All At Once [Day 10, LE, Closed]

[Kuni Koyuki]

Having spoken to Yakumo before they left the escape room following their grand time together Koyuki set the time to meet later. Everything with Moriko, and her life this last week, it was all circling in her head like a bunch of hornets for the past couple of days and now it was finally quiet. Dead quiet like her ghosts, her everything, all of it suddenly made crystal clear and perfect sense. Koyuki was a woman transformed by the declaration of her spirit toward her ultimate goal. Now it was just time to finish things once and for all after she makes sure the team headed out to Desolation makes it back home safe.

There was just one last thing she needed to do. Something she should have done for Moriko all those years ago when she'd be arranged to be married.

Koyuki was early, and came to a stop outside Yakumo's door. Antsy as she was she wound up leaving a bit too early to arrive on time. Leaving her to half-hope she wouldn't be stuck in a hallway for a while when she sent Yakumo the message, Here.

[Susumu Yakumo]

Yakumo had been getting ready for bed after returning home from a visit to Yuji's family, as she had plans of getting a good night's sleep to be well-rested for tomorrow's duel. Sure, she wasn't the one actually duelling, but she felt it proper to treat it as serious as her champion would.

When the message ticked in, she had just finished getting ready, and so when she opened the door for Koyuki, the songstress was standing there in a black nightgown with a dressing gown thrown over. It was almost unfair how rich just such simple garments looked on her, as they probably cost more than some people's nice clothes.

"Heya, come on in," she said softly, with a slightly tired but happy smile.

[Kuni Koyuki]

Koyuki was still dressed in her standard outfits red and grey combo from before, but now she'd changed her hair in the time since. That braid she normally wore was incorporated into something a touch different with her hair tied back into a tail. Giving her the appearance of a warrior from an old people whom only now existed in the most esoteric history books in all the empire. There was an energy to the presence like she was missing a suit of armor she should be wearing but wasn't, and it matched the way she carried herself too well.

With that smile, and the bid for her to enter, Koyuki did just that. Making sure to come into the room but only stopping about a foot behind Yakumo while she closes the door. When she does though, Koyuki comes up close behind her and stands there. Not as tall as her if they were barefoot Koyuki stands a bit taller now as she's the only one wearing her heavy boots. Trapping Yakumo through a sense of will between herself and the door. Using that presence she lingers there, not pushing it, but letting it be felt enough to set and feel out the mood.

"Hey," she says in smoky tones.

[Susumu Yakumo]

While Yakumo had noticed something, she purposefully chose to focus on the good things as she looked at Koyuki.

"Oh, I love your hairstyle tonight, Koyuki," her face lit up a bit, with a sincere pleasure and interest, as she noticed that particular detail after closing the door and facing her fully. "What's the occassion for it, hm? You could have worn it earlier at the Escape Room. Which was a lot of fun, by the way... whose idea was that anyway - definitively something I'd like to try again sometime."

[Kuni Koyuki]

Stepping forward, closing that space, Koyuki puts a curled index under Yakumo's chin. Leaning in at something of an angle so that one of Koyuki's hands was up resting on the door behind Yakumo for support. Looking at her with such eyes like she could look at no other. Little details which mattered to no one else, perhaps, but mattered to her. Things she just liked. Uncertain of Yakumo's response, whether it was a call to step back or step forward with this intent she wore Koyuki pushes just that little bit further.

"I had fun," she said, short. Just as smokey, leaning into it a little more so that the signals didn't cross, "You were amazing out there."

[Susumu Yakumo]

Those violet eyes met hers, which wasn't difficult considering their almost equal height with only a slight favoritism to Koyuki still wearing shoes. Shoes indoors! How gauche!

"You think?" she smiled widely, stepping a bit closer to challenge that height difference a bit more. "Thanks. I really enjoyed it. But..." reaching up, her bare hand brushed over one of the braids of Koyuki's hair. "You didn't tell me what the occassion is. Is it a surprise? Or just felt like dressing up tonight, mm?"

[Kuni Koyuki]

Koyuki softly nods at the question that didn't necessarily need to be answered. Koyuki never was someone to say something that she didn't mean. Of course, at least when she wasn't actively trying to deceive for the betterment of her situation as long as it benefitted those she felt responsible for.

"I'm going to help Matsu Eriko, and Matsu Hide, deal with a group of very bad people out in the Desolation. It's something I need to do. I need to know that they will be taken care of, and safe. At least someone in this messed up Empire deserves to go home happily in love at the end of the day. They have a good shot if they don't get killed," she says, there's a determination there that Koyuki's not worn before. A power to her presence that was very Crab in it's make, proud and certain.

Koyuki's knuckle under Yakumo's chin turns into a palm which gently caresses along Yakumo's jaw until it rests most of the way covering her cheek without losing that slight cup underneath her jaw. A good place to feel like she was holding the whole of Yakumo's head in her hands. Meeting those brilliant violet eyes like she was lost in them.

