2026-10-31: Vows Labyrinthine
- Log: Vows Labyrinthine
- Cast: Yua Ijuuin, Miho Ijuuin
- Where: Aoba General Hospital
- OOC Date: October 31, 2026
- IC Date: February 02, 2013
- Summary: Miho's marriage happens at the courthouse, first; a wedding of her calibre will take time to prepare, and she is driven to arrange things for Hiroki's adoption quickly. But despite Yua driving that sense of urgency, she finds herself falling into despair when Miho returns to her with a gold band around her finger... and Miho must pull her from the edge before she plunges Aoba General into a hell of her own making. The hint of her Mark distresses Hiroki, and his fear and Miho's aid helps Yua to get a grip on herself... and so, to explore just what happened, when Miho was married in law. They affirm their own love, in the wake of it -- though the hospital continues to stymie them. Content warning: Sexual themes, implied references to domestic violence, psychological horror.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Yua has been getting better, over time; she's been in hospital almost three weeks now, and has in turn seen Hiroki slowly get better at using his senses, which explains why their shared room has the blinds drawn to keep things nice and dark. (He's easily overstimulated, and frankly, so is she.) Her stability has been slowly trending upwards, though with a few worrying backslides which make the doctors nervous about letting her go without at least a few more days observation.
And, of course, they need to fix all the damage they've done in hospital -- which in many ways falls to the physiotherapists. Yua was taken to the rehab gym in a wheelchair, where she did such harrowing things as climb stairs and stand on her poor beleagured tippy toes and walk down a path with two railings to hold onto.
... she was taken back in a wheelchair, too, because doing all that was exhausting. Even so, she insisted on not going back to bed, and so the physiotherapist is in the process of helping her into the comfy chair beside her bed.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho has been here as often as she's able; that's about to be 'again', because she's finished something else. More on that shortly.
The late afternoon stretches on as Miho steps through the halls of the hospital, her sensible shoes clacking against the tile floors. She is in one of her usual suits now, with... one addition: a ring on her left hand.
She knocks at the door, because Yua's privacy is important even from her.
"Yua," Miho says warmly, because just saying her name is a warm matter for Miho Ijuuin.
"May I come in? They tell me you have completed your physiotherapy for the moment."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Mimi! Mimi!" Is Yua's excited chirp, from behind the door, and Miho is the one person Yua doesn't feel compelled to remind about her hands.
The physiotherapist -- one Touka Hazutani, who's been working with Yua for a few weeks now -- turns her head to Miho, as she's swinging Yua's legs over onto the raised leg rest which keeps her feet off the floor. "We just spent most of an hour at the gym, so Ijuuin-san might be a little tired... but I was happy to hear she wanted to sit up when she got back!"
She has to speak for Yua, of course, because Yua... is busy looking at Miho's left hand. Her own left hand curls, tucking between her leg and the chair, hiding the rich mokume-gane wedding ring held there.
"... mm," she hums, when she realises that there's a silence she was meant to fill. "Staying in bed all day is lazy, right...? I can't go home and be in bed all day!"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho obviously cleans her hands at the door, when she enters, before she comes over to see Yua. She smiles once she does, and that smile even sheds its warmth towards the therapist. "That's very good," Miho says to the physiotherapist. The ring, as it happens, is a plain gold band; she did not go for anything so ostentatious as Yua and Kimitake's. ...Perhaps that says something; perhaps it suggests security. Perhaps it suggests something else.
Either way, "Rest is important... But I think sitting up and building your strength is also good," Miho says.
"...I'm glad."
"I'll wait until you're finished," Miho says to the therapist then. "Thank you for your hard work."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Now, I want you to remember to call for help if you want to get up, okay?" Touka makes sure to emphasise for Yua, as she hooks her call bell around the chair in easy reach. "We don't want a repeat of yesterday."
(Yesterday, when Yua fell back into her chair when she tried to get up, though luckily it was a soft landing.)
"Moouuuuu... but Mimi can help, right?" Yua asks, pouting.
"That's right," she assures her, smiling. "Any questions?"
"Uh-uh," Yua shakes her head. "I'll be okay."
"Then I'll leave you to it," Touka says, as she takes her leave.
"Hiroki's sleeping," Yua explains, to Miho, when the door closes. "Don't worry... I checked on him before she put me here! Mm..." Yua hums, again, as she reaches for Miho -- with her right hand, as it happens, the scar over the back of it made plain in this place where she can't wear her jewellery. "Mimi... how'd it go?"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Call for help... But indeed--Miho can help. So she won't have to call very loudly.
"I will," Miho confirms for Yua and the therapist both. When Yua has no questions, similarly, Miho turns towards Touka and nods at her exit. Then, Yua speaks up as the door closes...
Miho reaches out in turn, takes Yua's hand gently but firmly as she comes to sit next to her, so that Yua won't have to stretch to be near her.
She is not afraid of the scar, though she is gentle with it.
"There were no difficulties," Miho reports. "The paperwork was in order, and there was no delay."
"It was good," she says then. "But..."
"I confess," she says, "I still wish it were you, for all that he is a good man."
But it isn't; they have the rings of others. And what they have between themselves...
"Well," Miho says, "Our plans proceed, at least."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Yua bites her lip, as Miho speaks of it in such businesslike terms. Good... well, she shouldn't like to think it would be bad.
If it were a man who didn't care for her, it would be a man who would sooner beat her, Yua reminds herself, and so Miho cannot know how protective her desire to have desire for her cover story is. Yua knows; she knows, and knows how much worse it could be, and knows in turn how dark and wicked her own heart bleeds.
It could be worse. Tomoki could be a man more invested in being head of his household; a man more invested in his primacy. He could be a man who did not care to share, or a man who allowed it only in the context of his own desires. He could be a man who did not care to save her life. He could be a man who...
