Tsukiyo was a breath of fresh air for Giotto and his Guardians, even if there was the odd fact she could have passed for his younger sister.
Unlike Giotto, the locals didn't give her wary glances in the least.
Then again Giotto was Catholic, whereas Tsukiyo knew most of the local traditions by heart.
Seeing his "younger sister" recite the Buddhist prayer for the dead and being properly respectful when a group was passing by to cremate their fallen grandfather was apparently all the locals needed to treat her kindly. Especially since she didn't have the odd accent that Giotto or his friends had.
She, at least, didn't stumble over the local language and knew how to behave, even if she dressed oddly!
So it was with some surprise that she was the one to suggest they celebrate Christmas, and not Giotto.
"You celebrate Christmas?" asked Knuckle.
"It's less about the birth of Christ, and more like a romantic holiday but the idea is roughly the same," admitted Tsukiyo. "People decorate trees, hand out presents and spend time with family, even if they don't visit Church. That and order chicken."
Knuckle was only a little disappointed to hear that, but it was something that would definitely cheer him up.
Even if Asari's clan wasn't inclined to celebrate it in the first place.
Tsukiyo had a brilliant idea...something that might ease the tension between Giotto and his friends and the locals.
"Christmas is about the spirit of giving, right?" she asked.
"More or less. Why?" asked Giotto.
"Well how about instead of the traditional Christmas that you're used to, we do something a little modified? I remember reading an old story about three travelers who managed to get the locals to warm up to them despite the cold reception they were given upon arriving."
Now she had his full interest, as well as Knuckle.
"Three travelers came upon a village that didn't really welcome outsiders. None of the villagers were willing to share their food, so they decided to use a little misdirection. They made the claim that they could make a delicious stew using only three rocks. They proceeded to get a big pot and filled it almost to the brim with water from the river, and put in three ordinary rocks that they had found. Making a big production of how 'delicious' it was, they managed to entice the villagers to come and try it."
Giotto was grinning already.
"So what happened?"
"Well they started making innocent suggestions of how to make it better, after the locals came to try the 'stew' themselves. So a few people volunteered some spare vegetables, spices and a bit of meat they had lying around that was still good. Soon they had coaxed the village to help make the 'stew' even better, creating something wonderful. By the time the pot was finished, not only had the travelers eaten but so had the village and they had warmed up considerably towards them."
Giotto had a thoughtful look on his face.
"That sounds like a really good trick."
"Food has a way of bringing people together. About how many people are in the village?" asked Tsukiyo.
"At least fifty to seventy-five people, and ten children," said Knuckle promptly.
"Japan is a very community oriented country. If you want to get them to warm up to you then you should use that," said Tsukiyo bluntly.
"What would you suggest then?" asked Giotto, intrigued.
"Go hunting, even if you have to go a bit out of the way to do it. Bringing in fresh meat and making enough food to feed the village without expecting thanks might help to warm the locals up towards you. Though learning the local customs and showing an equal respect to them would really help long term," she replied. "You don't have to believe in the same gods, just acknowledge that their faith is just as strong as yours."
Knuckle could accept that idea.
Giotto and G went out hunting for fresh meat, enough to feed the entire village. The idea of making a big stew pot to be shared was a brilliant one, and food bringing people together was a simple enough concept. Asari certainly thought it had a lot of merit.
Tsukiyo spent a good two days explaining the religion Giotto's friends (except Asari who was firmly Buddhist) was actually about in a way the locals could not only understand but tolerate.
Explaining that Knuckle served a "Greater Kami" who was a bit more diverse than say, Amaterasu, and held a very close belief system that was similar to Buddha, right down to the 'good deeds equal good karma in the afterlife' and 'too many bad deeds send you to hell (singular)' did wonders to clear up the confusion about Knuckle's religion.
They could accept that his 'robes' were similar to the garb that Buddhist priests wore while spreading the teachings of their faith, and that he wasn't trying to make them worship his 'god' so much as following the tenants of what he was taught. Which was spreading good will and kindness.
By the time Christmas Eve rolled around, the smell of food cooking drew several curious and hungry villagers out to see what was going on.
The sight of Tsukiyo and Asari handing out free food was enough to bring the rest, especially since they were at least trying to foster good relations with the community.
A few days later
Knuckle hugged Tsukiyo firmly.
"Thank you," he said with relief.
"I take it the explanation I gave helped?"
