We Bear Witness To God That The Situation Is So Tragic That It Cannot Be Written Or Described.

Putting them in my pocket.

one must imagine higuchi happy ... it's good for the soul ...

deduction queen suzuki sonoko !

sketches + doodles + thoughts ⇣

outfit and layout was very inspired by the egg magazine. usually i lean towards realism and i dont really colour pieces but i think it turned out pretty nice （＾∇＾） eyes are still a weak point but i’ll figure it out eventually !

Detective Conan in a nutshell

my girl finally got her car chase im so proud🙏

haiii:33 chuuya and tsujimura for the character ask game

hi mocha ♥️ u can find chuuya here cio beat u to it lol. also MY GIRL MY GIRL

TSUJIMURA MIZUKI

favorite thing about them: you know the thing tumblr user soutsuji said about her being the opposite of a babygirl i.e. a depressed middle-aged man in a midlife crisis. yeah. I think I'm really really fond of how she's always just — trying so hard. she wants to do good; she wants to be good at what she does. she's a cringe failgirl and is unashamed of that (for the most part). she's goodnatured and kind. she's snarky when she wants to be. she's so haunted with grief and confusion and dare I say, loneliness. I just love her so much.

least favorite thing about them: that she's only in gaiden and had 2 minutes of screen time in dead apple—

favorite line: “That selfishness of yours…” The words gushed out my throat sooner than I thought. “That selfishness of yours is what killed my mother, isn’t it?!?!” <- god. tsujimura who didn't want to be left behind, who was hurt, who didn't understand .... sorry for being soutsuji pilled but this is also abt tsujimura and hurt and loneliness. and how the people she cares about won't fucking stay. how she's so earnest and her heart is on her sleeve and how people like ayatsuji look at that and want to protect her and she doesn't realize it because ayatsuji would, once again, rather chop his own arm off. god. tsujimura. my girl.

brOTP: ango. it is genuinely so so funny to me that neither she nor ayatsuji realizes what a wet rat this man is. also her mother but if I start talking about her and assistant director tsujimura I will need to be sedated

OTP: SOUTSUJI. claws at the walls. I'm so soutsuji pilled this isn't even funny

nOTP: idk I believe in fandom roulette

random headcanon: less of a headcanon and more just thing that lives in my head rent free. she probably like. predicts where kyougoku is hanging out based on how pissed off ayatsuji is. and this is like normal to her. ayatsuji and kyougoku rivalmancing or whatever right in front of her. pulls up the senior citizen conversation again

unpopular opinion: I have no idea what counts as an unpopular opinion for her I live in the gaiden echo chamber and we all say the same things about her. I guess I can be a bit silly and say like. booooo to asgr haters read gaiden first before commenting on his treatment of female charas 🔥 she's literally the most amazing woman ever to me ♥️

song i associate with them: remembering by yutaka yamada ft. tate mcrae. sorrryyy I just think grief acceptance songs tinged w melancholy are very tsujimura ♥️

favorite picture of them: why are these my favorites of hers? I have no idea. yes this is why I randomly pinged u and asked for them. ily my girl on her first unhinged car chase....waugh. thinks abt this scene so much and dies.

under your shadows

another tsujitsuji fic <3

also i didnt tag graphic depictions of violence because personally (as someone who does not do well with gore) it wasn't too bad. but if there's ever anything wrong with my tags please do let me know! i always complain about people who don't tag correctly but lowkey I'm bad at tagging so let me know :)

as usual fic under the cut as well <3

~ ♡ ~

Each breath was becoming more and more of a struggle to take. Her lungs felt like they were burning. Gripping her gun weakly, she tried to take a step forward, attempting to aim at the man attacking her.

‘You’re going to shoot me?’ He scoffed, ‘You can barely stand.’

He was right; she’d sustained too many injuries in the fight. Her vision was blurring, there was a pounding in her head, and she felt like she had been shot at some point.

She glanced back; there was a figure slumped over by the shutters. The pale blond hair, stained with blood, revealed his identity to her. Ayatsuji-sensei. Unconscious. Hurt. Dying.

The man was stepping closer to her now, pulling out a knife. She tried to steady her hand, reinforcing her threat of shooting him even if it was a weak one.

