A.N: Yet another spinoff of my Spread series (or lack thereof) for . I hope that you all like this particular character; she's a bit younger than canon Harry Potter and his immediate peers (more like Dennis Creevey's age) and unlike most has specialized in an avenue of study that requires a lot of natural talent. Trust me, you'll see.

This was at least partially inspired by Kanna37's "Splinter'd Realities", which currently stands at 46 chapters and very addictive to read. Thank you for your permission to use this story. I recommend it for all fans of Inuyasha and sweeping romantic epics.

Whatever I am talking about in astronomy, astrology, and Japanese medieval culture, I am completely lying. Pay no attention to my mystical ramblings. If they are true in some way, just assume I got it from Wikipedia.

And I just LOVE Charlize Theron's name. It sounds so exotic.

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1: A Feudal Fairytale Begins

Bane was looking at me like that again, a look that said he knew what my future held before I did. And he didn't like it.

"What is it, old friend?" I asked, drawing closer to clutch at his lower arm. It made me feel like a child, but I didn't care.

He turned his eyes up to the sky, and I began to see what he saw.

Mars had been burning like a malevolent torch ever since the dawn of my fifth year in Hogwarts, since the day Voldemort launched his second war against us. For all the bloodshed and pain that had come. But there was also Andromeda, coming close in her full brilliance to lend her power. Power for what?

The centaur did not speak more on the subject, and only told me to watch over my older sister.

Ah, Yekaterina...

Looking back, I suppose he was right to do so. I wouldn't have been this happy otherwise.

Nureyeva Charlize Mikhailovna, now renamed Kurotsuchi Akeno, frowned at the setup she had laid for what was supposed to be a general questing through a minor Arcana. In a fit of childish pique reminiscent of someone some fifty years younger than herself, she pouted, but had learned long ago not to make the mistake of trying to redo her quest. Instead she carefully studied the cards before her.

For the major Arcana to make an appearance without a specific question posed to them meant that this aspect of the reading was important.

"A dog-visitor?" She tilted her head, then remembered. "Right. Yokai." It was odd to her still, even after some three quarters of a century wandering willy-nilly into the various families she had served, to properly reconcile the prolific branches of demonic descendants with a Japanese word that supposedly described a nature spirit among other vague interpretations. Then again, she supposed that she shouldn't complain about it; she had been trained to work with the vague and frustratingly open-ended.

The divination specialist closed her eyes and packed her cards away into the pocket she kept inside her sleeve, right next to her wrist holster. Setsuna no Idate-sama would likely wish to know about this. Actually, it was more likely that the old coot was the one who set the cards down in front of her; he was crafty like old Bumblebee like that.

Still, duty was duty, and if she was known for anything in these parts, it was for her dedication to her duty.

At the family's breakfast in the informal dining room, Charlize respectfully knelt behind the feudal lord and murmured with an excellent solemnity, "Your illustrious visitor will cause uproar if you do not give your household time. I would say perhaps a week; yokai or not, you do have a reputation to uphold, milord. The shiro will require appropriate preparation." Instead of becoming unnerved by his retainer's supposed powers of prophecy or intelligence – he had passed that point sometime when his grandfather was still alive – Lord Idate merely smiled and thanked her for her suggestion. Young Lord Takemaru, a nephew adopted into the main line early as a child, was also used to these morning discussions between his uncle and his oddest and most trusted advisor. They never spoke loud enough for him to hear, but he supposed it was merely another duty he would have to begin learning after he became lord.

After breakfast the morning court was convened, Charlize sitting to the right and just behind Lord Idate as per usual. Rumors among the lower echelons of the court and the local peasants placed her as some sort of witch or, more likely (because of her silver-blond hair), a yokai who decided to serve the Setsuna feudal lords out of gratitude for some service or other rendered to her. So far she had done so admirably for at least three successive generations of lords, leading the household through war, bad winters and famine that occasionally struck any given fiefdom. For that alone, they would have forgiven her almost anything.

Compared to that, what did it matter that she was purported to have killed virgin priestesses to preserve her youth?

None of the ruling clan put stock into such things of course, knowing better than most what a precious commodity Akeno truly was. She had always seemed to know everything the previous lord needed to know to accomplish his goals without resorting to some less-than-savory methods to get what the family required, and had done so with complete and utter loyalty. In return, no one ever suggested anything that vaguely intimated at a dishonorable position more 'suited' to her sex.

Though that didn't stop them from grumbling when she sometimes collaborated with Lord Idate to play a few (or not so few) little pranks.

Having put in her customary token appearance of the day, Charlize wandered off to begin casual wanderings of the stronghold, from the kitchens to the barracks to the gardens, everyone so used to her heavy robes swishing unobtrusively about that they simply did not notice anymore and kept on working. The occasional scan of her surroundings with faint waves of her wand went unnoticed, and once the witch found all to her satisfaction, she went back to her private nook of the palace, pleased with her work.

She took her meals alone, scanning them for poisons with her magic before eating. The spell that did that and one that neutralized any toxins passing into the body were the only spells she could accomplish without a word or an action; her expertise with it was kept by checking her lord's meals every day. Even though the kitchen servants had to take the food to her chambers practically off the fire if it was to reach Lord Idate warm, they considered it a worthy effort and yet another reason to thank the kami for sending them such a bounty.

Sometime in the day or night, Akeno would walk out and promenade through the gardens restricted to the Lord and his family, ostensibly to meditate and/or check on the enchantments she had very publicly worked on the premises. In yet another little secret she shared with her lord, she simply thought that the view of the sky from here was the best.

