The Life and Times of an Average Coward
Chapter 20: More than it Seems
After the emotional one-on-one with Tantan, I, Agatsuma Senritsu, is extremely tired.
"Haha! I got yer food, now you're not getting it back!" I stared blankly at the rice grains and pieces of tempura crumbs that settled on my yukata sleeve, while a certain someone snorted like the forest-raised boy that they are.
"Oh okay, you can have those if you really want it, want some more tea, Senritsu?"
I internally sighed, I'm too tired for this shit.
"Yes Tantan, I would love some. And please, like I told you, just Sen is fine," I gave the best smile I could give to him at the moment. From the returning smile, I guess I didn't do too bad. "All my friends call me that."
The pleased blush that colored his face didn't go away until the end of our shared lunch, not even any means of taunting from the Inosuke boy – I think it flew over his head – had managed to get rid of it.
Glad to make him happy then.
He also never forgot to call me Sen once again after that, well if he continued using my full name then I would really get embarrassed for calling him in such a silly nickname.
"Oi! Stop ignoring me too, woman!" The annoying one tugged my hair lightly to get my attention.
I clicked my tongue together and looked away, tugging my hair out of his grasp to not repeat the offence. God, it's like I'm dealing with a whiny toddler, just hearing him complain and throwing tantrums is building up my headache.
"Hashibira-san, please don't bother Sen, she's the most injured among the three of us!"
Yeah, and most of my injuries are from him too.
"I think I'm gonna lie down again in my room."
My left wrist ache something fierce with the meager chopsticks and teacup lifting it had done and it was a good thing that I'm ambidextrous, otherwise I would also need help feeding myself. Now that's another level of mortifying.
"Hey! Where do you think you're—"
"Want my help to get there?"
I smiled to my thoughtful friend. His brows furrowing in worry and arms already stretching towards my back and shoulder. I thoroughly ignored the boy-child grumbling and growling to Tantan's other side.
"Sure, I would never refuse that offer. I think I would fall face first if I turn a corner, somehow even though my legs aren't injured they still felt like mush." I said as I took his outstretched hand as the other guide me to get up. "Thanks for thi—" I yawned before I could finish the sentence.
Tantan looked at me with fondness. A look that made me all warm and tingly and even more ready for a nap.
"There's no need for thanks amongst friends, Sen. Plus, helping each other is what we're supposed to do." We both ignored Inosuke's glaring and pouting. "Someone told me that."
A shy smile is all I can give at the face of his earnestness. Genuinely nice people, urk, my true weakness after bugs.
"I guess they do."
"Fight me Monjirou!"
"No! We're supposed to be resting! And it's also Tanjirou! Tan. Ji. Rou!"
"Whatever Totoro! Just fight me!"
My eyebrow twitched and continued braiding a happy purring – oh God she is! – Nezuko, or Nezzun as I love to call her now.
Not Zuko, it reminds me far too much of a boy with a scar and a bag of inferiority and daddy issues. Nezzun is far less cynical and filled with positive familial love to be him.
Above me, calloused fingers carefully parted and entwined my hair together carefully. I guess Tantan learned how to braid and style long hair, as expected of a sweet responsible older brother who most likely indulges or spoils his little siblings the best he could.
I am healing well. A little too well, all I have to say is that demon slayer physiology is weird. I just got my right arm out of the sling this morning when for normal people, as far as I know, had to have it for months or maybe a year. Even my pierced left shoulder is already scabbing, the jagged wound barely aching and is likely to only leave a thin white scar right next to my old puncture wound.
I've had dislocations, sprains, fractures, contusions and the like during my training phase, and back when I was still starting, I remembered being in a cast for two months under the threat of Amai-obaa to Jii-chan. But as my training goes on, my healing rate had also gone faster in an abnormal rate. It's kinda scary but weirdly neat. They did say that with breathing techniques we can possibly keep up with a demon's strength and speed, and maybe right by it we also heal exponentially faster.
I wonder if the breathing technique does not only let the blood, oxygen and adrenaline circulate in the right places, but also boosts cellular division. Maybe that's why a demon slayer's body is warmer than an average person and that we eat more than normal humans – 'cause ya know, the body is using energy to do that, and energy means there's heat and energy means the need of energy fuel.
And maybe that's the reason why we die faster, the body couldn't possibly keep up with that amount of strain all the time.
Huh, if only I could get a hold of some 21st century biology or medical texts, hmmm… maybe I could bring this up to Oya-sama too. The medical and technical books he gave me during my breath style creation arc never really mentioned any of this stuff, and maybe it can be useful in some way.
God, explaining cell division and modern science biology stuff in handwritten letters is gonna be so much fun.
(Please, note my sarcasm there. Just explaining where the source for this information is going to be a headache. And Oya-sama and his children are a very curious and inquisitive bunch so she would recon they would love to squeeze every piece of leftover 9th grade biology knowledge in her.)
"Come on! Fight me!" Inosuke's scream jolted me out of my medical speculative theory and road to migraine. This is probably the only time that I would be grateful for his annoying self.
"For the last time! We're supposed to be resting!" Tantan huffed, and oh my, even with his eternal patience, he is slowly losing steam for the boy-child.
"Resting is for the weak! A true king of the forest can go on fighting with an open stomach."
"I think you're referring to a cornered wild animal, forest boy." I can't help but quip. Gosh, he's getting on my nerves, why can't he just stop.
If I were Tantan, I would have already flown off the handle by now, this guy has been pestering Tantan and I for a rematch for three days straight now after a week of just healing bones and sore muscles. Thankfully but unfortunately for Tantan, he is the one who always get the pestering, 'cause I was mostly asleep through it.
Also, other than beating the tar out of me, he tore Kaa-san's memento in two with his blade, Tantan said that Inosuke did that when I passed out from the pain. I would have cried like a baby after hearing that if I wasn't so tired and cried enough for my pity party. No matter though, I can sew it back together again. It's not like it's the first time that it happened, I'm not angry at him anymore with the time I had to cool off, I'm just strictly annoyed and upset at his child-like insistence.
"Whatever Monitsu, don't think I've forgotten about you either."
I stared at boar boy's disturbing mask. The ears are all wonky and the snout lopsided. Maybe I could fix his mask alongside Kaa-san's gift when I'm fully recovered.
But I have to convince him first before I do that.
"—hink you are?! Holding back on me! I know that you could move faster than—"
I decidedly tuned him out and listened close to Tantan's serene heartbeat and Nezzun's contented purr. Smiling to myself, I continued to weave the silky strands of hair beneath my fingers, it's relaxing in its methodical way.
"Deep in the meadow…
Under the willow,
A thick bed of grass~ A soft green pi~llow"
Nezzun's purring became louder, slumping towards me, and I can feel, more than see Tantan's rigid fingers relaxing. I didn't even notice that he was tense in the first place.
"Lay down your head~
And close your eyes,
'Cause when they open, the sun will ri~se."
This soothing sort of song is something I've heard in YouTube a very long time ago, and if I remember correctly, it's from a movie, but the artist changed the melodies into God Yiruma's piece, River Flows in You. It's just so beautiful and calming that I can't help but sing the lyrics as I practice the piece.
