inspire, shrine , family - akio & keiko ?
@nightiingaled || ask meme (accepting!!)
KEIKO. 圭
Customs in Hanamura were bedrocks of the Shimada power. For a ruler to hold supremacy, it was important that their reign integrated with the original culture they were to overtake. Observance of the laws, whether social or religious, was required for people to harbour sympathy towards you: you could be a drugs and weapons dealer, but as long as you showed respect to the day of mourning and promised never to hurt children, commoners would have left you alone --- some might even have treated you with respect.
The Shimada did deserve respect, according to the oyabun’s partner. Sojiro was a mighty man that commanded an army worth of a small nation and the owner of powers that reached beyond human comprehension. His wife was twice as fearsome as him, even if she wielded not the power of Dragons, simply her ruthlessness and her ice-cold soul were enough to make a grown man shiver under her dark, all-seeing gaze.
Keiko was escorted during her trip to the Hanamura shrine by one of the most recent clan acquisition: Akio Nakamura. As always, Sojiro had asked her to groom him: she was better than him at breaking into their men’s heads and remind them that, as long as their objectives were aligned, they were parts of the same whole. As long as.
“Brother, what do you think your purpose in the Shimada is?” Keiko asked Akio, walking alongside him. Many would have deemed that angel-faced porcelain ningyou to be harmless, a trophy for a man much older and much hardier. It was only because her venom-spitting fangs were well hidden in her mouth.
“If you think you are here to serve, that’s only partially right. We treat our clansmen as we would our brothers and sisters. We share blood with them, we care for them, we look after them. Whatever wish or whim you have, you have only to express it and it will become true. Sojiro and I are the older siblings that protect those younger with lesser vision. The thing we ask back is loyalty and respect. For as long as your loyalty is sided with the Shimada, and for as long as you are willing to put your life on the line for us, so will we. The moment your allegiance wavers... that’s when danger will incur, but only then. Till the moment you choose to sever ties with us, you are family. You are my brother, Akio. Never forget it.”
