3.15: A Place at Her Side

3.15: A Place at Her Side

Rui was still glaring at the door long after it had shut.

She felt like she needed a hot cup of tea. That made it worse. Anger crouched in her chest with nowhere to go, hot and sour and stupid. Sumire had just left like she could walk out that easily after everything. And then Akuchi had bolted after her like some overeager dog who thought she had a special role to curry favor.

Rui crossed her arms harder over her chest. Not encountering the two orbs that had been on her chest in the dream world, just pissed her off all the more.

“She just went and left,” Rui snapped out loud as she stalked down the hall with Ume beside her. “And of course Akuchi ran after her right away. That annoys me too. She could’ve been useful around here.”

Ume glanced at her. “Don’t you think what she finds out about how Sumire’s doing will come in handy? Maybe she’ll report in.”

Rui gave her a flat look as they stepped into the kitchen. “I doubt that. She’s too much of a scatterbrain for that.”

“You underestimate her.” Natalia was already back in the kitchen, preparing tea.

She stood by the counter with a teapot. The kettle was radiating heat from the stove. She, herself, was calm as ever, pouring tea into waiting cups like the whole house order has not just been upset. The late light touched her hair and shoulders, making her look even more composed than usual. Rui hated how soothing that was when she wanted to stay mad. Natalia just had that effect on people.

Rui took the cup Natalia offered her and wrapped both hands around it at once. The heat radiated pleasantly into her palms.

“You overestimate her,” Rui muttered.

Natalia lifted her own cup and took a sip. “I’ll remind you that that wonderful tanuki has saved our lives a few times already.”

“When did she do that? You’re exaggerating.” Rui rolled her eyes.

“Have you already forgotten the death of your beloved Old Screamy and what happened to us when she did?” Natalia asked, smiling faintly.

Rui made a face and blew across the surface of her tea. “If she was so wonderful, she wouldn’t be so aggressive toward getting a piece of Sumire’s butt.”

“She’s learned some self-control,” Natalia said.

“Yeah,” Ume said, taking her cup. “She’s not chasing Sumire like she was.”

Rui’s mouth pulled to one side. “She just literally chased after Sumire. What do you call that?”

“She’s worried about Sumire’s well-being.” Natalia nodded. “She knows that Sumire wouldn’t welcome her if she announced that she decided to follow her around.”

“Yeah… she’d probably kick her ass. I used to worry about her, but I think she could handle just about anything Akuchi threw at her now.” Rui nodded.

“It’s one of the reasons why I pushed for her training. To make sure that no one could take advantage of her against her wishes.” Natalia sipped her tea in the same relaxed style.

“What about that stunt just a bit ago when she changed our forms into Riko and Yuna and transformed herself into Aoi? It was just a silly prank. One in bad taste.” Rui muttered.

“We all agreed to go along with it,” Ume said.

Rui pouted into her tea. “It sucks that I couldn’t actually feel having those great boobs I looked like I had again.”

Ume set a hand on Rui’s shoulder with gentle sympathy. “We know you’re extremely depressed about having lost those.”

Rui muttered into her cup, “Damn it. Why did my parents have to give me these screwed up genes?”

Natalia smiled over the rim of her tea. “You’re extremely cute. Don’t sell yourself short, dear.”

Rui let out a sigh and slumped against the counter. “I know. No one beats me at being cute. But seriously. I’m pissed off at my parents!” She practically hissed.

Natalia lowered her cup a little. “You shouldn’t think poorly of your deceased family. Why did you never get an altar for your parents?”

Rui’s fingers tightened around the porcelain.

For a second she only stared at the tea. Steam curled up into her face. The kitchen smelled like leaves and warm ceramic and the faint sweetness Natalia always seemed to bring with her no matter where she was.

“I didn’t want to remember them crying every day,” Rui said at last.

The words came out flatter than she meant them to. That made things worse somehow.

Ume’s expression softened. She offered Rui her best little fangy smile and brushed her fingers lightly along Rui’s wrist. “It’s not easy losing special people like your parents.”

Rui sighed again, longer this time, and took a drink.

The tea helped a little, but not enough.

“Sumire doesn’t take me seriously now that she’s a girl very much like Reiko,” Rui said. “She pays me even less attention than she did before.”

Ume tilted her head. “You’re worried that she doesn’t see you as a woman?”

