to soon rule the north.

She had to keep up with them.

She turned from the window to the box of work left for her and she set to it with determination.

A few hours past and Shirayuki closed yet another folder she’d read through and turned to find its place on the shelf.

“Excuse me,” she heard someone say behind her, “Is now a bad time?”

“Oh!” Shirayuki spun to greet whoever spoke, “I didn’t hear you come in-“ An older woman with long platinum blonde hair stood by the door and Shirayuki felt she looked familiar somehow...

It struck her why in an instant.

Shirayuki bowed her head in a hurry and stuttered out a, “Your majesty.”

She had never met the Queen Mother, only seen her from a distance at Izana’s coronation. But It was undeniable, this woman shared strong resemblances with both the brothers.

Her sharp blue eyes smiled at her like Izana’s, “You must be the red-haired pharmacist, Shirayuki, that I’ve been hearing so much about.”

“I am Shirayuki,” she said, “though I cannot attest to what you’ve heard.”

She laughed like Zen. “Oh darling, don’t worry! All good things. Though I’ve heard you’re the modest type, so that’s probably of little comfort to you.”

Shirayuki set the folder she held aside to sort out later. “Is there something I can help you with, your Majesty?”

“Straight to the point,” Haruto commented, “Yes, actually, I’m here for some medicine.”

“I’ll fetch Chief Akane right away, then.” Shirayuki went to Akane’s office door and knocked before opening. “Chief Akane, her Majesty the Queen Mother is here.”

Akane who had been sitting at her desk looked up. “What’s that? Who? Haruto’s here?”

“Yes.” Shirayuki heard the voice from over her shoulder. she looked to see Haruto leaning against the door frame inches behind her. “Hi, Akane.”

“How’re you feeling, Haruto?”

“Tired,” Haruto answered, “Didn’t sleep much last night. I need more of that tonic.”

“You usually have someone fetch you your Shady Root, what brings you by?”

Haruto moved into the room, her hand fell onto Shirayuki’s shoulder as she stepped around her. “I haven’t seen you since my last checkup and I heard that you’re looking to retire soon.”

“You heard right,” Akane emptied her pipe into an ashtray, “Hana and I want to see Yuris Island again, it’s been her dream to move there.”

“That’s exciting,” Haruto said, “You aren’t leaving right away, are you?”

“Oh no,” Akane snickered stuffing her pipe again, “I still need to show these two kids how things are done around here. I didn’t spend thirty years building this place up to have a couple of babes send it to ruin.” She took her pipe between her teeth and eyed Shirayuki who stood awkwardly in the doorway. “Not to worry, though-“ she lit a match and puffed on her pipe until smoke poured from her lips, “-They’re fine pharmacists, cut their teeth with my student, Garrack, in Wistal and studied in Lyrias.”

Haruto looked over to Shirayuki and drawled, “So I’ve heard.”

“While they were there, she and the boy crossbred a non-toxic, species of Olin Maris.”

Haruto raised an eyebrow, “Olin Maris? That name sounds familiar...”

“It poisoned some people a couple years back-“ Akane began.

“Oh, that’s right!” Haruto exclaimed, “Sorry, I don’t remember all the technical terms, but yes, I know all about that incident and Miss Shirayuki’s role in resolving it.” She turned to Shirayuki again, “You did well. Apologies for not thanking you for it until now. My son reported many good things to me that week. He’s tough to impress. Well done.”

“That means a lot, your Majesty, but it wasn’t just me, Ryuu made the antidote, Suzu, Yuzuri, Kiri-“

Haruto put her hand up and smiled softly. “I’m aware of the details, Miss Shirayuki, but I wish to thank you personally at this moment.”

Shirayuki flushed and bowed her head again. “I’m happy I could help.”

“Akane,” Haruto suddenly turned to address her, “Will Shirayuki be the one taking your place as the chief pharmacist?”

Shirayuki shook her head even though Haruto wasn’t looking at her anymore. “No, the boy will be,” said Akane slowly like she was only just starting to pay attention again after the volleying of pleasantries.

“I’m Ryuu’s assistant,” Shirayuki explained, “in fact, once we’re settled here I’m supposed to leave on a trip to convince northern lords to plant Olin Maris on their land.”

“Ah yes, I believe Izana mentioned that once.”

Izana seemed to have mentioned to the Queen a lot of things about her. What else did she know? Shirayuki wondered.

“I’ll be back in a couple of months, or more, if I’m successful,” Shirayuki finished.

“And I’m sure you will be,” Haruto offered, “Your lucky red won’t fail you now.” Shirayuki blinked, Zen had said something similar when they first met. It hadn’t felt very lucky at that moment, but now, looking back at everything that had happened because of it... “Not to give all the credit of your hard work to luck, dear, but you know what I mean.”

“Of course,“ Shirayuki smiled, “Thank you.”

“I understand that this Ryuu will be the Chief Pharmacist, but Miss Shirayuki, if it’s all the same to you, I’d prefer a female as my primary physician.”

Shirayuki blinked again then stammered, “That’s understandable, your Majesty. Of course, it would be an honor.”

“Then it’s settled,” Haruto said placing her hands on her hips and turning to Akane. “Please see to it that Shirayuki is given my medical history to study. Sorry, dear,” she said aside to Shirayuki, “Unfortunately, it’s a long read, but you have until you return from your mission so there’s plenty of time.” Haruto walked back towards the door, “It was nice meeting you Miss Shirayuki,” she said as she brushed past Shirayuki. Suddenly Akane cleared her throat. “Oh! Nice catching up Akane!” Haruto said only pausing for a beat before continuing her exit, “Yuris really is lovely, I should try visiting it again myself sometime.”

“Haruto...” Akane called and punctuated it with the shake of a vial of white liquid, “Your Shady Root?” Haruto froze and laughed, “Yes! I need that! Thanks for reminding me, Akane.” Haruto returned to the office, took the vial, said her goodbyes again, then left.

“Don’t get too excited, Red,” Akane said startling Shirayuki who looked at her quizzically. Akane took a long drag of her pipe, “The woman is a hypochondriac, you’ll be giving her so many sugar pills you’ll think you spent years of your life studying just so you can run a candy store.”

“So that wasn’t-“ She felt her blood start to boil and a lecture about the ethics of giving patients placebos begin to form on her lips.

“The shady root? No, that’s real. She gets night terrors, bad ones.”

“Then, is a sleeping aid the best method? What about finding the root of her stress-”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that, Red.” Akane snapped, putting aside her pipe for the first time. “I tried what you’re talking about and I nearly killed her by doing it. She had been up for four days straight. She was in her room screaming bloody murder because of the visions her sleep-deprived mind were making her see. I just give her what she asks for now. The woman has been through enough.”

“I’m sorry,” Shirayuki said softly.

“It’s not your fault, you don’t know her patient history yet,” Akane fumbled with what sounded like some keys in a drawer in her desk. “It’s a touchy subject with me is all, don’t mind me.” She pulled out ten large, leather-bound folders with the name ‘Haruto Wisteria’ and a varying number of years scrawled across each cover.

“She wasn’t joking when she said it be a long read,” Shirayuki laughed half-heartedly, then took the folders into her arms. “I promise to read through these, will I be able to ask you any questions I might have?”

