Another Aikori_Ichijouji masterpiece bc y'all the genie doesn't know when to stop giving and I LOVE ITTTTTT

Ren hesitated before nodding his assent. His initial plan was to bring Hikaru to the Darumaya Estate and slip away soon after before ever seeing Kyoko face-to-face. Her eyes were too keen and she'd figure him out in the time between two breaths. Now that he was agreeing to stay for the ceremony, extra caution would be required to keep to the fringes. As much as parts of him yearned to do the opposite, he was better off avoiding her attention.

He had plenty of time to consider his options during the, comparably, more luxurious final leg of their trip. The horse-drawn cart was modest and showed signs of age, but it was still much more comfortable than walking. Ren sat alongside the driver, leaving Kijima and Hikaru to regale the others with tales of heroic deeds. His capacity for niceties and inconsequential conversation waned with each passing hour as they drew closer to their destination.

The estate was unusually quiet upon their arrival but, small as it was, Ren assumed they, most likely, could not accommodate that many guests. That also meant he had fewer people with which to blend in. So he busied himself with toting his and Kijima's belongings to their assigned room. What he found there was more than he'd bargained for.

"I knew you'd try to avoid me," said the woman standing in the middle of the room, her arms crossed and eyes narrowed to the point that only the slightest hints of gold were still visible.

Ren sighed. "I don't believe it's proper for a lady to be in another man's bedchamber the night before she is to wed," he spat, while separating his things from Kijima's and placing them on the floor.

"There was never going to be a wedding," she said, causing Ren to halt his motions and turn to look at her. "All of this was orchestrated for you."

All words had abandoned his lips. He could only gape at her in silence.

"I thought it was too cruel of a plan. I never wanted to use him like this." She idly picked at the sleeve of her dress. "But Hikaru agreed to go along with it when I told him the only way we'd get you here was to fabricate a scenario in which my happiness was supposedly at stake."

"You told him about my promise?" He frowned.

She shook her head. "No, that will always remain between us."

"Then why?" he demanded. "Why bring me here? Why falsely call upon me to fulfill the promise? I swore to stay away until I could-"

"Find a way to clear your name, yes," Kyoko finished. "I met and spoke with your father some months ago at one of Takarada's affairs. He travelled a great distance to attend because he had important news." She paused to steady the quaver that had invaded her voice. "Lady Tina has emerged from her self-imposed cloistering and rescinded her mandate that you be stripped of your title."

All air left his lungs and Ren sank to his knees, his pendant glowing a dark violet. Kyoko approached him, slowly, cautiously, and took his trembling hands in hers. "Now you know why I had to do this. There was no other way to reach you."

He'd been on his own for so long. Travelled so far in the hopes of this finally happening. However, now that it had, he hesitated. "I don't-what do I do now?"

"Oh," she breathed, lifting a hand to rest it against his cheek. "You reclaim your title. Perhaps even return to your family's lands and, if it's your desire, I will accompany you."

He swallowed. "You will?"

Kyoko reached into the collar of her dress, pulling free a long chain ending with a circular pendant. "Just as you gave me an important part of you, so too did I give a part of myself." She pointed to his own pendant that now glowed a brilliant yellow just as hers did. "I kept your heart just as you kept mine."

"I do." He licked his lips, his entire mouth still felt impossibly dry. "I do desire it."

She leaned forward until her forehead rested on his. He closed his eyes at the feel of it, inexplicably cool and warm at the same time. He didn't need to see her to know she smiled, he could hear it in her breath, feel it telegraphed through the air.

"Welcome back, Kuon."

END

Huzzah, reader! You have found one happy ending. Good for you! Would you like to start again and find another?