Raigo Takahiro, Souma's father and current head of the Takahiro clan, was there to greet his children with open arms as they stepped up into the main building of the compound.
"Souma!" The large, graying man wrapped his son in a tight hug, Souma returning it fully with a welcome grin. "It has been too long, son."
"It has, father." They held the embrace a moment longer, finally parting after a quiet -if poignant- cough from Ai. Stepping back, Souma bowed low to the house Head, rising to receive a shallower bow of his own before the three stepped together into the building.
"News was slow, at first. I started to worry..." Retainers and fellow clan members stepped aside as they passed, bowing to the three in excited shouts of acknowledgement. Goemon and Daisuke had stepped aside before, moving on to their own quarters in one of the smaller buildings for respite and reunion with their fellow members from the homeland.
"But then we heard good news, didn't we?" Ai chimed in to follow Raigo's words, grinning over at Souma. "Making up for lost time, weren't you?"
"Things started slow. I admit." Souma left out what, exactly, 'slow' meant. The Winchester house would have been the perfect splash to mark the beginning of his enterprise in America, but instead he had been forced to settle on recruiting an aging engineer. The defeat had been humiliating, infuriating, but nothing to concern his clan over. It had been dealt with, as his clan had always dealt with things, and he had moved on to greater successes. "But we grow, Father. Faster and faster with each step."
"In America, and at home, Son." Raigo's grin took on an almost feral tone, something not missed by his son.
"I expect nothing less... Would this include Ai's surprise?"
"Oh? You know?" That grin didn't fade, Ai's laughter telling Souma what he already knew- Raigo had no doubt his daughter had given nothing away. "I suppose it couldn't be a secret forever."
"But we tried Father, didn't we?"
"We did indeed." Raigo indulged himself lightly in Ai's continuing mirth, Souma resigned to shaking his head as they reached the end of the hall. Here they stopped, Raigo sliding open the screen to a pair of small, simple waiting rooms, gesturing for his siblings to step inside. "Clean up from your travel, I will call for you shortly."
Ai and Souma bowed in response, each stepping into one of the rooms as the screen closed behind them. Water lay in shallow basins by the side in each to wash one's hands and rinse their mouths. Clean outer robes of fine silk hung on one wall, to be changed out with the garments that had collected dust over the journey. Rich blues and blacks for both Souma and Ai, deep colors trimmed in silver instead of Raigo's gold and red. Dark colors, rich colors, those preferred by a clan who had never been used to the fashions of the wealthy. With quiet, deliberate ceremony, the siblings changed and prepared, waiting for their father to call them each over into the room across.
~-~-~
As his children stepped into their own waiting rooms, Raigo moved to the tea room across the hall. He moved casually, smile seemingly carved into his face now that his son had returned. Souma would be ready and waiting to be called in soon, and so the Takahiro head needed to be ready himself.
"Soon, Shizuka." He accompanied the words with a shallow bow, moving to take his place at the host's seat in the tea room as he did. The western woman sat nearby, between him and where Souma would sit and to the side. She would be able to serve his son there without obstructing any conversation Raigo may wish to have.
Though he might not want conversation to interrupt her serving of his son's tea.
Settling down, Raigo closed his eyes, calmly waiting as the time passed. His children would prepare themselves quickly, but that didn't mean one rushed the wait. There was a certain way to go about all things, and for the tea ceremony, patience and elegance were the way.
Finally, after a short time had passed, Raigo raised his head. Smiling briefly toward Shizuka to let her know it was time, he turned then to the closed screen.
"Takahiro, Ai." He did not shout, but his voice carried nevertheless. Low and rumbling like distant thunder, the reverberated through the nearby rooms and was followed soon by the slow opening of the screen. Ai stepped through in small, delicate paces, bowing first deeply to Raigo, then offering a more shallow inclination towards Shizuka. Her paces took her gracefully across the room, eyes marveling over everything that had been laid out for the ceremony, sparkling with mischief whenever they happened to land on the western woman. Finally, she settled herself to Raigo's right, across from Shizuka where the second guest usually sat.
"Takahiro, Souma."
The screen opened slowly once more, Souma stepping through to stop just within the room. Keen eyes fell upon Ai, first, seated where he would expect himself to be, given how the names were called. Those eyes rose in question to his father, who only smiled in response, waiting for his son to continue the ceremony that had already began.
But Souma didn't move.
Gaze drifting away from his father, they fell upon the last person in the room, growing wide indeed before he managed to gain a measure of control. Souma stood locked in place for a moment, not trusting what his body might do if he tried to move. His staff was at the entrance of the building, and with no weapons permitted during the ceremony, only a single, simple knife was tucked away under the folds of his sleeve.
It could be enough, though. If Raigo or Ai reacted slowly, it could be enough. He could explain after, why he broke the ceremony, why he stained the tea room floor with hot blood from the throat of a guest. It would fly in the face of family tradition, spit upon the respect he held for both father and sister... but if he moved, now, a knife just might be all he needed...
"Takahiro, Souma," Raigo's voice jolted him into movement, gaze snapping back to the clan head. Raigo was smiling, Ai mirroring the expression, both seeming to have expected his reaction. Oh but of course, this was a surprise right? Everything he had said to Ai when they were younger, admissions of one obsessed with the western world- how could they pass by the opportunity to have him waited upon by a western woman?
"Do not stare. You delay the ceremony."
"Apologies, father." English- of course. Collecting himself, Souma moved calmly through the same paces his sister had taken. He admired the ceramic cups laid out before his father, appreciated the cloths, the whisks, the pot simmering calmly upon the warm coals of the hearth. Finally, he sat himself as the first guest, directly opposite Raigo, noting how close Galina sat to his side.
It would be even easier, now...
"Souma, to introduce." Ai's ability to keep a straight face during the ceremony was a testament to willpower as great as the seas, though Souma could not seem to be impressed by it right now. She gestured lightly to the woman across from her, inclining her head as Raigo prepared to begin the ceremony itself.
"Shizuka, teacher from West. Will be serving, for ceremony."