RW: Oneshot: Wedding Tricks

[prowlingthunder]

 

Marriage Tricks

 

This all seems so cliche, Cye thought fondly as he walked. Two samurai amid a bamboo forest, simply listening to the sounds of crickets and birds and enjoying the nature of the world. The simplicity of this was not as welcome as the ocean may have been, but the woods of the Date property were diverse enough that they could find a place that was comfortable enough for the both of them. Cye knew very well the blond Halo samurai would much prefer an open field for full sunshine. But Seiji was trying to make sure they were on even ground, and that made him relax a bit more. The Date as a whole were much more influential here in the mortal world.

Enough to get away with murder, should someone cross them. They clung strongly to their traditions, and here in Sendai, the police force was made up of mostly Date officers. Which meant they still carried familial blades.

On one hand, Cye was glad that Seiji had not asked to see him in Hagi. On the other, small as his clan was, being surrounded by family in a land that yet regailed his family as Shogun would have made him feel better. Seiji was making it clear just who held the power in this conversation, and that was a daunting thing.

At least he is polite of it. Other clans probably wouldn't be. The Mouri were so small in this age. A tiny, fractured pearl of what should have been a whole oyster-bed. Not one of the smallest of the old families, no, but their support for Nobunaga in the war for Japan had not helped. They had thrown their whole lot after him. Including two bearers of Torrent, though from communications with aformentioned bearers, Cye knew the death of young Ranmaru had been... exaggerated.

Still. Cye didn't have to like his family's place in society, so long as they still held Hagi. And Seiji was bargaining on his behalf to retake old lands and rebuild the family castle, if only to ease Cye's own memories. Or perhaps to lessen hostilities between the Mouri and other clans. The Date and Takeda still held fortresses. Cye had seen the paperwork on them, once, and the agreement between Emperor and clan-head. The Takeda had been allowed to keep theirs, to hold old traditions and head of...ancient troubles.

Even back then, the Date had simply been too strong to take from.

The Date priestesses held control over most spirital pools in the nation. Take the castle away from the family who held demons and spirits at bay, and lethal, angry kamui? Even the foreigners had known better. And Seiji says they bartered with their healers. He hadn't gone into much detail, but Cye could guess. There had been horrible, viral plagues in the old days that had seemed to just...drop of the map. It hadn't mattered of what blood one was, for most; nearly everyone could catch at least one or the other, and all who caught it.. died.

Cannibalistic shamanism was rare. Few of holy power would stoop to the depths they did, even to save people. To eat a person, even dead.. and to know that whatever they had died from, you were now infected, so your blood could cure the living.. Cye wouldn't have been able to do it.

People in the Date had. Cye knew they had. In Sage's bloodline, and in his own blood. Cye had figured it out when he had realised the blond would let nobody tend his open injuries, when he washed blooded tile and clothes with bleach, to make sure nobody came in contact with it. When Seiji quietly admitted he had never used bleach before.

History says the plagues just...stopped. But Cye had known infected people, lifetimes ago. People who had recovered from death's door, after visits from strange monks. Back then, any one claiming to be of a religious order was left free to roam, until spies started taking the cover. But they carried the antivirals in their blood, so their children couldn't catch it. Anyone who used their body to produce it would carry a stronger dose then anyone who was treated.

Because, of course, the people who caught the virus naturally had not eaten someone to heal others. And that meant... Seiji's family, the Date carried viruses in their blood even those who were not human feared. A horrid, shinobi threat, true. But effective, even if Cye couldn't bring himself to approve of the hypothecial scenario.

"Ten'no Mashimizu."

Seiji's voice drew Cye out of his musings, where his thoughts had drifted and he had not wished to go, and returned him instead to what he had come here for. Seiji had sent for him, when the blond truly enjoyed avoiding the Dynasty and all associated to it by a point of habit. But this... it wasn't... well, it could be more formal, if Seiji had wanted it to be. Addressing him by way of his adult name and Dynasty title was formal enough, but they could have been planted right in the center of the Date's dojo.

Which would have made them even less on even footing.

Still, all Cye could think of was Never knew Seiji to go right for the throat. Sad, that.

