(LORE) HEALING

Mizuki · Post by **Mizuki** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 6:17 pm

Mizuki blinked at him while she unbraided her hair unconciously. She blush then turned her eyes away and grabbed her cup of tea and sipped it gently. She wondered what he was thinking, why he was looking at her like that. Well, she could easily find out... NO! She wouldn't intrude like that again. But last time was nessassary... No, she still learned things that she shouldn't have. If she even attempted to pry his mind... she might learn another thing that wasn't for her to hear.

Mizuki's mind bothered her to just innocently pry, to take the suspense away, but she resisted and had to turn away from him. She pretended that she was setting her cup down and looking for something on the counter.

Post by **Soran Nightblade** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 2:23 pm

Soran took the cup of tea she'd given him and smelled it thoughtfully. He raised it to his lips and took a long drought without blowing on it, emptying the cup. It burned a little, which he didn't mind. It was sort of like whiskey. "It's good," he told Mizuki, feeling the heat of the drink spread through his body and relax his muscles. Pushing Siren to the back of his mind wasn't all that hard; he just grouped it with the thousand other things he wouldn't let himself think about for a while. He tried to remember what it was he did want to think about.

"I'm going to make a trip to the Dean's house and have Rai enrolled in school here. It shouldn't be too expensive," he said. "You'll...you're welcome to stay in this house. We didn't really discuss it, but I'd....like it, if you stayed," he said in his low voice, feeling very awkward, but he had to make sure.

Post by **Emora Deen** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 2:45 pm

Rai smiled. "Yay,I'm going to school! I can make friends! YAY!!!" She ran around the table until she thought she would fall over from behind tired.

Mizuki · Post by **Mizuki** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 5:33 pm

Mizuki smiled softly. So, they were rooted? Like a family of her very own? Where else would she go anyway? Back home? No, as much as she loved her mother... If she left Soran her mother wouldn't let her hear the end of it. Besides, as much as she loved and missed her birth home, being here felt right. Mizuki sipped the last of her tea and set it on the counter, quickly forgotten as the prospect of Rai going to school sank in.

School was a distant memory for Mizuki. She never really attended a school anyway, for her the few classes he actually took at a school mostly served as a kind of socialization. Gwendolyn mostly taught her.

"Hmmm, school..." Mizuki pondered to herself. "You should have fun Rai, you'll make friends."

Post by **Soran Nightblade** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 9:36 pm

Days passed. Gradually, the sting of Siren's departure dulled, and Soran, Mizuki and Rai were able to fall into a relatively normal lifestyle. They used the money Mizuki received to get their house properly furnished and stocked, and to enroll Rai at the local school. Soran was regularly engaged in one urban crisis or another, taking on the unrequested roll of the inactive local police force.

Soran started the slow process of confronting his past, and it made him a bit stand-offish, though he was still better than when they'd first met him. A few times, he wound up out too late at the local tavern, sick from drinking and not caring if he made it back home. Those were the worst times, but there were also times when he saw Mizuki's smile or Rai playing and felt that he'd never been so content in his life. Somehow, despite their heated actions when he first returned, Soran had ended up sleeping in his own room separate from Mizuki. He didn't want her to see him wake from his dreams every night. But he was getting better; the headaches stopped coming also. Over all, things were pretty good.

And after a month or so, Soran returned from an errand to find a note at the house from Rai's schoolmaster, requesting his and Mizuki's presence in person at her office. Soran looked at the note oddly and continued inside to where he thought he smelled Mizuki cooking. "Hey, I'm back," he said casually, standing on one foot to get his boot off. It felt like he'd gotten a stone or something in it.

Mizuki · Post by **Mizuki** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 3:48 pm

Mizuki was elbow deep in flour when Soran walked in. She was baking bread and right now she was kneading the second loaf into bread form before putting it in the hearth. Excited at hearing his voice, Mizuki went to the table and carved off a peice of the first loaf of bread she had made and walked up to him with a smile. She held it up to him encouragingly, wanting him to try the bread she had finally tried making herself.

Post by **Soran Nightblade** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 3:59 pm

Soran took the bread curiously, taking a bite while he still pulled his boot off with his other hand. "Tastes good," he said honestly as he removed the boot and set it casually on the floor. "Looks like you've been busy," he said warmly.

Mizuki · Post by **Mizuki** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 4:06 pm

"Yes!" Mizuki exclaimed, both answering his question and happily cheering herself that her bread was successful. She hurried over to her dough and placed it in a pan. "I figured while Rai was in school and you were out, I'd be productive!" She smiled and place the pan in the hearth and clossed the shutters. "There," she clapped her hands together and flour puffed out. While she wipped her hands clean for the flour, Mizuki inquired Soran of his day.

