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SPECIAL NOTE TO "I BRING THE FIRE" FANS (& Fans of Murphy's Star)

I'm almost done with Part II of Fire! Just making my grammar editors edits and working on the cover now. It should be available in the next week or so. In the meantime, if you liked Part I, would you do me a big favor? Would you please post the Amazon/Nook or iBookstore link in Facebook, or in your Tumblr or blogs? I would so appreciate it! Thanks!

And on with the show...

Cultural Differences

It's the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and Darcy is walking through the halls of SHIELD, a hot coffee in her hands, when Jarvis' voice pipes through the air. "Mr. Thor Odinson is currently not in the presence of Mr. Loki Odinson."

Darcy drops the coffee on the floor. Cursing, she piles the mess with paper napkins and says, "Where'd Thor go?"

"He was recalled to Asgard."

"I've got time!" Darcy sings, and several guys in black suits stare at her.

"Uncertain," says Jarvis.

"Right!" says Darcy, tossing her now empty cup into the bin. "Where is Loki?"

"He is currently in the cafeteria, in the presence of Director Fury."

Darcy swallows and bites her lip. She pauses only a heartbeat and then races down the hall.

She's out of breath when she reaches the cafeteria. Fury has his back to her, but Loki's facing the door - as soon as she enters the room he lifts his head.

Ignoring Fury, she walks straight to the table and says, "Can we talk in private?"

Loki's eyes widen.

Fury turns in his seat. "No."

Both Loki and Darcy turn to him. He shrugs. "Thor feels that speaking to you may derail Loki's recovery."

Darcy and Loki both speak at once. "What?"

Sighing, Fury says, "It seems kind of strange to me, too, but considering the risk of a relapse...I'm inclined to agree with him."

Scowling, Loki sprawls back in his seat. Darcy's mouth drops, but before she can say anything, Fury says, "For now."

Wait. What. Hold on...For now implies wiggle room. Fury thinks Thor is full of manure, too?

Sitting up, Loki tilts his head, maybe reaching the same conclusion.

"You're welcome to say whatever you need to say in front of me, though," Fury says. He smiles - which is a bit scarier than his frown. "Just pretend I'm not here."

Darcy looks around. The cafeteria is full of women and men in black and gray suits. They are all staring at her. Okay, she can't say what she wants to say, but maybe she can say something close. Sliding into the seat next to Fury, she says, "I want to know about Yuki Onna...I want to know about my heritage."

Loki's head tilts, and the tiniest bit of a smile crosses his lips. And then the smile disappears and he says nothing.

Lowering his chin to his chest, Fury says, "I do, too."

Loki and Darcy both turn to stare at him.

Shrugging, Fury says, "I'm not here."

Loki says nothing.

Clearing her throat, Darcy says. "So...I've been thinking...it must have been really hard for someone raised a prince - princess, in the spirit world, to be married to a Japanese man. I mean, Japan isn't precisely known for it's enlightened attitudes towards women...And having his human children...I mean maybe human children..." She sputters to a stop.

Putting an elbow on the table, Fury leans on his hand and looks over at Loki expectantly. "Go on," says the Director.

Loki frowns.

Clearing her throat, Darcy almost whispers. "Must have been quite a drop in status." And that's what makes it the most difficult to believe that Yuki Onna could have been Loki. Because Loki is as prickly as a cat, and she knows he hates being second best, at least from what she's picked up from Jane, who's picked up bits from Thor.

Loki's frown deepens, but when he speaks his voice is surprisingly gentle. "In your enlightened age, in your progressive land, there are still men who treat women as mere objects to be status symbols, eye candy, and baby makers - who can't see women as equals. Why can't the reverse be true, too?"

Darcy blinks. Oddly it's Fury who speaks. "A smart man is always going to recognize the limitations and value of the people on his team - male, female, race, sexual orientation be damned. That transcends culture."

Darcy swivels her head in the one-eyed director's direction. But Loki seems unbothered by his participation. "Just so," he says. leaning towards Darcy a little more.

Darcy tilts her head. "But weren't you-Yuki Onna expected to walk 3 steps behind Minokichi in public? Can't see her being keen on that."

