Eld couldn't help but chuckle a bit at Etsu's reaction; she was a pretty mature girl for her age, but the way she marched off suddenly at the prospect of food was one of the few ways she was still a bit childish. Not that he was never childish himself...

He winced inwardly a bit as he wondered if she'd been fed during her confinement...but, if his guess was right, she probably was.

"It's a good thing Mayako likes to cook, or I'd kind of feel bad; there's no way she'll refuse," Eld commented to Sarah as he fell in step behind Etsu. It was actually not too far-fetched that she already planned on making their meal.

The trip to Mayako's had been fairly . . . eventful. She had been delighted to see her friends back home, safe and sound, and made them both a dinner they'd appreciate. It was a homemade Cizokian dish, of course, something everyone enjoyed. She even got a little bit of advice from her mother, who helped Mayako prepare some of the spices to throw in. Two of the greatest cooks in the area worked on it. It was likely one of the best prepared meals Etsu Hikane had ever enjoyed.

Shortly thereafter, though, Mayako had been fairly insistent upon bandaging Eld and Etsu's wounds. She treated Eld, but Etsu didn't think she needed treatment until Mayako pointed out that her vest was torn and tattered a little, from leaning up against a somewhat jagged cliff wall for so long. She coerced Etsu into letting her bandage her wounds, an act which occurred behind closed doors, with Eld and the others waiting outside of the bathroom.

During which, Eld had been close by enough to hear one little bit of dialogue, suggesting a bit of awkwardness between the two of them.

"Ano . . . Mayako-san-- why are you touch-ing there?"

"What?"

"I am not hurt on my chest."

"Wh-- OH! OH! I-- I'm terribly sorry, I didn't even . . . w-wow-- I-- I'm r-really really really s-s-sorry!"

Whatever happened, truly, was up to the imagination of the one that had overheard it. It was likely that his imagination had gone wild, too.

Nonetheless, after the evening, they all went their separate ways. Etsu and Eld retrieved their weapons from within Sarah's room (so not to walk into Mayako's house with weapons in tow), and returned to Eld's house as quietly as they could, to avoid his parents whilst they had weapons on their person.

Etsu breathed out a relieved sigh as she placed her naginata back in the corner of Eld's room. It kind of looked nice there. It didn't need a holder or anything, it just looked nice where it was. It could have been anywhere in this room, and looked nice. It was just Eld's room in particular. She didn't say anything, initially, until she stared down at her clothes piled up in the corner for long enough.

"I onr-ry gone for two days, and I stir-rr fer-rt home-sick." Etsu whispered; it was less of an emotional statement and more of a personal observation, however.

As always, any meal Mayako cooked was great, and with her mother helping it was made even better. He couldn't help but be on edge, though, not because of them, but because of the other person who was no doubt around...

Still, except for a few bumps (such as Eld nearly getting a nosebleed) the evening went by smoothly, and before long he and Etsu returned to his house.

"Etsu...you were kidnapped. I think it's fairly normal to miss your home, no matter how short it was," Eld pointed out. He was pretty sure if he'd been the one tied up, he'd be as anxious to return as humanly possible.

A bit belatedly, something clicked for him. "Etsu...do you really consider this home?" he asked. He wasn't quite sure why, but the thought that she did made him happy.

Etsu refrained from commenting on the part about being kidnapped. In truth, it actually hadn't been horrible, but she didn't want to volunteer that information to Eld. Instead, she focused upon his question. Etsu turned around to face him and looked him in the eyes for a moment.

She . . . actually didn't think about what she was saying. She had simply spoke, and that's what came out. It was a raw, blunt honesty, even to herself-- one she didn't know if she wanted to examine or not. Should this have been home to her? Should the home of Reapers been home to her? Or should that old house in the middle of nowhere in Cizok be home to her? Etsu thought about it for a moment.

"Hai," she inevitably replied with a nod of her head.

The conclusion she came to was actually not as harsh as she had suspected it would have been. Initially, after becoming a Reaper, she missed her parents dearly. She still missed them. She would have given almost anything to be able to go back to them, at least for an evening, just to see if they were okay without her. They probably were. Her father was probably better off without her around, even. But still, she wanted to see them-- but at the same time, she felt that way the whole time she was back with the Reapers after leaving Hillcrest before.

