by Serena Rose
“Not feeling well?” Kintaro asked. He seemed rightfully concerned.
“Well, I don’t know if it’s nerves or morning sickness, so I figure I’ll have something to calm the stomach,” I replied as I put the lozenge in my mouth. The spicy ginger taste flooded my mouth and I felt my stomach settle immediately. “That’s helping, thank you,” I said to Usagi who bowed and took her place in line.
The musicians started playing and the procession slowly marched towards the open air shrine. The musicians were dressed in yellow kimonos and the temple maiden was dressed in a white and red one. We were behind three old men and what appeared to be a young boy, who was shaking.
When we reached the shrine, everyone filed in in an orderly fashion. Kintaro lead me to the simple wooden altar at the head of the shrine where an elderly Shinto priest stood. We both bowed deeply, twice, to the shrine, and after we bowed, the wedding party followed suit.
The priest then purified us with a branch of the sakaki tree before announcing our marriage to the Shinto gods and goddesses and seeking their blessing over our union. I couldn’t understand the words he was reading from the parchment scroll other than our names and a few other words here and there, but the intention was clear.
Then he turned around and instructed the temple maiden to dedicate the union with a sacred dance. We watched as the young woman deftly moved her feet and arms in dance steps that were at the very least a few thousand years old, while the band played a lively tune. The maiden’s dance was mesmerizing. I couldn’t take my eyes off the girl as she danced her heart out, eventually, though the dance was over and silence fell over the shrine.
“It is now time for the san-san-kudo. You will be given three cups, you take three sips out of each cup and pass it to your bride, where she will do the same thing,” the priest instructed. Kintaro took three sips out of the first cup presented to him and handed it to me. I took three sips of the dry rice wine, not wanting to drink too much because of my pregnancy, and handed the cup back to the priest who then placed it on the altar. We repeated the ceremony with the two other cups and waited.
“It is time for the groom to read the wedding vows on behalf of the couple.” Well, what did I expect from a patriarchal society like Japan? Whatever. Glad I have a say in all this, I thought as I tried not to roll my eyes.
Kintaro looked at me sheepishly as he pulled a scroll from the inside of his kimono and unrolled it. He cleared his throat and started reading: “We make this marriage vow respectfully before the Hachiman deity. We, Shinno Kintaro and Rachel McDonald, are delighted to be able to make our vows on this great day, and to become husband and wife through the blessing of the Hachiman deity.“We swear before the Hachiman deity to love and respect each other forever, and to strive to bring our family prosperity. Moreover, we swear never to veer from the true path of matrimony, and to work to share the divine grace of Hachiman deity by helping people and society. We swear on this day, Heisei 26, Nen Hazuki, Gatsu Ni.”
Kintaro rolled the scroll back up and looked at me with warm, loving eyes. I smiled demurely as the priest placed some sakaki branches in each of our hands. Kintaro looked at me and led me to the head of the shrine where we knelt and silently prayed over the offering.
I prayed for a somewhat peaceful union with this crime kingpin. And that, hopefully, his work and private life would stay separate, and maybe he could get out. I didn’t know what he was praying but when we were done, we rotated the branches clockwise and placed them stem first on the altar.
After we bowed twice, we rose to our feet and walked back to where the priest was waiting. “It is now time to exchange the rings.” He handed Kintaro and I each a small box. I opened it and inside was a solid gold ring that was cast into the shape of a dragon with a ruby eye, grabbing its tail. It was exquisite.
“Now repeat after me,” the priest said. “With this ring, we are wed.”
“With this ring, we are wed,” Kintaro said as he slid a silver ring that was identical to his, but smaller, over my left ring finger. It was the most gorgeous ring I have ever seen. As the metal slid over my skin I felt it warming up from within. How strange, I thought. The warmth flowed through my arm and into my womb, settling around the unborn child inside of me.
“Now you,” the priest instructed.
I took the gold ring and slid it over Kintaro’s ring finger. “With this ring, we are wed,” I said as I slid the warm ring down his finger.
His eyes went wide as he felt the warm gold touch his skin. He looked at the ring in confusion and stepped away from me.
