Tears.
Transparent, salty tears were the first thing he saw on her face. Normally he would be the one crying, not her. But then again, that was in their childhood from all those years ago; he was much better at keeping his tears in check then he had once been.
But she had never cried, not once. Not even when faced with the inability to remember her time with him in the village. Not even when she found out her grandfather, her only traceable relative, had died.
Yet there she was, out by the dock in the nearby forest, crying. She hadn't heard his approach, his light steps and his even breaths baited and muffled by the sound of the night around them. Why had she even been outside at such an hour? He probably would never know, but at least the most danger to be received from the area now was the steadily returning and repopulating wildlife. No longer were those heavily undergrowth-filled regions filled by the lingering ghosts of the dead, only silence hanging in their place, that is, if one did not include the muffled sound of Shiori's crying.
So rather than question why she was crying or make his presence known, he merely approached and sat down beside her, making her jump slightly at the sudden appearance of the socially awkward man.
Shiori wiped away some of her translucent tears as best she could, her glossy brown gaze fixated loosely on Suga. "W-what are you doing out here, Suga?"
In response the man gave a silent scoff, rolling his nightstone-blue eyes as he pulled out a memo and a pen. Sure, he had received his voice back at the end of their long quest, but that didn't mean he was used to using it quite yet. "I could ask you the same thing." He wrote out, handing her the memo to which she quickly took and read before responding.
"S-sorry Suga-kun... I.. I had a nightmare. But you weren't in your room so..." She shifted uncomfortably, her gaze moving from the memo to the grass beside them.
"What was it about?"
"Um.. Well I..." She was hesitant to tell him, her gaze slowly trailing back to him before she gave a small sigh. "I was back at my house, out in the city. I was remembering how empty it was, and how far off. I don't.. I don't want to leave again, I don't have anything left back there to go to..."
Suga slowly took this in, slightly nodding his head as she spoke, his black hair swishing slightly in the gentle breeze and with the sudden movement of his head.
"I see..." He wrote out slowly, his pen scratching the page as it ran out of ink. He let out a small mental curse, his eyes narrowing as he handing her his final memo. As she read it he surprised her, pulling her over to him with ease.
He easily wrapped his elongated and black clothed limbs around her small form, pulling her into a slightly awkward hug as he rested his chin on her light-brown hair.
"Well, Sii-chan. Why not stay. Here. Don't go." The last words were slightly muffled by her hair, but still audible to the girl. Her tears stopped and a light blush dusted her face, her gaze flicking upward as she leaned back against him.
"Maybe I will, Suga-kun. Maybe I will..."