“Yeah.” Rui scowled. “I’m small. She probably thinks, somewhere in the back of her head, that she’d be a lolicon if she went after me seriously.”

Natalia actually blushed.

“Maybe,” she admitted. “Even I sometimes have trouble seeing you as anything but a cherished daughter.”

Rui stared at Natalia as though she’d betrayed her.

Then she lifted her tea and drank from it like it was alcohol she was trying to drown herself with.

Ume stepped in behind her and wrapped both arms around her waist. Rui did not resist. She leaned back into it a little despite herself.

“I’m sure she sees you as a woman,” Ume said. “She kissed you more than once, remember?”

“Yeah,” Rui grumbled, “but she never groped me like I grope her.”

Natalia gave a small, knowing smile. “She’s a gentle woman. Even as a man, she was very courteous and didn’t lust after any of us… at least not openly. I think that’s one of her most appealing qualities.”

“Yes,” Natalia added after another sip, still smiling. “She’s not the kind of person who lusts after people and chases after them for sex.”

Rui clicked her tongue.

That was true. Annoyingly so.

That was part of the problem.

“Mm,” Rui said. “But she’s still vulnerable. Even though she can defend herself well now, she’s emotionally inexperienced, and I can definitely see her falling in love with someone else.”

Her jaw tightened. She stared down into her tea hard enough to see her own eyes looking back at her in the dark surface.

“I should go get her and tie her up and…”

Ume’s arms tightened around her a little. “How will you pull that off?”

Rui snorted. “You’ll help me. We’ll sneak up on her, and with your strength, we’ll drag her back and keep her in her room until the exams.”

“She’d get out of shape if you kept her tied up the whole time,” Ume said. “Plus I doubt she would appreciate that.”

Rui grumbled under her breath.

Ume rested her chin lightly against Rui’s shoulder. “You just need to learn to let go of people you love. There’s an old saying about letting a new pet go to see if they return to you. If they do, that means they truly love you.”

Rui chewed at her lip.

That sounds stupid.

It also sounded suspiciously like something she wanted to hear.

“I guess,” Rui muttered. Then she turned her head just enough to look sideways at Ume. “So you’re saying she’ll come back because she loves me?”

“Yeah.” Ume flashed a fangy grin and winked. “I’m sure she will.”

Rui looked down into her tea again.

She wanted to believe that.

Maybe she did believe that.

Probably…

Natalia watched her for a moment, then asked, “What are you going to do while she’s gone? Are you going to just mope around the house these four days?”

Rui opened her mouth to say no immediately, but nothing came out.

She thought about it.

Her fingers loosened around her cup, and she shook her head.

“No. There are things I wanted to do. Lady Kogane got me thinking about my role in our partnership. I can still go on the beat with her once she’s licensed, but there has to be other things I can do for her.”

“Like what?” Ume asked.

Rui rubbed at her lips with her thumb, thinking.

“You saw how she fought Reiko at the end, right?”

Natalia nodded. “She conjured three replicas of her jade bracelet, one for each of the rest of her limbs. That was impressive. Even with my old power as the Solar Arbiter of Continuance, I was limited in what I could change in Baku’s dream world. But Sumire used her bracelet unconsciously, or maybe intentionally, to bend space around her. She changed her clothes and created those fake relics that worked just like the original.”

“Yeah.” Rui nodded slowly. “It’s impressive what she can do when she focuses.”

That thought stayed with her, separate from the anger.

There was pride in it too, but it sat badly in her. It made her want to sink her teeth into something. But that was more Ume’s habit than hers, though. Ume nibbled ears and other soft places, but she almost never drew blood, not even when they made love.

Sumire had changed rapidly. Faster than Rui had expected. Natalia’s first idea to train Sumire hadn’t gone especially well and she expected her Baku dream world training scheme to fail the same way. She had grown fast enough that it felt dangerous to just stand around adoring her. She had to do something to catch up at least a little.

Rui looked down at herself.

Her small hands were wrapped around a teacup. She had small shoulders and a very small chest.

Her mouth twisted.

Fine. Then I’ll find something new to do. Something she’ll need. Something only I can do for her.

Beside her, Ume’s face finally fell into a real frown.

Rui noticed at once. “What’s wrong?”

Ume went quiet.

Then she made a small unhappy sound in the back of her throat and leaned more of her weight onto Rui.

