Chapter Text
It was the little things that Tanda noticed first. Peeling back his blankets and making the bed in the hotel would have taken him a frustrating half-hour to do alone before the surgery, but now, it took five minutes. He could drink coffee while packing. He could look up flight delays on his phone while scratching his arm.
Huh. I can scratch my arm with my other hand again. It was a strange realization. He could do two things at once and perform simple tasks that used to cause him nothing but frustration.
Tanda and Balsa returned to New Yogo by plane, with Taiga Amusuran seated in the row behind them. When Taiga saw Tanda putting his own carryon in overhead storage, he stepped forward to help, but Balsa made a cutting gesture. It was only then that Tanda realized he was able to lift the bag easily in his off-hand, without pain or clumsiness.
Taiga grinned and held out his fist. Tanda looked at him quizzically. Balsa made a gesture that indicated he should also make a fist. When he did, Taiga lightly tapped it with his own.
"Huh. Feels like the real thing." Taiga withdrew his hand.
"You fist-bumped my fiance because you wanted to know what the hand felt like?" Balsa glared.
Taiga blushed. "Well, when you put it like that..."
Fortunately, the plane was about to take off, sparing Taiga further embarrassment. When Tanda sat down next to Balsa, she grabbed his new hand and squeezed.
It was amazing how much it could feel. That was probably a byproduct of soul magic.
"What are you looking forward to most when we get home?" Balsa asked.
"Hm," Tanda said. "Picking mushrooms. Making dinner. Sleeping in my own bed."
"Going back to work?"
He rested his head on Balsa's shoulder. She still smelled like hotel shampoo and soap: lavender and vanilla. "Yeah. Won't all the kids be surprised?"
"I'm sure they've missed you."
"I know." His chest felt tight for a moment. They'll never miss me again.
***
Mio's skin graft surgeries were successful, though they took several days to complete. Hyakkimaru's skin didn't prove necessary since enough donor skin was available, but he camped outside her recovery room and refused to leave. Being the son of the hospital's owner had some benefits.
"Did you eat?" Dororo asked, flicking him in the ear when he failed to respond. He'd fallen asleep with his eyes open again.
"Yes."
"When?"
"Um...yesterday?"
Dororo put a hand on her hip. "Dad would want you to go to the cafeteria and eat."
He looked up at Mio, who was still unconscious from the anesthetic. "Fine."
"Come on, aniki. They have mochi today and I want all of it."
"It's the hospital's mochi; you can't have all of it."
"Killjoy." She snorted, then tugged on his hand to make him get up. They walked to the cafeteria together. There really was quite a lot of mochi available--three different varieties.
"Don't tell me you changed the menu behind dad's back again," Hyakkimaru said.
"I won't tell if you won't..."
***
Tanda spent a few days at home resting and recovering before returning to work. Balsa signed on for a security rotation at the imperial palace. Ordinarily, she would have been embedded there full-time, but now was different. Now, she and Tanda were staying together.
He returned to work on a Monday morning. He could drive, but his palms were still a bit clumsy on the wheel, so Balsa drove him instead. "Have a good day at work," she said. They were in the Kosenkyo General Hospital parking lot.
He blinked. She's never said anything like that before.
"I'll be fine," he said. He passed her a lidded soup tureen from his lunch bag. "This is for Chagum."
Balsa sniffed the lid. "This is mushroom stew."
"Yep."
"You made mushroom stew for Chagum and not me?" She pouted.
Tanda shrugged. "Well, he did pay for me to get the arm. I'll make you the stew next."
She scowled.
"I promise." He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear with his prosthetic hand. "Thank Chagum for me."
"I will. Call if you need anything."
Tanda nodded.
***
Tanda had mountains of clinical reports to file when he first reported to his office. His assistants, Nima, Yona and Kocha had done most of the work for him, but all of them needed his review and signature as the attending physician.
Kocha was a former patient that Tanda shielded while on the battlefield; he'd taken a blow meant for Kocha. Kocha had signed on as a medical assistant to help Tanda after the war, though he hadn't finished his schooling yet.
"Good to see you back, doc," Nima said brightly. She'd done her residency and clinicals alongside Tanda and had his same specialization in herbal medicine and pharmaceutical development, though she was not a pediatrician. She had also taken on all of his cases while he was away.
I need to buy Nima a fruit basket. Or maybe she'd like some stew.
"We've tried not to let the work pile up, but you know administrators," Nima said with a sigh.
Tanda nodded. He signed papers for about an hour, then looked at his schedule for the day. He was on duty at the pharmacy in the afternoon, but he had a floating shift in the cancer ward. "I need to get cleaned up," he said. "It's time to visit the kids."
"They'll be over the moon." Kocha grinned.
