Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sunlight filled Mitsunari's bedroom as Whisbei sleepily opened his eyes, before yawning and stretching himself out like a cat. He had been staying with- er, working for Mitsunari for a few years now, but the feeling of waking up in a nice, soft bed, or basket in his case, instead of a chilly barn was one that he never got tired of. As he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, Whisbei turned to look at his master, who was still sleeping comfortably in his large bed. Whisbei smiled softly at the sight of Mitsunari's slumbering face, then floated out from under his blanket and gently shook the human's shoulder.

"Mitsunari-sama," Whisbei spoke, his remaining sleepiness still in his voice, "you need to get up. It's morning, Mitsunari-sama."

Mitsunari grumbled, pulling the blanket over his head "A few more minutes, Whisbei."

Whisbei pouted, grabbing the blanket and began pulling it off Mitsunari's head. Despite the sleepy resistance he received, he eventually succeeded, looking down at his master's face, which was glaring at the space above Whisbei's head, as Mitsunari couldn't see him. While most would have stopped and let the lord rest when given the glare he gave to Whisbei, but he persisted. He knew his master wouldn't hurt him, even if he could, and gently patted Mitsunari's cheek.

"No, we have work to do. Besides, it's bound to be a lovely day today." Whisbei said as he pat the human's cheek rapidly, making sure he didn't hurt him but still getting the point across.

Mitsunari groaned, then sat up and stretched, "Okay, okay I'm up! It'll just take me a moment to get dressed, so if you could go and make sure some tea is ready, that would be great." he said, shooing the yokai with his hand.

Whisbei nodded and floated out of the room, before pausing for a second and sticking his head back into the bedroom, seeing Mitsunari curled back up in his bed.

"Mitsunari-sama." Whisbei dropped his voice a few notches, prompting Mitsunari to sit up again immediately.

"Alright! I'm getting up, for real now." He said, now actually removing the blanket and standing up.

Whisbei huffed and floated out of the room once again. After making sure the tea was done, he took the teapot and cups out to Mitsunari's favorite spot outside, with the most perfect view of the gardens as well as the moon during the evening. It wasn't long before he he heard Mitsunari's footsteps coming towards him, followed by the sound of the sliding door opening and closing.

"Ah, thank you very much, Whisbei." Mitsunari said, sitting down beside the tea set with the yokai sitting on the other side.

Whisbei replied "You're welcome, Mitsunari-sama. Are you feeling more awake now?"

After pouring both himself and Whisbei their cups of tea, Mitsunari smiled, nodding while saying "Of course, I appreciate your help in that endeavor, my friend."

Whisbei smiled and took his smaller cup, taking a sip after replying with "Anytime, sir." They spent a few minutes sitting together, drinking their tea in pleasant silence, simply enjoying the other's company. Quietly, Mitsunari looked down into his nearly empty cup. Whisbei noticed this and looked up at his master "Mitsunari-sama, are you alright?" he asked. Mitsunari didn't seem to hear him as he kept swirling the warm liquid in his cup, before he sighed.

"You know, Whisbei, I wish I could see you, just once." he murmured "I don't care what form you'd take, I want- no, I need to see you, even if it's just for a second."

Whisbei looked up at his master, his eyes widening slightly, "Mitsunari-sama..." he whispered softly.

Before anything else could be said, one of Mitsunari's servants walked up to them and told them that everything was ready for their work to begin.

"Excellent!" Mitsunari said as he stood up, "I will be there shortly. Now, please take the remaining tea and cups inside for me." The servant nodded and quickly did as he was told, before scurrying back inside. "Well, time to get to work, eh Whisbei?" Mitsunari asked with a cheerful tone, tilting his head to look in Whisbei's general direction. He showed no trace of his longing that he expressed just a few moments ago.

"Yes sir." Whisbei said as he stood, or floated, up as well, deciding that he should just forget about Mitsunari's comment earlier.

He understood Mitsunari's feelings, truly he did. Whisbei even found himself wishing he could be seen by his master. Sure, there were disguise leaves, but they were very difficult to find, and the ones he could find were insanely expensive. Typically, the only yokai who could even hope to get one were either ones who were some form of nobility, or have one as a family heirloom, and neither of those options applied to him.

So, he quietly followed Mitsunari into the castle. The day continued on as usual with Whisbei assisting Mitsunari with his work and inspiriting him when needed. Before he knew it, it was supper time. In the early years of his and Mitsunari's friendship, Whisbei would steal food off the servant's plates, before he was caught and it was decided he would get a plate of his own. He hungrily stared down at the dumplings that were in front of him, and licked his lips, then swiftly gobbling them up in a matter of seconds. Once he had also finished his meal, Mitsunari leaned over to him.

"Hey, Whisbei. I have a treat I'd like to try with you." he whispered, being careful that none of the others in the room heard him, "Before you ask, it's a surprise. Come on." Mitsunari then stood up and walked out of the room without anyone noticing.

Whisbei got up and followed his master, until they were in an empty hallway a few meters away from where they just were. Mitsunari looked around, checking that no one else was there and that they were alone, then pulled a small wooden box with a tree symbol on top out from his haori, opening it to reveal two bite-sized cookies resting on a cushion.

"I purchased these a while ago from a merchant who was passing through here a few days ago." Mitsunari explained, picking up one of the cream colored cookies, "I was told that they're foreign and, apparently, very delicious. So, I decided to try them with you, to see if they're worth buying again."

Whisbei picked up the remaining cookie, taking note that the same tree symbol that was on the box was also imprinted on it as well. He remembered the merchant that Mitsunari was talking about. He was a short man who wore a cloak that also had the same insignia as the box and cookies. He had a strange aura around him that had made Whisbei a bit nervous, but he seemed like a decent guy. These cookies were probably homemade and not foreign, probably just a selling point to make them more interesting, but he was willing to try them none the less.

"Are you ready, Whisbei?" Mitsunari asked, holding his cookie up in preparation.

"Yes, Mitsunari-sama." Whisbei replied, holding up his own cookie. Mitsunari simply nodded and the air was filled with a tense silence.

"One...Two...THREE!" They both said in unison before shoving the cookies into their mouths.

After chewing for a bit, Mitsunari spat out his cookie and gagged, "Disgusting! It tastes like grass, hell I'd prefer to eat grass than this!"

Whisbei, on the other hand, kept chewing his cookie and swallowed it, "I don't know, Mitsunari-sama, I think it tastes okay, a little minty but still okay." he said shrugging "Though, it's nothing really that special."

Mitsunari shoved the box back into his haori, grumbling "Good, means that I don't have to buy this garbage again. The box is nice though, so I guess I'll keep it for something else. Let's go to bed, now. I'm exhausted."

After walking back to Mitsunari's bedroom and Mitsunari getting into his sleepwear, they laid down ready for a good night's sleep.

"Goodnight, Whisbei." Mitsunari yawned, pulling his blanket over himself.

Whisbei curled up in his basket and covered himself with his own blanket, replying with a sleepy "Goodnight, Mitsunari-sama." before looking over to him. Silently, Whisbei gazed at his master's face, which was softly illuminated by the moonlight streaming into the room, sighing quietly to himself.

Suddenly, Mitsunari lifted his hand and moved it over the blanket that was covering Whisbei's body, barely touching it like he was afraid that it would collapse if he wasn't careful. After a few seconds, Mitsunari smiled and spoke in the softest whisper Whisbei had ever heard him use, "One day. One day, I'll touch you, I'll see you, and we can finally live together properly."

Whisbei's breath hitched, he was unable to respond with anything, for once his mind was blank as to what he could say. Quietly, Mitsunari pulled his arm away from Whisbei and rolled over, facing away from the basket. After staring at his master for a few minutes, Whisbei could hear soft snoring, showing that Mitsunari had fallen asleep and breaking him out of his trance. Whisbei guessed that Mitsunari had thought he was already asleep when he said that, not intending for the yokai to actually hear him.

He decided that he should sleep as well, as he was suddenly hit with a wave of exhaustion, and allowed his heavy eyelids to close, making a mental note to talk to Mitsunari about his declaration tomorrow once they were fully rested. It didn't take long for Whisbei to be pulled into sleep, though he did have a strange tingly feeling throughout his body that he couldn't understand.

Chapter Text

The next day, Whisbei didn't have the same, nice feeling when waking up that he had everyday since working for Mitsunari. In fact, he felt rather uncomfortable. He slowly opened his eyes, and was shocked at what he saw.

Legs.

Well, legs covered by his kimono, but still legs. He pulled it back slightly, showing his feet, which had thin sandals on them, wiggling his toes just to make sure that they were real. Then, he looked at his hands, which were now actual hands with fingers, and long, black, pointed nails at the end of each one. He then realized why he was so uncomfortable in his basket. He was now a lot bulkier, with a fat-buff physique along with thick arms and legs, meaning he was more so sitting on top of the basket, rather than in the basket. It was a miracle that it didn't break under his weight.

After a few seconds of Whisbei staring at his new body, he guessed that he had just changed into his 8-heads tall form without him thinking about it and it just looked different than usual, until he heard a voice filled with quiet surprise.

"Whisbei?" he turned to look in at Mitsunari, who was staring at him with wide eyes, Whisbei only being able to nod slowly in response.

After a few moments of the two of them being frozen in absolute shock, Mitsunari suddenly had a large grin on his face, and practically jumped on Whisbei, knocking him off of the basket.

Before Whisbei could say or do anything, Mitsunari began to touch and squish his face excitedly. "This is incredible! How did you do this?! Why haven't you done this before?! Can you do this more often?! Oh, who cares, this is the best day of my life!" Mitsunari yelled while rubbing Whisbei's cheeks roughly. Once the shock wore off, it finally clicked.

"Y-You can see me?" Whisbei asked surprised, managing to sit up and making Mitsunari sit up as well, though he was now sitting on the yokai's lap.

"Yes. Was that not your intention?" Mitsunari said, sounding slightly saddened.

"I didn't do this! I don't know what happened!" Whisbei panicked, staring at his hands again, before looking up with realization and horror. Even when he's in his 8-heads tall form, he is still invisible, but if Mitsunari can see him then that meant there was only one conclusion. "Where's a mirror?" Whisbei asked, looking around frantically.

"Hold on." Mitsunari said as he got up and walked over to his desk, retrieving a hand held mirror from one of the drawers, which he gave to Whisbei after he had returned. He took the mirror, and indeed, his worst fears had been realized.

He was human.

Not just a disguise either, it seemed, as he pulled on his cheek, noting that his typical, inhuman, stretchiness was no longer present, and that it actually hurt a bit. He stopped and just kept staring at his reflection in stunned silence.

He still had his slightly golden looking skin, his signature black line between his eyes, and his black hair, though now it was in a different style. Instead of his top knot, some of his hair had a thick curl going upwards in the whisp style on the front, which he was glad he kept, and the rest of it was in a long ponytail. His lips were now within the realm of human limits, but they were still very plump and the same blue-purple color. Other than hands and feet, Whisbei had grown pointed ears, as well as golden irises when he usually just had a pupil with sclera.

Slowly, he pulled his eyes away from his reflection to look up at Mitsunari, who was currently sitting cross-legged in front of him, looking at him intently.

"So, we should probably go talk to someone." Mitsunari said, carefully. Whisbei was still having a difficult time believing that this was anything more than just a dream, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that this was real. He nodded, hoping that they could find someone who could give them some answers.

Mitsunari stood, extending his hand to Whisbei, wanting to help him up, and he accepted it. After pulling Whisbei to his feet, Mitsunari looked up at him, chuckling a bit.

"Heh, I thought you would be shorter than me, if not the same height, if you were human. Definitely didn't expect you to be so tall." Mitsunari remarked, referring to the fact that the top of his head only reached Whisbei's shoulders. Now that he was standing, not only was Whisbei's height apparent, but the length of his hair, which reached down to his ankles, and the length of his kimono, which grazed the floor, covering his feet completely.

"Ha ha, yeah. I suppose it is kind of unexpected." Whisbei said awkwardly in response, deciding to leave out that this was about his height when he's in his 8-heads tall form. As he tried to walk, he stumbled and would have fallen flat on his face if Mitsunari hadn't caught him before he hit the ground.

"Still a bit drowsy, Whisbei?" Mitsunari laughed as he returned Whisbei to his feet.

"Ah, thank you Mitsunari-sama. You're right, my legs are still asleep." Whisbei replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Don't worry, Whisbei. Here, I'll help you." Mitsunari offered, holding his arm out in a way that suggested he wanted Whisbei to take it, which he did. The two of them exited the room, and out to where they were drinking tea yesterday morning, Mitsunari supporting Whisbei the whole way. Once they were there, the yokai realized something.

Whisbei let go of his master, "Mitsunari-sama, you're still in your sleepwear." he said, gesturing to Mitsunari to emphasize his point.

Mitsunari looked down at himself, and chuckled a bit, rubbing the back of his neck. "Ah it seems that you're correct. I must have been so excited to see you that I completely forgot to get dressed!" he smiled, "I'll be back soon, don't go anywhere, okay?" he asked jokingly.

Whisbei nodded and sat down as Mitsunari walked back inside to get dressed. After a few minutes of waiting, he heard the sliding door open, but when he turned his head, instead of seeing his master, he saw one of the servants, who was staring at him in shock. Before Whisbei could say anything, the servant ran back inside.

Whisbei couldn't really blame him, he was a stranger in a heavily guarded castle with an important figure head living in it. His new broad form didn't really help him either, since it probably only made him more intimidating.

However, after a few seconds, the servant had returned, this time with two guards, neither of which seemed like they would be willing to hear Whisbei's explanation as to why he was there. Not that they would believe that he was actually a yokai that followed their boss around and possessed him to give him advice, in fact that would probably just make them more determined to throw him out. Just as the guards were ready to attack him, Mitsunari finally showed up, now fully dressed.

"What on earth do you think you're doing?!" Mitsunari yelled at the guards.

Immediately, they both turned around, bowing with a quick and respectful "Ishida-sama, sir!". One of them rose their head, "One of the servants informed us of this intruder. We were just about to escort him off the premises, sir." he explained nervously.

Mitsunari briskly walked past them to Whisbei, helping him up while stating in a harsh tone, "Whisbei is my most trusted tactician, and you will treat him with the proper respect you give to your superiors."

He glared at the guards, and Whisbei could see the fear for their lives in their eyes, since Mitsunari could make an order for them to be executed for this, but he decided to step in.

"Don't worry, Mitsunari-sama. I've never been formally introduced to the guards, or the servants, so I can't blame them for thinking that I'm an intruder." Whisbei said calmly.

Mitsunari turned his attention back to the guards, his glare not softening a bit, before saying "You are free to leave."

Both guards immediately bowed again, with a relieved "Thank you, Ishida-sama, sir." and hurriedly went back inside the castle. Before the servant that called the guards, who had remained mostly unnoticed up to this point, could sneak in after them, hoping to avoid Mitsunari's wrath, he was addressed.

"And you! Inform the cooking staff and other servants to prepare for a small party tonight. I want Whisbei to have a proper welcome." Mitsunari ordered, sternly. The servant nodded with a quick "Yes, sir." before going inside.

As soon as they were certain they were alone, Mitsunari turned around to face Whisbei with a huge smile on his face. "Sorry I took so long, Whisbei. But, I ran into Akiri, who told me that Sayaka should have at least some information that could help us!" he said excitedly, a complete 180 from how he had been just seconds prior, "She's at the mountain temple, so we should start heading up there as soon as possible."

Whisbei cringed slightly at the suggestion. Sure, Sayaka had helped them many, many times when they needed information on yokai, or magic that neither he nor Akiri understood. However, she always had this 'holier than thou' attitude when talking to him, which she didn't have with either Mitsunari or Akiri. At least with the monk, they treated each other with respect, and eventually were on good enough terms for Whisbei to forgive him for almost exorcising him when they first met. But, if anyone that they knew could tell them why he was suddenly a human, it was Sayaka.

Whisbei sighed, "You're right, Mitsunari-sama. Sayaka is our best chance at getting any answers, and if she doesn't, then she will probably point us in the right direction." he reluctantly agreed.

Mitsunari smiled while nodding, giving his arm to Whisbei for support again, which was accepted. Then, they began their journey up to the temple, questions plaguing Whisbei's mind every step of the way.

Chapter Text

It didn't take too long for them to reach the mountain temple, however the walk was enough for Whisbei to be able to walk on his own without Mitsunari's assistance. Once they climbed the stone steps up to the large main door, Mitsunari knocked a few times, and they waited for a response. Soon they heard footsteps, along with the voice of an unhappy woman, and the door opened to reveal Sayaka.

She wore her usual attire, a pair of red hakama, a white haori. Sayaka was only slightly shorter than Mitsunari, with straight, black hair in a ponytail, tied with a white hair ribbon. Her eyes were a dark green, and she wore red lipstick that matched her hakama.

As soon as Sayaka opened the door, she smiled and was about to greet Mitsunari, as she usually did when they visited the temple, until her eyes landed on Whisbei. Her jaw dropped, and she was then stuck in a state of shock, just staring at him.

"Sorry to bother you so early in the morning Sayaka-san." Mitsunari apologized, bowing slightly, "This emergency has just arisen today, and understandably we came here as soon as possible."

Sayaka didn't respond, she just kept staring at Whisbei, she didn't even notice Mitsunari waving his hand in front of her eyes a few times. "I think she's out of it, sir." Whisbei said, slight concern entering his voice, with Mitsunari nodding in response.

Mitsunari then held up his hand to Sayaka's ear and began snapping his fingers, "Yoohoo... Sayaka? Are you alright?" he asked.

After a few snaps, Sayaka had finally snapped (pun intended) out of her stupor, blinking like she had just woken up. "Hm? Oh! Yes, yes, I'm just fine your lordship. I just wasn't expecting...this." She said, gesturing to Whisbei for emphasis.

The yokai sighed before stating, "Nobody was expecting this. Which is why we've come here to see if you might know what happened. As well as a way to potentially turn me back to normal." Whisbei noticed that Mitsunari's face saddened a bit at that last sentence.

But Sayaka perked up, clapping her hands with a quick "Yes, of course." and lead them both inside the temple.

Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, both humans and yokai were going about their own business, most didn't even notice their presence as Sayaka brought them to her main work area, located near the back of the temple. Once they had reached the room, Mitsunari and Whisbei sat side by side, cross legged, across from Sayaka, who had begun pouring cups of tea from an already prepared teapot.

After taking a sip from her cup, Sayaka looked up at the pair and calmly asked them, "So, how did you two manage to get into this situation?" getting right to the point of this meeting.

Mitsunari and Whisbei traded a glance with each other, before Whisbei spoke, "We have no idea how or why this happened, to be completely honest. I've never heard of anything like this, but we're hoping you have."

Sayaka nodded to herself, and then the interrogation began. "Did you say a spell or chant of any kind?", "Were you cursed at any point in time?", "Are you wearing some kind of artifact that would turn a yokai into a human?", "What kind of lotion do you use? Your skin looks very soft, Whisbei.", along with a variety of other questions, that were all answered with multiple versions of "No" and a "His skin is very soft." from Mitsunari. After about half an hour or so of questioning and trading skin care secrets, there was a break.

"Did you eat anything new?" Sayaka tiredly asked, rubbing her temples, clearly frustrated at the lack of answers.

Immediately, Whisbei shot up, "Yes! Mitsunari-sama purchased some cookies that we had last night!" he almost yelled, waking up Mitsunari, who had fallen asleep from boredom.

Sayaka smiled, happy to finally be getting somewhere, "Good. Now, were there any distinguishing features like color, taste, maybe a design or insignia?" she asked, as Mitsunari rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

Mitsunari answered without hesitation, but with a slight yawn, as Sayaka took a sip of her tea, "Oh, there were two cookies packaged in a small wooden box. Both of which had some kind of tree symbol on them. The cookies themselves tasted disgusting, like grass almost." he grimaced as he remembered the horrible flavor it left in his mouth.

This answer caused Sayaka to spit out the tea she had been drinking, much to the other two's surprise, "PLEASE TELL ME YOU KNOW WHERE THE BOX IS!" she yelled, it was probably loud enough for her to be heard on the other side of Japan.

Mitsunari only had to nod, and Sayaka was on her feet, telling them that they had to get the box as soon as they possibly could. Whisbei felt the worry in the pit of his stomach grow. For Sayaka to react so hysterically meant that something was very, very wrong. Was he going to die? Why was she acting like they had just told her the whole village had been set on fire? What was it that had set her off? Was it the tree insignia? The fact that the food was cookies? Or was it that they tasted like grass? He hoped that his questions would be answered once they had gotten back to the castle.

As soon as they returned, Mitsunari retrieved the wooden box from inside the castle, and handed it to Sayaka, who was waiting in the garden.

"Alright Sayaka, are you going to tell us why you're so worried about this? I don't appreciate being left in the dark." Mitsunari asked sternly, his eyes narrowing as Sayaka traced the tree symbol on the box with her thumb.

She didn't answer, instead she opened the box, removed the cushion the cookies had been on, revealing that the box had a fake bottom. Quickly, she removed the false bottom, and pulled out a piece of folded paper, which she unfolded and read. As soon as she had finished reading, Sayaka handed the paper to Mitsunari, without a word.

Mitsunari immediately grabbed it, and began to read. His demeanor changed the further he got, his expression going from irritated to shocked. Once he was done, he handed the piece of paper to Whisbei, "You better read this." he said, in a stunned voice.

Now, Whisbei was even more concerned, but he had to know what was going on, so he took the paper and began reading. He soon learned why Sayaka and Mitsunari were so shocked.

