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"Hello, Makoto. It's good to see you."
"My name is Ei, I'm your sister."
Makoto sits up from the table she's on.
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"In some of these books, they talk about 'parents.' Like, a mom and a dad. And that parents are those who create life."
"What are you trying to say, Makoto?"
"You're like my mom, aren't you? May I call you that?"
There is a long silence. She turns away from Makoto, and Makoto can't help but feel like she's missed something.
"No, Makoto. We're lightning spirits - we don't have parents. I am Ei, and you are Makoto." Her tone is firm, and while she's heard that from her- Ei before, it has yet to have been directed towards her. Makoto looks away.
"Understood. Sorry, Ei." Makoto turns to leave.
"If you'd prefer," Ei says, as Makoto is about to enter the doorway, "you can call me onee-san."
Makoto turns around. Ei is now facing her, with a certain look on her face. Makoto can't place it.
"Okay, onee-san."
-
Makoto is on her way to her sister's room for their weekly lunch, when the door is closed. It's unexpected, and she's not sure what to do; Ei usually leaves the door open, especially for their time together. As she internally debates the best action, she hears voices from within.
"Ei, how long will you keep up this farce? You cannot certainly expect to keep the truth from it forever."
"Her, Miko. And there's no truth for Makoto to know. She's my sister."
"Ei... I know you're grieving. I am, too. But she would not have wanted you to obsess over the past. You have to look towards the future."
"A future? Without Saiguu, without everyone... without my light? I can't do this without her, Miko, she was the true Archon of Inazuma. I just... need to bring her back."
"You're acting quite like a child, you know. You're making everyone in Inazuma wait for you to be ready. But Inazuma will move on, and will need its Archon to move with it. You need to make a choice, Ei. Choose whether you wish to stay in the past, or whether you will strive for eternity as your sister did."
"I need some time."
"I know. But sooner or later, you'll have to let that puppet go."
Makoto turns back. It sounds like Ei and Yae Miko are busy. They can reschedule another day. Makoto returns to her room. For some reason, her vision seems to be off.
-
Ei enters her puppet's room. She is asleep. It's dark now, the lone moon rising in the sky. Ei sits by her puppet's bed. She goes to pick up her puppet, and notices the tear tracks left on her cheeks. And she realizes. She may not have created a new body for Makoto, but she has created a life nonetheless. Her resolve for destroying her puppet fades. Instead, Ei touches her forehead, and makes sure that her puppet can't wake up. In dreams, perhaps, she can live happily.
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"Miko, please take Ma- the puppet to the domain on Kannazuka. Shakkei Pavillion. I worry I will regress in my mindset were she to stay here in Tenshukaku."
"Did you change your mind?"
"Destroying a life I so foolishly created is unjust. No, instead I'm going to create another, one that can rule where I cannot. And I promise, Miko, I will not make the same mistake again."
-
Awakening was not something monumental. The passage of time seemingly didn't exist; it was a fleeting forever that gave way to a prolonged present.
-
Something is different. Doors that were left closed have been opened. Footsteps can be heard despite standing still. Shadows are shifting- that is a person. A person is there where there was not one before.
"Hey, didn't know anyone else was in this domain!" The person says. "I'm Katsuragi, part of Inspector Nagamasa of the Shogunate's group. What's your name?"
Katsuragi is a nice name. It is difficult, not having one anymore.
"I don't have one."
"Well that's alright! We can find a name for you!"
-
Katsuragi is nice. The other people, not so much.
Arriving at Tatarasuna, there is an immediate verbal bombardment.
"Katsuragi, I sent you to a domain, not to a village. Where'd you get this... person?" It is someone in fancier clothing than Katsuragi.
"Inspector Nagamasa! I actually found them in the domain. Other than them, there wasn't anything of note inside."
"This person got a name?"
"No, Inspector Nagamasa. They did not give me a name."
"Hmph. How eccentric."
-
A sort-of name is gained through oddity and habits. "Wandering eccentric," as exploring the areas around Tatarasuna is the most common pastime when Katsuragi is busy. Katsuragi is busy often.
-
"Katsuragi, what is that you have on your belt? None of the other soldiers have it."
"Oh, this? It's a Vision! Bit odd that you've never seen one before now..." Katsuragi mumbles. "Mine is Anemo. They're said to be gifts from the gods to exceptional individuals. Not sure what exactly that means, given I wouldn't call myself a very exceptional person."
"I think you're very exceptional, Katsuragi. I feel more human when I'm with you."
"Oh quiet, you wanderer, you'll make me as red as a dendrobium if you keep talking like that." They both laugh.
-
The wandering eccentric is looking for Katsuragi when movement is noticed by the river. Walking closer, it's apparent that it's Katsuragi, though he seems to be doing something. The wandering eccentric walks closer, and sees Katsuragi wrapping bandages across his chest. Running closer, the wandering eccentric looks for an injury.
"Katsuragi, why are you out so far from camp, if you're hurt you know you can come to me at least, it's late out and you know the monst-" the wandering eccentric is cut off with a laugh.
"Pft, silly. I'm not injured, I'm just rewrapping my chest."
"Why, if you're not injured?" At that, Katsuragi deflates. He takes a deep breath.
"Well, people are usually born with one of two types of bodies. It just so happens that I got the wrong type when I was born. Wrapping my chest makes it look more like the body I should have, and even if it hinders my breathing it makes me feel a lot better." Katsuragi is looking away.
"You can- you can do that?" Surprise, and a quiet pause. "I didn't know you could do that."
A longer pause.
