Kyuden Shika

Soyokaze glanced up and down the hall as he stood outside the Scorpion's room. He tapped lightly at the door as he tried to be subtle but he couldn't be any more suspicious.

"Enter", came a simple command.

He slide the door open just enough to slide and and closed it. "Good morning Hikimasu-san, I am sorry to trouble you so early. I hope you rested well."

The Scorpion's inn room was tidy, his armor furnished on a stand, as well as his daisho. A book lay on a small table and his futon had been folded, presumably by the Scorpion himself. He sat at the table, dressed to go to the dojo, his mask on.

"I have rested well every night, have you had rice?" He asked and gestured for the Crane to come forward and sit.

He took the offered seat. "Inari's gift has not been sitting well as of late but I hope she blesses you. I expect that today and tomorrow are going to be very busy so I will try to be quick with your time. Some things have happened, the thorn in my side continues to grow but I can't take any action against him directly. He has taken something, not from me but a gift I gave to another and has made some very dangerous claims about it and by extension me. He may not know it but he's playing games with his life now but before it gets that far someone suggested to me that perhaps I should just return the favor. If he were to lose something that he cares dearly about it could serve as a warning, a wakeup call or just catharsis for me. But I don't have to skills needed to do that nor did the one who suggested it. We both thought that maybe you could know someone who might be able to do such a thing."

Hikimasu listened along, noting what was said and what specifics were carefully left out. He nodded and sat back, thoughtful. A long moment passed as he considered, then he nodded again.

"Before we can discuss that, I would like you to know something", he told the Asahina. "I had a conversation with Seppun Yuzu-sama. He made it clear his hope that you find a more productive and honorable path than what he believes you are following." He cocked his head to the side. "I will assume you think him to say this in order to stifle retribution, rather than him having any true concern for your soul. Would that be accurate?"

"I believe he is more lost than I ever have been and I genuinely pray that he wakes to the realities of life that have been obscured from him. I don't know if he knows you and I know each other so I have to take his words as true and not a message meant for me. Either way I feel like he needs to learn something from all of this and having to search all of Deer lands for his things may give him the time to reflect."

He nodded again.

"I see", he said. "Suppose something unfortunate occurs, what else may happen then? Would a Scorpion be sought to pay for the crime? Would a Scorpion be thanked in some manner?"

"If it came to it a Crane would take responsibility, and a Scorpion will be thanked even if they refused to help, in any way they might ask." Soyokaze reached into his kimono and pulled out an origami Scorpion, placing it down in front of the Shosuro. It sat upon the tatami gently but something about it told Hikimasu that is was far heavier than it should be.

He didn't touch the origami yet he only sat still, thoughtful.

"What is your hope in these matters? Simply that they be distraught?"