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Ei looks small– no, like a woman rather than a God– as she sits and watches Sakura petals float away in the breeze. It's a lazy kind of afternoon, the kind where the sun sits gently in the sky like a blanket, and Miko can't help but think about the endless days like this that Ei did not see.
“The Sacred Sakura flowers more than I remember,” she says.
Miko smiles.
“I am a good caretaker,” she replies, and it is not a lie because she is telling the truth. She has devoted herself completely to the tree, to the shine, to the woman sitting before her. It is only natural that flowers would take root, she thinks, her hand resting over her chest.
~
As Lady Guuji, the Sacred Sakura will be your responsibility, she remembers being told.
Those words, like everything else Kitsune Saiguu has said the day she left, did not come true. She gives it everything not because it is her responsibility but because she cannot imagine doing anything else. The tree is a part of her, and has become her heart.
~
“There is a story the humans tell,” Miko says. It's not true, they don't talk about this, but there is a story she has told a handful of people– most now dead– about herself.
The nekomata turns to her with rapt attention. Kirara doesn't have half the soft spot for stories that Miko does, but she does love humanity. Miko thinks this is an admirable trait, and almost wishes she possessed it for herself, but for better or for worse she has nothing of her heart left to give away.
“When somehow allows their love for another to consume them, they fall victim to a curse,” she begins. “A flower– one that represents their feelings, it varies from person to person– grows inside their chest and slowly kills them.”
“Really?” Kirara asks, her tails quivering nervously. “Could it happen to Granny? I don't know what is so if anything bad happened to her."
“Who knows?” Miko replies, laughing as Kirara’s tails stick straight up in alarm. “Don't worry about your grandmother too much. The fact that you're worried about her proves that you love her just as much as she loves you.”
She turns to the Sacred Sakura as Kirara sighs in relief, and watches a petal unfurl.
~
The Raiden Shogun glows in the night with the brilliance of every star forged together into one. A field of monsters falls from a single slash of her blade.
Miko, running from the battlefield, turns back and watches. She has her tricks, but she is no fighter. She's a storyteller, and before the moment is over, she's already begun to spin it into a tale to last through the ages.
I will make you live forever, she promises herself. The words etch themselves into her like water carving through the soft and untempered earth.
Already, she thinks of a story. Already, she knows she will stay up all night to perfect it.
~
“That tree– why is it blooming so much?”
Miko smiles. She's been waiting for this question. Her visitor looks up at her with wide, curious eyes.
“It is filled with the love Inazumans have for our Archon,” she says. “She is a kind, and noble, yet powerful God. It was her who struck Yashiori Island in two, so that she could protect her people from great evil.”
She can picture the scene in her mind’s eye. Her God is powerful, beautiful.
He glances back to the tree. The golden feather he wears catches a stray beam of sunlight. It hangs at his chest, unacknowledged.
“You think highly of her,” he says.
“I am not the only one,” Miko replies, but she knows her love is special.
~
She does as she always does, and talks about her God. All of the visitors who come to the shrine hear stories about her, not all of which are true but all of which she believes. Her heart grows full, fuller–
And blooms.
~
It takes her a while to realize that the ache in her chest is a phantom pain. It takes her longer to realize that it isn't.
The Sacred Sakura is always in bloom. As of the past few centuries, its flowers are fuller than ever. Nothing else, especially not an inferior flower inside her lungs, could possibly represent the depth of her devotion to her God.
So– it is only natural, then, that the disease would not grow within her. Miko’s grateful for this. The Sacred Sakura carrying her burden buys her more time to tell stories.
~
“The Raiden Shogun is among the most powerful Archons. The barrier around Inazuma is her doing alone.”
“But– isn't trade good for a nation? Wouldn't it be better if we could move freely?”
The person asking is a visitor like any other. She will remember them only because she is a Kitsune. Nevertheless, it is her duty to herself, to her God, to answer them as best she can
“Perhaps. But her excellency loves us. She can only do what she thinks is best.”
~
Kirara looks up at the flowers as the sway gently in the wind, her tails twitching and tumbling into themselves.
“Yae Miko,” she says, “that story you told me– it was true, wasn't it?”
A phantom ache throbs in her chest. Her lungs are clear and her heart is not empty, but transposed.
“I am Guuji Yae of the Grand Narukami Shrine,” she says. “It is my duty to serve the Electro Archon with everything I have.”
“Are you dying?”
She pauses. She remembers nights with hundreds of youkai, then dozens, then one. When she took up this position, she had thought that those crowded nights would never end. Now, she can hardly remember what it's like to not be lonely. She feels the pain of each of her brethren’s passing acutely and individually.
“I have been for a long time now,” she says. “It's simply caught up to me, recently.”
~
Mumbles start to flare among the visitors that something is wrong with the Sacred Sakura. It's scent, once subtle, has become overwhelming, they think that they might drown in its sweetness.
Miko stands at the edge of the mountain and looks towards Tenshukaku. Petals dance in the air around her. Her heart is emptier than it has ever by, for she has given parts of herself she didn't know she had to her God.
She's begun to taste petals in her throat, to feel an unending ache in her chest. It seems that the Sacred Sakura can only take so much of her burden. No, she thinks, she aches only because she has given it everything she has.
She would not change a thing.
~
One of the visitors today does not marvel at the divine tree, nor pray to it. Rather, he looks at it with pity. It's an oddity, and so she takes note of it.
“You've given everything to your God, haven't you?” He asks. His face is turned away from her, his outline hidden by a large hat.
“It's my duty,” she says. “I am happy to fulfill it.”
“Even if it would kill you?”
“Yes,” she replies.
He pauses. Miko feels like she might have seen him before.
“Hasn't she ruined enough lives?”
“For a very long time now, my life has been hers to ruin. I chose that path, and I do not regret it.”
“I suppose you're happy, then? Even though you've given her everything and left nothing for yourself?”
A million answers dance on her tongue like fireflies. She can hardly tell them apart from each other, much less weave them into words, so eventually all she can manage is yes.
~
Her chest threatens to burst. The Sacred Sakura is lousy with limpid petals, and can take no more even though she has so much to give. She hopes the flowers grow on her grave. She still has too many of them to give.
“Miko.”
She reaches out for her heart. It's overflowing. She's going to drown in a brilliant flood of petals. This is a death she is happy with.
“Miko?”
Ei reaches out and grabs her hand. Her fingers trace the shape of it, pliant under her God’s touch.
“Are you alright?” She asks.
“I'm happy,” Miko replies.
Ei frowns. She glances back at the Sacred Sakura, then looks back at her.
“My heart belongs to you.”
“This isn't–”
“Hanahaki,” Miko finishes.
Ei closes her eyes, and breathes. She clasps Miko’s hand in her own.
“You are my most devoted desciple. For 500 years you have worshiped me more dutifully than any other.”
She opens her eyes.
“This is my new command to you– be selfish. Take what you want.”