"The new hand looks so real," Yona said with a gasp. She was still finishing out her residency; Kocha was her younger brother. She had been a medic during the war, though she hadn't been a conscientious objector like Tanda. "I'm...I'm sorry I couldn't..."
"It's all right," Tanda said. "Balsa did it. It's over."
"Does it...hurt?" Yona asked.
Tanda flexed the new hand. While the joints were still a little stiff, the hand felt looser by the day. "No. Not anymore."
***
Mio was well enough to sit up in bed the morning after her surgeries. Her face was half-bandaged and only one eye was visible, but she seemed to be moving with less pain. Take insisted on seeing her the moment she woke up. When Hyakkimaru hung back, intending to give them privacy, he yanked Hyakkimaru forward with his new prosthetic hand.
"You too, you haven't seen her yet!" He dashed into the room, dragging Hyakkimaru.
The nurses and Mio looked alarmed for a moment, but then they noticed who it was and relaxed.
"Mio!" Take let go of Hyakkimaru's hand and all but jumped into her bed. Hyakkimaru caught him before he could land and set him down.
"She's not well enough for that yet," Hyakkimaru said.
Take frowned, but he smiled again almost instantly when Mio extended her hand to him. "Take," she said. "I'm so glad you're safe."
Take had a new prosthetic arm, similar to the one that Hyakkimaru had worn when he was the same age. Mio ruffled his hair as he showed off all of the things he could do with it.
With Take in her arms, Mio looked up at Hyakkimaru. Her smile collapsed a bit at the corners. "Where is Dororo?"
"I don't know. She went to get breakfast, so she should be back soon."
"You're not eating again," Mio said disapprovingly. "I can tell."
"Focus on yourself first," he said.
"I could say the same to you." She sat up a little and pulled Take into a hug. "I was so worried. I'm so glad you're safe."
"When can you come home?" Take asked.
"Home?" Mio raised an eyebrow.
Hyakkimaru scratched the back of his neck. "I, uh. There's a house near the hospital that dad owns. He agreed to rent it to you and Take for as long as you need a place."
"For how much?" Mio frowned.
"Nothing," he said. "You know my dad. He wasn't about to let you out of the hospital without a place to go."
Mio nodded. "I'll pay him back when I get a job. I promise."
"Don't worry about that," he said. "You still need to get better."
Some things don't get better.
Take had a nurse on-site in the house to take care of him, but when Mio came home, it would be just the two of them in a six-room house. Hyakkimaru couldn't imagine how empty it would feel. He didn't even know if Mio would want him to visit, though Dororo would probably have an open invitation.
Hyakkimaru closed his eyes.
***
Children with cancer were immunocompromised. Tanda had to thoroughly clean himself (including his new hand) and wear personal protective equipment and a mask before he visited them. The masks he usually wore were patterned with nahji birds and sig salua flowers because they were colorful and more fun than the boring green surgical masks.
He hadn't seen the children in almost four months. He knew they'd remember him. He hoped they wouldn't be angry after his long absence.
He finished cleaning himself, then did the whole procedure again for good measure, before he finally entered the cancer ward. Yoshito and Nori, a girl and a boy who were as close as siblings since they had the same kind of leukemia and were treated together, were sitting near the entrance playing checkers. Nori looked up first and gasped.
"Dr. Tanda!"
"What?" Yoshito frowned, then looked over at him, eyes lighting up in recognition.
For the first time in his career, Tanda was mobbed by a child avalanche. All of them wanted to hug him. Several boasted about how much bigger they'd gotten, pointing to pencil markings on the door to the nursery where the youngest children spent their time.
Tanda looked around at all their faces and tried not to cry. By good luck, none of the children had died during his long absence. Their treatments were working. He felt tears in the corners of his eyes that didn't fall.
"I can stay and read today," he said. He went over to the sterilized shelf where the books were kept and selected Walking in Wild Places. It was the same book he'd read the last time he'd been here.
"Story!" little Sana yelled. She was the youngest one here, at three.
Tanda smiled at her. "That's right. It's time for a story." He sat cross-legged on a cushion with the children gathered around him. He opened to the first bright, colorful, oversized page of the book and showed the children all the different plant and animal species in the illustration. Nori, who was oldest, remembered most of them, but Sana stared in rapt fascination at the pictures. Since they were immunocompromised, they never got to go outside and see nature.
Tanda suspected Yoshito remembered this book well, too, but he let Nori answer so that she could bask in the glow of Tanda's approval.
I missed this. He took a deep breath and turned the page with his new left hand. None of the children had remarked on it--they all assumed it was his real hand. It's so good being back.
***
Tanda was on duty in the pharmacy that afternoon. Around noon, Balsa came to fill a prescription for Torogai.
"How's it going?" she asked. "Busy saving the world, one kid at a time?"
