Jinkies, A Mystery! (D8, MN)

[Kuni Koyuki]

Helping along as best she could in that somewhat awkward environment of cars. Koyuki shifts herself with the best mind for Yakumo's comfort she can, prioritizing it over her own as it was. Fitting as that was considering it was her request, was her reflexive defense in such a case. Wrapping her arms around her soon as they were settled enough Koyuki thinks at it for a moment and then decides that smudging white paint wasn't worthy enough of a concern right now. Embracing her as wholly as she can.

"You know him better than I do," she says, inhaling deep with the weight of her mind. "If he is a victim, and we can do something to save him we should. An admirable goal," she eases herself a bit, a slight shudder as she calms as much as she can. "I trust what you think is best, and if you think you can trust him- it might help. If not, we can find another way. There is always another way. Don't take an unnecessary risk. You're smart, you know when you're in danger," she exhales out her nose, a tension laugh. It's warm in the proximity.

"You may be the only one who knows best what to do when the time comes. I trust you. But, I am scared."

[Susumu Yakumo]

"I know", she murmured against Koyuki's neck, cradled as much as she could be against the other woman. Her arm wrapped over Koyuki, seeking comfort for them both. "I'm scared too."

Yakumo's breath was deep but even. "But, I just feel like I have to do something. He probably didn't choose to have this spirit with him, and... it made him kill his wife, who he seemed to care for. If I can get him to trust me, then maybe, maybe we can figure something out, for how to vanquish this spirit."

Her hand held onto some of the fabric of Koyuki's sleeve, tightening slightly. "I would have wanted someone to help me, were I in that situation."

[Kuni Koyuki]

"I understand."

Such a simple statement, and yet every utterance of it was so different depending entirely on those who spoke it and what context. Right here, right now, there could not have been more sincerity or weight to those words. Tightening her hold on Yakumo into a gentle lengthy squeeze. Feeling her presence there in her arms. Letting herself convince herself for a few willfully ignorant moments that this presence meant she was in control and nothing could happen to change it.

Yet, the memory lingers of the other woman who proved for all time that this wasn't true, and would never be.

"I'll do everything I can to be there for you. Everything," she says. Unsteadied by that truth hanging in the air, it hung in her voice with gravity.

[Susumu Yakumo]

The hand moved away from the fabric of Koyuki's sleeve, and moved slowly but deliberately up to her face. Rather than touching her cheek as she wanted to, Yakumo placed her fingers underneath the jawline instead, so to avoid messing up Koyuki's makeup. "Thank you," she murmured softly, and placed a soft kiss on those red lips.

"I wish I could do more, like you and Rei," and Sumiko too, she thought, "but... know that you can ask me for help too, right? Don't let me feel like I'm just someone who needs saving."

It felt strange, trusting her so easily, so quickly. Especially considering how they should be opposed. But Yakumo had to admit to herself that she felt a connection with Koyuki, and... well, if she got hurt because of that belief, she'd live with it. It was worth it, because these feelings this gave her made it seem like a fair risk to accept.

[Kuni Koyuki]

It wasn't funny, but it made her want to laugh. Yakumo being just someone who needed saving. Koyuki's eyes were lost in hers right up until that moment, and then they just seemed lost for a moment. Confused at the statement. Leaning into her touch Koyuki reasserts that gaze held, her holds on Yakumo a bit more present, she shook her head.

"I'm the one who feels like I'm just someone who needs saving," she says, that pressure in her chest sinking down toward her stomach and evaporating. "Ever since I met you, it's all you've ever done. Now you're venturing into the one thing I'm good at and- I don't know how best to be there for you. Best I can do is support you. All I have prepared is to close by hoping you can reach out to me if you find yourself in danger."

"That.. and, I do have something I might need your help with," she says, and swallows hard. Not finding the strength to shift her head away, but still casting her eyes down with that weight of finding herself a burden.