Loki laughs softly and looks at the water in the glass sitting in front of him. "Ah - that." He squeezes the glass in front of him and it frosts over. "Cross cultural comparisons are so fraught with the potential for misunderstanding...there were difficulties in Minokichi's and Yuki's relationship, but they did not stem from Yuki being treated as a second class human being by her husband. In the Masada household, Yuki reigned as queen."

Yuki sits in front of a knee high table. It is piled high with nearly eight years' worth of ledgers recording every account, every salary, every vendor and client contract she has managed and tracked since she began living with the Masadas years ago.

The room around her is very different than the rooms of the hut the Masadas lived in when she first arrived. This room is bigger than the entire hut. Fresh tatami mats line the floors. Delicate paper screens allow in light from the outside. There is an alcove with a small shrine and a flower arrangement, a handmade gift from one of their samurai patrons.

Yuki cannot see any of that, however. All she sees is red. "I will kill him," she says. She hears a servant in the hallway just outside the room drop something and scamper away.

She stands up from the table, awkwardly clutching her full midriff, courtesy of her fourth pregnancy. Outside she hears soft footfalls, and then Masako pokes her head into the room. She smiles at Yuki. "You are going into labor, again. Would you like a bath?"

"I am not going into labor. I cannot go into labor - not until Hachiuma pays up! He's months overdue!"

Masako smiles at her indulgently. In general, the mother-in-law is the person in the household young wives fear most. But Masako and Yuki get along fine. At first Yuki thought it was because Masako was afraid of her. Then she thought it was because Masako was grateful to her - Yuki pushed Minokichi to sell the sword he made for her to build his reputation, and then when Minokichi's master's son tried to declare him an unlicensed sword maker, Yuki made sure appropriate papers that proved otherwise were 'found.' Now she suspects that Masako just finds her easy to manage.

In Asgard, when Yuki was Loki, she thought she was a master of subtlety. In Japan she finds that she is too clumsy, too demanding - virtually a child in comparison to the Japanese.

Nodding, Masako says, "Some women clean house when they are about to go into labor; you clear the books. I'll have the servants draw a bath."

Yuki grumbles, but Masako is already gone.

Grabbing Hachiuma's contract from the table - and nearly tipping over in the process - she storms out of the room and down the long hallway...in Asgard it would be considered a porch. It is open on one side to the elements, though it is covered.

It is early spring, and the air is cool. She hears the sounds of birds, the traffic of the town beyond the wall that surrounds the house, and the loud squeak of floorboards. The floorboards creak on purpose - it is nigh impossible for someone to traverse them without alerting the whole house to their presence. Not that Yuki would ever allow anyone who wished her family ill intent even near the town...as a few masterless samurai turned bandits had discovered not 10 months ago.

Rounding a corner, Yuki approaches the back garden. She is about to shout something about having Hachiuma drawn and quartered, but she stops herself, just in time. The children are in the garden.

It's Minokichi's one day off and he is with them, their two boys, Masao nearly 8, Kyochan 6, and their daughter, Aiko, just 3. The two boys are playing with kedama - a ball and stick game. Aiko is on Minokichi's shoulders; he's alternating between spinning around and pretending to be too dizzy to stand up. Aiko thinks it's hilarious.

Yuki bites her lip...she's still angry. But scenes like this one make her heart hurt. She doesn't remember such easy affection between herself and Odin...or even between Odin and Thor. Perhaps Odin would have been less restrained if he were a commoner, not a king, but it isn't just that. There is nothing unmanly about Japanese men holding a baby or commenting on how 'kawaii' a baby or small child is. 'Kawaii' isn't even a concept that Asgardians have a word for - but it seems to be a descriptor for anyone or anything with large eyes.

Minokichi isn't primarily responsible for the children's care, he's too busy with work. But when he's around, he's very affectionate with them. If Yuki ever returns to Asgard and has legitimate children, she will never be able to dote as much on them as Minokichi does. She sighs, and scowls. When and if she returns...

Catching her eye and seeing her scowl, Minokichi, comes to a halt with Aiko still laughing. Putting Aiko down he says, "Masao, take your brother and sister to see your grandmother."

