Flame and Heaven [Rei]

[Kai Shiba]

Kai sat on the back porch in his robe, slowly sipping his tea.  He had some time, but not a lot, so he'd spend a little in this peace before he'd pick up a sword and go about his practice and drills.  They were old, boring, and the same, but it was good to keep in practice.  He had to get to the company in a few hours, and wanted to at least get an hour or two of practice in, if possible.  But he also needed a little time to himself, a little time to focus and get into what he was about to do.

[Rei Yoshida]

Rei had been to Kai's house plenty of times. She knew the quickest way there. She was satisfied that she'd done her share of training and battling for the day. And she didn't have to work until later. So it was me time. And by me time this time around she meant her and Kai time. Kai loved her and appreciated her company but boy was wound tight when it came to the whole "duty" and "obligation" thing. She would see much less of him if she didn't drop by to surprise him every now and again.

She reached the door and immediately made a ruckus. "Kai!" she hollered, banging her fist most loudly against the wood. "You better open up! I know you're here!"

[Kai Shiba]

As soon as he heard some pounding and yelling, Kai smiled a little. He came up to his feet and entered back inside before reaching the entrance to the Shiba manor. He lost his smile and reached for the door. No, he couldn't make it easy on her and let her see him smiling already.

He opened the door and gave a short nod, "Rei," he said. He took a step back and gestured, "You do know you can just enter, there is no need to knock."

[Rei Yoshida]

Oh great. Kai had his serious face on. Well to be fair he almost always looked serious. It could be really difficult to get him to relax and loosen up a bit. But he didn't seem overly stressed or strained to her just the typical 'I'm too cool to smile because I've got duties and responsibilities and obligations' thing.

She snickered when Kai told her she could just enter. Of course she knew that. And he knew she never would. "You wouldn't know that it was me right away if I didn't knock like there was no tomorrow!" she said with a warm grin, tugging on his arm. "You know you love it!"

[Kai Shiba]

A small smile came to his face, "That's a rather bold assumption to be making," he told her. He didn't mind it, but he didn't love it either. He liked the things she did and the way she acted, but at this moment, at least, he'd rather have kept his peaceful moment. But of course, Rei being here was better than that, since he only had so much free time and he'd rather spend it with her anyway.

"And what brings you by today?" he asked. Normally the question wouldn't need asking, since it would usually be training or other similar matters for anyone, but he figured he'd ask, just to see what she had to say.

[Rei Yoshida]

A smile crept onto his face and her own widened in response. She jumped back eagerly and pointed a finger at him. "Yes! Got you to smile!" She supposed it wasn't all that impressive. The two were dating and he smiled fairly easily around her. Still, some days were much harder than this. It was nice to see him relax right away.

She just laughed at his remark. "Better get used to it. You know I have my own mannerisms." And she changed for few. So much wasn't up to her. She relished the few options she had. If she wanted to be noisy and grab attention then she did. And she liked to feel she was distinguishable from the other teammates. As far as she knew she was the only one who made a spectacle of herself upon arriving.

Rei smirked when he asked why she was here. "Do I need a reason?" She moved forward and kissed Kain on the cheek. "I wanted to see my boyfriend. Good enough reason?" When she wasn't fighting or working or dealing with the shit weight or the world, she could be fairly impulsive. And so today she'd felt like paying him a visit.

[Kai Shiba]

He smiled a little more when she kissed his cheek, "Well, that is a pretty good reason," he told her, "I won't argue with that." He stepped back and started to walk from the door, "Please, come. No need to just stand in the doorway like that." He planned on going out back again and returning to his tea and eventual training, if he had time.

With Rei here he might train with her, if she wanted to. He wasn't sure if she'd want to, but he'd be more than happy to train with her. He always enjoyed it, or training with anyone else, but training with Rei made him a lot happier than anyone else.

[Rei Yoshida]

He must be having a decent enough day. He was smiling fairly easily. The thought made her happy. He was far too hard on himself. Rei was the sort to cut her losses. Of course she got upset and frustrated when she couldn't save people or caused some sort of disturbance. But she was able to push it aside much more easily than Kai. When a battle ended it was out of her head if nothing had gone terribly wrong. Well out of her head minus a little bragging if she'd slayed more than her teammates. If things hadn't been fantastic...She'd grieve a bit. But with their career casualties were a fact of life. It was something you accepted and moved forward. You were more likely to make mistakes if you fixated on it anyways. She had a life outside of fighting and she was here to remind Kai that he had one too.

