Private Beneath Steam and Starlight

[Niijima Izumi]

The steam curled between them like a living thing, softening the edges of stone and shadow, and Izumi found herself grateful for it. It gave her a moment to school her expression, to fold away the sudden, unfamiliar tightness beneath her ribs.

She had faced men on battlefields with steadier breath than this.

“And it’s something I have to choose when the opportunity arises. Worth knowing though? That depends on your point of view. I have made myself very unpleasant to quite a few people. And likely will again.”

"Unpleasant," Izumi repeated quietly, as if weighing the word on her tongue. The faintest curve touched her mouth, not amusement at Adelle, but at the idea itself. "That is a blade many of us choose to carry. It keeps foolish hands from reaching too close."

Her gaze did not sharpen; it deepened. She saw the tension Adelle carried like a hidden blade, the instinct to brace for judgment even in moments of quiet. Izumi recognized it because she had lived inside that same vigilance for most of her life. But where others might have seen hardness, she saw intention. Where others might have flinched at sharp edges, she found herself drawn to them.

"You speak as though you are something to be endured," Izumi said, voice low and steady. "But I do not endure you. I am… compelled by you."

There was no battlefield composure in that confession. Only truth.

She shifted closer by the smallest degree, water whispering against stone. "Your strength is obvious. Anyone with eyes can see it. But it is not only that." Her gaze flickered, deliberate now — taking in the line of Adelle's jaw, the damp strands of hair at her temple, the quiet defiance in her posture. "It is the way you hold yourself together when it would be easier to break. The way you choose restraint instead of destruction. The way you carry power without needing to prove it."

Her expression softened, something warmer surfacing beneath the discipline.

"And yes," she added, more plainly, "I admire your appearance as well. I am not blind. The steam is generous, but not so generous that it conceals you entirely."

The faintest ghost of a smile touched her mouth, restrained but unmistakably sincere.

Izumi exhaled slowly, the breath steady but heavier than she intended. "I have not… felt this before," she admitted. "Not for a comrade. Not for a woman." There was no shame in the words, only unfamiliarity. "My life has been defined by loyalty and steel. Desire had no place in it. I did not look for it. I did not imagine it."

Her eyes held Adelle's now, unwavering.

"But when I look at you, I do not think of strategy. I do not think of discipline. I think of wanting to stand near you. To know what steadies you when the balance wavers. To see what expression crosses your face when you are not guarding it."

The honesty in her voice left no room for misinterpretation.

"I do not know if you would ever look at me in the same way," Izumi continued, quieter but no less direct. "You have every reason to keep your distance. And I would never demand something so personal." A brief pause, then, more vulnerable than any blade could force her to be: "But I would be lying if I said I did not hope."

Hope. The word felt foreign and strangely fragile.

"If my admiration remains unanswered, I will accept it," she said. "It does not diminish what I see in you. But I would rather risk that uncertainty than pretend this is merely respect."

The water stilled around them again, and Izumi's voice lowered to something almost intimate.

"You are not a weapon to me, Adelle. You are a woman who has fought her way back to herself." Her gaze softened, unguarded for a fleeting moment. "And I find that I want to be close to that light… if you would allow it."
​

Adelle Bastiel​

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Tags: Niijima Izumi

"Unpleasant," Izumi repeated quietly, as if weighing the word on her tongue. "That is a blade many of us choose to carry. It keeps foolish hands from reaching too close."

Adelle gave a half-smile then leaned her head back against the stone again. Keeping foolish hands away indeed. She’d been a downright pain to those that had tried to do anything of the sort. Experience was a cruel teacher but incredibly useful at times, if you were the one giving the experience.

Unpleasantness, however.

Na’an and Leigh had been subject to it. Her stubbornness. Her recklessness. The refusal to share a burden that was crushing her. The need to be okay when she clearly wasn’t. It had caused arguments more than once. Created old patterns and habits to the point Na’an had been biting back, pushing until Adelle’s walls and excuses broke.

And even then, she’d never been able to open up.

Now they were gone.

"But I do not endure you. I am… compelled by you."