"Yes?" Seiji could do stiff and formal by the spades. That upbringing was in his own lifetime as much as it was in the residue of his predecessors. As much as it was in lightning and light, which only bent when going through prism. Glass. Earth. What I wouldn't give to have Kento here now. He would come in handy. He had a knack for smoothing over the fine lines between the two samurai. Which made no sense, considering Kento was neither a samurai nor Japanese.

Careful with that thought, Cye, he told himself, willing the comfort of Torrent from the depths of his soul. The armor did not come to the foreground, but it came to his call, dripping up from the recess of his mind where it had linked itself to him. A slow, steady trickle of water, droplets on a still pool. There has been more then enough racism from Rowen. Equally sad, but Cye could understand it. All of Rowen's residue was from the early portion of the thousand years their enemy- and their Father- had been trapped on the otherside of the Ancient's barrier. Japanese that old had still been killing Japanese Christians in the streets; heaven forbid someone from beyond their islands come near.

Didn't mean he had to like it.

Seiji made a motion that spoke volumes to Cye, though it was only the slight dip of his shoulder and a tilt of his head: Yes, this is business, but it is so good to see you. "Have you thought of marriage?"

The young Emperor nearly stumbled. "Pardon?"

Marriage? Seiji had called him to talk about marriage? Why? Though part of him suspected he knew, when he saw violet glance over at him.

As a general rule, both he and the blond had avoided the concept for as long as they could manage. Just as his advisors sought to see him married off for the good of the Empire, Seiji's family had sought to see him married for the longevity of family. To have an heir secured the family lines and put confidance in injured souls. Yet, just as he, Seiji had found no one he could tolerate to marry.

Well, to be honest, they were both fairly picky. A woman who wouldn't run, screaming, when she learned that there were literally hundreds of people sharing their headspace? They were hard to come by, even in the Dynasty. Though not as hard as here. Which might be why Seiji was asking. Some species could accept it better then others, and there were so few nonhumans in Japan. Coupled with Seiji's penchant to preen feathers and bleed sunshine, courtship could get very messy, very quickly.

Cye wouldn't see him hurt, if he could help it.

The blond neither elaborated nor repeated his question, simply watched him out of the corner of his eye, and something uncomfortable twisted in Cye's stomach. Was he really asking because he was getting married? Honestly, he had always thought the first one of them who would offically tie the knot would be Ryo.

"...who is she?"

Sage blinked at him. "Who?"

Even Toyota Mahime knows better then to give me that look, Cye thought to himself, eyes narrowing. Grant, the sea goddess had more reason to give it to him, but he had expected more out of Seiji. The least you could do is be honest about it!

Which was strange, truly. He had come to learn that no one could actually lie to him, not unless he wished to believe the lie. He knew Seiji was as well aware of that as he was that he himself bleed sunshine. But Cye tried not to let the ire rule him, leaning back further into Torrent's comfort. He could almost feel the armor, skin deep and surrounding him, as arms that belonged to no physical creature brushed his shoulders.

Torrent. The comfort of an armor's representation over his senses. He knew if he looked at his reflection he would see the most beautiful water-creature in his life peering over his shoulders. That the armors were alive had startled everybody, but that they had lived and developed personalities, picking up the strongest traits of those who wielded them....

"Your fiancee."

Seiji looked at him like he'd gone mad. "I am not engaged." What? He wasn't? Then why was he asking if Cye had thought about marriage?!

Wait. Think about what he said. Harder then it sounded. Cye had gotten used to picking scentances apart by necessity, because when dealing with court politics the words mattered just as much as the meaning, but he hadn't ever had to do it with one of the guys before. Have I thought of marriage... not..have I thought of getting married, thank Owatatsumi. He would have said that if he meant it. But..

"..are you asking what I know of marriage?" Which was a truly stupid question. Many of Halo's bearers had to have been married before. He could have just as easily asked one of them. But the blond shook his head, amusement twinkling in his eyes. Stop laughing at me! You aren't exactly making this easy. Probably a good thing. Seiji was a samurai, and as much as Cye was also one, they were different clans. Just as easily an enemy as an ally. He couldn't afford to make this easy. "Seiji...."

"Ten'no Mashimizu." Seiji's voice was lighter this time, trying to get his attention, Cye suspected.

