"Every day is a journey

And the Journey itself is home."

- Matsuo Bashou

--

Ebume, Mutsu Province, 1556

A warm spring breeze made the wooden windchimes hung around Hashi-ji clink together melodically. Their hollow wooden sound filled the courtyard with a certain kind of music that rang out in an odd harmony to the sound of hammers on wood and the sounds of work and repair. The courtyard was filled with talk and laughter, and the air was filled with the smell of tea and freshly cooked rice. There was the occasional splash of the excited koi in the pond beside the temple, and the leaves in the trees rustled out their own melody that swirled with the smells and sounds.

"Yuzu, pass me the tiles, please," Sen called from where he sat on the roof, his head wrapped with a headband to keep sweat from his eyes as he waited for Yuzuha to appear from the other end of the roof. She did, holding a stack of clay tiles in her hands. "Thanks."

"Hey, we gonna stop to eat soon?" She asked, pausing to squat down beside him, watching him fit and plaster the tiles snugly into place. "I'm starving."

They paused when the loud groaning rumble of her stomach permeated the air, and they both burst into a fit of laughter as she sheepishly began to climb down from the roof. Sen didn't even bother answering as he also began to descend with her. Emi and Hachirou were already down and waiting. Hachirou had shed his armor and was dressed down, his shaved head shining in the sunlight as Emi playfully teased him about its distinct sheen. He paused as he dismounted the ladder and watched his three friends with a sudden realization.

Hashi-ji was feeling like a home again. He watched as Yuzuha took a bowl of rice and sat down next to Emi with a laugh, and saw the nun and sohei quickly pray before eating. He saw kappa down by the riverside accompanied by various other river-dwelling yokai, all happily going about their business. Birds chirped overhead, fish swam in the ponds, and he could hear the distant hammers of the Ebume forge where Goemaru made his wares. Everything was the way it should be, only Hashi wasn't there. It still stung, but it didn't hurt like it did in the beginning. Hashi wouldn't want him to be unhappy, after all. Part of him still wished his friend could be there...

"Sen," Yuzuha spun around on her rear and smiled back at him, "you gonna stand there looking stupid or are you going to join us?"

"Says the one with egg on her chin," he shot back with a smile as he joined them on the veranda, dropping down beside Yuzuha as Emi handed him a bowl with a giggle while Yuzuha picked a clump of egg off her chin with narrowed eyes. He tossed one of the small fish to Kawataro, who held it up and waved it in thanks before he squatted on the stones around the koi pond.

This place felt like home again after so much time away, and if he had to admit it... he enjoyed it. It felt nice.

Over the wind, there was a small ring of the temple entrance bell, and all heads turned to it the sound. Standing there on the temple steps were several sohei, all wearing distinct sets of prayer beads, and at their head was Umemaru. Sen stood and walked over to them, setting his bowl down on one of the old stone walls as he did.

The group all bowed in greeting before Umemaru spoke, "Sen, forgive the intrusion."

"What's this about?" Sen asked, crossing his arms and looking the group of monks over.

"We have received a message from Choukaiyama. It is time for you to begin your trials," Umemaru nodded once. "We have come to escort you."

"We're coming along, right?" Sen turned and saw Yuzuha, Emi, and Hachirou all walking up behind him. Yuzuha crossed her arms over her chest, "We sure as hell aren't letting you go alone."

Sen turned back and looked questioningly at Umemaru, "They can accompany me, yes?"

The monk laughed, "Of course! What is a Deishi without their companions, after all?"

Without missing a beat, Emi smiled and gave one slap of her hands, "I'll go gather our things! Hachi, go buy us some food for the trip if you would." Without complaint, the large sohei smiled and passed the Blades by. Yuzuha gave a curt nod and turned away to go and help pack, leaving Sen alone with them. 

Umemaru spoke first, "I am sorry to hear of what happened to Hashioni. His absence will be felt for a long time."

"It always will be," Sen sighed, "but Tenba-no-Kami said that one day he might come back, so I guess I just have to wait for him until he does."

Umemaru watched Sen for a moment with an expression Sen couldn't quite place before he smiled again, "He was lucky to have known a friend like you."

