Kyuden Shika

"No, I don't remember." She shook her head.

"He always said, 'loving your kid doesn't mean you don't think they need their asses kicked occasionally.'"

"Though love, neh." She sighed. "Sometimes one needs to understand suffering to be able to show empathy." She smiled. "That is me... I don't have scars in my skin like you do. I was a pampered child... I have scar in here." She placed her hands in her heart.

"Those are the worst. Can't even make up stories to brag about 'em..."

"Hai, Thus my glory is my own knowing that that what hits me make me stronger." She looked at Raizo. "Your battle scars make you who you are and mine are just grief."

"My battle scars are monuments to human stupidity."

"Yeah... But that stupidity had helped save lives." The Kaito took out the clothes and placed them in a basket to put to dry inside where the winds can flow. "Would you hate me if the Shika decide that the best option for me is the Mantis?"

"Nah. I don't hold grudges against the Mantis. They were doing their thing. We did ours. I don't hold grudges against the Yobanjin, either."

"Good to know." She looked at Raizo. "I need advice with what to do with these three idiots. I already punished the mane by not allowing him my company for the day. The feather and the chrysanthemum need something of a punishment as well."

"Well, the... feather punishes himself so much I sometimes think he's going to need a wife with a thing for molten wax and shibari. I think the worst thing you could do to him right now is forgive him. The chrysanthemum... well. I would say trust in karma to sort him out, but you and I both know I believe in lending karma an assist. He's... quite convinced that the world works the way he's been told it does, and gets... chafed when it doesn't. A few pointed reminders about his own transgressions against the ideal might very well be in order."

He paused.

"Or I could... do a little of what the boys in my unit call 'corrective adjustments.'"

They called it that with a shudder.