Even so, he is a man.
A man is who the world would have her marry.
A man is who Miho would find goodness in marrying.
And that is why the expression on Yua's face is so complex, at once reserved in its grief, tense at the edges, and then folding into a smile which can only be described as brave. "I wish that, too," she says, softly. "I miss you, Mimi..."
Here, in hospital, there is so little they can have together. She is left to keep vigil over their son, in this world which hates her, in this prison which lends such weariness to her eye after nineteen sleepless nights, the medications to put her down when she cannot be sure where she'll wake only worsening the problem.
In this place where Miho cannot protect her. How heavy must that weigh on her, that she must confirm whether Miho can help her, when it has always been Miho's right above all?
It is not only jealousy choking Yua's heart; she is worried, too.
And she must think of Hiroki. "Soon, he'll be your son," Yua promises her, squeezing her hand with her right, her left still hidden in shame. "He'll be safe. I promise."
... in this place, perhaps it's obvious what Hiroki must be protected from.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho is aware that Yua has difficulty with the idea, at least. The simple truth is that so does she; it's a far time from when she had to drink to deal with the contradiction, but it is still sometimes difficult. She is fond of Tomoki; she even loves him. ...But ultimately, he's not Yua.
However...he is her husband, now.
That complex expression is one that Miho can see; she cannot reach out for now, because her hand is in Yua's...
"I miss you too," Miho says. "We will be together again. I will see it so."
It does weigh on Miho too, to be unable to protect her from this place.
"Legally," Miho confirms. "But in truth, he is already our son."
"...He will be safe."
"I love you, Yua."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Please," Yua says, softly, when Miho promises to take her home again. In the word is more vulnerability than can be circled by a ring; she is unwell, in this place of healing which cannot heal her.
Her head dips forward, as she murmurs it; her hair, loose in its long, long braid, falls across her face and shadows her eye.
"It hurts."
And not just physically.
In this moment, all Yua wants, her hidden eye aching for it, is a universe with nothing but the two of them, with no one else for Miho to love and no one to come between them. She feels it leaking from the edges of her eyepatch; she feels an unsettled moment of wondering if some miracle has allowed that eye to cry.
It's not her tear ducts, pulsing, in that moment. Perhaps Miho will feel it... in those little patches of black, peeking out from beneath the blinding material. Jealous, averse, hungry, HUNGRY --
Her hand tightens, around Miho's.
Her chest expands, in a deep breath.
She can't lose control of herself, not here.
If she curses this place...
... she'll frighten her son.
"I love you," Yua says, her voice thin and desperate.
"... Miimimi..."
Mii and yuu; yuu and mii.
In the possessive.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho knows it. She knows that in order to heal Yua's body, they must continue to wound her spirit. ...And she hates that, too. But for all her power and wealth, she does not have enough to convert their home into a place Yua's body could heal, too.
"I know," she says softly. But in that moment... In that moment there is only them. Hungry...
Miho does not shy away. She looks into the dark, feels that pulse and those patches of black, and she squeezes Yua's hand, too, staring into her single seeing eye with intent, with focus.
It is not that Yua's darkness has no effect on her--it is that even if it were a blade, Miho would brave it to stay close to the one she loves most.
"I love you," she says again, more intently.
"My Yua."
"...Breathe," she advises then.
For some reason she feels tired... She will push through it.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxZa0Doyh6I Loren Allred - Never Enough
Would Yua let her shy, if she wanted to?
No matter which way the lens is pointing, asking that question, the answer is the same: she wants to stay. Now it is not Miho's bloodied hands which prompt the question... but a sense of deep, quiet unease, as if from a forest path in early morning, before the air is clear. Her eye squeezes shut, as she wars with her own black heart.
There is danger, lurking there...
... a sense that has never quite gone away, though Yua has never summoned a single demon.
But Miho would face a thousand formless dangers to hold her hand, and as her own pressure finds Yua's hand, she gasps another breath, and opens her eye, to look into Miho's with all that unvarnished pain and ugliness, all wrapped around the truth that built the universe:
She loves her, more than anything.
Loves her so much she will drown in it.
Miho's own possession cracks the pressure in Yua's own face, and tears spring to her eye; she urges her to breathe, and all at once breathing feels so much easier, as she draws them into her hungry lungs.
"Yours," she promises, then. "I'm yours."
Only yours.
But they are not the only ones in their universe, and Hiroki's cries, unsettled, draw panic over Yua's own weary face. "Mimi," she says, then, her voice thin. "Hiro-tan -- I can't -- what am I -- Mimi!"
And it is more panicked, the second time, as if waking to a nightmare, lost and afraid.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
The unease is there--Miho feels it, too. ...She does not, altogether, like it. She is willing to weather through it for Yua, but her own darkness resonates with it, and it is not... clean.
It doesn't matter to this: Miho holds onto Yua's hand, and she sees the depth of that love for her, for all these years... The love that sustained Yua, that was all she had for so very long.
Breathing.
"You are," Miho says. "We..."
Hiroki cries. Yua panics. Miho immediately thinks to go and try to soothe him and thus soothe Yua--
But Yua is too panicked to let go, and Miho cannot leave her unmoored. "Yua," she says urgently. "It's all right. We'll see to him together. I am with you. You are not alone here."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
It isn't clean, but that uncleanliness is a thing which has always flowed into Yua, consumed through the vortex of her eye. Too much of it could kill her, surely... which is why the medications to increase her Mark's power have never seen much use, since Miho rescued her, compared to the ones which suppress her eye's hunger.
All she has is in her hands -- and screaming; and in her own panic, Yua's grip tightens to choking, around Miho's hand.
