The Day of Thunder

[Shiba Kumori]

For the second night in a row Han-Hei walked out to the edge of the village and stared intently out into the woods. The enemy had sent out its first feelers… it’s scouts to test their resolve.

She had been too late to fight the foes that had been sent… But had found people who still needed her protection. She had been so focused on one thing the whole way here… So unitarily driven to prove that monk wrong. She was so sure that it was her fate to stand there as one of the champions of mankind…

And yet here… There was so much more work to do.

Work without glory… or renown… nothing to be written of in the history books.

Her family’s true calling… Uniting and protecting the empire.

She found the same tree from the night before… and stared out at the same encircling cage of mist and magic.

There wasn’t much time left. And she wasn’t sure what to do…


————

OOC: Expecting

[Bayushi Norikage]

A yawn signaled the approach of one she knew, if not well at this point, then enough. Norikage didn't precisely stalk the forest, he was too tired for the effort. It had been a long, long day and he had heard many things, his mind remained unsettled and tired.

He'd come to the forest to perhaps have the fog tell him how he could find rest. What he found instead was some girl wearing Han-Hei's clothes, but not her mask. Not that he didn't know it was her, time travelling together had shown her face to him, whether she knew it or not, and he had placed the memory inside his head for safekeeping.

Still, he could at least not be rude, for once.

"Samurai-sama", he said, trying to not sound like he just didn't give a shit. "Nice evening, better if it could be seen clearly, eh?"

[Shiba Kumori]

She turned and saw him and looked at him softly. He looked terrible… and her harsh words came back to her from the night before.

“It’s usually the company that makes the evening nice on a night like tonight.”

She patted the space on the log next to her.

“Why don’t you have a seat?”

[Bayushi Norikage]

Norikage wasn't so far gone that he couldn't pick up on what she'd said. The Scorpion skuttled over and found space on the log. It wasn't as comfortable as he'd like. Honestly, he could just lay down instead.

Don't do that.

After a few beats of silence, he let out a sigh. He'd been doing that a lot. "Sorry", he said quietly, voice with a bit of a dirty quality from not having slept. He didn't say what he was apologizing for, he wasn't even sure. Speaking up again, he looked at the woods and not her. "Heard you ran into some excitement."

[Shiba Kumori]

“Ran… into…” She said each word slowly and then nodded her head.

“Yeah… that sounds like a fair assessment.” She paused for a moment and looked out into the forest.

“I’m sorry too… There’s a lot on my mind… And I don’t always…” She stopped speaking… not on purpose but because of loss of inertia.

She waited for a few moments, still staring out into the woods.

“Do you know who I really am?”

[Bayushi Norikage]

"That's your business", he said. There was a slight hesitation to his words, not as if he was flatly rejecting the idea that he might care about that, but clearly defining that wasn't part of their travels to this point.

But he also was silent for a long moment, looking at the woods.

"If you want to share though", he said eventually. "That's your business too."

Part of him didn't want to know, in a way. That was just him being twice as foolish as it is selfish, however, and he knew that.

[Shiba Kumori]

“I assume it was an order from above that put you in my path that day we met… The Lord Bayushi has a way of knowing things…” She started.

“But I hope… that you realize that I respect you regardless of whatever mission you are fulfilling…” She continued.

“And I hope… that… that feeling is somewhat mutual… And it’s not just because…” She once again lost the inertia as her words got tangled up.

[Bayushi Norikage]

"Eh? Not like you to be so wishy washy", Norikage said and stretched a bit. "So you're a lord's daughter who went off to learn swordsmanship because she wanted to make a difference, right?" he shrugged. "If you think being more important than me due to your blood is going to stop me from complimenting your rear end, you have another thing coming." He winked.

[Shiba Kumori]

“I would hope not.” She said with a chuckle through her nostrils.

“Still… since others know. And you’re the closest companion I have right now… it feels like I should let you know.”

She paused for a second, “My name is Shiba Kumori… I’m the youngest daughter of the Emperor.”

[Bayushi Norikage]

He visibly startled slightly, like a cat suddenly realizing something had snuck up on it. It didn't last long, though. He fell back into his usual mode quickly.

"So I was right?" he chuckled a little bit. "Well, not just some lord's daughter, but you get me." A loud sigh. "Is this what we needed to talk about when I'm so tired? I honestly don't know what to think, now that we're actually discussing it."

[Shiba Kumori]

She looked over at him and then shrugged, “I don’t know if we needed to ‘talk’ about it… But… It was something I felt I needed to tell you.”

She stopped for a moment, “I prefer being honest with people I respect… And I figured I’d let you hear it from me so it didn’t seem like I didn’t…”

[Bayushi Norikage]

"Well, it's appreciated."

He felt like he should be saying something very different than what came out of his mouth.

But...what?

"You know, respect isn't easy", he said after a while. "I always expected it'd be a big deal, you telling me who you are, but this moment isn't what I thought it was going to be." Yeah, this might be better. She's way out there, and I hadn't figured on her being anything more than a passing friend anyway. "So, now that you've said what you want to say, I guess I can be up front too. You figured it was my lord who put me up to this, and you'd be right. Your uncle isn't keen on you wandering around by yourself, but it also seems he was fine with you doing what you're doing...as long as you have the right dog sniffing at your kimono, making sure it doesn't get too dirty."

[Shiba Kumori]

She sat quiet for a moment, thinking.

“When did you last report in… And what did you say?” She asked.

[Bayushi Norikage]

"I've been reporting very studiously on your kimono measurements", he said matter of factly. "Not for my lord's benefit of course, but for posterity."

[Shiba Kumori]

“Whose posterity? You certainly don’t expect a girl to put up with you long enough to have your’s, right?” She replied with a bit of mirth returning to her voice.

Then a moment later she asked, “But really… Did you tell him we were heading here?”

Because if he knows… Then they know…

[Bayushi Norikage]

He took his mask off and slid it into his sleeve, then dug around for his pipe. "If you're worried about your family knowing, I would say don't. I wasn't given orders to make regular reports, only to give a full one when I return."

He held the pipe, looking at it a moment, not turning his head towards her.

"Probably because my lord knows something of what will happen here, and they likely don't expect me to make it back", he said. "Though I suppose that means it's possible I'm here for a reason that isn't you."

[Shiba Kumori]

She looked over at him. Her eyes appeared to look a bit more intently than they normally did.

Maybe it was me bringing him here… Could he be the…

She let out a sigh and looked away towards the woods again.

“I would hope so… You could do a lot of good if you just got out of your own way.”

She then put up a hand to stop herself, “But you heard enough lecturing from me yesterday.”

[Bayushi Norikage]

"Well, isn't like I don't need it", he answered back with a chuckle and lit his pipe. "You know, they say if someone scolds you it's because they care. At least you've never smashed my face in."

[Shiba Kumori]

“Lot of people have cared for me over the years then…” She replied with a chuckle.

“I find that face smashing usually ends up in things going worse than you’d hope. So I have shown restraint up until now with you.” She smirked.

“Plus now with your nice cat-woman it’d be too cruel to mess up that pretty mug of yours.”

[Bayushi Norikage]

"My pretty cat woman?" he gave her an amused look as he puffed smoke. "Oh, I see."