Bathing the Rooster (Open)

[Asako Saburo]

It was like clockwork. Saburo's day was done, and he finished eating before going to the baths. Everything in its place, everything having its place. He needed to bathe the both times, to make sure every speck of dirt and grime was removed. So, he went over the process of cleansing and scrubbing cleanly before finally settling into the water. He had out a couple extra towels just in case those blasted, filthy frogs re-appeared today. No thank you, he didn't care if they were actually poisonous, or if the Doji insisted that they needed friends. He wanted no croaking accompaniment in his bathing today.

[Kakita Kenji]

After the garden discussion and dinner Kenji went to the bath house. The day had been long and he longed for some relaxation for the evening. And so he happily made his way there.

When he entered the changing room he happily sang a song to himself.
It was a melancholic song that spoke of love, desire and envy, but Kenji's voice was as fluid as butter on a hot summer day today. His own song brought a small tear to his eye.

After he had washed himself he went to the bath house to meet Saburo. The song stopped.

"Greetings, Asako-san," Kenji said, bowing slightly, then slipped into the hot water. "How was your day today? Successful, I suppose?"

---
D5 Rooster Perfom:Singing/Awa: 3d10o10k2 28

[Asako Saburo]

...

Why did everyone insist on bursting into song? Was this some sort of freakish kabuki play where characters randomly began to dance and chant instead of expressing their feelings like normal adults? Would the entirety of this collection of misfits suddenly burst into a ribald war chant, stomping their feet in time as a group to convince the sensei to allow them to have their after school time together...

...

Ok, at least Kenji didn't sound like he had murdered a cat. That was a bonus. He bobbed his head from the bath and grunted, motioning that he was welcome to join. "I have performed adequately to basic expectations thus far, and the sweet buns were a pleasant addition." He nodded over at the other young man. "I recall your commentary on tactical use of terrain was fairly accurate, as far as achieving the high ground was concerned." He did have a knack for focusing on the positives of others in his commentary even when he sounded like he was chewing a sour plum.

[Kakita Kenji]

Kenji was a little ashamed. Actually, he only sang when he felt alone or with others, but it was already done.
"Thanks, for that. However, my ability to lead was probably not enough. At best, there would have been a mutual retreat, at worst, hundreds of people would have died senselessly.

He sank a little into the hot water and let out a long sigh.

"I envy you Asako-san, you keep your ON up all the time, you got the admiration of the sensei and you get top marks. And all this without being schemed behind your back or having your reputation soiled. Say, how do you do it?"

[Asako Saburo]

He blinked and looked over at the Kakita for a moment. It wasn't the first time Kenji had asked this, and he wasn't the first. People had asked him for advice and he couldn't recall for the life of him a good, fair way to answer the question. Finally, he just sort of sighed and looked up at the ceiling before growling out in a distant, unoffended way.

"I don't actually know. The only thing I feel I am doing different than most of you is that I am not competing with you. Perhaps in the eyes of our sensei, some of our kohai, I am. But I am not, not truly. I am competing with myself. With limitations I have been told I had for years. And I am so used to it that it never seems to end." He grunted out. "I have only recently begun to feel that I would prevail at all. There are those in my homeland who were unsure I would see my gempukku. I mean to prove them wrong and finish it at the championship."

He closed his eyes. "I... think it is a mistake some of our kohai make. They look at us as the competitiors. We are children. Look to the sensei. Strive to be better than them. To learn their lessons and master them. I am not someone to wish to become."

[Kakita Kenji]

Kenji needed some time to process Saburo's answer. Maybe that was the moment when Kenji would see Saburo in his most emotional state, if that guy had emotions at all.

Until now Kenji had only seen Saburo as a rival, someone who stood in his way, but just in that moment he realized how vulnerable the boy in front of him was. He saw the small, slender, pale and sickly boy in front of him, without the lens of envy in front of him. In a way he even felt sorry for him.

"All my life," Kenji began, "my parents compared me to my dead brother. Nagito is faster than you, Nagito is more charismatic than you, and so on, basically they said: he is better than you in every way. So it has become a kind of reflex to compare me with others and see how I can outdo them... "

Kenji put his head back and stared at the ceiling

"But I forgot that everybody has their own problems,.... Maybe your way is better: Be better than the man you were yesterday, Shinsei would certainly be proud...."

He looked at Saburo again, this time with a Serious look

"However, i disagree with your assessment about yourself, I wish that I could muster your will and determination. Your defiance of your limitations has made you a strong man, Saburo-san. There's a fire burning inside you one can only envy, so don't make yourself worse than you are"

Kenji smiled: "But don't think you'll be Topaz Champion, that place is reserved for me."