[Susumu Yakumo]

There was something slightly off with her jaw. Specifically an area on the chin. Yakumo's skin had always felt smooth and mostly flawless, barring the rashes she sometimes had (but those seemed to mostly form in the middle of her face), but there was something too smooth underneath the makeup.

Yakumo let Koyuki hold her like thus, unconcerned, enjoying the touch as well as the kind of comfort it brought... until Koyuki mentioned heading out into the Desolation. "Wait. What? You're heading out there?" those violet eyes seemed filled with a sort of dread, and concern. "Why?"

[Kuni Koyuki]

Touch gentle, caressing, caring shifted slightly as well with the change in tempo. That dread and concern bringing a kind of sobering focus to herself. Something accomplished with the aid of how she felt a little sick because of how good it felt, Yakumo looking in such a way.

Focus you idiot, her chin. Remember the chin. This isn't about you.

Breath hitching she forces on a pleasant enough smile, "Eriko-san has a long standing enemy in a band of thugs, and they've been at each others throats for a long time. She won't back away from this fight, and that means her wife won't back away from this fight. Out of everyone that's going I'm the one with the most combat experience," she hesitates but much experience as Hide might have she wasn't old enough by far to match Koyuki. "If I don't go, they might not come back."

A pause, a breath, her hand shifts toward that smooth spot on Yakumo's chin, pressing a finger against it, "What's this?"

[Susumu Yakumo]

As the finger pressed against her chin, Yakumo flinched and backed away slightly, enough to get out of the grasp. "... There's something out there. Worse than thugs and pirates, or whatever it is you all are after."

Yakumo brough a hand up to her chin, feeling the area with the back of her hand. Still not wanting to talk directly about it. "... You got my message earlier, right? About the... teapot. Sword. Miya-sama told me that the sword had been found, and returned to the Scorpion. Currently in the hands of one Soshi Haru." She had no idea who that was. "According to a shugenja, there was no gaki possessing the sword. Whatever happened, it's now free and at large, uncontained."

She pointed in the direction of the Desolation. Or what she thought was the direction of the Desolation. "And I think it could be out there. Somewhere. And... I don't know, I think it's aware somehow, of what's happening. Or rather, whatever happens around him."

[Kuni Koyuki]

Eyes narrowing as Yakumo retreats away from her. Watching her with that piercing to her gaze marked mostly by concern. Koyuki went still as she lets Yakumo say what she needs to say. Taking in every detail of the fact but there isn't as much of an immediate emotional response in Koyuki. At least not perceptibly, because this wasn't a worry without a direction she couldn't do anything about. This was one had one very key difference in the worries she's had to face with Yakumo recently.

Advancing to regain what closeness was lost, Koyuki gently brings a hand to touch and rest against Yakumo's cheek if she can. With a steady voice she asks with gravity, "What are you hiding?"

[Susumu Yakumo]

"I'm not hiding anything!" Yakumo protested, feeling frustrated that Koyuki was getting hung up on the wrong thing instead of listening to her. "I'm telling you, whatever the name of that ancient gaki is; it's now free and doing what it wants. It needs to be stopped!"

To her, that was the more important concern than thugs and whatever it was the Matsu-pair was after.

"I had a dream about it last night. It, or the ghosts, drew me out there, and it touched me and said I belonged to them. 'Just as he does'," she echoed the words the creature had said in her dreams. "And I knew it wasn't just some insane nightmare, because I had a cut on my chin where it had touched me."

[Kuni Koyuki]

Yakumo could let that frustration out all she wanted, as when she did Koyuki was there still waiting un-phased by it in the slightest. Not from a lack of care, certainly. It was just her way. Watching her, she takes in those little details like every mote of information might build the picture. Eyes widening slightly Koyuki's shoulders relax just a bit when she finally talks about the nightmare, because now it makes sense.

"I don't disbelieve you. I knew there was more to this, because I know you didn't just have some crazy dream or were succumbing to stress. You are more important to me than anything else," she says, heavy and with the weight those words so rarely truly carried. It was just her way. Meeting her eyes, Koyuki lets her more calm breaths be heard a little more. That subtle invite of Yakumo's physicality to follow suit behind her own.

"I can't abandon these two. I will help them, and I will survive, and I will be back. Because I haven't lived this long to die to some thugs or the surprise of some ancient gaki out there. When I come back, we will finish this," she says, confidently. Something in her heart shifting when she makes that declaration. Moriko can wait. "You don't belong to some ancient gaki, and it will regret that it believes you do."

[Susumu Yakumo]

"You're damn right I don't. And I'm going to see to it personally that this stupid thing realises it's messed with the wrong person if it thinks it can get away with this!"

Yakumo held up a hand, and it took a moment for her to follow up the gesture with speech. "And don't... don't say that, Koyuki. My life is not more important than yours."

[Kuni Koyuki]

"I don't put value in my life, like that," she says, but gives Yakumo a look with intention that shows she isn't done. Just mentally preparing herself to explain more. Needing to, as she was about to say things she never thought she'd admit to anyone. Things she was certain she would take with her to the grave.

