A knight's job is often neverending, and Kiki's well aware of that as she stands at enough of a distance that she and Mitsuhide don't disturb Zen and Shirayuki. The sky around them is dark without even the hint of a moon to cast down light, and yet it's a clear night too, lit up by the stars overhead.
Zen and Shirayuki look comfortable and safe, but Kiki knows that safe is not always readily perceived, just got to make sure no one breaks into the palace grounds to try their luck at taking out a prince. Tonight's so quiet that she can faintly even hear Zen and Shirayuki talk to one another, but she's trying hard to not just listen in.
She wants to not just give them the illusion of privacy until something happens, but also try to give them as much of one as possible.
"It's a beautiful night." Mitsuhide tells her in a hushed voice to keep Zen and Shirayuki from hearing his voice travel over, and Kiki practically jumps out of her skin when Mitsuhide's hand slides into hers as effortlessly as breathing.
She hadn't forgotten that he was by her side, but she hadn't thought he'd speak to her right now or touch her. His hand is like a stable rock, especially as he squeezes her fingers, and she almost wants to melt into him, but that would be unprofessional, and they have a job to do regardless.
"It is." She affirms, and looks up at the sky, following Mitsuhide's gaze. Stars twinkle overhead, forming little shapes easily in small clusters, and yet, they remind her of trails. Little breadcrumbs to an unimaginable life.
She squeezes Mitsuhide's hand and wonders for a moment as she looks over, how he can look stunning under starlight as well.
"It's a new moon." He answers instead as if it just hit him now.
"It took you long to notice." Kiki teases, "I thought you were a knight."
He huffs at her, and she hides her grin by looking away. It's surreal how easy it is out here with him, how easy it always is with him.
Mitsuhide has a good eye too, and he makes a fantastic knight. Tonight though is not the time to tell him at all.
"It's quiet; I think they'll be fine." And there's that hint of longing perhaps or maybe something almost sad, like he can't believe how old Zen's gotten.
"He's growing up." Kiki tells Mitsuhide, and he goes to pull his hand out of hers, but stops at her gentle and steady grip.
"I know that." Mitsuhide tells her, "Just it's hard to believe how long we've known him for."
"Yeah." Kiki agrees, siding with Mitsuhide finally, and she marvels that it feels as simple as it does tonight. It's easy to talk with Mitsuhide, to tease him, to have a good guess as to how he'll react and even easy to smile around him.
"You make an amazing knight, Kiki." Mitsuhide begins, gentle whisper amping up with excitement, "It's hard to believe it hasn't been that many years since you became one."
"Thank you." Kiki answers; the years just seem to fly right by, with barely a blink of an eye between them, when she's by their sides.
"It's true." Mitsuhide attempts to argue, and Kiki can't help the little smile that sprouts on her face. She's not denying that these years have shaped her into a real knight no matter how few they are in number, just it's a little hard to clarify that at the moment.
Mitsuhide looks down at her, so Kiki meets his gaze head on. His brown eyes are affectionate, brimming with so much love that her heart swells up at the gaze, and she wants to close the distance between them, wants to stake a claim that to Mitsuhide, she is more than an "amazing knight," and yet she lacks the full resolve to close it.
"Your eyes are beautiful too." Mitsuhide whispers, nearly breathless, admitting that not only do the stars above them all look beautiful, but so does Kiki. "Like..." He pauses, struggling to find the right words, so the next ones come out hushed and rushed, a little sooner than he'd probably intended, thoughtlessly, "I love you."
They are a whisper of a testament to a love that may or may not come to full fruition later on.
"Me too." Kiki says instead of I love you too, because she can't get the rest of the words out, and Mitsuhide just stares at her dumbly, trying to process the last few seconds.
Some impulse runs through her like lightning, and she decides that maybe it's okay to give him a little more to wonder about, to marvel over, to come to terms with, so she stands up on tiptoes and kisses him. It's nothing more than a few seconds of lips brushing lips, and yet, when she drops down to normal height, Mitsuhide's face turns red, a brilliant shade of it too.
His eyes have gone wide, and he looks both stunned and smitten somehow.
"Thank you." He says, instead of something more intelligible for the moment, and Kiki giggles, a faint sound, like the scattering of tiny mouse feet on the ground, easy enough to overlook or miss. "That's a beautiful sound." Mitsuhide finally says, and Kiki smiles.
Her face turns a bit pink at the edges as well, and she finally speaks up, "Thank you." She brushes her fist against Mitsuhide's shoulder, a reminder of where they've always stood, and peers out to make sure that there is no danger for either Zen or Shirayuki, but just finds the two drawn close so much like she and Mitsuhide had been, but it lasts much more than three seconds.
Kiki turns away from watching them, giving them another moment of privacy, like pulling a curtain between them, but not giving up watching just in case a threat comes out of nowhere.
"You're welcome." Mitsuhide whispers, and he, too, turns back to checking for danger.
And maybe one day, there'll be an answer as to what Kiki and Mitsuhide are to each other, because this bouncing back and forth, toeing the line from partners to friends to lovers is a line they toe often. And yet Kiki can't imagine that day's close at hand yet, even as she appreciates the starry and practically still night even more now, with Mitsuhide firmly at her side, and the whisper of potential at their ears.