Work Text:
The end of the Sakoku Degree, and hence Inazuma’s isolation, had brought many great things. At its heart, the Raiden Shogun had softened, seeking a kinder eternity for her people. Furthermore, it brought foreign goods to liven up Inazuma’s markets, and foreign ideals to liven up its people.
After the harrowing year that was the Vision Hunt, Sara reflects, Inazuma deserved it. She could not fight back the grimace at her own part in the Decree, in stealing the very ambitions of Inazuma’s people, but now was a time to move forward, not back.
Even if it meant less time with a bow and sword, and more time at her desk doing paperwork. This too was part of her duty to the Shogun, and she would tend to it with gusto if it furthered her god’s goals.
It was, however, quite dull. Day after day, scratching away with ink on parchment. Signing off the returns of the remaining Visions to their owners, approving or denying movements of the Shogun’s troops... important work, essential work, as directed by the Shogun.
It is well into another morning of paperwork that Sara hears the sliding of a door to her office, and the scratching of cloth against the Tatami Mat flooring. Not the front entrance, though; not the one accessible to members of the Tenryou Commission. It was the back door, the one that sent Sara’s heart aflutter, because that path was only known to the Shogun.
Perhaps today would be interesting, Sara muses, though she would prefer it to happen after lunch, before the next batch of paperwork.
"Well, well," drawls a familiar voice, "If it isn't my favorite Tengu General."
Sara exhales sharply at the voice, fighting the urge to flare out her wings. It sends a faint shiver down her spine, half dread and half something she could not identify.
"Guuji Yae," she replies stoically. Internally, she scolds herself for assuming that the Shogun would be able to spare more than the precious hours they already had. “I was not aware that there was paperwork from the shrine that would require my attention. May I help you with something?”
The Guuji chuckles, still behind Sara and out of sight. "Oh, little bird, the only paperwork I do these days is for publishing. Come on, doesn’t all this desk work bore you?”
Her voice is rich, saccharine, and dangerous, though this was no different from any other day. Sara’s main concern was if the Guuji’s schemes involved her, which today they almost certainly do.
“I am fine, Guuji Yae,” Sara replies robotically, recalling all of her carefully thought-out plans for repelling the Guuji’s inevitable onslaught. “Serving the Shogun is my honor and duty."
Guuji Yae lets out a huff, and a pair of delicate, well-manicured hands curl onto her shoulders. Something soft presses against the back of her head, and another something rests atop her head. Long pink flips over Sara’s shoulder, dangling across her chest.
"Even when it makes you miss your monthly shrine visit?" the Guuji says, her voice carrying as much through the top of Sara’s head as it does her ears. "We miss you up there, you know."
Sara sets down her brush. She will have to apologize to the Shogun later for her lack of productivity. Is Guuji Yae always like this in private, manipulating others to her own ends? Or is this problem unique to high-ranking servants of the Shogun?
No matter the case, she had a Guuji to apologize to and compensation to offer.
“I did not think my absence would be missed by anyone,” Sara lowers her head, “I shall endeavor to make up for it, Guuji.”
The grip on her shoulders fades with the warmth at her back, and Guuji Yae stalks around the desk. Violet eyes bore into Sara’s own, sparkling with cheer and searching for something Sara could not place.
Guuji Yae is not wearing her usual outfit-- today, she wears an almost modest kimono, pink and decorated with violet flowers. Almost modest, save for it stopping before the knees and an open collar to display a large expanse of her collarbone.
Her heavy gold earrings remain, dangling from large pink fox ears that twitch with shifts in the Guuji’s widening smile.
“Come on. Of course we missed you, Sara. It gets so lonely up there... not many people are as amusing as the great Tengu General,” the Guuji grins, her sharp incisors gleaming. “I’m sure you’ll be able to make it up to me, hmm?”
Sara’s feathers rustle, and it takes all her focus to prevent her wings from flaring out.
“So long as it does not conflict with my duties to the Shogun,” Sara affirms, “I shall return to the shrine on the fifteenth of this month.”
The Guuji’s grin vanishes, ears flicking, before it returns in full predatory force.
“But I wouldn’t want that to hang over you, Sara. Hmm,” she pauses, tapping a finger to her cheek, “Why don’t you come out with me today? I could use the company and hands... to help me with some heavy items, of course.”
