Kyuden Shika

"I suppose -"

He thought.

"To check. If your lord has reason to belief you are dead, and you are deep in an enemy clan's territory with no way to contact home, wanted by your current hosts for at least a couple of months, does that truly make me a ronin at the time? Or something worse?"

Raizo cocked his head at the Lion.

Arched an eyebrow.

"If you were one of my men I'd smack you upside the head. It makes you a samurai in enemy territory trying to get home. You never forswore your fealty, you never willingly neglected your duties. Fuck's sake, Kitsu-san, that makes you less a ronin than a musha shugyo would!"

For a moment, the Kitsu simply stood.

The lie he had told himself to keep sane had begun to unravel, leaving Moshumaru and the thing he sought to run from face to face. The all too familiar fire seemed to dance across his eyes, pulling him deeper in-

You are not a monster.

"I am... not a monster..."

With more conviction, he said to himself.

"I am not a monster."

He shook, as if returning from a daze,

"I think if I had been one of your men I might have deserved it - for several reasons."

"Yes, well, can't go around smacking samurai from other Clans where everyone can see it happen, leads to all sorts of trouble!"