Dark Edge Village

Standing outside his yurt, whistling to himself, Kemuri was scrubbing blood out of a pair of hakama. A kimono, once covered in food and cat snot hung nearby, being rinsed by the rain. The Shinjo was stripped to the waist, seemingly enjoying the storm. A rope running between his tent and his neighbor's, held a few other articles of clothing.

He'd only wanted a walk. To get over his awful failure at the egg hunt and perhaps remove the lingering smell of broken egg from his sandals. He had not expected a drenching. Too wet to even bother trying to avoid more rain, a sodden Kitteh was trudging back towards his yurt.

"Good evening, Matsu-sama!" Kemuri called out as he hung up his own egg stained clothing.

He looked across, shielding his eyes from the rain to peer at whomever had just addressed him. Spotting the Shinjo, he approached and bowed, water dripping from his face.

"Shinjo-san, good evening. I am Matsu Yurio."

A very wet Kitteh.

"Shinjo Kemuri." He offered a bow. He glanced at his laundry, then at the Lion, then at his yurt. "Would you like to get out of the rain? I doubt it will stop any time soon, but a few minutes by a fire might be nice."

He nodded, spraying more water about.

"My thanks Shinjo-san. I was caught a little unawares."

"My yurt is your yurt." he smiled and guided him inside. There was a small fire, with a pot of stew simmering over it.

Yurio smiled in thanks and stepped in to the yurt. As the Unicorn seemed unperturbed by such things, he pulled off his sodden haori and tried to wring the water out of it at the edge of the yurt.

"Quite a storm brewing. I should have paid better attention to the signs."

"I don't think anyone expected the storm's ferocity. I'm sure you were not the only one caught off guard, Matsu-sama." He sat beside the fire and stirred the stew. "I did manage to retrieve some dinner from the cook fires, at least. Would you like a bowl?"

Realising his haori was too wet to do much with right now, he shook it out and laid it beside him. He sniffed at the stew.

"errr . . . I don't want to be rude, but what's in it?"

"I would have asked the same question." he chuckled. "It's vegetables and rice, nothing more. I promise."

"Well some of my fellow clansmen seem to have had some difficulties with your cheese, but it is red meat I find objectionable."

He pulled wet hair away from his face and held out his hands towards the fire to warm them.

"But as none are present it would be rude to refuse."

"I think there was chicken, but I wasn't in the mood for it, after this morning." he said as he spooned thestew into a bowl and handed it to the Lion.

"Oh?"

It took him a moment.

"Oh . . . eggs. Yes. Not my finest moment either."

He took the bowl with a murmur of thanks. A brief search amongst his carried belongings revealed he'd left his chopsticks in his yurt, so he looked around for a spare set.

One was quickly offered. Kemuri seemed content to simply use the spoon.

"I didn't know what to do with so many eggs afterward. And, I needed someone to tend to the weasel bites."