Akane chuckled like she knew something Shirayuki didn’t, and she probably did, “Sure, anything for Haruto.”

The next morning, there was a knock at Shirayuki’s door just as she was about to leave. A valet of the Queen greeted her with a letter.

She accepted it, he bowed and took his leave. Shirayuki stepped out into the hall reading the letter in hand.

“What’s that, Miss?” Obi called as he came up the stairs. Shirayuki startled slightly, but relaxed when she saw it was Obi. Obi, Mitsuhide, Kiki and her’s rooms were all together again just like they had been in Wistal. She smiled at him, but it melted when she looked back down at her letter.

“I was invited to tea,” Shirayuki answered.

“Oh?” Obi leaned close to peer over her shoulder, “By whom?” She couldn’t find the words so she let him read for a moment, then his eyes rounded, “The Queen!?” he shouted.

“Please, don’t yell,” Shirayuki pleaded looking around for any eavesdropping maids, “I probably can’t even go. I just started at the pharmacy here, I can’t ask for an afternoon off already.”

Obi laughed, “You were invited to have tea with the Queen, who can say that?”

“It’s not so strange, we’re Zen’s friends.”

“But we weren’t invited, you were.”

Shirayuki felt her stomach knot tighten, “Y-you don’t think it’s about that do you?”

“What else would it be about?”

“Well, she did make me her physician last night.”

“Do patients and physicians usually have tea together?”

“I don’t think so, but her and Chief Akane seemed really familiar with each other.”

“Then maybe she just doesn’t like formalities and is trying to welcome you.”

Shirayuki breathed and felt the weight on her chest lighten. “Yeah.”

“Don’t worry,” Obi smiled, “the Queen probably doesn’t even know about you and the Master.”

Shirayuki felt a sting behind her eyes. “Right.”

Shirayuki came to the room named Juniper at the time specified in the letter. It was easier to get out of work than she had thought it would be. Akane even gave her a blend of tea leaves to bring with her. Shirayuki was grateful for the tin in her hands, it hadn’t occurred to her to bring a gift as thanks for the Queen’s generous invitation.

A servant opened the door for her and announced her entry. Shirayuki stepped through to an ornate room with large windows along the back wall that looked into one of the hothouses. Sunlight poured in and the smell of flowers was strong. To her surprise the Queen wasn’t alone waiting for her, three young women also sat at the table.

“Here she is,” Haruto said from her seat, “Ladies, I’d like you to meet Miss Shirayuki.”

The three rose and curtsied to Shirayuki as she approached. Shirayuki, a bit surprised by the sudden gesture did her best to return it, stumbling ever so slightly as she did. One of the young ladies noticed this and smirked slightly.

“Miss Shirayuki, I’d like you to meet Lady Sara-” she gestured to the young woman with olive skin and dark brown hair. “Lady Yui-” the one with black hair and large, round blue eyes, “-and Lady Himari,” a young lady with golden waves for hair and soft brown eyes; the one who had smirked at her.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all,” Shirayuki said as she took a seat. A butler poured her tea and she whispered her thanks to him.

“Your majesty,” Shirayuki said lifting the tin to Haruto, “This is for you, thank you for inviting me.”

“Thank you, Dear,” Haruto accepted the tin and passed it to a maid who stood by, “I’ll have this prepared the next time we meet.”

“If I’d had the time I would have prepared and brought the medicinal tea my research partners and I made in Lyrias.”

“Research partners in Lyrias?” Himari hummed and the other two put down their cups to listen.

“Miss Shirayuki is an accomplished pharmacist,” Haruto explained.

“I’ve always wanted to study in Lyrias, myself,” Sara said leaning in, “Tell us, what was it like?”

“Beautiful,” Shirayuki answered, “the library there has become one of my favorite places. There are-“

“A career woman,” Himari interrupted, and then punctuated the silence with a long sip of her tea, “I enjoy seeing the development of a middle class in Clarines. It’s very cosmopolitan. You must have worked hard to get to where you are.”

“I’ve done my best,” Shirayuki said, “Thank you, Lady Himari.”

Himari’s face was perfectly carved stone, her gaze a challenge.

“We’re so fortunate to have a talent like hers,” Haruto said unaffected by the room as she stirred honey into her tea, “She’ll be working in Wilant’s pharmacy once she completes an important political mission.”

“Mission?” Yui’s eyes looked like they were about to bulge out of her head, “Sounds so secret and important,” she lowered her voice, “Can you tell us more?”

“I wouldn’t call it a political mission,” Shirayuki waved her hands, “I’m just asking some of the northern lords for permission to plant Olin Maris on their land.”

“Isn’t that the plant that poisoned all those people in Lyrias a few years back?” Sara asked and Himari and Yui looked scandalized.

“Yes, but,” Shirayuki explained, “that’s what my research partners and I have been working on: making Olin Maris glow without poison.”

Sara nodded thoughtfully, Yui gasped, and Himari leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand.

“If you don’t think this will be a political mission,” Himari mused, “you’re in for a rude awakening.”

“Especially with the state the North has been in recently,” Sara said, “Why else do you think his majesty is marrying so far below his station?”

“Ha-Lady Haki?” said Shirayuki.

“She’s only a viscountess,” said Yui then she giggled, “How funny would it be if the princess was of higher birth than the queen?”

They were talking about Zen’s future wife. Shirayuki felt her throat tighten and stole a glance to the Queen who absently sipped her tea.

“Be quiet, Yui,” Sara said.

“You’re just hoping it means the prince will have to marry a baroness,” Yui teased, “Isn't that right, Baroness Gilva?”

Sara turned red and huffed in response.

“Her rank won’t be remembered once she’s Queen,” Himari said sitting up straight and proper, “All anyone will remember is that she is from the north.” Himari looked at Shirayuki pointedly.

“So King Izana’s marriage is political?” Shirayuki asked, never having questioned it before.

“Well, of course, it is!” Yui interjected.

“Very smart of him to draw it out,” Sara said, “keeps the attention to the hopeful future instead of the unfortunate present.”

“Once the wedding is over, there will be nothing left to look forward to,” said Yui, “Well, except for a baby.” Yui nudged Sara as she said this and Sara returned to her previous shade of crimson.

“There is still Prince Zen’s wedding,” Himari said, “It would be smart for him to choose a bride who has favor in the north as well. Though, things have been awfully quiet on that front.”

Another pointed look at Shirayuki, but Sara and Yui must have been looking at Haruto because she answered. “Don’t look at me, I’m just his mother. His brother’s been keeping him so busy that I’m sure Zen hasn’t had time to even consider marriage.”

The ladies nodded and glanced at each other with subtle smiles.

“I don't think that’s true.” Shirayuki said before she realized it, “Prince Zen is clever, he wouldn’t reveal his intentions before everything is placed. The last thing he wants is to be forced to make a move.”

Everyone at the table stared at her.

Yui nearly snorted, “But intentions to whom? He hasn’t met for a marriage interview in years.”

