(D13EN, Narumi’s Room) Once more, with feeling. (CLOSED)

[Agasha Inoshishi]

Sneaking out of Ishi’s room was easier than she’d thought it would be. She paced the halls quietly, tired mind working overtime trying to determine how she’d gone wrong. Ishioka was happy, so clearly that was going well, but now Narumi was barely willing to look at her. Finally, she came to the conclusion she’d been avoiding.

She winds her ways down the hall, taking the furthest route through the familiar inn. Finally, she takes a deep breath, no longer noticing the watery lines down both sides of her face.

She raises a shaking finger, scratching at the door until it opens.

[Usogawa Narumi]

The door is slid open by an Otter in her sleeping robe, dark hair down around her shoulders, face devoid of makeup though cheeks are flushed.
But she hadn't been sleeping, and bright red rimmed eyes might suggest she'd been woken.
"Oh! Ino-san." what do you want from me? is her immediate thought, but a look at the Dragon brings concern. "Come in." It isn't a request and Narumi steps aside.

[Agasha Inoshishi]

Inoshishi looks confused as her nickname is used but with a san. Not that the look of confusion is different, since she’s already clearly confused.

She enters the room as Narumi indicates she should. As is her habit when completely unsure of herself, she turns in the center of the room, facing Narumi and the door and simply falls to her knees, her head hanging.

“I don’t know what I’ve done, but I humbly seek your forgiveness, Narumi-ch-san.”

[Usogawa Narumi]

Narumi sighs deeply and rubs a temple. She frowns at the Dragon, and moves to her before sinking to her knees as well.
"I.. I would've thought he'd have told you." She sighs again. "I'm no longer an obstacle in your shared happiness." It's said quietly with remorse.

[Agasha Inoshishi]

Now Inoshishi looks really confused. “I don’t understand. You weren’t that thing. But regardless, what does that have to do with me?”

She looks quite sad.

“We had such fun, I thought, when I got through…” she waves her hand at Narumi in the vague direction of her face.

“And then you…it felt like you didn’t want to talk to me at Koi’s and I hadn’t thought you’d been avoiding me but then I started thinking and I didn’t like that and it felt like maybe I’d done something wrong and that you were mad at me and I couldn’t and didn’t want you to be mad at me and I wanted to apologize but now I’m here and I apologized and I don’t understand.”

Her voice increases in speed and raggedness, ending almost in a sob. But she’s kept her voice low throughout, gaze averted, posture slumped.

[Usogawa Narumi]

"Oh," it's said softly, and she assesses the Dragon with a thoughtful frown still on her lips. "Your apology is accepted, one thousand times over."
She rubs her face, trying to find the right words. "I haven't been avoiding you. I just haven't been going out of my way to find you, either. I thought we could all use some distance from one another. You haven't done anything wrong, you've been true to yourself and it's.. I wanted something different, and now I likely won't get that future either." she tries to remain steeled, as Ino is so upset, she doesn't want to add to the upset- but a tear frees itself and rolls down her cheek nonetheless. "I have no one to blame but myself."

[Agasha Inoshishi]

Inoshishi looks at Narumi for a moment out of the corner of her eye, recognizing that there was a lot more going in here than she understood. She flicks her hair in front of her face again. In a quiet voice, that’s a bit less rough, she says, “I want to help, but I’m still stuck on us. I still don’t know what I did. Or what I’ve apologized for exactly. I don’t want to do it again. I don’t like this…distance, thing. And I don’t understand why you and he doing something means you’d not want to see me.” Her voice has dropped to a whisper.

She takes a breath.

“I guess I don’t need an answer to everything. Did I…do anything? Or was this something where things were decided without me?” That last sentence isn’t said particularly negatively, just….curiously. She seems to be aware that there was some level of discussions that involved her without regarding her and seems resigned to that fact.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

[Usogawa Narumi]

Narumi moves to take Ino's hands, if allowed, and gives them a light squeeze, then ducks her head down to try and catch the Dragon-ko's eye. "It isn't that I don't want to see you. But I don't want to come between you and Ishioka."
She frowns again, gears obviously turning inside her head. Assessing and reassessing continuously. "Especially after our fates are decided tomorrow, and I don't... I don't think my fate is one you want to be associated with." Her lower lip quivers at that and she looks away for the moment.

[Agasha Inoshishi]

Inoshishi laughs, slightly harshly.

“We shall see, won’t we. My fate is decided when the deer pair the Topaz.”

Her hands grasp Narumi’s.

“Was it…for me? The kisses you gave, I mean. I know you love…loved? Love Ishioka-san. But when you kissed back, was that for me? Because…I didn’t kiss you for him.”

Her face under her hair is red, but at least one eye is making contact now, even if her eyes still shift rapidly.

[Usogawa Narumi]

Inoshishi isn't listening to her, not really, and Narumi's shoulders slump. The corner of her mouth twitches. "It was for you." A quiet, emotional confirmation. "How could it be for anyone else, when you take up every breath there is to take?"
She pauses, "Why does your fate lie with the Topaz?"