初めに、

One day, on a day that wasn’t quite yet winter, but didn’t feel like autumn anymore, the entire citadel was blanketed in a shining layer of pure white snow. While a few of the sword warriors were just beginning to venture out into the garden to enjoy the snow that had fallen since the day before, most remained inside, nestled under the kotatsus. It was much more quiet than usual. In fact, one could even call it tranquil, which was unusual for a place with so many residing together.

Aki took the opportunity of a perfectly peaceful citadel to catch up on their reading. It wasn’t often they were able to read a book for pleasure during the daytime, let alone while surrounded by four of their sword warriors. Maeda Toushirou and Hachisuka seemed to be having a pleasant conversation, while Gokotai and Namazuo Toushirou appeared to be dozing off due to the warmth of the kotatsu. The atmosphere was completely serene.

A sharp cry carried through the walls. The sleeping Awataguchi swords jolted awake, and Maeda Toushirou abruptly cut off his sentence, head snapping towards the source of the noise. Hachisuka, however, had the same expression on his face that Aki did. They both recognized the source of the noise, after all.

Sighing, Aki closed their book and set it aside. They rose from under the kotatsu begrudgingly. All four swords began to rise as well, but Aki waved them away. “You all relax. It’s just Shuu-chan. I’ll go see what happened this time.”

They stepped out of the room and onto the engawa, pace much quicker than usual in order to hopefully get back into a heated room faster. Unceremoniously, they flung open the door to the room that was used for summoning new sword warriors to the citadel.

Aki gave a small, amused smile to find their fellow saniwa in the room, exactly as they had expected. “What was that about, Shuu-chan?”

“Oh! Excellent timing, Akkun!” Shuu’s eyes shone with an uncharacteristic energy. “I had a feeling when I woke up earlier that today was going to be really good, and it looks like my instincts were right.” They gestured to the blade in front of them. Aki peered down, flecks of spiritual energy radiating at the corners of their vision. This blade had an unusually powerful aura, that was for sure.

Wordlessly, as if on cue, the two reached for the blade at the same time, concentrating their energy to call forth the sword warrior from within. Sometimes, this process was exhausting, as if there was resistance from somewhere. The experience of being born into this world was not always a welcome one, Aki knew. Several of the sword warriors had expressed distress upon manifesting. Other times, however, the process was fast and simple, as if the sword warrior was eager to show himself and provide aid to the citadel.

This time was one of the latter. In fact, Shuu and Aki exchanged a glance of surprise as the light in the room swelled and coalesced into the form of a person.

“See, what’d I say?” Shuu murmured breathlessly as they both lowered their hands and the light subsided. “SSR.”

Shuu seemed to have some classification system when it came to the sword warriors they summoned. Aki had never fully understood what the qualifications of each tier were, and the assignments occasionally seemed arbitrary. They’d tried to ask once, but Shuu had launched into an explanation with words like “rate-up” and “pity” that didn’t make sense to Aki in the order their fellow saniwa was rattling them off.

The sword warrior before them bowed, the ribbons on his outfit fluttering as he moved. Aki diverted their train of thought, transfixed by the graceful movements. He gave the both of them a quiet, kind smile as he introduced himself. “My name is Kogarasumaru. It is my destiny to battle foreign foes. No matter how many thousands of years pass, that will never change.” His hand came to rest lightly on the hilt of his sword, and Aki found their eyes following its arc.

“I think you’ll find ‘foreign’ is a somewhat incorrect term for who we deal with,” Aki observed. It didn’t matter, but it was surely the only thing they could think to say in the moment.

Shuu, however, bowed lowly, nudging Aki in the side to remind them to bow as well. “My name is Shuu, and this is Aki. We are the saniwa at this citadel. Our mission is to defeat those who would alter history. Should you agree to fight with us, we would be honored to count you as a member of this citadel, Kogarasumaru.”

Aki didn’t often get to hear Shuu give their well-practiced speech upon the summoning of a sword. Usually, when the two of them summoned swords together, Aki would preempt them before reciting it themself.

They felt their heart swell with pride at how inviting they made it sound. It was more or less the same rather formal text the government required them to recite. However, there was just something about it that felt much more personal when Shuu said it. Maybe Aki could stand to be more secure in not being overly anxious and, perhaps, a little controlling, when it came to summoning swords.

Perhaps Aki’s surprise showed on their face. It was no wonder, then, that Kogarasumaru chuckled as he bowed once more, causing the ribbons to flutter once again. “My new masters, I am in your care.”