It said: 'Congratulations on your purchase of Yokai-to-Human cookies! Made with 100% authentic transformation leaves using the traditional methods of the denizens of Henbou Valley! Effects guaranteed to last 30 days! If you want more cookies, or experience any negative affects, we already know. Have a good day, and we thoroughly hope you enjoy your purchase! Now's your chance, Mitsunari!'

Whisbei stared at the note, rereading it again and again, trying to make sense of it. He had heard of Henbou Valley before, pretty much every yokai had, it was the supposed place in the Yokai World where the transformation leaves come from, the whole area covered in a lush forest of the trees that produced them. But it was assumed to just be a legend from the distant past, since the only evidence were the leaves themselves, and some writings of encounters with the native yokai who lived there.

This was probably why Sayaka was so frantic about getting the box. No doubt she had read about them, if not done extensive research on the Henbou people, at least enough to recognize any of their symbols. One of his major concerns was the last sentence. Whoever wrote this KNEW Mitsunari, and most certainly himself, since it wouldn't make sense if they didn't. But, they also had some kind of motivation for giving these to Mitsunari, but what 'chance' does this give him?

Whisbei's mind was swimming with questions, but he had the answer he was looking for, and now he knew how long it would last. He sighed, and handed the paper back to Sayaka, who placed it back in the box.

"So, I'm going to remain human for 30 days?" Whisbei asked her.

Sayaka nodded, placing a hand on his shoulder, "I'm afraid so. In the meantime, you're going to have to act as a human, as best you can, until you return to your normal form."

Then, Mitsunari, who was in the best mood out of the three of them, stepped in, "That shouldn't be a problem. I'd expect Whisbei to know the basics of being a human, and if he needs assistance, I'm more than willing to teach him anything he wants, in any way necessary." he stated, with some emphasis on the last part, looking over to Whisbei with a supportive smile, which the yokai couldn't help but return. It was nice that his friend was there to give him support in his time of need.

However, Sayaka was very unimpressed, the deadpanned expression she gave Mitsunari showed that very clearly. But, instead of saying anything, she just shook her head and said "That's... appreciated, sir. Right now, though, I should bring Whisbei back up to the temple to make sure he isn't suffering from any negative side effects, just to be safe. You should stay here, though, you have important responsibilities and work to do that has been delayed for long enough."

Mitsunari's attitude didn't change a bit, and he replied with, "Of course, I trust you'll take good care of him. As long as he's back by sunset, I've already planned a feast for tonight to introduce him to the servants, guards and a few others I'll be inviting." then, his voice took a more serious tone, "We've already had a bit of a misunderstanding this morning."

Sayaka bowed, "That shouldn't be a problem, sir. the examination itself will only take a few hours to complete." she stated, then turned to Whisbei with an expectant look, silently ordering him to follow her.

Whisbei had to resist the urge to roll his eyes, he could tell that this was going to be the longest day of his afterlife, and it already felt like today was dragging along.

But, maybe it wouldn't be as bad as he was expecting, Whisbei hoped, as the two of them left the castle, and started back to the temple. After all, Sayaka did have her moments, and with everything that had already happened today, maybe she would be a bit nicer to him today.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. As soon as they had stepped inside the temple, Sayaka was immediately giving him orders with that 'holier-than-thou' tone she used when they were alone. It only got worse since, of course, she was the one performing most of the examinations.

They were all pretty basic. Checking his reflexes, eyes and ears, seeing if he had any visible skin irritations, or rashes. Whisbei was certain, though, that Sayaka added a few ones that were there for her amusement. Such as carrying all of her heavy equipment from her room to another, then to another, and then another, until he had moved it all back to the room he started in. Whisbei also had to hold a complete split for exactly 1 hour to "test his flexibility", even though he had just did a stretching test a few seconds earlier.

Whisbei was ready for anything else she had to throw at him, but suddenly there was a bit of a shift in her tone. Sayaka told him that she had a few questions to ask him, and lead him to her work space again. The questions she asked started out about his health, if he had trouble breathing after the tests, similar things. However, then she started to ask him how they obtained the Henbou cookies. He told her that a merchant had sold them to Mitsunari, that he had a strange aura around him, and that he had the same tree symbol on his cloak.

Sayaka nodded, "Okay, did you talk to him at all?" she asked.

"No"

"Did Mitsunari talk to him?"

Whisbei paused for a second, before saying, "Yes, they talked when Mitsunari bought the cookies from him. I wasn't there, so I don't know what was said." he then shuffled closer, "Sayaka, why are you asking me this?"

She then sat up straight, "I want to gather as much information as I can. I don't expect you to understand the magnitude of the situation." Sayaka replied, "If this merchant is one of the Henbou people, then this would prove a legend to be truth, and potentially give us the resources to understand ancient history better, as well as access to a rare material, the transformation leaves."

Sayaka sighed, "Also, I want to know what Mitsunari said to that merchant. Whatever it was, it got him those cookies, and a supportive message." she looked away from Whisbei, choosing to redirect her glare. He looked at her curiously, why was she so upset at Mitsunari, was it because she was jealous of him for talking to someone who was basically a living legend, or maybe she was worried about Whisbei's health and didn't like that it was put in potential jeopardy.

Whisbei opened his mouth to ask, but Sayaka interrupted him. "It's almost sunset, you're completely healthy and shouldn't experience any negative side effects, at least ones caused by your transformation, so all you'll have to do is wait for the 30 days to end. I have some work to do, so I can't walk back with you. Have a safe trip back to the castle." She said in an almost monotone voice, but a bit of exhaustion slipped in.

He bowed slightly, and with a quick "Thank you." he began his trek alone. By the time he reached the castle, it was already mid-sunset.

Before Whisbei could even knock, Mitsunari opened the door with a large, welcoming grin.

"Whisbei, just in time! The feast has already begun!" Mitsunari cheered, eagerly taking Whisbei's hand and leading him inside, where he could already hear the voices of the guests, all assembled just to meet him.

Chapter Text

As soon as they entered the room, Whisbei was overwhelmed by a wave of delicious smells. A variety of food rested on long tables, almost covering them completely, with people taking whatever they pleased, whenever they pleased. The servants were running around, refilling the plates of food when they were empty, or close to it, and the guards stood watch, making sure that the guests wouldn't cause any trouble. The guests themselves were all nobles, like Mitsunari, who lived close enough to the castle for them to arrive so soon.

Whisbei was impressed with how quickly Mitsunari had everything set up, especially on such short notice.

After a few moments of Whisbei taking everything in, as well as removing his sandals, he was lead up to the front of the room, where they were slightly more elevated and visible, before Mitsunari cleared his throat and began speaking.

"May I have your attention, everyone."

All of the guests stopped talking, and it was dead silence as they all turned their attention to the front. Whisbei became slightly nervous at this, because he, as well as Mitsunari, now had everyone's eyes on him, and being the center of attention typically made him feel quite anxious. However, since he wasn't the one speaking, Whisbei could handle it, at least temporarily.

Mitsunari continued once he was sure everyone was paying attention, "I would like to introduce you all to Whisbei. He has been serving as my tactician for years now, and has done an extraordinary job. He will also be staying here for 30 days, including today, which is why I arranged this little party to welcome him. I expect you all to treat him with respect." he announced patting Whisbei on the shoulder.

Everyone raised their drinks, or food, and cheered, toasting to Whisbei's arrival.

Once the guests had settled down, returning to what they were doing, Mitsunari turned to Whisbei, and whispered encouragingly, "Go out and talk to some people. I've already told a few of my closer friends about you, and they're all very interested in meeting you. Besides, if anything happens, I'll know."

Whisbei nodded, and walked down to the main floor. It wasn't long before he was surrounded by a few curious nobles, and was quickly in a circle with four of them, along with others hanging around just outside of it to listen in on their conversation.

The nobles consisted of three men and one woman. One was wearing a fancy purple kimono, with a pointed beard-mustache combo, the other was clean shaven, dressed in a pair of grey hakama and a green robe. The last two had come together, since they had introduced themselves as father and daughter. The father wore a white robe, with a black haori, and a pair of hakama to match, sporting a long white beard. While his daughter wore a formal red kimono with golden flower print. All of the men were old, a bit older than Mitsunari, but the woman looked to be in her twenties.

"So, how did you end up working for Mitsunari?" The purple clad noble asked, then shrugged his shoulders, adding, "He never told us, just said that you two met by chance and didn't say anything beyond that."

The others nodded in agreement, and even the ones outside of the circle were pressing in to listen. Whisbei began to sweat, he couldn't tell them the truth, there was no way they'd believe him, but then he had an idea. There was no reason to lie, so he decided to be honest with them.

"We met when Mitsunari requested help with a personal project of his, and I ended up becoming a part of it. Apparently, I did such a good job, he wanted me to work for him permanently."

So, it wasn't the whole truth. But, other than a few details, it was mostly accurate to what had actually happened. The nobles seemed satisfied with his story though, judging by all of their gasps of amazement, which was followed by excited chattering from all of the nobles surrounding him. Whisbei could have sworn he saw a few exchange some money, but he didn't care, all that mattered was that they bought his story and didn't ask for anything more in depth.

The talking soon died down a bit as the nobleman in the green and grey attire spoke up. "Well, I'm certain your wife was quite happy to hear the news about your good fortune, eh?" he half laughed, nudging Whisbei's arm slightly. The other nobles around them, both men and women, chuckled, and nodded their heads in agreement.

Whisbei rubbed the back of his neck, and said, "Actually, I don't have a wife." which caused everyone to go dead quiet.

The silence was broken by the quiet whispers of the people surrounding them, Whisbei couldn't make out what they were saying, but it soon stopped as the noble, dressed in black and white, stepped closer to him, with a smile.

"Well, my daughter here is single, and I've been looking for a husband for her." The nobleman said, turning to his daughter, taking her hand and leading her up to stand beside him, "And, from what I know about you, as well as you're work, you are very skilled at what you do, and have a very nice personality. If you're willing to provide your services to me, we might be able to arrange something."

Whisbei was at a loss, if today hadn't already been a wild ride from the time he woke up, this moment would have probably been the craziest thing that had happened to him. How was he supposed to respond to a man walking up to him, wanting to basically trade his daughter for Whisbei's tactical services, when they had only known each other for a few minutes, at most. It didn't help that the woman was now looking him up and down, before turning away with a blush.

"Now, hold on!" The noble in purple yelled, catching everyone's attention.

Whisbei sighed, relieved, and hoping the man would talk some sense into his friend.

"Whisbei here has yet to meet my daughter! So, I think he should at least see her before making his choice on who will become his wife! Besides, he'd probably prefer working for me, rather than you!"

Soon, the three noblemen, along with both men and women from around them, were arguing over who's daughter Whisbei would marry. He was so surprised, and confused, that he hadn't notice the nobleman's daughter walk up to him, until she touched his arm. He jumped slightly, before turning his attention to her.

She looked up at him with a small smile, and said, "Don't mind my father, he's a bit pushy when it comes to this sort of thing. The choice is completely up to you." just as Whisbei was going to thank her, she continued, blushing as her gaze shifted downwards, "But, if you are interested, I'm certainly not complaining."

This whole scene was just so surreal to Whisbei that he had no idea how to respond. He was having a hard time figuring how how he got into this situation, let alone how he was supposed to get out of it.

"HEY!"

Everyone stopped and turned to the source of the shout, which was Mitsunari, who showed no emotion other than a death glare. The group parted as he walked through, all trying to avoid meeting his eyes, until he made it to the center. The woman stepped away from Whisbei, bowing her head out of both fear and respect, as Mitsunari turned his gaze toward her, before taking her place next to the yokai.

Mitsunari grabbed Whisbei's shoulder, and said, "My apologies, but Whisbei won't be getting married anytime soon. We've talked about the possibility, and have agreed that a wife would distract him from his work." his glare darkened as he continued, "I also don't appreciate you trying to recruit him, especially when he's already employed by me."

The nobles chuckled nervously, before the nobleman in the green robe decided to speak up.

"I-In my defense I-"

As soon as Mitsunari had turned his glare to him, the noble stopped talking, flinching, and turned his attention to the floor. He quickly squeaked out, "Never mind!" and began to try to hide behind the purple nobleman.

Mitsunari then lead Whisbei away from the group, casting one final glare back at the noblewoman, who was now standing next to her father. Once they were far enough away from the crowd, Mitsunari let go of Whisbei shoulder, and looked up at him with a much softer expression than had given the nobles.

"Whisbei, I am so sorry that they put you in that position. If I had know they would be like that, I wouldn't have invited them."

Whisbei nodded understandingly, but then thought of something, "Mitsunari-sama, why were they so eager to get me to marry their daughters?" he asked, "I know you probably told them some good stuff about me, but we had only known eachother for a few minutes at most!"

Then, Mitusnari began to look up and down Whisbei's body, much like the noblewoman had done earlier, and answered, "Well, you are very attractive, Whisbei. You also have a wonderful personality, very easy to talk to, able to tell quite a few funny jokes, always have some idea of what to do..." he then stopped himself, turning his gaze away, Whisbei could have sworn that there was a slight blush on his cheeks, before he cleared his throat, "You have a lot of traits that make you desirable. Having you as a son-in-law would also mean you would have to work for them, and you're skills make you a valuable asset." he finished.

Whisbei smiled, "Thank you, Mitsunari-sama. I'm flattered that you think so highly of me." he said, a soft blush on his own cheeks. He wasn't used to compliments like that, but it was nice.

Once he had stopped blushing, Mitsunari looked up at Whisbei again, before straightening himself, "I have scheduled a play for tonight, it should be beginning soon. In the meantime, you should stay by my side, I have a few friends I want to introduce you to." he informed, before jokingly adding, "And don't worry, none of them have any daughters or anyone else they'd want you to marry." Whisbei chuckled a bit, nodding, before he followed Mitsunari to a small group of nobles who were standing around, eating some of the food and talking.

The next half an hour were spent going around to people, and Mitsunair introducing Whisbei to them, then after exchanging a few words, they moved on to different people. Soon, though, the head geisha walked up to Mitsunari, and whispered something into his ear, before hurrying away. Mitsunari perked up and clapped his hands together, before walking up to the front of the room.

"Alright, everyone! The geisha have prepared a play for us to enjoy tonight, so please, take a seat." he announced.

All of the guests quickly began to take their places around the tables. Once Mitsunari sat down in his usual spot, he looked at Whisbei, and waved at him to come over, patting the pillow next to him. Whisbei obediently walked up and sat down right where he was asked to sit.

Mitsunari then whispered to Whisbei, "They've been practicing all day, I hope they do a good job." he then leaned in closer, so that his nose was just grazing the side of the yokai's head, "I choose a story that I thought you might be able to relate to. It shouldn't be more than an hour long."

As Mitsunari shifted himself back to his normal sitting position, keeping his hand on Whisbei's arm, the head geisha walked out in front of the crowd, and everyone went silent.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Tonight, we have a special production, as per the request of Ishida Mitsunari. It is the tale of a spirit and a great warrior, as they embark on a quest for an ancient treasure." She announced, then walked off the play area, out of view, as the lights went down.

Once the lights returned there was a female geisha, probably the spirit, sitting on a prop rock, brushing her hair while looking in a mirror, and humming to herself. Then a male geisha, the warrior, walked up to her and bowed down on one knee.

The spirit looked down at him with an air of superiority around her, an almost disgusted expression on her face, and she spoke in a voice to match, "You dare disturb me, human? Speak, and you may just live another day."

"Oh spirit, trapped on this mortal plane, I humbly ask for your assistance with my quest." The warrior spoke in a respectful tone, but it was still loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.

With a mocking laugh, the spirit turned back to her mirror, and resumed brushing her hair, "Why would you need my help?" she asked.

The warrior then stood up, and replied, "Because my quest is to recover the treasure of Miuisu, and I can use it's power to return you to the spirit world."

As soon as he finished, the spirit froze, a look of shock on her face, before she smiled and turned to face the warrior again. She then stood, walked over to the warrior, while she said, "Alright, I will help you on your little quest. But, once we have the treasure, I go back to my world. Understood?" The warrior nodded, and they both walked out of sight as the lights dimmed again.

The play continued with the warrior and spirit completing trials by using their strengths, the spirit's tactical knowledge, and magic, along with the warrior's fighting capabilities. As the story progressed the two learned more about each other, and began to bond, with a few hints of a romance beginning to form. Whisbei enjoyed it, he thought that the actors did a good job, especially since they had only one day to practice, and thought the story, while almost like a shippy fanfiction, was very nice. But, on occasion, he noticed that Mitsunari would glance at him out of the corner of his eye, before turning his attention back to the play.

At the end of the play, the spirit declared her love for the warrior, and chose to stay with him once he returned her feelings. They kissed, and the lights turned off completely. Everyone then began to clap as the geisha bowed, with Mitsunari going up to thank them for the entertainment, and to congratulate them on a job well done.

However, with the end of the play also came the end of the feast. All of the nobles began to leave, saying their thank yous to Mitsunari and Whisbei, hoping to see the two of them again soon, and wishing them well. One of the last to leave, though, was the noblewoman in the red and gold kimono, decided to talk to Whisbei, unlike the other guests who just left with a goodbye.

"Hey, Whisbei-sama, I hope that what happened before didn't-" she managed to say, before Mitsunari cut in.

"Your father is waiting for you. Have a lovely night, and please be careful, you've probably had a lot to drink tonight." he said, ushering her out the front door before she could finish.

Once she, and her father, had left the castle, there were only a couple more nobles, and they cleared out shortly afterwards. The geisha were paid, apparently double what they were promised for their work, and they left as well. Soon, other than the servants cleaning everything up, it was only Mitsunari and Whisbei.

Mitsunari looked up at Whisbei with a smile, before grabbing his arm gently, "Well, Whisbei, it's been a long day, let's go get some sleep." he suggested. Then he begun to lead the yokai out of the room, and down the hall to his bedroom.

Whisbei then realized something as they walked, and asked,"Where am I going to sleep? I can't fit in my basket like this, and I don't know if we have anything I can sleep on that we can move into your room on such short notice."

Still keeping his brisk pace, Mitsunari turned back to look at Whisbei, "Don't worry, you can share my bed, at least until you get a temporary one. I don't mind sharing it, especially with you." he said, his smile still present.

Whisbei couldn't help but smile back. Mitsunari was being so generous to him, not that he wasn't before, but to offer to share his own bed, even after everything he had already done, it was a true honor. It was just so nice that he finally had someone he could rely on, since he never really had anyone, not even a friend, before they met. It was quite the breath of fresh air.

However, right before they got to Mitsunari's bedroom door, Akiri stopped them.

"Hold on! What do you think you're doing?" he demanded.

Mitsunari let go of Whisbei's hand, "We're heading to bed, isn't it obvious? Whisbei has been sleeping in my private quarters since he arrived, I don't see why that would change now." he replied, his smile still on his face, though it was a slightly different smile than the one he gave Whisbei. Akiri then straightened himself up.

"That won't be the case. We have a guest room that's free, with a comfortable bed, along with other things. This way, you won't have to share your own bed, sir. Isn't that nice?"

As Akiri spoke, Mitsunari's smile faded, turning into a slight glare, which was returned. Then the monk quickly went behind Whisbei, and began pushing him, with quite a bit of force, towards the guest room.

"W-Wait!" Mitsunari exclaimed, reaching out to grab Whisbei's kimono, but he was soon out of arms reach, and out of sight.

Whisbei had no idea what had gotten into Akiri. He would have expected that there wouldn't be any problems with him staying in Mitsunari's room. This behavior reminded him of how Sayaka was acting earlier that day, and it made him wonder if it was for the same reason.

Before Whisbei could ask any questions, they stopped in front of one of the guest rooms, which they had when visitors decided to stay overnight. Specifically, the one that was furthest away from Mitsunari's bedroom.

"Here you go." Akiri said, opening the door.

The room was very simple, with only a bed, a small desk, a full body mirror, and a wardrobe. Whisbei walked inside his temporary sleeping quarters, looking around the room, before turning back to Akiri, who looked tired, and slightly worried, though it could have just been the lack of light.

Akiri then stepped out of the room, muttering, "If you need anything, I'm just a few doors down the hall." he began to close the door, but he stopped, and added, "It would be wise not to disturb Mitsunari at night. I don't think he'd appreciate being woken up when he has work in the morning." Akiri gave one last concerned glace at Whisbei, before shutting the door completely.

Whisbei was confused even more, why was everyone acting so strange. Both Akiri and Sayaka only acted like this before on rare occasions, typically when Mitsunair was joking around with him. But now it was like they were worried something bad was going to happen. He knew Mitsunari wouldn't mind being woken up by him if he needed anything, so why couldn't he? Why did Akiri take him to a guest room, when he could have slept in Mitsunari's room?

Whisbei sighed, all these questions were gonna make what was already bound to be a rough nights sleep even rougher.

He tied his hair into a bun, so he wouldn't pull on it when he rolled over in his sleep, and removed his kimono. Whisbei then looked at himself in the mirror, deciding to examine his new body in more detail, and walked up to the mirror.

At this point, the only clothes he still had on was his underwear. He touched his chest and stomach, applying some pressure to them. They were firmer than in his normal form, but were still squishy. His eyes then went up and down his body, checking himself out like he had been that night. His body was certainly different, with somethings being removed, and others being added on, one such thing made Whisbei blush.

