𝐓𝐖𝐚𝐊𝐈𝐃 | Genshin Impact

〘 𝐕𝐈𝐈𝐈 〙𝐓𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐚𝐤𝐢 𝐈𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐧𝐨𝐰

━━━━━━━┓ °• ✿ •° ┏━━━━━━━

Thoma had long since left to change and assist back at the estate for dinner. Saki, on the other hand, just emerged from the pool, towel still wrapped around her, skin blushed pink and smooth as dango milk thanks to the oils and scrubs as well as the natural mineral essence of the onsen's water.

Gods, it truly has been forever since her mind and muscles have felt this at ease.

Shuffling through her belongings, she begins to pick out her undergarments and yukata when something inside her chest flinches. Saki stops. The crickets are no longer chirping. The world has fallen into silence, no more wind rustling through the bamboo, no more chorus of the frogs and cascades in far off fields, and even the air seems to hang as though awaiting a storm. Then, just as quickly as she noticed it, the world breathed again, and the night hummed back to life.

But Saki knew better.

Her fingers dig under the silk of her kimono until she finds what she's searching for. One hand holds her towel and the other clasps onto a blade still cold to the touch. Inhaling, Saki is more than certain of it now— it smells like freshly fallen rain, light, inevitable, yet hardly noticeable. Unless you were looking.

"To what do I owe the pleasure," She reaches behind her, finding purchase in fabric and yanking the intruder in front of her, slamming them into the wall as she raises the needlepoint pin to their neck. "My dear Commissioner?"

Ayato grins but raises his hands in defeat. He doesn't even try and struggle.

"Well?" He tilts his head towards the pin. "Are you not going to finish it? Or, perhaps, have I finally begun to win you over, Yōkai?"

Saki grits her teeth, raising her arm to deliver the final slash across the vulnerable pale flesh along his neck, only to stop halfway. Stepping back, she raises her arms in defeat. However, in doing so her towel unravels around her, dropping to the bamboo floor with a thud.

"I could ask of you the same thing."

And indeed, pinned to her side was a water blade materialized from the heavy onsen steam. While Saki's physical strength may outrank his, she doesn't stand a chance against a sword.

Ayato smiles as she withdraws. A tie.

The Commissioner flicks his hand and the blade disappears, but Saki doesn't miss how his gaze trails down her chest before he promptly turns around. Ayato clears his throat, hand shielding his mouth as he speaks up once more. "Very well then, don't stop on my behalf. Only, I can't help but wonder, how did you know it was me behind you and not a member of the Shuumatsuban or, Archons forbid, an innocent bystander?"