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It had been an ordinary day, nothing particular about it. And yet something was on his mind that he couldn’t shake. It wasn’t anything that someone had addressed to him directly; merely it was something he not only observed but overheard from other staff in the kitchen. He had half a mind to make Masamune deal with it directly since he’d be able to solve it, but he also didn’t want to miss an opportunity to mess with his plaything.
As night fell, he brought up some rice porridge on a tray, along with some freshly made tea. Black with a hint of honey, as he knew she liked from watching her. He approached her door, about to knock, when he heard a rather loud rumble. He began to wonder if he should have brought more food, but he cleared that from his head as he knocked.
“Who is it?” he heard the familiar songbird voice call out.
“Why not open the door and see for yourself?” He felt his trademark smirk fall into place, both using it as a mask and showing his amusement for what was to come. He could almost predict what Sakura would say.
But, as she often does, she surprised him by opening the door, politely and without complaint. She looked up at him, her storm shaded eyes widened with surprise.
“Oh.. Right, I should have guessed by your voice.” But she did not seem disappointed, as most people would be. Instead, she greeted him with a faint, warm smile. “Please, come on in Mitsuhide.”
Not letting his surprise show, he did as she bade, seeing quickly that her room was still rather bare, lacking in personalization or decorations. The only items of note were the books on one end of the table and what he assumed was a clothing piece on the other. She had a couple of candles lit nearby, so the room was easy enough to see.
“Right, sorry. Let me clean off some space.” She quickly saw to set the books aside, leaving her current work-in-progress where it was. He set the tray down, sitting across from her as she sat, her long, auburn hair cascading over her shoulder.
“Seems you’re up rather late these days,” he commented, making sure his smirk was still in place.
She gave a small shrug, happily accepting and thanking him for the tea, but left the porridge alone. “Yeah. I thought I’d try to learn as much as I can about medicine before war kicks in, since it’s any day now that Kenshin, Shingen, or Kenyou could make a move. On top of that, sewing work keeps piling it. Though I don’t mind. I prefer keeping busy.” She gave such a happy, carefree smile, like she wasn’t being burdened with her tasks.
He allowed his smirk to turn into a small frown. “I’ve heard you haven’t been eating much. You do need to keep up your strength, you know.”
“I’m fine, really.” She tried to shrug it off.
“Your stomach would say otherwise,” he pointed out as another rumble happened.
“Well it’s wrong. I get like this sometimes where it’s hard to force myself to eat.” She side eyed the clothing.
This time, he frowned a bit deeper as a troubling thought came to surface. “You’re not trying to do some silly thing like lose weight, are you?”
She quickly looked back at him, her brow twitching in annoyance. “What do you take me for? Some idiot? Of course I’m not! In fact, I know I need to gain some. Well, muscle mass to be precise. But that’ll have to wait for at least a few more days. Then Ieyasu agreed to teach me how to use a bow and arrow!”
Mitsuhide’s frown lessened, but he quirked up one eyebrow. “He agreed? I can’t believe that.”
“Okay, so I bribed him.. Mildly threatened… Same difference.” Her cheeks turned a little red, clearing indicating she didn’t wish to go into detail.
He normally would have pressed, but his concern was more at the forefront of his brain. He still needed to play it off. “Mmm, but what if I like you being defenseless? Makes it much easier to tease you.” He smirked once more. “Though I suppose I wouldn’t mind you trying to fight out of my grasp. Could be plenty of fun.”
At this, her blush deepened and she glared at him, though there was no heat to it. “Stupid pervy fox man! Stop it with your nonsense! I bet I’ll be able to beat you if I gain enough muscle mass!”
He leaned his head on one hand, his elbow on the table, as he leaned towards her. “You’re so delightful when you’re riled up.”
She huffed, seeming to refuse to back away, but he caught her glancing at the rice porridge.
Too casually perhaps, he mentioned, “It’s just rice porridge. I at least can cook that much since it requires no taste testing.”
She snorted, seeming not to notice his almost slip up, giving a soft chuckle. “Which means it has no seasoning at all. You’re lucky I like the taste of rice anyway.”
Before he could respond, she gently pulled the tray over and took a bite of food. His concern eased, and he felt the tension in his body melt away as she ate more. He normally wouldn’t be worked up over someone not eating. After all, Mitsunari was very similar in that regard. And yet, here he was, unable to help himself. He has a sneaking suspicion of what this could mean, but he was not about to acknowledge such emotions. Things were better as they are now.