The sun had set long ago and darkness had fallen, with only the moon as a spot of light on the mid-summer sky.
Closing the door to the room of the sage who was resting after sleepless nights, commanding the night battles, Yamanbagiri Kunihiro, the attendant of the day, lightly padded toward the bath.
The sage had been aiming to summon Ichigo Hitofuri, because of the sad faces the Toushirou made whenever they mentioned their big brother. The request tokens were decreasing and so were the resources. If it wasn't for the expeditions, they would have no resources to smith new swords or repair the injured ones.
Atsukashiyama was one of their most-visited battlefronts, serving as the place to help low-leveled swords gain experiences as well as a place where one could easily encounter and recruit rarer swords.
The other battlefronts that they had been visiting recently were Kyoto and Sanjou Bridge. The battle condition was excellent for tantou and wakizashi while other bigger swords like tachi or ootachi struggled.
As he was the oldest sword in the citadel as well as being an Uchigatana, the more balanced kind of sword, Yamanbagiri took part in most of the battles, regardless of time and location.
Of course, there were other Uchigatana, but only a few had fought both daytime battles and nighttime ones.
And Yamanbagiri himself could not believe why he was one of those few exceptions.
Hachisuka Kotetsu was probably stronger than him, as Kotetsu swords were famed for their sharpness. Doudanuki Masakuni would be a great help, as Masakuni swords were known for their prowess…
How come a duplicate as himself was handed the post of the master's attendant as well as being one of those who were mobilized often?
The heat of the water was almost enough to wash away his troubles as he closed his eyes and started dozing off.
His clothes and the white cloak he always wore had been folded and placed neatly in the basket in the changing room.
As it was late at night, no one would enter the bath and see him without his hood on and compare him to the original, would they?
It had almost become a habit of his, being the last to bath when the others were in their room, sleeping.
At least, like this, no one would see the face under his hood and his brothers, especially Horikawa, wouldn't be nagging him about his personal hygiene.
They had won.
After countless tries, they had reached the boss on the first floor of Ikedaya and returned victoriously.
Of course, while they were victorious, it didn't mean that none of them were uninjured.
The captain had been Atsushi who was equipped with a golden musketeer troop which he nearly lost during the run-in with the boss. The boy had gone to the sage's room to report about their victory after leaving instructions for his teammates to get themselves looked after.
There was Namazuo, who suffered minor injuries after an encounter with a yari. The said wakizashi had taken off the moment they returned to brief his brothers, especially Honebami about their exploits.
Horikawa appeared to be fine as he helped a medium injured Izuminokami Kanesada limp toward the repair room.
Yamanbagiri himself wasn't injured. Sure, he did lose one of his golden light infantry troops but he wasn't injured.
And then, there was Nakigitsune.
The Awataguchi Uchigatana had lost all of his troops and was limping quite badly. His uniform was dirtied and seemed to be in tatters. The little fox on his shoulder was also covered with dirt and grime as its owner wobbled toward the repair room.
Without saying a word, Yamanbagiri carefully approached the limping Uchigatana. Carefully, he guided the Awataguchi sword toward the repair room.
"Yamanbagiri-dono…" The little fox chattered away almost immediately. "We are eternally in debt of your kindness. How kind of you to help Nakigitsune like this. No wonder you are Master's most trusted sword…"
Nakigitsune settled in one of the repair rooms surrounded by a little Konnosuke with an uchiko and bandages. His little companion fox and the robotic fox hitched off almost immediately while Yamanbagiri waited outside the closed door.
"It will take about seven to eight hours." Konnosuke said when he exited the room. "You can report back to the sage and ask them if they would want to use a help token."
Nodding, Yamanabagiri left, padding toward the sage's room.
Ichigo Hitofuri came out from the forge in a swirling of flower petals.
The Toushirou were overjoyed. They crowded around their big brother and the attendant of that day, Hotarumaru, who puffed up his chest in joyous pride.
"Ichigo Hitofuri came at last." Horikawa had commented with a wistful smile on his face. "Master is very happy." He had said while the younger Toushirou were trying to show their brother ten places at once with the older ones, Namazuo and Honebami trying to placate the younger ones.
"And maybe they will lose interest in duplicates with swords such as Ichigo Hitofuri." Yamanbagiri had mumbled as he excused himself from the joyful reunion.
He was actually aware of the worried gaze of Horikawa but he knew Izuminokami was not far away and the Uchigatana could draw Horikawa's attention away for a while.
As he approached the wing where Uchigatana stayed in, he froze because around the corner, sitting on the porch was Nakigitsune with his little fox on his lap. There was a plate of dango and cups of tea.
"Come and join us, Yamanbagiri-dono!" The little fox offered friendlily as soon as it saw him.
While Nakigitsune was quiet and Yamanbagiri would not mind being alone with the said Uchigatana, his fox was loud and maybe too friendly?
"Thank you but I'm sure you have better things to do than hanging out with a duplicate." He replied testily as he passed the other Uchigatana.
Their sage had a cruel sense of humor.
They kept pairing him with Nakigitsune on field duty, thus they spent an entire day without exchanging a word.
After that small exchange on the porch, he was sure he did not want to face Nakigitsune again, which was an impossible feat as they were both on the same unit and the fact that they both resided in the same wing.