Compelled by… Wait, what? Adelle blinked and raised her head to look at Izumi. And looked away as she continued, layering praise on praise. The comment on her appearance made her more aware of her own skin, the network of scars that predominantly covered the left side of her body. They made believing anyone that said she was strong or smart, much less pretty although that was one she hadn’t heard in a while, incredibly difficult. They were eternal reminders of when she hadn’t been.

Adelle let the quiet confession continue, sensing the uncharted quality of the emotions Izumi felt. The courage it took to step forward, to continue forward, when the ground beneath you might suddenly disappear. Which meant Adelle couldn’t be blunt. Honest, but not blunt. Izumi looked young—Adelle didn’t want to be one of those cautionary tales she’d tell to others later in life.

“Thank you for your honesty,” she said slowly, looking Izumi in the eye. She would not flinch from this. “I’m afraid though that it’ll have to remain one-sided. My life right now is… It’s been turned upside down and I’m still trying to find my bearings. I’m still grieving what I lost. And you are very young for me. I can offer you friendship, but nothing more.”

She looked over at Phantom, who had returned to her loafing crouch.

“Well, friendship and a feline that enjoys being pet, if you’ll have it.”

 

[Niijima Izumi]

Izumi didn't answer right away.

Adelle's words settled over her slowly, like the steam itself; warm, gentle, impossible to push away. There was no cruelty in the refusal. No dismissal. Just truth, carefully given.

And you are very young for me. I can offer you friendship, but nothing more.

Young.

It echoed, just a quiet recognition of something she hadn't fully considered. She had lived like someone older for so long that she'd forgotten there were parts of her that hadn't yet been explored. Parts that were still new to wanting.

She let out a slow breath.

The hot springs had grown heavier around her without her noticing. The warmth that had once felt soothing now pressed in from every side, thick and enveloping. It slid beneath her skin and into her muscles, dissolving tension she hadn't realized she was holding. Her limbs felt looser than they should. Slower to respond.

Steam curled into her lungs, damp and dense. The air felt thinner somehow. She blinked a few times.

The stone at her back felt farther away than it had a moment ago. Or maybe she was drifting closer to the surface. It was hard to tell. Her pulse hummed in her ears;,steady, but amplified; like she was listening to it from underwater.

Adelle's offer of friendship lingered in her thoughts. It hurt, yes. But not sharply. More like a bruise pressed gently. Izumi gave a small nod, more to herself than anyone else.

"Friendship isn't a consolation prize," Izumi added after a moment. "If anything, it's harder. It asks for patience."

The warmth climbed higher, wrapping around her shoulders, the base of her neck. Her fingers, resting against the edge of the stone, felt strangely numb. Not fully; just dulled. As though they belonged to someone else.

The girl inhaled again. The world shifted slightly to the left.

She corrected without thinking, posture straightening out of pure instinct; samurai discipline even in something as mundane as sitting upright. But the correction came a fraction too slow. Her vision narrowed at the edges, steam and stone blurring together into soft, indistinct shapes. The springs roared quietly in her ears now.

She tried to focus on something steady; Phantom's shape on the edge of the pool, perhaps. Or the line of Adelle's shoulder against the rock. But her gaze wouldn't hold.

A faint warmth flushed across her face, but it no longer felt tied to embarrassment or emotion. It was physiological. Distant. Detached.

Her hand tightened slightly against the stone.

Izumi's posture wavered, the rigid line of her spine finally surrendering as her balance slipped. Her vision dimmed rapidly now, dark spilling inward from the corners like ink in water.

There was a flicker of awareness; of needing to move, to stand, to do…something. But it was too late.

Her fingers lost their grip on the stone, body swayed forward in the water, strength simply… gone, as consciousness slipped out from under her like a blade pulled clean from its sheath.
​

Adelle Bastiel​

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Tags: Niijima Izumi

Something shifted in Izumi. It wavered, flickered. Izumi’s voice softened but not, it seemed, intentionally. Adelle felt a phantom dizzying sensation and Izumi seemed to straighten before her body went slack and she fell forward. Adelle lunged foward and grabbed Izumi’s shoulders before her face went underwater. The young woman was completely limp, her body temperature way too high. Hooking her arm under Izumi’s knees, Adelle carried Izumi out of the hot springs, the night air refreshingly cool.

