When Sunset Comes
Toyko, August 12th, 902 AD
Silence reigned in the room.
The man on the throne was heavyset, of later years, with a nose that would have done a hawk justice. The man facing him, his armor spattered with blood, was younger, with a topknot that showed only a bit of grey. His bearing was proud, carrying authority without braggadocio.
Finally, the one on the throne spoke. "Iyotushi Setto. You've come for me at last, have you?"
"That depends on you, Emperor Etanyo. That depends only on you."
"You've killed my guards--"
"--they got in my way--"
"--and a large number of sons of various clans in order to get here. So now I am forced to ask you. What do you want, Setto? You've fought your way here for some reason. What might it be?"
"I wish only to claim by right of arms what I was not born with. Nobility. Lands. The betterment of my family."
"You are clanless, Setto. A samurai only because a foolish son of the Dragon house saw some potential in you. What claim do you have to nobility?"
"The force of my arms. The honor in my heart. Just because I was not born to it, does not men I should have no chance to enter the nobility. Remember, from the Book of the Jade Fox you prize so dearly? 'Nobility begins and ends in the heart of a man; birthright may choose what chances a man may have, but the qualities of nobility are not always present in those born to it and may occur in those whom Heaven has not chosen.'"
"I am familiar with the passage, Setto. And I admit to having watched your career with some interest. You began with nothing, and in four years you have built an army, completely loyal to you. Were it within my power, I would grant you nobility."
"You admit that an Emperor's powers have limits? You are a most unusual man, Lord."
"Oh, i could declare you noble, easily enough. But you have broken all of our taboos. The other nobles will not like the precedent." He shook his head. "I cannot reconcile the two. Unless--"
"Yes?"
"Despite the fact that you have acted with honor, you have broken with tradition. I could have you declared a blood traitor, but for that you would have to have been noble in the first place."
Setto's eyes narrowed. "The penalty for blood treason is death."
"Seppuku is usually the preferred remedy, you are entirely correct. Tell me, Setto, do you have children?"
The samurai shifted. "Not yet."
"But I have heard that you are married, yes?"
"I am. What difference does it make?"
The emperor shook his head. "If you were declared noble enough to have committed blood treason, your children would, by extension, also be noble. But because you have no children, the only thing that would be accomplished by this would be that she would be noble. Making it easier for her to remarry after your death, but then your line would be lost forever."
Setto chuckled softly. "My wife...would not find it difficult to remarry if she chose to, with or without a title. Should you ever meet her, you will see why." He paused, and looked down at the pattered wood of the floor. "So, to charge me with a crime, I must first have been in a position to have committed it. Very clever. How long do I have to decide?"
"One week. Should you decide to have yourself declared a traitor, I will issue the proclamation that day, and I will require proof of your seppuku two days later." He steepled his fingers, watching Setto like the hawk he resembled. "And if you do not, I will call the Imperial Army here, and we will kill everyone who is loyal to you. Including your wife. It is your decision."
He nodded. "I expected something of the sort. And now I know. I thank you for your time, and I will send you a messenger with my decision." He bowed and walked out of the room.
*************
"You cannot." The beautiful woman's amber eyes were flat with anger. "You cannot even begin to think that I could do this without you."
"You're going to have to, love. I have a very simple choice. Sacrifice myself, or sacrifice everyone who has placed their trust in me. Including you."
She lifted her chin. "They might try to kill me."
"They might succeed, is what I fear. And if I choose the remedy, then you at least will be able to guide my people. I have no doubt you are capable of it. And, as a noble, even if your children are not mine, they will have many more chances in this life than I had."
The woman snarled. "I cannot believe you can sit there so calmly and talk about killing yourself!" Her voice rose. "You're talking about dying, about leaving me permanently, and I can't imagine life without you and I--I--" Words failed her, standing with her hands clenched into fists.
He caught her hands in his own, wrapping his hands around her fists. "Rei, why are you yelling at me? This isn't like you."
She pulled away from him, struggling, but he wouldn't let her go. "Because you're taking yourself away from me and if I'm not yelling I'm going to start crying." He could see the tears starting, underneath the fire of her anger. "And if I start crying, then I'm going to have to admit that I'm going to miss you for the rest of my life. And I'm immortal. Asshole."
