Mashiro stared at a candle on the altar of Izanami, concentrating as hard as she could on making the flame move. She’d done it before by accident, but she wondered if she could do it on purpose if she tired hard enough.

She blinked. Had it wavered just a little bit then? She glanced around to check that no one had let in a draft, but all the doors were still closed. Now more determined than ever, she turned back to the candle. If she did this a couple times a day she was sure that it would eventually work. And if it did, maybe she could show it to Rei.

As she stared at the wavering light a sort of trance settled over her, and before she knew it her eyes had begun to drift shut, as if weighed down by something heavy. She almost could make out the voice of someone close to her, but far away. If she just moved a little closer…

“Mashiro!”

She nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of Hokuto’s voice and quickly busied herself with cleaning the altar, what she was supposed to have been doing. She glanced briefly at the candle and sighed. She’d just half to try again some other time.

“Mashiro!” Hokuto slid open the far door and walked inside, briefly putting her hands together and bowing to the altar. A lock of brown hair briefly fell out of her bun into her face, which she brushed out of the way. “There you are! I thought you’d like to know that Onii-san just walked through the front gate.”

“Rei’s back?!” Mashiro cried, dropping the cleaning cloth she had been holding. Hokuto smiled as Mashiro rushed past her and only barely remembered to bow to the image of Izanami before once again taking off towards the entrance to the Shrine.

Once Mashiro was gone Hokuto sighed and glanced at the altar. Something like anger briefly flashed in her gold eyes, but it was soon replaced by her usual look of sisterly concern.

“So she came to you, eh?” she said to the image of the Goddess. “You’ve always been her favorite. Some part of her must know your connection.”

Hokuto reached into her sleeve and drew out a riceball, which she placed among the offerings to the Goddess.

“Here, it’s not much, but it should help to ease the pain.”

She clapped her hands together and bowed.

Outside, Mashiro skid to a halt in front of the red torii gates and stopped to catch her breath. She spotted a familiar figure standing by the fountain with Kogyo, the head priest.

“Rei!” she called, sprinting towards them across the cobblestone courtyard, brushing by several visitors in a very un-miko-like fashion. It was easy enough to tell among of the half-dozen worshippers who those who had been to the Fuuka Shrine before were and who was new, as those who were familiar with the Shrine simply smiled in Mashiro’s direction, while the newcomers looked anywhere from puzzled to outright disgusted at her display.

The young man barely had time to turn around before she’d thrown herself onto him, and they collapsed into a laughing pile of askew limbs.

Kogyo made a face and cleared his throat. Mashiro laughed nervously and scrambled to her feet, trying to look prim and proper despite the dust and leaves that was now thoroughly covering her red hakama.

“It’s alright, Kogyo-sama,” Rei said, rising to his feet and brushing off of his shoulders. He was a handsome young man, and shared his twin sister’s friendly demeanor and golden eyes, and was widely considered to be a supreme catch by the local women, though both he and his sister still refused to marry despite being of age at 16. “We both know that no trip to Fuuka Shrine is complete without a proper welcome from Mashiro-chan.” He grinned at her like a wolf. “Besides, don’t they say that miko-tackles are good for one’s health?”

She giggled, and Kogyo continued to glare at both of them.

“Mashiro,” he said sternly. “Rei-san and I were just discussing the details of his trip. I imagine he’s rather thirsty after all that walking.”

“Hold on, Kogyo-sama,” Rei said, reaching into his pack. “Let me just give Mashiro-chan something before I forget.”

He rifled around for a moment before he made an accomplished sound, drawing out a small crystal phoenix with bits of gold accenting its head and wings and holding it out to her.

“It’s… it’s beautiful,” Mashiro gasped, taking it carefully and turning it around in her hands. “Oh Rei, you shouldn’t have! How much did this cost? I…”

He waved off her question, leaning down to directly meet her oddly green eyes.

“Don’t worry about. As soon as I saw it in Yokohama I knew I had to get it for you. It suits you.”

She blushed and bowed awkwardly, and upon meeting Kogyo’s stony glare, turned around and rushed back towards the main temple, muttering something about getting them both water. Rei watched her go and smiled.

“Rei-san,” Kogyo said sternly while shaking his head. “I was going to ask if you still fancied Mashiro as your future wife after your trip, but you just went and answered my question for me.”

Rei shrugged.

