#katsurou

[sajirah]

Katsurou Yamanaka, my favorite character from EmptySurface’s amazing fic Hear the Silence.

[pumpkincentaur]

bringing him back from the dead to chuck him in the torment nexus once again

[svfttachi]

can you do fluff of itachi where y/n or s/o is pregnant.<3<3

WC ━ 1.2k

TYPE ━ fem!reader, modern au

TW ━ mother's day is celebrated, references to reader as "mommy", pregnancy

✎ this was a super cute, but super short, oneshot that just came to mind. i'm aware it is a mother's day type of oneshot, and it would have been better if i started this one sooner, but it's whatever. i hope everyone had a wonderful mother's day, and to those who struggle with the day, i hope life gets easier for you.

───── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─────

CLATTERING of pots, pans, and plates originating from the kitchen can be heard all the way across the quaint home and in the master bedroom. Waking up to the empty presence beside you in the bed wasn’t a new concept ever since you had your first child. Your child, a four year old boy, took after his father’s ability to rise earlier in the morning, so the father-son duo would usually be wide awake before you. So much like a normal morning it was, you rose from your slumber and achingly sat up straight. Your arms stretched out into the air, allowing the muscles in your back to relax a little.

With the added weight to your body, it began to put a strain on your lower back muscles, and every morning for the past seven months, you would wake up with a uniquely pleasant ache in your back. Just as you were about to get out of bed, your ears caught the sound of your husband hushing your giggling son from outside of the bedroom. A smile came to your face as you decided to sit and wait for what’s to come.

Just as you expected, the door opened inward, allowing you to face your husband and your four year old son. What you didn’t expect, however, was the large tray of scrumptious breakfast food in their hands. Itachi stood behind your son, Katsurou, taking care of holding up most of the weight of the tray.

“What is all this for?” you asked with a shocked expression on your face. Itachi carefully placed the tray over your covered legs and picked up Katsurou to sit him next to you. Immediately after being placed on your bed, you felt his tiny arms wrap around your body, and his head relaxed on top of your protruding belly. You instantly reciprocated the motion and brought your adorable son closer to you. “Happy Mother’s Day, Mommy!” he exclaimed, burying his face deeper into your stomach.

You giggled and looked up at Itachi who walked up to your side. He leaned down to place a kiss on your temple, mumbling the same phrase to you, “Happy Mother’s Day, Y/N.”

“Aw, you guys didn’t have to do all of this,” you said, looking down at the delicious assortment of food on the tray.

Easily, you could tell it took them all morning to make the food look and smell delectable. The tray held various types of food. On the big plate in the center of the tray, a stack of two pancakes sat with a decorated smiley face using strawberries as the eyes and blueberries as the mouth. They went further than that by adding strings of vanilla cream in a way to express your hair, even if it wasn’t the same color. Beside this plate was a small cup of maple syrup and a mug of hot chocolate with large marshmallows since you decided it's best to avoid caffeine during your pregnancy. Off to the side, there was another plate consisting of your favorite flavor of yogurt and two pieces of toast with butter on the side.

All of the thought that went into making this breakfast and the excitement in your son’s eyes was enough to make you grow emotional. You’d say it was the pregnancy hormones that were making you act in such a way, yet you were just grateful to have such a thoughtful and beautiful family beside you.

When your son’s dark orbs spotted the smallest of tears forming your eyes, his face turned from excited to concern in an instant. Katsuro sat up from your embrace and quickly went to wipe away your tears from your eyes. “Why are you sad, Mommy? I thought you liked breakfast like this,” he asked in his innocent, worried tone.

Itachi chuckled along with you at how clueless Katsuro was. You quickly reassured your child with a hand to his soft, raven locks that mimicked his father’s hair. “I’m not sad, Katsuro. I’m just so happy that I have you and your father that I started to cry. You did a wonderful job in making breakfast. I love you, so much, my sweet boy,” you responded.

“I love you, too, Mommy!” he exclaimed, throwing his arms around you again.

Itachi rested his hand on your shoulder to catch your attention. Once your eyes landed on his, a smile came to his face as well, adoring the beauty that is his family. “Enjoy your breakfast. I’m going to clean the mess that is the kitchen,” Itachi said in a loving tone, “I love you.”