And now, she felt very similar about some of the Reapers she knew. Addison Draugr and Scott Thompson, namely. She wanted to know how they were doing.

"I once hear some-one say home is where the heart is," then placed her hand over her heart, only to remove her hand from her chest and hold up three fingers, "And I ber-rieve my heart is in three pr-race. With my parents, with shinigami, and here."

For the second time that day, Eld was surprised by the maturity shown by one of his friends. "That's a good way of looking at it," he said with a smile. To think at fourteen she'd already have three places she could call home, and he, two years older, had never spent more than a week away from home.

"I wonder if I'll be able to say the same thing..."

He refrained from asking what it was like, being with the Reapers. He was pretty certain Etsu wasn't supposed to give him any specifics, so he only asked when it was important to know the answer.

As they shared close proximity though, he became aware of something. "Etsu...I know you just got back and would probably rather not, but...you've been two days without changing clothes, and I've been sweating for practically two days straight."

He paused for second, and he didn't even need to turn to know what look she'd have on her face. "We really need baths."

In the constant commotion of the day, something had gone unnoticed: Etsu's hair was curly again. Her hair was naturally curly, which she did not like. If she bathed more than once a week, it became difficult to near impossible to keep her hair straight. When her hair wasn't straight, it was easier to see the left side of her face, and she was extremely self conscious about that. It didn't matter what Eld or anyone else said. She outright never wanted anyone to see the left side of her face. Really, it was only Eld she didn't mind so much, but he had seen . . . well, all of her. He had seen the left side of her face, he had seen the reason she always wore a one piece bathing suit-- the scar upon her belly --and had even seen her fully naked, in a setting where she wasn't particularly against it.

But either way, her hair had that defined curl. In no way was it perfectly straight as she preferred it. Etsu shook her head at Eld, even though he wasn't looking at her to see.

"I do no need one," she replied promptly.

Again, she didn't want to volunteer information regarding her captivity, but . . .

"I was given bath-room with show-er."

"Ah. I guess...they really took care of you, huh? I bet they fed you, too." It certainly wasn't bad news, but...he didn't quite to know what to make of what were essentially now his enemies treating one of his friends so well. Certainly, no other person antagonizing the town recently had made any kind of attempt at humane treatment.

"...I think...even if I'd lost, or didn't come...they wouldn't have killed you," he said quietly. Etsu had been returned without a scratch, and other than her relative uncomfortable position on his arrival, she hadn't received the slightest mistreatment.

That didn't make them in the right, of course. They were still trying to take a friend away from him, and they'd murdered and, arguably, worse to get their way. But...as hard it was to deal with people who were unnecessarily cruel, it was also hard to accept fighting--and killing--someone who'd behaved with some honor.

"I . . ." Etsu was about to reply.

But she didn't want to. She really, really didn't want to. She didn't want to say or do anything that could have possibly made it worse for Eld. Yes, he was going to have to seriously sit down and think about it sometime, but not now. Time healed wounds-- wounds like this one, wounds that he didn't intentionally inflict upon himself, but would have to deal with either way. Etsu was going to be there to help him, but he didn't need to think about that stuff. Not right now. Not just yet.

So, she said the only thing she could think of to change the subject . . . for now.

"I can take a-nother bath," Etsu finally declared, meekly as usual, "With you, Er-rd-kun . . ."

It was perhaps the only time she had ever volunteered to take a bath with Eld since he started making her bath. Actually, it was the first and only time. She hated bathing excessively, but maybe she could help ease Eld down. Tonight, they might not have to talk about what happened, if all went well. Then, they could discuss it a little easier tomorrow.

In any other circumstance Eld would probably have remarked something about marking a calendar, Etsu was volunteering to bathe, but this time he more or less recognized what she was trying to do, if not why she was doing it.

"Ah...it's fine. You don't have to if you don't want to."

He was about to leave it at just that, but he remembered some advice he'd received...about not turning things down when other people were offering, a habit of his that sometimes annoyed others.

"But...if you don't mind, I would appreciate the company," he admitted shyly after a moment. He always looked forward to spending any time with her, and baths were one of the few times he still got to feel somewhat intimate with her. Plus, if he was alone, he'd probably just worry himself over everything that happened.

