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Post by Koma on Jan 28, 2020 5:59:30 GMT -8
There was a saying, many sayings with a similar sentiment in fact, which boiled down to 'You can take the boy out of the wild, but you can't take the wild out of the boy', and despite his long and hard study in the arts of swordsmanship, in the arts of chivalry, and the arts of warfare, the arts of etiquette, and even the arts of engineering, and architecture, Koma, formerly of the Bear Clan, was still someone who could easily be described with that statement. Even after nearly two weeks living in the lap of luxury after the new year, its events, and the reveal of his heritage. Even after knowing that his mother was alive and that it was not all her choice for him to be given up and for his father and himself to be left in the rural village known as Three Caves Village, he was still restless. Still walking about the plush and well appointed rooms they provided him, and expected him to return to at least once every twenty four hours? He felt like a caged animal. It riled his emotions, made what should have been a happy time a bitter one. Perhaps it was natural for a samurai with his personality and nature to be melancholy and filled with rage. Perhaps it was natural, perhaps it was the result of thirty years of shadowy manipulation by the Grand Duke Yajirobe and the other heads of the White Cat Clan of samurai. Koma could not know for sure. Now the manipulation was not shadowy. Two Samurai of at least the fifth rank in the country's nobility were stationed out of his chamber doors, ostensibly guarding him but more truthfully keeping an eye on him and preventing him from leaving and disappearing out into Oolong City proper. Bare feet in tabi sandals tapped against the luxurious wooden floors of his room as he paced back and forth, looking intensely and wondering what kind of thing it was now. If only honor did not dictate that he accept the will of the Grand Dukes without argument or fight, if only honor did not dictate that he not kill the Grand Duke's soldiery. If it did not, he would have left the castle already, cutting a swath through whoever opposed him and finding his own path once again. The natural path, not dictated by the decisions of others. Not dictated by a family who let him struggle for thirty years before revealing the truth to him. It was a pain, and that was all there was to say about it. Koma had no way of knowing that elsewhere in the White Cat Clan's Castle in the Grand Duke's plateau, they were preparing for a great party. He had no way of knowing that elsewhere on the Grand Duke's Plateau, in the Tea Clan's Castle, they were doing similar, for a party hosted in both castles and in the private park lands between the two castles. The ducal plateau lay beneath, spreading out all around the Grand Duke's Plateau, a hilt guard to the hilt of the sword which made up the mountain in the middle of Oolong City. When someone finally came to tell him what was happening, he nearly cut the figure's throat, stopping only when he noticed one of his 'cousins', a princess of the White Cat Clan who's father had died defending against the Northern Demon Kingdoms in the last great war- a war which Koma and the rest of the Bear Clan had fought in only a year before his betrayal by Kuma. His cousin's name was Katae, and she was a woman who fit the stereotype one generally had of Yajirobe's descendants. A red dot covered her pale skin, the mark of her mother's people, the Shura Clan, whom had been absorbed into the Pig Demon Duchies some 200 years ago. “Koma-San, it has been requested that you head to the grand hall. The elders have an important message for you and an important task for you, important to the Clan and to the continuance of the Country itself.” “So be it.” he said, before slipping on his walking sandals for the travel from his chambers to the great hall. In one's living quarters, it was taboo to wear sandals or any other type of shoes, after all- but walking barefoot through the castle and its grounds would be silly as well. Elsewhere, a similar event was likely taking place. [751] Juni
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Post by Juni on Jan 28, 2020 21:35:25 GMT -8
For the past couple of days, Juniper’s father, Pine had been arguing with her mother Natsuki while preparing for a feast of some kind, and the Tea Princess was asked to remain in the living quarters of the Tea Clan in Oolong’s castle away from her friends and kept from traveling on her pilgrimage to balance the world using her mystic powers. There were many times when she overheard her siblings names uttered and she did her best not pry further on it. The truth was, she was the youngest of three siblings from Pine Tea, as his first wife died at childbirth from Ma-Te. Unlike her grandfather Oolong, Pine kept one wife, while Juniper’s aunt’s and uncles had multiple marriages yet produced no heirs. It was only Pine who was a half demon pig beastman that was able to continue the family legacy with two daughters and a son. With Ma-Te no longer the male heir to the Tea Clan, she could only assume that it was a matter of selecting a new heir, and since Clove was older it would