“Aside from that,” Himari added staring straight at Shirayuki, “There has been nothing but strange rumors around him. What do you-”

“-Speaking of rumors,” Sara interrupted, “is it true that his highness is in Wilant now? Is it true he’ll become the steward of the north?”

Haruto chuckled. “Yes, in fact-” she said just as the doors to the room opened.

The valet spoke, “Prince Zen Wisteria.”

“-I asked him to come by,” Haruto finished.

The ladies gasped and turned to see Zen enter the room.

Haruto stood and walked to him. “Zenny,” she greeted warmly.

The pet name sent Himari, Yui, Sara into a fit of giggles that there quickly stifled and stood. Zen looked horrified, glancing between his mother, the three young ladies, and lastly to Shirayuki who still sat in her seat looking over her shoulder at him.

Shirayuki was pulled out of the stunned silence by a coughing. She turned to see Himari urgently trying to tell her something with her glare. Stand up, she realized and she popped up immediately.

Haruto seeming to only just realize what she’d said covered her mouth and whispered, “Sorry.”

Zen tore his stare away from Shirayuki and addressed Haruto through clenched teeth. “Queen Mother.” He bowed and all the ladies curtsied, Shirayuki followed suit a beat behind.

Haruto cleared her throat then put her hand down. “Prince Zen,” she corrected, “there are some ladies here I’d like you to meet.”

Zen glanced over the Sara, Yui, and Himari to Shirayuki, his brow quirked. “Mother,” he said stiffly looking back at her, “You said you had some reports for me to pick up.”

“Yes, yes,” Haruto waved, “But first, say hello to my guests: Lady Sara Gilva, Lady Yui Aster, Lady Himari Soto, and I’m sure you met Miss Shirayuki while in Wilant.”

Each girl curtsied as her name was called, Shirayuki simply bowed her head.

Zen bowed at his waist, “Good afternoon.” He stood and looked at Shirayuki and bowed again. “Lady Shirayuki.” The ladies and Haruto all looked surprised. Haruto recovered first, grabbing the side of her head, “Ah, Lady Shirayuki! I remember now, you had a title- thing-” she waved her hand trying to remember, “-friend of Tanbarun’s crown, correct? Sorry, you must have thought me so rude.”

“Not at all,” Shirayuki waved her hands in front of herself, “It’s so new to me, even I forget I have it. You don't have to call me-”

“Lady Shirayuki,” Zen said looking at her with hurt eyes, “Excuse me for interrupting, but it’s alright to remind others of your accomplishments when they forget.” He gave a pointed glance to Haruto.

Her pardons still hung on the tip of her tongue. He turned back smiled at her softly and she drew in a breath. “Zen,” she exhaled, a bare whisper.

“She’s too humble for her own good,” Haruto laughed.

“Mother,” Zen warned despite her good-natured tone. It reminded her of when he’d try to defend her from Obi’s teasing.

“Alright, alright,” Haruto surrendered and went to one of the flower vase covered tables and picked up a small stack of folders. She brought them back to him and handed them off. Zen tucked the folders under his arm and bowed to her again, “Queen mother.” He turned to the table of ladies, “Pleasure meeting you.” He turned to leave when-

“Come now, Zen, shake their hands.”

Zen looked at Haruto for a long moment. Her brow flicked up in unshaken expectation, he tipped his head in response. Yui and Sara had to stifle their giggles. The two hurried out from behind the table to meet him. He shook both their hands smiling and sincerely greeting them. Then Himari walked to him. She extended her hand, palm down, and waited for him. She wanted him to kiss it. Yui and Sara’s shock turned into sheer jealousy within seconds. Shirayuki felt a pang, but that was silly, she told herself. It’s okay, she wanted to say, but couldn’t. All she could do was watch.

Zen stared down at the back of her hand, it’d be extremely rude for him to reject it. Himari had made a calculated action that forced him to make a move.

Zen took Himari’s fingers in his and lifted her knuckles to brush against his lips. “Lady Himari,” he said with the same warm sincerity he gave the other two. Himari drew her hand back and smiled, pleased with herself.

Zen turned to Shirayuki and all eyes fell on her.

Shirayuki couldn’t move, her eyes fell to the floor. Zen came and stood before her, all she could see were his shoes. She lifted her hand slowly to shake, but instead of grasping it, he cupped the back of her hand with his own. She looked up at him, not sure what he was doing. He sat his folders aside on the table beside her and took her hand in both of his. His thumbs traced her palm and she watched his hooded eyes as he lifted her palm to his lips. He placed a kiss on the center of her hand.

A jolt shot up Shirayuki’s back. Zen, slowly, pulled away and closed her fingers over the place he left his heart. He held her hand closed, the two of them staring into each other’s eyes. Zen, his smile warm, sincere, and… different. It was a subtle difference, but undeniably just for her.

“My lady,” he said, “Never be afraid to correct any of them if they step over a line.”

Shirayuki nodded, “Well, I usually try to give someone at least one meeting before I start slapping sense into them.”

Zen chuckled, “We both know that’s not true.”

She laughed, “It’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“Good,” Zen said giving her hand a squeeze. Shirayuki felt the tension she felt ever since she entered this room fade away.

Then she remembered where they were.

Her eyes darted over Zen’s shoulder to see Haruto watching with an amused smile- just like Izana, she thought.

Zen turned to face her, his hands still holding Shirayuki’s. “Thank you for introducing me to your lovely guests, but I have work to return to.”

“Are you certain you wouldn’t rather stay and join us?” Haruto mused walking back to her chair.

Zen brushed his thumb over Shirayuki’s knuckles one last time then let go to pick up his folders. “No, I’ll leave you all to your political planning and peace talks. I have soldiers not passing their physicals to deal with.”

Zen left the room, the door clicking shut behind him. She could almost swear she heard him yell Mitsuhide’s name. That made her smile. Shirayuki turned to Haruto who was watching the door with her amused smile.

Shirayuki asked confidently, “What did Izana tell you?”

The young ladies, eyes already rounded, giggled furiously. Shirayuki realized it was because she’d forgotten to use an honorific for the king. Haruto arched an eyebrow and considered Shirayuki from the corner of her eye, then shrugged and walked back to her seat.

“Izana? About you and Zen?” She sat and picked her tea up, “Not a word. Zen told me everything I know, just now.” She took a sip. “Everything else was just mother’s intuition.”

“I’m sure the rumors flying around had no influence over you,” Shirayuki said, colder than she intended, but Haruto had forced Zen’s hand. “They aren’t true, by the way. Zen-”

“Would never take a concubine,” Haruto finished, “He’s too sensitive, and you're too smart. Honestly, I was beginning to worry he’d never take a wife.”

Haruto laughed and looked to the young ladies who giggled like this was something they’d discussed before. The three took their seats again too, looking at Shirayuki with a new respect rather than the jealousy and anger Shirayuki had briefly feared.

“Yes, but Zen and I aren’t, he hasn’t,” she stammered a bit taken aback by the word wife.

“Zen’s serious, don’t you know?” Haruto asked.