No, wait a minute.. he's asking for the Emperor. This wasn't just business. It was Dynasty business, and Cye had been going about it all wrong. Still, what does the Emperor have to do with marriage?

Everything, he realised after thinking it over. In the Dynasty, all laws were subject to the Emperor's approval. They could be added to, or changed, or completely vetoed by any change in power, for any reason. His empire existed on his whim alone. There wasn't a counsel making up laws, and the Emperor decided the punishments of the most sevear cases on a day to day basis. Little things like peasant theft Cye had made a police system for, and the military handed cases of average kidnapping and the like. Things like murder, noble theft, the kidnap of a dignitary or their daughter.. those ended up demanding his attention.

But there were also good things Cye dealt with as the Emperor, too. Though court politics and visiting ambassadors couldn't be considered good, exactly. And.. Marriage. He's asking if I've gone over the laws on marriage. Damn Seiji for thriving on difficulty; he would give even the cryptic Ancients a headache. But Cye hadn't studied them, of course. He just hadn't had time yet. Oh, he knew the basics; morning-after pillow poems, and why you did not accept invitations from the northern clan of Foxes, no matter how enticing the fan, because most likely Kitsune sent them to assassinate you in your sleep. Which she had done, several times, before Dais had patiently explained why the young dancers inexplicably kept vanishing.

But the laws of marriage themselves.. no. Cye hadn't read them. He didn't know anything about them. Cye knew that any one of the Warlords might come to one of the others if they were hesitant to broach a subject with Cye himself- he was the Emperor, after all, and but a few short years ago he had been the enemy. Seiji was all samurai and duty, and even if they had been enemies before, they were not now. As steeped in ancient tradition as the Dynasty was, asking Seiji to talk to him was safe.

Seiji's voice was much warmer when he spoke next, clearly pleased Cye had understood his meaning. "Do."

But who is it who wants to marry?

==============

It never failed to startle Cye when people he visited seemed to know exactly what he wanted well before he ever arrived. Though in all honesty, he was fairly sure it was a librarian trait. Though unlike human librarians, the grey-haired Yura never seemed the sort to fit into the strict old teacher mold. Somehow, Yura managed to create a flawless, timeless beauty in old age.

And she had to be old. She remembered working for the Emperor before Talpa had ever crawled into the Dynasty. But Cye was much too much a gentleman to ever say that of her. But with age came the knowing of who dared cross her sacred threshold, and Yura was standing there before Cye had made it three steps into the cavernous room.

"Planning to marry, are you?"

Yura looked the part of old beauty; the majority of silver-threaded hair was pinned back in a mage, several kogai rods and a matching kushi red-white in color. Fire-ash, Yura had told him once, which he had taken to mean phoenix bone long before he'd been capable of being horrified by the answer. After all, some of the Dynasty's not-quite-allies were phoenixes. Though it hadn't quite explained why they'd flinched that way when they had passed her in the halls, but the other kogai were swordsteel, and maybe that had had something to do with it.

But she was a pretty old woman, even if she didn't look beyond her thirties. She had very few wrinkles, and most of those were likely from frowning at the Warlords. Cye had heard that they had caused a good deal of trouble here in the library when they had first come to the castle. Ookami had better manners, and he was a barbarian, she'd told him once. Cye hadn't had a single idea who she was talking about, but he had figured out she didn't really care for people in her library.

"Not me, Yura-sama." He hesitated, then shook his head. That was a bad choice of wording. "At least, not for some time yet."

"Good."

Wait, what? Cye blinked at her, and tried to wonder why her lips had curved into a smile. Is she...teasing me? It certainly looked that way, though he couldn't be wholly sure.

"Come along, my Emperor. I have set you up in the back."

Cye stared at her departing form in muted confusion. Did she just say I could stay?

==============

Sometimes, I wonder if I'm not in Mary Poppins. Cye thought to himself, listening to the quiet crunch of cream snow as he was escorted into the woods. The land had fallen into winter after a long autumn, spreading pristine white on the ground, on evergreens, on the dead branches that would be budding trees next year. It was, to say the least, a perfect, virgin setting. The snow was fresh-fallen from the night before, and the wind did not blow, so the weather was fairly warm for winter. Comfy.

