Himari

For the first time since the pair shared a campsite at a nearby river, Himari and Maiko shared a dinner full of laughter and jokes. Horobei, Misao, and Shizuku had gone into town to find their own lodgings, and so the two friends and their fox companion took full advantage of the opportunity, swapping stories over a small fire.

“So let me get this straight,” Maiko looked to Himari, grinning. “You had known Sakura-chan as a sentient person for all of one day before deciding ‘yeah, this is a girl I’d like to kiss for a while if not forever?”

Himari laughed cheerfully. “Well, when you say it that way it makes me sound easy in my affections! In my defense, I had seen her when she entered my dreams back a month ago, so it’s not as if I’d never seen her before.”

“And sometimes,” Sakura added affectionately. “You just know that someone is right for you. I became interested in Himari-chan the moment I laid eyes on her in that garden.” To predicate the statement, Sakura placed a small kiss on Himari’s jawline, forcing a blush out of her. “Even if she can be an idiot. Maybe you will be lucky and feel the same about someone someday, Maiko-san.”

Maiko shook her head, “I highly doubt that,” she stated firmly. “In twenty-one years of life, no one has ever so piqued my interest. I think that’s for the best. Romantic entanglements seem… messy at best.”

Himari considered Maiko’s words as she stared into the fire. Was a romantic entanglement messy for her, too? She let out a sigh, only to be pulled back into the moment by a poke from Sakura. “Having someone to share the mess with makes it worth it for me. But we all have to make that assessment for ourselves, do we not my Dear?”

Himari considered, taking a moment to poke Sakura in the side gently. What did she think about this? The whirlwind of affection had caught her quite by surprise, and while she welcomed it, she couldn’t help but think that she was setting her lover up for heartbreak if the rebellion fully failed.

Eventually, she settled on words that she could live with. “As Sakura-chan says, we do have to make that assessment for ourselves. But along with that, we need to make that choice alongside each other. For example, I have been contemplating that the end of this might result in my death. And, well…” she looked at Sakura for a moment, a spark of worry hinting in her eye. “I wonder how that would affect you, Sakura-chan. I know we are only recently together, and that it would be foolish to call this more than a budding romance at the moment. Still, I don’t want to hurt you, and I can’t help but wonder if you would live well with my death.”

“Idiot,” Sakura laughed cheerfully. “I am a spirit with the potential to live into the unknown future of the ages to come. Rest assured, when you pass, whenever that is, I will mourn you for a time. But then I will allow my memory to be filled with the blessed thoughts of the person that you were. And in that way, you will live forever in me. I know the risks. There is a reason I chastise you when you leap into foolish ones. I do not want to lose you before your time, my Darling. But if you are wondering if I consider these feelings I carry for you to be worth the risk of your loss, let me assure you that I will never regret having loved and lost.”

Himari’s face reddened more severely at Sakura’s words. Then her head bumped lightly into the fox’s. For a moment, she had forgotten that Maiko was sitting across from them. “Well. Far be it from me to disrespect my elders further by pushing against them,” she teased.

Maiko rose at that moment, catching their attention in the corner of their eyes. “Well. I’m glad the two of you have come to an agreement to make it work. I honestly wish you the best of luck. But, I think I will stick to enjoying the idea of friends. Anything more just seems… excessive.” She gave a polite bow to the two, and then made her way to her hut.

The two spent another hour or so enjoying each other’s company, then Sakura led Himari to a section of field that she claimed was ‘the best’ for sleeping. The Kitsune had turned herself back into a fox, and quickly folded herself into a little circle. Her cute little fox snores filled the air before Himari could even lay fully down.

The whisper in the wind was almost ignored, written off as Sakura’s snoring. But when she heard it again, there was a more clear voice within it. “Sato… Himari…” Confused, she sat up, eyes hunting for the source of the whisper. “Sato… Himari…” She couldn’t place it, but there was one detail that she caught clearly: Shugojin was glowing within its Saya.

Himari gawked at the blade, unsure what to do for several moments. It had not glowed like this since the day she had received it. No, it had not glowed this intensely… ever. She picked up the blade, then looked at Sakura. Sleeping like a babe. Or a fox cub, she supposed with a chuckle. Deciding that not bothering her was acceptable, she stepped a few steps into the forest before she drew it.

Shugojin glowed with an intensity that almost blinded Himari. She guarded her eyes with her left hand, so she didn’t see the moment where she lost grip of the blade. As the light dimmed, she started looking around frantically. To lose Shugojin at this point would be a failure she was sure she couldn’t conscience…

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“I was wondering when your Aura would balance enough that we could finally talk.” A voice bounced around the trees in front of her.

“Who’s there?” She demanded, dropping into a defensive stance.