“Whenever I wanted that delicious scent,” Ume said, almost whining now, “all I had to do was flirt with Sumire.” She pressed her lips together and seemed deeply offended by life itself. “I miss it…”

That pulled Rui out of herself hard enough that she barked a laugh.

It came fast and sharp and a little mean.

Ume didn’t pay attention to her laugh, though. She was still deep in her own thoughts.

Rui frowned into her tea, regretting her reaction a little bit.

“I don’t get what part of her smells so good to you,” she muttered. “Other than that rose body wash she was using in the dream world. She didn’t have it when she left, but there were still traces of it on her body.”

“Because it was Reiko’s favorite body wash,” Natalia said. “It only stands to reason that she would keep smelling like roses for a few days after gaining that body.” She lifted her cup, then lowered it again. “Back to the point, though. What do you intend to do, Rui? You were thinking about something.”

Rui looked down at the dark surface of her tea. The answer had already taken shape. It had been sitting in her chest for the last few minutes, getting heavier the more she thought about Sumire leaving.

“Yeah,” Rui said. “I decided I want to learn how to create relics if I can. Sumire needs three more like the jade bracelet to fully tap her latent power.”

Natalia’s gaze sharpened a little. “I’m not sure you can do that, considering your lack of spiritual power.”

Ume frowned too. “I worry about that as well. You have enough power to use your scroll and a few other tools, but…”

“There has to be something I can do!” Rui snapped, glaring up at the ceiling. “She needs three more relics. Something she can bounce her spiritual power off for her powerful technique.”

The kitchen went quiet for a moment after that.

Ume sipped her tea and thought.

Natalia watched her over the rim of her cup. Then she asked, very calmly, “I’m sorry to change the subject, but how has your business been going lately, Ume-dear?”

Ume blinked and smiled. “It’s fine. A couple of my followers have been taking care of selling my merchandise for me.”

“Shouldn’t you be a little more involved with your business, like you were before Sumire came along?” Natalia asked.

“Yeah,” Ume said, then pouted and crossed her arms under her plump breasts. “I suppose I should, but I want to be here for her. If only I could be in more than one place.”

Natalia gave her a long look. “You pretty much already are. Your goth followers are standing in for you. They’re reliable, but I worry that you’re throwing away too much of your life to chase after a girl to be useful to her… or just near her.”

“True…” Ume chewed her lip. “But my shop is too far from this house, and I really don’t want to leave.”

Rui looked over at her and smiled a little. “You want to stay by my side. I love you too.”

Ume giggled. “That too.” She leaned over and nuzzled at Rui’s neck.

Rui narrowed her eyes, despite Ume’s having leaned in to cuddle.

“That’s not what you were thinking about when you said that? Is Sumire all you think about these days?”

Ume sat up and pointed right back at her. “What about you, RuiRui? You’re always thinking about her too.”

“Tch.” Rui looked away and took a big drink as though it was beer. “I just can’t leave her alone. She’s a newly minted girl with mostly untested spiritual power. That’s different.”

Ume’s grin turned sly. “It’s not just that. You really want her to grab you and do this and that to you, right?”

Heat rushed into Rui’s face so fast it almost hurt.

“Shut up!” Rui snapped. “I’m not like you, wiggling your butt in her lap to get her worked up so you can get high on her pheromones.”

“That’s not fair or kind,” Ume said, pouting now, pink in the cheeks and unable to deny it.

Natalia hid a smile behind her cup, then set it down and looked back at Ume.

“Have you thought about perhaps opening a new business, Ume?”

“A new business?” Ume pouted harder. “You want me to change my hobbies and get completely new stock to sell?”

“Not at all,” Natalia said. “If you have extra products, you should consider opening a satellite store.”

Ume’s face lit up at once.

“Right!” she said. “I could buy a building closer to home and shorten my commuting time at the same time.”

Rui grinned. “Genius! But where?”

(I couldn't find where this illustration belongs. If you wanna comment where, go ahead!)

Natalia giggled. “What about the building through the fence around this property? I used it as a back door to come and go on foot. It has a door that opens both into the compound and outside it. If you were to convert that building into something that suits you more…”

Ume shot to her feet.

“Ohhhh! You’d let me do that?!”

“Of course, dear,” Natalia said. “This place is yours as well now. It only stands to reason that I would let you use that building, although we’ll talk about details later.”

Ume put a finger to her lips and started pacing across the kitchen, smiling so hard her little fangs showed.

