礼拝

Only that of a normal human that was slowly working himself to the brink of exhaustion. Perhaps this was the ignorance of a true youkai that he couldn’t quite bring himself to care, although…

Alba paused in his steps and glanced over his shoulder as he listened to the words of warning, before he chuckled lightly. “No good! I want to see market here. I bet it’s really big and there will be so many great things to see!” Naivety and innocence swayed within the Kitsune’s excited voice, however it didn’t take long for him to fall silent and straighten his back. His tails even perked up and tensed. “What did you just say…?”

"You will do no such thing, Kitsune!" The swordsman shot back, unhappiness evident in his tone. "It doesn't matter what you want! I can't allow you in there!" That would be a marked failure on his record, and his master only wished to have his tasked finished absolutely perfectly. If the captain of the army allowed a youkai of all things in the city, how would that reflect to the eyes of others?

Though soon enough, the boy paused at the sudden tension in the other. What-- Did he have some sort of bitterness towards royalty? All the more reason to not let him in! He had to protect his master!

"I’m a servant of Inari, that’s why. I’m a zenko, child. Not a yako,” Alba pointed out rather dryly, although he intuitively stepped backwards to bring some distance between himself as well as the tip of the sword. “Not every fox spirit is evil. If I were malicious, you’d be dead by now.”

Such certainty came with nine tails, even if the majority was hidden with magic.

"The spirits I have dealt with personally have only done ill upon me, thus it should be expected I am wary of your presence." He retorted, lowering his sword to allow the edge of the blade to dig into the dirt a bit, using it as a resting place for his hands then-- Though not before turning in the direction of the spirit after it jumped over him.

... Child?

Whoa, the guy was about to draw a sword!

"I'm a bit  s k e p t i c a l  ."He retorted unhappily.

And that wouldn’t be good, would it?

Just what would Kurogane think if he saw hi so scared and out of his mind during their reunion? It was a frightening thought because his mind simply had to go back to that fateful day that had changed everything between them and left him whimpering under his breath. He didn’t want to mess up, he really really didn’t want to mess up again, when he had finally dared to approach this place again. His throat felt so dry, making it hard for him to think straight right now — but the knight forced himself to stay quiet and take a deep breath through his nose. Finally, Kurogane’s voice resonated frm the inside, but… it sounded so emotionless and neutral… Was it really Kurogane? Touya shifted on the spot, putting his weight from one heel onto the next while he stared at the thin paper door and hesitated.

It was useless. He couldn’t shake off this horrible fear, it was paralyzing him so badly; tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. The knight forced himself to lick his lips as trembling hands reached up to wipe his eyes.

No, he couldn’t hesitate now. He was so close to fix things. Everything would be alright. And if Kurogane wanted to hurt him again, he would just let him and endure it, regardless of how badly it might hurt. That’s… what friends did, right? Friends put up with bad things for a good cause, didn’t they? Biting down on his bottom lip till the sensitive skin threatened to break, the youth hissed under the uncomfortable feeling. At least it snapped him out of his frozen state, carefully pushing the door to the side and stepping over the threshold. It was truly weird to be in this room again; a cold shiver ran down his spine, but he stepped further into the swordsman’s quarters, hazel eyes nervously glancing around.

But finally they settled on the person in question.

That was his resolve; that was why he remained so resilient and worked hard even now on this very day and seemed to have no qualms about doing even more as he lifted the stack of papers to head towards the door.

His footsteps were slow and careful in an attempt to not drop the papers he was carrying as he neared the door to give the individual what they had came for. That was all he had been expecting as he heard the door open and close behind them-- however, the physical appearance of the person that stood there wasn’t that of a soldier; it was something much more different and made him freeze immediately as dull caramel met hazel. The voice and the way it spoke his name made his eyes widen like saucers, breath catching in his throat. Everything but his name fell on deaf ears, merely leaving him stunned in complete silence for a few moments before finally reacting. His body jumped backwards, arms lifting seemingly in an automatic response as the papers in his hands were tossed into the air which was accompanied by a sharp yelp.

“A-A-Ahh--!!”

He didn’t dare to even glance down at the papers now scattered on his floor, stumbling backwards in a clumsy fashion in what was clearly him trying to create distance between them. His heart was racing so very fast now-- was it hard to breathe? Was he even breathing? He couldn’t tell, but he felt complete and utter panic buzzing through his body which left him shaking in the knight’s presence. Why was he here? Why was he saying sorry? Why, why, why? His head was screaming at him, telling him terrible things when he was now once again in Touya’s presence.

You’re going to hurt him again. Don’t touch him. You were a monster then and you are now. You’re the one who should be saying sorry.

“You-- I-- W-Why--” He couldn’t talk. It was so hard to talk.