"They've started to treat him more like a Buddhist priest than a pariah and they quit throwing rocks at him," said Giotto. "It definitely helped."
"Well Buddha and God have a lot in common. The problem was that you were approaching it the wrong way and they didn't want you 'corrupting' the children to a religion that they didn't understand. Keeping it simple helps," she replied.
"Your idea to have one of us teach basic math to the kids helped a lot too. The adults aren't giving us such dirty looks anymore."
G and Knuckle had taken to giving basic math lessons to the few children in the village well within range of their parents watchful eyes. Having someone teach their children something as useful as how to add and subtract (not to mention free babysitting) while staying close enough that the parents could call their children over to help with the harvesting and planting was slowly changing the attitude of the locals to something close to friendly. The fact Giotto had absolutely no problem going to other villages to pick up medicines for the elderly and the sick did a lot to improve their image too.
As Tsukiyo had put it, Japan was a very community oriented place. Giving small pieces of support was doing wonders for their image and warming people up towards them quite a bit. The 'big things' like the Christmas Eve feast (which the villagers had liked so much that Giotto was seriously thinking about making it a yearly thing) only helped to reinforce that.
Giotto wasn't the only one who now had a habit of hugging her without much warning. With the considerable lack of positive affection from anyone save Tatsuya, ("Who was a big boy now and couldn't be seen hugging his favorite big sister except in private, really.") she was able to push away any unease that might have formed and accepted it eagerly.
She had become their 'little sister' figure, and by this point "Ieyasu" and his friends found it absurdly easy to ignore the fact she was practically a female version of their boss and friend. Just as she found it easier to ignore the fact that Alaude, Asari and Knuckle bore a terrifying resemblance to Hibari Kyouya, Yamamoto Takeshi and Sasegawa Ryohei.
Coincidentally the older men had all quietly agreed to teach Tsukiyo Italian, purely because it gave them a chance to bond with her. She was really too cute, and seeing her smile when she got something right brightened their day.
"Wait... you can stay a few weeks simply because it's summer?" said Giotto in delight.
"Summer vacation. No school and my mother thinks I'm spending time with a 'new friend' and as long as I at least call her every few days she won't ask questions. Tatsuya is going to a camp with his friends, so I'm free to stay here for a bit," said Tsukiyo brightly.
Giotto's grin was very wide hearing that. Her ability to speak Italian was rather limited, but with actual practice he was certain they could get her fluent in no time. Plus considering the similarities between it and Latin, Knuckle could probably get her speaking that with a bit of work.
Alaude, despite his grumpy exterior, had shown a strong enough interest in the "kitten" as he called her that he had openly suggested teaching her French and what little English he knew as well.
School grades to the contrary, Tsukiyo actually loved learning new things.
Besides, this meant they could figure out what exactly was going on with her Flames, since Giotto knew she was Active like them but for some reason was unable to access it. Knuckle's brief exam had told them that much.
Once Tsukiyo had settled into the rather modest home that Giotto, G, and Knuckle shared (they had gotten used to sharing the same home that it felt odd living too far apart...besides, they could share the chores) and a quiet routine had been established, Giotto took her to see Asari's clan Elders concerning the seal on her Flames.
They were distinctly not happy about it, and considering she had made the 'gaijin' more palatable for them, they agreed to help remove it.
Giotto was rather dubious about overpowering it with his own Flames, considering it risked sending her into complete Discord if she wasn't compatible with his Sky.
However the outpouring of pure Sky that blazed out once he did washed those worries away.
If Asari's clan was unhappy about the seal before, the fact that it had been a Sky Flame that was being held back really pissed them off. After all, it was only because Asari was bonded to Giotto that they had allowed his 'foreign friends' to stay with them in the first place!
On the plus side, once she woke up from that incident Giotto was over the moon about the whole thing since it meant he had so many tricks that he could teach her!
The day they found out she had the same knack for hand to hand combat that Giotto did (she was absolute pants using G's crossbow, never mind a normal bow and arrow and she was a bit too skittish to handle a sword, even a wooden one) was one of the defining moments of her life, next to falling into the well in the first place.
Knuckle, as it turned out, used to be a champion kick boxer. He still practiced occasionally, but had been lacking a decent sparring partner.
Tsukiyo did not regret asking him to teach her, no matter how sore she was after. The fact that he would slip into Latin and Italian at random, and she was able to respond in the same language without thinking said volumes of how much she was learning.