“I do, he is and so am I, but-“

Himari spoke up, “I hope this political mission goes well for you.” She meant it too. All the things she’d said at the table earlier…

“As do I,” said Haruto with another sip of her tea and a quick smiling glance at Shirayuki. She put her empty cup down and stood. “Lady Shirayuki, these three young ladies are some of the most intelligent and shrewd I’ve met, I suggest you meet and have tea with them as often as you can before you leave on your mission. Learn everything you can from them.” Haruto eyed the three young ladies, “I’m trusting her to you.”

The three smiled and bowed their heads in response. Haruto squeezed Shirayuki’s shoulder and flashed her a final smile before leaving. Shirayuki suddenly felt like the world was spinning and returned to her chair to regain her sense of balance. She looked across to her three new allies. None smiled as brightly as Himari who leaned forward and said, “Let’s begin, shall we?”

#ANSweek2018 #day 6 #this is just what i came up with when i got to thinking about what i want the future of the manga to look like hahaha #this is just he beginning of course #things will not stay this smooth mwahahhahaha!#soon they will be ont he brink of civil war and only shirayuki can save them #those three girl are who i want to have eventually become shirayuki #s ladies maids #lord knows she needs more lady friends

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ruleofexception · 6 years

Text

Ch. 4 (SoulM8, AU!)

SoulM8

He's fucked. Oh man is he fucked.

How did one beer turn into… this?

Fuzzy thoughts press through the alcohol induced haze that's clouded his brain, but the only one that seems important is that she might walk around the corner any second and see him like this. Which would be… not something he wants.

Grabbing the edge of the sticky countertop and pulling himself up to peak over it, relief crashes through his veins.

She's still distracted.

For now.

But, it’s only a matter of time before her or Yuzuri decide they need another drink and head to the kitchen. He needs to get out of here.

"Suzu." Ignoring the grunt that floats up from the star-fished human on the floor, he glances over his shoulder, shifts and nudges the guy with his knee. “She can’t see me like this, man.”

"Y'know wha?” Suzu snorts and rolls his head to the side, his eyes glassy as they desperately try to focus on him. "Who cares, dude. Yuki’s yer Match. Love is bound to hap’n.”

“I care! She doesn’t even know sober me. I don’t think she’s ready for… for this. I’m an asshole.” Lowering himself to the floor, he rests his head against the cupboard and groans as the room starts to spin. “Is it possible to fuck up a Match? Cause I think I could.”

“Pft. Stop bein’ a bitch.” Blinking blearily, Suzu jolts his arm up and points somewhere over Obi’s shoulder, though he’s almost certain the motion is meant for him. “Yer a cool dude, my dude. An’ Yuki’s a cool dude.”

The guy may be drunk and half naked on the kitchen floor, but he could have a point. This whole SoulM8 thing seems to be legit… And although he’s never really been great at dating, Shirayuki is his Match. It’s different now, right?

So, just because he hasn’t taken her on a proper date yet or figured out what her favourite cereal is, doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world? It doesn’t mean he should be embarrassed about having one-too-many drinks with one of her best-friends, right? Maybe she’ll even be happy to see he’s getting along with Suzu?

Suzu snorts again and starts to squirm; from the flying limbs and clear struggle, Obi’s guessing that he’s trying to sit up. It’s not going so well. Grunting, he continues to flail. “Listen, just… be cool dudes, but together.”

“I don’t know how to do that, man.” Shutting his eyes and lightly banging his head against the cupboards, his hands clench nervously. Tonight he’d been planning to actually talk to her, like a decent human being, like a good Match, and instead he’s been drinking with Suzu and talking about her.

Fuck.

Maybe he can find a way to work up the courage to call her tomorrow after his hangover passes and some of his pride finds its way back to him. But tonight? Right now? He needs to get out of here, before he finds a way to truly make an ass of himself.

“Sure yah do. Besides, didn’t yah read the fine print before you got that thing?” Peeking over at Suzu, who’s now sitting and grinning dumbly at him, he refrains from cursing again. “Accordin’ to science, yer exactly what Yuki’s been waitin’ for fer almost a decade.”

“Ha, yeah, great. No pressure there…” how could he ever forget that he’d made her wait that long?

Huffing loudly, Suzu reaches forward and punches him, encouragingly.

Before he gets the chance to slur some other Match nonsense, Obi growls, “Suzu, you don’t get it. The only reason I got the stupid thing is because-” biting down on his tongue, he cringes. Now’s not the time to bring up Torou or Deadre or any of that past bullshit. “Look, I just don’t know what I’m doing. I never have. I was hoping getting this shit would help, but I seriously think that it might be broken, because honestly, Shirayuki is… well she’s just… she’s so… I don’t know, she’s-”

“Standing right here?” A light giggle causes his eyes to widen in surprise and shift to where a sparkly set of purple toenails are curling nervously beside him.

“Ah, shit.”

Well, this certainly isn’t what he’d expected to happen. Not even remotely close.

Honestly, he thought for sure that Yuzuri would have kicked him out as soon as he’d been caught mumbling all that gibberish about Shirayuki; he may not have known her for long, but he does know that she doesn’t put up with shit like that. Especially when it involves Shirayuki.

But, instead of being kicked out, he found himself being coaxed out of the kitchen and through the house, by none other than Shirayuki herself.

It had been strange out first - her tiny hand sitting effortlessly in his as she dragged him behind her, going from room to room. He’d been hopeless to do much more than stumble along, dazed and in awe that she was still holding his hand. It didn’t even matter that she wasn’t saying anything or that his stomach felt like it was full of intoxicated butterflies. It didn’t matter, because touching her just made everything feel... right.

Even with the house still spinning from all the drinks, everything felt right, for once in his life.

And he would have been happy to follow along behind Shirayuki for the rest of the night, in a spinning house, if it meant she’d keep holding his hand.

The only time they’d stopped their trek through the house was when she yanked him into the bathroom. But, after a few brief awkward minutes spent swaying in the small space, she eventually groaned, slipped her hand into his once more and started pulling him towards one of the bedrooms.

He’d nearly had a panic attack.

Which is really saying something, because before all this SoulM8 shit, if a beautiful woman had been pulling him towards the bedroom, he wouldn’t have been able to move down that hallway fast enough. But with her… he wants to do this right. It already feels like she got the short straw in this Match, since she’s pretty much the closest thing to perfection he’s ever encountered and he’s… well he’s not.

A gentle touch, brushing against the tops of his knuckles pulls him from his thoughts and back into the small, unfurnished bedroom she’d locked them in.

Looking down to where Shirayuki’s fingers are still laced with his, he shivers as her free hand runs thoughtfully across his knuckles, before trailing down to his wrist where the same summer-green of her eyes, dances across the tiny screen. “I wondered, you know…”

“Ah, wondered?” Brows furrowing and still trying to fight off the haze of alcohol and panic, he blinks rapidly to clear his vision and looks up from their joined hands to stare at her.

A partial curtain of red hangs between them, her gaze downcast to where she continues to explore the device on his wrist. He’s not entirely sure she’s looked at him since they’d been in the kitchen, and even then he’s not sure she was really looking at him, since he’d been desperately trying to avoid making eye contact with her.

Nodding slightly, she smacks her feet together nervously and squeezes his hand. “Yeah… That day, in the supermarket, when you were being a… a butt.”

