ᴀɴᴅ ɪ ᴄᴀɴ·ᴛ ʀᴇᴍᴇᴍʙᴇʀ ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ.

and it's hard to believe, but it's all coming back to me.

[lacernatus-blog]

I’m sorry. oh my god.

[okitasright-blog]

Her silence only causes the uchigatana to stare in curiosity, what could it be that’s so important in which she has such serious features. A tilt of his head, his weight placed on his other leg whilst trying to keep his composure. There’s something about her that seems she’s searching for something on his features, a brow raises and he hums softly to himself. The jingling of the keys in his hands are placed inside of his haori, it isn’t long until she speaks again with eyes that spark for answers in itself.

“H-Huh?” He blinks slightly confused t this question, where did this come from? As much as he doesn’t understand why she believes something like this, he wonders what brought this up within her. His spouse, however, is someone he’s known for many years of his life, having fought along side him when part of the Shinsengumi— not only that, even on the fronts of battle where they would keep history the way it was with help from the Saniwa Sage.

“I’m sure he hasn’t, I’ve known him for a very long time.. so he’s aware of who I am. Why, did your spouse mistake you as well?” He questions before he continues, “Ah, it’s alright. It’ll be fine, I’m sure they didn’t mean to.” A light laugh leaves from his lips as he finally places his hands behind his back, he has no reason to be alarmed, though it’s not something that’s normally brought up.

Of course, he shrugs his shoulders, “It could be because you and your spouse don’t know each other so well so sometimes mistakes are made, you have my condolences if this is what happened to you.”

[lacernatus-blog]

  That wasn’t what she expected either; she had no problems with Shintaro, so Ney quickly shook her head in truthful denial.

“No, no, he never did that, please don’t get me wrong-- it’s just from a d-distance, you looked very much like one...”

  If anything, this was the closest to a natural friendly exchange for Ney; it didn’t feel so forced, so faux, so stilted. It was more than she could’ve ever asked for, because to feel natural and free just felt so new and foreign that maybe, just maybe, this city could do wonders for her character. Years of being experimented on and being used while living her days with only one manic goal in mind wasn’t really the most pleasing thing, yet Ney found that even through this silly conversation, she could rebuild who she is.

  But she ended up laughing-- it was just so silly and stupid and refreshing that she couldn’t help but laugh, and she smiled over at him.

“I’m Ney Marlon, the wife of Shintaro Kisaragi. It’s so nice to meet you.”

[lacernatus-blog]

positive traits? I can keep house.

[routevii-blog]

At hearing that he was able to help somewhere he looked up at Ney who wore that disturbed examining face. He waited for her answer.

The moment he heard it was about the pc it was like she didn’t have to say any more really. “Oh. That’s easy I can definitely help you there in whatever you need. The reasons pcs ask for so much of your personal information is because it’s your personal computer and it serves as a storage device of sorts I guess.” Shintaro had finishing up was slowly setting his plate to the side as he further elaborated on the computer Ney deemed to be so foreign to her.  

“The information doesn’t really go anywhere other than to it’s memory and if you set up a password it’ll be for your eyes only anyway and those you might choose to give the pass to.” It was kind of funny Shintaro wasn’t great at what should be common for people like say making laundry, yet when it came to electronics he knew so much. “If you still feel uncomfortable placing all that information in you could always use different credentials too. Like for phone number you could use mine?” He shrugged. Teaching her how to use the pc would be fairly fun and when Ene got a hold of it he was sure Ney would be in for quite a surprise.

[lacernatus-blog]

  She’s a good listener, so she listened attentively. When she last checked, the PC seemed like this bulky contraption that was as odd as can be, but upon listening to Shintaro’s explanations, Ney almost assumed that it was something horribly government-related. Being a princess of an island nation with a strong naval force would most certainly propel her to look into certain people’s background information (to which she did before), but at the mention of passwords, she loosened up considerably.

  Her plate was empty too; Ney was patiently eating while Shintaro spoke, and after taking the last bite of her pancake, she placed her utensils together and set the plate aside. Explanations were helpful, but seeing that her husband was an inherently skilled person in the digital field, she took the advantage immediately.

“Does that mean that you can show me how to operate it? I-I mean, will you download the things that you think that my PC should have safely, without issues?”

  The poor, outdated girl apparently bought two antivirus packs and haven’t even opened them out of mild paranoia. Ney was actually incredibly fearful that the whole thing would outright explode if she placed the disc in the drive.