[Susumu Yakumo]

"We'll get through it somehow, Koyuki. Don't worry," she said, wanting to assure her that what she was doing was more than enough. And was more than she herself could ask for.

A nod followed the beginning of her request. "Of course. You know you can always ask me for help."

[Kuni Koyuki]

Soft exhale through nostrils, she nods. Eyes dancing around the car in the wake of the moment, the point where she was supposed to ask her what she needed to ask her. None of it felt real still, and yet it was hard to ignore the impact it had on her day. Swallowing hard she chokes out the words.

"I spoke to Moriko today."

[Susumu Yakumo]

It seemed like today was going to be full of surprises. "... How did it go?" she asked cautiously. Koyuki didn't seem hurt, so maybe there wasn't a confrontation.

[Kuni Koyuki]

Lost, more than hurt. Words came slowly as they piece together almost like the whispers from a ghost. Yet they had that tinge of lighter emotions ever constant which seemed a purely human thing. Strange, as it was, considering how long she was pretty sure she had indeed just been a ghost who managed to fight her way back to the mortal realm.

Strangely calm about it, like she was in the heart of it, "I was surprised. I went to the Akatsubaki," she leans back so she can look to Yakumo, a slight alteration to her tone like she feels compelled to explain, "it helps me feel alert, watching people there. It calms me to be focusing on so many variables," she says, surprising herself by how non-mechanical she made that sound. "She must have followed me there. Just sat right across from me. I- it's a little fuzzy still, I remember being angry and- sad. I still loved her, and also hated her, I-" she shakes her head a little. Giving a bit of pause to pull Yakumo in closer to herself, and herself in close to Yakumo, seeking a bit more of the presence of that comfort.

[Susumu Yakumo]

Her arm moved so to keep Koyuki in a close embrace, giving her her presence to provide comfort.

"We can't easily throw away luggage we've carried around a long time. Emotions... emotions will always be complicated." Yakumo's hand reached up, finding the dark tresses of the Kuni's hair to stroke soothingly. "What do you want to do now, now that you know she is here?"

[Kuni Koyuki]

It played in her mind, flipping her head back and resting it away from her. Giving herself space to breathe and think. Yet, the soothing strokes erased the need and she stayed instead. Working through the breathing exercise she sorely often needed. Still, after a moment of sitting with that and holding her Koyuki did eventually find herself needing that air. Unfurling herself from Yakumo she leans back more against whatever surface was behind her, it was hard and so was probably the frame of the car. Still holding Yakumo gently she finds that awkward support for the both of them in the seat.

"I don't know."

Laughing mirthlessly, an edge to it that wasn't pleasant, "For two years I had this fantasy. I would find her somewhere, and she would have to face me. She'd have to answer for it and either finish what she started or die herself. Then I could be done, just a ghost who traveled too far from the place she died to exact revenge. We'd all have died that day together like we were supposed to," she pauses, there's a weight to the words. Too numb about it all to cry over this wound.

"Now I don't want to die," she laughs. Looking to Yakumo, shying a bit she looks away from her again. Out over the hood of the vehicle. "But I see.. something in her. Something dark and familiar. I need to end it, whatever it is. I don't want to kill her but- but I don't know if she'll give me a choice."

[Susumu Yakumo]

"Hmmm..." she hummed, trying to think, as she wanted there to be an answer for Koyuki's troubles, but there weren't many coming to her. "Do... do you think you can talk to her? Do you think she would listen, even if you were able to pin her down and force her to listen to you?"

[Kuni Koyuki]

"I wouldn't recognize the woman I was before if she stood before me," she says. It wasn't an answer so directly, and she knew that. Conveying at least enough that the meaning should impart. If she couldn't even recognize herself, Moriko could be a complete stranger and she'd never be able to know until she was faced with it.

"Maybe. I don't know, and maybe it doesn't matter," she says, with that uncertain honesty.