Shaking his head, Whisbei decided to just go to sleep. He laid down on the bed, which was comfortable as Akiri has said it would be, pulling the blanket over himself, and mentally prepared for whatever tomorrow may bring, before falling into a peaceful sleep.

Unfortunately, he couldn't get any sleep. He just rolled around, both uncomfortable in his new body, and having to many thoughts bouncing around in his head. When this would happen when he was in Mitsunari's room, he would just stare at his master's sleeping face, or Whisbei would talk to him if he was awake too, but that obviously wasn't an option.

By the time Whisbei finally fell into an uneasy sleep, dawn was about to break.

Chapter Text

Whisbei's sleep was interrupted by someone shaking his shoulder. When he turned around, very tired and a bit agitated, to see who the culprit was, it turned out to be none other than a fully-dressed Mitsunari. Once he knew Whisbei was awake, he stopped shaking the yokai's shoulder, but didn't move his hand.

"Good morning, Whisbei! Are you ready to get up?" Mitsunari said softly. The only response he got was a sleepy groan, which made him laugh a bit, and say, "Don't worry, I'll let you sleep in longer. Since, unlike you, I respect when someone wants to rest a little bit more." Whisbei gave him a sleepy glare in response to that last remark, but he was still grateful that his master was willing to let him get at least a few more minutes of sleep.

However, Mitsunari then yawned, and asked, "Actually, may I join you? I didn't have the best sleep last night, and Akiri isn't awake yet, so he doesn't have to know." as he grabbed the blanket, whispering the last part in a joking manner.

Whisbei could feel his face get warm, since Mitsunari seemed to want to go under the blanket with him, and he was almost completely naked. But, despite his shyness, he nodded, shuffling over to make more room, which didn't really help much. Mitsunari then lifted the blanket, exposing Whisbei's body to him, before he slid in, covered himself, and settled in. Once he was comfortable, Mitsunari laid at chest height, tilting his head slightly upward to meet Whisbei's gaze. They looked into each other's eyes, both feeling more and more awkward at how close they were.

Mitsunari cleared his throat, and gave Whisbei a small half-smile, "Well, good night!" he said, closing his eyes. Whisbei just stared at him for a few seconds, until he opened one eye, peeking. "Are you sure you're okay with this?" he asked, causing Whisbei to snap out of his trance.

"N-no! It's fine, really."

Whisbei couldn't explain it, but having Mitsunari so close, lying in bed with him, gave him a warm fuzzy feeling in his stomach. It wasn't a new feeling for Whisbei, it was the same one he had whenever he caught himself staring at Mitsunari for a long time.

Then, Mitsunari gently placed his hand on Whisbei's chest, making him hitch his breath at the warmth, and pushed slightly. Naturally, Whisbei's body squished in a bit, bringing a smile to Mitsunari's face.

"You're very soft, Whisbei."

"Thank you, I get that a lot." Whisbei managed to reply, his cheeks getting warmer.

Suddenly, Mitsunari shuffled closer, putting his arm around Whisbei, so his face was now right up against Whisbei's chest, and looked up at him. Without thinking, Whisbei wrapped an arm around his master in response. He didn't know why, but some part of him liked having Mitsunari so close, it almost felt like Whisbei wanted to cuddle with him. Mitsunari then buried his face into the yokai's chest, nuzzling it slightly.

Whisbei then felt his exhaustion return full force, and alongside Mitsunari's steady breathing, he was quickly lulled into sleep.

Unfortunately, the next wake up call wasn't as pleasant.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" Akiri screamed, making Whisbei jolt awake, with Mitsunari groaning and burying his face into the yokai's chest even more.

Akiri marched over, and ripped the blanket off of them. Mitsunari turned his head to glare at him, tightening his grip on Whisbei, and grumbled "We're only taking a nap, Akiri, there's no reason for you to panic."

After returning Mitsunari's glare, Akiri sighed, "Just get up, you have work to do and you're already behind." he then turned his attention to Whisbei, who was still stunned at being woken up so aggressively, throwing his now clean kimono at him, "Get dressed, and next time, wear something more than just your underwear, please."

Whisbei blushed as Mitsunari rolled out of bed, casting a glance at the yokai as he followed Akiri out of the room, and closed the door behind him.

As he got dressed, Whisbei thought of how nice his nap with Mitsunari had felt, and why he liked it so much. Something about it just seemed so RIGHT, he accepted the cuddle without even having to think about it, or saying anything. A part of him had wanted to try cuddling with Mitsunari, and now that part was hoping that they would get to do it again sometime soon.

He shook his head. Whisbei knew he shouldn't want that, not just because he was working for Mitsunari, or that he was a yokai. But because he wasn't who he said he was. He wasn't a tactician, his name wasn't even Whisbei. If he was honest with himself, he should have left much sooner, but now he couldn't bring himself to do it, even if it was probably the right thing. He looked at his reflection with a sigh, and resumed getting ready for the day ahead.

Once he was finished, he made his way down to the main hall, where he was greeted by Mitsunari and his underlings.

Mitsunari smiled, "Nice to see you, Whisbei, I trust that you slept well." he greeted, as if the events of that morning didn't happen, "Now that you're here, we can finally begin."

As soon as Whisbei sat down next to him, Mitsunari started addressing the other men in the room. It was the typical sort of stuff, protocol, reports, updates, and other miscellaneous things that needed to be done, but not by Mitsunari. In summary, nothing concerning Whisbei or things he had to do.

Unfortunately, he was still a bit sleepy, despite his little nap earlier, so he did what he always did whenever he was tired and wasn't needed for anything. Whisbei laid down and placed his head on Mitsunari's thigh, intending to use it as a pillow while he slept through the rest of the announcements. Under normal circumstances, when he did this if he was bored or tired it was completely acceptable, but these weren't normal circumstances.

Whisbei only remembered this once he noticed that everyone was now staring at him with shock and confusion. He looked up, locking eyes with a very surprised Mitsunari, before he quickly sat up straight, with a very light blush on his cheeks from embarrassment.

After a second of silence, Whisbei cleared his throat, "My apologies, sir. I suppose I'm still a bit tired. I promise, it will never happen again." he apologized, bowing to Mitsunari, and silently cursing himself.

"I will forgive you this one time, Whisbei, only because I like you, and you're good at your job. But don't let it happen again." Mitsunari responded, a dark emphasis on the last sentence, before turning his attention back to his underlings. Once Whisbei had returned back to his normal position, Mitsunari continued where he left off.

After a few minutes, which felt like hours for Whisbei, who was trying very hard not to lie down again, Mitsunari had finished and dismissed everyone. Soon it was only Mitsunari and Whisbei left in the room.

Whisbei glanced at Mitsunari nervously, before he looked down, averting his gaze out of shame and embarrassment.

Mitsunari then spoke up, "So do you...lay your head on me often?" he asked, sounding a bit embarrassed himself, which surprised Whisbei a little bit.

"Uh, y-yes. If I want to nap, or want to lay down, during work that doesn't involve me, I just use your leg as a pillow, or...I sleep on your lap."

With a slight blush on his cheeks, Mitsunari smiled, "Well, if you want to, you can still do it when we're alone."

Now Whisbei was confused, "But, sir, you said before not to let it happen again..."

"Don't let it happen again around others. Once we're alone, you can use me as a pillow all you want." Mitsunari said as he stood up, "Now, come on, I have some reports to write and I want you to look over them for me."

Whisbei nodded, following Mitsunari as he walked out of the room. Soon, they were working in Mitsunari's private study, with Whisbei sitting behind his master, where he could look over his shoulder to see what was being written. Since it was a private study, it was only the two of them and, considering the conversation they had only moments earlier, it almost felt like it was on purpose. Not that it really mattered to Whisbei, he had always enjoyed working alone with Mitsunari.

Everything was normal for a while, with Whisbei giving his inputs and instructions on what to write when Mitsunari requested it. But, this was soon broken when Whisbei rested his head on Mitsunari's shoulder. Like him laying on Mitsunari's lap, it was common for Whisbei to put his head on Mitsunari's shoulder when they were writing reports together. However, when Mitsunari stopped writing and turned his head to look at the yokai, he realized that it might be a little bit weird for him to regularly use his master as a living pillow.

"Ah, sorry Mitsunari-sama. This is also something I do often. I'll stop now." Whisbei apologized again, lifting his head, before Mitsunari used his free hand to stop him, placing it on top of the Whisbei's head.

"Don't worry, Whisbei, like I said before, you can do this when we're alone. You can stay if you want."

So, Whisbei then gently lowered his head back onto Mitsunari's shoulder. If his master was comfortable, then there wasn't any reason for him to move. However, after a few moments, Whisbei noticed that his weight was making Mitsunari lean forward. Naturally, he wanted to help, and his first instinct to do so was to wrap his arms around Mitsunari's middle to hold him up. Whisbei shuffled himself so that he was directly behind Mitsunari, while keeping his head in the same place. This lead to Mitsunari's back being pressed against Whisbei's chest and stomach, though this wasn't intentional.

In response, Mitsunari stopped what he was doing, put his brush down with a sigh, and tilted his head back. He then placed his hand over Whisbei's, pushing it against his stomach. Whisbei could feel the solidness of Mitsunari's form, and could feel heat begin to make its onto his cheeks. He didn't know why, but he didn't want to move, it was the same felling he had that morning when they were cuddling.

"You don't really do well with personal space, do you Whisbei?"

Whisbei chuckled, "I usually don't have to worry about it, most people can't see me, and those that can typically want me to go away."

Mitsunari smiled, "Well, I certainly don't have a problem with you being here." he said, pushing Whisbei's hand against himself a little bit more.

They stayed like that for a few more moments, before Mitsunari turned his head to look at Whisbei, who returned his gaze. Whisbei could have sworn that Mitsunari was leaning in closer.

But, before anything else could happen, Akiri opened the door. Immediately, Whisbei let go of Mitsunari and fell on his back in surprised panic. Akiri and Mitsunari just gave each other a silent glare, before Akiri sat down on the opposite side of Mitsunari to watch them work. They didn't even touch for the rest of the day, since after that incident, Akiri was always with them. Mitsunari was certainly unhappy with Akiri following them everywhere, and it did get on Whisbei's nerves a bit, but neither could really do anything about it.

Until, after dinner, they managed to slip away to their usual sitting area outside. Now that they were finally alone, Mitsunari's mood improved greatly, he and Whisbei talked and told each other jokes, like they always did.

"Hey." Mitsunari said, as he turned to Whisbei, and patted his thigh, implying that he wanted the yokai to use him as a pillow again.

Once he realized what Mitsunari was requsting Whisbei could feel a bit of warmth crawl onto his cheeks, before laying down on Mitsunari's thigh. Gently, Mitsunari began to pet Whisbei's head, running his fingers through Whisbei's hair, making sure he didn't accidentally pull it. Whisbei sighed, Mitsunari petting him felt surprisingly nice.

They stayed like that for a while, relaxing in pleasant silence, until Mitsunari broke it.

"There is something I've wanted to ask you for a few years now, Whisbei, and since you've become a human, I think it's finally the perfect time."

Whisbei looked up, and was immediately transfixed by Mitsunari's eyes. The moonlight in his master's purple eyes hypnotized him, making him feel like there was nothing else in the world, like they always did. Whisbei nodded, wordlessly encouraging Mitsunari to continue.

After a short pause to think about what to say, Mitsunari began, "Whisbei, would you do me the honor of-" but before he could finish, Akiri opened the door. Whisbei quickly sat up, once Akiri harshly cleared his throat.

"I recommend that you two get some rest now, since you were both so tired this morning." he informed, referencing their little nap.

Mitsunari calmly glared at Akiri, and said "We'll be there in just a minute, if you could be patient. You don't need to order us to bed like mere children."

Akiri returned Mitsunari's glare, "You know very well why I'm suggesting you to go to sleep now. In the meantime, I'll be right by the door if either of you need anything." he huffed as he went back inside.

Once Akiri was in the castle, Mitsunari sighed quietly, "I just want you and I to be alone together, without having to worry about Akiri, or anyone else, interrupting us."

Whisbei silently agreed, but then an idea popped into his head. Whenever he was feeling stressed, mostly from keeping up his facade, and wanted to be alone, there was a secluded area where he went at night when everyone was asleep. It was a small clearing in the woods by a river and a small waterfall. There were rocks, fish, and the water felt nice in the summer time. He could bring Mitsunari there so they wouldn't be bothered.

With this plan in mind, Whisbei leaned towards Mitsunari, and whispered, "Mitsunari-sama, I think I know of a place where we won't be disturbed. Tomorrow night, after Akiri has gone to bed, I'll take you there if you want."

Mitsunari seemed to freeze a bit, and though it was probably just the light, or lack thereof, Whisbei could see a deep blush on Mitsunari's face.

Quickly, Mitsunari regained his composure, "I would enjoy that very much. Though, is there anything you would like me to bring on our little trip?"

Whisbei thought for a moment, "Something to dry yourself off with would be a good idea, and maybe a change of clothes, just in case. Other than that, you won't have to bring anything." he answered. He could have sworn Mitsunari blushed again at that, but continued, "We can meet at the west side of the castle, and I'll lead you from there."

They had both agreed with the plan just as Akiri opened the door, saying nothing, and they walked back inside, to their own separate rooms.

Once Whisbei had gotten ready, and was lying in bed, he just couldn't contain his excitement for his plans with Mitsunari tomorrow. He was worried that he wouldn't get any sleep, but that didn't turn out to be a problem, since shortly after getting into bed, he fell fast asleep.

Chapter Text

The next morning, Akiri woke Whisbei up instead of Mitsunari. The day was relatively uneventful, other that Akiri following them whenever they were together, and being informed that Sayaka wanted to meet with them first thing tomorrow morning to provide an update on what she had found out. However, once night fell, and everyone had retired to their chambers, Whisbei waited patiently until he was certain Akiri wouldn't hear him, then he quietly made his way to the western side of the castle.

Waiting for him there was Mitsunari, who was carrying a satchel. He didn't seem to notice Whisbei approach him.

"Good evening, Mitsunari-sama."

Mitsunari jumped a bit, but when he saw that it was Whisbei, he immediately relaxed. "Hello, Whisbei. Did you make sure Akiri was asleep, and won't be following us tonight?"

Whisbei nodded, "Of course, sir. Now, if you would please follow me, we should be there in a few minutes." he said.

And with that, Whisbei began to guide Mitsunari. The only obstacle were the guards, but all Mitsunari had to say was that they were leaving and that they would return shortly. Then, with the guards giving them a salute, they made their way into the forest around the temple. After a bit of walking, Whisbei decided to make some small talk to pass the time.

"Sir, may I ask what's in your bag?"

"Ah, just the things you recommended that I bring. I also brought some food if we get hungry." Mitsunari replied, digging through his satchel before pulling out what appeared to be a dumpling wrapped in cloth.

Whisbei smirked, "Oh really? You didn't get them from another strange merchant, did you?" he asked jokingly.

As he placed the dumpling back in the bag, Mitsunari chuckled, "Don't worry, I ordered the kitchen staff to make them after dinner." then after a short pause, he added, "I also brought some extra things. Just in case we need them."

They continued walking, making idle chit chat until they reached their destination. The small clearing was full of small flowers, growing in the soft grass. The water glinted in the moonlight, a soft breeze making it ripple slightly. By the riverbank, there were a cluster of rocks, one large one surrounded by a few smaller ones. Whisbei calmly strolled over to the rocks, and sat down on the largest one, with Mitsunari not far behind him.

"This place is quite beautiful, Whisbei, I can see why you chose to bring me here." Mitsunari said, sitting next to him.

There was enough room on the rock for the both of them, but just barely, so they had to sit so close that their shoulders were almost touching. They spent the next few minutes gazing at the stars, making a small comment once and a while, but for the most part saying nothing, silently enjoying each other's company.

Whisbei was in bliss. He was sitting on his favorite rock, with his favorite person, in his favorite place, all during a lovely night. It was absolutely perfect. And something told him Mitsunari felt the same way.

He then felt Mitsunari's hand on his own. Whisbei turned his gaze to Mitsunari, who returned it.

But before either of them could say anything, a splash broke their silence as they both turned their attention to the river, and saw a group of fish trying to swim down river. Whisbei suddenly got an idea, hopped off the rock, and went right up to the riverbank.

"What are you doing?" Mitsunari asked, sounding a bit disappointed.

Whisbei didn't answer. Instead he lifted his kimono up to his knees, and walked to the middle of the river. The current wasn't very strong, so he could stand without a problem, and the water was only halfway up his calves. Since his hair was so long, some of it was now in the water, but Whisbei didn't seem to notice. After a tense second or two, Whisbei's arm darted into the water, unintentionally releasing his grip on his kimono, and pulled up a fish, which was trying to break free from his grip.

He grinned at Mitsunari triumphantly and called out, "Got one!" in a cheerful tone.

Mitsunari clapped, before getting off the rock himself. "Impressive, Whisbei, very impressive." He praised, before smirking and adding in a challenging, but mostly playful, tone, "But, I bet I could do better."

With a chuckle, Whisbei dropped the fish, and waved him over, "Come on in, then, the water's great!"

Once Mitsunari had made his way over, not even bothering to lift his hakama to keep them dry, Whisbei began to make the rules.

"First one to catch 5 fish, wins. You have to hold on to it for 3 seconds for it to count, and you can't catch a fish that had just been caught by you, or the other person."

Mitsunari nodded, "Sounds good." they then shook hands in agreement, and their little contest began.

Whisbei had done this many times before, but not with his new body, so he was having a hard time adjusting to it. Mitsunari also didn't fish, since he had no time or interest for it. So for the first few minutes they weren't catching anything. Until, Whisbei had started to adapt to his form, and soon he caught another fish.

He then turned to look over at Mitsunari, who seemed to be focusing on something, before he quickly grabbed a fish, which immediately began to thrash wildly. On instinct, he hugged his catch against him to stop it from escaping too soon. After 3 seconds, he let it go, but now his entire front, and his arms, were completely soaked.

"That's an interesting method, sir." Whisbei commented with a laugh, he then turned his attention to the water, before saying "Watch this."

Quickly, he reached into the water with both hands, and pulled out two fish, one in each hand.

Mitsunari chuckled, "Alright. No need to show off." but then he noticed something, and smirked, "Now it's your turn to watch."

He bent down suddenly, and heaved up a fish twice the size of the normal ones they were catching before. However, the struggling, and weight, of the bigger fish, combined with the speed of Mitsunari straightening up, made him not only release his catch, but also fall onto his backside with a splash.

Immediately, Whisbei hurried over to him, "Mitsunari-sama! Are you okay?!" he asked in a panicked voice, hoping his master wasn't hurt.

"I'm fine, don't worry." Mitsunari replied, before he smiled a bit in embarrassment, "Let's just call it a tie for now."

Whisbei sighed in relief, before he nodded, "Of course." he then chuckled softly, "And I won't tell anyone you were bested by a fish." he joked.

Mitsunari chuckled a bit as well, before jokingly saying, "You're damn right you won't."

After a few seconds of them laughing, Mitsunari got a devilish smirk on his face, and Whisbei knew exactly what he was planning.

"Mitsu-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, Mitsunari had splashed him in the face with water. Then, after pausing for a few seconds, Whisbei splashed Mitsunari back. This turned into a splash fight between the two, which lasted until they were both completely drenched, and exhausted.

They returned to the rock that they were sitting on before, where Mitsunari had left his satchel, removed their soaking wet clothes, then retrieved the towels and dumplings from the bag. After that, they found a comfortable spot on the ground. They were soon laying down next to each other in the soft grass, eating dumplings, while only wearing their towels and underwear.

Once the dumplings were finished, Mitsunari turned to Whisbei, and asked, "Hey, do you remember that I was going to ask you something last night?"

Whisbei thought for a second, and then nodded, "Yes. You mentioned it was a question you've had for a long time."

Then, without a word, Mitsunari got on top of him, placing his hands on either side of Whisbei's head, using them to support the upper part of his body. Whisbei felt his face getting warm, which made Mitsunari smile softly.

"Whisbei, would you do me the honor of joining me for a private dinner?" Mitsunari asked in a gentle, but hopeful, voice.

This confused Whisbei, why would Mitsunari hold on to such a question for so long? Though, perhaps there was more to it than just a meal.

He smiled, "Of course. The honor would be mine, sir." he replied, much to Mitsunari's delight.

"Thank you, Whisbei! I'll order the preparations to start in the morning, but it might take a few days for everything to be ready."

Mitsunari's soft smirk then returned to his face, "One more thing. Could you do me a favor and close your eyes for a moment?" he requested.

With a nod, Whisbei shut his eyes, wondering what Mitsunari was going to do. It was only a few seconds later, when he felt warm air on his lips.

"HEY!"

The sudden shout made Whisbei turn his head, opening his eyes to see the source of the noise, and also caused Mitsunari to fall off him in surprise. The person was none other than a very angry Sayaka, who was carrying bags full of scrolls and other miscellaneous things.

"G-Good evening, Sayaka-san. What are you doing up at this hour?" Whisbei asked nervously, with a small wave.

Mitsunari, on the other hand, was giving her a death glare. One that, if looks could kill, could have caused Sayaka to burst into flames where she stood. Whisbei had a feeling that he probably would have had her executed if he could but her position in society, and the value she (or more specifically her work) had to him meant that it wouldn't be a very good idea.

And Sayaka knew this all too well.

"Well if you must know, I was heading to the castle to prepare for my meeting with you two tomorrow, so I wouldn't have to do it right after I got up, and we could get it done as soon as possible. However, when the guards told me you two were out, I figured I'd investigate as soon as I could." Sayaka answered, "But, since you're both are so full of energy, I think now is a good a time as any to start at least one of things I had planned for tomorrow. Preferably, back at the castle with you two properly dressed."

