Her Mysterious Smile

[Nayt]

Toushikyo had only glared at Eld when Akizets suggested that Eld go up to her room with her-- and Eld seemed open to the idea. It was his way of showing his disapproval. He might not have been a talkative person, but he was certainly very capable of expressing himself.

He'd since turned to reading a new book, one that Maya had lent him. She said it was psychological like the last book they'd read (simultaneously; they got their own copies and started reading them at the same time), except with a vastly less horrible end. It wasn't the type of book that made you want to strangle the author by the time you'd finished reading it, not like that last one.

Unremarkably, Toushikyo ignored Eld and his comment.

Akizets brought Eld outside and looked over her shoulder to make sure Toushikyo wasn't watching. When she was sure that he wasn't keeping tabs on them, she leaned in and wrapped her arms around Eld's shoulders, held herself tightly against him for a brief moment, and stepped back, only to look up at him as cheerily as ever.

"I'm glad you could come!" she exclaimed, "It was really nice having you over. I'll have to invite you over when my mom and dad's home next, too. It'd be super awesome if you could meet them."

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld returned the hug, albeit a little bashfully. He wasn't used to being treated with such exuberance.

"Sounds fun. I'd offer to do the same, but my parents sitting down for a meal at the same time is pretty unlikely," he joked. Not to mention that any family dinner would invariably include Etsu now, and he wasn't going to invite anyone to eat with them unless he was fairly certain she could go an entire meal without laying into him.

"Goodnight, Akizetsumei." He waved her goodbye, and started back to his house.

Returning home, he knocked lightly on the door to his room once more, to see if Etsu was awake or not.

[Nayt]

"G'niiight," she said, before taking baby-steps to the door.

It wasn't until after she got back inside that she realized she should've somehow prepared herself for the inevitable lecture that awaited her. It was going to be totally boring and kind of offensive, but that didn't matter too much. She had a great evening. Toushikyo was not going to ruin that for her!

Back at Eld's house, there was no answer when he knocked on the door. He could open the door just fine and not risk any personal harm coming to himself. After all, Etsu was just sleeping. She had shifted a bit since he last saw her. She was now laying on her right side, though her hair still covered the left side of her face. She was out cold, too. If Eld really wanted to wake her up, he would have required a full marching band to roll through his room, preferably one that was completely tone deaf and totally ignorant to the whole synchronization thing. Just a random, bunched up heap of noise so horrible it couldn't even be equated to the most violent death known to mankind.

Only that could wake Etsu up right now.

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld entered the room quietly, afraid of waking the guest, but Etsu turned out to be sleeping quite soundly. Once again, it was hard to reconcile the peaceful, sleeping girl with the one who was yelling accusations at him earlier. Maybe she'd just had a stressful day, and would calm down tomorrow. He could only hope.

Though part of him wanted to study, he decided to call it a night. He'd have to remember to move his books to the living room at some point so he wouldn't wake her.

He laid down on the futon; it wasn't as comfy as his bed, but it wasn't terrible and he had to put up with it whether he liked it or not. And within no time, he was fast asleep...

[Nayt]

When Eld awoke the next morning-- after actually waking up, a process that was usually time consuming and very relaxed (most of the time) --he'd find that no one was here to wake him. No one knocking on his door. No one kicking him out of bed. The sun was up and his door was shut.

Of course, yesterday was not a dream. Eld was still on the floor, and while his sleep was probably pretty restful, futons were utter garbage for back and neck support. A few kinks and pains throughout his body weren't at all going to be odd or uncommon, but that wasn't anything he couldn't deal with, right?

Etsu was still asleep in his bed, quietly snoozing as she'd done for (to Eld's knowledge) the majority of yesterday. What he didn't know is that she'd actually fallen asleep an hour and a half before Eld got back. Her sleep was-- and continued to be --fairly restful, especially since she'd slept on her right side the whole night. She'd have fixed it were she conscious, but it seemed her bangs had fallen away from the left side of her face . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

The uncomfortableness of the futon was made up for the fact that for once he was allowed to sleep until he woke naturally. As much as he enjoyed Akizetsumei's company, she was definitely an earlier riser than him.

Waking up was even slower than usual, as the futon was well away from the window that was directly over his bed--the one that was often responsible for his rising by shining the sun directly into his face.

Once he finally motivated himself into getting out of bed, he glanced at Etsu, surprised that she was still asleep. She must have been more exhausted from her trip than he'd realized. He peered at her for a moment, wondering if he could risk getting some clothing out of his dresser without waking her, before noticing that her bangs, which had been covering the side of her face every time he'd seen her, had fallen down and away...

