A Welcome Visit

Re: A Welcome Visit

feeds@yuku.com (The Incidental Characters) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:42:46 GMT

Kenji had been kind of distracted for the first part of that conversation. It was rude to stare, but Lady Ozawa was pretty stunning. Her skin was as pure white as frost and her hair swept up the side of her head in gleaming, ornamented swirls, and Kenji was unable to stop watching the darkly amused sparkle in her eyes as she talked.

He only tore his eyes away when he felt a discreet kick on his ankle. He looked sideways at Rou, and the other man gave a barely-noticiable nod...

Re: A Welcome Visit

feeds@yuku.com (Lord Sohma) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:53:36 GMT

"The city watch," Sohma replied easily, his eyes on Namiko's and nowhere else. Lying had always been something he had been good at. Any great politician or lord had to have a superb silver tongue. If he didn't he could not expect his career to last very long in either field. Daiichi wouldn't know - probably couldn't know from only this introduction - but this particular lie was saving him the life of his friend and retainer. Lady Ozawa was a vindictive woman who...

Re: A Welcome Visit

feeds@yuku.com (The Incidental Characters) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:25:19 GMT

Lady Ozawa? Daiichi looked with renewed interest at the woman who had stopped them in the corridor. She was certainly stylishly and expensively dressed, a strikingly bold design of jagged white branches splayed over a black silk kimono. So this was the wife of the other major power in the kingdom. Daiichi watched the conversation between her and Sohma with some curiosity. You could have cut the hosility in the air with a dagger, despite the fact Sohma's face was still set in that mild...

Re: A Welcome Visit

feeds@yuku.com (Lord Sohma) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:16:38 GMT

Namiko.

There were not a great many people that Sohma no Kosakiu hated in this world or the next. He could say with honesty that there were only two. He rightfully considered himself a patient man - a forgiving man. But there were some things a person simply could not let pass. Lady Ozawa had not quite ranked up there yet, but he had no doubt that she would eventually. Her husband after all was one of them and she was extremely close herself.

"Lady Ozawa," he...

Re: A Welcome Visit

feeds@yuku.com (The Minobe Sisters) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 03:02:57 GMT

Namiko was, truth to tell, a little melancholy. Her husband was on a trip out to their estates in the country, and as Namiko detested the discomfort of travelling when it was not absolutely necessary, and preferred the comforts of the capital, she had stayed. But all her usual amusements seemed a little more dull and less amusing than they normally were.

However last night Yukihiro had come to her with a piece of news that had perked her interest again. It seemed that Tokushima, who...

Re: A Welcome Visit

feeds@yuku.com (Lord Sohma) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 02:23:52 GMT

Sohma laughed quietly and turned his head to regard Daiichi just out of the corner of his eye, his face a mask of its usual serenity. "In order for something to be offensive," the ebon haired lord said, his voice soft and patient, "one must first allow it to be offensive. If you do not allow the harsh words of others to sting you then they are simply that - words. A word is not a blade, it cannot cut or do harm unless it strikes true. I know myself, I know my honor and I know...

Re: A Welcome Visit

feeds@yuku.com (The Incidental Characters) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 02:06:33 GMT

Kenji and Daiichi both looked at Sohma, then involuntarily at each other. Kenji was grinning, finding it weird but kind of refreshing that a Great Lord would say that. Daiichi was not smiling, he just had the little frown on his face that meant he had been unsettled by something. And Kenji knew from experience that Daiichi didn't take being unsettled very well.

Kenji dropped half a pace back as well, leaving the two lords to talk. Sohma might want him joining in but Daiichi...

Re: A Welcome Visit

feeds@yuku.com (Lord Sohma) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 01:06:36 GMT

Rou was looking deliberately apathetic, probably because he knew it would unsettle his lord, and Kenji was miffed at it. Not for the first time that day Sohma wished that Rouichi would stop being cross with him. He knew that it had irritated his friend to have been asked to curb himself - and honestly, the raven haired lord had figured it would be good for him. Rouichi had not had to curb his tongue to a Great Lord or any lord in long enough that his arrogence was starting to reach dangerous...

Re: A Welcome Visit

feeds@yuku.com (The Incidental Characters) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 00:47:38 GMT

Kenji set down the tray in the other room with a small sigh of relief, feeling pretty optimistic now that most of it was over and he'd managed to get the whole thing without dropping anything or dripping tea over the floor (like that other time, Daiichi had had to do some quick distracting then). Then he came back in only to find Daiichi agreeing to let Sohma show him the palace.

"Will you be bringing - oh, my apologies, I did not receive your name. Higashi-san was...

