Not realizing she hadn't heard his last statement, he was kind of surprised by the sudden statement--he evidently didn't share her train of thought. "U-Umm...I don't know about that," he said with an embarrassed laugh. She'd just seemed like she needed help, so he helped; he didn't have to go that far out of his way to do it, anyway. He liked to think anyone would do the same.

He also did not attach the same connotations to it as she did; perhaps if he'd known her for more than a day he would have, but it did not occur to him that in the short times since they'd met that she could like him in anything more than the most general way.

"Besides, it's hard not to get along with someone as cheerful as you."

Kaze couldn't contain her giggle, either. It was almost sort of childish the way she giggled and blushed; childish, maybe, to someone her age, but completely normal to someone Eld's age. That was exactly why she called Eld so sweet, and thought he was such a nice person. He said things like that, on top of going out of his way to help her out like this. It may not have seemed out of the way to him, but it was as far as Kaze was concerned. He probably could have been doing so many other things with his time--which must have meant that he at least kind of enjoyed being out here with Kaze. The thought made her smile even more.

She couldn't help but feel as if she were forgetting something, though--something relatively important. As Kaze stared at the horizon, watching the sun's progressive fall (while unconsciously leaning her shoulder into Eld's shoulder), she tried to think about it. It had something to do with time.

The sun was going down rather quickly. It was going to be in just a half an hour or so, probably. There was something she needed to do soon--somewhere she needed to be. Yes, yes, she remembered that much, just now. Kaze thought hard about it. Two people, yes! Two people! She was supposed to meet them somewhere . . . that wasn't here. It was a place north or south of here? South, probably. Yes, it had to be south. They were two people she could recall with a warmness in her heard, too--which meant they had to be her two closest friends.

Kaze couldn't possibly disappoint them by being late for their meeting, where ever it was! Now that she remembered it, she knew that if she took too much time, she wasn't going to get there before dark!

But still, there was something she wanted to do before she left. She'd been thinking about it for awhile so she wouldn't possibly forget. And right here, right now, it felt like the most proper time to do it, even if she were going to come back to . . . Hillcrest (she had to look at Eld's forehead again to remember) later on, after meeting with her friends.

"Hey, Eld? C-could you, um . . ." Kaze asked with a noticeable tone of nervousness, "C-could you close your eyes for a second?"

"Huh?" It was kind of an odd request--it reminded him of the times Etsu wanted him to do the same, but that was always because she didn't want him to see the spiritual techniques she was using before he'd known much about Reapers. (1)

But he didn't think Kaze was going to do anything bad--certainly she wouldn't push him down the hill or anything, like a certain someone used to do. "Well...alright." He closed his eyes waited, wondering what she was going to do.

Footnote (1): Also not true. Each time Etsu had him close his eyes, she'd tried to work up the courage to kiss him and failed. Had he known that, he might have thought twice about agreeing to close his eyes so easily.

For awhile, nothing happened. Kaze stared at his face, before setting her fingers to her lips. She made sure her lips weren't chapped; they didn't feel that way. They felt soft, actually, even to her. That was nice, right? To someone else, soft lips were nice. That's what it looked like when her friends kissed each other. It looked like their lips were soft, and Kaze always wondered what that felt like. Earlier, it had happened; it was extremely brief, but it felt like Eld's lips were soft, too. For another moment, Kaze continued to watch his face.

But then, Kaze leaned in and shut her eyes . . .

Eld would feel it, a hand softly against his chest, a body leaning just slightly into his own, and lips warmly pressed against his own.

If Eld were to open his eyes to confirm the sensation, he would see her there, Kaze, with her eyes closed, leaning into him, pressing her lips against his in a soft, yet close kiss. Eld had kissed approximately three people in his life prior to this, that he knew of, and he would have certainly procured the experience from it to know how to kiss, and know how it was to be done. Kaze wasn't bad at it, but even to Eld she would seem inexperienced--but it didn't matter, it shouldn't matter; a kiss was a kiss, and her lips were soft and warm, like the gentle breeze at their backs.

But no matter how sudden it may have been, it was an entirely innocent kiss: it wasn't deep, nor did she seem to have any want to deepen it. She was just content where she was, leaning into this young man that she had grown quite the affinity for, and pressing her lips against his. It was the kind of kiss that could linger for any length of time, and still be just as sweet.

There was a moment's pause as, in shock and confusion, Eld couldn't move a muscle. It may not have been something he did terribly often, but he'd still kissed enough to recognize a kiss when he felt one.

His eyes shot open wide; where did this come from? They'd only just met, and--but wait, she had been a bit too happy for someone in a backwater village who wasn't being very successful in finding their brother. He'd almost have thought that maybe this was some kind of teasing, an older girl playing with a younger guy (which was the impression he'd kind of gotten from Mizuki from time to time), but...no, the way she kissed him wasn't that kind of kiss, it was a soft, innocent, "I like you" kind of kiss that was much more suited to someone his age or even a bit younger.

It was pleasant--even an experienced kiss didn't really feel bad or anything--but with a bit of regret and a lot of guilt he placed his hands on her shoulders and gently pulled away from her.

