月光 (Gekkou; Moonlight)

Chapter 4: Pain is the Real Backstabber

Shokudaikiri pours the noodles into the pot. The boiling water hisses, exhaling steam. Kasen finishes chopping the tomatoes, cleaning the knife and placing it on the cold counter. He washes his hands.

"I hope aruji-san is okay," Kasen breaks the silence. "She seemed anxious at the celebration."

"Yeah," Shokudaikiri agrees.

"Micchan!" Taikogane sprints into the kitchen. There's somebody from the government here!"

"Oh?" Shokudaikiri questions. "I'll go get aruji-sa––"

"I'll get her! Keep cooking, Shokudaikiri!" Kasen blurts before leaving the room.

Kasen walks to Mizu's "saniwa" room, calling out 'aruji-san'.

"I'm in here," came a weak voice.

Kasen slid open the door to see Mizu resting on her futon, a blanket covering her body. Her face was grayish, a bead of sweat trickling from her hairline. Kasen gasps and kneels down to her side. Even without the kitsune mask, she looked like death, it just enhanced the effect.

"Aruji-san! What's wrong?!" He forgets what he's doing there in the first place.

"I-I'm fine! I just have a cold," she murmurs, a believable cough escaping her throat.

"Are you sure?" He interrogates. "You're burning up; I'll get Shokudaikiri to get you some food!"

"Yes, that'd be lovely," she breathes.

The violet-haired uchigatana sprints down the hall, stopping when a woman dressed in black stands in the middle of the hallway. Her sharp eyes flash in the light, reflecting off her cat-eye glasses.

"Oh dear! How forgetful I am," he bows low to the official. "Are you looking for the aruji? She's down the hall to the left."

"Ah, yes, thank you, Kasen Kanesada," she nods her head.

The clicking of her heels soon fades, and Kasen sprints to the kitchen, hyperventilating.

Ookurikara knocks on the shoji, waiting for a response. When he gets silence, he opens the door to meet a vacated room. He peers around the dark room, frowning.

"This is Mizu's room, but why does it look like he's never even touched the place?" Ookurikara insinuates.

"Ookurikara?" A voice inquires. "What're you doing?"

"Nothing"–– his expression hardens "––where's Mizu-san's sleeping quarters?" 

Kasen lowers the tray of food. "This is; is he not there?"

"This room doesn't look like it's even been used."

"That's odd. I need to take this to aruji-san before it gets cold. You should come with me; she seems to admire you."

Ookurikara follows Kasen, dragging his feet. Should I say anything to her? I want to know her and the others better. Damn, how is Mitsutada so good at this?

"—Oh dear that's not good," a feminine voice speaks from inside the room. The government official.

Kasen knocks on the door. "Aruji?"

Scuffling. The door slides back to reveal the government woman, looking at them. Mizu is sitting up with a blanket wrapped around her form.

"Oh, Kasen, Ookurikara," Mizu smiles. "Come in. We were just discussing Aruji-Sama's condition."

"Right," the woman steps back, curtly striding back to the female tsukumogami.

The two swords walk in and sit next to their supposed master, observing the vitals of their comatose master. The woman raises her eyebrows.

"As you can see here, their vitals are looking improved since last time. If I must say, they could be awake in a couple of weeks, but that's uncertain."

"Thank you, ma'am," she hums, sipping some of the tea prepared by Kasen. "By the way, Kasen, this is delicious."

"Thank you for the compliment, aruji-San."

The official raises an eyebrow yet again. This doesn't look like standard protocol; I'll have to report this.

"Well, that's all I seem to need. I'll be taking my leave," the lady packs up her materials, leaving the room shortly after.

Ookurikara returned to Mizu's room to find the uchigatana reading. It was two minutes until dinner.

"Mizu." His words came out snappy.

She flinches, looking up at the fellow sword. She sets down the book, standing up slowly. "What is it?"

"Dinner time. Follow," He orders.

She follows beside him, doing her best to ignore the screaming agony that was her back. Ookurikara wasn't oblivious to this, however, he didn't mention it. The swords look up at the seldom seen uchigatanas, even more so Mizu. The rest of their unit waves them over to two spots they saved.

Mizu smiles, sitting down next to Mikazuki and Ookurikara. Jiroutachi slides a bottle of Saké to her and she stares at it.

"I don't want some. Thank you though, Jiroutachi-Sama," she declines.

"Aw okay!" He slurs, giggling.

"Aji wa ikaga desuka, Mizu-San?" Mikazuki inquires.

[How do you like the food, Mizu-San?]

"Oishii desu," she replies.

[It's good]

"Me and Kasen prepared it," Shokudaikiri beams.

"Where's Aruji-San?" Gokotai asks Ichigo. 

"Hmm," Ichigo scans the room, "I don't know."

"O-okay."

"So, Mizu," Mikazuki turns over to look at Mizu. "What do you like to do?"

"I like to read, swim, and draw," Mizu responds.

"Interesting," Mikazuki hums. "What do you like to draw?"

"Mostly people and swords," she stares down at her lap.

"That's cool!" Iwatooshi exclaims. "You should draw me sometime!"

Imanotsurugi who's sitting across from him agrees. "Who was your previous master? They must've liked to draw!"

Mizu goes silent. Her hands are shaking when she speaks. "I don't remember."

The government official explores the citadel, making a myriad of checkmarks and x's on her clipboard. One of Gokotai's tigers wanders up to her, rubbing his back against her leg. Her steely gaze softens and she makes a checkmark.

"And now the Saniwa," she murmurs.

She enters the room and looks at the comatose sage. She pulls out a syringe, the viridian contents swirling.

"Let's hope this works," she injects the substance into the Saniwa.

A feminine figure dressed in a white kimono with a red hakama wanders a colorless abyss, purely white. They could hear a woman muttering, but what was she saying?

'Who's there?' They try to say. 'Help me!'

"They can't hear you, misc. Tamanaha," a familiar guttural voice drawls. It lurched forward, chuckling. "And I can't let you wake just yet." 

Author note: Misc. is a gender-neutral term like Ms. or Mr. 

Edit: WattPad is weird when it comes to the paragraphs and such. Also, I just noticed some errors and fixed them.