She flushed from his compliment, and looked away shyly. "And what would not be desired?"
"I do like a strong-willed woman." He stepped closer to her and she backed up until her back was against the wall. He braced himself against it, leaning in close. Her entire face was flaming red now; he could feel the heat radiating off of her. "Someone like you."
She bit her lip, pulling his eyes toward it. Was she teasing him, trying to drive him mad? Perhaps all her obstinance had just been for show. "And what do you think of a woman who speaks her mind?" Her eyes fluttered up to him.
He leaned closer to whisper in her ear, "I like it when they speak their desires... in the bedchamber. "
She looked up, meeting his gaze at last. "You're going to be very disappointed then."
"Why is that?"
She lurched forward, slamming her shoulder into his chest. It caught him by surprise and before he had time to react, she grabbed a hold of his arm and flipped him over her head. He landed hard on his back, the air forced from his lungs. As he lay gasping for breath, she leaned over him.
"Because you'll never see me in your bedchamber."
As he lay gasping, utterly humiliated, he realized she had been playing him the entire time. Before he could recover, she scurried away and out of reach. Hotaru was never the type to turn down a challenge. Yuki wasn't a woman, but a beast in disguise.
Hotaru returned to his room and kicked over the box of gifts he'd brought with him. It did little to assuage his frustration and instead resulted in a stubbed toe. He hissed under his breath as he examined the throbbing digit.
The contents of the chest spilled out onto the ground. A jeweled comb, a very expensive silk kimono. He'd chose them with the intention of wooing Yuki. What woman didn't like shiny trinkets? But somehow even that had been ruined. He hadn't figured out how Yuki had turned the treasure into bones, or the silks into rotting fish heads. When he had gone to investigate after the dinner they'd all returned to normal. Taking out his anger on the useless hunks of metal and cloth, he threw them across the room. A jade hairpin hit the far wall, snapping in half.
I don't have time to waste on that woman. Hotaru picked up a yellow kimono with a pattern of red and blue flowers. He was about to rend it in two when the soft tinkle of bells froze him in place.
"It would seem things are not going as planned," said a raspy voice.
Hotaru dropped the kimono, which pooled at his feet. He put a smile on his face and turned to his uninvited guest. "What a pleasant surprise. I did not think I would see you here."
The witch smiled, deepening the grooves in her face, turning her skin into a garish mask. Her smile always made him uneasy. "I came to check on your progress." She stooped down to pick up the comb off the ground. "I thought you could win any woman. But it seems Lady Yuki is more difficult than you expected."
"Why her? There are plenty of other clans with greater armies."
The witch rolled the comb around in her hand without looking up at him. "The Fujimoris are different. You could not understand. If you want to win your war, you need them."
"Why must you speak in the riddles? What can they do to win me this war?"
The witch waggled her finger in front of him. "Time is running out. Lord Kaedemori has won many of your neighbors against you." She marched over to him and placed the comb in his hand. "Don't lose sight, win the girl and the alliance and you'll have everything you wanted."
Hotaru's hand clenched the comb. He had no other choice, he must win Yuki over.
8
As a peace offering, Hotaru had sent Yuki the comb. It was one of the few gifts that remained intact. Since he was certain she wouldn't accept it directly from him, he sent it with a maid and a note apologizing, again, for the way he acted. Though he didn't see what he'd done wrong. Women liked apologies.
When he arrived in the dining hall that night Yuki was already seated beside her brother. Even from across the way, her smile lit up the room and the sickly Lord Fujimori looked almost animated as they talked.
Yuki was a bit rough around the edges, her clothes were plain, and even indoors there was a wild energy to her. Her face was flushed and full of life, and her long, ebony hair had been pulled back with the comb he had sent. He had half expected her to reject his gift. She turned as he came into the room, and there was a genuine smile on her face. Perhaps I am making progress after all.
Seeing that gave him the confidence he needed and he strolled in to join his hosts.
"Good evening, Lord Fujimori, Lady Yuki." Yuki's vibrant energy was even more intoxicating up close. It was easy to forget she'd flipped him earlier that day. It was like he was looking at a different girl entirely. He couldn't stop staring. Was this another trick?
She must have felt his stare, because Yuki bit her lip and turned away from him. Then almost too quiet to hear she said, "Thank you for the gift, it's lovely."
Now he was certain this was a trick. There was no way she'd changed that much since the afternoon. He decided to play along.
"It looks even better on you than I could have imagined."
Throughout dinner he chatted with the clansmen, avoiding engaging Yuki in conversation. He would make her come to him. If she were trying to deceive him as he suspected, it wouldn't be long.
Though he made an effort to avoid her, his eyes were continually drawn to Yuki. Every time before she'd seemed like a feral animal, but tonight she was a blooming flower. Though he never engaged with her in conversation, when he told a bad joke to one of the clansmen she laughed at it and he swore he'd heard her snort. But when he glanced in her direction, she had turned crimson and kept her face away from him.
Could he be breaking down her walls, or was she that good at pretending? Or perhaps it was the comb. The witch had been fiddling with it. She must have put a spell on it. The idea of wooing a woman with something other than his own charm didn't sit right with him. He decided to test the theory.
