Wedding Day
Kazuha & Yae Miko
Kazuha woke up stiff and bruised. And to a heart attack: Yae Miko lounged on the chair near the window, her peach-pink hair gleaming in the morning sunlight behind her.
He was disturbed. No so much that the shrine maiden had been waiting for him to wake up, but that she had snuck into his room without him waking. Kazuha was used to sleeping out in the open and would wake if any person or animal wandered near him in the night. But Yae Miko navigated a door and hardwood floors in heeled sandals. And he'd apparently not sensed a thing.
"Good, you're awake," said Yae Miko. "I have a lot to do today, so I thought it best you and I have our conversation first thing."
Kazuha, lacking any other option, kneeled on his futon in his small clothes and bowed to the head shrine maiden. It was only proper, especially when he was a prisoner in every aspect except the jail cell and chains. If he was ever to have an opportunity to get out of whatever was going on here, it wasn't going to be right now. He may as well be polite and play along for as long as possible.
Yae Miko seemed amused, her eyes tracing Kazuha's mostly naked form. "Yes, I think you'll be pleasing to her. I didn't want her to have some wrinkled old man."
Kazuha rechecked his memory to make sure he had really heard what he'd just heard. Was the Shogun changing her mind? Was his executionary duel to happen today?
"And who will I be pleasing?" said Kazuha, keeping his voice carefully calm and neutral.
"Why, your wife, of course." Yae Miko grinned at him, her canine tooth looking especially notable in the corner of her mouth.
Kazuha blinked. "My wife?"
"Yes," said Yae Miko, matter of factly. "You're getting married today. To the daughter of a prominent Tri-Commission clan. She's honorable. Diligent. Ernest. …Beautiful. A national treasure, and I do not exaggerate."
Kazuha didn't quite know what to say. Of all the possible scenarios he'd imagined last night. This was not on his list. An arranged marriage? Obviously, something political was afoot and he must be a prize piece. Which would mean that his family name was factoring into Yae Miko's machinations.
"You want to revive my father's clan," said Kazuha, his voice somewhat accusatory.
Yae Miko smirked and shook her head slowly. "No. I want to revive your clan. You are the last Kaedehara."
"...Why?"
Yae Miko took in a frustrated breath. "Who on earth would question it? Why does it matter? I offer you more than your family had before. More money. Better lands. And a seat at the high table. You will have power."
Kazuha took a deep breath. "I am honored by the offer, but I refuse. I do not want any of that."
Yae Miko took her own deep breath and scowled at him. Her fingers began tapping a pattern into the wood of her chair's arm, her sharply-filed nails making a soft percussive rhythm in the quiet room. She shifted position and sighed again, her eyes burrowing into Kazuha, who remained obstinately kneeling on his futon. The fingernails stopped clicking. Yae Miko's smirk returned.
"It's all you know how to do," said Yae Miko. "Isn't it?"
Kazuha pressed his lips together, but he accepted the bait. "What is?"
"Running away."
A simmering fire of anger ignited itself in Kazuha's heart. She was obviously referring to the fall of his own clan and his self-exile from Inzauma. Running away. That wasn't exactly how it happened, but that's what his life had amounted to, hadn't it? In one point of view.. Yes… He had spent his whole life running away. He could not deny it. Kazuha's anger was replaced by his more usual morose sort of melancholy.
"I suppose so," said Kazuha, getting his anger under control. "What of it?"
What did Yae Miko even want here?
"Ah, there it is." Yae Miko pointed a finger at him. "Even as you sit there, running away. You can fight if you choose to do it. But you don't often choose that path."
"I'm not running away," Kazuha said blandly. "I'm literally just kneeling here."
Yae Miko shook her head, her smirk turning into a full toothy grin. "No, you're running. Running from your homeland. Running from your past. Running from your duty to your clan. To your family. To your nation. And to your god."
"None of those things mean anything to me," said Kazuha even as a snag of shame and guilt bit into his heart.
"Oh! Stop with your fucking bullshit!" barked Yae Miko as she rubbed at her temples. "I'm already exhausted by it."
