Three things best enjoyed with company.

[Kanade]

Kasuri sat down at the table, drumming her fingers on it and laying her trusty weapon, currently wrapped in a bow-cloth, Ayago, against her leg as she sat down in the chair. She was more than cautious of leaving Ayago anywhere at home, and as she had royally miffed the warrior spirit, Ayago was making it difficult for her by making sure that she was a full-sized Kyudo bow, which was to say that she was a good seven feet tall and fit through no doorway without a lot of finagling.

This was about how they bickered. Ayago said that Kasuri should find a husband, Kasuri told her to stick some things in some unpleasant and not at all anatomically correct places for a weapon that was manifested from a spirit, and Ayago would make her life difficult.

She didn’t know the exact reason that Ayago didn’t like her friend with benefits, or that is to say that she didn’t like her style of ‘fun’, but perhaps meeting the person that they were meeting today would put her in better spirits.

Kasuri whispered to Ayago, “Do you mind? People are staring more than usual, do you have to be that long and unruly. Couldn’t you just be a pocket knife this once?”

Ayago’s sulk could be felt from three tables over and Kasuri sighed heavily, drumming the table with her well-manicured fingers. She kept them this way so as not to harm the bowstring or the fletching on the arrows, and her teal eyes scanned the crowd, wondering whether she was too early. She liked to arrive early, but Ayago insisted that the person they were meeting they meet at least a half hour early. With Ayago’s prodding, she had gotten dressed in her best kimono, had tied her hair up prettily, put on a dubious amount of make-up when she usually wore none, and had made her way to this tea-shop.

Perhaps the person she was meeting was not as ‘early is punctual’ as Ayago.

Three things best enjoyed in company, Tea, Food, and music. All of these could be found where Kasuri was, waiting for hers.

[Nick]

Fuhen's concept of time was tenuous at best. He certainly understood that the sun had at least two positions, its highest point in the sky and disappeared over the horizon, but he did not grow up on a strict schedule. His earliest years spent fishing and farming with his family was more of a 'go until you've caught enough' than a 'take breaks at rigid times' type of work. When he'd gotten older and gone off on his own to travel the world and bring money back to his family, his traveling was picking a direction and walking, stopping when he was tired, eating when he was hungry, and sleeping when he was sleepy...

And that was fine, for a peasant that nobody expected anything of.

Nowadays he had an aide that woke him up early in the morning to listen to the pleas of the people he had sworn to protect, or his partner loudly experimenting on steam technology in their shared bed room. He had appointments to keep, mostly ones made for him and kept track of by his aide. All this to say, Fuhen really didn't keep track of time or appointments all on his own, and so when his aide told him of his next appointment, and that he had a bit of free time, well of course he started wandering that way...

Only to get distracted half a dozen times.

In his youth he was recognized easily by the giant basket of swords he carried around everywhere, but now that he didn't carry it with him everywhere, he was recognized because he was the Grand Shogun, the heart of his people, and yet still one of the people. Helping an old lady cross a busy street, pushing one of the steam-powered carts out of a slough of mud, nabbing a kitten out of a tree, and probably several other acts that really drove home that the Frog was a halfway decent man...

It also made him a little late to his meeting.

He didn't really recognize this, and so when he pushed open the door to the tea house that had been the location of the meeting, he strolled in casually, waving pleasantly to the owner who bowed politely but otherwise didn't stop him as he walked past several empty seats to stand right in front of Kasuri. "Yo!" He said with a little wave, far more casual than one might expect of the leader of an entire country, but then again, this was a much less formal meeting with someone who was neither from a noble family, and who was an underling.

He didn't wait for any kind of response, and folded his very long legs to sit comfortably in the spot across from her, his eyes staring deeply into hers, as if trying to get a gauge of who exactly this person in front of him was, letting his warrior spirit wander and feel out hers.

[Kanade]

"I uh..." To say that Kasuri was taken aback would have been an understatement. She had expected the Shogun to be more formal. She had heard that he walked on light, that his aura was that of flower petals, she was expecting elegance, grace, and she got a... 'yo.'

Blinking fast she shook herself as Ayago nudged her mentally, then turned, finally, into something more manageable, a tanto. She folded her hands in her lap over Ayago and bowed her head, "It is a pleasure to meet you Shogun, I am Kasuri, of the Kyudo-ite family." She kept it bowed for a couple of spare moments before glancing up. She certainly hoped that she wasn't overdressed for the occasion, but the informalities of the shogun just threw her completely off her stride.