"Could you teach me how to do that?" He asks Katsuragi.
-
He still has yet to find a name. He is fine without one, for now. He feels more certain of himself, and he has Katsuragi.
-
Inspector Nagamasa finally completed his claymore that he'd been working on for the past months.
A celebration is held within the group. It's small, but lively, up until the point the alchohol kicks in and almost everyone is passed out.
He and Katsuragi are part of the shrinking group that are still awake, until Katsuragi takes his hand and leads him off to a nearby clearing.
"Is something wrong, Katsuragi? Do you need help with your bandages or something?" Worry comes at the forefront of his mind.
"No, nothing like that, it's just... I wanted to ask if you knew what swords-dancing was." Katsuragi turns nearby, and as he turns to look in the same direction, Katsuragi is grabbing two nearby katana.
"I do, yeah. My... I learned how to swords-dance before I was in the domain. Why?"
At that, Katsuragi hesitates, before offering one of the katana to him hilt-first.
"I was wondering whether you'd like to... if you'd want to do one. With me." He's a bit surprised. "You don't have to if you don't want to!" Katsuragi is quick to add.
"No, I'd love to." He grabs the katana.
-
Their dances become more regular, some public and some private. Each one makes him feel... something. Katsuragi is an amazing opponent, mock battle or not, and he ends up thinking about Katsuragi more often than not.
-
It's a private swords-dance-turned-spar, and Katsuragi manages to pin him down, his own sword out of reach. They look at each other for a moment, breathing heavy. It's a bit too long to be a casual moment, and-
Katsuragi kisses him.
-
"Katsu, I think I'm going to leave for a bit. See more than just Kannazuka." Katsuragi is disheartened, but his nickname of "wandering eccentric" lends itself to his cause.
"Don't worry, I'll come back to you. I love you, Niwa Katsuragi." He pulls Katsuragi in for a kiss.
-
He's at Fort Fujitou when everything breaks.
"Hey, you- you're the, uh, the wandering eccentric, right? That stayed with Nagamasa's group?" A child, out of breath, runs up to him.
"I am, yeah. What's going on?"
"A message, from the Yoriki Niwa Katsuragi. He says, um, that your relationship and his, uh, nature have been revealed, and that he's been run out. He's currently at Nazuchi Beach, but he says he thinks Nagamasa's close behind him."
At that message, he gives a choked "thanks" before running towards the beach.
-
He's there. He's there as he sees Katsuragi disarmed, as he sees Nagamasa reach and rip off his Vision before throwing it aside. He's there as he sees Nagamasa thrust his sword into Katsuragi's stomach, and he's there as Katsuragi falls to the ground.
Nagamasa is facing away. He hasn't yet noticed there's another person here. Nagamasa doesn't notice, not until a sword is run through his back, right in the heart.
He tosses Nagamasa aside, still impaled, and kneels down to Katsuragi's side.
"Heh, hey there wanderer. Glad I got to see you again." Katsuragi is coughing up blood.
"No, nonono don't speak, just hang on, you can heal with your Vision can't you? Where is it, where is it..." He's searching the area, trying to find anemo teal amongst deep red dendrobiums and pale yellow sand. An arm grabs onto his.
"Think we both- cough- we both know I couldn't heal this with my Vision." Katsuragi is looking right at him, and he can't stand it.
"No, Katsu, stay with me, you'll be fine, just stay with me, please!" And though the sun may be bright, a cloud passes over them and he swears that it's started raining even though the sand is still that pale yellow.
Katsuragi's eyes are closing. They're closing until they're shut, and he's breathing until he's not, and it can't end like this except that it has. It has, and there's nothing he could do about it because he wasn't there when he was needed.
He's holding onto Katsuragi now, holding his upper body tight even though the blood is now staining his clothes.
"I won't let this go. I promise you, I'll destroy everyone who decided to hurt you."
It's rainging harder now, and the sand is now turning from yellow to brown. The sun is gone. He stays there until night. When the rain has cleared, he stands.
"I think I've found my name, Katsu. Kunikuzushi. And I'll avenge you, even if I have to destroy Inazuma to do so."
Kunikuzushi leaves Nazuchi Beach, with bloodstained clothes, a lifeless Vision, and a bouquet of dendrobiums.
-
The next segment of time Kunikuzushi spends destroying the Raiden Gokaden. Those who learned from the Raiden Shogun, and then taught Nagamasa...
The Futsu, Hyakume, and Senju are gone. The Isshin and Anemona are left. He's sabotaged the Isshin art already.
His plans are flawless until they aren't. Because when he goes to kill the Isshin practitioners just as he did the Futsu, Hyakume, and Senju, he comes across someone with oh-so-similar yet glaringly different from Katsuragi.
Kaedehara Yoshinori, formerly Niwa Yoshinori. And every single plan he has halts.
What has he been doing? Katsuragi would not have wanted this, and as much as Kunikuzushi wants to he cannot continue.
So he leaves two alive, the Kaedehara and the other important-looking guy who's probably from another important clan. He announces his name, and leaves.
-
He's wandering Seirai when he meets them. A group of strangely dressed not-Inazumans. And as he disarms them with ease and asks (not interrogates) their motives, he learns of the Fatui.
And then he leaves Inazuma, bound for Snezhnaya.
-
The doctor there, Il Dottore, manages to find a multitude of hidden mechanisms within his body. After additional surgeries, Kunikuzushi is now more comfortable and aware of his body, and much more powerful.
With that power, Kunikuzushi is tucked away and Scaramouche is created.