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“…and here is how the land’s energy flows hath diverted as a result of our processions.”
In the Divine Spirit Mausoleum’s small, jade-decorated meeting room, Miko of Toyosatomimi sat at a yellow wood table listening with interest to her favored retainer, Futo of Mononobe, eagerly discussing her findings while pointing to one of several maps.
“As I foresaw, my prince, the flow of the land can be altered by the massed movements of the lower classes.”
Futo was often derided, with justification, for being woefully out of touch with modernity. Her skill with feng shui, however, was good for far more than pyromania.
Miko smiled as she examined Futo’s feng shui maps. “Why would we alter what naturally occurs?” Miko knew why a Taoist would control rather than accept nature, but wanted Futo to think.
Futo clasped her hands and bowed her head. “O Prince, I graciously thank you for giving me the opportunity to demo-”
“Why, Futo?”
“To divert beneficial energy towards us and away from our enemies, and the inverse for negative energy. Such, of course, is only utterly obvious to someone with your perfectly knowledgeable mind, my prince.”
It’d be obvious to Yoshika, Miko thought, still keeping her polite smile.
“Certainly useful to be sure," Miko said, "but how do we live in harmony with nature while contr-”
Tojiko phased through the wall behind Miko, wielding both a book and an angry expression. “Husband, we need to talk.”
Futo scowled at Tojiko. “Such impudence! We are in an-”
sztztztztzzzz
As electricity loudly crackled around Tojiko’s fist, Miko stood up and held her palms up at her closest associates. “Futo, Tojiko wouldn’t interrupt without good reason. Tojiko, please knock next time.”
“Yes, my prince.” “Yes, husband.”
Miko turned to Tojiko. “Where shall we adjourn to?”
Tojiko crossed her arms. “Here’s fine.”
Miko sighed, but knew better than to argue with her wife. She turned to Futo. “Futo, please check the library for any references relevant to our discussion.”
Futo gave a prostrating bow. “Consider it done, my prince.” She then scurried off out of the room.
As the door closed, Miko turned back to look up at her wife, already sensing her desires. “Why are you upset with what I said at Lady Hieda’s symposium?”
Tojiko held out her arms, and leaned her head forward. “What part of ‘Taoist hermit’ don’t you get? We’re supposed to be unsullied by politics, not wallowing in them!”
Miko remained calm. “Humanity needs my-”
“The humans are just fucking fine! Better than they were when we went to sleep. You’ve seen how prosperous they are. Not to mention how they live in harmony with nature and each other.” Tojiko held up her symposium transcript. “Then I read you want to bring back social class and noble courts and all the bullshit we’re supposed to leave behind?!”
Miko sensed Tojiko’s strong desire for a peaceful, free life – well, existence. “You needn’t fear; social position in society won’t be based on birth and caste. Vocational importance and personal merit shall determine one’s place in the social order. I did establish such a system early in my reign.” Miko frowned a bit. “A shame I wasn’t around to prevent its corruption,” she muttered.
Tojiko took a deep breath; it represented life, a gentle breeze soothing her hot anger. “Okay, you want to be Gensokyo’s true administrator. Fine, I trust you’d do good. So why did you pick a fight with the largest faction?! Shouldn’t we be allying with them?”
Miko continued to remain calm. “Because it’s my moral obligation as prince to oppose political corruption, especially in religious institutions.”
“Political-” Tojiko blinked hard. “Gensokyo isn’t a country, it’s not even a province.”
“There are always politics where there are factions vying for power, or wielding it.”
“Really? What intrigue have the bats and bunnies been up to?”
Miko smirked. “You mean you don’t know about that moon landing?”
While newcomers, the Taoists were very diligent in learning of their new home and the doings of their neighbors, such as what was officially known as the Second Genso-Lunar War.
Tokijo looked down at Miko with weary eyes. “I do, and that was it, and it was only an elaborate prank.”
Miko didn’t need supernatural powers to sense her wife desired more relevant examples. “How about the Moriya Faith? The serpent has a goal that will make her more powerful than Lady Yakumo if successful, but she has anarchic kappa and isolationist tengu in her way. She’ll need allies if she wants to amount to more than that glorified, and vulnerable, pulley lift she’s years away from completing. Then there’s the simple fact that religions compete for faith-”
Tojiko winced. “Only when they make themselves politicized. Anyone can practice all three faiths.”
“Yet even within faiths there is competition,” Miko said. “Both Miss Hakurei and Lady Yasaka are Shintoists, but the former is violently territorial while the latter is chronically greedy. Neither wants to share the profits from weddings and funerals. There are also other faiths than those of our lands, but that’s beside the point.”
Tojiko gave a firm nod. “The point, thank you. Mine was why are we going after the Buddhists?" Tojiko gestured her free hand at Miko. "You’re a Buddhist as well as a Taoist, they want peace, and Byakuren has more powerful followers than you.”
“As I admitted during the symposium,” Miko said, “I only supported Buddhism to control the populace. Furthermore, Lady Hijiri is a heretical sorceress who clings to her desires and would suborn humanity to the lusts of youkai.” Miko cocked an eyebrow. “Why go to the trouble of abducting humans when they can marry them?”
Tojiko’s free hand sparked as she rolled and unrolled her fingers, not quite clenching into a fist.
Miko stomach tensed, but her face kept a slight smile. “She has plans for beyond Gensokyo as well, or why else would she be researching a means for youkai to no longer need belief. Imagine how much they could terrorize the Outside then.”
Tojiko put her book-holding hand on her hip. “The Human Village held out before the Spell Card Rules pretty well, and youkai are currently more interested in terrorizing humans with their partying.”