"How was your day? Bust more gangs?" she asked him in a cheery and amused way. As if busting gangs was funny to her.

Post by **Soran Nightblade** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 4:18 pm

"No such excitement," Soran said sarcastically. "Jake Townsend got himself into debt again, and it escalated too far, so I wound up cutting in. He should know better than to owe Borek money he can't pay. I talked Bo into letting him work it off, again. Next time I'm just letting him get himself killed," Soran said. He pulled off his other boot and set it next to the first, and dropped back-facing into a chair where he could watch Mizuki cook.

He'd always dealt with these things in Hepian, but talking about them was something new for him. MIzuki had slowly gotten him used to it. He spoke far more often than he used to, at least when he was around Mizuki. It was sort of pleasant, though his interactions with other people hadn't polished much.

"There's a note here from Rai's schoolmaster," he said, crossing his arms over the chair-back in front of him and looking at the note while he ate.

Mizuki · Post by **Mizuki** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 4:23 pm

Mizuki blinked as he mentioned the note. "Odd," she remarked. "I've been home all day and I haven't heard anyone at the door!" She picked up the note and looked at it skeptically, as if it was smething they shouldn't trust. When she opened it she physically cringed.

"Geh, why would she want to talk to us?"

Post by **Soran Nightblade** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 5:44 pm

"In my experience, it usually meant some sort of problem," Soran observed idly, not seeing that as a really possibility with Rai. Like most fathers, he assumed his daughter was perfect. "Guess I'll pick Rai up at school and find out. Want to come?" Normally they let Rai walk home on her own, but now he was going there anyway.

Mizuki · Post by **Mizuki** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 6:28 pm

Mizuki nodded. She vaugly tried to see why the schoolmaster would want to speak with them. Sure, Rai had a bit of fire in her, but she was reasonably a good girl. Mizuki rolled her head on her shoulders, trying to work out the stiffness that had formed from being hunched over dough. Sighing, she walked next to Soran's chair and leaned over him, her hair falling around them as she looked down at him smiling.

The past month had been as peacefull as it could ever be for them. Living like a family together made all their past troubles seem like dreams. As she looked down at him, Mizuki remembered all the stolen, quick kisses she and Soran managed to steal when they believed no one was looking. She remembered how shy they were, are, about being so near and knowing each other's feelings but not knowing how to express them further without scaring the other off. Sometimes, when they had their moments alone like this, Mizuki felt as if Soran was suddenly going to dissapear on her. Like he wasn't real. Having Rai around helped her confirm that he wasn't just going to dissapear in a puff of smoke. Being near him like this, even further solidified the fact that he was real, but there was also the fear that she was going to scare him away by being too forward. Odd how this is now making her hesitate.

"I wonder if they'll believe your Rai's father?" Mizuki remarked, smirking down at him. She knew his reputation and how everyone reacted to him. She could only imagine people's reactions when they realized who Rai's father was.

Post by **Soran Nightblade** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 8:04 pm

Soran settled back slightly against Mizuki as the pleasant scent of her hair surrounded him. "They will soon enough," he said, turning his head to look up at her. He'd submitted Rai's paperwork in writing, but hadn't yet met with the faculty in person. "It's about time now," he noted, almost yawning.

He felt oddly sleepy now that she was so close to him, and remembered when contact with her would have made his entire body bristle over defensively. Even now, doing much more than a casual embrace made him tense up. He always considered doing more, and then changed his mind and kept his hands to himself. It wasn't that he didn't trust her... at least he didn't think so. He was just wary of opening himself too much; like maybe she'd see the darkness within him and finally pull away. He stopped thinking about that and touched her hand lightly, tracing his fingers over the back of hers.

Mizuki · Post by **Mizuki** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 8:15 pm

Why did it feel like there was still a barrier Mizuki had yet to purge?

She knew more than any woman could ever know about Soran, more than she wanted to admit. She truely knew him inside and out, what could they be afraid of? 'There's always the fact that Soran was betrayed by a woman before...' her mind taunted back at her. Of course, how could she forget that memory that purged its way into her mind? For Soran it seemed that nothing good came out of love and trust in a woman. Either one or the other but never both. Maybe their quick, childlike kisses was all she could hope for?

She felt his finger's trace the back of her hand and her soft smile broadened. They were elves...

They had the time to mend and heal whatever wounds were still there...

She kissed his forehead lightly and lowered her head to his neck, resting on his shoulder and wrapping her arms around his chest.

Post by **Soran Nightblade** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 8:27 pm

Soran curled his neck around and kissed Mizuki warmly. "Let's go to the school," he said, though his lips still lingered just over hers. He apparently forgot what he just said and pressed his mouth back onto hers slowly.