"This is such good news! Congratulations!" Aku gave Chiyono a hug from behind, which she knew would have made her uncomfortable had she been in full presence of mind.

Chiyono was standing in Jinjuu Manor, stock-still, her face a big blank, mouth and eyes open. She was staring at the scroll she held in her hand, which had just been delivered by a servant from the Ministry of Spring. Written on it were the details of Chiyono's new life. The most important being that she had been accepted into the Ministry as a shikan, one of the keepers of the Kingdom's history, tasked with both preserving it and teaching it to the masses. "I can't believe it," she muttered.

"Can't believe what? being shikan or Shoushi?" Because, of course, being hired on as a shikan meant she got title as well. She had been fitted into one of the comparatively, though not very, highly-ranked positions available—Aku was guessing the thing the Shousouhaku had had her read was actually quite difficult writing, enough to impress him and, combined with the Taiho's sponsorship, that was plenty to get her partway up the ranks. Besides, all any shikan really had to do was read and write. Anyone educated could do it, if they were only lucky enough to have the right connections. But anyway, the rank of shikan she had been assigned was one of those who worked in the Palace, with the title Shoushi, and as such, she was to be made a sennin.

"I mean getting work here at all," Chiyono muttered. Sounding a little strange, she added, "I don't even know what shikan and Shoushi mean."

So, still holding on to Chiyono. Aku went on explaining the position of the shikan in the government. It was a rather modest one, and she tried not to make it sound more impressive than it actually was. She was just so pleased it was hard. It took a little longer explaining the ins and outs of her new social status. Basically, that she no longer had to bow to Shi (metaphorically and literally), but did have to to Daibu on up, then kneeling to Kou on up, and that, technically, commoners were supposed to bow to her as a matter of course now, as would lower ranked Shi, including Hokumi, who she had met staying here. Hokumi had already been bowing to her out of politeness—or possibly just being cautious, as it was likely she had no idea what Chiyono's social position was—but that wasn't the point. And, of course, there was a lot more to it than that, but a lot of it was more nebulous things that were impossible to explain in the minute or so she gave herself.

This whole explanation just seemed to turn Chiyono's face whiter. "Wow." Slightly lower, quietly enough it was hard to hear, she said, "Do I, um…"

"What?"

"...deserve this?"

It took a moment for Aku to organize her thoughts on the matter. "The way I see it, there are four ways you can come into power. One is to be born with it, like I was. Another is to work hard for it until you earn it. Another is to have it given to you for doing absolutely nothing, and doing absolutely nothing to justify it. The last is to have it given to you for doing absolutely nothing, but then working your ass off to prove you deserve it." Chiyono let out a slight laugh, which made Aku smile wider. "I believe you will fall into the last one. And, really, that is how most appointments into government work, those last two. Most people are chosen by being in the right place at the right time, or knowing the right people, and has little to do with their efforts. Some of these people justify their luck by doing their jobs and doing them well. Others don't, and we don't like them so much. They don't tend to last long. Put yourself in the fourth category, most people won't have a problem with you at all."

"Most people?"

"There will be some who don't like the idea of a kaikyaku working in the Palace, but just ignore them." Before Chiyono could say anything, Aku gave her a quick squeeze, let go, and started walking toward the door. "Come on, let's check out your new apartment." She snatched the scroll from Chiyono's hands, checked where her new home was, and set off in that direction. All awhile she babbled on about the structure of the Palace, how they were now in the Inner Palace, where this this and that were located, but then they were on the eastern edge of the Outer Palace, where the highest offices of the Ten Provincial government were located. There was a little more buzzing around of officials here. As the two of them passed, the workers stopped in their places to bow low to Kyourin before moving off again. Normally, it would have been appropriate to get on the ground, but Aku had long ago trained them not to do that. That had always made her uncomfortable, ever since she had been a child.