“I love you, too, ‘Tachi.”

He pressed another gentle kiss to your head before taking his leave from the bedroom. Once the door was closed, you looked down at the food with your hands rubbing one another, trying to decide what to take a bite into first.

You began to feel a sudden poke at your arm, so your head turned to look down at your son who was looking up at you with his exaggerated, rounded orbs. It was his way of asking you for something, and just as you predicted, he spoke up, “Can I have a bite?”

A laugh escaped from your mouth as you nodded, “Of course. How else can I finish all of this food?”

Katsuro threw his hands in the air as a sign of victory before getting comfortable next to you. The two of you enjoyed the silence and ate together.

Halfway through the pancakes, you looked down at Katsuro as he started talking, “I can’t wait to meet my baby brother. Mommy, do you think I’ll be a good older brother?” His big, round eyes peered up at you in curiosity.

“I think… that you’d be a great older brother to your baby brother. Why do you ask?” you questioned. Katsuro sighed and shook his head, “I’m scared that he’s not going to like me or that he’ll take all of Daddy’s time from me. But I want to be best friends with him, Mommy.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, Sweetie. You know why I think you’d be a great brother to your baby brother? It’s because you go all the way with surprises like this one. I wasn’t expecting you to do all of this for me, but I still feel amazing to have such a wonderful son like you to make me feel special every single day. I just know that you’ll do the same for your brother, as well,” you explained.

At that point, Katsuro began to cry as well. “I can’t wait to see him,” he mumbled through his tears of happiness. You brought your arms around his small body, keeping him close to you as you whispered, “Me too, Katsuro.”

From outside the room, Itachi stood with his back leaned against the wall beside the cracked open door. His arms were crossed over his chest, and a smile was printed on his thin, pinkish lips. Itachi heard everything that you and Katsuro talked about, and it made him gush at the conversation. He always knew that you’d be a great mother to your shared kids, and it shows in this conversation.

He, too, couldn’t wait to see his baby son come to the world, nor could he wait to see the look on Katsuro’s face when he gets to hold him for the very first time.

───── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─────

navigation ✧. ┊ gen. masterlist ✧. ┊ itachi writings

[emptysurface]

HtS Poll!

I've been wanting to do this since polls first were rolled out, so buckle down. If you're here bc of HtS, then which one of my OCs is your favourite (other than Kyo, I guess, heh)?

[s-pendragon7]

WIP Intro:

Fruit of the Heart

🍎 Genre tags: Fantasy, mythology, monsters, magic

🍎 Other tags: Throuple, asexual character(s), blood, found family, politics, folklore, 3rd person pov

🍎 Status: First draft in progress

🍎 Tldr: for the record, if there’s a silly goofy but normal lady living in the forest with cannibalistic trees, she is NOT in fact a silly goofy normal lady. Also, monster-fucking without the fucking. Sort of.

🍎 WIP Tags: wip: FOTH, wip: Fruit of the Heart, Fruit of the Heart, FOTH

Summary: When Katsurou is nearly killed and saved by the odd Xenia and witnesses the community she created, he gets thrown into world he never could have dreamed of. At the same time, Rian is on a quest, and believes Xenia to be the key to all the answers he seeks.

🍎 Cast:

🍏 Xenia: the dumbass who lives in the woods everyone is afraid of

🍏 Akuma Katsurou: the chaotic bisexual with wings

🍏 Rian Sidhe: a genius when he’s not with the other two numbskulls. Then he’s just as dumb.

Lmk if you want to be on a tag list!

Taglist: @thelaughingstag

Bad PPT Pres

100th Word: Invaded

1000th Word: Spasmed

2500th Word: Everywhere

5000th Word: Faster

[luckcycler]

hello yes i just want to say i adore Katsurou with all my heart and wish only the best for him

my favorite nervous wreck of a man <3

[ranseiuniter]

thinking about changing katsurou's fc but also ew, effort. also I forgor a very important member of the retainer squad so I have an NPC headcanon to write soon.

