Disclaimer: I only own what is mine. My OCs and ideas.

A/N: I live! Wow! It's been a while... and life's been insane. This week I helped host a math camp for children, worn out! And then schoolwork is going to break me! I've also been struggling with writing. Essays are nowhere near as fun as FanFiction or stories, and peer review day is my biggest fear. There' one girl who always gets my history essays and she'll unapologetically butcher them. I get that peer review is supposed to be helpful, but I'm sick of the belittling I receive when people read my work in front of me.
Anyway, I'm going to see how much I can update today, and then I'll hopefully check back in this weekend with something else new as well! I swear to become more active starting today! More updating and writing! Plus, I'm itching to finish off Anna's story! Read, Review, Enjoy!

Reviews:

ArtemisBAMF1218- Been a while, hasn't it? Danny's new life of compulsive tradition from everyone around him, luckily, he's laid back enough to just go with the flow and let it happen. Master Bhatt is one of the characters that I have created for Danny's council, expanding upon the three that are shown in Journey of the Iron Fist. I believe I made the number of council members like 11 or something. And I hope to have some fun with them.
Hey, remember this little contest they have going on. She hasn't won yet. It's not over yet. But trust me, you'll know when it is over.
Alright, let's get back in the swing of things! Enjoy!

Chapter 24

Aiko was slumped forward over the table. The private dining hall was perfect, quiet and peaceful.

"What's wrong, Aiko?" Danny asked from beside her.

"There's so much stuff to practice. The ceremonies, the dance, manners, posture. All these little details. I have to get my dress fitted too…" Aiko sighed. "I'm getting anxious."

"Whatever happened to the carefree Aiko I love so much?" Danny asked as he picked up a glass.

Aiko sighed. "She didn't grow up completely. She's just busy right now."

"I miss her." Danny smiled at Aiko.

"I miss carefree Danny too. What about him?" Aiko asked.

"He's here. Just a little calmer than when he was a kid." Danny smiled.

Aiko smiled. "We should sneak out for a day."

Danny laughed. "We will. Just have to be responsible adults sometimes."

"How old is an adult?" Aiko asked.

Danny shrugged. "Eighteen?"

"You're an adult now. But I'm not." Aiko thought to herself for a moment. "What's the legal minimum age for marriage in America?"

"I think it is like 16 with parental permission?" Danny guessed. "I don't know this stuff."

Aiko sighed as she picked up her tea. "Hm… what are we doing next?"

Danny sighed. "We've already run through the checklist. Everything is done or just about done."

Aiko stretched out her arms.

Danny looked up at the ceiling. "I would ask if you wish to train, but I still have about six weeks until your father will let me back into the temple for full training. My shoulder is still healing. Although, I am healing faster than expected."

Aiko smiled. "Yeah… is there anything going on today?"

Danny shrugged. "Like what?"

"Festivals, celebrations, observances…?" Aiko listed.

"Not today. But we have some coming up this weekend." Danny smiled. "There is the Raksha Bandhan and Ghost Festival on the full moon."

Aiko's face lit up. "That's going to be a great day, that will be so fun! I love the Raksha Bandhan! Is Ryu excited?"

Danny shrugged. "I haven't seen her today. And I don't know if she even knows about it."

"Do you remember Raksha Bandhan?" Aiko asked.

"Yes," Danny smiled. "I still have the rakhi you gave me, from just about every year."

It took a minute, Danny smiled as he watched what he had said sink in.

Aiko's face turned hot pink. "What?"

"We never did the ceremonies or anything, but you always got me and rakhi, and said a prayer for me." Danny smiled as he looked at the table that they were sitting around. "And I think I started to get you sweets when I learned that I should be giving you a small gift too."

Aiko smiled. "You still have them?"

"Yes, they are in a box in my room. I can tell you how old we were when you gave them to me. I would wear them for like a week and then take them off and put them away for safekeeping."

Aiko smiled. "You get to do the ceremonies this year with Ryu!" Aiko smiled as she watched Danny's face show slight concern. "What?"