Whisbei blushed a deep red when he realized he was still almost naked. He quickly covered himself and rushed to Mitsunari's satchel to retrieve the spare clothes, with Mitsunari following, though not as urgent.

The clothes that were packed were a set of Mitsunari's regular clothes, and a large blue kimono with a flower pattern, obviously meant for sleepwear.

Once they had gotten dressed, and gathered what they brought, the three of them walked to the castle in silence. When they were inside, Sayaka calmly turned to them both, "Whisbei, you should get some rest. I have quite a few questions for MItsunari-sama that can't wait for tomorrow. However, it will be your turn after our meeting in the morning."

"Are you certain? I'm perfectly happy to answer your questions now, Sayaka." Whisbei objected.

He didn't get an answer. However, he then notice the tension in the room, specifically between Sayaka and Mitsunari. It was so thick you could cut it with a knife, and the only times it was this tense, especially with Mitsunari, the other person would often wind up dead. But, since the other person here was Sayaka, it meant that no one would die. Probably. But that didn't mean it wouldn't get nasty. So, he figured that it would be best to not get too involved.

Quietly, casting a quick glance at Mitsunari, Whisbei walked out into the hallway, closed the door behind him, and began to make his way to his bedroom. He was about half way down the hall when he heard Sayaka and Mitsunari's muffled argument. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but judging by the tone, it wasn't very nice.

Immediately, he turned around, and almost ran back into the room. It only took a few strides due to his height, but as soon as he opened the door, Mitsuanri and Sayaka were silent. They had both snapped their gaze to the door, and were now staring at him. It felt like the air itself was boiling with the anger coming from the two of them.

"Get. Out." Sayakan ordered, in a very harsh tone.

Mitsunari was silent, but Whisbei could tell that he also wanted him to leave. Quickly, he closed the door, and began to go to his room again.

This time, the yelling began when he was completely down the hall. Whisbei wanted to go back, but he knew they'd just stop again, or he'd get dragged in. And from the sounds of it he definitely didn't want that.

It wasn't that it would turn physically violent. Sayaka knew that she stood no chance against a shogun with years of experience, and Mitsunari wouldn't hurt her for a number of reasons. But, still, he thought it would be best to have someone act as a moderator, to keep things relatively calm. And since Whisbei himself wasn't an option, he opted for the best monk for the job.

Passing by his room, he knocked on Akiri's door. After a few minutes, the monk, still very tired and a bit annoyed at being woken up, answered the door.

"Whisbei. What do you need? It's late, and Sayaka should be here very early tomorrow. You know how she is when people fall asleep while she's explaining something." Akiri yawned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

With a nervous chuckle, Whisbei said, "Well, you see... She's already here."

That caught Akiri's attention, "What?" he asked in a serious tone.

Quickly, Whisbei began to explain the situation to him. Of course he danced around some of the details, but he explained the whole 'Mitsunari-sama and Sayaka are having an argument in the castle' part.

As soon as he was done, Akiri didn't even give him a response. Instead he marched past Whisbei, speed walking to the room Mitsunari and Sayaka were in.

Once that was taken care of, Whisbei returned to his bedroom, and flopped down onto the bed, not even getting out of his clothes.

He hated this.

He hated having all these questions burning in his mind. The way the people he considered to be his friends were being so secretive around him, and the thought that his questions would never be answered because of it. Honestly, he was older than all of them, and yet they were treating him like a little kid!

Whisbei groaned. What could he do? Confronting them might work, but they might try to dodge questions or just flat out lie to him. He could wait until the answers came to him, which might happen, but most likely wouldn't. And the chances of any other alternative he could think of working were quickly dwindling away.

He huffed as he silently made his choice. He'd wait until it was the perfect moment, then confront all three of them individually, before interrogating them all together. The only problem was that he only had 27 days left to do it, before he loses his human body, and by that point it would probably be too late to get his answers. First, he'd interrogate Sayaka, once she had finished her interview after the meeting.

But, for now, he had to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a long day, and the start of many more ahead.

Chapter Text

That morning, the sound of thunder had awoken Whisbei from a troubled sleep. After rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he found his kimono, now clean and dry, laying next to his bed. As he got dressed, he mentally prepared himself for the day, thinking about the questions he wanted to ask Sayaka, and how he should word them.

Once he was dressed, and the blue sleepwear he had was folded and ready to be taken for laundry, he made his way to the main room. There, Sayaka, Akiri, Mitsunari, and a few others were already awake, prepared to begin.

After he took his seat next to Mitsunari, who looked like he also had a rough night, and a couple more people joined them, Whisbei noticed something. All the people here could see yokai, (excluding Mitsunari of course) and knew of his current situation. This made Whisbei even more curious about what Sayaka wanted to talk about so early in the morning.

With everyone finally in the room, Sayaka cleared her throat, causing all eyes to turn to her.

"Alright, now that everyone's here, it's time to begin." She announced, pulling out the box that had once held the cookies that had started this whole mess, and pointed at the insignia on it, "I asked all the yokai visiting the temple if they recognized this symbol. Luckily, a few did, and were able to tell me the possible name of our little merchant friend. I say possible because it could be a fake name."

Sayaka's face darkened, everyone in the room waiting with anticipation for her to continue, "His name is..." the tension in the room built, until... "Ano."

Everyone immediately deadpanned. Mitsunari wasn't very amused, and he wasn't the only one.

"So his name is just 'Umm'?"

Sayaka nodded her head, "Yes. Believe me, I was annoyed too. It caused a lot of confusion and unnecessary arguments." she said.

Then, she pulled out one of the papers she was carrying last night, and set it on the table in front of her, opening it up to reveal that it was a map of their whole region. It was a perfectly standard map, one that Whisbei had seen many times, but what set it apart was that there were several red X's decorating it, all on the larger towns and villages, including Sawayama.

"One of the yokai that I talked to was a traveler, and an apparent regular of Ano. These X's represent the places he was seen in recently." Sayaka proceeded to draw an imaginary line between the X's, as she continued, "He apparently visits these towns and villages in a cycle. Based on that he should return to Sawayama in about 29 days."

Whisbei perked up a bit. Maybe he could talk to Ano to see what he meant by 'Now's your chance'. Perhaps it could be a safety net of sorts, in case he couldn't get his answers in time. He stored that thought away, and continued to listen to Sayaka talk before she realized he wasn't paying attention.

Luckily for him, she was focused on something else, "Now that we know his name, and when he's probably coming back, I have developed a strategy to capture him." Sayaka declared, then, she turned to Whisbei, "And before you say anything, you're tactical advice isn't wanted or necessary." Both Mitsuanri and Whisbei glared at the mild insult, but stayed quiet. "Okay, now, here's the plan..."

Sayaka then went on to explain how they were going to trap Ano. Going over what to look out for, luring tactics, back up plans, and who was going where. She was so deeply focused on describing her plans, that she didn't notice Mitsunari lean over to Whisbei.

"The dinner should be ready in around 2 days, does that sound good?"

Whisbei nodded, the idea of interrogating Mitsunari during the dinner breifly crossing his mind, before he remembered that this had been something his master had been planning for a long time. Asking questions about what he's hiding would definitely wreck the whole experience. The mere thought of ruining something that MItsunari had been waiting for, regardless of why or for how long, made Whisbei feel worse than he had expected. So he decided he would just try to have a nice time with Mitsunari.

Besides, he had to focus on what he was going to say to Sayaka during his interrogation.

And her's.

Once she had everything organized to capture Ano, Sayaka called an end to the meeting. Whisbei stood up, he and Mitsunari sharing a glance, before going over to Sayaka. After everyone else had left, they sat across from each other at the now cleared table.

"Alright, Whisbei, let's begin."

The questions were either the same as the ones she asked on the first day, or at least they were very similar. Making sure he was feeling okay, that he wasn't ill, overall it didn't take very long. Once they finished the repeat questions, they moved onto the new ones.

"Do you know if anyone has suspected that you're not human?" Sayaka asked.

Whisbei thought for a moment. Aside from a few of the servants, guards, and the guests that were at the castle a few nights ago, he hadn't interacted with many humans. He had noticed the servants would try to get away as quickly as possible when having to serve him his food, or stare at him until he noticed them. Though, he suspected it was mostly because they were either scared of him, or curious, but it definitely wasn't suspicion.

He shook his head, and Sayaka continued with her questions. None of them captured his attention, it was mostly just making sure he was getting used to his human body.

Before he knew it, she was done, and he was ready to begin.

As Sayaka began to stand, Whisbei stopped her, "Sayaka, before you leave, I have a few questions for you myself." he said.

Slowly, Sayaka sat back down, narrowing her eyes at Whisbei. After clearing his throat, Whisbei immediately asked the question that was pressing on his mind the most.

"Why are you acting so strange around me?"

Sayaka then got quiet, "What do you mean?" she asked, trying to feign ignorance, but the serious tone that slipped out betrayed her.

Whisbei sighed, realizing that he should have probably worked his way up to that question, or at least came at it from a different angle. "Since this whole incident began, you've been acting different towards me, and almost hostile towards Mitsunari-sama. I want to know why." He said, determined to get the answer, even if he stumbled a bit at the start.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Sayaka replied, "My behavior is none of your concern."

"It is when it involves myself or my master, so in this case your behavior definitely concerns me."

"No, it doesn't. Besides, it's for the best that you don't know."

Whisbei slammed his hand on the table out of frustration, "I refuse to be left in the dark like this! You, Akiri and Mitsunari-sama are keeping something from me, and I demand to know what it is!" he yelled, before he slumped his shoulders and sighed, "I just want to know why you're acting so strange."

After a few seconds of silence, Sayaka straightened herself up, "Alright," she said, "I will tell you why I'm more 'hostile'," she made air quotes for emphasis, "towards Mitsunari. I didn't notice that I was acting differently around you, though."

Sayaka sighed, "Truth be told, I've had the suspicion that Mitsunari turned you into a human on purpose."

Whisbei could only stare at her in disbelief for a few seconds, his mind coming up blank (something that had been happening a lot, lately), for how she could have come to that conclusion.

"Why on earth would you think that?" He asked, genuinely confused.

"Oh please, you know Mitsunari has wanted to be able to see you for years now! You also know that Mitsunari will do almost anything to get what he wants, especially if he really wants it!" Sayaka explained, rubbing her temples in frustration.

This put Whisbei deep in thought. She wasn't wrong, Mitsunari had been wishing to see him for a long time, and whenever Mitsunari was dead set on something he was determined to reach his goal, or would continue until he reached his limit.

It was... actually quite admirable.

Seeing the determined glint in Mitsunari's eyes, the bright smile he had when he was victorious, Whisbei enjoyed every bit of it. And when defeated, he shared in his master's pain, but he was always there when he was needed.

Through this, the memory of how Mitsunari had been acting before this all began resurfaced in his mind. His master had been especially focused on wanting to see him. Perhaps Sayaka's accusation had a seed of truth to it.

"Heh heh heh."

Sayaka's idle chuckle snapped Whisbei out of his thoughts. Apparently, she had been thinking too.

"You know, Mitsunari has been ordering me to find a way to let him see you, and I never understood why. Even after I told him you're not a tactician," Whisbei tensed, but it went unnoticed, "he got mad at me, and demanded that I look twice as hard. He even said that if I couldn't find one to just make a spell, or potion. Which of course I'm not capable of doing."

It was then that Sayaka noticed that Whisbei was shaking.

"Whisbei, what's wrong? Why are you shaking?" She asked, it sounded like there was a hint of concern in her voice, but Whisbei didn't care.

"You told him I'm not a tactician?"

Sayaka shrugged, "Of course I did. You didn't think I would simply let a Shittakaburi like you just waltz in and scam him, did you?" Whisbei's fists clenched at his old name, but she continued, "Honestly, with how many times I alone have told him the truth, not counting all the others who have told him the same thing, and have even given him options for proper yokai tacticians, you're seriously lucky that Mitsunari lo-" she cut herself off, covering her mouth with her hand before she could finish.

But, Whisbei didn't notice.

He was too angry to notice.

Sayaka cleared her throat, "You need to tell him the truth, you're the only one he'll believe. It's for the best." she huffed.

That was more than enough for Whisbei. He stood, glaring down at Sayaka, feeling his face growing hot with rage. Without saying a word, Whisbei turned on his heel, and stormed out of the room.

Briskly marching down the hallways, with servants and guards alike ducking into rooms, or pushing themselves against walls if they couldn't, in an attempt to avoid getting in his way, especially since there was no way he was slowing down.

Whisbei soon arrived at his bedroom. After closing the door behind him, the boiling anger he felt turned into absolutely gut-wrenching guilt. 

He was mad at Sayaka for telling Mitsunari that he was a Shittakaburi, but he knew she was right to do so. Hell, he didn't even know whether to be grateful, or disappointed, that Mitsunari didn't believe her. But that didn't change the fact that Sayaka was right.

Ever since Whisbei met Mitsunari, he had been lying about who he was. It hadn't bothered him at first, he thought it would be like every other human he had inspirited, just make him say some stuff a couple times a day, and that would be all. He never expected MItsunari to be interested in talking to him. To know more about him. Or that he'd want to know more about the human as well.

Before he knew it, he found himself actually caring for his master, which not only lead to their friendship, but also his guilt. It made him feel like he was going to throw up.

'You need to tell him the truth, you're the only one he'll believe.'

Sayaka had only voiced a thought he had a million times.

'It's for the best.'

Whisbei knew it was, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Just imagining the hurt and betrayal Mitsunari would feel, along with know he'd be sent away immediately afterwards, stung Whisbei's heart like a swarm of wasps.

Then, there was the second option: Leaving.

He could fly away from it all, and never return, only being able to hope a suitable replacement was found.

But Mitsunari would still feel hurt and betrayed, but his reaction would be different. His master would probably send people out to look for him, and wouldn't stop until he was found. If he wasn't found, however... Whisbei didn't know what would happen, but everything told him that it wouldn't be good, no matter what.

So, he usually pushed these feelings away, sometimes to the point where he began believing his own lies, getting to immersed in his role, but something always had to snap him back into reality.

He was Shittakaburi.

Not Whisbei, and not a tactician.

And nothing will ever change that.

A knocking at the door broke Whisbei out of his self-loathing thoughts. Wiping away the tears that he hadn't realize had begun to fall from his eyes, he opened the door. Standing there was MItsunari, who was looking up at him worryingly.

"Whisbei, I was told by some of the servants that something seemed to have bothered you." Mitsunari informed, trying to sound formal, but his concern managed to slip into his tone, "I wanted to make sure you were okay."

Whisbei nodded, forcing a bright smile onto his face that made his cheeks hurt, "Everything is fine, sir. My meeting with Sayaka just got a bit heated, but it's alright." he said.

Mitsunari didn't look convinced, he placed his hand on Whisbei's shoulder, looking at him in the eye. It didn't even take a second for Whisbei to understand that his master was silently asking him, 'Are you sure you're alright?'. In response, Whisbei raised his free arm, and put his hand on Mitsunari's shoulder opposite to it. With a sigh, Mitsunari lowered his arm, Whisbei following suit, and they left to do their work.

For the rest of the day, Whisbei couldn't focus on anything, but he somehow managed to do enough to get things done, with only a few worried glances from Mitsunari. They mostly worked on various speeches, including the one for the upcoming festival. In a muddied blur the day was over, and Whisbei couldn't be happier to sleep.

This was a pattern for the next few days, until MItsunari pulled him away from the others for a second, before going back to work.

"Whisbei, everything is ready for our dinner tonight. I will come collect you from your chambers when all preparations are made. I hope you're ready for it."

Chapter Text

That evening, Whisbei waited patiently in his quarters for Mitsunari to arrive. It only took a few minutes, before he heard a gentle knock on the door, and when he opened it, Mitsunari was standing there with a soft expression on his face, but his eyes showed a hint of anticipation.

Without a word, Whisbei took Mitsunari's hand, and they walked to the dining room. There, a small table rested in the middle of the room, two pillows on opposite sides of it. A candle burned brightly on the center of the table, and along with the other candles on the walls, served to light up to room, though it was still a bit dim.

Mitsunari lead Whisbei to the table, and they sat on the pillows, across from each other. Once they were seated, a servant entered the room and scurried over to their table, carrying their meals in each hand.

When the food was set on the table, Whisbei could now see that it was rice-stuffed squid, on of his favorites. A small smile came to his face as he looked up to see what his master had, since Mitsunari didn't like squid. Not surprisingly, Mitsunari's meal was different, instead he had a plate of sukiyaki. The servant had also placed a bottle of saké on the table, before he was dismissed.

After they were left alone, Mitsunari poured the saké into both his and Whisbei's cups. Whisbei didn't drink alcohol very often, he didn't really like the taste, but he was willing to have a drink or two for such an occasion.

Mitsunari lifted his glass, "Whisbei." he said, motioning for Whisbei to mimic him, which was promptly done. "Thank you for joining me tonight. I can't tell you how long I've been waiting for this."

Whisbei smiled, "I can honestly say I've been looking forward to our dinner as well, Mitsunari-sama."

As they clinked their cups, Mitsunari announced, "A toast to our future. Together." and they both drank.

The dinner was quite nice, in Whisbei's opinion. The food was delicious, and the conversation they had between bites was pleasant, a welcome change to the gloom of the past few days. He found himself relax, instead of silently wallowing in self-pity. Though, Mitsunari was suddenly quiet, and seemed to be lost in thought. Whisbei became curious, and decided to snap him out of it.

"Mitsunari-sama, is everything alright?"

Almost as if he had forgotten where he was, Mitsunari jerked his head up, before he cleared his throat, "Oh... yes, yes, I'm fine, Whisbei. I was just thinking of something." he answered.

It was a few seconds of silence, before Mitsunari sighed, like he had just been preparing himself for what he was about to say, he looked up at Whisbei, a faint blush on his cheeks, and asked, "Have you, um...ever been in a...romantic...relationship before?"

The hesitance in his voice and the nervous cringe Mitsunari had while speaking was something Whisbei wasn't used to from the usually well-composed shogun.

It genuinely caught him so off guard, that it took him a moment to register the question, and when he did he just blinked in slight confusion.

No one had ever really wanted to be with him romantically, which he was okay with for the most part. The handful that did want him romantically, he didn't return their feelings. He had been interested in someone mutually. Once. However, that was quite a while ago, and it didn't go anywhere, so his feelings faded with time. Mitsunari already knew that, though. Other than that, he had been too busy for a relationship.

Whisbei shook his head, "No, I've never really been lucky in the romance department, to be honest." he said simply, before he chuckled, "But, I'm certain you've had plenty of women swooning at your feet, I've definitely seen quite a few while working for you. It's not surprising, you're a very handsome human."

Mitsunari had been drinking his saké, but when Whisbei had called him handsome, he spat it out, his face going red. After coughing for a few seconds, and assuring Whisbei he wasn't choking or anything, he cleared his throat.

"Y-Yes. While that is true, I've never found myself interested in most of them. But, when I am interested, it's not really for anything romantic." He chuckled a bit and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, still blushing as he looked away.

Whisbei's own cheeks were dusted with a bit of pink as well, since he knew what Mitsunari was talking about. Ladies trying to woo his master was kind of annoying when they couldn't take a hint when his master wasn't interested, but at least they were subtle about it, and the ones that weren't sometimes had a couple of amusing pick-up lines.

But, the ones that Mitsunari did get together with (for more than one night) were gone within 2 weeks. This gave Whisbei the idea that maybe his master was worried he'd never find love, and wanted to know that he wasn't alone with this. He was in his thirties and most of the other lords were married by now. So, naturally, Whisbei decided to be a good friend.

With a small smile, Whisbei reached over and held Mitsunari's hand, which was resting on the table next to his plate.

This caused Mitsunari to almost freeze, pulling his attention back to Whisbei, meeting his eyes. Mitsunari's cheeks reddened again, though Whisbei didn't notice.

"Mitsunari-sama." Whisbei purred softly, he felt Mitsunari shudder, but continued, closing his eyes so he could concentrate on what he was going to say next, "Love is strange, but it finds a way to reach everyone, no matter what form it takes. If you want to find someone to love, then I'm sure they'll come along. Who knows, you might have already talked to them."

When Whisbei opened his eyes again, he was met with what appeared to be a very flustered Mitsunari. He was tense, visibly frozen in his thoughts, his cheeks were flushed pink, and Whisbei could feel his hand getting a bit sweaty.

Worrying he said something wrong, Whisbei asked, "Is everything okay, sir?"

In response, Mitsunari snapped out of his stupor, and said with a nervous smile, "Of-Of course, Whisbei! I'm just fine. But, I've probably had enough saké for tonight. Ha ha..."

Not fully convinced, Whisbei slowly pulled his hand away, choosing not to press the issue, since Mitsunari had had enough to drink to get a least slightly tipsy, which would have gotten most people drunk, but Mitsunari had a surprisingly high tolerance to alcohol.

It was quiet for a moment, before Mitsunari straightened himself, trying to seem composed, "Though, I would like you to know that you don't have to call me 'sir', Whisbei. I want this dinner to feel more," he gestured, as if trying to find the right word, "...personal."

With a nod of his head, Whisbei replied, "As you wish, s-uh Mitsunari-sama."

