Session Six; Learning About Each Other

Katsumi dropped her bones into the bowl, savoring the sound as she always did. It calmed her mind, it was her center, and it pushed out all the uncertainties. When she was young and saw visions in bowls of water, and whispers spoke to her from tealeaves at the bottom of cups, it was that sound of the bones that promised to keep it at bay. It was her control over the sometimes-frightening answers to questions she had not asked. And every time she dropped the bones into her bowl, she was reminded about how confusing life was, and how it would all be all right.

She set the bowl down and opened the pouch she had brought back from the woods. After the conversation with Negisa, Katsumi had decided she needed more answers to the questions that still remained at large. So she had trekked back through the forest to where they had burned the bodies of the tainted Naga, grabbed a handful of ash from under the skeletal remains, and came back to see what the Realm would offer. Katsumi dumped the dust on top of her bones, she was hoping for any sort of information really. Where this taint came from? How it affected the Naga that Negisa swore couldn’t be tainted? Who was behind it? Anything that could shed some sort of light on what they were working against out here.

She shook the bowl and stirred the contents waiting for that feeling, that click inside her soul that allowed for sudden clarity. There was a puff, an overwhelming feeling of something powerful and Katsumi opened her eyes to see the ash had stirred up a cloud that grew and darkened, taking shape unnaturally.

She dropped the bowl as the smoke reached a foot high and coalesced into something smooth, not the way smoke usually rose. Then two red slits blinked into existence and Katsumi pulled back. Whatever it was, it wasn’t something she had ever encountered before. The thing turned from side to side, as if looking around, and then it spun on her and stared right into Katsumi’s very being. She felt those glowing eyes piercing into her.

Quickly, Katsumi overturned the bowl, closing the shadow demon below it. It leaked around the edges, like a candle that had been snuffed out, its smoke curling along the sides before fading into nothing. She sat there attempting to comprehend what had just happened. There wasn’t an answer. There was nothing from the Realm besides this thing she had conjured up. Katsumi shook her head and opened her mouth, trying to find some answer to give herself. There was nothing.

She had to tell Negisa.

***

Now that the Naga seemed to understand Anjin wasn’t to be skewered on sight for no reason at all, he was free to speak on other matters that were pressing. Like the threat from the spirit in the forest. It obviously did something to the other three Naga, and may have even done something to this one as well, with how quickly she resorted to the threat of violence. However, for now, Asahina seemed to accept this Naga’s presence and may have even learned how to control her tendencies for quick and deadly action. That meant the other issue had to be addressed.

“Asahina-sama, I’d like to have a word with you alone if I may?” Anjin turned without waiting for an answer, he knew Asahina would follow. Asahina wasn’t going to tell him no. They walked about fifteen feet from Tsuruchi and Asako where Asahina crossed his arms and waited for Anjin to begin.

“I’m very concerned with the threat in the forest. I’m not satisfied with the resolution, simply because I don’t believe one was really made. We’ve just come across four extremely rare, almost unknown creatures-”

“Oh, this is obvious,” Asahina nodded.

“Of course,” Anjin agreed, realizing he was about to reiterate what has already been said at least twice already. Once by him, and once by Asako.

“This can’t be a good thing, whatever happened in the woods,” Asahina shook his head. “But what can we do about it? We searched for tracks of something tangible and there wasn’t anything.”

“We need to consider a course of action. We have a serious threat within a day’s journey of our town. I don’t yet know what to do about it, but it’s clear we should come up with something.”

Asahina rubbed his neck and shifted. It was obvious to Anjin that he didn’t know what to do either. However, this was the burden that came with being the lord of the town; this was his decision to make on how to proceed now.

“I don’t know… I can’t really think right now, with everything that has happened in the last few hours. I think doing something that will clear my mind might help me better formulate a plan. What do you say to a tea ceremony?”

“That would be delightful,” Anjin smiled. He could also use something to relax and center himself. He had had a trying day as well and made even more so by the Naga who was still towering over Asahina, watching Anjin.

Asahina sat without choosing a more private location, simply deciding the middle of the road was a suitable place to have tea, and began unpacking his tea kit. Anjin took a seat and waited for Asahina to set up. It became rather apparent, rather quickly, that this was probably one of the worse ideas either of them had had to calm their nerves over the situation. First, the Naga picked up the teacup Asahina put down while unpacking the kit. She put it back, but that wasn’t the point. Every item he placed she picked up, examined, and returned it somewhere it wasn’t previously occupying. Every item, every dish, everything that Asahina touched, which was everything, the Naga also touched. Needless to say, the ceremony didn’t really help to clear their minds.