[oathofmoonlight]

meta: relationships

It's safe to say that Kaguya is... not super keen about pursing any sort of relationships in whatever world(s) she ends up in. Nothing serious, anyway. She likes to joke that her love life is just as cursed as she is, considering her two biggest relationships... well, they're complicated.

The first was Katsurou, a long-time friend and one of Kaguya's original teammates, before the downfall of the order. Katsuro was a samurai (fighter, samurai subclass) and one of Kaguya's best friends. They had a long history together and you could basically consider them high school sweethearts. He was the last surviving member of their original party after the curse struck. Kaguya wanted them to go off together in search of a way to lift the curse, while Katsurou... having all his friends and family die around him made him less inclined. He tried to convince Kaguya to give up and abandon the adventuring life instead, where they might be able to live more safely. Kaguya was not so keen on this idea, and to put it simply. They didn't part on the best of terms. (Both of them wound up regretting this.) Three years later, after a lot of very unsuccessful efforts to lift the curse, Kaguya tried to locate him again in the hope of finding some help and maybe also apologizing for some of the shit she'd said when they last parted. She found out pretty quickly thereafter that: 1. he had also been searching for her; 2. he was dead, and; 3. his soul had been stolen and turned into a monster controlled by one of the phantasms. She ended up having to kill said monster, so it's safe to say that particular relationship ended quite poorly.

The second was Phoebus (fighter, echo knight), and the whole thing was immensely more complicated, mainly due to the fact that there's some time bullshit involved. They were initially less friends and more rivals. And also kind of couldn't stand one another, at least initially. But they were brought together by a mutual friend and did respect one another's skills, so... somewhat friendly rivalry? Or that was the case until an extremely complicated series of events that I do not have time to explain resulted in him going to the dark side, getting killed, and all memory of him being erased from the current timeline, after which he was replaced with a version of himself from another timeline. Like I said, immensely complicated. But in that world, Phoebus and Kaguya had a much less contentious relationship. One might even call them friends. So, being re-introduced to Phoebus for what she thought was the first time, they hit it off much better this time. Albeit with some awkwardness, considering this Phoebus had a Kaguya in his original timeline who this Kaguya was not, and Kaguya had a very detailed journal of her travels that mentioned Phoebus before, but... in a far less positive light. Nonetheless, they were kind of in a relationship - insofar as the adventuring lifestyle would allow - until the point at which they had to part ways, as Kaguya's quest for answers was taking her in a different direction. Still, being that they were adventurers, they both assumed they would reunite again in the near-ish future, because adventurers tend to run in smaller circles than you would think. They were correct, but not in a good way. Turns out Phoebus was a Phantasm and went dark side, again. And thus Kaguya had to kill another of her exes.

Paired with the loss of her closest friends and remaining family, Kaguya is... understandably averse to allowing herself to have any serious feelings for most people, romantic or otherwise.

[sweptawxy]

📂 (Hooow about one for Kagerou and one for Mitama?)

Kagerou comes from a two sibling household. She has an older brother who she takes care of and sends money to. Her older brother's name is Katsurou and he has a chronic illness that keeps him bedridden. Her parents are long since gone by now, but she does still try and take care of him while taking care to do her job for Ryouma.

Mitama is the second oldest of the Hoshidan children. Her mother, is Hinoka, making her the cousin of Shiro and Kiragi. She does get along with her cousins but she does find Shiro to be hotheaded and acts out without thinking.

[s-pendragon7]

❤️ Fruit of the Heart

🧡 Bloodlines, Medic!!

💛 Uhhhhhhhh definitely not cannibalism symbolism

💚 A year? Ish?

💙 it was going to be like an anti-shonen that focused on the medic npc but then I got side tracked in worldbuilding and oops.