She smiled a little. Etsu's smiles were always slight and subtle, but compared to her default stoic expression, extremely noticeable.

"O-kay," she nodded.

Etsu started towards the door, until she remembered something. Yes-- yes, she was forgetting something very important. Etsu turned around and looked to her pile of clothes. She was going to need a bathing suit if she was going to be soaking in a tub with Eld. She returned to the pile of clothes and picked out a poked dotted two piece bathing suit. She wasn't particularly fond of this one, but it was easier to put on than the one she usually wore when she was swimming in public.

It was a bathing suit that had been given to her by Addison. It didn't really fit her very well, and it was a two piece bathing suit--so it definitely wasn't something she was going to wear outside, when she was swimming with Sarah and the others. She'd kind of pop out of it if she jerked around too much, which was a generally horrifying thought for her if she were in public or plain sight.

As Etsu grabbed her bathing suit, so too did Eld; naturally, if they were bathing together, they weren't going to be naked, though admittedly it wasn't as though either of them had anything to hide from the other by this point.

Bathing was routine, but while Etsu loathed bathing (mostly, he suspected, because of what it did to her hair), he always found them relaxing, especially after a long day. It was a good way to wind down and take his mind off things. Etsu also probably found it more enjoyable than usual, as in light of the fact that she'd bathed recently he didn't harp on her about washing herself like he usually did.

Once they were finished, he grabbed his clothing and returned to the bathroom to change, giving Etsu the room as usual. After finishing and waiting a minute, he knocked on the door lightly. "Etsu? Are you done changing?"

In the Great Hall, he stood. Toushikyo, the cold son, his arms folded across his chest and eyes blankly staring across the blank expanse between he and the north side of the building. Next to him, Father Earth had been etched into the wood. His eyes trailed to the floor. In the cobblestone, he could find no justification. Of what, he didn't quite know anymore. Of his father's death, perhaps, or even his own actions. It was all missing. It was all hollow.

Hollow like the footsteps echoing throughout the Hall. Toushikyo looked up. He could recognize that platinum blond for miles, if need be. A platinum blond in a form fitting dress. The way she was staring at him almost looked hateful. Fitting. Her scarlet eyes were narrowed and her lips were pursed. To anyone else, this would not have been a good sign. To Toushikyo, however, it was a sign of an annoyance to come.

Akizetsumei stopped directly before Toushikyo, not two feet away from him.

The two stared at each other for a long moment, before at last Akizetsumei made a move. She brought her open hand across Toushikyo's face without a second thought, slapping him open-handed and filling the room with a hollow echo.

Toushikyo's head snapped to the left instantly. His cheek turned red, with the mark of her hand upon it. He did not turn his face to look at her, but he did narrow his eyes in disapproval and let out an annoyed sigh. More than likely, he left his head there, with his gaze averted from her, in spite.

Akizets's hand almost felt brittle afterward; it felt like she had held onto an ice cub for far too long. It was a feeling that suggested one's bones might break easy, a feeling that was common for Akizetsumei when she was in Toushikyo's presence, a little more common than it was than with other people. Yet still, she felt no regret for what she had done. Her glare did not fade when her hand started to hurt, nor did she step away from him.

"You didn't need to say that," Akizets growled under her breath.

Toushikyo's response, however, was entirely nonchalant--as if he didn't know what Akizets was talking about at all. He was playing ignorant. Spitefully. "Say what?"

"You . . ." Akizets's anger was cooling, though. A moment passed, and she let out a sigh, "What you said . . . or . . . or how you said it. You didn't need to be so hurtful to mother."

At this, Toushikyo said nothing. His features lightened somewhat, but not by much.

"She's not doing well, Toushikyo," Akizets sighed as she folded her arms over her diaphragm. Toushikyo had been so hurtful to Katalyna--it should have been unforgivable. "You should apologize."

"An empty apology?" Toushikyo replied coldly, "What good would that do?"

"Do-- do you have no heart?! Mother has not stopped crying since I found her at the north gate!"

"Why do you pretend to care?"

Akizets was visibly surprised. "Wh-what? Why would I not care? And I am not pretending!"

