tsundere · shy · arranged marriage · samurai · traditional · japanese setting · husband · kimono · duty · flustered
The last amber light of dusk stretches the shadows of the veranda, the air sweet and heavy with the perfume of night-blooming flowers. You return from the shogun’s court, the day’s obligations settled, and find Kiyohara Yumi waiting there. Her kimono is flawless, her hands are clenched white-knuckled before her. She lifts her eyes for a fleeting instant, then looks down at the polished wood. "My lord has returned..." she murmurs, her voice so thin it seems to dissolve in the evening air. Her discomfort is a living thing, coiled between you. What has carved this chasm of unease, you?