As the children scamper off, Minokichi slips off his shoes and climbs onto the porch, stopping just a pace away. Yuki suddenly remembers her anger. "Hachiuma must die!" she whispers.

An Asgardian male would put his hands on her shoulders and kiss her cheek to calm her. But Minokichi is not affectionate with Yuki, even in private. The most clod-headed Asgardian male would be more demonstrative. The most clod-headed Asgardian would also say "I love you," whether or not he meant it. But Japanese doesn't even have a word for romantic love between a man and a woman.

So now, as she fumes in anger, Minokichi doesn't move or say soothing words. He just smiles slightly at her - the natural Japanese response to stress. Yuki knows the smile is not because he's laughing her, but it makes her feel as though he's laughing. Even after all these years. "He deserves to die! He takes advantage of all the merchants and the artisans!"

Minokichi nods his head. "But if he's dead, he can pay no one."

Yuki glares at him.

He smiles a little more. He's very uncomfortable. He hates these negotiations they have - they have many negotiations, and many misunderstandings. She likes Minokichi a great deal, and even respects him. He respects her. He never belittles her, hands over all his money and trusts her completely to handle all their finances, he doesn't solicit prostitutes or have affairs - unlike Odin, and he's given her a very nice lifestyle...if a one much less opulent than she's used to. But their cultures are just so different.

She huffs. "Fine. I'll just send an angry ghost to remind him of his debt to us!"

Minokichi relaxes, and the smile disappears. "If you do, it might be better if the ghost reminded him to pay all his debts, not just ours, neh?"

When a Japanese person says 'it might be better' they do not mean 'might,' they mean, 'do it this way, you idiot'!

She huffs and looks at the ground. "I suppose that will make it appear that we are not somehow the source of the haunting." Yuki purses her lips. "It would be no good if people in the village realize I am a spirit."

"Eh..." says Minokicihi.

There's something evasive in his expression, but before she can process it, he holds out his arm. "Here," he says, "take hold."

Yuki is so shocked - affection! Unasked for, non-sexual, and potentially in the presence of servants. Smiling, she takes it.

Minokichi shakes his head. "Is mother preparing a bath for you?"

"Yes," she says. "Why?"

"Eh...when you start wanting to kill someone, I know we are about to have another baby," he says with a smile. But this smile isn't uncomfortable. "I'm just glad it's not me you want to kill."

"I am not..." Her voice trails as the first contraction hits.

Minokichi chuckles a little, but not unkindly. And he even pats the top of the hand resting on his arm. He may not have a word for love, but that doesn't mean he doesn't love her.

x x x x

Minokichi walks a little stiffly through the bookshop, book closed in his hand - it isn't from sore muscles, or aching joints, though his physical occupation gives him those. Ever since the incident a year ago when Yuki protected a group of women from some wandering ronin, masterless samurai, he's been a little on edge when he leaves the workshop. Women are allowed to defend themselves when attacked, every Japanese woman carries a knife...but Yuki had defended herself and her companions a little too well. She plucked five knives seemingly from the air, hurled them at the ronins' throats, and didn't miss a single target.

The late lord of the land, Lord Yoshida, had kindly ascribed the ronins' deaths to bandits - which saved Yuki from the questioning that normally happens when an artisan battled the upper class.

Minokichi sighs to himself. And Yuki was so proud of herself for using 'barely any magic.'

Looking up over the cover of the book he is holding, he gazes through a slightly opened screen. This bookshop used not to be here. Since his workshop has become so successful, the little village has turned into a town.

He shakes his head. More people to wonder about his unusual wife. He turns to gaze at her. She is standing at the counter with the children, their new baby boy, Hiro-chan, on her back.

Four children later and she is still as slender and youthful as she was when they met - of course, people notice. He's urged her to affect some wrinkles or gray hair. And she obliges, but then forgets and they melt away. He'd swear that she's grown a little taller, and her eyes have become a little wider, too. Thankfully, her hair is still jet black. And thankfully their children all look Japanese - though perhaps a little fairer, taller, and with flecks of gold in their brown eyes. At the moment Masao is reading aloud. Yuki is teaching them all reading and arithmetic. She neither cooks nor cleans, but when she isn't managing household or business finances, she is a very attentive mother. She's told Minokichi that spending time with their children is one of the few luxuries of the human world. He knows she likes him, but he also knows that is primarily why she stays.

