Ninjago S9 Fanfic: Reconciled hearts(Llorumi)

Chapter 81: The choices appear

Mistaké handed her one of the cups, nothing special, ordinary tea to soothe the soul. "Thank you.." Harumi kindly smiles, albeit surprised that Mistaké returned it so quickly. Wasn't she mad at her? Oh well, now clearly wasn't the time for questions.
She glanced over at Garmadon, who was he too was handed a cup from Mistaké.
The oni lord brought the cup to his lips and sipped a small portion of the drink.
"I've always liked the scent of matcha leaves," he mentioned quietly.

Mistaké nodded, taking the last cup for herself. She sat aside the tray and sat down nearby. Harumi looked down at her own cup, a green brew stirred inside of the cup. "I never really tried matcha tea, honestly." She muttered, taking a sip. The peace and silence was disturbed by a fluffy ball of fur ran over to Harumi, it was Cloud. The puppy seemed happy that her owner was finally awake.

"Hey Cloud, I'm happy to see you." Harumi giggled as the puppy began to lick her cheek. To be fair, the Princess was happy to see her as well. Mistaké smiled at the two, reunited once more. "Little Cloud was very patient, she waited for you very much." She mentioned, earning a hard glare from Garmadon. Harumi's eyes flashed and her hand caressed Cloud's cheek even more. "Did you? That's so sweet of you!" Harumi cooed.

As more affectionate words and barks were exchanged between the two, the old woman collected their now empty teacups and headed out to the back of the store once more. "The tea was delicious, thank you." Surprisingly, both Harumi and Garmadon said at the same time. It only caused tension between the two as Harumi growled from the bed. Again, the lord didn't say anything.

"I'm glad to hear it, I don't serve much tea now a days with the city in repair, I'm glad you both still like it." Mistaké smiled, quickly putting away the used up cups and tray before she returned back in the room with an ominous-looking mask. The first one to squeak out a reaction was obviously the princess, she pointed at the mask in curiosity. "What's that?"

Harumi was slightly taken aback when the old woman handed her the mask, was this for her? She didn't ask for one and it looked quite unique already. "Is this for me?" She changed up her question a bit. Garmadon watched silently as she brought the mask to her face, though she didn't put it on.

Too many memories had she faced whenever the purple mask of hatred was on, sure the immense power of invincibility was addictive but sometimes, Harumi couldn't handle the stoic feeling of her body temporarily turning to stone. Her eyes widened and her heart beat accelerated for a second. Just thinking about a mask on her face was just—

As if reading her mind, the old woman stepped to her side to pat her shoulders.
"It's protection agaisnt dark clouds, use it to your advantage, young one." She explained. Harumi sighed and nodded, not smiling at all. "I...thank you, Mistaké." She thanked silently. She was too much in shock at the moment, was the flurry of memories intensional? Or masks now an instant bad memory trigger for her? She didn't know.

Garmadon moved away from the wall he was previously leaning off of and sighed himself. "In a few minutes, let's move out. I'm sure you want to return back to the Bounty." The dark lord suggested. Harumi and Mistaké turned in his direction, the white haired girl a bit surprised with that consideration of his. However, she didn't deny nor accept. The latter thought was quite obvious, she wouldn't deny returning to her 'home'. As for the second thought, she was still aware that her entire family hated her for favouring Garmadon's care.
~~~~~~~~~
The trip from the shop to the flying boat didn't take too long, they got on board easily and the first thing that the white haired girl do was go return to her beloved room of hers. Of course, Cloud quietly followed along, intending to follow her master as much as she can in her state of tension.

"So, was my tea really that good?" The female oni kept her glance at the retreating Harumi. Her lips were firm and almost shut, words dripped with tinted venom but at the time uncertainty. Garmadon couldn't make out the tone of her voice despite being an oni himself. "Yes, it was." He replied, not even looking at her either. But as silence passed by, Garmadon turned his head to find the old woman glaring at him with cold eyes. Was this about his evil reign again?
~~~~~
Settling herself and saving her the stupid smiles from seeing her room again. The white haired girl grabbed a notebook kept in a cabinet. It was funny, the girl kept many of notebooks around. Either for diary entries, drawings or crafting ideas.
This was the one she pulled out. A brown notebook with swords and bows as the book's cover, they were small little stickers that she greatly enjoys.