[lacernatus-blog]

all the pretty boys and all the princesses.

“I’m so sorry to disappoint you, but I’m a married woman,” Ney smiled.

  Then again, who isn’t married in Iunctum? She even considered having an aide-memoire to remember who is married to who, and who is the child of a particular assigned couple. The blonde apparently forgot as to what made her say that in the first place, however, yet for her to say something, she must have obviously thought it through beforehand.

jingorgeous

[lacernatus-blog]

please move, please move!

“Please-- this is my job; I have to do my job, sir, and you’re obstructing a body. If you’re connected to the victim in any way, then I will try to accommodate you...”

  Because when there are panicking people, it just gets so much harder to do her work. Everything gets so confusing and everything’s just all over the place, and Ney was an organized woman. The preliminary clues to a crime must be obtained quickly, yet she knew better than to be rude.

keijizz

[lacernatus-blog]

is it alright to keep your last name? or do you have to change it?

[certofiel-blog]

　“Oh, I understand.” Nodding slightly, the context of her words makes more sense with her question clarified, were it not for the fact that she seems interested in many things that the sword himself is unversed in. He should give her a proper explanation. “I hadn’t known that was a custom here. Actually, the name I’m referred to by is the same as the smith who supposedly forged me, so I’m unsure if mine would be fitting to alter. It isn’t mine to change, exactly.” 

　Though the more he considers the idea, the more the question of his authenticity comes to the forefront of his mind. If the Kunihiro name isn’t one that truly belongs to him at all, never mind being allowed to change, would there really be a problem in it? It’s a question to ponder, and perhaps even news to share with Yamato on what marriage is like upon his return. 

　As for the rings his eyes brighten with curiosity at the prospect. “I see. I hadn’t been informed of this. Are the traditions strict?” Looking at his own bare hand, he frets. “Is it a bad thing, to be married without a ring? It would be awful to know that I’ve made such a mistake all this time.”

　“Ah - sorry, I don’t mean to get off topic. It’s only a rule of thumb, but Kane-san’s advice is often something that I trust, so I thought I would mention it. What I suppose would be more appropriate, is to do what you believe is right? You seem to know more about this than I do.”

[lacernatus-blog]

  She scooted closer to her newfound acquaintance and showed him her left hand, with her nails polished yellow. It was a necessity back where she came from, come to think of it, but to guilt him into getting a ring would be rather mean. So instead, Ney proceeded to tell him the basics of the matrimonial custom and pointed a finger at her left ring finger.

“Here; when a person wants another to marry them, they present a ring. It also depends on whether the person accepts their proposal, but when they do, the ring goes on this finger and it will show that they are engaged. When the two of them get married, they get rings as well and they go on the same finger to show that they are married, but of course, there’s also the issue of arranged marriages back where I come from...”

  Ney laughed softly to herself and smiled over at him, taking his left hand in hers and opted to reassure the curious individual. “But if you’ve never heard of it, don’t worry. It’s not necessary where you came from, right? But if you want to give it a try, then I’d say go for it! It’s rather fun.”

[lacernatus-blog]

I’m sorry. oh my god.

[okitasright-blog]

He blinks at how quickly she’s able to take his held and because this it does make him happier rather than what he was before when she denied his offer. “I’m free, I have nothing to do so my time is yours.” This is stated so she understand that nothing she does with him will be of wasted effort, he is happy enough that he can help her with something no matter how little it might be.

The way she looks around, he follows her gaze and then looks back into her own hues, “Ah, what must we speak about, the way you’re looking around almost makes it seem very important.” Though he’s only joking not knowing if it truly is, “No matter, whatever it is, I’ll do it without fail so you can count on me for your services.”

“I’m all ears.” His voice is soft as always, waiting for what it may be that she wishes to speak with him about. He really can’t tell what the topic could be, people— humans were still mysterious in their own right from time to time weren’t they?

[lacernatus-blog]

  Even if he thinks that this was a small thing to do, talking to her, she thinks of it otherwise. It wasn’t the fact that she was whimperingly lonely-- if she was, she could never have done the things that she did before-- but she needed some sort of confirmation that people might see her for who she really is. However, the million dollar question is this--

-- wait, Ney didn’t have the time to think of it. Rather, at the middle of thinking, she looked at his face and blinked.