Aku considered bringing her through the Ministry of Spring again, but that was out of the way, and Aku was sure a superior would give her a tour when she started the day after tomorrow. So instead they headed through a gate, and down through the mountain. Chiyono got one look at the stairs and let out a moan, but Aku quickly explained they were enchanted, and would bring them to the bottom of the mountain much quicker than she would think. In fact, it was only two short flights before they were at the Outer Court, most of the way down the mountain. The Outer Court was the size of a city, a spread of homes and offices for the less important court officials, on a breezy cleft partway up the mountain. Chiyono would be living here from now on. With repeated glances at her surroundings—Aku rarely came down here—and mostly ignoring the people prostrating themselves—they only did for that reason—Aku eventually tracked down Chiyono's new home. She stood at the side of the door, and with a big smile, waved Chiyono in. Looking very hesitant, Chiyono took from Aku the key that had come with the scroll, turned the lock, and stepped inside.

Aku wasn't surprised by the simplicity of the place. It was made of modest stone and wood, with a sitting and cooking area, a room walled off so she couldn't see that had to be for sleeping. Though it was made of humble materials, no precious metals or silk to be seen, it was nonetheless shining clean. It was fully furnished, but still looked bare. As Chiyono looked around in disbelieving wonder—it had to be much better than anywhere she'd lived in her five years this side of Kyokai—Aku nodded and said, "Take a look around, put together a shopping list."

Chiyono turned to Aku, her face still somewhat blank. "Shopping list?"

"You know, things you'll need. Clothes, linens, food. Things like that. No offense, but you can't be a shikan dressed like that," she said, gesturing at Chiyono's cheap wool clothes with her eyes.

"I haven't been paid yet," Chiyono muttered, looking away.

"So?"

"I don't have any money to buy anything with."

"I was planning on paying for it." When Chiyono gave her a baffled frown, she said, "The Kingdom gives me a—I guess you could call it an allowance—and I never use it. Consider it all a housewarming gift."

Chiyono's mouth opened some time before she spoke. "That's really too much, Taiho."

"Not at all," Aku said with a smile and a dismissive wave of her hand. "And you can keep calling me Aku."

"But, um…" Chiyono looked over Aku's shoulder.

Aku glanced the same way to see Meiri was standing there, looking out the door, as though watching for attackers. Oh. She hadn't even noticed her Daiboku had been following her, but of course she had been. She's good. "That's just my Daiboku, don't worry about her."

"Daiboku?"

"Chief bodyguard."

"Right." Chiyono took in and out a deep breath. "But you really don't have to, Aku."

"It's fine, I want to."

Chiyono breathed again, and nodded. "When do you have time?"

With a frown Aku said, "What?"

"When do you have to time to go shopping? I mean, you have court…"

Aku smiled again. "Privy Council meets five days a week, and Provincial four. This is an off day for both of them."

"Oh." Without another word, Chiyono started inspecting her new home.

"Wait right here," Aku said, "I'll be back." They would need something to carry their purchases. She darted off toward the Inner Court again. At a shout from her Daiboku, Aku remembered she wasn't supposed to go anywhere unprotected, so she slowed down to a rate she would be able to keep up. Once they got up to the stables in the Outer Palace, grabbing a little money on the way, Aku borrowed a kijuu. Meiri said she would meet back up with her in a minute, heading off toward the Inner Palace, likely to grab her own kijuu. Aku waved goodbye, then guided the greenish, horse-like kijuu, loaded with empty saddlebags, out into the open air.

Soon she landed in front of Chiyono's home. Before she had even jumped off, Chiyono came out. "I didn't have anything to write with, so I'm going to have to try to remember it all."

"Okay, hop on."

They descended toward the city. Having asked Chiyono what was on her list, Aku debated. These weren't the kind of things she typically bought, so she wasn't sure where to go. She decided the market was a good place to start. It was a courtyard built in blue stone, which had over the years been gradually filled with wooden booths selling all manner of things. It was always a boisterous, lively place. Aku had walked through it a few times, just to see how things were doing, but she had never actually bought anything there. Once, a bowl of noodles from a food stand—which, despite assurances that it had no meat, had been boiled in fish broth, so she had immediately thrown it up—but other than that.

