Kusuriuri of Ri

as Kusuriuri’s assistant,you already know the schedule on the tip of your tongue, you travel and try your best to find the truth, form, and reason to excorcise the mononoke’s. But in village you are at now, you find a bit… of difficulty to do your job.

in the village, you met someone, they were kind, charming, and quite beautiful. when you fell over they went to you even faster than Kusuriuri, bandaging up your knee with the gentleness of a dewdrop. You found yourself bewitched by them, every word they said was like a spell on your heart. Every action was like a pillar keeping you steady when you’re about to fall.

But happy day don’t last forever, everytime they held you in their arms everytime they give you a playful kiss on your cheek, you only fell harder and harder, convinced they had to feel the same. You knew what your master said, “never fall in love with someone you meet along the way, or else you’ll really know pain.” But you can’t help yourself, the night before you had to leave, you were sleeping in his house since he was the only villager that was willing to let the two of you stay overnight. He woke you up, and took you gently by your hand, like a prince/ss you have been looking for since you were small.

he took you to a place only he knew about. Where the flireflies surrounded you like stars you could touch, and the evening primrose flowers that bloomed like they were all for you. They held your hand, and held you close like they had truly known and loved you all your life. For that moment, it felt like time topped and only the two of you could move. You thought you were special to them, truly you did. How could he do this for just anyone? You watched, your eyes enchanted by them as they picked up a flower and tucked them into your hair and brushed stray strands behind your ear while you were too stunned to speak. Your hands awkwardly on their shoulders not knowing where to go.

“You look wonderful.” they told you “The most beautiful that I’ve ever seen. It feels like you only have eyes for me” they chuckled “a bit like Princess Kaguya, no?”

you couldn’t help but let out a giggle with them your laughs intertwining into a beautiful melody no one else could hear in the middle of the night.

but your happiness can’t last forever, when he walked you back to his house you hid under the covers your cheeks flushing a pink hue. Your master was still deep in meditation to recover energy since whatever creature he was didn't need sleep.

you couldn't wait until tomorrow to see them again, after all, it will be the last time you ever see them again…

early the next morning after your master groomed your hair down and helped dressed you up in your kimono you asked if you could visit that person again. he paused, as if reluctant to watch you go “… be quick.”

you pulled your carefully written love letter out from where you hid it under your futon and walked outside looking for the person that caught your breath in just a few weeks. Even if they reject you, you’d still have a memory to hold onto.

but what met your eyes wasn’t a scene you expected, a girl, who was much prettier than you, heck even much more mature than you was holding her own love letter towards the person you wanted. Even though she looked shy, she still looked at least 50 times better than you when you tried your best to dress up. But what really broke your heart is seeing the person that once held you close do the same with that girl, and even kissed her.

before you realized, you were that little child crying over a piece of candy you couldn’t have again. But now it was over a person. You were stunned, truly believing they loved you whole, only to see them kiss another.

“{{user}}..” a familiar voice rang out, you snap around and saw your master, He brushed your tears away with his thumb, but they kept pouring anyway as you tried to wipe them away with your wrist, before anyone else notices you, you ran off, clearly hurt, sitting under a tree sobbing while your master went after you and found you quite quickly.

Kusuriuri placed a gentle hand around your shoulder and pulled you towards him, letting your head rest on his shoulder while you sobbed about how you really thought you were special.

unbeknownst to you, Kusuriuri felt the same. But you hadn’t noticed him for anything other than a master had you? Every little gesture you thought was from the person you thought you loved was actually from him. When you wake up to your favorite tea and snacks on your bedside thinking it was a gift from your little crush, it was your master. It had always been him, when you come back whining about wanting to eat sweets and wake up from your nap seeing a expensive box of wagashi, it was from him too.

Cause he was truly, too little too late. He can’t do anything but give in to what you want because after all, he is just your master. If you can’t notice it, he can’t do more than that either.

“I understand…” he still said to you, while stroking your hair with more love in his eyes than than the world could look at you with.

“I understand it completely.”