Summary: Mashiro loved her scarf. It was so very like her. Only, sometimes, she wished she didn't have to wear it.
Characters: Mashiro, her scarves, Kensei, Tousen
Warnings: Very loose spoilers for "Turn Back the Pendulum Arc". Maybe a little out of character.
GLAZE
Mashiro loved her scarf. It was so soft, so vibrant, so orange! It was very own personal banner: happy, bright, cheerful. Like her very own self. The moment Mashiro spotted it lying in a half-forgotten store, covered it dust, Mashiro knew she had to have it.
Not that Mashiro didn't miss her old scarf. Kensei had bought for her and he so very seldom got her anything. "I thought it fit you," he'd said, handing over the pink bit of cloth. Sweet pink, innocent pink, ruined beyond repair. A part of Mashiro had wanted to mend the single tear, to wash out the blood. Another part of her giggled at the thought of destroying the damned thing, of burying a part of a past too dark to contemplate, of a hatred too deep for her to comprehend, of a singular fear of one man's cruelty.
It had been all too easy: a flare of kidou, a small but starving fire bursting to life in her hands, ashes becoming one with the wind.
As far as Kensei knew, her scarf had been destroyed that night. He'd even offered to replace it, pointing out a beautifully patterned piece. But Mashiro shook her head and bought the orange one by herself, for herself.
Orange wasn't pink, but it was her in a way that pink never would be, never could be. Not anymore.
Mashiro pulled her scarf a little higher, masking the white scar she knew lay beneath it.
Her scarf was her banner. Vibrant orange, like vitality, like happiness, like the sun on a green summer's day. Like tasting vengence on the edge of a knife, making him bleed like he made her bleed, destroying him in the same way he destroyed her.
Mashiro loved her scarf, she really did. But, sometimes, she hated wearing it.