D1LE, Flocking Together Again (Expecting)

[Toritaka Sasaiko]

Arrangements having been made, Toritaka Sasaiko finds a table out of the way and watches, waiting, hoping, eager.

[Asako Saburo]

Saburo emerged in the Red Lotus' door, speaking to the attendant there. As they directed him to Sasaiko's table, he nodded and approached with a small smile on his face. He looked far healthier than he had before, tanned and filled into his kimono, not to mention several inches taller. He bowed low to her before taking a seat and offering her a small smile.

"Toritaka-san. Thank you for getting us a table. You're looking well. Did you have any trouble traveling?" Oh, part of him didn't want to be quite so formal, but they were in public and there were appearances to be maintained.

[Toritaka Sasaiko]

Sasaiko stood to return the bow and smiles as she resumes her seat.

"If I am looking well, you are the more so, Asako-san. And I had no trouble traveling; I trust the same is true for you."

She has not filled out so much as solidified into herself. Her face, perhaps, shows more sun, and her hands, but her smile remains bright and her eyes lively at the sight of him.

"I'd hate to have you start this tournament discommoded, after all."

[Asako Saburo]

He chuckled softly. "I arrived in a nearby village a week ago, to give myself respite from the road's wearies at a forgotten little inn. No fuss, just a quiet arrival. Now that things are starting to build in earnest, it seems that the village is buzzing with more life than I have seen in some time." A small nod and he smiled reassuringly over at her. "I am in good health for this, I assure you. Fit enough that I should do Hida-sensei proud in the sumai matches."

While the servers went about busying themselves with other costumers, they had a moment. "Have you had a chance to reconnect? I know a few of us have come. Kokyou is..." his smile took on the look of a cringe. "...the same as ever, fair warning. I begin to wonder if it is a front with him. he cannot possibly be that...." That kokyou.

[Toritaka Sasaiko]

Sasaiko closes her eyes for a moment, and a slight shudder ripples through her.

She shakes her head to clear it. "I doubt he has it in him to dissemble. It takes more subtlety than that.

"Though I am glad to hear you look forward to the sumai." She smiles. "I do, as well; I have been able to put some time and attention to that particular field of study, even more than when I wrote you last."

A server arrives, and Sasaiko orders udon noodle soup, fish cakes, edamame, and picked vegetables, with barley tea to drink.

[Asako Saburo]

His own order was a kitsune udon with tea. Something good and hearty to make the day feel complete. A few fish cake slices would really perk up the flavor of the broth too. He laughed a little nervously at her description of Kokyou and shook his head. "He really is..." he said once the server was on her way. "An acquired taste I will never acquire for myself. I have, however, seen a few other faces that were less onerous. Kaiu-san and Iuchi-san are here. And I should hope Ichiro will be around as well. I rather found I liked him."

"Wonderful. I haven't gotten as much additional practice into the study of Sumai, but I do believe that Hida-sama's lessons are fresh enough in my mind that I will be prepared for most of our competitors." He had admittedly been studying a little bit of everything, just not of the physical sort. "I have to remind myself though, sometimes, that though we are in competition, if each of us succeeds the empire gains." It was a little self reminder. He could, despite everything, get just a wee bit ... competitive at times.

[Toritaka Sasaiko]

Sasaiko nods.

"It will be good to test ourselves against others."

She pauses, realizing something.

"We may be in competition against each other, not just in general standings, but directly. How would you wish to address such a thing?"

[Asako Saburo]

He chuckled, cocking his head and looking at her with the most bemused looks on his faces. "I expect my future spouse to try her best to kick me around the field roundly so that she can have a story to share with our children as they get older. Wouldn't you agree?" he said after a quick check of the room. Nobody really listening in too closely. They were, after all, betrothed. He was allowed that much freedom. "I think my pride can sustain a drumming from you of all the people in this august body."

He sincerely hoped that was the right answer.

[Toritaka Sasaiko]

She smiles. It's good enough.

"In the past months, I've had occasion to hear much, er, wisdom from certain quarters I will ask you not to ask me to name. Evidently, some husbands don't appreciate that kind of thing, and future husbands sometime less so. Rather than assume, though, I figured I'd ask; I know I can take you at your word.

"So I am going to give you a challenge, if I face you directly. But I'd still rather not have to."

[Asako Saburo]

He nodded over at her and gave her a wolfish grin. "I suppose some husbands would. But I did not become interested in you simply in the hopes of having someone who never showed me up. I like the fire I remember seeing your eyes when you spoke of your dreams of the magistrates. Tell me. That fire hasn't dulled has it?" He certainly hoped not. He might have been adjusting his own thoughts and dreams with the idea of working alongside her. Two heads could be better than one in investigations. "I certainly know that you will provide me ample challenge, Toritaka-san. Though I should like to see your gifts brought to a head against our other competitors."

