A Day Off in the Mist (Open RP)

[Hishime]

‘Of course. My apologies.’ With that, Takumi left as quickly as he had appeared. The familiar silence filled the room again. The silence that she had to live with every day. It made her feel... lonely. Normally she had no one to talk to, no one who would listen to her. And now, when she finally had some company, she was alone once again. It was painful...

At first, she wanted to call after him. She didn’t really want him to leave her alone. She was afraid that if she hadn’t said something, he would’ve start asking questions. It was a bad habit of hers; being rude and always avoiding questions, even the normal ones.

Hishime took one last, shaky breath. Her hands went limp, she just let them fall on the ground. Dragging herself back on her feet, she closed her eyes tightly, quietly leaning against the wall. She had to face it. She would have to tell him, there was no other way. She didn’t want to, but it would be better if she did.

Secretly, she wished that he would just come back. She didn’t dare opening that door and walk into the other room. There was no way she could always be brave and strong, even though she was a shinobi.

[Kirihara Takumi]

"She's not coming..." The thought struck Takumi after a while. Should he go back? But her reaction the first time was far from appreciative, verging on hostile... At least, that's how he took it. Takumi sat up once more... One nice thing about living alone was that things were never this complicated. He sighed and got up again, walking over to the wall next to the doorway, leaning against it and knocking gently.

"May I come in?"

It felt like a strange thing to ask in his own house, but... he hoped it would help.

[Hishime]

‘May I come in?’ The voice of the man rang through the dead quiet house, following after the soft knock on the door. It was odd. Why was he asking? This was his own house! It was probably because of her reaction earlier, she supposed. Hishime slowly opened her eyes, only the meet the two plates on the worktop. She sighed, taking her time to think of what to say.

“This is your house, isn’t it?” The female did her best to keep herself from stuttering. Her voice was soft, yet a bit louder than before. Again, she didn’t answer his question like someone normally would, answering a question with another question could sometimes help her to avoid unnecessary conversations.

She forced herself to fake that smile again, literally putting her mask back on. Wiping away any upcoming tears, she directed her gaze towards the floor again. She didn’t want to see the look in his eyes, the expression on his face.

[Kirihara Takumi]

Takumi quietly entered the room, and saw that same little smile on her face again. He didn't like that smile... Still... it must've meant there was something to cover up, which made sense considering what he'd happened upon earlier. He wanted to ask what was wrong, he wanted to know why she was afraid... Instead...

"I'm sorry for bursting in on you earlier. I should have just waited for you, or at least knocked."

Takumi's voice and expression were soft, and the look he gave her was not unkind, but he still had many concerns about her, many unanswered questions. He wasn't sure he would be able to go the night without some answers.

[Hishime]

‘I’m sorry for bursting in on you earlier. I should have just waited for you, or at least knocked.’ The man spoke with a soft voice. The kunoichi carefully took a quick glace at him, but immediately broke eyecontact as she saw the look in his eyes. He didn’t gave her that cold, emotionless look, but there was something strange about it. Curious, yet full of doubts. Worried, yet distrusting. Her own eyes, not showing any hints of fear nor pain.

He had all right not to trust her. She was still a stranger to him. He didn’t even know her name. She wondered if she really was such a mystery. If people really thought of her as odd. The strange little girl that always hides her emotions behind a fake smile. A mask. Although most people believed her when she said she was fine, not all of them did. Was it really that obvious? Was it so easy to see that she wasn’t being herself?

“Why are you apologizing?” She asked with curiosity. She forced herself to look at him, but only from the corner of her eye. Her smile was replaced by a grin. “You’re not at fault.” Gently, she pushed herself away from the wall, taking a step towards him. “Come on, the food’s getting cold.”

[Kirihara Takumi]

“Come on, the food’s getting cold.”

Takumi nodded - now that one he could be pretty sure was the truth. It had been so long since she'd started... Now Takumi was at a loss, though. He was so used to eating alone, he wasn't really sure anymore exactly how it was supposed to be done. Usually he just lounged about wherever he pleased when he ate, but he didn't think that was proper with guests. Considering the setup of restaurants, he decided to pick up the plates and take them to the table in the other room - it wasn't as though he had one in his tiny kitchen, or any other room for that matter. Just the one he'd set up earlier for tea.

"Er..." A thought struck him. "I don't suppose you brought your own chopsticks?"

[Hishime]

Hishime silently followed the man to the other room. She didn’t say a word, just stared at the ground as she walked oh-so quietly, almost ghost-like. His attitude still hadn’t changed. Of course it hadn’t, what was she thinking? He wouldn’t just ignore what had happened, maybe he was thinking that she was an enemy, maybe a spy from a criminal organization, maybe an assassin.

‘I don’t suppose you brought your own chopsticks?’ The female looked up quickly, looking the man straight in the face, eyebrow raised. Chopsticks? She hadn’t even thought about it. Normally she would eat with her hands, no one was around to see it anyway. But, that would be very impolite, she supposed. She sighed, moving her gaze back to the ground, thinking.

“Well..” She mumbled, it was almost inaudible. “I do have a pair.. but..” There was a long pause. Finally, she looked at him, eyes shut lightly and smiling nervously, a sweatdrop forming. She rubbed the back of her head with a bandaged hand. “It’s in my bag..”