***

Katsumi hurried into the temple where she had been directed Negisa was last seen, finding Negisa in a backroom with various scrolls and tomes spread across a table. The Spider had an extensive collection on information not usually found inside the Empire. They also had an extensive collection of information that used to belong to the Empire, items taken from Otosan Uchi after they had driven the Empire from their seat of power. Katsumi hesitated in the doorway. On one hand, this was something that should probably be shared, seeing as how it dealt with the same sort of subject that she knew Negisa was researching; on the other hand, Negisa was reading, and on something rather important as well, she really didn’t want to poke the hornet’s nest.

“Negisa-san,” Katsumi gulped, deciding this wasn’t something that could really wait. What if whatever that thing was was still there? Yeah, it was worth the glare of Negisa.

“Katsumi,” Negisa responded without looking up.

“I… um, I decided to consult the bones and something looked at me.”

Negisa sat up and tilted her head quizzically. “Explain,” she commanded.

“I thought the Realm might be able to give us something we were missing, so I went back to the location of the pyre and gathered some ash as a focus. I rolled the bones and felt something… different. It turned into a puff of smoke and… it looked at me.”

“Take me there, now.”

Katsumi slid open her door and Negisa pushed past her into Katsumi’s room. The bowl was still there, upside down, and surrounded by a small pile of ash completely encircling the dish.

“I covered it,” Katsumi said, as if it wasn’t already obvious. Katsumi kept her distance, sticking to the doorway.

Negisa cautiously paced around the bowl, watching it. She bent down and flipped the bowl right side up. There was nothing there save a small mound of ash. Larger than the handful Katsumi had placed to begin with, but no smoky being grew, no red eyes scanning the room. Just ash.

“There appears to be nothing there now,” Negisa observed. “I thought you said you were casting bones?”

Katsumi inhaled sharply, she had also noticed that nothing besides ash lay under the bowl. “Yeah… they were there.”

“Well, that doesn’t bode well.”

Katsumi sighed, “What’s going on?”

“Well,” Negisa began, rising to her feet but keeping her eyes on the pile, “Like you said, something was trying to watch you.”

“Yeah… I got that much.”

“Hopefully it didn’t figure out where you are.”

“Oh.” That was all Katsumi could say. The thought hadn’t really occurred to her that something may be trying to find her. She had simply believed that something was crossing through one of the realms, or at least trying to find a place to squeeze through, but she had stopped it. Now, though, Negisa had expressed that it was more targeted and not so random.

“Katsumi, you’ll be staying with me tonight,” Negisa instructed handing the bowl to Katsumi as she passed through the doorway.

“Understood.”

Katsumi looked at the bowl, and then sighed as she watched the unmoving and rather unspectacular pile of ash on the floor. The pain of losing her bones stabbed at her chest. As silly as it sounded, those bones were one of the very few things she held dear in life. They were crafted by her own hand. They were special. Carefully she swept the ash up into the bowl and found a place in the backyard to bury the remains of her bones.

***

Meintaro watched Asahina and Kitsuki attempt a tea ceremony. It was somewhat amusing to see the Naga interrupt every aspect of the ritual. She was definitely going to be a handful for Asahina, whom they had learned she was bound to. He tried to imagine what his life would have been like if she had understood Meintaro first. Probably a very complicated one like Asahina’s was turning out to be. Secretly, Meintaro was happy Asahina was the first to communicate with it. After a time, it looked like Asahina gave up on even trying to keep the Naga from touching anything, just sitting there with a perturbed look on his face. Well, since there was nothing more to interrupt, Meintaro decided it was as good of time as any to wrap this Naga business up. Perhaps they could find something out in the woods that they hadn’t today. They did sort of turn back home once the trail went cold at the Naga’s campsite.

“Maybe we should go eat some dinner,” Meintaro suggested. “We can set up a hunting party for tomorrow.”

“If she even lets us eat dinner,” Asahina grumbled. Yep, he was definitely irritated by the Naga’s presence.

“Maybe we shouldn’t be concerned with hunting right now,” Kitsuki said with such a condescending tone that Meintaro couldn’t help but narrow his eyes at him.

“Well, what is she going to eat?” Asahina turned on Kitsuki.

“She had boar out there. She obviously eats food.” Meintaro had to diffuse this situation, and what better way than with logic? Besides, when did this become a discussion on dietary habits? He had just suggested they return home to eat and tomorrow they could do some scouting again.

“I don’t know,” Asahina demurred, “I would feel that would be the main reason for hunting. She needs to eat too.”

“We are stocked with meat,” Kitsuki noted. Meintaro began to salivate at the thought of a kitchen filled with meat.

“We are stocked with meat,” Asahina agreed. “But… I don’t know, I don’t know if she’ll eat that.”

“Right, so I don’t think we have to worry about what to feed her, ‘cause she can feed herself,” Meintaro didn’t want to dwell on the subject any longer, lest he start drooling at his unfortunate taste for the forbidden flesh of animals.

“Yeah, as long as she isn’t feeding off our servants,” Asahina sardonically sneered.

“I don’t think they eat people, or we probably wouldn’t be here right now.” Plus, Meintaro thought, there were no human remains at the campsite.

