"You're okay, right? Seriously?"
Sayo wanted to sigh. Wanted to was the key there. She wasn't going to. Taiga would just worry more. Hen. It was nice, but… he was such a hen. He almost wished she hadn't managed to get communication back online with him. Of course, reaching him despite the efforts of that strange light was a good sign. She cracked her shoulder.
"Do you expect anything less?" she finally replied, smirking a little. Goodness, she never realized how freeing it was to do that and know what it meant. "Taiga-san," she interrupted him before he could open his mouth. "I'm fine. I almost prefer you younger. You didn't know how to panic this thoroughly. You can't afford gray hair at your age."
The man huffed, sitting back in his chair. "You just keep getting cheekier over there, I swear." He tugged the goggles at his neck without thought.
Tailmon purred in her lap and Sayo reached to stroke one white ear. Silly pups had almost gotten her in trouble. It was a good thing she still knew how to lie. "It's customary after being around here. The chief has an interesting sense of humor."
"So I've heard. If Yuuya trained her, then she has to." He glanced at something she couldn't see and waved a dismissive hand.
Sayo barely understood why he had said that at first, cycling through the old memories like a loosely organized data folder. Then she snorted, despite herself. "It doesn't seem as though Glare is much better." What little she had seen of him in the past few years cemented that. Or even of that boy...
Taiga laughed. Even now, years later, he still had a nice laugh. "Well, no, he's not, but Akiho is only nice when you're not her apprentice."
Sayo tucked that note of information away for future reference. It was certainly entertaining. Thinking of it, and thinking of Glare, made her think of Koh, and that caused her to smile.
"What's with that face," Taiga said. He crossed his arms over the cashmere sweater. Every bit of her wanted to burn that off of him, just on general principle. Or even rip it off, though no one would appreciate that. He raised an eyebrow. "Sayo, what are you planning to do?"
Sayo was grateful he didn't say her old name, so that was enough to get her to answer, at least in part. "Just thinking of a boy."
Taiga sputtered. He hadn't even been drinking anything. He should look into that. "A… boy?"
"He and I fought in the Normal Tournament before communications went down." She smiled lazily, knowing exactly what that would look like to him. He always said that was her old habit, to smile and act like everything was normal when she had no idea what normal was. Sayo, considering her tenuous position as a spy, wasn't surprised. She wished he would just stop talking about it though. "He's like me except he smelled like aconite." She giggled. "He can't seem to get it off of his hands."
"Gotta wonder who came up with the idea first. Did he dye his hair?" Taiga sounded amused. This really sounded to him like something his friends would have come up with.
Sayo thought about it. "Can you get hair that bright of orange?"
"Says you with the purple," he shot back.
She sniffed. "Natural, I'm afraid. I even asked the doctors."
He snickered then let out a sigh. "I can't help you from down here."
Her eye twitched. "I'm a bit too deep for anyone to help me at this point." Tailmon rolled over in her lap.
Taiga shook his head. "You know what I mean, Mirei."
Sayo felt her eye twitch again. He just couldn't let it go, could he? "Kiss Yuuya-san for me." She cut off the call before he could answer, then buried her head in her hands. Tailmon frantically butt her head against Sayo's neck. She reached to pet her, wiping her eyes.
Taiga just could not catch a hint, could he?