The Moon is White

Chapter 37

The table was silent for a few moments. A beat later and Touka broke it with a deadpan, "So... That just happened."

There was a pinched expression on his face as Itama turned to face his cousin. At her dead fish-eyed stare, Itama resisted the urge to apologize profusely for his shishou's eccentric behaviour. Rather than own up to having secretly sent an invitation to a weird individual, Itama decided to focus on more important matters, one that concerned him deeply.

He turned to his sister-in-law. "Mito-oneesan," he called in hesitance. When she quirked a questioning eyebrow, Itama squared his shoulders and asked, "Do you dislike shishou? Dara-shishou might be brusque and stubborn to a fault but h- they're really, really good person once you get to know them." And that wasn't bias talking, they were his true feelings.

His sister-in-law, rather than do anything mean, placed a well-manicured hand atop his head in a placating manner, a funny image when he was the taller one between them. There was a soft smile playing on her lips as she shook her head from side to side. "No, Itama-kun. I do not dislike her. You need not worry about us being hostile."

"But..."

"On the contraire, I find her interesting. Her personality, or what I could interpret from our short meeting, is like my dear husband's. They're both very dramatic," she tittered. It was a pleasant sound that soothed his nerves, very much unlike shishou's. They both ignored Touka when she laments about there being two of them now. "It makes them irresistible to tease."

Itama sweatdropped.

Teasing Hashi-nii, Itama could understand the fun of watching his oldest brother flail like an idiot. But his monster of a shishou? His sister-in-law sure owned some big balls – bigger than his, at least. Itama wasn't sure if she was courageous or simply clueless to the danger Madara-shishou presented. Probably the latter. Ignorant people were scary.

"That's, uhm, good, I guess."

"I am curious, however. Is Deai-san truly an onmyoji as Tobirama-kun claims her to be? Not that I doubt you, Tobirama-kun. She moves much like a kunoichi to be anything but," Mito asked curiously whilst idly brewing a new pot of tea.

"Uh... Shishou's a very eccentric, warrior. Their hobbies aren't something Mito-oneesan should pay attention to."

If he remembered correctly, the only hobby shishou has that wasn't weird was knitting. The rest... Yeah, they were better left unvoiced. Apparently, crossdressing should also be included in that unspoken list of hobbies. Shishou kept getting more and more whimsical as he aged, and Itama wasn't quite sure what to do with this information.

It wasn't like anyone would even believe him if he were to spread the word that Uchiha Madara was into drag. Itama himself couldn't quite believe it or call his esteemed teacher by female pronoun, hence he made do with gender-neutral ones.

"Does that include entertaining men-"

Mito was cut off by a firm, "No." by Tobi-nii whilst Itama wiped his sweaty forehead with the sleeve of his yukata. His older brother continued with arms crossed and face stern, "Disperse such thoughts from your mind. Dara has-"

"Dara, eh?" Touka butted in with wiggly eyebrows. She leaned forward with keen interest. "Someone sounds mighty possessive. Got something to share, little cousin?"

"Dara has no desire for coitus, least of all with strangers or for money," his brother ignored their cousin's not-so-subtle attempt at fishing for info. Tobi-nii's stony expression gave nothing but his annoyance away.

"Coi- Seriously, little cousin, can you be any more of an old man? Just say sex. Say sex. No? Then c'mere you! Eat my fist of love!"