[Day 6 Late Evening, Khulun Yurt] Scandalous

[Moto Khulun]

“I would rather just be Khulun than Prince Charming, but if that makes you feel better it does not bother me. I can tell this is your first time dealing with such emotions, or not so much time around women like me,” she responds as she eats some jerky.

“I would rather you be Nintoku than maiden, but whatever makes you feel happy.”

[Matsu Nintoku]

"I also hope you can be Khulun," he replied with a genuine smile. "You were the one that told me the most important thing. You told me my name was a good one. It confused me at the time and I think it is partly to blame for this but... I enjoy it."

"You are different of what I expected my bride would be and while we still are not set and might not even marry... I will fight for you. I want you Khulun. I don't care you're a barbarian. I don't care that your culture and mine are so different. I don't care that I might be confused," his words were easily loosed by the warm encouragement of kumis. "I am Nintoku and I never backed off from a challenge."

[Moto Khulun]

“And here I thought you were barbarian,” she says with a chuckle.

“Good you fight hard, and I shall fight as well and we shall see if our efforts are enough to find a way to be as one. We are different people, but we are samurai, yes? Different samurai, yes.”

“You have strong name and are strong man, it would be good to have you at my side.”

[Matsu Nintoku]

"I suppose one would think so," he laughed as he imagined how the Moto reacted when they heard the Rokugani did not eat meat nor wear fur.

"I guess the truth was always in front of me," he sighed. "It was only through the love he felt for his sister that Nintoku finally braved to face the Mountain King and it was that same love that made him able to defeat them."

"There might not be any Mountain Kings left nor any mountain giants but I will surely surpass any challenge," his mouth twisted into a sly smile. "Specially if that makes making a proper Matsu out of you."

[Moto Khulun]

“I am still hoping to see you in furs and leathers, Sayyed, it would be good for you,” she says.

“The challenges are many.” She then adds looking him in the eye, “I am not sure I would ever be a proper Matsu any more than you a proper Moto.”

[Matsu Nintoku]

"Oh do you?" he chuckled as he imagined himself looking like one of the Unicorn. "I don't think that will happen so easily."

"And I believe I would be an excellent Moto," he crossed his arms. "Have you forgotten how easily I overpowered you in our first meeting? And despite having been fairly poor today I think I showed how well I ride and handle a horse and..." he lifted the skin of kumis and took a sip of it. "...I can handle your draught pretty easily."

[Moto Khulun]

“There is more to Moto than that, but perhaps you would adjust well,” she says thinking.

“You certainly enjoy a challenge. I would hear more of your family, siblings?”

[Matsu Nintoku]

"Three sisters," he replied as he thought of their faces. He hadn't seen them for a while. "Like me they are all heroes of the Lion, though they are certainly more renowned than myself."

"My eldest sister is named Himiko. She brought great honor to our family by being one of the youngest members to join the Lion's Pride," he started telling with a clear undertone of fraternal pride. "The middle one is Iwa and she is as ferocious and wild as the founder of my bloodline; she refused to marry anyone that couldn't best her in a combat invoking some old rule in the Matsu family. To this date she has broken as many hearts as bones of would-be suitors," he laughed. "The cunning of an Ikoma in her. How she ever found that obscure law still escapes me."

"The youngest one is called Aomi. She is somewhat of an oddball among us," he frowned. "She is a formidable warrior, don't get me wrong, she just prefers to do so through iajutsu. Her reason being that she was tired of the Crane claiming any sort of superiority over the Lion," he sighed. "She really dislikes the Crane."

"And as to my relation with challenges," he shrugged. "Try being the youngest child. You just grow into them when you try to carve your path in the world. My siblings had already done so much and I just wanted to be sure I'd escape their shadow."

"What about you Khulun? Do you have any siblings?"

[Moto Khulun]

“My eldest sister is a wise woman and knows the old ways of sorcery, and then I have twin older brothers both ride with Moto-dono and then there is me, banner carrier when my father cannot. Mother is skilled fighter and respected,” she says.

[Matsu Nintoku]

"Not so different then," he replied. "I take you're also the youngest?"

[Moto Khulun]

“Yes by a few years, it is good and bad, some teasing some fighting, some say I was spoiled, they usually have bloody noses,” she says with a laugh.

“Sometimes I have bloody nose.”

[Matsu Nintoku]

"I know that feeling," he nodded sagely. "My sisters would constantly tease me and berate me. Then I'd challenge them. Then I'd get beaten up by them." he let a sigh "They shaped me into a better warrior that is for sure."

[Moto Khulun]

“Similar stories yet very different endings,” she says with a nod.

[Matsu Nintoku]

The Lion smiled as the Moto told him about her family and her childhood. The similarities between both of them were present and it was comforting to see that the woman he liked had so much in common with him.

As he stared at her in silence he begun to lose himself in the comfortably numb state caused by the kumis and enhanced by her beauty. Her primal appeal resonated with his tastes and before long he found himself reliving the two kisses he had shared with her.

Before long he realized he had been stared and quickly looked away, his cheeks flaring; taking a sip of the kumis to hide as best as possible his blush.

[Moto Khulun]

She just looks at him and then laughs as she says, “I will not your eat heart today, mighty Lion.”