“You are now man and wife,” the priest said. “Let us proceed to the reception!”
“Wait, no kissing?” I asked Kintaro, confused.
“No, a traditional Japanese wedding doesn’t have kissing at the altar,” Kintaro explained. It made sense since it wasn’t the norm for public displays of affection in Japan. “By the way, Usagi has a bunch of outfits for you at the reception hall and you’ll be expected to change into them throughout the evening.
“Honestly, I think it’s all annoying but, whatever. Everyone is sipping from the sake at the altar, though.” He nodded towards the orderly procession. One person, however, refused to partake.
“I take it that’s your ex,” I said, pointing towards the child-like figure.
“Yes,” Kintaro said dryly. “She’s going to cause trouble. I can tell. She is actually refusing to drink the sake.”
We watched as one of the elderly men tried to wheedle the young woman into drinking to show respect to the new couple and she adamantly refused. She flew off in a rage, knocking the ceramic cup out of the old man’s hands and smashing it on the wooden floor of the temple before storming out.
“Wow,” I said as she shot me a deadly glare. “Really, just wow.” I sort of felt bad for the girl, she had been promised, groomed and anticipated this very union for herself and it was just thrown away at what seemed like a whim.
“Before we go,” one of the elderly gentlemen called out. “While we are still being witnessed by the gods, the Yokai want to bless the union.”
“The Yokai?” I whispered, but Kintaro hushed me. “Just watch.”
The three elderly men walked up to the altar and bowed to it, then to us. Then, I thought my vision was going because the air started to blur around them. When the air settled, where the three elderly men stood, there were… holy shit It was a fucking dragon! A…and a tiger, oh and an adorable little fox? Alright, whatever. It took all of my might to not run away from the three animals that suddenly appeared before me. Well, that and Kintaro’s strong hand was grasping my shoulder with almost all his strength, keeping me from fleeing.
“We the Yokai, children of the gods themselves, bless this union between our son and Rachel Shinno. May their union, and its fruit bring honor and wealth upon our families.” The dragon boomed in my head. Jesus Christ, this was terrifying.
The dragon that sat in front of the altar was silver, his scales shimmered in the sunlight filtering through the open windows of the shrine. He was coiled upon himself so as not to take up all the room in the shrine. He was the quintessential Japanese dragon. Long, sinuous and deadly looking.
I trembled in terror as the tiger stared at me with his green eyes. I didn’t know if I should be more scared of the dragon, which technically shouldn’t exist, or the tiger that could literally rip me from limb from limb and not arouse suspicion because it could look like an escape from the zoo did it.
Kintaro urged me to bow to the elder shape shifters and I did, slowly so as not to fall. “It’s alright they won’t hurt you,” he whispered.
“And you’re one of these…these…things?” I hissed.
“Yes,” he said sadly.
“I take it, you didn’t want to be.”
“No one ever wants to be. Well, some of them do. Miko craves it but it can only be passed on to the 100male,” Kintaro said as he guided me out of the shrine to the car.
Chapter Three
<
br /> I sat during the entire awkward reception being glared at by Miko, who insisted on sitting directly across from the head table. Yeah, the more she stared at me, the more I understood why Kintaro had absolutely no interest in her. Her jealous streak was a mile wide, which wouldn’t fly with him. He was a playboy, he needed to be for the high-end negotiations the Yakuza were involved in. Also, how would she handle him travelling all the time to oversee operations in different countries? Would she insist on going with him? Yeah, smothering isn’t what Kintaro needed.
I changed my outfit a few times during the evening at Usagi’s insistence. I didn’t understand this part of Japanese wedding custom, but went with it out of politeness. All in all, I found the entire evening completely boring and I couldn’t wait to crawl into bed.
“Hey, when can we get out of here?” I whispered to Kintaro.
“Well, we still need to accept the gifts and listen to a few more speeches, about an hour, why?” He looked genuinely concerned because of my condition, probably.
