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"Yes." Sabin said with an ascent of his head. That he would not deny, nor did he wish to. He was a powerful man on this island, and he did not want anyone to forget that. And while he knew he needed Moreau for this project, after all, it WAS his project ultimately, it still rankled him that he had to answer to him and his idiosynchracies.

He glanced at her arm, as it raised momentarily, an eyebrow arching in curiousity. "Did you enjoy your meal..?"

He glanced down as she made physical contact, but did not pull away or speak of it.

Only when she finished speaking and had placed her arm back into her lap did Sabin respond. "I am glad that it pleased you. And perhaps we shall do this again sometime soon. If you... are sleepy, I can return you to your duplex."

Sabin paused, unsure again as he studied the cryptic expression on Sayuri's face. Her emotions were deeply burried behind that white-painted mask. And yet... she aked to stay longer?

"You ... are enjoying my company, Satoharu-san?" Sabin pressed gently.

Sabin's eyes lingered on her hand, the touch warm and sincere. He sat straight, hesitating, tumbling over the situation in his mind.

But for his studies on geisha, and while he had no problem with the formal dinner setting and appreciation of her performance, Sabin felt at a loss of what to do next. As much as he longed for companionship, he had sworn off getting to know islanders on a personal basis. The only exception were the situations that he knew the islander was at least content. He didn't want to rouse his sleeping conscience. Sayuri was new, so new she barely had an understanding of what was in store for her, the language barrier preventing Sabin from explaining it to her thoroughly.

He hungered for companionship, though. The weakness of human emotion was that it desired others... as much as he wished to shut out everything else and be happy again - without opening himself up for the pain that came along with it. And yet, as much as Sayuri seemed to wish to fill that need, he knew that it only promised complications. She couldn't understand his problems, his thoughts...

"What is it that you seek here, Satoharu-san? Someone to protect you, care for you? A lover..? A friend..?"

Once again Sabin's eyebrows raised, this time nearly to his hairline. Was this more of her duty? Or was this honesty in the Geisha's voice.

The cynical side of Sabin's mind told him that this is why Geisha were so highly valued - they could say the things that their patrons wanted to hear, comfort them - even when there was a language barrier - and give a very convincing act of compassion and understanding. Emotions were a tricky enough subject, made all more complicated by one who was raised to play to them.

He raised his hand, rubbing the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

Did she even know the implications that his mind... that any Western mind might put to such a desire? She was still a child.. younger than his children. And the dossier said she was Maiko... a virgin. In a subsociety of Japan where physical intimacy was about as publically discussed as it was in Victorian England...

"Do you know what it is that a man and a woman do... what a Geisha and her Danna do...." Sabin gesticulated. He was not supposed to be the one that was uncomfortable.

Sabin nodded slowly. Perhaps she was not quite as innocent as he had assumed... but still. Despite Sabin delighting in games of manipulation, despite the dark place he had retreated, for him, sex was a very intimate act. Strangely, almost an opposite pleasure than the controlling, manipulative pleasures that he enjoyed on the Island. To Sabin, pleasures of the body were a mark of humanity, in finding comfort and support in another person as opposed to being self-sufficient and cut-off from a conscience or identifying with another.

And thus, Sabin felt... caught off guard by the notion of being intimate with a woman whose language and inexperience, not to mention her status as a subject, prevented him from being truly intimate with her.

At the very least, that was a step that he was not ready for. "I see." Sabin finally spoke up, wrenching himself from his thoughts. But what else was one to say

He turned his head quickly at the sound of a small crash from the direction of a closed door with a wince. "Merde..." He rose to his feet, looking to Sayuri with an apologetic look. "I am sorry.... it is probably my cat..."

Sabin's smile relaxed a bit, a bemused, mischivious smile playing over his face.

"Yes... I do... although it is probably not like you are expecting." Sabin responded, getting to his feet and walking over towards the door to his bedroom.

Opening the door, he peered into the room. "Beastie! What are you doing in there?"

A curious "mrowr?" answered his call and a black shape, eager to be free of the room, which had long since become uninteresting in his confinement (and he made sure to express his displeasure at his roaming area to be limited by leaving a surprise on Sabin's bed). Darting out of the room, a small black shadow whisked straight past Sabin and Sayuri and leapt onto the table, eager to pick at the fish that had been left out and within easy reach of the.... strange feline.

Crouching down on its six legs and nibbling, its two long tentacles that sprouted from its shoulders writhed eagerly.

"Hey! You!" Sabin snapped at the cat.

Sabin smiled... was it proudly?

"Yes, yes he does. Six legs and tentacles." He summarized.

"But he is sweet. Despite being rather ill behaved sometimes." He said in a scolding fashion to the cat, scooping it off the table and away from its stolen meal.

The cat looked thoroughly unapologetic, looking back towards the food disappointedly.

"He is... a finished experiment. He did not always have.... the extra appendages."