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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[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.

[willing_sheath]

Tomoe nodded again, still struggling to keep her eyes fixed on his, still trying to convince herself that she was not seeing anything moving in her peripheral vision. She concentrated on his voice, on the touch of his hand... and not on the dark shape--or shapes?--that seemed to be moving beside her... like a swarm of cockroaches...

Her skin felt like it was crawling, all of the fine hairs across her arms and the back of her neck standing on end the more she tried to ignore it. She was so intent on trying not to concentrate on the perceived movement beside her that she didn't pick up on Kenshin's movement toward the sword at all. A part of her wondered if she should be asking if he saw anything, if he sensed anything strange--but by the same token, he didn't seem to be reacting to anything, and he was certainly in a better position to notice something than herself.

[willing_sheath]

Tomoe nearly jumped out of her skin as sound came across the intercom again with as intensely as she had been concentrating. She wheeled around toward the box, falling out of seiza, catching herself with one hand to keep from falling completely to the floor.

And then she could see the movement, as plainly as day--it was her shadow--both of their shadows. She pulled her hand away from the floor, the shape almost slithering about her, quickly getting to her feet to put more distance between herself (or at least the more vital parts of herself) and it. Kenshin was already moving as she made the realization herself, wild eyes following him as he moved.

"Kenshin, what's happening!?" there was actual fright in her voice and no attempt to hide it now. She moved with him as he backed her closer to the wall and away from the movement--except that the shadows were everywhere--including against that wall the closer they came to it. She pressed back against him in an attempt to stop the movement, eyes caught on the writhing shapes... like swarms of insects, or writhing snakes the longer she watched, something that almost looked like a skeletal hand forming every few seconds, "Kenshin!?"