Akatsuki Miyamoto, the Jade Emperor of the Zodiac and Head of a very old and powerful family, was absolutely not hiding. Akatuski did not hide. No, it was merely strategic placement and nobody was allowed to say otherwise. He knew today was important, but in reality, he couldn’t bring himself to care. He had been actively avoiding (not hiding, never hiding) the servants and maids who no doubt were scurrying about frantically trying to find him. The God had already chosen to wear a three piece Western-style suit, rather than traditional Japanese wear, and that alone would have cut the time of his needed preparation considerably.
Akatuski usually just put it from his mind. It was one of those things where he knew it was a fact, that it was going to happen, but he never consciously accepted it. There was a lot that Akatsuki had learned about human nature just by studying himself, and one thing he knew for absolutely sure is that humans were adept at lying to themselves, and he had mastered the art. It was something he had done since he was born, after all, the decision was made at his conception. It wasn’t even lying anymore, just a constant state of being. In the beginning, it had hurt. Now, he was just numb. He was numb to everything it seemed these past few years, except where his Zodiac were involved. It had scared him at first. But now it was better than the pain. But today… Today was a day he could not lie to himself, not when the obvious truth was slapping him in the face. The truth that forced him to feel something, the truth that forced him to hurt.
He did not want to marry Chouko.
He loved her with all of his heart, there was no doubt. How could he not? And he believed it was not just because she was his Horse. If the Curse had never existed, and they were all free, he still believed that he would love her. But no matter the love he had for her, or how dear she was to him, or the fact that they were bound to each other one way or another for the rest of their lives, he could not force himself to love her the way he knew he should. Not the way a husband loves his wife, or even the emotions of two lovers. His love for her was deep and unbreakable, but it was a platonic love, an innocent love, and he did not know whether it was made better or worse by the fact that she in kind did not want to marry him.
Distracted by his thoughts, knowing that he would have to return soon, as he was running out of time to procrastinate, Akatsuki had been wandering through the halls for a while now, when he caught a flash of familiar hair. He had already been placed in a less-than-desirable mood due to the day’s coming events, and this only worsened it, turning his emotions from somber, to something darker. His eyes narrowing, he followed, the girl not even realizing he was there. He waited until they were in a rather secluded part of the estate when he reached out and grabbed Eri’s arm, dragging her back before slamming her against the side of the wall. He reached up to grab the side of her head, his fingers, entwining with her oddly colored hair, his other hand holding her wrist, keeping her in place.
For a while, he did nothing but look at her, but finally he spoke. “Oh, my faithless Snake.” He breathed quietly. He looked so… nonchalant, but his eyes had considerably darkened. “You continue to test me.” He had not forgotten her words the other day, nor her involvement with Yasu. His grip on her tightened, he could see his knuckles turning white. He leaned forward and pressed their foreheads together, and his voice lowered to a whisper. “You should not do that…” Eri had ever fought with him, almost as vehemently as Yasu himself. “You make me sick.” How she was so content with being caged, with letting herself be ruled by people who saw her as an animal, who couldn’t understand her beauty, for her not seeing her own beauty for herself… Oh how she sickened him… From behind him he heard someone run up, and recognized a voice of one of the maids. “Oh, Akatsuki-sama, there you are, we’ve been looking everywhere for y-“ She stopped speaking when she saw Eri. Her face paled, and she backed away. “F-forgive me…” And she scurried away like a frightened little mouse. However, the maid’s presence broke Akatsuki out of whatever had taken hold of him, and he released Eri slowly, pulling back from her. “Get out of my sight.” He snapped, before he himself heading off the down the hallway the maid had fled down.
Passing through the halls on the way to his rooms, he had to pass by the front doors, ignoring the maids and servants who had suddenly flooded around him, all with nonsensical chatter about how late it was and that he needed to get ready. Eventually, he snapped at them too, and ordered them off him. With at least it being a little more quiet, he was able to hear faint cries coming from the direction of the door… on the other side, and he recognized the voice as Chieko’s. He opened the door to see… no one. And immediately looked down.
To any other human being in the world, opening your door to a tiny dragon would have been a shock. Perhaps even comical. But Aka sighed, and bent down to pick her up, and hold her close to his chest as he shut the door. “I hope no one saw you…” He put his fingers to her head and began rubbing the soft scales he found there. It seemed today not even his beloved friend could pull him out of his foul mood. He had been feeling weird lately, and it was making him suspicious. He sighed again, reaching up to place her on a low mantelpiece by the foyer. “You need to go get ready. And I…” He didn’t finish his sentence before his head began to pound. He turned on his heel and began walking, his vision go dark in his peripherals. Aka changed his plan. He couldn’t go back to his rooms like this… He made a quick turn, and began to head for the door that would lead to the gardens. ‘Not now.’ As if thinking it would make it stop. His vision didn’t go black, he didn’t pass out, and suddenly, he could see a man in front of him. His heart dropped. He had seen this man before. Akatsuki’s eyes immediately shot to the man’s right hand, which he had already begun to raise. He tried to back up, but was hardly surprised when his body wouldn’t move. The man had a gun, and he was aiming it right at Akatsuki. The God prepared for the intense amount of pain he knew he was about to feel when he realized… the man was gone, and only then did he notice that he was alone, sweat dripping down his forehead. He staggered out into the gardens of the estate, the fresh air and floral scent doing nothing to calm him. This was the third time that month he had seen the man with the gun, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t remember his face… He sat with shaking legs on the stone bench, relief washing over him. The man didn’t shoot him this time, the vision didn’t last long enough… He would have shot him in the stomach, Aka knew. He always did. In every vision the God had ever had, his death was always slow. Sometimes his murderer had a weapon, it was worse when they didn’t. Though he was relieved he had not seen the vision out fully, it began weighing in the back of his mind. It wasn’t strong enough, so what if it came back sooner than usual? His visions were always random and without warning, but generally there was at least some amount of time between them. He couldn’t afford another one happening today, not in front of the elders, who he knew would be watching with their fake smiles to hide their sneers and disdain.
