It did not take long for the horse, with Shiori and Kotone atop it, to disappear from Liang's vision.  He continued plodding along as before, Maseko and Keitaro in front of him.  He tried not to think about how much longer they would travel that night, or whether it was wise of them to abandon their meeting point so soon.  He held his tongue as the sky became ever darker over the next few hours, making sure to keep Keitaro within sight, not wishing to let the burdened bushi leave him too far behind.<br/><br/>By the time he caught up, Shiori was on the ground and Maseko by her side.  He heard Keitaro's expression of hope about their "quarry," wondering if he, too, regretted their decision to leave, though said nothing about it.  He listened, with interest, to Keitaro's offer of sharing a tent.  With the ground being wet and likely to get wetter, the tent definitely appealed.  He was unsure as to how to set one up, though, and did not wish to admit it.  Of course, he was also unsure where he could find dry wood after such a long-lasting rain, even if a light one.<strong>"That would be appreciated, yes.  Thank you..."</strong>He hesitated, eventually opting to neglect a proper address.  It was obvious who he was thanking, of course, and he could not remember if Keitaro had granted "permission" to be addressed as -san.<br/><br/>An agreement made, Liang began working on the tent, occasionally glancing over to Shiori's tent for clues.  He'd sorted out the different parts when he noticed Maseko beginning to pray.  He stopped messing with the tent for a moment, politely remaining still for the prayer.  As the wind appeared to pick up based on the whipping of Maseko's clothes, he did make one exception to his stillness to secure the tent.<br/><br/>His attention remained on Maseko as the prayer continued.  As the wind and rain intensified around her, once again Liang noticed her breasts being bared, though this time he was more confused than aroused/suspicious.  He'd seen shugenja prayers before, but never this...eventful.  There were few Kaeru shugenja, after all, nearly none(1), and those that did exist focused on far more subtle effects, leading many to think that there were no Kaeru shugenja at all.  He didn't even notice that the rain and wind around him had ceased.  His attention was on her, and since she was buffeted by winds, he continued to brace the tent against winds he assumed were on him.<br/><br/>The sudden realization that all was now quiet left him even more confused.  His eyes remained on her, watching her as she knelt, hunched forward, unable to see the path her hands took.  As he could during the prayer, he could see that her breasts were exposed (though had a less direct view than at mid-day), though the scene was now more intriguing, perhaps even more enticing.  He watched her as she stood and adjusted her clothing, noting something sensual about the display.  As she began kicking her feet back into her sandals, Liang resignedly turned back to his task, pitching a more appropriate tent.<br/><br/>He paid partial attention to Keitaro as he approached Maseko and complimented her.  Until the offer to make tea, however, he didn't hear what was said.  The offer surprised him, as he hadn't thought Keitaro versed in tea ceremonies.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC</div><div class="spoiler_body">(1) The Kaeru family is almost devoid of shugenja, even compared to their rarity among other families.</div></div>