Archive of Our Own ^beta

- Akemi, age 6 -

*****

Akemi tries to stay deathly quiet. She hardly breathes. Her heart is beating too fast and she fears she will be found out. 

It's dark here; only a small sliver of light shines through the doors. And it feels like she has been here for ages. She prays he won't find her. 

She feels a bit imprisoned and is craving freedom but If she can just hold on a bit longer she'll be safe. He'll give up. She'll get away. She decides to press her eye to the crack to see if she can spot any movement. 

She finds an eye staring right back at her. 

She screams and the doors fling open.

“Noooo. It's not fair." 

Seki smiles at her. “Why hello Akemi. What is not fair?" 

He pulls her out of the cabinet and places her feet gently on the floor. Seki is her favorite tutor. Her only one for now. He knows everything about everything. After her lessons they would often play games. The games are her favorite part of the day. That and the stories he would read to her.

“You found me." 

“Was I not supposed to find you?" 

“You know what I mean.”

“I know life is not fair, child." 

He chuckles at her frowning face.

“How did you find me?”

"Well would you believe a yōsei told me?”

Akemi's eyes widened.

"A fairy?”

"Yes I was utterly lost looking for you. I searched high and low. Everywhere. I began to lose hope. When I started looking in the garden the yōsei tapped me on the shoulder and told me where to find the little Princess Akemi. Her name was Reika and she was quite beautiful." 

She looks at Seki distrustfully and crosses her arms.

“That's not true."  

"And why not?”

"Reika was my mother's name”

“Well… then how did I find you?”

Akemi had no answer.

- Akemi, age 8 -

*****

“What's that?” asks Akemi looking over the seated Seki's shoulder. He has in his hands a small beautifully decorated wooden box. Various shapes and patterns are painted along its sides. 

“This is something new. Himitsu-Bako," answers Seki.

“Boxes are not new." 

"It is a box that you must make sense of to open.”

"Sounds boring.”

"Ah but this box is a puzzle. You open it.”

Seki hands the box to Akemi. She looks at it for a moment and starts trying to pry it open with her small hands. When that doesn't work she shakes and turns it and still doesn't see a way to open it. Frustrated, she throws it onto the ground trying to break it.

“AKEMI!" he says sharply.

She winces. She didn't mean to make Seki mad. She spends more time with him than anyone else - more than her own father. Akemi attempts to explain herself. “It wasn't working." 

Seki says nothing as he reaches down to pick up the box. Akemi watches as he begins sliding pieces of the box to and fro. The panels she hadn't noticed before move left and right, diagonally, up and down. He pulls and pushes until…

"You opened it!" Akemi exclaimed excitedly. She reaches in and pulls out the item inside.

“Yes... and you tried to break it." 

“I'm sorry," she says abashedly, looking down.

“Akemi, you do not have to destroy a thing to win against it. Instead of burning the earth there is always a different path to get what you want, where you want. No matter how complex there are more elegant ways to solve the problem. You must control the situation.” 

His tone turns gentle. "A delicate touch. Do you understand, child?”

No. She doesn't quite understand. But she grips the flower in her hand and nods.

- Akemi, age 10 -

*****

“I don't like this game,” says Akemi.

"Oh. Why is that?” Seki asks.

The two of them sit in the informal game room. 
Over the years she has had fun here, spinning tops playing Beigoma or catching the ball in Kendama. Then it progressed to card games like Karuta and Hanafuda. Harder but still enjoyable. But the games have been becoming increasingly more difficult. Seki has been insistent on this one for far too long.  She had been hopeful he wouldn't have picked it today. 

“You win every time." 

“And should I lose?”

She sighs at the Go board; more lost territory, another lost match. "Well I should win sometimes.“

"Because you are a better player than me?”

Akemi makes a face, furrowing her eyebrows and wrinkling her nose, and says, “You shouldn't tease me." 

“How am I teasing you?" 

“You know you're better." 

“And why am I better?" 

“You're very old." 

“Be that as it may, why am I better?" 

“Because you've practiced more,” she grumbles.

"And if you want to beat me…”

"I should practice more. I must learn. Winning the game is understanding your opponent,"  Akemi finishes with resignation.

"So young Princess Akemi, another match?" 

Akemi knows it's unbecoming but she can't help herself. She smiles and sticks her tongue out at him. 

- Akemi, age 12 -

*****

“Akemi.” 

Akemi turns her head away from the window and faces Seki.

"Your move.”

Akemi struggles to find the energy to focus on the game between them. She quickly places her piece on the Go board, indifferent. They both know he has had no good moves left in quite some time. 

“Ah… there is no more I can do," Seki says - resigning by placing two of his pieces on the board.

“You should have quit ages ago." 

“Perhaps. But why admit defeat when there is still a chance?" 

“You had no chance." 

“Untrue. A fairy might have blessed my pieces and whispered in my ear,” he says, smiling.

Akemi scoffs. She has no use for fairy tales. 

“You don't win anymore. Aren't you bored?" 

“How can I be bored when my opponent is such good company?" 

Akemi tries not to roll her eyes.

“Another match?" Seki begins to start organizing the pieces.
 
"No." 

“No?" 

She eyes him warily and says, “No. I don't want... wish to play." She's been thinking about this for some weeks now. She clasps her hands and takes a deep breath. 

"Honestly Seki, don't you think it's quite silly that we still play this? I know you must tire of it. Though I am grateful, you have much better and more important things to do than spend time with me. The lessons with the other tutors take up much of my time now and all we ever do is play games.” She straightens her back. “I'm not a child anymore. I am a young lady, daughter of a lord. As an acclaimed warrior the time you spend here is a waste of your talents. As his most trusted advisor my father needs you much more than I.”

Seki sits quietly, carefully looking at Akemi. Each day she reminds him of her mother more and more. Both clever and strong of will. Tired? No. He has enjoyed himself, more than he would care to admit, and it... feels much too soon. He wonders if he did too good of a job but no… time well spent and a promise well kept. Life always moves on and it isn't always full of games, sadly enough. Though he supposes he will have to adjust their lessons to prepare his charge even more for the world. But the way she has mastered this particular box makes him proud.

"Of course Princess Akemi. I would not wish to take up your time. You are most generous.” He bows his head deeply and secretly smiles.

Akemi stands up, lightly dusting and smoothing her kimono with her hands, and heads to the door. Now with this out of the way she would have more free time for her own pursuits. Perhaps she could use it to sneak off into the library more often. She smiles secretly to herself. At the doorway she turns and gives Seki as regal a look as she can muster with her short stature and then shuts the door behind her.