Letter

[Asako Saburo]

-snip-

[Oh, he needed to address this promptly, didn't he? Oh yes. He wanted to make sure that she understood his thoughts on the matter, and he figured the first words would make all of that vary clear to her.]

Sasaiko-chan,

These letters are between us, and the fortunes willing there will be many more in years to come. You may, when it is us and us alone, refer to me in any way you wish, and I will use whatever name you most wish to hear from my lips. Our words are for each other, and not for their ears.

Sumai will never be a bad choice of practice in preparing for this competition. It has ever been known as a difficult one for those of us who were not trained as bushi, a thing I know all too well. Still, Agasha-sama's regimen I think will see us through and we will be ready for this. I have the utmost faith in your skills. I must say that I look forward to sharing a cup of tea with you, if for no other reason than that it is the tea that you brew for me. I confess that I find the thought that you prepare it solely for me when we meet a bit of a selfish vice of my own.

Most of my studies, in fact, have been under Lady Amaterasu's gaze, at Asako-sama's insistence. It is her thought that I must attune myself to the whole of the world, and this is not something I can do in a singular meditation chamber. I take my day's studies in the rock gardens at the Kyuden when I can. It's relaxing. I wish I could explain some of the things that I experience better. It feels as if I am trying to put into words a thing that I cannot even vocalize in my own mind. It is fascinating, but so very surreal to touch the Void.

You are always in my thoughts, Sasaiko. Until our next letter,

-Asako Saburo

[Toritaka Sasaiko]

Saburo-kun,

I blush, of course, to be held in your thoughts, and I hope you know that you remain in mine. And I would answer to whatever name you would think to give me--in fact, I wonder if you have any thoughts about that, since we will be changing our names soon. I shiver with the thought of what I will hear from you when your lips are at my ear.

I have heard it said that the Void does not admit of direct expression save to a few. But I have also heard it said that art allows expression of the otherwise inexpressible. Something about the spaces between saying as much as the words and figures. I cannot help but wonder if that would somehow help, either with your making clearer what you perceive or with your ability to touch that most ineffable thing--or both.

My family remains excited at the prospect of our union, giving it their blessing. There has been an outpouring of support for it, in fact; I think we will be able to enjoy a steadier life at the outset of our lives together because of it. So all that will remain is for us to achieve at the Championship, and I believe that if I but follow your example, I will find my success.

And this:

Spring striking raptor
Transformed by the rising flame
Made anew, brighter

For now,

Toritaka Sasaiko

[Asako Saburo]

-snip-

[His breathing was tight when he read that. A lot of thoughts flooded his head, and his cheeks heated. When the letter arrived, he was glad that he had the good sense to only read it in private. The color of his cheeks would have matched his kimono.]

Sasaiko-chan,

My cheeks are scarlet when I think about you, about how much time I wish we had to get to know each other, how much we will have soon enough. I have many thoughts, and I wish to keep some of the a surprise for the moment we are alone together. Things I will call you when none will ever here, that belong only in our home together.

My siblings, at first, were unable to believe that the nakodo had been spoken to and arranged. I believe they did not think it would happen for years yet, but the entire family is equally pleased with the match. There is hope it can draw our distant families together, and my mother seems more ecstatic than anything that her son has found someone with whom to share his life. She also has finally begun to dote a little less than of old. It helps, I think, that she now realizes that I am Ishiken. I think it gives her something to focus on for my earlier frailty in youth.

You are rather like the Void to me, Sasaiko. An unfathomable thing that I did not expect to find and yet which has consumed my life. You fill my thoughts when they are idle and I feel completed by those thoughts yet I struggle to find the words. But I will try.

Honey on my tongue
The sweetness of your kisses
A Balm for the soul

Until next we write, and soon we reunite,

-Asako Saburo

[Toritaka Sasaiko]

-snip-

The reply letter is on a better quality of paper than previous notes--heavier and smoother. There is a small colored sketch of three tsubaki flowers--red, yellow, and white--on the outside. Inside, the following:

Saburo-kun,

It will be a new thing for me to have siblings; you will have to tell me about yours, since they will be mine in time, and I will have a lot to catch up on! I look forward to hearing about your parents, too. There is so much to learn about the family I will join--and the Family. I hope I will be up to it, that I will not shame you.

You will not have so much to do on that front. I am an only child, and my parents oversee a small village--Mitsubachi Mura. Honey is how we pay our taxes, in the main, though there is not often a shortage of food. I am not so adept with the bees, as I found early on, but I do not have to be, really. Still, I am not allergic, as some are, even in the village. Do you know if you are?

As to the poem, though, I have one for you:

Waiting for the bee
Thinking that its sting is sweet
Piercing in the spring

Toritaka Sasaiko

[Asako Saburo]

-snip-

[He was breathing heavily as he read that poem. There were a few very ... specific ways to talk about things piercing and some were very uh... *swallow* well, he was getting married, right? He was absolutely getting married and it wasn't like he had never thought of uh... piercing things.

DAMNIT! He did not have a dirty mind! He was an Ishiken. Ishiken weren't supposed to have dirty thoughts?]

The next letter came on pristine, good quality paper colored to match her own clan colors. No scent attended it because of the distance, but it had been carefully folded. and neatly worked with the ink brush to leave a perfect calligraphy. Precise and elegant.

Sasaiko-chan,

I look forward both to meeting your parents and for you to meet my own family. They have heard much of you and I wish to transform the fancies of the mind into reality for them and for myself. Somehow, I should not be surprised that you grew among bees, considering how you have managed to sting me and leave your touch felt for so long in my life.

Blesedly, my maladies of my youth were rarely for allergic reasons, and I have in fact been stung once or twice by bees. I had a bit of a sweet tooth when I was very young, and the minders would always be annoyed because I got too close to their hives when I happened to be outside of town, visiting. There will be no peril in visiting your home. And in truth, while I am not so strong as others my age, there should be no real risk in anything to prevent us traveling anywhere in the empire on the work of the magistry.

Bees gathers nectar
from the most lovely blossom
sweetest on my tongue

[Kokyou]

An anonymous letter

Kokyou san:

Row row row your boat.
Rowing gently down the stream.
Life is so extreme.

Reply to the anonymous letter, written right below it, pinned at the The House of the Laughing Carp board with a dagger.

Anonymous admirer:

A pure paragon
As a specimen, yes, I'm...
Intimidating