Kyuden Shika

The Kitsu nodded.

"Indeed, an offer. It's not my place to tell his story, but Asahina-san has a very good reason for being here. I offered him a solution which would let him follow his heart and escape his family, but... alas. Too deeply in love, too strongly devoted to the fantastical idea of reaching it."

"Hell, if he gets who he's hung up on, we'll be glad to take him. And if not?"

Sip.

"His father's idiocy must inevitably be some other Clan's gain."

If the Kitsu seemed casual before, he was fully attentive now - and glowering.

"Oh, so you do know."

A deep sigh.

"My work has found that the Crane as a whole are, to be polite, not the best parents. His voice with my organization's works and the stirrings of this 'psychology', this study of the mind I've heard about, we can make the Crane a much better clan. And yet..."

Sadness became touched with a hint of anger.

"Forgive me, I shouldn't involve you in my grievances like this. Has love found you, even if the trials have been less than complimentary?"

Raizo sighed and looked into his teacup.

"The Crane have no monopoly on being... less than ideal parents. But as to the most welcome change of subject? Yes. It would seem that love has found me."

He chuckled.

"To my considerable shock, and even more considerable delight. Of course, knowing the way things are going, she'll probably be married elsewhere and I'll end up wedded to someone's sandal or something, but... I try not to dwell on it too much."

The Kitsu pondered - maybe it was time to give the Phoenix his advice. But first...

"Congratulations, Shiba-san! To have found love at all is something most would spend a lifetime trying to do! So, do you mind me asking who the lucky woman is? If you do, we can move to different pastures."

"Who, Kitsu-san, did I partner with in the two events where a partner was mandated?"

The Kitsu chuckled.

"I should have known! It damn well was fate when the four of us met in that forest - in Inoshishi-san I found a sister, and from Aimi-san you found a partner."

His laughter turned perturbed - the four of them were death. This was not a good sign.

(Superstition - +3 strife, +1 void point.)

"Have faith, Shiba-san; The Shika Matchmakers may be mysterious and have their own agenda, but they aren't blind. If they see you are happy with her, I doubt they'll try and seperate you - If not, I imagine she could simply walk away and back into your arms, no?"

"Well, I mean... that's the hope, isn't it?"

He sighed.

"I actually went to Shika Pei Pei-sama for some advice on how to... broaden the number of results I could accept, you know? But... very little has come of it. I have a sashimono from Kakita Reina-san which feels more like a joke than any sign of... something there. So. Right now I'm feeling like anyone else they pair me with is in for... coldness they don't deserve."

A pause.

"You know, speaking of my vast social limitations, I haven't spoken to Agasha-san. I'd entertained an idle thought of the two of you getting paired, but that just goes to show what I know about matchmaking, doesn't it?"

The Kitsu dismissed the notion of the Shiba's ignorance.

"No, no - if the stars had aligned itself in any other way that day, you would have been right. We were in the forest, I was showing my obituaries as stories, and..."

He stopped to breathe.

"We found one and we just, lost it, you know? We cried our dear souls out over someone I only knew in passing and she never met, and it just... clicked. It felt like we had found a sibling we never had, and we've been close since then. Any other time, any other choice, any other place and you would have been right, I feel."

"Yes. well. Then I must ask, have you found anyone to devote your, ah, attentions to?"