DFS Chapter 24
It had been a surprise to find out many of the more traditional families did not celebrate birthdays as she remembered them.
So Suigetsu's eyes are huge when Tsuru carries out the heavy trifle glass filled with layers of honey infused yogurt, chunks of soft, sponge cake and fruit jelly. Six, thin white candles mingling among sugar covered jube jubes. Their wicks lit.
"It's beautiful," Isano marvels, as Tsuru comes closer. Eito trailing behind her with bowls, and an ornate spoon. Taken from her uncles collection, the last time she had visited his home.
Kisame grins, leaning over to the boy. "She'll expect you to make a wish, when you blow out those candles."
Suigetsu knods. "Okay." His lavender hued eyes still tracking the dessert.
"And if you tell anyone, it won't come true," adds Yagura.
Mangetsu looks at the men strangly. "She didn't sing to you?"
"They made fun of me," Tsuru complains, setting it in front of the birthday boy.
0o0
The buildings from a distance could almost be mistaken for natural formations, swaddled in the dense, ghost grey fog that sweeps across the gorge. Growing thicker, and heavier as the sun creeps, no crawls over the horizon.
A few of the other students studying under the medic-nin stop to track it's progress.
Tsuru's holds the basket close to her chest, her fingers stinging. The astringent sap seeping into wounds because she had forgotten her gloves, in her rush. Sleep still resting in the corners of her heavy eyes.
She is to aware of time, of lost moments to spend it as she did in her first childhood.
0o0o0
Raiga walks with her through the melting snow. The mist around them thicker, as it evaporates into the air.
She tears into the steamed bun, that has been warming her hands and almost stops.
Rei had remembered.
Pleasure courses through her, and Tsuru takes another bite.
"Good?" the green haired man asks, holding his own. His smile wide, and as always, so damnable.
She knods, and lifts it up for him to try. "The dates are delicious."
He frowns. "Those are costly to import."
"I know," she replies. Waving the bun towards him again.
Raiga leans down.
"Hmm... That is good," he murmurs, looking towards the extra two buns in the bag. "Perhaps Nagisa would like one."
"She would."
"You still think I'm making a mistake?" he queries. His body suddenly far to still.
"Yes," Tsuru murmurs, before taking another bite.
Her forehead wrinkles. "I think whatever you do, you should talk to big brother first. He knows more about marriage than i do."
0o0o0
In the early hours of the day, before the sun has made the decision to peek through the haze like a curious child, Yagura heaves himself on on the kitchen counter beside Isano's youngest sibling.
Tsuru-chan scowls, and swats his pilfering hand from her colourful, half-filled bento.
"Your ass doesn't belong on the counter," the child grumbles, trying to save the remains of her lunch.
A futile effort.
Isano focuses more intently on her sister.
Tsuru had always been a moody child, even hiding herself away when upset, but rarely crass. She was like Yuichi, and their father in that manner.
"My pants are clean," her husbands reassures, reaching for a cloth from the sink to wipe his sticky fingers."
"I don't care. It's disgusting," she grouses. Her face scrunched up. "And make something."
"But you have extra. How can I resist such a temptation?"
"Oh, and how did you shape it like that? Did you use a mold?"
"Go bug your wife."
Undertured, Isano's husband's grin only grows. He asks softly, in that teasing voice she loves. "Have you gotten a boyfriend, Tsuru-kun? A girlfriend? Are you trying to impress them?"
"Yes. She's seven feet tall and looks like death."
Yagura pretends to gasp. His warm, light hued eyes spread wide. "Oh her?"
"Really? Hmm. Well, I'm pretty sure I could take her."
Isano feels something rankle.
It isn't fair she thinks.
Her sister never cared for the stories Isano told. Never crawled onto her lap, as she had their mothers when she recounted the tales passed down, generation from generation.
How could such nonsense now entertain her sister so?
Eito trudges into the room, interrupting her thoughts. His skin ghastly under the harsh kitchen light. Eyes watering slightly, under it's glare
"She's competing with Arata's mother, and attempting to create the prettier lunch box," Eito announces, kissing Satorou's forehead as he passes. Isano's son giggles in her lap. "Isn't that right, little sister?"
Embarrasement creeps onto the girl's cheeks.
"I know it's stupid," she admits. "But I only need to win once, to prove I can."
Their sibling mearly lumbers forward, reaching for the shiny, metal box. "Then you won't mind us, trying some of each? To ensure it's quality."
Tsuru smacks the pale, fleshy limb. "I would."
Their brother frowns.
"You let Yagura have some," Eito protests.
"And i'm hungry," he adds, stepping closer.
He leans against their sisters back, arms hanging out over her shoulders. The girl standing on the long, wooden bench that runs along half the counters length.
"Look," Eito says, as the limbs fall. "I'm so weak I cannot hold my arms up. It's possible I may even drop, if I do not gain sustainance soon."
"Won't you save me?"
Tsuru snorts, and eyes him from the side. "Just how hung over are you?"
"Enough to beg."
"Fine," she sighs. "But you owe me."
"For my little sister, the world. Now gimme."
"No."
Her brother blinks owlishly. Fingers caught by the closing lid.
"I've already chopped the burdock root. Go get the fish," she orders. "I have it marinating in the fridge. The blue container in the drawers. The ones beside it too."
"You were holding out on us," Yagura accuses, hopping down to investigate. "I should of known."
Their sister laughs, a sound that fills Isano's heart with joy.
Her sister would steal a lot of hearts one day, just as their mother had.