“Likewise,” Aki replied, finally feeling themself settling back into fulfilling the duty they had been meant to perform all along. “We can give you a tour of the citadel, although it won’t be particularly extensive—it’s been snowing quite a bit, so you’ll have to settle for only the main buildings.” They turned to their fellow saniwa, gesturing to Kogarasumaru. “Shuu, would you like to…?”

Shuu waved a hand in front of them, dismissing the idea. “Nah, I’m good. I’ve got, like, a stack of paperwork to get through, and then I’ve gotta do my dailies, so I’ll leave you to it.”

It was impressive how unfazed Kogarasumaru managed to look during this entire conversation. After Shuu left the room, Aki turned to him and adjusted their glasses. “Well, at least you’re already beginning to understand what kind of citadel we run here. I hope that you weren’t hoping for something more...regimented.”

Kogarasumaru smiled. “Not at all. I’ve always been quite fond of those with strong personalities. I will be very comfortable here, I think.”

“Strong...oh, well, you’ll love it here, then. No shortage of all kinds of strong personalities.” Aki sighed with affection in their tone. They gestured to the door, and then stepped in front to pull it open for him. “Now, if you’ll come with me, I’ll show you around.” ————————————

The winter passed quickly, with a flurry of activity. They welcomed several more swords to their citadel, and the saniwa were both preoccupied with making sure everyone’s needs were met. It was a far cry from their early days with just a handful of swords, that much was certain.

Aki found that it helped significantly to have competent attendants lending a hand whenever possible. Heshikiri Hasebe was always more than eager to be of service, but both Aki and Shuu expressed concern to one another that he would burn himself out with how hard he worked. The two of them made sure to keep a rotating pool of attendants, to make sure no one sword felt too burdened with the duties of running the citadel. That was, after all, not their job; that was the duty of the saniwa.

Shuu and Aki both had their favorites, though, even if they pointedly made sure the other swords did not find out. There would be no feelings getting hurt just because the saniwa felt a little more at ease in the company of, for instance, a particular uchigatana or a certain naginata.

Aki had found another favorite, too. They had only begun asking Kogarasumaru to be their attendant when the plum blossoms had been in bloom, but he’d already proven himself quite capable. He was both skilled with administrative work and an excellent companion while Aki worked on all of the things they were unable to delegate away.

One warm day, in the late spring, Kogarasumaru sat dutifully by their side while they went over recent battle records. The weekly report to the government was almost due, so Aki was concerned about making sure they were familiar enough to write a decent summary quickly.

A frequent problem, however, was that some of the swords were terrible with a pen. Combined with the fact that they occasionally used outdated Japanese due to their age, it did not always make reading an easy task.

Aki made a frustrated noise, stuck halfway through a phrase. "Therefore, we performed a head-on attack in order to,” they muttered. In order to what, they were not sure. Ensure? Prevent? They had never seen this kanji in their life, and it was written so messily that their chances of puzzling it out even with a dictionary were fairly slim.

Kogarasumaru leaned in, unconsciously resting a hand upon Aki’s arm to see the document better. “Which line is the problem, Aruji? Perhaps I can lend you a father’s wisdom.”

They pointed with their free hand, and Kogarasumaru leaned slightly further against them. Aki felt their head begin to feel slightly fuzzy. This was another reason they enjoyed Kogarasumaru’s company. He seemed surprisingly unaware of personal space. It was nice.

“Oh,” he hummed, a small smile on his face. “That’s read ‘dissuade,’ Aruji. It’s now written…” He grazed the end of a nail across Aki’s arm, tracing out the shape of a character Aki was, in fact, familiar with. They hoped he didn’t notice the goosebumps that raised under his touch.

“Much appreciated, thank you,” they responded quickly, mouth feeling dry. Kogarasumaru wordlessly returned to his previous sitting position.

“Of course, Aruji. Do let me know if another one comes up. The children seem so frequently to forget these reports are for our masters’ convenience, after all.” He gave them another smile, and gestured for Aki to return to their reading.

It was, admittedly, a bit of a struggle to focus after that. They could still feel the ghost of his fingernail on their arm, and he was still sitting just behind them. It took almost all of Aki’s willpower to get through two more reports before they finally leaned back from their desk and turned to Kogarasumaru. “Aoi-chan is coming over for tea with us shortly. I will be an hour or two; feel free to take a break in the meantime. Thank you for your help.” They sighed softly in relief. Perhaps their racing heart would be able to slow down soon.

