Promise I'll Think Of Something Great For You

"Hey, no name?" Kotaro said, grabbing his friend's attention.

Nanashi hummed his acknowledgment, stuffing his face with a bite of rice as he reclined against the wall of the barn they were staying in.

The two of them had recently run out of money, and, in search of work, found themselves a rather glamorous deal with a farm owner. They would tend to the animals and the fields, weather that be feeding, watering, mucking out stables, planting, or harvesting. And, in return, they were paid a decent earning and were granted permission to make themselves at home in the barn.

After a long day of working, the two had sat in moderate silence, eating their dinner. Tobimaru sat between the two, having eaten his share already, but gratefully accepting anything extra he found tossed his way.

"Why have you never chosen a name for yourself?" The child asked, placing his finished dinner bowl on the dirt floor of the barn, letting his dog claim what was left of his unfinished rice.

The question had been burning in the back of his head for a while. He'd mentioned while at the hot springs a while back that he got a new name along with every new lord he served under. But if he was done with that life wouldn't he want to pick one for himself?

Nanashi seemed to take a second to mull it over. "Don't know. Never really thought about it I guess." He sighed, chewing on a savory piece of pork.

"Nothing ever seemed to fit quite right. And it's not like I've had anyone around a lot of the time to care about what to address me as. So I didn't bother coming up with one."

Kotaro pulled a face. His brows furrowed down, and his little nose scrunched up a bit. That was... a little sad.

"I care about what to call you."

Nanashi was quiet, drinking some of the broth from his stew before smiling at the boy across from him.

"Well, what have you got in mind, boss?" He inquired teasingly.

"I've actually had something in mind for you for a while now." Kotaro looked down at his bowl pensively, confidence fading a bit as he wondered if the man would approve of his idea or not. "What about Akashi? Akashi Mamoru."

"Akashi?" He parroted back, eyes sparked with interest at the kid's choice.

"It means red. Like your hair..." Kotaro said, feeling a little bashful, suddenly thinking maybe it was a stupid suggestion.

All his other names under previous lords had all been associated with his real hair color. He would probably hate it.

"I thought my hair color freaked you out." Nanashi chuckled, leaning back to slouch against the shed wall behind him.

"No!" Kotaro snapped almost immediately. "I-I like your hair! I think it's... really cool..."

He could feel his cheeks getting hotter at the embarrassment of his admission. And then Nanashi looked at him, teasing smirk giving way to bewildered astonishment.

The urge to tuck his head into his clothes and hide away for weeks was almost too much to resist. Kotaro's toes curled into the dirt floor below them, self-consciousness beginning to take root and plant seeds of doubt in his head.

This was dumb. He should have thought of something better. Nanashi didn't even like his hair color since he died it black all the time. So why would he like a name chosen specifically with his fiery red hair in mind?

Just when Kotaro was about to say nevermind, and to forget about it, Nanashi hummed in thought.

"Akashi..." He said, testing the sound of it out as he thought it over. "That'll work. It's fitting, if nothing else. Aaand I do like the way it sounds."

That took a moment to process.

"You like it?"

"Yeah."

He really did.

He wasn't sure why.

It was no different from his old names. Names left behind in his past because he felt neither attachment nor appreciation for them. If anything he'd found them insulting.

Red Demon.

Red Hair.

Red Warrior.

Like he was a whole other beast than the rest of humanity because of the pigment of his hair. Titles bestowed upon him by people willing to use him as a weapon in their battles and wars; a creature bread to kill and nothing else.

This name was just like the rest.

Except it wasn't. It made him feel at home somehow. And seeing the look on the kid's face only drove that feeling even further into him.

Kotaro didn't know what his own expression looked like. He couldn't see the sparkle in his own eyes, or the way his face brightened into a happy grin, but from the rare tender way his guardian smiled at him, he knew he'd better reel it in.

Clearing his throat, Kotaro schooled his overjoyed face into something more cocky and let his sass speak for his pride.

"Told you I'd think of something great for you!" He laughed, giving their dog a scratch behind the ear.

The two of them spent the rest of the evening in a companionable atmosphere. They cleaned up after dinner, then sat up talking for a while about where they would go after saving up some money from their farm work. Then they began setting up for bed, pulling out two straw mats to unfold and lay out side by side.

It had become a bit of a habit for the three of them to sleep clustered together in a big heap at night. Though winter had come and passed into mid spring, the nights were still a bit chilly. At least, that's the excuse the two of them would use if it were ever brought up outside of the blanket of night- which it never was.

For the sake of keeping warm, they would say. And that may have been half the reason. But the real motivation for it had been the first night the two clung to each other the very last time the samurai had been plagued with nightmares. The relief of a decent nights sleep was too much to pass up, and Kotaro could never really deny Nanashi that peace of mind. Mostly because he himself was starved of parental affection and craved the physical contact like it were repairing his damaged soul, making it new again.

So when they went to bed that night, the kid's head resting on his guardian's bicep as a pillow, with the man's other arm thrown around him and their mutt pressed to the child's back, Kotaro couldn't ignore the question itching at the back of his tongue anymore.

Nanashi was just on the edge of sleep when Kotaro whispered to him from his spot in his hold.

"Hey... no name?"

"Hnm?"

"Are you sure you like the name I chose?" He asked, brown doe eyes looking up towards the other in the dark. "Because, we can pick something better if you don't really like it?"

Nanashi sighed, bringing his hand up to rub at his eye a bit, trying to suppress a tired yawn. He failed.

"Mmm I like it. 'S a good name." He muttered, arm flopping back down to ruffle the boy's hair before curling back around the child and dog beside him.

Kotaro could feel that same warm pride blossoming in his chest that he had earlier, and finally he felt at ease.

Snuggling into his protector with a content deep breath in and out, Kotaro began to surrender to the exhaustion of a long day of working in the fields.

"You didn't ask about the second part of the name."

The ronin sighed. "What?"

"Mamoru. You never asked about it." The boy said, fingers digging into the front of the mans clothes a bit tighter. "It means protector."

Nanashi felt his eyes snap wide open at that.

He couldn't see the boy's elated smile this time with the kids face buried into his chest, but he could hear it in his sleepy voice as he spoke into the fabric of the samurai's clothes.

"G'night, Akashi..."

The vagabond felt something melt away inside him at that, and he faintly remembered giving back a "Night, kiddo." before the little guy was fast asleep.

He stayed up for a little while after that, letting his fingers comb through Tobimaru's thick fur. His thoughts all swirled around his new name, and the way it seemed to curiously lift a weight off his shoulders like magic.

Akashi Mamoru. Red Protector.

This boy thought of him as a protector. His protector. His savior.

That was a lot of trust for a kid with his kind of history to have in someone. And he'd given Nanashi all of it.

Kotaro didn't care about using him or getting anything out of being around him anymore, aside from them just being together. As far as the child in his arms was concerned he was the only person in the world worth putting all his faith in.

Nanashi had had many names in his days, but from that moment on -until the day he died- Akashi had a name he knew would last forever.

A name he was admittedly proud of.

He thought maybe it was his favorite one by far.