Tamori Taka: The solemn and heartfelt concerns of a true friend

Author: HS Wift

I have been HS Wift for the longest time now, through some of the darkest hours I have known, and it warms my heart to know that the light that led me through lives on still.

May it never die.

The next week, when lessons restarted after the festivities, Taka couldn't wait to introduce Keshintai to Chiyome, for that is what she had named the fox. After all of Taka's efforts, Chiyome was well on the mend, and had taken to hiding away in Taka's kimono.

Upon seeing each other they, Taka and Keshintai exchanged a glance that communicated their mutual fondness, and how much they had missed each other's company.

After their class, the friends went together to the library, as they had so often done in the past. Keshintai met Chiyome, and the girls soon found themselves falling back into old rhythms, as if they had never been parted for the holiday season.

As evening fell about them, Keshintai fell solemn, a sorrowful expression on her face.

"Keshintai, you seem troubled?"

"Oh, Taka, this is my eleventh year, next year I go to the Mirumoto Dojo, to learn the ways of bushido. I fear I will not get to see you very often after that..."

Taka placed her hand on her friend's reassuringly, "Don't worry..."