Well, of course life was a celebration of life, at least, if everyday was a celebration...but...then life would be a celebration...of itself?
Wait, what?
It was clear by this time that Setsuna did not, in fact, age normally. She wasn't entirely human, so it was possible that she wouldn't, though there was that whole problem with, well, aging as a human being was supposed to. How was anyone supposed to know whether the brains of half-demons developed as quickly as the brains of normal humans did? Or did they develop quicker? Or did they take some other route that was entirely different? How did Setsuna act when she was five, anyway?
A bit dumber...but dumber as in quieter. She rarely talked, unless she was around Konoka, and then she would seem too smart and yet too stupid to be of her actual age.
Then again, half-demons were rarities in themselves, so it wasn't all too odd that they wouldn't actually know.
No, it was the birth of a newborn child that was a celebration of life...of new life, at least, so that people could continue to be born and populate the earth and such, wasn't it?
Nor was it something Setsuna wanted to experience. The last thing she wanted to do was pass on demon's blood. Being of mixed species hadn't help neither here nor there, and she hadn't found anyone with whom she would want to have children with, anyway.
Arranged marriages were well and all, and Konoka loved her husband and her husband loved her, but sometimes Setsuna acted a bit too close with Konoka so that her husband suspected there must have been some sort of relationship between them; there was, but no, it wasn't that kind of a relationship. It was the last thing either one of them wanted to be found doing, regardless of whether they wanted to be in that kind of relationship or not. Even they couldn't tell between each other whether or not they wanted to. There was no point in trying and no point in discussing it, and that would be the end of that.
So Konoka got married a bit young, but that was OK; no one wanted a Christmas cake, after all, and Setsuna would happily be one until she died defending Konoka. Yes, she might as well have been a samurai defending his (her) daimyo, but did it really matter? That was all she lived for and her obsessive samurai nature caused problems with her husband, which was why a celebration of life was so nice for them and their relationship.
Never was a relationship so strange between two people as was Konoka's bodyguard and her husband. Setsuna almost knew Konoka giggled to herself at night that she knew this was going on, and it alternately amused and irritated herself to no end. It was strained and trying, and while Konoka's husband was a nice person, he was not nice to Setsuna. It was understandable. Neither of them were stupid. Neither was Konoka. They all knew it was going to happen, one way or another. It still wasn't an issue of "who got to have Konoka", though. They were too old for that.
At least, that's what they were telling each other, if not themselves.
It was understandable. Konoka and her husband had an arranged marriage, not a marriage borne out of love. Konoka and Setsuna's was the complete opposite of that: had they decided to run off, elope, it would only be for love, and nothing else—not for politics, not to settle feuds, not to make someone else happy. If anything, it would create more problems. They knew that in the real world, priorities came first and their priorities came in the form of not complaining when someone you know is smarter than yourself is telling you to do something that you know would be an intelligent decision.
And even then, if they had, they would have nowhere to go, and even then, even now, they still weren't sure whether they would want to now as they had back then, or whether or not they would have wanted to then as they would now.
Their relationship was complicated. They knew. But, they figured, as long as no one went and did something terrible or stupid, or terribly stupid that it was necessary for them to be rebuked, or even arrested, that the shaky peace would be maintained and nothing bad would happen.
In fact, something good was happening for Konoka and her husband.
Setsuna herself was a bit surprised (never mind that she almost fainted); after all, she had known Konoka as long as she had known her own name, and getting pregnant was something that she'd thought would never happen to her in a thousand years. Of course, even if Setsuna was still alive by that time, Konoka would not be. She wasn't angry or disappointed, however. No, not at all. Even if she was to be spiteful, what for? That they were having children? That wasn't something to be malignant of, was it. Even going so far as to say that Konoka had finally opened up to him in some form of meaning, she still wasn't that stupid, and who was putting those thoughts in her head, anyway?
And since when could overseers of magic associations retire?
Now that Konoka and her husband had inherited her father's position, they were very busy in moving in. It wasn't important how they were busy, or what they were doing, just that Konoka had either found time or made time to spend time with her bored personal bodyguard.
Did she really even need a personal bodyguard anymore?
Well, of course, she did. Konoka would scoot up to her and they would stare out at the empty court where they'd used to play.
And,she was pregnant, she needed to rest.
She was resting, but sometimes you needed to take a break from resting because if resting was all you did, you'd get tired of resting.
Setsuna didn't remember how far in Konoka was.
Four months. And yes, the baby was already kicking. And the baby was a boy.
A boy.
There were no boys between them, if one discounted Konoka's husband. He was easy to forget when they were by themselves, interestingly enough.
Konoka loved him, but not the same way she loved Setsuna.
It was strange to say that, but it was true. They just weren't sure how it was true, and laughed a bit at how wishy-washy it sounded.
Humans were weak like that.
And why they were talking about things like this, well, it was a special time, and Konoka was already into her second trimester, which had to mean something. They had already been through enough to consider it small talk, anyway.
"Say, remember that time you almost died?"
"Oh, yeah, I remember that. Ha ha ha..."
It was a weak relationship with strong bonds, which meant it would be hanging in mid-air forever. Setsuna could wait that long, but Konoka didn't live long enough, so, they said, Setsuna would have to figure out whether or not it was possible by herself after Konoka's death, because then Konoka wouldn't be there to commune with her. Maybe Konoka could think about it posthumously. Magic could do strange things, sometimes...
Konoka's husband didn't like Setsuna, you know.
Setsuna knew. She knew very well, and she knew what that meant, and she knew what it meant when Konoka said she loved her husband, but not in the same way she loved Setsuna.
They were both weak loves, but when one considered how lasting one was compared to the other, at least one was stronger than the other, and what couldn't be considered a weak love, anyway? Sons killed their fathers. Mothers abandoned their children. Wives were spiteful about every little thing their husbands did with another woman. Maybe it was righteous. Maybe it was not.
Konoka still sometimes called Setsuna "Se-chan" when they were alone, though she knew it better to call her "Sakurazaki-san" when they were not.
Setsuna would want to know what it was, especially with Konoka using that name for her.
She was so positive, Se-chan.
There was nothing to be positive about.
Hadn't she ever heard that the knowledge of a new life was a celebration?
A celebration of what?
A celebration of life!
Well, of course, life was a celebration of life, at least, if everyday was a celebration...but...then life would be a celebration of itself? Wait, what?
Konoka would sigh and smile, and shake her head. Setsuna would continue to guess.
No, it was the birth of a newborn child that was a celebration of life...of new life, at least, so that people could continue to be born and populate the earth and such, wasn't it?
Now she was just confused.
A baby was cause for a celebration, regardless of whether Setsuna wanted one or not. Or was it better for everyone to die and no one to be born?
No, it wasn't. It never was.
So even if Setsuna hated him, she would still celebrate over their child, wouldn't she?
Setsuna didn't hate him.
Neither did Konoka.
They giggled quietly to each other.
They should have eloped.
A/N: Mmn... I blame this on Cloverfield, too. It was more or less an idea in hibernation for a long time until I read her crack fic, which somehow inspired me to write this, which is kinda sorta loosely based on her loose idea for that fic, but, just to let you know, I'm not plugging or anything...really! I'm in a very rambling mood today, which is why this fic might seem unclear, or confusing, or just plain boring. But, mm, yeah. It's not really something I'd be able to edit myself, anyway. Very stream-of-consciousness-ish...