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He wakes up to the silence that tends to reign his bedroom this early in the morning, there’s nothing to feel but calm and peace, and even the little glimpses he gets of the outside world through one of the windows show that outside the peace also prevails.
The view that he sees, is on that is typical for the winters of Inazuma. The snow falls slowly and quietly all over the place, painting it all in white. And outside few sounds prevail, the ones of the animals all gone thanks to them all hiding away and searching for refuge from the weather, and the same goes for the people. The majority of them all searching for shelter from the cold and the snow in the warmth of the interior of the buildings.
He still hasn’t left the warm heaven that his room is, but he knows that soon he will be one of those souls searching for a way to escape the cold. Just thinking about how cold the hallways will feel in comparison to his room make him doubt getting out of bed.
But even though the cold is a big motivator, the truth is that there is another bigger reason for him to not leave.
Sleeping peacefully, and safely held in his arms, his wife rests and remains unaware that he has already awoken. She faces him, and so he distracts himself by simply watching her, he losses himself memorizing every single detail that he can see.
Few are the occasion in which she allows herself to be this unguarded, and while many would believe that because of her royal status she has never known hardships, the truth is that the woman he married is a hardened warrior before a princess. And born out of this, she always has her guard high, and closes herself to those that aren’t close to her.
That she has given him the privilege of being one of her trusted ones is probably one of his highest achievements, that he has become someone she confides in and that they have become close allies is something that he is grateful for every day he wakes up.
She stirs a little bit on his arms, and he laments the fact that soon this moment will come to an end, still, he makes sure to enjoy to the last second of peace that he will have.
She stirs more and finally wakes ups with a grunt, quickly rising she frees herself from his arms, and with a final yawn stretches her whole body and the last remains of sleep leave her.
“Good morning.”
There’s a small smile on her face, and while her hair is all disheveled with strands pointing in different directions, and there are some marks on her face where she rubbed against her pillows, in the privacy of his mind right now she’s the most beautiful woman he has ever seen.
“Morning.” With one last quick smile directed to him, she quickly gets up, and starts to get ready, he soon follows, now with nothing really keeping him in the commodity of the bed. No more words are said, but it’s not born from a desire from one of them not wanting to talk to the other, and instead, it’s because for both of them words are hard to come by, and the silence that falls is a comfortable and familiar one.
He doesn’t know what she thinks about this silence, but to him is a sign of the good place their relationship has gone even after its rocky and unstable start.
Too many, it would be a ridiculous thing, the fact that when they married their relationship was almost none existent, and their impression of each other was built on a base of rumors and second-hand accounts, but the truth was that their marriage hadn’t been one created of an existing love, and instead had been nothing more than a set of political moves to ensure the best for both of their nations.
Still, as both of them get ready, and soon will depart to attend to their obligations, he can’t help but send hidden looks towards her, in truth it’s nothing new, he has been doing the same ever since the first day they woke up as a married couple. But now things are different, and his eyes, which before held nothing but acceptance towards her, towards the situation that they now found themselves in, now show nothing more than the adoration and worship that he now feels for her.
He doesn’t want her no notice, because then she would question it and he would find himself in a position in which he would have to admit and face his biggest secret.
And that being that he, Kunikuzushi, first heir of the Raiden Shogun, and future ruler of Inazuma, has fallen in love with his wife.
***
It may have been some years already, but even to this day, there are times in which she still finds herself having difficulties in having to adapt to follow the new routine that her life has now.
She may have been born into royalty, but she didn’t really get to grow up on it, ever since she had been born she had been nothing more than a second thought, the spare heir in case something ever happened to her brother.
And so, in shadows and obscurity she grew, and while her brother was tutored in the finer arts, and got balls and lavish parties thrown in his name, she got to see the worst in the people, who even though were attending to someone of the royal line, knew that none one would move a hand to help the forgotten princess. But she also knew kindness, all of it always coming from the guards and soldiers that she meet during her escapades. They always patched her wounds, taught her about the world, and told her tales about heroes.
But above all, they taught her how to fight, going from the more refined ways that looked more like dancing, to fighting dirty and using everything that she had at her disposal, all to ensure that she was the victorious one, and that she would be the one to escape with her life.
And it was in that, in being kicked down and then standing once again, in hours and hours of training, in bringing down opponents twice her size and trice her age down, that she found her purpose and calling.
And as soon as she was 15, on the same night that they had been holding another feast in honor of her brother that she escaped under the darkness of the night, and left her old and unwanted life behind.
The next few days came as a shock for the whole world, first, the fact that there had been a second heir that only a few selected people were aware of, and second, the fact that she had disappeared and even though the best trackers and knights were sent to find her immediately, there was simply no trail to follow.
