Finding Beauty in the Darkness *Obi x OC*(COMPLETE)

Towels and Innuendos

Ryanne POV

My three days in bed passed slowly as Garak spent most of her free time harassing me about how Obi is an eligible young man and I'm certainly not getting any younger. Despite me repeatedly telling her that I'm not, never have been, and never will be interested in dating anyone, she still wouldn't give up. Obi visited more frequently once Aeri got caught up in the castle herbalist world. She would come to see me in the evenings and tell me all about how Garak and Shirayuki let her help them out and at one point she was overly excited because Ryuu said hi to her. I get out of the bed and stretch, feeling my body protest from lack of movement. Garak says that I am free to go now and gave me permission to use the bath in the medical building normally reserved for patients since she wants me to be nice and fresh when Obi escorts me home. I smacked the back of her head but took the key anyways.

The red haired herbalist Shirayuki, who I actually got to meet yesterday, brought my clothes back to me freshly cleaned and decontaminated earlier this morning but I left them in the bag on the bed in the other room. That's really smart of me. Thankfully this room is attached to it so I should be alright to sneak in and grab my clothing uninterrupted. Obi was taking Aeri to breakfast and she wanted to say goodbye to her guard friends and someone she called Mister Mitsuhide so they should still be gone. I secure the towel tighter around myself before peeking my head out into the room. From what I can see, the room is empty so I make my way over to the bed and pull out my clothing so I can retreat back to the safety of the bath to change.

"Miss Rya- oh, oh no. I'm sorry I didn't know you were indecent." Obi mumbles and I hear the door shut a second later.

"Well, Obi has seen me mostly naked..." I sigh. "That's definitely going to be awkward."

Once I'm dressed and have run a comb through my hair, I step out into the main room to look for Obi. Garak is seated at her desk and I hear her laugh when I ask if she's seen him. She tells me that I may have broken and traumatized him, judging by how red his face was. He told her he was just going to wait outside for me. She asks what happens and I sigh and shake my head.

"Ooh, you're blushing too. Do I need to establish an open door policy with the two of you?"

"Weren't you trying to get us together anyway? Never mind, that's not helping... I left my clothes in the bag on the bed so when I went to get them, Obi had opened the door and he well..."

"Saw you naked?"

"I had a towel."

"What a shame."

"Garak I will slap you." I threaten and she laughs. "Just wait, someday you and Obi will be-"

I slap my hand over her mouth as Aeri walks in with Ryuu. I hear her talking freely with him though he's not saying much in return. My eyes widen and I turn to Garak as I remove my hand.

"Was that what I think it was?"

"I think so. Ryuu has talked about her quite a bit these past few days. If they weren't children still, I would start an open door policy with them too."

"You have such a dirty mind..." I sigh.

"Hey, you do too whenever you drink so I don't want to hear it."

I find Obi outside after telling Aeri to say her goodbyes because we will be leaving in a few minutes. I ask if he's okay and he mumbles that he is but it doesn't sound too reassuring. I apologize for being indecent and subjecting him to the horror and tell him that I wasn't mad or upset over it, though it did catch me off guard.

"It wasn't horri- uh, I mean, well... I'm going to shut up now." He chuckles. "I'm sorry for coming in without knocking."

"It's alright, it's not like you knew I would be there like that. Also, I think my being poisoned has brought Aeri and Ryuu closer together."

"That's cute and all, but that doesn't mean to poison yourself again as an excuse to come back."

"Me? I would never." I grin. "So, I'm going in to fetch Aeri, I would say you could come in with me, but after Garak's most recent words, I don't recommend it."

"What did she say?" He asks, catching my arm as I go to stand.

"That it was a shame I was wearing a towel and she believes that one day we will..." I give him a pointed look and he sighs.

"She is such a pervert."

Obi, Aeri, and I head back toward the cottage a few minutes and several innuendos from Garak later. Aeri is skipping around ahead of us as we walk, rambling something about Ryuu under her breath. I snicker, knowing my sister is going to hate me whenever her daughter's training is over. My thoughts are already moving on to what I need to do and the orders that I've fallen behind on and the orders I've likely missed while I've been gone. I'm just dreading trying to catch up while decontaminating my room.

"I am such a failure as an herbalist." I mumble and Obi lightly grabs my arm to stop me.

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, how many herbalists do you know who accidentally poisons themselves because they didn't realize the potency of the new poisonous plant they were messing with and was too stupid to take the poisonous plant out of their room when the fumes got too strong?"

"It doesn't mean you're a failure. It means that you're human and humans make mistakes. What matters is that you survived and have learned from it and I guess now you have new information about it."

"That's always a plus." I smirk. "Thank you for saving me... again. I feel I'm just a very big burden on you."

"If it makes you feel better, before we left to go to the castle, Aeri asked me to let Herron out and I couldn't find him so I put you on the couch and it actually summoned him."

"That so makes me feel better. I was used as bait for the demon cat while I was dying."