The Status is Quo

[madimpossibledreamer]

Cast of Characters (listed the Japanese way of surname first): Miyamoto Cordy, Ani-san of the Miyamoto Family, as herself
Miyamoto Suna (Xander), Matriarch of the Miyamoto-gumi, a Direct Family of the Amaya-kai
Osato-kai, nicknamed the Oni Alliance, rivals to the Amaya-kai, the Clan Miyamoto & the rest belong to
Inoue Yuu (Andrew), Captain of the Miyamoto-gumi/Miyamoto Family, a Direct Family of the Amaya-kai, and also the Family's best cook
Author's Notes: In this universe, Japan is run by the women.
Terms: Irezumi youkai-tattoo spirits and the sign of a yakuza
gokudou-term used by a yakuza to refer to themselves
obaasan-grandmother, respectful for 'old lady'
newly sworn-a yakuza that has just joined up
Ani-san-yakuza husband, used for any males that married in particularly to one of the Matriarchs.
More author's notes: background notes

Main Points:
Buffy/Yakuza AU (Bloody Petals)
Chapter Summary: Cordy learns more about the irezumi and how Japan operates.
Word Count: 715
Rating: Teen
Miyamoto does not appear in person here.  (well, she might at the end, off-screen, and attempt to steal some dumplings or something before they're ready and get chased off with a wooden spoon)
Warnings: This is a Yakuza-related fic, so casual references to some pretty severe wounds.

 

        It isn’t until Cordy starts reading about tao that she has a deeper understanding of what Suna was trying to explain about the irezumi youkai.
        It does make her worry, some, because she’d been worried hearing about Miyamoto running raids when she’s horribly sick and had an eye stabbed out, but she’d thought that the youkai would’ve kept her alive.  Now she learns that it isn’t quite so simple.  True, it ensures that most gokudou can survive a stabbing, gunshot wounds, and the like, but there’s always a price.  Suna had mentioned it, after the fight, but hadn’t mentioned the small detail that that price could be your life.  And Suna is reckless and somewhat berserk in a fight, and could easily go too far.
        It does explain a lot, though.  The officials being slightly less concerned about gokudou infighting, for one.  It has the possibility of being horribly destructive, but rules of engagement exist, even if they get broken sometimes.  They don’t worry about someone from the Oni holding the entirety of Tokyo hostage, because, well…
        It would kill the gokudou.  Some are into that kind of thing, though, fully willing to go on missions they won’t return from to hurt the enemy.  (Despite all appearances, Miyamoto doesn’t encourage that kind of thinking in her own gals—you get yourself killed, she’ll have you resurrected only to kill you again.)  But even then, there’s complicated rules about the land, where they want to take over territory and kill opponents, not go all scorched earth.  Controlling an irezumi youkai is a complicated, intricate process, though.  Cordy doesn’t understand all of it, but she’s getting closer.
        The more ink, the more of a connection between gokudou and youkai.  That one makes sense, since it’s the tattoo that’s forming the bridge between spirit and human.  It only counts the colorful spirit ink, though, not the black inks used for outlines.  She’s seen old obaasan gokudou with only visible areas, such as the face and hands, lacking irezumi.  The longer you’re in the Clan, the more you add to the tattoo—generally, though this isn’t true of everyone.
        Apparently, it’s easy to overwhelm yourself with power, though.  The mix between the precise combination of things depicted in the irezumi, the will, control, and temperament of the gokudou, the power of the youkai, promises and exterior practices, like Miyamoto’s seeking out fights or Inoue-chan’s meditation…  A metaphor used is that, when it goes wrong, it’s like trying to pour a dam into a fragile vase.  That would happen if a newly sworn gokudou tried to get a full tattoo right way, for example.  The same thing can happen if the gokudou invokes and tries to reach for more power than they should—they could cause a massive earthquake that levels Tokyo, but trying to funnel that much power through a fragile human body is more likely to just kill the practitioner, rather than actually working in any sort of intended way.  The oldest or most powerful might be able to do it, but everything would have to go right.
        And apparently, according to the briefing on the police, anyway, it’s not as if the forces on the more legitimate side of things are without heir own protections.  While they don’t attempt to channel the power of a youkai through their body, many have natural magic of their own, or make offerings to spirits and gods.  Not without their own dangers, apparently—some spirits or gods take failed promises as a personal affront and go on a rampage, which is why warrior-monks and tao magicians and police officers with blessed gear (and the occasional gokudou) need to step in.  Even more impressive is the effort to stop this kind of thing from hurting the average civilian, who may or may not believe in the supernatural to any great extent.
        “Don’t get me wrong, Ani-san,” Inoue-chan tells her, chopping vegetables for dinner with a hand that Cordy, disturbingly, can just as easily picture chopping fingers, “…keeping it a secret, or at least, keeping it sort of a secret, regulating the use of magic and making irezumi illegal, it’s more part of the effort to keep the status quo as it is.  But we benefit from it too, so…”  The lieutenant shrugs.