A/N: This is a little plotbunny that's been hopping around in my mind for a bit, and I suddenly got inspired to write it. It's just a little experiment that I'll update every now and again – "Samson" is still my main focus. But here you go; I hope you like it.

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Nirvana Awaits: Prologue

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"Next!"

Sigh. "No, that one's no good either."

"Next!"

Ishida Yamato, one of the daimyo's, or territorial lord's, best advisors, walked up to his master and gave him a quick tap on the shoulder. The daimyo grumbled, acknowledging his presence.

"My Lord, you do this every year. Don't you think you should just pick one and get it over with? You never have to use them. It's just not worth it to take another week to pick one more."

Lord Taichi glared at his friend and advisor as he turned around. "I will do whatever I please, Ishida-kun." And with that, he returned to his former position, only to dismiss the next candidate for his collection of concubines.

Lord Taichi was infamous throughout his land for being especially choosy about his concubines. What exactly enticed him to pick a certain one and dismiss the hundreds of others, nobody was quite sure. But his picky taste had left his servants no choice but to raid the villages, bringing every girl over the age of 13 who was not already married to stand in front of the lord, whether they liked it or not. Their families would get a sum of money in exchange for their daughter, so sometimes, the families had no choice but to hope that their daughter would be picked.

However, what was peculiar was that Lord Taichi seemed to always go with the flow. Most lords, shogun, and emperors were excited about fresh new faces behind closed doors, but not Lord Taichi. The servants raiding the villages – he never ordered that. It was simply the custom in his land for the lord to pick two new concubines every year.

No one heard from the girls whom Taichi managed to pick, so they remained a mystery. Perhaps Taichi was so satisfied with the concubines he already had so he didn't want any more. But what most people hypothesized was that he had probably fallen in love with one of the girls and felt guilty by sleeping with other women. It had happened before. But, custom was custom, and it was not meant to be broken. Besides, nobility could only marry other nobility – it was unheard of to marry a woman as low as a concubine.

So there Lord Taichi sat, after a week of deliberating, with one of the two chosen. He rested his head in his palm, looking bored, sending off each girl with a wave of his hand.

And then one came to the front of the line. And his eyes perked up, his head raised in wonder, and he announced to his subjects:

"That one."