07-29-2024, 01:18 AM
Her answer to his question was straight-forward, which was a relief. Yet it was not relief that perfused his body. A swallow belied his feelings, though he doubted she would be so intrusive as to guess them. It was a reminder that Eidolon was the outline of a perfect woman, every motion was precise, every expression exact, but he knew as well as anyone that the exterior was a shield, to protect the one within as well as those around them. To that, a deep frown lined the space between his eyes. Suicide came from as tragic a place in Japan as it did the rest of the world, for all the west glamorizes ritual death in the movies. Whatever could she have done to warrant banishment and self-death?
His teeth loosened their grip on one another the longer he looked at her. It was a practiced mask, the indifference and distance from the dark aura of death. Kiyohito did not welcome it, and for his place in the Korii-Kai, he did what he could to make sure others avoided it. Violence he could abide, but he had never once pulled the trigger.
He was suddenly grateful that Eidolon’s brother stayed near to her. For whatever chased them in their past was obviously still expected to arrive. “Is it one of the yakuza? If a debt is to be paid, I can help balance it. They are not unreasonable.. not usually.” It was odd defending the honor of criminals, but in his experience, money and blood could smooth the most jagged of wrongs.
“I am not afraid of them, Eidolon. I will eagerly accept this cause.” He was on the edge of the stool, poised to cross to her the moment she gave the approval, but something held him back; his intuition said something was not quite right about all this.
His teeth loosened their grip on one another the longer he looked at her. It was a practiced mask, the indifference and distance from the dark aura of death. Kiyohito did not welcome it, and for his place in the Korii-Kai, he did what he could to make sure others avoided it. Violence he could abide, but he had never once pulled the trigger.
He was suddenly grateful that Eidolon’s brother stayed near to her. For whatever chased them in their past was obviously still expected to arrive. “Is it one of the yakuza? If a debt is to be paid, I can help balance it. They are not unreasonable.. not usually.” It was odd defending the honor of criminals, but in his experience, money and blood could smooth the most jagged of wrongs.
“I am not afraid of them, Eidolon. I will eagerly accept this cause.” He was on the edge of the stool, poised to cross to her the moment she gave the approval, but something held him back; his intuition said something was not quite right about all this.