It almost sounded like a challenge, but Enkai wasn't stupid enough to push his luck. The thought of someone going after his little sister... well, it didn't sit right with him. Mostly because he felt sorry for the man who'd have to put up with her, only a little bit because if anything bad happened to his sister because of a man he would do everything he legally could to ruin his life. A life in the shadows could grant him the ability to sneak around, but surely his family would know it was him.

Turning towards her, he looked down at her. She looked small and tired. He shielded her face from the sun, letting it remain in his shadow. A small mercy. It wouldn't be enough to excuse what he said next.

"Are you askin' if I'm a virgin because I'm not." Shit eating grin, purposefully forgetting to add his awkward early years and his even humiliating teenage years, at least until he grew six inches in under a year, sprouting like a bamboo shoot, gritting his teeth every time he had a tiger's tooth ripping through his muscles. A hand went to his chin, fingers rubbing over his bottom lip, teeth white and perfect. "Obviously I wouldn't be with a face like mine. My first time was with an older woman, too." Enkai puffed out his chest, as proud as he could be.
 
Misora's eyes burned with a fury hotter than the coals that practiced firewalker's could cross.

"Oh, I am not inviting you to a bed during this little agreement of courting. No matter how pretty you think yourself to be, I have no feelings for you. No thoughts about you. Besides, I fancy another shaman more than I ever would think of you." In truth, it was not technically a lie.

There indeed was another shaman she had met and seen in passing a handful of times. Kaneko Kaji. From a family of famous shamans, so famous and renowned, the family lived not too far from the Nuyen residence. The idea of needling some spite against Enkai was too tempting, but she needed to get back at him for his comments about dating her sisters or his boasting of how much experience he has tumbling in the sheets.

Misora lifted her chin and met his gaze.

"Too bad the rumours are saying Kaneko is to be betrothed to some girl from the Iron Clan..." She tried her best to sound wistful. As pretty and rugged in all the right ways Kaneko was, that was all it was to him in her mind. He was just something pretty to look at, to giggle with amongst her sisters and cousins, but holding a conversation with him either bored her immediately or Misora had to do her best to ensure the conversation did not die with his awkwardness.

One of her cousins had said she overheard that Kaneko felt intimidated by Intendant Nuyen and was afraid of being at the end of her ire being near Misora.

Perhaps that romance was never meant to be... but Enkai did not need to know that.
 
Dark brows raised high into Enkai's forehead. He had never been good at controlling his facial expressions and everyone back home knew this. As soon as the shock wore off that Misora as not as impressed by his handsome face as much as her mother had been, the young man's features turned envious. Comparing him to someone like Kaneko felt like Misora had just rubbed salt into a wound. He began to pace around the bench, continuing his loop around Misora.

Kaneko had become a shaman faster than Enkai had. Technically, Enkai wasn't quite the fully fledged shaman he presented himself to be. Yes he could do errands, drop off this, pick up this. Yes, he could handle small raakgui disturbances, someone with unusual back pain could rely on him to dispel the spirit. But Enkai had never fought in a war, he had never been in a serious fight against another shaman, only practice fights where the thought of dying never really struck him like a rock.

To make matters worse, Kaneko had also earned himself the title of "Shaman Prince" amongst some of the younger, giggling sort. He had heard a rumor that Kaneko was so handsome it stopped a wailing child the moment she saw his face. He was so handsome that when he smiled raakgui stopped their mischief and misbehaving, anything to gaze upon Kaneko's face instantly trusted him and felt peace.

Enkai was handsome, but he wasn't that handsome. Not that he cared about being beautiful, it was a perk, and doing anything extra to keep his good looks was too much of a chore for him to bother. Although he had started stealing some of his mother's and sister's rice water after hearing a rumor that Kaneko bathed in it.

"Yeah, too bad for Princess Miso that her fantasy boyfriend is going to marry another Shaman. Makes more sense than marrying a princess," Enkai shot back, still pacing, holding his hands behind his back. "Man, I bet you don't realize how only a fool would marry someone like you. You stick out like you're begging to be kidnapped and held for ransom, you think it'd be romantic for your husband to rescue you all the time? Sounds like it would get annoying real fast to me. But another shaman? At least Kaneko can rest peacefully knowing his wife can kick as much ass as him. Which, I've heard isn't that much, everything he does is highly exaggerated, so." Enkai shrugged, finally stopping so he could look at Misora.

"Maybe you should stick to your kind and marry some docile, demure, mindless, pretty prince that you can play dress up with?"
 
Misora narrowed her eyes, staring at Enkai as he walked circles around her. The moment he stopped, it only took her two heartbeats to stand and pause before him. She had to look up in order to glare, but her face gave away no humour. Misora looked like her mother in this moment.

"Oh? You do not think I could handle myself?" Her brow lifted, a dare for him to doubt her.

She took another step forward, a hand moving to rest at his chest, fingers curling and digging into his shoulder with light pressure. "Perhaps you do not wish to be my saviour... but it is a good thing that I know ways of fight." And she did. Not as great to become warriors like a couple of her brothers, but enough to execute the element of surprise. "If I was married to you, it would not last long. I doubt your loyalty would be impressive. I would divorce you the moment I could."

Misora pinched at his shirt, making a face after inspecting the quality of his garb.

"You ought to start wearing nicer linens. I thought good shamans could afford to wear better threads than... this."
 
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