𝕃𝕖𝕥'𝕤 𝕊𝕖𝕒 (FEM! Reader X Arataki Itto)

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ⁵⁷

Previously...

I hooked our arms and began to walk towards the next hallway. "I think they're following." I whispered and he gave a subtle nod. We turned the corner and when I knew we were out of sight, we spun around to face the mystery person.

I was shocked when a woman turned the corner.

Her long salmon pink hair was braided and wrapped in a bun with a single hair ornament that resembled a fish. Her long navy blue, purple and white dress flowed just above her knees and her beautiful indigo eyes widened at the sight of me and my companion.

"A-Ah, my apologies." She squeaked with a soft-spoken voice. She tensed up upon seeing our offensive stances. Noticing this, I quickly lowered my hands to show her we mean no harm. "Sorry, we thought you..." I trailed off. Where have I seen her before? She seemed so familiar...

"Y-Your Excellency!" I didn't recognize her without her usual attire. This was THE Priestess we were looking for, Sangonomiya Kokomi. The way her eyes widened even more told me I was right. "Wait, this is the lady?" Arataki questioned as he pointed a thumb at her. "It's really you... Your Excellency, we've been searching everywhere for you." I gave a curt bow and yanked on the front of Arataki's furisode to force him to bow as well.

"Interesting... I've heard rumors of a pair asking around for me. I'm assuming it was you two?" I only asked one person and gave up when they ignored me, so it was probably Arataki.

"So... why were you following us in the first place?" She held her hands as they hung in front of her with a curious look in her eye, "Actually, I thought you seemed familiar. Because of the lighting, I had to follow you to confirm your identity." She covered her mouth shyly with a gloved hand, "I must admit, I don't usually make rash decisions to follow strangers so it surprised me as well. It's just... You reminded me of someone I once knew."

My eyes lit up with excitement and I grabbed her hands in mine, "Your Excellency, you do actually know me. I'm Kaito's niece, Y/n." A small gasp escaped from her as she examined my features one more time, seeing the resemblance. "Kaito... I heard about what happened. I'm... so sorry." Her surprise was replaced with a sympathetic gaze.

"That's the reason I'm here, you must know that his death was suspicious. Everything about it seemed off." She slowly nodded, "It was. But I had no jurisdiction to conduct any sort of investigation. I really wanted to, I did." Her eyes held sorrow and regret, informing me her words were true.

Arataki was awkwardly standing behind me while he watched us converse. He was bored out of his mind and wanted nothing more than to wander but he knows I'll drag him back by the ear once I catch him. So he stayed put and began rocking on his feet, back and forth, with crossed arms.

"Kaito was a great man, he was loyal to the resistance since it formed. When I heard he had passed, I was distraught. The whole army was. We have no clue as to why or how it happened. We were kept in the dark, mostly because of my affiliation with the resistance."

I looked down at our hands, my brows arched in a frown as I gathered my words, "I was there. I was the one who found him and I went to the crime scene later on." Her hands tightened reassuringly over mine, providing comfort with the gesture. Arataki immediately took note of my mood change and gently placed a hand on my shoulder for reassurance and moved to stand beside me to get a look of my face. I smiled weakly when my eyes met his before turning my attention to Sangonomiya once again.

"Goodness... What did you find?" She asked me. "I found out that–" I abruptly stopped speaking to look over my shoulder, past Arataki and he gave me a puzzled look. I got that feeling again, that unsettling one from before. 'So if it wasn't her, then...' My eyes widened and I shoved Sangonomiya to the side, "Look out!" A sharp, metal object zipped past my head and penetrated the wall behind us.

Arataki spun around, his glare directed at the one who threw it. A man wearing a recognizable red and black uniform stood there, his mask staring blankly at us. "Fatui..." A hollow laugh erupted from the figure,
  "So we meet again, Young L/n." It was definitely the same guy we ran into before. I gritted my teeth, stepping in front of the priestess protectively.

"You again." I distastefully spat. He laughed again as he reached into his coat though I watched his every action closely, not trusting him as far as I could throw him. "I'm starting to think you don't like me very much, L/n!"
"Well duh." Arataki answered for me and summoned his club in preparation of a fight and tossed it onto his shoulder.

"I don't know much about the Fatui, all I know is YOU are the bad guys." He dropped the end of his club onto the floor and did a taunting gesture with his hand, "And Arataki 'The Supreme' Itto pummels bad guys!" I stared at him for a moment in awe, 'Whoa. Itto is actually really cool sometimes.'

The agent revealed another long dagger, slowly twirling it around threateningly. "Perhaps you do not remember... Let I remind you. I said we would return with a vengeance, have I not? I warned you. You two should've stayed away... Anything in my way, will burn!" After the words left his mouth, he vanished into thin air.

"Your Excellency! Run!" I shouted, not taking my eyes off the area where he was last seen, searching for any signs of where he could be. I heard a splashing sound like water behind me. I turned to see her floating a few centimeters off the ground with water floating between her palms, her Hydro Vision (which I thought was a brooch before) glowed brilliantly. "Do not underestimate me. I am quite capable despite my appearance." She said with an ominous smile.

"Man, now I REALLY wish I had my Vision..." Arataki pouted, feeling left out. I gave him a quick sympathetic pat on the shoulder before bringing my attention to the invisible man... Lol.

I heard a footstep right next to me and ice rapidly spread from beneath my feet and encased his. "There!" Arataki swung his club with one hand like a bat but he ducked underneath it at the last second and broke free from the ice. However, he wasn't able to evade a precise shot from Sangonomiya which made him falter in his attempt to attack.

He blocked as much as he could by activating a Pyro shield but it was taken care of swiftly by her Hydro attacks. He fell back into a kneeling position and I closed in. Unfortunately, he recovered right before I could lay a hand on him. He flipped out of the way and dashed right past me, towards Sangonomiya.

"Why won'tcha stand still?!" Arataki slid in between them, getting ready to stop the Fatui agent. He disappeared again, causing Arataki to freeze halfway through an attack as he realised he might've messed up. His head reeled back when he felt a force hit him square in the chin and Arataki stumbled while holding his jaw. "Itto!" I shouted without meaning to.

His eyes opened the moment he heard something behind him and swung his club. There was a sudden crack in the wall and the agent reappeared, laying against the wall with a slouch. "You okay?" I asked as I jogged up to Arataki. "I've had worse, this is nothing~" He smirked although I saw his one eye was tearing up. The lengths SOME PEOPLE go through to uphold their manly image...

"Your Excellency, I insist you leave now. I have theory they're after you specifically." Arataki looked at me and cocked his head to the side,
"How'd you know that?"
"His attacks were aimed at her and only attacked you when you got in the way."
"I noticed that as well." She nodded with a hand on her chin.

'The Fatui seem to be targeting those in the Watatsumi Army... First my uncle, now Sangonomiya. How does taking them out benefit them? Perhaps it would benefit the Tenryou Commission, but not the Fatui.'

I set my thoughts aside for now to focus on the matter at hand. He didn't appear to be getting up anytime soon so I turned to the priestess and oni, "Let's go. Quickly." They nodded firmly in unison and together we backtracked the way we came.

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