Chapter 2
So, you’re wondering what happened? Well let’s see, she squeezed down on me and I had to cum. I pushed in, and through the condom. Japanese condoms are a fair bit thinner than American ones, so there you go.
When she saw my tattoo however, that was a complication. Rachel seemed fairly accepting, though, so at least that was a plus. She didn’t seem to be the type to blabber to everyone so I was fairly certain she wouldn’t let on that we had been intimate.
It was roughly two weeks since Rachel and I had slept together and we’ve been seeing each other pretty regularly to close the contract on the power armor procurement. My board of directors didn’t want me to even consider dealing with her, but I forced the issue, to their dismay. A bunch of ancient old farts, they have no concept about how the future is going to look. To keep the peace, one needs to prepare for war. That was my motto, anyway.
My phone buzzed with a text message and I picked it up. It was Rachel. My heart dropped in my stomach as I read the news. She was pregnant.
God damnit! Yeah, I could do many things but secure her an abortion was not one of them, no doctor would be willing to put his license on the line, no matter how much I paid him. I needed to do something fast. Fly her to China or Korea? That could work. China was a better bet, legislation wise.
I knew what I had done was bad, very bad. I just hoped the elders didn’t find out until I got her safely to China and on the abortionist table. This is the last thing I wanted.
As I sat in my office and stewed, there was a knock on my door. “Come in.”
Three old men dressed in ancient looking robes shuffled into my office. They positively smelled of dust and mothballs. This isn’t good, I thought.
These were the high elders of the three Clans of the Yakuza. The ones who give the sacred irezumi to those of high enough rank, imbuing them with the ability to change into the Clan’s totem animal. I, for instance, am able to change into the dragon that is permanently embedded into my skin.
“We have been tracking the woman you bedded a few weeks ago, Kintaro.” Yazmat, the eldest of the three said.
“Yeah, and?” I was beginning to sweat.
“You know that it is forbidden for you to impregnate a woman without our approval. The bloodline must remain pure for the irezumi to bond and grant its power,” Izami, the middle of the three, said.
“I wore a condom, it broke! She took the morning after pill, she told me.” I was pacing back and forth now. This means Rachel could be executed. That couldn’t happen, I wouldn’t allow it.
“We have sent assassins to find her and end this problem,” Ikazi, the youngest said. Fuck no, just no.
The bloodline has to be pure they said. Pure as in, she needed to be Japanese? That wouldn’t work, but maybe they meant in wedlock. “Wait, what if I marry her before she has the baby? Will that keep her safe?” Honestly, over the past two weeks I’ve become quite attached to Rachel. She was funny, independent and kind. The fact she was smoking hot and a firecracker in bed also helped, but as soon as the Three Brothers of the Yakuza talked about killing her and my unborn child, I was in full-on protective mode.
See, Yazmat, was the Chief Elder of the Dragon clan. Izami, was the head of the Tiger Clan, and Ikazi was the head of the Kitsune Clan. All three ruled over the Clans with an iron fist. There was usually quite a bit of infighting among the three clans, and the immortal brothers were no different, so when they got together and agreed upon something with such finality, you knew that there was something serious going on.
I sat there and waited while they discussed it among themselves. I knew they would have preferred me to mate with one of their own. The Tigers would be especially slighted because I had been betrothed to the daughter of their Yokai, or shape shifter, in hopes of cementing a solid alliance. The thing is, I didn’t like the girl, to put it lightly.
Alright, I hated her. She was selfish, stuck-up, self-centered and just an all-around cunt. Not only that, I didn’t find her physically attractive either. She had absolutely no breasts, or hips. It was almost as if she never went through puberty. The thought of sleeping with someone who looked so child-like turned my stomach.
“Never! He’s promised to my descendant and that is final!” Izami yelled out. I knew he was going to be a problem.
Oh, I forgot to mention, I’m Yazmat’s direct descendant. Each Clan head is directly descended from one of the elders, who have been around for literally as long as the Yakuza. Each embody the main spirit of the clan animal and it’s passed on to their direct issue. They’re the only ones who have the power to pass on the power through the sacred irezumi. That’s the way it works.
Miko, the girl Izami was talking about, was the first female born into the Yokai families in over a thousand years. Due to being female, she was not allowed to take the sacred irezumi, so they wanted to marry her to the most eligible bachelor -- me. The fact that Miko was born a girl, pointed some pretty big suspicions at Miko’s mother.