He understands. Theirs is not an easy marriage. They have more confrontations - or as Yuki calls them, 'negotiations', than any couple he knows.

Although...Minokichi looks down at the book in his hands and smiles a little to himself. He opens the book. He can barely read, but somethings you don't have to be lettered to understand. He coughs a little to get Yuki's attention.

Hearing him, Yuki turns and walks over. Peeking over his shoulder, she gasps at the picture of an octopus in a very passionate embrace with a barely clothed young woman.

He smiles at her and she rolls her eyes. Snatching the book from him, she slips it under her arm. He knows she'll purchase it. Her volatility, emotional nature and curiosity have kept their relationship passionate. At first Minokichi thought it was despite their many confrontations. Now he wonders if it is because of them.

There is the creaking of floorboards and Nakamura, the elderly shopkeeper, appears from the back of the shop with a parcel. "Here are the books you ordered from Edo," he says, smiling at Yuki. As she takes them the shopkeeper says, "Did you know Hachiuma is in town?"

As Yuki shakes her head, Nakamura says, "Apparently he has taken to seeing an angry ghost. It comes nightly to his manor and urges him to pay his debts. Hachiuma came here just before you arrived."

It is a round about way of saying, 'he paid his debt to me'.

The shopkeeper bows at Yuki and says, "Please take these prints as a gift."

Minokichi's mouth drops. A round about way of saying 'thank you'?

At that moment the shoji screen to the outside slides open and in clatters Nakamura's wife and teenage daughter. Minokichi's eyes narrow. Both women were with Yuki the day the ronin attacked.

Nakamura's wife runs over to Yuki, "Yuki-san, why don't you come have tea with us in the back? We haven't had a chance to really see your new baby."

"Yes," says the daughter, "let's go in the back."

From outside the shop comes the sound of hooves, and then someone shouts, "Make way for the Lord Yoshida!"

Minokichi straightens. It is the son of the same late lord who so generously falsified the statement of the ronins' deaths. The son is not known for being as gentle with commoners as his father.

"The new lord," says old Mr. Nakamura. He sighs. "He is...younger. Yuki-san, why don't you go have tea in the back with my wife and daughter?"

Yuki looks between their faces and Minokichi's. Uncertain about this sudden rush of hospitality, he still nods at her. She turns to go, but then from outside someone yells, "We seek Masada Minokichi!"

Yuki stops and spins around.

Outside there are murmurs.

"He probably just wants a sword," Minokichi whispers.

The shoji screen at the front of the shop bangs open and two samurai walk in. Everyone in the shop immediately bows, even the children. Failing to show proper respect to the warrior class is punishable by death.

"Masada Minokichi!" one of the samurai shouts.

Minokichi bows a little lower. "That is me."

"Step forward," says the samurai. As Minokichi does, the samurai and his partner take places on either side of the door, allowing a man in his early 20s to enter. His opulent clothing, his heavier frame, and greater height immediately identify him as the young Lord Yoshida.

"So you're the rich sword-maker who used to be a poor woodcutter," says Lord Yoshida.

Minokichi, not breaking his bow, only nods.

"Hmmm..." says Yoshida. "It is unusual for a wood merchant to rise in station...some might argue, illegal."

Minokichi tenses. The shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, had issued a law prohibiting the movement between social classes. But between the lowest classes, artisans and merchants, leeway is usually tolerated.

Yoshida paces the room, surveying all the occupants, and Minokichi feels something in his stomach tighten. He knows Yuki will bow, but if the lord calls on her, he knows her face will show no fear. He takes a deep breath. But the lord would have no reason to call on her, so he must be calm...it will not happen...it cannot happen...

Coming to a stop in front of Yuki, Yoshida says, "You, woman! Rise!"

Minokichi's heart sinks and his body goes cold. From the corner of his eye he sees Yuki straighten.

Yoshida narrows his eyes and looks her up and down.

At Minokichi's sides, his hands tighten into fists. It's a strange thing, but Minokichi finds his fear morphing into anger - he wants to barrel into the man and knock him to the ground. He sees Aiko, Masao and Kyochan bowing, close to their mother. Minokichi can't afford to act on his heart. He must be strong.

