Disclaimer: I do not own Super Sentai or anything associated with it.

Rating: K+ but subject to change.

Summary: There are 100,000 tiny moments that go into making you who you are. Pre-canon, post-canon, sometimes AU, and everything in between. Samurai Sentai Shinkenger. Moments of Takeru/Mako; Chiaki/Kotoha; brief glimpses of other pairings.

A/N: Ahaha, and another one :-s Now that Gokaiger is over, I have a desperate desire to start writing Shinkenger fics (as that is my all-time favourite series). I've never attempted to write anything from Shinkenger before, so I figured a story similar to the one I'm currently working on for Gokaiger might be a good warm up. So, drabbles, ficlets and one-shots galore! Hope it's okay!

33 MOMENTS: SHINKENGER

Moment 1

A Samurai knows her place

Tono.

Vassal.

They were just words, weren't they? And it's not like it was in the past. Surely, in this day and age, the rules of etiquette didn't matter quite so much as they used to. She and Chiaki didn't even call him "Tono". Besides, they were much more like friends than the traditional lord and vassal set-ups in previous generations.

Very good friends, she liked to think.

It filled her with pride that aloof Takeru would heed her advice, sometimes even asking for it. While she could see he was often distant, sometimes sad, he wasn't a broken person she felt the need to fix. Not like Ryuunosuke that one time.

They connected in a way she'd never dreamed of connecting with another person. It just felt right. In all the time she spent dreaming about being a bride, she'd never once stopped to think about who the groom would be; what sort of person he'd be.

She wondered if she'd ever find someone she liked more than him.

She knew she'd have to, or she'd never marry, because she knew they could never be together. The constant dialogue and dissection of just what the parameters of a lord and vassal relationship were was just masochism masquerading as comfort.

So what if the lord and vassal rules didn't exist anymore? The truth of the matter is they are not just regular samurai. They are Shinkenger. To ensure the next generation were still represented by a pink and a red, they must each marry other people.

And that was why she never let herself question whether he liked her even the slightest bit. Whichever way the answer fell, she would still be beyond miserable.

And that was why she delegated and made Ryuunosuke explain it to Chiaki and Kotoha, before anything happened they couldn't take back.

Wow, depressing stuff :-( There will be far more fun moments than serious ones. I think I'm just in a negative headspace because Gokaiger is finished. Anywho, you know the drill :-) Reviews, requests, suggestions – I love to read them all!

Enjoy Go-Busters!

Little Goose.