Dark Edge Village

Takeo had taken to the archery range immediately following his meeting with the Crane. He wasn't the best archer, but he was better than he had shown himself to be. He had no audience this time, save for Asahi who regarded Takeo with the same casual indifference one usually reserves for their lesser.

The fox wasn't alone long, Daisuke arriving on the field a few minutes later, a bow in his hand. Seeing the area already occupied he offered a bow to the other man. "Good morning Kitsune-sama."

"Ohayo, Ichiro-san," Takeo said in return.

"What brings you out this morning? A little archery practice?" he asked.

"Always. I did not do nearly as well as I hoped in the archery event as I would of liked." Of course he had been asked to shoot at targets nearly twice the distance of anyone else, but that didn't need to be said.

"So I've been going through my training again from the ground up."

"I'm guessing you are here for the same?"

Takeo nodded.

"I am better than I was. At the lancing event too, but that wound is still too fresh for me to face it," he said, shaking his head.

"I am no archer, but knowing to shoot is a necessary skill in the forest. I hope I can at least learn from my mistakes."

"That's all any of us can wish for." He walked towards one of the shooting marks and began to prepare his bow.

"I just hope there is one more event here that suits my skills, but I'm beginning to doubt that." His luck wasn't that good.

"Better for there not to be something you excel at than to squander away your chances at something you do?" he asked, somewhat philosophically, then shrugged as he finished stringing the yumi.

"Forgive me for asking Ichiro-san, but I wasn't aware that the Badger practiced much in the way of kyujutsu. If the stories are to be believed, and stories are all I have really, your clan has a preference for the heavier tools of war?"

"Something like that. I've turned my efforts now to getting to know the women of the Unicorn better. With luck one of them will be able to introduce me to a woman I might like and is available to marry after the miai. That is if the Ide let us have any sort of say in who they match me with."

Drawing his bow, he fired a arrow down range, scoring a solid hit. "The stories aren't wrong Kitsune-sama, most of my family do prefer heavy weapons. I trained among the Daidoji though, as a scout."

"Training among the Crane?" Takeo began as he paused a moment, stilled his breathing and unleashed his own arrow. It sunk into a target, near the outer edge.

"That must have taken some favors to arrange?" he asked, "The Crane usually exact a heavy price in exchange for such."

"It helped that I have crane blood through my grandmother." Not too terribly much, but it had helped. "Of course I can't say all the arrangement my parents made either."

"I was just a child at that time after all."

"That makes sense - family ties bind, even across clans. You grew up in the Crane lands then? The Diadoji training grounds?" he asked.

"I spent half my life there, well just about, Badger lands were to far away to visit even if we got a short holiday." He drew his bow once again, firing a arrow down range and into a target, an average shot at best. "Only heard from my family a few times a year via letter."

Takeo nodded as he unleashed another arrow, this one going wide. "Shit!' he swore under his breath, knowing lack of focus had been his culprit.

He quickly reknocked and loosed another, this one striking better than his first.

"I grew up in the palace among my family. I learned our arts and traditions at the hands of my elders. As a result, I feel very connected to them. How could I not? But you - you have a unique perspective I imagine. So far and among those known for being rather different than your own," he observed out loud.

"Do you think that may have shaped you in any particular way?"

That must of be nice, being close to home and surrounded by people that cared for him. Honestly Daisuke was a little envious, it all sounded so pleasant after all.

"I like to think it's made me more self sufficient then others." He offered after a few moments. "Being raised so far away from my home, as welcoming as the Crane were, I was never truly one of them. So in many things I had no one to rely oh but myself."

"I expect you are better equipped for many things. Many things that I am not, most likely. This is my first real time away from the mori. My first time in the wide-world and I step into it knowing only of what I have read in books and scrolls. And of course being so close to family has its own pinnings. When your aunt is the champion, everything you do takes on a new prominence. Every mistake is amplified," he explained.