It had been a year since Takahashi Akari had seen her family. Now she was back and at a glance, everything is more than perfect. But when she becomes her own enemy and her worst nightmares turn into reality, what will she do? Will she be able to sur...
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"Damn it."
Emerald eyes shone with mirth as her partner narrowly dodged the end of her wooden stick.
Rengoku laughed before lunging at the redhead and swiping a go at her head. Akari tried to pay rapt attention to the fire user, but the sliver of the tanned chest that peeked out from Rengoku's open-buttoned uniform was helping her in no way whatsoever.
The heat of the Tuesday sun was both a blessing and a curse.
Nonetheless, she found an opening and put it to good use. She squatted and swept his legs from under him, pouncing on him as he tumbled down, his back hitting the soft Earth. She pressed her bamboo to his neck with enough pressure to have him gasping under her.
It was a pretty sight.
"Ah! You got me! Nothing less of expected from you, Ari."
"Yield." She smiled when the hashira tapped the ground twice.
"A fine match! Another round?" He beamed as he looked down on her, and Akari wondered what she had done in her past life to deserve having this spirited man in her life.
"I would love to, but I have a mission to complete. These demons give us no rest, huh?"
"Yes, but we must never slack from executing our duty!"
Akari nodded absent-mindedly as she walked to his outdoor bathroom. She had stayed over and bathed in the Fire Estate more times than she could count. She wondered if it was now inappropriate to be so casual with a fellow hashira. Would people consider it unethical and befitting of two of the most high-ranking swordsmen to be together so often?
Akari was not one to care much about the thoughts of others, but she had a reputation to upkeep. Her every movement must demand nothing but respect and admiration; it came along with being a Takahashi.
She got into the stall-like but spacious bathroom and began undressing. Nothing beats a cold shower after a heated workout session. She took her time, reveling in how the icy water felt on her skin. Most people would have preferred a warm bath
But the granny next door in her childhood home always said she was a weird one.
Her tuneless humming stopped, and her eyes blinked slowly as her body froze.
'Eh?'
Where the fuck were her clothes?!
Peeking through the bathroom door, she found them on a ledge far away from the bathroom in which she was standing. She wrapped a towel around her; it didn't hide much, considering it was short in width, before glancing sideways and making a run for it.
The wooden ledge was partially behind a shoji screen, so she had to take a turn to grab them. It must've taken her around thirty seconds to come back and close the bathroom door behind her.
