𝕃𝕖𝕥'𝕤 𝕊𝕖𝕒 (FEM! Reader X Arataki Itto)

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ⁸⁵

"Did... Did we do it?" Itto asked as he lowered his weapon and wiped his brow with the back of his hand. "They're retreating. For now." Y/n answered.

Victorious cheers broke out amongst the soldiers as they had managed to push back the Shogun's army. Y/n's shoulders sagged, feeling the tension immediately wash away. She could finally breathe.

"HA! TAKE THAT KUJOU-CHICKEN!" Itto shouted whilst raising his club into he air triumphantly.

"She wasn't even here today." Y/n deadpanned and Itto turned to face her, "But she'll find out her stupid men failed to take down THE Arataki Itto! Anyway, awesome fighting back there, Shortie."
     Itto ruffled her hair and she slapped his hand away. "Yeah? You weren't too bad yourself, Half-Oni." She smirked at Itto who had a defiant look on his face.

Y/n noticed something and looked around, "Where's Teppei?" Itto's grin dropped and snapped his head towards her.

Oh no.

They immediately began their search and scoured the battlefield, occasionally asking a soldier who had passed them if they'd seen him. "Teppei!" Y/n called out with climbing desperation.

"He was here just a second ago, wasn't he?!" Itto lifted a random boulder nearby and tossed it aside.
  "He could be anywhere!"
  "Who could be anywhere?" Itto let out a less than masculine scream and spun around to see the male they had been searching for standing right behind him.

"Teppei?! Where the hell have you been?!" Y/n was relieved at first to see him. Now that she had time to process, she was infuriated.

"Um. Right over there?" He jabbed his thumb in a direction but it was hardly relevant now. He lowered his hand, confused about the looks on the two's faces.

"Did something happen?"
"WE THOUGHT WE LOST YOU, DUDE!" Itto lifted Teppei in a bear hug while sobbing theatrically. "P-Put me down!" He obeyed Teppei's request and promptly put him down.

However, the oni grabbed Teppei's shoulders before he could escape, "What if you got lost? Or worse! They could've kept you captive and demand ransom or something! Or- or maybe, ninjas!"
"Wh... What?"
"NINJAS!" He repeated but Teppei and Y/n's puzzled faces remained unchanged.

"Itto, you're not making any sense..." She deadpanned once again. His head slowly rotated towards her and lifted his hands almost mechanically,
   "Right. My bad, bro." He straightened himself as he gave Teppei a rough pat on the shoulder. "Almost lost my cool there." He whipped out his comb like some magic trick and combed his hair exactly twice before turning to Teppei again.

"Nah, you're too cool to let some ninjas get you anyway." Teppei looked around him and realized the part oni was talking to him.
"Wha- me?"
"Yeah! You saw how he was back there, didn't you?" Y/n shook her head at Itto.

"He took two guys out at once! I saw it!"
"N-no you're just being nice."
"No! Really! I thought you were useless before but you can actually hold yourself in a fight!"
"You thought I was useless?"
"Details, details... Who cares!" Itto threw an arm around his shoulders, "You impressed me, my man. Not bad if I do say so myself." He gave Teppei a brutal noogie despite the compliments he gave and Teppei's protests.

"Hey, hey, you're receiving praise from THE Arataki Itto! Better accept it with grace, my guy!"
"Yeah, this sure feels graceful... Can you let me go now?"

Y/n couldn't help but smile. Though she couldn't say for sure if what Itto was saying was an exaggeration or not but seeing how happy it made Teppei made her agree with the oni when he said "who cares".

"Let's head back. We've got a report waiting for us to file." Y/n's words were followed by a drawn out groan. Clearly, she had popped whatever "bubble" Itto had going on.

"You kidding me?! We gotta do paperwork after a fight now?! What has this world come to!"
"Quit being so dramatic. Her Excellency needs a decent report on what went down. Someone has to do it."

He removed himself from Teppei and lifted his club off the ground. He rested it on his shoulder as he walked with Y/n towards HQ and Teppei trailed behind them.

  "Yeah but does it have to be us?" Y/n patted his forearm sympathetically, "No, not us. Maybe me and Teppei but not you. You can't read, remember?"

Itto's arms flung themselves into the air, dropping his club and startling Teppei.
    "WHOO! Never before have I been glad to be illegitimate!"
Y/n stopped in her tracks to look at him in a puzzling manner. "Illegitimate... You mean illiterate?" She corrected.

Behind them, Teppei was trying his best to not laugh out loud. "I... Illegitimate..." He was practically shaking from trying to hold it in.

Itto, being the innocent man he is, simply tilted his head.
"Isn't that books stuff?"
"No, that's literacy."
"Oh... Why're they so similar?"
"Like hell should I know, I didn't invent the language."

The two were interrupted by a series of coughs coming from Teppei. "Teppei? You okay?" Y/n asked the male who shook his head,
    "No... (Cough) I'm fine! Choked on my spit, is all. Pfft..." He waved them off whilst apologizing but she caught sight of the grin he was trying to hide.

Y/n smiled, too. As soon as she made eye contact with Teppei, they both began to laugh. "Hey. What's so funny?" Itto was confused by their behavior and honestly did not know the reason for the laughter.

"Inside joke, and you're on the outside." Y/n responded and gave him a sympathetic pat on the back. "W-What? Why? I wanna be on the inside! Tell me!" Y/n faced away from him and began to laugh again.

"Hey! Tell me!" When she shook her head, his attention was reverted at Teppei. "Teppei, why're you guys laughing?" He did the same thing and turned away. "HEY! I thought we were BROS!"

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