💜 first draft

🖤 Xenia, Rian, and Katsurou

💔 X: definitely not an eldritch being; R: smart until he’s in the same room as the other two; K: disaster bisexual with wings (he owns the brain cell)

❣️ nbbbbbdhehebdallofthemhdjdjejxjdjdjeke

💕 Rian and Katsurou meeting for the first time

💞 Xenia in royal court

💓 stand-alone for now. Might make another story in the same universe

💗 fantasy

💖 if possible, traditionally. If not, for free on the internet

💘 she’s definitely an eldritch abomination

💝 Rian’s

💟 I don’t usually lean into higher fantasy

writer wip asks✨

❤️: what’s the working title? 🧡: what were previous working titles/ideas? 💛: what is the title based on? 💚: how long have you been working on it? 💙: how has the idea changed between starting it and where it is now? 💜: where are you in the writing process? 🖤: what are your MC names? 💔: give a brief character bio of your 3-5 MCs ❣️: which scene has been hardest to write so far? 💕: what has your favorite scene been? 💞: which future scene are you looking forward to writing? 💓: is it part of a series or standalone? 💗: what genre is it in? 💖: are you planning on publishing it? if so, how? 💘: give us a huge spoiler 💝: who has your favorite character arch? give a brief summary 💟: how is your style different in this work compared to previous ones? has it more shifted for the story or just developed in general?

[sajirah]

Kyo, Kou, Isshun, Katsurou, and Spider from the fanfic Hear the Silence by Empty Surface.

I can’t believe I never posted all of these together, but better late than never I guess.

[emptysurface]

Hi it might be spoilers or maybe even rude to ask and feel free to ignore this, but why is it so important to konoha that kyo goes through seduction training so young? Are they specifically hoping to recreate an agent with a similar profile to her mother? Within the anbu/assassination/seduction mission category, she certainly has desirable skill. Are they planing for genma to follow the blueprint when he becomes a ninja? Also why didn’t katsuro or kou like, protest the seduction training, especially at such a young age, or did they not have the power or what? Is it because she is a jounin and anbu? Could kyo reasonably refuse future seduction missions without consequences? Just seems odd that the girl that can’t be on birth control has to be the one doing seduction, unless it was a honeypot mission… and also i know it isn’t a bloodlimit, but wouldn’t konoha rather have kyo put her energy into stabilizing her clan??? Like she already is but you know, clan culture, knowledge, all that. Kinda also thinking about how kyo is in part parentified, helping raise genma, since she was eight years old and she is also solely responsible for teaching him poisons, while he gets a childhood, while she missed hers? Anyways love the fic, i’m always so heartbroken for kyo, she goes through such turmoil, and i feel like she doesnt need to deal with 90% of the drama that shows up in her life, but atleast there are always people she can hug to feel better. <3

I think this is based in a misunderstand about how I write seduction, tbh. I'm not aiming this solely at you, Anon, btw, but I do get quite a lot of comments similar to this, so it's been on my mind a lot.

Kyo isn't getting seduction training to become the next Spider/Utako. Kyo is never going to be a seduction specialist, she's not going to be sent out of the village to "seduce the enemy" so to speak.... I've also established that those kinds of missions are pretty rare to begin with.

Kyo is at her base an assassin. She's also a kunoichi. Kou and Katsurou both acknowledge, even if it's only silently, that there are aspects of their profession Kyo won't be able to escape. In the last while of HtS, we've seen Spider primarily use her seduction skills to... gather intel.

So what it comes down to is that Konoha (and, to some extent, the people responsible for Kyo) want her to get this training not so they can fling her at people to have sex with, but so that she can use these skills if it's ever needed in the field, to gather information, carry out an assassination, or to simply survive a terrible situation.

Her rank and her being ANBU are definitely a contributing factor, in a way, bc they influence what kinds of missions she's sent on etc.

So at the end of the day, I guess you could say Konoha isn't super invested in Kyo getting seduction training the way I think you meant it? But Kyo is an asset, and seduction training makes her more prepared to deal with hazards and obstacles in her profession, as well as makes her more vercatile when unexpected components pop up on mission.

And the truth of the society I am writing is that, frankly, it doesn't really matter if Kyo gets seduction training or not, to a lot of people, because just the simple fact that she is a kunoichi, most people will assume she has it.

so like she says in the story, she'd rather have the tools if she ever need them than the other way around.

I hope this answers your question in regards to the seduction, Anon!

Genma's career depends a lot on how he does once he graduates, his personal skills and talents, but yes, seduction training is highly likely to be in his future, too, tbh.

I don't know if I missed any questions, but. I'm glad you like my story? :) It's always nice to get to talk about it, hope you're having a good day, Anon!