‘Now, now,’ he was being condescending, talking to her as if she were a child throwing a tantrum. ‘We don’t have to do this the hard way. I’m sure those drugs are doing a number on you.’ Drugs? She couldn’t remember how he’d gotten them in her. ‘I don’t want to cause you any more pain than I have to.’

‘Step back,’ trying her hardest not to sound scared. He continued to move closer, so confident that she wasn’t capable enough.

‘Still protecting him? You government agents are truly foolish people.’ The muzzle of her gun was against his chest now. ‘Well, are you going to shoot me?’ He cocked an eyebrow at her. 

She pulled the trigger, but nothing happened; the telltale click of an empty magazine echoed in her ears.

He chuckled as the panic filled her features. How could she have run out of bullets? 

She made a move to grab his knife, but the drugs in her system were slowing her down. He dodged easily. It was pathetic really, for a trained agent like her to be knocked to the floor so effortlessly.

Lying at his feet, she felt an overwhelming sense of defeat. She was going to die here. She was failing the division. She was failing Ayatsuji-sensei. She was failing herself.

Looking at his shadow, cast on the floor next to her. Maybe she was nothing without her mother’s ability.

‘Mother,’ it came out more like a cry, ‘I’m sorry.’

~ ♡ ~

Tsujimura jogged to catch up with Ayatsuji as they entered the building. ‘Sensei! Wait up! I don’t have a good feeling about this building.’

‘Why should you? It’s most definitely a trap,' his flippancy shocked her.

‘A trap?’ She fumbled for her phone. ‘Should I call for backup?’

‘Do whatever you wish,’ continuing to walk into the warehouse. He began to take in the room. There were modern additions to the older structure. There were large frames with items still on them blocking the entire room from view.

‘That's strange. I can’t get any signal in here,’ she lifted it, shaking her head in confusion. ‘We’re within city limits here.’

‘Signal jammer,’ he continued to smoke, seemingly unbothered by the situation. ‘Whoever’s doing this seems quite determined to get us alone.’

‘Maybe we should come back later with backup,’ she turned around, ready to get out of the creepy place, but there was a loud mechanical groaning. Tsujimura to stop the door from shutting. What followed was her exasperated shout and a loud clanging sound.

‘It would seem they have gotten us alone.’

‘This is bad, Sensei. The division doesn't know our location, and we cannot contact them.’ She pulled out her gun from its holster and joined him. There were no signs that there was anyone else with them, but she couldn’t shake off this awful feeling pooling in her stomach. 

They were considering their next move when smoke started to fill the room. 

‘We need to get out of here!’ Tsujimura started to move, but Ayatsuji grabbed her hand. 

‘Don't move,’ he was looking around, trying to figure out what their next move should be whilst they still had some visibility. That’s when he noticed something strange with the smoke: ‘Tsujimura, don’t breathe. Don’t talk. We need to move now.’

He dragged her along, heading out of the storage area. The smoke was virtually nonexistent in the corridor area they were in now.

‘Sensei? What’s going on?’

‘A trap,’ he was looking around for a way out, but all the shutters were closed.

‘You’ve already said that?’

‘The smoke was to lead us here and to split us up, probably.’

‘But the smoke was drugged?’

‘So you noticed it too? Not bad, special agent.’ Despite their precarious situation, she felt a little proud of herself. ‘Yeah, a low dose of an anaesthetic. If we’d attempted to stay, we’d slowly lose consciousness.’

‘Giving us no other choice but to come here,’ Tsujimura spoke as a figure emerged around the corner, ‘and to fall into this trap.’

Clapping, loud clapping, ‘Bravo! You truly are as good as they say you are, Ayatsuji Yukito.’

He remained emotionless, regarding him as if he were a pedestrian on the street; he tipped down his sunglasses to glance him up and down. ‘Do I know you?’ 

The man stopped 10 meters away from them. ‘I don’t think we’ve ever met.’

Ayatsuji took a long drag of his kiseru before he spoke again, ‘You went through a lot of trouble for someone who doesn’t know your name.’

‘Oh,’ he winked before he carried on. ‘That’s the beautiful part. You do.’

Tsujimura remained glued to the spot, unable to do anything. Her instincts were telling her they needed to get out now, but she couldn’t move, no matter how hard she willed her legs to.

‘The string of murders recently across the globe,’ the man nodded in delight as Ayatsuji spoke. ‘One man, high-profile targets, a very impressive killer. They call you Vipère?’ 