"And I was even luckier to have had a friend like him," Sen smiled when he remembered Hashi's toothy grin before he looked up from the ground and met Umemaru's gaze. "I'm ready. For the trials. And for whatever comes next."

Umemaru gave him a knowing smile, "Myugou said you were tenacious. Well, now it's time to see how right he was."

---

The winds of Murakami were alive with the smells of their Lady's flowers. Maru inhaled the sweet smell and exhaled with a sigh. The days he spent in the small little prefecture felt magical in just how simple they were. That calmness that had settled over him and managed to lull him from his fitful rests and let him sleep well through the night again for the first time since he was a boy.

Nobuhiko, however... He had to laugh when he would wake up well into the day to see his friend already almost exhausted from training since an unholy hour of the morning. It was, however, quintessentially Nobu, and he expected nothing less. He glanced down beside him at the small unfolded letter that had come to him by way of a mysterious courier. There had been no name. Just a crow feather. Naoyuki had been keeping him appraised of the situation with the rogue Sayonakidori, and he had apparently had some limited contact with Avery. Whatever this whole mess was, they would solve it.

That's what they did, after all.

He heard the door slide open behind him and turned to see Seiko emerge. Her long black hair trailed over her shoulders and down her back as she sat down beside him and folded her hands in her lap, gazing out across the courtyard with her amber-brown eyes. If anyone had told him that he would have fallen hopelessly in love with a fox demon, he would have laughed them out of house and home, but sitting beside her now filled him with such a level of peace that the very thought of never having met her - or worse yet, of hating her - seemed inconceivable. He noticed things about her that he missed before: the way her nails were sharp and hard, the way her canines were slightly sharper than a human's, the way her eyes were tilted and sharp, her hair's unnatural perfect silkiness - and he loved all of it, every part a unique piece of a whole person, of a woman with no equal in the entire world. Perhaps it all sounded sappy, like some lovestruck young boy in love with someone who didn't even know he existed, but for her? For her, it was hopelessly worth it.

She dragged her eyes down to the letter before they found their way to his face. "What did our Crow have to say?" she asked, careful to keep Naoyuki's name between them in a quiet code.

"He's gone to Michizane," Maru replied as he turned to better look at her and she did the same. "He thinks that there might be some connection to the sects in Kai, but he's not entirely sure."

Seiko nodded and turned to look back out at the gardens before her eyes went to several of her servants, all watching the topless Nobuhiko running through his sword forms, with a sigh. "I forget how young vixens are so easily distracted. Ah, might as well allow it for now unless Nobuhiko says something."

Maru chuckled, "I don't think he minds."

"Will you be going to Michizane as well?" She asked as she turned back to him. Maru couldn't ever read her face. It was so often an impassable, beautiful mask of collected calm. Not even her eyes could tell him how she felt.

"I... I don't know, really..." Maru turned away at last. He didn't want to leave.

Seiko still watched him before she added, "They have called the Deishi candidate to Choukaiyama." That caught Maru's attention. "Sen will likely be voyaging there as we speak to begin his trials. I have eyes watching for movement in the Sayonakidori to ensure they do not inhibit his training."

"You think they will?" He asked as he looked to her. 

"I would not doubt it. It would not be the first time that they have meddled in the affairs of the Deishi to further their own causes..." She paused, "Maru." The tone of her voice, made him finally look back at her. "I know that Michizane is a place of great discomfort for you, but you must be sure that the Sayonakidori do not do anything which could endanger your friend, or, perhaps worse yet, the man who treated you as a son."

Maru shook his head, "They wouldn't go after Lord Atsumori-"

"Do you know that?" She asked, her voice firm as she spoke. "Lord Atsumori's holdings may be small, but he is an influential man who has opposed them before. If there is a plot afoot, he needs you."

Maru knew that she was right, but what had happened all those years ago... "Can I face him, Seiko?" He asked as he closed his eyes against their parting memory. "What if he doesn't want me there?"

He felt a cool hand on his cheek, and when he opened his eyes, he saw her smiling face looking back at him. "Then you can come back with no regrets." She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, a sweet thing that tasted and smelled of her flowering trees. "Even if Michizane no longer welcomes you," she spoke as she parted from him, "you will always have a home here with me."

Maru smiled as he pressed his forehead against hers, "Always."