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Post by Kyokutei Ieyasu on Sept 15, 2006 23:18:42 GMT -5
For once he was glad his home was distances away from the palace and well hidden. When people bothered to ask where he lived he said nowhere at all and they assumed he lived on the streets. But one would have to be dense to reveal the location of a killer. Considering he was dressed as one of the Imperial guards, many people backed off and great distance and didn't question the blood on his face or how the bruise on his left cheek formed.
When he dragged himself to the door he started at it distantly, afraid to really go inside. Perhaps it would've been more convincing to stare into death's face (or otherwise noted as Akiyama) or to run into a face of worry. Ever so quietly he reached his hand out and opened the door, slipping inside to glance around. He didn't see Sorano and he hoped he wouldn't until he could gain back an approachable appearance.
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Post by Hitotsugi Sorano on Sept 15, 2006 23:29:38 GMT -5
The longer she sat in silence and waited, the more and more Sorano convinced herself that the whole scheme was a terrible idea. Cutting ties with Kisho was difficult enough, but adding insult to injury was like walking right up to the man and politely asking for dismemberment.
It was nervewracking, and everything she did to pass the time began to almost immediately frustrate her, and she was left to sit or pace impatiently. Somehow she had gotten herself to sit down and work on mending one of her kimono's old sleeves, though there were times when it seemed her fingers were getting poked up more than the fabric.
One last prick of the needle and she exhaled in frustration and threw the cloth away from her, shoving the needle back into a coushin. When she looked up and around anxiously, she caught a glimpse of someone in guard attire at the door and she immediately shot right up, stepping out of her room.
"Can I help--oh--Kyo! You're--" she put a hand to her mouth when she saw his face. She saw blood, and almost ran up to hound him with a thousand questions, but caught herself. She didn't want to upset him or anything, but... "Are you alright..?"
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Post by Kyokutei Ieyasu on Sept 15, 2006 23:39:33 GMT -5
And it was what it is, he figured, seeing Sorano approach him with worry. And to dismay he folded both of his hands up to slowly wave them accordingly. He even placed in a nervous laugh to show he was quite all right, but very exhausted. "Half of the blood isn't mine," Kyo said, in attempt to make her feel better. Yet he slowly bit his tongue on that one, ashamed that he had had to kill innocent men to even get himself out of trouble.
Like wine sinking into white fabric, the shame appeared through on his paled face. He had tried so hard to make Sorano happy but instead he did the opposite. "Sorry.." Kyo said quickly, closing his eyes and moving his head away. If anything, he didn't want to see those types of expressions.
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Post by Hitotsugi Sorano on Sept 15, 2006 23:49:12 GMT -5
Sorano straightened, releasing her grip on the door frame. His expression bothered her, and she wanted to approach and say or do something meaningful to make him feel a little better, but she had no idea about such things.
"Why are you apologizing?" she asked. "You did what you had to do, right? It was my dumb idea anyway--I should be apologzing."
She finally got the courage to step out entirely from her room, biting her lip for a minute. It was awkward. "Tell me what I can do for you, alright? So that you can take it easy for a bit."
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Post by Kyokutei Ieyasu on Sept 16, 2006 0:01:15 GMT -5
He was surprised she didn't say something else, and the lids of his eyes rose so he was staring at the red paint on the entrance’s hall. For a while he tried to ignore the bright contrast and the way it caused a stinging pain. Perhaps it was pain because the red became blurred and mixed within a different layer of tears. It took awhile for the events to catch up with his thoughts, considering he closed them off and let his adrenaline take him far. Never had he been so scared in his entire life and his right hand rose to slowly wipe at his eyes, trying to get the tears to go away but more continued to come.
His lips motioned to say something and he tried to voice what he had wanted. Instead he was chocking on his thoughts and words, finding it difficult to cope with this new reaction of his. This is frustrating, I feel handicapped.. Kyo thought to himself and instead shook his head no to the girl's question, seeing as he couldn't speak.
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Post by Hitotsugi Sorano on Sept 16, 2006 0:14:58 GMT -5
The appearance of tears definitely took Sorano by surprise. She was really worried about what happened. That Akiyama guy was...well....Oh, man. Let's not think about that.
Still, she wanted to do something. After a moment's hesitation, she moved over, pulling him into a close hug. He looked like he needed it, as if he hadn't had a friend's comfort in ages. And if that's all she could do, well, so be it.
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Post by Kyokutei Ieyasu on Sept 16, 2006 0:24:19 GMT -5
He held his breath when Sorano suddenly pulled him into a hug. His eyes were focused on the ground behind her and the tears flowed to their own accord. Yes, he had hugs before but they were pulled out from annoyance instead of any real affection or care. Hesitantly he reached his arms up and pulled the girl close while resting his head against hers as a support. It did a great deal for him, knowing someone was there. Surely he smelt of blood, didn't that bother the girl? It was hard to think selfishly lately.
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Post by Hitotsugi Sorano on Sept 16, 2006 0:35:31 GMT -5
When she felt his arms move around her, she reached a hand over and let it rest on the back of his head, stroking his hair a bit. Something utterly rotton must've happened, and it tore her up to think about it. After all, Kyo had been nothing but generous and kind to her, treated her like an equal, and the thought of someone making him so upset made her angry. If it was that Akiyama jerk, emperor or not, I will have yet another reason to pluck his eyes out.
It was beginning to really bother her that her stupid suggestion had gotten him into some kind of horrible scrape, and that she might not be able to make up for it. Despite that, she was more concerned about the poor guy she had in her arms and whether or not he was seriously hurt.
"It's okay," she murmured gently, then biting down on her lip. I'm so sorry..
