** Note: Most of these characters don't belong to me: I'm sure you all know the ones who belong to Yu Watase
So I won;t list them *all* here. Miyoko is mine, Tadashi is Miri's... any other random little characters are more than likely
mine as well.
Enjoy!



CHAPTER One: In which my Mother sends me away from Tir Hoki to live in the Konan Empire with insufferable relatives. Damn!



I sat numbly in the cart. Staring straight and unblinkingly ahead, even though the dust from the road was stinging my eyes more than my tears.
For as long as I can remember, I have lived in a small house in a relatively nice part of our empire, in a city called Tir Hoki. We lived on a winding country road just outside the city. My mother was a silk dyer by trade, and we also spun and wove silk as a side job. I was the spinner and weaver, mother was the dyer and sometimes seamstress. We were not well off, but we were not in the gutter, either. I was used to it, it was life. I loved it.
So why had mother sent me away? I knew she was a little ill….I didn't believe one word about all that 'fine education' crap. What was I going to do with a Konanese education in Tir Hoki?
I sighed, still remembering the day my life took an unexpected, and in my mind, illegal U-turn.
My best friend Tadashi and his mother lived next door to me and my mother. Tashi was a temple guardian and was away from time to time, and his mother...well, I didn't know much about Mother Suki's past, and I didn't ask. It wasn't important.
That was our whole neighborhood, just our two little families. We were closer than family. In my youth, I vaguely remember living in town, in a fancy house, with a large store filled top to bottom with good smelling things and beautiful objects, and with Father, too; but that was all long ago, before father died.
My life was ordinary, average, boring. I liked it that way. I would never leave my mother in our little house, with our little business. I was happy.
In my thirteenth year, all that suddenly changed.
Tadashi and I were returning from one of our little gallivants into town(a usual thing). We were looking over our newly purchased pyrotechnic items: gunpowder and dyes specially mixed for fireworks.
Tashi was slightly older than I, and definitely taller. We had similar interests, such as sword play, hand-to-hand combat, dagger throwing, and mild interests in magick. Our newest craze was fireworks, ever since we had seen them in a recent procession to the temple. We had just rounded the corner onto our street when I beheld an unusual sight. Mother Suki was standing before my cottage, crying as she shut the door. I felt frightened, and a chill ran up my spine. Where was Mother? Something had gone terribly, terribly wrong. I gasped.
"Mother!" I whispered, dropping my bag. I ran to my cottage.
"Miyoko!" Tashi cried from behind me, picking up my bag and running after me.
I tried to open the cottage door, but Mother Suki caught me before I could.
"What is it?" I cried.
"Where's Mother? What's happened?"
"Shh, Miyoko," Mother Suki tried to hush me gently.
"Mother!" I screamed as Mother Suki had to drag me to her and Tashi's cottage.
"Miyoko, listen to me," she said calmly, even though her eyes were still red from crying.
"Your mother has made arrangements for you to stay with relatives. She's been meaning to do it for a while now. She wants you to have a taste of better things, and get a good education, too,"
I wasn't stupid. Something had to have happened to Mother to make her send me away like this! When had this happened? She had been a little tired lately, and pale….Oh, Gods no! This wasn't happening!
"I want to see her!" was my reply.
"No, Miyoko, but she gave me this to give you, with her love, and her promise to send for you to come home soon," Mother Suki added, trying desperately to comfort me. I would not be comforted.
She handed me my mother's gold comb, Mother's most prized possession. My father had given it to her when they had first married, long before I was born. My mother was an older woman, and sometimes I thought she was too old to birth a child now my age, but I never asked questions. I was wanted and loved and that was all that mattered.
"I'm going to see my mother!" I stated determinedly. I would not sway.
"Miyoko, what's wrong?" Tashi asked, coming breathlessly into the door and glaring at me.
"I'm leaving," I whispered unhappily. "Mother's sending me away,"
"What? Why? Where? And why can't she just stay with us?" He demanded, looking at his mother and back to me, his annoyed feelings obviously gone.
"Miyoko's mother has made arrangements for her to live with relatives of her father's in Eiyo,"
"EIYO!" Tashi and I cried at once.
"But that's all the way in Konan! I won't go. You can't make me! I won't, I won't, I WON'T!" I cried. I didn't care if I wasn't acting thirteen. I was scared and angry. Why would Mother send me away? WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON HERE!?
"Miyoko," Mother Suki pleaded.
"Please, go, your mother wishes it," she begged.
"Only if you let me see her," I replied quickly.
Either I saw my mother and got my answers, or I stayed with Mother Suki and Tashi.
She sighed.
"I can't. I promised,"
"Then I won't go," was my stubborn reply.
Mother Suki looked to Tashi for help, but I could tell he stood by me.
She sighed again.
"Miyoko, you can't stay with us. I simply can't afford it. I'm barely getting by with only Tadashi and myself," she admitted, her eyes filling with tears.
"I can work for my stay! I have the weaving, and the spinning, and the washing!" I insisted.
"I would help her!" Tashi added.
We gave her our 'puppy-eyed' faces.
"Please?" I pleaded.
"I can't go against your mother's wishes, Miyoko,"
"I won't go! There is nothing wrong with my education," I insisted, setting my jaw.
"You'll have to drag me by my hair, kicking and screaming, all the way to Eiyo. Not even the Emperor of Tir Hoki and the Gods themselves can make me leave here willingly," I announced, crossing my arms defensively over my chest.
"Oh, Miyoko," was her only reply.
"You leave in three days,"
"I will not,"
"You WILL!" she yelled, the first and only time she had ever raised her voice to me.
Mother Suki was scared!
I stared at her in shock. Tashi stared at her in shock.. The dog in the corner got up and left. The birds in the tree outside the window flew away. There was silence.
"Fine," I whispered sulkily.
And with that I ran out of the house.





