Welcome to Gaia! ::

No one appreciated being told that someone else had less trouble with a task that was obviously difficult for them. Jianyu clearly was not related to Junko -- clearly -- or he would have found that she was nigh impossible to manage for much of anyone. Masami was the only one who seemed to be able to talk sense into her, but even then, there was never a guarantee. It was on his lips to make a snappy retort, but at the last moment, he decided not to encourage his brewing headache with an argument.

There was no doubt in his mind that once he arrived home, he and Junko would get into another of their famous fights, anyhow. He needed to conserve his energy.

Despite himself, he was a little bit fascinated by the sheer amount of tools and paraphernalia, the aggression leaving his posture in slow measures as he watched them all being put away neatly in their places. He had never really given tattoos an enormous amount of thought, except as to how ridiculous they would look when the person was old and their body had shifted. It seemed there was much more involved in them than he would have ever assumed.

Eyes flicking toward Jianyu, he was a little surprised to hear what he had to say next, and then was a little ashamed of himself. As difficult as she could be, it was true that Junko was a good person, and a polite and respectful young woman when she wasn't dealing with her family.

Reluctantly, he said, "I'm pleased to hear she was polite. Apparently, she can manage that with everyone but her family."

Then, because he couldn't help himself, he asked, "How long has she been here?"

Hours. It made sense, of course, considering from the little he'd just seen that tattoos were quite the intricate process, but it still annoyed Yuudai. His sister's shift had been a long one, and she could have simply told him that she needed to leave early and asked him to cover the rest of her shift. Of course, he would have needed to know why, and in the event she was actually honest with him, he would have disapproved and refused to allow it, but the fact remained that she did not even attempt it.

"That is quite some time." For the first time since he'd arrived, there was an undercurrent of hurt to his tone while he spoke. "She just up and left, you know, this morning. Doesn't breathe a word to anyone in the house, simply abandons her shift at the inn and traipses off to heaven only knows where."

It apparently did not occur to Yuudai to have reservations talking about his sister in front of a near complete stranger. He had met her, after all.

"So I cover for her, because of course you can't leave her guests unattended... how rude. It was a bit of an inconvenience to them, but things were sorted. Now she's off to home, and my entire day's plan has been ruined."

Lips tugging downward, he demanded, "Why must people be so unreasonable?"

He huffed out a breath, resting the majority of his weight on one leg and cocking a hip to the side. Yes, that sounded like Junko indeed, along with a heavy dose of impertinence. She had never been satisfied by her station in life, had always dreamed of something more than she had been offered, and he could not understand why. They had a respectable business, a lovely home. A family that cared for one another in every possible way, which could not be said for everyone, nor every family. She had the love and support of her friends as well, and was a beautiful, engaging young woman. Yet, she wanted more.

Perhaps not more, but something different. She'd told him once that she wanted to be challenged, wanted to know what it was like to have to take something with her own two hands and build it from the ground up. Fool that she was, she resented that they'd inherited the inn, and seemed to abhor her place within it. The very idea was inconceivable to Yuudai.

Then again, that was why they argued so often.

"She is that, all of it." He pinched the bridge of his nose, twisted his mouth. "This business, it is your family's, yes? Have you ever felt confined by it? As though you lose your identity to the tradition, the expectation of following the path those you love have marked for you?"

His expression was an unhappy one. "Junko does. I am afraid that one day, she is going to do something truly wild and find herself friendless and alone. I simply cannot understand it. When someone is given everything in the world, why would they ever shove it away from them as hard as they could?"

Clearly, his issues with his sister went deeper than simply getting a tattoo.

This was the sort of attitude he simply could not comprehend. In Junko, in a complete stranger -- it was the same, so he knew it wasn't simply that he refused to understand his sister. He had never felt as though his future being decided was a frightening, or smothering, thing. He'd always taken comfort in knowing that his parents ran a business that his grandparents had run, that he would always have a place to stay. That he had known, from when he was a small child, precisely what he needed to do in order to grow up and be profitable.

