"The Skies of Asakusa"

Act I.

The Departure

Scene I.

Solar Year 195, Early-September

Tokyo Empire, Asakusa

Third District of the Residential Wards, Second Block

Shobu Tsubaki was done.

Beyond done. She had enough of it . . . the expectations, the pressure, her father . . . For years she had it all pushed on her. Everything was expected of her when there was someone else far more qualified, even willing of all things, to take it all on and more. But no, of course not, because her father was stubborn and hardheaded and a goddamn sonofabitch.

So, she was leaving.

Everything was in order. Her paperwork had been done, signed, and posted months ago. The only thing she had been waiting on was the final results of her physical and psych EVAL. Luckily for her, those showed up three days ago. She checked out. Thank Kannon (her sister's phrase, not her's, but desperate times called for desperate turns of phrases) because she didn't exactly have a Plan B.

So, Plan A it was.

The moment she finished reading the results, she started throwing shit into a bag. As of yesterday morning, she was ready to leave at the drop of a hat. Boot Camp wasn't for another two weeks but she was making a command decision: She was leaving. NOW. The only issue was breaking it to literally everyone else (well, almost everyone; there was one person she could count on to back her up). It was going to start with an argument and end in a full on brawl but, at this point, that was more than fine with her. She had been itching for a fight for fifteen goddamn years and the look on the old man's face when she finally told him straight up what she thought was gonna be so damn satisfying.

Shobu Tsubaki took the steps two at a time to the ground floor, bare feet slapping loudly against the worn wood. Five generations had lived and died in their small complex, each leaving behind a legacy thick with honor and fire. The sixth had proved to be nothing less than the previous masters and had built upon those familial expectations with a reputation that went hand-in-hand with the age old Asakusa saying, "Fires and fistfights are the flowers of Edo". Their legacy had been wielded by both the sword and the flower and now the seventh was expected to take up both with unbridled eagerness.

There was only one problem . . .

A sharp turn left, out the dual shoji doors, onto the engawa, and it was a straight path to their family's small dojo. She had made this trip over a thousand times in her twenty years but, today, she felt it would be one of her last. She didn't even bother announcing herself as she threw open the doors; she already knew who was inside.

"I'm going."

The figure in the middle of the room stopped, clearly in the middle of a kata. Their hands were poised in defense, strong legs bent as if to absorb some invisible blow, and sweat clinging to their black brow. Slowly, they brought down their hands and turned about, blue eyes bright from the exercise. Her elder sister's face didn't immediately convey any one particular expression, which in Tsubaki's case made her feel a bit at ease. It meant she was thinking carefully about what she was going to say and how to say it.

Shobu Kaede had always been one to think deeply about her words.

This was further proven when finally her sister's small hands came up and slowly twisted into a complex series of signs. "Now? That's a bit soon, isn't it? You might want to give everyone else a bit more time to process this."

Tsubaki scowled, though it was less at Kaede herself and more at the point she was trying to make. "And you know how well that would fly. Like a wet paper crane."

Her sister inhaled slowly, a heavy effort by appearance, and dropped her hands as she nodded in silent agreement. Her white, bolt shaped pupils contracted in deep thought, as if unsure how to further the conversation.

"Besides," continued Tsubaki, stepping fully into the room. She paced around a bit, nervous, before facing her sister head on and walking up to her. This close together, the height difference between them couldn't be more apparent. She stood several centimeters above Kaede despite the eight year gap between them. "Dad won't let me have time. It's always been his way and never mine. I'm done. This time, I'm gonna force him to except it."

Again, Kaede's hands came up and, this time, the movement was nowhere near as slow or careful. "You're going to intentionally start a fight? Tsu, I understand how you feel, but this isn't-"

"I really don't care; I'm going. No one is gonna stop me. I want to live my life, not have someone dictate it for me."

Her sister paused, hands still raised as if preparing to offer a counterargument. Tusbaki tensed, hands clenching, a rebuttal on her lips in equal preparation.

It was in vain, however.

"Alright, I understand. I'll back you up when you do this. Though he's going to raise holy hell, I hope you know."

Tsubaki snorted but, at one corner of her mouth, a smirk was already beginning to rear its ugly head. "There's nothing holy about hell, Kaede. If such a place exists anyway."

Kaede rolled her eyes in exasperation and shook her head, but her face showed no true sign of irritation. "Semantics, Tsu."

"I'll leave the complicated diplomacy shit to you; that's your deal, not mine."

"I'm starting to feel like I'm a negotiator in a great war of some kind."

"You kinda are, not gonna lie."