Of course, Takai had his proclivities from what we’ve learned through the grapevine. Apparently, he had no desire to bed women. Maybe, out of duty to keep the Tiger’s line alive, Miko’s mother reached out and got impregnated by Takai’s younger brother, hence how Miko was born. DNA tests proved inconclusive either way because Takai was so close a genetic match to his brother, Oru, that there was no way to be sure.
Why not the Kitsune clan? Well, for starters, the head of the Kitsune clan was in his fifties and already married. His son was too young to even entertain the thought of marriage at only ten years old. Kid was lucky to escape an arranged marriage like that, but who knows, maybe when he got older, his duty would compel him to listen to the elder’s suggestions on who to marry and go with it.
“Sorry, Izami, but you are the only dissenting voice in this. Kintaro marries the Western woman, before her pregnancy shows.” Yazmat looked at me with his milky white blind eyes and I shuddered as I knew he was staring at me deep into my soul. “You will have to tell her. Everything, and if she values her own life, she will agree to marry you. If not, we’ll kill her and you will be forced to marry Miko.”
I swallowed hard and nodded. “I’ll go and meet her…”
“After we leave,” Yazmat said as he pointed a crooked finger at me. “You do not wait. We’ll put the assassins on standby, but if she refuses, you will watch your friend die before your eyes as a message for you to keep your dick in your pants from now on, unless we say you can.”
“Alright, I’ll go meet her at the bar.” I swallowed hard. “Can I at least get a ring for her first?”
“What a stupid western custom. You ask her to marry you, you bring her in front of us and we marry you. As a bonus, she becomes a citizen of Japan and gets all the rights afforded to her.”
I nodded. I had full confidence they would have the paperwork in place for this, since it was their idea and all.
“We will know her answer, so you can’t lie to us,” Yazmat said as they left my office.
I sat down and picked up my phone to let Rachel know that I wanted to meet with her at the same bar where we had our first date. She agreed, because she wanted to talk to me about the pregnancy and the options.
I sighed, got up from my desk and put on my blazer. I thought the whole Yakuza thing went over better than this shape shifter news will. I went down to the elevator and nodded to my receptionist, who looked at me with terror in her eyes. I guess she knew I was in deep shit, probably the entire clan did by now.
I quickly made my way through the streets of Tokyo and to the bar. “She’s already inside, boss,” the bouncer informed me. “She looks pretty upset.”
“No one else is in there?” My heart was pounding hard. I hope the assassins didn’t get in, this was my personal bar and no one was allowed inside without my express permission.
“Sorry, we had to let the other guy in. The Elders would have had my cock, otherwise.” He seemed genuinely sorry. I’d let it slide for now. Usually, such dereliction would mean he would have to gut himself at my earliest convenience.
“Well, let’s hope he hasn’t killed her yet.” I was fervently hoping she was still alive.
“Yeah, she’s still alive. I think he was waiting for you to show up or something. I don’t know, I’m just the bouncer. Just to let you know, you’re paying for the cleanup bill if he does whack her in the bar.”
“And I’ll carve it out of the wrinkly ball sacks of those foolish old men,” I said as I made my way inside.
Rachel was sitting at the bar, hunched over a glass of clear soda. I smiled. “Trying to be responsible already?” I really was trying to ease the tension.
“It’s the only thing I can hold down right now,” she replied. Her red hair was tied back in a limp pony tail. She was wearing a comfortable maxi skirt and a beautiful silk blouse, but her face was paler than usual. I don’t think pregnancy was agreeing with her.
“Look, I’m going to cut to the chase. Don’t worry, most…” I said as I stared at the strange man in the dark suit who was sitting in the corner, “of these men are mine. You’re in grave danger, but I know how to save you, and the baby.”
She looked at me with terror in her green eyes, mixed with relief. “Honestly?”
“Yes. You see, we have to get married.” I saw her green eyes fill with anger. I knew it wouldn’t go over well.
She punched me in the face. I felt a sharp pain as her fist nailed me square in the jaw. The bouncer sat at the door with an amused smirk on his face. Bastard. “What do you mean we have to get married?”
“You didn’t have to hit me, you know. That kinda smarts. Anyway, If we don’t, that guy in the corner will create a nice art deco painting out of your grey matter all over the inside of my bar.” I rubbed my jaw. “Can I get some ice, please?” I asked the bartender. I really didn’t want a bruise.
