For lack of better words, things had gone south with Kotori. He had made a stupid bet and had lost his pack to another. That wasn't at all the man that Ochitsuki had believed he was. He had let his entire pack down. He had let her down. So, rather than stay and face embarrassment... she left. Without a word to the Fatalis man, she left. Thank the ancients they hadn't had children...

Where else could Ochitsuki possibly go but back to Hattori? With Kotori gone, he was the only familiar wolf on the continent. Ochi, being crafted the way that she was, needed responsibility. She needed a place to belong. She needed to contribute to something larger than herself. And so, she stood at the mouth of the bamboo maze where Hattori Hanzo had laid his claim.

Tipping her head back, the monochromatic woman howled long and low for the alpha of these lands. Then she stood tall, waiting, katana slung over her shoulder like some roving ronan. Hopefully there would be a place for her here. If not... well, she didn't know what she'd do.

"Speech"

Hattori had...mixed feelings, displeasure took the forefront of his mind as he pushed his way through the bamboo, heeding the call at his border. Kiriko was gone. So many promises with little effort to follow through, she had said all the right things and to a degree Hattori had been aware. He knew of her upbringing, the talents she held in her repertoire, and the fact she no doubt had done whatever she felt necessary to ensure her safety. That was understandable, it was a marriage of convenience and thus Hattori wasn't heartbroken, but he was...Offended almost, not just on his behalf but his children too. She had whispered promises of being a doting and loving mother, but in reality she had birthed them and done little else. Soaked in the comforts of being the Lady of the Bamboo before monkey branching elsewhere.

The Kaicho had little interest in hunting her down, dragging her back and smiting whoever it was she'd run off with, to supposedly greener pastures. She could stay gone, Hattori would not want her back, because for all he'd done and risked- it was an insult. And somewhere, deep down Hattori idly wondered if this was how Venom had once felt.

Hattori had not seen Ochitsuki since the rather anticlimactic pack challenge, nor did he expect to have her calling at his borders once more. He slowed to a walk on his approach, taking in the sight of her and wondered what could be wrong. It felt like something was.

He dipped his head in greeting."Ochitsuki "

Prompt and businesslike as usual, Hattori arrived, dipped his head and greeted her by name. The monochromatic fae bowed her head to the Kaicho, dipping low in a show of respect as was their way. When she rose once more, blue and orange eyes scanned the face of her old acquaintance. She wasn't one to draw things out, so Ochitsuki got straight to the point.

"Kotori has lost his pack and disappeared," she informed the koi giant in smooth tones. "There was nothing for me there aside from shame." Tied to Kotori as she had been, being a displaced queen was a shameful thing. Emotionally, she felt no sense of duty to Valta, or whatever it was now, so away she went.

Pale ears flicked back for the barest second, belying the sense of uncertainty that the woman felt. "I've come to offer my services to the Kaicho of Tojo-kai, if he will have me." Again, she bowed low, honoring the man before her. "I will do whatever you require of me and will earn my keep if there is room for me within your ranks." Ochi stayed in her low bow and she would refuse to move until Hattori bid her rise.

"Ochitsuki"

Hattori could understand that it was a difficult situation she'd found herself in, through no fault of her own she ended up at the outskirts of his fortress, with nowhere else to go, it seemed. There was no reason to deny her; they had never quite been friends, but she had offered aid when she'd been under no real obligation to do so. And she had committed to it fully, had provided a beautiful ceremony, though the marriage itself was no more. He had never considered himself to be quite so forgiving, not after what Kiriko had done.

He exhaled slowly, the breath pushing through teeth, he idly wondered where Kotori had gone, but ultimately decided he didn't care enough to linger for too long. His interest had been lukewarm at best and only lingered as long as it had for Ochitsuki's sake.

"There is a place for you here, I only ask that you speak the truth." After having Kiriko lie to his face for as long as she had, it felt safe to assume it had all been part of a scheme perhaps, that she had monkey branched from one to another. "I am no mind reader, tell me what you want."