"Coming," she said cheerfully. "So what's up in Kai land?" she asked him, wondering if he'd mention anything besides work and shinkenger work. Probably not. That would be so Kai. It wasn't like he had that many hobbies.

[Kai Shiba]

"You don't need to ask that," he told her as he walked through to the back exit, to the porch and training area in the back, "Training. Company work. Unfortunately nothing more than perhaps an hour or two of free time which I was going to use for more training." He turned to look at her and gave her a small smile, "Although those plans have changed now that you're here, unless you'd care to join me." He stepped onto the porch and crouched down by his tea, "Can I offer you any?" he asked.

[Rei Yoshida]

Yeah. Why did she bother asking every time? She always hoped that maybe he'd woken up and thought 'Hey, I want to do something for myself'. It seemed that doing something for her, spending time with her was the closest he got to doing anything for himself. Well, she supposed it was a fair trade off. She reminded Kai that they did have things to enjoy besides work and that it was okay to have fun. And he probably kept her more grounded and focused than she would otherwise be with the whole practice thing.

"Plans don't have to change. I wield a mean blade!" She did actually enjoy sword play. She'd already practiced today but if Kai wanted to train she could deal. Sparring with him was fun. He made for a good match. And Rei was competitive. It was exciting if she could manage to beat him. There ratio was roughly 50:50. Their style was very similar. But she was slightly faster and he was slightly stronger/more durable.

"I'd love some tea!" she said brightly.

[Kai Shiba]

He knelt by the pot and poured a second glass, holding it up to offer it to her, "Please, sit and join me. I'd like to have a little time before we spar." He wanted to enjoy this peaceful time and the tea for now, and would gladly train with her in a little bit, but this came first for now. Spending some quality time with her came before sparring with her.

He respected her ability, he really did. He enjoyed sparring with her. During times when he got to sit and think, he figured she'd make a good second in command for the team, with her ability and just who she was as a person. Maybe someday he'd bring that up, but he needed more time to think about that. Besides, she had her own life and he didn't want to put that on her if he didn't have to.

[Rei Yoshida]

She took a seat, gratefully accepting the tea. It had been a long morning and good tea was always welcome. Rei grinned after taking a sip. "Delicious as always," she assured him.

"Yen for your thoughts," she said peacefully. Kai was typically quiet but it was good to poke and prod now and again to see what was going on in that mysterious leader, duty obsessed head of his. Well...Maybe not all that mysterious. She could guess the ball park thoughts but not necessarily the details.

[Kai Shiba]

He set his cup down and looked to her, "Company things," he lied. He'd rather lie about that than give her his thoughts and potentially burden her personal life. There would be a time to give her those other thoughts, but it wasn't now. No, it would be some time yet, when he had more time to think on it. He picked up his cup again and took another drink, enjoying the sun and cool breeze and this sheer peace.

[Rei Yoshida]

"No company thoughts now!" she scolded playfully, easily swallowing the lie. "I'm with you now so I expect some sort of relaxing thoughts." No way in hell the company could be relaxing even for him. He wasn't going to die in combat. She swore he'd give himself a heart attack from sheer pressure long before that.

"You have a name you know. You're Kai. Not just Shinkenger or that business guy. Please don't forget so easily." She often wondered if she was the only one who remembered otherwise. She was Rei Yoshida, a Shinkenger for sure and a computer engineer besides but she was more than the sum of those two parts and she never forgot it.

[Kai Shiba]

He nodded, "I'm Kai Shiba. As a Shiba, the company is important. It funds us and lets us put our priorities as training and fighting the Gedoushu threat." And well, the Zangyack now, but they didn't seem to have attacked since the initial invasion, which was repelled, "Unfortunately the company is one of my biggest concerns."

He didn't want it to be, but it was a family legacy, just like the title of ShinkenRed, inherited from his mother, and she inherited it from his grandfather, who inherited it from his father, and so on. Everything was about legacies, legacies of power, legacies of duty.