Ayago gave her the equivalent of a mental kick to the shins.

"I hope that this day finds you well?" Her spirit was perturbed, she felt like she was too small a person to be having tea with the shogun, but his demeanor led her to believe that he viewed them at least as acquaintances. She had no idea, truly, whether or not to be in awe, or in shock at this particular moment.

It is customary, Ayago chimed in, to remain deferential to ones seniors, both in year and in military prowess. I see that he wears one of the cursed objects, so our conversation will most likely not be closed anymore. Remain dutiful, and remain proud of who you are. After all, I deigned to choose you for my partner.

Ayago had rather a different taste to things, preferring the more rigid and formal decorum be maintained. Kasuri bowed her head again and gulped, "it would be my pleasure to pour your drink for you, Shogun-sama."

[Nick]

The people said a lot about Fuhen. Some feared him as his martial prowess mimicked that of ninja or monsters they'd feared all their lives, while others saw him as a paragon of what man could be, something superhuman to strive to be, and some others still revered him as a god, come to save them from their dreary lives and uplift them to the modern day. They said he walked on light, because they did not understand that he could jump high, they said his aura was of flower petals because they did not understand chakra, they expected elegance and grace because they saw him as some semi-divine being...

But Fuhen had always been just a fisherman's son who worked hard. Still, he was an intense man in many ways, and his eyes pierced her very soul, and he saw what he needed to see. She was someone who had the Heart of a samurai, and as long as she wasn't led astray, she would likely become one of the finest warriors the land had seen, greater than the Grand Shogun himself. He nodded, mostly to himself. "The day rolls on!" He finally affirmed with a pleasant smile on his face.

"It is nice to properly meet the pair of ye." He said, thinking back to when he'd 'recruited' Ayago to the village, though he was not her chosen partner, and as such it was a rather silent meeting. Despite Ayago having been of a similar position to Fuhen in her prime, the two could hardly be more different in mannerisms, even if their paternal natures shared some similarities. When Kasuri offered to pour drinks, the Shogun put his hand up to stop her, laughing. "You are my guest, don't let me be so rude!" Before reaching to grab the pot, pouring one for herself first, and one for himself second.

While Ayago was right and it was customary in noble society to either have a servant pour, or to have the lowest rank serve the highest, Fuhen was not of noble society. In the tight-knit families of River Country, you took care of those that were visiting you, and while Ayago and Kasuri were not in his home, he had a hard time seeing anyone as really all that far beneath him. In many ways he looked upon the newest generation that he'd been working to raise and saw them as something so much greater than he'd been, working hard to instill the best parts of the world into them, even if it was things he didn't like.

Fuhen felt that his job in this world was almost over, and something tickled in the back of his mind that his chapter in this book were coming to a close. He took a sip of his tea, leaning over the table a bit, and scalding his tongue a bit before setting the cup back down. "Tell me about yerself, Kasuri. Much of a family woman? Husband, kids?"

[Kanade]

"Ayago would have me say that I am a family woman, and that I would like a husband, and children." Kasuri spoke for the both of them, Ayago speaking the words to her, but she spun them into her own, "But I would say that she would be lying." She grinned at him, and bowed, once more, to the shogun. "But I have an aim that is higher than a family at the moment, and that is to protect the country that I love. I can't do that with a babe on the way, or a husband who worries."

Kasuri put a stray strand behind her ear delicately with her two fore-fingers before taking her cup and blowing on it. She looked across the table. The man was handsome, strong, and seemed to be at the prime of his life. He had taken life and given the people of the newly established Heart a new one. There had been war and strife before, and politics that had divided the people, but he had gathered them under one banner.

"Can you tell me if the rumors are true?" She put the cup down as she found it to be too hot to sip just yet, "The ones that say that you single-handedly brought to heel the corrupt politicians, the ones who had their way with women and children and beat and murdered as they pleased, only to give the family pittance and a threat to their lives and livelihoods if they were ever mentioned?" She had grown up in this country, and wanted to know whether or not he was truly the savior that he was pronounced to be. There were tales that he rode in on golden clouds, that he walked on the very air itself, and that his arrival was announced with the ring of a thousand swords that clapped together like thunder. There were tales that he had killed the previous mizukage, that he had participated, and won, in war.

