Clipped Wings(Yugiri/Rio)

It was a quiet day within the Shihoin estate. The servants of the estate were conducting their usual routine of cleaning and protecting the house from anyone who was foolish enough to attack this home. Somewhere within the courtyard, a young woman was seen practicing her Hakuda. It was a vigorous practice that seemed as if it would lead her to exhaustion but she pressed on.

The young woman in question was Rio Shihoin, the younger sister to Chidori Shihoin. Her teachers at the academy had always told her not to overdo it and here she was, overdoing it again. After striking the last target she had personally built on her own, the Shihoin protector walked towards the estate and sat by its doors as she gazed off into the distance.


It's still not good enough

She didn't knock down all the targets in record time as she desired. She wanted to train again but she was clearly exhausted and decided to lay down by the doors.

Where was she? It wasn't like her to run off like this. Calm had turned to stress and stress had turned to worry and it wasn't like she had any power to do something about it. She wanted to stand up and go look, maybe check just to be sure and reassure herself.

She had already gotten a servant to push her around in her wheelchair, the limp legs looking useless as they hung down. When she stumbled upon Rio it didn't even register to her that Rio looked tired or exhausted and she gently rolled up next to her.

"R- Rio.. I- I don't know where my cat is. She's missing... Have you seen her?"

By cat, she meant stray cat that was missing a front leg she had insisted was her's. That cat also had the name Yugiri, even though the kanji she wrote it as were slightly different to her own.

While she was aware some people didn't approve of her having it or thought her keeping an injured stray was pointless it didn't change the fact that it meant enough to her that her eyes were watery at the thought of her beloved pet being hurt or in worse shape.

Rio was very much close to falling asleep had it not been for Yugiri approaching her. Rio rose up from her exhaustive stupor and gazed up at Yugiri's face. Her beloved cousin seemed to be distressed about a lost cat.

She recalled how much she loved the cat in spite of the fact that so many others told her not to keep it.

It had a missing leg and they could've easily given her a cat with two legs but Yugiri loved her stray. Rio had just finished training and really didn't want to go looking for it but she knew she'd feel bad about it if she didn't. Rising from the floor on shaky legs, she sighed as she scratched the back of her head. Well, time to find a cat, she supposed.


"No, I haven't... but if ya' want, we can go look for her'. Maybe the servants around the estate have seen her and haven't told us yet. Lousy men and women, if ya' ask me."

Rio patted Yugiri on the head before she looked around.


"Know where ya saw her last, Yugiri-chan?"

The sniffling teen waited, longer than she wanted to wait given her urgency and nerves making it hard to have any semblance of patience. Once Rio said yes though her eyes started leaking tears preemeptively from relief at having her older cousin willing to help, begruded or not.

Wiping her eyes with her sleeves and bowing her head Yugiri said something along the lines of,

"T-Thank you Rio-sama, thank you thankyouthankyou"

Eventually she devolved into just repeating thank you but quicker which began to mix them into a conglomerate of appreciative word vomit.

"I uh... Um... N- No. But she always s-sleeps in my bed a-and she hasn't- in a couple of- days. P-please find her... I'll do anything!"

Her sentence was filled with abrupt stops and starts with her sniffling and being short of breath from her hyperventilating in places. She was so fixated on it she didn't even register the fact she had once again requested for Rio to help her even though she had already agreed to; granted Yugiri was ready to beg just in case not having a good lead threw her cousin off.

"Yugiri, Yugiri-chan! Calm down, hahaha! I already agreed! We'll find the little runt and maybe I can sleep for the day or we go eat somethin'. I do like it when ya' call me Rio-Sama, though. Heh. " Rio chuckled at how panicked Yugiri was about some measly three-legged cat but it wasn't in her blood to simply ignore her little cousin. Finding a cat couldn't be that hard, right?


She figured they could find this cat in no time and she really would sleep for the rest of the day after training herself so hard; She'd eat something, too. Maybe.

Either way, she walked behind Yugiri and placed her arms on the handles of the wheelchair as she guided her in a forward direction, walking around the estate.

"Cats like to wander around a lot, but if the servants are useful' maybe we can find Little Yugiri in no time. "

"She's not a runt Rio! She's very sweet and nice you know."

At a glance it was obvious that being mean to her cat was no different than being mean to her and she gave a pout, as messy as it looked through her puffy red eyes. Rubbing them a bit more she nodded to her cousin's smart idea although all the people she had asked before told her no. Maybe there was something new though? Hopefully!?

Going off her quick breathing though it was obvious that Yugiri was worried despite her role-model's nonchalant demeanour about this whole situation. If only she was strong like this, where nothing fazed her...

"Yeah, yeah. You act like callin' the little kitten a runt is a bad thing! Papa calls me a runt! Anyways... let's find that cat before you get anymore panicked. Don't need my dotin' cousin to be in tears all day." Rio smiled as she continued to guide the woman forward and conduct their search around the estate. Even with her nonchalant attitude, Rio liked seeing Yugiri happy. She liked to have someone look up to her and even bother her sometimes. It was fun.


For one who always felt like she was in her older sister's shadow, this pleasant form of respect and admiration left her content. Rio kept her hands around the wheelchair handles as she guided both of them to the front and came to a stop, observing the surroundings before she walked over to speak with the servants.

Walking back, Rio scratched her head but didn't want her sister to panic, not yet.

"Well the useless servants are sayin' they haven't seen the cat pass by or anythin' yet but don't panic! Rio-Sama is going to find this cat and we're gonna celebrate the success over a meal!" With that, she went behind Yugiri again and guided them along, excited to find this cat and ease her sister's worry.

"Yeah well runt implies she's the weakest of her litter. She's strong okay?"

Don't insult her cat. Important lesson number one and so the little flightless bird could only sit down in her chair disappointed. Did her cat abandon her? She wouldn't do something like that right? Right!? As time went on Yugiri's didn't really seem anymore hopeful for her cherished pet, in fact she seemed a lot more quiet and solemn.

"Okay...."

"Wait a minute...! Do you mean to tell me Papa has been calling me the weakest of the family!? Ooooh! I'll give him a talkin' to later! He'll have to repent for his crime by givin' me food before bed."

So far, the search for this cat was not going as either had hoped. There was no sign of where she had been last nor if she would appear again, but Rio wasn't going to give up. She leaned over and whispered in Yugiri's ears.

"We're gonna find her, alright?" And with that, they went from the front of the estate and she guided them as they circled around the courtyard before traveling towards the ponds and then she gazed at the house and a thought donned on her.

"Maybe Little Yugs is playin' a game of hide n' seek!"

"Uh.... Ok.."

She didn't really know what to say when Rio got upset about Yushiro calling her the runt. Was she supposed to agree or disagree? Maybe suggest runt was not used in this context like she implied? Maybe she should just be quiet. Yeah.

By the time she was assured they'd find her Yugiri could only let out a gruff sound of defeated acknowledgement, she closed her eyes while her hands tightened together. She just wanted to hold her cat right now.

"Her name's Yugiri. Not Yugs."