Chapter Text
Giyuu winced as he plunged his hands into the freezing water. He wrung out his hands, cleaning them of the dirt and grime he got doing chores. He absentmindedly picked at the scabs and calluses littering his hands from hours of lifting heavy crates and boxes. As he lifts them out to dry off, Tsutako’s voice calls out from the stables.
“ Giyuu! Dinner time! Come inside!”
He grinned; Tsutako-nee had been gone all day working odd jobs for money. She had promised to find Giyuu something sweet as a reward for finally learning how to write his name. ( Giyuu had pouted, saying that it was her who had taught him, so she was the one who deserved the treat. She had simply tugged on his hair from where she was braiding it and laughed. )
Even if Giyuu felt guilty for taking time out of her day, he couldn’t help but be excited. For the last few weeks, both had eaten nothing but plain rice because that’s all Tsutako-nee could afford.
He jumped up from the small bubbling stream he had been sitting near. He would have cleaned his feet before he came inside—but they wouldn’t have time to dry, and then he would get mud all over the floor, and Tsutako-nee would be mad.
Giyuu raced through the forest, ignoring the small scratches on his feet from rocks and twigs. He slowed his pace to a walk as he got to the edge of the dense woods. The stables that currently provided Giyuu and Tsutako a place to stay were run-down and owned by the elderly Kazehaya-san. He let them sleep in the small room where he stored the saddles, harnesses, and blankets for the horses in exchange for work. It was dusty, and the two siblings barely had any room to sleep, but Kazehaya-san was nice. Sometimes he would even pick Giyuu up and let him groom the horses.
He opened the door to the back of the stables and called a greeting to Tsutako-nee. He rubbed his feet on the old doormat to get off all the dirt from the forest, since he couldn’t clean them at the stream. Tsutako-nee smiled at him from where she was lifting the last saddle onto a large shelf. She grunted with the effort, then finally ran over to Giyuu and lifted him up. He shrieked with delight as she spun him around.
She kissed his forehead when she finally put him down, “How were you today, Giyuu?”
He bounced on his toes, excited to tell Tsutako-nee about his day. “I helped Kazehaya-san clean the horses! And Fujioto-sensei let me watch his kids! He also let me sort the medicinal herbs! And I helped Rokita-san carry his crates to the shop!”
He gasped, suddenly remembering something. He turned and dug frantically in his pockets till he pulled something out. “Rokita-san paid me! Three-hundred and… um…” He looked back down at the three 100 yen coins, one 50 yen coin, and a 20 yen coin. He furrowed his eyebrows, trying to remember the math Tsutako-nee had started teaching him before bed.
He looked up again, grinning. “Three hundred and seventy yen!” He pushed the coins into Tsutako-nee's hands. She blinked at him, eyes shining unusually, before leaning down and squeezing him.
“Good job, Giyuu! You’re so helpful!”
He blushed, looking down at his feet. “It’s not that much… You make more every day.”
She makes 1000 yen from working at Rokita-sans shop every day and another 500 from various jobs she takes around the village. His 370 yen is nothing in comparison.
She pouted, “That’s my job as an older sister, otouto. I take care of you.”
That’s the parent's job, he wanted to say. But their parents were gone, so it was left up to Tsutako-nee. He doesn’t remember their parents very well. Neesan tells him stories sometimes about Tomioka Miharu and Tomioka Daikichi. She tells him about Miharu teaching her how to swim under the moonlight and the warm tenor of her voice as she hummed lullabies. She doesn’t say much about Daikichi. He was strong and always carried a katana at his waist. He gave her a hunting knife before his death. Giyuu isn’t sure if it’s all she knows or if that’s all she’ll tell.
What Giyuu remembers about his parents isn’t much. He remembers yelling. A crashing noise from another room. Then —
Screaming. Papa left for the other room. Something is laughing. It’s inhuman. Tsutako-nee sobs against his Hanten where she's holding him in the corner. Okaasan is standing with her back against the wall. She looks at them and says
“Run.”
Tsutako-nee takes his hand and then they’re in the forest. Neesan is crying. He hears one last scream from the house and then an unnatural silence.
Tsutako-nee pulls him back to reality when she squeezes his shoulder and runs off to get something.
“ A surprise. ” She says cheekily, waving goodbye. Giyuu walks over to where their futon is crammed, between some boxes of saddles and such, and flops down. The box closest to their futon is smothered in papers full of Giyuus's awful handwriting. Tsutako-nee has been trying to teach him how to read and write with mild success so far.
Neesan walks back into the storage room, deftly sliding between shelves and boxes. Her hands are hiding something behind her back. She makes it to the futon before pulling out a plate of dango.
Giyuu gasps, he can’t remember the last time he had dango! He quickly scrambles to his feet, and Tsutako-nee smiles at his excitement. She sets the plate on his papers and takes a dango stick for both of them.
“Rokita-san gave it to me for free as a late birthday present.” She giggled, “Yuuki-kun also asked him too.”
Giyuu huffs at the mention of Rokita-san’s grandson, Yuuki. Tsutako-nee had met him when she began working for Rokita-san. They had gotten closer when she went for her lunch break every day. Now, she visits him every Monday evening. Instead of doing his lessons, the two of them hang out together.
Giyuu hates him.
It’s not like he enjoys the lessons. Giyuu thinks they’re pretty pointless, but he tolerates them for Neesan. It's Yuuki taking time away from Tsutako-nee that he hates. He likes Rokita-san, but he’s never even met Yuuki. Giyuu only knows about him from Tsutako's stories.
Giyuu savors the sweet flavor of the dango, but when he finishes the last one on his skewer, he’s hesitant to take another serving. He knows Tsutako-nee got them for free ( probably said for his benefit, so he doesn't feel bad. It never works ) but he still feels guilty for it. When he looks up, Tsutako has finished her dango too. There are still four dango sticks left on the plate. Oneechan pokes at her face with the empty skewer, deep in thought.
“Giyuu,” she says finally, “Would you like to finish the dango with Yuuki-kun tomorrow on Monday?”
He startles, choking down the jerk response of absolutely fucking not.
As much as he hates it, Giyuu was just complaining about not having met Yuuki. He shifts on the futon so that his feet are crossed under him.
“...Fine.” He mutters.
Tsutako-nee still picks it up. She grins excitedly, clapping her hands together, “Great! I’m sure you'll love him, Giyuu. Just as I do.”
She lets him skip the lesson for the night since he’ll be accompanying her to Rokita-sans shop in the morning. It's a long walk, she says, so you’ll need lots of sleep.