The next morning [Y/N] woke slow and easy, aware of her body lying on the floor. Her memory began to flicker to life, a draft bringing a reminder that her hair had been hacked away into a short style, unlike any that she had in her life. She recalled the anger at Shuzu, Hanzo's father for belittling her verbally and beating her while threatening her future—until Lady Shimada, Ryoko, came into the scene and put a stop to it. Her mind became less muddied as she shifted under the thick covers, keeping her eyes closed as an attempt to deny the fact she was waking up.

There was shifting under the thick blanket and [Y/N] felt her body twitch in response as she became aware of the larger body beside her. Slowly she opened her eyes, blinking away the last remnants of sleep as Hanzo's body came into focus. He was still asleep, her archer, his face relaxed and calm in a way she had not seen before.

His face was not the perfected mask of reservation that he wore when he was awake, he seemed truly at ease, lost to the worries and turmoil of their waking life. [Y/N] felt a pull on her heart, as if some unseen force was toying with it, pulling it both up and down. She felt her eyes prickle with tears, a heat spreading through her chest like fire. There had been a chance, just the day before that she could never have seen this side of Hanzo. She might not have ever seen him again if Shuzu had been successful in his plot.

The heat intensified with the thought of loosing Hanzo forever, the cool draft was soon forgotten, and the inviting warmth of the cover became smothering. She raised herself up to a sitting position, glancing around the room for any eyes but found they were alone for the moment. The shifting of weight in the futon caused Hanzo to stir slightly, rolling over onto his side to face [Y/N] and adjust himself so he lay comfortably beside her. Tentatively [Y/N] reached down and moved a stray lock of Hanzo's long black hair away from his neck, smiling down at him before stroking his hair gently so not to wake him. His breathing was light and his hair silky to her touch, it made her think of her own hair and she worried if Hanzo would be able to cope with her new shorter style now that the immediate danger was over.

She put her hand to her own hair and felt the short locks tickle her hand as she ran her fingers over her scalp. The anger began to build again, this time prompting her to leave the comfort of the bed, despite a twinge of guilt for leaving Hanzo alone—but she did not want him to wake and see her fuming with anger. He didn't deserve that after the events of the day before, he deserved time to rest and relax. There would be time for anger and tension for him, but for now, she wanted to preserve his peacefulness.

[Y/N] tiptoed her way to the door and as she slipped outside, she cast a longing look over her shoulder to Hanzo's sleeping form. She wished that she wasn't so angry, that she could climb back into the bed and take comfort in his presence, to deny the outside world and its troubles until they were forced back into it. She closed the door softly, savoring the last view before turning and striding down the hall toward the main rooms of the estate. She wanted to talk more with Ryoko, to find the next logical course of action and ask in greater detail about Shuzu's punishment and Hanzo's grooming, as well as her own training.

Time is precious now, [Y/N] thought to herself as she stepped out into the garden path that lead past the storehouse and toward the main house. We can't afford to get too comfortable. If anyone outside the Shimada's learn that I am an orphan they will move in on my home and steal away the assets. Without those I have no sway, no power within the spiral. Other lords will want to marry off their daughters to Hanzo and Genji to secure their position. Ryoko is powerful and formidable, but I do not think even she could stand up to the spiral alone, and who in their right mind would anger the other families for the sake of a noble in love with an unfortunate orphan?

She had pushed away the unpleasant thought as she neared Ryoko's private room, nodding to the servant who called into the room for her.

"Lady Shimada, Lady [L/N] is here." The young woman spoke respectfully and gently but loud enough to be heard through the doors.

"Send her in," Ryoko's voice was light and [Y/N] would have sworn that he heard a hint of a chuckle in her words. The servant pulled one of the doors open enough that [Y/N] could walk through, when she did she found Ryoko being groomed by two servant women, one combing her long black hair while the other gathered sections to be pulled into one of the elegant styles that [Y/N] had come to know. "Good morning my dear, it seems more or less common courtesy to ask how you slept, though I wager it was not well—given the prior days events."

"I actually slept pretty well, given the circumstance." [Y/N] started to say more but caught the eye of one of the servants and decided to keep quiet instead. Ryoko raised a delicate brow as [Y/N] closed her mouth and cast her eyes to the ground.

"You've already learned a hard lesson hatchling." Ryoko smiled as the first servant finished combing through her long locks and handed the strand of hair off to the second as servant as she placed it in the looping style she had created. The hair resembling a butterfly kept in place by several decorative hair pins.