[Asako Saburo]

He listened to him, keeping his eyes closed. When he spoke of his brother, there was a small smile, and by the end, the smile had an almost... weirdly viperish element, though when he spoke his tone wasn't nasty. It was... a bit more like how he'd spoken to the Moto during their lessons a few days ago. "I believe I understand how you feel about your brother. I am... blessed that my parents and siblings do not compare me so. They... are very supportive. My mother is, perhaps, a touch too doting. It is the doctors who have told me my limitations." His eyes opened and he nodded over at Kenji, a soft bit of humor there, under all the gravel. "But ... for years I stared with envy at how easy it was for my siblings. Perhaps fighting with those limitations has ... helped a little. Long enough and it eventually begins to pay off, or you join your ancestors."

He shifted some and looked more at the Kakita, the edge in his grin noteworthy. "And yes... I like the look in your eyes right now. I am not competing with you today, but when we are at the championship, that will change. Do not settle, Kakita. I certainly do not intend to. I intend to give you a fight. I do not care how rare it is for a shugenja to win the championship. It does happen. So I will be giving that my all as well."

[Kakita Kenji]

Kenji looked at Saburo, into those unnatural yellow eyes. Kenji's gaze was filled with fire and he said, as solemnly as it went in a bathhouse, "I, Kakita Kenji, swear to you, on my honor, Asako Saburo-San, that I will give everything during the Topaz Championship to become the Topaz Master. I will have no regard for what your limitations will be at the time of the tournament, I will treat you as I would treat any other samurai. May it cost blood, sweat and tears, but I will beat you."

Kenji was suddenly imbued with a feeling of determination. He would make it, no, he had to make it.

[Asako Saburo]

He flashed him a little teeth in his next grin and his eyes sparkled. "Much better, Kakita-san. And likewise, I swear that when we are competing for the Topaz Championship, I will be treating you with all the respect a Kakita is due. I will give everything I have to show you what I am capable of and I intend on my honor to put everything toward defeating you." A nod and he chuckled. "For now, though. We are not quite at Topaz yet, are we? I think you have been doing quite well, from what I have seen. You are not going to be easy to go up against in the tournament, when we arrive there."

[Kakita Kenji]

So that was the true, real Saburo. Kenji actually liked it.

"We're not at the Topaz Championship yet, I'll agree with you."

He leaned back: "Well, I can say that I wasn't even hit by an Ashigaru during the training events, unlike Kokyou-san who was almost beaten to death during the last training. In general I think that physical training has gone quite well for me so far. However, I made a fool of myself with the knowledge questions and I should probably still work on my leadership skills, even if that is more the task of the Daidoji in the Crane Clan. The upcoming tests could be interesting if the sensei focus on the higher arts like courting or art. However, I have to say that you are doing very well, and I can praise your skills in Jiujutsu, it was quite impressive how you pushed your cousin and Kaiu-san out of the ring."

[Kokyou]

"Aye! 'twas a hard thing t' do, but I had t' prove it. But now I know: I be immortal. T' a point"."

Kokyou says. Appearing out of nowhere from within the pool in the middle of them.

[Kakita Kenji]

"By the Heavens!" exclaimed Kenji, when Kokyou suddenly emerged from the bathroom.

[Kokyou]

"Indeed! Tengoku!" Kokyou nods while standing up with crossed arms, and looking up to the ceiling as if it were open. Water touching his legs.

[Kakita Kenji]

"What were you doing in there, and how could you hold your breath for so long?" Kenji asked rather agiated, his heart still pounding from the scare

[Asako Saburo]

"That... is an excellent question," Saburo said, his eyebrows raising and a very serious look of ... he wasn't quite sure 'what' going into his feature. He looked absolutely just a bit surprised and ... well, more than a little put out. Where the hell did this boy keep coming from?

[Kokyou]

He chuckles, rolling his shoulders. "Ye know scallywags say I be a shugenja, now. Don't worry where I be comin' from. Jus' take pleasure that I be here."

[Kakita Kenji]

"..." Kenji was actually speechless

[Asako Saburo]

Saburo's eyes narrowed and then he remembered something. He had no idea who had been on the rooftop with Haruki that night, but he knew that there had been other students there. Ironically, the one who had been present there and who was in the bath was Kenji, not Kokyou, but that did not change the assumption that Saburo made right then.

"As you say. Well, you are already joined here. Relax, bathe." His tone was measured and a touch cool. "There is room enough in the bath." And if he was abusing that sakkaku mask, well his soul would be a plaything of tricksters soon enough and the Asako wasn't going to get in the way of that business. Maybe the mujina would take to his odd humor.

[Kokyou]

Kokyou looks to Saburo rather surprised. Positively surprised. He says, “ Wha' sort o' creature stung ye?”

With a laught, he lowers himself back into the warm water letting a sigh out.

[Kakita Kenji]

Kenji shook his head. "Kokyou-san, did you know that Haruki-san expects the Ashigaru you fought to hate us students? You were not his first victim."