♥︎•Narrator POV•♥︎

Sweat trickles down on Yashimi's forehead as the sun continues to glare down on her as she hits the dummy multiple times with hard hits.

Birds had nestle down in their nests, watching as Yashimi continues to perfect her slashes on the dummy, not missing one slice.

Whoosh

It's been a week since Yashimi had fully healed from her injuries, and 3 months has passed, and Giyuu and Yashimi's relationship grows as both grew more comfortable with each other.

Yashimi always feels the need to repay Giyuu somehow. Always thinking about how to repay him and whenever she tells him this, he tells her,

"It's fine. I don't expect you to do anything for me."

And with that, Giyuu would change their topic into something both would love and joy to talk about, making Yashimi quickly forget.

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☆•Yashimi POV•☆

I let out a sharp breath as I slash the air with my wooden sword, giving it my all, as if actually hitting a real demon, and slice the dummy in a diagonal half.

I breathe heavily, my chest rising and deflating with each breath. "Good job, Fujimura." Tomioka-sama's voice appears from behind me.

I turn my head only to see no one, and my heart skips a beat in fear. "Who?" I turn to the dummy, expecting it cut in half and on the ground. Instead, my two different eye colors meet with deep sapphires staring into my soul.

Tomioka-sama was so fast that I couldn't see him move or hear his footsteps. He's bent down to my height, which was a tall gap, considering I'm only around his chest. He's so close to my face that if he were to move, he'd probably kiss my masks' lips.

And not mine..

His eyes observe mine deeply, slowly traveling down to my nose, and then stopping. What's he looking at?

Then, a faint smirk touches his smiles. WAIT, IS HE–

"Tomioka-sama, what are you doing here?" I step a foot back, making an appropriate distance between tsuguko and master.

"This is my estate..?" He says as if I should know. His faint smirk disappears in one blink of my eye. "Ah! Right." I wave my one hand with a sheepish smile, looking down while blushing.

"What the hell is going with me?!"

"You've gotten better than yesterday." He says as I feel a gentle and warm pressure lay itself on top of my head. "Arigatō, Tomioka-sama." I bow deep in gratitude, and the pressure disappears and returns to his side.

"Go back to training. I wanna see how you do it. Your stance, first." His voice twists strictly with a demanding tone, giving me space as he walks away to a nearby tree under its shade.

"Okay. Fast switch with the tone." I mumble, then began my first stance.

I widen my legs' distance and tightly grip on my gray sword in my hands and let out a cool breath, relaxing my veins and clearing my head.

"That's wrong." His footsteps walk closer to me from behind as the wind follows in his direction. "Here,"

He wraps his hands around me from behind and reaches for mine, guiding my fingers as pink tints cover my cheeks. "Don't hold tightly on the edge of your handle. That's how you lose your grip in the middle of slicing a demon." I could feel his cold breath on his neck.

"Don't widen your legs too much. That's also how you lose your balance when in battle." He calmly instructs and lets go of my hand and pulls away. A kind of familiar feeling steps in my stomach, swirling and dancing.

It's been like this every time Tomioka-sama is close to me. I think it's our friendship connection, right? Yeah, of course.

"Okay, now, wait here. I'll get another wooden dummy for you." His footsteps decend into the quiet house.

I released my stance and stood straight, taking a glimpse of where Tomioka-sama had disappeared. "Tomioka-sama is such a great help to my goal in life." I turn around again, looking at the shaded, calm blue hue above.

"I promise to fulfill your wish, father."

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♣︎•3rd POV•♣︎

Yashimi and Tomioka-sama continued training until the sun was almost sounding asleep as the bright blue sky slowly had pink, purple, and orange plastering and covering its clouds, giving it a breathtaking view for those who'd watch and crane their necks for the beauty of it.

Over the course of 3 months and 3 weeks, Yashimi and Giyuu's relationship between tsuguko and master has taken a toll on their perspective and on everything they do.

Even though most of the time, Giyuu will just do a quick check-up on her, nowadays he'll stay longer than expected and they'd talk–well, mostly Yashimi if we were to compare their talking time with each other.

Although most men will want Yashimi to shut her mouth, Giyuu is the opposite. He can listen to her melodic voice being play out forever. It's like a broken, clean record that will never stop playing.

And he will not complain. Not now, not ever.