It was time to leave. My three days at home were over. I was dressed in the very best clothing I owned, a long, peacock blue gown with silver and red embroidery of nightingales. I wore silver slippers on my feet, and Mother Suki had done my hair up in the fanciest style. She told me she knew how to do this, because she had once been a priestess at the Temple of the God before Tadashi was born. She tucked a white water lily in my hair. I thought I looked absolutely ridiculous. Why was I all dressed up like a courtier or something? This was pure insanity. But I had to go. Now I sat in one of my and Mother's favorite spots, a small clump of bamboo trees near a small brook. All my belongings were in a parcel at my feet. I was crying hysterically.
"Miyoko?"
It was Tashi.
I didn't want to talk, even to him.
"Go away, Tashi, please. I want to be alone,"
"I know. I'm sorry. But you have family waiting for you in Konan,"
Oh, why was Mother sending me away? And why wouldn't she let me see her?
"I don't want to go to Konan. If they are the relatives I think they are, they don't like me and the feeling is very mutual,"
Tashi shifted uncomfortably.
"Oh,"
I sighed.
"Is it time to go?" I asked him.
He nodded and looked away. I was going to miss my friend so much. Tashi was the brother I'd always wanted, and he treated me like a kid sister. I didn't remember my father, and Tashi had always filled that role for me. It would be so hard to leave him and Mother Suki, and my own mother most of all.
I stood and walked with him back to our little village. I clung to my parcel with one hand and Mother's comb with the other.
"I'm leaving, too," he said suddenly, staring straight ahead.
"What? Oh, Tashi, where?" I cried. This was too much.
"I'm going going on a journey with the other guardians from the temple. I'm leaving soon. I've known for a while now. I wasn't going to tell you until later, though,"
"Our poor Mothers! They'll be all alone, soon!" I cried, my eyes filling with tears.
"I know. I hate it,"
I was silent for a moment.
"Do you think Mother is terribly ill?"
"I don't know,"
My eyes filled with tears anew. My entire little family was falling apart. Mother was sending me away, Tashi was going with the other guardians, I was going to Konan…purely against my will, I might add…
By the time we reached our homes, a cart and escort was waiting to take me to the sea side, where I would catch a boat over a small channel to the rest of Tir Hoki, and from there my escorts and I would continue on the way to Konan, and eventually to Eiyo and the Loki family, Nagumo and Sasiko and their children.
If you were to drop someone on a horse and point them in the right direction, you could get to Konan in just under a week and a half. If you traveled the "proper" way, the way I was going, you could be traveling anywhere from four weeks to two months.
I didn't want to go! I didn't want to be in some cart for two months!
I hugged Mother Suki good-bye.
"Oh, Miyoko," she whispered, her eyes filling with tears.
"You are like my own little daughter. I hate to see you leave,"
"Goodbye, Mother Suki,"
"Goodbye, Little Girl,"
Then I turned to Tadashi.
My closest friend, the one I had forced to play with dolls with me, the one I had laughed and cried with, the one I had raised hell and single handedly destroyed small farms with….
What was I going to do without my Tashi?
We stared at each other for a moment or two before I wrapped my arms around him in a goodbye hug.
I don't think he knew what to do.
After a few tense moments on his part, he hugged me back. I was crying again.
"Goodbye, Tashi-chan. I'll write as often as I can," I whispered in his ear.
"Goodbye, Little Girl," he whispered back.
Then he kissed my cheek and lifted me onto the cart, then he handed me my parcel.
I didn't want them to forget me. I was so afraid that they would. What was I doing? I should jump out of this cart right now, demanding…demanding what?
As an after thought, I reached into my parcel and tossed my most prized possession to them. Her name was Lian, and she was my favorite doll. I was too old for dolls, I had outgrown them when I was about four, but I had kept Lian as a momento of childhood.
Tashi picked her up out of the dust and stared for a moment, before looking back at me.
I couldn't wave goodbye. All I could do was stare as we pulled away from my family and my home. I tried to memorize every aspect of the two little cottages as the cart took me away. I tried to take every detail of Tashi and Mother Suki into my heart before they were gone. Gods, I wanted to say goodbye to my mother! I wanted to see her so much!
Tashi turned and stomped angrily into his cottage, slamming the door behind him, but Mother Suki just stood there until she shrank into a tiny dot in the distance. I don't know if she even left then.
Then I turned and faced the road before me, and promised myself I would never look back, and I would return as soon as Mother called for me, if ever. I didn't care if I had to walk.
And that brings me to the point I was at now….