And for whatever reason, the sun had decided it needed to be bright and blazing and reflect off the snowfall bright enough to blind a dead man. Far too bright, in Cye's personal opinion, when all he wanted to do was nod off to sleep. He hadn't rested much last night. After reading over the laws that governed marriage in his Dynasty, and rectifying several of them, a matter of three whole days had passed before Cale had hunted him down out in the courtyard. And hesitantly asked if it were true.

A week later, Cale had come back to him and asked him to attend his wedding. To bless the wedding.

Honestly, he never would have thought it would be Cale.

Though I shouldn't have been surprised, with the rumors of him and Ryuutane. Ryuutane had been the baby sister of Lord Saberstrike, hundreds of years ago. Cye didn't know what had happened- there was nothing concrete of it- but he did know Cale had taken her death badly. I should ask Ryuumaru. Outside of Court. Definately outside of Court. Inside Court.. everything held political ramifications. Outside of it, Cye could be almost friends with the other Emperor, who still recovered from his battle with Ryo, years ago.

He had been sincerely disappointed to learn Ryo had not succeeded Talpa.

At any rate, Cale and the others were escorting him out here to meet his bride and her family. He had to admit he was curious about her identity. Cale had never spoken of her to him, which made sense really, seeing as he was the Emperor, but that he had asked for his attendance made Cye feel a part of the endevour. He had to wonder what type of woman would garner Cale's attention long enough to hold a relationship. Never thought Cale would be the type to settle down. Is she even a Dynasty resident?

Another throng of trees, and then a clearing--

"Ten'no Mashimizu," A head of spun gold hair dipped, pushed back to bare both violet eyes that seemed to bore into his very soul. Pale skin covered by a wrap top of Halo green, over one shoulder, then the other; pale white hakama, brighter then the snow they stood on. Thrown over, a haori with the Date kamon and fringed with Halo's lightning. And Wings. I've never seen Seiji's wings...

Beside him was a darker effigy: blond hair not quite gold, skin a pale, warm tan, and green eyes. Very strange, for sharp Japanese features, but those eyes were familiar somehow. Her kimono was pretty, a deep blue with swirls of shadow, and a fox that seemed to shimmer as it chased hinotama through the forest, leaving fox-fire in it's wake. Over that was the white wedding layer, and her kanzashi depicted a kitsune and litter of cubs, shidare silk flowers tipped with-- Those are a kitsune's fire-pearls! Cale's marrying a spirit-fox! Instinctively, Cye took a step back from her.

Blue-painted lips smiled gently, and a dark ear flicked, and the illusion of humanity fell away entirely. Oh, she looked human enough, but now Cye could see her clearly, right down to sharp claws at the ends of her fingers and an onmitsu kote, and cleaverly-hidden kunai under her sleeves, if need should arise. It probably wouldn't, considering the tessen held in one hand-- Shadows on a moonless night, Cye would recognise that pattern anywhere-- and the other tucked into her obi. Samurai used them once, but in modern times they were a far more common kunoichi tool.

A ninja spirit-fox, Cye thought, hair on the back of his neck standing on end. The girl looked far too amused, raising a purple-painted eyebrow as Cye's residue either balked or attempted to figure out why she wore no base-paint.

"My cousin, Date Yuya." A child-name, Cye knew, attention jerked back to the blond he knew and trusted. Which made sense, really, because shinobi were not samurai, they didn't go through the same things, of course they wouldn't have adult names the same way samurai did---

Yuya spotted Cale. "How do I look?"

Rude ninja spirit-fox, at that, Cye narrowed his eyes at her as she stepped lightly across the snow to her fiancee, leaving nary a footstep of her passing. A talent that wasn't just that of onmitsu, no atter how much humans might wish to think it was; spirits just didn't leave footprints. He cut a look across to Sage, who watched the interaction in reservation. Now I know why he asked me about marriage. "Amaterasu-dono. You brought your cousin to the Dynasty?" Without permission, Cye wanted to add, but didn't bother. That Sage hadn't even told him he would be here meant someone had gone around his back, and he had a notorious feeling he knew who when Dais stepped away from them both.

Seiji just tipped his head.

"Oooh, I can't believe we're finally getting married!"

After the ceremony is over, Seiji, you and I are going to have a little talk.