"You are doing yourself a disservice, Akizetsumei. You can hold onto feelings just as much as I can feel anything. Stop trying. In five seconds, you will no longer care about mother. You know this as well as I," Toushikyo declared in a largely matter-of-fact tone.

Her eyes widened as she stared at Toushikyo. Under no circumstance was that ever a kind thing to say. Not even as a joke was it acceptable. At last, she averted her gaze from the cold man. She tensed up and half-shut her eyes. For a brief moment, they appeared to be watering. Meekly, she whispered, "That . . . that's not true . . ."

"You are a terrible liar."

Akizets unfolded her arms, to bring her right hand up. Her eyes were watering. It felt like she was going to have to brush away the moisture, and she waited a moment--waited for the teardrops to fall, but the more she waited, the dryer her eyes became. The thought made her stomach turn.

"Father is dead, Toushikyo," Akizets whispered regrettably, "You mustn't be so cruel . . . not to mother . . . not to me."

"Again," Toushikyo declared with no sign of enthusiasm, "You are trying again."

"I . . ." Akizets stepped back with one foot, then another, and another, but never once explicitly looked at Toushikyo again. She had enough. Her next words were still regretful, but in part angry-- angry with Toushikyo. "I don't even know why I bothered. Of course you're going to be cruel-- that's . . . that's just all you have in you, no matter what. Who was I to expect any different? Goodbye."

Just as Akizets turned around and started north, Toushikyo called out to her to interrupt her: "Wait."

As he expected, Akizets stopped in her tracks. She didn't turn to face him, but she stopped walking.

"Have you seen Oboreru?" Toushikyo inquired with the utmost seriousness.

Akizets shook her head. "No. Not . . . not since I told him about father."

Toushikyo furrowed his brow in thought. Something wasn't right. If anyone would have seen Oboreru in the last few hours, it would have been her. "I see . . ."

Fortunately, she didn't get her hair wet during the bath or anything, so she didn't need to wear a towel around her hair. It took forever for her hair to dry, after all.

"Hai," replied Etsu.

She was dressed, indeed, in pajamas specifically. It was kind of a low cut shirt, and a button down sleep-shirt at that. If she wasn't careful, it could be a little too revealing, but at the moment, that wasn't a big concern of hers. Back before she had left, she would have been mortified by the thought, and avoided this sleep shirt like the plague (it was Sarah's and didn't fit her well), but at the moment, it was simply the first thing she found, and thew on accordingly. A pair of pajama pants matched this, and were also a little too big on her. In hindsight, she should have picked something different . . . but no matter. If they were sleeping, it wasn't going to be a big deal.

Hearing her reply, he entered. If the pajamas were a bit loose on her, Eld didn't seem to notice; she'd worn far more revealing things to bed in the past, before he'd asked Sarah to give her some of her old clothes. Half of him had to hand it to the "Scott" person that she could talk to...and half of him wanted to punch him in the nose.

"I know it's still a bit early for us...but it's been a long day, hasn't it? I'm ready to sleep."

Physically, mentally, emotionally, even spiritually--he was exhausted on every front. He'd probably fall asleep quickly no matter what...though he did wonder if Etsu would still be mad enough at him to insist on sleeping separately.

"Hai," she said again, nodding.

She'd stand there for a moment, just watching him. She was waiting, waiting for what he planned to do next. Whatever it was, she already had her actions in mind.

As soon as Eld had laid down, Etsu, too, approached the bed and crawled onto it--and onto Eld. It was a one person bed. Unless they both laid upon their sides, it wasn't too comfortable for the both of them to lay in it. However, it was both comfortable and warm to share their body heat, simply by Etsu lying on top of Eld. She always lie there upon her side, nestled up to him, sometimes using him as a pillow, sometimes using him as a bed. Tonight, she planned to use him as a pillow. It felt nicer sometimes. Then, she could nestle up to him from the side, and lay her head upon his chest, and wrap her arms around him, and he could wrap his arms around her, too, and they could share their body heat . . .

She had an amendment to one of her earlier statements that she felt was important for Eldridge Tsukimono to be aware of. As soon as she was comfortable, laying with Eld, she would voice it.

"And I-- and I was miss this, too . . ." Etsu whispered, ". . . it-- it ve-ry hard to sr-reep r-rast night . . . and when I was with shinigami."