The man before her, however, didn't really live up to any of those things. He was, as she had seen in the international bingo book, exactly the same height, weight, and description as those, but she wanted the stories. The stories made the man, and he was more legend than fact, sitting across from her like that. Ayago would forgive her starry-eyed enthusiasm for the legend that was Fuhen.

[Nick]

The frog quirked a brow at the mention of the weapon spirit that Kasuri kept at her side, leaning in with great interest... only to slap the table and laugh raucously and laugh in a manner that drew quite a bit of attention to the table, though people would be too polite here to interrupt them about it, giving a glare before returning to their tea, the majority not recognizing their Shogun in this setting. "Aye, a babe gets in the way, but families that worry are what make us fight all the stronger." He said with a gentle smile still resting on his face. "Ah've found the times I fight only for myself to worry are the times when I've been fighting in the wrong."

Fuhen's mind flashed through his life, his journey from peasant fisherman's son to grand Shogun had been a long one, and not all of his fights had been fought for the betterment of his fellow man. He had quite the misspent youth, even with the good he'd done, his greed had sometimes gotten the better of him. The bow sitting next to her reminded him of his own bow, Arrakoa, and its relation to his grand rage, but what had made his fire boil over?... Well, that was a story for another time.

He was shaken out of his reminiscing by her questions, and that smile on his lips curled wider as he shook his head gently. "I'll let you in on a little secret, Kasuri." He said, wagging his finger and leaning over the table in an exaggerated fashion, before whispering quite loudly. "I am but a man." He said, before settling back down into his chair. "Few men single-handedly do anything, myself included. Aye, the ones I knew of I slew and let their boiling blood clean the table, but the message it sent did the rest of the work."

Fuhen sighed. "People look for icons to believe in. Then when that icon makes a move, they move to mimic it." He looked over his companion and took a drink from his cup, raising it up to gesture towards her. "As you grow into your role as a samurai of the Empire, you too will become an icon in your own right. What messages will you send with it, I wonder...?" The shogun laughed, taking another sip from his tea. "The people always need something to believe in, and I gave it to them. That is all that separates me from those who work the docks. You've been chosen in a similar way that I was, and that's why I want to know, I want to believe in you, that this next generation will be okay, long after I am gone."

[Kanade]

Kasuri smiled politely as Ayago laughed in harmony with the grand Shogun. She gulped and nodded, “Fighting for my country, fighting for the one that I love, these are reasons to fight.” She nodded, “Fighting to keep others from harming them.”

She leaned in for the secret, and then tilted her head, a strand of teal hair traded sides as she did so. She ran a hand through her hair, changing the part to the other side of her face. She cleared her throat and nodded at the words that he said afterward, her gaze going to the table, her hands folded in her lap. “I look for someone that I can aspire to be. Even if you are human, just a man, the things that you have done are the things of legend. If you can accomplish this much, perhaps there is hope for me to do the same, to better our people.” She looked at him and smiled softly, just one corner of her mouth upturned in a kind gesture.

Well said child, I couldn’t put it better myself. There is a reason that I chose you. Should I have chosen anyone else, it would have been the Grand Shogun before you, but he already has an overabundance of companions that help him in battle. I sense he is laden with spirits. Ayago chimed in, Kasuri could feel Ayago looking him over.

“I hope to send a message that Heart is not to be trampled on, we may be a newly formed nation, but our roots go deep.” She set her jaw, “I want to be the strength for the weak, the light that leads the way for Heart to remain strong. I want to be compassion for the broken, justice to the unjust, and mercy for the beaten.” She realized that during her speech she had gripped the edge of the table, her knuckles growing white with desperate strength, she wanted all of these things, wanted them desperately. She knew that Heart was in a tremulous place, and needed strong Samurai. She let go of the table, smoothing out her dress and tilted her head, trying to calm herself. She took a large breath and then a sip of her tea, only then did her eyes go up to meet the Shogun’s.

