About Kitsune Saiguu…
Ei had had a long day. A really, really long day. If her Shogun puppet and newly deemed Kagemusha had spoken true, she and her had battled in Makoto's realm of consciousness for five hundred years. That that was the same amount of time since Makoto's death and the sudden appearance of the Sacred Sakura (at least in her perspective) was not lost on her.
She had remininsced events that still felt raw to her no matter that in her mind, over a thousand years had passed, (a thousand in truth and another thousand spent battling with her own creation). After so long, she had finally understood her beloved sister's vision, of Transience and Eternity, and what she had to do to lead Inazuma into its future.
The Traveler was before her and Miko. Ei couldn't help but listen diligently as they asked their questions, feeling a strong debt to the person who had helped her fulfill her sister's last wish and say her final goodbye to her.
They were kindred spirits, she and the Traveler, they both knew the pain of losing a sibling. For their sake, she hoped dearly that what they wished for came true and they reunited with their sibling one day. And if the truth about Khaen'riah ever came out, Ei would not pass up the chance to too learn what it was that had caused the cataclysm and her sister's death five hundred years ago. Mushou Isshin would taste the blood of the one responsible.
As Miko threatened the Traveler into silence, Ei couldn't help but smile gently. Miko hid her embarrassment well, but Ei had known her since she was but a little fox pup, practically raised her in some ways. She had a very strong inkling what it had been she had said, and couldn't help but laugh internally at her friend's fluster even as she acted none the wiser and innocently asked what they were talking about.
She had thought they were done then, had sensed the Traveler was going to leave soon, off on yet another of their quests. But then she heard them ask a question she did not expect.
"About Kitsune Saiguu…, could you tell me more about her?" the Traveler asked.
She froze, remembering the last time she had ever seen her friend, as she promised to look after Inazuma in her stead and all but ordered her to go after her sister.
Miko answered in her stead, "My predecessor was someone I greatly looked up to. She was the one responsible for teaching me much of what I know now. Not a day goes by that I do not miss her."
Ei was reminded then, that Miko had suffered pain and loss too all those years ago, and she had shut her out, her last friend. Yet another thing she had to make amends for it seemed.
"You might consider that she had a sense of humor that was out of line in many ways, making inappropriate jokes at all the wrong times. Yet she was always good for a laugh, and you could count on her to lighten your mood," Ei contributed.
"Yet she had a more solemn and serious side to her too, and she was very concerned with the memories of those past, always seeking to lessen their pain and give them rest," Miko answered softly.
Ei wondered even now, what her friend's final moments had been like? As they had encountered more and more memories spewing out from the damaged roots of the Sacred Sakura, she had been secretly hoping to find her memories and tell her all the things she couldn't say.
The wound left by Makoto's passing had begun to heal somewhat, with her final closure from meeting her once last time. But some other wounds, she feared they would never truly heal.
"Kitsune Saiguu… was that her real name, or simply a title?" Traveler asked then.
Ei blinked. "It was a title. She was a surprisingly private person. By her own request, her true name was only ever known to her close friends and never put on any official documents or historical record. Why do you ask?"
The Traveler took a deep breath then, almost like they were… nervous? "Was her real name Kazari?"
She hadn't forgotten, she never could have, but the shock of hearing that name again for the first time in centuries, from the lips of someone who should have no way of knowing it stunned her. In the corner of her eye, she glimpsed that even Miko looked a little surprised.
"How… how do you know that name?" she asked, losing her composure.
The traveler brought out a mask then, and placed it into her hands. It was nothing more than an ordinary fox mask worn by some of the shrine maidens, Miko had one also, but she could feel it was different. It was faint, but she could sense her friend's power on the mask, yet weak, tainted somehow, like the shadow of a memory.
The Traveler told their story then, of how they had met the memories of Kitsune Saiguu, a masked shrine maiden who had introduced herself as Kazari. She had guided the Traveler into completing the Sacred Sakura Cleansing Ritual, having seemingly gotten tired of Miko's procrastination on the matter. As the story concluded, the Traveler told them both of Kazari's final moments, of the filth being purified, and her with it, finally being able to be at peace.
"Thank you, for telling me this. It means a lot to me, to both of us," Ei said at long last.
Miko was silent, and Ei turned her attention on her, "Did you know?"
She shook her head, "I believed it to have been one of the many other shrine maidens that passed, what were the chances it was her?"
"You can keep the mask if you want," the Traveler offered, and for a moment Ei felt tempted to accept. But after everything that the Traveler had done for her and for Inazuma, she couldn't in good conscience strip away the last piece they had to remember Kazari from them. They deserved something to remember her by. She had never even hoped to learn the circumstances of her friend's final fate, to know that she had returned to fulfill her duties and had finally been able to be at peace, was enough for her.
She placed the mask back in the Traveler's hands and closed their hand around it. "Keep it. It was meant for you, not I."
The Traveler was the one who had honored her friend's last wishes, they were the ones who deserved to keep the last piece of her. Ei walked off to the Sacred Sakura Tree when the Traveler departed, a few scattered tears breaking free from her mask of stone.
Miko walked up to her, but she said nothing, only resting a hand on her back as they shared their grief. She allowed herself to break then, weeping for Makoto, for Kazari, for Chiyo, Sasayuri, Furuyama and all the countless friends she had lost over the years. But for once the pain felt cathartic, like by finally crying she could let it go.
It had been a long, long day, but if Raiden Ei was being honest, it had probably been the best one she'd had in over 500 years.