"Here it's safe,
And here it's warm~
Here your dreams are sweet
And tomorrow brings them through,
Here is the place…"
I don't even know if my lyrics are right and translating it all is another debate to be had. But as long as I get the message across it's all fine, right?
Nezzun doesn't seem to mind and Inosuke all but stared at me like I'm some alien. Tantan is just quiet. But his song, the lake that flows with the lilting piano, the silent breeze over a grass hill that tinkles with the wind chimes, and that homely crackling campfire, it all fell harmoniously with this lullaby of mine.
(Maybe the reason why she's singing this is because his serene heart reminds her of this sweet lullaby.)
I tied off Nezzun's hair with a deep pink ribbon that I have on hand, the French braid a bit clumsy with me being used to doing it for myself rather than for others. I had practiced in Yuu and Sachi's, but spikes and unruliness are vastly different from Nezzun's silky waves.
Curiously, Tantan's fingers suddenly stopped moving, so I looked up to see what's gotten into him. In doing so, it left my hair tumbling off from its neat arrangement, cascading down my back with its familiar weight. There, he stared intently at me with his red eyes filled with awe and wonder like I just performed Listz's Hungarian Rhapsody blindfolded with my old stubby/missing fingers. I poked him in his left cheek just to be sure.
"Where I love youuu~"
I all but whispered the last line of the lyrics, stared at Tantan for three seconds, blinked, blushed, and looked away.
Those last few verses shouldn't sound as heartfelt as it should. It gives the impression that I'm confessing to him romantically, which I'm not! Romance with anybody is the farthest thing in my mind at the moment, it sounds nice and all, but it will come when it comes, Mama, Gran, and Jii-chan always told me so. Kinda like making friends, it just happens. No need to force it.
I hope Tantan does not misunderstand it for anything but a confession of platonic love.
A head fell to my chest before I could go in a tizzy, Nezzun slid down a bit as I glanced down to her nuzzling my stomach with soft breaths. She has fallen asleep, just like that. And very much like what I would do to my cats from the before whenever they slept on my stomach, I tried not to move.
Tantan chuckled at the adorable sight, all big brother exasperation aura rolling in his pores.
"Nezuko, you should go sleep on a proper bed." His eyes were loving, intimate and so, so fond. I suddenly miss my family.
Writing to Jii-chan and the others would be first in my agenda once I can move my wrist and arm without too much difficulty.
"It's fine Tantan." I moved her head from my stomach to lay flat on my lap, brushing away the messy flyaway strands that escaped my haphazard French braid. "She looks so comfortable right now, you don't have to move her."
"I don't think spoiling her is a bright idea."
I giggled at his dry response, but really, who couldn't resist spoiling a cute little sibling and I stated that much.
"Like you're one to talk, I see you always indulging her whims."
"As her older brother, it's my job to indulge her the best I can." His flat expression was betrayed by the humor in his red eyes, and I couldn't help but giggle some more.
"Is that so?" I lifted one carefully plucked eyebrow, staring at his failure to hold back a smile. God, my eyebrows are still so itchy from the plucking session. "So, you're saying that as her honorary older sister that I have to be all stern and teach her propriety?"
Tantan had to try hard to keep his face neutral, his sound says otherwise. "Pretty much."
Snorting inelegantly, I returned to massaging Nezzun's scalp much to her purring delight.
"I don't think I have it in me to be strict towards her." She's just too sweet and cuddly, who would want to be strict to her?
"I know right? Nezuko is the loveliest!" Tantan bragged with the pride of a true but pure siscon.
"The hell was that?"
Oh, I almost forgot about him.
"The heck was what?" I looked up to a trembling Inosuke, his sound for once subdued.
Hope, awe, sadness and confusion is all tangled up inside him.
He pointed a shaking finger at me and I began to worry, his voice hitching as he addressed me again.
"The thing that you, that you just did with your voice! Like, like, the twittering birds at my forest but was better sounding and with words."
Oh.
'It sounds familiar! What is it? It's just like that woman's—'
"I was just singing a lullaby." He trembled even more, choking on an inhale. "Is there something wrong? Inosuke?"
Concerned, I called again. "Inosuke?"
I can hear the boy breathing deeply, methodically, calming himself down.
'What if she's—'
The stray loud emotional thought got cut off as Inosuke found his courage and calm, the tremors abated.
"Are you my mother?"
.
.
.
I'm his what now?
Behind me Tantan choked on his spit.
"We're at the same age group!" I sputtered, trying my best to not be too loud because Nezzun is sleeping. "I couldn't have possibly given birth to you as an in-infant. And, and we look nothing alike!"
The bright hopeful sound dimmed in disappointment, the ears of Inosuke's boar mask seemed to droop as he visibly sagged and shrank into himself.
"Oh."
'So it wasn't her.'
I winced.
Stupid, stupid Sen! You should have delivered that in a more delicate way! Stupid, stupid, idiot Sen self!
"I just thought that you were… because, because I think I remember her twi—singing to me when I was really, really small. And, and before, whenever you touch my head like that or smile like that, I felt all fuzzy and floaty and warm, so I just thought…"
Oh dear Sound Gods what did I just do.
Why am I so stupid? So much for my empath-like abilities. Ahhhhh! Now he's crying!
Quickly taking action at the first sound of an impending near silent sob, I extricated Nezzun from my lap to a very concerned Tantan. In quick few strides, I knelt before Inosuke, who slightly flinched – like he always do when we touch him – and gathered him in for a hug.
"I'm sorry for being… too rough with my words, I didn't mean for it to come out so—"
Komutsu's words didn't really register to Inosuke, all he can register is the warmth she emits and rubbing hand on his back. She's really warm, like her hand was when she messed – she was oiling and combing it for him – his hair with careful, gentle hands. She also smells really nice, like the flowers that grows in his forest and that one tree with round pink fruits.
Maritsu and Sachirou made him feel anxious and disturbed. Whenever they try to touch him, they don't make it hurt. Rather, it felt nice. It makes him all fuzzy and warm and funny inside. They also give him quirk lips and not mean looking eyes, they smile at him in a way that doesn't make him feel dirty. Like that one group that went to his forest and caught him in a trap, when they removed the fur his late boar mother gave him, they looked at him in a way that made his hackles rise.
They tried to hurt him too and tried to tie him down.
Inosuke bit and scratched and fought his way out of there, that's when he learned that if he tried to mimic the beasts in his forest's breathing and form, he would be able to defeat his animal – he's human, an old man once said – kin.
Konichirou and Kanezu's touch doesn't hurt. Even when Inosuke fought them, there moves were hesitant – though Gonpachirou's initial punch of anger did and so was the headbutt – only aiming to dodge and redirect rather than attack him even if he kept on hurting them.
(He doesn't want to think back on the tears that well up in Senritsu's eyes and the hidden ones from Tanjirou, it made his stomach feel heavy and his chest ache. Inosuke knows that they cried because of him but he doesn't know why he felt angry at himself for that.)
Tanritsu radiated annoyance and frustration rather than killing intent when they were fighting and Senjirou was a mix of annoyance to him and concern for the fallen girl.