[luckcycler]

dud you purposely made Frog Katsurou look like he has two pair of eyes

?? not really? what are we talking about?

[s-pendragon7]

Hello! You didn’t tag me but I’d like to play!

My words are moment, idea, road, and health!

Anyone who wants to play, your words are: catch, flash, apple, poison

Please read below the cut!

TW: violence, blood, pregnancy

Moment:

“Little crow,” the Volkodlak crooned in a raspy voice, “won’t you bleed for me?”

Katsurou’s skin crawled, even as his mouth opened without his brain fully catching up.

“Well, you’ll have to catch me first.”

That was possibly the stupidest thing he could ever say to Volkodlak. He shouldn’t have spoken at all, really, but baiting a wolf to catch him?

Once again, the hysterical part of his brain quipped that he probably deserved to die for that bit of dumbassery.

Then there wasn’t time to think, the Volkodlak flashing forwards, claws outstretched.

Katsurou side-stepped, grabbing one of the Volkodlak’s arms with one of his flaming hands.

The man howled as the smell of cloth and skin burning erupted around them. He didn’t falter though, instead using his other hand to try and gut Katsurou once again.

Katsurou cursed and released him to avoid the claws and shifted at the last MOMENT. Nails screeched across the armor plating his shoulder.

Idea:

Katsurou came into consciousness slowly.

It was like floating up through warm syrup, almost.

His eyes pried open and he stared up at a ceiling that most certainly wasn’t his, and his body tensed up.

Bad IDEA, his side flared in pain and he grunted.

Road:

Darrogh opened his mouth again. “No, I’m not telling you where I’m going,” said Rian. “I will tell you it shouldn’t be more than 2 weeks. You can keep the fortress from burning down for that long, can’t you?”

“…probably.” Darrogh glanced away sheepishly while Rian raised his eyebrows.

“Very comforting. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to bribe Aisling for medication so I don’t die on the ROAD.”

Health:

“I was worried, yanno?” Rowan rambled.

“Oh?” Xenia noted down the woman’s vital signs and basic HEALTH number in her notebook. About six months along, the babe had gone through a growth spurt or something in the womb since the last time Xenia had seen it, Rowan plumper than most women at this period of pregnancy.

Find the Word Tag!

thank you @honeybewrites for the tag!

My words were: Vibrant, Resilient, Water, Flower

You can read all my snippets below the cut, I'll tag some people first though

@illarian-rambling @mk-writes-stuff and @diabolical-blue

yalls (and anyone else who wants to do this) words are: moment, idea, road, health

TW: Drowning

Vibrant:

I spend the day waking up in a daze for brief moments of time before slipping back into unconsciousness. My body is on fire but I can't get warm enough no matter how many blankets I hide myself under. All my dreams turn into nightmares of drowning. I’m at work, the store, a party before I'm plucked from my dream environment and randomly chucked into the ocean with blocks of concrete tied to my ankles. I struggle until my lungs fill with water and my body becomes dead weight, I wake to varying degrees of sunlight peeking through my windows before rolling over and drifting off once more. It's a never-ending horrific cycle I find myself a prisoner to. 

The next morning I'm unable to fight against my bursting bladder and empty stomach any longer and manage to pull myself out of bed. After washing my hands I attempt to slick my hair down with some water and avoid looking in my own eyes. The veins in my hand are vibrant beneath my pale skin. 

I manage to force down a piece of toast and a cup of coffee before Layla makes her way to the kitchen. 

"Glad to see you are up." She chirps. "Hell of a hangover I guess. I didn't think you drank that much." 

"I didn't." My voice cracks when I try to speak. 

She looks at me then, really looks at me. She catches my eyes and I turn away, afraid she might see something she's not supposed to.

I don't have anything with Resilient sorry :( (one big theme of HtD is resilience though, if that's any consolation)

Water (ive used this word a lot so here some angst):

Her comforting voice gets zoned out by the intense buzzing that fills my brain, much like if bees actually made a hive out of my brain cavity I vibrate uncontrollably with each strained breath I take in. My voice makes up words as a response to the woman. Her words are lost on me, simply bouncing around the bee hive until the bees kick each word out of my head and continue their buzzing. 

