What do you See?

A Time for Tea

Climbing bedsheets was very different from leaping freely as Cat Noir. The activity brought him around a little. He was alert enough to watch Paris slip by while they sat in Tatsu.

Kagami didn't look at him. She didn't acknowledge his presence outside of brief directing glances. Adrien's thoughts spun back. There was where he'd fought Glaciator the first time with Ladybug, and there was the TV station where they had their interview. The glass roof he'd left his ring on slid into view and Adrien touched the window, a foolish notion spinning through his head, maybe it would still be there?

No. Adrien sat back in the seat, silent and still until they arrived at the Tsurugi residence.

It was the opposite of the Agreste mansion. A small home with a Parisian exterior but entirely remodeled within. A narrow hallway with traditional rice paper sliding doors leading off lead back after shoes were removed. As they passed one set of open screens Tomoé's voice rose from the room beyond. "Is that Adrien Agreste I hear with you, daughter?". How could she know all that from stocking feet on tatami mats?

"Mother, you must be mistaken." Kagami spoke clearly and respectfully without looking into the room. "It is only me and my shadow."

"I see," was Tomoe's reply. Kagami led Adrien onward.

Kagami led him into another room, speaking to him directly again. "Welcome to my room Adrien." Her voice was little more than a whisper. Adrien glanced at her face, trying to read what was there. He knew he should be able to. He should pay attention. He knew now what it was like when someone didn't. He couldn't think through the fog though, he could feel the helplessness naked on his face. Kagami rescued him, "please, make yourself comfortable. It will take a little time to prepare."

Adrien sat down on the tatami mats. Seeking escape from himself his senses went out to the room around him even as Kagami stepped back out. It was sparse. A futon was rolled beside a small bookcase full of manga. A kotatsu dominated the remaining space with a low cupboard beside it. The Tsurugi mon was painted on a scroll that hung from the far wall. There was nothing else. Adrien's eyes went back to the cupboard, curiosity stole him from his thoughts until Kagami returned.

She carried a wooden tray with several jars, bowls, utensils, and an iron pot on it. Adrien looked up with a greeting on his lips, but she silenced him with a look; not an unkind one but clear. Kagami moved to a kneeling position opposite him with nothing between them. The tray she sat to one side, from it a small plate holding a quartet of shaped treats was lifted and set between them. Adrien's stomach rebelled, he didn't think he could handle even a single one, but there was no pause, perhaps he didn't need to.

With movements that mixed precision with flow Kagami took each of the items from the tray and arranged them before her. Adrien's thoughts began to stir again in the silence. The murmur of fabric, the lift and set of a cloth used to wipe out an already clean tea cup in ritualistic form, these things pulled his mind. He knew from his studies that this was the point, the calm meditative precision, but that knowledge was no shield to the effects.

Adrien was back on the rooftop. Which rooftop? Surrounded by candles, waiting. Standing on Glass, watching her go. Sitting as the evening sun set with her head on his shoulder. Her, Ladybug. His life. His freedom. Tears came again, but Adrien's arms were too heavy. They swelled in his eyes and trailed down, warm against his cheeks and cold on his folded hands.

The quiet knock of the bamboo ladle as Kagami tapped water out, back into the iron pot. A ladle, another ladle at another time. Metal, fencing in the kitchen. Freedom of another sort, a freedom he'd forgotten too soon. The tears stopped but a soreness lingered.