"K-Kaze," he stammered, his face red--he didn't really want to look her in the eye but he forced himself to, "I-I think I-I may have unintentionally given you the wrong idea..."

It was . . . nice. It was really nice when she did it. Eld's lips were as soft and warm as she had imagined them to be, based on what she had felt earlier in the day, and if she could have had her way, she would have let the kiss linger for much longer.

Kaze felt her heart skip a beat as Eld set his hands upon her shoulders and pulled away from her. She didn't lean in again or anything like that, though. Kaze wasn't the aggressive type in the slightest. The wind at their back came to a distinct pause, though, as Kaze tilted her head to the side to look at Eld with an inquisitive stare.

What kind of wrong idea could he have given her? He rather obviously liked her. He thought she was pretty, sweet, cheerful, and he seemed to enjoy being around her--and she thought he was handsome, kind, and charming. She really liked him, too. What sort of wrong idea was it? Had it been too soon? Was she really whatever it was the man in the bar had called her? She couldn't recall it, but she knew it hurt, and she had a feeling she knew what subject matter it entailed. Was she that?

Or was it something else? Eld had said that he had maybe unintentionally given her the wrong idea, after all. That meant it had little to do with her, right? But . . . but what could it mean? Kaze's heart beat a little quicker as she stared at Eld's face. Something told her she wasn't going to like the answer to this.

"What . . . do you mean?" she asked with vested curiosity.

"It's...well..." He was never good at this part; he'd only done it once, but that one time was such a spectacular failure that he was absolutely certain he never wanted to do it again if it could be avoided. He hated hurting others, especially people he liked, and this was the kind of thing that always hurt.

"I...like you, in the sense that I think you're a nice person, but...I don't...like like you. I mean...I only just met you."

He took a deep breath; he really didn't understand how Kaze got so attached to him so quickly, but he didn't think she was the kind of girl the guy in the bar had called her, even now. It wasn't like she was trying to seduce him.

"And, besides...there's someone else I already li-...no, someone else I love."

"I'm sorry," he finished, giving her an apologetic smile. He really didn't think ill of her at all for it, even he thought it was kind of strange. He hoped she understood that.

Kaze's expression fell slightly. "Oh . . ."

It wasn't a very strong reaction instantly, but that was akin to all of her emotional reactions. When her mood went in one direction or the other, it did change a little quickly, but the change was never drastic in any direction or the other, not at first. At first, it was always very slight. Then, it could fall or rise accordingly.

"S-someone else. O-of course," she replied with a nervous laugh.

Kaze removed her hand from where she had been holding onto Eld's shirt, and gently pulled away from Eld's hands upon her shoulder, leaning back and sitting where she had been just a moment earlier, sitting upon the grass next to him, watching the horizon-- but all the while, Kaze's cheerful expression continued its steady decline, inevitably becoming a distinct frown.

"It . . . just makes sense, I guess! I-I mean . . . a-- a handsome and kind and sweet and nice guy like you-- of course there'd be someone else. Wh-what kind of justice would there be if s-someone like you were single, huh?" Kaze had started to talk, and kept on going. She was obviously nervous, and progressively becoming very stirred, emotionally. "I-- I should've expected that! G-good people aren't ever alone. I-it was stupid of me to think th-that you'd-- that you'd . . . be alone-- or-- or be interested in me! or-- or . . ."

Kaze trailed off. She stared down the steep side of the hill with half shut eyes. This had ended horribly. There could have been no worse ending. She thought it was a sure thing; that Eld liked her the same way. They may have just met today, but that meant very little to her. It wasn't like she wanted to do much more than that with him! And . . . and she was probably just going to wind up leaving when she found her brother, anyways! So it wasn't like they could really have a relationship in the first place! I shouldn't have done that! That was so stupid of me! It isn't like anything could come of it, anyways! Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Though Kaze had briefly stopped talking, she wound up saying much more in her mind that she had to Eld.

"I-- I'm sorry," she whispered at last, before gulping and moving to stand up, "I-- I should really go. I'm sorry."

It was...painful to watch. Maybe not quite as bad as last time, but despite their short time knowing one another she seemed to be taking this pretty hard. He wondered what he could have done to make such an impression on her.

And while he couldn't blame her if she didn't want to see him for a bit, he couldn't let her leave beating herself up like that. "K-Kaze, wait!" he said, hurriedly standing up before she could descend the hill.

"L-Look, I...I don't think you did anything wrong, and I don't dislike you or anything. I still want to help you find your brother...but...I'll understand if you rather I didn't."

Kaze stopped where she was when Eld stood to pursue her. She was standing at the edge of the steep side of the hill, where it was extremely dangerous to even try ascending, let alone descending.

". . . th-thanks . . ." she whispered.

There was a tone of dejection in her voice. Yes, they might have only known each other for a day, but that didn't mean that rejection hurt any more or less. In fact, for Kaze, it might have hurt even more. She didn't see a lot of people outside of her home; she saw her family and her friends and a few others every so often, and she was used to not being all that liked, sans by a handful of people, most of which were far too busy to imprint themselves upon her memory in any lasting way.