Re: A Welcome Visit

feeds@yuku.com (Lord Sohma) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:30:25 GMT
Sohma followed the line of Daiichi's eyes to Kenji while the other man wasn't looking and smiled to himself, quietly amused. Not at Kenji's expense of course, but at the apparent level of camaraderie. It reminded him a little bit of Rouichi and himself. There were significant differences, but it was nice to come across a Great Lord who had an attachment to his staff that was not something strile and without meaning. It was good to know Daiichi valued the life of his retainer. It...

Re: A Welcome Visit

feeds@yuku.com (The Incidental Characters) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:56:34 GMT
That was an unusual attitude for a Great Lord to take, saying that showing around a newcomer was more important than paperwork, when Lord Sohma could have retreated with perfect propriety. Quite away from all political matters, Daiichi also felt a natural curiosity to see the palace. His impulses like that always had to take second place to higher goals, but in this rare case he could indulge it. He finished his own tea and set the cup beside him. "In that case, Sohma-san, I would ask...

Re: A Welcome Visit

feeds@yuku.com (Lord Sohma) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:24:13 GMT
"A Great Lord's schedule usually is," Sohma replied a tad hurmorlessly, picking up his teacup and sipping from it with casual grace. "As you will no doubt see, I imagine," he added, wathcing Daiichi over the rim of his cup. The other male was trying to figure out his motives. They all did, in the beginning. Some still did. It was a bit disappointing that humanity had come to a state of such distrust that a casual tour through the palace had to be equated to trying to...

Re: A Welcome Visit

feeds@yuku.com (The Incidental Characters) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:38:33 GMT
Daiichi looked at Lord Sohma in some surprise, which of course he didn't allow to show on his face, but was nonetheless there. Lord Sohma was offering to show him around? Daiichi had expected them to drink tea, exchange compliments and leave. His quick mind instantly threw up a list of possible consequences of this unexpected development. Daiichi had previously supposed that Lord Sohma would have little or no interest in a lower ranking Great Lord, since Daiichi had enough power of his...

Re: A Welcome Visit

feeds@yuku.com (Lord Sohma) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:06:52 GMT
"Well then, we will certainly have to see about changing that as quickly as possible," Sohma replied politely, not sparing a glance for Kenji as the other man left with the intention to get tea and mentally muttering about hoping he remembered all the proper rules about how to go about setting everything out. The poor man, it was obvious that he had not had the same page learning that most of the retainers in the palace had had. Then again Rouichi did not either, but Rouichi had a...

Re: A Welcome Visit

feeds@yuku.com (The Incidental Characters) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 01:27:45 GMT
A great man. Well, Daiichi supposed he might be seen as such by some, but by the standards of the nobles he had been a rather mediocre figure, fond of hunting and archery and finding music and poetry an unpleasant and difficult duty. He had barely ever asked to see his son, and when he had been killed Daiichi had shed no tears - not least because he had had other things on his mind. Nevertheless, the compliments were standard, and Dai accepted the condolences. "Thank you for...

Re: A Welcome Visit

feeds@yuku.com (Lord Sohma) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:28:15 GMT
Sohma smiled sadly and folded his hands in his lap. "My most sincere condolences. Your father was a great man, Takayama-san. It is a shame to see him go before his time." Necessary formalities, although he genuinely was extending his support for the youth. He had never met the elder Takayama in person and therefor did not know him, and as such could not make a claim about how great a man he was. Daiichi probably knew that as well as Sohma did. Still, the serene curve of his lips and...

Re: A Welcome Visit

feeds@yuku.com (The Incidental Characters) — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 23:44:50 GMT
Daiichi raisied his head when he heard the knock, hands resting on his knees. He and Kenji exchanged glances, and Daiichi nodded. Kenji slid aside door.

Lord Sohma Kosakiu stood outside, dressed, like Daiichi, in formal warrior clothes. His hair was unusual in its length and his eyes for their light colour, but his features seemed permenently set in a mild expression. Daiichi wasn't deceived. He had been gathering every scrap of rumour he could about the great lords, from the...

Re: A Welcome Visit

feeds@yuku.com (Lord Sohma) — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 23:03:28 GMT
"I hear he's stuck up."

"All lords are stuck up, Rou."

"You're not stuck up."

"Yes I am, in the right circumstance and context."

"Pffft. Don't let Korin hear you say that."

"Back to Takayama-san, please."

"Right, right. So, get this, his father is assassinated and he's sent to the Jade Empire by his oh-so-caring uncle. The boy never makes it. He gets...

A Welcome Visit

feeds@yuku.com (The Incidental Characters) — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 21:54:10 GMT

"No, not those cups, the ones with the red - honestly, Kenji, we have been through this."

"Last time you said swap the red ones with these!"

"Lord Sohma ranks several steps higher than me. I won't insult him with anything but the best. Go and get them."

Kenji made a face at Daiichi, who was serenely finishing off a piece of calligraphy, but he went and got the other cups from their storage cupboard in the next room. Dai had...