It was almost a shame she had to return to her own time. She preferred the easy pace of the past compared to the hectic day to day of modern times.
Even if it was far more vibrant and tolerant in comparison.
If anyone noticed the change in "Tsunayoshi", they did not mention it. However one person took extreme interest in the fact she had a habit of vanishing into an area most people avoided because of the dense thorns in the area that were too troublesome to properly clear out.
He was not like the herbivores, so easily dissuaded by a mere plant.
So it was with some shock and no little horror that "Tsunayoshi" came face to face with a curious and less than amused Hibari Kyouya seven months after falling into the well.
"Herbivore. You have some explaining to do."
Tsukiyo gulped and prayed she wouldn't be bitten to death for this.
Some time later, in the Reception Room
Hibari stared down the tiny female kitten with a displeased look on his face.
"You have been wearing the boy's uniform," he noted. "You have been visiting a derelict well that has never held water according to records."
Tsukiyo didn't flinch and managed to meet him squarely in the eye. After seeing Alaude pissed off beyond belief at some bandits who tried to hurt several of the female villagers and going on a rampage to teach them the error of their ways, Hibari wasn't nearly as scary.
So long as he wasn't in the mood to bite her to death, anyway.
"I... I made the mistake of looking up what the other kids and their parents were calling my mother, mostly because at least two teachers have used similar words to describe what they thought I would end up doing once I left school and became an adult. I hit the wrong link and I realized how easily I could suffer a similar fate if I wasn't careful, so I made a point to hide my gender since it was less likely to happen to a boy."
Hibari's expression was positively stormy hearing that.
"What exactly was said?" he demanded.
"My mother has been called a 'whore' or a 'prostitute' more than once by the neighbors and the parents of my classmates, since it's known she doesn't have an actual job to pay for our house or living expenses. It doesn't help that my father, if he's even alive, has never really made an appearance in the area or that the man she claims is her husband looks and acts like a well off drifter who comes once every few years, stays for a week and drinks heavily before disappearing without any proper explanation. Or that his so-called job is obviously a poorly thought up lie, since I highly doubt that there is such a thing as 'penguin traffic controllers'," said Tsukiyo bitterly. "Never mind that he dresses like a construction worker every time he visits, which isn't the least bit useful in such cold conditions."
Hibari was definitely going to look into who this man was and what was really going on in Sawada's home life. Then he remembered the comment she made about more than one teacher making a similar comment about her.
His instincts demanded he bite such herbivores to death for trying to break the small animal. One who he was beginning to suspect was an Omnivore in disguise and just needed a bit of...encouragement... to properly grow some fangs and claws.
He had noted immediately by her instinctive stance and behavior that she had been learning how to fight. The local classes for such things were all too tame and were more interested in catering to the masses than teaching real fighting. More than a few black belts had to be brought down to size before they got ideas.
"Why do you go to the well?" he asked finally.
"I go there to think. It's quiet and no one notices it when I'm there. I've managed to attach one of those emergency ladders that fold up to the side, so it's easy to climb back up. It's peaceful," she explained.
A little sanctuary where she would be left alone. He could accept that, even if he felt like she wasn't telling him the full story. He had already inspected the well itself and outside of the recently attached ladder there was nothing different about it. The well was solidly constructed.
"I will allow you to continue to wear the boy's uniform... but the second it becomes obvious that you are a female you must wear the correct one."
Tsukiyo almost sagged with relief at that. Clearly he accepted her explanation for why she wore the boy's uniform as opposed to the sailor fuku the girls were required to wear... at least until her bust started to properly develop.
Considering how small she was, she wasn't holding out hope of that happening until late teens at least. She was still waiting to hit a proper growth spurt.
"You said that several teachers have made highly inappropriate comments towards you. I need proof."
Hibari took offense to the fake carnivores trying to rise above their station by targeting small animals.
"I can do that. I can record their comments during class with my phone."
"I also expect you to meet me on the roof at least twice a week."
"What?" she almost squawked in horror.
"You are growing fangs. I want to see how quickly you can improve."
"You mean you want someone to play with that might prove interesting later," she snarked without thinking. She almost winced, but managed to hold her ground.
The glint in his eyes was pretty telling.
Considering he might actually deal with the useless teachers who were complete bastards to her because of the general apathy towards her, she could care less about becoming Hibari's newest chew toy. She'd either survive or he'd lose interest when she couldn't handle it.