The absurdity of that last statement made Setto chuckle despite himself. In reply, Reiko raised her hands, forgetting momentarily that he still held them, and he used that leverage to pull her close to him. Even after being married to her for eight years and loving her for much longer, he was still amazed at how small she was in his arms, scarcely bigger than a child. He held her as she fought briefly and then gave into tears. And he shed some of his own, holding the woman he'd fought to build a life with for so long.
Finally, they were both silent. Reiko stirred and sighed. "I don't have to ask what your decision is going to be. And...I have some news for you."
"What?"
"I wanted to go for a run today, so I tried to change to my other form. I couldn't do it."
"What? Why? You've never had a problem like that before."
"I've never been pregnant before, either."
"You--what?" He sputtered.
She laughed, clearly enjoying the dumbfounded look on his face. "Kitsune cannot change forms while they're pregnant. You're stuck in whatever form you conceived in from about the fourth week onward. And, thinking about the timing...I'm probably about six weeks along." Her smile was wry. "It finally happened, love. And almost too late."
He looked into her eyes, wishing devoutly that this happy news hadn't come at the same time as the decision he had to make. "And that makes the decision I have to make both easier and harder." He pulled affectionately on a lock of her hair. "I would do almost anything to see our child grow up. But at the same time--"
"Your line will be noble, like you've been working for since the first." She shook her head. "Love, I don't care about nobility, not if it means living without you. We can run, go to ground, hide until the emperor forgets us. Disband the army. Forget about everything."
But Setto only held her closer. "Rei, I can't do that. You know that. I can't throw away what I've worked for, and running would fail my honor."
She made a face. "You and your honor."
"You wouldn't love me otherwise, you know."
"It's such a part of you. I can't ask you to betray that. But I can wish--" She broke off, rubbing her eyes, trying not to cry again.
"I know. Me, too."
"I've become too mortal. I am afraid of life without you, Setto."
"You knew that you'd have to live without me, one day. You knew it was possible that i'd die in battle. And you were resigned to it. Not happy about it, but resigned."
"This is different! This is a choice."
"It is no choice at all. Consider it a different kind of battle." He paused, wondering how to phrase the request he had of his wife. "What do you know of seppuku, Rei?"
He could feel her shrug. "Only what everyone knows; that you are required to open your belly with your own sword, and your second takes your head, to make the pain go more quickly. Why?"
"There are other traditions. Older ones. Not much used any more, but that still satisfy honor."
"And?"
"One of them is to willingly give oneself to one of the many creatures in the world that live on the lives of others. Gaki, some demons...and kitsune."
Unexpectedly, she pushed herself away from him, holding herself at arm's length, looking at him with wide eyes. "You cannot mean...no!"
His throat closed with grief, but he continued. "My only request of you. I would find my death in the same place that I found my life. You don't have to if you are truly set against it. But it would satisfy honor, and I cannot imagine any better way to die. Not even in battle."
She wriggled free of his hands, backing away from him. He could see the struggle in her, so many things fighting. She grasped her forearms with her hands, her nails digging in and leaving half-moon marks on her skin. "To know that you're going to die is one thing, but to know that I'm going to kill you--I have worked so hard, so long, to avoid it! The arrangements we have, all of it done so I would have to drink from you but rarely. How can you ask this of me, Setto?"
He stepped over to her, putting his hands on her shoulders. "But I've seen you in unguarded moments. I've seen your hunger. You fight the temptation to taste me whenever you're near me. And, so I hear, what a kitsune wants a kitsune eventually gets." He paused, praying that he had not misjudged his beloved vixen.
She choked. "What I want-- What I want is you alive and whole!" She fought for words, gasping for air that suddenly seemed hard to breathe. Then the anger flared to life again in her eyes, and she launched into invective, calling him all the worst things she could think in all the languages she'd learned in her long years of life.
He caught her hands again--in this mood, throwing things was a decided possibility. How could feel her power, electric under her skin. Finally, her fury wore itself out as he knew it would. He gathered her into his arms again and held her as her shivering subsided.