After that, dinner was over sooner than Whisbei had expected. The dessert was dango, three skewers for both of them, and it went without incident, neither of them drinking anymore saké. The candle was now half-way melted, and the servant had returned to take their now empty plates. It was late, and both of them were ready for a long sleep.

Mitsunari took Whisbei's hand, and began to lead the yokai to his room, like he did after the feast, which now felt like it happened eons ago.

But, this time, Akiri couldn't interrupt them.

Opening the door to his room, Mitsunari lead Whisbei inside, before closing it completely behind them.

When they walked in, Whisbei noticed that Mitsunari had decided to spruce things up a bit, not that the room wasn't nice before. The sheets looked like they had been freshly washed, and seemed so inviting. Everything looked like they had been reorganized, just a bit to make it more tidy, but it still had the nice, familiar feeling that Whisbei hadn't realized he'd missed until now.

"You know, Whisbei," Mitsunari said with a smile, causing the yokai to turn an look at him, "I've missed sharing my room with you."

A matching smile made it's way onto Whisbei's face, "I feel the same way. I'll admit, it's been lonely in the guest room." he replied, before a thought came to him, "Is sharing your bed still the plan, though?"

A nod and a confirming hum was the only response he got as Mitsunari was getting ready for bed, but it was also the only one he needed. Whisbei turned his back to Mitsunari, to respect his privacy, and began to get ready himself.

Apparently, Mitsunari decided to just wear his sleepwear very loosely around his waist, exposing his torso. He quickly joined Whisbei in the bed, who was now in his underwear, as usual, and had tied his hair in a messy bun. They pulled the blankets over themselves, and laid down next to each other.

Before Whisbei knew it, they were cuddling again. Though, unlike last time, Whisbei's head was resting on Mitsunari's chest, their arms wrapped around each other. Whisbei found himself softly tracing his master's scars that he got from his battles, both the old and the new, making sure he didn't agitate the ones that might still sting.

Mitsunari seemed a bit off. He was gently petting Whisbei's head, somtimes stopping to twirl a strand of loose hair in between his fingers, which wasn't too strange. But, on occasion he'd move his hand down to rub Whisbei's shoulders and back, but then returned to playing with the yokai's hair.

However, before Whisbei could ask what was wrong, he heard something that caused him to pause.

Ba-Bump. Ba-Bump.

What was that noise?

Ba-Bump. Ba-Bump.

Whisbei lifted his head from Mitsunari's chest, and listened for the source of the sound. But, he didn't hear it anymore, so he guessed that it was just his imagination, and laid back down.

Ba-Bump. Ba-Bump.

Now this was getting annoying.

After listening to the noise for a few more seconds, Whisbei realized that it was coming from inside Mitsunari's chest, which was both surprising and concerning.

"What are you doing?" Mitsunari asked, catching Whisbei's attention.

"There's a strange beating sound coming from your chest." Whisbei replied, looking up at Mitsunari with a worried expression, "Is there something wrong?"

Mitsunari chuckled softly, "No, actually it would be bad if there wasn't a beat. Do you not know what a heartbeat is?"

Whisbei pondered for a few seconds, before shaking his head, "Yokai don't have 'heartbeats', though I suppose that's a thing for humans, and other living creatures. Though, are they supposed to be that fast?"

Blushing slightly as he tried to come up with an answer, Mitsunari suddenly perked up in realization, and asked, "Whisbei, do you know if you have a heartbeat? Since you're human now, you might have one."

Not noticing Mitsunari had dodged the question, Whisbei blinked a couple of times and thought for a moment, absentmindedly placing his hand on his own chest. Truth be told, he'd never had a heartbeat before, and if he did, he didn't remember it.

"I...I don't know." He said quietly, the words harder to get out than it should have been.

"Would you like me to check?"

"...Sure. If you want to, Mitsunari-sama."

Then, without a word, they shuffled so that Mitsunari's head was now resting on Whisbei's chest. They laid like that for a few seconds in silence, before Whisbei decided to speak up.

"So, do you hear anything?" Whisbei asked, sounding more nervous than he had expected. He didn't know whether it came from the anticipation of learning if he had a heartbeat, or the warmth of Mitsunari's face on his bare chest.

Mitsunari furrowed his brow in concentration, nuzzling his head against Whisbei's chest, causing the yokai to blush slightly, before answering, "Yes." he held Whisbei tighter, and nuzzled him more, "It sounds very nice."

Whisbei couldn't keep the smile off his face. The fact that he had a heartbeat now was interesting, but the closeness he felt was what made him relax. This whole evening had been wonderful, and he spent it with the person he cared about the most. Eventually, they returned to their previous positions, with Whisbei curled up, resting his head over Mitsunari's heart again.

Soon, Mitsunari was snoring, and Whisbei was listening to his now slower, steady heartbeat, letting it lull him to sleep.

The next morning, Whisbei wasn't as relaxed.

Naturally, he had woken up in Mitsunari's arms, at peace. Before he remembered that Akiri would, without a doubt, panic about this situation, if his reaction to when they shared a bed last time was any indication.

But it was bound to be worse, since they actually spent the night together this time.

He tried to get up ,in a way that didn't disturb his master, but Mitsunari's arms held him in place. Turning his attention upwards, Whisbei saw that Mitsunari was already awake, for how long he didn't know, and was looking at him with a smirk.

"Where do you think you're going?" Mitsunari playfully scolded.

Managing to rise, though not getting out of bed, Whisbei responded in a bit of a panicky tone, "Mitsunari-sama, if Akiri finds out we spent the night together, he'll have a fit! He's already following us around everywhere during the day, and I don't think he's above checking our rooms at night!"

Sitting up as well, Mitsunari sighed, "You have a fair point. I'm still his boss, but he definitely knows how to toe the line when he wants to." he then muttered under his breath, "Especially, when it comes to this stuff."

Whisbei just barely managed to hear what he said, however before he could ask what he meant, Mitsunari stood up, noticeably reluctant to do so, and said, "He's probably not awake right now, so we can just say we got up to get an early start to the day. Though, if he is, we can make an excuse. Sound like a good plan?"

Deciding to drop his question, since he doubted he'd get a proper answer anyway, Whisbei nodded. Akiri liked to sleep in a bit, and it wouldn't be too hard to believe that they'd want to get some work done without waiting for him. Besides, if Akiri was awake, he'd have woken them up by now.

They both got dressed, and made their way to the main room. A few people were already there but, thankfully, Akiri wasn't one of them. Though, it didn't take long for him to show up, obviously still a bit tired. He didn't say anything and instead just stood by Mitsunari. Everyone was in the room soon after, and everything was prepared.

It then hit Whisbei what they were doing today. He had completely forgotten in his concern for him and Mitsunari being caught together this morning, but now he could remember.

It was the speech to the people of Sawayama Castle Town that they had been working on. And he was going to be the one delivering it.

But now, he could be seen by everyone.

Whisbei tried to steel his nerves, and calm the frantic heartbeat he now had, as they made their way into town.

Chapter Text

As they made their way to the town, Whisbei went over what he had to say to the people in his head.

To summarize, it was just that since the festival was happening exactly one week from today, there would be an increase in guards patrolling the town to ensure preparations went along smoothly, what areas would be blocked off, and when they would be able reenter them, etc, etc. Of course, Whisbei had to go into more detail, but that was the gist of it.

He had actually made similar speeches for the past couple years, so it wasn't like the whole process was new to him. However, those times, Whisbei had inspirited Mitsunari and had talked through him, since yokai couldn't be seen or heard by most people. Now, he was the one everyone was looking at, and he was feeling self-conscious. 

But, when they made it to Sawayama Castle Town, Whisbei realized the speech wasn't the only thing he had to worry about.

As per usual, some of the guards had arrived to the town before they did, and had put everyone in two orderly lines for them to walk between on their way to the platform where they gave their speech. The people were supposed to stay silent and especially polite, as doing anything that could be considered disrespectful or mocking would cause them to be punished harshly.

Normally, this wasn't a problem, but this year things were different.

Before Whisbei had even stepped into Sawayama Castle Town, he felt eyes watching him. It wouldn't surprise him if a few had been staring at him as soon as he had come into view, with how they were looking at him. It didn't get better as they walked through the town.

There were three reactions that were the most common;

Fear. It was well contained for the most part, but not well enough.

Aggression. No one actually attacked him, of course. That would be a very dumb move, anyone with half a brain could see that.

Finally, curiosity. Though, it was usually mixed with one of the other two, so it was harder to pick out.

Another thing Whisbei noticed was that people were whispering to each other about him. He could just barely make out what some of them were saying. "Who is that?" "When did he start working for the feudal lord?" "Something seems off about him..." This didn't last long, since the guards barked at them to be quiet.

It the crowd, though, Whisbei spotted a familiar face. Keinosuke was standing in the line to his left, between his parents. Whisbei hadn't seen the boy since he started working for Mitsunari. Children were usually told to stay at home during events like this, but now Keinosuke seemed to be old enough to join. How time flies.

As Whisbei passed him the look of fear the boy had turned to realization.

Realization that Whisbei was the yokai that had been possessing him, and had caused him to be branded as a liar for months, if not years.

With Keinosuke behind him, Whisbei could only hear what happened next.

"HE'S A YO-" Keinosuke shouted before being muffled, probably by his parents.

"Quiet! Keinosuke, do you want to get executed?!"

Definitely his parents.

"But he's the spi-"

"Are we going to have a problem?" A guard interrupted, with perfect timing.

After that, Keinosuke finally shut up. Whisbei could only hope it would stay that way.

They finally made it to the platform, and the townsfolk began to gather around the front of it.

Mitsunari turned to Whisbei, "Stay here. I'm going to introduce you, since they all seem a bit on edge." he said.

Whisbei nodded, and Mitsunari walked up to address the crowd of people. Everyone went silent, as Mitsunari stood before them.

"As you all may have noticed, I have someone new joining me here today. He'll be going over the preparations we'll be doing for the festival, including areas that will be blocked off, so listen up!" Mitsunari announced, "Now, introducing Whisbei."

The yokai walked up beside him, standing up straight to try and convey confidence. The crowd seemed to grow tense again, but all remained silent.

Throughout Whisbei's speech, there were no incidents, and people seemed to relax, not by much, but there was still improvement, probably because they were getting used to him, and saw that he didn't mean them any harm. Keinosuke stayed quiet, which was good, but when Whisbei saw him in the crowd, he was definitely still mad at him.

Once he was finised, Mitsunari continued with his portion, and they were done. By the end, Whisbei was incredibly stressed, but he managed to hold himself together until they had returned to the castle. When he was inside, he let out a long, exhausted sigh.

"I think I need to lie down for a bit, Mitsunari-sama, to calm my nerves after that whole ordeal." Whisbei informed, already walking off to do just that.

However, Mitsunari grabbed his arm, causing him to stop and turn to look at the shogun. "Whisbei, I know you get stressed out when you're in front of so many people who can see you. But, I have a much better solution to help you relieve it." Mitsunari said with a smirk.

Whisbei agreed to go, not only because he wanted a better method than the one he already had, which was just laying down until he was calm, but also because he was curious about what his master had in mind.

Mitsunari began to lead him back out of the castle to a rather large building on the property. It was the practice hall, where Mitsunari and his soldiers would keep their skills sharp for combat. Next to it, there was a storage shed where they kept spare training equipment, such as dummies and wooden swords.

They entered the practice hall, and made their way to the training arena. Whisbei felt a small smile make it's way onto his face as he realized what his master wanted to do.

A sparing match.

Mitsunari seemed to understand that Whisbei knew what he was suggesting, and turned to speak to him, "I hope you don't mind my request."

"Not at all. In fact, this is an excellent idea!" Whisbei praised, "Much better than mine, at least."

Flattered, Mitsunari rubbed the back of his head with a light pink dusting his cheeks, "Ah, thank you." he pointed to one of the doors to a side room, "I'll be in there getting my armor on. We managed to find a set that will properly fit you, it's in the door to the left. Some servants are waiting to help you put it on if you need them."

With that, they walked into their separate changing rooms. When Whisbei walked in, he saw exactly what Mitsunari had told him would be in there. A large set of armor, and a pair of servants, who bowed once they saw him. The armor took a few minutes to put on, even with the servants help, but it did fit him quite well.

Walking back out into the arena, he could see Mitsunari, completely dressed in his armor, waiting on the other side of the arena.

"Are you ready?"

"Of course."

They approached each other until they reached the center, stopping once they were a good distance away. They bowed, and their sparing match officially began.

Mitsunari struck first, a blow which Whisbei blocked and quickly went for a counter attack. Promptly dodging and slipping behind the yokai, Mitsunari managed to kick his legs out by striking a specific point in his leg, causing him to fall to his knees. And with that, their first match came to an end.

Pleased with his victory, Mitsunari strolled to Whisbei's front, his fingers ghosting the yokai's shoulder the entire time.

Whisbei could see the satisfaction in Mitsunari's eyes as he looked up at his master. But, he resisted smiling.

Mitsunari put his hand out and helped the yokai up. With a small laugh, they each picked up a wooden sword, deciding to give swordplay a try. Once again, they bowed to each other, and their battle began.

It started out simple, with them striking and blocking the other's attacks, until Mitsunari knocked Whisbei onto his back with a swift kick to the chest. Before he could be properly defeated, Whisbei knocked his master's legs out from under him, got himself up swiftly, and held his 'sword' pointed at Mitsunari's face.

Mitsunari looked up at him, stunned, before chuckling softly. Whisbei smiled as it was his turn to let his master up, and extended his hand to the other to be taken. Smirking, Mitsunari took it, and stood up, ready to continue.

They went a few more rounds together until nightfall and they decided to return to the castle. As they ate dinner, the dining room was full of jovial talk and laughter. Then, with a full belly and his mind free of the stress that was plaguing him earlier that same day, Whisbei retired to his chambers. However, as he was about to lay down to sleep for the night, there was a knock on the door. Once he opened it, he saw Mitsunari, standing there in his sleepwear like it was an everyday occurrence.

"Whisbei, I hope I didn't wake you." he said in a slightly hushed voice, as to not be heard.

Whisbei tilted his head curiously, blinking a couple times. "Mitsunari-sama, not to be disrespectful, but why are you here?"

With a soft smile, Mitsunari whispered, "I was hoping we could spend the night together again. Since it seems we can get away with it."

"Are you sure that would be a wise idea?" Whisbei asked, a bit surprised that his master would even suggest pushing their luck like this.

Mitsunari shrugged, "It went well last time." he said simply.

After a moment of thought, Whisbei sighed, and allowed him to enter the room. Quietly, they began to settle in for the night, snuggling into bed together. MItsunari's head rested on Whisbei's chest, with the yokai idly stroking his hair.

"We probably shouldn't make this a habit." Whisbei said, tiredness seeping into his voice.

Mitsunari smiled sleepily, "It's not going to stop me from hoping that it does." he purred.

Suddenly, they began to hear footsteps down the hall coming towards them. On instinct, Whisbei rolled over onto Mitsunari, covering his master with his body in a way that made it look like he was just laying on his stomach. Sure enough, one second later Akiri opened the door.

"Sorry to bother you, Whisbei. I just wanted to let you know you did an excellent job today." he said, completely oblivious.

Whisbei smiled, silently praying he wouldn't find out, as he felt Mitsunari moving around slightly underneath him. "Thank you. I was trying to make a good impression on the people. I hope I succeeded."

Akiri chuckled, "Well, you certainly left some kind of impression, I'll give you that." then he turned away, and began to close the door, "I won't be keeping you any longer. Goodnight."

"Goodnight to you too, Akiri-san."

And with that, Akiri closed the door and made his way back to his own room.

After a few seconds of listening to the footsteps fade away, Whisbei sat up, straddling Mitsunari's hips with a huff. Looking down, he could see that Mitsunari was very flustered, his face was flushed completely red, with one of his hands resting on the yokai's chest, and the other moving to hold his waist.

"That was quite the close call, I would say." Whisbei whispered.

Mitsunari nodded, swallowing anxiously, now resting both of his hands on Whisbei's hips, "I don't think he's coming back." he said softly, tightening his grip a bit.

Whisbei hummed in agreement, laying down next to Mitsunari, who seemed disappointed that he moved.

As they cuddled up again, Mitsunari began rubbing Whisbei's shoulders and back more than last time. Whisbei didn't mind being touched, and it felt nice, so he didn't say anything.

Breaking the silence, Mitsunari said, "We're going to be much busier until the festival has passed, are you ready for that?"

Whisbei nodded, "Of course."

Then, nuzzling his jaw against Whisbei's chest, Mitsunari continued, "I'll also be seeking out your company at night. I understand your worries, but I'm willing to risk it if you are." as he looked away, blushing nervously.

For a second, Whisbei thought that, surely the more they did this, the more likely they were to get caught. But he definitely enjoyed spending the night with Mitsunari. So, he decided the risk was worth the reward.

He smiled, "As you wish. We can alternate whose room we stay in every night, just to help keep a certain someone from getting suspicious if he catches on."

A huge grin grew on MItsunari's face, "That's wonderful, thank you so much!" he cheered, burying his face into Whisbei's chest.

They spent the rest of the night cuddling, until Mitsunari fell asleep. Whisbei watched his master's sleeping face, admiring how peaceful he looked, before falling into an equally peaceful sleep of his own.

Chapter Text

The week leading up to the festival was extremely busy. Every day, something needed either Mitsunari's, Whisbei's, or both of their attention and by the end of each one, they were exhausted.

Unfortunately, all this work prevented Whisbei from further seeking out his answers. But, he didn't really have enough time to mull over that too much. Besides, even if he did have the time, he didn't have the energy, as all of it was being poured into the preparations.

However, at night, Whisbei and Mitsunari would share their room. They would cuddle in bed, until they fell asleep. Though every night, Whisbei noticed that Mitsunari seemed to get more and more antsy. He progressively started to touch the yokai more, stroking his hips and chest. Sometimes, his master would start to say something, but then would just disregard it, even if Whisbei asked about it again, which was mildly frustrating, but that was in the past.

Now, the festival was tomorrow, and Whisbei was ready for this all to be over. However, as he was prepared to sleep, he felt someone lift the blanket off him, and sit right on his lap. A smirk was soon on his face, he didn't even have to open his eyes to know it was Mitsunari. It had happened a few times, where one of them was trying to sleep and the other would just climb into bed. Or, in this case, get on top of the one in the bed.

"Are you awake?" Mitsunari whispered, stroking the yokai's cheek. Whisbei opened his eyes, seeing his master's blushing face. He didn't need to reply, as that was enough for Mitsunari.

"I wanted to tell you that I'll be dancing with a lady at the festival. Me and Akiri decided it today while you were off doing something else." Mitsunari announced, "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you sooner, but I didn't want you to be caught off guard when I have to leave."

Whisbei nodded understandingly. They had originally planned that Mitsunari would be staying with him on the highly elevated dais, where they would be able to observe everything. But, now that obviously wasn't the plan anymore.

With a sigh, Mitsunari laid his head on Whisbei's shoulder. Whisbei wrapped his arms around his master, happily snuggling against him. They both soon fell into sleep, and Whisbei was ready for these long, tiring days to come to an end. He just had to make it through the festival, first.

Once morning had come, everything was in mass chaos.

All of the last minute preparations, organizations, and decorations were being set up. Every second, someone was talking to Mitsunari or Whisbei, and when they were done with that person, another one immediately showed up to take their place. But soon, everything was ready, and the festival was set to begin soon.

Mitsunari pulled Whisbei into a separate room, where they were alone together. "Whisbei, I have something to give you" he said, pulling out his gift, which was wrapped in a bundle of cloth, with a string holding it together.

Opening the gift, Whisbei saw that it was a kimono, much fancier than the one he was currently wearing.

"I wanted you to wear something nice for this occasion." 

With a nod, Whisbei unraveled the kimono, and held it out to get a better look at it. It had a beautiful pattern, and felt so soft. He smiled gently, silently hoping that he could wear this when he returned to his normal form.

"Thank you. I'll go put this on right away." He thanked about to head to his bed room.

Looking relieved, Mitsunari replied happily, "Alright, but be quick. The festival is going to start soon, and we're getting ready to leave."

"Yes, sir." Whisbei called over his shoulder, as he left for his room.

Naturally, it didn't take him very long at all to put on the kimono. It fit him well, he noted as he stared at himself in the mirror, idly feeling how it hugged his hips and waist. He certainly filled it out very well, like it was made tailored just for him. Quickly, he left, and found Mitsunari, who was waiting for him.

Once Mitsunari noticed Whisbei was there, he waved him over. "Ah, Whisbei. You look fantastic." Mitsunari beamed, "Glad to see it fits you, I was worried it would be too tight."

Whisbei chuckled a bit as he got into position next to Mitsunari, and started to make small talk with him. Outside the doors, he could hear Akiri announcing their arrival. Apparently, he arrived just in the nick of time.

Even though Akiri's voice was muffled, Whisbei could hear what was being said, since the his voice carried incredibly well, especially for his age. It was the usual speech, about how their region was so prosperous, the beautiful weather for the festival, stuff like that to get the people in the mood to celebrate something. However, when he was announcing Mitsunari's achievements, Akiri had decided to add in a few things.

"Joining our feudal lord today is his loyal, and brilliant tactician. Who has been working day and night alongside Mitsunari in preparation for this festival."

Honestly, Whisbei was flattered by how kind Akiri's words were, even if they were just for the crowd.

Finally, Akiri gave the verbal cue for the guards to open the doors, and they walked out towards their elevated dais. Whisbei sat down, as Mitsunari made his own announcements, officially starting the festival to the thunderous applause of the people, before sitting down next to Whisbei.