“Can you blame me? She’s a sweet girl, and sweet girls deserve nice things.”

“Rei,” Kogyo continued, notably dropping the honorific. “This isn’t child’s play. You aren’t Hikaru Genji, and you shouldn’t be filling up her head with silly ideas. Especially not with that coming up.”

“On the contrary,” Rei said, straightening to meet Kogyo’s gaze squarely. “I’m doing her a favor. If I get her used to the idea now it’ll be easier for her to accept when the time comes.”

“Wha – ‘When the time comes’!” Kogyo spat. “Rei, you shouldn’t be talking like that! You can’t just pick favorites like some noble lord, there’s a procedure to this! You should know that better than anyone, you –!”

“I do know that,” Rei narrowed his eyes, his voice dropping to a dangerous level. “And I know I’m prohibited from interfering directly. However, I can still help her if it doesn’t violate the rules.” He shrugged, the hardness of a moment before replaced by his usual carefree demeanor. “Besides, Nagi hasn’t said anything, and he’s the one in charge of upholding the rules.”

“Nagi is a sadistic bastard who has his own entertainment as his main concern,” Kogyo countered, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “And even without all that she’s still only 11 years old. It’s not kind to play with a young girl’s affections like that.”

“In other parts of the country young girls are starting to have children at 11, Kogyo, keep that in mind,” Rei said darkly. “Just how long to you plan to keep her in this comfy cage? Fuuka isn’t the rest of the world, and she’ll have to face the outside someday. We all care about what will happen to her – you, Hokuto, and I – and you have no right to claim that you’re any better than I am just because you fancy yourself as her father.”

Kogyo grit his teeth, but was prevented from saying anything else by the return of Mashiro, who came bearing water for the two men and a small bottle of sake for later. Rei thanked her, once again making her blush, and Kogyo glared at both of them.

Somewhere above the treetops, a white-haired boy began to grin.

Edo, the Shogun’s Castle

“Sakuya-ojou-sama,” Kaede began, keeping her eyes on the throne room floor, where she knelt in front of the platform of her mistress. “I have destroyed another of your rivals. Now there are only three left in our way.”

Up on the platform, a young woman nodded in approval. Tokugawa Sakuya, the only daughter of the Shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, was a force to be reckoned with. Though she sat wrapped in several layers of heavy red and yellow robes and was dwarfed by the sheer scale of the room, the girl underneath was no delicate flower. Unlike many girls of similar rank, Sakuya was as well-trained in the martial arts as any high-ranking lord’s son, and – if her reputation was to be believed – twice as deadly when angered. It was thought that Sakuya had inherited the usual Tokugawa tenacity that her father lacked, and it could only be hoped that she had not inherited her father’s mad tendencies.

“Excellent,” she said, scratching the ears of the hunting dog who was seated on the platform beside her. “Now we will begin the last stage of the plan. Once we set up in Fuuka we can see to finding the remaining two.”

Kaede blinked, unsure if she’d heard correctly.

“The remaining two, Ojou-sama?”

“Yes, that was a development that occurred while you were in Yokohama. they must not have had time to inform you of that yet,” Sakuya folded her hands into her sleeves before she continued. “One of Father’s intelligence agents confirmed that at least one is in Fuuka itself, in a place we never thought to look.”

Kaede thought about this for a moment before lowering her head to the floor.

“My apologies, Ojou-sama. It is my fault that we have not found this one until now, I…”

“Rise, Kaede,” Sakuya said firmly, not waiting for her to finish. “You were still crawling on the ground when this took place. Back when we first learned of the mark 15 years ago we checked every girl in the country, house by house. But we never thought to look closest to us.” She sighed and twirled a lock of black hasir between her fingers. “Father has made arrangements for one responsible for this oversight to be executed. But we did find the missing girl through a tip from one of our loyal subjects.”

She slid a piece of paper across the floor to Kaede, who took it and read the message aloud, noting the poor peasant’s sloppiness in his characters:

“On the fourth day of the fourth month I witnessed a demon attack on our village. I thought I was a goner, but a giant purple serpent with many heads appeared and destroyed the demon. On its back I saw a beautiful woman in a kimono with an obi bearing the crest of the Fujiwara Clan…”

Kaede paused and looked up a Sakuya.

“Saya-sama!” she said breathlessly.