naturally fall on her which would give Juniper the freedom to travel the world as she pleased. However, it seemed that Natsuki was adamant that it was her offspring whom should be given the chance next. It was Hachi that entered Juniper’s childhood room, she was reading several books to pass the time, and she followed her floating octopus companion over to the grand banquet hall where her parents were sitting on one side of the banquet table, and all of her half pig beastman family members were seated quietly as they watched Juniper be escorted to her parents side. As far as she could tell, Clove refused to be in attendance, she likely did not give their father a reason but Juniper knew she was training in the northern villages to defend against any namekian invasions to improve her skills as a blade master with her newly forged sword. It seemed that her mother expressed a proud chakra upon her arrival, Juniper felt anyone could depend on her, and that she would do her best to aid people who needed her help. Without having a proper discussion of it, she knew it involved helping her family, one way or another. As Juniper took a seat across from her mother and to the left of her father. Pine stood up to address the entire family thanking them for being present followed by his heart wrenching explanation that after the passing of Ma-Te that he must name a new heir to the Tea clan. Juniper Tea is to be made heir in an effort to unify the Grand Duke families and while it might have been a shock to the mystic she was unaware of what details that involved other than to marry someone from Yajirobe’s clan. The family clapped by congratulating her new position in the family, followed by a kampai of their drinks to celebrate, and as soon as everyone settled in to eat at the table Pine slid a small box over in front of his daughter. “What is this?” Juniper looked at both of her parents with cobalt blue eyes, she opened the box, and found a bright orange shard inside alongside cuff-links with the Tea Clan and the White Cat clan symbols engraved on them. Natsuki explained that they desired to have the wedding rings forged but felt that she would be more inclined to deciding what kind of ring she wanted and the next suitable gift to offer the heir of the White Cat clan would be cuff-links. By the sound of her mother’s voice it seemed the heir in question had been decided and she was not too familiar with all the members of the White Cat clan since she had been occupied training as a mystic her entire childhood. Juniper was complacent, there was nothing more honorable than pleasing her parents desires, and she wondered if she was capable of making her entire family happy if she accepted this arranged marriage proposal. A formal meeting was to take place in the courtyard the next morning as a symbol of unification between both castles that were not connected apart from hidden underground pathways build into the depths of the natural plateau.
The winter weather was kind, the sky was cloudless, sun covers had been stretched over the courtyard made of stone garden and sand swirled in intricate patterns. At the north end of the garden was a wooden tea table with two red cushions over a tatami mat. Juniper kneeled down wearing her traditional Tea clan kimono on one of the cushions with the elegance of a princess who had been trained her entire life for this moment. The wooden box her father had given her was clutched in both her hands on her lap as she waited for her future to be decided. [823]
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Post by Koma on Feb 5, 2020 5:32:33 GMT -8
Deep inside of Koma was a raging beast which had made him a great warrior, a representation of years in three caves village and the mountain top monastery which protected it. It fed on his every doubt, on his every despair, on his every dark thought or destruction of hope. It had grown strong through his life, from the time it first crawled out of the depths of his stomach when his father had been killed by loan sharks over owned money. It had grown and subsided, subsisted on his desire to protect the happiness of his friends and loved ones when he grew out of rage, and switched back to the bloody diet which it had been early accustomed to when he switched back.
He had lived what felt like more than half of his destined lifetime without family, with only the shadowy memories of his father, the one armed Saiyan Samurai known as Swing, to comfort him. It had been hard, but the beast which some might confuse for his pride grew and prospered off of his struggles. It was not his pride. It was his pride's guardian, his fighting spirit. Whenever his pride was brought low it covered it like a blanket of protective snow.
The White Cat Clan claimed he had been a member since birth, but special circumstances prevented them from revealing themselves. They revealed that the birthmark on his lower back was actually a tattoo from the days of his infanthood, meant to identify him anywhere. The rest of the clan had the same mark, the smudged mark of a very fat cat's paw. He was in their city, in their country, and he was a no one. Let them tell their sudden surprise stories, and let him determine the truth for himself.
