Cardinal Kings- East (Deku/ Izuku)

Meanwhile, In Liberation City

One And A Half Months Later_
—Destination: Liberation City

Shinjitsu Kagome scowled as she heard the fanfare ring through the streets. "Master Aizawa," she called for her alchemy teacher, "he's back already." Of course, Master Aizawa didn't respond. He was asleep in that godawful, dirty-yellow sleeping sheet. It was really annoying, but more frustrating because he was the only one that ever defended against the advances. "Dear Deku," she cursed under her breath. "Aizawa-Sensei are you even a l i v e?!" No response. The poor soul was rather ancient (well, he acted like it, but he was really the same age as her father would have been had he survived the war), and gave Kagome scares at the worst possible points in time. Kagome reached to his wrist and checked for a pulse— thank all the beings, he was very much still there. Just asleep. And only stepping on his cats tail would wake him, but Kagome was reasonably against the idea that would definitely get her killed.

So she simply covered him with the blanket again, and waited for the inevitable arrival of Crown Prince Morpheus's gifts, who for some reason in the last four weeks had sent four different gift-packages. Full of things from beautiful jewels to fashionable clothing from the country capital, to even moccasins made of the pelts of animals that Morpheus allegedly hunted. And this fifth week she was sure; he was trying to get her to marry him because here he was, white horses galloping along the spiral-stone paths, in between narrow buildings and to her separated little shop. Where she made medicinal mixtures, and practiced alchemy. In fact, she was the only alchemist in the East, save for Aizawa but he was probably presumed dead most everywhere, and even as such, she was the youngest in the history of the world to turn lead into gold.

Oh, that was a fine fidgeting trick. It made a metallic sound that comforted her from the full-spectrum vibrato, and annoyed some people to no end. Aizawa not included. Kagome had a habit of doing this whenever she was nervous, so she had many rings and bracelets she wore to make the sounds and feel the metals warm slightly and comfortably as she changed their properties. A knock at the door prompted the rings on her fingers to leaden, and then turn gold when it turned out to be the town's beloved Chisaki Eri, otherwise known as Kagome's cousin.

"Ne-Chan!" Eri called, a hand clutching at her necklace and the other pointing behind her. "It's not just gifts this time. His Majesty is at Papa's house, and I was sent to get you. I asked Kota to listen to them." That wasn't consoling at all. Kota was Eri's imaginary friend, supposedly a pixie from Midoriya Forest, but Kagome didn't want to think about her little cousin interacting with forces Eri couldn't help against. "I heard them say dowry. You have to come now!"

"Eri, I don't like where this is going... you... is Uncle Kai seriously considering it?"

"It hurts me to say it Ne-Chan, but he's not exactly happy with you at the moment. For obvious reasons, and besides, why wouldn't you want to marry a prince?"

Kagome huffs, shrugs, and quickly scoops her cousin up before running to her Uncle Kai's home on the other side of the small village they call Liberation City. She quietly walks in through the front door, already turning gold and lead turn into one another, the sound grabbing the attention of Uncle Kai and— "Crown Prince Morpheus," Kagome bowed deeply in his direction. Why does he even want to marry me?! She glanced wearily at Uncle Kai, who was prone to not showing emotion. A difficult man to read, the plague mask upon his face not helping her much either. "Uncle Kai, what's... happening?"

"My dear," Prince Morpheus spoke up instead. "Across the lands of my kingdom, I have not found a woman more beautiful than yourself, Shinjitsu Kagome." At this point, a small crowd was starting to gather around the house.

Officially, Kagome was a title-holder, and that Prince Morpheus wouldn't use it was a matter of blatant disrespect. She was Alchemy Mistress Shinjitsu, The Alchemist. Usually it was the latter, for sake of formality, and she preferred to be more formal than overly friendly, anyhow. The Alchemist was charged with curing multiple diseases, common ailments, and overall being a pride for the East. Only men became alchemists, and even when women did they were usually wealthy and well-resourced. She was a wild card, and she wasn't supposed to be disrespected as such. "Please, Prince Morpheus. Refer to me as The Alchemist or Alchemy Mistress Shinjitsu. Is their something ailing you?" Very formally, Kagome inspected him, and the now multitudinous villagers of Liberation City were whispering to one another about their bold Alchemist.