“Why, other than the fact that I’ll die, is it so important?” She was really pushing it. I picked up the bar towel that was filled with ice and placed it against my aching jaw.
I sighed, deeply wondering how to break the news to her. She already knew I was a kingpin of one of the most dangerous crime syndicates known to man, but how do I tell her about the Dragon? “Alright, I guess I shouldn’t hide this from you either. You saw my tattoo, right?” Well duh, of course she did.
“Yes. What about it? Well, other than the fact that it’s absolutely stunning and it’s almost a sin to cover it up.” Well, I thought, here it’s a sin to show, so I guess I’m stuck, huh?
“Every clan in the Yakuza has a few members that are so high up in rank, that they’re given special powers. Now this is going to be hard to believe, but please listen; I’m the head of the Dragon clan, the sacred Irezumi has been marked on my body, and now, I can change into a dragon, the same one on my back, actually. There’s the Tiger clan and the Kitsune clan as well.”
“And they each have…” She seemed to be skeptical.
“Yes, their own shape shifters as well. Now, the ability for the Irezumi to give a person powers is passed down from parent to child, and only if the union is legitimate.”
“So you mean, for my child to be able to become a…” She really seemed leery of this whole thing and I wouldn’t blame her.
“Our child,” I corrected her, “to become a shape shifter, yes. A very powerful one at that. The thing is, children of my line need to get the sacred irezumi at the age of eighteen or else they go insane.” I placed my hands on her abdomen. “I want to help raise this child, I don’t want you, or the baby to die. Neither of you will want nor need for anything, you won’t have to work another day in your life, your boss, who, by the way has his own unsavory reputation, will be a thing of the past.” I was sincere. I also didn’t want to sleep with that hag, Miko, for the rest of my life.
“Is there anything else you’re not telling me?” Ouch, she was way too perceptive.
“I had, that’s the key word, had, a fiancée. We had been betrothed since we were babies to bring some sort of unity to the Yakuza clans. I can’t stand her.” I said quietly. “I want you.”
She looked at me confused. “Why don’t you…”
“Because her personality is all wrong. We won’t get along, we never have, to tell you the truth, that and I’m honestly not attracted to her. She’s not my type, and there would be no way for us to work past it, and when I cheat on her, I’d wind up with a bullet in my brain.”
“I noticed you said when…” Uh, oh, she was getting frosty again.
“Well yeah, I wouldn’t want to sleep with her, but I still have my needs, right? Trust me when I say this, but there is no way I’d be able to get it up with Miko.”
“He’s right.” Kudo the bouncer spoke up. “If it weren’t for her cruel streak, the fact that she looks like a little boy is a huge turnoff. Even at twenty, she still could pass as a twelve-year-old boy.”
“Now you see why I couldn’t bring myself to marry her? You’re everything I find attractive in a woman. So why not?”
She looked as if she was softening up. “Alright, I’ll marry you. Don’t take this the wrong way though, but, if it weren’t for the fact mister Ninja Face over there wasn’t about to give me a third eye socket, I would probably have turned you down.” I sighed with relief. “As for the whole shape shifter thing. I’ll believe it when I see it,” she said with a straight face as she got up. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go vomit some more.” She said this as she gracefully walked towards the ladies room.
*
I got up from the bathroom floor after barfing for the third time that morning. At least the lemon-lime soda didn’t taste bad coming back up. I looked around and finally noticed how immaculate the bathroom was. Like this was what was considered a dive bar in Japan, I guessed and the seating area was immaculate and the bathrooms were just as clean. I still couldn’t get over that part of the culture shift.
I washed my hands and made sure I was reasonably put together before I walked out of the bathroom. I couldn’t believe Kintaro. I took the damn morning after pill within the time frame, too. Maybe it was the illegal pharmacy I got it from, probably wasn’t even the legit plan B. I should have known better.
I tried to get a referral for an abortion but Japanese Law stated that I couldn’t get one unless it would put me in undue economic or physical hardship, or I was raped. Neither of those were true, so my abortion request was denied.
Pushing the door to the bathroom open, I went back out to the bar to talk to Kintaro about this stupid wedding. I sat back down at the bar as Kintaro iced his jaw. I really shouldn’t have hit him but I was so shocked at his idea that it was just reflexive. “Look I’m sorry for punching you…”
“Don’t be, I had it coming. I should have had more tact in breaking the idea to you.” Wow, he was apologizing.
