CAPRICORN

The Goat

The celebration of the New Year was one the Hoshidan Royal Family usually did as a family. It was a family tradition as far as Takumi could remember, with his earliest memories involving King Sumeragi and Queen Mikoto holding their hands and leading them down the streets to mingle with the people, to see them in the flesh. After his father's passing it was Queen Mikoto and the older siblings watching out for him and Sakura, but it was still a family event, with all of them dressed in festive clothes and joining in the atmosphere of excitement.

But this year, the first New Year's Celebrations after the war was over, Ryoma was showing his future bride around her soon-to-be-home and introducing her to the rich cultures of Hoshido, Sakura was in the temples to carry out the ceremonies as a shrine maiden, and Hinoka was far off in Nohr, as was Corrin.

Which left him and Azura. And they were kind of – sort of – maybe – definitely and happily but still very nervously – now seeing each other. Which made this less of a family outing and more of a date.

Takumi tugged at the silk scarf around his neck.

"Sorry I'm late," said a soft voice.

He turned with a lot more calm than he felt. Azura was always beautiful, but when she was fully decked out like this, in a festive furisode that matched her hair and highlighted the gold of her eyes, she was breathtaking.

"It's alright," Takumi replied, and his voice didn't shake. "I just got here."

Azura fidgeted with the sweeping sleeves of her silk robes before she straightened her back. "Do you want to play the games first," she began, "or get something to eat?"

He wanted to say games, because winning prizes always made him feel better about anything, but his stomach was sending panging signs, quietly demanding to be filled. The last thing he wanted to do was to let out a loud gurgle in front of Azura, who had sharp ears, and die of mortification.

"How about some food? I'd like some mochi."

She smiled faintly. "I'd like that as well. Let's go."

Despite their decision, there was still somewhere they had to stop by before they could join in on the rest of the festivities.

The large, newly-made statue of Queen Mikoto, benevolently smiling with eyes curved like half-moons, already had many offerings of flowers, foods, charms and other items piled in front of it. Azura paused to remove something from her sleeve – a flower like the one embroidered on her furisode – and placed it alongside the others.

Takumi glanced up at the statue. Ryoma had – thankfully – commissioned an artist with better skills than his retainer, and their deceased mother's likeliness had been well-captured. If he truly wanted to be picky, he could always point out the flaws in the shape of her eyes, or the sweeping of her hair, or so on, but it would be unfair to compare a statue to the kindest, most loving mother he remembered.

He removed the prayer tag – folded up neatly – from his own sleeve and placed it alongside Azura's flowers. It was less of a prayer and more of a letter that was almost embarrassingly childish, but it was from the heart and he did mean every word he had written, and he couldn't tear it up or write one in a more mature manner.

Next year, Takumi promised himself. He'd write less childishly.

He turned around, and frowned. The streets were brightly lit with colorful lanterns strung up between roofs, and vendors were calling out to potential customers trying to sell their wares, and he could barely see the cobblestones laid out on the ground with all the people around.

Takumi ran over words in his head, dismissed several, and decided on an almost-feverish impulse to simply reach out and take her hand in his. Azura started slightly, but relaxed once she realized what he had done.

"It's crowded," he said, ears and the back of his neck feeling like there was a fire burning right behind them. He didn't dare look directly at her eyes.

Azura tightened her hold on his hand. Though Corrin often kept her in the back of the army, afraid for her health, Azura was still a capable fighter who trained as hard as any soldier so she wouldn't be a burden on anyone. Her fingers and palms were calloused, but even so her hands were still small and slender and fit right in his own.

"Good idea," she said.

Despite the heat in his face, Takumi smiled.