“Yes, I was shocked when I heard that as well,” Sakuya bit her lip, her dark brown eyes burning with anger. “To think that the girl I played with as a child has been conspiring against me from the beginning! This will not stand!”

Kaede bowed again, reaching down to touch the knife at her side.

“I understand, Sakuya-ojou-sama. I will go to Fuuka and eliminate Saya-sama. This treason will not be tolerated…!”

“Wait, Kaede,” Sakuya said, rising to her feet and shrugging off the heavy outer robe she wore over inner crimson-red kimono. “I will eliminate Saya myself. She has done personal injury to me, and I will seek vengeance against her.”

Kaede opened her mouth to speak, but promptly shut it, thinking better of it.

“I understand, Sakuya-ojou-sama. I will begin preparing for your journey to Fuuka, and I will notify the troops at once.”

She touched her head to the ground again and backed up until she was on the other side of the rear screen, and closed it in front of her with a snap. Once she was on the other side she mouthed a curse and rose to her feet, motioning for the guard who had been standing guard by the door to follow.

“You didn’t try to argue with her, Kaede-sama?” he asked once they were out of earshot. Kaede huffed and pulled her mask up to conceal her mouth.

“It would be like talking to a wall. She’s been cooped up here in Edo all this time, only hearing about us eliminating the others. She wants to get her hands dirty, and I can’t stop her.”

“But Kaede-sama,” he dropped his voice to almost a whisper. “I thought…”

“Quiet, you fool!” she hissed, popping one of her knives out of its sheath and holding it to his throat. “Sakuya-ojou-sama is not deaf! She might hear us!” she lowered the knife and looked away, her eyes moving over the painted screens lining the hall that depicted the victories of the first Tokugawa Shogun a century before. “If I forbid her to take revenge against Saya-sama she will become suspicious. All I can do is back her up and try to minimize the risk of her being harmed. And if that fails…”

The guard bowed and began to back away, sensing the change in her mood.

“I understand, Kaede-sama, I will notify the others that we may have to sever the Red String if things go awry.” He promptly turned on his heel and began to move away, no doubt to find and contact the other members of the Shogun’s elite guard – the ones even Sakuya didn’t know existed.

Once he was gone Kaede was left alone, and removed the cloth covering on her head, letting her dark brown hair fall freely past her shoulders, and tied it back with a strand of cloth from a pouch at her waist. She would have to prepare for the trip to Fuuka quickly, and that meant switching from her tough, commanding bodyguard persona to her other identity – that of Sakuya’s loyal lady-in-waiting, and all the femininity and false kindness that came with it.

The switch was never easy for her to make mentally, but now with much more on the line than usual the strain was beginning to catch up to her. She glanced briefly at her reflection in one of the polished pieces of armor hanging from the wall and saw that her eyes were bloodshot – something that absolutely would not do in her other persona.

She closed her eyes and swore, throwing her knife into a nearby wall, where I landed with a dull thud. She stared at the crack in the wood that had spread out from the point of impact.

“I will not fail,” she said under her breath, yanking the knife out by the handle and re-sheathing it briskly. “No matter what it takes.”

- End Part II

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Notes: This was a slower chapter than the last, but it will pick up next chapter, and some questions will be answered then. Once again there are a few cultural references and explanations here that may help you understand the story better.

Izanami: Izanami and her husband Izanagi are credited with being the Gods who created the eight historical islands of Japan. She’ll come up again later, so for now this is all we need to know about her.

Hikaru Genji: The protagonist of the world’s first novel, the Tale Of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, Genji was the son of the Emperor of Japan and a notorious ladies’ man with a long list of paramours. He’s perhaps most famous for adopting a young girl named Murasaki and raising her to become his wife when she reached the proper age, hence Kogyo’s reference to Rei thinking of himself as Hikaru Genji because of his relationship with Mashiro.

Rei and Hokuto: These were originally just placeholder names until I could come up with something better, but they ended up sticking. Rei’s name is written the same way as his descendent Reito’s, and literally means “black”, while Hokuto’s name means “North Star” and has no real meaning other than the fact that it sounds similar to Mikoto.

Tokugawa Tsunayoshi: Popularly known as the Dog Shogun, Tsunayoshi ruled between 1680 and 1709 and was widely considered to be out of his mind, in part due to a series of strange laws that, among other things, prohibited any citizens from harming any dogs at the penalty of death (this is also why Sakuya has a dog up on the platform with her).