It was probably time she stepped out of the springs herself, or she might end up like Izumi.

Adelle saw a bench near one of the lanterns and quickly brought Izumi to it, laying the young woman down on her side. Reaching out with a hand, she called her discarded robe to her and threw it on before kneeling to check Izumi. Her chest rose and fell with breath, and a quick two finger check on both wrist and neck confirmed a solid pulse. Unconscious, but alive.

She closed the robe and tied the belt, securing it, as she sat next to the bench.

“Izumi?” Adelle said. “Can you hear me?”

Phantom padded over and braced her forepaws against the edge of the bench, nose sniffing at Izumi’s unsconscious form. <<Wet. Asleep.>>

Adelle scritched lightly between Phantom’s shoulder blades. <<Yes. She got too hot.>>

The sake bottle and small cup still sat next to the edge. That probably also didn’t help matters. Adelle settled to wait for Izumi to regain consciousness, Phantom curling up on the dry parts of the robe.

 

[Niijima Izumi]

The coolness…That was the first thing Izumi became aware of.

Not sight nor sound, just the coolness pressing against her skin, sharp and clean after the heavy suffocating warmth of the springs. The night air moved across damp hair and flushed skin, raising a faint shiver that rippled down her spine.

Her breathing came slowly, deeply, like her body had taken control while she was gone. Her brow knit faintly. Something solid supported her side. Wood, maybe. Hard, but not uncomfortable. Fabric brushed against her cheek, rougher than the smooth stone of the springs.

Her thoughts surfaced slowly, like someone swimming upward through deep water.

Heat…Steam…Adelle.

The memory snapped together a moment later with uncomfortable clarity. Her eyelids fluttered.

The lantern light was soft but still too bright at first, the glow smearing slightly across her vision. She blinked again, slower this time, letting the shapes settle into place; the bench, the lantern, the quiet dark of the springs beyond.

And Adelle.

Izumi stayed still for a long moment, processing the position she was in. The robe around her. The cool air on skin that had clearly been in the water moments ago.

Her hand shifted weakly against the bench.

“…Ah.”

The quiet sound escaped before she could stop it. Not pain, but realization. Her eyes closed again briefly as a small crease of embarrassment worked its way across her brow.

“That,” she murmured hoarsely, voice still thick with returning consciousness, “was… not the impression I intended to leave.”

Her throat was dry. Her body still felt oddly weightless, like gravity hadn’t fully decided to reclaim her yet. When she tried to move her arm, it responded; just slower than usual.

Izumi opened her eyes again and turned her head slightly.

Adelle sat beside the bench. Phantom’s shape rested nearby in a warm, loafed bundle of fur. For a moment, Izumi simply looked at them, orienting herself. Then the memory finished catching up.

The confession, the refusal, the heat. Her gaze shifted upward toward the lantern light, a quiet exhale leaving her.

“…Did I drown,” she asked faintly, “or did my dignity survive at least that much?” She paused, as though thinking of what to say next. Then, a little more honestly, and much softer now: “…How long was I out?”
​

Adelle Bastiel​

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Tags: Niijima Izumi

A faint noise came from Izumi. Adelle looked over as the young woman slowly regained consciousness. Good. The timer in her head still kept going as she was not fully conscious but she was getting there. Adelle smiled to herself when Izumi drowsily muttered something about impressions. Phantom turned her head towards the bench, ears twisting in that direction first.

Izumi’s voice was stronger when she asked about drowning but grew softer when she asked how long she had been unconscious. The timer in Adelle’s head stopped.

Twenty-three seconds.

“Phantom’s an excellent lifeguard,” Adelle said dryly. Then she became more serious and shifted gears into Doc. “Not long. You must’ve been in there quite a bit before I showed up. Although I imagine the sake didn’t help matters.”

She gently nudged Phantom off her robe and turned to face Izumi. “How are you feeling? I don’t think you hit anything when you passed out but I couldn’t tell.”