And when it was over, both of them didn't try to kill Inosuke when they saw him again. Ryujimaru is much more focused on feeling guilty and concerned for Achimizu who slept for two days. And when she woke up, the two of them were mostly together in Anmitsu's room except when eating where all of them are together.
So one day, he barged in their room where he found the yellow haired female sleeping on big forehead's lap. Kompachirou was contently playing with her hair as she curled around him, her face buried in his stomach.
Totoro looked up with question in his eyes and Inosuke blurted the first thing that came to his mind.
"Fight me!"
Zenitsu woke up with a squack not unlike a startled bird, annoyance flashed in her tired face.
(He doesn't know why, but Inosuke wants what they have and at the same time creeped out because that's a lot of touches. How can they trust each other so much that the other won't hurt them. The only contact he knows is through fighting and gnarled weak fingers of a senile old man.)
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you. I was just really surprised by your question."
What she shouted earlier he has already forgotten. Though he felt no less disappointed that she was not in fact his mother.
She's hugging Inosuke right now. Words careful and soft like the touch of her hand in his back and the other one carding through the furs of his mask at the back of his head. For the first time in his life, he wants the mask off and for a second, irritated that he has to keep the stupid robes on.
Her touch felt nice – better than nice – and does not hurt or is meant to hurt.
Inosuke wants more.
So without a second thought, he lifts his arms and encircles Senritsu with it. She wheezes when he tightens it and Inosuke thought he was hurting her and releases his grip, only for slighter arms to tighten around him.
The girl cocoons him with her warmth and Inosuke melts.
She's smaller than him, slighter in frame, not by much, just lean but no less as sturdy – Inosuke broke her just a few days ago – but at that moment, he felt that he's the one who is small, coddled by warmth and safety like his (not) mother as a piglet (human baby) against her furred body.
"I didn't know that this can be nice." He grumbles to her shoulder.
"If…" Tonkatsu starts, unsure. "If you want a hug, you can just say so, I don't mind giving them."
Inosuke perks up but does not let go. Not yet. It feels so nice to be held by another person who he is pretty sure would not hurt him.
"Really?"
"Yeah." She said simply, going back to rubbing the back of his head. Inosuke gives an irritated hiss and she stops.
He whines like a little pup when she stops, Inosuke takes off his head gear, tosses it across the room and proceeds to bury his slightly wet nose on her shoulder.
Hmmmm… Karitsu really smells like the prettiest part of his forest, fresh blooms and the yummy pink fruit he does not know the name of. She also smells like thunder but Inosuke likes that too because it smells like strength.
Because she wasn't doing anything, too silent and just staring at him. Inosuke grabs her slack hand and places it on his head. Rensisu squeaks but goes back to running her fingers through his hair and on his back.
He could feel Kotarou's eyes but could care less.
Inosuke melts and does his best to fuse to her shoulder with a sigh.
Hmmm… he's going to challenge Tanjirou for the right to hug and be hugged by Mamatsu. Inosuke's very sure that the other would fight him seriously for that. The guy looks extremely happy when the girl so much as smile at him.
(Inosuke is in fact very wrong about Tanjirou fighting him for it. But he does get a fight for the cuddle rights. It's just that, it wasn't Tanjirou who challenges him.)
I hummed under my breath, eyeing the finish product of my work.
Still got nothing on Kaa-san's but that should work.
Smiling to myself, I knotted the thread tightly and nipped out the excess. My bandanna is now fixed and ready to be worn again.
Doing just that, I wrapped it around the secure braid Tantan weaved for me earlier, wrapping the ends at the base of the plait and tying it at the back of my head.
"That's very important to you, huh?" A rough voice entered my ears.
"Yes it is," I glanced down at the lapful of wild boy, small demon girl and sunshine incarnate currently killing the feeling on my legs.
Inocchi has commandeered my left leg and Tantan the right with Nezzun nestled between them, a big blanket strewn over them courtesy of the matron of the house – lovely old lady, bless her – in one of the most adorable cuddle pile I have ever witnessed.
Looking at them makes my heart feel warm and full. If it's possible to die of cuteness I would have died 83 times already and if it were possible, it wouldn't be a bad way to go.
I am now totally, and wholly incapable of taking them off my person.
"It was the last gift my Kaa-san gave me."
"Oh." A guilty look passes over his pretty face. I don't even need to hear his heart for that, Inocchi is very expressive without the mask on.
And Goddamn, my weakness for beautiful people.
"It's fine!" I smiled, carding my fingers through his silky hair – and damn was it a challenge to get it that smooth – and giving scalp scratches. "Look," I pointed to my hat. "All fixed, besides, it's not the first time it got ripped."
Though it was the first time it was ripped in half.
"Ah, but it's like my mask then. It's… made from the boar who took care of me. That means it's very important."
And the boy Goddamn pouts.
"Hey—"
"How about saying sorry? Why don't you apologize to Sen?" Tantan suggested, a knowing smile and mirth in his eyes in seeing my panic.
This brat, you're not much of an angel after all!
"Oh, right!" Inocchi perks up, sits up and faces me. "Tatsuma, you did say to say 'sorry' when I did something wrong, see, I was listening!"
So you just did not try to incorporate it when you practically inhaled my lunch.
"Sorry for breaking your hat!" He dips his head enough to be called a bow, but his wide green eyes watched me carefully.
I sighed.
"Like I said," Once more, I placed my hand on his head, but this time messing it up and lightly digging my nails in, Inocchi leaning into it with a grin. I figured that he loves it when I do that.
"It's fine. I managed to fix it." I narrowed my eyes into a glare, making him freeze. "But when you did that, I was beyond upset. Please don't do that again."
"I won't."
Sighing, I watched him sulk with a pout and I renewed my hair ruffling business.
"Why don't you get your mask and let me fix it. I noticed that the ears and the nose are a little crooked."
"You can fix it?!"
Inocchi vibrated on his seat but was careful not to jostle sleeping Nezzun, Tantan's smile meant that I'm not the only one finding it adorable.
"Let me see it first before I can make judgement."
I wasn't even able to finish my sentence before he's already bounding across the room to get his mask.
"Got it!"
"Oi don't toss it!"
"Shhh! Nezuko's sleeping."
"So-Sorry." "Sorry."
"Uhm…" I kept my eyes on the floorboards and bowed. "T-Thank you for letting me use the kitchen, Granny."
The old woman just, "Hohoho!" And patted my head, leaving me behind the kitchen alone.
"I'll bring you some of the manju and mochi later!" Oh shit, aren't mochi like deadly to old people? They can't chew that well anymore. And I don't want to be the reason a sweet old lady chokes to death! "Ah, I'm not trying to kill you with the mochi though, maybe I'll just bring manju!"
Goddamnit, now it seems like I am really trying to kill her.
"A-Ah! I'll just ask you later to join us for tea!" There.
'Hohoho! Such a thoughtful child.'
Well, at least she gets the idea.
Choking down my embarrassment, I mechanically, straightened from my bow and got some flour and rice flour from a cabinet the Fujisaki Matriarch pointed earlier.
"Just don't think about it Sen and stress cook."
God that was embarrassing.
Chatter filled the air, the scent of warm tea and sweets to accompany it. Nezzun was asleep and napping on Inocchi's lap, undisturbed by the light jostling and the noise.
