It was getting late, but with various thoughts swirling in her head, Mitsuko felt like she needed someone to talk to. With a certain discomfort around... basically everyone... it really clearly meant she knew exactly who she was going to see.

Stepping into the near immaculate stables of the Unicorn wing of the massive inn, Mitsuko felt a wave of intimidation wash over her. But she needed to talk to Mochi and had her offering of apples ready, so she pushed through.

Half way through the stables she finds her roly-poly pony friend and immediately produces an apple for him. If a horse can smile, Mochi is doing it as he looks longingly at the treat.

"Yeah, Mochi-san, I know. I don't think I look at them like that, but..."

Kuroneko needed some straw for his new little friend. He came to the stable and found the Kuni with the horse. He just watched the interaction and smiled. Kuroneko kept quiet as he waved at the horse. A black cat rubbed himself at the leg of the Kuni. Like always begged for food.

Mochi snatches the apple from Mitsuko's hand like a horse with significant practice at it and she laughs. Noticing the cat, and remembering it, Mitsuko immediately looks about to see Kuroneko.

"Oh, um, good evening Shiba-san," she says warmly. "Did you hear what I was discussing with Mochi-san?" Ugh. I'm terrible at subtlety!

"It is not proper of a samurai to eavesdrop." He smiled. "The wind may carry words, but they just leave." Kuroneko knelt down to call back his cat. Kiba preferred the warmth of the Kuni. "So that is what you want, huh?" He took out a small box with some dried chicken. "Kuni san, Kiba prefers to bother you here..." He offered the box. "He will start being you for food so..." The box top had a fox playing with a cat engraved.

"Oh, uh, thank you, Shiba-san," she says warmly, taking the box. She bends over to be almost eye to eye with Kiba, oblivious that she's providing a perfect opportunity for the cat to jump on her shoulder if it wishes. A small piece of the chicken is offered, very close to both Kiba's and Mitsuko's noses as she smiles at the cat.

The Kuni is clearly in a good mood as she asks quietly, "Do you want to be my friend, Kiba-san?"

Kiba mew and took the piece of chicken, shaking its head to tear the piece. "I think that is a yes, Kuni san." The Shiba looked around and started to pick up some straw. "Do you like to help me Kuni san? I am trying to find some things for my new friend."

"New friend, Shiba-san? I had just come to visit my new friend, Mochi-san, here. I, ah, suppose that I can help," Mitsuko says a little uncertainly as she straightens. Mochi bumps her shoulder with his nose, lest his treats be forgotten, and she turns to give him an affectionate smile and pet his ears.

"A squirrel, I got in the forest." He nodded "I want to make it comfortable." He smiled. "I should visit Kako too. She did behave nicely in today's event."

"You caught a squirrel? For a... pet?" Mitsuko looks a little surprised and a little confused.

"I'm sorry, Shiba-san. I don't... I don't know anything about pets. Mother and father always... frowned on the idea."

"No worries, my mother side is the one who I got to train animals and get pets. I was feeling lonely lately and decided that I wanted to get a new animal friend." He smiled. "My travels to Kyuden Kitsune will be fun now with this new friend."

Mitsuko looks at him curiously.

"Lonely? I've... I've never felt like I had as many friends as I do here." She smiles a little, then realizes the Phoenix may be having as much trouble as she is, just in a different way.

"I guess things are different here than home for most of us, but that isn't always a good thing. It's definitely... Not like home."

"I see... I am the 2nd of 5 children and we are mostly together. In my trips to Kitsune land I also have a friend... and I have cousins and aunts and uncles... and well I never felt so...lonely like I feel here. These guys help fill me but it is not the same as a ningen." He lowered his head sadden.

The Crab frowns.

"Hm. I'm the fourth of six, but the only non-shugenja, so I'm not, um... Even with my siblings, I'm not that close," she admits. She reaches up to scratch Mochi's ear without thinking about it, the gesture clearly showing how she feels thinking about them.

"I am the only Shugenja besides my mom. I guess that is why I am so close to her. She is the one who taught me to appreciate the animals and nature in general. Helped me understand the majesty of the spirit because of her training." He looked at the Kuni. "Well... The nice ones I suppose."

Mitsuko smiles at Kuroneko for remembering her discomfort with spirits.

"We are both... odd fits, for our families, aren't we? The Shiba shugenja and the Kuni bushi. Perhaps," the Crab giggles a little. "Perhaps someone should write a book about us."

Mitsuko bends to pick up Kiba and then looks at the Phoenix thoughtfully. "It must be nice to be close to your mother. My shugenja mother is... Not close."

"Now I had an Isawa bend knee to me..." He chuckled and then sighed. "We are quite odd fits... I am struggling trying to fit in this place." Kuroneko sat on the hay stack. "How are we suppose to manage being part of what ever we are sent to if we can barely understand ourselves?"

Mitsuko felt a little tugging in the void at Kuroneko's question, and her response came quicker to her lips than she would expect.

"I don't think we're supposed to 'understand ourselves' like that's something that we check off a list. It's a moving target, right? Keep chasing it, but don't expect to catch it, at least not for long?"

She pauses, then leans against the hay beside him, still holding Kiba.

"Sorry, that sounded very... Dragon-y. I don't know if it helps. I know I don't understand myself," she admits with a slightly tired smile.

Kiba purred as the Kuni stroke his fur. Kuroneko sighed. "I have studied the Tao and I just seek a simple life with friends be them human or not...I barely understand war and I now wonder if we shall meet in that field...." He shook his head. Tori laid on his lap and instinctively Kuro stated to stroke the sable.

Curious, the Crab cocks her head to look closer at Kuroneko.

"Why do you worry about that? Surely the Phoenix have other shugenja who might be martially inclined. What would you do all day in this 'simple life's you see?" Mitsuko's questions are gentle, trying to encourage him talking and not arguing with him.

"When you are atune to the elements that I am attuned to... there are some expectations on performance..." He sighed. "My simple life would be in Isawa Mori keeping the forest spiritual energies balanced."