(D5 LE) Nightingales (Closed)

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

"I know that look," Yuuwaku says. "You're trying to figure out how it's wrong. Stop it.

"And consider," she continues. "You've voiced concern about your height more than once. Think on it; you have a higher platform already, making it easier for you to project, for others to know your words are yours. You get an audience more easily--Artisan."

Her eyes almost flash as she looks into his.

[Asahina Sanaharu]

He takes his stare away from the void and directs it to her in a tranquil fright. This means that they meet directly into hers, and he turns his gaze away after a second to their hands.
Maybe she was losing patience with him already... Take that look outside your face before she calls attention to it again.
"It is useful. I don't know if it is worth it."

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

"Then make it so," she says to him. "You are not unintelligent, Sana-kun. You could not be and do as well as you have. But you are clearly in the bad habit of thinking yourself less than you are. And, again, that will not do.

"Even if you do not trust you, trust me."

[Asahina Sanaharu]

That was an answer he never replied to himself, and even sparkles some on his eyes. Nothing he could do actively, he "noticed", bringing himself down again. But the fast-lived thought, much like a sparkle, brought him a little up at least — the re-emotion still didn't settle in again.
His hand was frozen dead at hers for quite some time. He finally moves it — turning both of them to the side, interlacing their fingers, bringing his own hand closer and enjoying the warmth.

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

Yuuwaku smiles, a lighthouse cutting through the fog to guide him in.

"Now, tell me what else troubles you. Help me help you find your footing."

[Asahina Sanaharu]

"Oh, but we have talked so much about me already, Yuu-chan. I would not like to dominate the conversation entirely."

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

"Sana-kun," she replies, "this is to help you with you. And it's only one of two ways I know how to do it."

[Asahina Sanaharu]

"It is working, Yuu-chan." He replies. "I... I like this."

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

Yuuwaku smiles up at him. "Good! Now, give me your other hand."

She sets down the one she had been rubbing, opens her hand to take his other.

[Asahina Sanaharu]

He gives the other hand obediently. "This I like too." He chuckles a puff. "Thank you for everything, Yuu-chan."

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

Yuuwaku begins to knead the offered hand, her thumbs working the muscles and tendons there.

"Of course," she says. "You're worth it, you know."

She looks him in the eyes as she continues. "There hasn't been anyone for you before, has there?"

[Asahina Sanaharu]

"Saying there was never anyone is a statement I would not make, Yuu-chan. There was family of mines when I was seven, and a spring ago I heard and shared some cries with a Doji more lonesome than... How I appear to be when I organize things like this."

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

"Oh? Anyone I know?" Yuuwaku asks about the Doji, leaning in with an eager glint in her eyes. "Anyone interesting?"

[Asahina Sanaharu]

"Nobody you probably know, Yuu-chan. I serve in a court, she was just one of its many guests. The conversation did not go to anything deeper than a shore, but it was one of those people you can detect that they need to be heard by a look."

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

"Then she's someone you need to keep in mind for later," Yuuwaku replies. "She could be a good friend for you in time.

"But I had meant that you've not had your heart set on anyone before, have you?"

[Asahina Sanaharu]

He nods. "It would be good to form a friendship, indeed. As I said before, Yuu-chan... It was the longest time I had my heart set on you, yet it was not something I ran towards to... Or even thought that it would concretize."

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

Still rubbing his hand, perhaps moving slightly up the wrist, Yuuwaku asks "Why would you not say anything?"

[Asahina Sanaharu]

Still rubbing his hand, perhaps moving slightly up the wrist, Yuuwaku asks "Why would you not say anything?"

He did not show his wrists on his clothing. Things were getting intimate, weren't they? "I had... more to worry about. More important things. But I think it was not that, still."

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

Yuuwaku's hands start to work the forearm.

"If that wasn't it, Sana-kun, what was?"

[Asahina Sanaharu]

Yuuwaku's hands start to work the forearm.

"If that wasn't it, Sana-kun, what was?"

He retracted his arm such as a frightened animal on impulse, noticing after long he was being observed, letting it rest again over the table.
"It what?"

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

Yuuwaku folds her hands in her lap.

"You said the worry about other things wasn't why you never spoke to me of your feelings. What was, then?"

[Asahina Sanaharu]

"Seeking my arts..." Everyone there sought their arts. This is no good excuse, Sanaharu. "And what I complained earlier to you about."

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

"Self-doubt."

She looks at him.

"And that has saddened you, hasn't it?"

[Asahina Sanaharu]

"It... It may be put on those words, yes."
He wanted not to return to the dead horse subject, so he waited.

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

"So," Yuuwaku says, "what would you do now, Sana-kun? What would you have me do?"