Dark Edge Village

Yuuru and Saru arrived at the Dojo in the morning to run some laps and rough-house a bit in preparation for their event later in the evening. Yuuru enjoyed playing with the little puppy as is gnawed on his arm and he pulled back and forth with a cloth he had. There was something lovable about the little creature, but Yuuru knew he needed to stay focused on making it responsive to him by the evening.

Doji Fukawa was walking her new dog around the village. She had picked up some sticks of various weights, and was tossing them high up in the air, causing the dog to run and jump after it. She was slowing increasing the size of the sticks, curious just how strong a puppy could get in a day.

She walked by the Dojo curious if any of the trainers were trying to impart knowledge of martial arts to their charges.

There did seem to be a Scorpion within, and she briefly wondered if gnawing on a person's arm was a secret scorpion bushi technique.

Yuuru nodded at the woman as she entered the Dojo and pulled on the rag in a tug-of-war against Saru some more.

"Soshi-san," she offered, as the dog barked at the strange dog.

"No, Takahiro, we don't bark at strange dogs or men, it's not proper." she scolded him firmly.

She bowed to the pair.

"We have not been properly introduced yet. I am Doji Fukawa. Would you care for a bit more vocal company while we train our new charges?" she offered politely.

He smiled and nodded, "This strange man would be more than happy for some company Doji-sama. My name is Soshi Yuuru. It is a pleasure to meet you."

He smiled and looked down at Saru who appeared to be ready to wrestle with the other pup, "So you have any idea how to train them?"

Fukawa shrugs.

"I must admit, I do have a bit of training on the subject. Father enjoys taking bushi hunting with falcons and dogs. He finds such an environment helps them become more comfortable talking, as opposed to approaching them in a more courtly setting." she explains.

"How is your training going, Soshi-san?" she asks.

He smiled, "Good enough I guess. He's a cute little bugger and I've been running him around a bit."

Fukawa holds up her bundle of sticks.

"As have I. I wish we had more time to train them, but I still find the concept a very novel one, given that one expected that being able to train animals would be a skill valued by the Unicorn." she replies.

She tosses a stick, and Takahiro goes charging after it across the Dojo.

He nods, "An interesting way of testing us indeed."

He watches his pup lay down a bit for a rest, "So have you figured out your future spouse yet?"

Fukawa takes a moment to unfold her purple fan with the images of charging horses upon it.

"Oh, I think so, Soshi-san, barring the unforeseen." she admits. "And yourself?"

He shook his head, "Not really... things are a bit more confusing after all the love singing yesterday."

Fukawa shakes her head.

"A very strange event that one." she replies. "Some might wonder which Scorpion suggested it to the Moto."

Takahiro returned with the stick.

After a brief bit of tug of war, the sick was sent flying across the dojo again.

"'Some', neh?" Yuuru chuckled.

"I see it didn't stop Doji-san from participating though."

Fukawa shrugged.

"And have it rumored that the Crane did not embrace the arts?" she asked. "A little personal embarrassment was the smaller hurt."


She watched Takahiro bounding across the Dojo.


"Although, I think some of the Unicorn misunderstood the saying about Scorpion. It's said, 'If a Scorpion offers you two choices, choose the third one.' They perhaps should have been cautioned that the point of choosing a third one was because it was better than the other two, not even more embarrassing for your clan." she offers.

He chuckled, "A lesson they most likely won't soon forget."