After the display in the middle of the street, the man withdrew from Kanai somewhat awkwardly, like he had done something wrong, he then grabbed her hand again and started to lead her to what she could only assume to be a good place to dump her at, or he was taking her to his lodgings. She assumed the latter seeing as the man seemed to have no ill will towards her, from what she could sense at least. As they walked she thought to herself 'His hands are so warm, and his eyes are so gentle.' and with that comfort she got closer to him her head on his shoulder as they walked. He looked down at her and smiled briefly as they continued to walk.
When they reached the hotel, he ushered her gently in, like she was made of the finest glass, the kind which could shatter at the slightest touch. What he had witnessed in the street had scared him to his core. At that moment, he realized exactly how fragile she truly was. Though nothing could be seen on the exterior, on the inside was a completely different story. He could now see how much this woman would come to depend on him. She didn't know anything but how to please the men she was bought by, and she would do anything to keep the pain away at any cost, even if it meant her complete and utter humiliation. Though no marks were visible on her skin, he could see them all clearly within her, underneath the veil of her beautiful alabaster white skin, completely unnoticed to the eyes of humans, was a woman that had been beaten, battered, and molested in more ways than one.
"Would you like something to eat?" he asked still using his limited, yet perfect, Japanese, not knowing if the woman understood his language or not.
"Shokumotsu?" she said her eyes sparkling pink again, with suppressed delight at the thought of being able to eat whatever she wanted, it was another new concept to her, just one of many on the list. "Hai!" she said excitedly, nodding her head emphatically. Though she looked mature her reactions were childish and the man wondered exactly how old she was.
"How old are you?" he asked curiously, looking at her face to gauge her reactions.
"Ni-juu-issai" she replied to him still thinking about all the foods she wanted to eat. He counted in his head '21.' he thought, she was not overly old, but she acted young for her age, a trait she had kept well hidden when she was on stage displaying herself like a woman for all the men to see. This must be her true nature, in that moment the man believed he had found a truth about this enigmatic young woman, yet he would soon learn exactly how wrong he was about her, and how much he still had to learn.
She looked at him curiously. "Nani no hitotsu namae?" (What is your name?) she asked, tilting her head to the side cutely, another uncharacteristic gesture.
"My name is one of great power," the man answered, a grin lighting up the rugged plains of his face. "Are you sure you want to be burdened with that information?" he finished looking to her questioningly with a hint of worry in his eyes. 'If I tell her my name.....they might...' he cut his thoughts off, they would find him eventually and it was rude to keep his name from her.
"Watashi wa tashika." (I am sure.) she said with great confidence, again displaying childishly-maturistic actions to him.
"Very well then," he leaned in next to her and placed his mouth next to her ear. "My name is Locan Maestir," the man said in a breathy whisper, he felt a slight shiver from Kanai as he pulled away, and with the shiver brought a hint of...arousal.
Suddenly a cold gust of air rushed through the room, as if a spirit had passed by.
The girl shivered again this time intensely. "Nandattano ittai?" (What was that?) she asked as she put her arms around herself, suddenly finding it very cold in the room as well, but as she looked around she saw no windows open and wondered how the cold air had been let in.
"That was nothing beag luch,nothing at all," Locan assured her, falsely.
"Hontou desu ka?" (Are you sure?) she asked, not quite believing the man for some reason, there was something off in his eyes.
"As sure as I can be," he replied, even though his eyes showed a different image, an image filled with worry, regret, and dread. She was looking at him....no looking past him right through him and he hoped that she would not catch his lie, he didn't want her to catch his lie.
"Daijobu?" she asked looking at his face, she was worried now too, finally catching the worry in his eyes for what is was, she looked the man over, he seemed strong enough... so what would make this man worry to the point where it would actually come through his eyes. Emotions, in her experience, only showed through the eyes when they were so strong that you couldn't hold them back. So either something was seriously wrong or.....he was weak at shielding his emotions. She was pretty sure it wasn't the last one, it didn't seem to be in this man's character.
Locan cocked his head to the side in a gesture of total incomprehension. "I don't understand," he said in English, so confused he forgot to translate. She looked at him trying to fake her confusion and failing horribly. He repeated the question in Japanese at the look of confusion on her face and he was slightly surprised when she replied in broken English.
"Aru...yu....oukae." she said speaking to him as if she knew no English, and was just trying to speak it to make it easier on him, nevertheless, she was hoping that he was still oblivious to the fact that she actually did understand English.
"Hai," Locan said, feigning sincerity. He hated to lie to those he cared about, and even though he had only known this girl for a short while, he still cared for her on many different levels. Yet he wasn't going to tempt the fates. He still had no idea how this girl's culture viewed magic. All he knew was that they believed that demons were the cause of all of their misfortunes and that demons wielded great magics for this task. He could not tell her the truth until he was sure she would not panic and try to accuse him of being an oni, and then proceed to try to kill him, prompting him to end her existence much before her time.
She was happy that he had bought her broken English, bit not picking up on her actual understanding of English, as far as she knew. "Yu ar... ryin.....tu mi." she said keeping up the act, she was very crafty despite, her blatant immaturities, if only that were an act as well.
Locan looked directly at her. His eyes were wide with shock. She didn't believe him, she honestly didn't believe him? It was a little bit of a shock to him. "What makes you say that?" he asked in perfect Japanese.
"Anata no metsuki." (Your eyes.) "Watashi wa.... canu si...sono...ry en rem." she said in half-broken English, half-Japanese.
"My eyes?" Locan said even more confused than he was before if that were possible, her not believing him had already thrown him for a loop.
Kanai sighed as she decided to give up her facade of not knowing how to speak or understand his language. "This is utterly ridiculous." she said in perfect English with a Japanese accent. "I can see the lie in your eyes." she said her eyes turning a lavender color. "So stop lying to me.... please." she added on the last bit with a tone of despairity in her voice.
"Are you full blooded Japanese?" Locan asked, interested in the nature of her abilities, completely transfixed on her now lavender eyes, usually that color was a sign of power, but as far as he knew he sensed no magic coming from her.
"Naze?" she said slipping back into her native dialect, she felt more comfortable in it, even though she could speak many different languages, all she had to do was hear it and then magically she would know and be able to speak them.
"Your eyes," Locan said by way of explanation, peering into her seemingly endless orbs, that humans seemed fit to name as eyes, he could have thought of a few better, more descriptive words, that would be better suited for people with eyes like this woman.
"Nani?" another single word question, from the delicate lips of the woman accompanied by a look of confusion and the changing of the eyes to the color of emeralds.
"They truly change color," another simple response, from Locan who couldn't believe that he had set out to free this women and was now finding himself inexplicably drawn to her, he couldn't take her he was already betrothed....but it wouldn't be the first time tradition had been broken in his country.
"Hai, they said my eyes are how you say... kaleidoscopic." she said mastering the word easily.
"Were your parents the same way, or was one of them a foreigner?" Locan asked curious to know this women's lineage, she seemed to be foreign but sometimes there is usually more than meets the eye.
"I do not know. Why do you question me so?" she said an arrogant air about her all of a sudden, that was not there previously. Locan made note of the continuous personality fluctuations.
"I ask because the way your eyes change color depending on your mood is a trait of the people of my country," Locan replied stiffly.
"I have lived here all my life and as far as I know, I am the only one in my family who has the ability to change the color of their eyes. I say that lightly for I know little about my family and find I technically have no control over it.....Locan-sama." she said addressing him as a lord, he was her master now, she did not feel like getting hit for disobedience.
Locan sighed. "Sit down, I have much to explain." With that a pillow, that complimented her spring color kimono perfectly, materialized at Kanai's feet.