Disclaimer: I do not own Ai Yori Aoshi and Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi. This is the property of Kou Fumizuki, Pioneer/Geneon, and JC Staff.

Blue Monarch
Act 1, Scene 4

Aoi's presence at home was not heralded loudly; rather, it was as if she had never been away. She had seamlessly slipped back into the life of waiting for Kaoru-sama. When word had reached mother and father that their only daughter was home, she had already been settled there for a few weeks. Many of the family servants had politely chalked up Aoi-sama's reluctance to step outside of her room to her trademark shyness.

As short sighted and selfish as it was, Aoi was purely content to brood and live out the rest of her days enclosed in the confines of Sakuraba, torturing herself behind the maze of shoji and high walls. And as much as she hated to worry Miyabi and her family, there was little she could do, or wanted to do, about the pain. It was almost a month, and it still felt fresh.

She had precariously left the safe isolation of her little room for the narrow hallway, and was following it to where her father awaited.

At this moment, being summoned to hold an audience before her father frightened her. She had presented herself before him many times, and the worst she had ever felt was anxiety. The thought of explaining herself to her father, explaining how Kaoru-sama had betrayed her, made the heat of anger and shame blossom from her chest throughout her body.

What could she say to him? How could she explain her sudden return home?

She silently padded into the empty chamber. It hurt to be there, for it was the same room where she and Kaoru-sama had made their case before her father. To admit how wrong she was to that stony figure of clan authority... the heat in her chest throbbed. How could she admit defeat when she had fought so much already?

Aoi kneeled at the far end of the room, facing the front where her father would most likely sit: underneath the red banner with the Sakuraba crest. She tilted her head downwards and closed her eyes, feigning a pose of serenity and inner peace that she greatly lacked.

The shoji slid open, and the heavier steps of her father entered. Cloth rustled and his weight fell as he also took a formal position before his child.

"Aoi."

She bowed passively.

"Otou-sama."

Aoi straightened in her father's presence. She made her body as rigid and unbending as his will, trying to contain herself.

"You are home so suddenly, daughter. I trust that things are well with you and the Hanabishi boy?" His tone was piqued, almost expecting her return to be the result of some tiff. His fatherly inflection almost asked: Why do you not smile? What did he do to hurt you?

"Things are well, Otou-sama." Aoi bowed until her forehead touched the floor. She could not let him see her face as she strained to explain her retreat. "Kaoru-sama and I had discussed our arrangements and we had come to the mutual agreement that we must be prepared for the future. Should he be unable to find himself in a good position where he can provide for both of us, I must be taken care of. We must be realistic, considering ourselves and our situation. He is not part of Hanabishi and I am still of Sakuraba; I am of the head, while he is not." She licked her lips, as if that would help the lie slip through. "Though we must separate, we still care for each other deeply. Each of us has realized that there are duties greater than us. So I have come home to consider another arrangement." She slowly righted herself. "I owe you and Okaa-sama that much."

If her father knew that she was lying, he did not let it show.

Her eyes were half-lidded, and she could not bear to look at him as he contemplated her words. If there was one thing that made her so anxious about her father, it was when he was thinking; it was much easier to bear when he barked out his straightforward demands. His face was always so grave and he looked as if he were weighing someone's life, questioning their worth to live. While such wild thoughts had faded away as she grew older, the fact that he held the power to control the lives of the family, the zaibatsu, intimidated her. Even more so now that it could be turned against her, against Kaoru-sama.

Sakuraba-sama nodded.

Aoi tried not to jump at the movement.

"Very well, my daughter. It is your choice."

She did not know how to take this acknowledgement. His tone did not give anything away.