I subtly placed my hand on his upper thigh as a direct hint. “Well, I am pretty tired. You know because of…” I was instructed by Usagi not to mention my pregnancy in public. “I woke up really early and I’m not accustomed to it.” I moved my hand up his powerful thigh.
He cracked a grin as he got the subtle hint. “Yeah, I’m feeling a little tired as well,” he said with a dramatic yawn and a stretch. The guests chuckled knowingly as they understood the subtle innuendo, all of the guests except Miko, who rudely rose from her table and stalked out of the reception hall.
“One more speech.” The elder known as Yazmat, the guy who turned into the dragon and almost made me shit my pants in the shrine, began. “She needs to know our family history now that she is tied into it.” He cleared his throat. “You might have noticed the rings are not your traditional wedding bands. They have magic in them that binds the husband and bride together until death.
“When one dies, the other will die in short order; that was the warmth you felt when you exchanged the rings, your life forces and souls becoming linked. These rings were forged by me over a thousand years ago when I saw my son fall in love with his wife, and I knew I had to keep the link strong, considering the power my lineage holds.”
He paced the room a little bit trying to remember so long ago. “You, Kintaro, know you are descended from emperors. I changed my name from Chukyo to Yazmat when I got deposed so long ago. They thought I was dead but I just went into hiding, since the ones who deposed me knew of my powers and saw me as a threat. They massed the entire nation against me and my family, so we moved north to Hokkaido to hide, and that is where we lived until memory of our family faded into nothingness.
“We fomented revolution among the peasants, we managed to overturn the Japanese feudal system, and we also founded the Yakuza. We are the oldest family in the syndicate. Your children will carry that legacy. Raise them right.” He bowed to us and sat back down.
After Yazmat’s very confusing speech, ushers dressed in black formal kimonos walked around placing envelopes in front of each guest.
“That means it’s almost time to go,” Kintaro whispered to me as he rubbed my thigh suggestively, sending shocks of desire through me.
When he saw that the envelopes were all distributed, Kintaro rose from the table and aided me to my feet. “Thank you very much for attending our wedding feast. Your company was much appreciated while we celebrated our matrimony. We appreciate all your blessings, and now we must go. My bride here is very tired, and so am I,” he said with a sly grin as we both bowed to the reception.
The crowd laughed and waited for us to leave before dispersing and chatting amongst themselves. He took my arm and we walked out of the reception hall towards the car. The sun was setting and it painted the sky a gorgeous crimson. He opened the rear door of a black van for me and I slid in. He hopped in beside me and the driver glanced back at us in the rear-view mirror as we started moving.
“What did Yazmat mean by his speech?”
He sighed as he looked up at the grey fabric of the van’s ceiling. “Well, a long time ago, the Japanese emperors were given powers by the gods. Amaterasu, the head of the Shinto pantheon, is our ancestress. She was known to change into a white wolf when she came down to the earth. The male children were gifted the gift of shape changing. Of the five, only three remain.” Such rich history.
“What about the modern emperor?” This really intrigued me.
“He…isn’t directly descended, despite what he wants you to believe. The line was broken when Emperor Go-Uda, who is now Izami, the head of the Tiger clan, abdicated and went into hiding. Don’t get me wrong, the current emperor is a remarkable and kind man, gods smile upon him, but he is not a shape shifter, therefore not descended from Amaterasu.”
“So you guys decided to rebuild your empire in secret?”
“Yes. I was taught all this at my father’s knee. I’ll have to teach our child when he is born as well.”
Something was bugging me. “So, you guys are…”
“Well, we mostly do extortion. We appeal to the common people despite the hidden ranks being true nobility. You know the whole trickle-down thing that Ronald Reagan was so famous for?”
I nodded. “Yeah, that didn’t work very well.”
“That’s because they didn’t want it to trickle down. We allow it, but it’s more than a trickle. More like a steady river.” He looked at me funny. “Business is such a dry topic to talk about on our wedding day,” he said as he parted the fold of my kimono, exposing my leg. “Why are you interested?”
“Just want to know what I’m getting into.” That was the honest truth.
“Well, we try not to get violent, if that’s what you’re worried about. We’re one of the more chivalrous agencies out there. We usually just get violent when other syndicates move in.”