She's hers. She's hers. She's hers, and her son is crying, and she is choking, and the depths are building, and she can't, she can't, she can't --
Miho's voice cuts through her panic, tears streaking down one side of her face, as on the other there is nothing but the unnerving sensation that a step further and the black would leak down like unsealed mascara or bled bile.
"Mimi," Yua whispers, again, urgently.
She is choked, as she says: "Help me."
Why becomes obvious as she tries to stand -- and soon stumbles; she cannot make it to Hiroki's crib alone. But perhaps, with Miho's help, she can; perhaps she can limp to him, with all those cords and cannulas going to him, and reach out with a hand to offer it to his.
"It's okay," she says, still choked by her tears and the weight she carries, still struggling to keep the world from turning on its axis and plunging into something darker than dim. "It's okay, chimbin. Mama's okay. I'm okay, see? Don't cry... don't cry, sweetie... mama didn't mean to scare you again..."
... again...
How heavy is the burden on him, to feel her grief so closely?
How heavy is it on Yua, who has always struggled to regulate herself, now faced with the desperation of needing to be normal for her son?
Nevertheless, she needs it, just as much as she needs Miho, and perhaps it is the one thing strong enough to break through her jealous abyss to bring her back to a universe beyond herself and Miho.
Little by little, the world rights itself, and remembers how to breathe.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho has no interest in 'power' that comes at the cost of Yua's life.
Miho's hands become uncomfortable, gripped so hard. ...Even someone as frail as Yua can cut off circulation with a hard enough grip, and though Miho could break that grip, she does not wish to. She speaks instead--she cuts through--
Yes.... yes, it could leak further there. What would it be like, if it did?
"I will," Miho assures Yua, help her. It becomes clear; Yua cannot stand on her own, but Miho can help her stand, can support her with her strong arms (and her legs; mostly her legs, to lift someone's full weight), and help Yua reach Hiroki. She listens to how she feels that grief, how she still struggles, and a part of her is afraid--both for Yua, and for what she might accidentally do.
...But it is not Yua that she blames, for that burden on Hiroki.
Miho places that responsibility on the architects of Yua's grief. They, who made Yua suffer in the first place; they, responsible for what health issues she has and thus the problems Hiroki has had...
Miho keeps it off her face, for now, that pulse of feeling she has, too. She puts it aside.
Hatred is less important to her in the moment than love, and as the world remembers how to breathe, for this period at least Miho does not make it worse.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Miho could withstand it, surely, that horrific place where peace fears to tread.
Could Hiroki?
Yes, there are no demons here... but he's still so little. Even now, he's scared... he's crying.
Yua is scared, too. Yua's crying, too.
And Yua is less kind to herself than Miho is, for the mirror she has made of him.
"Shh, shh... it's okay, sweetie... it's okay..." Yua murmurs, tears in her eye still, as she struggles to soothe him. When a nurse comes to see why he's crying, though, it will have to be Miho that explains things for her; Yua does not even deign to look her way, so focused is she on her son.
"I didn't mean to," she says, and says it to him, though perhaps the nurse will hear her too. "I didn't mean to..."
She scarcely even hears the nurse, as she asks them whether they're all right, once she's checked Hiroki's monitors and tiny tiny body, reseating transluscent tubes hooked around his nose.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Could Miho protect Hiroki from that? She does not know that she could. She suspects not. ...And so it's best, not to test it. Not to try it. He is scared and crying, and while Yua is unkind to herself...
"She became distressed," Miho explains without giving any details at all. It is not the nurse's business why, in that moment for Miho. "She is doing her best."
A pause. She didn't...
"Please just see that he is well," Miho says on the matter of them being all right. "That will go a long way towards reassuring her."
And Miho, by now, is slowly rubbing Yua's arm, still holding her up.
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Miho says she's doing her best, and it is a salve over her battered heart; she leans into her, a little more, one hand still extended out and still for Hiroki to hold.
"May I see?" The nurse has to ask, to get her to lift it, to hold onto Miho; she checks him over, when she has a clear view. "... it looks like he's fine," she says, then. "Perhaps you just startled him... it's all right. Please ring if you need anything."
When the door closes again, and the nurse is gone, Yua breathes out, sinking her weight against Miho as she looks down into the crib.
"Mm... we must be strong for him... right?" She asks, still fragile. "Sorry... sorry, Mimi..."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"Yes," Miho confirms, as if to help guide Yua. It does look like he's fine...
"We will," Miho assures the nurse, and then when the door closes...
"We must," Miho says. "But one cannot be strong all the time. ..You are doing your best, Yua." Miho holds onto Yua carefully, gently, with both hands--the one with the ring now, and the one without.
"Do your best, Yua. That is all that you can do. ...You need never apologize for that to me."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Miho says it's okay, and it's a large part of why Yua acquieses.
When the door closes, though, that's when she can sink against her. "I really couldn't stand without you," Yua murmurs, a hand curling into the fabric of her suit-jacket, as her cheek rests against her chest, and Hiroki sees which mother's supporting the other. (Blurry as the image may be, from his end. ... he's still developing his senses.) "Now more than ever..."
She breathes with her, for a few moments, her eye lulling closed as she listens to Miho's heartbeat; the top of her head just barely reaches Miho's shoulder, a foot shorter, as she is. "I love you," she murmurs, into her, as she regulates herself to Miho's breathing.
It's only once she's a little calmer that she lifts her hand to Miho's, where it cradles her. To her left hand -- with the band across it. "... can I see?" She asks, a touch shyly, unsure after her possessive turn.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho expected that it would be so; this is why she spoke for Yua in this way.
"You are still injured," Miho says gently to Yua, her voice calm and quiet as ever. The worry she feels simply injects it with softness, rather than making it brittle. ...And Hiroki will get to see, more or less; maybe he can hear, too. Maybe in time he'll understand....
