The Day of Thunder

[Doji Hikaru]

"She does mean well." Hikaru agreed, chuckling softly. "And she clearly cares for you very much. The bruises were worth it." He sat mirroring Satsuki, cross-legged, holding her hand, other hand on her knee... well, perhaps just an inch higher.

Hikaru was a Crane. He had been raised in the court of Lady Doji. He could tell when there was something awkward on someone's mind. "It's true, we have not talked much about the future. Or family." Hikaru admitted, his voice calm. Right, he supposed he would become a Togashi... it was a strange thought, but not an unwelcome one.

Smiling, Hikaru gave Satsuki's hand a comforting squeeze. "There's something on your mind, is there not?" His tone was gently encouraging. "You can ask me anything, I swear it."

[Togashi Satsuki]

"Right!" She squeaked at first, then laughed to put herself at ease. "I know, Hikaru. I know. I just... have to admit I had never thought much about it before. Children, and that part of becoming a family. Auntie Anjing made it seem like it was a big deal to agree on that and be in sync, but I don't really know."

Satsuki's hand squeezed his in return and she looked at him with a warm expression. "I know I want to spend the rest of my life with you though. That much I'm certain of. Wherever that leads us. I just haven't thought of myself as a mother until recently."

[Doji Hikaru]

Oh, that's what she meant by children. Hikaru blinked, lips parting in surprise. "Oh, I, uh, well... ummm, as far as that, well, whatever you like." It was an instinctive response, the normally controlled Hikaru briefly thrown for a loop.

The moment passed. "Ah..." Hikaru chuckled softly. "I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting that. Let me try again." He frowned thoughtfully, considering. "In truth, I have never thought of myself as a father, either. I never had one." Nor anything close. He considered that a few moments longer. "I think we do not need to agree on a number. This feels like something that we can decide, together, when the time is right. I trust in us." He said.

Smiling, he gave her knee a little squeeze too, fingers pressing through her layers. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Satsuki. And for what it's worth..." Hikaru took a breath, "I have no doubt you will make a wonderful mother."

[Togashi Satsuki]

Now it was at least Hikaru's turn to be a little embarrassed it seemed! "Yeah... I don't think we need to say that we want enough kids to account for each Bushido virtue, like auntie Shinjo," she laughed softly. "Thanks though. And... I think you'd make a great father too one day."

Not that she didn't know that married life came rather naturally with children eventually, but at the moment it was in the far off future. And when the future might only be a couple of more days, why worry about something that might never happen.

"But on similar topics, you would have to join the Dragon though. And carry the name Togashi. You... you're alright with that, yeah?" she asked him, her tone serious, as she knew how much Doji meant to him.

[Doji Hikaru]

"Ah... no." Hikaru laughed at that; a little nervously, a little with the manic edge of the newly engaged, still unable to keep from touching his wife to be. "I would expect the number to be closer to..." he pursed his lips as he seriously considered the question, "-two." He did not answer her compliment, but he did squeeze Satsuki's hand a little tighter as he smiled at her.

As Satsuki went on, Hikaru drew a deep breath. "I should like to finish my quest." He said after a few moments. "To save her, if it can be done. And if it cannot, well, she appeared to Jiyo-sama in a vision the other night to say goodbye." Briefly, he closed his eyes, a shadow passing over this happy occasion.

Taking a deep breath, Hikaru opened his eyes, meeting Satsuki's gaze once more. "But yes. I am ready to be Togashi Hikaru. To be your husband." That thought brightened him once more, although his face was still pensive. "I have been Lady Doji's retainer for so long. It is strange to think of being anything else. I suppose I will serve in your family's court in much the same way?" Hikaru tilted his head, giving Satsuki a questioning look.

[Togashi Satsuki]

"If that is what you wish, of course. You'll have the freedom to choose what you believe will be right for you, but..." Satsuki straightened her posture and regarded Hikaru very seriously. Her hold on his hand tightened a little.

"This is probably unusual, considering how marriages work, but I want you to still be Doji Hikaru until your quest to save Doji is finished. We'll be joined together in marriage - tying our lives and souls together - but you will still carry her name, for her honor and strength. And then we will save her together." She spoke with great certainty on all of this, nodding once. "Once we have finished that chapter of our story, you'll be Togashi Hikaru."

[Doji Hikaru]

Hikaru took a deep breath. He nodded, his expression a little strange, softening as she went on. "Together." He said, squeezing both Satsuki's hand and knee in a sudden rush of feeling. "Yes." He said.

His expression was thoughtful, but he flashed Satsuki a brief smile, just to let her know he was alright. "Very well. As a sign of continuing my quest, I shall keep the name Doji Hikaru a little longer." He shifted, bringing his knees together, leaning closer to Satsuki, taking both her hands in hers. "But it must be clear, I will be no less married to you for that." He said, his soft voice almost urgent. "I do not want one foot in the past, and one in the future. This is my future." Another squeeze of both her hands this time.

He took another deep breath, regaining control. "But yes. We will complete my quest... no, it is our quest now." Surprise flickered across Hikaru's handsome features, along with... relief? For the moment, at least, it seemed Hikaru was without worries.

[Togashi Satsuki]

"It is our quest, yes," she smiled, freeing one hand from the hold to bring it up to Hikaru's face. The white lock of hair had started to play at the frame of his face again, so she brushed it back gently for him. "We've come this far together."

"And... thank you for trusting in me. Not only for my suggestion now, but since back then, when you first told me of your quest." Because maybe their paths hadn't crossed fully otherwise, only briefly intersecting before veering off separately again.

