Dark Edge Village

As the evening grew later, the area around the horsemanship filed grew still. An occasional breeze swept across the white sand, but there was little movement otherwise. The skies were growing darker, but the stars maintained just enough light to see by. Silently, Kemuri studied his surroundings from on top of Sarangerel, who let out a soft breath.

"Nothing yet." he finally whispered. "It's as quiet here as the western fields."

Mei and Ti-Lu walked slowly onto the fields, Mei watching the sky from the back of her small horse.

"It is nice out tonight, Ti-Lu. I imagine that the quiet will help with the task the Iuchi have for us."

She pats her horses neck and looks around the field, spotting Kemuri. She smiles and maneuvers Ti-Lu to walk over to him.

"Good evening, Kemuri-kun."

He glanced over as she rode up next to him.

"Good evening, Mei-chan." he smiled. "I had hoped there might be more game to the north of the village, but I haven't seen signs of anything."

"Game? Oh, are you hunting?"

Mei looks around the area for a moment.

"Uh, well, perhaps all the horses and their riders during the day here scare things off? There is a road we could go out on though. It doesn't seem to have been traveled much on"

Mei motions north.

"I was hoping it might be late enough that animals would venture closer." he explained. "But, riding out further may prove more fruitful."

He nudged Sarangerel to move forward.

"How are you, Mei-chan?"

"I admit, I do not know much about finding anything in the wild. I spend most of my travels trying to avoid running into anything."

Mei rides up parallel to Kemuri and looks at him with a large smile.

"I am much better now that I can be near you, Kemuri-kun."

"I always feel better in your presence." His smile grew. "I don't think we'll find much to hunt, but it will be nice to ride with you again."

"How did your last two days go? Did the puppy the Moto gave you perform well? Mine...well, I think he might not be used very much."

"She tried her best, but I did not train her well enough." he sighed. "I had stayed up the nmight before and was too tired to spend the time I should have with her. She'll serve the Moto well, though."

"Oh? You were up after you left my tent? What kept you? Trouble sleeping?"

"There was a lot to think about that night." he nodded, adding a grin. "Not to mention simply thinking of you."

Mei reaches over and pushes on Kemuri's shoulder playfully.

"You didn't have to leave you know."

She reaches back and places her hand on the reins.

"There was much to think about. I am glad things went well with Otaku-sama and I. Or at least, as well as they could have. I was a bit worried, truth be told"

Mei looks out along the road as they ride, looking for any signs of animal habitats.

"Hai, I am glad that it is settled." he agreed. "And, I wanted to stay. But, fate is uncertain enough without tempting it."

"I am very happy there seems to be little fallout. Despite it not being a practice the Unicorn are very familiar with, everyone accepted the results without question. I admit, I was prepared to have many people angry with me."

Mei chuckles a little at the last sentence.

"You are very irresistible. After too long it would no longer be fate, but a certainty."

"It isn't that we don't practice it, we just don't practice it in the same way." he said. "We duel with blades, but we use wooden ones and we are not very practiced in iaijutsu. So, many duels have purely been kenjutsu."

"You are making me regret not staying, more and more." he added.