“Ah, my favorite thing about mortals. Just a hint of the unknown and their first instinct is to assume it a threat.” Stepping out from behind the tree was what looked like nothing more than a young person with a boyish face. Long hair traveled all the way down to their waist, and steel grey eyes watched her with amusement. “Come now, Himari-san. You have held me since you were twelve years old. Please tell me you have not forgotten simply because I have taken a form with a more useful mouth?”

“Shugojin..?” Himari’s hands dropped to her side. She gawked in surprise. In all that her father had told her about the blade, she had never imagined that the blade was actually sentient. “How… How are you like this? How could you take this form?”

The person that was Shugojin let loose a metallic laugh that danced into their words. “Ah, you misunderstand, Sato Himari. It is not that I have taken new form. More accurately, it is that you see me as what I truly am. To say that Ame no Shugotenshi no Tsurugi is simply a sword would be a lie. I am a living being, much in the same way that your quite delightful Kitsune lover is. Which is to say… not mortal.”

“I figured that,” Himari stated bluntly. “My father never indicated anything like this was possible.”

Shugojin shook their head, leaning against a tree. “Your father never reached the balance required to be able to attune to me properly. You have only barely done so yourself. It is nice, you know. I dare say it has been two centuries since I have had a conversation. A sword can get lonely in that time.”

“Mhmm.” Himari wasn’t quite sure she hadn’t snapped from the pressure of the last few days. “You are telling me that the greatest swordsman of a generation was never balanced? At least not to the point where he could talk to a sword?”

“Balance is not a mere physical thing, Himari-san,” Shugojin chastised as they wagged their index finger. “Consider just how much you have grown in only the last few days. Your control over Aura has exceeded his simply by virtue of the fact that he only bothered to train it to the point he thought was useful. And in doing so, he never truly was able to become attuned to the World like you are slowly becoming. You have noticed the difference, have you not?”

She considered the question briefly. In retrospect, she had become more aware with the small streams that trickled through the forest. It had surprised her how much of a comfort the sound of trickling water was when she was trying to sleep, when she would get lost in thoughts of the day that her father passed. And she nodded quietly.

“Did you know,” they continued. “That Sato Kosuke only held me for two years?”

“What?” Himari nearly shouted her confusion for the world to hear. “That’s impossible. He had been a Chosen for years by the time he had handed you off to me.”

“Indeed. And by the time he had done so, it had been almost five years since he had wielded me. I am not sure why he put me down, mind you. Perhaps he had grown frustrated that he could never attune to me as he had heard in the legends. He truly was a lover of them. Or perhaps he simply wished to rely primarily on his martial abilities to protect the Emperor.”

Himari frowned. She wouldn’t verbalize her feelings about her father to a sword, even one that seemed to know him more than she ever did in some ways. “So what now?” She asked.

“Now?” The metallic laugh rings out again. “Well, we bond! You have no doubt noticed my effect on your life in small ways. Little nudges that tell you to duck here and there. While we were so poorly attuned, I could only offer small… nuggets of assistance. As we grow together, I will be able to teach you more to help prepare you for your trial. Assuming that you still wish to walk that road.”

Himari’s head tilted. “It does not matter what I wish,” she said grimly. “People are relying on me, Shugojin. I can’t walk away from this.”

“Oh, but you can. The Emperor you swore oaths to is dead. I am unsure that the boy that you now watch over will ever be worthy of the title. Is this even your fight anymore? Why swing me in service of a cause you do not believe in?” Her sword’s eyebrow quirked in challenge. “Can you fight for a man that does not deserve the throne?”

Himari looked confused for a moment. Her characteristic anger started to boil in her stomach. “I don’t understand why you think this is-”

“I do not think. I know. And I know that I will not serve a master who does not fight for a cause she believes in. No matter what Kami’s blood runs in her veins.”

Their words stopped her in her tracks. She took a moment to consider. “I… I do not know if I can fight for Horobei. I have had no time to take his measure. He is Ichiya, and I do have Sato’s oath to Ichiya to consider. However, neither can I allow the Usurper who sits upon that throne to disgrace it with her continued presence. I cannot allow myself to not know where my Mother is, or my brothers. To think that Jiro-kun might be in danger fills my heart with rage. And I would rather die than let her see even one Summer on the throne.”

Shugojin smiled. They pushed off the tree and began to glow again. A blinding flash temporarily blinded Himari, and when she could see again, Shugojin was again in her hand. She could still hear their voice, though, speaking eagerly. “I am glad to see that your resolve is not tied simply to a vow that carries little weight. Sleep, Sato Himari. I look forward to seeing how we grow together.”

Himari stared at Shugojin over the span of ten slow heart beats. She finally sheathed it after finally taking a breath, as if she was waiting for something else to happen. With no other indications, she found her way back to Sakura and curled up with the vulpine form. As she slowly fell to sleep, a thought danced in her mind.

Was there really something she had surpassed her father in?