Tsujimura interrupted, ‘French?’

‘Correct!’

‘Just like his shoes,’ the criminal laughed, but Ayatsuji continued. ‘Named for his use of viper poison to kill his targets. The first of which was a French bureaucrat.’

‘You’ve done your research, detective,’ he took off his hat and took a bow, ‘how flattering that is to hear.’

‘You still haven’t told us what business you have with us.’

‘Us?’ He chuckled as if he’d just told a particularly funny joke, only he was the only one in on it. ‘No detective, my business is only with you. Sadly, your babysitter will not be joining us today.’

It happened before she could even react. He snapped his finger, and she felt something wrap around her—scaly, cold, squeezing her—a snake winding around her, binding her legs and arms. 

Ayatsuji tried to step closer. ‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you,’ he motioned to the snake as it wrapped around her neck before stopping. ‘As you probably know, this particular species of snake isn’t venomous; however, I’m sure this wouldn’t go in her favour here.’

He stayed still, his face twisting into an expression of disgust. An ability user, he’d overlooked that.

‘Perfect, now,’ he stepped closer to them, ‘to deal with you.’ 

Tsujimura tried to scream out, to tell him to get out of the building, to leave her, but the snake was slowly constricting. At this rate, she was going to run out of oxygen before it crushed her bones. All she could do was watch.

Ayatsuji put out his kiseru, tucking it into a pocket before taking off his coat and hat. ‘Usually, I would’ve asked Tsujimura-kun to hold my stuff; I’d hate to put it on this filthy floor.’

‘Sorry,’ he shrugged noncommittally, ‘I can’t have her interfering.’

He sighed before abandoning his stuff on the floor. ‘Well, whatever this is, maybe we should get it over with.’

‘There’s nothing I’d like more.’

She wasn’t sure what happened in the following moments, the lack of oxygen keeping her out of focus. It wasn’t until she felt the snake writhe and let her go that she had some semblance of what was going on. As soon as her vision returned, she grabbed her gun and scrambled away from the body of the snake. She could only guess how Ayatsuji-sensei had managed to kill it.

‘Tsujimura! Get up!’ It was Ayatsuji shouting; he was being pinned to the floor.

‘You just couldn't die, could you?’

She didn’t waste any time, aiming for the man attacking them. She shot at him twice, the latter grazing his shoulder. 

‘That bitch,’ he snarled, releasing his hold on Ayatsuji, allowing him to escape.

She kept her gun trained on him; he didn't try to move. Instead, he began laughing again. It was starting to seriously piss her off; nothing about this was remotely funny.

‘I was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this, but I guess this was never going to happen the easy way.’ 

That’s when the corridor began to fill with smoke, much quicker than the storage area.

‘Ayatsuji-sensei!’ Tsujimura had lost sight of him immediately. ‘Where are you?’ She heard movement all around her, struggling to place the other two people in the room. Why isn't he responding to her? 

She tried to breathe normally; the last time this happened, they had been able to retreat, regroup, and plan. 

‘Sensei!’

‘Idiot! Stop speaking; you are alerting him to your whereabouts.’ He sounded in pain, but the voice was close by. She spun around trying to pin down his location when she felt an arm on her shoulder. She nearly shot him but recognised the gloves.

‘Sensei,’ she whispered, ‘you're hurt.’

‘The bastard got a couple of hits in,’ he wiped the corner of his mouth. ‘Listen, we have to get out of her-’

She blinked, and he was gone; there was a loud crashing noise as something collided with shutters. ‘Sensei!’ She swore she saw something huge attack him.

She felt breath on her neck, ‘Now to deal with you.’ Before she could react, she felt something pierce her skin.

Turning around, she fired her gun. Three shots. She could tell none of them had landed. She needed to deal with the criminal, needed to check on Ayatsuji-sensei, and needed to get out of there. But with every noise, she was flitting around like a butterfly. She had fired twice more, feeling something near her; she was sure at least one had hit him again. But now she only had one bullet left; she couldn't use it until she was completely sure. 

Just as the smoke began to subside and she felt a flicker of hope, she was knocked down. Something had hit her knee, hard. ‘You really are just a stupid bitch, aren’t you?’ 

He was swinging a metal pipe at her, a crazed look in his eyes. Almost serpentine in its appearance. 

