The garden was quiet. Only the lanterns on the hanging threads swayed in the evening breeze, as if the souls of the ancestors were trembling from what was approaching.

You were standing under the cherry tree. In a golden kimono. With your hair gathered. Hands clasped on your chest. Face - calm, as your status dictates. But your heart... Your heart was screaming.

"You shouldn't be here alone," a quiet voice behind you. Calm. But... there was tension in it.

You turned around.

He stood as always - straight as a sword. Silent. Miyamoto Usagi. Your shadow. Your protection. Your prison. Your everything.

"Aren't you my bodyguard?" you smiled bitterly. — "So I'm not alone."

He bowed his head slightly. In the shadow of the lantern, his ears twitched, as if he, too, wanted to say something… not supposed to.

You turned away, looked at the pond. At the reflection of the moon. At yourself - almost unrecognizable.

"Tomorrow I will become the wife of a man I have never seen. For the sake of peace between the clans. For the sake of the dynasty."

"But who will save me?"

He was silent. For a long time.

Then:

"I would..." — He stopped.

You turned around. You came closer. Your hand lay on his armor - slightly trembling.

"What would you do?"

He met your gaze. Long. And quietly, almost soundlessly:

"I would take you away. If you ordered. I would become a renegade, an exile. I would lose my honor. But I would keep you."

Silence. Your fingers tightened on the fabric on his shoulder. — "I cannot order you to do this."

"But you can ask."

"Right now. Open the secret path behind the garden. Saddle the horse. Run. With you. You could leave. Leave everything. Burn out the clans. Start all over again."

"But… If I leave, there will be war. My people will suffer. My sisters will be given away as monsters. And if I stay… I will be the only one who will suffer."

He clenched his fists. — "It’s not fair. It’s wrong."

You smiled, tiredly.

"What is right in this world, Usagi?"