The way he acted, like an uncouth yokel, in those early days had been an effort to shield his shivering and confused pride, as it held the newborn hope for love and family, the new born hope to be loved, in its arms. Now he played the uncouth yokel, the up-jumped savage who would sooner fit the position of a Yakuza tough than he fit the position of one of the Princes of one of the two ruling Clans of the realm.
They whispered secrets as he passed, his cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmothers, they all stole peeks at him as he strode forward and yet he continued without hesitation or change in demeanor. They knew what was coming, and thought that he did not. He was not stupid. He could not be. A stupid ronin is a dead ronin, after all, and he had spent years on the run after his betrayal by Kuma and those members of the Bear Clan which turned coat to join Kuma's true clan.
Today was to be the day to announce his engagement. The fact that Yajirobe's grandson had a prestigious battle record, some legends of his own about him, and had survived three years on the run as an outlaw swordsman only increased his prestige among the vassals and the peasantry. The fact that his power level was steadily increasing to vast heights only helped that. He had no idea whom it would be, but he knew signs when he saw them, and given the excitement endeavored forth by his 'family' as he strode through the halls of the Castle and towards the Gardens, it became clear that whomever it was, the woman who would be his wife if the White Cat Clan had his way was a member of the Tea Clan.
Dressed in a black Kimono formal enough for the occasion, the only symbols upon Koma's back were a small white diamond set up for the White Cat Clan's mon and a much larger roaring cyclone in the shape of a bear. Koma's personal mon.
His Daisho was at his hip, because a Samurai never left it out of his reach, even for an engagement party. Enemies could strike at any time. His hard expression softened as he approached the area they meant for him to sit at with his prospective wife. Juniper? Ma-te's littlest sister? Wasn't Clove older? It wasn't that Juniper was not cute, but she was young. She was a good girl, regardless. He stepped forward, and gingerly, respectfully, and entirely within the actions of etiquette, moved to sit down on the pillow beside her. Through the side of his eye, the side of his face as well, he flashed her a momentary smile, and then went back to business.
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Post by Juni on Feb 6, 2020 1:54:49 GMT -8
“Good morning.” Juniper smiled back, the fact that he did not say anything meant he was doing his best to keep this formal meeting with his feelings suppressed, their family members were watching from their castle’s balconies observing the exchange. “It is an honor to be named heir apparent of the Tea clan. It is through unfortunate events that brought us together and be placed under these marital circumstances. I never imagined I would be subjected to be married so soon. Personally, I wanted to travel the world, and practice my mysticism. Grand Duke Oolong himself handed me the land title for zen acres in order to hone my abilities further. Perhaps we can come to an agreement prior to this arrangement?”
The tea princess placed the box on the table, removed the lid, and revealed her engagement gift to Koma. The dragon ball shard was the size of a long muskmelon placed at the center of the box which glistened in the sunlight that permeated through the sun covers hanging high above them. The cufflinks engraved on spirit ore with their clan’s mons were also inside the box, in a much smaller vessel with velvet cushioned fabric, and she turned to look at Koma with complacent eyes.
“What are your terms? I vow to commit to your desires if I am allowed to travel freely, as it is my only present wish. Any thoughts on our future clan name?”
Her hands were placed neatly on her lap, her cobalt blue eyes looked at Koma’s slate eyes intensely, everything they knew was being defined at this moment. They were both the pride of their respective clans. A marriage between clans and their offspring would unite the grand duke position to a single clan. The Pig Demon duchies would be under one clan to mark the dawn of a new era. Grand Duke Oolong was the only male in the Tea Clan apart from Pine Tea, who was her father, and Ma-Te had been the heir to the clan until his untimely death. The next honorable step to make was to name either Clove or Juniper as heir to the clan. It was Natsuki’s greatest wish upon her husband Pine to have her blood be the next heir.
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Post by Koma on Feb 7, 2020 3:43:14 GMT -8
“Good Morning.” He returned, almost as if it was as automatic as breathing. Behind the mask of calm that all Samurai should exhibit, his emotions continued to roil. There had been no announcement to him, not even an attempt to broach the subject. That enraged him like many other things, but among the White Cat clan it should have been no surprise that that was the case. Grand Duke Yajirobe and his children were not exactly on the best of terms aside from Yajirobe's singular daughter- and Yajirobe's grandchildren? Even worse of terms. It was for that reason that no betrothal had been tried between the two greatest houses of the Pig Demon Duchies in this generation. Koma was only technically a member of the clan, though. He was after all effectively a bastard child legitimized by his grandfather after great deeds on his own part, or perhaps simply because Yajirobe felt guilty. So he did not respond, simply answering with good morning as he wondered what was going to be said next. He had little in the way to reply to her remarks, aside from perhaps a congratulations, and the truth of his feelings on the matter – but he did not speak up before one of his uncles strode forward.