Kazuha blinked, caught off guard by the head shrine maiden's sudden and surprising use of such crude language. His… fucking bullshit? That he didn't care for any of his past? Well- that was bullshit, wasn't it? He'd spent years feeling guilt for Tomo's death, and that guilt had stacked upon the gnawing doubt that his clan might not have collapsed if he had tried to save it. Had he even tried? He had been very young then, but did he even try any damn thing back then? No, but he couldn't really remember.
Kazuha gritted his teeth. If he was honest with himself: It gnawed at him. All of it. He looked at Yae Miko with new interest. Was she truely offering him a chance to… redo his past mistakes?
He watched Yae Miko's eyes narrow slightly, and her expression softened. She seemed to be taking some message from his glance. She knew he was interested. She knew she had gotten through with a sudden, sharp verbal slap.
"What do you want?" said Kazuha.
"I want you to get married today. I want you and your wife to reform your clan. I want you both to be a political force in the bakufu," said Yae Miko, all pretense gone from her voice.
"You want me to be your puppet," said Kazuha.
"No," said Yae Miko. "You may use what power your clan may have in the way you see fit."
"Then why-?"
"Why? Why? Why?" Yae MIko sighed again in frustration. "Let us just assume I have extreme confidence that your clan, led by you and your wife, will be a boon to me. I am telling you that there are no strings attached. So stop with the examination of your gift horse, Kazuha!"
To Kazuha, it sounded too good to be true. He goes from almost being executed last night to being given a new clan this morning. Yae Miko was surely moving this situation for some advantage of her own. But, of course she was. And if her advantage was not to Kazuha's own detriment… she had a point… did it really matter to him why she was doing it?
He didn't like being someone's tool. But… is the garden rake dishonored by being used?
Kazuha mulled over his own analogy to no useful conclusion. Meanwhile, Yae Miko again sighed and her fingernails started clicking on the arm of her chair again. She clearly found him somewhat irritating, but he would not be rushed.
Finally, Kazuha decided that he could accept being someone else's' tool, so long as he had his own freedom of action when it mattered. Yae Miko seemed to be promising this. But why a marriage?
"Who is the woman? And why do I need to get married?" said Kazuha.
Arranged marriages were the way of life amongst the clans. If the Kaedehara Clan had not collapsed, he too would have been matched with someone or other. In that what-if timeline, he would probably be long married and have two kids by now. That was a strange thought.
"You'll meet her at the ceremony," said Yae Miko. "And in your case, the reason you are getting married is because your bride-to-be also has a Vision. I believe that if you two come to love one another, then her Vision may activate to save your life when the Raiden Shogun launches Musou no Hitotachi at you again in a year. If that happens, you will have again blocked Musou no Hitotachi and that will greatly please Raiden Shogun, whom I exist to serve."
"Oh," said Yae Miko as if thinking of an afterthought, "And you'll also benefit because you won't die."
Kazuha frowned. That… seemed an entirely farfetched plan. "You don't even know if that will work."
"No," admitted Yae Miko. "But it's the best chance you have."
"What if I don't love her?" said Kazuha.
"Then, in a year, you will die at the foot of Raiden Shogun and likely put her in a very bad mood," Yae Miko sighed and gave Kazuha a bored look. "You will learn to love your wife, I'm sure. I think you will find it much easier than you now suspect."
"Will she love me?" wondered Kazuha aloud as he looked out the window. He wasn't actually intending it as a question, but it seemed to annoy Yae Miko all the same.
Yae Miko ran a hand through her hair, clearly impatient. "If she does not. Again. You will die in a year. But that anxious lover's question is common amongst all people, I think."
"This is not a common situation, however" said Kazuha. "My bride and I are being forced against our will."
"No, you both are being given a choice," said Yae Miko. "Obey the Shogun or don't."
"Is it a choice when one of the options is death?" said Kazuha.
"Yes," said Yae Miko impatiently. "You would be surprised by what option people choose. Like your late friend, for an example?"
Kazuha felt a returning flash of anger. "Do you mock him?"
"No," said Yae Miko, plainly. "He made his choice and he died. Everyone was satisfied, even him, it seemed."
Kazuha kneeled silently, simmering, getting his anger in check. "You seem to know a lot about it."
"I was there," said Yae Miko.