Yashimi can be in Giyuu's presence without ever wanting to leave. She can never get bored of his strict and serious expression.

And his strange way of showing his respect to her? She can and will love it forever.

Especially those deep, dark blue orbs that will, ever so slightly, sparkle when its gaze will and on Yashimi's familiar half-black and half-white kitsune mask.

Everyone will see them around, always on each other's side. Wherever danger is, both of them would be side-by-side, never for a second leaving each other.

They could even be mistaken as a couple if you hadn't known what they'd been through. As their voice would change if it is just them alone, especially Giyuu's.

His voice will spark an interested tone and not his usual bored tone whenever Yashimi is talking and babblering about her day.

Even though most of her time was with Giyuu, but, Giyuu didn't mind. Her voice was soft, and he knew he didn't deserve to listen to it.

And soon, that mind of his will take over, every time they'd separate their ways to sleep on different rooms as both men and women weren't allowed in the same room.

(Idk if that's true, but let's pretend it is since this is the early 19th century, right?)

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☆•Yashimi POV•☆

"Tomioka-sama!" My calm voice turns into a more energetic one.

Beside me is Muichirou-kun. He's mostly quiet and not much of a talker. He's almost like Tomioka-sama, but a little shorter than him and even more withdrawn wherever he'd go.

I'd bumped into him, walking around. I think he was doing some important business like private training, but I'm not sure, so I can't assume yet.

I was talking to him about clouds since I'd often see him look at the bright hue whenever it was covered in white, gray shapes of clouds.

"Oh, your lover is here.." Muichirou-kun nonchalantly and obviously announces, turning over to Tomioka-sama.

"Huh? Ah- wait, no!" I start shaking and waving my hands around, turning face-to-face with Muichirou-kun.

"He's isn't my lover!"

"Who isn't your lover?" His voice questions as he appears from my side. I slightly take a small glance, still looking at Muichirou-kun. "You." I let out an embarrassed chuckle.

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☆•Giyū POV•☆

"You." She lets out a soft, whispered chuckle. It was so faint, and yet it made my stomach a blushing mess from it. I take a small glimpse at Tokitou. He has a bored expression as always.

I feel my own face turn into something of an expression.  "I'll take my leave since your lover—I mean, friend or whatever—doesn't want me to be near you." And with that, he starts walking away, leaving Fujimura with a slight steam coming out of her ears.

"Come on, let's go, Fujimura." My hand went to her wrist, wrapping its fingers to around her small wrist.

This unwilling action makes me surprise, but I don't show it as we continue walking.

I pulled her closer to me, so now that she's walking beside me instead of behind me.

My eyes take a slight look at her, and I immediately notice her white and black fading locks waving up and down as the wind's direction continues to flow through us.

"Damn, she's so.. breathtaking in this way."

"Sooo, Tomioka-sama," her delicate soft fingers start fidgeting with a flock of a hair strand, breaking my stare.

"I hope she didn't notice me staring."

"What training phase should we do next? We can do speed again." Her eyes beam at the thought of my speed training for her.

She's getting faster. Once, during our training, she was so fast that I didn't even notice her until the wind caught one strand of her hair and tickled my neck with it.

"You sure do love that phase, huh?" I teasingly say, yet still keeping my usual expression. "Yes!!" She exclaims and jumps high in the air, lifting her hands in a fisted ball of excitement and slightly bending her knees up.

Something inside my stomach flutters again. It's like time has stopped when she jumped, and her hair followed her movement. "Damn, I shouldn't even be feeling this way. She's my tsuguko."

"But, I'm treating her anything, but my tsuguko."

She lands gracefully on the ground, and her haori flows and gracefully lands on her sides. Her hands can't be seen because she has an oversized haori just like Tokitou's.

"Come on, Tomioka-sama!!" She says, and this time she grabs my wrist playfully, her voice still sounding like a harmonic melody.

We reached out of the woods where she and Tokitou had been and to my estate, running and enjoying the breeze that brushed against our skin.

She made me promise to look straight ahead so she could tower her mask over her head, revealing her soft, light-skinned face to the breeze, which I did agree to.

Like I said, I want her to feel comfortable around me.

We continued sprinting to my estate as she continued to laugh and chuckle at my response to her questions.

"Fujimura Yashimi. You're so unique."