Oh, boy here it is chapter 10! I know some of you have been waiting awhile for this chapter so I am going to make this quick. As always thank you for your wonderful comments/reviews! And I have nothing left to say because I basically just worked on this chapter all week and went to work. Hope you guys enjoy it!

Chapter 10: Impasse

Emi stomped back to her room fuming with heated anger. She muttered curses and obscenities towards Erik both in French and her mother language, she even uttered a Dutch comment that she had picked up years ago. The extent of her vibrant vocabulary would have made the crudest of sailors blush like a lady.

"Kuso yaro!" Emi shouted, slamming the door to her room shut.

Ignoring her belongings that she had placed on the bed Emi dove down onto her bed face first. The plain white covers muffled her frustrated groans.

"Jack ass!" she cursed Erik again.

So far Emi's first day consisted of being embarrassed twice, and getting into an all out argument with the one person she was being paid to look after.

"Well this is going well." Said Emi sarcastically as she rolled onto her back.

Emi threw her left arm over her face and tried to breathe evenly and calmly. She needed a few minutes to not only calm down, but to also think of a way to mend the previous incident that happened between her and Erik. Although common curtsy and logic had told her to go back and apologize pride had shouted out; Not a chance in Hell!

"Baka should have told me that he was getting dressed." Emi grumbled.

The image of Erik dressing once again invaded the front of her mind.

"Gah!" Emi screamed, throwing her hands over her eyes as if to block out the image. "Stop that! Stop that! Stop that!" she demanded of herself. "Why are you still thinking about him like that?"

Emi had only caught a small glimpse of Erik improperly dressed, hardly enough time to see anything at all but it was just enough to leave a lasting impression on her.

"Why?" Emi asked out loud to the empty room, "Why is this affecting me so?"

She removed her hands from her face and stared blankly up at the ceiling, clouds of doubt began to move in.

Perhaps I'm not cut out for this-Shut up! She quickly scolded herself, Stop doubting yourself, you can do this job. Just take a moment to calm down and get back to work.

Taking her own advice Emi closed her eyes and began to take deep, even breaths; breathing in and out through her nose. Her meditation process was slowly taking affect on her frazzled nerves. She was in a calm state of mind when the image of a shirtless Erik began to bleed through the darkness of her closed eyelids. Emi's nerves were about to become unhinged again, but something in the image caught her attention.

She allowed herself to explore the small detail that seemed to cry out to her; Emi focused in on the area of Erik's torso, and through the lack of lighting she began to see a mark on the side of his torso; the mark was thin and jagged looking, it looked as though it covered the length of his long torso. The mark reminded Emi of an image of a river that you would see on a map.

A scar?

Emi's eyelids suddenly flew open of their own accord, ridding the image from her mind, as if her mind was telling her to cease her curiosity lest she begin to asking questions about the alleged scar, which she knew she was not allowed to ask Erik such questions.

Emi tried to convince herself that she had just made the image of the scar up to serve as a poor excuse to think about Erik in a degrading way, but even she knew that was a lie. No, what Emi saw was in no way a figment of her imagination but what she really saw before she hastily covered her eyes.

"Don't ask." Emi warned herself.

Sighing heavily she pushed herself up into a sitting position. She felt calmer but she in no way felt any better or worse than before, but she could feel her sympathy towards Erik deepen ever so slightly.

"Right then, "she breathed, "try again." She said rising from the bed and making her way back to Erik's room.

As Emi walked back to Erik's room she wondered briefly if she should ask Erik about the scar she saw on his torso. She wanted to ask, but against her own will she thought better of the idea. Not only was it because of what Nadir had told her about asking questions, but she herself knew that there were some parts of a person's past that they are not willing to discuss. Especially when someone abruptly asks them.

God knew that Emi was not willing to discuss her past, even if someone asked her about her life.

Though it pained her to do so she turned a blind eye to the issue, deciding not to bring up the question of the supposed scar.

I guess we play it by ear. Emi decided as she approached Erik's door.

This time Emi knocked once then let herself in to the room.

Inside Erik sat on the edge of his bed with both of his hands resting soundly on his knees. They clenched at the fabric of his black trousers when he heard Emi enter the room.

"Please do come in." said Erik sarcastically.

Emi only ignored him as she made her way in to the room; with Erik's non-existent gaze following her every move.

Emi came to stand directly in front of Erik; she looked down at him her emotions in check and in a neutral zone. He in turn directed his head up at her, not seeing her but knowing that she was standing directly in front of him. He kept a strong grip on his own emotions.

Had Erik not have been blind they would have been staring directly into each other's intense gaze.

They were in a sense back to where they had begun; both standing their ground, ready to defend if need be, and each one waiting for the other to make the first move. Only this time there was an eerie silence that covered the room and added to the tense atmosphere that the two created.

Erik was the first to cave in their mental game, "What?" he finally asked.

"I told you," Emi spoke calmly and coolly, "I am not leaving."

"You're wasting your time."

"I made a promise. I even swore to you that I am not leaving."

Without an invitation (or even waiting for one) Emi took a seat on the floor directly in front of Erik. She propped her sharp elbows up on her crossed legs and rested her chin on the palms of her hands.

"I've made my move," Emi said looking directly up at Erik, whose head had followed the sound of her voice and was now looking down upon her with a frown. "Now it's your turn."

For awhile Erik just sat there on his bed staring down at Emi, his face set in a studious manner. She knew his attention was not directed towards her but his focus was on the choices he could choose to make at this point, calculating the outcome of every move, trying to decide which would be the best course of action to take.

After some time had passed he had made his decision.

Without a word Erik rose up from the bed and walked around Emi. She followed his movements and waited for what he was going to do next.

It was nothing exciting.

Erik walked across his room and came to sit at his old drafting table, turning his back on her. Erik made himself as comfortable as possible at the table, ignoring Emi who continued to watch Erik even as he just sat there with his back to her, pretending that she didn't exist in his sightless world, she watched and waited to see which one of them would be the one to make the next move.

And so ends another chapter…

I hope you guys enjoyed it, because this one actually went through more editing and revising than anything else (so far) alright ya'll I am heading to bed now (so tired…zzzz). Take care and see you in chapter 11!