Kazuha couldn't remember if Yae Miko was actually there. She tended to stand out. But it was quite some time ago now, and Kazuha had been too busy to look around at the crowd.
"You seem to know a lot about a lot."
"Do I?" grinned Yae Miko. "Well, as Head Shrine Maiden, it is my duty to keep my finger on the pulse of this land, is it not?"
"I suppose…" Kazuha thought that wasn't at all what the duty of a shrine maiden was, but there seemed little point in arguing about it. His mind turned back to his choice. Would he accept this scenario, or no?
Tomo saw his fate and accepted it. Kazuha had not. Was this not a chance to make a different choice? Yes, it was. But he didn't have very high hopes. He thought he would assuredly be better off if he skipped the country at the first opportunity- wife or no. But Yae Miko didn't need to know that.
Kazuha sighed, waxing poetic: "Love is a rose thorn. Will poor soil bring bramble or a bounty of blooms?"
Yae Miko blinked at him. Then she laughed lightly and put a finger to her sharp chin and looked at him thoughtfully.
"Recipe for love," said Yae Miko, giving a toothy smile. "Add boredom and privacy and proximity."
Kazuha narrowed his eyes and began mulling over Yae Miko's return haiku. Meanwhile, Yak Miko stood up with a satisfied sigh. She smoothed out her robes.
"The horse finally drinks. I'll see you at the shrine this afternoon. The maids will get you ready. Now- I have other places to be, so excuse me.."
Yae Miko stalked from the room. One part of her impromptu plan was in place. At the door, she glanced back at Kaedehara Kazuha. He was still kneeling on his futon, thoughtfully looking out the window at the morning sunlight.
Honestly, Yae Miko disliked working with free spirits and poets: they squirmed and were illogical. She wrinkled her nose at Kazuha. He was both and entirely unreliable. And yet, somehow this young man had managed to block the divine will of Raiden Shogun. Yae Miko did not understand it, but there it was.
Well, Kazuha was on the path to the wedding ceremony, at least. Yae Miko left the room, already planning countermeasures for Kazuha's future escape attempts.
Excuse me while I orchestrate your entire life back on track, you silly creature.
Wedding Day
Ayaka & Yae Miko
Kamisato Ayaka woke groggily in the late morning. She blinked blearily about the room, surprised to see the sun so high in the window. No one had woken her, which was unusual. There was always a meeting or something that needed to be done first thing in the morning. She was used to waking up-
The wedding. Today. She was getting married today!
Ayaka shot out of bed, her heart fluttering into her throat like a butterfly trying to escape. She paced the room in her night clothes, taking the exact same back and forth path she had spent the most last night pacing.
What should she do? What should she do?
It wasn't fair! Why now?! Why of all the times in her life did now have to be the time she received the order to marry! She'd spent her entire life doing everything right, everything just proper- because that was what she was supposed to do. That was what she was expected to do. To order around the household. To manage the staff and the clan. To be the ever-perfect, ever-beautiful face on every ambition and political maneuver of her family.
After all of that, when she just finally decided to take for herself: One Night! Just one night with the man she wanted. The only man in her entire life that didn't want anything from her. The only man who… was her age and not related to her. That she knew closely. And that she loved.
She was pretty sure.
Ayaka turned back around on her path.
But then wasn't it good that this order came now? When she was poised to destroy everything she had spent her life working for. If she gave herself to Thoma, then what would her potential husband think when he found out she was not a virgin? He could annul the marriage. Immediately. Unquestioned. What shame would that bring down on her family? On her clan?
What would the spirit of her mother think!?
Archons! Mother might very well die again. Just poof. Dead again. Killed by her daughter when she was already in the afterlife.
And elope? Run off to some other land? When so many people depended on her here?
Ayaka turned back around on her path.
But was it fair that everyone depended on her? Who did she get to depend on? Huh?! Ayato was busy with his own workload. Mother and Father were dead. Her sword master was too old. And Thoma. Well… he was a foreigner. He could support her with other foreigners, but she knew that the native Inazumans would always see him as some common outsider.
Ayaka turned back around on her path…
But this time her thoughts were interrupted by an urgent knock on her door. She wasn't sure who it was, but she assumed it was one of her maids. No doubt the entire household was frantically working to put together an appropriate bride's ensemble for her by this afternoon's ceremony which was only hours away now.
