Hello, everyone! Back at it with another fic! This time I wanted to write Odin x Kagero, even though he's actually difficult for me to write due to his speech patterns. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy reading this fic! Happy Birthday, Owain/Odin! ^_^
Kagero was taking her time to paint a portrait for her husband Odin as today was his birthday. The couple did spend some time together earlier in the day with their daughter Ophelia in order to celebrate the occasion. But as the day went by, Kagero told her husband and daughter that she had a pressing matter to attend to at home.
"Shoot, I almost messed up on the pigtails." Kagero cursed out softly, tentatively painting the hair on the portrait.
The ninja had prepped up sketches for the portrait weeks beforehand, relying on her daughter's descriptions that she had provided back in the children's festival. Although Kagero was unable to get a written or verbal description of Odin's father, getting information of his mother was good enough for her. In the end, her aim was only to paint a half-bust of Odin's mother.
Sometimes, the thought of Odin's mother accepting her had plagued Kagero's mind constantly. Although his parents had passed away long ago according to him, she feared that they were looking down upon her in shame. The ninja had never told her husband and daughter about it, deciding to keep the thoughts to herself.
"Nice and easy." She commented as she took a glance on the sketch before adding a bit of detail onto the headdress.
From what her husband had told her, his mother was a kind and playful person to be around, and someone who would play jokes on other people. To her surprise, he mentioned that his mother would "tan his hide" if kept on speaking in theatrics around everyone instead of talking normally; she had assumed that his mother was the inspiration for his way of speech.
Kagero started to work on the upper part of the portrait, though she had to use different colors because she wasn't able to get an accurate description of them from Ophelia, but she was able to work on the dress with ease. She decided to use yellow and brown colors on the dress for good measure.
"Would you have accepted me into your fold, mother-in-law?" Kagero questioned to the portrait in progress as she paused for a moment.
The ninja resumed back to her painting as she refined a bit of detail onto the dress, adding brown colors under the chest which was colored white. After a while, she then focused on the eyes and facial gesture, giving it a smile. Kagero's heart had almost leaped in fear because she thought that she messed up on the pigtails, but thankfully she didn't.
"Almost finished," Kagero muttered as she made a few touch-ups on the headdress and hair, "there we go. I do hope that he accepts this."
Grateful that her work was finished, Kagero tentatively set the painting aside as she began to clean up her work area. As fate had it, she heard the shuffling of the door as he saw her husband and daughter entering their home.
"The scions of Fate make their appearances once more!" Odin blurted out in joy.
"Hello, mother!" Ophelia greeted in joy as she rushed towards Kagero, embracing her in a tight hug.
"Hello there, Ophelia," Kagero welcomed as she returned the hug, ruffling her daughter's long black hair as she faced Odin, "how were things with Prince Leo?"
"We've celebrated with a plethora of festivities that befitted for a hero such as myself," Odin spoke out with mirth as he made his way to his wife, "though I wished that you were with us."
Kagero nodded her head in understanding as she gestured for her daughter to break away from the embrace, with the latter doing so. "Forgive me. It's just that I was working on something for you."
"And what did that arduous task entail to?" the dark mage asked, a smirk on his face.
The ninja went over to where the painting resided at, carefully holding it as she hid it behind her back. Her husband was puzzled by her actions, standing idly by while their daughter had also shared the same facial expression.
"I-I took the time to make this for you," Kagero started as she showed her husband a square object was turned around to hide as to what it truly was.
"Although you're my trusted life partner, there was no need to craft me a gift," Odin insisted as he accepted the gift, "but I commend you, nonetheless."
With a sigh, Kagero pleaded for Odin to turn the gift around, eager to witness his reaction to it. "Theatrics aside, flip it over, Odin."
"Of course! Now, what do my eyes—" Odin paused himself in shock as he took in the image of the painting – "w-what is this?"
The painting showed a portrait of his late mother Lissa smiling brightly to the viewer. Although the eye color was supposed to be a shade of green, and the headdress was a tad off, it was still enough to have an effect on Owain.
"T-this is…" the dark mage muttered out as his eyes widened in response, staring into his wife's gaze.
"Father, what whirlpool of fear unsettles you?" Ophelia wondered worriedly as she made her way to her father's side, her eyes in surprise after catching a glimpse of the portrait. "T-that is—"
"My mother… this is my mother in the portrait." he uttered quietly as he looked at it again until returning his view towards Kagero. "But h-how?"
"If you're wondering, Ophelia helped me get a good description of your mother. I know that it may not be the most accurate depiction of her but do hope that you accept my gift to you." the ninja explained in depth as she awaited her husband's response.
However, Kagero found no reply back from Odin as he perpetually stared at the portrait, his eyes proceeding to gleam with fresh tears, one of them almost landing onto the portrait. She assumed that he felt disgusted by it, which crushed her spirit, not only as an artist but as a wife.
"F-forgive me if you find it to be distasteful, Odin," Kagero whispered, her eyes feeling watery as she set her gaze down below, refusing to meet his sight, "you can discard it if you like."
"No." Odin countered quickly as he gave the portrait to Ophelia, giving her the opportunity to marvel at the detail.
Surprised, Kagero returned her eyes back towards her husband, uneased by his response. "W-what do you mean?"
In response, Odin cut off the short distance between him and Kagero as he enveloped her in a deep hug, whispering sweet 'thank yous' to her.
"Thank you so much, Kagero, truly." Odin uttered in joyed as he sniffled, closing his eyes for a second.
"B-but I thought you despised it." Kagero assumed, a bit of doubt lingering inside her mind.
"Yes, it may have caught me off-guard, but I highly appreciate this gift that you have bestowed upon me. Not only that, but for giving us a family, as well, Kagero."
Touched by his words, Kagero slammed her lips onto Odin's. The dark mage reciprocated his feelings back to his wife as they shared a tender moment, with Ophelia to witness it all as she held on to the portrait. Once their lip had separated, Kagero embraced her husband in a tight hug yet again.
"Happy Birthday, again, Odin." Kagero whispered happily as she snuggled into Odin's hold.
Odin simply nodded as he returned the favor back to his wife. "Again, thank you so much."
Ophelia found the scene to be heartwarming as she looked back at her grandmother's portrait. She believed that somewhere out there, her grandmother was giving her full blessing to them. If only the young dark mage could meet her grandmother in her dreams again so she could give her thanks. She knew that down down her grandmother was proud of their family.
"Happy Birthday, father."