The festival was in full swing, the performances were amazing, bringing forth deafening cheers from the crowd. Well, it was clear to Whisbei that he and Mitsunari had done a wonderful job once again.

Halfway through the third performance, which involved a lot more fire than Whisbei had expected, Mitsunari reached over and held his hand, with Whisbei returning the gesture. They held hands, talked a bit, and enjoyed the rest of the performances. Before they knew it, it was time for the dancing to begin.

A woman, very finely dressed and obviously of high class, walked up to the dais. Mitsunari seemed confused at first, before he perked up in recognition. Almost reluctantly, with some prodding from Akiri, Mitsunari let go of Whisbei's hand, excusing himself, and walked over to the woman. After talking for a moment, Mitsunari held out his hand, she took it, and they walked down to start dancing with everyone else.

Whisbei could see them from the dais, it wasn't too hard to pick them out from the crowd, and as he watched them dance, a strange feeling started to form in his stomach. It was bitter, heavy, and only grew as he watched his master dance with someone else. He forced himself to tear his gaze away from them, to stop the feeling from growing anymore. 

However, once he turned, his attention landed on someone else.

Approaching the dais was the very same woman from the feast, wearing the same kimono, though this time her father was nowhere to be seen. She quickly realized he noticed her, and gave him a small bow.

"Hello, Whisbei-sama."

"Ah, hello." Whisbei replied, standing up and walking over to her, "I remember you. You were at the castle a few days ago for the feast, right?"

She started to blush a bit from embarrassment, "Yes, I'm sorry our first encounter was so awkward. My father has always been very pushy, but I was hoping we could get to know each other properly."

Whisbei thought for a moment, since he had two options. Decline her offer and just sit up here with this weird feeling, watching everyone else have fun. Or accept it and probably have a good time, with someone who seemed deserving of a second first meeting, since she really didn't seem all that bad, outside of some strange comments.

Suddenly, he felt a something prodding his side, and when he turned he found Akiri looking up at him with a big grin on his face. After the monk gestured for him to come closer, he leaned in.

"Come on, don't leave a pretty lady like her waiting. Besides, you deserve some fun after all your work." Akiri whispered to him, before giving him a gentle shove on the shoulder, "Go on."

With his decision made, Whisbei gave her a nod, "I don't see why not." he replied, and held out his hand.

The woman smiled softly, and took it. With one final glance back at Akiri, who was still smiling and giving him two big thumbs up, they went to join everyone else.

Once they were there, they were soon among the dancing crowd. Whisbei's hand rested on the woman's hip, her hand on his shoulder, and their free hands were together, with their fingers intertwined. Honestly, it was slightly uncomfortable due to their height difference, since Whisbei holding her hip meant that he had to stretch his arm the whole time, so it wasn't riding up her back, but it wasn't enough to make dancing together impossible.

They were soon swaying with the rest of the people, Whisbei even spun the woman around, once or twice, but after a few seconds of dancing, he noticed how close she had gotten to him. Her head was resting on his chest, and there was no room between them.

She looked up at him with a glint in her eyes, and a small half smile on her lips, "You know, Whisbei-sama, I'm genuinely surprised you aren't married yet."

Whisbei chuckled nervously, "Well, it's not really something I think about too often. I'm usually too busy for that sort of thing."

The woman leaned back so that her head was no longer on Whisbei's chest, but that they were still close, her smile grew a bit, "My father's offer still stands. All you have to do is talk to him and you've got me."

Okay, Whisbei could see where this was going.

"Unfortunately, Mitsunari and myself have talked about this. We agreed that me having a wife would distract me from my work too much." he stated, remembering Mitsunari's reasoning at the feast, and hoping that it would work again.

The glint in the woman's eye didn't go away, "I don't want to sound rude, but you should reconsider." she moved her arms to hang off Whisbei's neck, "If you need something to convince you..."

She then let herself fall back. Whisbei, not wanting her to land on the ground, put his hands on her back to support her weight. Throughout all this, Whisbei didn't notice that everyone was looking at them, and that people were moving out of the way of something. Once they straightened up again, they were now at eye level, since the woman was now being held up off the ground, and she leaned in to kiss him.

But, suddenly, a hand darted in between their faces. When Whisbei turned to see who the hand belonged to, he saw an absolutely furious Mitsunari, who was glaring daggers at the woman.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Mitsunari growled, obviously trying not to just blow up at her, but just barely keeping himself together.

Instinctively, Whisbei put her down, but she didn't let him go. Mitsunari moved his hand, and Whisbei could now see that all eyes were on them, a few people whispering to each other, including the lady who Mitsunari was dancing with earlier who apparently followed him. The woman was wide-eyed, and clearly embarrassed, or scared, probably both.

Whisbei let her go, and Mitsunari stepped in between them. Mitsunari was still glaring at her, as she was trying to sputter out a good answer. None came out, as she didn't have one.

Once Whisbei snapped out of his surprise from almost being kissed, he took a step back and put a hand on Mitsunari's shoulder. Mitsunari turned to look at Whisbei, his glare didn't soften, though it obviously wasn't towards the yokai.

"Thank you, Mitsunari-sama. I didn't realize she was interested in me." Whisbei whispered into Mitsunari's ear, which made the shogun seem to relax a bit, and smiled softly back at him.

The woman was clearly trying to scoot away unnoticed, but was frozen in place once Mitsunari's glare returned to her, its original intensity returning in an instant.

Quickly, an out-of-breath Akiri sprinted up to them, and after a bit of huffing, he instructed the guards to lead the woman away. They returned to the dais, and the festival ended soon after.

Mitsunari was quiet for the rest of the time, not letting go of Whisbei's hand.

After the festival was over, it was almost dark, and everyone returned to their homes, while those who were tasked with cleaning up, did so. Mitsunari and Whisbei were silent the whole time, until they had returned to their chambers later that night. Whisbei was just sitting down, without even changing his clothes, thinking about what had happened, mostly about how someone had shown interest in him by trying to sneak a kiss.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door, and he immediately got up to open it. Once he did, he saw Mitsunari standing there.

Naturally, Whisbei thought he wanted to come in, but instead Mitsunari extended a hand to him and whispered, "Whisbei, please come with me for a moment."

Curious about what his master had planned, Whisbei decided to step out of his room, closing the door behind him, and taking the offered hand.

Mitsunari proceeded to wordlessly lead Whisbei out to the gardens, which were bathed in the soft glow of the moon, their only light source. Once Mitsunari was apparently satisfied with where they were, he turned to face Whisbei again, before bowing.

"May I have this dance?" he asked, putting on his best formal voice.

A smile worked its way onto Whisbei's face, before he bowed back, "I'd be honored." he replied in an equally formal voice, though it wasn't that good.

Chuckling, Mitsunari rose, and moved closer to Whisbei, gently placing his free hand on the yokai's hip. Whisbei blushed, and placed his hand on Mitsunari's shoulder. This position was much more comfortable than when he was dancing at the festival, and the fact that he was with Mitsunari this time certainly helped. They locked eyes, Whisbei's breath hitching for a brief second, and they started dancing.

It only took them a moment, before they were in sync. Not a word needed to be spoken between them as they already knew the other's every step, every twirl and every dip. As they danced, it was like a magnet was pulling them together, and soon they were right up against each other.

Mitsunari's head was resting right on Whisbei's chest, his eyes closed, and now had both his arms around the yokai's torso, practically pressing himself against it. Whisbei relaxed, and held him just as strongly.

They were just gently swaying back and forth, Whisbei couldn't describe this feeling, but he didn't want it to stop. They continued in silence, until Mitsunari spoke.

"Whisbei," said yokai looked down, mesmerized by his master's eyes, "I was wondering, how did you know that woman was interested in you?"

With a soft chuckle, Whisbei replied, "Well, it was kind of obvious, considering how forward she was."

Mitsunari looked away, "I see..." he murmured, seeming to get lost in thought for a moment, before perking up, "I want you to follow me, please." he requested, he stepped away, which disappointed Whisbei a bit, and held the yokai's hands, pulling him for encouragement.

Whisbei obediently went with him, and found that Mitsunari wanted to take him back to the shogun's bedroom. He was directed to sit on the bed, which he did. Mitsunari seemed to be trying to portray confidence, though he was still clearly nervous.

After a second, Mitsunari thought of something, and moved to his wardrobe, returning with a cloth. Whisbei was confused, until Mitsunari explained.

"I don't want you to peek, and you can take it off once I'm done."

This brought a harsh blush to Whisbei's face. He couldn't describe the feeling that was burning inside himself, as he took the cloth, and tied it around his head, covering his eyes.

Despite not being able to see, he could still hear. He could hear Mitsunari release a shaky sigh, and the shuffle of fabrics.

Next, Whisbei felt a weight on his lap, which was obviously his master, and it made his face get unbearably warm.

"Whisbei," Mitsunari purred, for some reason causing a shiver to run up Whisbei's spine, "please hold still, and I'll lead you into it."

Mitsunari softly grabbed Whisbei's hand, and guided it to his waist, which caused Whisbei's breath to hitch, as his hand was met with almost bare skin, other than what was unmistakably his master's underwear.

Gingerly, Mitsunari wrapped his arms around Whisbei's neck, and soon, he felt that familiar, warm, slightly shaky breath on his lips.

However, right as Whisbei realized what was going to happen, a knock on the door interrupted them, and the sound of Akiri's voice meant that it couldn't be dismissed or ignored without repercussions.

He didn't even need to see to know Mitsunari was frustrated, the increased grip on his shoulders told him that.

"Just a moment." Mitsunari called out, not even trying to hide the irritation in his voice.

Whisbei then felt Mitsunari move, softly tugging the yokai to stand up with him. After some shuffling, the blindfold was removed, and once Whisbei's eyes had readjusted, he was met with a very red-faced Mitsunari, wearing his sleepwear.

With no time for him to ask questions, Whisbei was brought to one of the walls, which turned out to be a hidden door to the gardens.

'Huh, guess that's how Mitsunari-sama's able to sneak around undetected.' Whisbei thought briefly, before he stepped out.

"I suggest you go back to your room. I doubt we'll be able to continue after this." Mitsunari huffed, clearly miffed that their time was cut short.

Whisbei couldn't think of anything to say, his head was still swirling, so he settled with, "Goodnight, Mitsunari-sama."

Mitsunari gave him a sweet smile, which was infectious, as Whisbei started to smile, too.

"Goodnight, Whisbei." he said, before closing the hidden door.

Swiftly, Whisbei headed back to his own chambers, a few guards and servants greeted him with a "Hi." as he passed, which he returned, showing that they weren't afraid of him anymore. If this had happened at any other time, he would have been squealing with delight, but right now his mind was still swimming in what just happened, and what would have happened if Akiri hadn't knocked.

When he finally made it back to his room, he closed the door behind him , and let out a few bewildered chuckles as what just occurred fully set in.

Mitsunari, the feudal lord and powerful shogun, the Ishida Mitsunari, had tried to kiss him.

And as he looked back, he should have realized it a lot sooner. The dinner, showing off for him at the river, his protectiveness when he was being flirted with at the feast and today at the festival, the desire to cuddle in the same bed.

With this new realization, Whisbei was kicking himself for not knowing sooner. Even when he was in his yokai form, he was able to pick out a few things.

Some of his jokes, which was obviously flirting, but for some reason his mind translated it to just banter, and oh so much more.

Christ, how oblivious was he?

Probably everyone else already kne-

That was when something clicked. All the pieces fell into place, and the questions he had been asking himself were answered.

Sayaka and Akiri did know about Mitsunari's feelings, they just didn't approve of them.

Sayaka's reason was obvious, she knew Whisbei was a Shittakaburi and that he shouldn't even be here, let alone dating the feudal lord.

Akiri was a bit harder to place, but he could ask him about it discretely later.

This wild whirlwind of realizations, thoughts and emotions left Whisbei exhausted. Quietly, he removed the kimono he was given, and thought jokingly that he knew why it was made to fit him so snuggly now, as he fell into a deep, dreamless slumber.

Chapter Text

Before Whisbei knew it, there were only 15 days left.

He was already halfway through this.

Though, with everything that has happened, it feels like it's been a lot longer.

The past couple of days after the festival, Whisbei was trying to act like he didn't know about Mitsunari's crush on him, though it was hard to ignore now. He also was working on his own more, and more. But it was just so he could think of ways to talk to Akiri or telling Mitsunari he knows about the shogun's feelings.

As Whisbei was getting prepared for the day, he thought to himself, 'I don't have much time left. I need to talk to Akiri about why he's against Mitsunari's crush on me, and...' he sighed, 'confront Mitsunari about it too.' he finished, tightening his belt around himself as he did so.

The day was nothing too special, just like the couple before it, but when night fell was when things got interesting.

Whisbei was standing on one of the outer walkways, looking over the garden while leaning on the railing. As he admired the way the moonlight danced along the plants, he remembered how he and Mitsunari had done the same. Suddenly, there was a rough pat on Whisbei's shoulder, which startled him and prompted him to whirl around to see who did it.

Standing there, with a cup still in his hand and swaying slightly, was a drunken Mitsunari, groggily smiling up at the yokai.

"There you are Whisbei! I've been looking all over the castle for you!" Mitsunari exclaimed with a hiccup, slurring his words.

Whisbei blinked in surprise, "Oh, Mitsunari-sama, do you need anything?" he asked.

Happily, Mitsunari presented the cup to Whisbei, though his enthusiasm caused some of the contents to spill over the sides as he held it out, "I *hic* wanted to give you this. So we can celebrate there only being 15 days left."

With a soft smile, Whisbei took the half-full cup, "Thank you very much." he thanked, and took a sip. The saké warmed his throat and chest as it went down, which felt very nice, especially considering what he'd been going through for the past few days.

For the next couple minutes, they stood there, leaning on the railing, and had a pleasant conversation. Until, Mitsunari started hugging Whisbei's arm, nuzzling his face against the yokai's bicep.

"Oh ho~ I think I've said this before, but I'll gladly say it again! You're so soft, and cuddly that I wouldn't get a second of sleep with you in my bed~!" Mitsunari cooed.

After a second, Whisbei thought of something. An old saying came to his head, 'Drunk words are often sober thoughts', so if there was any chance to get answers from Mitsunari, it was now.

"Mitsunari-sama."

This caused Mitsunari to shift his attention upwards, gazing at Whisbei with half-lidded eyes and a drunken, inquisitive hum. His cheek pressed against the yokai's shoulder, and the soft, slightly teasing smile on his face told Whisbei that Mitsunari was acting like what his drunk brain thought would be attractive. It wasn't entirely wrong, if Whisbei told the truth, but probably not in the way Mitsunari intended.

"I've been meaning to talk to you for a couple days now. Preferably in private, if you don't mind." Whisbei requested, feeling Mitsunari's hold on his arm tighten at his last sentence.

With a giddy giggle, Mitsunari started practically pulling the yokai to his bedroom, "Well, why didn't you say so? I'm more than happy to be with you in a private setting, for any occasion or length of time!" he chirped excitedly, his legs scrambling to keep himself from falling as the alcohol caused them to lag a bit behind Mitsunari's fast pace.

Whisbei realized quickly Mitsunari was definitely going to be more forward about his attraction, but it also confirmed his idea that Mitsunari will be more open with him while drunk.

'At least I know about his feelings now. I'd probably be more shocked if I found out this way.' Whisbei thought to himself, walking with the shogun, who was giggling like mad, a few hiccups here an there.

Once they made it to Mitsunari's room, Whisbei opened to door and closed it behind them as the shogun staggered inside.

"Lock the door, please." Mitsunari instructed, "I don't want us to be *hic* interrupted again." he added as he turned around, giving Whisbei what was meant to be a seductive look, but was ruined by how clearly trashed he was, and his slurred voice killed the alluring tone he attempted.

Obediently, Whisbei turned and locked the door. He knew his master's flirting was going to be a bit more extreme, but it wasn't like it would be too bad.

As soon as Whisbei turned back, he saw Mitsunari already out of most of his clothes. His haori on the ground, hakama around his ankles, with only his robe and underwear remaining on his body.

"M-Mitsunari-sama?!" Whisbei squeaked in shock. This caught the shogun's attention, but he didn't halt his undressing.

"Yes? Is something wrong?" Mitsunari asked in genuine confusion, "I'm getting ready for bed."

Whisbei was completely red-faced in response to this.

Alright, so Mitsunari was a lot more forward than expected.

Before Whisbei could stop him, Mitsunari had taken off all his clothes, and was standing completely naked. Mitsunari puffed up his chest, trying to show himself off to Whisbei, which caused the yokai to blush profusely. Sure, Whisbei had seen his master nude before, but the situations were very, very, different. Though, Whisbei had to admit that at least Mitsunari wasn't a burden to the eyes, especially when he caught himself staring a little bit, and quickly turned his eyes away.

 "Well, Whisbei? Like what you see?" Mitsunari drunkenly purred. Then, just as MItsunari was about to say something else he suddenly looked very ill, before he rushed to open the hidden door to the gardens.

As soon as he realized what was happening, Whisbei whipped off his kimono, and draped it over Mitsunari as he retched onto the grass. He also decided to look out for anyone coming by, since he knew his master would be embarrassed in the morning if anyone saw him like this, and it was better for them to see Whisbei in his underwear than Mitsunari in the nude.

Thankfully, no one showed up, and both of them returned to the bedroom. Mitsunari looked miserable to say the least, holding Whisbei's kimono tightly around himself as he sat on the bed.

Well, now that that situation was over, Whisbei decided to try talking to the shogun.

Whisbei cleared his throat, which got Mitsunari's attention, "Sir, I wanted to talk to you about something, if you're up for it." he stated, trying to be as professional as one can be when they're in nothing but underwear.

Mitsunari hummed curiously, which Whisbei took as an okay to continue. He only had one question now, and it was one that had been bugging him since it was planted in his mind.

"I was just wondering, what exactly did you talk about with Ano when you got the cookies?" Whisbei asked as he sat down across from Mitsunari, as Sayaka's words repeated themselves.

'I've had the suspicion that Mitsunari turned you into a human on purpose.'

Though he doubted it was true, his desire to know was too much.

Mitsunari looked up at Whisbei with unfocused eyes, blinking in confusion, before the question seemed to register in his lagging brain. He rubbed his eye, "Ah, we were talking about normal stuff, like what he was selling, etcetera. Then, the conversation turned to you." Whisbei perked up, but Mitsunari continued without noticing, "I told him about how we me met, and... a few other things." Apparently, he still couldn't talk about his feelings even when drunk, perhaps he was starting to sober up a bit.

"He then gave me the cookies, and said they would let me see you." Mitsunari then looked down dejectedly, "I didn't know they would turn you into a human. I thought it was supposed to be both of us eating a cookie and I'd get to see you in your normal form, as a yokai. I'm truly sorry for what I've done to you." Mitsunari then got quiet, and was curling up into a tight ball of extreme guilt as he sat there.

This caused a horrible feeling to wrench Whisbei's heart, he hated when his master was sad. So, in an attempt to comfort his master, Whisbei shuffled next to Mitsunari, and hugged him. After a second, Mitsunari returned the embrace, softly nuzzling his cheek against Whisbei's chest.

The smell of vomit was still coming from Mitsunari, but Whisbei didn't notice, nor would he have cared if he did. The only thing that mattered to the yokai at the moment was being there for his master.

Honestly though, it was a good thing that Whisbei only had one question to ask, since he doubted he'd be able to bring himself to ask Mitsunari any more.

After a few moments of sitting there, holding each other pleasantly, Whisbei started to feel tired, and judging by Mitsunari's soft breathing, coupled with his much more relaxed grip on the yokai's torso, he was already asleep.

Whisbei decided he should return to his room for the night, but when he went to stand, the hold on his midsection tightened to stop him. The yokai looked down at Mitsunari, who was looking up at him, clearly struggling to fight against his drunken sleepiness.

"Please stay, Whissu. You're so cuddly and you feel so nice." MItsunari begged, though with how slurred his voice was now, Whisbei could barely understand what he was saying.

The yokai just sat there completely red in the face, at a loss for what to do. Mitsunari had used that nickname for him a few times when drunk, and his master had said he felt nice before, but it was the tone he used that was making Whisbei blush. Though he found that he really didn't mind Mitsunari talking to him like that, so he decided to stay for the night.

Purely because it made Mitsunari happy, of course.

Quietly, Whisbei laid down on Mitsunari's bed, with the shogun laying on his chest, curling up in the gifted kimono tightly.

"G'night, Whissu." Mitsunari mumbled, already half-asleep, before snoring a few seconds later.

Whisbei started to stroke Mitsunari's hair, gently drifting to sleep as well.

The next morning, Whisbei woke up to the sound of pained groaning. He opened his eyes groggily, and glanced down to his chest. Mitsunari, clearly suffering from an extreme hangover, was the source of the groaning, his head completely covered by Whisbei's kimono.

"Good morning, Mitsunari-sama. Are you feeling okay?" Whisbei asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

A loud groan was his answer, followed by, "I feel like I got run over by a horse and cart." Mitsunari moaned in pain. Whisbei began to softly pet his master's head as a way to comfort him.

Deciding to get the shogun a drink to help with the hangover, non-alcoholic of course, Whisbei tried to carefully shuffle out from underneath Mitsunari. A disappointed whine, which was probably meant to be a groan or even a growl, came up from Mitsunari as he curled himself up tighter into the kimono. Now only being a lump under the fabric, trying to hold on to Whisbei to prevent being removed.