"He-Here's some more manju Ma'am. I, I hope you like it."
"Hohoho!" She says as she takes a bite of the red bean bun with a positively blooming aura around her. I swear I could see flowers sprouting in her white hair and she freaking sparkled!
I guess that means she likes it.
"So good! It tastes like those round pink fruits in my forest." Is what would have been what Inocchi said if he isn't speaking while inhaling food.
It's a good thing that I made a lot – because I was stressed – then.
"They're called peaches, Inocchi."
"Owsh, shwo ghwas wrosh imhs mraldsh."
"Yes Inocchi, that's what they're called. And I told you to slow down, tch, see what I mean?"
I sighed as I pour him some tea for him to guzzle down and discontinue his choking.
"There's a lot more in the kitchen, you don't need to worry about not having enough."
"Oh." Yeah, oh.
"This is really great Sen!" Tantan said as soon as he properly chewed on his mochi and carefully drank the tea I poured for him.
"Now I know who's the mysterious maker of the legendary peach mochis that even Urokodaki-san would fight Sabito-san for."
Say what now?
"Last time I had this was when a package was delivered by that eloquent crow with a scarf three months ago. It's the most delicious mochi I've ever tasted, aside for Kaa-san's, I even have to win a duel against Sabito-san to get at least three more."
He dueled Sachi for a what?
"I really should have known though. All the food packages and other parcels have your scent in them. And even when Sabito-san had a lot of admirers from the village down the mountain, all the gifts you've sent were the only ones he wore or kept inside his room."
Confusion and incredulousness left me by Tantan's string of words. Replaced by the warm, soft and gooey feeling that pooled into my chest and exploded to course through my veins. I felt giddy and light and full, the grin on my lips a bit too small for the happiness that I am experiencing.
It's a little ridiculous, I know. Because I already knew Sachi always kept the things I gave him over the years, no matter how clumsy or shabby the scarves I have made for him when I was in the process of learning how to knit and sew. I knew that his cabinets and small chest can't store them all so he took to storing it underneath the floorboards.
(Yuu and Tengu-jiji did too. Jii-chan's closets is teeming with her kimonos and yukatas. Amai-obaa had a dedicated showroom showcasing her greatest needlework tapestries. The Ubuyashiki family prefers wearing the robes she made them.)
But everytime I relearn of this fact it doesn't fail to make me so happy.
(Sachi having admirers are not surprising, her manly older brother is dashing and handsome what can she say. It doesn't help that he's a perfect gentleman who can say the sweetest things and mean it. But also knowing him, Senritsu pities the lovely ladies, because Sachi is a bit thick on the head in terms of romance.)
With a grin and a light bounce in my heart, I placed the tea set back to the tray and got up from my seiza.
"I'm going to get some more refreshments and more snacks, be right back!"
The replies were immediate.
"Let me help you with carrying the snacks."
"Yes! More food!"
"Hohoho."
"Zzzzz… mhm.. zzzzz…"
Ahhh… nothing is more wonderful and relaxing than tea time who appreciates your work.
Learning the news of Sen facing their childhood demons was not a great one. It was over all upsetting and distressing and Oyakata-sama should have really appointed Giyuu that job.
But all the same, Giyuu should have felt lighter from the great news of their childhood nightmares dying by Sen's hands no less. Yet it is not to be that way.
"The mission was a success Yuu, and it's all thanks to Shinazugawa-senpai showing up at the right time. I don't know if we would have survived otherwise."
And this is main reason why Giyuu is upset. What is Oyakata-sama thinking in pairing her with such a brash person? Oyakata-sama should already know that Sen does not handle very angry, loud and crude men.
(That includes the punk that is Kaigaku. Sen might have miraculously got through that brat's thick skull but it all came with a heavy prize. Punk does not leave her alone and takes advantage of Sen's no sense of self and her kindness. When Giyuu comes across him during his travels, he'll make sure to bait the brat for sparring sessions.)
He continues to read.
"The kids were safe, I managed to get them out – still don't know how I did, but I did! – from the ugly centipede thing's literal clutches. I got a bit injured—"
The paper in his hands crumples and he had to take a moment to breathe and think.
Breathe and think.
If Sen managed to write this letter that means she's safe. Breathe and think. If she wrote this that means she's well enough to write. Hold for three and out for seven. She's fine, she's safe, she wrote this letter with her own hands and this is her handwriting.
Right, right, Sen is safe, wherever she is. Most likely recovered and is on another assignment. The letter came in late this time, that means there's no point going to the Asakusa branch. She's alright. Though she has a tendency to downplay her injuries, she must be fine now. Shinazugawa was there, and even if they have disagreements, that man won't let a comrade die if he can help it. She must be alright, she wrote to him, Sen always listen to medical professionals and will not strain herself when she's injured. He can trust her on that.
Giyuu hopes – he would never pray; he lost his belief the moment his sister was lost when he prayed – that she's alright. Sen is strong, stronger than him in every aspect, still so filled with light after everything that had happened. He hopes that she'll keep that light even as she witnesses more of the demons' atrocity towards humanity.
Giyuu could only hope.
He reads.
"—I'm fine now! So you don't have to worry about me. I know my limits and I know when to listen to doctors, unlike some people." Giyuu could already picture her, rolling her eyes at him.
Unbeknownst to him, a Kakushi witnessed the rare phenomenon of a miniscule upturn on the ever stoic Pillar's lips. It sent the poor man in a panic, he can't quite decide whether he is blessed to witness such a rare sight, or start praying to the Gods for the inevitable tragedy to come.
Kochou Shinobu was just in time to see the rare smile. And for it to suddenly melt off to a complete 180. The murderous scowl scaring off the Kakushi while praying for his life, his colleague even more curious to who would even write a letter to her dour and gloom current mission partner.
Giyuu ignored them, the paper in his hand crumpling and is under the threat of being ripped in half. The only reason that it wasn't, was because it was from Sen and anything that comes from her should be cherished.
He reads the passage once again, maybe he read wrong.
"Anyways, always take care Yuu! Always remember that I love you! P.S. Shinazugawa-senpai found out that I was girl and I accidentally showed him my chest. What should I do to apologize?"
Kochou approaches him.
"Not one word." He said with warning, the smile on the woman's lips unfaltering but she does raise an eyebrow.
"Don't be like that Tomioka-san, I'm just here to inform you that everyone is ready and we should really get going."
They stare at each other for a minute or two, Kochou challenging him to say anything else.
He turns away, straightens the letter to get the wrinkles out and carefully folds it back to the envelope, tucking it away to be kept safe until he can store it in the box with the other letters from Sen.
Silently, he walks away from his designated waiting room and leaves Kochou behind.
He hears her stomp her way to catch up to his longer strides, but he could care less. Giyuu is too pissed off to try and understand Kochou.
Maybe he should finally agree to the spar the wind Hashira had been pestering him lately. And maybe, take the spars with Shinazugawa seriously this time.
After all, it's the only legal way he could maim Shinazugawa without getting in too much trouble, Oyakata-sama should understand when he tells him.
"Thank you for your hardwork!"
We all said in unison with a bow, including Inocchi who Tantan and I had tag-teamed how society, manners and civilization works.
