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"That is good, that is good,"Michiko nodded to Lumine having found everything, and now having it in a neat little pile though that in itself was an oddity from Lumine. The wolf's tail moved almost nothing on the couch,"Of course you can. Like I told you, you are always welcomed here; happen what may, the door is always opened, Lumine." She tried to smile encouragingly, before being as solemn as usual,"It's a shame those demons camd and ruined many things. That shack had been empty for as long as I remember. Bad timing I suppose."

"Ochiba.... is still very hurt." The wolf said candidly,"She has a fever and she woke up quite agitated. It took a bit of unfriendly persuassion to get her in bed again, and I had to rebandage the wounds she reopened or opened further." Michiko seemed to nod to herself,"But, She seemes resilient, and I am sure she will be up and nagging before we know."

"Me?" Michiko looked up to Lumine,"Thanks to the quick care my wound received, and the youkai blood, my wound is essentially gone aside from the monor grogginess and the raw feeling it haves. It is safe to say I got off the hook rather easy compared to Ochiba."

"As for you?" Michiko looked straight through Lumine,"What ills you? It is obvious there alot bothering you Lumine, it is easy to hear it in your voice and see it kn your eyes."

Michiko nodded, with a slightly sly smirk,"Yes, that old rabbit must hibernate through the winter to have enough sleep to last her through the year."

"A Kenkaku..." The tengu nodded as Lumine recalled and told her story. Once she finished her tale with a complement to Michiko, a small red tint found her cheeks. She looked away, turning to the picture Lumine had presented her. After another smile silence she said,"I am not worthy of my Mother."

"In my younger years, I blamed her notoriousness for everyone expecting so much of me. I blamed her for no one ever seeing me for who I was.... I blamed her caring nature for tending to her job, and not me when I wanted her to read a book to me. I blamed the wrong person," Michiko turned to Lumine,"When I was older, I let pride get in my way of appearing at her door and finding her arms; Seijin wouldn't have rejected me, it simply wasn't in her nature. ... I am unlike my mother in many, many ways, but perhaps I will become more like her with age.... "

"I am not nice. Ochiba is a small thing, she'd be killed if I left her outside in her state, and I serve you as a friend of my family; My mother. Not nice, simply not heartless," She gave her excuses as she stood to serve the tea for Lumine, before turning to Lumine's troubles.

"You found her right? Was that not your goal?" Michiko said withou turning around,"I am sure you've been preached by someone else on this. Souls are meant to have new lives, if your friend's soul has a real attachment to you... She will come back to you. You staid to your promise."

Michiko turned, tail waving low and pensively, holding the tray of tea, and what looked like bread skillfully cut in slices. "I am not an expert in the system of the living and the death, you must know more than I do, but this is what I can advice you with: Why not befriend her? Not as Maemi perhaps, but as who she is now."

The wolf walked to Lumine, setting the tray down,"And you aren't a stranger to my home."

"You'll see. Fate as way of working. If you let things settle perhaps she will come to you," Michiko turned around, her tail turning with her. She sat to sip some tea. "Your friend will come back I am sure, but give it a shot. If seeing her happy is enough for you, then let it be."

"Uh... well I hear Seijin used to run the night-shift in her first years as a guard. Father always said she was a bit of a loner, but never anti social. She did have that shift until she was hired as an instructor. I don't think she was ever like me, she was okay with being on her own, just as good as being with others," the wolf gave a small smile," Father said courting her was quite tough. I think it was because her heart was just as armored as she was."

"...." Michiko looked at the picturee on the wall again, particularly on her father," Mh... now that I think of it, both my parents where very quiet for warriors. I mean, I remember seeing boastful guards in their armors and drop drown drunk. Some of them never lasted in the shift for more than two weeks."

"You never know, maybe it was for the best to not remember who you where. Maybe the family you found afterwards was the only family you had or the like," Michiko said, nibbling on her own piece of bread," Maybe it all happened for a reason; But I suppose all that counts is that Seijin and Maemi where there for you either way. Sometimes is best not to question why, and enjoy the how."

Michiko tilted her head at Lumine,"Now You are just confusing me."

"You have alot on your mind, that is probably it, don't feel like you should be quiet. Sometimes to straighten your mind you have to speak outloud; not for anyone, but for yourself ,"Michiko sipped some more of her drink,"And what do you mean by 'my mother through and through'? I know she was, but I am not crossed at the idea of her adopting another tengu and a celestial.... At any rate you two have more right to call her mother than I do. Actions are more than blood, and while I was born her daughter, it was you two who where essentially raised by her."

"... And my father was a quirky man on his own as well," She smiled sligthly, almost sheepishly, "He did married one of the scarier, more intimidating wolven warriors of his time. I know its tough to imagen my mother being intimidating but there is reasons why she had the reputation she had as a guard."

"I think that's what made her so dangerous. I never think she displayed... fear, or anger for the matter. And those things are usually what tip the balance in someone's favor. Usually the people who lack that or have it in excess are the ones who lose their minds," Michiko said, delaying a sip of her tea,"But As you said, she was a kind heart. It kept her from ashaming her own duties. "

"Oh, yes, she never drew her sword," Now she drank some tea, "When I was still young, she promised to my father that she would never draw her sword unless need be, since my father was afraid drawing the blade would incite a fight. It was a two way deal; neither of my parents would draw the blade unless openly attacked or something of the like."