Sara looked down at her work, then back to the Guuji. “I cannot. There is work to be done, and I will not disappoint the Shogun.”
Guuji Yae’s smile fades slowly this time, her lower lip sticking out in a small pout. “Is my company truly so horrible that you would rather stare at some dull paperwork? I’m hurt, Sara, I really am.”
She is not hurt, Sara knows. The kitsune is simply pulling on her old back of tricks, but she has already used this one. Her resolve is being put to the test, but she will--
“I can assist you after my morning work is complete, during lunch, if that is acceptable,” the words tumble out of her mouth unbidden, pushed by a sudden stuttering of the heart. “I will help you, Guuji Yae, but I will not abandon my duties.”
Guuji Yae’s ears perk up, and the smile she gives is dazzling rather than dangerous. “I would never ask you to abandon that, Sara. I just think you work too hard for your own good.”
Sara shakes her head. This is familiar ground now, ground she has tread with each and every one of her friends at least once. “Never too much, Guuji Yae. It is only barely enough.”
Her friend snorts, head shaking to the sound of jangling jewelry. “Enough. I’ll tell our Almighty Shogun you’re being a boor, get you the afternoon off, and you’ll spend it with me, hmm?”
Sara grits her teeth, forcing back a sigh. She doesn’t have it in her to argue more. “If that is your wish, Guuji Yae.”
Guuji Yae merely smiles, patting Sara on the head.
Guuji Yae, true to her word, went back to Tenshukaku.
She did not return with an order from the Shogun, as Sara had expected. No, she returned with Raiden Ei. Ei, because the Shogun did not have the faint crinkle of mirth at the edges of her eyes. That, and the Shogun had Sakura Mochi before lunch rather than the Dango resting in one hand.
Sara squawks as Ei’s hands hook under her armpits, dragging her away from her desk and into a very tight hug. Guuji Yae hides her expression behind a raised hand, but the sparkle in her violet eyes tell the story well enough.
“Sara!” Raiden Ei exclaims, releasing Sara from her comfortable prison. She leans forward to pluck a broken feather off one of Sara’s wings-- when had those come out?
“Miko told me you missed your shrine visit because of work,” Ei continues finally, as the offending kitsune grinned from behind, “I insist you remedy this immediately, my General, and to that end you shall have your afternoon off, starting now.”
Sara manages a nod, “It will be as you command, Your Excel- Ei. Only,” she hesitates, “It is still morning. May I finish what I am doing first?”
Guuji Yae hums. “Do not stress yourself too much, hmm? I’d hate to have to lug you around when you could be carrying things for me instead.”
Ei’s eyes gleam with lightning. “Hm. So it is indeed still morning. Miko, let us leave Sara to her work. Sara, you shall report to the front gate at noon to accompany Miko.”
The door slides shut, and finally, blissfully, Sara’s office is quiet.
She almost misses the noise, somehow.
Sara finishes her pile of paperwork with time to spare, and spends her last free hour reviewing her own work for mistakes. Even then, noon comes sooner than she’d expected.
She finds Guuji Yae at the gate, toying with a long lock of pink hair.
“Good, you’re here! I would hate to have to drag you out of your office, Sara,” Guuji Yae calls out. “And looking just as fetching as I’d expected.”
Sara blinks. “Fetching what, Guuji?”
“Don’t worry your pretty little head,” Guuji Yae sighs, patting Sara on the shoulder. She pauses, sniffing. “Hmm, you still smell like breakfast. I take it you didn’t think to get lunch before coming?”
Smell like breakfast? Sara wonders. Her tengu blood granted her enhanced eyesight, so it stood to reason Guuji Yae had a fox’s senses.
“Lunch is not essential to a day of paperwork,” Sara assures her. “I still have plenty of energy, so there is no need to delay on my behalf, Guuji Yae.”
“Guuji this, Guuji Yae that,” the Guuji rolls her eyes. Her hand trails down Sara’s shoulder until it clamps down around her wrist. “I’m going to lunch anyways. Come on.”
The Guuji tugs on her arm, and Sara allows herself to be led into the City.
At first, Sara expects the Guuji to drop by one of the stalls Ei is so fond of, to grab a quick snack so they can be off to work. It is noon, after all; the streets are crowded and loud, full of Inazuma’s citizens going about their business.
