Yamato
The mocking hands of his wrist watched continued to tick in its same sequence as Yamato stared blankly ahead. His eyes remained glued to a picture, to be more precise. The wonderful moment that had been captured years ago, framed by red-stained wood, reflecting the sunlight sneaking into the room. The image was so happy, so beautiful that Yamato's gaze only parted from the sight when he was forced to blink out of the utter desire his eyes harboured for protection from the air that had dried them.
Yamato could almost hear the chirping birds and the happy laughter of the young girl just by looking at the photo for long enough. The weight on his back and the scream of the silence had never felt so heavy.
Suddenly the faint sound of the door opening resonated around the room.
"There you are, Master. What on earth are you doing in Ms. Yusuke's room?" Came the voice of Yamato's subordinate, Mogi.
Mogi's face was molded into a look questioning his master. Yamato barely ever entered his niece's bedroom, only on occasions when he felt the need to speak with her directly. The sight of him filling her room with his presence was a clear sign of his worry. Mogi's gaze trailed on the path carved by Yamato's eyes straight to the picture frame. With his hand still holding the door in a firm grip, his eyes narrowed. Of course it was that picture. The aura weighing on him like a million bricks, he looked past the frame towards the Yusuke's bed, normally made neatly. The bed should have collected plenty of dust by that time, however, a small dent at the edge, signifying that someone had recently sat on its once sleek, straight surface and he had a feeling as to who.
"Mogi," Yamato spoke, causing said boy to glance back at the speaker. "How long has it been?"
"H-how long, sir?" He quirked a bushy brow before his expression popped in recognition. "Oh! Uh, just a month or so, sir."
"...Is that so." Yamato hummed, sparing no attention towards Mogi.
"If you ask me, I think we should give it another...one, two weeks? These things do take time after all." Mogi spoke casually, his tense body contradicting his tone.
"I suppose...but you know how...long it's been." Yamato started his sentence slow, clear indications of pain mixed in with his impatient tone.
"I do know, sir...and unfortunately, so does Yusuke." Mogi glanced at the floor just as soon as his master's eyes darted his way, like two vehicles just barely missing a collision.
"Fine." He breathed, "We'll wait a little longer, it's not like I'm in any true rush to begin with..."
"Alright then, dinner's almost ready, by the way." Mogi informed as the memory just lipped itself to the front of his mind where it had fallen from. "You...are going to eat today...right Master?"
There was a pause, Yamato leaving Mogi in silence as he turned back towards the photo. "Go eat, Mogi."
Mogi's hopeful expression faltered at his answer. "But—"
"Mogi" Yamato snapped with a sharp tone like two clashing blades.
"Y-yes, sir...I will. Perhaps I'll bring you your dinner later then." And with that said, Mogi slowly closed the door and hopped down the creaky, wooden staircase with Yamato left to his beaconing thoughts and ponderings.
"Uncle? Uncle Yamato?" A small voice rang about.
"Yes, Yusuke, what is it?" Asked the tall man, breathing a worrisome sigh as the young girl approached.
"What're you doing?" Her large eyes blinked in curiosity as she fiddled with the thread of her shirt.
Yamato set down the ink-dripping brush while slowly bringing his eyes to a close where they remained as he soothingly spoke to the child. "Nothing, Yusuke...just...planning."
"Planning? For what?" Yusuke inquired before latching herself to her uncle's arm.
"You'll understand soon enough, Yusuke. Now go play."
Said girl tilted her head as a sign of her misunderstanding of the subject he was speaking of, however, brushed it off and quickly skipped back to the garden, happily humming an "Okay!" before turning the corner.
Yamato could almost not bring himself to believe how young and carefree Yusuke once was. The comparison of how she was then and how she was now was like comparing night to day, sun to moon.
"Yes...there defiantly is a great difference...although, I suppose that is partly my fault, isn't it, Tsuya?" Yamato muttered, slumping down in his previous spot on the edge of Yusuke's bed. "In fact...it is entirely my fault."
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Itaku, perched on a thick branch, observed the sparring match between Amezo and Yusuke, studying the latter with intense eyes. He had only been training her for a little over a week and yet she had shown such exceptional progress; it was almost as if she had been using her fear for years. That in itself was nothing but strange to Itaku, especially her displayed skill with incorporating her fear in to her attacks and weapons. Of course, it was normal for a yokai to use their fear at a very young age but Yusuke was half yokai and not only that, she had her fear sealed for so long so how? How was she so experienced with her fear? Just trying to analyze the entire dilemma put strain on Itaku's head.
"She sure is good, isn't she?" Said Reira who had been standing next to him the entire time.
"Too good." He offered as a blunt reply.
"Come now, you've done an excellent job in training her. And besides, the use of one's fear comes naturally to a yokai. Whether she's full, half or even quarter yokai, Yusuke still is a yokai, meaning it's very normal for her to be catching on so quickly. Instead of worrying yourself over it, you should go congratulate her, I'm sure that would just make her day."