Halfway through dinner he leaned over to her, his lips inches from her ear. And she leaned toward him. The moment was surprisingly intimate, and he half expected her to slap him for daring to get this close.
"Join me in the garden after dinner?" he asked.
"I would love to," she replied with a secretive smile.
It seemed naive to do so, but his heart raced a bit at the prospect.
After dinner, Hotaru made a show of going back to his room. The reasonable part of him knew she'd likely not show up and make a fool of him, or worse she'd set him up for an even greater embarrassment he couldn't imagine. But when he arrived at the moonlit garden, she was there waiting for him. The palace did not have the same sort of cultivated gardens of his own home. These were much more untamed: dead vines grew over walls and yellow grass grew in thick clumps between stepping stones. The pathways meandered through dense foliage. In the middle of spring he imagined it would be green and lush, but at the edges of winter, it was a dreary landscape. Not the romantic rendezvous he would have imagined.
To his surprise Yuki was waiting for him beneath the outstretched branches of a tree, staring up at the nearly full moon. In the moonlight, she looked like a goddess. As if she were the goddess of the moon come down from the heavens, she seemed to glow with ethereal light. Insects chirped and night birds sang as they hunted.
"Are you really here, or is this a manifestation of my dreams?" Hotaru asked.
She turned to him, eyes wide and lips parted ever so slightly. "Oh, you startled me."
He took a step closer, but was almost afraid to get too close. As if there were an invisible boundary that once he crossed, it would startle her and she would flee into the woods like a scared rabbit.
"I apologize, I didn't mean to. I just thought after this afternoon you wanted nothing to do with me." He hadn't meant to be quite so honest. But there was a strange, vulnerable innocence to her expression. She really hadn't noticed him staring. He cleared his throat and looked at the moon. "What were you looking at?"
> "The first sign of spring." She gestured to the tree branch and a single bud on the tip of the branch. "The peach tree blooms first, then fruit comes in the summer."
She toyed with a necklace around her throat. It appeared to be a flower made of precious stones.
"Is this your favorite tree?" he asked.
She looked back at him, the magic was gone and her expression closed, leaving him with the girl he'd come to know.
"It was my mother's. My father planted it for her when they wed." She turned her back on the tree. "Why did you ask me to come here?"
"I thought we could stroll by the moonlight." He gave her a lazy grin.
She chuckled. "I have to give you credit. You're much more persistent. The other suitors would have run away by now."
"But I'm different."
"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow in question.
"Let me guess, they all start out the same: with kind words and pretty gifts, but none of them really see the real you."
She watched him warily. "And who is the real me?"
"Someone who loves her independence."
The question seemed to startle her, and she blinked at him for a moment before turning away. He'd hit the nail on the head, he was certain of it.
Her reply was so quiet it was unintelligible and he leaned in closer to hear.
"What was that?" he asked.
In reply there was a loud raspberry sound. As if he had passed wind. Hotaru froze in place, his eyes scanning around him. They were having a moment and now she was going to think he was passing gas?
He cleared his throat.
"You—" but before he could form a sentence, he heard it again. "Did you hear that?" he asked.
"Hear what?" she said, with what sounded like a hardly suppressed giggle.
He'd been a fool to think she was really opening up to him. In a rage, he grabbed her by the shoulder, spinning her around to face him.
"This may be a game to you, but it isn't to me. I came here with sincere intentions—" Once more his speech was cut off by a loud, offensive noise.
Yuki looked up at him, fluttering her eyelashes innocently. But if it wasn't her, then who'd made that sound?
"What is it?" she asked coyly.
"I know this is your doing. Just like I know it was you who replaced my gifts with fish heads."
"How could I?"
"It was yokai magic," he said, and was satisfied to see the shock register on her face. At last he'd pinned her.
That was why the witch had insisted he make an alliance with the Fujimoris. They had the yokai on their side. And if they could convince them to play petty tricks, what more could they do? It hadn't been his imagination; that tanuki he'd seen in the forest wasn't some forest animal, but a yokai in disguise. And the rumors he'd heard about the family's special connection to the forest all made sense.
"Are they here now?" Hotaru asked, peering around in the bushes. "That's who’s been making those offensive sounds, is it not?"
She backed away from him. "I don't know what you're talking about."
He laughed. "You can try to pretend, but I know it's you. That's how you've been chasing away the others as well, isn't it?"
She tried to run without answering, but he grabbed onto her arm to keep her from getting away.
"Let's cut to the chase. I need a wife, and you want your freedom. Marry me and you can live your life as you like."
She shook off his grip. "As romantic as that is, I'll pass."
She turned to walk away, but as she did she found her brother standing on the steps, staring at them both.
"What's going on here?"
"Nothing." Yuki jutted her chin and tried to walk past her brother. But as she started to walk away, her brother surprised them both by saying, "I've decided you will marry Lord Kaedemori whether you like it or not."
9
"I would rather die than marry him." Yuki pointed at the stuck-up lord in a dramatic fashion.
"I tried to give you the choice. But the time is running out. Lord Fujikawa is mobilizing. The war has begun."