Only hours away now!
"Enter!" said Ayaka, her voice much more shrill than usual.
Thoma entered, their eyes met, and time stopped for a moment. He rarely approached her room, in all her life. It wasn't proper. Ayaka did not think he had ever actually been in here before. But he stepped inside now. Ayaka gathered her robe closely about her, even though she always slept properly and modestly clothed. There was nothing of her body that he could see that was improper, but the context of his gaze in her bedroom made Ayaka feel a slight, dangerous sense of broken propriety.
"Thoma," said Ayaka, trying to make her voice sound normal with her heart thumping in her chest. "Why are you here?"
Thoma looked at her with an expression that Ayaka was unsure of how to interpret. Sadness? Pain? Fear? Anger? Frustration? A mixture of some of those or perhaps all of them? She couldn't tell.
Ayaka realized that he was here to say something to her. In this final moment. In his only chance before her wedding. She desperately wanted to hear it, but she was also deathly afraid of what he would say. Because if he said it- she would have to make her decision. And she just had no idea.
"My lady," stammered Thoma, "No. Ayaka. I just need to say… to say that-"
"My lady! My lady!" yelped one of Ayaka's maids as she barged into the room. "Lady Ayaka! Head Shrine Maiden Yae Miko just arrived at the gate. She wants to see you! Right away!"
Ayaka blinked, her mouth opening in shock. She needed to order this maid away immediately. She needed to hear what Thoma wanted to say. But Yae Miko was here? That was a big political fish that could not be left waiting at a front gate!
Another maid arrived. And another.
"Still in your bedclothes! Oh, my lady! We've neglected you!"
"Sorry, My Lady! Sorry! We've been altering your gown…"
"Thoma! Don't just stand there! Fetch water for the Lady's bath!"
Poor Thoma was shooed out by the avalanche of frantic maids. Ayaka's world became a whirlwind of robes, towels, soaps, rinses, towels, robes, combs, and makeup brushes. In perhaps a new household record, Ayaka went from freshly woke to presentable to a head of state in half an hour.
Ayaka walked calmly to the gate of Kamisato estate, the gravel of the path crunching lightly under her shoes, her hair still damp against the back of her head. Despite her outward grace, her insides were in turmoil. Thoma had not said his piece. She wondered what he had to say. She wondered if she should even hear it. Would it be easier on them both if she never did? Or worse?
Before the front gate of the Kamisato Estate waited a rather elaborate white and royal purple palanquin, a crew of bearers in clean white uniform, and six Shogunate samurai. It was the minimum force that Yae Miko traveled with on the island, which was a sign of respect and trust in her close relationship with the Kamisato Clan. So, Ayaka did not read any sort of threat in this arrival by the Head Shrine Maiden. In fact, Awyaka was now more curious than worried by what this visit might be about.
As Ayaka approached, Yae Miko's long, bare legs emerged from the palanquin and the woman followed shortly after. It was acceptable for a lord to wait in a palanquin, but one did not stand outside a gate. In short, Ayaka had kept Yae Miko waiting, but Yae Miko was deliberately not showing any offense. All the same, Ayaka quickened her pace on the final leg of the path and bowed low to Yae Miko's stately form.
"Head Shrine Maiden Yae Miko," said Ayaka, "You honor our home with your visit. How might I be of service?"
She straightened from her bow and found Yae Miko pursing her lips softly. Ayaka found this more unnerving than Yae Miko's usual sardonic smirk. The shrine maiden was acting strangely today. In her arrival, in her patience, in her expression. This visit, then, obviously had something to do with the other usual thing currently turning Ayaka's world upside down: her imminent wedding this afternoon.
"I would like you to go on a walk with me," said Yae Miko. "It has been so long since I have seen the coast from the cliffs."
Ayaka attempted to hide her surprise, but she wasn't sure she was totally successful. A walk? More like a talk. And outside in a casual setting. A casual talk about the wedding, perhaps? Yae Miko never casually talked with Ayaka. Their relationship mostly lacked both familiarity and conflict.
"It would be my honor," said Ayaka.