Itaku sent the yuki-onna a strange look; only she mused on, completely ignoring his expression directed solely towards her. In turn, he ignored her words and turned his attention back to the battle.
He truly wasn't surprised by the fact that Reira could figure out that he felt confused by Yusuke's progression. Having known someone for hundreds of years, it became quite easy to understand a person. With the simple knowledge that humans can only live to an average age of 80 and yet still deem a select few their "friends" or "lovers" was completely beyond him. Frankly, Itaku always found human relationships to be rather shallow (based on what he had heard). So quick to betray, so quick to give up on each other and so easily able to move past the person and leave them behind as they live through their short lives. However, Jem had always made the point clear that the emotions humans experience are no different to the ones that yokai feel. By that, she meant yokai could fall in love just as easily and quickly as humans could. That they could meet and leave a person just as easily as a human.
Itaku found the entire point to be rather absurd considering the difference in lifespan, however, there was a small part of him that begrudgingly recognized Jem's wisdom (if it could even be called such) was somewhat true. The memories of how many other yokai he had once known but had left in the past almost escaped him along with the image he could barely remember of their names and faces.
Sometimes, though only on exceedingly rare occasions, would Itaku find himself dwelling on the people he had once considered friends but, like right now, he would quickly remind himself that it was far in the past of when he was still very young, even for a yokai.
His eyes traced their way to Reira who remained standing, holding one hand in her other while observing the events below them. The sunlight's glimmer on her pink hair and the soft kindness in her eyes tore the dumb memory of the time Itaku had once found her more beautiful than any other. Those feelings, however, were stupid at the time and had visited his heart for merely a few years before being pushed away and eventually disappearing like the clouds after a storm (or at least that was how it felt while he had tried to forget about his affections for her).
His eyes drew back to Yusuke, who was in the middle of removing her short yukata she wore over top her pants (that looked strikingly similar to his own). Itaku suddenly flinched and stiffened once Yusuke had weakly tossed her yukata off the rank. He had expected her to be wearing some other kind of garment underneath considering her modest personality but instead she wore nothing but a strip of cloth tied tightly at the back. Judging by how firmly the cloth held and flattened her chest (and how much they were squished at the top) she must have been larger than he assumed.
Awashima gave half a smile, part of it out of surprise and the other part proud of his friend for making the kind of daring move he would make.
"Wow, wasn't expecting that from you." He spoke from the side lines.
"Well, you know what I did to the last three; I don't want to keep burning them! I figured the best way to avoid that would be to take it off so..." Yusuke trailed off, her battle-ready expression slowly folding into one of uncertainty. "Should I...put it back on...?"
"No way! Hell, why don't you take it all off and go all out?" Awashima joked before letting out a loud laugh at the sight of the Yusuke's embarrassed face.
"Uh...maybe I should..." Yusuke turned slightly, edging her way back to her discarded attire.
"Hey, I'm completely okay if you want to face me topless and all." Amezo quickly added, his efforts only furthering Yusuke's discomfort and regret for her sudden decision.
"You know, maybe I'll just put it back on and try really hard not to burn it this time..."
"Hey don't worry about it, if it'll make you feel better, I'll take my top off too." Awashima said, already pulling his arms from the sleeves.
"Well, I don't wear a shirt but I support you anyway." Amezo scratched the back of his neck, giving a small yet somewhat unsure smile as he did so.
"Yeah, maybe even Itaku will take his top off too." Dohiko spoke with clear amusement fueling his smile.
Despite still recovering from a shocked state, said yokai flinched at the sound of his name.
"What?!" He exclaimed, completlely objected to Dohiko's suggestion.
"Yeah, join the club." Awashima sent a look towards Itaku as he motioned for him to come down from his tree branch.
"No." Itaku's face flattened into a look of pure displeasure, a clear indication that he either felt the need to slam his head into a tree or of realization that he was surrounded by idiots. Perhaps both.
"Aw, come on, Itaku. Yusuke did it, Awashima did it, I technically did it, Dohiko's probably gonna do it, Yukari's too young to do it and Reira's probably not going to but we all know she thinks it's a great idea so in a way, you're the only one." The kappa listed each person off on his webbed hand while looking directly at Itaku who, in turn, glared back, standing firmly.
"You're kidding. That's stupid." Itaku closed his eyes for a short time in hopes of freeing himself from his friend's stupidity for at least moment. Once he had opened them, now prepared to further deal with their pestering, he was surprised to be met with the blinking outlines of his friends in the places they had just been standing.
He quickly whirled his head around faster than a tornado to spot the group of yokai casually walking away from him, speaking amongst themselves.
"I'm hungry, lets head back and get something to eat." Awashima spoke, arm resting on Yusuke's shoulder.
"Yes, I believe it's almost lunchtime." Reira agreed while the others nodded.
"HEY!"
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Well it's certainly been a while. Fortunately I will be returning to this story after how long it's been. Looks like you'll have to wait for that Christmas special I promised considering it's far past Christmas though. I'm really sorry it took so long but here it is, the next chapter.