Z


By the time I reached Eiyo, I was tired, hungry and really pissed off. It had been almost a month since I had left Tir Hoki, and my loved ones. I believe this was the incident that instilled my deep hatred and over all dislike of travel forever more.
The sight of my Aunt waiting impatiently for me did not improve my mood, nor the fact the the rest of the family stood behind her.
My escorts lifted me off the cart and set me and my belongings before my relatives.
"Loki Keisha?" My Aunt asked doubtfully, looking down at me.
The use of my given name stopped me for a moment. I was always just Miyoko.
Aunt Sasiko was tall, thin and mousy. Her lips were drawn into a very small, thin line and she had a permanent frown.
Oh, how I pitied my father's brother for marrying this old shrew.
"Speak up, girl!"
"Yes, I am Loki Keisha," I responded as politely as I possibly could, considering the circumstances.
She frowned.
"Oh. Well, you're a disappointing piece of goods, I had planned to marry you off,"
"EXCUSE ME!?" My mind screamed.
What kind of sick woman married off her thirteen year old niece? What kind of people lived here in Konan? Dear Gods! I was surrounded by perverts and lunatics!
I couldn't stand the sight of the old bat anymore, so I turned my gaze to my uncle, who was as short as I was, and didn't look as if he had a clue in the world.
My escorts took this as a sign to leave, so they did.
"Well, come in anyways. I'll figure out something to get you out of my house,"
I scowled.
This was going to be a long visit.


Z


I had only been at my relative's residence for three days when my Aunt had her wonderful idea.
Now, let me explain the Hell that was the Loki Household.
The house itself wasn't bad at all, it was large and the fanciest I'd ever been around in my short thirteen years(this would change later, but I'll get to that in a moment).
I loved the servants. They were kind, they were fun, and they were smart. They put up with my family only because they had no choice. There hadn't been a governess in the house for three years. That should've been my first clue.
The family in question was made up of Uncle Nagumo, Aunt Sasiko, Dariko, the eldest cousin and the biggest brat(Unfortunatly named after my father, who was probably rolling in his grave), Young Nagumo, who took after his mother in looks and his father in intelligence, Shasiki, the younger brother, who wasn't half bad if you could get him away from Dariko and Nagumo for a few minutes, and Arishiko, who was only two and would be a baby doll until she hit about four, and then, who knew.
After only one day, I had a perpetual headache. I wanted to go home more than ever, and expressed that point vividly in the twelve letters I had sent home since my arrival at my relatives. We were at dinner when Aunt Sasiko broke the news.
"Well, Miyoko, your extremely beautiful and intelligent cousin, Dariko, and I, have come up with a way to get your awful country influence out of the house!"
Dariko beamed. I continued eating my rice. Thank the Gods! Anything was better than this!
"We're going to sell you to the slavers!" Dariko announced joyfully, proving her more stupid than I had originally thought.
Fine! Anything, even hard labor, was better than eating one more meal with her!
"Now just hold on a minute, Sasiko!" my uncle boomed from his place.
I almost choked. Uncle Nagumo hadn't said a word since I'd arrived. Everyone except Sasiko and Dariko sat up dead straight and stared straight ahead in pure shock, including Arishiko, bless her little baby heart.
"Miyoko is the daughter of my favorite brother! No one will sell a member of the Loki family into slavery!"
No, no, no! What was he doing? I felt my hopes sinking again. This was not good! At least as a slave I had the chance of escaping and going home again, and I knew for a fact Tashi would come and get me once I could get ahold of him.
"Well, do you have a better idea, Nagumo?" My aunt asked acidly, unhappy that her wonderful plan would not go through. My uncle continued eating his meal as if this was the most ordinary thing in the world.
"Let her stay," he replied as if it were the most unimportant descision he had ever made.
"NO!" Cried Sasiko, Dariko, and myself all at once. My Uncle chuckled despite himself.
"Well, she's smarter than I thought!" he said, pointing at me with his chop sticks.
How old was I? Three? I stuffed some more rice in my mouth, glaring at him even though I knew he was trying to be nice. He was my father's brother, after all.
"Fine. She's intelligent, has skills…she's not half bad looking, either…"
I blushed from the tips of my ears down. This was just getting worse and worse and worse…..
"Let's offer her to the Emperor as a serving maiden,"
"Gods! Doesn't He have enough, already! The palace is crawling with them as it is!" Dariko cried, and I caught the suspision she wouldn't mind being among their numbers. I choked back a triumphant laugh.
"He can always use one more," My uncle said determinedly, and all conversation stopped.
And so it was set.
I was going to the palace, to be presented to some old, crabby, spoiled Emperor of Konan, even though I couldn't be staying long enough to be useful in the least.
Did I mention that I hated my relatives?