There was security in that, comfort and tradition. Perhaps he simply wasn't built to find that confining, but because he wasn't, he found it nearly impossible to understand.

When he didn't understand something, he got frustrated, and in turn, irritated. The fact that Jianyu, a relative stranger, likely understood his sister better than he did, grated on his nerves, wounded his pride. But what was there to be done about it?

Standing in that room, nothing. And yet, he found that he didn't quite want to leave. If he could gain some insight about Junko without taking it straight from the source, he wasn't going to turn that opportunity away.

"Please don't apologize for being personal. I'm the one who initiated it," he reminded him, waving a hand as though the subject was then dismissed. For Yuudai, it was. "As to what you say... it is completely incomprehensible to me."

He shook his head. "Comfort, tradition, love.. A steady job, a welcoming home. What more could there be, outside of your reach? What more could a person possibly want?"

His expression dimmed. "I have seen many, many people with much less. They would give all of their freedom for the stability that Junko possesses, that you seem to possess. So I simply cannot understand how this is unacceptable."

As strange as it might have been, his eyes searched Jianyu's face, as if seeking a hint that the other man held a much-needed answer.

He could understand very well the compulsion to protect certain people. It was, after all, why he was so harsh on his sisters when they behaved in a way he deemed unsuitable; he was only trying to protect them. It was all well and good to have lofty ideas about striking out and impacting the world, but if everyone were doing that, who would keep things running smoothly in their absence? Each person, each duty, was just as important as the next one. Someone could make a difference in another person's life simply be being there, even if their concept of moving forward was, simply, to pick up where someone else had left off.

Was there something so very wrong with that? He didn't believe so. He had been called short-sighted in the past, mostly by Junko. Steeped in tradition, afraid of adventure and the unknown. While that might have been true to a degree, he certainly wasn't willing to admit it; more, he absolutely did not believe it.

There was adventure and unknown in every aspect of life. If he remained precisely where he was for the rest of his life, eventually taking over the management of the inn, marrying and having a family, that would be an adventure in and of itself. There would be trials and struggles, joy and desolation. The world as he knew it would never be the same if he left -- and he would help carve its future if he stayed.

"I understand what you are saying." He lifted his hands, spread them in front of him. "And I agree, in theory. But I don't agree that in order to impact the world, or protect those you love, you must turn your back on all that is around you. There are things that can be done that seem small, insignificant, but actually mean the world."

His cheeks heated a bit again, and he sounded testy when he said, "Such as, providing a home. Having dinner on the table. Kissing your love good night. These things are all monumentally important -- and I dare anyone to tell me that such things do not impact those around them."

Yuudai followed the other man's gaze, listening thoughtfully while he spoke. He didn't know where Jianyu's mind was wandering, considering he didn't know him well at all, but he approved of the fact that his beliefs were being reinforced. The problem with Junko was that she flat-out refused to acknowledge his view point. She insisted that he was wrong, and she was right, and often tried to use her age to influence the outcome of the argument. He rarely let it happen, but when push came to shove, it was true she was older than him.

Wiser? He would sooner saw his own tongue off than admit to that, whether it was true or not. In his mind and heart, he would always be the protector of his sisters, whether they were twelve or ninety-two. Allowing them to have an advantage over him in anything would only undermine his (relative) authority, and he could not have that.

Still, his sisters were far from him at that moment, and instead he was in the company of a man. A man who was providing a bit of insight, unintentionally, but also intriguing Yuudai faintly.

"Yes, I am glad you can see some sense." He said it crisply, nodding as he did. "Junko cannot, but then, she has always been that way."

He sighed again, then looked at Jianyu with a hint of frustration around the edges of his mouth. "I, personally, will be quite content as long as my family remains my central focus. Relationships are... a waste of time." He shook his head, beads clicking together as he did. "Unstable, uncertain, and not really worth the headache. But people persist in pursuing them anyhow, so to each their own."