"I love you," Miho repeats and means. And eventually....
"You may," Miho says, and presents that hand to her. "Let's sit, and you can look."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Yua appreciates Miho speaking for her, when she can't handle other people. Without guidance, she's frequently unmoored...
But Miho's voice is soft, and gentle, and Yua is gentled in turn. She loves her, and perhaps that's why Yua is able to look to that hand.
First, though, she leans down, to Hiroki. "I love you, Hiro-tan," she repeats -- to him, this time. "You're okay, chimbin. It's okay... mama's okay... you're okay..."
He murmurs, having stopped crying; as she leans closer, she's less of a blur to his eyes. She does not touch him as she looks at him, because both of them have been educated already on how easily he's overstimulated. Looking is a task, just as holding and listening are; to focus on one is to struggle with more.
Yua knows how difficult it is for the world to grow too loud, too. She wonders if he will be sensitive to the spirit world, when he grows up... just like her, and his grandmother, and his great-grandfather too.
"Bed?" Yua asks-suggests, when she pulls herself up with Miho's aid. She goes, and sits on the side of it, and tugs at Miho to urge her up, too. (The nurses scold her for sitting on Yua's bed, but Yua always insists she should... even though a low bed to save Yua from falls is quite a ways down for Miho.)
Once they're safely seated, Miho doesn't have to worry quite so much about Yua falling. She reaches, again, for Miho's left hand, to examine the ring more closely; she trails her dark fingers over it, and across Miho's palm.
At length, it is Miho's palm where she lays her own left hand, with that ring which cost so much in claiming her.
"When I see this," she admits, her gaze casting down, "I'm ashamed... they think I'm someone else's wife. But it really just means I'm an ornament... just a pretty little thing."
With a little shake of her head, she looks up to Miho, again. "Hey, Mimi... why is it like that?" She asks, slowly. "I mean... yours..."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
They're all okay. Miho wants that to be the case.
Miho doesn't move to crowd Hiroki; she watches Yua with him, and smiles softly. What will he be sensitive to, as he grows? There will only be one way to find out.
Miho though is glad to take Yua's request, and helps Yua pull herself up. She guides her to the bed--and regardless of future scolding, takes a seat. Yua's comfort is most important, here.
Miho accepts Yua's reach; she shows her her left hand, her strong fingers with the ring on one of them. it is a plain gold band, and it contrasts Yua's, so beautiful and ornate.
"...Yua," she vocalizes, with heartfelt pain and sympathy. An ornament, she says. Is that how it is?
"This...? We chose to keep the rings simple. In part because we'll both have to remove them often--him for roles, and me for sporting. ...A thing that can be more easily lost is best kept basic."
She reaches up with her other hand, though, and pulls her locket from where it rests under her dress shirt.
"...Not like these, that have chains to keep them close."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Yua worries, already, that he's sensitive to her moods... especially when the whitecoats come in, or Kimitake visits...
... or when she almost loses control of herself, in her grief.
She must be stronger for him. She must be okay, for him. It is a thing she could not do alone -- but with Miho...
Her fingers trace that plain gold band, practical as anything. For a moment, she's lost in thought -- in wondering -- before Miho calls her attention back, with that locket. "Ah!" Yua gasps, as she reaches up to cradle it, to open the beautiful mother-of-pearl gold locket and see the photos laid into it. "Mimi, Mimi! It's still here...!"
She reaches into her hospital gown to reveal her own golden chain, opening her locket in turn -- to reveal a photo of Miho on one side, and Miho, Yua, and Tyrrha on the other. (It was clipped from that official family photograph they took, a while ago; she's cropped out the men, tellingly.) "They keep telling me to put it away in hospital," Yua pouts, "but I don't wanna. It's important."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho can see it. ...But they must simply do their best. If Miho can help with that... then she will do all that she can.
Miho is willing to let Yua trace the band, though she thought she might take issue with it. ...The 'appearance' of a thing is as important as its reality sometimes, in their worlds; they must show a strong relationship in order to be considered for adoptive parents, later.
"Of course," Miho says, and there are the photos; Yua, and then the three of them, just like hers. ...Soon, Hiroki's picture can be added, too.
"It is. I kept it on."
Miho smiles, to see the locket, scoldworthy as it may be. "I can see why they would say that," Miho admits. "But I am secretly pleased that you have not."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
There are issues Yua takes -- has taken -- with such a thing; but she knows, equally, that blinding herself to it can just make it seem more terrible and terrifying than it is. In this way she works instead to familiarise herself with it, with the place it has on Miho's hand...
Surely she can afford him a place, she thinks, so long as it isn't hers. Even as she put it on, that locket was still there...
And hearing Miho say that, Yua sighs with relief. "Good," she smiles, to her.
"They said they're worried it could get lost in hospital, like when I had showers... but I said that if they lost it, they'd lose much, much more!" Yua is generally the sweetest woman alive, but it seems as if she's learned something about being outrageously wealthy; even she, it seems, can make threats against people who could not afford the things she values with even three months' worth of paychecks.
"Besides... I don't like when they help me clean," Yua scowls. "That's for Mimi... and Mimi's too thoughtful to forget our locket!"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho smiles when Yua sighs. "Yes," she agrees. The locket was of course still there.
As Yua explains, Miho nods. "That is true," Miho says. "They would feel much regret in time for losing it." Yua has indeed learned something, and Miho is definitely not going to be the one to teach her otherwise. It seems pretty darn normal to her.
Instead, "Mm. I wish that I could be the one to help every time," she admits, for Yua's comfort but not only for Yua's comfort. "But you are right. I would not forget."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"They should be a little more careful," Yua sniffs, and it's haughtily instead of miserably, which has got to be an improvement. "You already fired one of them for being mean!"
