The evening had seemed to stretch out for an eternity, but eventually a (hopefully) trusted Magistrate had arrived to take control of the scene, and the group had been released on their own recognisance. Riding back to the ranch had been uneventful and little had been said. Finally, at the ranch entrance, they either needed to speak or say goodnight. Moriko wasn’t ready to say goodnight. “Are you hungry, Ryuu-san? or perhaps you’d like some tea? I can make something.”

"Your hospitality is most kind Moriko-san." He smiled to her, that slightly off, but immeasurably warm smile. "I do not want to trouble you, but I very much would enjoy some tea."

The tea did not matter, it was the company.

“Do you remember which unit is mine?” it would not have mattered if he did or not, because Ten had heard their voices and pawed open the door, racing down to meet them. Her unit was the one with the door slid partway open. “I’ll have someone see to the otori, if you want to head up and wait for me.” Slipping from Hana’s back, Moriko dropped into a crouch and Ten ran into her open arms, “oh you missed me, didn’t you, yes, I missed you too.” Straightening, she went to fetch an heimen groom.

He dismounted from Kinyobi, still in his armor and armed. Nodding, he released his reins, before watching Moriko and Ten head off. Ryuu slowly walked up the stairs, heading to the unit.

It was odd, standing in her apartment alone. The first thing done was set aside the rifle, double checking the safety and disconnecting the energy pack. Then he slowly removed the daisho, carefully treating it with respect.

The armor would have to be next. The Spider stood in her living room, beginning to doff it.

Moriko was not long. It wasn’t so late that people were asleep, and it was a simple matter to pass her instructions on. Ryuu would find his mount properly groomed, watered, and fed when he sought to return to his lodgings. Ten arrived first, running ahead of his mistress and sniffing about Ryuu curiously. “Ten-kun,” the girl sighed, sounding weary, “be polite,” she slid the door closed and unbuckled her gun belt.

"I should be glad Ten-kun is that comfortable about me." He chuckled slightly, as the armor of his office was removed, and carefully packed, left by the door. His icy blues looked to her.

"I wanted to go to you when I saw you were hit..."

Moriko disappeared for a moment, securing her weapons in a cabinet next to the bed, Ten still insistently sniffing Ryuu’s legs, intrigued by the scents brought back from the shrine. Stepping back into view—there was hardly enough room to swing a cat in the compact space—the Phoenix was unfastening her bracers, “I cannot sufficiently express my gratitude that you were there today.”

No one could ever accuse Moriko of having a neat and tidy appearance, but normally it was something minor; now her hair was falling down from its braid, and there was something twig-like caught in the tresses, dirt smudged one cheek, her armour was damaged where it had done its best to ablate the miko’s rifle shot. She’d been caught in the ribs, the armour had helped deflect the radiant bolt to one side, missing vital organs, but burning through flesh and bone. Though the kami had given her the full blessing of their aid, her side still ached from the damage.

In quick succession, she’d removed everything but the joined chest and back pieces, setting the armour on a chair. She felt oddly vulnerable, almost indecent, the leggings and shirt she wore under the armour were hardly different from the outfit she’d worn the other night, if a little less fanciful and a little more practical, but something about stripping out of her armour felt different.

"I was happy to be able to lend you aid. I only did what needed to be done." He watched her as she doffed the armor. Beneath his armor, had been thick fatigue pants, and a simple black field under armor shirt, long sleeved. It fit his form well, showing some definition.

He slowly stepped over to her, helping by removing the twig, watching her closely. "I am sorry for any... concern I may have caused."

Moriko blushed, embarrassed by the twig and flustered by his closeness, she fumbled with the fastenings of the final piece of armour. “You do not trust the Lord Magistrate, but I trust you, Ryuu-san.” Her trust in him had been firmly cemented when he had sheathed his katana and left the fate of the priests in her hands. “There will be fallout for this by morning, but it will be on Shinri heads and not ours. Had you not recognised the man for who he was, this would have ended poorly for everyone.”

"I must confess... there was a moment I was afraid I would have to ask you, your sister, and Atsumori-san to leave the area. The Lord Magistrate was covering for their actions. And she already had chastised me, as well as denigrated my Faith." He reached, helping with that fastening.

His shirt was singed by the stray rifle shot. His skin on his neck, even his hands, was wracked with the stains of balefire. His chest rose and fell, not with ragged breath. His upper shoulder was wet, clearly where the injury had showed.

"I would not do anything to risk your honor. I would do what must be done to protect that. I need you to know that."

