Are You There Grandma? It's Me, Tsuki-chan! (D1, EA. Open)

[Togashi Satsuki]

"Yeah, Takurou-san." She nodded, confirming the name. "He's very kind and nice. I'm sure he'll be happy to make you whatever you'd like to try."

"... Hopefully the temple will be quieter after today? I understand there's a lot to prepare for a wedding, being a very important ceremony and all. Maybe you'll get a chance to draw here later?"

[Doji Hikaru]

"Kindness is a virtue." Hikaru said, inclining his head. "I would be honored to meet him."

Carefully, Hikaru tucked his writing implements into his kimono. "One can hope. It is strange how one day, a place like this will bustle with activity, and the next it might just be you and the snow." He looked up, frowning thoughtfully. "Perhaps I may have time to make a sketch before I depart. Although I dislike the look of these gathering clouds..." His frown deepened as he looked skyward, ignoring the few snowflakes that landed on his upturned face.

[Togashi Satsuki]

"Well the snow isn't a both--- hey, are you saying I'm a disturbance?" there was a slight hint of accusation to her tone, as she eyed him with those intense eyes of hers.

Sometimes she seemed eerily much like her father.

[Doji Hikaru]

Hikaru's eyes widened just a little, meeting hers... and then the edges around them crinkled. Beneath the impassive Crane calm, there were hints of warmth, humor, hard to reach and well-surprised, but certainly there.

"I have enjoyed our conversation on a number of levels." Hikaru said, lips shifting as he suppressed a smile. "And yet, I think I cannot pretend that I might have completed more sketching had I not been ambushed by a hug." He shook his head gently. "I do not say you are a bad disturbance, Togashi-sama."

[Togashi Satsuki]

"It wasn't an ambush!" she frowned and crossed her arms defensively. "I thought you were the groom because you fit the description, and families hug! Don't you hug your family?"

[Doji Hikaru]

"Well it was certainly a surprise, at least." Hikaru murmured.

His smile faded back to polite neutrality as he shook his head. "I do not, Togashi-sama. While my foster mother and I speak with warmth to each other, we do not hug." His lips shifted for a few moments. "Now that I have been an adult for several years, I would say we are as close colleagues."

[Togashi Satsuki]

She kind of stared at him, like he was some sort of weird monster who didn't even hug and tell his mother good night or give her flowers on important days.

The Crane truly truly are as bad as uncle Sora says.

"But..." she began to speak, then paused, partially speechless for a moment. "... Do you even tell your foster mother that you love her then?! Give her flowers and gifts? Hold her hand when walking over slippery ice or bad terrain so she can lean on you?"

[Doji Hikaru]

Hikaru considered. "I do give her flowers and gifts. If there is anything she needs, I assist her with it. I offer my arm, but she does not accept." For a moment, he smiled, some warmth visible in his pale eyes.

Then he looked away, his eyes going distant. "I do not say the words to her 'I love you'. It... is not my way." His expression was carefully neutral, his eyes strange. How to explain to this hugging Dragon princess how he guarded his feelings, and how he expressed them? How closely he needed to guard his heart? Without words, he shook his head, dismissing the thought. Some things could not be explained.

[Togashi Satsuki]

She thought about it, remembering to be more thoughtful before passing judgement. After all, her father said there were many paths to wisdom and leading a good life.

"I think that sounds like a cold way to live with family... but I won't judge you for it." Even if she just did. "My apologies for being rude."

[Doji Hikaru]

Hikaru shook his head. "Do not think of it, Togashi-sama." He said quietly. For a few moments, he was silent, his gaze distant, expression blank. He might as well have been a statue.

He looked back at Satsuki, the expression of guarded politeness back on his face. "Would you share with me what life in your household is like? I imagine hugging must feature."

[Togashi Satsuki]

"I don't mind sharing!" She said happily. Maybe she'd enlighten Hikaru to a loving family-life in the process.

"Let's see... father is usually very quiet and reserved, but he's always there for us. Or... uh, used to until recently," she waved a hand to indicate their previous topic. "Very calm, infinitely patient with us. Sometimes not easy to understand what he means, but in hindsight it makes sense. But he's loving and caring, and I remember when mother would be gone to tend to other things, my brother and I would fall asleep in his lap as we'd sit to watch the sunset and look at the stars."

Breathe.

"Mother is very doting and loving too. And she's kind, and funny. And the way she makes father smile is the best. Always hugging us, yes. And kissing us on the forehead or the cheek, always asking us if we need anything. She's the best person in the entire world, and she just cares so much. It's why... I said I'd go here, on her behalf, so she could focus on the needs of the clan. And my brothers are helping too - Hoshi's looking after father, and Taiyo's helping her with the needs of the Saru family."

It was quite clear that she idolised her parents a lot.

[Doji Hikaru]

As he was hit with the flow of words from the young woman, Hikaru's expression gradually softened, until he once more appeared like a feeling human instead of a statue carved from marble. "That sounds very pleasant." Hikaru said, his tone a bit warmer than neutral. "And it matches very well with what I saw of them. It is good when the face one presents is one's true face."

He took a deep breath. "I suppose we hope for similar happiness for the couple we come here to witness being married. As we hope for any couple who comes to be married, and doubtless we hope for ourselves one day." The sentiment was expressed fairly indifferently. He offered her a gentle smile. "But I should enjoy meeting your father and mother someday, and not merely as I hover dutifully in the background. I think..." he paused a moment, lips pursed, "-it would be an honor."

[Togashi Satsuki]

"I think you could probably meet them. They're not... hmmm... exclusive people? Reclusive, sure, but if people do come all the way to father's home, he almost never turns them away. And mother almost always meets those who seek to speak with her in Great Falls," she said in encouraging tones.

"But you have duty that makes it difficult for you, or...?"

[Doji Hikaru]

"If my quest takes me there, than I shall go there." Hikaru said. "But until I have found a cure for Doji's ailment, whatever it is, that must be my first concern, and the search for that determines my path."

Again, he smiled, just a little. "But perhaps when that is over. I have seen much of Rokugan, but I would still see more. Meet Lord Togashi and Lady Saru. Visit the lands of the Dragon, and the Bat. In a way, this past year of fruitless search has been a blessing for me."