I drop my cellphone, or Nicolas takes it from my hand, I am not entirely sure but the conversation ends barely after it began. In the course of one phone call it all comes crashing down. For weeks I had been treading water, and now I am sinking to the bottom of the deep end. 

There's a hand on my arm, soft pressure. I feel another graze my cheek. "Cas?" I hear from behind the blanket of smoke covering my eyes. "What's happened?" 

Flower:

Nicolas leads the way to the door and pulls a key out from the top of the doorframe to unlock the door. "Oh, don't let Mouse out. He likes to hide in the cabinets." 

Nicolas pushes open the door and waves me through before him. A washing machine and dryer sit to my right alongside two pet bowls, one filled with water, presumably for Mouse the cat. The wallpaper is an old flower design, straight out of the 80's. A big bundle of fluff peeks out from behind the storage shelf and darts at me, screaming all the way. The cat weaves between my legs until I reach down to pet him. I get one small scratch on his forehead before he takes off for the kitchen and urges me to follow. 

"And that would be Mouse. He screams at you if he likes you." Nicolas smiles at me. 

[incorrect-webtoon-quotes]

Cape of Spirits: #1

Katsurou: What do you guys eat your cereal with?

Flayvus: Is this a trick question?

Katsurou: No…

Jinsei: You probably eat cereal with water and insist there’s nothing wrong with it.

Flayvus: Excuse me!? I EAT MY CEREAL WITH MILK WHAT SORT OF UNCULTURED HEATHEN DO U TAKE ME FOR?

Kanae: You guys eat cereal with liquids?? Nerds. Try plasma instead for once losers.

Jinsei: Eh, it tastes like brussels sprouts though…

Kanae: Well that’s your opinion and I respect but I still know it’s completely shitty of an opinion and fuck you, you cinnamon toast motherfucker.

Jinsei: I genuinely don’t even have a response to being called a “cinnamon toast motherfucker���.

Katsurou: Well, looks like things are heating up in the food fandom.

Flayvus: Heating up as in I’m gonna set a bitch on fire for starting this. How about you huh?

Katsurou: I eat it straight out of the box without any liquid. I love how sugary and unhealthy it is.

Jinsei: You live… for now

Nine: I’ve heard to try mixing it with pasta.

Jinsei: You. Run.

[ranseiuniter]

"I'm sorry to put so much on you, Shiori. You must be tired."

"Please, my lady--it's my duty to serve you, after all."

The handmaiden brushes off Hiroko's concern, but she can't help but doubt. It's hard not to feel that everyone in Aurora has been spread thin these past few days as they deal with the aftermath of Ignis. As badly injured as Taiki was, all of their army's healers had been working to ensure he'd come out the other side of this... well, none worse for wear was likely out of the question, but with his quality of life intact, at the least.

On top of that, there was the now constant need for vigilance. Conquering Ignis predictably came with its own slew of problems. As it turned out, the kingdom was... unstable. Right now, all she'd really done is create a power vacuum in the midst of an already desperate situation. If that bastard Hideyoshi's first thought wasn't a hostile takeover of Aurora and instead a revision of their alliance, this could have been solved without such hassle!

But as it stood, Hiroko was now faced with both the issue of Ignis' dwindling food supplies and a technical power vacuum. There was, of course, a certain risk in staying here; word had surely spread by now of her victory, and how she'd obtained it. Doubless, she was far from the most popular figure in Ignis right now. Rather than getting to go home after their success, all her men were still on high alert, ensuring the castle, at least, remained safe while Hiroko finished her work here. Until she could build a resolution that would solve Ignis' food problem without exhausting Aurora's already limited resources, nobody, it seemed, was going anywhere.

...And then there was the matter of that dream. It was what weighed heaviest on her mind tonight. She hasn't dared to bring it up to anyone yet--Katsurou would believe her, surely, but she wasn't sure if he would truly understand. Shiori, however - she was a priestess. Surely, if anyone could help Hiroko parse such a dream, it was her. So Hiroko had pushed her lingering thoughts away until the evening, when Shiori was relieved of her obligations as a healer.

She can't help but feel that she's overburdening her poor retainer, watching Shiori prepare their sleeping arrangements for the night. But without anyone else she can entrust this to just yet...

