Birds, Bees, and Phoenixes (Day 5, LM, Yuki's Yurt)

[Asako Hirase]

Diplomacy was important when dealing with women who knew how to use three foot long razor blades and so Hirase was careful with his reply.

"Yuki-san, as you said, I have a child. So I'm afraid I have to say that, in this case, your sister was passing on incorrect information." He looked sidelong at her again. "Didn't anyone ever explain to you what the monthly bleeding is about?"

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki played with her hair a bit. "Hai, of course. My sister..." She paused and frowned a bit and stopped, looking at Hirase and obviously uncertain of the facts of what she was about to say.

[Asako Hirase]

"Go on, then. What did she say?" Better to learn now if Yuki was victim of an ongoing prank or a systemic system of misinformation. If it was the former, it was a shame and certainly unpleasant. If the latter?

He was going to have to pen a sharply worded letter or two.

[Asako Yuki]

"It's a gift from the Fortunes, so that we know what it is like to bleed before we face battle." Yuki said meekly, looking down at her knees.

[Asako Hirase]

Letter it was.

"If that was true, the Fortunes would have gifted men with a similar thing, neh?" The older Phoenix's voice was gentle. "Look, Cousin. I can't let you go into a marriage with these thoughts. Inexperience is one thing...even an expected thing...but pure ignorance like this serves no one, especially not you."

Rising, he moved to crouch on his heels in front of his Cousin, just as he would when he was speaking of something quite important to his young son. Being at the same, even a slightly lesser, eye level helped instill a sense of strength in one's listener, after all.

"I will tell you the basics of what you need to know. I will also tell you the things you and your eventual husband will have to work out together. I want you to ask me any question you need to along the way. Agreed?"

[Asako Yuki]

"You don't?" Yuki asked. Apparently she'd just assumed that men did, and it never really came up. Yuki shifted a bit as Hirase came closer, but didn't move beyond that.

"Ah... hai. I will try, Hirase-san."

[Asako Hirase]

"All right."

He didn't stay crouched and instead made himself comfortable on the floor before her, pulling some spare parchment from a sleeve as he did so.

"The first thing you need to understand is that a woman's body, once she is old enough, is constantly readying to cradle a child. The bleeding is a renewal, a constant cleaning if you will so that when the time comes the baby can grow in a clean, healthy place. The opening is the same one from which a child will, when the full three seasons of growing have passed, enter the world."

He certainly hoped that she'd been told that much, that this, at least, was a review, but given the talk so far, Hirase was assuming the worst.

"More pertinent to this discussion, however, is that that opening is also how a child enters, in the form of the seed of its father."

[Asako Yuki]

"I knew about pregnancy, but... I'll have to write to Kaori-chan and tell her all this!" Hirase paused then and tilted her head to the side. "Ehh? A seed?"

[Asako Hirase]

"A man's body is different. You know of the concept, the shape, of the symbol yin and yang? It is a euphemism, a more genteel representation of how a pair unites in this act."

Pulling a bit of charcoal, he began to sketch a rough human outline, using an economy of line and purposefully leaving it without much by way of feature.

"The womans body receives and grows the seed it is given. Yin. If you've explored, you know that the opening is deeper than your fingers can delve."

More lines went on the paper at the place where the legs joined.

"A man's body is meant to fill that void. But for the seed to be planted and have a chance to grow, it needs to be as close to that place of growing as possible when it is released."

Turning, he held his illustration up for her.

"Every man is different in this feature, just as every man is different in the size of his hands, his height, his eye color. But at essence, this will always be the same."

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki looked a mixture of curious and incredibly embarrassed, her face growing more red as Hirase mentioned her exploring her own body and she shifted about uncomfortably, glancing at a box with mekhem scrawlings and a smoking pipe.

"O...Oh. Ummm... I've." She flushed even more. "So, how does... I remember seeing my brothers, when we would bathe. It's so limp, that seems like it's uncomfortable."

[Asako Hirase]

"Most of the time, yes, that is how it is."

He drew another picture to illustrate.

"I think it's because it's easier to tuck away in your fundoshi that way." This was as good a segue as any, he supposed. "It stiffens to the other form when a man is sexually interested by someone. What you need to understand, Yuki-san, is that the act of making a child, sex, is a pleasant one. Very much so, once a pair learns enough about each other to make a proper team effort of it. That is why there are such things as bastards...sometimes, the pleasure tempts people to perform the act without the sanctity of a marriage ceremony."

[Asako Yuki]

"Oh." Yuki was, by now, beet red. "So Moto Butaj-san..." She paused. "He can hardly be blamed for that, neh. Though... I guess I can see why some do not like the reminder of two samurai failing to control their impulses."

[Asako Hirase]

If he was uncomfortable, Hirase didn't show it. He did clearly note her discomfort, however, because he was studiously not looking at her, allowing her to compose herself.

"Our society allows for liaisons, of course, provided that they are conduced with proper discretion. I'm told that there are herbs that a young woman can use to reduce the chance of conception. There are also forms of mutual satisfaction which harbor less risk of a pregnancy." He thought about that, then added, 'Or self-satisfaction, for that matter, to make it easier to forbear when one is with someone they fancy but cannot for whatever reason indulge with. But..."

One shoulder rose, then fell, in a shrug.

"Samurai are still people. Desire is a sin, and it is a powerful one. It is never the child's fault, but the shame is heritable all the same, just as other shames not cleansed properly would be."

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki, feeling a bit of a headache coming on, reached for her pipe and the box. "Excuse me, Hirase-san." She mumbled as she got out a paper-wrapped piece of resin and shook the contents into the pipe before lighting a stick and using it to start the contents up and taking a few deep breaths.

"Apologies. I just... this is a lot to take in. So... this... self-satisfying. Is it... umm... Obvious?" Her beet red complexion was already beginning calm down a bit as she smoked.

[Asako Hirase]

The box was interesting, much more so than the contents. He'd never seen that sort of carving before. "I'd like to see that when you're done..."

Then, as she soothed herself, he considered the question.

"That depends solely on you and your self-control. Certainly the act itself is largely quiet. It makes no more sound than rubbing a sore shoulder would, since that is more or less the majority of what you'd be doing." He thought about it some more, then added, "Unless you go for the more in-depth form, which I don't suggest for you, seeing as you're unmarried still. That one can be slightly louder, what with the wetness involved, though even then it's negligible."