"Shishou once said that with the sakura of spring, the stars of summer, the fall's amber moon and the snow in winter, there would be no single reason why Sake should not taste good," Miryu said to Algren, her sapphire eyes looking towards the sky. She could not see the moon that night; it was hiding behind the clouds, veiled by the dark night. They had been sparring ever since Kenshin and his friends had left their house, in the final steps of finalizing the ougi of their own style, one that they decided to teach their children in the future, their children's children and more children to come…
Algren took a sip of Sake and passed it to Miryu with a kiss, grasping a lock of her dark hair. "Now tell me that it made Sake taste better for you," he teased, effectively dodging a hit that would have landed on his head. He knew what troubled his wife, he knew it well. Ever since Ohkubo came to them before he had seen Kenshin, she was often immersing herself into her training and her own thoughts.
She took his hand and said, "It did," with a blush that illuminated her face, brightened further by the candlelight glowing slightly beside her. "Sake tasted a lot worse before you did that, Nathan." Throughout their courtship, she had addressed him by his title as Captain, and by his last name, it was only after they were married that she called him by his name, which endeared him more to her, but still, it felt strange to her own tongue, despite being his wife for a whole year already. Her thoughts soon returned to Shishio, how she should have defeated him, and how she would have to defeat him when the time came. "Ten years ago, Sake tasted like blood to Kenshin and I, until we were liberated from the mindless killing ordered by our superiors."
"You were young then, you couldn't have known that you would be killing by the hundreds under orders," Algren told her, caressing the back of her hand with his thumb. "But you made the best of it when you had the chance," Miryu gave him a dry laugh in response to those words. She told him that if she had continued to serve as a shadow Hitokiri, the one that would be shot by the head and burnt would be her, and she would have had no hope to survive that fate. "Does the glass have to be half empty?"
Miryu leaned her head on his shoulder and replied, "It does not, but to that end, I owe my life to Katsura… Algren, if I could have killed Shishio that night ten years ago, nothing like this would have happened. I promised to uphold the peace of Japan, but last year, I followed a rebellion raised by my mentor and now… the man I was tasked to kill is rising against the government with Machiavellian principles, I cannot live with myself knowing this…"
If Nathan Algren had whole-heartedly believed that she had fought in that battle last year without a worry, he did not deserve to be her husband at all. Even after a year had passed, she still carried the guilt of it, even more so when the Emperor himself had given them full pardon, lavished them with Katsumoto's former abode and given Algren the rank of Samurai. But regardless, she fought to save the honor and the valor of her people, as a final stand against the coming of a new age. It pained him to see her so perplexed, but he knew that it was another challenge that she must face on her own.
With his arm around her shoulder, he offered her comfort that she needed in silence, no words could take away what she was feeling, and he would do as much as he could to alleviate her guilt and pain, as she had done for him. "Not so much of a happy-go-lucky killing machine, am I?" she asked him sheepishly, after a deep breath. "If you knew what you know now about me, would you still have married me?"
"Yes," Algren replied, tilting her chin towards him. She loved him without even considering the atrocities that he had done, she had brought him from the very edge of darkness and alcohol into a state of conscious serenity after nigh a lifetime of nightmares, he would have given his very soul to her, much less marry her. She was no angel, neither was he, but without her, his life would be nothing but whiskey and nightmares, nothing but emptiness and pain. No one was perfect, that he knew, and there would be moments were even the strongest would lose their strength.
He drew her into his arms and kissed her, waiting until she responded to him, and then deepening the kiss as he knew best, knowing that she would love every single moment of it. For just one moment, he wanted her to forget about what could have been, and what should be done, he wanted her to remember that she was only human, and she could only do so much. More importantly, he wanted her to know how much he loved her, and that he would be with her every step of the way, just as she had been with him.
"Nathan…" she breathed, leaning into his warm body as he began to deliver kisses to the arch of her neck; she loved it when he did that. It did not take long for him to discover where she most sensitive, and when he did, he exploited every single place he could find. Wrapping her white arms around his neck, she sighed as he managed to sneak a hand through the folds of her obi to lightly caress the curves of her cleavage. But in the corner of her eye, she could see a shadow moving about the courtyard, feeling a flare of Ki as Algren slid his tongue through her parted lips, no doubt, aware of the intruder as well.
Her husband then moved his hand up her thigh, and obtained the dagger she always left concealed underneath her kimono and threw it towards the intruder, who swung his katana just before the dagger could reach his heart. At first sight, he would have thought the perpetrator to be a child, but on second thought, no child had that amount of power.
