It's Maki's 200th birthday.

"You shall be allowed to choose a spouse for yourself, my daughter," the Lord of the Underworld says to her, "as a reward for your undying loyalty and obedience. Choose anyone you like in Heaven, Earth, or Hell— I shall retrieve that person for you even if it takes all my power and more."

Secretly, he's crossing his fingers that his daughter chooses the High Angel of Heaven. Binding her to the Underworld's royal family would mean that he gets to take power over Heaven and extend his rule. But instead, Maki conjures an image of a person that is definitely not the High Angel of Heaven. She points.

"I want her."

The Lord of the Underworld squints in confusion and leans forward on his throne. "… That?"

"Yes, Papa, I want this one."

"But that is…"

A deity of cats. A deity of cats, of all the gods and goddesses Maki could have chosen from. In that projected image the young woman is crouching in her simple decorated clothes on the dirty ground, feeding some stray cats out of her hands.

"You said I'm allowed to choose. So I want her." Maki defiantly stares her father right in the eyes. Her mother, the Queen of the Underworld, stifles a giggle. Lord Nishikino tries not to openly show any exasperation but it's obviously not working. He rubs his temples in silence for a moment before finally nodding.

"Fine, fine. Very well, I will fetch her for you shortly."

Maki smiles, thanks her father, and returns to her room to wait.

—

The cats around Rin scatter when two lesser demons appear in a flash of smoke that reeks of sulfur. She's just about to flee along with the cats when a hand with wicked claws snatches her arm.

"Not so fast, you! We're on orders. Gotta take ya down to the Underworld with us."

"Wh-what for?!" Rin pulls at her arm with no effect. "I didn't do anything! Lemme go!"

"The Underworld Lord's child chose you for their spouse," the other demon smiles, baring fangs too large for its face. "So you're comin' with us… whether ya like it or not."

The two lesser demons are fully prepared to beat down the cat deity, like Lord Nishikino had told them to do if she resisted, but to their surprise she stops struggling against the demon's grip and smiles. Ah, too bad. They had been somewhat looking forward to fighting a goddess, even if she isn't one of the more powerful ones.

"Nyaaa, really?! I'm getting married, huh! That sounds exciting! When's the wedding?"

The demons look at each other in disbelief. The one holding onto Rin's arm shrugs at its companion. "Whatever. She's just makin' our job easier for us."

"Sure, but I was rarin' for a fight…"

"We can fight each other later, if ya want."

"That's real kind of ya. I'd like that."

Rin stomps her foot and pouts.

"Hey, are you two ignoring me?!"

—

Lord Nishikino pinches the bridge of his nose, drumming his claws against his throne in a steady accelerando. His wife pats his arm in consolation.

"Are you still upset about it, dear?"

"Our daughter chose a cat girl to marry…"

Well, sure, it was a rather bizarre decision for the ruthless and high-bred daughter of the most powerful demon in the Underworld, but Lord Nishikino's wife doesn't seem terribly bothered. She understands Maki more than anyone else, and the reason is as clear as the pools in their gardens. She'll let her husband figure it out himself.

"As long as our Maki is happy."

"She could have chosen the High Angel of Heaven…"

"Oh, stop sulking."

—

The two lesser demons drop Rin off before a massive door made of heavy iron cast into twisted faces of human anguish, inside an even bigger hall with gloomy gray lighting. Rin rocks on her heels and impatiently waits for her spouse to receive her, looking around in the meantime. The Underworld royal family must really be fond of their macabre interior decoration. So many skulls.

Everything's happening so fast, but the deity of cats likes things going at a quick pace. As far as she's concerned, this is just another exciting day instead of an event that could possibly bind her down here for the next several centuries.

The door finally creaks open. A dry breeze whispers along Rin's legs, urging her to enter the room. Rin pads inside without a sound as cats do, curiously peering around.

There's someone standing at the opposite end of the room. It looks like they're trying to look impressive, waiting in the shadows with stiff shoulders. Rin smiles and boldly approaches.

"What're you— I mean, wait there! I didn't say you could come closer!" Maki fumbles with her words and curses at herself. She had imagined their first meeting to be… less embarrassing for herself. The cat deity would cower before her a bit, Maki would preen, Rin would be intimidated and awed, and then they'd get married and Maki could preen in front of her admiring wife for the rest of eternity.