She dodged, trying to grab her gun from the floor near her. Watching her struggle, he took a step back. Taking pleasure at how lethargic her body was, her weak grip on the gun, and her difficulty in standing up.

‘You're going to shoot me?’

~ ♡ ~

The man had turned around, loading his own gun, preparing to kill them both. He was muttering to himself, Ayatsuji first, then that stupid agent. She breathed shallowly as the shadows at his feet seemed to expand. She blinked, wondering if the drugs were messing with her brain. When she saw the shadows lift off the ground, she was sure she was seeing things in her last moments.

However, when she felt the shadows surround her, she was sure it was real. She had not felt this presence since Ayatsuji-sensei’s ability had killed it. Yesterday’s Shadow Tag. 

It was weaker, unable to hold its own form. But it was strong enough to use her, lifting her to her feet and cloaking her body, giving her a renewed sense of strength. There was a time in her life when she would have hesitated to use this ability, but this was not that. 

She waited for him to turn around, watching his expression distort into one of fear. 

‘What the fu-’

She didn't want to kill the man before he could serve his sentence for all his crimes, so she knocked him out. Wrapping him in shadows so he couldn't try to escape and dragging him out with her. 

Walking over to Ayatsuji-sensei, Shadowling had slashed through the shutters next to his body. This allowed her to pick him up and exit the building. The ability stayed until she managed to get back to her car, carefully placing Ayatsuji in the back seat and handcuffing the other man.

When the shadows disappeared, she used the last of her strength to call for help. Holding out until she heard the sirens approaching them. She let herself rest when she knew her job was done.

~ ♡ ~

heiii haiii. hyuna for the character ask 👉👈 also ango, perchance

hiya mocha!!! 🫶

hyuna - alien stage

favorite thing about them: the conflict she faces between her logical mind vs. her feelings… raghhhh. also her prosthetic <3

least favorite thing about them: her lack of content !! i need to know more about her life before she joined the rebellion

favorite line: "You, who betrayed me so cruelly... I finally hold you in my arms. This is my revenge."

brOTP: her and mizi are my pooks

OTP: sighs. my worsties

nOTP: i don't have one tbh !

random headcanon: kids/babies absolutely adore her and she can calm them down effortlessly if they’re upset (for luka the opposite is true)

unpopular opinion: i’m not in the fanbase enough to know which opinions are or aren’t popular but i do think her relevance is underappreciated. i’ve seen fans brushing her aside which is crazy to me because lore-wise she’s basically the most important character in the show lfjdkdhjw

song i associate with them: all-in 😭 lol but if we’re talking non alnst songs… i wish i hated you by ariana. also the rebels in general give me strong danger days mcr vibes

favorite picture of them:

i am a hyuna victim.

ango sakaguchi - bsd

favorite thing about them: is it wrong of me to say his self-loathing. unfortunately i love how his circumstances have turned him into a person he despises. i love how working for the special division forces him to make decisions he disagrees with and hurt people he cares about and suffer. /affectionately i swear

least favorite thing about them: that he’s not even mentioned in beast despite dazai and oda’s relationship being such an integral part of that story. 😔

favorite line: “The death of a person is not just some number. Every one of their lives must have some meaning.” — after i read gaiden this hurt me so much more. bro is in the wrong career oh my god

brOTP: him and ayatsuji !

OTP: odango

nOTP: ango/dazai (but non-romantically their dynamic is my favorite. there’s So much there don’t even get me started)

random headcanon: this is basically canon but i like to believe he does little things to help dazai/the agency even outside of those he’s canonically done. using his position to drop hints that subtly nudge them in the right direction on cases and curb public opinion in their favor. (and not just out of guilt !!) i also believe he’s the main pushback against ayatsuji’s execution in the division

unpopular opinion: a lot of people think he’s way older than he is and treat him accordingly. he’s 25 you guys!! he’s just a boy out of his depth!! he’s younger than ranpo and ayatsuji!! him and dazai are only 3 years apart!!

song i associate with them: rip ango you would’ve loved frank sinatra… the world we knew…. why try to change me now…. i’ll never smile again…. yeah

favorite picture of them: thank you oyoyo

character ask game

A Fight Without You

the height of my esuka obsession T-T

Yet another island Isuka hadn't been at; it was getting worrisome. Isuka, without fail, had been there at every single island since they had first met, always there, determined to bring him in. Ace loved the attention; Deuce speculated that it was because she was a gorgeous young woman who could take him down if she wanted to. However, this was the second island they'd been to, and Isuka hadn't been there. Ace felt uneasy leaving the previous island without seeing her, but she was a marine who had other things to do apart from chasing him, or so he tried to convince himself. He was finding it harder to believe now that she hadn't turned up this time.