Her voice was soft. "What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to live with myself afterwards?"
"You've been my guide, Rei. Now you need to be my sword. As for after--" He paused. "Raise our child, build a future for them and for the people who are loyal to our family. Continue what you've started with me. This will happen either way. And from what you've told me, being drained by a kitsune involves much less pain than the sword."
He heard her soft chuckle. "No pain at all. Rather the opposite."
"A far preferable death."
"I--" A shuddering breath. "All right. I'll be your sword."
Setto let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. "Thank you."
"For the record, I hate you for doing this to me."
"I knew you would." He tightened his arms around her. "But it's only because you love me that you'd even consider it."
He pulled her down onto a low couch, pulling her into his lap. Long habit curved her body to match his, and for long minutes, they were silent. The late afternoon light poured in through the window, gilding them both with sunshine. Finally, Reiko shifted and kissed her husband lingeringly, eight years of marriage and fifteen years of loving this maddening, honorable, wonderful man allowing her to communicate her sorrow and her pride in him without saying a word.
She pulled away form him a bit and raised her amber eyes to meet his black ones. "How long do we have?"
"My answer has to reach the Emperor in a week, so I'll send it in five days. The emperor expects proof of my seppuku two days after her declares me a blood traitor."
Her lips parted in a slightly feral smile. "Oh, I will bring him proof, all right. We'll see how the emperor deals with a kitsune in his court." She sighed. "So we have--six days total, counting travel time?"
He shook his head. "Five for getting everything that needs to be settled done. There is much to do, to make sure that my power transfers to you. But that last day...I want to spend with you. Free from cares or outside interruptions. And when sunset comes--"
"I will do what needs to be done."
*************
And on the sixth day, they lay entangled, silent, everything that needed to be said already having passed between them. Setto laid a hand on her abdomen, imagining the new life inside her fluttering underneath his hand. She covered his hand with hers, drawing her fingers down the back of his hand.
"It's sunset." He spoke only reluctantly.
"I know. Are you ready?" Sorrow burned in her voice.
"No. But yes." She didn't have to ask him what he meant; she knew already that neither of them could possibly be prepared for what was about to pass. But they were are ready as they would ever be.
She pressed her mouth to his, kissing him, and the passion between them kindled and burst into flame. Even now, even both knowing how this was going to end, the energy between them was undeniable.
And finally, twined together, Setto whispered to his wife, "Now, Rei. Now."
And Reiko drank. Pulling from his body his life, feeling his soul pour around hers, through every contact her body had with his she drank. Taking and taking, tears streaming down her face, feeling the pleasure that coursed through them both.
And as the sun's golden disc slid below the horizon, both of them shuddered and lay still, clinging to each other. And Setto breathed out, and did not breathe in again.
And Reiko held his body, wild sobs wracking her. As the light faded and night overtook the sky, she grieved, his corpse cooling beside her.
"I am sorry, love."
Reiko jumped, turning on the mat to look for the source of the very familiar voice that had come from behind her shoulder. "Setto? What? Have I gone mad, now?"
"You can hear me?" Setto's spirit stood over her, looking down, an astonished expression on his face.
"And see you!" She reached for him, but her hand passed through his body. "But I can't touch you...What happened?"
"All I remember, when my life was slipping away from me, was the desire not to leave you, to stay with you in that moment for always."
"Perhaps, somehow, your wish has been granted. I've always been sensitive to the spirit world, I suppose because I am one myself."
"We can't waste time speculating. There is work to do, Rei."
"I know." She scrubbed her face with a corner of the sheet, drying her tears, and pulled on her robes. "You might not want to watch this, Setto."
She crossed the room and picked up her husband's katana. Unsheathing it, she took careful aim, and with a single blow severed his head from his shoulders, burying the sword in the mat beneath him. It was the work of a moment to dislodge the sword and then put the head in a bag; then with infinite care she wrapped his body in the now-bloodstained sheets, tucking them underneath him.
From a lamp burning in the corner, she spread oil over the mat, and then lit it with the flame. The greedy fire began licking at Setto's body, and began to spread over the floor to the wall.
