She seemed to have sensed Cloud's arrival long ago. Without even raising her head, she spoke in a voice clear as ice striking jade: "You're ten minutes later than I expected."
"Traffic." Cloud made up an excuse on the spot, then walked over and sat across from her like he owned the place. He casually picked up the teacup that had been prepared on the stone table—still steaming—and drained it in one gulp.
Mm, his favorite Longjing, at just the right temperature.
Cloud chuckled inwardly. This little lady talks all cold, but her actions... ahem, body language is quite honest.
Tsukihime finally raised those same purple eyes—beautiful as amethyst crystals—and glanced at him.
In her gaze was a barely perceptible hint of reproach: "Has no one told you that entering a lady's garden uninvited is quite rude?"
"They have." Cloud replied matter-of-factly. "But I figured with our relationship, do we really need to go through formalities?"
Tsukihime's cheeks flushed almost imperceptibly. She gave a light "hmph," turned her head away, and pretended to continue plucking the strings. "Why are you looking for me? If you want to know my brother's whereabouts, I don't know. He's a willful madman, like the wind—no one can catch him."
"Half and half," Cloud looked at her. "I do want to find Iori Yagami, but I also want to find something else—the Yasakani Magatama."
At the words "Yasakani Magatama," Tsukihime's fingers froze over the strings. A string snapped with a twang.
She was silent for a moment, and the courtyard's atmosphere instantly grew heavy.
Cloud didn't rush her, just watched quietly.
He knew this artifact held immense significance for the Yagami clan.
After a long while, Tsukihime sighed softly.
She said nothing, only extended her slender jade fingers to reach into the space between her snow-white, graceful neck and the depths of her kimono collar. Carefully, she drew out a necklace.
The chain was a simple red cord, but the pendant was extraordinary.
It was formed from several purple magatama beads of varying sizes strung together. Each one displayed a purple so deep it seemed to contain a sealed starscape. A desolate, ancient, and powerful energy pulsed faintly from within.
The moment this necklace appeared, the Kusanagi blood within Cloud began to stir restlessly, as if encountering a fated nemesis.
"This is the Yasakani Magatama."
Tsukihime cradled the necklace in her palm and held it before Cloud. Her eyes were complex, but her tone remained flat—as if describing something that had nothing to do with her.
"Before my brother left, he gave it to me. He said this thing is the source of calamity—keeping it on him would only attract endless trouble. He entrusted it to me, saying... at a critical moment, it could protect my life."
Cloud's heart was suddenly touched.
Looking at the magatama in Tsukihime's palm—shimmering with bewitching light under the moonlight—his emotions were complicated.
So this was one of the legendary Three Sacred Treasures, the Yasakani Magatama? Wasn't it supposed to be treasured by Iori Yagami as his most precious possession, the ultimate tool for unleashing his strongest techniques?
How... how had it become a protective amulet necklace?
This doesn't fit the narrative at all!
Everyone knew Iori Yagami—a man cursed by Orochi's blood, a mad, violent lone wolf who lived for battle.
His appearances were always accompanied by that signature maniacal laugh. He was a tragic hero living in shadow, standing against the entire world.
Yet this very man had personally strung the sacred artifact representing his family's highest honor and power into a necklace, and hung it around his little sister's neck.
No grand declarations, no earth-shaking gestures—just the simplest words: "protect your life."
Cloud's mind instantly conjured Iori Yagami's wild, untamed face. Contrasting it with this magatama full of brotherly care created a powerful gap-moe that warmed his heart.
That damn, gentle tyrant.
"The Yagami clan now has only my brother and me left." Tsukihime's voice lowered.
Cloud tenderly pulled her close. To his surprise, she didn't resist.
Feeling the girl's slight trembling and her unreserved trust, Cloud could clearly sense her "affection progress bar" rapidly climbing with a series of ding ding ding sounds.
He sighed helplessly in his heart, his perspective suddenly expanding.
Iori Yagami, that battle maniac who only wanted to "love-hate" with Kyo Kusanagi—there was clearly no hope of him carrying on the Yagami family line.
Continuing the bloodline? Nonexistent. Iori's life philosophy probably only included "fighting, maniacal laughter, and playing bass."
Sigh, the heavy burden of reviving the Yagami clan—the road was long and arduous.
If I don't descend into hell, who will?
For the tribe... no, for the Yagami clan's future, and so this cold, tsundere young lady wouldn't be left alone—it seemed this heavy burden would ultimately fall to an outsider like himself!
With this thought, Cloud's gaze became infinitely resolute, as if bearing the fate of the entire world.
His arm around Tsukihime tightened a few more degrees as he solemnly vowed in his heart with an air of compassion: "Iori Yagami, I'll take care of your sister! Your family's bloodline—I'll... I'll help you continue it!"
The girl in his arms seemed to sense the change in his emotions. She looked up in confusion, those purple eyes dewy and questioning under the moonlight, with a hint of shyness.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Cloud lowered his head, looking at her delicate face mere inches away, his expression blooming into a smile as warm as the sun. "I was just thinking—tonight's moonlight is really beautiful."
Tsukihime's face turned red as a ripe apple.
...
Get 20+ chapters ahead on - P.a.t.r.e.o.n "RoseWhisky"