Ace sighed, 'you don't think something bad happened to her do you?'

'To who? Isuka? No way I've never seen anyone like her,' Deuce chuckled, 'she fights like she's got devil fruit powers.'

'That woman is fearless,' Ace seemed to accept it for a while but looked back at the horizon, 'but nothing could've happened to her, right?'

'Ace, cap, no offence but you're awfully worried about a woman who has done nothing but try to catch you. Maybe it's a good thing she isn't here, one less thing to worry about if she's finally lost our trail.'

'She hasn't only tried to catch me, she's,' Deuce raised an eyebrow, 'I just think it's weird okay, she's just always there.'

'You know she has other duties right? She's an ensign, that's pretty important, she's probably got meetings to attend, boring marine stuff.'

'Yeah I guess,' Ace didn't seem at all satisfied with the answer but didn't try to argue back.

'Boss!' Skull shouted from the sand, 'bad news, the locals just said that we can't leave tonight!'

'Why's that?'

'Apparently there's a bad current that appears from time to time. It's wiped out massive fleets before, we shouldn't risk it.'

'I guess we're spending another night here,' he seemed to consider his options before jumping down to the sand, 'Deuce let's walk, I'm bored.'

~ ♡ ~

Deuce often got dragged into things because Ace was bored or hungry. Since he'd left Sixis with Ace, life had not been dull, maybe even a little too interesting. Thankfully this time, Ace didn't get into much trouble, although his usual narcoleptic attack did frighten a few villagers. 

Or so he thought. Things had been going well until Ace caught sight of a marine, just an ordinary officer slipping past the crowds and into a back street.

He immediately broke into a run, 'Ace!'

The officer was fast, keeping to the back streets as he made it to the other side of the island, where he met with another officer. Ace recognised them; they worked under Isuka on her ship.

'Did you find any others?'

'No there's only one doctor on this island.'

'That's not good, hopefully the antidote works, we've contacted headquarters, but no one will be able to reach here for a while.'

'The Ensign is strong, she'll pull through.' At the mention of Isuka, Deuce felt Ace tense. He was never subtle when it came to her.

'Hopefully.'

Deuce felt Ace move, grabbing one of the marines before he could stop him, 'what did you say?'

'Fire Fist!' The other one spluttered, 'what are you doing here?'

He tightened his grip on the man, 'answer the question, what happened to Isuka?' Deuce sighed. Ace had an especially short fuse when things were about her. After all, he'd beaten up a guy who'd made some unsavoury passes at her when she confronted them at a bar. Ace was not someone you wanted to anger.

'We don't need to tell you anything, pirate.'

Ace looked like he would punch the guy but was stopped by a loud rustling sound getting closer to them from more than one side. He dropped the guy before preparing for a possible ambush. The marine gasped for air before crawling over to his colleague.

'Boss!' One of the voices shouted. Skull had come looking for them.

The other person, unfortunately, was a marine who, at the sight of Ace, drew her gun. 'Fire Fist Ace, the ensign is in no state to fight you. Leave.'

'Take me to her.'

'Boss, that's-' Skull began; that was too much to ask of them to lead a notorious pirate to their leader, who was in no state to fight.

'I want to see her.'

The marine sighed; she looked over at his two colleagues; they weren't enough to deter the pirate, 'can you help her?'

'Deuce is a doctor, he can take a look at her, if she needs something and we have it, you can have it.'

'How do we trust you, pirate? Getting rid of the Ensign Isuka would be advantageous to you,' the marine he had grabbed spat out.

'I wouldn't hurt her, not intentionally.'

She nodded to the dismay of her colleagues, in a way she understood that their relationship was quite complicated, 'follow me.'

The five of them trailed behind her as she led them to a small cove. The ship was tucked in. The sails containing Isuka's epithet were taken in; the usually busy ship had an uneasy quietness.

'Many of us are scattered around the island, looking for supplies, some have remained for security.'

