Our Last Days as Children

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld nodded to the first request, but the second one was kind of odd. "Hmmm?" He glanced at the shirt, then Akizetsumei, and even then it took him a second, finally being tipped off by her embarrassment more than anything. "O-Oh! S-Sorry," he mumbled, quickly tossing the white shirt back in the closet and grabbing a slightly bigger but black one.

"H-Here." It probably wouldn't have been too much of a problem, given she was all toweled off and everything, but that wasn't really a risk he was willing to take. Or her either, it seemed.

"Y-You can change in here; I'll wait outside," he said, exiting the room and shutting the door behind him.

[Nayt]

"Thankyou," she chimed, sounding at least a little bit happier.

Oddly, feeling embarrassed about something silly like that got her mind off of things a little bit-- kind of helped her along the way to smiling again. It was a small step, maybe, but a step nonetheless. She went quiet for a minute or two while Eld was outside, toweling off a bit more and constantly making sure the doorknob wasn't turning. It wasn't that she distrusted Eld, though! It was . . . it was . . .

Actually, she couldn't quite define what the paranoia was exactly, but it was there, and it wasn't anything personal against her boyfriend.

"I-- I'm dressed," she called after a minute with as hushed a tone as possible. She really really really did not want Eld's parents hearing her and getting the wrong idea or something.

She stood before the door, head tilted to the right and hands down by her side. She now wore little more than a black button down t-shirt, with the top two buttons undone and the bottom of the shirt well below her hips, and a pair of red boxers that came down to the middle of her thighs. This was covering enough for her. She was swimming in the shirt, anyways. It was pretty comfy.

[Zach Kaiser]

"Okay." Eld re-entered the room, though with a little hesitation. Fortunately, Akizetsumei was indeed dressed. He wasn't sure why she wouldn't be, but some part of him learned to be wary of entering a room in which there was a girl and assuming she was dressed.

Fortunately she was, though the way the top two buttons were undone on the shirt made him blush a little. She may not have had a lot to show off there, but it was still a little...well, he decided to just try his best to ignore that.

"Ummm...I got the futon out, but I can sleep in the living room tonight and you can take the bed." The other option, obviously, was that he could sleep in the futon, but he decided to err on the side of caution and gentlemanliness.

[Nayt]

Akizets was perfectly comfortable with this attire. It was loose and airy, about the best thing she could ask for when she was sleeping over at someone else's house--because she certainly could not sleep there like she did at home. That just would not work at all. With the top two buttons of the shirt undone, she didn't expose much more than her collarbone and an inch down . . . which actually would've exposed cleavage were she someone like Etsu or Sarah, but that was something she (regrettably, as far as Akizets was concerned) did not have to worry about.

There was, however, something for her to explicitly worry about, and that was Eld giving away his comfort for her sake. Which was totally not going to happen!

"N-- no way!" Akizets exclaimed, "Y-- you don't gotta-- umm, I-- I'm really okay with the futon or the couch, honest. You don't gotta give up your bed. It, um, it looks really comfy, and I'd really really really hate to make you give it up."

Totally not going to happen at all! Because seriously, that had to be the comfiest bed she'd ever seen, and if she deprived Eld of that for even one night, she'd have been mopey for the rest of the evening.

[Zach Kaiser]

"W-Well, you're a guest, so it's fine. I mean...I did kind of get used to sleeping on the futon," he murmured. "But if you really don't want to you don't have to; the futon's fine. But I'm not going to make you sleep on the couch." Really, that would have been terribly rude to do to a guest. Besides, he didn't care if she slept in his room if she didn't.

Though, he was a little concerned about what people would probably assume. Even if they were clearly in separate beds, he didn't imagine it ending well if Gestahl stomped over first thing in the morning looking for his daughter only to find him sharing a room with her. It would be bad enough dealing with snide comments from his parents and Etsu probably looking at him like he was gigantic pervert simply for being in the same room as a girl.

Which would be decidedly ironic, really.

[Nayt]

He'd gotten used to sleeping on the--? Oh, right, that was when Etsu was living in his room. Akizets bit her lower lip for half a second and averted her eyes. That was actually a kind of sore subject with her. Again, it wasn't anything against Eld! It was just . . . well . . .

