Chapter Text
The breeze in Inazuma was as cool as ever, sending a nice chill through the streets. The sun was high in the sky, the waves crashed against the shoreline, and the city was as busy as ever.
The Yashiro Commissioner walked through the small city calmly taking in the sights, boba cup in hand. Ritou was bustling, ships were docked all along the harbor and Outlanders walked along the stone paths, stocking up on supplies.
Ayato always liked how busy it was here. He loved seeing all the different kinds of people. He loved hearing all the stories that they have to share about the other nations. He's never been outside of Inazuma, having too much to do and not enough time to do it. Things were starting to bore, but Ritou was always a nice change of pace when his office began to feel a little too constricting.
He was on his own today. Work had made him leave the comforts of the Estate, but even their familiar walls had started to bore. Thoma was left back at the estate, cleaning and cooking as usual. Though, Ayato began to wish he had invited Thoma to tag along. Walking alone was never fun. Just as loneliness had begun to creep up on him, it faded as he looked up upon hearing a loud laugh.
His eyes scanned the crowds, looking for the cause of the noise. There were a lot of people out, but his height made it easy to see over the crowds. He eventually fell on the figure of Captain Beidou of the Crux Fleet in front of a stand, buying medicine kits and a few other things. Ayato raised an eyebrow. He scanned over her and landed on dirty bandages sticking out from parts of her outfit, a lot of bruises, and even more scrapes. He figured she must have gotten into a little trouble, but she seemed in great spirits with a wide smile spread across her face.
He sighed, moving away from her. She was as rambunctious as ever, he noticed. He walked further away, but behind him he heard her talking.
"Ah, well, I gotta get a move on. My gang's pretty beat this time, I gotta patch them up." She beamed, turning from the stall. Ayato heard the seller laugh and out of the corner of his eye, wave her off.
Was Kazuha included in that? Ayato was having quite a difficult time imagining someone as good a fighter as he getting injured in battle. If he was, something bigger than a petty one-on-one match had gone down. Kazuha and injured just… didn't belong in a sentence together.
Now his interest was piqued. Whether it was good or bad, his interest was piqued. Not only was Ayato fond of the Crux Fleet, Kazuha and his clan had always done a lot for Inazuma and the Tri-Commission. If there was any way he could help them out, he wanted to. He was strating to get really bored, anyhow.
Before he could talk himself out of it, the commissioner turned on his heel and started towards the pirate. He caught up with her in an instant and wasted no time clearing his throat to get her attention. She whipped around, seemingly a little startled. "Woah! Sorry, I didn't see you there." She stopped in her tracks and looked him up and down, eyes lingering on the drink in his hands. Ayato had half a mind to hide it.
He chuckled. "No harm done." He said. Hopefully she hadn't heard him coming towards her so suddenly. He had to play this down and figure out what was going on.
Ayato cleared his throat. "I just wanted to say hello. I don't believe we've met, I'm a friend of Kazuha's." The man started. Beidou seemed to perk up at the mention of the wind user. Her face fell slightly, eyes dimming, but only for a few seconds. Ayato had barely caught it, but something was definitely a bit off.
"I am Kamisato Ayato, Yashiro Commissioner of the Tri-Commission. A pleasure to meet you, Captain Beidou." He bowed his head slightly towards her in respect. She seemed surprised at first, but shrugged it off. Ayato supposed it was because she was an Outlander.
"Hey! Nice to meet you. I'm a little surprised you know who I am. Kazuha's mentioned you a few times before, though," She chuckled, placing her baskets on the ground. Red leaves from the tree blew off and lodged themselves between her items. She cleared her throat.
"Just for formalities- I'm Beidou, Captain of the Crux Fleet." She dusted her hand off, extending it. Then she looked back at him with knitted eyebrows. "What brings you over here? As many times as I've been on Ritou, I don't believe I've ever run into you before." The pirate questioned as they shook hands.