As they stepped up onto the boat, Ace's appearance caused a couple of marines to turn to him in alarm, guns raised. The marine leading them waved them down, 'he's trying to help!'

They didn't seem all that convinced but turned back around, keeping up their posts.

Deuce seemed slightly impressed at the ship's sheer size, 'how'd she get hurt?'

'We we're called as support along with another ship, they needed some help bringing in some other pirates,' she opened a door leading them downstairs, 'with the ensign it would be easy work, she may struggle to bring you in, but she's very strong.'

'I don't doubt it,' despite having the powers of a logia-type devil fruit, he still dodged her attacks out of reflex.

'We replied to the call, they were nearby and Isuka would never say no to helping someone, and everything did go to plan apart from one thing.'

She opened another door; this time, it was the door to the infirmary. The ship's doctor and the village doctor were sitting by her bedside, monitoring her condition and discussing other medical things.

The marine nodded at them, signalling them to step outside, and they complied. Ace stood by the door for a while before deciding to sit by her; she looked awful. Deuce checked the wound on her arm, the blue bruise-like colour spreading from the injury and up her arm.

'One of the pirates had hidden and held Isuka with a knife to her throat, he didn't realise she was the ensign. So she did what she did best, fight, she brought him down, but he managed to nick her arm. Things were okay for a day or two, but she suddenly collapsed two days ago, so we stopped at the nearest island.'

Deuce checked her temperature, gently checking the neckline of her uniform to see how far the colour had spread. 'I think the antidote is working, the poison hasn't spread far enough to be of extreme danger to her life, but things can still go wrong. Tonight will be very important, it may determine whether she'll be able to use her arm or not.'

'Yes, that's what the other doctors have said, it was lucky we carried many types of antidote,' the marine sighed, 'Isuka made sure of that.' 

With that, she left the room, nodding at Deuce. Ace, on the other hand, had barely registered what had happened, his thoughts consumed by the girl before him. 

Isuka was usually full of life, her strong voice yelling at him from her ship. That was not who he saw now; the girl lying on the infirmary bed was soulless. Her skin was pale, and her breathing laboured; she was not the picture of health she'd always been. Ace leant forward, inspecting her poisoned arm, it may be on her non-dominant arm, but she fought with both. She used her athletic abilities to leap over things, usually using her arm for stability. He knew her fighting style was aggressive and powerful; he was scared that if she lost her arm, she'd give up on being a marine or, at the very least, stop chasing him. Either way, he wouldn't see her again; he would have no reason to tease her and watch her turn red when he threw a flirty comment her way. Losing her and her presence would leave an ugly mark on his heart. 

As she began coughing, she rolled onto her side, bringing her knees closer to her chest. Deuce poured her a glass of water before handing it to Ace, who waited for her to calm down. As the violent coughing fit came to an end, she opened her eyes slowly, her good arm coming up to wipe the tears that had formed in the corners of her eyes. She made a grabbing motion in the direction of the side table.

'Here,' Ace gently moved the cup to her hand, allowing her to grab it, she tried getting up, but without being able to put any pressure on her other arm, she struggled. Ace got up from the chair to help her; when she sat up, she took a long drink from the glass, and Ace settled back into his chair.

'Fire fist, what are you doing here?' Her voice was groggy and weak; her vision had finally cleared up, and she'd finally noticed who he was. He thought she'd be more shocked, but perhaps she was too tired for that.

'Couldn't leave without seeing my favourite ensign, now could I?' He chuckled when Isuka made what he could only guess was a flustered expression. Deuce looked at Skull; there was an unspoken agreement between the both of them that they should leave them alone. He tapped Ace's shoulder reassuringly before exiting the infirmary.

'You know, Isuka. I missed you at our previous island; it isn't the same without you shouting at me,' she smiled at that, lying back down, 'it's not the same when I'm not fighting you.'

'I've got other battles to fight, Fire Fist; I can't chase you all the time,' she whispered as she dragged the sheets back over her.

'I wish you could, wouldn't it be fun seeing each other everyday?'

'I think we have very different ideas of fun.'

'You wouldn't have to get hurt fighting some other prick,' she stayed silent for a while, unable to bring herself to look him in the eyes, 'you worried me when I walked in here I thought I was going to lose you.'