[Susumu Yakumo]

"Oh?"

Yakumo brushed Koyuki's hair once more as she tried to make some sense of it. "... Are you considering letting go?"

[Kuni Koyuki]

Conflict, it was in her eyes like a storm brewing about. How she just sort of stares blankly ahead that Yakumo might have suspected she was suddenly comatose if it wasn't for the little lean into the brushing of her hair that suggests she's still conscious. Having thought so much of it the past few days, and the new ways she was suddenly feeling so much that she hadn't for so long. There was a thought toward it, to letting go that she couldn't deny. Part of it clicked for her in that moment when she finally saw Moriko again despite all that happened. When it came down to it there was only one thing she was sure of.

"I don't want to kill her."

But anything more than that? Koyuki's blank stare was the only answer she could give. Yet, direction still shines because there is one more truth that can be shared on the matter. One inviolable fact.

"But I'm going to have to confront her again. Sometime. Somewhere. I.. I might not have a choice when I do. It isn't over."

[Susumu Yakumo]

The soothing motion of Yakumo's gloved hand over Koyuki's dark hair continued, her own breath calm and steady to be like a calm in the eye of a storm for her.

"You want justice, but you don't want to kill her, yes? Is there... some way she could be arrested, perhaps? Scorpion and Crab are allies, so maybe they'd be willing to help bring her in, and she could be transported to Crab space to face the consequences of what she's done?"

Yakumo wasn't sure if what Moriko had done was something that the Crab would treat with any other punishment than death, but she felt like it didn't hurt to air the idea.

[Kuni Koyuki]

Shaking her head. Koyuki wore a smile with the suggestion but it was anything but happy, "No. Crab and Scorpion are allies, but that is the problem. When I came back it caused quite the stir. Many questions, a lot of prodding, and a great deal of visits to doctors and fellow Kuni constantly to monitor me and make sure I was sound of mind and body. After a month they started to really question me, but not before I first got an answer to my own question I'd held onto for the last three years. What happened to Moriko?" she sighs, letting her shoulders settle.

"She came back, she lied and said we were all dead. Then she went and was married off to the Scorpion. A marriage arranged and granted a year after her betrayal," she slows, letting each piece sink in a little.

"When it was all finished, they told me not to speak of it. That I was not to chase after her and seek vengeance. All because the Crab need to maintain the good relations, and they fear what kind of wedge this kind of blood might drive into their dealings. Moriko was a coward, and a traitor, but it was not worth the political cost."

"I do not think I want that anymore, anyway."

[Susumu Yakumo]

The hand that had been brushing over Koyuki's hair moved to rest on the woman's shoulder, gently squeezing it to remind her of her presence here. "What do you think your friends - your little family - would have wanted then?" Yakumo asked, thinking perhaps that would help Koyuki find the answer she was seeking, or at least some guidance.

[Kuni Koyuki]

"Kill her," she answers confidently. Looking distant into the space in front of her like she could see something that wasn't there.

"Whether it's my mind breaking down, or their ghosts haunt me, they would want me to kill her." Koyuki unsteadies at that thought. Something wasn't certain, after all, "Maybe not Toma."

"I-" she shakes her head. "But I'm weak, and I don't know if I can. Thought of bringing myself to do it feels like it would be such a relief and yet- the idea of it sickens me."

[Susumu Yakumo]

Yakumo moved her hand from Koyuki's shoulder, down her arm until finding her hands, over which she cupped both her hands, almost as if in prayer.

"You are strong, Koyuki. And if you feel yourself falter, remember that Akuma-no-kami bestows strength upon those with the will to seize it." It probably sounded strange to the Crab, to invoke the name of the Dark Fortune and the teachings of Shourido, but for Yakumo it felt natural as it how she reminded herself to be strong.

"You have a duty to your superiors, but you also have a duty to those you lost. I just want you to be confident in what they want, and not be haunted by ghosts of your own making."