[Day 4, Early Morning- Koi's Room] The Morning After (Closed)

[Shiba Raizo]

Raizo had very seldom awakened with quite as much... soreness.

And he had never woken up with with quite so many bite marks, rope burns, and claw marks.

But he also awoke with a big smile on his face.

Okay, I'm still here. And...

He glanced over toward where Aimi had lain the night before.

[Aimi]

"Hey there, handsome."

Aimi is already awake, it seems, albeit only just. Sprawled across the futon in an ungainly heap, half covered by a discarded yukata, and generally pleasantly dishevelled, she blinks sleepily at Raizo and then cranes her neck to look around the rest of the room.

"Huh," she says, blinking the slumber from her eyes, "Where did Koi go?"

[Shiba Raizo]

I officially always want to wake up to that face. Fortunes, it makes me feel better about... everything. Everything in the world.

"No idea."

Ooooohhhh boy, getting up is gonna be... hoo.

He got up and stretched, enjoying the fact that given how the previous night had gone, modesty was sort of... pointless.

And as he did so, he noticed that... a lot of Koi's regular attire was still there with them. And her makeup sat closed- and there was a little note, which he picked up and read aloud.

"Went for a run. Lovely having you here."

He paused. Grinned, and glanced at Aimi.

"I don't know where she gets the energy, but I don't feel like running anywhere... for a change."

[Aimi]

For her part, Aimi just about manages to pull herself up into a sitting position. She could probably get up fully, if she tried, but Raizo was putting on a wonderful little show with his stretching so why interrupt?

"A run?" She says with some bemusement, glancing around the rest of the room. She's known Koi on and off for years, she's never seen the girl go for a run on her own initiative. Maybe the kemari thing got to her more than you might have supposed. Or maybe... well, hmm. If there was some other business that called her away so quickly, she'd ask later.

"Are you sure you're one to talk about energy after last night?" She chuckles, shaking her head fondly at her new lover. "I guess all that marching about was good for something, at least."

[Shiba Raizo]

He quirked a smile at her that managed to be both sardonic and shy.

"Motivation in all things, Aimi-chan. Oh... say, that reminds me, uh... I was... hang on."

He moved to the corner of the room he'd put his stuff in and started going through his belongings, coming up with a small bundle.

"Ah... hah. So. Uh... the timing on this is... well. Ah. I... look, we're samurai, and who the hell knows who the Deer are going to pair us with when this is over." A pause. "And I know I can't be the only one who... likes you. So. Uh..."

Fucking hell, why am I still TALKING?

He started to unwrap it, alarmed to hear that his voice was still going.

"I... wanted to give you something. Wherever we end up, however it shakes out, I... yeah. So. I still need to get a sheath made for it- Soyokaze-san suggested a woodworker..." He pointedly looked at their surroundings as he removed the covering on the gift. "But, ah... I also didn't want to throw this at you in public."

He produced it then. A silver and steel hairpin- with a twist.

The pin itself was a round steel rod, slightly thicker than most normal hairpins. The top 2/3 of the pin seemed almost perfectly round and smooth with the exception of a series of fine grooves that twisted down from the head in an interweaving pattern, each inlaid with paint that faded from red to orange and back as it traveled down the groove, the effect so subtle that at first it looks like the light of nearby lanterns dancing across the steel surface. The bottom third of the rod expertly flattened and tapered into a blade, which looked remarkably keen.

Atop the head of the rod, a single polished black pearl perched in place of honor. Attached via a tiny ring just below the pearl, a large star made of burnished silver glittered, with an oddly textured look, the result of several fine holes in it.

"So, uhm... I wanted to get you something. I've wanted to get you something since that breakfast the other day."

He held it out to her.

"I wanted it to be beautiful, like you. I also wanted to make sure that, like you, it wasn't just ornamental. I... hope you never need to use the blade, but I also never want you to be without one if you need it."

A pause.

"And, uh... there's more about the, uhm... star, but... I think I should shut up now before I manage to say something terminally stupid."

[Aimi]

"...oh."

Aimi swallows, suddenly feeling every inch of her nakedness, her vulnerability. Last night was fun, she told herself it was that and nothing more, that it was just a diversion while they... and then he... and that look...

Focus, idiot girl!

"Shiba-sama... Raizo," she swallows, looking between the gift and the man offering it, "It's beautiful, and... you clearly put a lot of thought into it, but..."

But? But what? Come on, woman, the two refusals, this is the most basic of etiquette, you're worth more than shit so you know this!

"You must... you must think of your own reputation, yes," she nods, unable to look away, unable to make her voice stay level, "You are a good man, handsome and worthy - no matter what the voice in your head whispers to you. And a good man, attending a miai such as this, he cannot... he cannot be seen giving gifts like this to... to a woman like me."

Please.

Please? Please what, please turn away, please offer it again, please what?

I don't know. But please.

[Shiba Raizo]

"Aimi-chan."

He took a deep breath.

"It was made for you. The, ah... holes in the star? If you hold them up to the light, they'll show you how the stars over Kyuden Shika looked during this miai. It is for this time and this place. You say I shouldn't be seen giving gifts to someone like you. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with a woman like you. You are a samurai,and a a shugenja, but far more importantly, you are someone who makes me want to be better. Do better. In everything. So who better, then, to receive this than you?"

A pause. A bit of a grin.

"And I think we're well past 'sama,' hm?"

[Aimi]

"I am not..."

The ronin hesitates. She wants to accept, to take the pin, to take it and all that it implies for the future. But... can she? Can she truly do that to this man, this man that she is... well. He deserves to know what he's getting into, surely, and there is still another refusal to be done, if this is to be done properly.

"Raizo, I'm not... I wasn't born ronin, do you understand?" she says softly, and it feels like she should look away, that she should hide her face, but she cannot. She cannot break his gaze. "You don't know me, but my past, what I am... it will harm you, if you let it. I will harm you. And I... you have been good to me, you deserve better than that. If you let yourself..."

Love me

"If you let yourself... feel these things... it will be a mistake," she says quietly. She's not trembling. She's not. "What kind of samurai would I be, if I put someone I... cared about... in that situation."

Two refusals. Last chance, Raizo. Do the smart thing.

[Shiba Raizo]

"I have served with ronin of all stripes, Aimi-chan. One of them, an old man who is called Tessho now, has been more of a father to me than my father. And he, too, wasn't born to the waves. We all make mistakes."

He offered the pin again.

"This isn't one of them."

[Aimi]

Breathe in. Breathe out.

This is happening. This is really happening.

"Ah. Well then," Aimi says, pausing for a moment to wipe at her eyes, then clear her throat. "If you're sure. I... I suppose it would be insulting to refuse again. Especially when you're offering me something so... important."

She's not talking about the pin. Well she is, but this man, this stupid, dense, magnificent man... he's gone and actually developed feelings for her. And she might just be returning the favour. She doesn't really know what to do about that, but somehow the thought of finding out, of working on it together with Raizo... it doesn't seem so bad, somehow.

So she takes a breath, and then turns away, reaching up with calloused hands to pull her hair up, grabbing the simple tie from where it lay discarded on the floor and tying it in place.

"Would you... help me?" she says, looking back at Raizo over one bare shoulder, her eyes unusually soft and hesitant, "To fix it in place, I mean. Some things are better done together."