“I can’t beli- wait, wait… Did you…” chuckling and ducking his head down to try and catch her eye, he’s surprised to find a grin pulling at his lips.

It’s not that he’s surprised at the grin itself, but rather at how natural and easy it is to be around her. Fuck, he’s known her for less than a month, knows almost nothing about her and yet spending time with her feels as though he’s known her for years.

“Did you just call me a butt?”

“Yes!” A soft giggle swirls around him as she tips her head back and moves to brush her hair out of her face; a brilliant summer green gaze smiles up at him and her cheeks flush. Donning a fake pout, he bites at his cheek to keep himself from smiling any wider. “Well you were! You were being rude, but when I turned around to tell you to go away, I… ah… well you were just so… so...”

“I was… what?” Leaning closer and bringing a hand up to cup his ear, he allows the grin to break free. Eyes wide and squeaking shyly, she pulls her bottom lip between her teeth and shakes her head. “Sorry, didn’t quite catch that. You were going to yell at me, for being a butt - your words, not mine - but I was just so… what? ”

The room grows quiet, save for the nervous shuffling of her feet; twice, she opens her mouth and meets his gaze, like she’s finally found the words, but both times she’s quick to close it and look away. Panic starts to bubble up and the notion that maybe he’s taken it too far begins to worm its way into his mind. He needs to fix this.

“Hey,” Squeezing her hand and chuckling, he bumps her shoulder gently. “I’m just curious. If there’s something I shouldn’t be doing, or something that bugs you, I want to know so I don-”

“Distracting!” A painful blush sits high in her cheeks and she squeezes her eyes shut before taking a deep breath, “Obi, you were… you were very, ahm, distracting. But, uhm, in a… ah, a good way.”

A mixture of surprise and pride flits through him. He’d really only been teasing her before, not realizing that she’d actually thought he could be something more than just an asshole bugging her at the grocery store. “You really thought that?”

“Yeah, I really did.” Humming she runs her fingers across his wrist again, raising goosebumps along his arm. “I was trying to see if you already had a SoulM8, but you were wearing a long sleeve… And I thought about asking you, but then you went and opened your stupid mouth again.”

Grimacing, he watches as her hair starts to slide out from behind her ear - strands of it fall forward, trying to form a curtain between them again. “Not one of my finer moments, I assure you.”

Nodding, her thumb runs soothing circles around the SoulM8 and she sighs before looking back up to meet his gaze. A sad smile teases at her lips, “You know, you’re actually why I booked the removal appointment?”

To say he’s shocked would be an understatement. All he can figure out how to do is shake his head slowly, since his lungs don’t seem to be cooperating and his stomach is threatening to spill everything he’s consumed in the past 24 hours.

He had been the reason she was at the clinic? She was there to get it… to get it removed?

Oh, holy fuck.

That’s why she was there? It makes sense, probably should have pieced that together before just now, but... fuck.

She was there to get it removed and... and he’d gone in to get it installed, all because of the same fucking conversation? What if he hadn’t decided to get it done? Where would they be now? Certainly not sitting on a bedroom floor, holding hands and matched.

“I… I’m so…” Fuck, he’d very nearly ruined the only good thing in his life without even realizing it. What if he’d missed the appointment? Or changed his mind? It’s getting harder to breathe and his shoulder aches. Maybe he should leave her alone for a while. Try and process everything. Call her tomorrow. “I just… fuck.”

Shifting his legs, he means to let go of her hand and push himself up off the floor, but he seems to have lost control of his limbs; they all feel heavy and useless. Not even his free hand has the ability to fist in his hair like he needs it to.

Stomach rolling again, he can’t bear to look at her. What had he done? He knew that the conversation hadn’t exactly been stellar. In fact, he’d left the supermarket feeling utterly defeated; she was the reason he finally decided to go and get the SoulM8.

She was the reason he was getting it and he was the reason she was removing it…

“Obi, breathe. It was a good thing.” he nearly startles when her hand moves from his wrist, to his cheek, gently turning his face towards hers, until an understanding, concerned gaze searches him. “I’d been thinking about it for a while… you just helped me realize that I didn’t want to wait another 3 decades, hoping that this thing would tell me who I was supposed to end up with. Meeting you made me understand that this thing on my wrist didn’t have to define me.”

“But I…” Catching his breath isn’t working and his shoulder aches with an intensity he’s never felt before; and although she’s smiling tenderly at him, running her thumb along his cheek, he can’t seem to move past the fact that he’d been the reason she was willing to get it permanently removed. “I almost… and you wer-”

“Yuki?” A loud knock echoes through the room, Yuzuri’s words slurring through the thick wooden door. “Yuki, you in here? C’mon, play beer pong!”

Shit, he’s not ready to go out and face the rest of the party. He doesn’t want to leave Shirayuki’s side - not when there’s still so much to be said. She needs to know how he’d gotten to that point in his life. Needs to know that he’d never meant to push her so close to removing it.

“Yup! Be there in a sec, Yuzuri.” Dropping her hand from his cheek and giggling shyly, Shirayuki bumps his shoulder. “Look, Obi, I’ve thought about it a lot, since it happened, and I want you to know that I wouldn’t change anything about that day.”

The fingers laced between his give one final squeeze before they release him and a moment later she’s on her feet, bouncing slightly in an attempt to get her blood flowing again. Watching her shake out her hands and smile down at him is oddly comforting, but the twisted knot that is his heart, continues to throb painfully behind his ribs. If he doesn’t find the words, soon, she’ll walk out that door and he’s not sure he’ll know how to bring this up again.

A shaky breath fills his burning lungs and he’s no longer sure if the spinning room is alcohol-induced or his anxiety over this whole situation. Thoughts burrow into his mind, digging up questions of what-if’s and he desperately wants to talk to her about what had happened that day and why, but all he’s able to manage is a whispered, “Nothing?”

She’s at the door now and he half expects her to just open it and join her friends, ignoring his quiet question, but slowly she turns to face him and steals the breath from his lungs all over again - but this time, it’s simply because of the way she’s smiling at him.

Scrunching up her toes and shaking her head slightly, she giggles, “Nope, nothing.”

Aside from the muffled music coming from the hallway and Yuzuri’s insistent hollering for Shirayuki, the room grows quiet once more. An odd sense of relief, he’s not sure he deserves, comes over him and the pain in his shoulder, dulls. Shirayuki stands there, hand on the doorknob, and sighs.

“Now, I need to know…” a mischievous grin pulls at her lips and she cracks the door open to let music flood into the room, “Are you going to come be my partner or am I going to have to fend for myself out there?”

#obiyukiweek2018 #day 4 #free day #obiyuki #ans #akagami no shirayukihime #mild language #soulm8 au #*forcefully boots out of drafts*#here #take this nonsense #*climbs back in trash can*

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kaedix · 6 years

Note

Mall AU: Obi asks Shirayuki out on a date-date. :3

Thank you for the prompt!

“I'm sorry I won't be able to hang out with you much,” Zen said, holding out the invitation. “But Mitsuhide and Kiki will be there, and they'd love to hang out with you. I really hope you can come.” He smiled so brightly. He was...perfect.