They finished the day the same way they always did, covered in mud and dirt.
"No one will call me beautiful now." Yamanbagiri had said as they walked to the bath to wash.
It had been an unspoken rule that those who were dirty would be ban from the kitchen and the dining room thus if one wanted to eat, they must wash themselves before setting foot into the kitchen or the dining room.
The last time that rule was broken was horrible. Poor Izuminokami Kanesada had decided to disregard the rule and tried to get dinner while covered in mud and dirt. Kasen was not amused and Horikawa had to drag him to the bath with a scary forced smile. Hasebe delivered a very long lecture that night and the tantou were scared of Shokudaikiri after the face he pulled when he first saw Izuminokami in the kitchen.
"I can hardly wait for the harvesting season." The little fox chatted away happily. "At this rate, there will be plenty of fried tofu!"
Sometimes, Yamanbagiri did wish the fox to stop talking for a day. He almost forgot that Nakigitsune could actually speak, being so used to hearing the fox's chattering.
Izuminokami Kanesada was one of the swords that forgot Nakigitsune actually spoke and got a quite a nasty surprise when Nakigitsune first awakened. The younger Uchigatana was so surprised and busying gapping at the silver-haired Uchigatana that Horikawa had to swoop in to save him from an ootachi.
"Why don't you talk?" Yamanbagiri heard himself asked and immediately, he cursed himself for his poor self-control.
"What do you mean?" The little fox was quick to react.
He had started this. He should finish it. "You are not a duplicate. You are the treasured sword of the Akimoto. Why do you keep quiet?"
This time, Nakigitsune decided to grace him with his voice. "Why can't you accept you are beautiful?" His voice was so smooth and soft and Yamanbagiri nearly forgot how to breathe.
The way he delivered the question made Yamanbagiri heated up and before he knew it, he was already storming toward the bath with red cheeks and his heart beating wildly.
"Don't call me beautiful!" He shouted back with hands clutching his hood and all he could hear was the laughter of that cursed fox.
"Yamanbagiri-dono sure is shy…"
"Shut up, fox!"
It took him days to finally being able to meet Nakigitsune's eyes.
Horikawa had been practically worried as well as those from the Awataguchi.
He had received some probing with thinly concealed threats from the Awataguchi wakizashi and their tantou brothers.
Midare, however, adopted the fondness of carefully observing him which got onto his nerve.
"Don't look at me!" He had snapped at the tantou once, when his patience ran out after a tiring day.
Midare smirked while twirling a lock of his lustrous blond hair. "I like you, Yamanbagiri-san." The boy said, blue eyes flashing dangerously. "So please patch things up with Nakigitsune-san before any of us have to resort to violence." With that, the boy skipped away with a bounce in his steps that made chills ran down the Uchigatana's spine.
The air around them grew tenser each day until one of the residents of the citadel snapped.
Surprisingly, it wasn't either Yamanbagiri or Nakigitsune.
It was Izuminokami Kanesada.
"You will not come out until you have sorted things out. You are driving us up the wall!" The beloved sword of Hijikata Toushizou thundered before closing the door to the sage's room.
And to think their Master would go alone with Izuminokami's so-called-plan, lending their room for the much-needed heart-to-heart between Yamanbagiri and Nakigitsune.
And of course, the fox that usually accompanied Nakigitsune was removed from his side by a furious Izuminokami just seconds before they were shoved into the room.
So they stared at each other, unmoving until Yamanbagiri gave a tired sigh.
"I apologize for my question a few days earlier." He murmured, eyes glued to the spotless floor.
It seemed like years until he heard the softly-whispered reply. "Never apologize for asking." Nakigitsune sounded weary, as if he, too, was affected by the tense atmosphere between them. "Let's compromise, shall we?"
"Care to explain?"
There was a small glint of laughter in those golden orbs that he would have missed had his eyes were still on the floor. "I will talk to you more if you accept that you are beautiful." Somehow, Nakigitsune looked almost gentle when he offered the solution.
"Can't we just forget it?" He asked, desperately hoping the other would agree with him.
Unfortunately, Nakigitsune shook his head and went on. "If we do that, Izuminokami-dono will lock us in an empty room again. And Master will not be pleased if we cannot cooperate on the battlefield."
Narrowing his eyes, he surveyed the other Uchigatana. He had seen Nakigitsune cut down countless of the Time Retrograde Army but who knew the normally shy Uchigatana of the Awataguchi could be so sharp with his tongue.
"Fine." Reluctantly, he replied.
Those golden eyes were gentle as they met his and he could swear that he saw the corner of Nakigitsune's lips tug up in a small smile.
"Say, Kane-san, why did you do that?" Horikawa asked as they worked side by side in the fields.
Turning away from his work, Izuminokami gave his assistant a deadpanned look. "If I haven't, sooner or later they would have been injured on the battlefield if they were that unfocused." He replied with a huff before turning back to his work.
"Kane-san sure is kind." Horikawa laughed as a gentle smile bloomed on his face.
"It's not like that!" The other denied. "I am thinking of our Master!"
"Whatever you say, Kane-san."
"Quit laughing, Kunihiro!"
Fin