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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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 Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 10:49 pm
"That would be very nice of you," Baikou says, noting that helping her would take time away from his management of the shop... but also warmly welcoming the assistance.
... But in response to that nudge, she seems somewhat reluctant to move. "Well, I...
"To be honest, I...
"... You know..."
... She wrings her hands slightly, turns around, looking about the room for a chair. She's a little tired...
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 10:59 pm
Oh...!! Another jab of self-admonishment from his direction for not offering her a place to rest sooner.
There's a table just in the kitchen, if she would like? He gestures toward the doorway that connects the shopfront to the rest of the house, urging her invitingly in its direction.
Or would Baikou rather lay down for a bit? He can't imagine she would be much in the mood for talking after what an ordeal it must have been crossing from one world to another... he apologizes
It occurs to him as a private afterthought, if she's just arrived here, she likely has not thought of a place to stay yet, either....
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 11:10 pm
Baikou blushes, shaking her head in reply to his second suggestion. "My back just hurts a little bit," she says.
She shuffles to the kitchen, turns the table a bit so that she will face him, then settles into it carefully. ... But then, can't seem to bring herself to look up at Hitsuga, preferring to stare at one of her shoes instead.
... Presently, though, she brushes some of her hair out of her face, holding it back with a hand, and murmurs, "Hitsuga... You know, ... I'm... really sorry.
"Really sorry."
Her projections ease off, locked up behind a wall, but her voice alone is dripping with heavy sadness.
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 11:22 pm
..........
He freezes in place much as he'd done across the street, having been about to ask if he could get her something to drink.
And then...
He shakes his head.
No. She has nothing to be sorry for. If anyone is sorry, he is. For all of this....this mess. What happened, what he did to them....shouldn't have happened.
And now its his turn to look away. He'd expected this to come up eventually, he just hadn't been sure when it would stop lurking just out of sight and drag itself into the open. Just as much as he feels its unfortunate that its done so this soon after being reunited with one another's company, he also feels a sense of relief about it....that finally its going to be addressed, for better or for worse.
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 11:28 pm
"No," she says softly, her chin tucked down and her voice quiet, but her chest beginning to rise and fall visibly with short little breaths, "you didn't do anything wrong... You were protecting yourself... from the violence I was committing against you."
She swallows, then looks up at him, trying to smile. "I was worried I had ruined your chances at happiness... I'm glad it..." --doesn't seem to be so, but...
"... I should have asked."
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 11:36 pm
He finds himself puzzled, finally regaining enough of himself to sink into the chair across from her.
It wasn't violence....
It was....it was....
He focuses squarely on the tabletop, not feeling brave enough to meet her eyes, despite the fact she's doing the same to him.
....it was a case where he should have talked to her. And instead of doing that...instead of straightening things out before they became the bigger problem they were, he'd hidden, he'd kept to himself, and worst of all, he'd told her everything was fine...
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 11:43 pm
She looks again, delicately removing a tear from her eyelid with a finger. "You are too kind to me," she says in a near-whisper. "I didn't understand your feelings. I should have asked..."
She now trails off, staring at the paneling where the wall meets the floor... then looks up again, once more trying to smile. "I made you, a lot of people, suffer. But I'm glad that you are all right now."
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 11:58 pm
He draws in a long breath, letting it out in a sigh.
He wants her to understand....he didn't do what he did because he didn't care for her. He believes, indeed, there is no one save his blood sister in this world that he cares for more.
He just...
There were a few reasons, and not all of them were her. Being older now, and a bit wiser, he understands that some, perhaps, should not have been worried about in the first place...
He tries to hold back tears of his own, keeping them reigned within him for the moment.
If she would like to know that all is forgiven, then...then yes. Of course. He forgives her.
One hand breaks away from where its been wringing the other, reaching across the table to gingerly touch her wrist.
"But will you forgive me, Baikou...?" he murmurs aloud, the words, even in their halting cadence, pleading.
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 12:04 am
Baikou jerks away from his hand, as if reflexively... and a moment later, showers him with apologetic feelings. "S, sorry, it... hurts usually," she mumbles, but even as she says so, reaches out as well, with her fingertips.
A long silence, and then, "Of course I forgive. There was nothing to forgive. And there is no one I care for more." And then she sighs sharply, and brings her hand back to cover her face, rubbing her cheekbone and temples slightly with the fingertips.
"I've made such horrible mistakes," she groans from behind it.
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Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 12:18 am
He winces as she draws back, her shower of apologetic feelings met with a cascade of his own. He didn't know. He's sorry...
At the emphasis she places on 'no one', he shifts a bit in his seat, his thoughts on the matter flaring, though he keeps them concealed. There is something he wants to ask, though doesn't quite dare...
Instead, he offers her gentle assurances, in hopes they may soothe her, that any mistakes she's made....they don't matter here and now. He will not judge.
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 12:25 am
"You have no idea," Baikou mumbles, now folding her head into both hands and sighing. He has no idea what kind of crazy tangle she's gotten herself into...
"... But I suppose I will not make the same mistake three times," she sighs again.
... Very tentatively, gingerly, almost fearfully, she wonders... Does Hitsuga know about Matsuto?
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Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 12:32 am
He feels his stomach clench, finding himself a bit helpless at the situation. He wants dearly for her to stop blaming herself, but....he can't seem to think of anything more to say or to do than offer meaningless comfort. He realizes that he simply does not know enough about what she's been through...
Matsuto...?
He shakes his head once, slowly. No, he's afraid he doesn't....
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 12:37 am
... That means she has to tell him herself, doesn't it?
"My son," she murmurs, still holding her face, not looking at him. ... And then, suddenly, puts her hands in her lap, blinking quickly, and raises her eyes back to Hitsuga's. "I... Sorry," sorry for dumping all this on Hitsuga; the first thing she's doing after seeing him in six years is putting all this weight on his shoulders, and it is really inconsiderate of her--
Maybe, maybe--
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Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 12:41 am
"Baikou..." he says aloud, if only to draw her attention.
He knows.
He didn't know her son's name but....Rika had told him that she had a family of her own now.
Its all right, he assures her. Does she think he would think ill of her for wanting to find happiness of her own after....what had happened? He doesn't. He couldn't.
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 12:46 am
"No, I mean... I mean..." Once again she cannot look at him, and hunches over, wringing her hands in her lap.
No more festering secrets, she tells herself, holding her walls down just weakly enough that scraps of her frantic thoughts leak through -- no more silence, yes? No more concealed or twisted-up emotions, yes... yes...
Composing herself a little, she rubs her chest, as if trying to ease a wandering pain there, and murmurs, "Matsuto's father... isn't my husband.
"You see what kind of mess I made for myself...?" she says, with a miserable smile.
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