As Ayaka and Yae Miko turned away from the front gate to begin their walk, they heard the sound of fast footsteps over gravel. They turned, and Thoma skidded to a halt just outside the gate, his eyes going somewhat wide to find that everyone was still standing there and staring at him. Thoma looked around, eyes very large, and bowed.
"Apologies," said Thoma. "I- I had an errand…"
Everyone seemed to then immediately dismiss him as a servant. The warriors relaxed. Yae Miko turned back towards Ayaka. But Ayaka stared at Thoma and he stared at her. There was no way he could speak his mind before Yae Miko, but he seemed unwilling to lose sight of Ayaka.
Well, there was no helping that at the moment. Ayaka looked away from Thoma and back to Yae Miko and she blinked. The priestess was staring at her very intently, and just for a moment, Ayaka thought Yae Miko's pupils had looked strangely narrow.
"Lady Ayaka," said Yae Miko. "Before our walk, I suddenly remember that the Shogunate requires a small favor of your clan."
"Yes, of course," said Ayaka.
Yae Miko was officially the head priestess of the Grand Narukami Shrine of Inazuma, but everyone in any position of power in Inazuma knew the truth: Yae Miko was Raiden Shogun's direct agent. God would command, but it fell to Yae Miko to make those commands become reality. Yae Miko could act with impunity, direct with authority, and punish without oversight. She was effectively the executive officer of the Shogunate itself. And she called herself a shrine maiden.
"There is a problem on Ritou," said Yae Miko, suddenly grinning at Ayaka with that slightly odd toothy grin. "I need the expertise of your agent there. What was his name again?"
"You mean Thoma?" said Ayaka, her heart sinking. "That is him over there."
"Oh, that is him? I didn't realize it was," said Yae Miko, whom Ayaka had never known to be wrong about anything at all. "I need him for a few days. May I have him?"
Ayaka's heart thudded in her chest. That question was just a formality. There was absolutely no way she could actually say no to Yae Miko in such a thing as this. The Kamisato Clan was Tri-Commission. Yae Miko ran the Tri-Commission. Everyone in it was technically Yae Miko's, and that included Thoma and even Ayaka herself. Again, Yae Miko was simply being polite about something she could do at will.
"Y- yes, of course," said Ayaka. "I'm sure he would be happy to serve the Shogun in this way."
"Oh, I'm sure, as well," said Yae Miko with a smile. Then she turned and pointed a finger at Thoma, her nails filed to claw-like points. "Guards. That man there has business in Ritou. Take him there now and tell the garrison commander to make use of him for a week. Then he may return home."
"Yes!" shouted two of Yae Miko's guards. And seemingly well accustomed to their lady's heavy handed ways, they leapt forward and took hold of Thoma's arms and immediately began marching him down the Kamisato estate road. Thoma could say nothing. He could not resist. He could only crane his neck to stare at Ayaka as he was marched away, a devastated expression on his face.
Yae Miko sighed in audible satisfaction as she watched Thoma bodily escorted off the estate. Then she turned back to Ayaka with a beaming smile.
"I'm sure you were startled by the Shogun's order last night?"
Yae Miko raised a graceful arm to indicate that they should begin their walk to the beach now. Ayaka took a deep breath and obliged. They set off, side by side. Guards trailing a respectful distance behind.
"Yes," said Ayaka, seeing no reason to lie. And she'd tried to lie to Yae Miko once, during an early political maneuver of hers. It had not gone well. Ayaka had never attempted to lie to Yae Miko again, after that.
"I thought it would be," said Yae Miko, her purple eyes gazing off towards the horizon. "I've known you since you were little, you know. In fact, I was there when you were born."
"You were?" said Ayaka, shocked. She'd never heard that! And she was born almost twenty years ago. "But-"
"I'm told I look young for my age," said Yae Miko.
There was nothing political that Ayaka could say to that statement.
"So," said Yae Miko, reaching up and gently caressing a plumeria bloom on a passing tree. "I've watched you grow, Kamisato Ayaka, and I greatly care for your future and for your happiness. And I wanted to come here today, on the verge of your wedding, to let you know that I was the one who selected your groom."