“Ryuu-san,” she murmured, troubled, the fastenings finally surrendered and Moriko let the lightweight armour piece fall to the floor, unheeded. There was a ragged, singed hole in her shirt where the radiant bolt had done its work, the flesh beneath was pink and raw, but there would be no scar. “To look away, knowing what will happen, is just as bad as wielding the blade myself,” she did not add that the priest’s death would have created more problems than it solved. “I’m sorry,” they were paltry words for the offence he had suffered by the Lord Magistrate’s words, but she didn’t know what else to say.

"You did nothing wrong." He shook his head, keeping his eyes on hers. "Do not apologize for what others did." A moment hung in the air, before he reached down, and collected the fallen piece of armor. The Spider set it on her table, then smiled.

"You were impressive, in your Control of the situation. The Strength and Will required to demand their surrender. They heeded you. We heeded you."

His eerie smile lent a strange gravity to his words. Someone else might have seemed insincere, but Moriko found an earnestness in him that kept her from turning away in discomfort. “It is what I am trained to do,” but her heart thrilled in his acknowledgment, as inappropriate it might be to show that. Her anger, her determination, had surprised the untested young Phoenix, but she was not exactly disappointed in the result. And yet...

“And yet you are wounded, Ryuu-san,” the kami were fickle in their attentions, or perhaps it was simply beyond their mortal understanding to know why Moriko was fully recovered but Ryuu still bore the brunt of hothead attacks against him. “I am no healer, but I’m sure I have a first aid kit, will you allow me to see to your injuries?”

"It would be rude to say no. It is only a flesh wound. Let me assure you." Ryuu bowed his head, deferential to her. Slowly he stepped back, giving her space to find her kit. The Spider looked about, before taking a seat at her table, his posture rail straight.

The first aid kit was under the sink, where it had been since Moriko had moved in, it had been replaced with a new kit for the new tenant. Absently pulling the tie that was doing very little to hold her braid together, the girl opened the small kit and and began laying its contents out on the kitchen bench beneath the photos of her and her sister. “Yes, this is what I need,” she muttered, finding a tube of ointment. Succulents didn’t much like the humid atmosphere of Asakaze but, like many things on the planet, there was a fungal substitute for aloe vera that was produced locally.

Moriko pulled a chair close to Ryuu, her knees bumping against his, and she glanced away, embarrassed. Taking his hand, she smoothed the ointment into the ravaged skin, “I regret you and Hoshi-chan taking the brunt of the sect’s anger. It should have been me.”

"I have been trained to do so." Was his cool reply, watching as dhe applied the salve. It was cooling, rejuvenating. "Enforce. Adapt. Conquer." The motto of the Obsidian Magistrates. He said nothing as she tended to the wound, simply admiring her, though there was a grin as their knees bumped beneath the table. "And with my birth records, I have been tapped as a potential for the Black Guard as well. I am a tough boy, Mori-chan, I can take a beating." There was a laugh, morbid and disturbing, if sincere. It was accompanied by a slight reddening as he realized what had slipped, "Moriko-san. Excuse me."

Moriko froze for half a second, but moved on to his other hand, nodding. The casual way he had referred to her was belittling, in stark contrast to his compliments just a moment ago. Ten woofed quietly, giving the pair a quizzical look; if Moriko had ears like her pet, she would have turned one towards the shiba inu, but the pup seemed to discern some unspoken acknowledgement, and lay down with a huff. “I do not doubt it,” she agreed, her regret stemmed from the feeling that she should have been first in the line of fire, her responsibility in leading their little ragtag team, not from fear any of them could not withstand the punishment.

She had Ryuu’s hand cradled with both of hers, using her thumbs to work the salve into the skin, her touch as gentle as if he’d been a skittish otori.

The Spider said nothing for awhile as she worked. Though there was a confused look for a moment as he noted the exchange between Ten and Moriko. "I preferred it. I... would not want to see you hurt, and if me taking the brunt of it ensured that, then I am glad. Lady Shahai can have my pain, to take away yours." Ryuu whispered, showing more of his faith as they spoke.

"A dark thought, I know. But it is true."

“If sacrifice for another is a dark thought, then we must surely know nothing of the light,” Moriko answered gently, releasing his hand. “I should like to look at your shoulder, and that shirt is ruined,” untied, her braid was unravelling, hair tumbling around her shoulders, it could use a good brush.

"Oh. Right." He looked to where he had been shot, a slow blink. Clearing his throat, he began to pull the shirt off. Skin was pale, and his build was lean, and well defined, strong in Water and Earth, the strength of which showed in his lithe frame.

His right shoulder was heavily bruised, around where the bolt had impacted, which was burnt yet showed signs of some minor blood and gore. He sat tall, looking to her, breathing slowly.

His heart, though, threatened to beat out of his chest.