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Annoying tapping echoed throughout Ei’s room for minutes. It was enough to wake the body double up and slither her hand beneath her pillow to grab her tanto. Quietly Ei snuck to the window, blade in hand. She sidled up to the wall adjacent to the window and ever so slowly peeked out, ready to strike.
To Ei’s unsurprise, it was just Yae Miko, who somehow managed to sneak past several guards and climb a few stories all the way up to the kagemusha’s bedroom. As the two made eye contact, Ei was greeted with an excited grin, as for Miko, all she got was a shake of the head from Ei.
Despite her disapproving gaze, Ei opened the window to let the other in. Miko gladly climbed inside and greeted Ei, “Well good evening to you too, Ei, I never took you as the hard-to-wake type. Do you have any idea how long my poor claw was even tapping for?” The kitsune held up a finger towards Ei, “Kiss it better?”
The kagemusha leaned in closer to the kitsune to take a better look. Upon her expert inspection, she deduced that the finger was in perfectly fine condition, however Miko proved to be a difficult one to say no to. In a barely audible whisper Ei finally spoke up, “Miko, why did you journey all the way from the shrine to wake me?” Ei didn’t mention the potential dangers the other could have faced on such a journey at night, yet the stammer in her voice implied her concern.
The finger was pushed closer to Ei’s face, when she looked past it, she realized Miko was staring her down with the saddest puppy dog eyes in the world. The shrine maiden whimpered pathetically when they made eye contact. Quickly glancing away, Ei compromised, “Answer me first, please…”
“You didn’t forget about our date did you?” Miko pouted to such an extreme it would be obvious to everyone but Ei that she was just hamming it up. “Remember? We agreed last week I were to take you to my favorite spot in Chinju Forest…Ei, you weren’t planning on standing me up on our first date, were you?”
“...Date? …First…date?” Ei’s eyes practically popped out of their sockets when the memory came flooding back to her. She looked around wildly in a panic, thinking of what to do. Impulsively, the panicking woman yanked on Miko’s wrist harshly and quickly gave her finger an awkward kiss. “Oh no no no, Miko, I am so sorry,” she apologized profusely while still holding on tightly.
Miko was taken back by Ei’s action, she did not expect her to actually kiss her finger, and without a complaint either. Her bewilderment shortly ended when it registers that Ei was still panicking, because of Miko’s overfamiliar teasing, while grappling her poor wrist. Knowing she must remain calm and fix this, Miko gently placed her free hand on Ei’s and giggled, “Oh my silly little shadow, there’s nothing for you to apologize for. Let me be the one to apologize for making you so concerned. After all, the last thing I want you to do is be so hard on yourself. Ei, you can rest assured knowing I perfectly understand why you could’ve forgotten, you certainly have a lot more irons in the fire- figuratively speaking that is -than most other.” With a comforting smile, Miko concluded, “I can’t ever be upset at you.”
The reassuring words made Ei sigh and slowly ease her anxiety. While Miko sometimes says things towards her without realizing it would go over the god’s adorable head, she was great at recognizing when it did, and was quick to both amend things and explain them. Whatever relationship the two of them were building, it was all unfamiliar territory for Ei. She still struggled to recognize the kitsune’s whimsical playfulness, always wanting to assume Miko was being literal no matter what. But slowly the two of them were learning to understand each other better. The unexplainable responses Ei’s body had over Miko were mysterious and indescribable, but beautifully addictive and comforting. Whatever was going on, it only made her want to put full faith into Miko no matter what.
In the past Ei should just follow her twin’s lead. Makoto would make the friends, introduce Ei to them, and with Makoto’s aid the friendship would prosper. Sometimes it was hit or miss, but it had been very successful in the past. It was how she ended up being good friends with Saiguu, Chiyo, and the dearly departed Sasayuri. But this was certainly different, Miko sought her out in order to befriend her. Originally Ei worried it was just a cruel prank, but very quickly Miko proved to be nothing but sincere with her feelings. Ever since then, the two have been practically inseparable during times of peace.
Eventually, the kagemusha realized her mind got terribly distracted by warm memories of her kitsune companion, when she phased back into reality, said kitsune was waiting for her attention patiently. If Miko’s comforting words made her reminiscence this hard, then they must have worked. However, Ei found it difficult to speak, so she gave Miko a smile and a slight nod as a thank you.
Miko tacked on, “And besides, your best friend, the lovely Yae Miko, has a perfect memory. If you forget, then I’ll just simply remind you, easy as that. Now if you may grant me the honor of courting you away, we can be off on our way.”
Ei returned the tanto back to its comfortable home beneath the pillow. “Granted,” Ei murmured with a blush, now turning her attention back towards her friend.
“Delightfully, I am graced!” Miko replied with genuine excitement. She quickly quelled her excitement before mentioning, “Let’s move quickly before Saiguu or your sister catches us. I have no desire to be put on clean up duty at the shrine again.”