How is that even important right now!

"Y-yeah," she said quietly as she made eye contact again, "I'm okay with the futon."

But that was when she actually went to sleep. That probably wasn't going to be for awhile. Eld was a late sleeper too, right? So he was probably going to be up for awhile, too. Thinking of what she wanted to do next, which was sit down and relax, she turned around and looked between Eld's bed and the futon. So, she wasn't going to sleep on Eld's bed, but she could still sit on it, right? There wasn't anything wrong with just sitting on his bed? Even though he was her boyfriend and all. Just sitting should've been okay . . .

So Akizets approached the bed, turned, sat down, leaned forward, set her elbows upon her knees, and sighed. This time it was not a sigh of relief, though. It was just a sigh--indifferent and ambiguous. She'd been having a horrible night, after all. Eld and his family were really amazing for letting her stay with them, but she still couldn't entirely get her mind off of the stuff her dad said. While it might not have seemed like she had a lot on her mind at first (because she rarely ever looked like she had anything on her mind at all), the fact that she could probably go a whole hour in silence, assuming Eld did not get her attention somehow, would probably be evidence of this enough.

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld nodded; Akizetsumei was too nice sometimes, though. Surely she'd be more comfortable in a bed than on a futon, especially as she was quite a bit more fragile than him. He couldn't make her if she didn't want to, though.

It wasn't long before it was clear she had something on her mind. Well, it'd kind of been clear already; she may not have been outright moody, but she was definitely not her usual cheery self tonight. He sat down next to her on the bed.

"Hey...do you want to talk about it?" he asked softly. He hoped she'd feel better if she got it off her chest.

[Nayt]

"I . . ." Akizets looked to Eld, wet her lips, and nodded quietly.

It was a bit of exposition on her part, but with just Eld by her side, she really didn't mind telling him about it. He was probably going to find out from Toushikyo later, anyways, and Toushikyo would've probably painted Akizets to be some sort of horrible person.

"Tou's in the militia now, Reru's gonna be a cabin boy in a year, and . . ." Akizets sighed, "'Cause of that, daddy expects me to know what I wanna do with my life."

The latter part was news, but the former was not. Toushikyo managed to get into the Hillcrest militia just a couple of months ago, and was currently going through training. He was doing well, according to his family. He was doing eerily well according to the other trainees. He kind of frightened them, in fact. Oboreru, on the other hand, didn't fancy himself a warrior, police officer, investigator, or any such sort that the militia trained you to be. Instead, he wanted to be as close to the water as possible--and what better way than to become a sailor?

"But I'm just a kid and I'm not like Tou or Reru. I dunno what I wanna do with my life. And . . . and I really don't wanna just go into something that I'm gonna hate forever," she sighed again. "Daddy started talking about it at dinner, and I kept saying stuff like that and everyone pretty much was on his side. Mom just kept saying stuff like 'we just want you to be happy,' but everyone was pretty much yelling at me, and they wouldn't let me go to my room . . . And I started crying, but they didn't drop it, and I started yelling back, so daddy yelled at me, and . . ."

Which for anyone other than Akizetsumei, that probably would have been terrifying. Anyone else in the village would've feared for their life. It was more shocking to Akizets than anything else, though; her father never raised his voice to her or anyone else, but he just outright yelled at her.

". . . I yelled at them, um . . . th-that," she bit her lower lip at the thought and hesitated to say it--more than enough proof that she felt really bad about that, "That I hated them, and ran out."

[Zach Kaiser]

"It's okay," Eld said, putting his arm around her and letting her lean into him if she wished. "I'm sure they know you didn't mean it." It didn't necessarily mean they weren't hurt by it, and he figured she should probably apologize for that part, but surely they realized she was just upset.

He paused for a second; the last thing he wanted to do was upset Akizetsumei again, but he thought he might be able to impart some wisdom on the topic of her argument. "You know...if you want, you could get a part-time job around here. It wouldn't be anything you'd have to commit to for life or anything, and it would give you some time to think about what it is you want to do."

In a sense, he was lucky, as he'd known from a very young age what he wanted to do, even if sometimes he yearned to try something different. Not everyone was like that, though; Maya, as far as he knew, still didn't know what she wanted to do either.