[Nayt]

There was a reason she'd kept it covered. There was a reason she winced every time she touched it. And there was a reason it physically pained her to cry . . .

The left side of Etsu's face looked absolutely horrible. She had a black eye-- a huge black and purple bruise from her brow to her cheekbone. There was a huge welt on her face from her cheekbone down close to her chin, a red welt that seemed to take up the majority of her cheek. There was even a mark on her cheekbone where her skin must have broke, as it was especially red and it looked as if there was a cut still healing. By the level of the injury, it looked like she might even have trouble keeping her left eye all the way open. Perhaps it was temporarily useless, even.

Useless enough that covering it with her hair did no harm-- perhaps even did her better than it ever would have to leave this uncovered.

Something so simple as shifting her bangs over her face was all that was necessary to make this girl feel all the less vulnerable. All the less wounded.

A lie.

[Zach Kaiser]

"Wha-" Eld had to put a hand to his mouth to stifle the sound of his surprise. For several seconds he remained frozen in place, trying to comprehend what he was seeing. Once he regained his senses he realized he had to leave right away; the last thing he wanted was for Etsu to wake up with him staring at her.

He exited the room as quickly and quietly as he could, leaning against the door after he shut it and letting out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. What was that? From some kind of accident? No, there's no way that was an accident. But who would...

And then it clicked. There was only one explanation that made sense, one that made sense of this entire situation. He knew. He knew, and he didn't say a word.

He stormed into the clinic, not particularly caring about causing a scene. For once the patients were the last thing on his mind. He found his father in the prep room, likely getting ready for an appointment.

"You knew," Eld hissed, not even trying to hide how angry he was.

"I knew what?" Urikuse Tsukimono responded, more interested in his preparations than his fuming son.

"I saw Etsu's face. Her father hit her, didn't he?"

Urikuse was silent for several moments. He was even more stoic than the girl in question; the only sign of distress he gave was a small sigh before speaking. "What if he did, what of it?"

It was that response--or rather the complete lack of one--that really set him off. "What of it?!"

"Keep it down."

"He hit her, and you didn't say a thing!"

"You're being too loud-"

"What are you going to do about this?!"

"Quiet, boy!" Eld was stunned, both from his father raising his voice (something he never did) and from the harsh way he was addressed. Urikuse continued before he could get a word in. "I am trying to do something about it, that's why Etsu's staying with us."

"But he-"

"Should I have hit him? He's already beating himself up more than anyone else ever could. Or would you have me put him in jail and deprive her of both her parents? Forgive me if I'm less concerned about your offended sense of right and wrong than her future, or her right to privacy for that matter." Eld tried to sputter another response, but he was again cut off before he could come out with anything coherent. "Now, my next appointment will be here any minute, so please leave."

Eld's mouth moved, but no sound escaped it. No argument came to his mind; feeling like an imbecile, his face turned bright red as he turned on his heel and left the room, and then the clinic, and then his house entirely.

******

Just a little bit into the woods behind his house, between it and the hill, there was a clearing occupied only by a single large tree--other than Eld himself, anyway. He was going through the exercises that his grandfather taught him, half wanting to calm down, and half wanting to cling to his anger.

The reason he wanted to the latter was that he ultimately knew his father was right. He only knew of these people as more than names mentioned by his parents occasionally for a few days. He was in no position to judge a man he'd never met by one act alone, no matter how irredeemable that act was to him.

That didn't make him any happier about it, though.

[Nayt]

Nearly a half an hour passed whilst Eld calmed himself in silence. How much or how little thirty minutes' time could do for him, though, was debatable. It was nonetheless interrupted, not first by a voice-- though that came soon after --but by a knock upon a thick tree at the very forefront of the clearing, a rapping of one's knuckles upon wood as if knocking upon a door. But this was Eld's property, right? Not legally, but emotionally; he was here to clear his head, and no one had the right to deprive him of privacy if he wanted to be alone.

"Hard times for ya, too?"

Remmy stood between the two trees that marked the beginning of the clearing. They were like a natural doorway to the massive oak that dominated the bulk of the property. He wore clothes similar to the garb Eld saw him in last time, a tattered sleeveless shirt and shorts. He at least wore sandals this time, though.

He was alone.

The young man soon motioned past the two "entrance" trees as if to ask if he could come in.

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld was more than little surprised to see Remmy here, but then again Akizetsumei had said she ran into him the other day, so he supposed he was hanging around town for some reason. Reason suggested Remmy lived in Galaens, but gut instinct told him he probably lived in the woods somewhere.