[Nick]

Fuhen stared deep into the girl's eyes as she spoke, a gentle fatherly look like someone who was proud that his child had managed to get this far. A small smile curled one corner of his mouth, and in that moment the Grand Shogun had never looked so tired before in his entire life. He had been fighting all his life, from the moment he was born fighting against natural disease, to his youth fighting poverty and injustice, to just recently fighting against the very corruption's he'd so despised. The fighting never seemed to end, and while he'd had his good times in life and didn't regret his choice to fight, he was sad to realize that for all the fighting he'd done, there was even more fighting to be done by the next generation. By Kasuri. By his many children. By this entire empire he'd built. Not that his job was over, but he knew in his heart of hearts that his job wouldn't be over in his lifetime, whether that lifetime ended in a hundred years or today.

Kasuri had certainly gotten a late start on things compared to Fuhen, and when he looked at the strength of her character, he saw much the same, but he saw that it was an egg that could hatch into a beautiful phoenix, and if she was to be a symbol for the people, he could scant think of a symbol that mattered more than youth, change, and potential. "I think ye get it." He said finally after a rather long pause, lifting his cup to his lips once more. "I have but one request for you, as a symbol who could be more than I ever could." He sipped loudly, slowly setting the cup back down and returning his eyes to his drinking companion.

"Dream. Take a break every now and again, and use it to dream. Dream about the good things that could be, dream about the people you love, dream about what Heart could be, should be. Be a bit of an idealist when you can. The world has enough people looking at things practically and pragmatically. Be a little extreme, be a little wild, but always be full of Heart. I think you're on the right track, and I hope to see you, and..." He looked over at her weapon and his lips curled up again. "The grand mistress achieve a lot together. Show the world what a samurai should be, will ya?"

[Kanade]

Kasuri nodded along with the Shogun's request, waiting for what he asked for, then tilted her head to the side. How could she, a small girl in a big country, be a symbol for the country when he was such a presence in and of himself. His words didn't seem to really latch onto her, more slough off because of how plain she was, and how little she actually mattered to the country. Or that was what she thought. Ayago might as well have been a paper lantern for how much she inflated at his words.

She nodded gravely after he made the request, it seemed like he was being earnest, and really did want this for her, so she would do her best to achieve it. She dipped her head and then raised it again, "I will dream, and will dream up a future that our country is safe, and our borders protected, that your legacy and Aimi's lives on in the people. We-" she motioned to herself and the Shogun, "will make it happen. With you as a shining example, I don't know how I could go wrong." She gave a polite smile, but was also flattered by his words. She didn't know what to do with them. She wanted, with all her heart, to believe that she could do this, even just this small thing, right.

And you can, you just need to give yourself some time to grow up, meet a good man, like the Shogun here, and be a dutiful warrior and wife. Kasuri was in the middle of a sip of her tea when Ayago made this suggestion when she inhaled from embarrassment, got tea down the wrong tube and started to convulse in barely held back coughs. She held up a finger as she tried to regain her composure in front of Fuhen. It's not like he would go for a girl like me anyhow, Ayago, mind your manners. She replied mentally to her companion, trying to get the tea out by taking her napkin and coughing into that, her eyes watering from the hot liquid burning her throat.

"Sorry, I'm fine, sorry, sorry." She waved at Fuhen to continue as she coughed, turning a bright red not from lack of air, but from the embarrassment that she hoped she would die of promptly.

[Nick]

He smiled at her in the warm way that only a loving father could smile at one of his many, many children, gentle, warm, caring. In Fuhen's eyes all citizens of Heart were like his children, and when he looked at Kasuri he saw something special that she didn't see herself, and perhaps that was exactly WHY he saw something special. Fuhen, after all this time, still saw himself as the son of a fisherman, just another poor lout who'd had to fight hard all his life. Kasuri may have had an easier life up until this point, and maybe that would make her softer, but maybe that's what the empire would need. It was time for an end to monsters like him that mortal men could not stand against.

As she began to choke, that fatherly instinct took over once more and a look of worry went over his face as he rose from his chair, his imposing height looming over as he gently patted and rubbed at her back, giving her a moment to catch her breath. He'd almost managed to spare her the embarrassment of him worrying over her, but he just couldn't help himself, as Succubus resonated in his soul warmly with her love and devotion. Slowly, he sat back down after ensuring she was alright, and laughed gently at her expense, worrying aside, the situation was all the funnier.