Ayato paused, looking her up and down. He had to choose his words carefully. Something had happened, and he wanted to know, but he didn't want to scare her away. He let her hand go.
"Just some browsing." He settled on after a moment. "I see you've found what you need. What is all that for, anyways?" He asked, pointing a gloved finger at the basket. He hoped it was indiscreet. He wanted to know what was going on. Was Kazuha okay? How badly was he injured? Was it life threatening?
Beidou looked down like she'd forgotten it was there. "Oh! Yeah, that. We got into a bit of a battle with another pirate ship, and we got hit pretty hard. There were kids on board to protect, some of us aren't the best at fighting, whatever, whatever..." She trailed off. "All good though! No casualties, thank the Archons." Beidou smiled, wiping a finger under her nose as if she was scared it had started bleeding. Ayato faltered. A battle with a rival pirate gang? That could be pretty serious.
Ayato nodded curtly. "I see. And how is Kazuha?" He questioned her, hoping it didn't sound strange. He didn't think it did, especially since Beidou said that Kazuha has talked about him before.
Beidou seemed to slump a little. "Oh, yeah, he got hit pretty hard. A group of them caught him off guard. They were smart, the other gang. Assholes, but smart. They kept a small team of four out of sight from the moment they pulled up on us, then sicked em' on Kazuha the moment he looked like he was having a little trouble." She sighed, shaking her head. Beidou put her hands on her hips.
Ayato internally groaned. It was as bad as he started to fear. Kazuha was such a great fighter, but anyone would have trouble with a large group.
"How is he?" Ayato asked, gripping his cup of boba harder. Beidou nodded, looking around. "I think he'll be okay." She said quietly. "We'll be docked here for a while until he's healed. I'm gonna use this time to train everyone up!" She laughed, and Ayato did too, even if he was worried out of his mind.
They were silent for a moment as they began walking the windy streets again, breeze chilly on their backs. Kazuha would like the leaves that blew through the roads, they reminded Ayato of him.
Something dawned on Kazuha. If he was as badly injured as she said...
"Is he on the ship? Or did you hospitalize him?" The commissioner asked the captain. She nodded, shifting her hold on the baskets.
"We have him propped up in the ship right now. Mora’s a little tight, so there wasn’t much we could do. But I have a lot of practice playing doctor.” Beidou said quietly. She looked crestfallen for a moment. Ayato's mouth drew into a thin line.
‘Propped up in the ship’? No way. Absolutely not. If he was as badly hurt as Beidou said, he needed proper medical care, not just some bandages and gauze pads.
“If you wouldn’t mind, I can pay for his hospital bills. And anyone else who might need to be admitted.” Ayato said, a little quickly. Beidou looked about ready to head off, but stopped dead in her tracks, eyebrows raised.
“Really? Why?” She asked in a confused tone. Ayato smiled lightly, fist clenching. “I want to help. I owe Kazuha, anyhow, and no offense, but he might need more than what you have in your basket.” The man said as nicely as he could.
The air between them was deafeningly still for a painstakingly slow minute, until Beidou let out the most genuine laugh Ayato has heard in awhile. It was like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders or something, because when she finally stopped, her eyes seemed clearer and more focused.
“Please! If you wouldn’t mind, that would be great. Do you need any help with it?” She said with a smile. Ayato relaxed, shaking his head. “No, I can have it all figured out in a matter of minutes. We can do it as early as today, so please, if you don’t mind, prepare whoever needs to be hospitalized to be moved.” The commissioner spoke with a smile, already mentally running through what he’d be telling his people.
The air around Beidou stiffened. “Seriously, thank you. You have no clue what this means to me.” She sighed, brushing some of her hair out of her face.
"Of course, Captain Beidou." He nodded. "If you need anything at all, please, do not hesitate to reach out to me, I would be glad to lend any more assistance you may need." The commissioner eyed her as he spoke, watching for any sign of a reaction. She just kept smiling.