Or something like that. Maybe she didn't think it out thoroughly enough.

"Oh, oops! Are you shy?" Rin tilts her head, stopping just a couple meters away. "You're the princess of Hell I'm supposed to marry, right? Nyaa, I like your horns! They're super neat!"

"O-of course they are. I'm the daughter of the Underworld's Lord, after all." Maybe it's not too late to preen.

"Can Rin touch your horns?!"

No, it's definitely too late to preen. Maki sputters and takes a couple steps back, bumping into a tall armoire. This damn cat deity ignores her previous order and closes the rest of the distance between them, smiling curiously.

She's even cuter up close and in person than in projected images and visions in the garden's pools, as Maki had seen her before. She swallows a quivering lump in her throat and tries to remember that she's supposed to be a fearful and revered demon, and stands tall. At least she has a few centimeters on Rin. Alright, alright, she can do this.

"I am Maki Nishikino, daughter of—"

"Whoa, what's that over there?!"

"H-hey, pay attention to me! Where are you going?! Don't touch that—!"

—

Dinnertime is only a little bit worse. Rin refuses to stay in her seat and darts around the dining room, peering at this and that and forcing a servant demon to chase after her to make sure she doesn't knock anything over.

Maki hasn't touched her food; her face is cradled in her hands and it looks as though she had given up trying to control her chosen wife. Lord Nishikino smugly cuts through his human steak and takes a bite, leaning over to mutter to his wife.

"I told you she should have chosen the High Angel of Heaven."

"Well, I think Maki picked well. This one is cute."

Right at that moment, Rin sends an ornate vase crashing and spilling mysterious ashes all over the stone floor. "Oops!"

—

The official wedding ceremony ends up being a smaller, private affair and thankfully, not as much of disaster as it could have been with the cat deity's tendency to dart after shiny things and knock vases and glasses off of tables.

Despite Maki's weary blush, she looks pleased when Rin holds onto her arm after their bond is made official.

"Hellooo," Nozomi, one of the river's ferrymen, saunters over and reaches up to feel Rin's cat ears. "Ooh, these are soft…"

"N-nyaaa, that feels nice…"

Maki's face burns and she pulls Rin away from the ferryman. "Did you come here just to touch my wife's ears, Nozomi?"

"Nooo, of course not!" Nozomi holds up her hands in an easygoing gesture before reaching into her cloak. "I came here to give you… this!"

It's a collar. Oh, good, Lord Nishikino isn't looking in their direction. Maki quickly shoves Nozomi's hand down and hisses.

"Are you serious?!"

Nozomi shrugs and grins. "I thought it'd be useful for keeping your new kitty in line. Look, she's already gotten distracted again."

One of the messenger demons is trying to get away from Rin's curious hands; she's stubbornly grabbing at the demon's thin horns while ignoring her growls and snapping. Maki would try to stop Rin, but then she recognizes the demon as Nico and decides that she can handle some torment for a while.

That little smile on her face is difficult to miss. Nozomi pushes the collar into Maki's hands. "But everyone still wants to know why you chose Hoshizora of the Felines, of all the deities and angels and demons you could've had. You could've hadanyone, y'know?"

Maki thinks back to the first time she happened to spot Rin as she was idly watching earthly ongoings in one of the garden pools. Strangely enough it wasn't her cat ears or tail that distinguished her from the humans around her. It was the sheer brilliance of her hair and eyes, like the sun itself had decided to cast its flames into her colors. The humans never noticed the deity wandering amongst them. Only the cats, and Maki with her garden pool, knew where she went and what she did. Only they could truly appreciate her.

More often than not, Maki wondered why such a shining goddess wasn't dwelling in Heaven instead.

"But maybe you're just into cat girls, hm?" Nozomi flashes a mischievious grin.

"Shut up. Don't you have work to be doing now?"

Meanwhile, Nico is facedown on the ground with Rin sitting on her back and playing with her lizard-like tail. A girl with deer antlers is helplessly trying to urge Rin to get off of the messenger demon with no success.