"You know, dying before you can become a symbol breaks your promise, right?" He teased with a grin, playing with the saucer his teacup rested on. "But I trust the Fateweaver will force you to keep yourself upright for at least awhile longer." The shogun gave her a wink, before taking a deep breath, relaxing back into his seat a bit more. "I'm happy to hear you've got the Heart of the people in mind, but..." His face looked a bit more serious. "Have ye got anything of yer own t'be after? A selfish desire or two? Ah'm nae one to judge, but surely ye've got a bit more of a personal stake, aye?"

[Kanade]

"I hope that I won't die before I break my promise, Ayago would protect me until she finds someone who can help her weave better than I do." She smiled to Ayago who was peacefully content and quiet, "I have a girlfriend, Akiko, that I desire to be closer to. Meaning that I want to protect her and cherish her. She is another Samurai, I am not sure you've met her before." She pulled a loose strand of her teal hair behind her ear and smiled at him.

Kasuri tapped her glass and brought it up to her lips, "Thank you for helping me the last time that I, er, choked on the tea." It was strange that he knew her inner thoughts almost as well as Ayago did. Ayago brought her attention to the crown and she nodded a little in understanding. The artifact was powerful indeed if it opened the inner doors of the mind.

"What are your plans for Heart now that it has become an empire that rivals even the great five?" She looked over her tea at him, this time taking a metered sip so that she wouldn't aspirate any of it if there was another left-field comment from Ayago or him.

[Nick]

"A path yet tae be walked, a song yet tae be sung..." He said, quoting a popular theater piece that Kasuri may well recognize if she was a fan of such things. "The road paves itself before ye, but only ye can decide where the stones end up placed." The frogman shrugged and smiled, not totally satisfied with her answer, but then again, he'd be asking too much for such a complicated question placed before one so young with such a wide possible future before her.

"The academies are nearly completed, the people are somewhat content, even if there is some concern amongst the people about their homelands..." He said, taking a sip and staring off thoughtfully. "But it is nae my place to make plans for the people, only for them to make plans for themselves and for me to guide them to what might be good for all. Mayhaps it's time to settle down a bit. I spent all my youth wandering and helping others, maybe a break for a short time... Hopefully I've taught the people well enough that they dinnae need to rely on me. I can hope..."

He let out a deep breath, and closed his eyes, and in that moment Ayago would have a glimpse into the man's destiny, what was to become of him, whether or not she shared that with Kasuri was another question entirely. "Could probably teach you a thing or two about using a bow before my break, if'n ye like. Not exactly my weapon of choice, but one I'm familiar enough with all the same... Methinks Kyudo is an art that requires a bit more meditation and patience than I was born to have."

[Kanade]

"Settling down a bit does sound good, the inner turmoil of the country seems to be what needs the most attention right now. We are a recently formed nation, it's good to work on infrastructure and um, stuff." Kasuri shrugged and gave him a wide grin, "We don't need to rely on you, but it does bring us some comfort. You have the divine light of Aimi, and even Ayago-" She cut herself off from a mental jab from Ayago and cleared her throat, rephrasing it, "Especially Ayago and Hideyoshi support your leadership. The leaders will calm down behind the mantle you wear and everything will turn out fine." She nodded.

Then raised an eyebrow, "Teaching me something that has to do with my bow sounds mighty tempting, you never know when I could use it." She had to squint one eye from the fangirl Ayago bombarding her with linked psychic messages, she was so excited to train her new partner with the shogun that she gave Kasuri a bit of a headache.

"Kyudo is the art of bringing arrow together with target, and anyone who uses a bow uses kyudo to a greater or lesser extent." She quoted her father and smiled, "I would be honored if you would teach me, however, Shogun Fuhen, and I hope to make you proud one day."

[Nick]

Fuhen smiled slightly, before finishing the last of his cup of tea, staring down into the last dregs of the cup for a moment. "Aye, I'm sure ye will, yer a fighter, I can tell." He said, thinking for a moment before reaching over to the pot and pouring himself another. "Do it for yourself though, aye? Fighting to live in the shadow of another is... Well, it's what ninja are for, aren't they?" The frog laughed, a deep croaky chuckle that resonated throughout the room pleasantly. "You're samurai, that's what I want ye to make proud."

There was a pause to let the dramatic and thoughtful phrase play out, before he made a rather excited face all of a sudden. He reached into his robes, pulling out two slips of paper. "Speakin' of! Wanna go see bunraku theatre tonight? I've got two tickets to Kanadehon Chushingura! Oban can't make it, and..."