Withering winter, sudden spring

Akito is perceptive. He is also one of the few older Hattoris to have stuck around. Aside from Fuji, were there even any left? Maybe that was why he felt it his duty to care for the younger koi. There were many of them, Kiriko surprisingly giving Hattori a rather abundant litter size. Training all of them was a difficult task and Akito didn't mind helping.

His paws slow to a walk, keeping pace with his brother as he notes the hesitancy. Was the look in young Takeji's eyes one of wishing to please him? To not disappoint him? While Akito was more similar to Hattori than even his own father, he did not scrutinize the way Hattori did. He made his mistakes growing up, was still young enough to remember them, and would not fault the yearlings for doing the same.

"I was headed back to the bamboo, but perhaps you have time for a lesson?" His eyes watch Takeji from their peripheral as he maintains focus on the path ahead of them. It would always be necessary to ensure that he could multitask. Otherwise, he would risk being ambushed. "We could do some fighting training in this terrain." Akito motions with his muzzle to the forest around them. With the unlevel ground and fallen logs and large boulders, it was a far different fighting arena than that of the flat bamboo forest.