[Nayt]

Akizets leaned into Eld when he put his arm around her. She was actually pretty clingy even when she wasn't feeling upset. She'd hold his hand, hang on his arm, lean into him when she sat by him--things like that. When she was feeling depressed, though . . . well, she was about ten times as clingy, and Eld invited her just now to do as much clinging as would make her feel happier. So she scooted over until there was no more space between their bodies and leaned her head upon his shoulder. Harmless enough. For now.

The thought of a part time job confused her a bit. Like . . . here? At the clinic? She wasn't upset by the suggestion or anything. Eld wasn't talking about something she could do for her entire life or anything. That would've got her upset again. A part time job, though . . .

"B-- but I don't know anything about medicine," Akizets whimpered, "O-- or bein' a doctor or a nurse or any of that stuff."

She could imagine herself standing by a patient with a needle, trying to jab it in the person's arm, but constantly failing at it. She'd poke and poke and poke and not find the right place, and by the time the patient was getting worried, she'd finally stab him in the right place, but way too far and way too fast, and he'd start just bleeding all over the place!

"Oh man," she thought aloud meekly, "I'd be the worst."

[Zach Kaiser]

"W-Well, my parents don't even let me do anything with needles, so I don't think you'd need to worry," Eld said with a nervous chuckle. He wasn't going to say it aloud, but he really didn't like the idea of Akizetsumei running around with medical supplies. "Anyway, I meant here in Hillcrest, not here at the clinic. My parents probably won't need a part-timer until I leave, anyway."

Then he had an idea. "Actually, you could be a courier like Kyo was; they usually don't have to carry anything heavy or fragile, and they're always looking for people who are fast." Seeing as how Akizetsumei was most likely the fastest person in town, that was definitely a job she could excel at.

[Nayt]

Well, that was kind of a relief. She totally wouldn't have made it as a part timer at the clinic. She'd have botched it all up and totally gotten someone hurt, and that was just way too much responsibility for Akizetsumei to deal with. A courier, though--that could work.

"I-- I guess so," she sighed.

Though it would be fun, having a job that required her to go running around everywhere, it wouldn't be nearly as much fun as, say, spending whole days with Eld. She mulled it over, but ultimately came to the same conclusion each time. It felt so silly to say, but she was going to say it, anyways.

"If I get a job, I won't be able to spend as much time with you," she said with a pout as she wrapped her arms around Eld's chest and back.

The way she figured it-- if Eld was working sometimes and she was working sometimes, and those sometimes were always at different times, then she'd rarely get to see him! And Akizetsumei liked her Eld time. Honestly, they were the happiest days she could possibly ask for.

[Zach Kaiser]

"W-Well, that may be so, but..." He appreciated the sentiment, and out of appreciation for that and Akizetsumei's feelings he didn't finish his thought.

You have to grow up sometime.

Instead, he took a different track. "I appreciate the thought, but you're worried about not knowing what you want to do, right? If you don't look around and try things, how will you find out?"

He'd lucked out, and had ready access to the profession he wanted to go into. But since working at a mine or steel mill were definitely not things he could picture Akizetsumei doing, she was going to have to seek something out.

[Nayt]

Eld was right and there was no denying it. It was probably necessary. She'd just have to try to make sure she and Eld worked at the same times, so nothing changed . . .

"I-- I guess so," she frowned.

Akizets set her head against the side of Eld's chest, where she could hear his heartbeat and all around be closer to him. She squeezed him tight for a second, then eased up.

"I'll ask Tou about it, um, later," she added the last bit when she remembered that she'd run away from home, and probably wasn't going to be going back until someone came to get her.

She kissed the side of his chest once, then went silent. She wasn't thinking of much to say, and was still feeling a bit melancholic, but at least she was cuddling with her boyfriend.

[Zach Kaiser]

He nodded. Kyo would probably have...well, okay he'd probably have about as much to say about his former job as anything else, but he might have something, anyway.

And with that, they fell into silence again, but this time a much more comfortable one. As he looked down at her, he got the sudden urge to kiss her. Kiss her, and then lay back and pull her on top of him, and-

"I-It's getting pretty late; we should probably get to bed soon," he spoke up suddenly, hoping his face didn't look as red as it felt right now.