“Thank you so much, Zen,” Shirayuki said, taking the invitation and holding it to her heart. “I'm...so flattered that you would invite me personally.”

“Of course,” Zen said. He stepped back from the counter and waved. “Well, I've got to head out. Izana's got a list a mile long of things for me to do before next Thursday. Let me know if you can make it, okay?”

Shirayuki waved back and watched him leave, replying, “I will, for sure!”

She looked down at the invitation again. Something so classy and carefully crafted felt very out of place in her hands. Especially with the word Gala staring up at her - people like her didn't go to galas.

And Zen. Zen was a nice guy. Such a nice guy. And attractive. So cute. And his eyes - ugh, dreamy. But -

Why did his invitation somehow make Shirayuki feel alone?

She didn't mind going with Mitsuhide and Kiki, but it was likely that they would be going as a couple. As much as Shirayuki loved being a third wheel…

It was Zen she connected to. The one she wanted to talk with, experience a gala with. And with him helping head up the event, talking with sponsors and making appearances with Izana - like Zen had said, Shirayuki doubted she'd see him that much, if at all.

Zen also hadn't even mentioned if Obi was going to be attending. Shirayuki smiled to herself, thinking that a gala is the last place Obi would want to be. Lucky him - Zen had likely given up on asking Obi to go, or possibly never extended the invitation in the first place.

“Ooooo, what's this?”

Yuzuri popped up behind Shirayuki, plucking the invite from her hands.

“Izana Wisteria’s gala?” Yuzuri asked incredulously. “No way. Why do you get invited to all the cool things?”

“Because she's cozy with the second-in-line,” Suzu offered from his seat behind the counter.

“True,” Yuzuri said, and her eyes sparkled. “You're going, right? I'm sure Zen is a perfect gentleman. A date with him would be fun.”

“That's the thing,” Shirayuki said with a sigh. “He just invited me not as his date. As a guest.”

“What? Lame!” Yuzuri pouted. “I mean, that's sweet of him to still invite you, but...like, what?”

“He's kind of helping run the whole thing. I get it.” Shirayuki shrugged. “I'm still just in shock that I've been asked to attend a gala. I'm not complaining.”

Yuzuri smiled knowingly, shaking her head. “That boy better get up his courage and ask you out for real one of these times, or he's going to be sorry.”

By the time she left work that day, Shirayuki had made up her mind about the gala.

She wasn't going to go.

She didn't tell Yuzuri, who, despite Shirayuki's lack of enthusiasm, went on and on about finding a dress and offering to help with hair and makeup and -

Shirayuki felt out of place just thinking about it.

She gripped the invitation as she walked to her car, her heart fallen at the idea of letting Zen down. It seemed like he really wanted her to come. But if he wouldn't be around to see her, would it really matter if she went anyway?

She stopped at her car door and fumbled with her keys for a moment. As she got the door open and turned to slide in, a familiar form coming out of the mall doors caught her eye.

“Obi!” Shirayuki quickly straightened, waving a hand high in the air. Obi heard her immediately, turning his head in surprise. He smiled and waved back, heading in her direction.

“Hello, little miss,” Obi said, drawing a glare from Shirayuki. He winked. “Miss Shirayuki.”

“What are you doing here?” Shirayuki asked. “I thought you were off work today.”

“I am,” Obi replied, gripping his shoulder as he stood. “I had a fitting at the tuxedo place.”

Shirayuki smiled. She couldn't help it. The visual was too much.

“A tuxedo? For what?” she asked.

Obi rolled his eyes and sighed. “Zen’s brother Izana is having some...giant...party thing, and I told Zen I wasn't going because I didn’t have a tux and - well, he wasn't going to take no for an answer.”

“You're going to the gala?” Shirayuki surprised herself with how hopeful she sounded.

“Yeah,” Obi said, an inquisitive look on his face. “How did you hear about it?”

Shirayuki waved the invitation in the air. “Zen just invited me this morning.”

Obi nodded. “Ah. I'm surprised Izana let him bring a date.”

“Oh - no,” Shirayuki said quickly, shaking her head. “It's not a date. He told me he'll pretty much be busy the whole night, but he said I could hang out with Mitsuhide and Kiki. I don't think I'll go, though.”

“Why not?” Obi asked.

“I just - well, it'll probably be like a date for them and, I dunno, they probably don't want me hanging around them the whole night.” Shirayuki shrugged. “And I don't really think I'd be comfortable at some place so fancy, you know?”

Obi laughed. “I do know,” he said. “I wish I wasn't having a tuxedo made for me as we speak, but - this whole thing seems pretty important to Zen. I want to support him if I can.”

Shirayuki smiled. “That's so good of you, Obi. You're such a good friend.”

Obi waved his hand and spoke with a pompous air. “Oh, you know, only the best of friends attend each others’ galas.”

It was Shirayuki's turn to laugh. “Well, I should probably get going,” she said, gesturing to her open car door. “It was a really nice surprise to see you.”

“You too,” Obi agreed.

There was a beat between them. Obi fidgeted. With a somewhat awkward smile, Shirayuki turned back to her car.

“Ah, Shirayuki - !” Obi said suddenly.

Shirayuki turned so fast she was in danger of whiplash. “Yes?” she asked.

“Would - you - want to go to the gala together?” The words tumbled out of Obi’s mouth, and it seemed like they surprised him as much as they were surprising Shirayuki.

“Together?” Shirayuki repeated.

“Yeah,” Obi said. “Like...a date.”

Shirayuki stared at him, her mouth slightly open. She could feel her heart suddenly pounding up into her throat, and she didn't know how to respond, but everything inside of her was screaming one word, over and over -

“Shirayuki…?” Obi asked, after a longer-than-it-should-have-been pause.

“Yes!” Shirayuki blurted out, louder than intended. “Yes, Obi, I'd love to go with you! Thank you so much for asking me!”

Obi laughed - a deep, real laugh. “Thank you for the enthusiasm. It's a real confidence boost.” He visibly relaxed, taking a step back and raising his hand in farewell. “We can talk details tomorrow, sound good?”

“Sounds perfect,” Shirayuki said. “See you later, Obi!”

Shirayuki finally got into her car. The drive home was a blur, but the one thing she did remember was that no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't wipe the ridiculous grin off her face the whole way there.

#december prompts #mall au #obiyuki #obi x shirayuki #in which!!!things!!!are set in motion!!!!#:3 #thank you so much for this prompt Joanna!!#superhappybubbleslove

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bubblesthemonsterartist · 6 years

Text

First and Last

For @miinah13 based off of this.

When he was a boy, he hated his dreams.

When he was a boy, closing his eyes was dangerous; it was a risk, a wager against fate, a chance that he might not wake up. That the monsters in his head would finally take him, finally drag him down and down and down to where no one could follow. Or worse, he would wake with his nails digging into his chest, peeling back skin, trying to dig out his own beating heart and oh god, why did it still beat?

But-

Obi...

He’s a man now.

He’s not scared of those dreams anymore.

Now he begs himself to let him sleep, so just one more time he can hear her voice - just one more time he can see her face.

Like all things, Miss had a medicine for his sickness. She waits for him to close his eyes at night like she waited for him to come off the walls in Lyrias - like she waited for him to share his voice, to share his touch, to share his name.