"For so long I wanted to die, to find and kill Moriko and then die. Two ghosts that finally came to rest far away from where they were supposed to meet their end. Some days I thought I wouldn't even make it that far. I don't want that anymore. You picked me up in your way, and gave me something I lacked. I am a soldier at heart, even now. My life is only as important as the things I fight for. Before when that was revenge I was.. I still am.. broken," she shakes her head, that could be talked at later. "I love you. I will fight for you. My life matters because of that, because I have that thing I want to fight for to protect and keep. It is not a sad thing. It just.. it is the only way I know how to make any meaning out of all this," she says, and gives a round glance around as if to reference the entire system in which the lived. The very Empire itself.

"I don't intend to die when I can live and see one more smile," she says, a confident smile of her own. It was probably the cheesiest thing she'd ever said and if it wasn't for the overwhelming presence of feeling in this moment she might chastise herself for it. "And I have others that I want to protect too, I will live for them but you come first. Not even Moriko matters as much to me."

[Susumu Yakumo]

Yakumo tried to interject a few times, but stopped herself from getting more than the breath of the first syllable out, forcing herself to listen to Koyuki and also allowing the woman to speak her peace.

"I'm not saying you can't love me, or anyone else, Koyuki. But you cannot devalue yourself like that, measuring your own worth to yourself by comparing to another," her voice was low, but it did not lack an edge to it even if it somehow still had tenderness to it. "Only you can truly put a value on your life. Not Moriko, and not I. Because if you don't know your own value, how can you go through life expecting others to value it correctly for you?"

Her violet eyes bore into Koyuki. They not only demanded her attention, but also reflected the concern she felt for her.

[Kuni Koyuki]

"I don't," she says, softly as she breaks away from Yakumo's gaze. Searching the floor beneath them for a moment. Warmth at the back of her neck reminding herself of the present moment so that she can't go too far. "I did not wish to die because I felt I held no value. I wished to die because I'd given up, because the woman who I always believed was the one destined for me left me to die like I was nothing," she says, brushing once more against Yakumo's cheek. Looking up along Yakumo's body once more she finds one of her hands, pushing hers into it so they might interlock fingers.

"I did not think I could fall in love again, and I could not bring myself to try. I was scared. I am scared," she chokes up a bit on that, swallowing down. Eyes coming up further so that she can return them to Yakumo's own. "I am scared that you do not know the gravity of what you did when you reached out your hand. Yet, I know it was the thing that saved me from myself. So, even so, I accept it for whatever it is."

[Susumu Yakumo]

Yakumo's fingers relented, accepting the way their hands locked together. Her eyes lowered, a small bit of frustration peeking out in the colors of her cheeks. "You're a wonderful person, Koyuki. And I hate that this person made you feel like you were nothing, because you're not - never was, and could never be." The words were spoken fiercely, driving home the point of what she had intended earlier.

"... Maybe I don't understand." A part of her did in fact understand, but it was something she pushed away, not wanting to acknowledge it. Like how you hit snooze to ignore the existence of reality demanding you wake up and get out of bed. "I'm not..." she began, then stopped to collect herself. Forgetting the concerns of tomorrow and its dangers, and everything else but this right now.

"I'm not the... committment-type, Koyuki," she explained, looking up now as her grip on Koyuki's hand tightened. "I thought... mm... I mean. You're a Crab. I'm a Spider. You saw how Hide and Eriko looked at us."

[Kuni Koyuki]

"You're too concerned about what other people think of, and choose for, you," she says, the words feel sharp but not uncaring. There's a steel in the way she looks to Yakumo and meets her eyes in that moment. A tightening of her hand within Yakumo's own, and a deep pit akin to a black hole forming in her stomach and sucking everything in, slowly pulling her heart toward it. Through sheer force of will she manages to keep it contained, and it's only a will she can manage before a battle.

"I will always choose you, but if you can't choose me," she quivers, and pulls her hand back. Barely biting back tears. Grabbing Yakumo's hand Koyuki places it against Yakumo's chest over her heart so that her palm was touching to feel her own heart beat. "I can't have you tend my heart. It isn't yours."

[Susumu Yakumo]

"I'm no--," she began to protest, then stopped, her eyes narrowed. "... Alright. Maybe I am. Because I have spent my entire life being judged one way or another, always told I'm not good enough. And yeah, so I do care what they say, because I want them all to see that they're wrong." There was an unusual intensity to her words, as if she had found a fire to those feelings within the last day.

It wasn't just vanity or concern for her public image. It was a principle of disproving everyone who had said she was trash, or looked at her like she was some monster in disguise.

"What..." her hand closed over Koyuki's chest, "what is there to choose, outside of these four walls? I do care for you, Koyuki. I do. These moments we have, they are important to me, because I care for them and you, deeply and with all my being. But I also acknowledge that it cannot last forever - in the end, we must go our separate ways. You return to being Kuni Koyuki of the Crab, and I... Susumu Yakumo of the Spider."