The gray haired elder of the clan, one of Yajirobe's first children, strode forward.
“It has been decided by the elders of the White Tiger Clan that Prince Koma of the White Cat Clan will become the Crown Prince and heir of the Grand Duke Yajirobe and the White Cat Clan as well. Our gifts to the couple are yet to be revealed, but under the Prince's cushion, the betrothal gifts to Princess Juniper can be found.”
Almost absentmindedly, Koma reached beneath the cushion to pull out a pristine orange and black striped box of delicate looking yet extremely strong materials. He opened it and peered in it for a moment, before closing it. Inside was a snow white comb and a long and slender shard of a dragon ball, resembling a straightened out banana.
As Koma looked, his uncle Beigoma, the elder who was speaking, continued. “As far as permissions to travel, we will have to firmly deny them. You and Prince Koma will both be confined to Oolong City with the intention of making a suitable heir or set of heirs for the Grand Duke status which could unify the Clans. Further, you two will be confined to your residence with guards to protect you from assassination attempts. We can't allow you to go off into the wilderness and end up kidnapped by the likes of the Dark King Piccolo. Our terms firmly deny such act-” and before Beigoma could say anything else, Koma powered up and threw himself forward, slamming his forehead into his Uncle's chin.
“You can shut right the hfil up.” Koma exclaimed. “Juniper is to be my wife, apparently, and thus I am the one to make the decisions and demands. Not a bunch of idiots who didn't even recognize I existed throughout my formative years.” his fingers pointed throughout the clan of the White Cat, before the Samurai stood back up, moving to step off the platform and continue his assault on his uncle.
“You've not even let me meet my mother yet, and if I'm going to be treated like a prisoner, I might as well be a proper outlaw. If I'm going to be the heir to the Grand Dukehood and Juniper is to be the Grand Duchess? Then we need to learn and grow. We need to explore the world and other methods of government. We need to gain fame that isn't some piss-ant drop off radiating from our revered ancestors. You want us to marry? That's fine. But we make the terms. We make the decisions about our life. You stay out of it unless we invite you in. Same way you treated me for my thirty years of life.”
Then he sat down, noticing out of the corner of his eye a sobbing woman who was not accompanied by one of his uncles. Yajirobe's only living daughter, the woman known as Hanaetsuki. A moment's realization began to dawn on him. He had seen that face sobbing the same way long ago, on the edge of consciousness.
That was his mother, wasn't it?
And so she stood up. The former crown princess of the White Cat Clan, who had refused to marry any man in her long years of life, because she had already fallen deeply in love once. Her eyes were full of tears, but she fought for courage, for might. As Koma saw those tear filled eyes, he saw his own eyes.
“Beigoma, yes. As my son said, you can shut right the HFIL up. You've interfered with his life and the life of me for too long. You didn't even allow me to have his bounty that was put out by the Saber Cat Clan dissolved. You didn't even let me meet my own son, or take his father as consort and protect them as Swing had protected me when I was masquerading as a nobleman's daughter named Spin. None of that, until father overruled you.”
She began to feel her own rising, fighting, spirit grow. And the woman, despite being only trained in the most rudimentary of the martial arts, suddenly had a power level which beat down and battered many in attendance just by its sudden strength. It was nothing compared to her son's, her father's, her future daughter-in-laws, or many other members of the Clan, but a good half, including Beigoma, dropped to their knees just from the sheer force of its spiritual pressure.
She walked to Koma, attempting to touch his face. He resisted, but then allowed her to touch his face, and reached out to touch Juniper's hand with his own hand.
“Write your own terms. Plan your own honeymoon. The clan will support it, and if they don't do as your grandfathers did. Carve your own paths. As I should have, but was too afraid to do. As Ma-Te tried to do his whole life.”