I sighed with relief and looked up at him. “You really looked good today. I wanted to…”
“You looked better. It took all my restraint not to tear that wedding dress off of you right there and take you in the shrine,” he said as he finally kissed me.
When his lips met mine, I felt my knees go weak and was grateful we were in the back of a van. That way I didn’t collapse on the cement. I felt his hand go into my kimono and fondle my breast through my bra as our tongues stroked each other. I wanted him so bad. I might not have been eager to marry him at first but damn, a girl could get to like this.
His mouth started to kiss my sensitive neck and I felt him go stiff, then slump down over me with his eyes glazed. I didn’t even notice the van had stopped, I was in complete shock as I looked down at my stunned husband. He was twitching on my lap and I looked up in shock to see Miko standing outside the open door of the van with two burly bodyguards. “Put the hood on her and take her away.” I struggled as I saw the hood descend over my eyes and felt my hands being tied tightly with plastic zap straps.
“Don’t worry, I won’t kill you. I want him to divorce you and marry me instead,” Miko purred in my ear. “Like it was supposed to be from the beginning. Leave him there. Put a chrysanthemum on the seat next to him, he’ll know what it means,” she barked as I was dragged into another van.
I felt myself being thrown into the back seat and heard the door close. I tried to struggle free of the hood to see where I was going but I wasn’t able to.
“Oh calm down,” I heard Miko say from the front seat. “We aren’t going to hurt you, much.” She laughed. Ugh, her voice was so annoying, it was high pitched and almost cartoonish.
“Did your mom fuck a helium container when she was pregnant with you?” I spat through the hood. “Because damn your voice sounds like a chipmunk on crack, there has to be something wrong with you.”
I was met with stony silence after that insult, genuinely surprised that she wasn’t trying to knock me out. Wait, am I the only one in the back seat? What if I wiggle my toes to the door handle…?
I felt a firm han
d grasp my ankles. Nope, I guess someone else was back here with me. I sighed and hoped Kintaro was alright. I don’t know what they did to him, but the heat of the ring on my finger was constant so I knew he was still alive from the rudimentary explanation Yazmat gave at the reception, which was good.
We drove along for what seemed like hours. I drifted in and out of sleep because I really was exhausted. I didn’t know where we were going or why Miko wanted to kidnap me. I was also super pissed that I got cheated out of my hot wedding night sex. The bitch. Who the hell had the bright idea of inviting the spurned former betrothed to the wedding, anyway? That was probably the stupidest thing anyone has ever done in the history of weddings.
After a while we stopped and I was unceremoniously dragged out of the car and into, from what it sounded like, a warehouse. I tried to listen for any clue as to where I was, or music; I know if I heard “Stuck In The Middle,” I was done for.
My hands were beginning to go numb from the zap straps that were holding me. I felt myself being lowered into a hole and then my zap straps were cut off. I massaged and flexed my hands to encourage the circulation to return as my hood was ripped off me. I blinked to focus my eyes and I heard the sound of something closing over me as I was left in a dimly lit room. I noticed there was a bucket in one corner and a threadbare blanket in another. Great, I get to shit in a bucket. I looked up and saw a grate above me. I guess that’s how they got me in.
I saw Miko’s horse-like face poke into my field of vision. “This is a pretty historic site, just so you know. We held American POWs here in World War 2, it’s amazing it wasn’t found by the allied forces. If I remember correctly, there was a Sergeant McDonald in this very same pit. The Japanese military kept immaculate records of their prisoners. I should know, my grandfather was the commander of this military base. Funny how things come around isn’t it?” she said as she left.
My grandfather was a POW in a Japanese facility back in World War 2. He was a radio operator and was drafted despite having a small family. My mother was just born when my grandfather was hauled off to Japan, never to be heard from again. My grandmother never re-married, and my mom spent her entire adult life taking care of her until she passed away from breast cancer. Mom married late and had me shortly after. So yeah, if this was the same pit my grandfather died in, I’m not holding out any real hope for a rescue.