And we managed to make it stick by Tantan unknowingly ticking off Inocchi by patronizing him how it's alright that he doesn't know much and not everyone can do it all the first time. Pretty boy took it as a challenge to conquer and I was pretty impressed on how easily he picked it up by just a few days.
Let it be known that the wild boy takes challenges very seriously, and telling him that he can't do something or incapable of doing something is a sure fire way in getting him to do it.
I'm not quite sure how he does it, but I can relate, I do stuff out of spite sometimes, and more often than not, it's for stupid reasons.
(Like that one Asian auntie who told her Mama that it is too bad that she won't be able to learn how to play the piano, like his darling son, because of her being short on fingers. Out of spite, five year old Hibiki convinced her Mama to get her piano lessons through many tears and begging. Suffice to say, she trampled said darling son during lessons. The only other good thing that happened there is her meeting her first friend in Tantan, a boy who loves to wear red in his person.)
Huh, maybe Inocchi works out of spite too, I can relate to that.
We straightened out as Granny Hisa gives one of her "Hohoho" laughs and takes out two firestones and strikes them together.
I couldn't help but tear up a little at the gesture, it reminded me of Tengu-jiji when he let me become an apprentice to Jii-chan, and of Jii-chan when he told me to stay safe as I go off for my first mission, the Morie siblings did it too with the guidance of Mako-san and Shigeo-san.
"Thanks Granny, for wishing us luck!"
"Yeah! And thank you for taking care of us! Until we meet again!"
"What they said!"
Giggling as Inocchi turns back after a few strides, I watched him give the surprise old woman an enthusiastic hug, not quite knowing what to do with an armful of a wild, half naked teenager. She decides to pat him in the back with another 'hohoho' laugh.
"Thanks Granny! I'm going to miss your tempura."
"Inosuke!" Tantan said in a chiding tone that I couldn't help but giggle some more.
God, and to whatever God there is out there, let our next mission be safer.
I don't want to lose this just yet.
Omake: Manlier
~Sabito 17 years old~
~Senritsu 12 years old~
"Give that back." The soft command belied the anger inside, forming a storm with the usual open sunny skies.
"You mean this?" The bastard dangled the precious memento above him, wiggling it from his grasp to bring emphasis. His other bastard friends jeered and egged him on. "Why do you even wear this shit for? Aren't this for girls? Don't tell me you're into that type fuckery, though aren't you a bit too young for that, pretty boy?" His gang cackled madly and Bastard leered at Sen's face.
Sabito had to hold himself back from pounding that bastards' faces in right then and there.
This is Sen's time to show how manly she has become. Whoever said the word 'manly' could only be used on men, 'manly' is a word that can be used to anyone befitting the title. It doesn't matter if they're a man, woman or somebody else. What matters is the true spirit of manliness!
What foul bastards! And they dare call themselves men? Tch.
"That's a gift from my mother, it's the only memento I have of her. Please, give it back." Sen stood tall, body shielding the girls behind her whom the giant bastard tried to drag with him when they refused.
She did not stutter, making eye contact even. Good. But that silly girl would still call herself a coward despite her current display of manliness.
The crowd of villagers looked on, afraid of the outsider bastard's height and build along with his company of hooligans, though Sabito could spot two angry fathers being held back by their wives and three men holding an axe, a knife and a hoe in their hands.
Sabito gritted his teeth.
It's a good thing Kuwajima, Kaigaku and the rest hadn't been here, or blood would've been spilled already.
Scum. The lot of them are scum.
"Oh," The bastard blinked, before a wide sneer took over his face. "So does that mean your mothe—"
Before he could finish his sentence, the scum went flying through the air, taking some of his fellow bastards with him and skidding on the ground for a few meters. The bystanders managed to dodge thankfully, or they would have been on the pile of bodies.
"Please don't include my mother with the scum you keep spouting. Your mouth is filthy, and I don't want my mother being dirtied by the likes of you." Sabito couldn't see Sen's face, but based from the villagers' and the bastards' expression, it must've been terrifying.
She ignored them and just retied the bandanna on her head unperturbed.
The bastard could only twitch and groan, otherwise he didn't get up, his six underlings beneath him struggling to get themselves out from under him.
"What?" She directed her question to the gawking outsiders. "Are you going to scram? Or do you want us to physically punt you out of our village?" She cracked her knuckles. "We can all definitely try!" Those words are stated in a cheerful manner.
The fight in their eyes suddenly left them and they did not need to be told twice when they look around them with villagers ready to butcher their guts.
In a few minutes, the bandits were out of the village. In another few minutes, the villagers celebrated on beating back the rouge samurais.
And with another few minutes, Sen breaks down and cries, much to the alarm of everyone.
"Zen what's wrong?" One of the young women – Sae – she was protecting was instantly on her side.
"Did the bastard hurt you anywhere?"
A young mother knelt behind Sen along with her child. "Zenitsu-chan don't cry, look, my Tsu-chan doesn't like seeing you cry either."
"Those bastards, we should've made them pay. Coming and going as they please to cause a ruckus."
The women and children stood up once an old woman with dark piercing eyes set her sight on Sen, replacing them from comforting her. "There, there, your Amai-obaa shall make your favorite steamed red bean bun later, please stop crying. Your Amai-obaa is right here so stop crying darling."
Then as what Sen does best, she cuddled to the most frightening old woman Sabito had the displeasure of meeting, but of course to his dear little sister, the old woman is nothing but a sweet old lady.
"It was so sca-hic-scary Amai-obaa, he tried to take Sacchan and Acchan by force and, and,"
"There, there, everything's all fine now sweetie." And just to rub her hands on Sen's back, old woman Amane lets go of the knives she'd been holding the whole time.
The people gave them a wide berth.
"Fox face! I know you're there!"
"Yes ma'am!"
Ah shit! He answered without meaning to! Fuck.
Stealing himself for what is about to come, Sabito inhaled deeply and exhaled. He marched on to the front of the crowd like the proud man that he is, there's no need for useless wallowing, that's not manly at all!
A man faces his problems head on! Even if it is being humiliated by an old woman to a whole village!
"What is it Lady Amane?" The crowd stepped away from him once he was upfront, otherwise stayed to witness the show.
"Don't you dare 'Lady Amane' me young man. How can you stand back when your little sibling was in dire trouble?" The elderly woman's dark expression is something else, Sabito had to stop himself from shivering, but her hold on Sen remained gentle and soothing.
"I," Don't stutter, don't stutter. Remain a respectful gentleman and not run until the conversation is over. "I was hoping that this encounter would shape Zen to become more manl—"
"Manly?" Lady Amane never raised her voice, but she might as well be. The amount of venom she placed into the word almost made Sabito recoil.
"Ah yes. You watched dear Zenitsu face off against those brutes in a bid of trial of manliness, yes? Well," Her words dripped with so much sarcasm it hurt. "It would have been all fine and dandy if he wasn't a twelve. Year. Old. Child."
The venom in her voice quadrupled that not even Sabito could maintain his straight posture and he just winced.
Perhaps he hadn't thought everything right through.
He screwed up, didn't he? How can he—
"How can you call yourself a man nor an older brother if you can't protect your little sibling properly?"