“So when do we actually get this wedding going?” I figured I had a month or so to get through the Japanese citizenship red tape before getting hitched…
“Tomorrow.” Kintaro said, looking ashamed. “The elders want it performed on the full moon. They say that the lunar spirit is all about fertility and whatnot. It’s going to be a traditional Shinto wedding I guess, if you don’t mind.”
“Traditional Shinto? That usually takes time to prepare.” From the elaborate weddings I’ve been invited to attend, the Shinto ceremony was beautiful and full of deeply meaningful ritual.
“You will wear my mother’s gown. She was actually the same size you are when she married my father, I hope you don’t mind.” As he told me this I felt my heart flutter. Even though I really wasn’t ready to settle down, the thought of a wedding sent my heart fluttering, and wearing his mom’s gown just added to the romance.
“Will she mind?” Honestly, the woman never met me, so she might have an issue with it.
Kintaro’s face went downcast for a brief second and then angry. “She’s dead. She was in the airplane with my father when it crashed into the South China Sea.”
“Wow, I’m so sorry.” I touched his hand. “I didn’t even know.”
“Yeah, that’s the problem with all these rushed arranged marriages, we can’t get to know each other before getting hitched. Anyway, we’re working on your immigration paperwork now. It should be cleared by later today. After the wedding, you can go say your vows in front of a magistrate and you’ll be good to go and a legal resident of Japan.”
I nodded because I was just swept away by how fast this was happening. I was a little upset that my friend Kristina wasn’t able to make it, since she was back in the States. “That’s, this is just happening so quickly, I can’t even…”
“I know. I’m just answering to the elders. Like, if you want to know the truth, I probably would have kept seeing you even if it weren’t for the elders forcing us to rush things, but yeah.”
“You know, if that pharmacy would have given me a pill that worked, we wouldn’t be in this mess,” I said softly.
“Wait, you went to the pharmacy I wrote down, right?” Kintaro looked kind of weirded out.
“Yeah, went in, gave them your card, told them I wanted plan B. Like, I know my spoken Japanese isn’t the best, but I thought I was pretty clear with what I wanted. I might be a bit on the heavy side compared to most Japanese girls, but I’m not so heavy for it to not work.” I would classify myself as a thicker lady, actually, but I was still well below the BMI threshold for the morning after pill to work.
“Your Japanese is fine. I’ll find out who was on duty that day and give them a piece of my mind.” He seemed pretty upset. “Look, everything is going to be okay.” I wanted to believe him so badly.
“Is there anything else I need to know?” Better to be prepared than taken by surprise.
“Well, there’s going to be a part of the ceremony after we drink the wine together, that the elders will change into their animal forms and bless the union. Luckily, I don’t have to do it, it’s not a very fun process.” Well, he was definitely nonchalant about it. Seriously, I didn’t believe that there was such a thing. I didn’t know, honestly. A person who could shift into an animal is pretty out there, but whatever, if it helps them sleep at night. It’ll probably be a bunch of smoke and mirrors anyway, to make me feel all kinds of freaked out. Yeah, OK, whatever.
In reality, I should be excited, but I had an overwhelming sense of dread going into this. Kintaro wasn’t that bad of a guy, for a crime lord. “I really should get going back to my apartment.” I said. “I have a lot to digest and I need to rest up for tomorrow. It’ll probably be busy.”
“Yes, I’ll send people to get you ready at eight in the morning.” He gave me a kiss on the cheek and took my hands. Despite my early pregnancy, I still felt tingles of desire well up when he touched me.
The next day, I was roused by my apartment buzzer going off. “Alright, give me a minute.” I yelled while stumbling out of bed. I tossed on my bathrobe and hit the button to open the security doors down below.
I managed to make myself a cup of coffee while waiting for the knock on my door and was sipping at it when the people arrived. Yeah I’m pregnant and having a coffee, so sue me. “Alright, give me a second,” I said as I answered the insistent knocking. I put my cup down and walked over to my door and opened it.
On the other side was a matronly Japanese lady carrying a makeup case and a dry-cleaning bag. “Go have a shower, I’ll set up,” she said as she pushed her way in. Geez, not even a hello or an introduction, alright, so I just nodded and went into my small bathroom to clean up.
