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Izumi · 9/24/2026, 5:33 PM

It was true – this distance between them upsetted her greatly.

They hadn’t exactly been on communicating terms since that night, which was probably why the two of them were beyond knowledge of what the other one was thinking and had boiled things down to assumptions based on insecurities. For Izumi, she had assumed her worst nightmare had finally come true and the man who had come to love her withdrew after seeing a more intimate side of her that night. Yet that couldn’t have been farther from the truth.

He stammered – uncomfortable with the question she’d presented to him – or was he uncomfortable around her? An insecurity that nearly prevented her from approaching in the first place, yet this was better than nothing. Better than going on as if nothing ever happened…

”I regret this distance between us.”

....but? There had to be something else.

”It was not my intention, but I have wronged you.”

The cranebird’s lilac gaze widened by just a fraction – an expression of pure unadulterated bewilderment. On second thought, she was more or less expecting him to say he was unsure of that night, then to have responded with something like that. To claim that, because of that night, he was no samurai, but a man who takes. Desperate and foolish – due for a punishment he hadn’t received yet.

Izumi’s shoulders slowly slumped in defeat just then. Eyes closing as she released the breath she’d been holding.

Oh gods…..Osamu…. Relief. She’d felt relief that he’d disproved the very thing she feared.

– and Izumi would snort just then, because what else could she do?

Pressing a paw against the bridge of her nose, soft laughter would flit from the empress maw. After all these years together, Izumi had allowed her fears to make her forget the type of man Osamu was and expect the worst. Her silver moon had been a warrior – aged by battle and duty – but he was a gentleman first and foremost. Of course this would be the outcome of their first night together.

She….really was stupid for doubting how he’d felt, wasn’t she?

I guess we were both desperate and foolish that night, weren’t we? she quipped, lowering her paw from her muzzle. --shall I be punished alongside you by saying I don’t regret how foolish we were during the wedding?

She paused for a moment, her features softening from mirth to something gentler. More serious.

Even to this day, you treat me too gently. Yet that was one of the many reasons why she loved him. It didn’t matter what the occasion, or how tedious Izumi was one day. Osamu always treated her with an unyielding, almost unbearable gentleness. Like a samurai who drew blood with a cold blade without thought , holding a flower with an unexpectedly trained carefulness.

But I would like for us to be more honest with each other from now on….even if it feels like the world might end if we say anything. Her pleading eyes would search Osamu's – as did her forepaw, which sought to wrap around his reassuringly. Please? I want you to trust that I am not as fragile as you believe me to be.

Yet this was not the only thing the empress had approached him to relay – and the relief washed away just as soon as it came.

--and the…world might actually end where we stand when I tell you this, but something more came from our union that night…

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Westmoor Wakes

The Silent Crane