Sabito full body flinched at the sharp job, and as if to nuzzle his conscience even more, Sen's pitiful sobs entered his ears, sounding a mix of traumatized and relief.
A heavy boulder nestled at the pit of his stomach and sticky mochi lodge its way to his throat. It felt like Giyuu had solidly landed a hit in his solar plexus then grappled him into chokehold.
He has done it again. The thing that Urokodaki and Lady Amane had warned him about.
Holding everyone to his own ideal standards without consideration to other people's circumstance. He was a fool! And he deserves this humiliation and more.
He not only failed as a man, but he also failed as a brother!
"I apologize."
That earned him a smack on the knee.
"Don't apologize to me fool, apologize to Zen!"
Sabito didn't hesitate to kneel down in front of Sen. Hearing his approach, Sen unburied her face from Lady Amane's robes, looking at him with such a wretched face that Sabito couldn't help but feel as if he was stabbed a thousand times over. Her thick long lashes clumped together from the never-ending tears that continued to fall from her honeyed eyes, cheeks red, nose clogged and lips wobbled from a barely held back whimper.
Sen had always been an ugly crier and Sabito had seen that face a lot of times, but it never alleviated the effect of making him feel like the greatest scum for putting that expression on her face.
"I apologize Zen, please forgive this fool of a brother for putting you at risk and causing you great distress. I promise to do better as your older brother and not fail you again." Sabito continued to look her in the eyes to show his sincerity despite his want to avert it from the tears she is shedding.
He didn't move as small scarred hands cradled his face. Sabito felt soaring when a smile bloomed in his little sister's lips as the crystalline tears stopped falling.
"I accept Sachi's apology, so don't beat yourself too much from it, 'kay?" She huffed and rubbed her thumbs against his cheeks. "And I understand where you're coming from. You just want me to not be so afraid anymore and learn how to stand up for myself right?"
Sabito nodded dumbly.
Her smile turned even more radiant if that was possible. Sabito heard someone saying "How precious." amongst the gathered crowd.
"So, how did I do? Have I become manlier, Sachi-nii?"
She called me Sachi-nii.
Sabito smirks, "Not quite yet," He reaches out to clear away the leftover tears on her cheeks. "But you're getting there. I believe in you." Sabito's hand settled on cradling her right cheek, thumb fiddling with the dimple there.
She slaps away his hand and giggles.
"How about I leave being manly to you?"
Sabito grinned, stretching the scar on his left cheek. "Sounds like a plan."
Omake: Red, Yellow, Blue
(The One Piece AU nobody asked for, but I'm here to give. Buggy and Shanks aren't the only kids sailing under the Oro Jackson)
Sen took to surprise parenthood like a fish to water. Buggy should have been unsurprised knowing his sister's personality, but still, it did. Her brilliant smile towards Ace is nothing short of a mother proud of her child's accomplishment.
It's a smile that would then be shared by three other troublesome kids that Sen also spoiled rotten with the love she is always ready to give to those who need it.
It is a sight that would never fail to warm Buggy's heart, that a good find of treasure could never fulfill.
(Ace is her Firecracker. Luffy is Sunshine. Sabo her Seabreeze. And Law is Moonflower.)
Red and him didn't know what to do in the wake of their Fa—Captain's execution. Buggy knows that if it weren't for Sen, he and Shanks would have probably drifted apart at some point with another stupid argument blown out of proportion. Would have parted ways like how the others – abandoned, they abandoned them – left them adrift after the news of their captain's execution date.
She's the glue that holds them together, while they were her safety net when she became undone by another father figure in her life being selfish and goes off to die without any word for them. She has Shanks' heart and sentimentality with Buggy's logic and self-preservation, a perfect blend between them, so it's no surprise that she understands them both so well even without the assistance of those ears of hers. Yellow is the mediator between Blue and Red's clashes, most of the time the voice of reason, the mature one. He doesn't know how she could still stand them after all these years, always patient and ready to coax them with those amber eyes of her. But still, Sen is younger than them by two years, give or take – because they don't know their birthdays – and it's their job to take care of their sweet and too kind for the world little sister.
(Overcompensating Hawkeyes and Clumsyass Rosinante and Mama's boy fucking Katakuri should really back the fuck off.)
It's a tough job to undertake, Sen is just too flashy, too pretty and too kind for her own good, but Shanks and Buggy makes do. Nobody would ever be worthy of their wonderful angelic sister. For all the shit and fucked up things she must have heard over the years and even as a child, how she stayed so relatively innocent is beyond Buggy, but he is not at all complaining.
(A buster call on an archipelago because of news of near immortal cannibalistic former humans slowly taking over the land. A little orphaned girl training to fight said monsters under two old men with three older boys, a found family. The girl, the sole survivor of the whole demon extermination propaganda held, nearly becoming a slave because of a disgusting noble taking a shine to a nine year old. It would have been that if the Roger Pirates came to the scene, their Captain and everyone furious beyond belief as they sail away with the little girl crying as she slept in his arms, Marine armada burning and sinking to the sea.)
How she stays so kind and loving and warm after all the shit she went through, Buggy would never know. And he hates Roger and his former crew even more for adding to his sister's army of trauma.
(Fuck Roger, fuck his selfishness and fuck the others for leaving them alone scrambling and running for their lives from Marines and enemy pirates who hold grudges and seek vengeance on children.)
But one day, as if possessed, she convinced them both to sail towards South, stating that they needed to be there or they would regret it.
(Like the Captain, she can hear the voice of the world, said she's been able to hear them as long as she could remember, has had numerous conversations that made her look insane in her traditionalist island.)
And they did regret it, they were too late. Fucking Marines. Fucking dogs of the World Government.
A whole ass Island, a whole generation lost. So many children lost, so many children left orphaned, so many men left widowed because of mere speculations and rumors. Sen cried and cried and wailed, not that Shanks and Buggy were any better. They dug holes after holes, too small for too small bodies. It was sickening and Buggy bitterly thought of the others on how they would take this news.
They counted each one of them and remembered.
(One-hundred and thirty-two little boys and one-hundred and forty-six little girls, sixty-seven women and unborn children, all of them gone, just like that, because of some sniveling nobles fear of the Captain's legacy.)
But in that island, they also happened across a miracle.
A Miss Portgas D. Rouge kind of miracle.
Sen more or less found her, with the help of the voice of the wind, the skies and the seas. They found the fiery woman in a little cabin close to the shore on the other side of the island, surrounded by hibiscus flowers of varying colors and sizes.
To say the least, Miss Rouge is one hell of a woman, how the hell their dumbass Captain landed a score with the woman they would never know, but it's clear that Miss Rouge loved him and love their child growing inside her, going so far to die for him.
For Ace.
They sailed away from Baterilla Island crying, with a baby in Sen's arms and pots or red hibiscus flowers on their sail boat given by the grateful locals.
But now, Ace is in danger, fucking Akainu aiming for dumb kid Luffy and Ace is shielding him with his body.
Fuck no.
(He already had Mr. 3 release the brat from the scaffold, had him retrieved. Why in the flashy fuck did that fiery brat had to go back because of a taunt.)