As the warm water streamed over my naked body, I felt another wave of nausea wash over me. I braced myself against the white shower stall wall and waited for it to pass. After a minute or so, I finished freshening up and towelled off.
I wrapped the towel around me and stepped back into my kitchen. I noticed the woman had set up at my small table. “Alright, sit down and let me get to work. I’m not used to working with curly hair, so I think we’ll just pin it up and have it cascade across your shoulder and out the hood, what do you think?”
“I think that will work just fine,” I said as the woman grunted and went to work on my hair. She first moussed it, then she took a blow dryer with a diffuser to it. “For someone who hasn’t worked with curly hair, you know what you’re doing.”
“Well, I’m a hair dresser and aesthetician. I did take courses, I just never had the chance to apply it.” She scrunched and finger combed my mass of fire red curls while she took the blow dryer to it, then she took each section and carefully positioned it on top of my head with bobby pins.
After she was finished, she did my makeup. I hoped she had picked a palette that went with my skin tone. Sometimes makeup artists want me to be darker than I really was and it really didn’t work well with me.
She worked for about twenty minutes getting the shading and contouring just right. After she was finished, she put a mirror up to my face. “So how do you like it?”
My eyes went wide. She did a perfect swept eye look that gave me a vaguely Asian cast. The eyeshadow was a brilliant emerald green which set my eyes off brilliantly. Everything was stunning. “Alright, I need to take lessons.”
She laughed. “Don’t worry I’ve been hired to keep you on point for as long as you need me.” Wait my own personal beautician, OK, when did I die and, what did I do in my life to deserve this kind of Heaven?
I got up and took the dry cleaner bag with me to my small bedroom. “Wait, I have to help you with that,” the woman said.
“First off, you need to tell me your name if you’re going to be working with me. Second, I would like to get some undergarments on first.”
“Oh, sorry.” She seemed upset, I really didn’t mean to be so harsh, but damn, I was able to put on a bra and underwear on my own. “My name is Usagi.”
“Well, give me a minute and I’ll let you in to help me put this on, okay?”
“That’s fine.” She gently took the dry cleaning bag from me. “I’ll wait out here with it.”
That worked, so I went into my room and picked out a really gorgeous lace bra and underwear set. The underwear faded from black to white with all the shades of grey in between, and so did the beautiful lace shelf bra. I looked at myself proudly in the mirror and saw my curvy, soft body standing before me and smiled. I knew I wouldn’t look like this forever, but I’ll enjoy it now. “I’m ready, you can come in now,” I said to the patient Usagi.
She entered the room and placed the dry cleaning bag onto the small bed and opened the zipper. Inside was the most elegant kimono I have ever laid eyes on.
The fabric was white as new fallen snow, and embroidered on it in fine, gold filament were cherry blossom flowers. The hood was also embroidered with a gold rim and the obi itself was made out of gold fabric with white cherry blossoms embroidered on it. “This is spectacular,” I gasped.
“You aren’t seeing the best part.” Usagi said as she opened the blinds allowing the sun to shine on the wedding kimono.
As soon as the sun hit it, it started to sparkle. “What on…”
“Diamonds are woven into the fabric of both the kimono and obi. There are also pearls sewn in to the obi as well. This was Mrs. Shinno’s wedding kimono. As you can see, they spared no expense. She didn’t want the traditional red lining and obi as you can see, since she was marrying into royalty of sorts.”
“That’s for sure, this must be worth…”
“Millions. So let’s get this on, shall we?” Usagi said as she held the kimono open.
I stepped back and placed my arms into the light silk robe and felt shivers go through me as the cool fabric touched my warm skin. She then wrapped the gold obi around my waist. I looked at myself in the mirror before Usagi lifted the hood. I really loved what I saw. I was the bride I had always wanted to be. Ravishing, demure and powerful. Usagi then reached in and pulled my flowing red locks out and placed them over my shoulder, splashing my hair onto the pristine white fabric. “There you go, perfect,” she said with a smile.
“You’ve got that right,” I said, completely stunned.
“We need to get going to the temple now. Just so you know, my sister is going to be the temple girl.” Usagi said with a smile.
I nodded and glided, because seriously, in a kimono such as this you don’t walk, you don’t jog, you definitely don’t glomp, you glide elegantly to your destination. I opened the door and saw two very large, burly men standing there waiting for me. “Oh, don’t mind them,” Usagi said with a smile. “They’re to make sure we get there safe.” Alright…Guess I have to get used to having some body guards.