  For crying out loud-- she’s a detective, yet this man’s face boggled her to no ends. If Ney were to have seen such a person in Lucifenia or Marlon, she wouldn’t even waste a second and walk right past him since she had much more pressing matters and missions to carry out. But in this case, she scrutinized him rather carefully and found that this man, this rather attractive young man, could easily pass for a woman without even trying.

That’s not supposed to be surprising, Ney though, it happens all the time, but...!

“I’m sorry, but...has your spouse ever mistaken you for a woman?”

 Ney should’ve bit her tongue and kept her mouth shit, because ironically, she had once disguised herself as her half-brother, and really, she shouldn’t be so surprised, but...she was astonished!

[lacernatus-blog]

positive traits? I can keep house.

[routevii-blog]

Ney’s small giggling made him a little anxious, but he managed to do what he intended right? That uneasy feeling was gone as quick as it came. His words wouldn’t cooperate with him sometimes so this was good.

Shintaro nodded. “Really second nature?” wow! That seemed pretty cool or rather she did. He kinda felt bad Ney was so proper and attentive to him definitely seeming like the ‘proper’ wife, but Shintaro really didn’t have any extremely outstanding qualities to offer back, other than maybe being tech savvy. “Oh, no it’s fine. Well actually, thanks if there’s anything I’d want in particular one day I’ll let you know.” He seemed glad for the most part.  Eyes shifted elsewhere. “I…don’t know if I can offer you help in anything, but if you ever need anything from me I won’t mind.” Help where he could yeah? “I’m not really good at house work kinda stuff but if you need a hand then…”

The pancakes Ney made really were good you could even say they were fire.  Home made pancakes were always better to him than the frozen box stuff. “Theyre…really good actually. I haven’t had pancakes from scratch in a really long time. I’m used to the frozen ones.” Before he took Neys offer he realized she hadn’t sat down to have her own share. “Aren’t you gonna have breakfast yourself though?” He didn’t want to just have Ney standing around. He’d feel too guilty. He didn’t want to tell her what to do either though. He knew all this was like second nature to Ney now, but still, she had to relax a little too right. 

[lacernatus-blog]

“Actually, there is one thing that you can do for me.”

  Ney got her share of pancakes before proceeding to sit down right across Shintaro, looking as if she was a little disturbed, somewhat. She scrutinized her own cooking for a moment; there was nothing wrong with the food, and she knew it, but there was something wrong with one particular thing.

“I’ve been trying to use the PC in my room, but I just...don’t know how to use it? I seem to be typing too slow, and whenever I make accounts, they just ask for so much personal information that I’m not sure whether to even disclose any of them or just give up on making them...”

  Her full name, her birthday (to which she absolutely couldn’t find the year to!), her birthplace (to which it was not there!), her phone number-- Ney was utterly overwhelmed. Hopefully, Shintaro could help, mainly because she felt that if she couldn’t even master this contraption, she’d be a sad laughing stock, and she’d be missing out on quite a lot.

[lacernatus-blog]

please let me get back to work.

  A manicured fingernail pointed at the view of the dead body of the unfortunate civilian while the rest of the detective’s fingers wrapped around her ballpoint pen. For the most part, the police were doing their job in taking care of the crime scene, yet Ney wasn’t anywhere near the yellow tapes taht blared the words: ‘POLICE LINE’ over and over. In fact, the blonde-haired former assassin was strangely in a rooftop restaurant way above the ground with none other than a heavily suspicious individual that she had just met.

"I’m supposed to be down there investigating, and you insist that I stay here with you,” she began. “Why is that?”

[lacernatus-blog]

ooc: like for a starter while i make some icons!

[lacernatus-blog]

I’m sorry. oh my god.

[okitasright-blog]

He laughs softly unaware and what’s caused her to be like this but, “Spare keys? Of course, perhaps he would but I wouldn’t want to bother him for the sake of getting back inside, he already does enough for me.” He truly does, almost everything which sometimes makes Yamato a little upset in his own right. It’s for the fact that he doesn’t want to worry the other when he already as so much and even if that meant himself having to sleep outside, he’d take it.

“Like you say, it wouldn’t be that bad— I believe I’ve slept through worse.” A nod of his head as he changes the subject back to his kind offer, “But please, there has to be something you need done, I was clumsy and you saved me for having to be outside so.. I don’t mind the task if there’s anything you need done. I’m use to these things.”

