Open your eyes...

[heart0fsword]

Who: Himura Kenshin & Himura Tomoe
What: ex-holy knight freaking out after his first temporary loss
When: immediately after Kenshin wakes up from the humans vs. vampires plot
Where: :|b Tomoe's hallway.
Rating: PG?

Comments

I'M SOOO SORRY...

[ascensional]

She had been expecting someone to come knocking at her door soon. She wasn't really positive who it would be... Abel, or Kenshin? She suspected Abel might have more reason to avoid her, but one never knew. She wasn't going to impose on either of them just yet until she knew that they were willing to see her face again so soon.

When Tomoe heard his voice, she shut her eyes for a moment and closed her personal diary, holding it to her chest as she breathed a sigh of relief. After slipping it into it's drawer, she stood up and made her way to the front door, doing her best to keep her thoughts in order and her composure as calm as possible as she opened the door.

Seeing him looking so wild, so alarmed, wasn't something she was accustomed to. But then, he had been full of surprises ever since his arrival in the castle. This much she wasn't sorry for, since it was so clear that he could now recognize her again.

Doing her best to smile, for him, she tipped her head, keeping her hands at her side. "You are...uninjured. I'm so glad."

S'ALL GOOD! <333!

[heart0fsword]

The relief he felt at seeing her was almost enough to take his feet out from under him (not that he was going to allow that, his knees were messed up enough from those sorts of reactions as it was). Kenshin let out a long, slow breath, the guilt for losing her in his memory quickly following up the relief at seeing her safe.

He took one step, then another, until he was into her personal space and close enough wrap his arms around her. Whether the embrace was wanted or not... he didn't care right that second, just glad his face was somewhat hidden as his brows twisted up, his arms pulling her a little tighter.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... this one..." he swallowed, hands curling into the fabric of her kimono. "He shouldn't have... I don't know how..." and after a few more mumbles he just stopped. How could I have let it... do this...

[ooc; I'm hoping I made the right guess that she would not tell him that Abel was the one who hurt her... because I went with that, and there's now a lovely reveal over in Abel's last post XD;]

[ascensional]

She was still when he grabbed her, arms remaining at her side while she gazed over his shoulder. Almost as if she were as emotionless as the rumors suggested, but no. She was simply so overwhelmed she wasn't sure how to react. Which emotion to let filter out, and which to keep cool control of.

But it was simply too difficult, and after a short moment, she lifted her hands to press against his back, head tilting to rest against his shoulder. No matter what she had told him of what she wanted, what she didn't want, she knew for certain how painful it had been to have him look at her and not fully recognize her.

Shutting her eyes, she felt her composure crack as she parted her lips to speak in a broken whisper, "You left...! I was so frightened...for you, for myself, for everyone. You left me and became someone else! The priest and Little Nanako, and Cain-san as well... I was all alone again."

[ ooc; No, that's perfectly fine with me! And very likely. She'd never want to incriminate Abel. ]

[heart0fsword]

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." the words kept repeating in a slow, quiet mantra, not asking for forgiveness, not trying to defend himself, but just mumbling the truth of the matter.

He turned more toward her, his face still hidden, holding her protectively, his touch firm in comparison to the last time he'd held her--like a desperate man grasping at a phantom. Though perhaps he was no less desperate now, only more grounded. He lifted one hand to touch the back of her head as she pressed her forehead against his shoulder. Nothing had prepared him to have his mind altered. Nothing.

And then to realize she had been hurt during it all. He'd picked out the bandages when he'd met her in the hall and knew they had to still be there even if he couldn't readily see them now. He would have to be daft to think it didn't have something to do with what had happened, and the implication just sent ice down his spine. Because if she had been caught in the middle of something then the intent wouldn't have been to just graze her. "I'm sorry..."

[ascensional]

His constant apologies forced Tomoe to get ahold of her own emotions. At that moment he needed some form of comfort, some type of stability. She couldn't give him what he really wanted, or needed, but she wanted so much to be able to.

With a shaky sigh, she opened her eyes and pulled back, slipping one hand up to gently cup his cheek. He bore so many more scars than what were visible to the naked eye.

"I am all right. I will continue to be...all right, as long as you do not leave like that again. Even if it is selfish of me to ask you to remain, yet keep you at a distance... I cannot continue to be a stranger."

[heart0fsword]

For a fraction of a second his hold tightened when she made to draw back, the irrational part of him not wanting to let go--but it was brief, barely noticeable. His hand moved down to rest at the top of her back as she pulled back. His chant stopped as she moved, letting out a low sigh of his own, eyes opening slowly at her touch as he turned eyes eyes back toward her, unable to mask his expression.

"I didn't mean to..." he said quietly. "This one never would have imagined... this place could..." His brows drew again even as he tried to articulate it, his hand lifting to shakily touch her temple and awkwardly move to rest along her jaw. "I should have--I should have been there..." the frown hardening more, directed at himself more than anything. He wasn't even sure what he was referring to. He didn't know what happened, only that he was sure that something happened