[Plotboard] Bury it

[Willoria]

[Plotboard] Bonds & Blood ties By now Megumi had heard about what had transpired between Naohiro and Kuro, and it had left her frustrated to no end. She had come to respect Kuro. He was teaching her of strength she never knew she had, and he was far more than what the clan rumors made him out to be. She sat in her room, fully healed now thankfully, with scrolls and books sprawled out in front of her on her bed as she thought over her and Naohiro's engagement. And idea had come to her, one that she knew could end badly. Yet still she set it up.

She heard the knock at the door and rushed to it just as a slave was opening it. Naturally Naohiro arrived first and the girl would greet him with a light kiss on the cheek before showing him into the living room, and another knock came to the door. The second she knew who it was and this one she got to before her mother's slave did. The door opened and she knew how he'd react the moment he saw Naohiro in the living room.

But before Kuro could inevitably try to make his escape, Megumi reached out and snatched him by the ear to pull him into the room.

[Valkier]

Only a few short weeks had passed since Naohiro’s first meeting with Megumi, but already the journey to her home felt as much a part of his day-to-day schedule as did his morning training regimen. The home, too, was becoming all too familiar - even the strangely invasive attitude of the household servants, ever-watching and waiting, no longer seemed so frustrating. He smiled and greeted the servant pleasantly as the door was opened, and stepped inside just as Megumi swept in to greet him. He wrapped an arm around her waist briefly and returned the peck to her cheek before following her into the living room.
There, he perched on the sofa and opened his mouth to ask about their plans for the day, when another knock at the door cut him short. Megumi was gone in a moment, seemingly keen to answer the door before he could begin to wonder who it might be. He frowned slightly - that was… odd.

Who else was she expecting? His experience so far with Megumi's family led him to be more than a little apprehensive of surprises - even if they'd worked out well so far - and a vague feeling of wariness began to creep alongside his curiosity. When Kuro entered the room, it would be washed away with a chill feeling of dread. Their encounter had been brief, and confusing, but still heated, and he wasn't yet sure how he felt about the other man. Whatever small seed of understanding had begun to take root within Naohiro was still beset by the deep-rooted opinions of the clan, more than he'd like to admit...

[TyDie]

Kuro was admittedly a little confused as to why he was being invited to Megumi's house on this day. After all, he was pretty much under the impression that her mother wanted him to stay as far away from her publicly as he could, so being invited to her home was the last thing he expected. Still, he complied, and was walking through the Aisu compound despite all the odd stares and scoffs he heard under his breath as he passed his so called 'family'. Once he arrived at the young woman's house, he gave a knock, expecting the door to be answered swiftly by one of the woman's slaves.

However, he had not expected Megumi to open the door, nor had he expected Naohiro to be sitting on the couch naught but a few meters from the front door. He immediately moved to step away from the door, but as he turned around to walk away, the feeling of Megumi's hand on his ear caught him off guard. It actually took a fair amount of restraint to avoid turning to attack her. After all, the ear wasn't far from the hair, and there was still a slight feeling of concern regarding what she had done when they first met. Not that he expected her to try it again, but still, muscle memory was a thing.

"Alright alright, you can let go know dammit!" Kuro didn't budge an inch despite her pulling him, his strength far superior to her own. However, once she released him, he'd relent and walk into the woman's house, choosing to stand with arms crossed as he awaited some kind of explanation for this intervention-style meeting Megumi had planned against his knowledge or will.

[Willoria]

Megumi leveled a glare at Kuro as he finally walked into the room and she shut the door behind him, scurrying slightly to catch up and get around him, motioning to the couch Naohiro was already sitting on and making it clear she expected the pair to sit beside one another. It might've been the first time either noticed something odd about Megumi. She wasn't wearing her usual kimono and rich garb that had clearly come from her mother's money. Instead she wore a pair of pants with slits at the side that tied off on either hip. The way she moved, from time to time it would show a flash of skin up to her knee, or even up to her thigh. Naturally she wore dark compression shorts underneath to keep it from showing much more. Her shirt was a loose sleeveless black shirt, and her hair was haphazardly pulled back with a single chopstick. It was already looking ready to fall out.

