[ml1201]

Stirring, Yusa slowly wakes up, rubbing her eyes drowsily. Looking around she notices Akira is already up, "I see you're awake. How are you feeling after what happened yesterday?" Stretching she gets up and goes over to her stuff. Rummaging in it she pulls out the things she needs to clean up and get dressed. Looking through her clothing she sees an outfit Akira had gotten her, deciding to wear it she pulls it out.

[CycloneKira]

Akira freezes momentarily as he hears her voice. It is very subtle though, as he almost immediately answers her, with a smile on his face. "Oh. good morning," he says in his usual cheery manner. "I'm fine, thanks. And thanks for taking care of me while I was in that state."

His mind goes back to the events of last night and he almost feels like slapping himself. He still can't believe he did that to her. What must she be thinking? Hopefully, she'll chalk it up to the alcohol and forgive him. "I hope I didn't do anything... wrong, yesterday?" he asks, tentatively.

[ml1201]

Surprised, she turns to look at him, "You mean you don't remember what happened? After you started drinking while we were eating?" Turning back she continues to get ready, using the screen to cover her as she changes. She doesn't want to freak him out by stripping in front of him, even more so if he doesn't remember about the night before. "You drank so much that I ended up having to take you to the baths and get you washed up. Luckily by that time it was only the two of us there."

[CycloneKira]

Akira shakes his head, implying that he doesn't remember. That's a lie, of course, and he's quite sure that if Yusa saw his face, she might easily see that he's lying. Still, he doesn't want to embarrass her. Or himself. Lucky for him, she's gone behind the screen to change.

"My God," he said. "That might have been a rough time for you. I'll try to make up for giving you a hard time." He says it sincerely, hoping she'll let him make it up to her, though he has no idea how he can do that.

[ml1201]

"Hm...? Rough time? The only annoyance was how people were looking at me weird for helping you to the bath. Other than that everything was fine, I just figured that if you did something I didn't like I could easily just shove you into the water. If anything you seemed a bit down about something, I had thought it was because of how my father was and the trouble he's caused for us. But as you talked more it seemed like it might have been something more. Before I got a chance to find out what was bothering you the alcohol finally caught up with you." She puts her robe aside, using her hair falling over her face to shield the blush she has.

[CycloneKira]

Akira laughs out loud as she mentions getting the idea of pushing him into the water if he did something stupid, momentarily forgetting his blunder from last night. But only momentarily. As she goes on, his smile disappears to give way to a dead pan expression.

You should have pushed me underwater as soon as we got to the baths, for drinking like an idiot, he thinks grimly. He looks up briefly as she tells him that she thinks he was worried about something different from what she had originally thought. She's right about that, he thinks.

After a brief moment of silence, he gathers enough courage to ask, "What do you think I was worried about?"

[ml1201]

She fiddles nervously with her belongs, as if organizing her belongings. "Well, I'm not completely sure to be honest, though you were saying something about your grandmother and something she would have said if she saw you now. It didn't really seem to make sense to me..." but it seems like you're interested in me she wanted to say but couldn't bring herself to do so.

[CycloneKira]

Akira listens to her in silence. So, she couldn't make sense out of what he said. Or she understood and just doesn't want to embarrass him. Then he remembers something from last night.

Akira, you weren't drinking because you were worried about me, were you? Do you...

So she DID understand! That question couldn't mean anything else. Not sure how to respond, he sits there in silence, while packing his stuff. Or more like unpacking and packing them again. He has no idea what he's doing.

[ml1201]

"Akira, is something wrong? You keep packing and unpacking your stuff. Do you need help organizing it or something?" She had been doing something similar herself, maybe not remembering what happened is upsetting him? She starts messing with a lock of hair, getting a bit nervous since he might not like her like she likes him.

[CycloneKira]

Akira looks up at her, briefly wondering what she's talking about. Then he realizes what he's doing. In an attempt to cover up, he takes the idea she gave him.

"Yes, I..." he chuckles nervously. "I just can't seem to get it all to fit properly. If it's not a trouble, could you help me out?"

Silently, he curses himself for spacing out like that. He's supposed to be the best ninja in the Koga clan. He feels thankful that no one from his clan can see him right now. He looks at Yusa and notices that she too is nervous. For obvious reasons, he thinks. After a huge slip-up like last night, he's surprised she didn't leave him already.

[ml1201]

Coming over to help she stands so that her shoulder is brushing up against his, helping him sort through his belongings. She blushes slightly when their hands touch, but she doesn't show any other reaction. Though at this point her heart is beating very quickly as she tries to think of something to say or do.

"So, are we going to continue to heading away from the dessert as planned? It will be a few days of walking to the next village, but there will be lots of beautiful mountains to see along the way."

[CycloneKira]

Akira is trying his best to stay calm as she helps him pack. As they continuously brush against each other, he almost feels like he's going to lose it. He looks up, relieved to be able to make conversation.

"Going through the desert sounds good," he says, trying to keep his voice steady. "I like the thought of going through the mountains." He smiles as he imagines the two of them walking through the mountains, in the fresh air. He's always liked mountains. His village was quite close to one.

[ml1201]

"Alright then, we'll be heading through the mountains then." Finishing up with the sorting she goes back to her own belongings, swinging the pack onto her shoulder. "We should probably grab some breakfast too before we leave, and get some traveling gear for while we're on the road. We should probably at least get one umbrella in case it rains." She was disappointed that Akira couldn't remember what happened, now she'd have this question bothering her that she's too scared to ask otherwise, but she wasn't letting it bother her, or at least doing her best not to.

[CycloneKira]

Akira nods his head in thanks as the packing is finally done. "You're right," he says. "We can leave after eating in the dining hall." And this time, I'm staying away from the sake, he thinks grimly. A repeat of last night's episode would be undesirable, at the very least.

He looks down at his bag and considers getting a new one, but decides against it. He thinks of some things to get. "We'll get two umbrellas because there's two of us. And I think you said we need a whetstone and medicine."

[ml1201]

"Hmmm...yes, those we'll need as well, we can't let our weapons go dual just because we've left our villages. We should also have a small training session in the morning, maybe even a sparing match, just so that if we do have to get in a fight we won't be unprepared. I guess we can head on down then." Shouldering her pack she gives him a faint smile and leads the way out of the room and heads to the dining area.

[CycloneKira]

Akira looks at her as she speaks and nods in agreement. He had been training, but in the past two days, since Yusa had joined him, training had somehow taken a back seat. He resolves to train diligently from now on.

"That's a good idea," he says, following after her. Then a small, playful smile appears on his face. "Just don't think I'll go easy on you, because you're a lady." He smiles at her before going to the reception counter to pay for their stay.