“Yeah,” conceded Asahina.

“But, besides dinner, I was saying we should head back out tomorrow morning. Something did happen out there, and maybe we can find more like her,” Meintaro cocked his head towards the Naga. “Well, more alive who aren’t trying to kill her.”

“I agree,” Kitsuki nodded, “Maybe we should get a party together and see if we can trace the source of whatever it was that happened out there. I’ll join you.”

Meintaro shook his head. He didn’t want a cripple slowing them down and making a ruckus out in the brush. Asahina was bad enough, and Shiba too, but Kitsuki would be much worse. What if all the noise scared off all the other Naga and they would be stuck with this one forever? He almost shuddered at the thought.

“I think we’ll be fine, we don’t want to have to be watching out for you while taking care of this.”

“I’ll have my yojimbo with me; you won’t have to worry about my safety.”

That wasn’t the point to Meintaro, but then again, he had implied that to be polite. Perhaps he should have just outright said Kitsuki would be an unnecessary hindrance he didn’t want to bother with. Besides, what use would a scholar be out in the wilderness? Kitsuki had spent nearly every waking hour in his office, as Daigotsu had referred to it, since Meintaro arrived. Was he going to tell them about the history of every plant, or how boar came to live in this area of Rokugan? Probably. And even worse, he wanted to bring his yojimbo, which meant another set of noisy feet to tramp around in the woods with him.

“Yeah, Kitsuki should be fine,” Asahina broke in.

Meintaro sighed. “If you think so, Asahina-sama.”

***

It wasn’t hard for Katsumi to find Kitsuki since he was with Asahina, and the Naga. They stuck out like a sore thumb; she was close to twenty-feet long from head to tail, and made even more obvious by the people that stood a healthy distance away and gawked at her. The group was in the Phoenix section of town, where she had expected to find them anyways since they had spoken about it on the way back. She just hadn’t expected them to still be there.

“Kitsuki-san?” Katsumi tapped Kitsuki’s arm, he flinched, obviously not expecting her to appear beside him.

“Yes?” He said.

“I haven’t seen you at all today,” Katsumi remarked. It had suddenly hit her that she hadn’t, and after weeks of checking on him multiple times a day, it was just strange knowing this was the first time they were speaking and it was nearly dinner time. Kitsuki must have thought it odd too because he looked at her perplexed.

“I have heard about your journey. Quite interesting. Would you like to tell me about it?”

Katsumi glanced to the Naga. “Not particularly. I can see you’ve already been caught up. I was just going to inform you that I won’t be around for the rest of the evening.”

“Oh? Why is that?” Kitsuki was always so nosy; Katsumi really despised that trait of his, more so than his ability to somehow know when she was keeping something from him.

“I have things to attend to.”

“Such as?”

Katsumi stared at Kitsuki. Who the Jigoku did he think he was questioning her on her business? She didn’t answer to him; he was not anyway superior to her. Katsumi’s blood began to boil. Obviously, this Naga thing had brought out a side of Kitsuki she hadn’t seen before, and a side that would quickly bring him into deep water that he clearly wouldn’t be able to get out of. She clenched her fist instinctively.

“I was hoping you’d stay around,” confessed Kitsuki. “Our new friend doesn’t seem to particularly like me.”

That was a different story, if he had said that in the first place she probably wouldn’t have felt that hot wave of rage. Katsumi pressed her lips. If Kitsuki was worried about the Naga harming him, as he was indicating, she should probably keep a closer eye on him, but she wasn’t supposed to stay at the house tonight, in fact, she was specifically supposed to stay with Negisa, and there was no way she was going to tell Negisa that plans had changed. She debated on the subject, the only resolution would be for Kitsuki to stay with her and Negisa, otherwise she was failing at keeping her word to one or the other.

“You can stay with me. But not at the house,” Katsumi declared.

“Where then?”

“I’ll take you there.” Katsumi didn’t want to explain how to get to Negisa’s house from here, or even their place. It would just be much easier to show him.

“Oh, okay.”

“Shall we?” Katsumi took a step back, ready to leave. She had no reason to continue standing around, plus, there was something else she wanted to do on the way.

“Right now?”

“How else would you find it?” This Kitsuki also seemed kind of lost and confused. Nosy and confused, not a good combination.

“Very well.” Kitsuki turned back to Asahina and Tsuruchi, and the Naga. “When shall we set out tomorrow?”

“Crack of dawn,” Asahina answered.

Katsumi raised a brow curiously, not that anyone would be able to tell. She wasn’t going to ask, as it wasn’t her business, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t interested in where Kitsuki would be. She did have to check on him after all.

***

“I don’t see why we’d go any later,” Meintaro commented. Dawn was an okay time, but if they had a lot of ground to cover, as it seemed they would, then dawn was the absolute latest he would want to head out.