Despite this attempt, which wasn't too difficult to get around due to Mitsunari's weakened state, and even though Whisbei did feel a little bad for him, the yokai managed to get up, regardless of the protest coming from the lump.

Once Whisbei stood, he remembered that he was only in his underwear, and looking at how attached Mitsunari had became to his kimono, he wasn't going to get it back for a while. Scanning the room for something he could wear before he could get his own clothes back, Whisbei's eyes landed on Mitsunari's clothes, which were still in a pile on the floor.

'Well, looks like were trading clothes for a while.' Whisbei though to himself with a sigh.

Immediately, the robe was out of the question, as its arm holes were definitely going to rip if Whisbei tried to put it on while in this bulky form. The haori was fine, the arm holes were big enough for his arms to fit through. But while the length of it went down to Mitsunari's mid-thigh, on Whisbei it only went down to his hips. There was a similar problem with the hakama, as it only went halfway down Whisbei's calves, when it normally covered his master's legs the the ankle. The plus side though was he didn't have to tie it as tightly around his waist.

Looking over himself in the mirror, Whisbei knew he looked ridiculous, but it covered himself decently, even though his stomach and chest was exposed. After a moment, Whisbei turned around to see Mitsunari peering up at the yokai from his kimono cocoon.

The shogun seemed nervous, even more so once he realized he was noticed, "A-Ah, Whisbei. I was wondering... what happened last night?" he asked, obviously red faced.

It took a moment before Whisbei was blushing a bit himself, realizing how the situation must look, especially with the context of Mitsunari's feeling towards him, before he explained.

"For a quick summary, you were drunk, I said I wanted to talk in private, and you took me to your room. Then, you removed your clothes..."

He paused when Mitsunari let out a soft, embarrassed groan, "Not like this..." he mumbled, just loud enough for Whisbei to hear.

"... You threw up..." another groan, "... We went to bed, and fell asleep."

There was a pause, before Mitsunari spoke, "... That's all?" he asked hesitantly.

Whisbei nodded, "Yes, don't worry. I can assure you nothing else happened." he replied. He could see the lump deflate as a relieved sigh escaped from Mitsunari, "I'm going to get you something for your headache. I'll be back soon."

Sloppily, Mitsunari stuck his arm out of the kimono, giving a small wave to Whisbei, before retracting it and shuffling to curl up even tighter.

As he was leaving the room, Whisbei glanced over his shoulder to look at Mitsunari and a smile grew on his face, before he walked out, closing the door behind him.

However, as he was making his way down the hall, he saw Akiri standing a bit up ahead, talking with one of the servants. Akiri seemed to be in a pleasant mood, but it died instantly when he turned and saw Whisbei wearing Mitsunari's clothes.

The servant was sent away as Akiri aggressively marched over to Whisbei, face turning red from anger. The yokai was glad he knew why now, but it didn't settle the dread in his stomach as Akiri lead him away for a talk.

'Well, maybe I can talk to him when he's done.' Whisbei thought, as they found a quiet room.

Chapter Text

As soon as they were in privacy, which ended up being an empty guest room, Akiri whipped around and glared at Whisbei, "You better have a good explanation for this." he growled.

Whisbei held his hands up defensively, "I can assure you, Akiri-san, I can tell you everything that happened." he said calmly.

It took a while, but Whisbei explained everything that happened last night. Akiri looked like he wanted to explode when Whisbei got to the part where Mitsunari got  naked, but said nothing and let the yokai continue. By the end of the story, Akiri became quiet, and eventually slumped down to the floor. He looked absolutely defeated, and let out an exasperated groan as he rubbed his temples. Carefully, Whisbei sat next to him, and gently started to pat him on the shoulder to provide some reassurance.

"Do you know?" Akiri asked, not even glancing up for a second, before he continued, "About how Mitsunari feels about you?"

It took a moment of Whisbei contemplating whether to tell the truth or not, before deciding to answer, "Yes, I do. I actually wanted to talk to you about it."

Akiri looked at him expectantly, and they made eye contact, before chuckling a bit bewildered, "About time. He's been dropping 'hints'," he air-quoted 'hints, "for over a year now. Though, I have to ask, how did you find out?"

With an embarrassed huff, Whisbei responded, "I know I'm an absolutely oblivious doofus. And..." he trailed off. A part of him didn't want to honestly say what had actually happened. He knew if he did, Mitsunari would surely learn about it, and something in his gut told him that his master would feel betrayed that he told Akiri. Guilt ripped through his body at the mere thought of those violet eyes being filled with hurt, so he quickly came up with an acceptable answer.

"I learned about it last night. It was kind of difficult to not take the hint when Mitsunari-sama was naked, and clearly trying to drunkenly seduce me." Whisbei chuckled as he said the last sentence, a light blush dusting his cheeks as he remembered the events.

Akiri looked skeptical, but quietly nodded his head, prompting the yokai to release the breath he didn't know he was holding.

Then, after a few moments of silence, Whisbei decided to start speaking, "Akiri," the monk rose his eyebrows to show he was listening, "I wanted to ask, why are you against Mitsunari having feelings for me?"

Immediately after the question was asked, Akiri turned his head to look at Whisbei, an incredulous look on his face, "There are a variety of reasons. One, he's a feudal lord, and you are technically a servant. There is an unspoken rule against a lord and a servant being in a relationship, which i'm upholding. You wouldn't believe how many servants got pregnant by their feudal lords, and still do by the ones who don't follow respect that rule."

Whisbei furrowed his brow at this. Sure, he treated Mitsunari with an extreme amount of respect, and did consider the shogun his master. But Mitsunari treated him more or less like an equal, certainly higher than one of the castle servants.

Also, he was fairly certain neither of them could get pregnant.

Not noticing Whisbei's perplexed expression, Akiri continued, "Secondly, you're a yokai and he's a human. I've done my research, with some help from Sayaka, and I know yokai frown upon human-yokai relationships."

At that last sentence, Whisbei bristled a bit. He had absolutely no problems with human-yokai relationships, and most of the yokai that do have a poor opinion on humanity as a whole.

Akiri must have noticed his irritation, since he quickly added, "I'm only saying because it might prompt other yokai to hurt Mitsunari, if he persues you. There are humans who also have a problem with human-yokai relationships and might try to hurt you because they think you hypnotized Mitsunari or something else."

This caused Whisbei to calm down, but he did notice Akiri was now eyeing him suspiciously.

"My last big reason is because Mitsunari, as a feudal lord, should have heirs to continue his legacy. And you don't have the, um, equipment necessary for it." Akiri continued with a huff, "That's why I had Mitsunari dance with that noble lady at the festival. She's single, and would've made an excellent wife for him. But the scene he caused ended up freaking her out so now she and her family are hesitant. Honestly, I thought inviting that woman who was interested in you to come and seduce you would help not-"

Akiri's ranting was cut off by Whisbei holding up a hand to stop him. Whisbei looked at him in disbelief, "Wait. You invited her to the festival for the purpose of seducing me?" he asked, not sounding too pleased.

Quickly, Akiri sputtered out, "Well, yes. Why do you think I was encouraging you to dance with her? The plan was that in the event Mitsunari wasn't interested in the noble lady, which was inevitable in hindsight, if you and the woman got together, then he'd be forced to move on." then, the monk threw his hands up in the air, "Obviously, the back-up plan failed miserably! Unless..."

Akiri perked up happily, "Now that you know about this, you can help me! I can contact the woman again, and you two can start fake dating until Mitsunari gives up! Oh, this is so much easier." Akiri was rambling on about his plans, before Whisbei snapped out of his stupor.

The yokai shook his head, "Akiri-san, I'm not going to date a woman I barely know." he stated, "Besides, why don't you just tell Mitsunari-sama why you don't want him to date me?"

Once again, Akiri gave him a suspicious look, before answering, "I have. He doesn't care." he then shrugged his shoulders, "Though, I've seen him do stuff like this before, and him getting over it. So, maybe I'm just worried over nothing." the monk admitted.

Honestly, the thought of Mitsunari's feelings for him only being a brief phase may have been comforting to Akiri, but it was painful for Whisbei. Now, he noticed the monk staring at him with that same suspicious expression, studying him.

He then asked, "Whisbei, what are your feelings towards Mitsunari?"

The yokai reeled back in surprise at the question, "Wh-What?!" was the only thing he could sputter out.

Then, Akiri carefully repeated himself, "What are your feelings toward Mitsunari? Specifically, how do you feel about his crush on you?"

Whisbei had no response to this. He knew he felt something, but he couldn't find words to explain it. But, one thing's for certain, it wasn't negative in the slightest.

Before Whisbei could find an answer though, Akiri sighed, "Nevermind, don't say anything. I'm foolish for entertaining that thought. I've tried everything I can do. You need to tell him the truth. If you want my help with doing it, all you have to do is ask."

All the yokai did was nod in acknowledgement, and Akiri gave him a small smile. Quietly, they both stood, but as they were leaving, the monk grabbed Whisbei's arm, "This needs to be settled sooner rather than later. It's already been going on for too long." he said sternly, "I'll trust whatever choice you make, but please don't hurt him too badly."

Nervously, Whisbei replied, "I'll try my best, Akiri-san."

The monk seemed to be satisfied with that answer, and gave Whisbei a pat on the shoulder before walking away. Then, Whisbei remembered that he had intended to get Mitsunari a drink for his hangover, and quickly went to fulfill his duties.

As he was working, the last part of his conversation with Akiri, before they left the room, echoed in his mind.

'You need to tell him the truth.'

It was the same thing Sayaka said to him, and what Whisbei tells himself when he thinks about his hidden identity, but with a new context. With no doubt in his mind, if he revealed himself to be a Shittakaburi, then Mitsunari's crush on him would end, and his master would move on. Whisbei also had the idea that, perhaps due to his attraction, Mitsunari wouldn't send him away, and they could continue living together with the truth out in the open.

'This is the perfect opportunity to tell Mitsunari-sama about my true identity! I must take it!' Whisbei thought as he marched back to Mitsunari's bedroom, ignoring the weird looks he got from the servants for wearing his master's clothes.

His mind was made up.

He was going to tell the truth to Mitsunari!

Now brimming with determination, Whisbei opened the door, ready to confess and not back down from it. Mitsunari was still laying there, curled up in Whisbei's kimono, but he perked up when he heard the door open and close.

"Ah, Whisbei. I was wondering when you would come back." he called out, slightly muffled, before managing to sit up.

Smiling happily, Whisbei sat down across from him, placing the tea in between them, as he said, "Sorry for taking so long. Akiri took me aside to talk to me about...how I'm dressed."

Not entirely a lie, so good enough.

Apparently, Mitsunari hadn't noticed that the yokai was wearing his clothes until now. This was made clear to Whisbei when, after a quick glance up and down his body, the shogun looked away while blushing.

"I-I see. Well, hopefully he wasn't to hard on you for it."

With a pleasant shake of his head, Whisbei responded, "Not at all." before he leaned in excitedly, "Actually, I wanted to tell you something."

Mitsunari looked at him curiously, and with an air of anticipation at what was going to be said next.

Then, suddenly, Whisbei froze.

He couldn't get the words out of his mouth, more like he really didn't want to say the truth. After a second of Whisbei trying to choke out the words, only getting out the first few words, Mitsunari's balance between confusion and intrigue started to shift more to confusion.

Now, Whisbei realized he had to say something, "I-Well-I...um, wanted to...ask if y-you wanted to go for a walk in the woods." he stuttered out, unable to tell the truth.

Blinking a bit, both in slight surprise and probably because the light wasn't helping his hangover in the slightest, Mitsunari responded, "Oh." but then he perked up happily, "I'd love to." he continued, rubbing one of his temples with a slight wince, "But can it be postponed until tomorrow? My headache will have subsided completely by then."

"O-Of course." Was all Whisbei could say.

They sat there for a while, Mitsunari drank tea and made pleasant small talk. However, all Whisbei could think about was how he hadn't been able to tell the truth, due to his own fears.

'Alright. Maybe this will be harder than I thought.' Whisbei thought to himself, 'Well, at least I have 14 days to work myself up. I can do it on our walk tomorrow. Hopefully.'

They ended up making the decision that Whisbei would do some of the work today, and that Mitsunari would look it over when he was feeling better.

As they were returning each others clothes, Whisbei couldn't help but blush, since Mitsunari was still naked under the yokai's kimono. Though, he thankfully wasn't alone, as Mitsunari was also completely red as he removed the lended clothes, and quickly snatched his own clothes back.

Whisbei got up and got his kimono on, he noticed that it had a hint of Mitsunari's musk on it, and he honestly didn't mind.

Mitsunari, now dressed in the right clothing, called out to the yokai as he was about to walk out the door, "Thank you very much for this. I'm looking forward to our walk tomorrow."

Whisbei nodded, with a soft smile on his face, "I am, too." he said, before going on with his day.

Chapter Text

13 Days Left

After Mitsunari recovered from his hangover, and he looked over the work Whisbei did the day before, they went out for the promised walk in the woods. Throughout the walk, they talked pleasantly, enjoying each other's company in the warm weather. But, Whisbei was trying to work up the courage to confess, and was thinking about how he was going to word it.

Eventually, they made it to the clearing Whisbei had taken Mitsunari to be alone together, all those nights ago.

For a brief second, Whisbei blushed at the memory of Mitsunari climbing on top of him, and asking him out on a date. In hindsight, Mitsunari had definitely tried to kiss him, before Sayaka had interrupted them. Explained why the other pair of clothes Mitsunari brought for him was sleepwear, but now wasn't the time to think about that.

Mitsunari smiled softly, "Ah, Whisbei. This place is as lovely during the day as it is at night." he said, before turning to the yokai, laughing, "Let's not get wet this time, okay? I didn't bring anything this time."

"Of course not, but we can rest here for a bit if you wish." Whisbei replied, stepping towards the large rock they sat on the last time they were there.

With a nod, Mitsunari followed Whisbei and climbed up to sit next to the yokai contently.

'Alright. Now's the perfect opportunity. Mitsunari, I lied to you. That's all I have to say to start it.' Whisbei thought, motivating himself.

"Mitsunari-sama," He began, causing the shogun's attention to him, "I... I l-..." Whisbei just couldn't say it, but now Mitsunari was clearly intrigued, so he had to say something, "I... I l-like the weather today." he blurted out "We're really lucky it was nice."

Mitsunari looked at him quizzically for a moment, "O... kay? The weather is indeed fantastic." was all he could reply with.

Whisbei let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding in a sigh of relief, 'Well, I'll try again some other day. Perhaps I need to think about how I'm going to do this a bit more.' Whisbei thought to himself, before they continued on with their time together happily.

10 Days Left

It was late at night, and Whisbei was certain everyone was asleep. Quietly, he sneaked around the castle towards Mitsunari's room. The plan was that if he'd tell Mitsunari the truth while the shogun was tired, perhaps he'd find the words easier to get out.

Whisbei gently knocked on the bedroom door, finding himself slightly hoping that Mitsunari wouldn't answer. However, he could hear shuffling on the other side of the door, and it was eventually opened by the shogun, who wasn't as tired as Whisbei had hoped.

Immediately, Mitsunari perked up when he saw Whisbei, "Oh, good evening." in no time at all, he knew why the yokai was there, and asked, "Would you like to come in?"

After a simple nod, Mitsunari stepped aside to allow Whisbei into the room, before closing the door.

"Mitsunari-sama, I..." Whisbei trailed off again, the words unable to get past the lump in his throat.

Noticing the yokai's trouble, Mitsunari asked, "Whisbei, is everything alright?" his voice filled with worry.

Turning his attention to the shogun, Whisbei replied, "Oh... I-I'm just fine. I was... wondering if I could spend the night here. We haven't been able to do that for the past few days, have we?"

The concern didn't fade from Mitsunari's face as he said, "Of course. You're always welcome in my bed."

While Whisbei removed his kimono, he felt his face get warm, but ignored it as he laid in the bed. Mitsunari shuffled next to the yokai, and wrapped his arms around Whisbei, which only made his face warmer.

"Whisbei, are you feeling alright?"

The yokai looked down at his master, who was clearly concerned, "Absolutely. I'm just fine." he replied.

Mitsunari didn't seem convinced, but he just sighed and snuggled against Whisbei's chest, "If you say so. You've been acting strangely since your talk with Akiri." he commented.

That gave Whisbei an idea. Akiri did say he'd help, so the yokai was going to take him up on the offer.

With that thought in his mind, Whisbei drifted pleasantly into slumber while cuddling Mitsunari.

5 Days Left

After speaking to Akiri, he agreed to leave Whisbei and Mitsunari alone today. They were working contently, and when Mitsunari suggested that they continued in his private study, Whisbei jumped at the chance.

As they walked down the halls, Whisbei was planning how he was going to confess.

'I need to be confident, or at least act it. Maybe a little assertiveness wouldn't hurt.' Whisbei thought to himself, holding his head up high to psych himself up for the confession.

Soon, they made it to the private study, and they slipped inside without a word. As he closed the door behind them, Whisbei let out a sigh of anticipation, watching his master walk into the room. But before Mitsunari could make it to the desk, his path was blocked by Whisbei's arm, once the yokai had moved to his side. Carefully, Whisbei backed him up against the wall, placing his hand next to Mitsunari's head.

Mitsunari looked up at him with confusion, but his cheeks flushed a deep red as his back pressed against the wall, "W-Whisbei," he huffed breathlessly, "what is the meaning of this?"

Deciding it would help his confidence, Whisbei lowered the pitch of his voice, as he said, "I wanted to tell you something important, sir."

This only made Mitsunari's face grow redder, but looked up at Whisbei with anticipation for whatever the yokai would do or say next.

"Mitsunari-sama, I... I've been..." Whisbei fought to continue, but he couldn't do it, eventually letting out a frustrated sigh.

Unsurprisingly, Mitsunari noticed this and calmly stepped towards the yokai, "Go ahead, Whisbei. You can't tell me whatever it is you want to say." he assured, placing his hand on Whisbei's shoulder.

Honestly, Whisbei could feel his cheeks grow warmer, but he was too nervous about what he was going to say to notice. After a moment of Whisbei desperately fighting to confess, or say something else, he finally spat out, "I've been..." he said a bit louder than he intended, before he sighed, defeated, "... looking forward to working with you in private again."

In response, Mitsunari cocked one of his eyebrows, "I'm... glad. I've been looking forward to this, too." but just as Whisbei started to relax, he added, "Do you have anything else you wanted to tell me? I mean, we don't have to start the reports right now."

Quickly, Whisbei answered, "No, no! That was all I wanted to tell you! We should start working as soon as possible!" He took a few steps back, holding his hands up defensively.

Briefly, Mitsunari looked disappointed, but he said, "Alright, as you wish. We can get started right away."

They walked over to the desk, and as they worked, Whisbei rested his head on Mitsunari's shoulder, which was gladly welcomed by the shogun.

Final Day

'This is it.' Whisbei thought, 'I have to do it today. I can't back down now.'

Throughout the day, Whisbei attempted to confess to Mitsunari, but was unable to force the words out of his mouth every time. Clearly, though, Mitsunari knew that the yokai wanted to tell him something, but the shogun's prodding when Whisbei came up with a cover-up didn't help in the slightest.

Now it was early in the evening, the sun had set not too long ago, and the sky was still a bit light. Mitsunari was sitting in the main room, as Whisbei paced back and forth. The shogun's eyes followed him curiously, but it went unnoticed as Whisbei was too engrossed in his own thoughts.

"You seem troubled today." Mitsunari remarked, catching Whisbei's full attention, "I figured you'd be happy that your situation will be over soon."

Whisbei responded, "I am glad, sir. I'm just... thinking." Well, it wasn't a lie.

Then, Mitsunari said in a serious tone, "I know you've been meaning to tell me something for days now, Whisbei." the yokai gulped as he continued, "If you have anything to say to me, go ahead."

Immediately, Whisbei stared to sweat, trying to stutter out anything to say, before he swallowed and choked out, "I-I don't have anything to say."

Of course, Mitsunari didn't believe him, but said nothing.

After a sigh, an idea popped into Whisbei's head and excused himself to go outside. Mitsunari tried to speak up, but he couldn't say anything before Whisbei had closed the door.

The night was clear, warm and calm, perfect for what Whisbei had planned. He made his way to the training hall, opened up the storage shed, and pulled out a training dummy. Carefully, he carried the dummy out to a part of the garden in front of a small pond, which was in relative privacy. Whisbei set the dummy down in a sitting position, before walking a bit away from it, and cleared his throat.

"Mitsuanri-sama, I'm certain you've noticed that I've been meaning to tell you something. I'll admit, I was nervous about this, but after much thought and planning, I feel I'm ready to finally confess what I've wanted to say for years. Now, I shall tell you the truth, the absolute, whole truth complete and utter hone- I'm just rambling to a dummy."

Whisbei collapsed onto his knees, kneeling in front of the pond with his back facing the dummy, not hearing the soft rustling behind him.

He stared at his reflection, and said, "I can't even say it to a damn dummy..." he chuckled, "Christ... I'm awful."

Slowly, Whisbei lifted his head up, gazing at the pale full moon, and made a decision. If he couldn't confess, then he had to go with plan B.

"Mitsunari-sama, I have something important to tell you." Whisbei closed his eyes, and let out a long sigh, "... I-I have to leave."

As soon as the words left his mouth, the yokai winced, his shoulders slumping in absolute defeat. He was so focused on what he was saying, that he hadn't noticed the foot steps that were approaching him, or that they had stopped.