[Y/N] didn't lift her eyes until the women had been dismissed and Ryoko rose to her feet. "You don't want to divulge sensitive information to anyone you don't trust. You know that you have to have trust in me, but that doesn't extend to those in service. They could easily betray you if it meant pleasing whoever it is they serve." [Y/N] simply lifted her eyes, watching as Ryoko walked to the other side of the room and began slipping into a kimono. "You've already learning, and I don't need to tell you that we have to be very careful until you and Hanzo are wed."

"I was going to ask about that," [Y/N]'s voice wavered, she could feel a nest of squirming worms in her stomach, knotting themselves into a mess with her growing worry. She saw Ryoko adjust the layers of her kimono delicately, listening with one ear turned toward her. "Should we move the wedding up, and how soon could we move it up without drawing suspicion?"

Ryoko let out a "hm" before turning back to face [Y/N], her face slowly darkening with thought. Her eyes narrowed as she walked back to [Y/N]. "The marriage would solve our biggest problems, but I want to see if you know what they are."

[Y/N] did not hesitated, "The Spiral finding out that my father, head of the [L/N] clan has been assassinated," She wrung her hands together, half in nerves and half in anger. "If the clans more central to the spire find out that my house has been eliminated they will peck away at my father's lands and assets like vultures amongst themselves. If they find out that we decided to keep the marriage arrangement they may sense weakness in the Shimada clan and conspire to have you all killed as well to make room for a…more ruthless family."

"Indeed." Ryoko crossed her arms and nodded for the younger woman to continue with her line of thought.

"So we have to keep up a charade that my father is still alive, keep my estate in working order and forge the documents that have my fathers estate transferred into Hanzo's name at the marriage ceremony. Then it will no longer belong to the [L/N] clan but the Shimada clan. No one will care if the former head of the estate has died, as long as the new one is in control. The Spiral will have no need to battle against the Shimada clan if we can fool them into thinking that all is well within the two homes…" [Y/N] trailed off, biting her lip. "But how?"

"That is one of the smaller problems we must face, solve and bury beyond the shadow of doubts." Ryoko explained, she shuffled from her spot to another, and then back again. Her pace smooth, measured and with purpose.

"You said that no one outside the family and some trusted servants know about everything that has went on…right?" [Y/N] put a hand to her mouth, gently pulling on her bottom lip as her mind raced with thoughts. Ryoko stopped her pacing and looked down to [Y/N] with a guarded stare.

"Yes, and unless any of Shuzu's little rats have managed to escape…" She paused she looked toward a dark corner of the room. "Which is very unlikely…then the only people who are aware of your fathers passing are you, myself, Shuzu, my sons and a handful of trusted servants that cleaned up the tea room and prepared your father for burial." Her face turned dark, her eyes narrowing hatefully at the corner, as if she could see Shuzu standing there, "At least Shuzu had the sense to see to that correctly. Now to fabricate a believable and backable story to fool those who may ask questions."

Both women fell silent for a time, [Y/N] shifting her weight nervously from her position on the floor as Ryoko went back to pacing. After a few moments Ryoko began growling in frustration, her brows knitting together and her teeth clenched in an angry snarl as her pacing quickened, almost stomping. "We need a story to tell that will keep your father out of sight of anyone who might wish to see him until we can announce his death…but what?"

[Y/N] sat in tormented silence, half of her was cursing Shuzu for putting his family in this situation. If he had simply allowed the marriage to follow through, none of this would be happening. Hanzo, Genji, Ryoko and the rest of the Shimada clan would be safe. Her father would still be alive and plots would not need to be thought of. The other half was flipping through thoughts like paper in a book, trying to find the solution they needed quickly. As time wore on, her stomach began to sour, and she knew Hanzo would be waking soon—she wanted nothing more than to separate both of them from the mess entirely and go back to planning their wedding happily.

Without warning, her thoughts seemed to quell. Her mind was silent, at peace as a memory surfaced. Once, when she was but a child, she had fallen ill. To ensure a swift recovery and to keep it from spreading—her father had placed her in a room off to itself and only the doctor and a single maid were allowed to spend time with her. The doctor to tend to her sickness and the maid to tend to her every need. She had almost went stir-crazy locked in the single room, she remembered being bored and almost wishing she was at the Shimada estate during the time, at least Genji would have snuck into her rooms through the ceiling. She remembered the terrible fever and chills that had taken her and her asking the doctor through tears if she was going to die.

