Swords & Saniwa

Sudden

~Izuminokami Kanesada~
和泉守 兼定

Requested by FadedChloe!

---------------------------------------------------------

The winner was distinguished as the 'battle' ended.

"I lost... Hu~"

Stretching his arm to the loser, he gave a wide grin as he pulled Tsurumaru up from the wooden flooring, dusting his clothes before the sage spoke, "Work harder next time, Tsuru. Well, Izumi is the winner... I'll keep my promise then. No sorties for these two weeks!"

"Eh! Then.. what about duties and expeditions?"

"The whole citadel will be in chaos. Do you want us to starve?"

He made a silly grin before gathering some swords to celebrate the rare occasion by heading to the cellar. It was indeed a rare sight where the sage joined in the abrupt sparring competition. Most of the time, she would just stay in her office and bury herself in work, only coming out when her presence is needed.

"Aruji!"

"What?"

Up next was a bone-crushing hug. She was taken aback by his sudden act, unable to produce any reaction only after he released her.

"W-What's with that reaction...Are you not happy?" Ruffling his hair and looking elsewhere, he asked, trying to peek at her answer.

"Erm... I-It's just...I-I've never been h-hugged by s-someone else..." He could see her clenching her hakama tightly, losing its pleats by the time she relaxed her grip. Her face was seriously red. Weird, she had never felt so hot on such a cold day. Even the heavy rain couldn't douse the heat off her cheeks.

"Wha- Horikawa will kill me if he sees this...! Come on, don't cry..!" Darting his eyes looking for a certain assistant, he then took her to her bedroom and tried to calm her down. Why was she crying just for a hug that she didn't even expect it at all? He kept asking himself whether did he hurt her during the process while wiping her tears at the same time using his sleeves.

"Sorry... I-I was just so surprised..." She mumbled, grabbing some tissue and blowing her nose. The sword then sat down in front of her and sighed, vowing that he would not do such things to her again. He could feel pricks in his heart as he saw her cry. 

"Sorry... for that. I just wanted to share that victory with you once I defeated him."

"It's fine... Go celebrate with the others, Izumi. They must be waiting for your arrival."

"You're not coming..?"

"Let me at least have some time to tidy myself... And your hair... It doesn't look nice. Try to style it while you're on the way there...?" Pointing at her own head, she said bluntly before chasing him out of her room. For once, she couldn't stop herself from thinking about earlier events. Heat would always fill her face with just a simple thought, imagining it turning to another kind of situation...

Slapping her cheeks to stop her fantasies, she then quickly tidied herself up and went out to join the celebration, where the drunkards had started their own drinking competition.