Kogarasumaru bowed and then stood, reaching out a hand to help Aki stand as well. “I shall see you then, Aruji. Please send for me should you need me sooner.” His smile as he departed did nothing to help their heart rate. ———————————— A little while later, the three saniwa sat around a table, a tea set and a bowl of snacks between them. Aoi was telling them both about something that had happened while they were on a walk with their Akita Toushirou recently. While still participating in the conversation, Shuu fiddled with some app on their phone. Aki idly traced their finger across the tabletop as they listened.

As Aoi’s story came to an end, Shuu abruptly looked across the table at their fellow saniwa. “Why are you doing that?”

“Doing what?” Aoi and Aki replied at nearly the same time.

“That,” Shuu replied, pointing at Aki’s hand. “You keep stroking the table. Are you thinking about something?”

Aki shook their head to try to physically clear some of the daze they had felt since earlier. “Oh, it’s nothing really. It’s just how...you know, the way some of the sword warriors seem to really struggle with the concept of personal space.”

Aoi folded their arms and hummed in agreement. “I don’t think I’ve ever been around so many people whose idea of ‘appropriate physical distance’ is ‘touching’.” They giggled. “I can’t really say I mind it from those who do it.”

Aki rapped their knuckles lightly on the table as they nodded. “Yes, that’s what I mean. Most of them have a pretty good idea of what’s socially appropriate, but there are a number who just seem to have never grasped the concept. Some are...worse than others.”

“Right, like I feel like our Gou swords are particularly bad about it. I’m pretty sure Buzen’s used me as a chin rest like four times now.” Shuu’s word choices felt like they were forming a complaint, but their tone and the fond smile made it obvious it was anything but.

“Yes!” Aki exclaimed, “Just like that! Or how Kogarasumaru consistently leans into you when you get his attention for something.”

Both Aoi and Shuu looked a little shocked. “Hm? That doesn’t sound very much like the Kogarasumaru at my citadel,” Aoi replied, raising a hand to their cheek in thought.

“That doesn’t sound very much like the one at our citadel.” Shuu sounded as though they were in a state of disbelief. “He’s overly formal and distant with literally everyone. Are you sure?”

Aki laughed nervously. “Of course I am. Just earlier I couldn’t read something in one of the reports, and he leaned in super close to me. He also…” They traced their arm the same way Kogarasumaru had. “Wrote out the way the character is written now like this on my arm.”

Aoi tilted their head. “And you’re saying he usually does things like this?”

“Yes, pretty much all the time.” Shuu stifled a laugh. Aki shot them a glare. “What? What about it?”

“Sweet, darling Akkun. You’ll understand what I’m getting at when you’re older. I think as it stands you’re just simply too unaware of the workings of the world.” Shuu held up their hands in an exaggerated shrug, shaking their head all the while.

Aoi took a sip of tea before contributing in the same light, teasing tone as Shuu. “Absolutely. You’re just far too innocent, too good. Someday, when you’re older, you’ll understand. But now, well, I suppose it’s best we don’t taint your purity while you still have it.”

The table shook slightly when Aki rapped their fist onto it, their face in a firm pout. “I’m older than both of you! I know exactly what you’re implying, you know!”

“Oh, dear.” Aoi reached out their hand, and Shuu laced their fingers together with Aoi’s. “Shuu, it seems someone else has already spoiled our dear friend’s innocence. What a shame!”

Aki huffed in frustration. “Stop it! I’m a grown adult. You’re saying he treats me differently, right? Who’s to say it’s not just the way he feels is proper to treat his master?”

Shuu disentangled their hand from Aoi’s to point at themself. “Me. I would know, too. Seriously, he’s super respectful, but I don’t, like, know if he has cold hands or whatever.”

“He seems to run fairly warm,” Aki replied.

They seemed to not fully realize the implications of that answer. It was definitely not lost on Aoi, however. “You hear yourself, right?” They asked. “He sounds extremely fond of you. He clearly finds you special.”

“Special?” Aki’s voice was strained. They cleared their throat. “...Anyway, I’m in the mood for something sweet. Rice crackers are fine, but I’m going to go see if I can find something with a little more sugar. Do either of you need anything while I’m up?”

Shuu sighed, looking back down at their phone. “There’s some single-serving cheesecakes in the fridge. They’ve got my name on them; grab those.”

Aoi shook their head, so Aki turned to leave the room. They heard a teasing “Changed that subject fast, I see,” before they slid the door closed.