We made our way to the venue in a black van. The windows were deeply tinted so nobody could see inside. It wasn’t conspicuous at all, was it? We drove to the outskirts of Tokyo, towards a nature preserve not too far outside of the megalopolis.
“The temple is not too far now,” Usagi said. “It’s been in the Shinno family for generations.”
I watched as we pulled up next to the narrow trail that led up to the shrine. I saw Kintaro standing there in a pitch black kimono outfit. His jacket was tied at the waist with a silvery obi, embroidered with silver cherry blossoms and his hakama pants were black and silver, as well. It was obviously the match to this one. His hair was tied back with a silver ribbon that matched the obi. Oh man, he was just so god damned sexy today, I thought. To be honest, I could have landed with a real monster.
We stepped out of the car and I noticed that Kintaro’s eyes were locked on me. His face remained neutral but I could tell he was impressed, just by the way he fought to keep from smiling. I stood beside him and glanced demurely at him from the corner of my eye, forgetting I was wearing a hood, so I stared at my hands until the procession began to move.
“Are you nervous?” Kintaro whispered in my ear. I honestly couldn’t believe I was getting married to this guy.
“A little,” I replied, completely understating how I was feeling right then and there. I felt like I was going to throw up again, but I didn’t know if it was from pregnancy or nerves, so I motioned to Usagi.
“Do you have anything to settle a stomach?” I asked her. It would look very bad if I puked all over this gorgeous wedding gown.
“Yes, I have some ginger candies in my purse,” Usagi replied as she ran back to the van. When she came back she pressed a candy into my hand. “There you go, let it dissolve slowly in your mouth, but make sure it’s finished by the time you reach the shrine.”
“Not feeling well?” Kintaro asked. He seemed rightfully concerned.
“Well, I don’t know if it’s nerves or morning sickness, so I figure I’ll have something to calm the stomach,” I replied as I put the lozenge in my mouth. The spicy ginger taste flooded my mouth and I felt my stomach settle immediately. “That’s helping, thank you,” I said to Usagi who bowed and took her place in line.
The musicians started playing and the procession slowly marched towards the open air shrine. The musicians were dressed in yellow kimonos and the temple maiden was dressed in a white and red one. We were behind three old men and what appeared to be a young boy, who was shaking.
When we reached the shrine, everyone filed in in an orderly fashion. Kintaro lead me to the simple wooden altar at the head of the shrine where an elderly Shinto priest stood. We both bowed deeply, twice, to the shrine, and after we bowed, the wedding party followed suit.
The priest then purified us with a branch of the sakaki tree before announcing our marriage to the Shinto gods and goddesses and seeking their blessing over our union. I couldn’t understand the words he was reading from the parchment scroll other than our names and a few other words here and there, but the intention was clear.
Then he turned around and instructed the temple maiden to dedicate the union with a sacred dance. We watched as the young woman deftly moved her feet and arms in dance steps that were at the very least a few thousand years old, while the band played a lively tune. The maiden’s dance was mesmerizing. I couldn’t take my eyes off the girl as she danced her heart out, eventually, though the dance was over and silence fell over the shrine.
“It is now time for the san-san-kudo. You will be given three cups, you take three sips out of each cup and pass it to your bride, where she will do the same thing,” the priest instructed. Kintaro took three sips out of the first cup presented to him and handed it to me. I took three sips of the dry rice wine, not wanting to drink too much because of my pregnancy, and handed the cup back to the priest who then placed it on the altar. We repeated the ceremony with the two other cups and waited.
“It is time for the groom to read the wedding vows on behalf of the couple.” Well, what did I expect from a patriarchal society like Japan? Whatever. Glad I have a say in all this, I thought as I tried not to roll my eyes.
Kintaro looked at me sheepishly as he pulled a scroll from the inside of his kimono and unrolled it. He cleared his throat and started reading: “We make this marriage vow respectfully before the Hachiman deity. We, Shinno Kintaro and Rachel McDonald, are delighted to be able to make our vows on this great day, and to become husband and wife through the blessing of the Hachiman deity.“We swear before the Hachiman deity to love and respect each other forever, and to strive to bring our family prosperity. Moreover, we swear never to veer from the true path of matrimony, and to work to share the divine grace of Hachiman deity by helping people and society. We swear on this day, Heisei 26, Nen Hazuki, Gatsu Ni.”