"What interesting eyes you have," Lord Yoshida says.

Yuki says nothing, but she gazes straight at the lord completely without fear.

"Where did you find such a woman, sword-maker!" the lord says.

"On the road to Tatsuno," says Minokichi, trying not to grit his teeth.

"Lucky," says Yoshida. "You know the shogun has issued an edict that any foreigners must be immediately put to death - and anyone who harbors them must be executed as well."

Yoshida steps a little closer to Yuki. Minokichi knows she isn't even flinching. In fact, her eyes are probably shooting daggers.

"I suppose your features are unusual, but they are not ugly," the lord says. He chuckles and turns to Minokichi. "I heard from my father how she killed five ronin. Do you let your wife walk in front of you, sword-maker?"

Minokichi's face goes hot as the other samurai chuckle. At the beginning of their marriage Yuki had actually resisted walking behind him. Yuki understood the man walked first to protect his wife, but argued since she was the more deadly, she should draw any enemy blades. She only relented when Minokichi told her he wouldn't be able to live with himself if a bandit or ronin struck at her first.

Of course, the one time she was attacked he wasn't there...and now...his fingers clench more tightly at his side and he feels the prickle of angry tears at the corner of his eyes.

"Sword-maker," Lord Yoshida says, stepping closer to Minokichi, "I desire a sword."

As he says it, he turns to look at Yuki. Minokichi's eyes narrow to keep his hot tears at bay. A sword is not all Yoshida desires, that is obvious. But he is the lord, and Minokichi merely says, "Yes, sir."

x x x x

"And so the lord of the land asked Minokichi to make him a sword," Loki says, slowly turning the coffee cup in his hands. "I think it was Doestevsky who wrote that any couple can live happily - but the outside world will drive them apart." He scowls at his cup. "Or was it Tolstoy?"

Darcy swallows. "So, I have this idea that Yuki...ummm...leaving...wasn't as simple as Minokichi speaking of that first night in the snowstorm?"

Smirking, eyes still on the cup, Loki says, "How could a spirit hide her identity from her husband? She couldn't even keep it from the town."

From outside there is the crack of thunder. Darcy jumps in her seat.

Sitting up straight, Fury says, "Is that Thor?"

Loki grits his teeth. "Speaking of the outside world..."

Fury scowls at Loki. "Is he coming all the way from Asgard so that you don't tell Japanese fairy tales to Lewis?"

Ignoring Fury, Loki looks at Darcy. His eyes are resigned. "Not all fairy tales have happy endings," he says. And then there is a swirl of green and Loki is gone.

Fury turns his one eye on her. It narrows.

Darcy swallows.

At that moment, Thor bursts into the cafeteria. "Where is Loki?" He shouts.

Standing, Fury shouts back. "I have no idea!"

Darcy's about to jump up and yell at Thor, but Fury drops a heavy hand on her shoulder. Darcy tries to stand up, but that hand is surprisingly heavy.

In his most commanding, scary, ominous tones Fury says to the God-of-Inconvenient-Tantrums, "Find him now! I'll take care of the girl."

Thor looks a little confused, but he nods and storms out.

As soon as Thor's out of the room, Fury's hand leaves her shoulder and Darcy stands up. She turns to give Fury a piece of her mind, but then she sees the smile on the Director's face. His smiles are really, reall,y scary.

"Miss Lewis," he says, his voice a disturbing purr. "You have some explaining to do. Come with me. Now."

A/N:

Hi everyone, I know some of you are looking up "I love you" in Japanese right now! The Japanese have two words that mean love 'koi' and 'ai'. 'ai shi teru' has come to express romantic love between a man and a woman, but that is a newer development. At the time this story takes place ai meant more of the affectionate love between brothers and sisters, and parents and children. koi is often used in expressions that denote romance, but it has connotations of passion and selfishness - romantic love in the west can be very unselfish.

Anyway, very subtle, but important cultural difference.

As always, I must point out, if you like this, you'll love "I Bring the Fire", my original story. You can check out an excerpt in "My Stories".

Reviews == Love