“I suppose we should start preparing tonight,” Asahina sighed eyeing up the Naga. Meintaro also looked at her; she was just standing there, watching Kitsuki and Daigotsu who were currently talking amongst themselves. She seemed to be rather interested in whatever it was. He wondered if she was going to draw her weapon on Kitsuki again. She hadn’t seemed to take her eyes off him since he arrived. She was a handful, that much was certain. Perhaps suggesting an earlier time would be the better choice.

“Crack of dawn is probably too late, but I guess we can start then.”

“I’ll put you in charge of the group, since you are the one who will be leading us. You tell us what time to start,” Asahina said.

“Right, we’ll get out about five.” Meintaro didn’t even have to think about it. Five was the perfect time, not too early that it would be dark for long and not too late so that they’d lose daylight while just getting to the woods. Speaking of woods, Meintaro was still in his hunting outfit and every time he had suggested they wrap this up, someone interrupted and found a reason for them to continue standing around. He was also getting hungry, but more than anything, he wanted to take a bath. “I’ve got to go change.”

***

Daigotsu glanced between Asahina and Anjin, seeming to be looking for an answer for their dawn meet up. It was then that Anjin realized she hadn’t been privy to the rest of the conversation and had no idea they were returning to the forest tomorrow. He, of course, wanted her there because he was still nervous about the Naga deciding he was some sort of threat and perhaps turning on him once they were in the seclusion of the woods. Things happened all the time, and having someone who was willing to take an arrow for him comforted Anjin a little.

“We’re going to head back to forest first thing tomorrow morning,” Anjin informed Daigotsu.

“Is there a reason for that?”

“Yes,” Anjin watched Daigotsu suspiciously. She may believe she hides her emotions behind that mask of hers, but Anjin could read her as easy as any scroll when it came to her body language. Earlier when she mentioned she had business to attend to, he knew she was keeping something from him. Her stony stare and silence only confirmed his suspicions. “It seems clear that the threat persists. Moreover, it seems unwise to let an unknown threat linger so close to the city. So we’d like to explore further if only to understand the nature of the danger.”

“That seems like a good course of action,” Daigotsu nodded after a moment, “I suppose I’ll be accompanying you?”

“I had hoped you would.” Anjin once again looked at the Naga. He trusted Asahina’s control over her as much as he trusted Daigotsu silence. Both were questionable.

“All you have to do is ask, Kitsuki-san.”

She had never said anything like that before. It was strange the way she was indenturing herself to him. When he first met her, she barely took her side of the agreement seriously, constantly disappearing and never saying a word. However, as time progressed she was forcing herself into his life more and more. Even checking on him in shorter and shorter intervals.

“Tsuruchi-san, Asahina-san, Kitsuki and I will see you tomorrow morning,” Daigotsu said to the two, interrupting the conversation between them. “Kitsuki, ready to go?”

“Yes,” Anjin answered. He actually got to answer. She wasn’t telling him, she posed a question and gave him a choice. Daigotsu was indeed acting strange.

***

The ache inside Katsumi grew as afternoon wore onto evening. She had scoured the town almost feverishly, looking for a set of replacement bones. Of course she had no luck in finding any, this was inside the Empire and no respectful samurai would handle bones or raw meat, or anything that they considered dirty. Then again, it wasn’t as if someone could easily find a set of fortune bones in the Shadowlands either. Her first set was given to her, but someone had made them expressly for her. She had made her second set once she understood what it was that specifically worked for her. Her third set was better crafted, being that she was older and more experienced with a knife by that time, and that had been the one she buried this afternoon. She had used that set for near four years, and now without it, she felt incomplete and on edge. It wasn’t just a tool for telling fortunes; it was a symbol of control for Katsumi. Now that piece was missing, like a string on a suit of armor, without it everything could come undone.

She grumbled as she rummaged the kitchen in their shared house, Kitsuki watching her, having been silent the entire trip to the several stores and then here. He probably was politely ignoring the fact that she wanted a set of bones; that was something people just didn’t talk about here. They didn’t talk about a lot, so many topics were taboo, it amazed Katsumi that there was anything to even speak about inside the Empire.

Katsumi set out the odds and ends she found. Chicken, pork, beef, she could use this but animal bones weren’t the only thing a set required. These were all unintelligent work animals, they created a part of a set, but she needed something more intelligent to be included.

“Kitsuki-san?” Katsumi asked as she set to work deftly cutting the bones from the meat without much thought.

“Yeah?” Kitsuki responded.

“Have you been keeping up with any mortalities in the area?” Katsumi pried. If she were lucky, there would be a death or two within the last week. Funeral customs allowed for a body to be mourned by friends and family for seven days before they lit the pyre; that allowed for a very small window for Katsumi to get what she required if one had recently met their end.

“Nothing out of the ordinary has happened recently, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“No. But you’re saying there has been one within the last week?”

“Yes…” Kitsuki said cautiously.

