The New Winds

Zashi plays with a long section of red hair, bringing it back into a trademark braid, looking cleaner than a short while ago.

"Let's see if my performance was up to snuff."

It was time to meet with Shosuro Tomoe, but he not expect another student to be joining, yet he sees another masked individual in the spot.

"Hello there. I am called Kitsune Zashi. I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting you."

"Hello, I am Bayushi Kaidan." He gave a bow. "It is an honor. I haven't met much people here." The teen admited. "May be the fortunes will smile upon me and allow me to meet more."

"Oh! I rather enjoy meeting new people. We should see about getting you out more~"

Zashi practically pirouettes.

"Though I guess I haven't met that many her. There was floaty demon-mask before I came here, the Kakita and Kaiu craftsmen and the lovely Sakura. And now you Bayushi-san. It's all making things far more interesting."

Speaking of masked, a shadowy, masked woman peers out at the two from a shady spot of darkness and calls out dramatically to them.

"Have the children come to play, or to instead are they here to make the world a stage?"

"I am here to learn sensei." Zashi responds, still light with words, but with an intensity that had been previously missing. "I am curious what part you would have me play."

Her eyes light up and her voice turns mischievous.

"One should play the part of a Kitsune spirit, attempting to blend in with the samurai of Rokugan. The audience must be able to tell however that the actor is such without being directly told."

"Floating mask?" Kaidan blinked a few times. He gave a curtsy bow to the sensei. "The world is a stage sensei and I wonder what part I will play." He smiled. "I am wondering what would you like me do."

"You should play the part of a doe eyed Crane maiden, who has fallen in love with a handsome man despite her lords orders to marry for duty. The Kitsune is your duty."

Zashi barely manages to resist a chuckle. There was a story about such a situation that immediately sprang to mind, but in the tale, the Duty was a Scorpion. Well, any good performer was aware of the audience.

The idea for the character starts as a basic wood model in Zashi's mind. The Duty was a villain, or a moral tale of duty done or in a tragedy where love won out over duty to great consequence. There would be something wrong with this man then (yes, man felt right). Not a coward, or a brute, no. But not the shining Crane of pillowbooks. A limp perhaps, a sign of the gods displeasure.

"My betrothed?" Zashi reaches out the man's left hand. "We have much to attend to."

Kaidan blinked a few times as he got into character. He remembered his mother and her traditions. "My lord... I am conflicted..." He said in a womanly voice. He placed his hand on top of the Kitsune and patted it a few times. "This seems a bit awkward for me. It is...." The young boy looked at the Kitsune's eyes. "I must..." He struggled to find words. His eyes started to water.

"Come now." Zashi places a hand firmly on Kaidan's cheek, pulling his "betrothed's" face so it is facing square on. "If we are to be wed, then any concern of yours is one of mine. I clearly can see the look of worry, of...hesitation, is it? Come, speak! What troubles you?"

The young boy lowered his head. "Benten has blessed me..." Kaidan frowned. "It saddens me to have this blessing fall upon me right now." Kaidan looked up. "We are samurai... and my duty is to you."

"STOP!"

The scorpion woman says sharply.

"Come now, Bayushi-san. You should know that to reveal such a love would put the lover at risk. You must be discrete. Start over."

Zashi steps back to the initial blocking for the scene practicing the limp. It would have to be slight as Zashi thought about...slight from years, decades of practice to have it be erases as thoroughly as possible. Certainly no less deadly with a blade because of it. Proud then, and disciplined to keep it that way. Brought to a pinnacle, to the honor of being considered for such a reunion favored by the Emperor.

He would be the villain perhaps, not due to innate cruelty, but as much a victim of fate as his bethrothed with a wandering eye. Were he to be damned himself, it would be the same unswerving dedication, and pride that would be his downfall.

"Beloved betrothed?" Zashi's tone was still distant, commanding, but not unkind. "It is good to see you. Our day approaches soon, does it not?"

"Oh... right, right" He slapped his face lightly. He turns back into character. "My lord, it is good to see you." The young Bayushi bowed. "It is."

"Better. Continue, Kitsune-san"

"So curt. Have I caused offense?" Though framed that way, the words hold no remorse or worry Zashi thinks. This is a man who already knows the answer to that question. "To risk the joy of families, the pride of parents pinned upon their being would be...unforgivable, would it not?"

"No my lord." He smiled. "Joy my lord? Some say marriage brings sadness and sin..." He nodded. "Not that this union would bring such things."

"Kitsune-san, you are playing the part of a spirit, remember. How are you to convey that to the audience without breaking the illusion?"

Zashi bows, breaking character. "Forgive me sensei, I did not understand." Zashi walks in a circle, discarding the old character, resetting. With a pull of a hair tie, Zashi's locks tumble free, setting over the redhead's eyes.

"What's this now?" The confident tone is now gone, now a whisper that now seems to carry. Zashi leans in, tilting a nose in and then up as if breathing Kaidan in. Zashi's face backs away, shock and confusion.

"You waver?" The whisper turns to a hiss