"Something like that." Tanda grinned, flipping through medicine cabinets for the right brand of Torogai's arthritis medication. "How's Chagum?"
"He loved the stew. He even ate it for lunch. I think the Hunters were jealous. The Second Queen asked for the recipe."
"It's--"
"--only in your head," Balsa said, tapping her temple. "I know. I told her. She seems determined to recreate it, though." She smiled. "I, uh, got you something..."
Balsa fished around in her pocket. "Aha!" She opened up a little black box and shoved something silver through the pharmacy slot on the counter.
"It's an engagement ring." She blushed. "I told Martha men don't wear them but she said they did, and I went to the jewelry store and they gave me this one and..." A vein popped out at her temple.
"Calm down," Tanda said. He bagged Torogai's prescription, then slipped the ring on. It was silver in color, though it didn't look exactly like silver. It fit perfectly.
"Martha had your ring size."
"How on earth did she get that?" Tanda muttered.
"No idea. She can tell a lot by looking." Balsa smiled a little. "Do you like it? It's white gold. A mixture of soft metals made stronger by being alloyed. I thought it suited you."
"I love it." Tanda smiled. "But...I don't have a ring for you, yet..."
Balsa held up her left hand. There was an engagement band there--white gold, like his ring, with a single finely cut ruby in the center.
"You always said diamonds are overrated," she said.
"Well..." He frowned a little. "So these are the engagement rings? What about the wedding rings?"
"Martha said we should get those together." Balsa shoved the contact card of a jewelry store through the slot. "Tell me when you want to go, and we'll go."
Tanda nodded. He only noticed that the engagement ring was on his prosthetic hand as Balsa walked away.
Tanda filled a few more prescriptions. The last person in line was another familiar face: Taiga Amusuran, also known as Jin, second of the Mikado's Hunters. He'd been Balsa's, and by extension Tanda's, security detail for many years whenever they got embroiled in imperial politics, though it was fair to say that Balsa did most of the actual bodyguarding and security. Taiga was more like a friendly spy for the imperial court.
Tanda eyed him suspiciously. "Is there a bomb in the building or something?" he whispered. "Or is Chagum in trouble?"
"Nothing like that," Taiga said dismissively. "Prescription pickup for Amusuran," he said, handing Tanda a slip of paper on which the name of a medicine was probably written, but it was impossible to tell which one.
"I'll confirm this in the computer system," Tanda said. "Just a minute." The medicine wasn't for Taiga, but his wife, Mayuna. An alternative pain medication, non-opiod and hopefully non-addictive. Tanda noticed that she'd been given a very low dose.
Tanda prepared the medicine, then handed it to Taiga.
"Thanks," Taiga said. "How's the first day back?"
Tanda looked down at his engagement ring. "You know, it's not too bad so far."
***
When Hyakkimaru opened his eyes, Dororo was standing in front of him, just outside Mio's door. She was waving her arms frantically. Hyakkimaru gave her a quizzical look, then let her in.
"Sakuzo...Toujiro...Nezuko...everybody...alive," Dororo gasped, completely doubled over. "I saw them. They're alive!"
Hyakkimaru shook his head sadly. That was probably just wishful thinking. "No, Dororo, they're not."
"They are," she insisted. "Check the news!" Dororo dashed into Mio's room. Mio was sleeping; she awoke when the door slid open.
"Wha--what?"
"See!" Dororo picked up Mio's remote and turned on the television. There was an emergency broadcast: war refugees from Orm were seeking asylum at Tsuram Harbor. The camera panned over faces: there was Sakuzo, and Hana, and Nezuko with her leg still broken, and Toujiro, and Ojo and Sukeroku holding hands.
"Nobody's even dead." Dororo fell to her knees in front of the television screen. "Nobody..."
Tanbano Jukai entered Mio's room with tears streaming down his face. "Have you seen--?"
"Yes." Hyakkimaru looked at Mio. She had her hands over her mouth in a silent gasp. "How--?"
"I'm going to pick them up right now," Jukai said. "I'll be back in three hours with traffic. Find Take and tell him if you can. He'll want to be ready to greet them when they get here."
"Right."
Dororo went to tell Take the news. Jukai went to pick up Sakuzo and the children from Orm. Mio and Hyakkimaru were left alone.
The news hadn't fully hit Hyakkimaru yet. It was too new; too unexpected.
"I..." Mio shook her head. "They must have gotten away. Gotten to the basement and fled." She wiped tears off her face. It wasn't her fault that they'd died--they weren't dead.
"Sakuzo is hard to kill." Hyakkimaru sat down in the chair next to her bed. "Dad always says he has nine lives, like a cat."
Mio smiled feebly. "I wonder if the house is big enough for all of us."
"All?" Hyakkimaru asked.