So, here, she met someone that she liked--someone kind, handsome, and charming, that she really enjoyed being around today, even if their search come up short. And she thought he liked her too--and she wanted to kiss him! And it all turned out bad. She was disappointed in the situation and in herself.

"I-I'll just--" she paused. What was it she was even going to say? Kaze had nothing in mind. There was a blank. She wanted something to do with Eld, but outside of him helping her find her brother, there was disappointment and twinges of pain. When she continued, she didn't sound angry or hateful, though printed on paper, her words may have seemed just that. Kaze instead sounded sad, but sad in a very disappointed way, as if she were trying to brush it off, and currently failing to do so, "--I'll just be back later. I-I'm supposed to meet someone soon in that . . . that town-- um, Gabelans. So I'll just come back after that. And we'll just go look some more tomorrow . . ."

"Galaens." Even in the current circumstance, he still couldn't help but correct her.

"A-Alright." There was another pause, as he wanted to say something else before she left, but it took him a moment to find the words. "Umm...d-don't be too hard on yourself, alright? We can't help how we feel." It was, without a doubt, something he'd learned as hard fact in the last few months.

"I-I'll see you later then." He'd wait for her to go, and for a time after she left he'd simply sit up on the hill, lost in thought.

She thought about that for a moment, the idea that no one could really help how they felt. It made since, in the end. She couldn't really help that she took an affinity for Eld, and he couldn't help that he was in love with someone else. No matter how disappointing of a fact it might have been, it was true. The wind behind them was still, borderline non-existent. Kaze nodded slightly as she thought about it.

That was probably why she'd never be able to stay here for any real length of time, anyways. Kaze couldn't help that, either. She was compelled to move, and rarely stay in the same place for any length of time. A wanderlust.

"Y-yeah . . ." Kaze replied with a sad smile, "I-- I'll see you."

And she stepped forward, one foot down the steep side of the hill, and then the next. Kaze displayed no sign of unbalance or unsteadiness; she kept her eyes focused upon the bottom of the hill, and walked down the steep angle as if it were as easy as walking a straight and steady path. Kaze didn't think about it, though. All her thoughts were elsewhere.

The Great Library was a considerable place, a memorial of trials and tribulations all long since passed, of human and non-human alike. It stood three stories high and contained a main chamber littered with organized shelves, one after another, row after row, with lengthy tables lined up between them--followed only by more rows of shelves, all equally lined with text after text . . .

Upper floors contained more, smaller tables and chairs on either side of them; the upper floors themselves were set up like internal balconies, however, and contained large windows and a scant few bookshelves up against the walls.

Here, it was difficult to make sense of what one read. The books were all in different languages, more often than not, and even when one could read them, they often spoke of times, people, and places that made little sense to one resident of this dreary, achromatic city. Over time, the readable texts were all seen as an example of not only what they lacked, but what they would likely never have. For that reason alone, only a very select few had ever accessed it.

For some time, there had been a single body here--alone in study and interest, but as the doors creaked open, it would become evident that he was to no longer alone, if only for a moment.

At first glance it would be difficult to tell the library was even occupied. Stacks of books on tables, chairs, and even the floor towered several feet into the air everywhere. They almost completely obscured the room's sole occupant, as only a pair of legs clad in blue slacks was visible, sticking out under a table. The area around his feet was only clear of books because he was worried about accidentally kicking any piles he made over.

A blonde-haired head leaned over, looking through a space above a relatively short pile, wearing a beige t-shirt with a green jacket that looked like it was a size too small for him. "Hello?" he called, looking around, having heard the door open.

Two bodies stepped foot into the great library--the Sepulcher of Knowledge. Neither of the two were very tall; one was five feet and six inches tall, the other was three inches shorter. With so few inhabitants, it was easy to recognize any one of them by name, lest you had particular issues memorizing names, or just about anything for that matter. One woman here did have that problem, but she was the only one.

At least, anymore she was. There were others before her, but they were gone, now.

No doubt the blond, the only one that occupied the library on any regular basis, would recognize them as soon as they stepped in.

The (slightly) taller one was recognizable from miles away. Half a mask covered the right side of his face, and he wore a sleeveless shirt that was somehow sewn together into a turtle-neck sweatshirt, half and half, and a pair of slacks--black on one side, brown on the other. Illorex.

The other was a little more subtle. Anyone that knew him personally knew that he was, in fact, a boy, but by appearance alone, he looked completely female. His dirty-blond hair was chin-length and covered his small face, and he even had a thin, feminine neck, as well as a thin body with a subtle curve between the bottom of his ribs and his hips, making him look all the more female. He wore a baggy sweatshirt and shorts (and, likewise, with his legs shaven--as they always were--it was impossible to take a look at his legs for confirmation on gender), and followed Illorex in with a reluctant pout and his arms folded over his chest.

The emerald green eyes of the youth glanced from one end of the library to the other, his reluctance briefly replaced by awe--but soon after, his expression of the utmost reluctance and disapproval returned.

"Emil?" Illorex called out monotonously as soon as the door closed behind he and his follower.

"Don't answer him!" Illorex's follower declared promptly, contradicting Illorex's call with a declaration that the blond should refrain from responding.