Ayaka sucked in a surprised bit of breath. Of all the things she'd thought Yae Miko might want to talk about- like the practicalities of the ceremony or the impact of her marriage on her duties for the Kamisato Clan and the Tri-Commission… she had not thought her future-to-be husband would be the subject.
"It was to happen sooner or later, Ayaka," said Yae Miko, "your marriage. And I'm sure you noticed: prospects are limited for a woman of your station."
Ayaka nodded as they walked. She did know. As a Tri-Commission head family, she could not marry any lower than the heir of a secondary Tri-Commission family- of which there were now six. Previously, there had been seven, but that seventh had been dissolved due to gross insolvency. In those six families, only three had single men in the leading bloodline- and all of those men were over fifty.
"So when I found a chance to give you a husband that was close to your age, I seized it," said Yae Miko.
It was a nice story, but Ayaka seriously doubted that it was Yae Miko's only calculation. The woman was far too political for simple emotional motivations.
"And what is the other reason?"
Yae Miko grinned at her. "If you assert yourself in your new household, which I know you will. Then Kamisato Clan has a voting bloc."
Ayaka stopped in her tracks. "You intend to expand the Tri-Commission to four members."
Yae Miko stopped with her. She had a very sly grin on her face. "The thought has crossed my mind."
Ayaka's mind ran through the political calculations, but she couldn't figure out Yae Miko's objective here. Yae Miko sat above the Tri-Commission. What benefit would she gain from this? With an even number of members, the Commission vote could now possibly tie.
And the person who would cast the tie-breaking vote would be-
Yae Miko smirked at her. "Much of the foolishness of the Vision Hunt Decree would have been avoided if the Tri-Commission had not been deadlocked against you, Kamisato Ayaka. I need your help in preventing that from ever happening again. With you in the seat of a new leading clan of a new forth commission…"
"You would have final say over any controversy," said Ayaka.
Yae Miko pointed at her like she just won a prize of some kind. "So, I have designed this marriage for you to accomplish this for me, I admit it. But as fate would have it, I find myself able to provide for you as you provide for me. And by providing for me, you provide for Raiden Shogun."
They began walking again. So, this marriage was not for the benefit of some man she'd never met. This marriage was about her. And about Yae Miko. Ayaka was being asked to serve her nation and her god.
She knew the Vision Hunt Decree was the desire of Raiden Shogun, but it had been corrupted by the Tri-Commission. That was the only explanation. And while Raiden Shogun was their god, she often had her divine attention elsewhere- presumably focused on much more important things than the day-to-day politics of Inazuma.
Gods just walked in different circles, so far as Ayaka understood it.
So then. This wedding was her service being recognized by the Shogunate. Her marriage was a privilege being granted in recognition of her abilities. That… that cast it all in a very different light.
"Who is the groom?" said Ayaka as they approached the ocean.
"He is handsome. Only two years older than you," said Yae Miko.
"Forgive me, Head Shrine Maiden," said Ayaka, and she glanced at Yae Miko. "But those are not answers to my question."
Yae Miko smiled broadly at her. "He is a good soul. Wayward, but he is honorable in his own way. He can fight, but his heart is gentle. Occasionally, he is a brilliant poet. More often, he is a mediocre poet. And he's kind."
That sounded favorable to Ayaka, but the shrine maiden had still not mentioned a name. Why? Was it important that she did not know, or was Yae Miko trying to communicate that the name was irrelevant to her choice. Ayaka thought perhaps it was the latter.
They reached the coastal cliffs and looked out over the ocean. The sun was nearing its zenith, so all the sky and sea were shades of brilliant blues. A few seagulls wafted up the cliffside and called at them in surprise at seeing them there.
"It sounds like I could do a lot worse," said Ayaka. And she looked startled by her own statement. And grew thoughtful with herself.
"Yes…" said Yae Miko from behind, narrowing her eyes at Ayaka's back and frowning.
For once, the head shrine maiden did not look entirely confident that everything was going as planned. She watched a gust of sea breeze blow up from the cliffs, tossing about Ayaka's blue-silver hair while the maiden gazed over the ocean, obviously in deep thought.
Yae Miko's lips pressed into a thin line but there was nothing more she could say.
Kamisato Ayaka was still in the wind.