"Sickness." [Y/N] said flatly, meant to be more to herself than to Ryoko, but the older woman heard and froze in her place. Slowly, she turned her head to face her, leaning toward her to hear more clearly. "We could say…" [Y/N] held out a hand, her thoughts slowly coming together, "That my father has fallen too ill to make the trip home, and sent me and Hanzo to keep things sustained at the estate until he can return…" She spoke slowly, watching as Ryoko curled a finger over her thin lips, her eyes scanning the ground in thought. "The Shimada family has the funds to access better care than my family, it would make sense to entrust the last living adult of the [L/N] clan to the care of better doctors and keep things in order until their return."

"Or until the passing of the assets to the new son-in-law…just before their untimely death." Ryoko's words were purred, the corners of her mouth slowly curling upward as her dark eyes glinted. [Y/N] felt a small shiver of fear run through her, [Y/N] could swear Ryoko became more dragon like with every passing moment.

"What about the burial?" [Y/N] asked, feeling a flood of dread pass through her—the lie seemed easy enough until this point. The servants and family would rightfully expect a burial—they wouldn't be able to preserve a corpse to pass it as recently deceased in the time it would take to execute the ruse.

"By then Shuzu will have worn out his usefulness. With the marriage ceremony completed, Shuzu will step down as the 'head' of the clan." Ryoko waved her hand dismissively with a scoff, obviously disgusted. "Hanzo will become the head of the Shimada line, we can kill Shuzu off—wrap him up for the funeral, claim that the sickness did irreparable damage to the skin and don't want to risk the disease spreading. We burn him on a pyre, call him by your father's name and consider it dealt with. Who goes wondering about the dead men anyway? It is the breathing ones that everyone needs to be wary of."

"And what of the doctors or maids that would tend to my father during this time?" [Y/N] asked, "Who would you name when others would ask? The head of a clan falls ill enough to pass, who would you charge with keeping up the lie?"

"As a clan close to the center of the Spiral, the Shimada clan has our own private selection of doctors. They work only when we call for them, only for ourselves and in return we take care of them and their families. I would choose our eldest, most loyal physician. He will be able to fabricate a faux disease for your father to succumb to peacefully."

"And he has no connection to other Spiral members?"

"None. He lives on the Shimada estate and lives a simple life, aside from being called on when my sons, or myself got sick. He does not even need to go to a market for his wares and food. We provide it all for him, and have since he was young. He is an elderly man now, with children and grandchildren who also live on the Shimada estate and have their own jobs. They are fiercely loyal." She grinned a mischievous grin that made a part of [Y/N] worry—she never wanted Ryoko as an adversary.

Ryoko kneeled in front of [Y/N] and put a cool hand under her chin, [Y/N] fought to ignore the initial flinch, both at the unexpected touch, and the coolness of her skin. "You my dear are going to raise the Shimada clan many levels with my son by your side. Together you two could change the very world itself, should you put your sharp mind to use for such a feat. I am so relieved to have a daughter with such a…" She paused and released [Y/N]'s chin, sitting back on her knees, "Bright mind." She clapped her hands and called for the servants to return, getting to her feet. The women began tying her obi and adjusting her kimono until she looked like the noble lady that she was supposed to be, [Y/N] had a moment of thought that it was much like a mask. Ryoko was a fierce storm, concealed behind a pretty exterior.

Ryoko only made light small talk between orders to the servants about daily duties. Shuzu was still to be kept inside the storeroom between the main estate and Hanzo's rooms and was to be denied any food, and given minimal water and clothing to sustain him until Ryoko commanded otherwise. She made plans for breakfast and ordered that Hanzo and Genji be seen to, and kept away from the storeroom until she had a chance to talk with them at length about their father and the future of the clan. They would all have to play their part if the ruse was going to work.

When Ryoko was dressed and the servants were dismissed she glanced down at [Y/N] still sitting in the floor, "You haven't dressed for the day yet my dear." The older woman gave her a motherly smile and held out her hand to help her get to her feet. "No matter what goes on behind closed doors hatchling, we as women must keep up our appearances. If nothing more than giving a façade that everything is as it should be. No matter how we feel on the inside, we must give the image that we are fine." She gestured for [Y/N] to follow her as she walked toward the door. "Although no one outside the family will see us, we must keep in practice."

"I understand Lady Shimada." [Y/N] responded and straightened her back, using her hands to smooth out her kimono before smiling at Ryoko with confidence, though only in appearance.

"Good little hatchling."