Night 52: F11-F20 Hallway

[lookitmemama]

Asuka had almost missed the eerie, parting words of the head doctor as she hustled around her room. Everything had been eaten so she would have plenty of energy to burn all night. Her roommate never returned to the room, which was more than fine with Asuka. It gave her free reign to bustle around their compact prison cell, grabbing her baseball bat

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F20

[willing_sheath]

Tomoe had continued to pick at the meal after she’d finished off the soup, caught between her distinct lack of appetite and the knowledge that she really needed to eat something. The familiar food had, at the very least, helped promote the thought-even if there was still something… off about it. After a long few minutes she finally abandoned the remainder of the meal (still mostly uneaten) and started to move about the room, studying what was actually inside of it the way she was unable to when she’d first woken. It was much less an attempt at being proactive in the situation and much more to simply try to ground herself. So much had been literally dumped on her through the day that she was still scrambling to make sense of it all. She had finally come to some dazed acceptance of the situation simply because there really wasn’t any other alternative (other than, perhaps, to actually lose her mind-which might have been fitting considering she was in a mental institution).

She had no idea what to expect when it officially became ‘night’. She had been warned by nearly everyone not to leave the room alone; that there were literal monsters stalking the halls. No one had really told her more than that-so she wasn’t expecting to hear the ominous change to the intercom. She paused in her exploration of the closet, turning her eyes warily toward the source, her jaw tightening as she heard the doctor’s taunt. She jerked abruptly at the sound of the door unlocking, a chill going up her spine. She watched the exit in turn for another long minute before taking slow steps toward it, the temptation to move there, certainly. She went as far as to set her hand against the western knob and stopped. She didn’t even know how safe it would be to even open the door, and all that she had found in the room thus far that could even really be used as a weapon were the pens in the desk drawer or the fork from her dinner.

Tomoe swallowed thickly and backed away from the door again. Kenshin had said he would find her again before they were separated that morning. She had gotten his message on the bulletin board. He would be coming, and she would wait there inside the room for him. She wasn’t sure she was ready for whatever the meeting would entail, but she wasn’t completely stupid.

And she didn’t particularly want to die again.

[willing_sheath]

Tomoe had no idea what to expect and no idea of the time frame to expect it in. She had abandoned the slow search of the room after the doctor's message over the intercom. The entire day she had far too befuddled to feel much anxiety--but nerves were creeping in on her now as she slowly paced the room, simply waiting... for anything.

She jumped ever so slightly at the knock and turned back toward the door, just staring at it at first, a knot she had barely noticed forming in the bit of her stomach making to rise higher. She didn't rush to the door, instead holding her position for a long few seconds. In truth she was looking forward to this about as much as Kenshin was, but it really couldn't be put off. She moved to the door again and carefully opened it.

Tomoe couldn't help the momentary surprise that must have shown on her face, because she was expecting to see him dressed in the same clothing as before--not distinctly normal kimono and hakama. It was enough to stall her reaction for a long moment as she simply gawped at him before finally opening the door the rest of the way.

"Please... come in," she finally said, trying to set that same false calm from the morning back in place.

[willing_sheath]

Tomoe waited until Kenshin had entered before closing the door again. She suddenly felt naked again in the patient's uniform with him dressed as he was. She brought her hands up to hug her arms as she turned to face him. The hours that had passed since their first meeting had not eased the thought of this conversation. Like him, all that she could think of was all the time that had passed--for him. But even telling herself that, it had still only been hours for her.

"As... well as can be expected," she answered carefully, not moving from in front of the door, her posture remaining strained. She didn't know how to act in front of him now. Even if he wouldn't have been fourteen years older she still wouldn't have known how to act, much less what to say. She should have been on her knees prostrating herself for what had happened and what she had done. But after fourteen years... did it even matter? She swallowed thickly before speaking again, "You don't need to apologize..."

After another long second or two she finally forced her legs to move, taking several steps forward before stopping again. Under different circumstances she would have fallen to basic manners to break some of the tension in the room--mechanical movements and words, empty but familiar. But in that room, in that world, that time... she didn't even know where to begin. Finally she just sunk down to her knees, ignoring the beds and chairs in the room, and folded her hands in her lap, her fingers twisting together. She kept her expression schooled as she looked up at him. The very least she could do was keep her emotions to herself now. Her mere presence was bad enough.