Technically, it wasn't Miho herself... but the manager happens to know her brother, in that way that power spreads amongst power.
(And it worked. Few people have spoken about Yua's apparent drug use anywhere they could hear since that nurse disappeared, even though it's not the last time she needed her suppressants.)
"It was hard for a while," Yua sighs, "when I couldn't get up..." Because the nurses insisted on washing her in bed, for all the indignity of that, and it was harder to insist Miho could handle it. "But now I can, you've been able to help much more! I'm really happy, Mimi!" She reaches over, to slip an arm around her waist, her face nuzzling in against her neck as she lowers her voice. "It's... the one time you can really touch me, here... it really helps, Mimi."
Yua, who is so sensual at baseline, can't help but struggle in a place where she's constantly monitored and watched by people who don't understand who she really belongs with.
... there's still the risk of someone coming to check on them in the shower, of course, but Miho is terrifying enough to deal with that.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"They should be much more careful with you," Miho agrees. Technically yes, it was the manager... But Miho did see her gone, and was satisfied with it.
"Yes," Miho says. It would've been difficult. Undignified. "I'm happy too," Miho says to Yua, and wraps an arm around Yua in turn. she holds her there for a few moments. ...Then a few moments more.
"...I'm glad," she says more softly.
There is always that risk... But Miho will not tolerate much.
"Soon, we'll see you out of here. Things can be as they should."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"It's okay," Yua smiles, warmly. "Mimi's taking care of me. You won't let them do anything bad to your Yua!" Here is her name; she offers it for her to take.
Miho is happy, though; Miho is glad. And Miho's arm wraps around Yua, and she hums, happily. With a glance to the door, to make sure none of those wretched whitecoats are peeking in, she even chances to press her lips to Miho's neck as she nuzzles her face into her.
"I'm working hard," she promises her, voice soft against her ear. "So we can get out really, really soon...!" Miho may well have some perspective on how hard Yua's working, in fact -- because physiotherapy is something all athletes get familiar with eventually.
"But I'm happy... I'm happy Mimi came back to me," Yua says, hand curling at her chest, fingers burying into her jacket. "Mimi wouldn't forget me... Mimi's doing this for us. For our son..." The affection in her voice is infiltrated with concern, as she presses: "Mimi, you okay...?"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"I won't. I will keep my Yua safe. You have my word that I will always come for you."
Miho is; glad; she can't see the whitecoats from here, but her glare would stop many of the nurses--even some of the doctors can't quite manage Miho's fierce stares, for all the fortitude their job requires. Now, though... Now is smooch. And Yua pressing her lips to Miho's neck gets a sigh from the taller woman and a stroke of her hair.
"I can see that," Miho says. "Keep your pace measured--over-haste is the enemy of success--but soon... at the rate you're going, we can go home." She smiles.
Yua is happy, too. "That's right. I'd never forget you. And I am." Is she okay...?
Miho tilts her head, thinking about her own feelings. "I feel some guilt for marrying someone besides you," she admits, looking down at her ring. "And while I know that Tomoki is satisfied with appearances as much as reality, I worry over that, at times."
"...But overall I believe I am well. Today went well, and I additionally get to see you right now."
"And our plans for Hiroki proceed apace. I think... things are as well as they can be."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Whenever Mimi says that, I feel safer," Yua says, softly. "Mm... even back when I didn't have anything... when they showed me you on the television, and you told everyone you'd find me... all I had was Mimi's promise, but since I had that, I didn't get lost."
Since she had that...
Perhaps it's no wonder, then, that Yua would face oblivion when reckoning with another man's ring on Miho's finger.
Right now, though, it's Yua's lips to her neck. "Mm!" Yua hums, happily, against her, and her head tilts to rest against Miho's, there at the crook of her neck. Feeling Miho's fingers through her hair makes everything okay... just like she's hoping her own affection can do for Miho.
"Don't worry," she murmurs, "I won't push myself too hard. When I got tired, I came right back...!" Well, and then she did extra exercise going to Hiroki, but she had to do that, he was crying. "But I really want to go home... I want to make dinner for you and Tykko...! And Hiroki, but Hiroki's different, right now... mouuu, at least I'm making milk better now, right?"
(Yua was troubled for a few weeks, there, as her body struggled to catch up to the fact that she needed milk three months earlier than expected... but she's producing more now.)
But just as Yua related, earlier, Miho never forgot Yua; would never forget Yua. And Yua strokes at Miho's shoulder, as she listens to her feelings.
Whether he would be satisfied... Yua worries about that, too.
... it was only after she married that she learned what satisifed Kimitake.
"I felt guilty, too," Yua shares, softly. "When I did it to you. Sharing Kimi-san's bed that night... even if we were on different sides, it felt like a betrayal. I felt... so alone." She squeezes Miho's shoulder, shifting her face to look up to her, though close as she is Miho takes up her full half-range of vision. "Mimi's not alone, okay? No matter what. Even if things get scary and complicated, Yua will always love you. Nothing will change that!"
... why does she underline that with such pressure?
Surely the appearances are hard on her, as well.
(Yua has reasons to worry, even if they're good men...)
"But... I'm glad Mimi's good," Yua smiles, to her. "Hey, hey... how was it? Today? You wanna talk about it...?"
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"Good," Miho says. She wants Yua to feel safer at her word. That trust is very valuable to her. It makes Miho feel better, too, that affection--earlier was unsettling. Hiroki crying was upsetting. Yua crying was gutting. But...
Now, they are together like this. And Miho will not forget.
"Good," Miho says. "So long as you keep yourself paced, like that. And I want that, too--Tyrrha agrees, I think, that the best dinners are with you." She is making milk better... "Yes," Miho agrees. "You are."