Z

It was the day I was to be presented to the Emperor, his birthday.
It was also my birthday.
There had been wild celebrations all day long, parades and processions and festivals. It had been something to see, alright, as my Uncle dragged my gawking form behind him to several shops where I was measured, fitted, poked, prodded and painted until I was dizzy. The effect was frightening as I stared into my Aunt's mirror with wide eyes and a doubting attitude. I looked like the dragons in the parade I had seen earlier!
My face had been whited out to the color of snow, my lips were ruby red and my eyes were outlined and shaded dramatically with black. My cheeks had been shaded to a light pink. My Uncle said I had turned out better than expected and my cousin Shasiki said I was pretty enough to be the Emperor's bride, let alone his serving maid. This put more than a few worries in my mind and I found myself praying the Emperor was as good and kind and noble as young Nagumo and Shasiki assured me he was.
My clothes were even worse. I was wearing at least four layers, mostly silk, and I mean, for the God's sakes, hadn't anyone ever told these people that silk slides on silk!?
The outer robe was thick brocade, deep violet and embroidered with golden flowers of some sort, and a huge golden belt studded with semi-precious stones circled my waist to end in a ridiculous bow that made me feel as if my rear end was three miles long. A sheer golden layer had been the second beneath that, and showed by standing slightly ruffled above the collar of the brocaded disaster and by hanging frustratingly over my hands so that the sleeves trailed down halfway to my feet. How was I supposed to pick up anything, let alone serve someone? I hoped this would not become a daily attire. Next was a robe of light purple silk which served no purpose that I could see except to make it hard for me to breath under the weight of all of my clothing. I had been so nervous for the past two days I had barely been able to
eat, and all this added to the impossible weight of everything was making me rather dizzy. The first layer was a simple cream dress of linen. This was the most practical peice of clothing on my person at the moment, and I found myself wishing I had only to wear that. My stockings and slippers were semi acceptable, except for the fact the stockings itched with all their embroidery and the slippers were made out of impossible silk and would be ruined the first time I walked anywhere in them, let alone around a palace all day.
I could deal with my clothes just fine. I could even tolerate the whore-paint on my face. What was unforgivable was what they had done to my hair and ears.
They peirced my ears.
Worse yet, they put heavy gold earrings in them ,and I felt as if they were stretching all the way to my toes. However, even the extreme headache this was causing was nothing compared to the mess that had been inflicted upon my hair.
In my mind, my hair was my one true claim to beauty, despite what others said about my appearance.
It was the deepest black I had ever seen, thick and shiny and straight as an iced-over lake in January.
It was long, reaching well past my knees, and always smooth. I usually wore it in one or two long braids down my back. If it was a really speical occasion, I wore it loose.
They had massacred my hair. They had wanted to cut it, but I had pulled my dagger on the woman and that put and end to that. They had piled it all(and I mean all)on top of my head in a strange fashion I had never seen before, but left one braid trailing down my back. Red silk ribbons had been threaded through it all to end in a red bow on the bottom of the braid. I looked like a pagoda with a tail!
Add to that multiple necklaces and other frivolous finery, including snow white flowers of some sort tipped in pure gold, and you had one completely ridiculous looking girl, who just happened to be me.
I was furious.
The only redeming quality, I felt as I tucked my fan somewhat awkwardly into the band around my chest I had refused to remove, was Mother's gold comb, which I had tucked somewhat prettily amongst my destroyed hair. I felt the prescense of my dagger and was slightly reasured. I didn't care who he was, if that ghastly Emperor tried anything with me, I'd cut his nose off!
I tucked some handkerchiefs with my fan, and followed my relatives out to the carrige I was surprised we were taking. Everyone else in my family looked as ridiculous as I did, and I was sure once the Emperor got done laughing he would throw us in the dungeon forever for making fun of him, and then I'd have to spend all eternity with Aunt Sasiko and Cousin Dariko. Well, this was perfect.
Just perfect.