Kintaro rolled the scroll back up and looked at me with warm, loving eyes. I smiled demurely as the priest placed some sakaki branches in each of our hands. Kintaro looked at me and led me to the head of the shrine where we knelt and silently prayed over the offering.
I prayed for a somewhat peaceful union with this crime kingpin. And that, hopefully, his work and private life would stay separate, and maybe he could get out. I didn’t know what he was praying but when we were done, we rotated the branches clockwise and placed them stem first on the altar.
After we bowed twice, we rose to our feet and walked back to where the priest was waiting. “It is now time to exchange the rings.” He handed Kintaro and I each a small box. I opened it and inside was a solid gold ring that was cast into the shape of a dragon with a ruby eye, grabbing its tail. It was exquisite.
“Now repeat after me,” the priest said. “With this ring, we are wed.”
“With this ring, we are wed,” Kintaro said as he slid a silver ring that was identical to his, but smaller, over my left ring finger. It was the most gorgeous ring I have ever seen. As the metal slid over my skin I felt it warming up from within. How strange, I thought. The warmth flowed through my arm and into my womb, settling around the unborn child inside of me.
“Now you,” the priest instructed.
I took the gold ring and slid it over Kintaro’s ring finger. “With this ring, we are wed,” I said as I slid the warm ring down his finger.
His eyes went wide as he felt the warm gold touch his skin. He looked at the ring in confusion and stepped away from me.
“You are now man and wife,” the priest said. “Let us proceed to the reception!”
“Wait, no kissing?” I asked Kintaro, confused.
“No, a traditional Japanese wedding doesn’t have kissing at the altar,” Kintaro explained. It made sense since it wasn’t the norm for public displays of affection in Japan. “By the way, Usagi has a bunch of outfits for you at the reception hall and you’ll be expected to change into them throughout the evening.
“Honestly, I think it’s all annoying but, whatever. Everyone is sipping from the sake at the altar, though.” He nodded towards the orderly procession. One person, however, refused to partake.
“I take it that’s your ex,” I said, pointing towards the child-like figure.
“Yes,” Kintaro said dryly. “She’s going to cause trouble. I can tell. She is actually refusing to drink the sake.”
We watched as one of the elderly men tried to wheedle the young woman into drinking to show respect to the new couple and she adamantly refused. She flew off in a rage, knocking the ceramic cup out of the old man’s hands and smashing it on the wooden floor of the temple before storming out.
“Wow,” I said as she shot me a deadly glare. “Really, just wow.” I sort of felt bad for the girl, she had been promised, groomed and anticipated this very union for herself and it was just thrown away at what seemed like a whim.
“Before we go,” one of the elderly gentlemen called out. “While we are still being witnessed by the gods, the Yokai want to bless the union.”
“The Yokai?” I whispered, but Kintaro hushed me. “Just watch.”
The three elderly men walked up to the altar and bowed to it, then to us. Then, I thought my vision was going because the air started to blur around them. When the air settled, where the three elderly men stood, there were… holy shit It was a fucking dragon! A…and a tiger, oh and an adorable little fox? Alright, whatever. It took all of my might to not run away from the three animals that suddenly appeared before me. Well, that and Kintaro’s strong hand was grasping my shoulder with almost all his strength, keeping me from fleeing.
“We the Yokai, children of the gods themselves, bless this union between our son and Rachel Shinno. May their union, and its fruit bring honor and wealth upon our families.” The dragon boomed in my head. Jesus Christ, this was terrifying.
The dragon that sat in front of the altar was silver, his scales shimmered in the sunlight filtering through the open windows of the shrine. He was coiled upon himself so as not to take up all the room in the shrine. He was the quintessential Japanese dragon. Long, sinuous and deadly looking.
I trembled in terror as the tiger stared at me with his green eyes. I didn’t know if I should be more scared of the dragon, which technically shouldn’t exist, or the tiger that could literally rip me from limb from limb and not arouse suspicion because it could look like an escape from the zoo did it.
Kintaro urged me to bow to the elder shape shifters and I did, slowly so as not to fall. “It’s alright they won’t hurt you,” he whispered.
“And you’re one of these…these…things?” I hissed.
“Yes,” he said sadly.
“I take it, you didn’t want to be.”
“No one ever wants to be. Well, some of them do. Miko craves it but it can only be passed on to the 100male,” Kintaro said as he guided me out of the shrine to the car.