Reborn in the Mist

The estate was quietly lively as I walked down its cobbled path. The homes I ordered built around it were filled up, all save a few. Since my discussion with Akane Kaguya the clan stopped congregating around her home and now took full advantage of the gift I offered them nearly a year ago.

Soft orange hues illuminated out the curtained windows I passed, shadows of children dancing around sweet smelling dinner and the adults for once, lived life to the fullest and without fear of reprisal.

The same couldn’t be fully said for the Yuki. I continued to keep the clan separate from their source and Hidaki Yuki still had no power to complain. That didn’t stop the adults from being a little more cold shouldered to my presence though, even while they inevitably softened up to life entrapped within my estate.

To me, it was just another hatred I carried on my shoulders. In time I was sure they would all grow beyond this petty matters, there was no going back to the way things were for them.

It’s better this way. I thought nodding politely at the pair of Yuki members returning with a haul from the supermarket, a young Kaguya boy trailed after them and his smile was the most genuine of them all. He couldn’t have been older than twelve and the pep in his step was contagious up until they came across me.

“Good evening, Yagura-sama.” the Yuki greeted, tipping their heads in a bow as they slowed.

“Good evening.” I answered, my eyes lingering on the young boy grinning up at me.

Not for the first time I wondered if a Kaguya child may be Kimimaro, the Bone Kekkei Genkai prodigy but this one looked too happy to be him. We walked past without another word and I put him out of mind.

I’d asked the old Kaguya Matriach about Kimimaro before she became infirm and her response was simply heartbreaking— ‘If that child isn’t here…he must have gone with the adults.’

If that was true then Kimimaro must’ve been among the set of Bone wielders that attacked the village. I recalled too often what I did to them, crushed in a shrinking sphere of water, wood and the flailing bodies of the adults, arrogant enough to think Kirigakure weak.

I bit away that thought and its imagery, if Kimimaro was lost to foolishness then I would make do with what talents his clan bore for me. Already Akane had a set of Academy candidates and some that fit the bill to be Genin just going off their skill with their Kekkei Genkai.

The mixed clan estates fell behind me as I approached the gated area of my home. The gates swung open for me before I was a metre away and the guard bowed deep and excitedly at my return. He was a commoner, a regular old civilian with no clan relations but he was clearly excited to be working here.

“Thank you, you’ve done a good job maintaining the grounds.”

“It’s a group effort.” He beamed.

True enough, he wasn’t the only one under employ here. Junichi had been the one to set things up and he ensured the estate mansion I lived in was fully staffed with every profession it would need. Groundskeeper, gardener, security, chef, maid, all the others I couldn’t bother to keep track of.

I missed him.

It was a single, flora-scented path up to the door of my home but even before I’d reach it the scent of whatever was burning invaded my nostrils. My heartbeat kicked up a pace and I rushed to open the door but it swung open on its own, my butler and house chief of staff was standing there with a handkerchief over his nose.

“Welcome home, Yagura-sama.” he muffled, brows furrowed with worry as he glanced the way of the kitchen.

“What is going on?” I asked, handing him my hat and haori.

He coughed and it wasn’t long before I did too. “Lady Terumi is…trying something,” he said delicately.

I almost laughed but I knew better. I held a smile up at him and shook my head, “Just leave the door open and maybe open some windows.”

“Of course, sir.” he said, neatly folding my haori while I moved towards the kitchen.

The butler wasn’t the only staff Mei’s ‘something’ had displaced. A clutch of maids and the chef stood or sat outside the kitchen, precariously looking in as a commotion of boiling water, a trash bin full of cracked and half used eggs, apples, and a discarded bag of flour— not including the one dusting the floor— continued to erupt.

I shushed them all before they could greet, one already leapt to her feet and was mid bow before she got the idea. “I’ll take it from here.” I whispered, waving them away.

Mei was in the centre of it all. The kitchen seemed too wide for her and yet too small as she bounced from one pot to chopping carrots and reading from a recipe book. An apron was tied around her waist and it’d already earned its stains as much as she had, covered in as much flour as the floor was.

Something was burning in the oven but through Mei’s casual humming and the scent of boiling lobster I bet she didn’t notice it. Her mane of red hair was poorly stuffed in a bonnet, strands stuck out defiantly as she tossed the carrots in with the lobster, nodding in a self-satisfied manner as she cranked up the heat.

Sneaking up on Mei seemed like a bad idea, but I wanted to try. I drew close, keeping my footsteps as light as possible so they barely made a print in the flour coating the floor. She was reading from her recipe book, flipping through bookmarks she made with utensils.

