[D8, LE, Expecting] The Trouble With Onyx

[Matsu Kogo]

Kogo listens intently. "Sakurako sounds like she would enjoy my family. Matsu women are known for not enjoying no." Perhaps there is some learning there... "Your mother sounds like a strong woman. Does she prefer a certain weapon?" She stays quiet, noting the pauses, but not pushing

[Kaiu Hiroji]

Hiroji nods, somewhat lost in thought. "Yes, I am sure she'd enjoy meeting them too. You have some qualities which remind me of her, Kogo-San. " He says as he smiles. "My mother prefers the Ono. She was the first one who introduced me to the masakari actually" He nods to the axe in the corner. "I hear axes were also popular with my ancestors. My mother's father was a Hida who too used the Masakari." He is quiet for a moment... "if I had to say one thing about my father is that... He is silent. You remember the story I told you of him and the rocks?"

[Matsu Kogo]

She smiles. "It is a substantial weapon. It must be a very different way of using a weapon, versus a katana." Seeing his change in mood, she quiets as well. "Yes, I do."

[Kaiu Hiroji]

Hiroji is silent again, before he takes the sake bottle and drinks what remains in it without pouring it into his cup. And then he speaks. "That was a prime example of him. He rarely speaks, and when he does he does so sparingly. He rarely shows emotions. And he treats us like... Like we're nothing more than a house to be built with nothing more than what is needed. His methods of raising are tough and cruel... And he never clarifies theM and we're just left to guess why he did that and what we should take away from it!" He takes a breath as his tone rises to anger with every word. "And the worst thing, the worst thing is... He only sees me. Takahiro and Sakurako are only tools for him raising me. He never speaks to them unless I am to be punished or made to learn something." He spits the last sentence with venom that seems to frighten Hiroji himself.

[Matsu Kogo]

Kogo listens, finding the quiet space in her self where the balance lives, as she breathes through the intense feeling the Hiroji has brought into the Yurt. "Our duty of respect to those who have raised us is occasionally a...complex one. Some of their choices may seem...impossible or strange. But if there is anything I have learned this miai, it is that sometimes, parents...have their own difficulties that they seek to hide from us, because they are samurai and such emotion can feel shameful to some. Then, this emotion can come out sideways. Like a knife in the dark."

Mother, if I return to Matsu lands after this miai, I suspect you will find me much changed. Having known the tiniest piece of loss, I can now see, like looking through a peephole, what it must have been to lose Father.

[Kaiu Hiroji]

Hiroji is silent as he looks at the table. Keeping his gaze down. "If only he would speak. If only he would fucking talk for once."

[Matsu Kogo]

She sits. "Sometimes, speaking is its own risk. If one stays silent, one may feel one risks nothing. But it is its own risk of being misunderstood."

[Kaiu Hiroji]

Hiroji looks up at her. "You truly are one of the wisest people I have ever met Kogo-San. I understand what you mean."

[Matsu Kogo]

She smiles. "I am not sure I am wise. But I am learning." She looks at the Hiroji. "Protect your heart Hiroji-san. There are a thousand who will seek to conquer it. Find one who cherishes it or at least respects it."

[Kaiu Hiroji]

Hiroji sighs sadly. "Love is a fickle thing. But you are right Kogo-San. I will have to think with my head equally as with my heart." He shakes his head sadly. "I have learned so much but the price has been steep indeed."

[Matsu Kogo]

Kogo nods. "Duty must come first. One bears what one must, in order to learn. Gold must be purified by fire." Kogo's face is lit with an intensity as she speaks, one that several of her suitors might recognize, but in a distinctly different path and focus.

[Kaiu Hiroji]

Hiroji nods, his face hardening again. "Duty is what we are and what we must aspire to be." He meets Kogi's gaze.

[Matsu Kogo]

Kogo nods. "Absolutely Hiroji-san. Duty is our life's blood. Without duty, we are merely animals." Kogo ponders, deep in thought. "Balance is all in this."

[Kaiu Hiroji]

He sighs. "Indeed there is. But there are also details and feelings and other meddlesome things that come in the way of simply doing your duty."

[Matsu Kogo]

Kogo nods and sighs as well. "That...is the largest understatement in the world Hiroji-san." She flips her cup back up, to indicate her desire for a refill.