"Shiori, I wanted to ask your opinion on something, if you don't mind."

"If it's about that Oichi girl, my lady, I've made it quite clear that I think she's awfully suspicious--"

"No, no," Hiroko can't help but giggle. Shiori's feelings on the matter did come from a place of caution, but she couldn't help but suspect there was a bit of jealousy in them as well. "I know. I'm sure she'd be happy to wash her hands of all this, too. But until everything is settled here, it's not a good idea for her to leave. Besides, I do owe her for her help."

Shiori makes a sour face (very unbefitting of her soft features, which Hiroko has to stifle another giggle at). "I suppose, but we still don't know her intentions. But... I digress. What is it you wanted to ask?"

"I..." Hiroko has to swallow the lump in her throat that she didn't realize was there. "I had a dream, a few nights ago. A... a vision."

Shiori abandons her task, turning to her warlord to offer her full, undivided attention. She understood at once why her lady would seek her council on such a matter--she was a psychic, after all. No doubt, she could feel Hiroko's trepidation.

"I believe--no, I'm certain... I was visited by Arceus. They spoke to me, the night after we won. Though I... I'm afraid that I may have made a mistake."

Hiroko expected shock, or perhaps disbelief. What she sees on Shiori's face is instead a sober look, almost as if she had... expected this? No, that couldn't be right. Still, she says nothing, so Hiroko takes it as a cue to elaborate.

"In the moment, everything made sense to me, but looking back on it... I've been trying to remember, exactly. I know what I felt, but - I can't shake the sense that I knew something then that I don't know now." She shakes her head. A vague sense of something just out of reach, lingering in the pit of her stomach...

"I feel like this isn't the first time it's happened. I can't remember, but... there's some part of me that knows I've met them before. They told me to come home, and - I don't know how, but I knew that they meant to return to them."

Hiroko is so lost in her own head that she doesn't realize Shiori has cleared the distance between them until she takes her hands. Though abrupt, it's... reassuring. "Please continue, my lady. Did they tell you anything else?"

"Right..." Arceus' words remain clear in her mind; they've been ever-present since the dream, lingering somewhere in her thoughts at all times. But she can't help but hesitate, as if she's still trying to truly comprehend them. "They told me to come home. That - that I didn't have to stay. That I didn't have to hurt. They said that the path ahead of me was... that it was only going to continue causing me pain, and that they wouldn't be able to help me on it. I... I think I understood what they meant at the time, but... I don't remember, exactly. But I feel like...

"I think I remembered things in that dream. I think--I came here with some kind of purpose... I don't remember now, but I know I did. I returned to Ransei for a reason--" ...Returned? Hiroko stops, realizing the words that left her mouth don't seem to make any sense. She was born in Ransei. She had lived her whole life here. Where would she be returning from? Surely, that didn't mean--

"Lady Hiroko, if I may?"

And again, she's snapped out of her spiraling thoughts with a reassuring squeeze of her hands. The look in Shiori's eyes is warm—proud, even.

"In Illusio, when we met, I insisted on becoming your retainer. I could sense something in you, Lady Hiroko. I didn't know what, but I knew you held something special. Now I know why. You are divine, my lady. The Original One has spoken to you, the first in centuries. This—you—could be what finally brings about the end of this horrid war."

"That—" That can't be true. She knows it's wrong, even as she says it. The proof lies in the dream she had. "They seemed to believe I was making a mistake, though. That—involving myself in it further would only make matters worse for me."

Shiori closes her eyes, pondering the apparent conundrum in her theory. "It's true that it will be a long and difficult path. I believe... perhaps the Original One speaks out of concern. Your loved ones would say much of the same, would they not? I worry for the burdens you would carry if you were to undertake such a quest. But it is not my place to try to stop you. Indeed, if your soul came to Ransei from where the Creator waits with a goal, I cannot think of any other worthy one."

It makes sense. It truly does. Every word fits cleanly into the empty spaces that had been left by her own mind. But the mere thought of it all—undertaking the task of unifying Ransei, of endangering her men further for what most believed was an impossible task... It makes Hiroko's head spin.

"Thank you, Shiori. It would seem I have a lot to consider."