Sapphire Ambassadors

Hatsuki moved through the flower garden once again, taking a close look at several of the flowers and making notes with charcoal. Occasionally, she makes a few notes, then carefully clips a flower, one of the ones meant for uses by the competitors, and presses it between two pages before moving on.

The lunch he'd prepared wasn't his best work by any means, but it was... decent.

Should have started over, but then I'd be at it all day.

But the steamed dumplings and the vegetable soup he carried weren't on his mind.

At least I haven't fucked this competition up for her.

He cleared his throat as he approached.

"Good afternoon, Shosuro-san."

She looked up from her work, smiling warmly as she saw Choudai arrive. Just seeing him made her spirits lift, even if things were a little rough at the moment.

Is that lunch? He's so perfect.

She bowed. "Bayushi-san, good afternoon. It seems your hands are full... Let's find somewhere to sit." She headed toward a nearby bench.

"Yes, well, one does try to keep busy..."

Today's not so bad.

He followed along, feeling his mood improve by the second.

She settled down and indicated by gesture that he should join her. "You've certainly accomplished that, it seems," she replied with a small look of amusement. "Well, if some people find art challenging, I suppose that's a problem with them."

"So it appears."

He chuckled.

"And such a curious combination of hesitancy and haste in the bargain."

He paused, and let himself sound the way he meant the next part.

"But they recognized your work. And that gratifies me more than words can say."

"It's about what I would expect."

She shook her head, sitting back. She had personal experience with the Crane, after all.

At the comment about how they had recognized her work, she smiled.

"Yes. Even if nothing else comes of this event for me, they were forced to recognize my work. After everything between myself and my former Clan, I can walk away satisfied."

She looked toward him.

"Now we just have to make them acknowledge you. You've consistently done extremely well, as far as I am able to judge."

"I wouldn't hold my breath on that. I think they've more than made up their minds..."

He sighed and shrugged.

"But I suppose we'll see. I'll be improvising a bit today, since my regular plans went out the window."

She scoffed. "You'll do better with improvisation than most of them could dream of with the proper tools."

She looked to the box, finally. "What did you bring with you?"

"Some steamed dumplings with a bit of chicken, garlic, and cabbage in them, and then, for the health of the mother to be and her little passenger, some vegetable soup- there was some lovely bok choy in the market, and Obachan always said plenty of greens would be advisable..."

She leaned forward to take a look - and if that meant leaning toward him, it was a total coincidence, obviously. "Absolutely perfect."

The food or him?

Both, definitely both.

"Then the day is not a total waste."

Joking tone or not, it wasn't the safest turn of phrase, but it was considerably safer than what he wanted to say, which was, "I love you to the point of agony, and only when I am with you do I feel whole," so that was something.

"And you, Shosuro-san, are you finding the garden has what you need?"

"Yes, definitely," she agreed, separating her papers to show him the flowers she had chosen. "These violet ones will turn black with the right oils, and the red will be good for the exact color I want. I'm going to be doing a piece on self-deception."

"Ah, a talent I have in abundance..."

How much easier my life would be if that were true.

He reached out to touch the flowers, and if their fingers touched briefly, well, these things happened.

"... but I expect your work with it will carry some impact."

That, of course, was absolute truth.

Can I just stay here forever?

He knew the answer, of course, was no. The answer was always no once forever got involved.

"A piece for the competition, or something more personal?"

And therefore more rewarding.

"For the competition," she replied, giving him time to check the different flowers if he wanted.

Or for a hand to linger. Whatever.

"A little reminder that the people they are dealing with have more to them than politics and stereotypes."

"I hope they're perceptive enough to take the meaning. I'll admit that I'm not feeling particularly subtle today. So who knows, maybe a little blunt honesty will help sharpen their senses a bit."

She laughed, soft voice not reaching too far beyond the two of them. It was only for him, anyway.

"Perhaps hint via metaphorical tetsubo is a the hint they need to discourage further rumor-inspired decision making."

She looked to the food, then gestured toward it.

"Do you mind if I start?"

"I would be honored if you would. Let me take care of those flowers for a moment, wouldn't want to get soup on them if I do something clumsy..."

He made eye contact and just... held it.

Forever is too much to ask, but what I do get is so much more than I deserve.

She met his eyes, giving him the most warm smile she could.

Would that she had known her family was going to marry her out to the Scorpion sooner...

She turned to the box, beginning lunch with a soft blessing.

Between bites, she sighed, "If they had to choose someone from my school, they could have at least picked Asahina Chiaki-san. I think it would have been quite easy to be friends with her... When she was awake, anyway."

"I'm not picky, I'm really not..."

After all, since he couldn't marry Hatsuki, whoever it was just had to be someone he could more or less tolerate, and perform perfunctory couplings with to produce more samurai. Anything beyond that would have been a bonus.

"... but they seem to have found my limits. Almost perversely so."