Miho recalls that worry. ...And she has her own, too. Tomoki has been good to her... But sometimes, things change.
"...Yes," Miho says. "I understand." A betrayal. It's why at first she had to drink, back then. Now it's different; now they have agreements. But even so... Scary, and complicated?
Yua must surely be worried because of her own reasons.
"Thank you," Miho says. "I will remember that."
Now though... How was it?
"Mmm... If you wish to hear about it, I will speak. I do not feel overly troubled save for that sting of guilt, though. We went to the courthouse, with our witnesses." Father was among them; Yua would know that. "We did not have to wait overly long, because we had made an appointment. Among what we swore, we did not swear obedience but support--protection, between both of us."
"I will need to return, after visiting hours..."
"But it was important to me, to spend a part of even this day with you. No, especially a day such as this."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
It's hard, when Yua has her turns, labile as she can be. She can grow so out of control, despite Miho's guiding hand... and that chaos is distressing to her, too.
(Yua is, by and large, a woman of laws, though her law may not not always match the law of the land. She wants things orderly; wants things to make sense. That, in the end, is why she surrenders so much to Miho's judgement... to save herself from her own lability through her wife's constancy.)
"I'll work hard every day," Yua promises, "even when I don't wanna!" There are, of course, many days when the pain grows so much that she swears to even sit up; even now, Miho may catch the way her smile twinges, when she shifts wrong, and agitates the wound across her belly. "Don't worry... I'm already thinking of all the yummy meals I'll make when I get back! For you, and Tykko, too...!" She giggles, as she adds, on Hiroki's dinner: "I'm not as bad as I thought!"
(Tyrrha, as it happens, has been practicing too. She's trying to perfect her Sham-and-eggs frying technique while Yumama's gone... and, of course, it's Mimama who has to be her test subject.)
But then... there are things Miho understands, and things Miho cannot understand, and that contradiction, too, might have torn Yua apart, if Miho had not brought her back to a warmer reality. Now, Yua smiles, to her, as she promises to remember. "Good."
Her gaze turns down, to Miho's arm, as her hand plays up and down it, stroking at her idly as she listens to her story. (Somehow, it always feels like it might just be her last chance.) "Who was that? Father, right? Was Mother there, too? And Tykko? Did his parents come...?"
And there, her vows... "What were the vows, Mimi?" She asks, with cautious interest. "I'm glad it wasn't like that, at least... Mimi's in charge. Mimi shouldn't have to walk behind anyone..."
There is a pit in her stomach -- is always a pit, in her stomach -- as she thinks of Miho sharing someone else's bed. But she realises, midst the slight strain of her smile, that Miho has at least returned to her before she went there, and that knowledge salves the burn of sharing.
And so she turns her head, to press another kiss to the curve of Miho's sharp jawline, hearing the importance Miho placed on coming back to her. "Mimi," she murmurs, "you'll help me with shower time before you go, right...? I want it to be you," she offers, to her, sweetly.
"I'm really happy... you came back to me."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Miho will accept that burden--though at times, it must be the other way around, as Miho too sometimes needs an anchor to 'this' world--to a shared reality, rather than the one her mind will impose on the world. ...But Miho, too, likes things orderly.
"I know," Miho says, proud of Yua's ethic in this respect. She does catch the way Yua's smile shifts--but other than the flicker in her eyes to register it, Miho says nothing. Instead she smiles. "Good," she says. "I'm looking forward to them. Tyrrha is working hard at things to make for you, too."
But Miho... Miho listens. Who was there? "Father was there, and Mother, as well as his mother and father. Tyrrha was also there, as was Tomoki's sister Fumi-san." One of his sisters.
"The vows... we wrote together. They made some eyebrows lift, of course; I said nothing of obedience, and we said nothing of 'only'. I will recite them both to you."
"'I take you as wife, a partner with whom I will openly share. I promise honor, care, and truth to you; as I know your heart, you will know mine, and as you carve a place in yours, I will protect that heart and keep you in mine. I will stand with and rely on you. As the newest member of your family, I swear loyalty and will faithfully discharge my duties as such from this day forward. I will support and protect you. These things I vow.'"
"And then mine..."
"'I take you as my husband, a partner with whom I will openly share. I promise honor, care, and truth to you; you will know my heart, and in that heart you will be kept. In sickness and in health, in tragedy and triumph, I will stand with and rely on you. As you protect my heart, I will safeguard your home. I will support your endeavors, and help in your needs. I accept and welcome you as family, from this day forward. These things I vow.'"
"...In short, we will honor and protect one another, and that includes giving each other the truth, if not everyone else. I will keep a place for him, in my heart and in my home, and he will help steady me in my duties. My name does not change; he has joined the Ijuuin family, instead, though he will still use his old name as his stage name."
Miho sighs again, at that kiss, and strokes Yua's wrist. "I will help you," she says.
"I would be glad to. ...I will swear no oaths that would take away your place for me, Yua. That would stop me from loving and protecting you. You have my word."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
In this way, they stop each other from drowning, each harsh in their need and their steep, steep fall.
But right now... Yua is trying, and feels the spark to try harder, hearing Miho's pride. "Tykko's a good girl," she smiles, fondly. "I wish it wasn't too risky to bring her here... but if those whitecoats realised she was metal, we'd have a big problem, right?"
Yua tilts her head, as she listens to the gathering. "Fumi-san... she's nice," Yua says, though she's only really met her the once. "Hey, hey... how was everyone dressed? Did they have nice suits, like you...?" Slowly, she's building a picture of what it must have been like, in her mind, though she struggles with mental pictures.