It didn’t matter how late in the night it was, she always waited for him.

She always waits for him still.

She never touches him; she’s not made for him to hold. Not anymore (and maybe not before). But she listens, she smiles, she says his name in that soft precious lilt that has him offering his belly, his throat, his heart. He tells her of the flowers that Mukaze brought her - did she see them? He tells her that Master finally married. He tells her how Miss Kiki howled through labor and how Sir wept when he held both his wife and son when it was done.

He tells her that Ryuu is man now and he worries that he’ll never live happiness outside his books. He tells her that Yuzuri and Suzu made tenure - can you believe that? He tells her how the Olin Maris lights up the world and how he wishes he could show her what she helped create.

He asks her how her father is. Has she met her mother?

He tells her how his joints ache; she was right - he should have been kinder to himself when he was younger. He tells her how scared he is raising their son by himself - he wants to do right by him but he’s never known what it means to have a father how can he be one himself? He tells her about the first time Mukaze told him he was in love and how he felt so full that night that he couldn’t sleep.

He tells her that she’s beautiful.

He tells her that he loves her.

He tells her that he misses her.

So, so much.

Her hair has faded to gray in his memory, her skin a soft sort of pale, and she smiles so sweetly at him that he dare not ask if this night is the last. If he did a good job. If he will ever hold her or touch her or go where she must go.

He tried. She has to know he tried.

Obi...

His name washes over him and he holds on, he holds on so tight to this because he’s scared - he doesn’t want to let her go. Not again. Her eyes swim - the only part of her that never dimmed - and they glitter, they shine, they-

Father...

She is slipping away and he cannot remember her face, not if he turns away. But to the voice that reaches out for him, he will always always go.

“Father, there’s someone I want you to meet.”

He opens his eyes. He feels the pain flood him once again. Feels it bloom and ache in his knees and spine and chest.

But he doesn’t cry.

And his son, part him but mostly her, smiles down at him with love, with pride, placing a small squirming bundle into his arms. Her fingers are as tiny as birds feet and her eyes-

Her eyes are hers.

“Meet your granddaughter, Yuki.”

Outside, the first snow falls.

He leans down, touching his forehead to hers.

“Hi, Yuki.”

#bubbleswrites #miinah's single dad au #akagami no shirayukihime #obiyuki #tw: major character death #tw: grief #healing #I said I would write it Miinah #and here it is #thank you again for making me sob over my keyboard #(YOU ALL THOUGHT YOU WERE SAFE BECAUSE I AM ON VACATION DIDN'T YOU???)

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sabraeal · 5 years

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THERE ARE SO MANY. BUT one of my tops has to be Shirayuki realizing Obi is her person when she sees him in his dress up clothes when they go to dinner with his foster parents in WFB. Another would be Obi and Suzu spilling out of the closet after listening to Yuzuri and Shirayuki's roleplay in Out of Context. And of course, little Ryuu's face when he accidentally calls Shirayuki and Obi "mom and dad" in A Slip of the Tongue. Priceless.

I think that WFB scene is one of my favorites because it takes her like...the whole dinner to be like OH NO THAT MEANS I’M IN LOVE WITH HIM, and then he just ABANDONS her to his parents with that realization fresh in her mind.

Out of Context is just so fun, and drunk Suzu and Obi were such fun in that scene.

I rarely get to write Ryuu substantially, and A Slip of the Tongue was just...too good to me in that regard. I got to write a lot of Ryuu, and then have him be completely mortified that he had FEEELINGS OH NOOOOO

#asks #meme #fav scene meme #Out of Context is just one of those fics where it seems like everything should work out #and everyone is too dumb to get their shit together #like i mean Suzu and Yuzuri?#they know they have FEELINGS #Obi has honestly all the proof he needs of feelings and STILL #you know he's gonna convince himself she didn't mean it #puffdragongirl

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zacekova · 6 years

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Akagami no Shirayukihime Dragon Companion AU compilation

Okay, guys. This is getting really long and I don’t regret a thing.

This is a collection of a bunch of ideas and images from a thread on the Obiyuki discord that we’ve tossed around about an ANS AU where dragons exist. I’ve had some thoughts since then and have added my ideas to the list, but there are still a lot of blank spaces and room for expansion.

I’m listing any ANS writers/artists who have said they want to create content for any of these. PLEASE feel free to send me pictures, ideas, suggestions, alterations, questions, etc. Literally anything you can think of, anonymously or otherwise. I’ll post the asks and let it go a few rounds in the ANS fandom to see what ideas most of us seem to like best and add them to this master post.

I hope this monstrous thing serves as inspiration for some of you and is good, wholesome fun for the rest of us.

Dragons are immortal creatures that have existed since the dawn of time and come in many shapes and sizes. Most are hundreds to thousands of years old and females and babies are rare. They choose To live among humans as lifelong companions and friends, finding a new companion after the previous has died.

(Note: Dragon’s age the equivalent of about 1 year to every 7 that passes through infancy to adulthood. Once they reach maturity - around 200 years of age - they cease maturing and can live indefinitely, so far as we are aware. Some species never stop growing, some do.)

Shirayuki’s

Color: Pink

Size: Pocket (5-10 inches long)

Age: 250

Personality: Angry. Snaps and hisses at people, particularly Raj and his dragon or anyone who tries to touch her hair. Hides out in Shirayuki’s pockets and hoods - and under her hair, when it was long.

History: Gets into fights frequently despite his small size, so his face is rather smashed and mangled. Shirayuki still thinks he’s lovely.

Hoard: Insults and colorful stones

Writers/Artists:

Zen’s

Color: White

Size: 3 feet tall

Age: 800 years

Personality: Dopey and friendly. Drools a lot. Excitable. Runs around the castle knocking things over and making a nuisance of himself. Taught Zen how to climb the castle walls. Probably snores. And chases his tail, among other things.

History:

Hoard: Feathers and leaves

Writers/Artists:

Obi’s

Color: Yellow

Size: Pocket (12-15 inches long). No wings.

Age: 537

Personality: Flirtatious and clever but also kind of grumpy. Holds grudges over little things and likes to tease. Once hid inside Obi’s pants while Obi was sleeping because she was cold but Obi’s reaction in the morning was so hilarious she does it just to mess with him now.

History: A huge influence on the development of Obi’s personality - he used to be sullen and quiet but she was so annoying he had to learn to retaliate.

Hoard: Scarves (they’re warm.)

Writers/Artists:

Ryuu’s

(After growth spurt)

Color: Green, furred.

Size: Still growing.

Age: 84 (developmentally the same age as Ryuu)

Personality: Venomous.

History:

Hoard:

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Mitsuhide’s

Color: Dark blue

Size: 6 feet tall

Age: 871

Personality: Lazy. Very lazy. Sleeps everywhere on anything all the time. Is very strong and helpful but you have to get him up first. Rests his head on Mitsuhide’s shoulder when he’s awake and gives headbutts as a sign of his affection.