Aki frowned, their cheeks warm. They felt they had no choice but to change the subject; they were pretty sure they would have fainted if they’d stayed in that room too long. They scurried down the hall towards the kitchen.

To Aki’s surprise, the kitchen was occupied when they arrived. To both their delight and their dismay, said occupant was Kogarasumaru, apparently looking for an afternoon snack.

“Aruji,” he greeted, sounding pleased. “Do you need me so soon?”

They shook their head, walking past Kogarasumaru without making eye contact. “No, no, I’m just grabbing desserts Shuu-chan said were in the fridge. You’ll have a while longer to relax.”

He asked, “Are you having a nice time, Aruji? You always seem to be in a very good mood after you three get together.”

Aki hummed thoughtfully, rummaging through the various jars and containers in the fridge. “Um, maybe. They’re pretty ruthless when it comes to teasing me, especially once they realize I’m getting embarrassed.” Kogarasumaru sounded more than a little curious about that. “Hoh? I wonder what kinds of things they’ve been teasing you about. I’d imagine you’re usually fairly above reproach.” He paused for just a moment, adding a request on. “Could you please hand me the cream that is in there? I have found some strawberries.”

Carefully balancing three containers in one hand, Aki pulled out the container of cream with their free hand. “I wish that was the case. Lately, they’ve been teasing me for being oblivious.” They turned to set down what was in their hands onto the nearest counter, to better reposition how they were holding it. However, they ended up nearly dropping the items down in surprise, as Kogarasumaru was very close behind them, leaning in even closer to shut the door to the refrigerator. “Oh, thank you,” Aki stuttered out.

Kogarasumaru smiled warmly. “Oblivious? To what?” Aki realized in that moment that he definitely already knew. Aoi and Shuu had been right; this was all very purposeful on his part. Their mouth felt dry as they made up their mind to just lay all their cards on the table. Aki knew that otherwise, it would eat away at them until it was all they could think about, and they already had issues with Kogarasumaru occupying their thoughts far too often. “Kogarasumaru,” they began, trying to figure out how to best word this. “You’re quite fond of physical contact, I would say.”

He tilted his head, and Aki couldn’t help but admire the way his hair swayed along with the motion. “With you, at least.”

Aki found it difficult to swallow. “With me,” they echoed. “Is it because you think I’m special?”

Taking half a step closer, so he was now nearly brushing against Aki, Kogarasumaru replied, “Indeed, quite special.”

He was special too, they thought. They wanted to say it, but the words absolutely would not come out. Instead, they raised a hand and impulsively placed it on the closest part of him they could reach: his cheek, it turned out. He leaned his face slightly into it, his smile softening ever so slightly.

“I’ve waited quite some time for you to touch me, you know.” His voice was quiet, close to a murmur. “Swords are at their happiest when being handled by their master.”

Aki took a deep breath. “This is about more than just me being your master, though.” It wasn’t a question, even if they did desperately want to hear confirmation. A lot of pieces were suddenly falling into place for them.

“Despite how many centuries I have been in this world, I have never felt this way about anyone, sword or human,” Kogarasumaru replied.

Eye contact in this moment was incredibly embarrassing, but Aki knew they would never forgive themself if they let their gaze stray from those beautiful onyx eyes for even a moment. “What way is that, Kogarasumaru?”

“Love,” he stated simply.

Aki’s head felt fuzzy all of a sudden. It was one thing to have Shuu and Aoi implying it, but to hear it outright directly from the sword himself felt so much more overwhelming. Before they could second-guess themself, they leaned in. Kogarasumaru met them halfway. Their lips met in a short, gentle kiss.

Aki pulled back completely immediately after. They almost leapt away, their face bright red. “I really should g-get going back,” they managed to say, gathering the desserts into their arms.

They rushed for the door, but before they left, Kogarasumaru called out, “I shall see you in a little while, Aki.” He sounded deeply content. It made Aki’s face burn even hotter, if such a thing was even possible.

They managed to compose themself before reaching the room they had left Aoi and Shuu in. When they slid open the door, Shuu whined, “Took you long enough! We were starting to think you died!”

Aoi laughed. “I didn’t think you died. I assumed you got pulled in to mediate an argument. Or maybe died, a little.”

Aki handed each of them a cheesecake, picking a fork off of the plate of tea snacks in the center to use. “Well,” they began, trying to keep their voice even, “Actually, I ran into Kogarasumaru, and…”

Shuu’s shout as they finished their story rivaled the one they’d let out on the day Kogarasumaru had been summoned in the first place. They would never let Aki live this one down.