"Hmm, I should ask for a raise; this job pays for crap."

"Good thing you're Asakusa's best florist. Don't quit your day job and all that."

"It's not like I've got anything else up my sleeve just in case."

"Aww, don't say that," Tsubaki admonished. Then she grinned mischievously, springing forward and wrapping an arm around her sister. They struggled for a bit, Kaede putting up a decent fight to avoid being fully captured but failed when Tsubaki managed to pin one of her sister's arms behind her, allowing her to offer her a sisterly noogie on the head. "You make a great instructor off the cuff. Especially when you're spouting off that philosophical crap."

Kaede laughed silently while trying to throw off Tsubaki's attack, though this proved to be rather unsuccessful. After several failed attempts, she finally managed to get her arms free enough to sign, "Gee, thanks."

"You're welcome," Tsubaki snarked back and playfully shoved her sister's shoulder.

". . . You're really leaving?"

"Yeah, I can't take anymore of this shit," She grimaced. "He should just swallow his damn pride and except it. You, I mean. It's stupid."

"Maybe so, but tradition speaks loudly in Asakusa."

"Not this loudly. We're all about not giving a damn about what people think."

"Not to that extent."

"Fine, but no one on the street actually thinks the bastard's right. Everyone worth their salt thinks you're perfect for the job."

"I'm not being tried in the court of public opinion, though."

"I know that," Tsubaki was getting pissed again. "That's why I'm going. It's hitting two birds with one stone; I'm gonna find my own freedom and I'm gonna make him recognize you in the process."

"By starting a feud?" Kaede raised a brow incredulously, her expression less than impressed with the line of logic.

"Is there any other way?"

Her sister's face fell at that. Their family, Asakusa as a whole really, were known for being stubborn and set in their ways. It took a lot to change minds and might made right in a town like theirs.

". . . I suppose not."

"Besides," Tsubaki countered smoothly. "Maybe having the whole town chew the old man out for driving one of his precious daughters into the arms of the Imperial Army will be shame enough."

"You're really out for blood, aren't you?"

"Maybe I am."

Kaede sighed, shoulders falling as if under a heavy weight; her eyes seemed tired and her face a bit wrinkled. Something no one at the age of twenty-eight had any right of looking. "Well, I guess we'll go to war then. Let's go get this madness over with."

Tsubaki grimaced; this was gonna be a hell of a day.

. . . Yes, the only problem was the fact her elder sister had been deemed less than worthy. The right of every first born before her would not be passed to her by degree of their father. The mere fact she was a woman and a mute was hardly the reason, however.

Her sister managed to talk her into waiting until after lunch when everyone had something in their stomachs and had retired to the engawa for tea in order to achieve a more relaxed atmosphere (speaking of tea, she felt she had forgot something surrounding the subject). Not that it made any difference in the end, but Tsubaki had to give her sister points for the attempt to make things easy for the rest of the family . . . even if they didn't deserve it in her opinion.

Aunt Himiko was going on about how absolutely tragic it was that her nieces had such a severe lack of romantic interests or endeavors (which Tsubaki found to be rather ironic because both sisters had dated several men before but things hadn't worked out). Uncle Hiko was currently slouched against one of the engawa's main support beams, pipe in hand, and the opposite arm hanging lazily out of the sleeve of his haori. Clearly, he was barely listening to anything coming out of his wife's mouth and was far more focused on his brother's announcement of a surge in the family's finances due to the addition of several new students to the dojo. New students who Tsubaki and Kaede trained on occasion but the duty mostly fell to their father, uncle, and oldest cousin Toshiro.

Of the cousins, there were three in total.

Toshiro was an expert in the Shobu family style of martial arts which focused mostly on hand-to-hand. While not in the position to take over the family business (that fell to Tsubaki, which she resented wholeheartedly), he made due with being one of the main instructors. Toshiro was straightforward and easygoing when off the training room floor where he was known for being a hardass. He had only been married for barely a year to a nice woman named Momo, who was the daughter of a prominent carpenter. Of the Seventh generation of the family, he was second oldest only to Kaede who was two years his senior. Tsubaki was grateful for the fact he both respected her sister and went to her for advice concerning various topics.

The second of the trio was Ryoji, who, at twenty-four, was ironically finishing his training under Momo's father in becoming a carpenter. Like all the Shobu children, he was a practitioner of their style of martial arts but was the most uninterested in the art form. While not entirely hating the idea of fighting (he was a classic Asakausa man, after all), it was not his primary love. Instead, he chose to spend his time creating beautiful works of furniture or finding more efficient ways to design the structure of homes as Asakusa's famous wooden structures had a nasty tendency to catch alight with relative ease. While not married, Tsubaki had on good authority that he was interested in one of their neighbors, a young woman who spent most of her time helping the elderly with no family while selling her own pottery.

