Sugita head meant it as a joke. Hey, how about we go take a bath together? Who accepts that? Now it's all awkward and neither can back out of it. Bothersome.

It had taken a while to scrub as Sugita was contemplating. Sticky situation. When he's about to exit, he calls over with a little poking humor. "Ya about done in there?" Why? He couldn't even answer that.

Why had she agreed to this? Why? Why why why???

Seiko still couldn't come up with an answer. She had never felt this way about her late husband. Granted, the circumstances had been much different, but still... nothing!

"Um... hai! Hai! About done!"

In a moment, Seiko emerged, wearing nothing but a towel. She couldn't look at him though, and instead, seemed to be concentrating on her footsteps, making sure she wouldn't do something foolish, like trip.

"Gomen, I... was distracted. Thinking... about how this might be the last time to use decent baths in a while. But then... I thought that yesterday too..."

So who knows when we are leaving, neh?

Delicately, she stepped into the water. The towel slipped from her and onto the ground, safely dry and in easy reach, as she lowered herself into the warmth.

Sugita walks in wearing zilch. Which isn't unusual for him. He'd done it every time. Seiko turning may have spared her a blush. When he gets in, he turns around, to fluff up the towel he'll put his head back on. On his back, Seiko can clearly see more than a dozen scars taken from lashings. They're all long and harsh.

"I got no clue when we're leaving. Thought it was today, but this damn gaijin boat is stopping us."

Seiko had been looking down at her feet - until she got in the water. When Sugita approached, she ended up seeing a bit more than she had intended to see.

Now, if it was anyone else, it would have been fine. Qian-Fan, Jishaku, or Zenko would have all been given a quick glance, maybe a secret appreciation, and she would have gone on with what she was doing.

But it was Sugita.

Luckily, his turning made it easy for her to control her blushing so that he wouldn't notice.

Right. Gaijin ship. Bad thing, that.

"Um... ugly thing, isn't it?" she ventured. "I mean, what it represents. If all the people on-board were removed, the ship itself might be... interesting."

Pause.

"You're going, aren't you?"

Why, oh why, did she have to ask that?

Nod. "Yeah. I will be. Duty calls." He speaks of it easily. In reality, he's anxious for it.

You know he could die, right?

Shut up!

Death was an acceptable risk for being a samurai. Especially a bushi.

Probably one of the reasons they strongly discourage fraternizing, you know.

Seiko was unable to mentally rebuke her inner voice that time. It was true. She hadn't meant to fraternize, it had just happened. And now she was getting her emotions all mixed up.

It was just a kiss!

Two kisses, actually. And you know how bad that can get, right?

She was silent a moment longer, lost in her thoughts again.

Regret is a sin. Do not regret.

Right. Do not regret.

"Do not regret," she whispered to herself. Then she looked up. Desire is a sin too. So was letting Fear decide things.

"I wish you much success," she finally said. It was in a calm voice.

"Thanks. This means you aren't going along?" As many young bushi, Sugita is confident in his success to a fault. Harm cannot befall him.

Seiko smiled this time.

"Iie. I am a shipwright, a builder. Not a bushi."

It was the simplest way to put it.

And why did she find his brazen overconfidence endearing?!?

"A noble trade regardless. Hope the ship is ready to sail when we get back. She'll take us out o' here."

A change of subject is appropriate.

"I spoke with Hida-san earlier today. That man is a hoot. You know much about him? He said he barely knows you."

Ironically, the first thing that popped into Seiko's mind was the fact that once the ship set sail, fraternizing would be much more difficult.

Isn't that the point?

Seiko mentally gave a sigh.

"Ram? Not really. We don't cross paths much. I have my duties down belong and he has his. Why?"

Just because we are both Crabs doesn't mean we necessarily have to be associated with one another.

He knew that. It only meant there was a slightly higher chance. "Yeah. I figured as much. The man is an interesting one. Bold, I'd say. And he's like a mountain socially. Knew Hida were supposed to be like mountains in a fight, but this is different."

Seiko shrugged. Ram didn't really interest her, even if a discussion about him was safer than... was safer.

"Big and socially different bushi are not unknown among the Crab," she replied.

There was another pause. She wanted to talk to Sugita about... what had happened... but she didn't know how to approach the topic.

The point of bringing up Musasha was to say 'I asked about you'. Then hopefully there'd be the question 'Why did you ask about me?'. Now Sugita is having the same problem. Need a new tactic. Bringing it up is difficult. Not so subtly gauging reaction is easier. While keeping a sideways eye on Seiko, Sugita gets up to move beside her. He sits close enough for friends. He's not bold enough to go invading personal space right now. Better place for whispering. That's what he's using as an excuse.

"The big Hida likes the big Ichiru. I gave him some encouragement." He whispers and grins.

When Sugita got a little closer, Seiko felt her heart race.

What is he...?

Then he whispered and Seiko had to grin.

"Kakita-kun!" she giggled, unconsciously forgetting and using the more familiar honorific. "You... how did he react to that?"

Looks like Sugita had the lead on the conversation now.

Small frown. "Didn't get much of a reaction before a Mirumoto walked in. He said a bonus was that he doesn't think he'd break her. Hah!"

"Oh, and if you're going to use -kun, at least call me Sugita." He adds while looking forward in an indifferent posture.

Oh, I... uh... didn't...

Seiko wasn't even aware that she was blushing. The only reason she had been calling him "Kakita-kun" before was because of the excitement from the storm. And now... it seemed like only one thing to do.

"O-of course... Sugita-kun," she said, maintaining something resembling composure. "To be fair, you can call me Seiko-chan. If you want."

Kami...

"Alright, Seiko-chan." He looks at her with a grin. "You know. I had worried I'd done something to offend you the other day. You ran off and then seemed to shy away from me. Did I?" Wouldn't be new. Sugita offends a lot of people.

Seiko sighed.

"Iie, iie. It wasn't you. I... felt that I had let the storm and the excitement sweep me away."

She looked at Sugita for a moment, then looked away.

"So... what do we do now?"

That caused a small pain inside. Sugita smiles through it. "Welllll. If it was the storm that swept you away and not me, then I suppose we do nothing special. Not that you should go fleeing mind you."

"Hai. Nothing special."

Why did that idea hurt?

"And no more fleeing."

She gave Sugita a smile that masked her own pain.