Home
Characters
Fiction
Artwork
Timeline
Nandai wo?!
Join
FAQ
Updates
Get in Touch
Links
Forum

Kansoubun

by Heli-chan

Ranmaru was sitting on the engawa of his house, holding a paintbrush between his teeth and laying the round piece of rice paper on the floor. He carefully put two books on the edges of it to keep it straight before moving an ink bottle closer.

He had already painted the paper in soft purple shades with pale blue wisterias on the edges and in the middle. Now he was going to finish it with a couple of strokes of ink and something special for the person it was for.

He had known Kanamo Yuriko since the early 1875. They had been introduced to each other by Saitou before a mission. It had been quite of a meeting - Ranmaru remembered clearly the surprise he had felt when he saw that his partner would be a young woman, a former geisha no less. But it hadn't stopped them from achieving their goal. Especially not after he had learned about she being a ninja.

The memory raised a rare smile on his sharp-featured face as he dapped the brush in the ink and began the familiar, comforting strokes of the kanjis he was going to put on the paper.

'Mi' for her beauty.

'Ki' for her strength.

'Ai' for the harmony she embodied.

The kanjis 'shin' and 'zen' together for their friendship.

It was ready. Now all he had to do was to wait it to try and then to fit it against the frame of the kasa he had made earlier that day.

Ranmaru leaned against the pillar supporting the roof above the engawa and sighed contentedly. It occurred to him that this was the first time in the ten years he had been a widower that he made something to a woman to thank her for a friendship. He knew some might think of it as a sign of love, but he also knew that he and Yuriko didn't think so. She knew that he was still mourning for his wife's death and he knew that her heart belonged to another man - although she did not admit it.

So it was just a plain simple thank you gift for an old friend. Ranmaru closed his eyes with a small nod. There weren't too many people he could consider to be his friends. She was probably one of the first true ones he had had in his thirty years of living. This thought brought him comfort. Having a friend was rare, even in these days, and he was thankful for having someone like Yuriko. Somewhere, deep in his heart, he wished to repay all that she had done for him and Kasumi some day.