—

Then comes the wedding night. Maki keeps the collar Nozomi had pushed into her hands and tries to remember everything Eli and Kotori had told her, even though just thinking about it brings boiling blood to her cheeks. She's 200 years old, for crying out loud! Some demons she knows had started… that stuff when they were only 150, some even younger. But how much more could Rin even know?

Maki reclines on her bed, wearing the expression she typically reserves for intimidating quivering humans on their way to be tortured. That ought to scare Rin into obedience. Maybe Nozomi's gift will come in good use after all.

Ah, it's a preemptive victory; Rin is hesitating for the first time she had arrived here, shyly fidgeting at the foot of the bed. Maki smirks and lazily waves a hand, riding a swell of confidence. She's totally got this.

"Take it all off."

"… Okay!"

And she certainly doesn't expect Rin to suddenly strip and leap at her, all her previous shyness abruptly gone with her garments. The tables are completely turned. Nothing ever went as planned since the beginning. The high and mighty daughter of Lord Nishikino is apparently helpless against this weak lesser goddess.

Well, this is fine too.

—

She lets Rin stroke her horns, the tickling sensation spreading down her skull and the back of her neck. Rin is surprisingly gentle when she isn't being aggressively enthusiastic, and Maki can see glimpses of that rare shyness now.

Showing pure affection is rare and even unheard of for demons, but Maki wraps an arm around Rin's slender body and presses her lips to one of her ears. They're in the privacy of her bedroom, so it's fine.

"So why did you choose Rin, anyway?"

Maki pulls her face back and stares. The Lord of the Underworld would tell Maki to put her wife in her place, that she shouldn't ask questions that don't need answers, but Maki tries to think of a response instead of heeding her father's lessons.

"Does it matter? I am the heiress of the Lord of the Underworld. I take whatever I want."

"How come you don't wanna tell? Is it embarrassing? It's okay, I won't laugh!"

The worst part is, Rin is absolutely right; it is embarrassing, and Maki just wants her to be quiet so she can continue holding her in blissful silence.

But, she has a feeling Rin will keep prodding until she gets an answer, so Maki relents.

"… Demons are inherently selfish, Rin. Don't you already know that?"

"Uh huh!" Rin hums, continuing to stroke Maki's horns. Maki lightly shivers and drags her claws along Rin's sides, gently.

"I don't get many opportunities to see the surface in person. We have these pools in the gardens we use to watch everything above us— I'll show you those later— so I often end up watching ongoings on the earth this way." Maki pauses, slightly tilting her head to give Rin better access to her horns. "… The sun is a beautiful thing. It's more brilliant than any fires down here. When I was a little girl, I asked my papa to take it for me, but he told me it's the one thing the Underworld could never have. So when he said I could have anyone to marry… I chose the person who reminded me most of the sun."

Rin's hands run down her horns, through Maki's hair, and stops to cup her face. They gaze at each other for a comfortable pause of silence, Maki's eyes softening.

Then Rin's warm smile suddenly turns into a confused frown. "Wait, but you could've chosen one of the sun deities. And does that mean you've been watching me for a long time?"

"Sh-shut up! You asked, so I explained! Now leave it!"

—

They're happy together, which Lord Nishikino supposes is a good thing (even if Maki didn't choose the High Angel of Heaven), but cats get restless when kept inside too long. Rin loves Maki too much to abandon her for the surface, but even if she wanted to, the binding nature of their marriage would prevent her from leaving anyway.

So one day, Lord Nishikino roars in frustration when he enters the great hall to find a great number of cats meowing and knocking things over and scratching the tapestry.

"How many did you call down here…" Maki rubs her jaw, resigned to letting cats crawl over her lap. Rin is happily rolling in the dirt with some other cats, purring. They had managed to round up all the cats into the garden, and Lord Nishikino's temper died down just a bit when he found ferocious-looking tigers and panthers among the smaller house cats.

"I dunno! Rin didn't call them, they just come to Rin!"

"There's too many! They can't all stay down here! Tell them to go back, Rin!"

"A-aww, but Maki-chan! It's a cat party!"

A chorus of meows agrees with Rin. Maki groans and covers her face with her hands.

She has a feeling that this cat party is going to last a long, long time.

.

.

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A/N: crossposted from Tumblr. i've always loved the idea of Rin as a cat goddess.