[Kirihara Takumi]

“It’s in my bag..” Yuki replied, apparently embarrassed. Of course... it made sense that she would keep more than just her weapons and medical tools in there... but it seemed like it would be very rude for him to go through her bag... What a dilemma. Sacrifice some safety, or be terribly inpolite and invasive? He hadn't checked its contents earlier for that reason, and he well could have without her knowing. Takumi sighed.

"It's okay, I think I have some disposeable ones somewhere. Excuse me for a moment."

He went back into the kitchen, searching for his untouched stock of disposeable chopsticks without any real clue as to where he had put them.

[Hishime]

A sigh escaped his mouth. ‘It’s okay, I think I have some disposable ones somewhere. Excuse me for a moment.’ The girl rolled her eyes, slightly annoyed by the fact that he wouldn’t let her get her own chopsticks. It was quite logical, though. According to this reaction, she figured that he hadn’t even looked at the contents. She smirked. Part of her was glad that he hadn’t touched her personal belongings, the other part of her was slightly sad that he didn’t trust her enough.

Slowly, she peeked around the corner, curiously looking at the man as he searched through his cupboards. She sneaked over to the doorway, leaning against it, studying him with kind eyes. “Need some help?”

[Kirihara Takumi]

“Need some help?” Yuki asked, leaning in the doorway. Takumi looked up at her sheepishly, rubbing his neck.

"Would you? I honestly have no clue where I put them."

The only place he knew they weren't was the black box sitting in the corner. A cold aura emanated from it, and he knew exactly why. It was his special weapon stock, if such a term could be applied. In truth, it was nothing more than bottles of shochu sitting in crushed ice, but in his hands their contents were more dangerous than any blade he possessed... Takumi continued his search, looking everywhere he could think of for the missing chopsticks.

[Hishime]

‘Would you? I honestly have no clue where I put them.’ The kunoichi couldn’t help but chuckle. Crossing her arms over her chest, she just stood there, smirking. She had actually spotted a pair of chopsticks while her little adventure in the kitchen, but she had to admit, it was slightly amusing to see him like that.

A minute passed, and the shinobi hadn’t moved from her place. She cleared her throat awkwardly. “You really have no clue, do you?” She just couldn’t wipe the smirk from her face, it was already hard for her not to start laughing. “You’re getting colder, move a bit more to the right.”

[Kirihara Takumi]

Takumi made his way to the right until he found the chopsticks he'd been looking for. He picked them up and turned toward Yuki with his face flushed.

"Y-you knew!" he stammered, now thoroughly embarrassed. "I mean, um... thanks..."

He handed her the chopsticks and went back to the table, avoiding her gaze as his cheeks burned red. The smirk on her face wasn't helping things, either...

... but he had to admit, it felt a lot better than that little smile she usually put on.

[Hishime]

Hishime had done a pretty good job to hold back her laughter, but when Takumi turned to look at her, his face beet red and with chopsticks in his hand, she couldn’t help but snicker.

‘Y-you knew!’ The man stuttered, embarrassed by the whole scene. ‘I mean... thanks.’ Her snickering changed to quiet laughing. Like an automatism, she held her hand in front of her mouth. Her face was slightly pink, or less pale, whatever was the right way to say it. “What can I say? Of course, I knew.” She replied as he handed her the chopsticks and walked past her. The smirk slowly faded from her face, being replaced by the usual smile, but it was slightly bigger this time.

The ninja turned on her heels, walking back to the living room slowly. If you could even call it the ‘living room’. It was empty for the most part, so it was hard to tell. “I’ve made better, way better.” She said quietly, sitting down on the cushion on the opposite side, cross-legged. “Just so you know.”

[Kirihara Takumi]

“I’ve made better, way better. Just so you know.”

"What, is she saying I'm not worth that kind of effort?" Takumi thought. He was still recovering from being made a fool of. "She was laughing at me!"

"I'm... sure it's fine, thank you very much for making it."

Slipping his own pair of chopsticks from his sleeve, he picked a piece of vegetable. The meal certainly looked... healthy. Considerably greener than most of his meals, anyway. Now that he thought of it, he would actually be quite a good target for poisoning... She could kill him and stay here for a good while before anyone would notice. Then again... maybe he'd be able to bleed it out if it was poisoned. Deciding it would be worth the risk to not seem too suspicious of her, he popped it into his mouth.

"Hmm... not bad," he thought, a little surprised. He normally didn't like eating greens, but he kept them and put some in with his meals because it was best for a ninja to be healthy. Maybe his dislike was just because he'd never really learned how to prepare them.

[Hishime]

‘I’m... sure it’s fine, thank you very much for making it.’

“Anytime.” She mumbled, moving her gaze to her own plate. She spun the chopsticks in her hand before taking a piece of the chicken. Munching, she now had a little time to think, it wouldn’t be polite to speak right now, perfect timing. Something was wrong. A small hint of hesitation caught her eye. He was thinking there was something about the food? It did made sense. She used poisons, but she wasn’t sure if he had seen them. Still, he was acting like he knew nothing.

Swallowing, she quickly glanced at the man. It was dead quiet, almost unbearable, but it wouldn’t be smart to end the silence, at least not if she did. What was she supposed to say anyway? ‘Nice weather’? No way.

The young ninja ate silently, acting like she was in her own little world, thinking. A smile was on her face at all time. The truth was, she was thinking, but not about what he was probably expecting. Would he be able to keep her secrets, really a secret? And what if he told someone about her? Was she safe?