And while the impossible search to find the second heir, princess Ying continued, a warrior clad in white that went by the name of Lumine started her journey, and soon, she would become a hero, respected and admired by several nations.
10 years later, she would return to the land that she had once called her home, while she held no love for the family that she had been born into, she did hold love for the group of people that had done their best to raise her, and the news that the nation was now ruled by a tyrant made her worry, knowing that if they were true then the soldiers and warriors serving the crown would be the first ones to come to trouble.
And it had been a shock, arriving and discovering that it had been true, the nation was now filled with fear and blood was spilled in rivers by orders of the ruler, a ruler that had her same face.
She held no love for her nation, she had no sense of duty or responsibility that tied her to its people, and yet, and yet she soon found herself leading a revolution that wanted to bring an end to the mad ruler.
And they won, and her problems began.
She had foolishly held onto the hope that none would recognize her, the search for the second heir had ended up years ago when nothing was found, and when not even her brother, the man with the same face had recognized her, she had thought that she would be free of the duties that her blood imposed unto her.
But the night in which she had tried to leave the nation she had been stopped by an envoy composed of royal guards and several members of the court. And as they bowed and swore their loyalty to the new and rightful monarch she knew that she had gotten involved in something that she could may never escape.
She hadn’t been raised amongst the courts and discussions that the royalty prospered in, she never was taught the subject of politics and knew nothing of how to deal with diplomats and their kind, she knew nothing of establishing treaties and relations between nations, between factions, the place in which she had been forced to enter was one that she was unfamiliar.
But while she knew almost nothing of politics and the like, she was still aware that everyone saw her as nothing more than a pawn that they could use to accomplish their goals and gain more power.
She was in a new playing board, she was ignorant of its rules, and she had no allies, but she was in no way helpless.
And all of them seemed to have forgotten that, she may have been in a place where she had no power and allies but that wasn´t the truth for her standing in other nations.
And one night, after a long and exhausting day of playing twisted games, and full of faked smiles, she found herself writing a letter that was both her salvation and damnation. With every word she wrote, she felt one step closer to her freedom but at the same time, she hated that she had to be doing it.
But in the end, she completed it, and it was sent, soon it found itself delivered and read, and then, the answer was immediate, and soon the news that she was to marry the heir and future ruler of the land of thunder ran rampant all over the nations.
The next few months were chaotic and almost a total mess, treaties, deals, and compromises had to be created between the nations, she had forced herself to survive the unruly waters that she had found herself neck deep into, but in the end, all her goals were accomplished.
In the end, she found herself stepping down from her unwanted throne and allowing one of her distant relatives to rule over the nation, in the end, she found herself stepping into a boat that would take her to a distant land where she had tied herself to, in the end, as far as the world was aware of, the engagement had been created by the Shogun herself and none one would ever get to see that letter in which she had begged and supplicated the older ruler for a way out.
---
The first few months had been a disaster, while a little more familiar thanks to her previous travels and involvement in it, the court of Inazuma was one that she still had little standing on, and while this time she did had allies and friends at her side, it didn’t change the fact that there were still many out there that wished to get rid of her.
And it was only thanks to her abilities that she survived the several attempts that were made against her life, but above all, the biggest obstacle that she found facing was no other than the man whom she had decided would be her future husband.
But she hadn’t been expecting a warm welcome, she knew that the path she had chosen for herself was one that would be difficult and hard to navigate, still, the life she was now leading was with no doubts a thousand times better than when she had been nothing more than a pawn in a court full of snakes, this new life still didn’t compare to the one in which she had been truly free and was able to go anywhere her heart desired, but she knew that she was getting there, and slowly, as her power and position grew and left her with a better standing, she realized that she had slowly started to love this new life.
And as the years went by and the seasons changed she alongside them, she grew more, she matured, she adapted, survived and learned how to live a life that she wanted to live every day.
And alongside all of those changes, she came to love the man that was now her husband.
***
As the moon rises and the stars start their reign both find themselves once again inside the commodity of their room, (the commodity of each other presence), they just talk to each other. They talk about their day, the duties they attended to, the problems that surged, and the ones they solved, they offer advice and proposals, and it ends with both of them resting in each other arms.
There are still many things left unsaid between them, many feelings and actions that go unspoken, but now is not the time for that, maybe it will be tomorrow, or maybe never. But now, what it’s important, is that at least, hidden inside their hearts and keeping it away from prying eyes, each of them is aware of the feeling that is growing and growing. And even if they never do something about it, they know that they will still reassure it and keep that flame alive.