Buggy is moving but he knows that it would be too late, he ignores his newly collected chum's call for him. Buggy could only focus on him being too far away and too many bodies are in the way. He is now flying across them with only his top half but he knows that he would be too late.
(He should have trained more, he should have been stronger. Now that angry kid would be gone and Sen will be devastated once more.)
"DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH MY—"
Suddenly, Akainu is flying across the field, a familiar aura adding to the cacophony, a familiar aura that is now furious beyond what Buggy felt before. The rabble of dust parts and Buggy is treated to the sight that makes him grin viciously, he has seen that expression before thrice, and it always didn't end well to the person it was aimed to.
Buggy settles back down to his lower half.
"Don't you dare touch my children." The voice is soft and almost sweet, a touch of her will laced to it that made bodies drop around her like flies.
Yellow is here and she is extremely angry.
(Red is coming, and like Yellow, extremely pissed, not that Blue is one to talk, he had been pissed since Ace's announced capture, that he was in the deeper bowels of Impel Down than him.)
"Mom!"
"Mama!"
Both yelled in unison, one in alarm and one in happiness.
"Hello darlings," She doesn't look back, golden eyes focused to the rising Akainu, hold in her sword relaxed.
Sen ignores the pandemonium of varying surprise of her sudden appearance and relation to the two labeled Devil's Children. The Whitebeards are mostly surprised by her arrival.
"I would love to hug and kiss you both right now but," She takes her eyes off to Akainu to smile kindly to her kids, that alone made the sputtering denials of her motherhood silenced.
"Firecracker, can you take Sunshine away from here, Seabreeze and Moonflower are waiting to treat the both of you."
"But Mo—"
"Don't worry, Mama's going to take care of it."
Right as she says that, Akainu throws himself at her and Sen blocks the punch with the now blackened sheath of her sword. She wasn't even moved from her stance.
"Go!" She kicks the huge Marine right at the knee with an Armament infused sandaled foot. Akainu goes down. "Now!" And dodges the retaliating punch.
Ace doesn't need to be told twice when he just saw his Mother send the Mad Dog flying earlier. Luffy protests to leaving their mother behind.
"Who are you?" Akainu grits out as he stands, letting Sen leap away for distance.
"Didn't you hear?"
The sky darkens as thunder rumbles, the smell of petrichor and ozone filling the air as lightning comes down from the heaven to strike Sen down causing mass hysteria and disbelief among the crowd, keeping still in a stance that sent many to the Flying Dutchman.
Akainu winds back his arm, turning it into an oversized burning magma fist. Buggy feels that he's having a heart attack.
"I'm their Mother."
"Great Eruption!"
Through the confusion, Blackbeard makes his move.
Sen disappears in a flash of light with the speed akin to Kizaru, reappearing in the distance, the roar and the form of a flashy as fuck lightning dragon accompanying her.
"Storm breathing, Seventh form: Flaming Thunder God."
Guns and blades priorly pointed at her fell down into nothing but scraps. The magma attack was cut in half and batted away before it could reach its destination, leaving the burning rocks to fall where no fainted marines and pirates are around. Marines and Pirates alike were too stunned to speak as the body of one of the most feared men across the seas fall down, his legs from the knee down remaining rooted to heated cobblestone.
His arms following right after.
(Buggy knows there's no way of regrowing it, Sen's blade is special, made of Seastone and some other mysterious mineral local only to her extinct island. The only remaining nichirin blade that survived the government's purge. It's special in a way that no one else but the blade's owner can use it or whom the blade deem worthy can use it, changing to a specific color to match their master. The World Government weren't able to obtain the secrets of its creation so they eradicated it all together so no one could get their hands on it. Too bad that ship has sailed.)
Meanwhile, Blackbeard's head bounces against scorched grounds, ugly sneer and greedy eyes forever frozen in his face. His huge body soon follows.
Buggy sighs in relief and in exasperation, Sen being largely unknown – through the Roger Pirates collective effort – is now up and gone in flames. There's no way she would continue to become anonymous with this whole shitshow being televised around the world. Her declaration as the mother of children to the two most wanted men in the world notwithstanding.
Talk about flashy as fuck criminal debut.
(Sen would panic later on once she sees her wanted poster. But she'll calm down because her children are adults now who could mostly take care of themselves, the only worry is three of them being Ds. Buggy and Shanks won't be letting her travel alone for a while as she used to over the past few years following the Sky, the Wind and the Sea's words. They would need to settle their frantic nerves after the sight of their baby sister facing against an Admiral and joining a war.)
Shanks finally arrives, and everyone's brains jumpstarts.
Queue the pandemonium.
Extra Omake: A Mother's Love
Ace watched in complete awe as his mother stood in place, the humongous roaring lightning dragon behind her bursting to electrify the surrounding navies in a backlash wave.
With just one attack, his mother had stopped Akainu's attack, cut off the bastard's limbs, beheaded Teach and disarmed the Marines surrounding her.
Ace just gaped.
"Holy shit." Sabo said, pausing from where he was bandaging Ace's ribs.
"Mama is so awesome." Luffy said, utterly starstrucked, quiet and fighting to stay awake.
Ace and Sabo absently nodded in unison, watching their mother bat away Borsalino's laser beam attack and reflecting it back to him, moving at lightspeed and parrying the Admiral's infamous light saber. All the fighting had stopped to watch the two seemingly teleport in clashing yellow and blue lights.
Ace knew that his mother can fight, for goodness' sake, she's the one who taught them Haki, knows that she can fight with a sword and one of the main reasons why Hawkeyes kept making cow-eyes at her.
But holy fuck.
Meanwhile, Law remained nonplussed, hissing at Luffy's attempt to wriggle away from his prodding hands.
"Right, this is the first time you've seen Osen-san let loose." He sounds so utterly bored that it's offending, because that's there mother right there! Keeping up with an Admiral, utterly trashing the other and killing Teach with one attack.
"That's how she saved Cora-san and I."
Rosinante sighs like a lovesick bastard from where he is patching up one of Ace's brothers, Ace would have turned back and burned the man's ridiculous coat, but he does not want a pipe to the face.
"Hey! Stop moving already or I'm telling Osen-san!"
Luffy stops struggling, conking out once he noticed Shanks presence. And huh? When did he get here?
"They never really believed me when I said there's another kid in Roger's crew. Then again, I did describe you as 'a cute little girl who's hair turned yellow when she got struck by lightning, very good with a sword'. Too fictitious, they said."
"It's nice to see you again, Borsalino-san. I see that you still like yellow."
"And I see that you grew up real well to a beauty. Want to spar again some other time? I know an island,"
What the fuck?! And was that monkey hitting on his mother?!
Uncle Red makes his presence more known and decides that that was enough by unleashing his Haki, if looks could kill, Borsalino would be dead thrice over. Uncle Blue is being held back by his fellow escapees, parts trying to fly out from their hold as he yells obscenities against the Admiral.
("What the fuck you trying to pull you flashy old bastard?! Yellow is fucking off limits you—")
From there, the war was finished.
His stubborn Oyaji was immediately ushered by Marco and the others, from his view on the Polar Tang, his Mom was there with them. Ace has a gut feeling that she's the reason the old man actually listened because nobody with a heart can say no to one Agatsuma Senritsu when she decides to be convincing.