"Thanks, Kamisato! I really appreciate it. Have a safe trip back, maybe we can meet up again later, once everyone’s all situated." She waved and started walking back to her ship that was docked nearby, carrying her baskets full of stuff.
Ayato watched her go. His smile fell and his eyebrows knitted when she was out of sight. He started walking fast, he needed to get in contact with that hospital immediately. He needed to make sure Kazuha was okay.
Quickly, Ayato boarded his own boat and started back to Narukami Island. He needed to get back to the estate and let Thoma in on what's going on. If he didn’t get this sorted out today like he promised, he was pretty sure he was going to have a breakdown.
Kazuha did so much for Inazuma behind the scenes. He was important, people needed him.
Atleast, that’s what Ayato told himself.
-
The commissioner sat at his desk, pen scratching across paper as fast as he possibly could without making his writing look messy.
He had stacks of books, papers, and letters stacked high around his desk that he needed to get done, but they were all being ignored. Ayato needed to get this letter sent out. He needed to get Kazuha, and the rest of Beidou’s hospitalized crew the best care that Mora could buy. It would be a little ruckus getting them all in, but Ayato could do it. He had the connections, the Mora. But still.
Thoma walked in a moment later, placing a cup of tea and a small plate of cut up Sunsettia on his desk. Ayato's mind was racing, words flowing through his mind. He was quiet as he wrote the checks and the letters, double and triple checking that everything was addressed to the right people. He wanted to get Kazuha and his crew into the hospital as soon as possible.
Thoma cleared his throat. "Any progress on that, sir?" He asked. Ayato saw the tray being retracted. Thoma stood in front of his desk at attention. Ayato dotted the end of his sentence and took a pause.
"Yea." He mumbled sparingly, starting on the next line. Once he was done, he would have Thoma send it off immediately. He hoped it wouldn't be too long now. He wasn't sure what kind of condition Kazuha was in, but it couldn't have been good if Beidou’s reaction was any kind of a gauge. As far as Ayato knew, Kazuha was the only member of the Crux Fleet that had been so injured.
That worried him.
Ayato went silent again as he focused on writing. He would re-dip his fountain pen in his expensive black ink as many times as it took. He needed this letter to sound good.
His hot tea and his fresh fruit was forgotten about as he scribbled along the paper. Thoma kept leaving and coming back to check on him, which Ayato quietly appreciated.
But finally, Ayato had three beautifully written pages all making up a letter letting the hospital staff know what to do with Kazuha, and how exactly to do it. Within the day, he would be moved to the best room in the hospital and have a the best doctor in Narukami -one that Ayato knew and trusted-, and be given the best care Mora could possibly buy. The few other admitted members of the Crux would be taken care of aswell.
The man arranged the papers and folded them neatly, tucking them carefully into the waiting envelope, sealing it with his wax seal. Which should ensure that the letter would arrive quickly. He handed it off to Thoma and sat back, reaching for his lukewarm cup of tea. He sipped at it slowly.
By the time his housekeeper returned and saw, he nearly had a heart attack.
"Sir! Please don't drink that. I'll get you a fresh cup." The blond called and reached out to take it away, but Ayato waved his hand dismissively. "It won't kill me. It's still drinkable, so there's no point in wasting it. I'm not fragile." The blue-haired man said, and Thoma retracted his hand after a moment. He cleared his throat and straightened back up.
"The letter has been passed on and should arrive no later than sundown. But sir, may I ask why the sudden urgency?" Thoma questioned as he cocked his head to the side, eyebrows furrowed a little.
Ayato took another sip. He supposed that was a fair question, not many people would drop everything just to write a letter to some hospital on such short notice. He guessed it appeared strange.
The blue haired man sighed quietly, placing his drink down with a quiet thud. He looked up to his old friend, a small smirk splaying on his lips.
"I like caring for people. Is that wrong?" The man hummed. Thoma shook his head after a moment.
Kazuha was his friend. Was taking care of your friends wrong?