She lifted her arm, hesitating before placing her hand on his cheek, 'it's part of the job, you know that.'

At first, it took him by surprise; they weren't close like that. At most, there were accidental brushes of skin that left her flustered. He placed his hand on hers; she felt comfortable with him, and for now, that was enough. For once, she wasn't wearing her leather gloves; her hand was warm as he stroked it gently, 'I know,' but he couldn't help hating the thought. He moved her hand to his mouth, placing a small kiss on the palm of her hand before releasing it.

She smiled at him, grabbing hold of his hand again, 'I know it isn't much, but I'm here now. You know that I'm safe,' she gently squeezed his hand before closing her eyes. She didn't know who he had lost in the past to react like that, but she understood loss and the pain it brought.

~ ♡ ~

He had completely lost track of time, sitting there holding her hand, stroking the back of it, tracing the lines on her palm. It was completely dark when Deuce returned to the room carrying two plates of food and a bowl of soup for Isuka.

'Skull went back to the rest of the crew to explain,' he placed the soup down first before handing Ace his plate, 'I'm guessing you don't want to leave.'

'I don't know. I don't want to leave her like this.'

'Don't worry about it, the crew will understand.'

Ace gently shook Isuka awake, so she could try to eat something. He helped her sit up again, handing her the bowl of soup before picking up his plate and starting to eat. Deuce had begun to explain their adventures at their previous island, what had happened when she wasn't there. She laughed when he explained how Ace had fallen into the lake trying to chase Kotatsu, who had been chasing a butterfly. At some point during the conversation, Ace had finished his plate and noticed Isuka had been struggling to eat. He took the bowl from her and began feeding her as she listened to Deuce's rambling. At first, she'd been a little embarrassed, but soon she came to enjoy it a little, the power she had over him always amused Deuce. He knew of Ace's tendencies when caring for people, but feeding them was not one of them. Isuka, however, was an exception; they shared something special, even if they didn't quite notice it yet.

After dinner, Isuka had laid back down, drowsiness taking over; Ace remained by her side as Deuce got some pillows and blankets. Ace was still in the same spot when he returned, watching over her. Deuce set up the little sofa in the room for him to sleep on, leaving the other bed in the infirmary to Ace if he wanted to sleep.

'Deuce, take the bed, I don't need it.'

'You should try to get some sleep too.'

'If need be I can sleep on the sofa, you can take the bed.'

Deuce didn't bother arguing back; Ace was stubborn when it came to certain things, so there was no point trying to get his way.

The night was cold; Ace watched as Isuka shivered under her blanket. He got up and grabbed the blanket Deuce left on the table to cover her with. Taking the pillow, he placed it on the bed; he leant forward to rest his head. He must have eventually nodded off because sunlight was filtering through the blinds on the window when he woke up. Sometime in her sleep, Isuka must have found his head as he could feel her soothingly running her hand through his hair. It felt weird; the last time someone had done that was probably 6 or 7 years ago. When he'd fall asleep around Makino, she'd take care of him, gently patting his back or running her hand through his hair. It was comforting; if his mother was alive, he imagined she would do the same.

It was a while longer before either of the others stirred; Isuka was up first, woken up again by a coughing fit. Ace did the same thing as before, handing her a glass of water and helping her sit up. Being a light sleeper, Deuce had also woken up; he checked up on Isuka first. Her temperature had decreased slightly, and the marks on her arm had begun to fade - which was very promising. He left to share the information with the rest of her crew.

'Thank you, Fire Fist, I think your presence really helped.'

'I didn't do much,' he smiled, slightly shy at the compliment.

'I know, but still, you make me stronger.'

Ace didn't know what to say; Isuka kept him on his toes, kept him guessing what her next move would be. She'd made her way into his life, and in a way, she pushed him to be stronger too. Before he could try to formulate a reply, Deuce returned.

'We should probably get back to the ship, the currents are getting better and we can leave soon,' Ace made an expression. Before he could ask, Deuce replied, 'I imagine Isuka will be leaving soon too, she's getting better and it would be beneficial to be heading to a more accessible island.'

'He's right, if things go well we'll probably be leaving by the end of the day,' she smiled reassuringly at Ace, 'back on your trail of course.'

'Wouldn't expect anything different.'

~ ♡ ~

the lamb cooking scene in gaiden>>>>

it’s so short but oml it’s so good 😭