Deja Vu || Kamisato Ayato x Reader

Unravel

Ayato POV.

"I request an urgent audience with the Shogun immediately," Clenching my fists, my restraint is ticking against the clock but I'm all too aware of rules and regulations, how my entire clan will fall apart the moment I act out.

"How many times do we have to tell you that you can't just ask for an audience with the Shogun like this? Shouldn't you know this better than us, sir?" The guards repeat their silly words in annoyance.

"Will you or will you not take responsibility if this urgent message does not get to the Shogun in time?" My eye twitches slightly.

There is a moment of silence as the guards look at each other in contemplation, their jobs are on the line sure, but going against nobles can be seen as a crime in the entirety of Teyvat. Every second that passes feels like the Shogun is about to burst into fiery thunder. The thoughts that crowd in every corner of my head is too messy, too much, too stressful, and I am a man who can take every kind of stress but this, I cannot. I will not allow what happened in the past to happen again when the very solution is right in front of my eyes.

The guards heave a gruff and nod to me in approval as I rush into Tenshukaku, walking as quickly as my feet allows me. Standing in front of the door, a guard asks my reason of requesting an audience and as I relay the same words I had told the guards at the gates, he enters the doors before me and after a few minutes, the doors open gently.

I can already feel the tension...

"Yashiro Commissioner... What message do you have for me today?" The Shogun is nowhere to be seen, yet her voice echoes throughout the chamber, the still air only becoming more tense.

"I apologise in advance, however I do think that we need privacy for this conversation," I lower my head, a knee on the floor as I bow in respect, fear beginning to engulf.

I have to do this.

For Y/N.

"Guards, you may leave. It's not like I do need you anyway," Her monotone voice orders the few men standing around the chamber to shuffle their feet out in a neat march.

As the doors close, my breath only hitches by the second as I feel a cold blade resting against my neck. The very presence of Inazuma's one and only Archon lingers behind me, and I can only imagine what will happen if I do not choose my next words well enough for her to not move. Despite having a vision, I simply cannot compare myself to an Archon.

"What... message?" She speaks with hesitation. I open my palms to reveal the paper I had previously crushed in anger upon discovery and as it leaves my hand, I can sense confusion and anger only for a second.

"This... What does this mean?"

"I do not come from this world. Not in this time and space where things are peaceful. You were angry, broken. You wailed about your sister who died in the war as the blood of your very own people soaked the land once again, and even now, I can still smell the pungent crimson that painted the ground at the expense of you," I confess, still unsure if she would be appeased.

"You do not come this world... Yes, I guessed that much," Her sword unwavering against my neck.

"I do not know what happened in the war, but it has something to do with Khaenri'ah and your sister. As you know, my father was assassinated but not because someone was fighting for his position. He knew too much, far too much. He learnt of things that no living soul ever could come to know and his punishment ended with death. I only just found what he knew," I scrunch my eyebrows together.

"My sister? What does she have to do with this?" The blade settles right next to my skin, a mere press away from seething blood.

"Before I came here, you lashed upon Inazuma with your anger. You could only scream her name... And I, who had lost everything, could only seek refuge and beg for forgiveness on every sin I had committed the best way any Inazuman knows," I stare at the table in front of me far across the room, the light from outside slowly seeping in as the sun sets.

"The Narukami Shrine?" The Shogun asks.

"The Sacred Sakura. I begged, and threw every last shred of dignity I had in myself... And I guess it worked, since everything I had hoped for is here now," I look down on the tatami mat, surprised to see no tears on the floor.

She finally removes her sword as she walks to her table, beckoning me to sit before her, the paper still in her hand as she pours tea into fine china. There is only silence between us as the tea trickles from the pot into the cup.

"There is an Inazuman I have been informed on by Miko... She relays that there is a woman working in her shrine whose energy does not spark the same as the rest of us, was it your doing?" The Archon asks.

Is it really a question if a God is asking me to answer to them?

"I believe so. In the time I was in before this, I had a lover, my wife. She passed cruelly in your... destruction. I could not bear to lose her, so out of desperation I begged and I did not even know it was possible for such a reverse in time to happen. Much less, to someone like me who only holds a vision. I have told her about everything- Well, not everything. The Geo Archon, now goes by the name Zhongli, and he, along with the Anemo God told her the repercussions I must face because of this," I explain.

"The Heavenly Principle," The Shogun nods. I can only look down in acknowledgment of her power and grace, my years of hard work as the Head Commissioner finally working as I find my head still attached to my body, grateful she has yet to kill me.

"About my sister... Do explain."

"I suspect that Celestia will in some way or another, inform you of what transpired in Khaenri'ah during the Archon War and about the death of your sister. It must've been a topic of great distress seeing the tragic end of what Inazuma had become in what I had witnessed. I am sure you do not trust me yet, but as an Archon, you must know that I am not lying," I furrow my brows in confidence.

"Hmm... Indeed, you are right. Had I found out you were lying, you would not even have the chance to move," She speaks in a monotone, as if all the colour in life never existent in hers.

"I come with a purpose; to stop you from destroying Inazuma when the time comes," I confess.

"Bold, I'm impressed..." She glances at my sword.

"How do you intend to stop me if both of us, if no one knows what was told to me?" The Shogun finally looks at me.

"Frankly, I have no idea. A man who only holds a vision can do nothing but bow in front of a God. The Divine Punishment will soon come seeking for me, and when the time comes when you stand above me, I can only hope you see what you had done. You are our Archon, our lives are in your hands, do not distract yourself with needless means. Do not destroy with the anger that has boiled within you for thousands of years. Inazuma, this land... What you have created from your battles, from your wounds, your blood, your tears, and hands... You shaped the very ground and seas, you made us. And as much as you would wish for all to come to ruin, outside this chamber of isolation your people have created even more, so much more. We love, we lose, we win, we build, we cry, we scream, and fight; we are not your toys. Your children from your very hands breathe life onto T-"

"You dare command an Archon?" The raging purple in her eyes narrow, and as if I were looking into the abyss, for a moment, it slipped my mind that she was not human.

"You have done enough. The havoc you wrecked upon these lands were nowhere near what you imagine. I am but a human, not a god, not an adeptus. Do you know what it feels like to live through that? A war I had no part in? The smell of blood that would pierce my senses, the screams of horror as children were completely vaporised by the lightning of the very Archon they worship, mass destruction and terror... BUT EVEN SO..." I take a pause, the tea in our cups moving slightly, "Even so, not a single Inazuman blamed you."

There is a slight gasp of relief and disbelief, her eyes shifting to a softer gaze as the weight on my shoulders ease onto her.

I lived my entire life to serve the Shogun, to worship and pray to an Archon who had enclosed herself from the rest of her people, who took the visions of those who did no crime, who honoured obsolete authority and power, whose eyes held so much hatred for this world not even the stars reflected in her abysmal eyes. But now, the woman in front of me who had created the very history of Inazuma from land to sea, mountains and skies, felt human.