I moved quickly at first, wrapping my arms around her waist and then tightening— only she spun near instantly, spatula coming down on my nose fiercely as she yelped. “Ah! Yagura!”

“Ow.” I muttered, nursing my assaulted nose. “Hey.”

She breathed a sigh, shoulders sagging as she glared down at me. “Why?”

“Thought it’d be romantic? Haha.” She rolled her eyes and I added. “I also didn’t want to disturb your…chemistry experiment.”

Mei peaked at the door and once she found her audience had left her glare lost its weight as she pouted hopelessly in my arms. “I just wanted help out at first but then the chef was so good I didn’t know what to do, I got a bit jealous and told her I’d handle the baking and…oh! The baking!”

She jumped away from me to switch off the oven but I knew it was too late. She mopped at her handiwork through the glass and hung her head in defeat. “I’m sorry Yagura, I made a mess of things again.”

Again.

Mei living with me happened more suddenly than I expected, in fact, I wasn’t sure if we were living together truly yet. After our…major disagreement the day of the Arrogance Purge, she left and I thought she’d never come back, never look at me the same again. But things went…better than she expected. The Purge was least violent against the formerly caste clans and at the end of it, those caste clans came out with a strong leveraging position, one they had her to thank for.

We didn’t discuss our differences, even in the rapidly cooling aftermath. One day she visited the Tower under the guise of submitting a mission report and we just picked right where we left, cordial, fun, candidly happy to see each other again.

Since then, she visited the mansion often enough, reporting or should I say gossipping with me the highlights of her and Lady Suikazan’s ambitions. How the previously caste clans had their own differences to surmount before they could truly move as one body and how those challenges inspired and invigorated her.

However tired I was after the office I kept an ear for her words till her voice lulled us both to sleep, accidental at first and then on purpose. Now she was here every night she didn’t have a mission, which was most nights as her priorities lay in the village, at least for now. And frankly, without Junichi, without Uncle, it was a welcome change to have her with me.

“Let’s leave this mess for the kitchen staff to handle, they’ll put the finishing touches on your work.” I said, lending her a hand to stand up.

“But, what are you going to have for dinner?” she pouted.

I’d made space for dinner together as usual so I was hungry and she would be too. “Let’s stop by one of Uncle’s restaurants, it's close and within the Estate.” I suggested.

“I’m sorry I—”

“Don’t be, we should have a fine dining experience tonight, there’s something I want to talk to you about.”

***

Uncle’s restaurant in the Estate wasn’t the most bustling enterprise he’d ventured into but it was among the newest. This one, aptly named ‘The Blue Kraken’ was erected some months after I decided to live in the Estate with the Yuki and Kaguya. As such, its most frequent visitors were of those clans while trusted Karatachi civilians ran the business.

It didn’t look like it was making much money off the backs of the Yuki who still weren’t allowed to run missions or the Kaguya who hadn’t fully integrated with the rest of the village, but that’s why I appreciated Uncle for it. It made life within the Estate full for those forced to live in it.

Mei and I took the rooftop dining and placed an order of exactly what she was attempting to cook at home— lobster and apple pie. It’d take a moment or two before those got prepared so, while we waited, Mei’s curious gaze bore a hole in my head.

“What did you want to talk about?” she asked, fighting the wind billowing her hair in her face. “Just tell me.”

I bit my lip, half of me was still willing to wait until after she had a full stomach but she was hungry now and most irritable by waiting. So I took a deep breath and began, reaching across the white set table for her hands.

“Minako noticed and…well, others have and will notice how close we’ve been of late.” I said, rolling her thumb between my fingers. “She thinks it's too soon for us to be so…blatant, that people will have strong opinions.”

I felt her pull away, ever so slightly but I didn’t let her. I looked up and found she wouldn’t meet my gaze either, not as she spoke. “I know. I’ve been told. Lady Suikazan thinks it's a good thing and a good thing for us means...” She breathed deep and seemed to clear away all contradicting thoughts to bluntly ask. “Do you want to end things…whatever this has been?”

“No.” I said immediately. “I don’t want that.”

“Then…what about the village? The clans and…how it looks.”

“I’m not playing any favourites by loving you, Mei.” I said, snatching her receding hands in mine. “I’m aware what it’ll look like, just like I was when I allowed them to kill themselves over petty matters. I know what I want out of this life and if I have to weather the rumours and lies to have it, I will. I will have you, Mei.”

Her eyes went saucer wide as she gasped. “Wait, are you—”

“This won’t be the first or the last time I double down on what I believe is right, for the village and for myself.” I stared her dead in the eye and asked. “Let’s get married, Mei.”