Never Feeling Clean (Open)

[Asako Saburo]

No matter how many times he washed, Saburo never really felt clean on any given day. It was like a sensation of grime crawling over himself, a constant feeling of being ... unclean somehow, whether it be spiritual or physical. He kept it in his head, mostly because he knew how people would react. His mother's oversensitivity on the subject did not help matters much, and his father trying to instill some sort of backbone had been only marginally better.

But every day, twice a day, like clockwork, he was scrubbing himself down to remove the layer of dead skin and every last bit of sweat before he entered the baths, his scrubbing intense. He looked, as always... not exactly well, but he didn't cough or show signs of an active illness. He just didn't look great was all. Hearing the door open in the baths, he glanced to the side to give a nod to whoever came in and continued his extended preparation before the bath, his gaze not lingering for more than a second.

[Doji Sakura]

The door would be on the other side of the changing rooms, where the female students were, so the nod wasn't notice. Soon after, a singing voice could be heard. A familiar singing voice, as Sakura cleaned her soft skin carefully and gently before wrapping a towel around herself and heading to the baths.

She didn't notice anyone else around.


D3 Rooster singing: 4d10o10k2 13

[Asako Saburo]

It is the cat strangling narcoleptic. Wonderful.

These baths were for both genders, were they not? A grunt, but he went to grab a towel, properly covering himself before draping a second and then a third towel over his shoulders. He stepped to the entrance and tried to remember the cat strangler's name. Kakita? Was it Kakita? No, no, she was an Asahi... no... Doji. yes, it was Doji. The woman whose voice made his blood curdle when he tried to study was a Doji.

He rapped gently at the door and spoke up in a gravelly tone. "Doji-san. I believe the baths are for both genders, correct? You will not complain if I join you, yes?" Best to knock first. It would at the very least stop that infernal racket she insisted on making all the time. Never you mind that she was in tune today. that wasn't the point.

[Doji Sakura]

The singing did indeed stop. Sakura blinked a few times in surprise before sinking further into the water and speaking.

"H-hai! They are I think Asako-san. I-it's fine" she pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them.

[Vutall]

In addition to the Asako boy, now that Sakura was lower in the water, she could spot a couple of tree frogs happily perched on the edge of the bath.

[Asako Saburo]

The door opened and he walked in before taking a look at the tub before walking up to it. Only when he reached the tub did he notice the little ... the hell? Were these the horribly poisonous things people were whispering about? They weren't actually poisonous were they? How did frog poisons work? He frowned and took one of the three towels on his person and started using it to whip and brush them away. No, no no. He was not dealing with this crap right now.

"How did these get in here?"

[Doji Sakura]

Sakura, who was politely looking away as the boy entered and then joined her in the tub, peeked up in confusion.

"How did what get in here?"

Then she noticed.

"Ooh, pretty! You have pet frogs Asako-san? I bet they're really interesting pets! I'm not sure we're supposed to bring our pets to the bath though."

[Asako Saburo]

He batted at them, knocking the frogs away with the towel with enough force to dissuade them from returning, hopefully, before starting to enter the tub and relax into the water. he couldn't completely relax, however, concerned as he was that there was lingering toxins on the lips. He left one of his towels in easy access to smack more frogs while looking over at her with a raised eyebrow, keeping his gaze singularly on a spot to the left of her eyes, above her shoulder.

"I don't have pets. They're pests that have been infesting the grounds lately. Hopefully they aren't actually poisonous." He really couldn't handle poisons. Or diseases...

Or a stiff breeze.

[Doji Sakura]

"Poisonous? Huh?" Sakura blinked, looking at the running away frogs "they looked friendly. I think they just wanted to be near the water. Frogs like water, ne?"

[Asako Saburo]

"I heard talk among the peasants. I admit that it may be talk by people who do not know what is poisonous and what is not. I would prefer not to take the risk, given my constitution." there were too many possible complications in his life, and if they actually were poisonous, he really didn't have much defense.

"They look like frogs. I'm not sure frogs are friendly or unfriendly, unless you are a fly."

[Doji Sakura]

"I'm not a fly though. I'm not quite that small!" Sakura giggled, her eyes staying on the slightly further away frogs "frogs always look friendly. They have a smile all the time."

