The Day of Thunder

Hikaru stared at her a long moment before speak. "I see." He finally said. "I, too, have fought against the spread of corruption. Is it bad in Bat lands?" Hikaru frowned as he watched the Lion samurai walking around. Looking at things. "Good morning, Akodo-san." He called to the other samurai, bowi...

“The Bat here is right. Nah, you shouldn’t worry… I don’t think we met. Besides, I’m not anybody that you should recognize right now.” Hikaru was a Doji; naturally, he took the correct meaning. He bowed. "Of course, Samurai-san." He said. He would respect her wishes. He turned, bowing again. He did...

"Hello. I am Yukara." She wondered for a moment how the girl knew she was Ryoshun, until she remembered the symbols on her clothes supposedly said as much. All these new letters were so difficult... "I was told to come by eto... Shinsei. The wise man with the rock." She pointed surreptitiously, as i...

Yukara wasn't great with crowds, or loud noises.

So she slunk into the party via a side lane, browsing the food offerings and absconding with fish... to perch on a porch trying not to look too conspicuous.

Could be worse.

Yukara glanced at Nao. Well, the colors lined up. Apparently this was an important person.

She bowed as well, stiffly and perhaps too deeply.

"I do not believe they have mouths, Crab man. You are ok." Yukara offered, soothingly, as if talking someone off a cliff. "I am sure you are fine, though I would advise against drinking the water if you get thirsty, lovely though it looks." After a pause. "I am Yukara. Ryoshun Yukara. No mouth hands...

"OH? I didn't realize. He didn't say... he just gave me some advice. Cryptic. Very enlightened." She shrugged and shifted her balance onto one foot, seemingly without realizing. "I was helping a magistrate visit outlying villages. Trying to stop people getting too... unbalanced. And cleaning up if t...

"Is that not the point of a mask?"

Yukara seemed confused.

Yukara seemed surprised she was being addressed again, and then turned the question over, debating answers until opting for honesty. "I can't say... I haven't seen them all. But up north in the foothills, things are crazy. It's infectious. " After a pause, "Did you like them when you went? Maybe the...

Sounds like assent to me.

"Oh." Yukara seemed unaware of who that was, if her lack of reaction was any indication.

"I did arrive only a day ago. I was caught up in my task before I came." A pause. "I didn't expect so many people from so far... were you all invited by the man with the rock?"

Like… What the fuck are you talking about? “Yeah… for sure.” She nodded her head. It didn’t seem that this one was all that interested in philosophical questions. After a moment Yukara seemed to realize that she wasn't interesting the fox person, so she stepped back slightly. Hadn't her sensei told...

Sounds like a jerk of a sensei. “Sounds… mystical.” She said with a nod and a forced smile. "I called him sensei and never thought to ask. Then he died and I couldn't." She ahrugged as if it were perfectly natural. "Mystical is an odd word... after all, every mystery may seem to be mystical... and ...

She contemplated the question, and then replied with "Nothing in particular that I can see, That One Doji Hikaru Sama. I simply needed a place to sleep and it had fine trees with shade from the rain." A pause, as if she were processing some ill used internal manual of manners, and then she offered, ...

Positively.

"And to you as well, Fox-Sama." She pondered for a moment, and then added, "I'm Yukara. Ryoshun Yukara. Student of a man who never told me his name."

Yukari followed the exchange with a quizzical expression, but the comment from the crane did cause a wry smile.

"You do have the nature of destiny in brief, yes. Though one wonders how much Destiny suggests, and how much it commands."

After a time, one of the trees in the mist became ambulatory, and revealed the thin shape was actually a young woman. Her bisento tapped her path forward, and her cats-eyes regarded Naraku as if his presence were as expected as the rising sun in the dawn. She seemed ready to speak, but then another ...

A woman was watching him.

It was hard to say how long she had been there. She had the stationary quality of a cat observing a bird.

When he met her gaze, she simply nodded, as if unwilling to interrupt of her own accord.