"My lady, you know your mother would like me to point out you are not suited to greet guests. I could entertain them while you change-."

Megumi's head snapped to the side and she leveled a glare at the slave who spoke that quickly silenced the other woman. "Bring something for us to eat and drink, nothing more." Megumi practically commanded the woman, watching her give a quick but deep boy before she hurried out of the room and Megumi turned her eyes to the two boys in front of her. In an oddly unladylike move for herself, the girl sat on the coffee table and looked between the two of them. "I heard about what happened." she said flatly, giving Naohiro a significant look before turning a similar look onto Kuro. "Care to explain to me your sides of it?"

[Valkier]

Naohiro stiffened and watched with cold eyes as Kuro joined him on the suddenly-uncomfortable couch, but otherwise didn’t move. He wouldn’t give the man the satisfaction of watching him squirm away or make space for him; he might be a talented shinobi - and the clan’s furor at him might, just maybe, be a little excessive to some small, small degree - but he was still an arse. So much so that Naohiro, despite his usual attention to detail when it came to his betrothed, barely even registered that Megumi’s garb was much out of the ordinary. Instead it was her sudden change in behaviour that struck him like a hammer. This definitely wasn’t the way their usual social calls unfolded.

For all his discomfort, Nao had the good grace to look a little abashed when she confronted the pair of them, though he found an opportunity to shoot a glare to Kuro all the same.

”…I started it.” The words tasted bitter in his mouth, and he grimaced as he looked back to meet Megumi’s eyes. ”We passed by chance in the markets, and when I saw him... I mean, after what he did to you…” He paused and looked down at his hands, clenched in his lap, and forced them slowly open. ”My blood just boiled at the sight of him. I followed. I wanted him to hurt for what he’d done, and to learn some respect for family, even if it meant doing to him what he did to you in order to teach him a lesson...

“But after that we barely scuffled. I calmed down, and we.. talked for a minute. That’s all.” He shot another glance at Kuro, and carefully avoided mentioning how he’d barely sobered from his anger, and mostly due to Kuro’s unexpected composure at the time and his absurdly clear strength advantage. Loathe as he was to admit it, Nao wouldn’t have lasted a minute in a fight against the man. Not yet, anyway. Nor did he mention the shame he’d felt when he realised how he’d acted, or the apology that had followed. That wasn’t important now; he’d acted like a fool, like a hot-headed child, and now came the price for it.

[TyDie]

Kuro, though admittedly a bit shocked by Megumi's sudden demeanor change, did little if anything to show that shock. It didn't make him uncomfortable like it did Naohiro, but it wasn't something he was expecting in the slightest. And her attire, while Nao may not have noticed it, was something that quickly caught Kuro's eyes, though his skills at spying would no doubt allow him to take notice without appearing obvious about it. That was hardly of importance however, as the content of Megumi's words was far more intriguing than the tone she set.

The second shock in such a short span of time, Naohiro admitting his fault to his betrothed earned a cocked eyebrow of interest from Kuro. He began to explain himself, and he would allow the boy to finish before he spoke up with his side of the story. He took note of the fury burning in the young Aisu's belly, he clearly hated every second of admitting his fault in this situation. No doubt he would have pressed the attack against Kuro that day had he been the one with the advantage... Kuro considered his acctions that day, or rather his inactions, to be a mark of his self control.

Once he was done, the first thing out of Kuro's mouth might have undone everything right then and there. "No offense meant, but you're blinded by love if you believe for an instant that Megumi didn't deserve what she got that day Naohiro. We've patched things up sure, but the fact remains that she got in over her head and paid the price for it. I think my actions against you, and even my actions with her after I beat her, show quite clearly that I have some degree of respect for the clan. I could have killed you both... But it's not in me to kill family without a damn good reason to do so."