[Asako Saburo]

They have a smile all the... what kind of inane gibberish is that? They're not smiling. They're waiting to snap a fly up with their tongues! Oh gods and fortunes, is this girl obsessed with things she thinks are cute?!?

"... No, you are far too sizeable to be a fly," he replied in a faintly wooden tone, wiping the lip of the tub and looking over it suspiciously, grunting. It looked clean enough. Finally he leaned back against the edge of the tub and started to sink in, the other towel still ready for frog repellent. "I have never considered them especially cute."

He didn't think anything was cute. Except for hedgehogs. he liked hedgehogs. CLEAN hedgehogs.

[Doji Sakura]

"Maybe you should look at them more" Sakura said with a smile, looking back at the boy "what does Asako-san think is cute?"

She seemed so sweet and innocent..

[Asako Saburo]

"I do not often appreciate the 'cuteness' of a creature or thing. They do not draw my attention in that fashion?" He considered that for a moment, rubbing his finger over his lips, tapping once or twice and then shrugging. "I suppose that Hedgehogs are attractive in a soft, and not unpleasant fashion, without being pillars of beauty, perfection or elegance."

...uh, wow, that was definitely not a way to talk about cute things, but he thought hedgehogs were cute?

[Doji Sakura]

"Hedgehogs?"

Sakura went quiet, thinking, then she nodded a few times.

"Hai! They are cute! They have that adorable little nose and deep eyes. I hadn't thought about it before, I've not seen a hedgehog for a long time. Do you get a lot of hedgehogs where you are?"

[Asako Saburo]

"In the forests, yes. I do not go to them often, as I find that the exertion is not always the wisest course, and the Isawa forests are an untamed, powerful place, but I've visited the edges now and again, and you can see such creatures rooting around for grubs and the like. I rather like their quills. Very attractive." You know, somehow was it really a surprise that the thing that he liked about them was that they were walking pincushions?

[Doji Sakura]

"Hedgehogs are a lot like people you know" Sakura scooped some water up in her hands "sometimes they're really spiky, and can hurt people, but behind that spiky outside is a softer inside that it's protecting. When they trust you, they'll let you see that softer side."

She poured the water in her hands over her face.

"I remember a sensei telling me that once, and it makes sense."

[Asako Saburo]

"Mmmph, I do not know that all of us have soft sides. Have you seen the raw fury of the power Isawa Tsuke-dono wields? Some are hardness and razor-edged to their core, as is needed of them. Though some I suppose require softness." He wasn't going to actually say 'I don't have a soft side either' but he was going to imply it nice and hard. "There is a story of the hedgehog though. They are apparently quite social, but the quills force the to stay apart, making it hard for them to be close. I am told that it is a dilemma that many people face. Too much pain separates them, and so it is easier that they keep each other at a certain distance."

Sure thing, Shinji. Keep telling yourself that.

[Doji Sakura]

"I bet Isawa-dono has a nice side that he only shares with people he trusts" Sakura said with confidence, smiling brightly "some people just have to be more careful and guarded, and he is a very important person! Can't allow himself to appear weaker, ne?"

She then looked saddened at the tale, peering out where the frogs were.

"I wonder if the Frogs have the same issue, everyone things they're mean and poisonous but really they just want to be friends. We should be nicer to people that try to be distant, so they know they're not alone. Don't worry Asako-san, I'll be your friend!"

[Asako Saburo]

... You really are this ... ugh...

"I suspect if Isawa-dono has such a side, it is buried very deeply indeed." And that was as far as he cared to go with speculating on the softer side of one of the most ruthless, militant and vicious duelists in the entire empire who had the full force of fire at his beck and call. "As for the frogs, I do not think they are 'mean.' They are frogs. They eat flies, croak and produce tadpoles. Normally, they are harmless and a tiny bit filthy. If these are that, then so be it. But if they happen to be poisonous I cannot risk being around them. My constitution cannot handle being in contact with venoms and toxins of any variety. The last time I ate underprepared food, I was laid up for a week and a half."

He grunted and shook his head. "I did not come to this place to seek friends. I came to seek perfection, Doji-san. I seek to escape the limitations of my frame and finally escape that weakness to find true strength at last. If I acquire social contacts in the process, that is not a bad thing, but why would I worry about not making friends?" Ya know, calling them social contacts wasn't exactly the most friendly of things.