Kyuden Shika

"And I come close to death and will likely die years before you do. You can accomplish so much more with your duty and in service to your clan than I ever will," he says with a shrug. "And twenty nine days out of thirty my mind is numbed by looking at the same forms repeatedly in triplicate," he explains.

"There is hardly anything exciting or romantic about my life, just a lot of sore muscles and ringing ears. You do battle with monsters, do not discount your actions. Every scar on your body tells a story of bravery and determination."

"Of course they do," he says with a smirk. "What do you think I tell stories about? The difference is that when someone looks at you as a potential spouse the will see a generous and kind soul that can care for them for life. When they look at me, they likely see someone passionate and exciting and likely to burn out some day."

"Kindness is often a weakness, it leads you to trust to easily, it makes you look weak. I aspire to your level of confidence, no doubt you have told Bai the story of each of those scars, I have been hiding my back this whole time. I think she may have seen it when she showed up earlier but she didn't make any comment about it and she has never really tried to dig into my past which both makes me thankful and worries me. But you don't hide your flaws, not that there seem to be many of those to begin with."

"I've not actually shared any of them with her. Not really," he says with a shrug. "She's aware, but I haven't shared them with her. More with others. They make for interesting icebreakers, but with her we met in the temple and found a connection with that," he says, thinking back to those first few meetings where she was always blushing.

This surprised Soyokaze, expecting to get another scolding for hiding things from Bai.

Maybe I'm not as bad at this as I thought

"Huh."

He was speechless.

"Nothing about me is hidden from her. I am an open book for Bai. It simply hasn't been discussed. But she knows that I occasionally fight spirits as part of my duties and I've mentioned I have scars," he explains. "Not everything about you is the handful of things you can list. You undoubtedly have more to offer than you think."

Nope, you're shit.

Soyokaze sighed and yawned. "I need a bath I must smell terrible. I have run out of time, I really wanted to complete Aimi-san's wakizashi before tomorrow but everything my hammer touches right now turns to slag. But I should probably get some sleep and not look like a total wreck at the duel. You are welcome to join me at the baths if you wish to continue." he wasn't trying to get rid of his guest just feeling his own mortality and being sensible.

"I'm actually going to be heading to the temple after this. Had to help banish a gaki earlier, so I want to go there to re-center myself and rest my mind a bit," he explains.

Soyokaze staggered to his feet, looking already half asleep. "Fortunes carry you then Kitsu Murato, I will see tomorrow at whatever the Shika concoct for us next."