Aiko Warring and Peace 16 draft (1000+ words)

Tanjiro's mother, Furi-san, had returned from her family visit with three wide-eyed nieces in tow. Aiko accepted them into her shrine with only a squirm of nerves in her stomach.

She was officially a guardian and mentor to real human children. Horrific.

The first thing she was going to do was clean them and have them put in fresh clothing, because they were travel worn and probably sticky in general.

If she had to guess, the youngest was around 7, and the oldest was 12. That was about the age range that girls usually became miko, wasn't it…

"Fumiko-san, would you help them wash and dress?" Aiko tried to look benevolent and calm. The oldest girl was holding her little sister's hand with shaking fingers. "This week, they should spend meeting the villagers. They'll sleep here, with me." She indicated the shrine. "Girls, I'll get hot water. Call me Aiko."

"Aiko-sama," Fumiko corrected blithely. She tapped the middle girl on her shoulder.

The child jumped. "Hanako," she said in a voice that was barely more than a whisper. "This is Momoko." She indicated her younger sister. "And…"

"My name is Aiko," said the oldest girl. She ducked her chin in, as if she thought she might be in trouble for having the same name.

'Love child, flower child, peach child. I wonder what their other two sisters are called. Their parents have a theme.'

"I'll be able to remember that," Aiko said, as bland as possible. "Welcome, girls. Follow me."

She took them to the clearing that she used for bathing. The packed stone basin was empty. They watched in an awkward silence while Aiko redirected the running channel of water to begun filling it.

"That'll take at least ten minutes to fill," Aiko said. "Wait here."

She went back into her shrine and dug out some bathing supplies. Washcloths, soap, and shampoo, and then a tiny bottle of camellia hair oil and a comb. The children watched her with visible confusion as she set things out. Then she knelt in front of the basin to check it. The water was ice cold. It wasn't very far up, but it was high enough to be useful. She glanced at the children.

Hopefully, they weren't very twitchy.

Aiko tapped fingers to her lips and formed the tiger seal. She carefully breathed out a gentle stream of fire into the water. It bubbled and danced away from the heat. After a few seconds, she redirected it to glance over the surface of the pool.

She stopped when her air ran out and dipped a finger in to check the temperature. It was a little too hot for comfort, but that would change rapidly as the cool water continued to fill in.

"Use that," Aiko ordered. Fumiko picked up bucket that she indicated. "When the temperature is warm enough, use the cloth and this soap to wash off." She shook the appropriate bottle. "You can take a bath as well, if you like," she suggested. "This is for cleaning hair." She picked up that bottle and held it up. "Use it twice. The hair oil is last, comb it in and don't rinse it. Get in the hot water after you've scrubbed off."

"Yes, Aiko-sama." Aiko the smaller swallowed. She blinked quickly.

Fumiko gently chucked the girl on the back of the head for speaking out of turn.

"No, no," Aiko said, "feel free to speak. Good. I'll get clothing. Leave your dirty things in a pile."

Fumiko made a face that said she was going to riot if Aiko tried to do laundry, but she bowed and let Aiko leave.

Clothing was… well. Aiko ran a hand through her horrible new bob haircut and thought about what she actually owned. She'd been planning to just share yukata from her closet, but after seeing how small the girls were…

'Time for crime.'

It was with the smallest whisper of remorse that Aiko went back to the grand shrine in the Capital and raided their supplies for children's red and white miko clothing. She took six outfits, and tucked them away in the shrine beofre she flitted over to the Daimyo's palace.

Aiko avoided being seen as she ducked into the residential area and started rifling around private rooms until she found someone who clearly had a daughter. She helped herself to a few robes, socks, and shoes.

'I'm going to want a relationship with an actual tailor. I want to commission clothing.'

She put that on the to do list and took her ill-gotten gains to the shrine.

By the time she got to the clearing, Fumiko was in the bath water along with the three girls. Hana had joined them at some point and was telling some kind of story that had them all laughing. Aiko paused and hung back, drinking in the raptured expressions as Hana gestured wildly.

"Aiko-samaaaaa."

Hana's face dropped into irritation.

Aiko stifled a laugh. She stepped fully into the clearing and raised the hand that wasn't holding shrine maiden clothing. "I'll be a moment, Izuna-san," she called back. "Please wait."

Hana harrumphed.

"Here's your clothing," Aiko said. She put the fabric down on the same rock that had the discarded shampoo and soap.

"Thank you," Fumiko interjected. Water sloshed as she leaned her chin onto her palm. "I'll take their laundry."

Aiko didn't actually want to do laundry, so she let Fumiko win that silent power play and went off to see what Izuna needed. He was leaning against the shrine, idly tossing a shuriken. He looked up as she approached. The shuriken disappeared into his sleeve with a glint of sunlight on metal.

"Priestess," he greeted. His eyes creased in a smile. "500 talismans, as requested."

Aiko blinked.

What, already?

"Sorry that it took so long," he said, stretching like a languid cat. His eyes were far too soulful. He was waiting for his compliment.

"Thank you," she said, because she had manners but hated to make a man happy. "May I see?"