"You seem relieved?"

[Doji Hikaru]

Hikaru smiled as Satsuki brushed back his lock of hair. Even as she tucked it back, it clung to her wrist a moment like a friendly vine. Hikaru followed suit, his hand coming up to catch hers, his lips tracing from her palm down her wrist before releasing her.

A moment of consideration, and then Hikaru nodded, still smiling. "You are welcome. At first, I was wary of trusting another with my Lady's secrets. By that time, I had grown more than a bit desperate. I took a chance on telling you, and Ayako-sama, and Ryoshun Rei-sama. I'm very much glad I did." He took a breath. "But especially with you, as you truly risked everything to assist me." Unlike usual, Hikaru was making no attempt to conceal his emotions, the intensity of his feeling obvious on his handsome features.

The question made Hikaru blink, then laugh softly. "I am. I must admit..." Hikaru frowned a moment, then continued. "Even though I knew there were others helping, even you, I think I was still shouldering too much of the burden of curing Doji myself. It is these last few days that I begin to feel truly not alone." Hikaru gave her hand another warm squeeze.

[Togashi Satsuki]

The kiss to her wrist made her cheeks flush soft with red color again, though it might just be a permanent fixture for now... or at least the rest of the afternoon.

"I can understand that. If it was something similar happening to any of the leaders of the Dragon, I might've felt the same too." Not that she hadn't been motivated to help her father, but he hadn't been in such deep trouble as Doji had been at that point. As they talked, Satsuki found herself noticing how much more open Hikaru was now, as if they had torn away the last pretenses of social expectations of what they could and couldn't say.

Satsuki's warm hand held onto to the tension of the squeeze. "I think that is something we all must realise while we're here, not just you and me; none of us are truly alone. We fight together. We stand together against the dark. And," she brought their entwined hands up to her lips to kiss the back of his hand, "we'll always stand together now. No matter what."

[Doji Hikaru]

"You are especially lovely when you blush, Satsuki." Hikaru said softly, his smile gently but his pale eyes hot. "I find myself wanting to make you do it again, and again..."

He breathed in and out slowly. "No doubt you would." Hikaru's expression turned serious; he shifted a little, sitting up. "I hope you know, even before this, if ever you needed me, I would be there..." His frown deepened. "But in fact, I feel I would have been torn if Lady Doji needed me." He took another breath. "I hope you can forgive me that."

His breath caught as Satsuki kissed his hand. Hikaru did not blush, but his lips parted. After a moment, he smiled. "Once we are married, there will be no more conflict. As you say, we shall stand together. No matter what. I swear it." Of all the things he had sworn in the last few days, and there were more than a few, he meant this one most sincerely.

[Togashi Satsuki]

"Well you keep making me blush," she giggled and swayed her body gently to bump shoulder against Hikaru. "But, I don't ever want you to feel torn, alright? It's why we're going to save her together - because she means much to both of us. The only way we become torn is if we think we have to overcome something without the other one."

Satsuki had never had a reason to doubt any of Hikaru's promises, and she didn't doubt this one either. "... I guess we should ask Tai to do the blessings then, since she helped you?" And also because she considered Nao a bit too young to have such a responsibility as a priest.

[Doji Hikaru]

Hikaru laughed, openly and honestly, as Satsuki bumped into him, playfully nudging back against her as she did so. "Well than, I shall continue to do so." He leaned a little closer. "Especially after the wedding." He'd said it to make her blush, but Hikaru found his own cheeks coloring at the suggestion.

Straightening again, he nodded. "Together. And even for something we have to overcome without the other..." Hikaru frowned, his gaze going distant. "Last night, I had a strange dream. In it, the corruption came to me, tried to trap me. I overcame it..." His gaze snapped back into focus, finding Satsuki's eyes. "In the dream, you were there. You helped me. Perhaps it wasn't you, but the part of you that is a part of me..." Hikaru grimaced, then smiled. "I hope you take my meaning. Even alone, you helped me."

Considering, Hikaru tilted his head. "There are none I would rather have." He said. "We should invite Ai-sama. Lady Anjing, of course. Perhaps not Ranmaru-san." Hikaru winced. "Lady Makime? I think her opinion of me is not good, but she is one of your aunties, in a sense..."

[Togashi Satsuki]

They were both probably smiling and blushing a bit at the thought of after the wedding... at least Satsuki was feeling a bit of a goof with her smile and soft laughter.

"Awww..." her hold on Hikaru's hands became more tender, "I'm... touched. Really. That I could be there for you like that." For a good while, she held his gaze and his hands, kind of lost in the romance of it all.

Thinking about the ceremony, she nodded slightly. "Yes, Ai and Anjing for sure. And Genji too, right? As for Lady Makime... maybe? I mean, I think she approves of both of us? At least I hope so, even if she did appear in my dreams last night to ask all sorts of impossible things of me."

[Doji Hikaru]

Hikaru, too, was all too happy to hold Satsuki's hands and gaze into her eyes. After all, in some ways, that was the pinnacle of courtly love, something that didn't embarrass him in the least. Besides, a marriage to his love as they worked together to save the world was very romantic.

"Genji-sama, of course." Hikaru nodded, his expression bright. He considered, his lips pressing together. "I think Lady Makime may think a wedding is a good idea, anyway." He said, somewhat hesitantly. It was perhaps a bit optimistic.

"Is there anyone else you would like to be there?" Hikaru asked gently. "At our wedding..." Hikaru blinked. "It seems so strange to say, and yet..." He sighed happily.