“Where at?” Katsumi glanced at Kitsuki as she gathered up the six bones she had just removed stuffing them into a small bag.

“They were all peasants. An old man passed maybe five days ago from age, a woman from sickness, and there was one that died in their sleep, but his heart was weak.”

That was all she needed to know. Peasants lived in a very small area of town now that so many samurai had come in and taken over, it wouldn’t be difficult to find what house from there. Obvious signs of mourning usually accompanied peasant funerals, especially ones who lived under the Scorpion, the most superstitious clan in the Empire.

“Thank you, Kitsuki-san,” Katsumi smiled as she finished cleaning up.

“Why?” Kitsuki finally asked. She knew it was coming, he could never allow something to go unanswered.

“Curiosity,” Katsumi put simply.

“Seems like a strange thing to be curious about…” Katsumi heard Kitsuki mutter as she passed him and exited the kitchen, politely ignoring his opinion on the matter.

***

Mikoto sat in the courtyard watching Shiba trim her bonsai tree. They had finished practically everything dealing with her wedding and she had come back to the shared house hoping to see Katsumi. Katsumi had promised to explain the Naga to her later, but Katsumi wasn’t there, no one was there except Shiba and only because Shiba came with her back home. That left very little to actually do besides watch Shiba fuss over her little tree. She had contemplated going out to find Katsumi but figured she would have to come home eventually, so Mikoto simply waited; waited to see Katsumi again.

A noise coming from the front of the house instantly lifted her spirits. Mikoto heard the door open and the footsteps of people, but from her spot in the courtyard she couldn’t actually see who came in. That is, until Tsuruchi rounded the corner to his room, dressed in the most peculiar fashion, he was covered in paint and had feathers in his hair. Whatever, she thought, Tsuruchi wasn’t a concern for her no matter what way he dressed. He could be wearing geisha paint for all she cared, he still wasn’t Katsumi. Next to come into view was Asahina, who looked haggard, and right behind him was something intriguing. A woman, but not a woman, taller than Asahina by as much as Asahina was taller than Mikoto, nearly a foot, and her lower half was that of a serpent. It was quite an astonishing sight; Mikoto couldn’t take her eyes off the creature as it followed Asahina towards his room.

“That’s a Naga,” Shiba said, pointing at the thing.

“I see,” proclaimed Mikoto. She had never seen anything like it and was instantly curious on everything dealing with this thing. The Naga’s skin was shiny, not metallic, but gleamed as if it was glossy, if it was even skin, that is. The color was very wrong. She wondered what it felt like.

“I think we want to… keep it,” Shiba commented in her usual uncertainty.

“I think we have no choice,” Asahina grumbled stopping in the courtyard before reaching the stairs to his room.

“It’s not a pet,” Tsuruchi said in passing as he walked out the backdoor, a bucket of bath supplies in his hand.

Mikoto touched a hand to Hikaru, and put one on Hinata as well. They had become rather agitated once the thing entered the house and she didn’t want either of them to attack this rare creature. It could turn out badly if her lions killed a Naga, especially since Shiba had told her that they haven’t really been seen for twenty years. Slowly she approached the Naga, examining her. Mikoto had an affinity to animals, and although this one was clearly part snake, she didn’t seem to give off the same body language Mikoto was used to interpreting. Then again, Mikoto had never watched a snake and tried communicating with it.

Once Mikoto was within reach, the thing stretched her arm at and began flipping Mikoto’s hair. Perhaps that was some sort of greeting these things did, or maybe she was showing that she liked her; how did snakes show people they liked them? Her lions rubbed on people, Mikoto thought, perhaps that was something she should try. Rubbing was universal; it meant you liked someone no matter what species you were. It was worth a shot, and she was really interested in the texture of this Naga’s skin.

Mikoto extended her hand and gently brushed the Naga’s right side then watched for a negative reaction. The snake just looked at her. Okay, so far so good, she began petting the Naga. Her skin felt very similar to her own skin. It was soft, velvety even, but so very smooth, and when Mikoto’s fingers touched the Naga’s hip, the texture flowed into something as smooth as glass but soft and flexible where the snake took over and scales formed. The next thing Mikoto knew, Asahina stepped next to her and began petting her, running his hand down her shoulder and arm. Mikoto growled inside at his touch, she wasn’t fond of him getting friendly with her since that night and the results of it, meaning her pregnancy that was clearly his fault. However, she kept it to herself, understanding that he was doing so as an example to the Naga, who seemed confused at what was going on. Mikoto bit her tongue and patted Asahina as well, trying to be as impersonal as she could and resisting the urge to outright hit him. Something must have clicked in the Naga because she began petting both Mikoto and Asahina in return. Good, they were getting it across to her, Mikoto thought excitedly. She knew friendly touching could break any barrier, it’s how she always showed animals she wasn’t a threat. Apparently, Naga weren’t much different from Hikaru and Hinata.