"Not for me, really."

Eld dropped out the kata he was practicing and motioned for him to come closer. While he wouldn't be able to concentrate and talk at the same time, company would perhaps do more to ease his mind than exercise would.

He wiped the sweat off his brow with his sleeve. "Thanks again for the other day--I think I took it for granted at the time, but I owe you my life."

[Nayt]

Once given clearance, Remmy slid his hands into his pockets and stepped in. He eyed the tall oak as he walked. He almost seemed nostalgic when he stare at it, if only briefly. It was especially brief, as Eld thanked Remmy for something he'd already done thanked him for. Two or three times before, even.

"Eh, don't worry 'bout it none, kid," Remmy waved off Eld's suggestion, "I'm sure yer gonna repay the favor by complete accident one'a these days. Shit like that-- the karmic sorta stuff --it's got a habit of fallin' into place on its own."

Besides, he didn't really approve of Batou's hatred for humans. It didn't matter too much who he saved from Batou, so long as he saved someone. The way he figured it, Batou would stop trying after enough failures in succession.

"So what's up?" Remmy motioned . . . well, all around them. "Or is lookin' down in the dumps just all the rage these days or somethin'?"

Remmy recalled the look on Akizetsumei's face when he saw her in town. If that sort of sulking was the big fad for teenagers nowadays, then something was definitely amiss in Hillcrest.

[Zach Kaiser]

"Well..." Eld hesitated for a moment, unsure if he should say anything. But Remmy wasn't from Hillcrest, which made him possibly the only person he felt comfortable confiding in. And besides...he somehow knew, without even asking, that he wasn't the type to spread gossip. He instinctively felt as though he could trust him, and not just because he saved his life.

"My cousin's staying with us; she's kind of hard to deal with, but I don't think she's a bad person. Anyway, she's having a tough time of it...her mom left and her dad...doesn't sound like he's taking it well." He looked down for a moment as his face darkened; there was clearly more to it than that, but he wasn't going to go into that much detail, even with him.

"I...guess I feel like I want to do something for her, but she doesn't really like me-" Which was an understatement. "-so I'm not sure what I can do."

And ultimately, he realized, that was the core of why he was so upset. With Etsu not trusting him, and there being nothing he could physically do about the situation, he felt helpless.

[Nayt]

Remmy pulled his hands from his pockets, but only to fold one arm over his chest and rub his chin in his other hand. Eld was in quite the dilemma!

"Ahhh," Remmy nodded along, "That does sound like a hard time."

Poor kid. Divorces were real tough, especially divorces down this way. From Hillcrest to Rangeki, it was like a bunch of thoughts of divorce got all jumbled up together and made some sort of stigmatic monster from it. Both parents could become social outcasts, the child in-between them could be bullied around by other children, and the whole mess could end in permanent relocation. It was bad stuff.

"So she's in a bad place, she don't like you, but you wanna help," Remmy paraphrased bluntly. Maybe a little too bluntly. But it was ultimately worth it, as he drew a conclusion awfully quick. "So, ya know what she don't like, but how 'bout this'un: do ya know what she likes?"

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld shook his head. "Not really...she's mostly just yelled at me so far," he said with a wince. But Remmy was onto something to be sure: girls loved getting gifts. Akizetsumei had been ecstatic when he bought her that swimsuit. Maybe if he could figure out something she liked, he could give her something and at least prove he was capable of being nice and civil. Or take her somewhere, possibly? She might treat a gift with suspicion the way she thought of him right now.

"I know I need to talk to her more; I guess I'm just worried she's not even going to give me a chance now." He was certain that if her mind opened up even a little she'd see he wasn't the sexual predator she seemed to think he was, but whether or not that would happen, he wasn't sure.

[Nayt]

"Well . . ." Remmy went silent again.

The did present a problem. If the girl wasn't going to talk to Eld, then he couldn't find out what she liked. And if he couldn't find out what she liked, then he was shit out of luck.

"She ain't gotta know yer snoopin'," Remmy reasoned aloud, "I mean, if ya do yer research an' all an' find out what she likes, ya can surprise 'er."

Remmy dropped his hands to his sides. He had his answer, now. Eld was lucky he happened to be passing through here. Same as Akizets was lucky Remmy happened to be passing through market yesterday.

"That's all ya gotta do, kid," Remmy concluded, "Surprise 'er. Make 'er smile at least once, an' then you'll have worlds better chances of helpin' 'er out."