Hattori demanded that she not lie and Ochi's ears flicked backwards for the barest moment from the sheer amount of emotion in that one demand. Neither of them were very emotional and, to an outsider, they very well may have seen no change at all in the horned brute. Ochitsuki was trained to see such subtleties in males, having been crafted to serve a future husband and ruler. The black and white fae dipped lower still, her back bowed with the grace of a geisha. "I do not lie and I will not lie," a vow. Her word. He should know how much stock her word held, seeing as how their kingdoms were close. They held similar beliefs and mannerisms.

Next, Hattori told her to speak plainly and tell him what she wanted. Ochitsuki held her bow, unwavering, though she could feel the muscles in her body begin to protest, long, lean muscles burning. "I wish to be a part of your clan. You are all that is left of... home." Her own clan had been razed to the ground. She had thought to hold to Kotori and forge something new, but it had never felt right. Even being here in the koi-marked mans presence... that felt right.

"I will do whatever you require me. No task will be too great or small. I will never speak out in protest. I will never lie. I will live to serve you and your clan, Hattori-sama." The woman's words were firm, her conviction as steel-like as the katana that hung about her neck. She pushed every ounce of promise and certainty within her into those words. Despite staring at the ground due to her bow, the fae's words were crystal clear.

"Speech"

Hattori let Ochitsuki speak, faintly realising that it might have sounded like an accusation. And perhaps it had been, after all Kiriko had sowed the seeds of mistrust in his mind-he was an honest man and had taken Kiriko at her word. He had no reason not to, and she'd taken full advantage of that fact, a thought that made his brows furrow, his displeasure lingering and curt. But his anger was misplaced, logically he knew that and in all things he strived to be reasonable (enough) and fair, but in this case?

Simply put, he was pissed; his ego wounded.

He exhaled, forcing a look of neutrality that didn't sit quite right on the sternness of his features.

"Very well," which was to say he believed her, as much as he could manage right now at least.

No doubt she was a woman of talents and it was no exaggeration that she could find purpose within the Bamboo if she so chose. With a flick of his tail he gestured for her to follow, to fall in step beside him.

"What duties did you attend to in Valta?"

Eventually, Hattori motioned for her to rise and Ochitsuki did so gratefully, though nothing showed outwardly that her body ached from being in the same position for so long. Her muscles screamed, but they would soon quiet. The fae fell into step behind and to the side of her new alpha, quiet, attentive, ready for whatever he asked.

Hattori inquired about her duties and Ochi wasted no time in answering. "I was an advisor to Kotori, when he would listen. I helped protect the borders with my sword-fighting skills and had begun learning combat without a weapon." That was long winded for the usually silent woman, but she wanted to let him know that she could be an asset to Tojo-Kai. "There was no task that I would turn away there, just as there will be no task that I will turn away here."

Ochitsuki's pride ached. She had been meant for great things and now she was begging at the doorstep of a wolf who knew exactly that. Hattori would know what she had been bred and raised for. She was nothing now, with nothing to her besmirched name aside from the katana around her neck. "My life is yours, Hattori-sama," the black and white fae's voice softer than it had been prior, as though this was the final acquiescence. The final piece of who she had once been, drifting away on the bamboo scented wind.

"Ochitsuki"

She was suitably reverent and though reasonably he knew Ochitsuki had always done right by him, she was still intrinsically linked with the idea of Kiriko. The memories of her, since she'd been the one to host the marriage ceremony, to witness what had happened that day, in effect proof that it had happened. Hattori always strove to be beyond sheer pettiness, claimed he did not hold grudges but here he was, clinging onto the bitterness like a pill he refused to swallow. If nothing else, he granted his own children his grace as at this point they felt more his than hers; his legacy, never hers. They were Hattori's above all else, she was a bastard- even so a royal one- and such had no last name of her own.

If nothing else, he fully intended to put the fae to work- he should have done so with Kiriko too. Offered her too much leniency as the Mistress of the Bamboo, it seemed. He believed Ochitsuki, for the most part anyway, but refused to show as much.

They were kindred spirits, almost, both let down by those they'd put faith in.

Not acknowledge her pledge, he simply continued to stride forward, brows furrowed. "I do not have as much time as I would like to host lessons for my children. They are yearlings but there is much you could teach them about our homeland. "A duty he was foisting upon her, a test somewhat.