The two standing Admirals tried to stop them from leaving, but with a siren call from his Mom had ginormous Sea Kings rising from the water with a battle cry.
A while passes and they sail away from the wrecked Marineford unhindered and carted by Neptunians at his mother's request, the escaped prisoners being headed by Uncle Blue had sailed away to who knows where, but before that, his clown Uncle made sure to visit and yell at him for endangering himself and Luffy and berating Luffy's stupidity and gall for storming Impel Down.
Ace lands on Moby Dick's main deck and once he did, a yellow blur scooped him up in the mother of all hugs but careful not to jostle his injured ribs. He still fits inside her arms, still taller than him with her being almost two meters, and still to this day, her hugs never failed to make him feel protected and loved.
"Firecracker!" His Mom bawled at the crook of his neck already feeling drenched after only a few seconds.
Shit.
He made his mother cry. Again.
Ace felt like he had his torso was punched right through.
Fuck.
He messed up, bigtime. The heated glares from his brothers on his person is very much deserved. Sabo and Luffy would most likely beat him up once they learn of this, and Law, who is present and treating patients on deck, is silently dissecting him with his eyes and most likely would retaliate by stealing his liver later.
The Whitebeards that were all immediately taken by his mother when they first met her are giving him the stink eye, some older members who already knew her from the crew she used to sail with before were grumbling threats at him.
He promised to never make his mother cry again, he vowed this when his mother cried when she learned about his excursion to the Gray Terminal's seedy bars to ask a stupid question.
Ace still feels like he doesn't deserve her kindness, not one bit, sacrificing her freedom and her youth to take care of him.
Mom lifts her head up and Ace felt the guilt claw at him.
"Have I ever made you feel unloved?"
"No!"
He felt like he just received Akainu's magma attack right through the chest.
Because she stated it as an honest to God question, and not at all a way to guilt trip him. It did the job anyway.
"No." He repeated, firmer, quieter.
Because it's true. This woman loves him, never once made him feel otherwise. And he knew, he knew that she loved him not because his father was her former Captain, she loved him for him.
"Then why?" Calloused hands cradled his face gently, thumbs already moving to clear Ace's tears.
"I don't know." He just felt he didn't deserve it. "I was being stupid."
("Yeah, very, very stupid." Law states flatly from the sideline.)
The hold on his face tightens. "What do you mean you don't deserve it?!" His Mom squeaks out in incredulity.
Ah shit, he forgot about his mother's mind reading/empath powers.
"Of course you deserve it!" She yells, amber eyes trained to his eyes. "All my love and more! You're my son! And you might have not come from me but you're still my child!"
"But I'm putting you in danger!" Ace finds himself yelling too.
"I've always been in danger!"
She was a former member of his crew so it's understandable, and her association to Uncle Red alone is a fuse in her life.
"But I plunged you to even more!"
He knows she wouldn't have come here if it weren't for him.
"You sacrificed so many things already, your freedom, your youth. I don't," Ace's voice hitched. "I don't want to take more from you." He finishes off quieter, unable to look more into her eyes.
"Oh Ace," Lips touches his forehead, a familiar feeling and Ace looks up.
His mother is looking at him with the same eyes he had seen on her a million times. There is so much love, so much warmth and so much care that he can't believe that it is directed at him.
"It was my choice to take you." She starts carefully, smoothing back his unwashed hair. "And it was my choice to love you, to care for you, to become your mother. It was hard," She smiled that smile that made her resemble the sun. "But it was my choice, so who is to say that I gave up my freedom?"
She kisses his forehead once again, Ace's tears had never stopped itself from falling, there is snot in his nose yet his mother ignores it and presses there forehead together.
"I love you Ace, I love you like I love Luffy, Sabo, Law and my ridiculous brothers. I love you like I love Makino, Dadan, Mayor, Dragon, Garp and the others. I love every single one in our family and I would do anything to keep them safe, to keep you safe. And,"
She distances her face, eyes still on him.
"And if it means fighting the whole world to do that then I'll do it. If it means waging war against Gods, I'll still do it. If it means signing my name to the Flying Dutchman, then so be it. There's nothing in this world that I wouldn't do to protect every single one of you."
She smiles again, all wide that her swollen eyes slides shut, cheeks red and her sunshine yellow set ablaze.
"I love you Ace."
Mom sings to him his favorite lullaby as he continued to bawl his eyes, cradling him close like she always does when he was a child. He noticed later that Sabo and Luffy joining the cuddle session, Law a steady presence near them as he hums along Mom.
"Wandering child of the earth
Do you know just how much you're worth?
You have walked this path since your birth
You were destined for more
There are those who'll tell you you're wrong
They will try to silence your song
But right here is where you belong
So don't search anymore
You are the dawn of a new day that's waking
A masterpiece still in the making
The blue in an ocean of grey
You are right where you need to be
Poised to inspire and to succeed
You'll look back and you'll realize one day"
"Ace, do I look old?"
"No! Who gave you the idea?! Who called you a hag and I'll roast them extra crispy."
"Huh? But you said I gave up my 'youth' for you."
"It's a figure of speech Mom!"
"Oh."
"That's right Osen-hime! You still look like you're twenty!"
"Yeah! Still youthful!"
"As lovely as a neverwilt rose!"
"Sexy!"
"Can I get your den den number?"
"Gorgeous!"
"Utterly one badass motherfucker!"
"That Kuja Empress got nothing on you!"
"Smoking hot is more like it!"
"I'll show you guys what's smoking hot!" "I think that's enough." "Guess I have to sew your mouths shut too." "Shishishi."
"Ah! Fire!"
"Ow! What the fuck strawhat!"
"My dick! I still need it attached to my body!"
"You're no gentleman, Sabo."
"Just be grateful Shanks-san isn't here."
~Taisho Secret~
Sabito and Giyuu shares two greatest fears, one of them is Senritsu getting married.
A/N: Ayooooo! Am here! I made three omakes cuz why the fuck not. I'm currently rewatching One Piece and I just had to do an AU because I'm reminded of how sad I am over Ace's death and Cora-san's death, so I was like, why the fuck not and so wrote 2 more omakes that should have been stand alone one shots. Do I care? Not really. Maybe I'll separate it later, but for now it sits here on this chapter.
How have you guys been? Any AU requests? As long as I'm familiar with the fandom maybe I can write it I guess.
I wrote this for three whole days because I'm on term break/ extended weekend.
Liked anything from this chapter? I particularly loved writing the fluff and Inosuke's POV is a fun mind to get into. So simple, why can't Sen be the same lmao. But I'm to blame since I was the one who made her that way. And yes, a bit of Giyuu and Sabito sprinkled here and there.
If yer wondering why they're suddenly so close, that's because they've spent two weeks together, and I think Inosuke is a pretty simple person who will only need simple reasons to become friends with someone, plus both Sen and Tanjirou are pretty emotionally mature so they would get that.
Woooo Mt. Natagumo arc next chapter! Can't wait to write more mental breakdown hahaha lol. And the crux of why I wrote this fic is coming, the Hashira meeting, but it's at least two chapters until we get there but still.
Anyways, be seeing y'all next time bu-bye!~