Conversations and the calls of merchants meld into a comforting mess of sound around them. A handful of soldiers sit at streetside restaurants, eating delicious looking meals of fish and rice that make Sara’s stomach rumble in discontent. One place is even selling a strange confection of bread and cheese-- another idea from outside the country, allowed to flourish by newfound freedom.
It warms Sara’s heart to see Inazuma so alive in a way it hasn’t been since well before the Vision Hunt Decree. That thought makes her lurch slightly, but she sets it aside. The past is the past, after all.
Her rumination is cut short by a sharp yank on her wrist, dragging her down a side alley.
“Guuji,” Sara tests. “Where are we going? There are no more food stalls this way.”
“To a sit-down restaurant, of course,” Guuji Yae replies with a hum, glancing over her shoulder with a smirk, “Come on, do you think I’d want to sit somewhere so exposed, so noisy? Why settle for street food when luxury is at hand, hmm?”
Sara quite likes street food, actually, but she decides to keep that to herself. “Of course, Guuji. Such a location is much more defensible.”
“Defensible?” The Guuji stops in her tracks, her hand still wrapped around Sara’s wrist. “I am perfectly safe on my own, little bird. And with a famed tengu General by my side, I don’t think there’s much to worry about. Now, come on.”
It is fortunate that the Guuji cannot see her face, Sara reflects. A blush is unbecoming of a ‘famed tengu General’. Unprofessional, even.
She does not recognize the restaurant they end up at, and true to the Guuji’s instructions, she does not evaluate its defensibility. She merely identifies the best vantage point with which to monitor the building.
“I will stand guard while you eat, Guuji Y- urk!”
Her plans are cut short as the Guuji sighs and yanks Sara inside with an undignified squawk. Fortunately, her wings do not flare out this time.
They are seated in a private room, much to Sara’s relief. No amount of politeness could hide the curiosity burning in the other patrons’ eyes, watching the Guuji and a soldier ask for a table.
“No fried tofu for lunch. How terrible. Hmm, Sara, what do you think of the Stickleback sashimi? They serve it here as part of a platter with crab and shrimp.”
Sara frowns, looking at the menu. “I have not tried Stickleback, Guuji Yae. I believe the only way you will find out is by tasting it.”
“Really?” The Guuji frowns, “They served it at that Kujou dinner last year. I saw you there.”
Something unpleasant stewed in Sara’s chest. Something that, months ago, she would have disregarded completely.
“I was not permitted to eat with the guests at such events, Guuji,” she begins, catching the Guuji’s unusually stern expression, “It is of no concern. Such issues are behind me thanks to the Shogun.”
“We will get the Sashimi platter, then. Is there anything else that catches your eye, little bird?” the Guuji says eventually, looking down at her menu.
We? Sara wonders. “There is no need to order anything for me, Guuji. I will be fine.”
“No, Sara,” Guuji says flatly, her voice hard. “You will call me Miko, little bird, and you will eat with me. Ei would be furious with me if I let you go hungry, hmm?”
The unpleasant feeling burns away as the Guuji- Miko’s words sink in. Words catch in her throat, unsaid and unfinished. She swallows them.
“I will order the udon, then.”
Miko hums. “Good. Treat yourself kindly, Sara. It won’t kill you, I promise.”
It does not kill her. The Stickleback is a curious tasting fish, one Miko ends up not being fond of, so Sara dutifully eats the rest. In exchange, Miko ends up having most of Sara’s udon.
Curiously, she doesn’t mind at all.
The meal carries on as Miko picks at the remnants, prodding Sara about her day. She wasn’t oblivious-- the Yae Publishing House has more than one light novel that Miko had based on her exploits.
Surely that has to be it.
Miko’s hand stretches across the table, laying gently over Sara’s.
Yes, Sara assures herself, struggling with a suddenly dry mouth, surely it’s just business.
The afternoon finally finds Sara and Miko at the Yae Publishing House, far later than Sara expected.
Miko instructs her to pick up a crate of scrolls, which is exactly as expected.
“Most humans can’t make it halfway up the stairs to the shrine without a long break, Sara. You, on the other hand...” Miko runs a hand down Sara’s arm, “Well, it’s fortunate you missed that shrine visit. Now I get you all to myself, hmm?”
