Kyou replied with an amused smile.  His eyes danced with laughter that it wouldn't be very manly to voice.  “Ah, Reiko-san, any reply I would like to give to that would make you think me a fool who didn't know when to stop laying on flattery.”<br/><br/>Kyou took a sweet morsel and savored it for some moments, then continued, “May I tell you a story?  An actor once told me, 'I can give you love, blood, and rhetoric.  Well, I can give you blood and love without the rhetoric, and we can give you the blood and the rhetoric without the love, and we can do you all three concurrent or consecutive.  But we can't give you the blood and the rhetoric without the blood is compulsory.”<br/><br/>The young crane shook his head.  “He was a silly man.  He should know that blood is indeed compulsory, and that's why love and rhetoric are so much more interesting.”<br/><br/>Then he gave a soft, self deprecating chuckle.  “That wasn't the story, Reiko-san.  I was just wondering what kind of story you would like to hear.”