History:

Hoard: Sunny, cozy alcoves and rocks

Writers/Artists:

Kiki’s

Color: Iridescent purple and blue

Size: 10 feet tall

Age: 2,332

Personality: Regal, pompous, vain. A beautiful dragon and he knows it but secretly angry about his “smaller” size. Thinks dragons like Izana’s are “excessively large,” and is quite vocal about it. Likes Kiki because she is strong and beautiful and doesn’t take crap from anyone but that’s where their similarities end.

History:

Hoard: Reflective surfaces (constantly hounding Kiki to pull out her sword so he can make sure there’s nothing stuck in his teeth).

Writers/Artists:

Izana’s

Color: White

Size: 30 feet tall

Age: Unknown

Personality: Ancient and wise, but secretive. Arrogant, disdainful, cold. Has little tolerance for younger dragons. Doesn’t care for weak and stupid people, either, but he finds them amusing all the same. Izana ends up becoming a rare exception; the young King is clever enough to appeal to this dragon’s interests and he ends up begrudgingly fond and protective of Izana after a few years.

History:

Hoard: Clarines kingdom (is the companion of the king or the king’s heir exclusively).

Writers/Artists:

Zakura’s

Color: Black

Size: 12 feet tall

Age: 942

Personality:

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Haruka’s

Color: Gold

Size: 8 feet tall

Age: 2,800

Personality: Prideful and inquisitive. Spends a lot of his time reading or traveling.

History: Is a companion to Haruka’s family more than Lord Haruka himself, and is the biggest reasons for their wealth and standing in Clarines.

Hoard: Books and maps.

Writers/Artists:

Garrack’s

Color: Red Size: Age: Personality: History: Hoard: Writers/Arists:

Yuzuri’s

Color: Red and orange

Size: 20 feet tall

Age: 400

Personality: Suspicious, protective. Hot tempered and can be violent and malicious if her companion or friends are in danger.

History:

Hoard:

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Suzu’s

Color: Yellow

Size: 2 feet long

Age: 250

Personality: Relaxed and lazy but very curious. Likes to lay on Suzu’s head or shoulder and read along with him while Suzu researches and asks a lot of questions until falling asleep again. Drives Yuzuri’s dragon crazy by napping on her neck just high enough that she can’t reach to nip his tail.

History:

Hoard: Pencils and pin cushions (the latter makes excellent pillows)

Writers/Artists:

Shidan’s

Color: Brown

Size: 8 inches

Age: 1,863

Personality: Dead without the canonverse’s version of coffee. Cranky and prickly and critical but secretly fond of almost everyone.

History:

Hoard: Coffee. All the coffee.

Writers/Artists:

Lata’s

Color: Black.

Size: 3 inches

Age: 5

Personality: Cheerful and curious and playful. Still just a baby.

History: Lata had never had a dragon companion before. He happened to be out in a cave hunting for stones when he stumbled across a hatching dragon. She took a liking to him despite his panicked protests that he has no idea how to take care of a baby. He does a great job not matter how much he complains and she absolutely adores him.

Hoard: Fruits and berries. She hasn’t figured out yet why they keep disappearing (Lata eats them before they go bad).

Writers/Artists:

Kirito’s

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Haki’s

Color: White

Size: 10 feet tall

Age: 1,958

Personality: Wise and clever. Offers quiet council and advice but only when the person would not be better served by figuring it out themselves.

History:

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Makiri’s

Color: Grey

Size:15 feet tall

Age: Unkown.

Personality:

History:

Hoard:

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Raj’s

Color: Reddish pink

Size: 6 inches

Age: 702

Personality:

History:

Hoard: Coins

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Rona’s

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Eugena’s

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Sakaki’s

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Mihaya’s

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Mukaze’s

Color: Brown and Green

Size: Unknown

Age:Unknown

Personality: Slow and steady as a mountain. Old and wise and infinitely kind. Adopts pretty much everyone on the mountain as his children. Fearsome when angered.

History:

Hoard: People

Writers/Arists: superhappybubbles

Itoya’s

Color: Grey

Size: 12 feet tall

Age: 1,442

Personality: Quiet and serious. Contemplative. Likes to sit outside and watch nature, watch the sun and moon and stars cross the sky, the water flow in the river, the birds and creatures go about their days. Patient and stubborn as stone.

History:

Hoard:

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Kazuki’s 1st

Color:

Size:

Age:

Personality:

History: Umihebi killed Kazuki’s first dragon, something considered impossible before. Kazuki rarely talks about it. Umihebi became more power hungry, greedy, and arrogant than ever before.

Hoard:

Writers/Arists: superhappybubbles

Kazuki’s 2nd

Color: Brownish green.

Size: 24 inches long

Age: 23

Personality: Cheerful. Kinda dopey. Very clumsy. Basically a fearless but accident-prone little kid who wind Kazuki over by being ridiculously chirpy and lighthearted and giving Kazuki’s concerned and protective spirit one too many heart attacks by walking obliviously into danger.

History:

Hoard: Flowers and acorns

Writers/Arists: superhappybubbles

Umihebi’s

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Kihal’s

Color: Blue and green, exotic in appearance.

Size: 2 feet long

Age:

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History:

Hoard: Snail shells

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Hisame’s

Color: Dark grey

Size: 15 feet tall

Age:

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Touka’s

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Tsuruba and Tariga’s

Color: Dark grey

Size: 10 feet tall

Age: 470

Personality:

History: Touka chained him down as a punishment to the twins once after they had made a mistake. The first thing they do after Touka dies is run back to release him.

Hoard:

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Shuuka’s

Color: Black

Size: 15 inches

Age: 72

Personality: Rambunctious and curious. Explores in the walls and crevices of the fort and eats the mice and rats. Hangs upside-down from the rafters to sleep. Likes to roll around and bat at people’s feet while they’re trying to walk. Basically a cat, but cuter.

History:

Hoard: Arrowheads. Two (2) mice or one (1) rat can be traded for one intact arrowhead, should the need arise.

Writers/Arists:

Shiira’s

Color: Orange

Size: 4 inches

Age: 608

Personality: A total moron. Look at that face, c’mon. He likes to climb trees and eat fruit. He screeches extremely loud with a raspy, grating tone to get Shiira’s attention, which he absolutely loathes, and gnaws on literally everything. And then just when Shiira is ready to wring his neck, he falls asleep on Shiira’s lap curled up in a tiny ball and snuffling/nuzzling at Shiira’s belly.

History:

Hoard: He seems to think every chair and bed in existence belongs to him. You got up to go get a drink? Too bad, he stole it. You want to go to sleep? Well, looks like he’s camped out right in the center and how could you possibly stand to wake something that adorable?

Writers/Arists:

Kai’s

Color: Unknown

Size: Unknown

Age: N/A

Personality: Unknown

History: Someone gave him the egg as a gift. My shipping heart wants to say Shiira, but I don’t think a lowly gate guard could afford a dragon egg.

Hoard: Unknown

Writers/Arists:

Haruto’s

Color: Purplish blue

Size: 5 feet tall

Age: 924

Personality: Happy and sweet. Likes to lick Haruto’s hand and nuzzle her side. Curls around whatever chair she sits in.

History:

Hoard: Pearls

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Yatsufusa’s

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Higata’s

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Earl Seiran’s

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Torou’s

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Atri’s

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