“I’ll do it. I’ll open another business.” She slowed, thinking harder. “Although I wonder how interested people will be in what I typically sell in a neighborhood like this. Bodyparts, strange furniture, fossils, cursed dolls and more.”

Natalia winced, laughing delicately. “I think not… but what if you sold more specialized goods at this location?” Natalia asked. “You could focus on curatives and remedies. Those sorts of things are popular in neighborhoods like this.”

Ume stopped cold.

But then her green eyes sparkled.

“You mean being kind of an informal homeopathic health practitioner?”

Rui stared at her, then snorted.

“Wow. You suddenly look a little like Yuna salivating over being some kind of shady back-alley abortionist.”

Natalia laughed into one hand. “As Yuna, she certainly was dedicated to healthcare. She thought about little more than taking care of Sumire while she was training with Aoi… Reiko.”

“Yeah,” Rui said, rolling her eyes. “It was kind of annoying. She was such a health nut. It was like having a walking, talking medical encyclopedia around.”

Ume pouted at once. “I wasn’t that bad. I just wanted so much to take care of everyone.” 

“Everyone stay hydrated!” Rui teased with a cloyingly sweet tone.

Ume giggled and shook her head, looking down, then back up. “I’ve always felt that way, honestly. My oldest hobby was finding and collecting treasures, and eventually I turned into an antique dealer, but that branched into carrying niche items that promise immortality, good health, good luck, the works. I guess I was always kind of leaning toward that.”

Rui shook her head. “Are you going to become some kind of doctor just because you want to be more useful to Sumire? Such a half-hearted motivation…”

Ume pointed at her again. “Look at yourself when you judge me for being half-hearted. You want to learn how to make relics to support Sumire. We both think the same way. We’re just taking it from different angles.”

Natalia poured herself another cup of tea.

“Even I want to support Sumire,” she said. “Clothes, guidance, everything I have to offer her within reason. I want to help her have a happier and more worthwhile life.”

Rui looked down into her tea again.

“You’re so sweet, Natalia,” she muttered.

“It’s what I love most about you,” Ume said, turning to flash Natalia a fangy grin. “Ever since we met in Lady Katarina’s mansion, you’ve been like that.”

Natalia blushed and smiled into her tea.

“I suppose no matter how much time passes, yōkai don’t really change.”

“You have,” Ume said. “You’re softer and gentler than you were. As a clothier, you’re able to support SSDS and Sumire without any trouble.”

“Yes.” Natalia nodded. “But that’s an accident of fate. It just happens that my hobby proves useful to her.” She turned to Rui. “Didn’t you say your parents left you enough to fund SSDS for your lifetime?”

“Yeah.” Rui nodded. “But not indefinitely, especially with so many employees. It wouldn’t have lasted.”

“It’s a good thing that Sumire wants to support you,” Natalia said. “Let’s not forget that her motivation for leaving, in part, was to support you and your ambitions.”

Rui’s face warmed again, though this time the heat settled lower and hurt more quietly.

“Yeah,” she said. “I doubt she’s serious about that, but if she’s there for me, I want to be there for her too. However I can.”

Natalia set her cup down.

“And that brings us back to the subject of relics for Sumire.” She looked at Ume. “Let’s make a deal. Give Rui four of your spiritually reactive maneki nekos to tinker with. That’s the price of the shack. You’ll have to renovate it yourself, however.”

Ume froze, then looked at Natalia with wide eyes.

A second later, she started nodding.

“I don’t know why I didn’t think of that sooner,” she said. “I have a fair amount of those cats waving around in my shop. They’re worth a fair amount of money too. Rui couldn’t really afford to buy them. That’s probably why I didn’t offer.” She folded her arms and smiled, her little fangs gleaming. “I’m not such a sucker that I’d just give them away for free, even if it helps Sumire. But in exchange for a slice of the property here, it’s a deal.”

“It’s a deal,” Natalia said, beaming.

Rui looked between them, her tea forgotten in her hands.

For the first time since Sumire had walked out, the anger crouching in her chest loosened.

Not entirely, but enough to get started.

Special thanks to PrincessArylin, ShinjiHinako, Assurbanipal II (Achan) for beta reading book three! <3

Illustrations Disclaimer: Locations aren't always 100% canon. Usually they are only representative. Character features and styles may stray a little now and again.

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