Koma adjusted his seating as his mother went back to her own seat. Beigoma said not another word, despite blood dripping from his mouth from where his teeth had been hammered together by his nephew's headbutt.
“So, then, Juniper-san. What are your wishes? Where do you want to go? Who do you want to be?” Koma said, wanting to hear her wishes before he made his own known.
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Post by Juni on Feb 15, 2020 13:59:51 GMT -8
Juniper peered into the box Koma was looking at then averted her eyes when he closed it, suddenly their conversation was overheard by whom she recognized as being one of his uncles proclaiming that her wish as a fiance had been denied on behalf of the White Cat Clan, and she stood up to bow before the Yajirobe descendant in greeting only to witness the former samurai headbutt the unsuspecting old man. It was a brash move, Koma was suffering internally as she looked at his chakras, and when the prince sat down on his cushion she reluctantly followed along. With Beigoma injured, she was inclined to heal the old man, but then there were more important matters; her healing was potent enough so that she could restore him despite the passing of time.
Cobalt blue eyes watched Spin reach out to touch Koma as she explained that their vows would be met without any conflict from either clan. The Tea princess never imagined that her own clan would oppose her proposal in her marriage agreement, she was always given the option to handle her own responsibilities freely, and lately they have been more involved with the problems Oolong City has been faced with ever since Ma-Te was killed.
“Where were we. As you recall, I am not a fighter, I am a healer, and my biggest wish is to be able to bring balance to the world by using my abilities on people who can fight. In order for me to accomplish this goal, I must travel, and while it might be important for our families that we produce heirs--I am at the peak of health and should have no problem doing so. Even after our heirs come to the world of the living, I expect my clan to raise them based on what talents they are born with, and I do plan to visit the children from time to time.”Juniper smiled at Koma, “What about you? What are your conditions?You don’t seem like the type to stay put guarding the grand duke’s castles, if you want to be stronger, and protect our family then you will need to travel right? Meeting other fighters, challenging them to a duel, and gaining all the experience necessary to become strong.”
The tea princess watched him carefully as she spoke, then calmly took a deep breath, expecting to hear his response and the thought process behind his decision to form an official alliance bounded by blood between their respective clans.
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Post by Koma on Feb 17, 2020 11:41:34 GMT -8
Koma was the picture of a serene samurai meditating on the mountaintop as Juniper spoke to him. His slate gray eyes only upon her as she spoke, and no expression showing as she did. Behind the mask of a feudal swordsmen thousands of expressions roiled as the Congress of Koma's wishes, dreams, and fears all hammered out a constitution for the moment and the future.
He had begun life as a nothing, the son of an one-armed samurai who was out of work and who owed so many debts that he had been forced to sell his precious Daisho just to keep food on the table and a roof over the head of his infant son. Where some children saw the loving expressions of their mothers, Koma had been raised only with that rare smile of his father's, saddened, and wounded yes – but hiding hidden strength. They were in an era where advanced prosthesis were to the point that they could have easily replaced his father's arm, and strengthened it, but Swing's former Daimyo had chosen not to do so.
A jigsaw puzzle which had kept pieces firmly hidden from his view for most of his life had suddenly come into place, and he saw his past for what it was. A story of a forbidden love story, the story of a provincial samurai in the service of one of the White Cat Clan's vassal Clans – a man who had lost his arm saving a visiting noblewoman who was effectively slumming it. His father had told him once, and only once, of the story of his arm being lost. That on that day he had protected Koma's mother against a strike force from the Dark Kingdom of Piccolo Daimao. There had never been words said that she was a noblewoman, or that she was the reason that the strike force was there.
Koma had always assumed that it was a simple countryside raid that the Namekians were so prone to do. A billows moved his chest to breath more heavily. It was not some poor provincial lord who had refused his father a replacement arm of a mechanic or lab grown variety. It was the richest clan in the land.
The sight of his father beaten to a pulp, his proud and majestic tail nailed to their hovel's wall as a crime lord's thugs beat him over money he owed, dropped pieces. These men weren't asking him for money at all. Koma's eyes remembered the faint florescent light upon their backs, they wore the symbols of a samurai clan's mon. It was not the Boar Clan's, it was not the Tea Clan's mon, it was not the mon of the Hound Clan or the Wolf Clan or the Bull Clan or the Tea Clan. It was not even the symbol of the White Cat Clan, but it was similar. Mutated, warped. A mon he had learned of much later – a mon he had learned of on the battlefield. The Saber Cat Clan.