With a rush of wings, they landed in an available area of the courtyard, just off the clear, splashing fountain in the middle. Aku nimbly leapt off, and turned to give Chiyono a little help down. As she did, she glanced around to see no one was giving them a second glance. A kijuu landing like this was a common occurrence. Good. She didn't want to attract too much attention.

She wondered where her bodyguards were. They had to be around somewhere. They were probably shadowing her from the, well, shadows. She took another quick look around, thought she might have seen someone with Palace Guard armor behind a booth. Okay, they were around. Good. She wouldn't want to make Touke angry by running off without her protection. She did think they were pretty unnecessary. With her shirei, these people could come at her all they wanted, and they would never be able to touch her. Even a thousand ordinary men were no match for a coordinated pack of youma the size she commanded. The thought of shedding that much blood made her queasy, so she cast the thought out before her breakfast came up. She had managed to go almost a hundred years without her shirei killing anyone—at least, excluding the ones she had tasked to protecting Touke—and she hoped she could keep that streak for as long as possible. Besides, her shirei killing someone was almost indistinguishable from killing someone herself, and she couldn't stomach the thought.

So they wandered around the market. Mostly they bought food to stock Chiyono's new kitchen, but they did manage to find a few other essentials. Aku was enjoying herself, enough that, while taking a big bite out of a bigger red fruit, said, "You should call me whenever you have to go shopping." The idea made Chiyono a little flustered. By the time they were done with that, it was time for lunch. Rather than going back to the palace, they picked up some things from food stands. Aku just got fruit and tea, but Chiyono got noodles. Stupid noodles. She had always wanted to try them, but they were always boiled in meat broth. Maybe she could talk to the kitchens about it.

After eating, Aku asked a random person wearing silk where the best place to buy stuff like that was, and got directions. Chiyono's mouth dropped open when she saw the place. They had clothes of the proper dignity, and a few more casual sets, tailored to fit her. When Chiyono heard the total, she started protesting, but Aku paid without a word and led the way out of the store. "You really shouldn't be spending that much money on me," she said on the way out.

Aku turned to give her an amused look. "Do you really think the Kingdom is going to notice something so small as that? Besides, if you were to buy it yourself, the same amount of gold would be taken from the Reserves. So what's the difference?"

That logic didn't seem to sit well for the first couple seconds, but then Chiyono sighed and said simply, "Whatever."

Aku patted her on the back a couple times, then led her with one arm around hers, the other holding the reins of their loaded kijuu. "You'll get used to it eventually. So, is there anything else you—"

"Taiho!"

The voice was coming from her shadow. She immediately recognized she was being attacked without taking in her surroundings. The best thing to do, her shirei had told her, was to keep moving. She took off, dragging Chiyono along, simply abandoning the kijuu. They could come back for it. Chiyono apparently gathered something bad was happening, for she said nothing, pacing Aku. With randomized, back and forth movements, Aku quickly put distance between herself and where she had been. But not quickly enough.

"Close your eyes!"

Before she did, Aku glanced ahead. She had taken a side street, to hopefully slip past her attackers, but in front of her were six men with drawn swords. Crap. She stopped in place, let go of Chiyono so she could cover her ears, and squeezed her eyes tightly shut. Queued in by Chiyono's gasp of shock, probably from the youma appearing from nowhere, she ground her teeth as the slaughter approached. From around her screams resounded from the common people.

Even covering her ears as hard as she could, she couldn't block out the noises. The snarls of her shirei, the screams of the men, the tearing of flesh, the splattering of blood on the ground. She thought she would be sick.

The scent of blood filled the air.

"Taiho!" called a voice from behind her, this one human, Meiri's, drawing nearer. "Taiho, are you alright?" There was a growl from a shirei in the same direction, clearly blocking Meiri from advancing. "I'm her Daiboku," she said to the shirei. Then, "Aku, tell your shirei to—"

"There is blood on you," Nansou said. There must have been more around where she'd fled. Speaking of blood, the smell was getting thicker. She got more and more nauseous, and she felt the strength gradually leaving her limbs.

Meiri swore. "Clean up," she barked to her men. "Taiho, take your kijuu—it didn't get near the fighting—and fly straight to the Palace. No detours."