"For years, I've been keeping a secret from you, and I feel incredible guilt for doing so. But despite my efforts, I can't tell you this secret, though I desperately want to. So, I've decided the best course of action is for me to step down from my position as your tactician... and never return." Whisbei then just stared blankly at his knees, before he continued, solemnly, "I know you'll find another tactician, one more worthy of the title than myself. Though, I've truly been honored to serve you, and I wish you all the luck in both the yokai and human worlds that you find the greatest tactician in existence."

At this point, Whisbei started to choke up, but he wasn't the only one. Suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped around Whisbei and he could feel someone bury their face into his back. Whisbei froze as he knew exactly who it was.

After a few moments of silence, Whisbei swallowed and managed to ask, "Mitsunari-sama, how long have you been listening?"

"I heard the whole thing." Mitsunari answered, shuffling around so he was sitting next to the yokai, "And I know what you really want to say. So please don't leave..."

Whisbei's eyes widened, 'Mitsunari-sama... Already knows the truth?'  his heart was filled with cautious optimism, since Mitsunari didn't seem upset, "Y-You do?" he asked.

Mitsunari nodded, and smiled up at him softly with a small chuckle, "Of course, you weren't exactly hiding it very well these past few days, so it was kind of obvious. And... I love you, too."

That caused Whisbei to stiffen for a second, as the wheels began to turn in his head, until everything clicked. In a huge misunderstanding, Mitsunari thought he had been trying to confess his love, and in hindsight it wasn't surprising in the slightest.

Suddenly, before Whisbei realized what was happening, Mitsunari put his hands on the yokai's shoulders, and then kissed Whisbei on the lips. Whisbei's eyes widened in surprise, but then, something clicked in his head as he remembered what Akiri had asked him during their conversation.

'What are your feelings toward Mitsunari?'

When Whisbei had first started asking himself that question after it was put in his head, he hadn't had an answer. But now, feeling Mitsunari's lips on his own, he finally found his answer.

He returned his master's feelings, wholly  and completely.

Whisbei didn't care that he was a Shitakaburi.

His love was real, and that was all that mattered to him.

Honestly, he could forgive himself, at least somewhat, for not noticing Mitsunari's crush sooner now, since he was oblivious to his own feelings.

However, right as Whisbei began to relax into the kiss, he felt Mitsunari tense, and begin to pull away. Whisbei realized that Mitsunari must have thought he didn't want to kiss.

But he did, he really did.

Immediately after Mitsunari separated, Whisbei leaned in and caught the shogun's lips with his own. Quickly, Mitsunari relaxed and deepened the kiss, wrapping his arms around the yokai tightly. Whisbei held him as well, instinctively running his fingers through Mitsunari's hair.

Whisbei didn't know how long the kiss lasted , but it wasn't long enough, as it was cut short by a sudden feeling of exhaustion washing over him. He slumped forward, resting his head on Mitsunari's shoulder, as a tingly feeling spread throughout his body, and he began to emit a soft glow. Mitsunari's hands passed through him, and once the light died down, Whisbei was back in his normal form.

They were quiet for a bit, as a melancholy feeling filled the air around them, before Whisbei leaned back, floating a bit off the ground.

"That... That was nice." Was all Whisbei could say, a soft blush on his cheeks.

Mitsunari was blushing as well, "Yeah, it was." he responded, his tone a mix of joy and sadness.

They sat there in silence for a moment, before Whisbei spoke up to break it, "We should go to bed. It's getting late."

With a quick nod, Mitsunari stood up and began to head back to the castle.

The yokai started to follow, before he remembered the dummy, which was still slumped in the sitting position he left it in, that he brought out to talk to, "I'll catch up with you. I need to take the dummy back to the shed." Whisbei told the shogun, who stopped when he spoke.

"No." Mitsunari said calmly, "I'll get one of the servants to return it. You're coming to bed with me"

Whisbei blushed a bit more, and obediently went with him.

They walked into Mitsunari's bedroom, and the shogun stepped out to order a servant to collect the dummy, like he had promised. Whisbei was conflicted, he thought about sleeping in his basket again, like he usually did, but he also wanted to stay in Mitsunari's bed with his master.

Mitsunari returned, and got ready for bed, while Whisbei turned to give him privacy, even though the yokai figured it wasn't really necessary. Once the shogun was finished, he laid in his bed, and began staring at the ceiling with a sigh.

After a moment, Mitsunari lifted the blankets, his offer clear to Whisbei, and the yokai happily curled up next to him. Mitsunari gazed at Whisbei with a small smile, though he only appeared as a gap in the blankets to him, and whispered, "I love you, Whisbei."

A soft purr rumbled out of Whisbei, as he replied, "I love you too, Mitsunari-sama."

The shogun rolled his eyes playfully, "Oh, please. You can just call me Mitsunari... When we're alone, of course." he told the yokai, blushing at the noise.

Whisbei's tail thumped the bed happily, and his purring grew in volume, "As you wish, Mitsunari." he cooed.

Mitsunari closed his eyes, shuffling slightly to get more comfortable.

"Mitsunari." Whisbei whispered, in awe that he could say his master's name so casually, before snuggling up Mitsunari and prepared for sleep.

The shogun let out a sleepy chuckle at the yokai's amazement.

Both of them wished they could kiss, or cuddle, or at least hug. Though they were right next to each other, they were also a world away, and it was frustrating beyond measure. But, sleeping in the same bed together intimately like this was enough, as they drifted of to slumber peacefully.

Chapter Text

With all of the things going on for the two of them, it was understandable that Whisbei and Mitsunari forgot about Sayaka's plans to catch the one who sold the cookies in the first place.

Ano.

Of course, Sayaka had been prepping for the days they hadn't seen her. And, now it was time to put her plan into action.

Though, she and Akiri were clearly relieved that Whisbei was back in his yokai form, but it didn't matter now.

Throughout the whole thing, Mitsunari and Whisbei were working, checking in on Sayaka's progress on occasion. However, Whisbei and Mitsunari still found ways to be affectionate with small gestures. Such as placing a blanket over Whisbei so he can be gently kissed by Mitsunari.

They were writing reports, while Whisbei was happily resting his head on Mitsunari's shoulder, when the shogun quietly did a quick glance around the room, before speaking, "Whisbei, there's something important I must tell you."

After receiving a curious hum from the yokai, Mitsunari asked, "When I bought the cookies from Ano, he told me that he'll be in the forest somewhere, and would deliver a map to me tonight. I want to know if you'd like to join me." he asked, turning his head to the wrong direction to 'face' Whisbei, and added, "And before you ask why I didn't tell you sooner, I was told that it would be best to tell you if we ended up dating. Not sure exactly why, though it doesn't surprise me."

The yokai floated so that he could face Mitsunari properly, "I'd love to, Mitsunari," he was still not used to calling his master by his name without the '-sama' title, so it still made him a bit giddy, "I do have a few questions to ask Ano myself. But we should make sure Sayaka doesn't know. She seems pretty intent of finding him."

Mitsunari nodded his head in agreement, and went back to work with Whisbei on his shoulder, his heart fluttering a bit when the yokai spoke his name casually.

However as the day went on, there was no sign of Ano, and Sayaka was getting increasingly impatient. By the time it was night, there wasn't even a glimpse of the mysterious man. Whisbei was glad she couldn't find him, though, since the yokai knew if she did, he wouldn't be able to ask him about getting some more of those cookies that would turn him back into a human.

Eventually, Sayaka gave up and returned to the temple, absolutely pissed off. Akiri was just happy to go to sleep for the night, and went to bed early.

Now, Mitsunari and Whisbei were sitting at their favorite spot, drinking some tea. It felt like a first date, though this wasn't the first time they've done this, or the first time they've been on a date, technically. But it was the first date they've had as an actual couple, so that made it special. Whisbei was wearing a blanket around his shoulders so that Mitsunari could hold and kiss him lightly, but it wasn't as good as when they could do it without assistance.

Suddenly, a bird flew down, and landed right in front of them, a piece of folded paper in its beak.

Immediately, both of them knew what it was, and as soon as Mitsunari retrieved the paper from the bird, it flew off, disappearing into the night. The shogun unfolded the paper, revealing that it was, in fact, the map they were expecting.

It appeared to be a regular map, though it had a blank space on the right side of it. A majority of it was the forest nearby, though the part of the castle they were in right now was also included. However, there was a red mark in the woods, and a blue, glowing, mark where they were standing. The red mark was probably where Ano wanted to meet, so they decided head there now.

Mitsunari stood, and Whisbei quickly followed, resting on his shoulder to gladly join him. Even though he couldn't physically feel the yokai near him, Mitsunari could feel Whisbei's presence in the form of a chill, and that brought a small smile to his face. 

But, as they began to head towards the forest, the blue mark where they were standing moved along with them on the map. Mitsunari paused in confusion, and it took Whisbei a moment before he recognized that it was a tracking map, before explaining it to Mitsunari in brief, satisfying the shogun's curiosity for the time being.

They continued on into the forest without any problems, approaching the red mark, until a thick fog descended upon them, and Whisbei could swear he heard a small noise in the distance, but didn't know what it was. The blue mark started jumping around the map wildly, so it wasn't any help anymore.

Whisbei wrapped his tail around his master's neck protectively, "Mitsunari, please be careful." he whispered, as Mitsunari kept walking into the mist in the general direction of where they were heading.

Calmly, Mitsunari replied, "Don't worry, Whisbei, I know where we're going." However, as soon as he said it, the fog blocked out their sight completely, and when it cleared, they stepped into a clearing... right back to where they entered the woods, "Or not." he sighed.

"May I see the map." Whisbei asked, and Mitsunari allowed him to take it.

As soon as his hands made contact with the paper, the blank space on the right started to shine, and words were revealed to both of them. It said:

If you're reading this, then you took your chance and it paid off.

Congratulations to the both of you!

To celebrate, I've decided to play some music for you.

Once the fog surrounds you, follow my song.

Whisbei thought, 'So that's what I heard.' 

"'Follow my song.' What does that mean? I didn't hear anything while we were in there." Mitsunari commented, and that's when Whisbei realized.

"I could hear something while we were in the fog. I think the reason Ano told you it would be best if we were dating when you went to see him was because he intended to only have you see him if I was with you, that's why he hid this message and is playing music only I can hear."

Mitsunari stroked his beard in thought, and nodded, "That makes sense." he then turned to the shoulder opposite to the one Whisbei was resting on, "Alright, I'll walk in, and you point me in the direction of the noise."

After shuffling over to the other shoulder Mitsunari was actually looking at him, Whisbei gave him an unseen salute, "Understood, sir." he agreed, resting his chin on Mitsunari's head, between the swooping points of his hair.

The shogun, surprisingly, was affected by the sudden weight on his head, and leaned forward a bit, before straightening up again with a half smile. Whisbei let out a few a few giggles, soft purrs escaping from him, as Mitsunari turned around and disappeared into the woods once again.

Once again, the mist descended around them, but this time they knew what to do. Whisbei listened carefully to the sound in the distance, as Mitsunari stood still, waiting for the yokai to speak. Eventually, Whisbei told him the direction the music was coming from, softly tugging Mitsunari's hair, not enough to hurt him, but enough to be felt, and the shogun began move.

They repeated this process for what felt like almost half an hour. The sound getting clearer as they got closer to the source.

"Left."

"Right."

"Straight ahead."

"Keep going."

"We're here."

Until, finally, the blue mark stopped jumping around, and rested on the red, showing that they've reached their destination. It was a clearing that neither Mitsunari or Whisbei had seen before, which was strange since the yokai regularly flew around the woods when he wasn't working.

Sitting on a rock in the middle of the clearing was a man covered in a cloak, covering his face, playing an ocarina, but stopped when he saw the two approach him. Happily, he hopped off the rock, and walked towards them. He pulled back his hood, revealing that he looked human, but something felt off about his appearance. They'd already seen his face before, though, and knew the man was Ano.

"Glad to see you two made it!" Ano greeted them, his arms outstretched, "Congratulations to the both of you! I'm happy to see that my products helped you fully realize your feelings for each other."

Whisbei and Mitsunari thanked him, but the yokai spoke up, "While we are grateful for your role, Ano, I want to know why you wanted to help us start dating."

Ano nodded, and hummed understandingly, "I figured you'd ask me that." then answered, "It's a bit of a long story, so you might want to sit down for this, come with me." before walking back to the rock he was on when he was waiting.

Once they were all settled, Ano began his story, "Have you both heard of the legend of Henbou Valley, where I'm from?" they both nodded, "Good, that saves some time. But do you know why it's only a legend, even though there's evidence of it?"

Mitsunari didn't know much about the topic in general, and turned to look at Whisbei, but no matter how much the yokai rattled his brain, he couldn't think of anything. Since it was clear they didn't know, Ano continued.

"It's a legend because my ancestors cut off contact with the rest of the Yokai World due to many disagreements. One of them was the stance on human-yokai relationships. The Yokai World was strongly against it, while the yokai of Henbou Valley were and still are supportive of them, regularly using the transformation leaves to visit humans, even having kids with them. Though, despite cutting off contact with the Yokai World, we still intact with the Human World and now a majority of the denizens of Henbou Valley are part human in some way." Ano then let out a small chuckle, "I, myself, am half-human-half-yokai, and am absolutely in favor of humans being with yokai."

He then gestured to Mitsunari, "When you told me about your plight, Mitsunari, I was sympathetic and wanted to help you, so I gave you the cookies to give you the chance of revealing your feelings to Whisbei, and seeing as you two are now together, I'd say it went well." he chuckled, and then pulled out a box from his cloak, handing it to Mitsunari, "So, I've decided to give you these for free as a celebration gift."

With Whisbei looking over his shoulder, Mitsunari opened the box, and they both stared in awe at what was inside. It was the same cream colored cookies that turned Whisbei into a human, except there were more of them, and they were about half the size of the cookies they got previously.

"These will turn you into a human, Whisbei, but only for a few hours instead of 30 days." Ano explained, "If you ever want more, the map you two have will allow you to see where I am."

Then, he began to sweat, "Please try to keep it secret, though, that friend of yours was really determined to find me, and to be honest, she scares me a little bit." he requested nervously.

Once they snapped out of their own thoughts, Whisbei and Mitsunari nodded in agreement, allowing Ano to release the tense breath he was holding.

Eagerly, Mitsunari took one of the cookies out of the box, and held it out like he was proposing. Whisbei took it happily, and ate it without any hesitation.

Just like before, Whisbei felt a tingly feeling spread throughout his body, and exhaustion made his limbs heavy. He knelt in front of Mitsunari, who stored the box in his haori while keeping his eyes on the yokai, as his body was consumed by a familiar glow, and once it died down it revealed that he had returned to his human form.

As soon as he could see Whisbei again, Mitsunari practically jumped on him for a tight embrace, burying his face into the yokai's collarbone with some tears of happiness falling from his eyes. Whisbei gladly returned the hug, a few joyful tears of his own dripping down his cheeks, as he ran his fingers through Mitsunari's hair and nuzzled the top of his head. They pulled away for a moment, but only so they could come back together in a passionate kiss, much like one two lovers give each other when they've been separated for a long time.

Ano just watched the display, content with his role in making this relationship happen, and snapped his fingers. Mitsunari and Whisbei stopped kissing as the thick fog surrounded them once more. But, when it cleared, they were back in the castle gardens, next to the pond where they shared their first kiss the night before.

The yokai just looked at Mitsunari once his shock wore off, "So, what do you want to do now?" he asked, though his tone suggested he already had an idea of what the shogun was going to suggest.

Mitsunari grinned mischievously, and helped Whisbei stand, as he chuckled, "Oh, I have a few plans for you, Whissu. The only problem is choosing what to do first."

Whisbei blushed as he was lead to Mitsunari's bedroom, admittedly excited to see what his master had planned for the night, and what their new future together holds.

And they lived happily together for years, loving each other no matter what obstacles they faced.

But, all good things must come to an end.

Chapter Text

It had been a week since Mitsunari was executed.

Not that Whisbei even noticed how long it had been. The wound in his heart was still so fresh that it might as well have happened an hour ago.

The yokai was inside the temple where his master was buried, sitting in front of Mitsunari's grave, his kimono filthy and covered in dirt, all illuminated by a stream of moonlight coming in from a hole in the ceiling above him.

Whisbei's sobs drowned out the voices outside talking, mostly about him, but he couldn't care less. His throat was raw from his mournful cries, his eyes were red, puffy and could barely force anymore tears with how many they had been producing for days. But that didn't stop them from rolling down his cheeks as he curled into a ball on top of where Mitsunari laid in the ground.

Originally, after Mitsunari was fully buried here, Whisbei had tried to go back to his life as a Shittakaburi. As much as he hated it, he didn't really see any other options for himself anymore, at least until his beloved master, hopefully, came back to him.

However, it became apparent that Whisbei couldn't return to his old life.

Not only could he not bring himself to use his know-it-all ability on humans, since it was what lead to Mitsunari's capture and death, in Whisbei's mind at least. But there were also many yokai that still recognized him, both in good ways, and in bad.

Though, in Whisbei's opinion, they were all bad, because when the ones with a positive opinion of him started talking to him, they'd give him their halfhearted condolences, and then tried to convince him to work for them. Perhaps that was what the voices outside were talking about right now, who'd go in to convince him to stop crying and get a new master to serve, probably arguing over who he'd work for if he agreed, too.

It didn't help that now Whisbei knew he could do more with his life than be a Shittakaburi, when that was all he thought he was good for before he met Mitsunari.

Everything just built up, and by the end of just one day, Whisbei couldn't take it anymore. He fled in the dark of the night, entered the temple where his love was buried, and has stayed by Mitsunari's grave ever since, pushing away anyone who tried to get him to leave.

He just wanted to see his master again. Whisbei could still remember the last words Mitsunari had said to him, before his execution.

"I'll come back to you, Whissu, I promise. No matter what it takes."

Of course, it didn't ease the pain of watching Mitsunari die in the slightest, but... usually to process of turning a human into a yokai only took two to three days at most to complete. So, that left the most likely option being that Mitsunari had passed on to the afterlife.

It stung so bad to lose the one he loved so much, but Whisbei still had a sliver of hope that it was just taking a bit longer than usual, and he'd be reunited with Mitsunari soon. Though, his hope slowly got dimmer as more time passed.

However, Whisbei couldn't help but blame himself for Mitsunari's death. If he had found out about the betrayal sooner, if he worked harder to convince Mitsunari to escape after being captured, if he had interfered with the execution instead of just sitting there and watching. Perhaps he could have prevented his master's untimely demise.

Every inch of his body hurt, and in his mind he deserved it, from the way his body shook with his sobs to his tail ached dully because of him sitting on it for so long. But, by now, Whisbei had become numb to it, to the point were he just didn't care. Though he couldn't ignore the feeling of exhaustion that was pulling at his eyelids any longer, so he decided it was time to give in to sleep.

Whisbei kissed the dirt beneath him, wet from his tears, as it was the closest he could get to kissing Mitsunari again, and whispered hoarsely, "Goodnight, Mitsunari. I love you so, so much." then, he laid on the ground, and choked out in between sobs, "Please come back... please."

But, before Whisbei could be pulled into another dreamless or nightmare filled slumber, the feeling and sound of the wind stirring woke him up, causing him to lift his head to see the cause of the disturbance.

Hovering above Mitsunari's grave was a purple, flame-like soul, swirling around excitedly and glowing strongly. Whisbei's eyes widened in shock, it didn't take long for him to recognize what was hovering in front of him, and he didn't even try to stop the tears of joy from cascading down his cheeks.

"Mitsunari... You came back."

The yokai didn't know why he was just a soul, or how he got here like this. But, for Whisbei, this wasn't the time to care about that.

Ignoring how the movement caused his tail to ache, Whisbei floated up to Mitsunari with his arms outstretched. The soul rushed into Whisbei's arms with no hesitation, and heated the yokai's chest with his loving warmth when he was fully embraced. Whisbei lightly kissed the soul, which was difficult for obvious reasons, but he could still feel a pulse, like he was kissed back wholeheartedly.

Honestly, Whisbei would be perfectly happy to stay like this forever. Even if he was kind of sad that Mitsunari couldn't hug him back, it wasn't important, because they were together again, and that was all that mattered.

However, their loving reunion was interrupted by the sound of loud knocking on the temple door, and a raspy voice calling, "Whisbei, we know you're in there! Come on out, and we can talk!"

Whisbei began to panic, scared of what the people outside might do to if they found out Mitsunari had returned.

But, Mitsunari flew around the yokai to regain his attention, and nuzzled against his cheek to comfort him slightly. The soul then floated upwards, and out of the hole in the ceiling, waiting just outside of it as his flame bellowed in the wind.

The yokai could tell he was supposed to follow, and after a small glance at the door, he did just that. Mitsunari began to lead Whisbei further away from the temple, and with both of them being careful to not be spotted, they managed to get away undetected.

They flew towards the mountains, covered by the dark of night, and disappeared into the thick forest as the sun began to rise.

For days afterwards, there were search parties out looking for Whisbei, trying to find out where he went. But, despite the attempts, they couldn't find a single trace of him. It was like he vanished into thin air.

It wasn't too long after that it was decided that Whisbei was dead. There was a ceremony where the yokai, and the few humans who knew he existed, came together to mourn him. Though, there were a few who were convinced Whisbei was still out there, somewhere, and would continue their search after the funeral. But, at that moment, they were shushed by those who believed he really was gone, and were sad that they'd never see him again.

And they were right. They would never see Whisbei again.

At least, not as Whisbei.