The jigsaw puzzle had just one piece of its mystery left to be cleared. As he looked among these people, this clan, his clan – he noticed features which were eerily familiar to his greatest betrayer, the samurai woman known as Kuma, who had been his Daimyo during his time in the Bear Clan. The missing puzzle piece sat on the parapet, just waiting to show itself. He looked again among the group, then to Juniper, thinking of her words.
“My terms are simple, Juniper. Of you I ask only for love, affection, and loyalty – for both myself and our children. I refuse to simply allow us to turn over our children to our clans, though for schooling. We will teach them ourselves, or our friends and associates will teach them. Until we have children and there after, I will seek to get stronger so that we can provide as much woe as we can weal to those who would threaten us and our children, but it isn't out of some sort of joyous addiction to fighting. The martial arts are meant to defend, to protect, and to teach. Like the other four arts, they are necessary in all things, and as such I have no particular lust for battle – no matter what you may have heard of my Saiyan ancestry. I would like to travel with you though, so we may get to know each other without interference and so that we can gain allies and friends.” With his response to the beautiful princess of the Tea Clan said, he turned back to Beigoma, to the entire clan, before speaking out the simplest of words, the most treacherous of words. His mind reached for the final puzzle piece on the parapet, and there was no going back.
“Tell me about our cousins, the Saber Cat Clan. I assume they are bastards of our clan from the way they look and the fact they're a legitimized clan. But more than that, because as a child they were the ones who tortured my father and beat him to death. I thought it was over debts, this whole time! But the tapestry lays plain to me now... Uncle Beigoma, tell me about my bastard uncle and his line. Tell me why you and the rest of the elders of the White Cat Clan chose to ignore the threat to myself and my own that was the Saber Cat Clan attempting to remove a threat they thought would grow from the humblest of dirt.”
He remembered tales of a great, Saiyan, Samurai with wild hair and wild eyebrows. A man who fought with three swords, one in each hand and one in his tail, a man who fought with the same style that Koma instinctively clung to. A man whom's name was not Swing, but Cacao; a man whom stories called Cacao the Cyclone. A man who had been one the greatest samurai of his age. A man who had served in the armies of the White Cat Clan, who had raised him and taught him his art.
“Is it because my father's real name was Cacao? Because the bastard branch of our family were worried that his strength paired with grandfather's affection for my mother would almost guarantee my choice as the next heir? Is it for that reason you denied his arm healed or replaced after he lost it saving my mother? Is it for that reason you'd have ignored me even now if it was not for my closeness to Ma-Te and the fact that every ki manipulator in the city could feel a reflection of my grandfather's spiritual energy in my own spiritual aura?”
“YOU KNOW NOTHING OF IT, BOY!” Beigoma shouted, despite the fact that Koma had checked him only moments before. “He was her sworn bodyguard, not simply a samurai! He wasn't even a duke, and yet he presumed to fall in love with the crown princess of the White Cat Clan! He presumed to make her fall in love with him, and to run away to elope when me and the rest of the elder council aside from father, denied them the permission to marry after you were conceived! A mere bodyguard! The presumption! He denied us tying our clans together through Pine-san and Hanaetsuki!”
Koma looked at the old man and considered punching his stomach this time, but before anything else could be said, a 'ENOUGH' was bellowed from behind the grand ducal curtains, and an eerie spiritual energy hammered into Beigoma, dropping him to his knees.
“Apologies, honored grandfather, honored grandfather-in-law.” Koma said, giving a bow before returning to the matter at hand. “Juniper Tea, I pledge to love you, protect you, and advise you for the rest of our lives in this world and the next, and to do the same for our children, natural or adopted. I pledge to be your bodyguard and knight in all things. Where we go and what we do does not matter to me, so long as it is with you.” He reached for the gift box, offering it forward with a precise and calculated bow. “Do you accept my terms?”
