Kyuden Shika

"That's not untrue, either," she says quietly, watching his reaction and it pulls at her heartstrings.
"I spent this miai crafting an image: the image of what my aunt hoped I'd be. Now that that image is no longer necessary, I am tired, but still I can't rest," she gives a small, reassuring smile at that, for his benefit.
For the first time, he'll see her for who she is, who she's fought this whole time to pretend not to be, to keep a facade in place. Especially for his sake. None of the very carefully constructed walls he'd fought so hard to break down in place; they were, after all, a lie. A means to an end to maintain distance.

The initial shock has worn off, though Ishioka still looks very confused. Watching Narumi from under his brows, head still bowed slightly, he asks, "What... Narumi-san, I don't understand..."

He shakes his big head, letting go of the table. "You can't rest and are... going to do what?" He's clearly worried.

She leans closer to him, and her expression darkens just a touch.
"The following has been decided," she begins ticking things off on her fingers, "-we're to pay a fine in koku for what I've stolen in the past. I'm to be demoted, no longer a nakodo. While we'll get the izakaya we talked about.. a um, floating restaurant and inn, of sorts.. where I'm to be put on house arrest and unable to leave it, sworn on Bo's honour and it becoming his duty to keep me there." She leaves out the horrible business of her uncle's fate though her brow crumples at the thought.
"Tomorrow we leave for Crane lands, to meet with the magistrate there, his former employer. Bo... did what he could to spare me of a worse fate."

"This is..." Ishioka had listened carefully, and seen the look on her face that said things were perhaps even worse than she was saying. The Lion exhales heavily, trying to stay calm. He pounds a fist on the table, just once, but his face shows he wants to do more.

"I don't... accept this," he says stubbornly. "It's too much. Misunderstanding, or..." He knows it's all settled, but won't endorse any of it. After a pause he says quietly, with vague acceptance, "How do I help? Or, we help? The... with the fine, at least," he says insistently, searching for some way to fight back against this thing he doesn't understand.

Narumi flinches at the abrupt explosion from him.
When he seems to settle, she shakes her head slowly. "I don't want you implicated." She's still trying, and failing, to protect him.

It hadn't all been a lie. She had fallen for him, irrevocably. There was an honesty to her eyes that spoke as much to him, clear as day. She takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
"You said once you'd never love anyone more than you did me." she states matter-of-factly.. "Is that still true?" her tone implying she hopes it is.

His face darkens at being kept at bay, right as it maybe. Then when she asks about love, he stops to think. I told myself to rein it in. Is it still... equal? Now?

Without his Stone Matsu facade in place, she can see lines on his face as he grapples with the question. Thoughtful, analytical Ishi can't just snap answer this question, not now, and his consideration must be agonizing for her to watch.

"I... I told myself not to think that way... It hurt too much, knowing..." He takes a heavy breath, then continues quietly. "I have spent two days telling myself that my love for you is... Locked up. Safe, but... Not to be rekindled." The next breath is halting, followed by whispered words. "When I hear you ask me that, I know it could ignite again at any moment."

She watches him, watches his face contort with the mix of emotions, and she rubs her lower lip absently. Then colour blooms on her cheeks.
"I haven't stopped." she admits quietly, and pushes a lock of hair back from her face to tuck behind an ear, gaze falling to the table. "I thought I had. I tried to convince myself I had, after.. everything," her heart catches in her throat and she tries to swallow. "I thought if I didn't see you, it would be easier. I could just let what I feel fade away. But I don't want to."

"Narumi... chan," he says breathless. "I..." The right words seem elusive, and he knows this is a dangerous space. In a slow but purposeful movement, he slides his left hand to the center of the table, between their respective cups.

He stares at the hand, saying what he knows he has to. "I... I do not want to wrong Asahina-san. Especially with him protecting you." His voice is even heavier with emotion than he expected. The words hurt to say.

He continues to stare at his hand, clearly trying to say something more, but he seems to need something to get him past some kind of roadblock.

She lets out a sigh of relief at the honourific, and his hand is immediately retrieved, lifting it to her face, her cheek, directing his fingerpads to rest there as she places the lightest of kisses on the side of his hand. Heart thundering inside her chest.
"Don't..." she murmurs, closing her eyes. This isn't the place for thoughts of her mountain. Not with Ishioka in front of her.

The Lion's heart starts to quicken as soon as she touches his hand, and his breath becomes labored as she brings it to her face. That beautiful face that he'd wanted as soon as he first saw her...

"I..." Ishioka slides to the side of the table, knees beside it and the fingers of his right hand gently touching it as he keeps his left as close to Narumi's cheek as she'll allow. He's still grounded there, part of him trying to hold back. But his thumb is gently brushing the skin of her cheek and his eyes, when she opens hers to see them, have more than just pinpricks of fire roaring to life. "I don't want to stop either," he says, breathless, clearly meaning more than just the feelings inside him.