The strangest thing was that he was smiling, even though Algren tried to kill him. "Sorry for interrupting your… private moment, but I come to bear a message for Tsubasa… er Algren Battouryu-san from Shishio-san, my master," the youth said with a bow.
"And what does Shishio wish to say to a married former hitokiri?" Miryu replied, her hand resting tightly on her katana. This child was more than what he appeared to be, that much she knew. He was exactly like she was ten years ago. Young, powerful and bloodthirsty, there was nothing that could possibly stop him if he wanted to begin in a dance of death. But the boy came armed with only a wakizashi, which she thought to be strange.
The boy introduced himself as Seta Soujirou, and said, "Shishio-san demands that you reconsider your choice of a husband, for a gaijin is no match for a daughter of noble birth such as you… He also pleads that you do for him what you have done for your late mentor Katsumoto Moritsugu, and he would show you pleasures greater than any man can give…"
Before he could even continue, Miryu replied, "What if I refuse Shishio's requests? As you can see, Seta-san, I am happily married with enough wealth to support the grandchildren of my great-grandchildren…" Her eyes were turning into a deep shade of amber, and she would no sooner face this boy in combat, but something told her that it was not his agenda that night. "You will return and tell Shishio that he can rot wherever he is, and I will finish what I have started ten years ago."
"Then Shishio-san says that if you still remain as stubborn as an untamed dragon, he will have no choice but to kill you," Soujirou replied with a smile. "It would be a high honor to kill the greatest warrior in Japan, even if she was a woman…" Then, he turned towards Algren and said, "Shishio-san says this to the gaijin Nathan Algren: You might have stolen the heart of the jeweled dragon that is Battouryu, but do not sit upon your victory for too long. Prepare to be a widower before the end, if you value your life, for only fools like your lovely wife would ever think to stand against me."
Algren raised an eyebrow. Was it an Oriental trait to think that all Westerners were inferior to them? While it would be fair to say that Shishio had chosen his words from the information that he had gathered about him, but kenjutsu was not the only way to fight. "I'll think about it," he told Soujirou, holding Miryu's hand openly.
"Is this your answer, Battouryu?" Soujirou asked. "You will stand against Shishio-san, even when he promises you to rule by his side when all his goals are accomplished?"
Miryu chuckled and said, "I turned down the chance to become an Empress when I was your age, Seta-san, I think I can turn it down a second time. Besides, does your master not have a woman that loves him? Komagata Yumi, that Oiran whose name could melt hearts with barely a whisper? Why would he want me as well?" While she might not look like it, her own intelligence network spread far and wide, for she had both the Oniwabanshuu and Saito at her side. Information could be easily gathered from both sources, and what she had found out about Shishio staggered her. He had been to Shanghai in China, and had contacted a weapons dealer, purchasing something with a huge sum of money… Somehow, she knew that it would be a big part of his plans for Japan's dominion…
It was Soujirou's turn to laugh. "Well, that's because Yumi-san would also welcome you into the relationship," he answered. "Like me, she understands that only the very best deserves to help Shishio-san. She would be willing to share him with you, if it pleases Shishio-san…"
Polygamy was rampant in Japan, Miryu's paternal grandfather had many concubines, and her father was conceived by his favorite, a gaijin said to be saved from a capsized trading ship from Europe… It would be natural that this former Oiran would agree for her to be another concubine of Shishio. But for Algren, it was strange and downright wrong. He would not subject the woman he loved to such a fate, and he told it to Soujirou, adding, "If Shishio wants Miryu, he would have to go through me first."
Miryu put a hand on Algren's and smiled to him. "I have heard enough, Seta-san, and I have no need to deliberate on this at all. Return with a message of my own: I will not cooperate, and we shall meet again, along with Battousai and we shall destroy him before he is even able to destroy Japan."
"Then so be it," Soujirou said, a smile still present in his features. And then, as quickly as he had appeared, he disappeared, leaping out of the vast estate from tree to tree until he was over the high walls. It was only then did Miryu sigh a breath of relief.
Algren looked at his wife and asked, "Are you alright?"
She nodded and kissed his temple. "I am… that boy, there is something about him. I was not aware of him until he chose to reveal himself… Why?" Although Algren was a proficient fighter, he was not trained in any way to utilize Ki, only focused on the effectiveness of taking down his opponents, due to the culture of his training. "He would be a difficult opponent…"
He smiled, and kissed her back, asking her not to worry, before he began to rain kisses all over her flawless face. "Now, where were we?" he asked.