"I don't know. Ryu may not be up for it." Danny shrugged.

"She walked into my room while I was asleep. Wearing a long Salwar Kameez." Aiko smiled. "She's adopting the weird cultural melting pot that is K'un-Lun. She's pretty used to Chinese culture, she's learning India culture, and she seems to enjoy Japanese culture."

"She did watch plenty of Anime before coming here. She's pretty good at a few select phrases." Danny nodded.

"Anime?" Aiko asked.

Danny sighed. "I think it is basically animated TV from Japan in Japanese."

"I'm certain there is more to it than just that." Aiko smiled.

Danny easily stood up, putting weight on his good shoulder to press on the table to support his weight.

"Do you want to head out for some fresh air?" He offered easily. He held out his good arm to her.

"Sure." Aiko smiled, taking it as Danny pulled her to her feet.

Aiko let out a sigh. "Are we going to be able to sneak out of her without being caught?"

"Not likely." Danny sighed. "People are everywhere. So, I think it will only take a moment before work sweeps me away."

Aiko sighed as she held Danny's hand.

"There's something I want to show you, in regards to our wedding." Danny smiled calmly.

Aiko looked up at him. "What?"

"I've given you the grand tour, and you've seen most of the palace… but you are yet to see the best parts." Danny smiled as he led Aiko to the stairs that would take them to the second floor where all the official work was done.

Aiko smiled as she held Danny's calloused hands.

She looked up and almost recognized where she was. They had passed the throne room a moment before and now they were walking down the same hallways, but further back then she realized it went.

They walked up a few steps and Danny stopped before a door. "This is a really nice room. It's made to have such a good flow of Fengshui and it's been where I've been meditating recently with Ryu."

Danny moved the door to the side and Aiko looked in.

It was beautiful. Low couches were lining two walls, above them were windows that opened, and most of them were. The walls were all wooden and there were some bamboo shoots outside the windows. The ceilings were very comfortable height and so much natural light was coming into the room.

Aiko smiled as she walked in. There was a small step up and a small empty altar near once side of the room and a low table was near the couches. There were some bookshelves filled with classical stories.

"Wow." Aiko mused. "This is beautiful."

"This is where I was thinking we would hold the Immortal Ceremony, just you and I." Danny smiled. "It's not too far away from the throne room where the other ceremonies will take place. And it's really a nice place."

Aiko nodded. "Fine by me."

Danny smiled. "That's good."

Aiko walked over to a couch and sat down and looked out the open window. There was a small bamboo garden on the outside window ledge, and out behind it Aiko had a good view of the Palace garden, and behind that, a large ocean.

"Beautiful, you hardly ever see the ocean." Aiko smiled. "You can see the ports from here."

Danny walked over and sat next to her, "I do tend to forget, but it's some ways off. You never smell the salty air."

Aiko took in a deep breath through her nose. "It just smells like bamboo." She laughed.

Danny nodded his head. "Do you have anything you want to talk about? How's life been?"

"Pretty good." Aiko sighed. "I've been busy."

"Hm, and how's your training going?" Danny asked.

"Baba says that my training is going better than yours is." Aiko sighed. "I feel like I'm losing my edge though. Like, in New York, there was a different threat every few days. It felt like I would never catch a long enough break or anything between SHIELD Training, hero work, and high school…"

Danny nodded and stretched out his back. "I wish I could train, but your father is persistent about me resting my shoulder and not injuring myself."

Aiko nodded. "That's how he is. Aren't the Weapons still letting you train with them?"

Danny sighed. "Kind of, I'm not doing any sparring. It is more like drills, and techniques. They won't let me do anything that could potentially be a risk to my shoulder."

"You're going to get back to training soon enough. Just relax right now, we're getting married soon. Our week apart starts in a week." Aiko pointed out. "We're getting really close."

Danny leaned in and kissed her forehead.

Aiko smiled at him. "Anything new happening here?"

"No, not really, my schedule is just about final now, I have Council meetings twice a week, and then on two other days are public affairs, and then two days of solid office work. And then I have a day off. Not in that order." Danny smiled.