Aku nodded. She said to Chiyono, "Lead me to the kijuu." She reached out her arm, inviting Chiyono to join them together. After a moment she did, though her arm was shaking a little. A vicious youma attack would put anyone on edge. "Keep me away from the—from the—" Aku took a long breath. "Keep me away from the bodies."

"Yes, Taiho," Chiyono muttered, sounding shaken to the core. But she led her at a steady pace. Soon, Aku was blindly climbing on to the kijuu—which took more effort than it should, weakened by blood as she was—and they were in the air. After a moment flying, Chiyono said, "Was that a youma?"

Aku nodded.

"I didn't know you could tame youma."

"Only Kirin can."

Chiyono made a humming sound. As they were approaching the Outer Court, Chiyono spoke again. "Your bodyguard said no detours."

"I'm just dropping you and your stuff off and going straight back to Jinjuu to rest."

"Rest?"

"The blood."

With a frown on her voice—Chiyono was behind her, so she couldn't see it—Chiyono said, "What do you mean?"

"Blood makes Kirin sick. I'm weak and I need a little bit to recover."

Chiyono paused a moment, probably taking in how Aku was leaning against the kijuu's neck. "Ah."

"I'll be fine."

"I'm sorry."

Aku frowned. "What for?"

"If you hadn't been helping me, you wouldn't have been attacked, and you wouldn't have gotten sick."

"It's not your fault. Things like this have been happening a lot lately. I leave the Palace often enough it was going to happen sooner or later."

"Still, I feel bad."

"Don't."

Aku dropped Chiyono off and flew for the Forbidden Gate. Soon she was landing inside. She stumbled slightly on the way out, and before she knew what was happening, someone had sent for a palanquin, and she was being carried to Jinjuu Manor. A worm of guilt for making people carry her twisted in her gut, but there wasn't a lot she could do about it. On her own,she would probably collapse before she made it to Jinjuu. Soon she was in her favorite room, laying on her favorite divan. Hokumi, her voice sounding overly concerned, offered her food and drink, but she denied it all, saying she just wanted to sleep. With a long sigh, she settled in to take a nap.

She was just about to drift off when a feeling of giddiness suddenly arose in her chest, a blossoming of happiness in her head. Touke was coming. Crap. She was probably going to get chastised or something for almost getting killed or captured. She wasn't looking forward to this conversation. She considered pretending to be asleep to put it off, but she figured Touke would see right through it, or just try to wake her up anyway. Crap. She sighed again.

Touke came storming into the room. Aku used the word storming, because her arrival made the curtains swirl, and she had a strained, stony expression on her face. For a moment Touke just stared at her, laying on the divan. "Are you okay?"

"There was a lot of blood in the air." At Touke's concerned expression, she said, "I'll be fine. It was just the smell. I'll be back to normal tomorrow."

Touke nodded. Her expression didn't show it, but Aku knew she was relieved. A short silence. "You are not to leave the Palace."

A cold stone sank through her chest and into her stomach, despite working against gravity. Aku let out a long sigh. "For how long?"

"Until the situation normalizes."

"How long will that be?"

Touke hesitated. "Months. Maybe years." At Aku's groan, Touke said, "I know you like going out, but it can't be risked right now. We can't risk you being captured or killed. You're the most important person in this kingdom." Before Aku could protest, "I'm replaceable. You're not."

Touke meant that, should Touke die, Aku would survive, able to choose another king. But if Aku died, Touke would die soon after, and they would both be gone. But Aku disagreed. When Aku died, another kyouka would grow on the Shashinboku, and in a few short months another Kyou Taiho would be born. In a sense, she would live on forever. The same could not be said for Touke. But it wasn't the time to argue about that. "You're not replaceable to me."

Touke gave her a thin smile, as if to say Yes, I am. The look annoyed Aku, but she decided not to show it. "Do we have an agreement?"

Aku sighed again. "I will not leave the palace. I swear."

With a wider smile, Touke said, "Good." With nothing further, she walked out the door, and left.

Touke gone, Aku suddenly felt downcast. She settled in moodily, and was soon asleep.