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Post by Kyokutei Ieyasu on Sept 16, 2006 0:45:32 GMT -5
When he figured he got back to his senses his right hand lifted from around Sorano and he wiped at his face, the tears thankfully removing some of the blood on his face. He never really needed to be comforted about something but the gesture was a thoughtful one. Holding on a little more he slowly took a step back from the girl so that his eyes could stare at Sorano's gaze. "Mm, we'll leave tomorrow," he said with a sad smile. And then so far this awkward pain would be gone.
"Thank you," he said in means of the support. No, he did not blame Sorano for being cunning about an approach towards Akiyama. He had took liberty to the ideas and went out destructively like he usually did.
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Post by Hitotsugi Sorano on Sept 16, 2006 0:59:50 GMT -5
Sorano nodded a bit, not saying anything in response, but moving her arms away as he moved back, and they settled on the sleeves of the stolen clothes. They were a bit of a mess, she noticed, glancing at them for a second before looking back up.
"I can clean these up for you, if you want," she offered. Then, quickly adding, "Er, I mean, if you still want them or not. Or I can fix you some tea, or something."
Or she could shut up; the sound of her own voice was agitating her. Backing away a bit, holding her hands up and smiling weakly, she said, "I'm sorry--I'm not trying to be a pest. I can go wait 'til you need anything.."
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Post by Kyokutei Ieyasu on Sept 16, 2006 12:47:38 GMT -5
When Sorano mentioned the clothes he looked down at them and then back up to the girl. "Ah, no. I'll change after I get washed up," he didn't like wearing anything that had relation to Akiyama and this uniform was soaked in blood. While Sorano backed away he stepped forward and suddenly reached his hands out to grasp the girl's face within his hands. He made sure to not to hold too tightly. "You're the best thing that has happened to me!" Kyo said, his voice slightly bright as he offered a smile.
Finally, he let go and moved around the girl to head to his room to get cleaned. But before he did.. "And yes, tea would be nice.."
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Post by Hitotsugi Sorano on Sept 16, 2006 20:38:45 GMT -5
Had there not been the slightest chance of Kyo being sincere about what he just said, Sorano would've laughed. She would have said, 'Don't be ridiculous; we've barely just met!' or something to that extent. The idea of even saying something to interject that sort of frightened her, and all she could do was offer a bewildered and embarrassed stare until he moved.
The mention of tea snapped her out of her confused daze, so much that she almost fell against the wall. "Y-yeah, okay!" she called out in delayed response, utterly relieved that a wall seperated her from him and her dumbfounded expression. She went to do as asked, praying that this time she wasn't going to screw it up or drop something, because she was enough of a fool without having to do that.
I hope he isn't just being friendly to try and humor me, she thought while she worked, chewing on her lip. Though I really shouldn't be so nosy...He's tired.
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Post by Kyokutei Ieyasu on Sept 16, 2006 21:24:13 GMT -5
When Kyo got to his room he slowly slid the door shut and moved to the floorboard and took out a new pair of clothing. He set in on the ground and slowly sat down to stare at the blank wall in front of him. Thinking it over he probably shouldn't have expressed his thoughts so earlier. But she was the first one to consider his life and without her around and her as his motivation to live - he would be dead or worse: still with Akiyama.
Slowly, he got down on all fours and sat next to the tray he had set out next to his bed. He picked up the cloth on it and opened one of the bottles to slowly poor the clear liquid on it. And ever so slowly did he wipe at his face, near to the smaller wounds and scratches. After a very long interval of dressing wounds and getting cleaned up he finally dressed within his own clothing. When he stepped out of the room he reached over and fixed the dark bandaging around his hand and made sure the hidden knives were secure.
Since his favorite scarf was ruined he wore a black one, and instead of the grays and reds he seemed masked entirely up to the bruise on his face. Turning the corner he over looked the area and watched Sorano, just like he usually did.
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Post by Hitotsugi Sorano on Sept 16, 2006 21:53:10 GMT -5
Sorano was perhaps a little too focused on what she was doing, since it wasn't helping at all. She glanced over for a moment and almost jumped when she saw Kyo standing there, especially since she hadn't heard him even step out of his room. She almost sent the tea she'd poured flying, but many previous instances seemed to have conditioned her in case of such an event.
She smiled sheepishly, getting up and walked over, handing him the cup. "Hope it's alright this time," she said, stepping back and folding her hands behind her back. She regarded his appearance with a timid glance. She wanted to ask what happened, but was worried it'd trouble him, or he'd get mad or depressed, and she wasn't too sure what she could do in that instance that would be anything but destructive.
But it was killing her not to ask. "...What happened?" she almost squeaked, cringing a bit.
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Post by Kyokutei Ieyasu on Sept 16, 2006 22:07:17 GMT -5
Kyo took the cup from the girl and stared at her intently. He knew she was staring at the scratches and bruise on his face. Of course he would tell her what happened, as it would be unfair to go about things naturally. Though before he went on he took a sip of the tea and gave a wide smile. "It's good," he told the girl - just incase she had any doubts. When she asked the question, he gave a few blinks in response. "Ah, I gave my resignation to Akiyama but he said no one would resign alive. So, he was going to kill me. You know, being him, he played his game out and got me pretty scratched up. Eh, sadly the game included bindings of the wrist but that was something minor to escape - let alone the room I was in."
Before he went on he took another drink of the tea, stepping closer to the girl. "Well, I got out alive and surely disguised myself to avoid too many battles. So, I am sure they are all out there looking for me right now - no worries, no one knows I am here. However, this urges us to leave tomorrow, of course." With his free hand he reached his fingers out and lightly touched Sorano's hair. But apparently it wasn't his fingers touching her hair; instead it was a small piece of paper. "Suppose you didn't see this, huh?" he handed it to her, the letter disregarding what she should do if he never returned. "I really don't have a reason to live, but something... something drove me forward - to see you."
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