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Kurama no Koishi Vice Captain
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 Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 7:51 pm
[[ Reserved for Kurama no Koishi and Kayakurai. Please do not post without permission!
the kōkyū - the section of the Japanese Imperial Palace where Imperial Family and court ladies lived.
Anshi kōtaigō - Empress dowager Anshi, (Reizei's mom!)
kōgō - empress ]]
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Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:07 pm
Probably, confusion was the foremost emotion running through Miharu's mind right now. Why on earth would the Empress dowager summon her to her personal quarters? The shirabyoshi had not done anything wrong, nor right, that would merit a request from such a powerful person. The day was not significant, either—in fact, this was an interruption of Miharu's carefully scheduled week. However, there was no denying such an order from the kotaigo. Miharu headed deeper into the imperial quarters, feeling more nervous as she passed consorts and courtesans alike, who did not hesitate to make her feel that she was an outsider.
As soon as the servant permitted her entrance into Anshi's rooms, Miharu found herself standing squarely in front of the mother of the emperor. The woman was seated on a large throne befitting her greatness. The shirabyoshi was careful not to let herself meet the woman's eyes—what folly would occur if she did! She had never yet seen this woman before in her life, let alone this closely. Remembering her place, Miharu was quick to prostrate herself in front of the woman.
"I have done your bidding, Anshi kotaigo," she murmured, her voice the perfect sound of impassivity. This did not betray her emotions, but inside, she truly was worried and even fearful of this woman's judgment.
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Kurama no Koishi Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:21 pm
Anshi knew she looked perfectly regal seated on the throne she'd forced the emperor into personally commissioning just for her. She was garbed in the finest heavy silk layered robes and a cruel smile graced her thin, blood-red lips as she watched Miharu enter. One glance at her attendants revealed a great deal of resigned expressions; a few looks of pity for the young woman on the floor, even.
"Oh, my, Miharu Gozen, you are even lovelier than I thought..." Anshi's voice was soft; beautiful and lilting, the epitome of the most gracious kindnesses. "Yes, yes..." The Dowager Empress stood slowly, with a regal sort of grace and approached the kneeling woman. "Stand," She commanded softly, her voice still full of utter kindness. "You must let me see more of your face."
Miharu would have had much more forewarning if she'd have only looked up at Anshi's face. Her black eyes glittered with malicious intent and her lips were a red slash across her pale face, forming a dark smirk. Anshi was a woman with a grudge.
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Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:40 pm
Wordlessly, Miharu stood at the woman's command. Was this praise that she heard? Perhaps there was more good than bad to gain from being here. This was not the time to drop all guards, however, for Miharu was almost a commoner in comparison with Anshi, noble blood or not. As such, the shirabyoshi maintained her lowered gaze. In this way, at least, she could not be blamed if something were to go terribly wrong.
"I am deeply honored, Anshi kotaigo," was Miharu's equally soft reply. She was oblivious to the Empress' expression that suggested the extreme opposite of what she was hearing, for the shirabyoshi's manners did not allow her to interact with the other on a familiar level, regardless of the kindness shown to her. Still, there was a sort of mute terror lurking in the pit of her stomach. Miharu had been expecting a commanding, overbearing tone from the woman who raised the emperor. Instead, she was hearing an impossibly sweet, kind voice, of the sort that one might use while speaking to a child or a prized pet. The two images clashed in the shirabyoshi's mind. Never before had she heard of a kind Empress.
This thought, at least, fueled Miharu's caution as she remained standing, waiting for the Empress' next words.
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Kurama no Koishi Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:55 pm
Anshi laughed gently as Miharu stood and spoke to her. "Now, let me see your face," She took Miharu's chin in a steel grip, making sure her nails most certainly dug in as she angled the shirabyoshi's face up to her own. An expression of clear-cut fury resided on the woman's face as she observed Miharu. "Why, don't you look so much like your father. But of course, so much of you also looks like your whore of a mother!" Her voice was a dangerous hiss and had transformed into something altogether very snake-like.
"But don't worry. You will pay for my late husbands mistakes." Anshi took her hand from Miharu's chin and suddenly tangled it violently into the young woman's hair, yanking with all her might. Most of her attendants averted their eyes so they wouldn't have to observe the Dowager's usual behaviors. Her cruelty was undisputed and unchecked; not even the emperor had a chance at stopping Anshi.
"You'll just be a pathetic, vile little creature when I'm through with you!" Anshi's voice crescendoed into an absolutely furious screech as she tugged Miharu's hair this way and that.
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Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 9:28 pm
And so it seemed that Miharu's premonitions were correct; a kind empress did not exist. The next thing the poor shirabyoshi knew, she was staring wide-eyed into the Dowager's face, which was now contorted into a cruel sneer. Her toxic, sweet voice was gone, though the poison remained as the woman maligned first her mother, and then her father. Crying out in pain as she felt small clumps of her once-perfect hair dislodge from her scalp, Miharu was suddenly at the other woman's mercy. Grasping her scalp in order to stave off the sharp pain, and perhaps to prevent further hair loss, the shirabyoshi could already feel a few stray tears escape from her eyes. What a child she was; her mother would not approve.
"P-please, Anshi kotaigo, I haven't done anything wrong!" she cried, a pitiful sound in comparison with the Dowager's hostile hiss. Miharu was not the sort to raise her voice beyond necessity, and so she was ill-prepared for this scenario. At the same time, there was nothing she could do except submit, for fighting back very well meant her life. Miharu still had the mental faculties to process the woman's words about her lineage. Thoroughly shaken, Miharu still had the curiosity to squeak out one question, at the risk of more hair-pulling. "My father was the emperor?!"
All in all it didn't make sense to Miharu. What reason would Anshi have to be angry? If what she said was true, Miharu and her mother certainly never felt the benefits of the late Emperor's wealth. Her mother was never instated as an imperial consort, so this alleged bloodline may as well have been blasphemy. Then, why would Anshi be so furious? Surely she did not treat her other stepchildren this way? The Imperial Princes and Princesses never appeared to be missing clumps of hair or bleeding from the chin. What drama occurred between her mother and the Emperor, Miharu did not know, but she secretly hoped that the Dowager would elaborate, even as she hoped that she would be able to keep her hair.
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Kurama no Koishi Vice Captain
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