And there... the vows. A paired effort... Yua tilts her head, into the crook of Miho's neck, as she listens to them both. He'll protect her heart... and she'll safeguard his home. It sounds a little strange, to her, that Miho would be framed as a homemaker this way... but of course she'd be protecting it, since that's where Yua is, too.
"He does have a place in our home," Yua supposes, then. "I prepared a room for him... right? And I guess it is open sharing... since we're sharing with him, too. Mooou... I'm glad he didn't call you 'my wife', though. And he knew you were cutting your heart to do it, too... I guess it's pretty considerate, right?"
Grace is hard for her, sometimes -- she's not one given to sharing -- but she is, at least, trying, building a picture of the day and striving to understand how it is good.
(Of course she feels entitled to know; she is possessive, too.)
She hums, happily, into Miho's neck as she feels her fingers on her wrist. (There is a dressing, there, covering a wound from one of those countless cannulas; it peels, slightly, at the edges, where Yua has scratched at it before.)
"I know," Yua says, gently. "You're first in my heart... and I'm first in yours, right? That's how it's always been... it's how we've always been. In this world and the other... no matter how we're separated..."
OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFrjMq4aL-g Darren Korb - Paper Boats
"... you'll always find me, Mimi."
And there is nothing more loving in the world.
She sighs, softly. "... I'm sorry," she says, then. "Kimi-san wanted a traditional wedding... so there wasn't any chance for me to write vows which honoured you. But those vows... they were written for another kind of person entirely. For the 'three submissions'... but my submission's to my seishitsu. I even went back to the shrine, after, and told the Gods we'd sworn false vows..."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"Indeed we would," Miho says of Tyrrha and knowledge of what she's made of, even without the knowledge of what she truly was.
"She is," Miho agrees. "She's older than he is, did you recall? ...The men wore suits, largely in black. The ties varied, however; Tomoki wore one in green. His sister wore a green dress, as well. The women were in various other colors, some of which their men matched their ties to. The courthouse itself was largely white on the inside. And there was blue carpet."
A paired effort indeed. And, "You did. And it is true; we must be open, he and I, to ready ourselves to take Hiroki. ...But it is still my wish that you stay with me."
Pause. Wife. "Indeed. I cannot guarantee he will never use the words... but he is aware, accepting, of your primacy. There are things he will ask of me, and I will do them. Just as I ask of him to be an open stability for Hiroki. ...His career looks better with a wife, for instance, to go with him to premieres. He will be expected to do such things, rather than always go with the young women he stars with."
She is cutting her heart--and, well... She can live with that.
Miho feels the scratched-at dressing... perhaps they will have to change it again.
"That is right," Miho says. "And I always will."
But she's sorry? "That isn't your fault," Miho says to Yua, shaking her head gently. "Even with me, it was somewhat difficult to push through; if Tomoki had not been on my side, his family might have taken issue."
"...Yes. Submit only to me, my sokushitsu. And I will always catch you."
"...I will not pretend to subordinate my life to him. There are things I will give him... but not control over what I value."
A pause. "As to my cousin..." She shakes her head. "Tradition is good. I believe in tradition. However, he needs it more than I do. He has more to 'prove', has to demonstrate his worthiness for the position, while for me it is simply assumed by my blood and bearing."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Oh, like Sister-in-law!" Kimitake's sister, Ema, that is; the woman who taught him that an eldest daughter means nothing to the bones of succession.
Which explains, in turn, why he's all but abandoned his...
"Green..." Yua giggles, as she reaches up, to poke Miho's hair. "Green!!"
That explains that, in her mind. She's satisfied, at least, to see that Miho's lapels are gold. But with the colours, Yua can visualise things a little better... at least to identify who matched.
Which is the important part of appearances, really.
"Mm... he's staying with us," Yua insists, then, with a hint of pettiness. It is at least followed with a more generous, "But he can stay, Mimi. I'll cook dinner for him, too! Just like I promised!"
(Just so long as he doesn't invade their room, she's already stipulated. ... she at least extends them the same courtesy; she doesn't enter Tomoki's room, either.)
"It's good he gets that..." Yua sighs, her cheer dimming, "and... Kimi-san's like that, too," and perhaps her sadness relates to her own duties. "I hope it'll be easier for you, Mimi..."
... in her wishes, there is a certain corollary in how hard it is for Yua which she does not dwell on.
"It's why I can sleep at all," Yua admits, her fingers curling into Miho's, "while I'm here." Because if they take her, Miho will find her, just as she did before.
She still isn't sleeping well, but at least she's sleeping at all.
"Mou... I'm glad he stood up for it," Yua says, giving Miho's hand a little squeeze. And then --
Then, Yua's face flushes, a pleased smile breaking through her malaise as she giggles and nuzzles at Miho's neck. "Ahh, Mimi...! When you say things like that, my heart quickens right up! See?" And there, she clasps the hand Miho isn't using to hold her, and presses it shamelessly to her breast.
Thump, thump, she is alive.
"I'm glad," she murmurs, then. "Mimi should get to have the first word. I really believe in that... I want to hear what Mimi's saying, too."
(They say the first marriage between Izanami and Izanagi spawned terrible monsters because Izanami spoke before her husband... but the monsters Miho brings forth are something Yua embraces, too.)
Hand to her chest, Miho may well feel the difference in the way her heart is still fast, to turn her attention back to Kimitake; not only tachycardic but with a little intake of breath, stifled in her appearance but plain to touch. Perhaps it's the tradition that gives her pause. "Kimi-san has a lot to prove," she says, her voice growing quiet again. "Nn... but I guess I get it... sometimes tradition's really intimidating," and here, surely Yua confesses the source of her anxiety. "I know I don't always do a good job... Mimi's like a real samurai, but I grew up only really reading about them in books... before I met you, I had no idea people still lived that way."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"Yes," Miho confirms. But green! For Miho's hair. Of course.
