Day 3, MM - Yummy Breakfasts (closed)

[Kitsuki Naida]

Arriving at the Crane embassy in a kimono, Naida grinned inwardly as she was shown to the Kakita woman's room. Yuu was a very interesting person, not to mention drop dead gorgeous, so this would prove to be a most enjoyable experience, she was guessing. And she had some surprises in store herself.

The servant left her outside Yuuwaku's door after announcing the Dragon.

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

From within, Yuuwaku says "Come in."

Her room has been tidied well. There is a low table out, with cushions for sitting, and a steaming pot of tea upon it, cups at the ready. A light breakfast accompanies it.

Yuuwaku herself is dressed simply, in a kimono of the sky blue expected of Crane, a feather motif picked out in white. The jewel on her forehead glitters again as she bows.

"Kitsuki-san, it is a pleasure to see you again. Will you care to eat with me?"

[Kitsuki Naida]

Naida was dressed more feminine than usual; Not her usual pants and happi. No, instead, a shortish, casual, green yukata, short black tabi accenting the slight tan on her legs.

"Kakita-san. I am quite hungry indeed. Then again, how could I not be with looking forward to this so much."

Walking over Naida gives a small bow before finding a cushion and sinking on it with her legs to one side.

"Did you sleep well last night?"

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

"Overall, yes, thank you, Kitsuki-san," Yuuwaku says. "I trust the same is true for you."

She pours the tea. "It is a local blend, hearty to help a day get off to a good start."

She passes the cup across, smiles. "I think it will be an...involved day."

And that kimono is quite becoming, she thinks.

[Kitsuki Naida]

"How could it top yesterday, I would wonder? Good local tea is a good start though, especially when poured for you by a beautiful woman, no?"

A smile, watching Yuukawa happily.

"...where did you get that forehead jewelry, by the way? I've not seen the like on all of my travels."

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

"Oh, this?" Yuuwaku gestures toward it. "It was a gift from my mother at my gempukku. She had had it from her foremothers, as well. Not as prestigious as a katana, of course, but no less prized for that."

She turns her head slightly. "But I am not the only one with ornaments. Why the...additions to your hat?"

[Kitsuki Naida]

"Oh, that hat? I added those myself. Because of an old Dragon folktale actually. There was once a group of pilgrims traveling through the mountains towards a temple to Fukurokujin to pray for wisdom and peace. The group consisted of a half dozen old monks and two ronin hired to guard them.

The youngest of the monks was an eccentric fellow named Bashou, and none of the other monks cared much for him. He largely kept to himself, spoke in riddles, had one blackened withered hand, and wore a strange hat with two horns on it that he claimed belonged to an oni he had gotten them from in a game of dice. No one knew if anything he said was the truth, but he was pious and generous and caused little trouble, so they had let him come along when he had asked to.

Now, unknown to them, a ravenous oni was living in a mountain cave just off the road to the temple. It wanted to defile the temple but was too weak so far from home, so it had found a spot to devour passersby so it could grow stronger. The monks at the temple had tried to send word out, but the oni had eaten every messenger they had tried to send.

As the group of pilgrims approached the hidden cave, the oni leapt out and immediately struck down the two ronin with its club. It shouted, 'I am the oni of Tenshin Pass, and you are going to be my dinner! Tell me, which of you should I eat first?'

Bashou kept his head down and spoke up, his voice booming loudly 'The oni of Tenshin Pass? How dare you threaten my servants! Have you not heard the name Fushio no Oni?'

'I have!' the oni exclaimed, 'It is said he is a cunning beast who rules an obsidian castle far to the south and has two great horns on his head... why, just like yours! I had heard a rumor that you had lost them in a bet with a mortal, but no mortal has such a blackened hand or such a booming voice. You are smaller than I imagined my lord.'

'An oni need not be large to be powerful young one. With this hand,' he held up his withered black hand, 'I can cast down mountains and dry up rivers. With my gaze, I can turn men to slaves and animals to stone.'

'I see, I see!' the oni exclaimed loudly, 'If this is all true then, with your help, I could tear down the temple nearby that defiles this land so and take its riches. Will you and your servants help me?'

The other monks quaked in fright, but Bashou stayed calm and spoke deeply, 'I will help you, but first, help me take off this hat so my gaze may be the ruin of these men; For my hands are crooked and I will not need the hat to keep the gaze of Amaterasu off me once our work has begun.'

The young oni stepped forward, eager to have all the monks and their offerings for its own. But when it got close to Bashou... he took off the hat himself and stabbed its horns into the oni. The beast howled in pain and started smoking, finally melting away into nothingness as the startled pilgrims watched on.

As the last of the oni disappeared into smoke, Bashou tossed his hat away, the horns on it crumbling to dust. 'Bashou-san, what did you do?! How can a simple hat defeat an oni?! Do not tell me they were really an oni lord's horns all along?'

The young monk shook his head, 'They were jade, painted black so as to not be recognizable. Ever since a maho tsukai burnt my hand like this and ruined my throat with foul magics, I have had that hat to protect myself from foul magics, a relic of a past life, I suppose. Now, I do not even have that tie to who I once was, but it seems it was not a waste.'