The Naga peered towards Shiba, and without much warning, and much quicker than Mikoto thought something of her size could move, she was coiling around Shiba and Shiba’s bonsai tree, inspecting the tree more than Shiba.

“You don’t understand art at all, do you?” Asahina asked.

Mikoto stared, wide-eyed. He asked the Naga a question, she had no idea it could speak. Shiba hadn’t said anything to her about the Naga speaking or not, and here she assumed it was more snake than it was human without even considering that it could communicate with more than just body language. The Naga, however, didn’t respond. Instead, she began patting Shiba, who visibly withdrew, pulling her shoulders in and curling up, behavior that indicated she was extremely uncomfortable with this situation. People weren’t much different from animals either, though they were much less honest, which did make understanding them harder when they weren’t visibly acting like Shiba did.

“Come on,” Asahina shouted, clapping his hands to get the Naga’s attention. “Stop that. Stop that.”

At his request, the Naga stopped touching Shiba and pulled out a tambourine, shaking it towards Asahina. How interesting, Mikoto thought. The thing couldn’t talk, but could understand them. And what was this tambourine thing about? Maybe she was talking with it. Whatever the case was, Asahina had decided to fill the air with his flute playing that the Naga seemed to enjoy very much, shaking her tambourine in rhythm and she did some sort of weaving, slithering, dancing around the courtyard. It was kind of mesmerizing. Then again, the Naga was probably the most interesting thing Mikoto had ever laid eyes on, so it was all kind of mesmerizing, not just the dancing.

After four or five songs, Tsuruchi returned to the courtyard, looking much more normal. He had cleaned up and wore his usual attire, feathers and paint no longer accessorizing his outfit. The Naga lost interest in playing and dancing as soon as he entered the open-air room, zoomed to Tsuruchi and began stroking his head.

Tsuruchi’s hands flew up as he shuffled backwards. “Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.”

Mikoto knew a way to fix this; she quickly joined the two and stuck the Naga’s hand on her head, allowing the snake to pet her again. This seemed to please not just the Naga, but Tsuruchi as well, who promptly entered the dining area giving Mikoto and her new friend a wide berth. Apparently not everyone got along with animals as well as she did.

***

Kyuzo watched the Naga pet Mikoto again, it obviously didn’t bother Mikoto, but it bothered Tsuruchi. It bothered Shiba too, and honestly, he didn’t want the petting to continue because he didn’t want to have to apologize to every person he met from now until… Kyuzo sighed, until she repaid her debt to him, the thought miserably. He brought her into the town, and now he was basically her keeper, which was more of a hindrance than anyone seemed to realize. Yes, she was talented in battle, at least that’s the way it appeared since she had taken out three other Naga and they had only wounded her. However, that didn’t matter when it came to his honor, and the honor of others. She couldn’t go around touching everyone. She’d get herself into trouble, and worse, she’d get him into trouble. He had to think of some way to teach her to keep her hands to herself. For now, it seemed music kept her too busy to pet others, with all that tambourine shaking and dancing she was doing she didn‘t have time to touch anyone else.

He put his flute to his lips and began another song, hoping to bring her back to entertaining herself. It did stop her from touching Mikoto, and Shiba and Tsuruchi had already left the courtyard, but she wasn’t playing along like she had before. Instead, she placed herself right in front of Kyuzo and snatched his flute away. Alright, he thought, she isn’t interested in music anymore. Then she handed him her tambourine. He shook it with a smile, pretending to show how fun it was to shake it; in reality, Kyuzo wasn’t having fun at all. The Naga examined his flute and blew into it, emitting a short, high-pitched screech from too much force in her breath. She shook her head and stole her tambourine back from him, placing his flute back in Kyuzo’s hand. That was something else he was going to have to teach her, he thought with yet another sigh. She couldn’t take other people’s items.

Kyuzo stared at her, running through the multitude of responsibilities that saving her life had thrust him into when she pointed to the next room where Shiba and Tsuruchi were eating.

“Bring her some food, someone. Get a Spider cook to bring her something. Just anything. A side of beef or… whatever,” He called, putting his flute away. He still wasn’t sure what she needed to eat, or how much, but meat sounded like the best thing since there was boar at her camp, as Tsuruchi had pointed out. It was past time for him to eat as well, so he joined everyone in the dining room.

A loud squawking and clucking did nothing to ease Kyuzo’s frustrated night, as he realized, only too late, the Spider cook was carrying in two very angry, very live chickens, right into their dining room, since the Naga, of course, was right behind him as she had been since he bandaged her.

“Why are there live chickens in the house?” Tsuruchi asked. The answer became incredibly apparent when the Spider cook handed both chickens to the Naga who watched the birds fight and flutter trying to get free from her grasp. She was looking to Kyuzo, as if she needed permission to eat. He desperately hoped that wouldn’t be the case every time.