Reiko turned and walked quickly through the empty house, carrying her husband's head. Everything that she valued in it was elsewhere; now the place where she'd lived in such happiness would join Setto in death.
There was a carriage waiting outside. She spoke with the driver briefly, and then climbed inside. As they pulled away, she looked out the window to the house, which was burning merrily behind her. And glanced across from her, where the spirit of her husband sat. She smiled. "You stayed."
"Always, Rei. Always."
*************
Before the emperor, a diminutive woman stood, clad in mourning white. Her black hair was loose on her shoulders and the expression on her beautiful face was still and guarded.
She bowed. "All health and fame to the ruler of the world, Emperor Etanyo."
The hawk-nosed man looked down at her. "And who might you be?"
Her eyes narrowed. "Iyotushi Reiko. Iyotushi Setto was my husband."
"You say was. Is he then dead? Do you have proof?"
The woman seemed to consider this. "My husband said that he had met with you. Do you remember what he looked like?"
"I could scarcely forget the face of a man who practically held me at swordpoint."
She reached into the silk bag at her side. "Tell me, Emperor. Is this the man you met as Iyotushi Setto?" She pulled out a head, holding it by the topknot close to the scalp.
"Yes, yes it is." He shuddered, a little, at the woman's ruthlessness; not many would be so calm in such a situation. "I take it he did not falter?"
A small smile from the woman, full of secrets. "No, Lord. He did not falter for a moment."
"Archivist, make a note: on this day, proof of the blood traitor Iyotushi Setto's death was brought to me by his wife...Lady Iyotushi Reiko. And enter in the rolls the Iyotushi family as nobles. Any of Setto's line is to be accorded all corresponding honors." He looked at the widow, his face softening just a little bit. "It is too bad that no children came of your marriage. I am sure we can arrange a suitable remarriage for you."Reiko smiled, a small, wicked smile. "I apologize, emperor, but I will not be marrying again. At least, not until my child reaches his or her majority and I can pass the reins of power on to them."
"You--"
"I am with child, yes." She placed Setto's head back in the bag, closing it with the drawstrings. "Now, Lord, if you will excuse me? Your archivist has been given my current address. I have many things to be about."
"You're dismissed. Wait." A thought had occurred to the emperor. "You must come for dinner sometime soon. I would get to know the newest of my nobles a bit better."
Reiko had turned away, but she looked over her shoulder, her white robes brushing the floor with a sigh. Her eyebrow was raised. "You do me honor, Lord. I would be...pleased to accept."
"Five days from now, at sunset?"
"Five days, then." She bowed, turned, and walked out of the throne room.
*********
The full moon touched the Imperial garden with silver, giving the leaves and the water of the fountain a sharply outlined glow. In a room with one wall open to the night, a man and woman lay intertwined, naked as babes. The woman, her hair catching the silver light, disentangled herself gently from the man, rolling to a seated position next to him.
Reiko looked at the naked man beside her, her chin lifted in contempt. "Fool. Fool of fools. Your order was the reason Setto died, and you attempt to seduce his widow? Even the merest babe would know better." A feral smile touched her lips. "Then again, I helped. But I cannot seduce unless the weakness already exists in you."
She rose to her feet, picking up her clothes and pulling them on. She knelt next to the man who lay on the bed and gently rolled him so he was on his back, his open eyes staring at the ceiling. "And you with no heirs. Though from your bedroom technique I can certianly guess why. I'm sure no woman ever came back for seconds." She paused, fingers tapping her thigh as she thought. "And since you have no heirs, there will be any number of upsets in the world. Even a new noble family could rise quickly to prominence in such a time. So much power, waiting to be divided up. Well. Thank you, then, Etanyo. You may prove to have been not entirely useless."
She laughed, soprano voice ringing silver as the moonlight. And with a whisper, her form faded from sight. A sharp-eared observer would have heard the sound of bare feet on wood floor, padding away from the corpse, but nothing else.
The sound of the fountains outside was all that broke the silence of the moonlight. And the faint echoes of the fox, laughing.