ᴛᴜᴍʙʟɪɴɢ ɪɴᴛᴏ ʏᴏᴜ- ˢᵃⁿᵒ ᵐᵃⁿʲⁱʳᵒ

𝘓- ᵖᵃʳᵗⁱⁿᵍ ʷᵃʸˢ ᵃⁿᵈ ʷᵉˡˡˢ

Wʜʏ ɪs ɪᴛ sᴏ ᴇᴀsʏ ғᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ɪᴛ sᴏ ʜᴀʀᴅ ғᴏʀ ᴍᴇ?
~ K. Tᴏʟɴᴏᴇ

His faint grey strands among the raven hair glistened under the warmth of the torches as he awaited his answer.

She stood up and slowly walked towards a window, not too far away from him, knowing that his eyes were trailing her figure.

She couldn't let him see. No, not at all. The tears fell one after the other like the gradually starting heavy rains, were so pathetic made her ashamed of herself for even agreeing to the marriage.

"I knew," she said shakily, hands gripping the window seal so harshly that one could see her knuckles turning pale.

The bed creaked as he lifted his body from the mattress. He too walked towards her, approaching her unhurriedly and enveloping her body from behind.

His chest pressed against her back and his arms wrapped around her waist. An exceptionally comfortable stance which neither of them opposed.

He held her snug in that very position not too long before speaking up.

"I understand that I can't alter your feelings. But, if you please, we can go on an adventure one last time," he whispered gradually prying his body off hers while rubbing his hands up and down her shoulder to elbow's length.

Her downcast eyes instantly met with his sea-green ones.

At that moment, anyone would have praised him for how bravely he was handling the situation. From his point of view, he finally accomplished a massive objective, her being at ease enough to convey her stowed away secrets.

Her puffy (e/c) eyes scanned his face.

Tears...

Tears welled in their eyes as they gazed at each other. Although he gazed at her with love and dismay, she gazed at him with sympathy.

A soft hand cupped his cheek while her thumb stroked his tears away.

She waited decades to open up about her lover and at last there she was, far far away from the castle deep within the timbers of his kingdom, not hers, informing him the stories of the beloved baker, Manjiro Sano.

The autumn leaves crunched beneath their feet; they passed the slim barks of the trees that were now completely bare. The edges of her flowy and grand dress brushed against the dirt as she zigzagged around the trees.

He followed behind, for the first time in a stretch, interested in tales besides war. He laughed and chuckled under his breath knowing well by then that he could have never been able to compete with the beautiful memories Manjiro had blessed her with.

"Did you truly not know that eggs were used in baking a cake?" He laughed at her silliness.

She laughed as well, glancing towards him.

"In all honesty, I used to get confused whether to use milk or water to add to the batter," she replied with sparkling eyes.

Suddenly, he stopped marching. She whirled around to take a glimpse at the dilemma.

"Don't you add both?" He commented deep in thought.

She laughed harder than she did before.

"I can barely recall. He would have scolded me for my goldfish-like memory," she rasped and let out a violent cough.

His eyes fixated on her heaving body as he rushed towards her, clasping her shoulders.

"Are you alright?! There has to be water around here somewhere," He announced, gawking around while favouring her shoulders.

He swung her arm over his shoulder as if she had lost her ability to walk and, gratefully, caught sight of smoke.

He pointed towards the black whiffs in the air, sauntering over the bare treetops.

"Look! There might be civilians there. They might help," He announced as she harshly cleared her throat.

He rushed towards the sight, tugging her along carefully and hurriedly approaching a small hut; it was isolated from the kingdom for God knows what reason.

The cabin was encircled with fallen orange and red leaves plus twigs; a large stone barrier ambushing the wooden hut.

One could see the movements of a muscular man with dark and long hair inside the small cabin.

His breaths grew heavy and so did hers, their eyes scavenging for a water body.

"There..." Y/n weakly pointed towards a brick well which was left unprotected by the stone fence.

Without peeking at her, he nodded his head and hauled the dizzy woman to the water well.

He slowly settled her on the rim of the well and silently lowered the bucket attached to the thick rope. The turning wheel situated at the top screeched loudly at the very movement.

"OI!!" The man, who was initially in the cabin, came rushing out to view the commotion.

Chifuyu's uncertain eyes met with hers as he softly kissed the back of her hand.

"I'm sorry," he grimaced and immediately threw the both of them in the well...

"–Platform 2. Train from Tokyo to Yokohama on platform 4"