[willing_sheath]

Tomoe honestly wasn’t expecting him to touch her at all, much less her face. She tensed momentarily before relaxing against his hand, if not into it. Even so, she had to dig her nails into her own hand to keep from lifting it to cover his. It was an almost automatic reaction to the gesture, but…

Her brows started to knit, listening to his words but she schooled them back again. For as much as she had to fight to show emotion normally she was certainly fighting to hold it back at the moment. Her eyes slid shut, a hundred different things coming to mind that she wanted to say and none of them seeming wholly appropriate. She lost the battle in keeping her hands to herself, raising one to lightly set her fingertips to the back of his hand. When she finally did speak her voice wasn’t nearly as strong as she wanted it to be, “Do you even know the truth of it…?”

It seemed insane to her that he would go so long and not realize her involvement with the Yaminobu, but it seemed just as insane that he would know and yet still speak so gently to her. To know and still wish to keep that promise, even to a woman who had ultimately betrayed him from the very beginning. She opened her eyes again to watch him, the edges of the remorse she was feeling starting to creep in despite her best efforts.

[willing_sheath]

She listened to his answer, simply watching him. How was it that he could be so forgiving to a traitor, despite the circumstances? But then she knew the answer already, didn't she? He was too kind to be a hitokiri. She had known that almost from the start. He'd learned the truth and then turned the guilt on himself, hadn't he?

Her lips parted, wanting to speak but again not knowing what to say. Her hand lifted enough to curl her fingers around his before pulling his hand down and carefully holding it in both of hers. She bowed her own head, studying their hands before she finally managed to get her words to come.

"I forgave you a long time ago," she swallowed, one hand gripping his a little tighter for a moment. "Everything that happened... was just as much my fault... as it was yours." She lowered her face a little more, her hair hiding her expression as she screwed her eyes shut and her brows knit. "I didn't realize their plan was to use me as a lure... I never meant to draw you into a trap..." She looked up again slowly, "I should have told you the truth when Enishi came... I should have kept him with me and told you everything then..."

[willing_sheath]

Tomoe listened, continuing to watch him and holding his gaze despite the want of wanting to turn her head down again. Whether it was productive or not had no baring on how she felt, and in the few moments through the day that the abnormality of the setting and the impossibility of being there strayed from the forefront of her mind the guilt of what she had caused in her last hours had taken over.

But just as it had throughout the day, Landel's made itself known again and pushed all of those thoughts back. She turned toward the source of the sound with a slight jerk, paling a bit as the broadcast continued, the bottom of her stomach seemingly dropping out. She hissed when the lights flashed, ducking her head and bringing her hands to her eyes in an attempt to sooth the sudden sting of being half blinded.

"What... was that...?" it was bad enough not being familiar with electric lights, let alone for them to suddenly explode. She pressed her fingertips against her closed eyes one more time before pulling her hands away, blinking as she looking back to him.

[willing_sheath]

She continued to watch him, her expression tightening with unease after what had come across the intercom. Her skin felt like it wanted to crawl with it, the hairs on the back of her neck starting to stand. She tried to ignore it, listening to what he was saying.

"Is that... normal?" she asked, referring just as much to the exploded light as announcement. "The voices... where do they--" she stopped abruptly, her head jerking to look at the floor next to her as a chill went down her spine. There was nothing there. She blinked rapidly in confusion. She could have sworn she saw something almost slide along her leg on the floor. She brought her arms up to hug herself again, trying to mentally shake off the false start. "--keep coming from...?" she finally finished, only missing a few beats between the phrases, looking back up to him again.

She was still shaken by everything. Her eyes and her mind were playing tricks on her. It was logical.

[willing_sheath]

Tomoe watched him, nodded slowly. The explanation made sense--at least more sense that most other things. Her eyes were on him, but again she could see something moving. It made her skin want to crawl, but she'd just looked. There was nothing there.

She turned her hand a bit again, returning the gesture belatedly, his words pulling her back momentarily. The entire day had been a constant push on her thoughts and emotions, and she couldn't help but wonder at his apparent dedication--or rather, whether she was deserving of it. She inclined her head further. She wouldn't question it, regardless of her view she knew it wouldn't alter his.

"I'll... stop interrupting..." she said quietly. The questions were unending, but they would get no where if she jumped back and forth the way her mind wanted to. She kept her eyes on his face, only traces of that unease coming back every now and then as she had to fight to keep from turning again.

There was nothing in the room besides the two of them.