"... That comment wasn't awkward at all..." The tengu stared a bit,"... I am then very glad you me the Kenkaku then."

"What...? All this time..." Her ears tilted a bit as she pondered on it," I suppose she never laid eyes on anyone else... Seijin loved my father, so I am not all that surprised."

"Wait."

"You snuck into her room?"

"Let's not talk about you watching an elderly tengu sleep; even if you did. It is somewhat perturbing." Michiko said taking a sip of her tea to hide her own confusion as to why. Still , she was cool about it. The tengu looked up at the mention of her mother's armor. "Oh yes, she had her armor. She used to wear it as her uniform; I guess she stopped when she retired?"

"I am sure she wore it for those special ceremonies even in her older days. Seijin was fit, I doubt the armor was odd on her... it was a rather... revealing..." The daughter of Kazuko knew she was rather conservative in her way of dressing, but she always wondered why her mother wore it,"It was a... light armor, to say the least."

"Ah... Good question. Yes, traditionally warriors are buried in their armors unless requested otherwise. In Seijin's case, they may have taken it to place it as a memento in the Academy's Library or maybe the training room... they do have a historic display room as well."

"... I lean towards the last."

"In any event, the armor won't be kept in her home, incass you were thinking of trying to sneak a peek at it. I'd say the academy took it, Seijin was an important member of their ranks and staff." Michiko's tail swayed to curl at her side,"It was so, that I even wonder why she was not the headmaster of the academy at some point and age."

"That logic is faulty.... but not any worse than child like innocence," Michiko played deaf moving her tail once more behind her,"It's a display room, not the village's treasury. I am sure you could if you wanted. Stealing something from the Swords Academy... that is a whole different story."

"Ochiba was awfully squirmish when she woke up. You can said she wanted a fight but she was just disoriented and scare; she had never been inside my home previous to this. Keep in mind, Ochiba is a much... lower youkai. She is highly pensive and critical for a little runt as herself. I am sure that when she is unable to think as she usually can, she is far eaiser to frighten. "

"She was running a high fever when I left her. Not that she could pick a fight with me, but she certainly tried to make it hard for me to put her into bed. Ochiba is pretty agile and swift for an old thing like herself. She always boasts about her age... just how old is she anyway?"

Michiko shook the thought aside, ears lowering a bit,"Couldn't be more right. She just loves to stab arrows into my door with notes and the like. She steals my vegetables; and her little tricks are so annoying!" The tengu let a soft growl roll from her throat, but she quickly cleared her throat, ears perking as usual once more. "So no, we don't get necessarily well."

"She is in my room still," Michiko said looking as Lumine stood, she herself got on her feet to pick up the tea things. "I will make her some light snack incase you manage to wake her up."

--

Ochiba was still asleep, as Michiko had mentioned. New Bandages where easy to distinguish from the first ones of the days. Some had medicine on them and the like; Michiko had been taking proper care of her.

A few of the gauze had small patches of blood that had managed to seep through. Those where the wounds Ochiba had reopened or worsened in her frigthened scramble earlier. The blanket was moved to the side; the tengu's attempt to not encourage the fever's progress.

Her glasses and bag where on Michiko's desk, neatly next to her host's possessions. The way they were arranged made it seem as all the objects on the table belonged to a single being. Her boots where next to the bed, Apparently Michiko had removed them from her, along with all the belt like things that tied her shirt at places to prevent them from drooping. In fact, Ochiba's tie and shirt where hanged on the desk's chair, and on closer inspection, the rabbit wore a tank top (that she always had under her shirt anyway) and her now lose shorts. Her shirt did have the dentures of where Fuzen-mara's pitchfork had pierced her but it was hard to tell because the white of the bandages under blended in perfectly.

Overall, Ochiba was far less bandaged, but more effectively taken care of. The rabbit was asleep still, though her face stirred with the fever's nightmares at times. Without all her outfit she looked even more child like, specially in the moments her sleep was peaceful.

A small box filled with books, and, where as it would usually rest with its kin at the foot of the bed, it rested next to the bed. It seemed someone else had occupied it at the night's lenght, because by it was Michiko's personal lantern.

Ochiba did not even stir as Lumine sat by her. It was only a small twitch of her nose as Lumine stroked her forehead that gave some gesture of actually feeling the new companionship. For a bit Ochiba remained still, occasionally wrinkling her nose at her own dreams before easing once more peacefully in the celestial's companion.

It took a little more before Ochiba was completly still, so far as tilting her head towards Lumine's hand. A few more moments and she opened her eyes. It was slowly that her she managed to focus in Lumine, squinting due to the lack of her glasses. There was some intelligence lacking in her dumbfounded eyes for a minute or so, as she unconsciously nuzzling into Lumine's hand.

It wasn't until after that, and a few blinks, that Ochiba's usual glisten returned to her. A confused grunt before she squinted more to the celestial and finally she said hoarsely," Lumine...?" Ochiba was still sligthly leaned towards her hand, but a quick blush and she leaned fully back onto her pillow.