Lastly, there was youngest of her cousins but still two years Tsubaki's senior (which made her the youngest of the entire seventh generation). Kai was loud in nature but was much like his mother in the fact that he had to know everything about everyone around him whether it concerned him or not. A fact that put them both at odds most of the time even though they were the closest in age and should, in theory, get along the best out of everyone. Kai was recently hired on at the third best brewery of sake in all of Asakusa and was succeeding well at his position. Currently, he was his mother's biggest pet project in finding a suitable girl for her last son for which Tsubaki was glad for because, for the time being, the heat was off her. That was, until Kai was safely secured in his future and then she was a free for all.

Well, Aunt Himiko could go on thinking that. There was going to be nothing she could do once Tsubaki was gone from the picture (not that she needed her aunt's help anyway, that was her own business).

" . . . and that would certainly do wonders for our financial situation."

Tsubaki blinked.

Ah, she had zoned out again; not that the family finances made that thrilling of a conversation to begin with; especially considering numbers weren't exactly her thing. She had been about to close her eyes again and nod off again when Kaede nudged her thigh with her knee. She opened an eye and caught a glimpse of her elder sister's exasperated expression which all but screamed, 'Well, out with it'.

Dammit, now she was getting cold feet. The early motivation and pent-up anger from this morning had faded into a smoldering pile of apathy and lethargy which was now sitting in the back of her mind like an old pile of laundry she was too tired to deal with. At least until the next time her father pissed her off again with the whole 'You hold the hopes and honor of the Shobu family on your shoulders' bullshit. Then the process would start all over again.

Alright, let's get it over with. Tsubaki inwardly grimaced but stood up and tucked her arms into the sleeves of her yukata in the attempt to mirror her father's habit of when he was serious. After all, if there was anyone who could pull of that particular look, it sure as hell wasn't Kaede.

The move itself was all it took; her father and uncle immediately fell silent. Her cousins and aunt all turned to look up at her with various expressions of curiosity and disapproval for the act of interrupting the current flow of conversation. Tsubaki took a stabling breath and then released it as smoothly as she could. Already she could feel her nerves wavering but, she started it and now she was gonna finish it. She was an Asakusa woman after all.

"I've got an announcement for all of you -"

And immediately everything derailed . . . Like she knew it would.

"I knew it!"

"You've got to be kidding me?!"

"Who the hell is he?!"

"Tsubaki, really, why haven't you said anything to us-?!"

Her teeth clenched painfully and it was an age old battle to not grind her molars to dust in the process. Damn, this family never let her speak, it felt like. She always had to scream to be heard. Of course they jumped to the whole 'suitor' bullshit her aunt had been pushing for the last year. It was really burning her up.

"No, dammit, I haven't found a goddamn man! That has nothing to do with it!"

"Language, dear." Aunt Himiko responded instantly, waving her hand in a false sense of mortification which only made her anger rise further.

Tsubaki opened her mouth to let her aunt have it once and for all when her father simply put his hand on his sister-in-law's shoulder and gestured for her to be silent.

"Let Tsubaki speak, Himiko." Shobu Kintarou offered her a satisfying smile of placation before turning to Tsubaki herself and motioned for her to continue.

She nearly lost her nerve right then.

It had been a long time since she had seen him look so confidently at her, as if he completely understood every thought and opinion that went on in her head. But, he didn't. How she wished he did but, he only projected that image onto her the moment he couldn't get what he wanted out of his eldest. The moment it suddenly fell to Tsubaki to 'lead the family and take on the responsibility'. A task she had never wanted or asked for. A task Kaede could fulfill without some stupid, idiotic traditional checkbox which completely relied on nothing but the luck of genetics. Yet, Kaede lacked it and Tsubaki didn't. In the end, that was all that mattered to her goddamn, sonofabitch father who looked for something as superficial as a 'flaw' in a code of genes.

Who the hell cared if the head of the family wasn't a Third Generation?

Right. That was the reason. She was forcing her father's hand to acknowledge her sister. That was what all this was for and she was leaving the family no other choice. She was equally as stubborn and her father had greatly underestimated that one, sole fact. No matter what, she was gonna live life on her own terms, in her own Asakusa way, and not even her father was gonna tell her how to do it.

Even if that path was away from Asakusa entirely.

"I'm leaving and joining the Imperial Army."

And so the lines were drawn, sides were picked, and the family was torn asunder.