He honestly wasn't really looking for a chance to test that sort of thing, but he did want her to know not to hold back. It was, however, probably a good thing that he'd had a year to mature.

[Toritaka Sasaiko]

"Oh, yes! I still look forward to bring the Law to the lawless. Order below reflects the order above." Her eyes dance at the thought. "And there are ways in which we--shugenja, I mean--can do more than bushi to do such things. Calling on the kami for such purposes is not a paltry thing, but reflecting Imperial Will is a worthy cause for any in the Empire."

[Asako Saburo]

And there was, within the Phoenix, an order dedicated to particular kinds of infractions, one of whose number he had been studying under for the last year, so he certainly agreed, nodding his head and grinning over at her. "Believe it or not, I have actually been studying the laws of the empire under Asako Himeya-sama. The work has been slow but she tells me that I am gradually making progress in my understanding. I would enjoy discussing it with you one of these days." Because, as dry as it was, it was a thing that they could share in common.

"I would like to think I am beginning to understand Soshi Saibankan's lessons. But one could spend a lifetime doing that."

[Toritaka Sasaiko]

"Oh, indeed so! And not only the stories we discussed before--though those are interesting enough--but ramifications and the precedents they set. And perhaps more interesting is where they have been overturned, and where they interact with other precedent set contemporaneously and before--"

She stops, suddenly, blushing.

"But I ramble on, as I shouldn't."

[Asako Saburo]

He smirked, winking once at her when he thought he could get away with it. "I have been studying the field, if for no other reason than to be able to keep up with you. I want to be able to engage this part of your passions fully, Toritaka-san. I find that I love the look in your eyes when you ramble like that." He really actually did. It brought out the side of her that made her feel alive. And it was nice to know that there was someone else as studious as he was, though hers were far more focused.

[Toritaka Sasaiko]

Her chin dips as her blush deepens, and her lips curl in a smile.

"Flatterer."

Then the smile turns just a bit mischievous.

"Don't stop."

And she laughs--lightly, politely, but genuinely.

[Asako Saburo]

He smiled and was about to say something, but paused as the soups were being brought out. A nod to the servers and his smile broadened, the smell of good food certainly an improvement. He took a cloth out of his clothing, running it around the edge of the bowl, nodding in satisfaction and gave thanks before they had departed again.

"I certainly don't plan to stop that anytime soon. And you give me ample reasons to praise." He just breathed it in for a moment, stomach rumbling. Little warm, of course. "So, tell me, which event are you most enjoying the thought of participating in?"

And suddenly he realized something. there was a real chance they would be in a match eventually. In the Taryu-Jiai tourney.

[Toritaka Sasaiko]

Was there something wrong with the bowl? Sasaiko thinks before replying.

"I have a good feeling about the sumai. I think I'l be poised well for the athletic contest to come, too. Law examination, of course." She smiles.

"I'm told there's a riding contest, too." She winks at him, teasing just a bit.

[Asako Saburo]

"Blasted flea-bitten ...," he grunted and sighed, shaking his head in obvious irritation. "Of course there will be one. So long as I can avoid unseating myself and clean properly afterwards, I will consider that a victory in and of itself. I have some skill in the field, but we both know that will not be my strength."

When he finally started eating, there was a relaxed pleasure to his posture. It was good to have good food. His earlier eccentricity? Well... she'd probably notice this about his home eventually. Saburo was... neat freak was probably being a little kind. He had a bit of an obsession with dirt. The third day would be hard for him. "Tell me. Have you verified your pairing for tomorrow already?"

[Toritaka Sasaiko]

His question catches her with a full mouth, so it is a moment before she replies.

"I believe I'm facing an Ikoma, one of a pair of twins."

She shakes her head.

"The idea of siblings is itself a strange one to me; to have a twin seems...eerie, somehow."

She eats with some relish. There's been a lot of travel for her, and taking a solid meal where it's available is always advised.

[Asako Saburo]

For his part, Saburo always had a healthy appetite. It was a necessary thing for a growing young man, not to mention how much he'd been filling out over the last few months. He ate a nice, hearty bite while she spoke, smirking a little. Twins were a subject of so many superstitions that he could not begin to explain them all. So... that Ikoma earlier today? He had a twin? That explained the commentary of the brother.

"I am told," he said after swallowing. "That I will face one of the well known pupils of the Kakita. A woman named Riku. I have not yet met her before, but they don't confer such statements lightly. And you would not be the only one to find twins... curious. There are many families that view them very differently."