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
1586
Megumi's court were made up of ten men, not including Kitaniji and Megumi herself. They were all assigned to parts of Japan and oversaw the dead in those places as Megumi, as strong as she was, was not capable of keeping an eye over all the areas herself and neither could Kitaniji, who had long become accustomed to his role as the Minister of Meifuu. The faces of these highly ranked men usually never stayed the same though; humans were often susceptible to jealousy, greed and power, so it was that there was still much intrigue and backstabbing in a place where such things should be left behind. Some, of course, left their posts of their own free will, choosing to ascend or be reincarnated, but those were few and far in between the squabbling and fighting often going on in the Mikado's court, built within the Palace of Paradise.
Finally, Megumi had had enough.
There would be a change, effective immediately, she had told everyone. If they were going to fight each other, she would have to rectify this and force them all to stay in their own territories like the warring feudal lords they were trying to be in her court. In this place in time, there was no room for argument, petty fights and willfulness, only decision and if they couldn't keep their heads down, she was going to bloody do it for them.
Megumi had never been angry before. Not in all the years anyone had known her as the Mikado of the dead. But the resentment, anger and hate within the court—in all of Japan itself, because it was now in the middle of a civil war—was breaking her heart. She had had enough.
So, she granted everyone great power, for it was in her own right to do so, if she pleased. Each of her generals would be allotted his own territory to rule over, to assign ranks, missions and rules as they pleased. No one from the other territories will be able to pass their borders; they would not be allowed to leave their own borders. They would be Mikado, too, but at the price of their freedom.
There was no room for argument. Everyone had been too shocked to do much arguing anyways. It had come right out of the blue, this decision to split up the underworld like this. But, with no complaint for even with their newfound power the Lady Megumi was more than a match for them, they accepted their fates with humility.
Japan was divided up, the generals sent on their way, each given a small portion of Megumi's private army to do with as they pleased to help out with their own Court Games as she was sure that they would develope their own, in time. Smiling, after everything she had cruelly done, she told them 'I wish to see a diverse Japan.'
This was long coming, she had told Kitaniji, who still remained by her side as Minister—Minister of what, exactly as, with the sudden appearance of ten new Mikado, Megumi's existence wasn't mandatory anymore and neither was Kitaniji's, to tell the truth. The work had been divided up rather evenly, because of this, leaving behind nothing for these two beings to do, except, keep on eye on the new Mikado themselves.
But, of course, he should have known better than to think that this incident had been an act of whimsy—a dangerous whimsy prone to anger.
There had been one spot, left untouched by the other territories and where Megumi's own court would be relocated and where everything would still affect the other ten. Megumi was still Mikado, she told him. The Mikado of all of Meifuu—even when she was long gone, she would still be known as the Mikado of Japan. She would be the last, since, in keeping her generals busy with keepign up their territories without her influence, her place as the Mikado was secure.
She had apologized to Kitaniji, saying that his position would be smaller than before and confined to one spot whereas he had been anywhere and everywhere as he wanted, but this had been the only course of action she could think of before an all-out war in Meifuu started. And her heart was already breaking as it was for feuding Japan, slowly hurting and killing itself with the hate and prejudice within its own borders. It was a sad, lonely song that Kitaniji heard and he could only close his and murmur that it was his honor to serve her, straight into the bitter end.
Megumi had stared at him then, the new court slowly being assembled around them underground, bit by bit by her own power—the will of her Imagination. It would not be as glorious as her original palace court out in the open air with a beautiful blue sky above, but it would be their home anyways. They would make it their home, if Kitaniji had anything to say about it.
They had long been at this game together, been working together to make Japan a better place; the homeland they both loved so much. She had nothing to be sorry about. If this was how things were meant to be, then it was how things were meant to be.
She cried that day. It was the most terrifying and most beautiful thing he had seen. Far more beatiful than Edo at sunrise; so much more terrifying than facing the blade of an enemy and feeling his life slowly slip away from him as he laid dying in a field. Megumi had always outshone the sun, the symbol of the goddess, Amaterasu. Her soul was brighter than anything he had seen. And that soul wept as its owner did, crying for one reason or another.
Megumi called him an idiot. That was the only time anyone had ever call him that.
Well, he would tell her, decidedly playful for once, if he was an iodiot, than her lady Mikado was an even bigger idiot for picking him to be her Minister.
That stopped her for all of three seconds.
"Mitsukuni-kun...you idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!" Each time she said 'idiot' she would hit him once in the arm. It didn't hurt; she was surprisingly weak physically for someone who could smite him in a heartbeat, if she so choosed. But Megumi's heart was as big as the land she loved dearly, even if it was close to cracking and breaking into little pieces. And he loved her for it...maybe just a bit more than he loved Japan.
"It's Shizune. Shi-zu-ne!" She tried kicking him, but he simply sidestepped her. In al the years of being in her service, this was the most personal they had ever gotten. It was true that as Minister and Mikado that the two of them would be inseparable to a point, but they had never been more than master and servant. They were cordial, pleasant and civil with one another—or so he had thought. Megumi was never reserved. She had grace, poise and beauty, but she would never be like the women of his time who were submissive, quiet and obedient. She openly expressed herself to him, allowed him to see her as she truly was.
Maybe he really was an idiot. But he was hers for the rest of eternity. Or some semblance of it.
"Megumi," he intoned. He kneeled in front of her, taking her pale hand and bent his head over it. "My Megumi-sama. May your reign continue to be fair and just and may I continue to serve you, always, as your trusted Minister in your diverse Japan."
And she cried again, but it was more beautiful than it was terrifying.
It rained outside the 'Palace of Paradise' and Japan was soon to see a new beginning.
"Come on, Megumi-sama. Lets go find you a new kimono."