Prayers to Benten et al (Day 10, LE)

[Ichiro Daisuke]

"I'm not sure everyone here would agree with you on that Asako-sama." He replied with a light chuckle. So many seemed absorbed with their loves.

He watched for a moment as she wrote, but his gaze didn't linger long as he turned his eyes towards the night sky. "If we were to put it in odds, I'd day my chances of returning home are three in ten at best."

"What of yourself Asako-sama?"

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki blushed a bit on the idea of not everyone agreeing with her, as she had fallen into that trap as well, try though she might to not.

"I've done well enough here that I expect I will be returning home after all is said and done. I hadn't been expecting that, honestly."

[Ichiro Daisuke]

Perhaps she hadn't been entirely truthful with her opinion? Not that it mattered, the Asako seemed to be at least a little level headed. Perhaps she would rein in the wild barbarian she intended to marry.

"Congratulations are in order then." He offered the pretty woman a polite smile. "I hope you and your new husband find happiness there."

[Asako Yuki]

"And you the same, Ichiro-san." Yuki knelt once more before the shrine of Benten, folding the paper carefully before using a candle to light one edge and setting the paper carefully within the offering bowl to burn down in sacrifice to the Fortune of Romantic Love, to show Yuki's dedication.

The woman was quiet while the paper burned.

[Ichiro Daisuke]

Well she certainly had seemed to calm down, though he was uncertain how long it would last. Nervousness wasn't always easily dispelled. Still he quietly watched as she burned the poem, a part of him wondering what had been written within.

As the fire started to die he'd finally speak up. "What do you think your husband will think of Phoenix lands? I'm rather certain any woman I brought home from the Unicorn wouldn't like the lands of the Badger."

[Asako Yuki]

"I hope he'll like it." Yuki admitted. "But it will be a change. Phoenix lands, on the whole, are far more filled with things than Unicorn lands and the Burning Sands seem to be. There are forests and hills and mountains and rivers in Phoenix lands, not so much here."

[Ichiro Daisuke]

"Similar to Badger lands in some ways then." He said with a thoughtful nod. "Do you get plenty of snow in winter as well?" He figured they would being in the mountain and all, but we didn't know for certain.

[Asako Yuki]

"Hai, as you might guess from my name." She smiled to the man with a short giggle.

[Ichiro Daisuke]

"Well I didn't want to assume." He responded with a light chuckle. "A friend of mine liked to tell meveryone a story of a Mantis girl he knew. Her parents named her Yuki and she had never once seen the snow."

"I don't think that sort of thing is all that common though."

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki looked a bit surprised. "Really? I wonder why they would do that... Irony perhaps? That seems an odd reason to pick a name." Yuki pondered that for a moment.

[Ichiro Daisuke]

"Perhaps she liked the idea of snow?" It was as likely as anything. "Maybe it was something they really wished to see as a child, and hoped the name would help her get to see some?"

"Somethings you can never really know."

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki paused at that and nodded. "Hai, I suppose." She paused. "What about you, Ichiro-san? Any special meaning behind your name?"

[Ichiro Daisuke]

"Well, I've always wished to help my clan in any way I can. Even though it's been years since I've spent much time among them." It was mostly the reason he was here.

"I thought taking the name Daisuke would serve as a daily reminder of what I wish to do."

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki nodded a bit. "Most devoted of you, Ichiro-san." She smiled at him, then sighed. "I don't think I'm going to get any sleep tonight at this rate." She looked up at the stars.

[Ichiro Daisuke]

"You could always go for a run. " He suggested mostly sarcastically. "Exhaustion is the best recipe for sleep."

"You wouldn't want to have tired rings under your eyes when choosing your husband after all." That's what she would be doing with her standing. Choosing.