Kuro's eye darted back and forth between his cousins, gauging their reactions to his blunt statements that he believed to be truth. He expected Megumi to at least understand that he meant no ill will in his statements, that he was only putting forth the facts as he saw them. Naohiro on the other hand, had shown himself to be quite prone to letting his emotion get the better of him. If anyone in the room was going to have a bad reaction to what he had said, it'd be the young Aisu boy. "Regardless, it's as he said. He came at me, I disarmed the situation, we spoke a moment and aired some grievances, and we went our separate ways. Simple as that. What's this all about Megumi?" He was starting to wonder what the real reason behind this meeting was; he sincerely doubted that she had brought the two of them together just to initiate some sort of patch up between them.

[Willoria]

Megumi's gaze was stern as she listened to both men explain their parts, her look like daggers as she stared at each of them in turn. It was clear she was angry about what had happened, and even Kuro's words seemed to cause her to bristle. She didn't speak until both had given their pieces and first she turned her eyes to Kuro. "I deserved less than you gave." she practically snarled. "We did agree on that much. I deserved to be attacked, but even you said you want too far. You didn't gauge the situation right and reacted with a violence warranted more for someone above my rank." But taking a deep breath to calm her, Megumi went on. "But obviously you learned from it." she added, turning her eyes to Naohiro. "Which is how you were lucky enough not to land in the same shape I was in." It was clear she was happy with neither of them over what happened, but something else was starting to blossom in her eyes. A mischievous glint as if she'd had a plan behind her own harsh words.

She heard the slave return and got up from the table, beginning to pace in front of the boys. The slave laid a tray of snacks down, along with a few cold drinks as options since Megumi had given her no tips. But as soon as Megumi spotted a selection of sashimi on the tray, Megumi snapped her fingers to get the slave's attention and pointed to it, making a flicking motion with her hand. It was clear the slave understood what this meant as she quickly apologized and took the selection of sashimi away, still leaving behind a good selection of snacks. It seemed Megumi remembered Kuro's dislike of fish.

Megumi paced in front of the boys, her odd choice of pants moving with her and sometimes giving the same flashes of skin here or there. If she knew about it, Megumi gave no indication as she turned and smiled at both boys though. "Luckily, both our confrontations with Kuro were public enough." she said, stopping and turning to look at Kuro a moment. "Did you know that an engagement announced by someone the couple has had ill ties with in the past carries the strongest weight in our clan?"

[Valkier]

Naohiro's jaw twitched slightly as Kuro picked up the tale. Unlike Nao, however, Kuro didn't appear the least bit guilty - let alone remorseful. Instead of trying to understand the situation, he instead started to speak defensively, justifying his rash actions and lack of reason. To top it off, he then tried to take credit for disarming their own little fued? Only out of respect for Megumi did Nao stay seated, and mouth shut. He'd thought he was starting to understand him a little following their little encounter, but hearing his responses now almost made him wish he was still in a position to punch Kuro soundly in the face.

Thankfully, Megumi stepped swiftly in to take control of the situation. Nao gladly fixed his attention on her instead of the miscreant at his side; though what she said was hardly encouraging for his mood. At least she wasn't defending Kuro.
But then she revealed why they were here together. Before he realised it Nao was on his feet, staring.

"Absolutely not!" The fact that he'd discovered that tidbit of tradition with Megumi, and had agreed that it would be the best way to proceed, was temporarily forgotten. He shook his head, and tried to gain some rational thought. "Him? That's not a good idea. Anyone else would be better - and neither of our families..." Slowly, he trailed off. 'Neither of our families would approve', he'd been about to say. But wasn't that the entire point?

Slowly he turned to look at Kuro, half expecting the man to leap up and attack the pair of them right there and then. It suddenly made such undeniable sense that Nao's expression lost all its anger as he watched how Kuro woudl react; instead, he looked almost curious. He wasn't happy with the idea - to have Kuro, of all people, being the one binding him and Megumi together for life? It was a gut-wrenching, blood-boiling concept; but the logic behind it was obvious. Miyako herself couldn't have planned something so perfect. He hated it, but it was right.

...But how on earth would they convince the man in question?