“Currently, and that’s only because of the fleeting Spell Card Rules. Even in such a case where our dueling code persists indefinitely, humanity is still surreptitiously ranched meat living at the whim of the Youkai Sage, even if she has no expansionist interests.”
Tojiko’s eyes widened. She tried to say something, but forgot to breath in. She took a shallow breath. “You’re not just going to stop at Byakuren, are you?”
Tojiko’s fear felt so palpable that Miko almost mistook it for her own. Miko shook her head, no longer smiling. “Someone with Lady Yakumo’s powers could bring peace to the world in a year, yet she has not. Someone that irresponsible mustn’t remain in power.”
Tojiko floated back a bit. “And you haven’t been sucked into a gap or worse why?”
Miko smiled again. “The Tao is without boundaries, except when it is. You and I are safe.”
Tojiko frowned. “Futo too, I suppose.”
“I intentionally avoided mentioning her, but she’s still useful to me, as is my congregation.”
“You can’t protect everyone.”
“Lady Yakumo is too fond of cover-ups be so blatant.”
Tojiko closed her eyes, saying nothing. Miko sensed her wife’s desire to find the right words, so said nothing either.
Miko waited.
Tojiko opened her eyes, but remained silent.
She turned to stare at Futo’s feng shui maps.
Tojiko finally spoke. “If Yukari’s such a problem, shouldn’t we be allying with the Buddhists rather than fighting them?”
“I warned you about Byakuren and her ilk earlier, did I not? She wants special privileges for youkai, as if this sanctuary weren’t enough.” Miko shook her head. “If a peasant’s livestock are savaged by predators, what does it matter if the beasts are rare and beautiful?”
Tojiko sighed. “It’s not like the bad old days anymore, and you know it. Youkai are more interesting in peddling and partying than preying on us. Gods, you barely mentioned them when going after Byakuren.”
“Are you repeating yourself?”
“It bears repeating, just answer the question.” Tojiko's free hand twitched and crackled a bit.
Miko shrugged. “It wouldn’t do to antagonize man-eaters, which is why humans put up with them for now. No, I opted to go after the troublemaker who wants youkai to believe they’re something special.”
“She just wants them to be peaceful.”
Miko sneered a bit, but not at Tojiko. “Through her permissiveness of youkai impulses, of course.”
“They’re no worse than delinquents.”
“Delinquents always get worse. Tell me, how peaceful were the warrior monks of Japan’s history?”
Tojiko gave miko a sideways glance. “The ones who don’t exist anymore?”
“And never will if I can help it.” Miko gently reached out and turned Tojiko's head, lmaking eye contact. “We mustn’t be complacent, dear. This peaceful time is very recent, and will only last as long as the current Hakurei maiden, unless she has a successor. That’s looking increasingly doubtful; most women her age would have been married already, and she isn’t even looking for a husband.”
Tojiko hmph’d. “I can empathize with her desire for independence here.”
“Gender roles aren’t so stifling here, and work in Miss Hakurei’s favor anyway.” Miko felt at her groin. “That would certainly explain a few missing details.”
Tojiko felt at Miko’s groin too. “Miss your favorite toy?”
Miko leered back. “Greatly, but you’ve put your now toy to very good use.”
Tojiko removed her hand. “You’re just trying to distract me,” she said plainly. “Reimu can get that Lunarian alchemist to do something, if the rumors are true”
“They are, but would she? Miss Hakurei is very insistent on doing things naturally, and doesn’t like modern artifice very much…if the rumors are true.”
Tojiko closed her eyes and tussled her hair. “So to sum up your reasons for being the exact opposite of a practicing Taoist: Byakuren’s negligent, if not outright evil; Yukari’s worse; and Reimu’s no better than field dressing. Only you, the most perfect person in the world, can be the hero- heroine.”
Miko mock-pouted. “You don’t think I’m the most perfect person in the world?”
Tojiko looked at Miko plainly. “I think you’re the most perfect person for me, the husband who lets me speak freely. I also think you’re addicted to politics.”
Miko smiled. “Your unfettered tongue is why you’re my favorite. I’m assured enough of my rightness that disagreement doesn’t concern me.”
“Just because you think you’re right doesn’t mean you are.”
“Just because you think I’m wrong doesn’t mean you’ll do something about-”
Tojiko tackled Miko back onto her table, then reached down under her husband’s skirt. While static charged fingers brushed on her undergarments, Miko could sense Tojiko’s conflicting desires.
“I know what you’re do-” Tojiko shut Miko up with a deep kiss, then pulled back, biting her lip.
Tojiko stared hard. “That doesn’t mean you’re going to stop me.”
Miko smirked. “You do know orgasm denial will only raise my energy.”
Tojiko frowned, and pushed herself back up. “I can deny you even more.”
“But will you?” Miko said, continuing to lie back. “You desire us, together. You honestly don’t care one way or another about either my politics, only that’s it a perceived threat to your desire. The only means you have to punish me for threatening your desire is, paradoxically, denying it altogether.”
Miko felt a bit, but just a bit, guilty about her words.
Tojiko closed her eyes; her face was outwardly calm, but her free hand clenched into a shaking fist, and she stopped breathing.
She began to cry.
Miko sat up, plucked the symposium transcript Tojiko held from her hand, then gracefully slid it across the table.
Miko gently clasped Tojiko’s hands. “Top or bottom?”
Tojiko looked down at Miko. “Top.”
“Everyone will-”
Tojiko gently pushed Miko back- “Let them.” –pinned her onto the table-
-and lowered herself onto her husband.