“Go ahead,” Kyuzo said, turning his back on the Naga. This wasn’t something he wanted to see. However she was going to eat them was probably a gruesome scene to behold. He only hoped that she didn’t tear them apart, leaving a mess to clean up afterwards.

The clucking of the chickens slowly died down, Kyuzo could hear their wings cease their flapping, and then he heard Tsuruchi say, “I don’t think I want any more fish.”

It was done. When he turned back around there stood the Naga, empty handed and not a feather to clean up. Good enough, Kyuzo thought. Apparently, that wasn’t the case as the Naga began playing with Shiba’s rice. She sniffed it and poked at it, then tasted it, much like she had done with Kyuzo’s tea from his tea set earlier in the day. In fact, she made a disgusted face exactly the same as she had with the tea, but this time continued to eat the rice, slowly choking down small handfuls.

“I thought they were intelligent enough to know what tools were,” Tsuruchi sarcastically said. Honestly, Kyuzo hadn’t given much thought to what the Naga ate with, he didn’t really want to give it much thought, and he didn’t want to think about them eating at all. The sound of the chickens slowly dying replayed in his head. Yep, he didn’t want to know at all.

“Wait, wait,” Matsu hurried into the dining room with something Kyuzo had seen Daigotsu eating from time to time. It was some sort of brown colored rice, whatever was mixed with it had changed it to that color. If Daigotsu ate it, it had to be something the rest of them shouldn’t be eating, which was good in a way. It meant that it was something the Naga probably would eat. Matsu handed the Naga the plate of square, brown, rice cakes, taking one off the plate herself. In an over exaggerated attempt at eating, which Kyuzo had to shake his head at since the Naga wasn’t stupid, Matsu bit into the rice cake and made an “mmmm” sound. The Naga repeated the process, sniffing, poking, and tasting. This time it was to her liking. She shoved Shiba’s rice back towards Shiba and finished off what was left of Daigotsu’s food in a matter of seconds. Shiba looked horrified, though she wasn’t looking at that Naga; she was staring at Matsu who was finishing off her piece as well. Kyuzo’s stomach knotted realizing Matsu freely consumed whatever it was that both the Naga and Daigotsu found so appetizing, having an inkling as to what it might be.

***

Morasahi wasn’t feeling very hungry anymore. First, the Naga had come into the place she was eating to kill and swallow two chickens whole, then her and Matsu finished off a plate of Daigotsu’s blood cake. The Naga eating it was bad enough. Daigotsu eating it was bad enough. Matsu eating it was what caused her stomach to churn, yet again, knowing very well that Matsu was also aware it was made with blood. She stared horrified at Matsu, then glanced in the same manner at her bowl of rice that had been touched and tasted by the Naga. Yep, she was done. If she took another bite, her dinner might force itself out of her.

“Shiba-san,” Tsuruchi’s voice was dripping with annoyance. “We’re going hunting tomorrow morning-”

“So you can bring home another one?!” Morasahi nearly shouted. This one was horrid enough; she couldn’t imagine having to deal with two. And what if there were more than just two? She was almost panicking at the thought of a house full of Naga, patting, touching, threatening, and eating whole chickens. She shuddered.

“Or,” Tsuruchi said calmly, “So we can leave this one where we found it. That would be a great blessing on us all. We’re leaving at five, so have an early breakfast.”

“Okay,” Morasahi nodded. She could accept that. If they just put it back out in the woods, it could find the rest of those like her and they could be rid of it.

“No one give her any sake,” instructed Tsuruchi as a servant brought out a bottle for him. Sake sounded like a good idea right now. Morasahi could use a drink, or two, or three. She closed her eyes and tried to pretend this wasn’t happening to her, that Asahina didn’t bring this thing into the house to spite her.

“Whoa. Whoa. Whoa!” Tsuruchi began yelling, shattering any chance Morasahi had at pretending life was better. She opened her eyes to see Tsuruchi wrestling with the Naga for the bottle of sake. She looked around the table at the others. Matsu seemed to be completely enthralled with it since it crawled in the house. And Asahina just watched; he was a hard one to read.

“At least if she goes to sleep, I can paint her,” Asahina said wistfully.

“You want to paint her, Asahina-sama?” Questioned Matsu.

“I just… You know, how often do you have a chance to have a subject like this?” His pensive tone changing to something resembling hopeful curiosity.

Morasahi didn’t want to hear any more. She didn’t want to be around this thing anymore. She was ready to call it a night and hopefully tomorrow they could put that thing back in the woods and be rid of the insane antics it had brought into their lives.

“Bring me a bottle of shochu,” She instructed the closest servant. “Bring it to my room. I’m done here.”

