Night 48: Staff-Only Food Counter
[from here]Moving quickly seemed to have been a wise move as Sheena and Yukari made it back inside the building without the ninja's presence provoking any of the birds. The ninja scanned the room before turning back to shut the door securely behind them. She knew the door to the kitchen had a lock on it, so she wasn't in any real hurry
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As soon as they were out into the little room outside the kitchen, Yukari pulled the door shut. However, there was no telling if that would keep the shadow-thing from following them, so she kept her light trained on the doorway even as she backed away towards the exit to the patio. She'd rather not go back outside with Sheena in this condition, but facing potential threats, namely ones Yukari could hit with her parasol, was much preferable to the definite threat of whatever that thing had been in the kitchen.
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Coming to a stop, Sheena leaned against the wall and then slid down to the floor, regardless of the grip Yukari had on her arm. She slowly blinked.
"Why are we...?"
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"Sorry to interrupt your preparations, but it seems something wanted to eat you up instead of your cooking," she joked, though her smile was a little grim. "Couldn't be having any of that, now could we?"
She reached over, putting a hand on Sheena's cheek to turn the girl to face her. From how spaced out she was acting, it was probably best to give her a familiar face to focus on rather than just staring at the floor.
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The hand on her cheek was warm, far warmer than the ninja felt, though that was only in her mind. To Yukari, her skin felt fine
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"It wasn't pointless," the youkai asserted, staring Sheena in the eyes. She wasn't entirely sure if the ninja was actually looking back. "Sometimes, things just don't go according to plan. We can try again another time."
She wondered if the thing in the kitchen was liable to wander off any time soon. Probably not. More likely it would lurk around there for the rest of the night. Well, there was always tomorrow night - Landel seemed to like shuffling around what appeared where.
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"...never goes according to plan. Shouldn't have bothered..."
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"Oh, hush," she said, leaning her head against Sheena's. "I think it was very sweet of you, regardless of how it turned out." While intentions weren't the same as actual results, in this case it was through no fault of Sheena's that things had gone wrong, so her intentions were what mattered most to the youkai. She could get food anytime - it was having Sheena cook it specifically for her that mattered more than actually getting the meal.
Of course, it was dubious whether any of this was getting through to the girl. She might just have to wait this out for now.
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"Probably wouldn't have liked it anyways..." Not the curry, not the proposition. "Stupid of me to think it'd help."
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"Oh, come on, I'm sure I'd love anything you cooked," she assured the ninja, stroking her hair. "I could only like you more for it." Unless you tried to poison me, but it seemed likely the joke wouldn't fly so well right now, so she left it unvoiced.
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"Why..." The question was lingering, something she never understood. Maybe she just needed to have the hopelessness confirmed. "Why do you like me? I'm a failure."
She then mumbled and the words weren't all that clear. "You'd never...with me."
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"I like you because... well, in a word, you're fun to be around," she answered whimsically, resuming her stroking. "And I don't just mean to tease, though that's certainly part of it." She chuckled a little. "You're warm, caring, honest, straight-forwards... the kind of person who I know will try to do the right thing." Even if Yukari didn't, she liked those that did. In the end, she was more benevolent than malevolent and would rather see people prosper than suffer. Plus, those were the kind most fun to tease.
Her hand paused again at the mumbled words which she barely caught, even in the silence.
"I wouldn't what, hmm? So sure?"
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This was not how she'd wanted to ask Yukari, but since the ninja was feeling like it was a hopeless endeavor, it didn't matter how she asked. Or did it? Tilting her head and little, Sheena blinked her eyes a few times.
She was feeling... weird.
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"I feel... not right," she said, leaning her head back against the wall. She raised a hand up and rubbed her forehead. "I... shouldn't have said anything. Forget about it. I don't have the right to ask..."
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"Now, now," she said with a giggle, nuzzling the girl's cheek affectionately. "If you never ask, you'll never get to hear me say yes."
Which, incidentally, Yukari decided she would, if the girl could be bothered to say it again. Perhaps it wouldn't last forever, but what did? In this time, in this place, for this moment before everything could change, perhaps she could share this bond with her.
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The ninja's, no, the summoner's hand shook as she brought it to the youkai's cheek, using the contact as a means to focus and to allow her to meet those violet eyes. "I am Sheena. I seek a pact with Yukari. I ask that thou establish a pact with me."
The words were so familiar, coming easily from her lips. Despite them, Sheena was not prepared to attempt the pact and so the mana did not surge about them as it normally did with those words. Sheena wasn't recovered enough to invoke her summoning magic just yet. She was still fighting the emptiness inside, trying to find the kernel of will deep within. Without it, she had no chance of holding the pact and controlling the power of it.
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