<div class="floatright">(http://blog.williamcolephoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/SHINKOYAMADA.THELASTSAMURAI.WILLIAMCOLEPHOTO.WEB_.570._C2.jpg)</div><strong>Suzume Kyou</strong><br/><br/>Kyou's smile was softly knowing.  He reached over and gently brushed a lock of the crane girl's silver hair behind her ear.<br/><br/>Before she could protest—and without looking away from her eyes—the handsome young man began to weave his tale.  His resonant voice was almost hypnotic, emotional enough to make the story ever more real, but still reserved enough to be manly.<br/><br/>She'd never heard the story before.  The themes were familiar, but he was making this one up as he went.  As he began, he touched Reiko's cheek softly.<br/><br/>“Long ago there was born to the Crane clan a girl of gentle heart and noble spirit.  Her sparkling eyes revealed her keen mind.  Her face was as beautiful as her soul.  Her name was Daidoji Kurumi.  She wished to become a Shugenja, but was told she would serve her family best as a courtier, and so that was how they trained her.<br/><br/>Now Kyou readusted himself 'til he was sitting right up against the crane girl.  Instead of caresing her cheek, he took her hand and laced their finger's together.<br/><br/>“Men of every family in the empire sued for her hand in marriage.  Her mother played them against one another with masterful politics to enrich her family and her lord.<br/><br/>“Kurumi herself only had eyes for one of her personal guard, a young bushi named Asahina Sho.  Sho loved and honored her with all his heart, but he knew that they could never be, so he stayed dutiful and never permitted himself to do more than hold her hand.<br/><br/>“On Kurumi's sixteenth birthday she was wed to a wealthy man of the Lion clan.  He was tall and mighty, but cold, and his eyes were cruel.  He lived in a great palace.  Kurumi was given chambers at the top of a high tower and servants to attend her every whim.<br/><br/>“Kurumi prayed to the heavens to protect her from the cruelty she saw in her husband's eyes.  On the night before she was first called upon to attend to her husband's passions, one of her servants placed a fruit on her bedside and whispered, “no man who eats of this fruit will be able to satisfy a woman for at least a week.”  as the servant slipped away, she saw three bottle brush tails swishing under her skirt—a kitsune!”<br/><br/>She whimpered at the temptation, but pledged not to use the peach.  She couldn't help but slip it into her pocket when called to his bedroom.  The hard eyed giant pulled her down on his couch and kissed her with fierce passion.<br/><br/>“Fist, she stiffened...<br/><br/>“Slowly, she began to melt into his embrace...<br/><br/>“Then she noticed that their kissing had upset the man's mask, revealing the purle skin and horns of an ogre beneath!<br/><br/>“She bit her lips to hold back a terified shriek.  When the kiss was released, she asked her husband to take a mea with her and slipped the peach onto his plate.  The ogre ate furiously.  Then he lead her to bed.  She knelt before her husband and asked him to be gentle.  He did little more than paw at her that night before sending her to her room.”<br/><br/>“In tears, the girl wrote a letter to her Sho.  She didn't know how she might send it too him, but a raven snatched the scroll tube up and flew away.”<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">1 Void Point<br/>Storytelling: 44</div></div>