[D4 LE] A Visitor (Hideo's Yurt) [Closed]

[Seppun Hideo]

"I am" Hideo nodded, watching Amaya preparing everything she needed. Without having to get up either, he admitted being quite impressed that they had picked a place to sit that would be near enough for her to reach. He worried about her getting up with the length of the kimono on her.

He closed his eyes at the sound of the ripping kimono, and something niggled at the back of his mind. Something he had forgotten...but he couldn't remember what it was.

[Ide Amaya]

"That's all I need of you. Might I start with the scratches on your cheeks?" She was dampening one of the scraps of silk in the water.

[Seppun Hideo]

Hideo made sure to turn to face Amaya, nodding. "I will remain quiet while you work, I would not wish to distract you. I am entirely in your hands Amaya-chan" he nodded his head to her, then sat quietly with his hands in his lap.

[Ide Amaya]

She took his chin in her hand and her fingers were surprisingly firm, the kind of hands that could control a steed that was almost higher at the withers than she was tall. Tenderly, she bathed the scratches, washing away the last of the dried blood. She hummed quietly, barely audible over the rain and thunder, but the deluge seemed to provide a tattoo for her song, and they complemented each other.

Setting the cloth aside, she took a dab of balm and smoothed a tiny amount along the length of each cut with her thumb. She studied his face for a moment and nodded approvingly. "Hand next," and she indicated to his right hand.

[Seppun Hideo]

Hideo barely reacted to the touch and the cleaning. He kept his On throughout, and kept his eyes open, looking at Amaya as she worked. She was doing a good job, and although he didn't move or speak he had a thankful look in his eyes. At the request of the hand, he put both of his hands forward. There was more scratches and the sign of a bite on the right hand, and they appeared to go past the hand, but it wasn't too serious.

[Ide Amaya]

Resuming her humming, she considered the hands presented and instead took the left. The right would need greater attention. She folded back the sleeve of his kimono t the elbow. Bare arms were nothing new to her, they were practically Moto tradition. She frowned a little as she worked: rinsing the scrap of silk and bathing his wounds carefully, turning his wrist.

She moved carefully, but not hesitantly. It was only as she was smoothing the balm along the length of his forearm, that she slowed in her work. Her eyes had been on the injuries, but now she looked at the long limb, the way it was shaped, the way the skin felt beneath her fingers.

With a sharp intake of breath, she released him, folding the sleeve down once more. "Other hand."

[Seppun Hideo]

Beyond the scratches, the skin of arm appeared to be soft and well cared for. Without the cuts, it would be smooth and pale, clearly the man rarely went around without his skin covered as was traditional for Rokugani. Hideo lowered that arm into his lap, and offered the other hand - the one with the bite - for her attention next.

"You are quite skilled" Hideo commented quietly.

[Ide Amaya]

"No," she answered quietly, accepting the hand and taking a new piece of silk, "I just care." And it was most tenderly that she bathed the deeper bite. Again, she worked her way up to the elbow, humming something else now - the song that she had performed on the first night of the ma-ai. At one point, she broke into words, but just as quietly as she had hummed.

She seemed fascinated by the young man's hand and arm, moving her dainty fingers over corded tendons and smooth flesh. Perhaps she even took longer than she needed, but finally she was done with the lower part of the limb. She paused after releasing him, and looked down at her supplies as she said, "would you turn, Hideo-San? That I might tend to your back?"

[Seppun Hideo]

There was the slightest blush at that, but Hideo kept quiet. Listening to her words, and watching her attention to his hand and his arm. He flexed his hands when she was done, smiling. He then nodded, rising slightly just to turn and sit back down with his back to her. He took a moment to undo his priestly robe, slipping his arms out of the robes and letting it fall down to his waist exposing his whole back and arms. His build isn't anywhere near a Moto, but he's no frail courtier. He has a lean build, thin but not unhealthily so. His back though is covered in scratches, where the weasels had clearly climbed and taken bites out of his back, the wounds going all the way down and beyond the back. It must have hurt.

[Ide Amaya]

A sharp intake of breath, and a low, unhappy moan. She admires his form, the heavy rain covering the rise in her breathing. She starts at his neck, bathing the scratches slowly, carefully. As she moves across his shoulders, she speaks, "yesterday, you asked me about the scorching of the Burning Sands. I was wondering if perhaps you might like to hear a tale from from beyond the Empire. I can think of one that seems appropriate, given the weather."

She does not cease her ministrations as she speaks.

[Seppun Hideo]

Hideo closed his eyes for a moment. It had hurt slightly when she started on the neck, and Amaya would notice a few of the cuts near the back of his neck - where it would have been difficult for the man to reach - had not been properly cleaned before.

"A story?" He repeated, curious "I would certainly enjoy another story from Amaya-chan."

[Ide Amaya]

She rinsed the silk and continued to work on his shoulders. After a moment, she began the tale.

It is said, in some lands beyond the Empire, that the Lady Sun had two servants: the Fire Man and the Rain Woman. When it became too hot, Rain Woman was permitted to draw her clouds across the sky and pour down the life-giving rain. And when Rain Woman allowed it to rain too long, Fire Man was permitted to tear apart her clouds and chase them away. Fire Man was quick and bad-tempered, while Rain Woman was slow and sleepy, indeed even the sound of her own rain put her to sleep and then the crafty Fire Man has great power.

This happened long, long ago, before the scorching of the Burning Sands. It was the month of the Serpent, but already it was a hot as the month of the Goat. The grasses of the meadows looked brown, and all the paddy fields were drying up. There was one small village at the foot of a mountain where things were worse than anywhere else. The water in the fountain disappeared and there was no longer enough for the animals and they had to be slaughtered or sold.

She discarded the silk cloth and took up a new one.

[Seppun Hideo]

The tale had distracted him from the slight pain at the wounds being cleaned on his back. It was interesting; the one that started the rain and the one that ended the rain. He kept still, listening as she told it, but not interrupting as it didn't appear the story was finished yet.

He did note however that his ruined kimono was becoming very useful somehow

[Ide Amaya]

Moving to the other shoulder, careful to keep the dirtied water from running down his back to drip on the kimono, she continued.

Only one in the village was not troubled by this, for his farm had been given too much rain the previous year and the stream had flooded. Now in this time of drought, he was the only one who still had fresh grass and whose well still contained water. One day his neighbour came to him and begged for some water for her sheep.

"I will give you the water with pleasure, good mother, but then you too must do something for me in return," the farmer said.

"What is it you wish me to do?" she asked.

"Your eldest son, Jiahao, would like to marry my Min, and I wish to tell you that nothing will come of it." said the farmer.

"But your Min loves my Jiahao," she said.

"I do not care about that," replied the farmer, "my daughter does what I want her to do, and I do not want her to marry a poor creature like your son."

"If the heavy rain comes again," answered the mother, "we shall no longer be poor and if, by chance, the stream floods your lands and home, you will no longer be rich."

"It doesn't look as thought that will ever happen," laughed the farmer, "Rain Woman has fallen asleep and who knows when she will awake again?"

She gently smoothed the silk over his neck and both shoulders and took up the balm.

[Seppun Hideo]

There was a frown, but luckily she couldn't see it. It was a very good story, and he was very into it, but it was also not a nice story in the content.

"What a horrible farmer" Hideo commented quietly as he listened.