He huffed out a breath. "Arranged marriage seems much easier, what with knowing as little about the faults and flaws of your partner as possible before you begin. But, well, that's only in the event you really must get married."

He knew that he would have to marry one day. It would be strange to attempt to run a family business without a family of his own, after all, and he enjoyed children. He was simply in no rush for that sort of thing, especially since his parents were not planning to pass along the ryokan any time soon.

Marriage was indeed quite the commitment. When he thought about it, and tried to imagine the sort of woman he would one day me married to, her face was always blurred, the idea of her shaky at best. Someone peaceful, he imagined, who would enjoy nothing better than to raise a family and manage an inn at his side; anyone who would not be content with the life he'd chosen would be no person for him at all, after all. He didn't do well with demanding women, though he had dated one or two in the past, and wanted a much more subtle type for himself. Some day, anyhow. Some day.

The offer surprised him, and it was obvious in his face for a moment. He was used to being the one to treat others, generally with his own cooking, but he was not averse to the opposite from time to time. Jianyu seemed to be a reasonable enough companion thus far, despite his choice in occupation.

"I have time." He nodded, unsmiling, but not looking entirely unfriendly. At least there wasn't anger on his face, as there had been for much of the conversation. "If I were to go home now, Junko and I would only argue again, and I am not interested in that at this precise moment."

His brows etched together, and he lifted his shoulders, following Jianyu out. It was nice to meet a like-minded individual, at least as far as relationships were concerned. There seemed to be so few of them these days.

The Qian household was impressive, though Yuudai was not intimidated by it. He was the sort of person who had just the right temperament to be comfortable in extreme filth as well as extreme poverty, at least in the temporary; he wouldn't want to linger in an alleyway for any extended amount of time, of course, but he didn't mind dropping in and getting dirty in the interest of helping someone else out. The same could be said for being in large, lovely estates, in that he would visit but would feel out of place and uncomfortable if he was there for long. Though his family was respectable, they had always lived at the inn, and he was used to the constant busywork that came along with such living quarters.

A beautiful, quiet home like Jianyu possessed would make him wonder when the next crisis was lurking around the corner. Though it wasn't ever really loud in the Koga Inn unless Natsuko or Junko were making a fuss, there was always the steady, quiet hum of business, people passing through, conversations being held. They were the normal noises of a home, as far as he was concerned.

Arms crossed in front of him, he mused, "Marriage is something that will come along when it needs to. I will get married eventually, and take over the family inn, but I am in no rush for that." He supposed he would be, if his parents expressed a desire to retire any time soon, but he couldn't foresee that happening. "Regardless, it's not something to worry about unless you must, I've found."

He certainly wasn't going to pay it much mind at all. Even dating, as his last relationship had ended rather messily, was out of the question for now. He had not been able to find a woman who expressed what she wanted and then was satisfied with it when she received it, and he was tired of running in circles looking for her.

Inside the kitchen, Yuudai peered around curiously, taking in its layout. It wasn't so very different from his own kitchen, though he knew that if he were to poke around, he would find many small variations in the structure and arrangement of things. His fingers itched to do just that, but he reminded himself that this was not his home, not his kitchen.

Gaze sliding to Jianyu, he observed him silently a moment, feeling a small pang of sympathy for the flush on his face. As a man who reddened when angry, embarrassed, or just agitated in general, he knew better than most that a blush could mean any number of things. "I am certain that whatever you prepare will be fine."

Still, after a moment, he couldn't help but add, "Though, I do cook for enjoyment quite often, so if you were of a mind to learn to cook something new.." He let the statement hang, not caring that it was, probably, fairly rude. He was a guest in Jianyu's home, after all.

But it was a kitchen he'd never cooked in. Who knew what kind of ingredients they had on hand!