Hayato took a drag from his cigarette as he walked through the garden, slowly exhaling as he made his way along one of it's many paths. The night was warm, the air clinging to his skin from the humidity of the day, he was tired but he needed this walk, needed this time away from all others. The faint clinking of coins hitting each other could be heard faintly as he worked the string that held them through his hands. They weren't bu, but something else a silver coin from an ancient empire now lost in time. He'd need to tell Hyeon-ju about that one day, the present truth behind the nickname that had started as a silly joke. Coins wasn't his nickname for only the one reason.

Of course he needed to tell a lot of people a lot of things, about who he was, down on the inside. Only one person he had met here had seen it, had known it. A stray Hare that had left half way through the miai. Maybe he could put together why Hayato hadn't taken trophies from the Drifters he slew. A Tsuruchi Marksman didn't take trophies from mere beasts, no matter how large they were. Fourteen lives, fourteen locks of hair, fourteen coins. They served him much like the six pins on Ishiyo's uniform served her, though very few would recognize the fact. As he had told Hida Akemi, the things he did weren't celebrated, that didn't mean though that he didn't keep count.

He'd hoped to bury them here on this planet, to leave them behind, to maybe he found by some kid one day and be treated as some great treasure. It would of been an amusing end to them. He'd failed though, and even if he was pleased with how things had turned out it didn't change the fact of it. Hida Akemi had touched on it, what he was after. A quiet uneventful life, raising children with a wife he cared for, perhaps never raising his rifle again in anything but practice. He had mentioned it to Ishiyo, that he was tired of killing and the quiet life on some sedate crane planet was what he had wanted. If had been taken from him by not one man but two, and he'd never forgive either of them. Even if in the end the failure was still his.

Fourteen lives, that's what it had taken for his Father to take notice of him again, to believe that his son may be of some use to him. He'd throw it all away though on the request of a beautiful woman, and even knowing he would do it again, Hayato couldn't quite forgive himself.. Another long drag from the cigarette, he'd need to quit these soon. Hyeon-ju hated thee smell of them. He sighed softly, he had failed but the miai still hadn't been a complete disaster. Others had stepped into his place to help secure his families alliance with both the Crane and the Spider. Not him though, not the person it was supposed to be.

The coins continued their slow dance through his fingers, as Hayato's eyes looked towards the mushroom tops. Damn but how he hated this planet. He'd gained so much here, friends, a wife he would adore, but in the bargain he'd failed and lost what he really wanted. Not that Hyeon-ju wouldn't understand if he decided to stay at home and mind the children. He couldn't though no more then she could give up flying, he couldn't put away the one thing he was good at. Not yet, not with the scales tipped against him. Maybe in a few years, when he had proven to himself he wasn't just a failure again. After he put back together all the cracked and broken pieces and could just content himself with being with his wife and children. How many more coins would that take though? Did it matter?

Dropping his cigarette into the dirt of the path, he stomped it out, before kneeling down to pick it up. He didn't want to get some poor heimen in trouble for littering. Hyeon-ju. His sisters would love her, beautiful and fashionable she was the image of everything they had wanted for their brother. Hit mother would be proud enough two. His father he knew would be disappointed, but he would start to see the advantages in time. Hayato already could and his father had an even better eye for these things. Not that he would let his father use her, if it could be avoided. She deserved better then that, honestly she deserved better then him. Better men willing able able to stand up and do the right thing seemed to be in short demand though.

Hayato sighed softly, he couldn't help it the, thought of her made him happy, chased away some of the dark thoughts and the pain. He Hadn't lied when he said he had felt Benten's hand in their match. The series of coincidences that had brought them together was mind boggling to him. It made him wonder if there was some truth behind that stupid horoscope he had doubted all miai long. He sighed again, this wasn't the end that he wanted. But maybe it was the one he deserved? No matter the hardships, the lives, the pain. He would pay he cost, and in the end he knew he'd be happy.