You're G O L D|| Sugimoto Saichi x f!Reader x Ogata Hyakunosuke

True Gold

 You, Shiraishi and Asirpa went ahead of Sugimoto while he skinned Nihei. You and Asirpa decided to take Tanigaki with you since he had trouble standing back up.

"Hey (Y/N), What'd you braid into Nihei's hair?" Shiraishi asked you, carrying the fallen Tanigaki on a makeshift stretcher. You smiled a bit before answering

"Something only me and Tanigaki would understand since you didn't really pay much attention to the conversations he and I had." You looked back a bit, to see Tanigaki with a pained smile on his face. 

'His leg must be killing him,' you thought, before looking at Shiraishi and frowning.

"Do we really have to take him along with us?" Shiraishi asked Asirpa. Asirpa frowned in return, "Yes you useless idiot." 

___

Sugimoto had caught up with the three of you. You and Asirpa decided to heal him the best you could before taking him to see Huci in her kotan. 

In the hut, Asirpa decided to use Tanni Wakka to slow his bleeding. 

"Are we really going to take this man to your village?" Shiraishi asked, not really wanting to carry him that far, "He's part of the 7th division right? If he recovers he could tell his buddies about us..."

Asirpa rubbed the melted sap on his cheek and leg, "The village will have all kinds of medicines, plus it's better for him to rest in a warm cise. 

"l ea v e me" Tanigaki huffed in a raspy voice, "I'm a hunter too. I want to die in the wilderness like Nihei"

Shiraishi beamed, "You heard the man! Let's leave him." you whacked him across the head, "No! I'm not leaving him behind. I think he's suffered enough." you looked down at the sweaty man.

Sugimoto sat there with his legs crisscrossed and his cheek resting in his fist, "So... Tanigaki was it? You still tagged along with Nihei Tetsuzou even though you knew he was one of the tattooed convicts?"

Tanigaki just looked up to meet Sugimoto's stern gaze. Sugimoto had a dark unimpressed look on his face, "It seems that my partners want to save you, so be it. But if that turns out to be a mistake, I won't hesitate to end you myself." It seems he was still mad about the whole ' Asirpa as a hostage' thing.

Asirpa gave a small smile, and you nodded in approval.

"Oh while on the subject of Tetsuzou, could you explain to me why ' Goodbye, boner' was written in Nihei's hair?" Sugimoto asked, looking at you, somewhat lifting the heavy atmosphere around the five of you. Tanigaki smiled a bit, and you grinned.

"Me and Nihei were close, he called me princess when he'd forgotten who I was and mistook me for a long-haired princess you see in a tower. When he and I used to talk, he would always say something about hunter's spirit and boners. So, as a way to see his hunter's spirit off, I wrote Farewell Boner in his hair. As for the braiding thing, he'd let me braid future plans of escape in his hair since somebody's  was too short."  You explained scratching the back of your head and laughing nervously while glaring at the damn-near bald man opposite of Tanigaki.

"If I didn't know any better I would've mistaken you two for lovers." Tanigaki rasped again. You shrugged with a smile, "One day, you'll understand and find your princess, Tanigaki the Matagi." 

Looking around the room you noticed everybody was half way asleep.

'Will I ever find anyone who could listen to my stories like Nihei could?' You thought, scanning everybody's sleepy or hurt faces, ' I guess not'

___

The five of you arrived at Asirpa's village. After explaining Tanigaki's situation, you sent him to stay with Huci.