One does not generally meet the Togashi more than once in their lifetime. In the instance of myself and my Togashi brother, it was a great honor being before the Togashi. I cannot speak for my kinsman but I do not remember much of our encounter with our Daimyo. The only item that sticks in my mind, is that we must seek out a Crane. The Crane that came to us last year seeking out the knowledge of the Dragons. We are to find him in Otosan Uchi, and become his students. This is a request of our Daimyo, so we venture forth into the outer world.

It seems it is our time to plunge forth into the world that has been so much apart from us for so long. It is our time to learn, for that is our purpose. We shall leave tomorrow morning at the hour of Akodo, and begin our journey to Otosan Uchi.

* * *

We have arrived in Otosan Uchi after an uneventful trip. A good portion of the samurai, and peasants that we encountered on the way seemed to be scared of us, and a little more than slightly surprised by our presence. It seems that other Togashi have not been in this area recently. I am becoming more and more uneasy with the position that our great Daimyo has put us in, but he is the Togashi, and he knows what is best for us. For now I can only grant his request, and go to the Crane. The Crane that thinks he is Dragon. It is an amusing thought.

* * *

We shall go to the Crane's dojo today, and give ourselves to him for instruction. I can do nothing, but hope that his Dragon teachings have given him insight into what we are, and he will treat us as he would treat any one of his students.

I prepare for the day before us as I would any other day, I bathe and break my fast, then I meditate. When the hour arrives, myself and my Togashi brother will depart for the dojo.

* * *

We walk up to the doorway, and tentatively walk in. Sitting on the floor of the dojo are our fellow pupils. The Crane is nowhere to be seen. I walk over to the mat and take a seat, and my kinsman does the same. The others look at us expectantly, but make no move to speak.

An old man walks into the room, and gives a slight start at the presence of the two Togashi.

"Ah, I see you've arrived. My students were just partaking in part of their daily exercises. Now that the rest of the class is here we can start with your first lesson." He walks over to the dojo's weapons rack, and picks out a boken katana. "Within the dojo this weapon is real. If the weapon touches you, you are considered dead for this exercise. The point to this exercise is to take me down, and hold me there. Now, Attack!"

Immediately the students stand, and begin to take their relative attack postures, I remain seated. Gathering all of my energies I disconnect myself from the influence of the Spider tattoo crawling across my skull. Three of the other students, begin to pull out scrolls. They are obviously shugenjas. Two of the students attack the sensei with utter disregard to thought or tactics. My brother attempts to disarm our sensei, a sound tactic.

Sensei moves swiftly, and intercepts the attempt to disarm him, killing my kinsman. He whirls, and dispatches the one samurai, that I now notice wears the Unicorn mon, with the same ferocity. The shugenjas finish their chants, and their spells take effect.

I then stand ready to accept an attack from our Sensei, and the imminent death that will come with it. The shugenjas prepare more spells, and the other samurai, a Phoenix, attempts to make his attack. His attack fails, but he does not die like the rest.

The Shugenjas spells take effect, one with a nearly blinding flash of light. The other with no noticeable effect. Sensei attacks the one shugenja that remains seated on the mat, as he jumps toward the feet of Sensei. Our teacher misses his attack, and the shugenja survives. It is my turn to act. Taking his momentary mistake into my advantage I Kaze-do strike the weapon from his hands, and grapple him to the floor. The shugenja that tried to trip him up, a ronin, falls upon the weapon in an effort to keep it from being used against the others. His sacrifice is valid, as we succeed in the exercise. I rise, and assist the sensei in rising. All of the other students both dead and alive, kneel around the mat as they once were.

"You have accomplished your task, however sloppily. You," and he points toward the two bushi, "attacked without regard to the others actions, this could and did get you killed. You," and he points to my fellow Togashi," tried an approach that I expected, and you nearly succeeded. You," and he points to me, "waited and allowed your shugenja fellows to do their work before continuing, a good strategy, but it could have cost you your life. You three," and he points at the shugenjas " cast your spells without regard to their effects on your comrades. Remember, you are always in a battle together, and cannot always succeed with brute force," He looks to the samurai," nor can you always succeed with mere hand-to-hand combat, "He looks to me and my brother, "and you cannot always succeed with others doing the work for you.

"Always, you must work together, and learn from each other. Now, you know how each and every one of your fellows approaches a battle surely your approach will now differ, but you can now begin to anticipate your comrade's actions." He stops to let the lesson sink in. "Now, it is time for your daily meditation, I suggest you each review your performance in today's exercise, and find a way to improve it. I will leave you to your meditation, and return in 2 hours."

He leaves us, and we begin to settle in and meditate. I meditate on my course of action, and decide that Sensei was right in his estimation of my actions. I study the actions of the others in my mind, and begin to feel their presence around me. I am now more connected to these people than I have ever been, yet we are nearly total strangers to one another. Soon, we will be brothers, and I will feel a kinship with them. Then I can be connected to them in a way that no man can disrupt.

* * * After two hours of meditation, Sensei returns to the dojo. He walks onto the mat and begins to tutor us on the finer aspects of battle. He discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each and every course of action one might take within a battle situation. After his lecture he leaves us to individual study where we may choose to study what and how we wish. I of course choose to spend my time with the Tao of Shinsei, as does my fellow Togashi.

As I read, I watch how the others spend their study period. The bushi spend their time in mock duels, and mock kenjutsu battles. This seems the wisest course of action for those we will come to depend upon for brute force. The shugenja of course spend their time poring over moldy scrolls. This is expected of the studious spell-casters. Somehow, I feel that perhaps I should be practicing more toward battle studies rather than philosophical. Perhaps being a part of this group I will learn the ways of the shugenja, and the ways of the bushi, and in return I can help them to understand the Togashi.

Today was a good day, and I learned much. The Crane seems to be an excellent teacher, and I cannot fault him for coming to the Dragon to learn new skills. I'm most positive about our continued presence here. I can see why our Daimyo sent us here, this Crane has much to teach us, much that we can learn. We are his to sculpt into fine warriors, warriors of strength, courage, and wisdom.

I must lay myself down now, and sleep. Tomorrow will be another fine day of teaching, and of learning. We will be ready for instruction, and I will be ready to give insight into the teachings of Shinsei when they are ready to accept it.

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