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There was a woman who went by the name Fuku-Otome, and she was known as the Heian matriarch of the main Asakura line.
Yoh and Anna would've read of her in their family archives and appreciated her, but only Hao would remember her so fondly even after this measly moment.
Hao remembered the day he wrote her a lai, went on with his affairs as an onmyoji, and got her reply a day later. Apparently she had not heard of him until then, and even so, did he not have a plethora of lovers and wives already?
Whereas most Heian ladies invited him into their houses after only two or three exchanges, Fuku-Otome was more like a friend than a lover. Hao fondly recalled how he contemplated praying to each of the Shichifukujin for a chance to see her, for a chance to talk with her. Her namesake proved itself, and she was not someone to take lightly.
Fuku-Otome preferred not to write proper lais, but actual messages, as one would write to a friend. The Great Onmyoji Hao remembered himself scratching his head so frequently when a servant whispers, "This is from Fuku-Otome" - was he speaking to someone he sought to bed, or someone he sought to befriend?
Then one day, as he left the estate of Hane-no-Tsubasa, whose reverse reishi he treated, he finally received the lai he had been waiting for. Fuku-Otome invited him to her estate.
As he finally laid eyes on her, he felt similarly as he did with Hane-no-Tsubasa. The lady of luck, Fuku-Otome, had hair as bright as firefly light, eyes as blue as porcelain, and skin as supple as an infant's. Hao immediately thought to himself, was Fuku-Otome herself the legendary Nayotake no Kaguya-hime? Heh, she did have similarities with the mythical princess. After all, she made it difficult for him to pursue her.
She was rather shy at first, but she soon proved herself to be the person he communicated with on their letters. He soon realized she was intelligent, too intelligent for most other lovers of the era.
And that brilliance she put in good use. She offered him advice when his brows furrowed. Her intuition was strong, and she would frantically beg him to cancel trips, revert decisions, or act upon certain events, saving his life and the people's lives more than once. Hao found more than a lover in her, the way he did with Hane-no-Tsubasa. He found an advisor, a confidante, and a powerful political ally.
"I don't want a lover; I want a good friend," he remembered her telling him, "But I suppose I won't mind if my good friend would want me to invest in a long-term relationship."
While misfortune made Hane-no-Tsubasa's estate its own house, fortune once again favored the lady of luck herself, and she bore Hao his heir, the founder of the main line - Yoichi. She would continue to support both him and the boy, even until the boy finally grew into a respectable man, even until this man stood with his brothers and sisters and stepmothers to overthrow their father altogether.
Fuku-Otome would also be the one to propose giving Hao's body a proper burial. Oh, had she not stepped in and done that, Hao was sure he would've terrorized the Asakura house into extinction.
There were more to Fuku-Otome than the Asakura archives in Izumo, founded by none other than Yoichi himself, than the descendants ever preserved and would ever know. But for now, Hao was more than happy enough to keep a few things to himself, fondly remembering his beloved friend and wife Fuku-Otome while seated on his throne in the Heavens.
