aw man that expression! so disgruntled! i love it! Guess I have to do a snippetâŚ
Iruka had grown up with fairytales, and stories of the fae - the benevolent and kind, even if absent-minded; the cold and the cruel, some gleefully so. His mother had told them to him as she tucked him into his bed, his father had told them to him as superstition and warnings. After their deaths, as busy as he was, Hiruzen had told them to him as parables and fables, lessons of wisdom and courage hidden beneath the glamour of their magic.
He kept to them, less out of true belief than a flight of fancy. It seemed a brighter world if the fae existed - that somewhere out there, there were beings that flaunted the laws of reality, that could be something more than human. A nice story to tell the children in his care, or to cheer himself up - especially after the events of the day.
He knew, he did - he knew that a mere servant of the Sarutobi, however much favour he had, would never receive an invitation to the grand ball. That the glimpses he caught of the prince would ever only be glimpses.
But he didnât know that his fervent wish, said aloud and alone in the shadows of his parentsâ graves - would lead him to meet an actual fae.
Ibiki wasnât quite what he expected. The stories told of blinding beauty and glamours, but the scars that winded down his face were twisting and far from aesthetically pleasing. The stories told of gaiety and (cruel) cheer, but Ibiki just lookedâŚ
Well. He looked rather grumpy and disgruntled.
âI owe a boon to your mother,â he explained shortly after introducing himself. âShe asked for nothing though she sheltered me, and she did not trap me. I consider myself indebted.â
That made sense, he thought. His mother had advocated for kindness over his fatherâs caution. A favour for a favour was the fairy price.
Except Iruka had the feeling that Ibiki was incredibly out of his depth, as he poked at the third pumpkin of the evening - the previous two pumpkins had exploded, leaving its mushy guts all over the garden - with a wand that spat out alarmingly red sparks that were desperately trying to be pink.
At one point, Iruka swore he heard Ibiki mutter, why couldnât he ask for an assassination?
âI can walk to the ball,â he offered weakly.
âNo,â Ibiki said, without turning to look at Iruka. âAbsolutely not.â
The trail of pinkish-red sparks settled around the pumpkin, settling and sinking into the orange skin. Ibiki stared at it distastefully as it swelled, as though he was sitting through one of those jingles the entertainer at the town square was obviously paid to sing about a miracle medical marvel or some other product. A terribly written one.
It made Iruka glad to hear when Ibiki finally said, "that should do it - "
The pumpkin exploded.
Ibiki swiped his face clean of pumpkin guts, looking as though he had gone through a terrible war. Was going through one.
âBack to the drawing board,â he said grimly, and Iruka could only nod.