***

The Naga finally let go of the sake bottle she had been trying to take from Tsuruchi. Half of it spilling on the table and the floor before the fight was over. If the Naga was thirsty, who was Tsuruchi to prevent her from drinking something? Granted, Mikoto didn’t like the taste of sake, but that wasn’t her decision to make for the snake. Whatever the case was, Mikoto wanted to make sure the Naga had had its fill before Asahina carted it off to his room to paint it. She rubbed her belly and nodded to the snake, “Full?” She asked.

Apparently, the Naga didn’t understand Rokugani as well as Mikoto had believed, because instead of nodding or rubbing its belly, it put a hand on Mikoto’s. It was only there for a second before the Naga pulled away from her, looked at Mikoto, then at her belly and pressed its hand to it again. This time the snake shot a glance from Mikoto to Asahina, then down at Mikoto’s belly, back to Asahina and back to her belly-

“No!” Mikoto snapped jerking away from the Naga who tried to touch her belly again and glanced at Asahina. “No.” Mikoto pushed her hand away. “No,” Mikoto said slowly touching at her own stomach.

“No,” the Naga responded putting a hand on her belly. Mikoto blinked, it just spoke, it hadn’t said a single thing since it arrived and now it just spoke. She was so stunned she didn’t realize the Naga pressed a hand to Mikoto’s stomach until the Naga again said, “No.”

Mikoto cupped the Naga’s hand putting pressure on her stomach, “No,” Mikoto shook her head. Then she moved the Naga’s hand to her head and nodded, “Yes.” She repeated the action, “No,” on the belly, “Yes,” on the head.

The Naga took its hand back and touched her own head. “Yesss.”

This was amazing, it was speaking! Mikoto was so excited. She was teaching it where appropriate touching was, you could touch someone’s head, but don’t touch their belly. She had always had a way with animals.

“No,” the Naga touched her own belly, and then she moved her hand to her head again and said, “Yesss.”

“Yes,” Matsu nodded.

The Naga put her hand on Tsuruchi’s head, “Yesss.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Tsuruchi ducked out of the way holding is hands up as if to push the Naga away.

“Whoa,” the Naga said pointing to her own hand, indicating stop as Tsuruchi had. This thing was so intelligent, it was learning so fast.

Mikoto pointed to Asahina. “Asahina,” She said slowly. She then pointed to herself, “Mikoto.” Lastly, she pointed at the Naga and waited.

“Sssara.”

“Good,” Mikoto smiled.

Sara withdrew her tambourine from her belt and shook it. “Unnatra. Unnatra.”

Mikoto didn’t actually understand what she wanted, did she want to play music, or was she trying to say the tambourine was called an un… she already forgot the word.

Sara shook the tambourine again, this time saying the word slowly, “Un na tra.”

“Un-na-tra,” Mikoto mimicked. Sara shook her tambourine in response. Mikoto was communicating with it!

“Well, we have an early day tomorrow,” Asahina said, interrupting Mikoto’s fun.

They were apparently going hunting again tomorrow. She wondered if that meant Katsumi would go with them again, or if she would stay here since she hadn’t been part of the conversation over dinner. She was starting to miss Katsumi, as strange as it sounded. She hadn’t really seen her for three days, only in passing and those were just hellos and goodbyes for the most part. Things had been a whirlwind of activity since Yanagi got back into town. Mikoto took in a deep breath; she was getting married in two days. It was a concept she thought was far off, but now she was being rushed into it in order to cover-up her illicit evening with Asahina. Another deep breath as she swallowed down the nervousness and anger that came with both getting married so quickly and the thought of Asahina. It was all his fault.

***

Kyuzo stretched as he walked to his room, Sara following behind him, as he expected. She wasn’t going to leave him alone for an instant, what was he going to do during his bath, or what about other women? She was going to be watching; that was the best-case scenario, she might even try to hurt the girl, whoever it would be. He groaned at the thought that began a cascading string of all the things Sara might end up doing in any situation. She was going to be more of a challenge than this town had so far. In fact, in one day she had been more work than this town had for the last six weeks.

He sat down at his paint set, pulling out his brushes. Since tea ceremonies were out of the question, maybe he could paint to relax, that is, if she didn’t try to smell and taste everything he was going to be using. Carefully he set up, watching her watch him. She didn’t touch anything. Good, at least she had some sort of respect for art. Then she did something completely unexpected. Sara pulled out a leather case, and once she opened it, an assortment of brushes greeted Kyuzo. Granted, her brushes were made with bone handles, but it was still an art set. It was more than that. It was a painting set. Along with the brushes, she presented an ink set much like the one he used for calligraphy. She set herself up and began painting on his wall.

“Uh,” Kyuzo was going to protest to her using his wall for painting, but it was already too late. Besides, how was he going to convince her when she had already proven to find his teaching to be difficult to understand? Matsu, on the other hand, said three things and Sara suddenly comprehended everything. Granted, it was not the right sort of teaching, with the petting and naming her head yes, while her stomach is no.

Kyuzo shook his head and set to work painting Sara while she painted his walls.