'What about the tale on the oni lord? How did you know about such a thing, something the oni knew of?'

Bashou smiled sadly and shook his head, 'I once met a man who told me the tale, a foolish Kuni Witchhunter who claimed to be the very man from that story. But who is to say if he spoke the truth or not?"

_______________

Naida took a sip of the tea after the story.

"...perhaps not the most conventional tale, certainly not the sort you tell in court. I wonder if one would even tell it in a Crab court."

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

Yuuwaku listens raptly, only slightly distracted.

"Oh, in court, probably not. But at a meal or something less formal, certainly. And even in Crane lands, there would be places for such tales. Dark nights in peaceful seasons, maybe, when other dangers are far away."

She take a sip at the tea and adds "Are yours painted jade, then?" with something of a wry smile.

[Kitsuki Naida]

"Who's to say? Is it even originally my hat?"

Naida gave a cheeky grin as she sipped more tea.

"I didn't wear the hat to the Crane housing here or I'd offer to let you check."

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

"Perhaps another time I can inspect the horns," Yuuwaku admits.

"But I can see why you might start writing. The way you told that story was quite engaging; I think it would do well as part of a collection. Kitsuki Naida's Traveling Tales, perhaps, or maybe even a more closely related collection of narratives. I imagine you have all kinds of stories from seeing so much of the world.

"But I know it is hungry work to do such things, and I do have breakfast here." And she uncovers the rice, grilled fish, miso, and fruit that she had ordered.

[Kitsuki Naida]

Naida's attention immediately went to the food and it showed; She really had arrived quite hungry, and she was a woman of pretty decent appetite as it was.

"Mmm... it DOES look wonderful. So simple and refreshing after such tale telling. I could just eat it up immediately."

Naida was practically salivating.

"Stories later, certainly not opposed to the idea of sharing them."

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

Yuuwaku serves.

"Then eat, my dear, and be refreshed!"

And, once she has served and Naida begins, she will suit actions to words.

[Kitsuki Naida]

Naida doesn't have the most impeccable eating etiquette, and she truly does dig in with happy gusto. She's not loud or rude, but she's certainly not slow and elegant about it either.

"I'm not sure I've ever eaten this little green fruit before. It's pleasantly sweet. A nice compliment to the sourness of the pickled plums."

Above all, the way she ate she seemed to relish everything, enjoying every bite and even taking in some smells as she ate.

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

Yuuwaku is, as might be expected, more restrained, but she smiles at her companion.

"I am pleased to have made you happy, Kitsuki-san. I hope to continue to do so."

[Kitsuki Naida]

Naida gives a small nod and smile, "I am not too hard to please, but you seem very good at making me feel happy, Kakita-san. Certainly I've smiled an above average amount over the past day."

She moved from the fruit to the rice and fish with small bites.

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

Yuuwaku matches the shift.

It is quite good food, particularly by the standards of the location.

The Crab do seem to be trying, she thinks. It bodes well for Daidoji-sama.

And for me.

[Kitsuki Naida]

Naida accidentally gets some rice on her cheek as she eats, to busy eating to notice as she carefully snips some fish off the filet with her chopsticks.

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

Yuuwaku pauses for a moment, seeing it.

A play, she wonders, or happenstance?

She takes the risk.

"Kitsuki-san, if I may?"

[Kitsuki Naida]

"Hm?"

Naida looks up with the fish whalfway to her lips, mouth just opening.

"Um... you may. Whatever you need to do, Kakita-san."

She blinked a few times confused but didn't move otherwise.

Did a mosquito land on me or something?

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

Given permission, Yuuwaku reaches out, gently, her small fingers finding the rice on Naida's cheek, bringing it off on her fingertip.

Almost shyly, she puts it between her own lips.

[Kitsuki Naida]

A slight blush.

"O-Oh. I hadn't noticed. How perfectly rural of me."

Her eyes folowed Yuuwaku's fingers then stayed on the Kakita's lips.

"Thank you."

She takes a bite of the fish she still had held in midair, though she finds herself not looking away.

Putting it right in those pretty lips of hers straight away. A play, or happenstance, I wonder.

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

The color is charming on her cheeks.

"Not at all, Kitsuki-san."

And, as she notices the Kitsuki's own regard, she blushes slightly herself.

"Have I something on mine?"

[Kitsuki Naida]

"Not as such. Your lips are just so... cute, like two sakura petals expressing your innermost secrets with every slight lift and word. And they compliment such a beautiful face, the food seems much less interesting by comparison suddenly."

It was not really intentional, more of a stream-of-conscious truth telling of what she was thinking.

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

Yuuwaku smiles demurely, searches the Kitsuki's face.

"Well, Kitsuki-san," she says, "if they are beautiful, it is because such eyes as yours, honey mixed into tea, look upon them."

She sets her chopsticks down.

"And if other things seem of interest," she says as she opens a hand upon the table, "then I am happy to pursue them with you."

[Kitsuki Naida]

As if Naida needed and invitation. Own chopsticks set down she crawled around the table until she sat next to Yuuwaku with her legs tucked under her. She reached up and gently brushed her fingertips across Yuuwaku's lips, letting out a slow sigh.

"And they are as soft as Sakura petals too."