Title: Names

Author: Soshite

Summary: AU Kitaniji-centric? 'Her name was Shizune Buyataka. But no one knew that, save for Kitaniji, and even he never referred to her actual name in her presence.'

Rated: T

Disclaimer: I do not own The World Ends With You/Subarashiki Kono Sekai, its storyline or its characters. They belong to Square-Enix.

Beta: Un-betaed. Anyone wanna be my beta reader?

Warning: OOC characterizations, OC-bordering-on-Mary-Sue, pseudo Japanese history and lots of spoilers.

NAMES

1281, Kyushuu

"Mitsukuni-kun!"

Her name was Shizune Buyataka.

"How does the Game fare?"

But no one knew that, save for Kitaniji, and even he never referred to her actual name in her presence.

"Are the Players behaving themselves, Mitsukuni-kun?"

She was their leader, their ruling queen, their mikado...she was their goddess.

His Megumi.

"Megumi-sama...should you be out and about like this, my lady?" he asked, kneeling next to her as she watched the somewhat living dead battle with monsters that came from the hearts of humans themselves. A smile came to her lips as she tapped her delicate paper fan against her chin pensively. She then turned her gaze downward at the kneeling lord next to her, chuckling slightly. Kitaniji kept his gaze lowered.

"You didn't answer my question, Mitsukuni-kun," she stated, more amused than irritated. Lady Megumi somehow always seemed to be in good spirits as long as he had known her, which would be for all of three years. He could remember how she had reached out to him and chosen him out of all those who had warranted a second chance at their lost lives.

Like a shining proxy of Amaterasu on Earth, she descended towards him from her veiled throne to the court and pulled him to stand and asked him to be her Minister. Struck by her etherealness and utter grace in a land of certain abnormality and a sense of something beyond him, he had agreed readily. Kitaniji had once been a saburau, or saburai as people were starting to call them, and the ability to serve once again was strong in him. There was a sense of normality in being able to do the duties he had once been able to do as a living man. Even if he had to stoop to serving a woman, he was sure that this particular female was more than capable of smiting him like an enraged goddess should.

The surge of power he had received in accepting was something he had been ready for, being able to feel the flow of his beloved homeland almost welcoming. It made his senses tingle as his eyes adjusted themselves to the brighter colors all around him and the sound of sweet music of which he had never heard before that almost drove him to tears with the beauty of it all. He had been ready to take on the great responsibility of taking on the role of Minister in the land of the dead, so as long as he could stay by his Lady Megumi's side. Yes, he had been ready for all that and more.

What he hadn't been ready for was the Lady Megumi's tendency towards whimsy.

"They are...faring well enough, my lady," he replied, to which she hummed a non-commital sound. The smile disappeared, but that did not mean that Megumi wasn't enjoying herself. It simply meant that she was thinking and when she was thinking, Kitaniji usually had this incredible urge to run away in the opposite direction, resulting in a lack of honor, which would probably result in ritualistic suicide, had he not been dead already.

"There will be more soon," she said, at length, surveying the field the Players were currently trying to create wind, as it was their latest assignment in the game to create a 'breeze that could sink ships'. Megumi had said she had made the Players do something similar seven years, except that she had made them create 'light that could strike down the enemies of our homeland'. In the exact same spot Kyushuu, no less. Kitaniji wouldn't question her, though. Even as whimsical as Megumi was, she often knew what she was doing. "I really hate it when men fight, but at least we can settle things more quickly this way."

Kitaniji had no idea what she was talking about, but Megumi was Megumi and the lady Mikado always knew what was best for Japan and he would follow her to the ends of eternity, for what it was worth. She loved their homeland with all of her heart, wishing to make it a better place through whatever means possible—through the use of her Court Game or otherwise. She cared enough for the dead, giving them chance after chance to rectify themselves and purify their souls before releasing them back onto the living plane or sending them to be reincarnated for the next life as was their reward for working so hard. Megumi had a large responsibility to their homeland, taking care of it as a mother watching over her household...

"Mitsukuni-kun?" she asked quietly.

"Yes, Megumi-sama?" he replied, expectantly. Was there something she needed him to do? His hand adjusted his belt a little, feeling the blade he kept there slipping a little.

"Come with me," she beckoned, smiling that pleasant smile she often made before coming up to mischief. "The shogun will take care of things here. I would like to get a new kimono made from the shop in my home village. I heard they had a new shipment of fine silk and this one is so out of style...I think I would like something...new."

Kitaniji had to keep his face from falling. Surely the lady had better things to have him do, than to accompany her as she made purchases, but when had he ever been capable of saying no to Megumi? Old as she was (her clothes, he noted, were something he would only see hanging on the walls of the homes of very old noble families), the lady Mikado acted like she was very much still a child—no, a young maiden, still innocent before marriage would make her quiet and bitter. But, as far as he could tell, Megumi would never be bitter, even if she were old, married, saddled with several children and left alone to tend to the house with her husband off to war. She'd probably be cheerful about it.

He accompanied her to the carriage that would take them to her old hometown (she had once been human, too, he mused), sitting across from her as monstrous looking demon horses pulled them along and into the sky, although no one would see them. The ride would be short, but the lady Mikado would try for conversation anyways and what she had said would leave an impact on him forever.

"Do you know what I dream of, Mitsukuni-kun? I dream of a diverse Japan."