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Post by Juni on Feb 17, 2020 15:29:59 GMT -8
This was the first time she had heard of her father’s prior arranged marriage, Pine Tea married twice in his lifetime, and of those times he loved his demon wives; he waited ten years after Hinata died at childbirth with Ma-Te to mourn before being able to marry Natsuki. It was out of love that Pine was the only one, among his pig siblings, that produced three potential heirs. If it was not for Koma’s father, she would not be born into the world along with her siblings, and it was that chance encounter between a samurai and an heiress that she was able to live today. Unlike the turmoil of the White Cat Clan, Juniper trusted the Tea clan wholeheartedly, and Koma’s suggestion not to allow their future children influenced by traditional values made her tremble. It was the same upbringing she was raised under and she could see no fault in their methods. In truth, Juniper knew deep down that Clove would return home to support her nieces and nephews, family meant everything to the both sisters, and if she was part of their upbringing it would allow the blademaster to feel whole again. After the sudden passing of Hinata, Clove left the castle to refine her abilities with a sword, and upon her return to Oolong city she was forced to leave again after discovering their brother was murdered. It was one of the main reasons Clove was not presented as an heiress to the Tea Clan, she had suffered numerous times, and like Koma kept blaming her shortcomings for being unable to protect the people she cared for. In the end, even Juniper felt at fault for not being able to aid her brother in some way, but rather than suffer from the thought she dedicated the rest of her life to be the best healer in the world to honor him and the family name. “I understand, you have distrust in your own clan, being that you have not spent a long time with them, but please trust my parents with our future children. Both of them have done well to raise me, Ma-Te, and Clove. If any of our offspring possess the same mystic powers as I, then it is only right that my mother help raise that child like her own, and of course we would also be of influence in their upbringing by being present. I have no doubts.” Juniper smiled, “I am optimistic that with time you will learn to trust the members of the Tea Clan. With that in mind, I accept your terms, and I will do everything in my power to support you in life, love, and family.”In response to Koma’s bow, she returned a half bow, she picked up his gift from the tea table, and exchanged their gift boxes like a royal ritual. In a short period of time the former samurai, now crown prince, had allowed himself to be influenced by Western Lands culture; something he might have learned years ago if he was present during engagement ceremonies between clans. When she returned back to an upright seated position, she opened the box, and took out the traditional kushi hair comb, she gracefully ran it at the crown of her head and positioned between her hair buns allowing it to appear like a crown with the gold inlays. With a smile, she bowed again, together they will form a new clan, to honor their families with their union, and create a future that would be remembered for all eternity. With the entire clan watching the both of them, it made their situation rather formal than intimate, she revealed feeling nervous by hovering her hand around her neck touching the tea clan mon necklace to steady herself. “Would you like to take a walk? There is a garden overlooking Oolong City on this plateau, I am not sure if you have explored the grounds yet, but we can enjoy the vista together.”The moment Koma shifted to get up, she stood up with him in sync, clutching her gift box in one hand, and holding his hand in the other. Without another word they left the courtyard together, taking a narrow path between buildings to reach the garden, and walked over a wooden bridge on top of a koi point to view the horizon past the city limits. While the view beyond the city sky line was of Baba Yagga’s domain, beyond that was rich farmlands, Korin’s tower, and the sea. “Much better, having so many people watching makes me more nervous than performing surgery, so it’s nice to take a break from so many peering eyes.” Juniper took a deep breath as she looked at the vista for a moment then turned to look at Koma while holding his hand, “I haven’t been outside the western lands much, the farthest I have traveled is West City, before we are officially married I want to see the rest of the world with you.”[838] [2,455]
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Post by Koma on Feb 17, 2020 18:12:19 GMT -8
Koma's issues with his clan had everything to do with the clear politics and casual cruelty that he had seen them tout by measure of their actions. He couldn't speak of them all, but if the elders allowed what they had allowed to happen, Koma could not very well trust them with his future, the future of his future wife, or the future of his future children. His father may have left his life before he would have liked, but Koma had learned the lesson of a father's requirement to be a protector, guide, and nurturer of his family as much as he was anything else.
The wild bear of the White Cat Clan walked with the beautiful princess of the Tea Clan, hand in hand as they went to visit the courtyard. He allowed her to speak, feeling that she had felt far more suppressed than he had during the events of the engagement party and when she was done talking he simply nodded. He had seen plenty of the world, but most of that had been barely above the road, fighting for every scrap he could get.
“I'd love to see the world together with you, Juniper.”
[199] [4,186 Total Words]
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