But while Lord Idate merely thought that she had a fascination with stargazing, the diviner took the opportunity to seek guidance from the entities that had taken her down this path into this world and life. With disquiet but no true alarm, she noted that Mars hovered near the horizon; blood was always shed somewhere in this land. Along the belt of the Milky Way however, she saw the beginnings of a romance: one of greater loyalty and passion unmatched by the ancient stories that placed constellations upon the sky. The young woman smiled, inwardly congratulating the lucky soon-to-be couple. But… she paused worriedly. There was sorrow hovering near its horizon. This love was also fragile.

Butterflies tingled under her skin as she went to bed that night.

Her daily routine continued in this vein for close to a month more of relative peace, and then she saw many of the handmaidens she shared with other ladies of the court scrambling about to ready their mistresses for the yokai delegation coming through the doors today. He didn't listen to me at all, did he? She sighed, resigned to being more reclusive than ever when Satsuki, her self-professed personal attendant all but screeched when she saw her primary mistress looking as she always did – collected and elegant, but in no way appropriate for receiving dignitaries. As it was, she dropped the robes she was carrying.

"Akeno-sama! The delegation is coming in a matter of hours, and you are just standing there?! Quickly," she grabbed a passing servant girl, "take out Akeno-sama's robes and other necessities for the presentation; she must be ready before Lord Idate holds court!"

"Hai!" the girl managed to squeak out before dashing (in as mousy and submissive a way as she could, which made it seem to be a lot more like scuttling) to the diviner's chambers and dug out her preserved junihitoe and assorted unused accessories. Akeno's hair was long enough to be acceptable in yokai circles perhaps, but no human courtier would endure waist-length hair unless the elaborate hairstyling typical of the period implied a greater length than was actually being showcased. The flower-themed hair-charms being stuck in 'strategic' places along her poor abused head were meant to be stand-ins for actual flowers provided by enamored suitors (which she managed to avoid thanks to her hermitic rounds), sticking to themes of mystery and power.

"No more than eye-liner and lip color please, Satsuki," she requested firmly, eyeing her maidservant until she acquiesced and pulled out only the necessary cosmetics. Akeno had heard horror stories in her own world about the toxic substances embedded in some of the more widely used makeups from this time period, and was determined not to sully her face with any of it. Her skin was fragile enough as is without making it turn into an unsightly sponge under white lead face paint.

If I ever have reason to don this heavy thing again, it will be too soon, the woman reflected as she cast several weightless and cooling charms on herself behind her women's backs with alacrity. The damned things were too hot! Breathing a sigh of relief, she could not bring herself to regret this judicious use of her witchcraft as she did her best to glide in twelve layers of silk and cotton robes all the way down so she could take her customary seat to the right and behind Lord Idate as primary advisor. Young Lord Takemaru looked surprised that she was present at all, and with finery no less, but he only had to see her long-suffering expression before it left his mind.

Discreetly, the witch opened her fan to obscure her face.

Lord Touga, Inu no Taisho of the West, looked approvingly at the welcome orchestrated for him and his companions. The men were disciplined and kept their personal opinions to themselves in an acceptable fashion, the shiro itself was well-maintained and protected both physically and with wards that rivalled his own. Behind him he noticed Kenji scan the tendrils of power while his cousin Arata carefully inspected the intentions of the human soldiers for anything amiss.

They were conducted with all propriety to the hall where they were to be formally welcomed by a moon-faced servant, who scurried off the moment her job was done. Every member of the court was arrayed in their finest splendour for the occasion, trying to make a good impression on the yokai visitors.

Lord Idate allowed a brief warm smile as he spoke, "Inu no Taisho-sama, I humbly welcome you to this one's shiro and household. Be made welcome!"

As the visitor, Touga bowed his head and intoned the formal words of thanks and took the chance to look around more while he and his retinue were being introduced to the court. The swirls of power were more concentrated in the room; its source must frequent the place long enough to imprint themselves into the walls and floor. But no: the source was there.

On the dais.

Turning his gaze slowly, almost lazily, the dog-yokai observed with half-lidded eyes the small figure partially obscured by layers of ceremonial robes and the bodies of the lord and his heir. She was hiding her face with occasional flutters of the fan, but the additional scents that wafted down welcomingly told the lord everything he needed to know: young, healthy, fertile, and strong enough in magic to make his fur itch. This sorceress was likely the one responsible for the wards that surrounded the shiro and the land some miles around, possibly room enough that the castle could be self-sufficient in a siege.

His attention was brought back to the situation at hand when Lord Idate clapped his fan closed to signal the end of the pleasantries and smiled at him as a genial friend instead of his usual formal stature. The majority of the court adjourned to their respective wings of the palace, no doubt to discuss with each other what events they were to attend throughout the yokai lord's visitation or where inspections would be conducted to show off the land's prosperity. Or they could gossip, but Akeno didn't care enough to check. It'd get back to her through the kitchen staff later on, anyway.

As a relatively high-ranking court lady and thus privy to the oyakata-sama's private life, she remained in her seat and merely peered at the visitors from the top of her fan. One silver-haired, armored inuyokai. Check. Two redheads, one crimson and the other auburn. Both kitsune and thus to be extra extra sneaky around. Check. The auburn one looked a bit flirty there, though. The witch prayed he wasn't into blondes.

She still fluttered it audibly to put her point across.

Her lord simply turned his head and sent her an eye-smile. Her eyes closed in abject resignation. She swore that she would do twice the amount of stargazing for her headaches in the ensuing season.

A.N: Hopefully, those of you who like Kyra's installment will like this one as well. I'm already working on the second chapter for that one, as well as a lot more adaptations to this series of sister-stories. At some point, I will probably set up a poll to ask which story should be updated when, but that's probably after all the stories are up and I've gotten at least five chapters out of each of them.