DFS Chapter 18.
Suigetsu takes to the forms like a duck to water, or perhaps a fledgling owl, with all it's awkward limbs.
The eldest Hozuki tries to hide his smile, but Tsuru knows that it is there. It is the same one she saw present on her own siblings faces, her fathers.
They call Mangetsu the second coming of the demon for all his ferocity in the field, but like Momochi he is still human, and-
Her arms flail when she is hoisted up.
Another barrage of laughter escaping her captor's mouth as Tsuru tries to maneuver, and aim an elbow for their throat.
"Password," she growls.
'So vicious," they muse, ignoring her demand. "I approve. Why did you not immediately go for my eyes?"
The lines around her mouth take an even shaper down turn. "The chance of you wearing your mask was to high, Kuriarare-san."
"Not senpei?" He asks, still holding her out. Her legs dangling above the ground.
"No."
Never, goes left unsaid.
0o0o0
The estate was large enough to house all of their future families, and Eito wonders if this is why Yagura chose it.
He moves through the empty passages like a ghost, trailing a hand along the volcanic rock that features in so much of the villages architecture.
A wife has never been one of Eito's priorities though, and he wonders how the man will fill it. Isano unable to have any more children, and their brothers even less interested in significant others then him. Tsuru, far to young to care.
He catches his elder sister peering into library.
"Tsuru-chan's asleep in there again?" he queries, coming to rest beside her.
"At the table she had father carry in," Isano reveals. Her painted lips purse. "I do not understand her, Eito."
"I don't think she understands you all that well either."
"Do not make light of this," Isano snaps, eyes growing hard. "Has she told you why she's pushing herself so hard?"
"I don't know. Have you asked your husband?"
"He says she wants to survive."
"Survive the exams?"
"No. What's coming."
0o0o0
Tsuru pauses, watching her sister strap on the weights. Her brows furrowed.
She looks over towards her brothers sitting at the low table, but they are pointedly avoiding her gaze.
Isano has never shown much interest in anything but politics, and prefers to exercise indoors, so this is both strange, and oddly terrifying.
Tsuru tries to damp down the unease that settles in her gut, but even as they set out for their run it only grows.
Why, she wonders. Why?