Life in Nihon

A Big Change

Chapter Summary: Kurogane hated following orders. Souma, Amaterasu, even Tomoyo, it didn't matter. That all changed when he met Fai. It's definitely a refreshing change for the ladies of Nihon.

Souma

Ever since Kurogane came back from his journey, he's been... different. Souma couldn't quite put her finger on what it was, but he seemed more relaxed, more at ease with himself. He was still grumpy, would still snap at her ninjas if they got to close, or said the wrong thing... or just was in the room when he was in a mood. A good indicator of this bad mood was whether or not he was with his magician friend.

Fai was... odd, and that was putting it lightly. He was strange, strange hair, strange eyes, strange skin, but he was overall nice, and she enjoyed spending time with him. He was friendly with everyone he came across, and always willing to lend a helping hand. The most amazing thing was how he could so easily change Kurogane's mood. Just being in the same area, within eyesight, put the grump in a less grumpy mood. The difference between the two moods was so slight, that most people probably wouldn't notice, but she's been around him for so long, that it was obvious to her.

"Come on Kurogane. I just need you for a little while to help give a demonstration to some new ninja. I won't bother you for the rest of the day."

They were out in the courtyard in the inner palace. ten hopeful recruits standing off to the side and watching the two. Souma had been trying to convince Kurogane to help for the last twenty minutes, Fai lounging under a tree, watching with an amused twinkle in his eye.

"I already told you I'm not interested. Go find someone else." Kurogane could feel something twitch in his jaw, trying not to get snappy with her, but he was losing his patience. He was done with his showing off days, and training large groups held no interest to him.

"Come now Kuro-chichi. You can take some time to help out. It's not like you have much planned for the day." Fai had stood and made his way over to them, brushing the dirt of his robe. "I'll even help you out. Be a dear and fetch a sword for me, won't you?" He patted the man on the shoulder, a smile on his face.

He made a little shooing motion with his hands before any protests could form and Kurogane gave a small huff, but turned and walked to where a sword rack was placed with the training weapons. Fine... He could take some time to help out. Wasn't like it would be the end of the world.

Souma blinked, surprised flitting across her face as she watched him go. It normally takes her hours to convince him to do something for her, yet a simple request from Fai had him giving in without complaint. Maybe she shouldn't have been so harsh on her judgement of him, not if he could so easily get the stubborn man to comply. She'll have to take some time to get to know how exactly he did it.

Amaterasu

Amaterasu lifted a teacup, examining her guest in front of her. Fai was an interesting man, and while he had been her for over a month now, she hasn't had time to sit down and spend any sort of time getting to know him. He was a magician, unheard of for a man in these lands, from a foreign world of snow and ice, and there was so much to learn about.

He had no problem divulging the information, chatting cheerfully between bites of cakes and treats. She listened closely, mostly just curious since this world no longer exists, and let her observations drift as she watched him. He was strange, as far as looks go. There is certainly no one like him here in Nihon, with his pale skin and golden hair. His eyes held her interest the most, one a brilliant blue as clear as the sky, and the other a golden, just a shade lighter than his hair. She knew the color had to do with his magic, but again, she's never seen anything like it. She couldn't help but be intrigued.

She watched as he lifted a teacup finally, having moved on from the sweet treats, and take a sip. From her close observations, she watched as something spark in his eyes before his nose scrunched up slightly from the bitter brew and she raised an eyebrow. As far as she knew, he liked the tea they served, but maybe she had been misinformed.

Fai forced himself to swallow, not used to the tea like this. When he enjoyed it with Tomoyo, it was normally a lot sweeter. He turned to look at Kurogane, who was lurking in the corner, arms crossed and a scowl on his face. "Kuro-sweet. Would you be dear and fetch some honey or something for my tea?" he asked, folding his hands in front of him and batting his eyes, hoping to get an easy agreement.

Amaterasu had raised her hand to summon a servant forward to fetch the required item, already prepared for the surly ninjas denial of the simple request, but the hand dropped and Kurogane merely mumbled something and stalked from the room, returning shortly with a small bottle of honey. Huh... Fai really was interesting indeed.

Tomoyo

"Am I doing this right?" Fai asked, a pile of fabric in front of him, one edge lifted by one hand and a thread and needle in the other. Tomoyo hummed softly, looking over his stitches, only vaguely aware of Kurogane leaning against the wall by the door, looking bored out of his mind.

She smiled brightly and nodded, pleased with the progress he was making. He hadn't been bad when they started these seasons, but there was a definite improvement. She enjoyed this time spent together and they both enjoyed swapping stories, about personal experiences or just teasing Kurogane, it was all in good fun.

She scooted back to her own seat and picked back up her own project. "I think it might be good to add an extra color, get a little more flair." There were plenty to choose from after all, and even if it didn't turn out all that great, it would be easy for her to pick it apart and reuse the fabric.

Fai hummed thoughtfully, looking around at the different color choices. What would be good... Ooh! There was a rather lovely shade of red sitting on the table near where Kurogane was leaning, looking bored out of his mind. He should fix that. "Oh Kuro-pon~ Would you be a dear and hand me that fabric swatch next to you?"

Tomoyo raised her gaze in surprise, watching as Kurogane just let out a sigh, pushing himself off the wall and grabbing the fabric. She fully expect him to just throw it at the magician, as he tended to do with her when she had similar requests, but he walked over to them and handed it over without protest.

A grin spread across her face as she watched a quiet exchange of words happen between the two, and her attention flickered over to where her sister and Souma sat, both watching as well.

Her guard shuffled forward, a curious look on her face. "He's been doing that a lot lately. I wonder why he's not fighting it like he normally would."

A quick glance at Amaterasu showed she was also interested on her sister's opinion of the situation. Tomoyo's grin grew as she let out a small, happy breath. "It's so obvious. He's in love!"

The other two looked like they would protest, but Fai pulling Kurogane down for a quick kiss, probably hoping to sneak one in when the women were distracted, caught their attention. Kurogane didn't fight it, instead lifting a hand to brush the pale cheek for but a moment before he pulled away when he noticed they were being watched, quickly retreating back to his spot by the door with his face flushed in embarrassment. Fai just grinned, turning back to his sewing, humming softly under his breath, his own cheeks pink.

Yep. He's so in love and it was clear as day to Tomoyo. She couldn't be happier that Fai had come to live with them.