"What?" Hotaru looked to Lord Fujimori.
"It seems that he's made an alliance with two other clans." The men talked of the war, and other things that should be of no concern. This was her life they were talking about; her freedom was being sold for a war her family had nothing to do with.
"This isn't our war, Riku!" Yuki shouted.
"It's our war now. Did you think chasing away the other suitors wouldn't have consequences?" He gave her a stern look and Yuki shrank away from him.
"You promised!" She growled, like a feral animal. In fact she felt something bubbling up inside her, wanting to explode.
"My duty is to the clan, Yuki." He turned his back to her to address Lord Kaedemori. "I've thought about what you've said. We cannot put our family at risk any longer. If you'll protect us against Lord Fujikawa, we can proceed—"
"I won't do it. I refuse!" Yuki snarled, cutting off her brother.
The both of them looked at her as she stood in the middle of the courtyard, hands balled into fists, her foot stomping the ground. Lord Kaedemori didn't seem bothered by her outburst. He turned to Riku and bowed. "We will speak more on this later. I must speak with my second-in-command."
Her brother nodded his head. "I understand."
Lord Kaedemori jogged away, leaving the siblings to finish their argument in private.
Riku turned to her scornfully, his normally kind face twisted in anger. She hardly recognized him. "Are you proud of yourself?"
"What happened to letting me marry for love?" she snarled.
"The circumstances have changed."
She shook her head, as if denying it would change anything. "You can't let them take me away from here. It will kill me."
"Don't be dramatic. I'm sure you'll be happy with Lord Kaedemori if you give him half a chance."
She took a step back.
Her brother reached for her. "Yuki, don't do this."
"We can fight on our own. We may be small in number but we know this forest. We can defend ourselves!"
"You know nothing of war. If you refuse, you will doom our clan."
Yuki's stomach was rolling, preparing to heave her dinner onto the floor. Anything other than marrying that monster.
"You'd blame this on me too? Just like you did with Mama. You always blamed me for her death."
Riku took another step toward her. "Yuki, you know that's not true."
She grabbed the necklace from around her neck and threw it onto the ground. "You want her? You can have her."
He stared at the necklace in the dirt. Yuki was heaving for breath, gasping, every sense of her body was alive with sensation. She could feel the tree in the center of the courtyard buzzing, ready to burst to life. It was always like this when she lost her temper. She could sense everything, from deer stripping the bark off branches in the forest, to the worm crawling under the dirt. Her head was a hornet’s nest of angry buzzing. She wanted to cover her ears and shout to make it stop.
Riku knelt down and picked up the necklace off the ground. But he wasn't strong enough to stand up again. Instead he knelt on the ground in front of her.
"Mama would have wanted me to make sure you're taken care of. Who will be there for you when I'm gone?"
"Don't talk like that." Yuki's voice trembled, she couldn't bear the thought. Not now, not on top of everything else. "I can take care of myself."
"Can you? Because I am starting to question your ability to make rational decisions."
Anger boiled out of her. Buds burst all along the branches and white petals exploded, raining down upon Riku. He tilted his head back, watching them as they fell. And when his gaze rested on her, she saw his fear. Most of the time he tried to hide it, but he was just like the rest of them. He feared what she could do.
"You want me gone, then fine."
She turned and ran, scaling the wall using the vines as footholds.
Riku shout
ed after her but she ignored his calls. She dropped onto the ground on the other side of the wall and raced off into the forest.
Here she was free. There was no one whispering about her, commenting on her strange behavior. Here she was good enough, here she belonged. The wind moved through her hair and the chaotic buzzing turned to a slow steady heartbeat. The trees sighed as they prepared to wake from their winter slumber. Every part of her sang with the song of the forest. Riku could never understand, none of them did. It wasn't about the marriage. It was the idea of being ripped from where she belonged that made her feel like there was a hole gnawing at her gut, threatening to consume her. She was a part of the forest, and nothing could get between that.
It didn't take long for the tanuki to catch up. They leaped from tree to tree behind her. Her lungs were burning with exertion, and still she kept on going, until she reached the place where she always went when she was mad or upset. The secret place her father had shown her.
The old tree was in the center of the forest. Its large branches burst through the canopy, stretching out above all others. At a very young age, she had learned how to climb this tree. She'd never fallen, and her father used to tease that she was part monkey. But tonight, blinded by anger, she was hardly up to the second highest branch when she slipped and almost fell to the ground.
She paused for a moment to calm her breathing. Her fingers were not gripping like they normally did, but perhaps that was just the cold air making them numb. She slowed her climb, taking extra care to get to her favorite perch. It was the one which overlooked the forest.
She'd shed almost everything she was wearing back at the palace, everything but the comb the lord had given her. She should throw it away. She'd only worn it to throw it at his feet. But he'd found her out, discovered a part of her that no one had known before. How? Could he see the tanuki as she could? Even so, she didn't want to marry him.
Yuki turned the comb over in her hand and brushed a finger against the gems along the spine. The tanuki settled onto the branches around her, but sensing her mood they did not try to coax her into playing as they normally would. Suimin took his usual spot on her lap.
Yuki: A Snow White Retelling Page 4