The other girl shuttered at the embarrassment she would experience if Makoto caught them sneaking out again. Determined, Ei made her way out her window, then she extended a hand towards Miko to assist her. The shrine maiden eagerly took hold of the hand and was quickly pulled outside.
Before moving onward, the two of them examined the surrounding area. Looked like the coast was clear. Hearing snickering, Ei turned towards her kitsune companion who had already begun to move. “Our date begins now, Ei. Keep up if you can~” Miko teasingly cooed before shifting to a fox and making a full sprint towards the forest.
As Ei leaped and dashed through the courtyard, over the walls, and out the city, easily following her friend. The loner was no expert on dating, in fact, this was her first ever date, but she did feel like chasing her was a strange activity for a date. She theorized that, as a fox, Miko must perhaps enjoy the thrill of a chase. Even with her kitsune prowess, she stood no chance against the kagemusha’s stamina and experiences though. But if this was something that the kitsune enjoyed, then she must honor it and play along. Besides, Ei would be lying if she said she wasn’t having fun right now.
However, once the two of them made it to Chinju Forest, Ei did have a harder time keeping up. The narrow, twisting roots and branches coiled around each other, making it a tight maze to navigate through. The smaller, slender fox had no issue navigating, but Ei found her size slowing her down, not to mention the creeping fog and darkness complicated things even more.
When Miko made it to her secret spot, she immediately shifted back into her human form and plops on the ground on her back. Even if she knew Ei could have caught up to her at any time, she couldn't help but the cackle that made its way out of her heaving lungs. The excitement and adrenaline appealed heavily to her more animalistic nature.
Once Miko caught her breath, she rose back up. Since Ei had yet to arrive, she took the opportunity to double check everything she had prepared before arriving at Tenshukaku earlier in the evening. The picnic was yet to be consumed by wild animals and the moon was on full display and presenting itself shamelessly. During this, she couldn’t shake the thought of how weird it was that Ei still had yet to make it, but she knew well enough to figure whatever got in the warrior’s way would be dealt with quickly and efficiently.
The forest was working against her, Ei believed. The labyrinth of trees and foliage only got more complex, still, Ei remained confident. She might be extremely socially inept, inexperienced, and awkward, but here in the forest, she was in her element. But in a moment’s notice, she was distracted. Out of the corner of her eye, the kagemusha saw something concerning. Relying on a warrior’s intuition, Ei decided a detour was in order.
Darkened storm clouds that coated the night sky were gone as quickly as they sprang up, allowing the full moon’s glorious display of light to once again illuminate the clearing Miko was waiting in. She wondered if something had happened to Ei. Then, for a moment, her ears stiffened and twitched as she heard a rustling sound approach her. She recognized the familiar sound footsteps made and her tails wagged impatiently.
Ei stomped out of the thicket and into the clearing, grumpily mumbling something about catching a group of poachers, and about how awkward it always is whenever heathens begged her for forgiveness instead of putting up a fight. It’s not that she preferred butchering criminals, in fact, Ei very much would prefer if they had a chance at redemption over death. But it becomes an exhausting hassle when she has to put on her sister’s mask and speak with supreme authority. At least those ne'er-do wells should be too scared to ever be bold again, but she remained a bit bothered about how long it took to deal with them.
As a beam of moonlight shined down on Miko like a spotlight in front of Ei, her complaining instantly halted. Like a priceless display at an art gallery, Yae Miko posed profoundly in front of her. Her tails, 2 of them now, swayed in the night breeze almost as if they were beckoning Ei to come closer. And so she did. As she approached, she noticed how the moon’s radiance reflected off of the kitsune, giving her a divine aura that made her ethereal, other-worldly. Did Miko herself bend the will of the universe just to delay Ei enough to set the stage? The god could believe that without proof.
Her trance was momentarily interrupted by a crystal fly, Ei realized there were several of them revolving around Miko like she’s the center of their universe. And for a split moment, Ei pondered if she should become a blasphemer and join them in reverence or if she should pluck their wings off and ground them, so she alone can ascend to this pink goddess's side. Before she could decide, a brief snicker grasped the girl’s chin and forced her to make eye contact with Miko again. Something clicked in Ei’s mind when she realized Miko was staring at her the same exact way she was staring at Miko. …Oh.
All this time Ei was so preoccupied being overwhelmed by the mystery of her feelings and how they urged her to put all her faith into her compassionate friend, that she failed to realize Miko had already done that with her. The twinkling mirror in the shrine maiden’s eyes was the confession. Her heart clenched at this sudden revelation. Ei too was priceless, she was beautiful, she was majestic, and respected, and cherished. She was Ei as much as Miko was Miko, and for the first time in her life the meek kagemusha had no other choice but to accept herself, for it would be a sin to deny Miko’s confession.
The word to describe how Ei felt was unknown to her, but Miko knew it. With an eternity ahead for the both of them, she had plenty of time to teach the sheltered god what the word was. But right now, she had to poke fun at a certain someone who just failed to notice her favorite treats laid out beside her.