"Wow," Aiko smiled. "That's not too bad."

"And now, I've been able to set certain hours. Council days, I have the meetings in the morning, and those last until about lunch." Danny sighed.

"They can never agree on anything, can they?" Aiko asked.

Danny sighed. "Yes, they are quite indecisive. But that may only be because there are too many of them. After that, most days, I can take off the rest of the day off. For public affairs, it's mostly the same thing, but those afternoons I do paperwork. And then on my office work days, as long as I finish everything in a reasonable time, it does not matter when I work and The Council does not care. I may think about switching paperwork from the days I do public affairs of the days I meet with The Council."

"Sounds like you have your life figured out." Aiko smiled. "Good job."

Danny nodded his head. "Thank you."

"Have you figured out what I'm going to do as Queen?" Aiko asked. "Like what my responsibilities are?"

"Well, the Masters were pretty vague when I asked about it. They are passing off a lot of their responsibility of keeping the palace running to you. Things they normally do." Danny sighed. "They told me you will have plenty to do."

Aiko sighed and leaned her head back. "You know, I don't want a lot of responsibility. I want freedom still, which is just not happening. I mean, I'm getting married. I'm giving up freedom."

"No, you are not," Danny said pointedly. "You're not marrying some overly traditional guy who wants you in the kitchen all day. Plus, if I may be honest, you would get kicked out of the kitchen around here."

Aiko laughed at his joke, leaning into his side.

"No, I'm serious, those cooks have gotten brave. One yelled at me for sneaking a snack yesterday." Danny smiled. "They're a little cranky."

"You are still head of the family, you are in charge, and there is nothing I can do about that. You have authority over me." Aiko pointed out.

"And everyone else in K'un-Lun," Danny added. "Why would I make time in my busy day to bother you? You are so responsible and mature and overall perfect. Why would I have to use whatever authority society allows me to have over you?"

Aiko sighed. "Thank you for the flattery."

Danny smiled. "That is not flattery. I'm being honest."

Aiko smiled. "It's so close now, I'm getting anxious a little bit, my dress is not finished yet."

Danny smiled, "My clothes are not done either. I've been avoiding it a little bit."

Aiko's hand smacked his chest lightly. "Lazy."

"I'm not lazy." Danny protested. "I just have other things to do."

"Like doing paperwork and yelling at Ryu?" Aiko asked.

"Well, we're still working on finding her mother. Although, we are waiting until after the wedding to go look places. But we've still been narrowing it down to our best guesses." Danny sighed. "The hard part is, it's not unusual for monasteries to take in people who need help. We guess she would have shown up in horrible shape and just would have stayed at a monastery, far from here. And she would just adapt and become a part of the normal monastery life."

"I guess that does make sense. People who are low and have lost everything to try to find themselves in monasteries. That seems like a good idea for where to look." Aiko nodded. "Do you think you have her?"

"Maybe. We have three monasteries with women there who showed up out of the blue, each within the past ten years. They all fit the one criteria we have, which is an approximation of her age." Danny sighed. "But I have a feeling I know which of the three it is."

"How?" Aiko asked.

"Two of the monasteries will give me whatever I ask. The last is reluctant to give me information. It's clear to me that they are hiding something, if not Ryu's mother, something else is there." Danny pointed out carefully.

"Do you know if any of these women practice magic?" Aiko pressed on.

"One is known as a skilled mage and two do no practice magic, but just because they don't anymore does not mean that they once did." Danny sighed and he looked down to Aiko. "What do you think?"

"I don't know." Aiko shrugged. "I don't think it would be the known magic practitioner."

Danny nodded his head quietly. "That's what I am leaning towards. But you never know. I am honestly worried about the monastery that is clearly hiding something."

Aiko wrapped her arm around Danny's stomach and leaned into Danny's side.

Danny put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his side more.

"Well, you are a great and powerful king, I'm certain that you will handle this with great wisdom." Aiko smiled to herself.

"Thanks, Aiko," Danny let out a deep breath as he leaned his head on hers.

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