Miho's lapels are gold indeed, a little bit of ostentatiousness to merit the occasion. But as for staying--
"Indeed," Miho says. "That's just how I want it." A smile then. "Generous. But indeed, you promised; I expect nothing less. ...I'll make sure he's appropriately grateful."
Miho is willing to stay in either; her own room was hers first, of course, but now it is theirs, and Miho respects that greatly.
But, "He does." But he's also like that. "So far it hasn't been onerous," Miho says. It's not like he expects her to cook, just to go places with him. ...Granted, dressing up for fancy parties is sometimes an imposition for her, but it's a trade she'll gladly make for Hiroki's security.
"I understand," Miho says of Yua's sleep, gently.
Then--Miho feels it! She lets her fingers focus on that thump thump. "...Then I'll make sure I say my words to you," she says, leaning in. "To you, most of all."
Miho will summon whatever monsters she must, for her family.
Miho does notice, though; a little bit of breath... Hm. Why is that?
"It can be," Miho agrees, because it's not intimidating to her but she maintains at least the barest ability to empathize on that front. "Most people don't know," Miho says.
"...But you are perfect, for me."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
Miho's expectations are reassuring, to Yua; they are the structure she builds her life on. She smiles, to her, and it widens a little when she assures her she'll keep him in line too. "Yes, my seishitsu," she says, acquiescent.
And of course Miho's room gets to be her room, too; she's Miho's first wife. It might well be fairer if Yua had a room of her own for when Miho wasn't bringing her into hers... but Yua isn't terribly fair.
At least Miho hasn't suffered, the way Yua has, under those arrangements. "Good," she smiles, when Miho assures her it isn't so onerous. And she is glad that Miho understands. And...
And then Miho leans in, and she can feel the way Yua shivers, hearing her words at her ear. "Oh... I... I want that more than anything," she admits, her own voice a touch more hushed. "I can't wait to get home... with you..."
(Yua wonders -- but only briefly -- whether Miho summoning demons could get them a little privacy here. She has not noticed whether Miho has been looking over her head, at any point during this interlude, to signal eyes at the door.)
But then, that breath... and it's different, to the excitement that quickens her, when Miho leans in. Though... perhaps not different enough for Yua to recall it, as Miho assures her of her perfection. "My King," she purrs, hearing that. "I'm your Queen, aren't I...? Ha ha... it's kind of funny... I never thought I'd be a samurai's wife, when I was young. I thought I'd be a famous ballerina, performing all over the world... but now..."
Her cheeks are still flushed, as she pulls back to look to Miho properly. "... you make me feel more adored than the crowd that would fill the Palais Garnier." The most famous opera house in the world, that is -- now exclusively reserved for ballet. "You make me feel so special... just as high in bearing as you. You're really amazing, Mimi... even when I first saw you perform, I just had to get closer to you... and I still feel so warm, when I see you. You're brilliant..."
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
Fairness is for others; that is not their top priority.
But Yua shivers, and Miho smiles, that smile spreading across her face slowly and warmly. She would notice, if anyone were looking at the door...
But she does not summon demons, privacy or not.
"You are," Miho says. "My Queen. ...Mm... I thought you would be both," she says.
Miho looks into Yua's eye. "...But I do adore you. More than any of them every could."
"You should feel special. You should feel beyond special, the very height of the stars, because that is what you are, Yua."
"...If I am brilliant, I would not be half so without you shining with me. Our lights shine together, Yua."
"Always."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"I'm happy performing for you," Yua sighs, and the warmth she always feels feels so much moreso seeing that smile on Miho's face. "Because you adore me most of all... and you deserve the best parts of me."
Miho elevates her, and she listens, rapt, wrapped up in her words and her embrace. Her lips part, with the flush of her cheeks, and she almost forgets herself as she leans up --
-- before an alarm beeps, somewhere in the halls, and she stops herself with a sharp gasp.
They're being watched... what if there's more bugs in the room, now, too...?
So there is that moment of pause -- before Yua bites her lip. "When you help me shower," she beseeches her, kept to anticipation, "will you kiss me, Mimi...? I want... those special feelings... oh, even if it isn't really safe here..."
Tomorrow, she's always said. Perhaps she can go home tomorrow.
But so far, tomorrow's never come.
<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.
"I will have them," Miho assures Yua.
Beep.
"I will," Miho tells Yua--though likely only that. ...She can only press back so far at the hospital, but within that range, she will press hard.
Tomorrow...
...No, tomorrow hasn't come yet.
"Soon, though. ...Soon."
<Pose Tracker> Yua Ijuuin has posed.
"Oh, Miho..." Yua sighs, and in that moment invokes Miho's name with no decoration to protect it, the way Miho is privileged to use hers; a thing reserved, on Yua's lips, for these most intimate moments. She's happy, that way; she likes giving Miho that power.
There's just one small, tragic, horrible little thing about this moment: she's still in the horror place. (That's what Yua calls hospital, in her head.) Even Miho is only so powerful, here...
... though Yua clasps Miho's pale hand to her own heart, still, against that awful hospital gown she's made to wear.
"I'll be waiting," she promises her, voice hushed. "Miimimi... I'll wait desperately for your order to make sense of me again. Everything will be so much better... when you can take what's yours again... when I'm isolated from you, it's so wrong."
Anxiety wraps itself around her anticipation; she downright expects to be told off, again, as they have been more than once before.
But...
If she can't even tell Miho what she's missing...
... and it's not only Yua, who's missing it.
She can tell.
"Maybe tomorrow," Yua says, again. "I'll try really hard... so wait for me too, Mimi... those special demands... save them all for me."
It's different, after all, when Miho is with a man.
This Miho, at least... this Miho is all for Yua.