Being honest to the fact that he doesn’t mind whatever her task could be, he truly does feel like he needs to repay her actions! “I’m very capable so you have no reason to worry, it just wouldn’t feel right to me if I couldn’t do something for you. What if we never meet again, this feeling will be nagging at me forever if I can’t do something that benefits you.”

[lacernatus-blog]

  Was there something that she couldn’t do at all? Ney was perfectly capable of handling herself, whether it was in the domestic aspect of self survival, or the more brutal aspects of self preservation. She was far from a sword; she was a dagger at the back, ready to stab when no one’s looking.

  But to satisfy the rather good-looking individual before her, Ney ended up seeming a little more friendly-- somehow, it was much easier to try and be a little more genuine in a foreign place.

Being genuine. It seemed so, so hard.

  “There is one thing,” Ney said, looking rather thoughtful. “If it is alright with you-- I mean, if you’re free at this moment, would you care to talk to me?”

[lacernatus-blog]

I’m sorry. oh my god.

[okitasright-blog]

He hasn’t been paying attention so a slip of the keys that falls from his haori goes unnoticed— luckily there is a kind soul that must have been watching over the uchigatana. He hears steps behind him along with the jingling that plays within his ears, with a turn of his heel does he come face to face with a female who seems a bit shocked at him when she’s in a close range.

Her silence is unknown to him but a hand raises up to the scarf that he wears, “Ah, you have nothing to be sorry about. You mean.. these right?” He says pointing at the keys in her grasp with his free hand and taking them once after clarification, “You were just being kind, so there’s no need to apologize.” He doesn’t know that it’s a misunderstanding that she had with his appearance. Then again, if he had paid attention he wouldn’t have minded.

“I’d like to thank you, if you hadn’t done this for me, I probably had to sleep outside tonight. If there’s anyway that I could repay you.” He states, he is a sword owned by Souji Okita himself, he would have to do something in return for her actions. It’s not every day someone with warm intentions would return one’s keys back to them.

[lacernatus-blog]

  She let the keys leave her hand, and she could hear them dangling in the man’s hands as she reminded herself to regain her composure; it wasn’t that surprising, don’t be so shocked, but he just looked so much like a woman that she almost wanted to bite her tongue for getting his gender wrong.

  But it seemed as if he didn’t notice her little blunder, or maybe he quickly disregarded it without saying anything. At any rate, Ney ended up laughing and shaking her head-- at least she doesn’t feel so bad anymore, given his reaction towards the entire situation. However, at the mention of him sleeping outside, Ney looked a little concerned. 

“Oh, it’s alright-- I don’t think it’ll be as bad as that, would it? Surely your spouse would have the spare keys to the apartment?”

[lacernatus-blog]

I’m sorry. oh my god.

“Miss, you dropped your keys--!”

  Upon closer inspection, however, Ney was never more mistaken in her life. ‘Miss’ wasn’t the correct term; it was ‘Mr.’, and for a moment, Ney merely stayed there, stunned to silence.

“...I’m sorry,” she ended up saying, still blinking.

okitasright

[lacernatus-blog]

is it alright to keep your last name? or do you have to change it?

[certofiel-blog]

　“Eh? Me?” Blinking just a bit, Horikawa’s expression becomes a bit apologetic as he’s only managed to catch the latter half of her commentary. “Ah, I’m sorry. I didn’t catch the question, could you repeat it one more time?”

　“But, I see… Is that something normal? The rings, I mean.” Well, seeing as he is a sword, and coming from 16th century Japan no less, perhaps to make inquiries to him will only open one up to more questions than answers. Though he does seem eager to reassure as he carries on. “Well, things move fast when you first come here, but everybody seems to be okay if you do things at your own pace. Kane-san always tells me, haste makes waste, right?”

[lacernatus-blog]

  “Did you change your last name to befit your spouse’s?” Ney asked again, fiddling with the fabric of her apron as she looked over at the youth. Or maybe he wasn’t younger than her; she had recalled that a mage back in her time looked younger than her age, so Ney learned not to judge a person’s age by their looks.

  “Rings-- it’s quite normal in a few customs, in where engaged and married couples wear them,” the blonde mused aloud, speaking from personal experience. It was a half-hearted musing, as if she merely said that sentence without even thinking much of it, but at the person’s reassurance, Ney ended up smiling over at him, shaking her head lightly.

  “Not always, not always. Sometimes, things have to be done in haste, but people will tend to be more comfortable if given an ample amount of time. It works in certain situations, I suppose.”