Miko’s behavior had grown increasingly strange. It almost reminds her of how Ei gets when Sara takes her to get dango, but that was obviously a different arrangement.
“The Guuji should not be made to do menial labor,” Sara replies quickly, “I will do this gladly.”
She arches an eyebrow at Sara, lips quirked. “Come on, then. Keep your back straight, I’d rather not have to run you back down for a healer before you’ve even visited the shrine properly.”
“That would hardly be the worst injury I have received in the line of duty, Guuji.” Sara coughs. “Miko.”
“Is that all I am, Sara? A duty to your precious Shogun?” Miko chuckles, “Hmm, you do take your duties quite seriously. I wouldn’t mind that.”
“You will not fool me, Miko. I have become resistant to your jabs,” Sara says, unable to stop the words from leaving her mouth. She grunts, shifting her grip on the crate. Stairs were a challenge with heavy objects, and the way to the Shrine had quite a few sets of them.
The result is quite pretty, though; the Grand Narukami Shrine is perched atop the highest peak in Inazuma, the Sacred Sakura like a beacon to all of its people.
“Resistant, not immune,” Miko hums, her hair swishing as she climbs up ahead of Sara, “You’ll just have to spend more time with me, then.”
Sara doesn’t mind the idea as much as she expected, and that in itself concerns her.
Finally, Sara is able to deposit Miko’s crate of scrolls in her personal quarters at the shrine. Miko herself pries the lid off and begins reading its contents, but says nothing.
She takes a moment to inspect the quarters, duly ignoring anything that might be considered private. It is well-decorated with trinkets and memorabilia, all focused around a large table covered in paperwork. It is there that Miko sits, looking unusually focused.
“Is there anything else you would need of me, Miko?” Sara says eventually, standing awkwardly.
Miko hums absently. “Your company, perhaps?”
“My... company?” Sara frowns. “Surely there are things I can do to assist the shrine.”
Miko chuckles, turning to face her. “Oh, little bird. I took you out for lunch and then invited you into my private chambers. What part of that says to you that I wanted anything but your company?”
“The crate I carried up to the shrine?” Sara guesses, gesturing at it. “You did ask me to ‘make it up to you’, I believe.”
Miko chuckles again, and the sound sets Sara’s heart aflutter. “Sara. When I said I missed you, I was not lying.”
Sara’s frown deepens. There was something missing here, something obvious, something she knew but could not understand.
“Then I will do my best not to miss future Shrine visits. This, I swear on my honor.”
Miko stares at Sara, suddenly looking quite tired. She flicks her ears, and the tiredness vanishes.
“When Ei said you were dense, I didn’t think she meant this dense,” Miko sighs. “Guide my hand, I’m so bored of dancing around it.”
“Dancing around what?” Sara tilts her head, “If there is something that concerns you, Miko, I will do my best to alleviate it.”
Miko’s expression morphs several times before settling on a small, warm smile. She drops the scroll she’s holding, leaning forward and batting her eyes. When her voice comes out, it’s soft and sweet.
“Sara. Do you have a favorite restaurant? Don’t tell me what it is, just nod or shake your head.”
Sara searches her mind. She quite likes that teahouse that Kamisato Ayaka also frequents. Dutifully, Sara nods.
“Is it open tomorrow?”
She nods again.
“If you really want to do something for me, you will take me there on a date tomorrow, during your lunch break. How does that sound, little bird?” Miko drawls, eyes sparkling. “Does it all make sense now?”
A date. Guuji Yae Miko wanted Sara to take her on a date. She could feel her cheeks burning up, her heart pumping furiously in her chest-- yes, she understands. She doesn’t get why it’s her, but yes, it makes sense.
Sara fights a grin, and instead says, “My apologies, Guuji Yae. You may have to explain it to me again.”
Miko rolls her eyes. “Maybe you are spending too much time around me.”
Before Sara can manage a retort, Miko lands a kiss on her cheek and shoves her out the door.
“See you tomorrow, little bird! I’ll be waiting at the gates.”
The next day finds Sara taking lunch off of her own free will, and Miko is indeed waiting for her.
Maybe she is spending too much time around Miko, but she can’t bring herself to care.