"You know, you, me, Dororo, Take, Tou--"
"--wait," Hyakkimaru said. "I'm invited?"
Mio gave him a quizzical look. She brushed a strand of stray hair off of his forehead because it was bothering her and said, "The temple was our home--everyone's home. But home isn't just a place, it's the people in it, too. Of course you're invited."
Hyakkimaru's smile was as bright as a sunrise.
Against all odds, things were, honest and for true, getting better. When he held out his hand, Mio took it.
***
"How did you survive?" Jukai asked.
They were in a medical transport back to the hospital in Shirogai. The children were all in various states of wakefulness, but Sakuzo was wide awake, standing next to Jukai and watching over the children. The hum of traffic was a steady, soothing sound.
"We got to the basement in time and hid," Sakuzo said. "The Talsh found it, so it took some time for me to fight my way out."
"Fighting? At your age?" Sakuzo was almost sixty-five years old.
"Give an old veteran some credit," Sakuzo said, puffing out his chest. "I wasn't a captain for nothing. It took a week for us to be able to leave the temple, and another week to get somewhere with a working phone--and I use that term loosely. Anyway, I figured it would be better to get here fast and answer questions later. I'm sorry it took so long."
Jukai pulled Sakuzo into a tight hug. "You saved the children."
"Yeah."
"You saved our family."
Sakuzo chuckled. "You say that like it's the first time." He returned the hug. "My leg needs some repairs, though. Sprinting from the war dogs did a number on it."
"I'll fix you up." Jukai asked Sakuzo to sit so that he could examine the leg. "At least the war's over."
"On this continent, at least." Sakuzo sighed when Jukai removed his prosthetic leg. It was an older model, but Sakuzo had refused upgrades for years. He was sentimental about the leg he'd learned to walk on first, after losing his real leg in battle against the Daigo Clan.
"Are things still that bad in Orm?" Jukai asked, getting out his tools for cleaning and oiling the leg and sanding down the join; most of the leg was made of wood.
"No one told them the war was over," Sakuzo said with a grimace. "And Daigo Kagemitsu is still at large. He burned the temple, by the way. I think he was looking for you."
Jukai's expression became grave. "Me? Not Hyakkimaru?"
"That's what I heard when I was scouting. He's heard of you. Maybe he wants to use soul linking in Nayugu to make himself more powerful."
Jukai clenched his fists, then unclenched them and got to work on putting Sakuzo's leg back on. "I know it's wrong to wish death on others," Jukai said, "but there are people in this world I could definitely do without."
"I wanted to kill the bastard, but he got away." Sakuzo tested his weight on the leg, then nodded in satisfaction. "But we got away from him, too. I guess that's the most important thing--for now."
***
Balsa watched the spare ribs simmering in the pot hanging over the open fire with her mouth watering.
"Time to add the greens," Tanda pronounced, sending the diced vegetables into the pot of spicy broth and tender ribs.
"When will it be done?"
"Three hours." Tanda raised the pot higher so that it would get less heat. Everything had to simmer everything together. "Peanut butter or gochujang?"
"Between sweet and spicy, you know I'll take spicy." Balsa hooked her head over his shoulder and put her hands around his hips, wrapping him in a full-body hug.
"Spice it is," he said, adding gochujang to the broth. He turned in Balsa's arms; she maintained her grip on him.
"We have three hours," he said. "What do you want to do?"
Balsa grinned. "I can think of a few ideas."
***
Three hours, two showers, and a dinner later, Balsa and Tanda got into bed for actual sleep. Balsa reached out and squeezed Tanda's prosthetic hand. She knew it wasn't a part of his real arm--he'd lost that because of her--but it was also hard to believe that it wasn't real. It felt warm and soft and like a part of Tanda. Their rings clinked together in the dark.
"Tanda," Balsa whispered in his ear. "I love you."
Tanda clasped her hand briefly and smiled. "I've always loved you."
They slept. Balsa woke up in the middle of the night and slipped out of bed silently, phone in hand. Tanda remained asleep, breathing heavily.
I'm not going to be in next week, Balsa texted. Can you pick up my shift?
Taiga A:
You're asking me? Why? Are you sick?
Balsa:
Can't I get a damn day off without the interrogation squad?
There was a pause before Taiga started responding.
Taiga A:
Are you sure? It's Chagum's coronation day. Big to-do. Lots of people.
Balsa:
I'll be there. Just not as a guard.
Balsa smiled a little.
Like I said, you're decent. I'll trust you to keep him safe.
Another pause.
Taiga A:
Thanks, Balsa. I won't let you down.
Balsa slipped back into bed with Tanda. It was still warm from her body heat, and his, and she suddenly felt like she could stay here forever.
Balsa placed her hand over Tanda's and slept better than she had in years.