But back to the original question that started it all, she wouldn’t mind being called Ney Kisaragi. No, not at all.

[lacernatus-blog]

positive traits? I can keep house.

[routevii-blog]

Shintaro wasn’t much of a morning person or an early riser but with everything that had happened, him coming here that is. He didn’t really get much sleep therefore he was up before noon for once. 

Still not very good with people he wasn’t sure how he would deal with having a wife all of a sudden. In the end he hoped he could be tolerable at least as a “husband”. He wouldn’t cause them trouble considering he doesn’t like leaving his room much anyway nor does he like making noise. 

At the smell of the maple syrup Shintaro made way out of his room rather confused. Following the smell to its source he was notably surprised! This person had made breakfast for him? Well people did this kind of thing, but he wasn’t expecting it either way. 

“Oh.” He shook his head offering a smile to reassure the girl. That’s what you did to calm people right? “No worries, there’s nothing to mind about someone making  breakfast.” Who was he to deny her hard work anyway. “It smells good, looks good too. Wasn’t imagining to come out to this honestly. Used to a different kind of morning.” He rubbed his visibly tired eyes the rings under them were pretty dark. You could tell he didn’t get sleep. Taking his seat he looked at his wife who still seemed on edge. “Thanks. Um…. you don’t have to do this kind of stuff though, I mean this is..your place too so I don’t mind what you do, Ney.” Without further delay he cut his pancake and had the first bite. 

[lacernatus-blog]

  It was a relief to know that her husband was quite the well-meaning guy, and Ney couldn’t help but smile at the thought that things might get a lot easier from here on out. At present, if anything, she had hopes in being able to socialize in a more genuine manner with him; with all her previous facades and acts, it seemed very hard for her to even find a permanent sense of self. But at Shintaro’s considerate words, Ney gave a small giggle, showing that she was quite tickled with the fact that he, despite his nerves, was trying to calm her and make her feel at home.

“It’s really not a problem for me; housework is like second nature. But if you want anything special for breakfast, lunch or dinner, please tell me, okay? Or you can give me a list of your preferences and I’ll complete the list in no time...”

  But instead of sounding like an inexperienced wife trying her hand at everything, Ney carried an air of someone who knew her place in the household, and as a trained handmaiden, she knew exactly what she was doing. The blonde, however, did have a day’s struggle with modern technology such as using her new hand phone, using the washing machine, the PC (and by god, the PC was addictive) and other things the previous day, and even when she came to know of working fixed hours as a detective in the city, she ended up quite perplexed. There were good reasons; Ney knew nothing about modern technology, and she didn’t have a day off while working back where she came from.

“How are the pancakes? If you want more, there’s more in the pan,” she smiled, pointing at the pan in question with a thumb.

[lacernatus-blog]

positive traits? I can keep house.

  In all angles, Ney wouldn’t make such a bad wife; her foster mother had trained her as rigorously as the other maids in the Lucifenian palace, so wrapping an apron around her clothes before proceeding to the kitchen to make something for breakfast was so easy that she could do it with her eyes closed. But of course, people had different preferences, and her husband was no Princess Riliane.

Hopefully.

  On the safe side, Ney made the safest breakfast that no one could possibly deny-- pancakes. Besides, if anything goes wrong, she can just remind herself to ask him what he wants. What he prefers. Whether he wants his clothes hand-washed or machine-washed, whether he’s allergic to eggs-- Ney’d ask all of that later.

But for now, pancakes.

“I-I do hope you don’t mind; I’ve already started making pancakes, S-Shintaro,” she said rather meekly, as if she was being caught doing something that she wasn’t supposed to be doing in the first place. Her shy front completely masked her rather analytic thoughts regarding the housekeeping, and it also hid that rather staggering fear that she’d fail in something that she was thoroughly trained in.

routevii

[helliishly-blog]

                                                               i was built for 

                                               DESTRUCTION

                                                               & now you’re  

                                                  IN MY WAY.

[lacernatus-blog]

is it alright to keep your last name? or do you have to change it?

  Because Ney was plainly alright with the situation, even though she was wedded by assignment to a person a few years younger than her. It wouldn’t make a difference if she was to change her name to Ney Kisaragi, frankly, but for introduction purposes, did she have to announce herself as Shintaro Kisaragi’s wife by taking on his last name?

“ To be honest, I’ve been meaning to ask you that question; I don’t even have a ring on my finger, and I have yet to start my first day of work.”

certofiel