Mihoshi and Kiyone

[CyMage]

"Thank you." And with that Kiyone waited for Tenchi to lead them on.

[Bean Bandit]

Tenchi waited until the two women were ready, then began leading them up the path to the shrine.

After a long moment, They came to what seemed to be and endless flight of stone steps, flanked on either side by tall, majestic looking trees.

They hiked up the steps as sunlight filted though the trees, giving the area a look somewhat reminiscent of a painting.

After what seemed like an innumerable amount of stairs, the finally reached the top, walking out onto a small, stone coutyard, which was immaculately kept. On the other end of the courtyard, A small, modest shrine stood.

Despite it's simple construction, there was an air of simplicity and elegance about it...and a strange, communal feeling, as though the structure was not in fact a man-made building, but rather part of the surrounding forest.

Tenchi stepped in front of the two women as they entered the coutyard, and called out loudly.

"Grampa?!"

An older man, with long grey hair tied back in a ponytail and a mustache to match, wearing square, utilitarian glasses and priest's robes emerged after a moment, followed by another, slightly younger man, with short black hair, and a similar mustache and glasses to the first man, but a shorter, stockier and less regal build dressed in an ordinary salaryman's shirt and pants.

"What is it, Tenchi?" The older man asked.

"I'm not sure. Kiyone-san has something she wants to talk to us about..."

The two older men looked to Kiyone....

[CyMage]

Kiyone nodded to the men.  "Good morning.  Do you know where Washuu-san is?  We wanted to speak with her too."

[Bean Bandit]

The older man, presumably Katsuhito Masaki looked somewhat puzzled. "Washu-chan? I haven't seen her recently..."

The younger man, Noboyuki nodded. "I last saw her last night, going into her lab, before dinner."

Katsuhito nodded. "That sounds about right. We can all go down to the house together, and look, if you like...Unless you don't mind talking right here..."

[CyMage]

Kiyone shrugged.  "I don't care where we talk really.  I think she might be able to help though."

[Bean Bandit]

"Well, would you care to discuss it now, and fill Washu-chan in on it later, or wait and tell us all at once?" Katsuhito asked.

[CyMage]

Kiyone thought for a few moment.

"It's kind of hard to explain.  I would rather do it only once if you don't mind."  With that she gave each of the men a smile.

[Bean Bandit]

Noboyuki returned her smile with a rather goofy and slightly leering one of his own, prompting a faint groan from Tenchi. Pitched so low she could barely hear it, Kiyone could make out Tenchi's embarrassed,

"Da-aa-ad..."

Katsuhito ignored the other two men and simply nodded and smiled inscrutably.

"Sounds sensible. Shall we go back to the house and have lunch too, then? Sasami cooks wonderful sukiyaki..."

[calendar]

Mihoshi grabbed frantically at Katsuhito, trying to stop him from heading to the house.  

"We can't go back there!"

She did NOT want to go back to the house and get more strange looks.  It was bad enough being Mihoshi... now she was a weirder Mihoshi than ever.

[Bean Bandit]

Katsuhito blinked, and smiled kindly at Mihoshi.

"Is there a problem, Mihoshi-san?"

[calendar]

Mihoshi sweatdropped.  "Um.  Ye--no.  Er.  I mean, Kiyone wants us to stay out here."

Ah, the old tried-and-true method of using a shield.  Although, in retrospect, using her partner as a shield isn't really so nice.

[Bean Bandit]

Katsuhito blinked and looked to the green haired woman.

"Is that what you meant, Kiyone-san?"

[CyMage]

A small, quick glare was sent at Mihoshi as Katsuhito asked for confirmation.

"I would prefer if we were able to talk in private, without certain interuptions."

Turning her back to the men, and looking towards the house she spoke again.  "Perhaps we could take a small walk by the lake after lunch?"

[Bean Bandit]

Katsuhito nodded. "That sounds fine." He agreed. "I don't see any difficulty with that. In the meantime, shall we go enjoy Sasami's lunch? She tells me she went to some effort to make extra sukiyaki for you, Mihoshi-san..."

[CyMage]

Looking at her partner, Kiyone raised an eyebrow as she waited for the answer.