Reiko went from blinking her large green eyes owlishly at her female cousin to being just about to rescind her opinion and go with them to trying to fight down a blush (and, thankfully, succeeding) as she delicately laid her palm on Eienâs forearm. It was honestly silly, how ridiculous she felt whenever she was alone with him. It had been the same way every time for at least thirty years now. She was hopeless, really, and very surprised that he didnât think she was an idiot by this point. âI-if itâs really all right,â she said, but it seemed to be. He wasnât the kind of person who said he would do something only to change his mind all of a sudden, anyway.
They managed to find seats without any difficulty, though they filled up in the few minutes after. âThank you, Eien,â she said, smiling brightly despite herself. âIâve been looking forward to this for a while, actually⊠though I was serious when I said we can leave if itâs bad.â She scrunched her nose slightly. She really didnât like it when people ruined a perfectly good play with poor acting or something. Not that she minded novices; everyone had to start somewhere. It was more like⊠when you could tell that the actors just didnât care about the material, and had made no effort to learn about itâit felt like a disrespect for the literature, and Reiko had a lot of respect for literature, being rather a bookworm herself.
Eien tilted his head slightly before waiting for Reiko to take his arm. Once she did, he began walking at a steady pace, one that wasn't too quick nor slow. Just steady. His eyes glanced over the crowd every now and then, watching as eyes would flicker to him and then towards Reiko, and then back to him. He sighed softly through his nose. There were times where he seriously wandered how his father had dealt with such things. It was annoying to be regarded as something...like meat. Though if he recalled correctly, his father had actually indulged himself with these types of things, before he met Shizuka. He was brought from his thoughts by Reiko, and the arrival at the theater.
"There is no need to thank me, Reiko. Hikari can take care of herself, and I'd rather not be dragged into whatever it is she and your sister might conjur should their paths cross. Besides," he spoke, glancing down at Reiko as they stopped walking. "Is there something wrong with wanting to enjoy my time with my cousin?" he questioned, raising a slight brow in the process. He shook his head softly as he returned his attention back towards the stage, a frown etching upon his face as he watched the students set up the stage. They could leave if it was bad, but she was looking forward to this play for a while now.
"If the play is not to your liking, then we will leave. I do not mind either way," and he didn't. This was a once a year festival, one that he was quite well accustomed to by now, and he honestly didn't mind it as much as he might have portrayed himself. It was quite the opposite really. It always amused him, to a certain degree, to see what his cousin and his other family members could pull off. Well, there was also this plus side to it.
âNo, of course not,â Reiko answered quickly, waving her free hand in front of her face to banish the thought. No, there was nothing wrong with enjoying his time with her⊠though honestly, she was probably enjoying it a little too much. She had built something of a resistance to this over the years, and not longer did she have to worry about her heart beating uncontrollably or her face turning red or stammering in his presence⊠at least not usually. Then again, she did things like stutter with some regularity, if not as often as Farah, the poor thing. She had Reikoâs problem without her coping mechanisms, and it was painfully obvious. Truthfully, Kiko was as much of a wreck inwardly right now as Farah was outwardly when around Trevor, so there was that.
She really did enjoy the theater though, and so when the play started, she devoted her attention to it, or rather she tried. The first actor botched his lines, and all of the acting was⊠well, she wasnât sure there was a polite way to say it. Still, she tried her best to enjoy it, but half an hour in, after the seventh missed cue, she sighed and shook her head. This was really pretty hopeless. Reaching over, she tapped Eienâs arm with her first two fingers, making a face and then tilting her head towards the aisle, asking without words if he wanted to leave. She was certainly inclined to. It was pretty physically painful to watch one of her favorites being butchered, honestly.
Eien wasn't much for facial expressions. In fact, his face often seemed to remain pressed into a fine line, a new meaning to stoicism being defined by it really, however; the play had truly pulled at his facial strings. His lips pursed into a fine line before they tilted downwards, the frown growing more prominent with each missed cue, missed line, and atrocious acting. Was this what the drama club was reduced to? He shook his head faintly, only briefly turning to face Reiko when she tapped his arm. He blinked slowly at her before inclining his head.
"Is there any other place you wish to go?" he questioned. The play had proven to be a disappointment, and he still had tickets left if she was so inclined to go play more games. Though he was certain she wouldn't, she wasn't like his other family members that way. Or perhaps she was, and it was something he had failed to notice. He didn't give it much thought as he waited for her reply.
Kiko gave the matter some thought; she honestly didnât know. If she played the games, it would probably end in disaster, but she wasnât entirely sure what else she should do. Sometimes, it was difficult to figure out what to do with someone who very rarely expressed an opinion about anything. She knew he had them, somewhere in there, but he was very difficult to read, even to someone like her, who was accomplished at picking up on the smallest facial or body-language cues. Taking a deep breath, she expelled it through her nose, shaking her head a little.
âI suppose it would be no use at all asking what you want to do, would it, Eien?â She smoothed her face out into her best impression of him, pursing her lips into a thin line and letting her eyes take on a neutral sort of look, narrowing them a little so that they were more like his and less like her too-big, too-round ones. âIt is of no consequence to me what we do, Reiko,â she said as flatly as she could manage, but she couldnât hold the impression any longer than that, and burst into a fit of giggles, which was rather unfortunate, really, because of course her vision was hampered by this, and what should happen a moment later but that she tripped on what was presumably the tent-pole of something or another being set up, and with a small âmeepâ of surprise, headed face-first for the ground. She really was that unlucky, wasnât she?
Eien rose a brow at his cousin, watching her with curious eyes as she spoke. His brow ascended further when she tried to imitate him. He would have found it rather amusing, however; she burst into a fit of giggles, her eyes closing, and taking a few steps back. He sighed, shaking his head in the process. She was correct though in that thought. It would be useless to ask where he wanted to go, because in all honesty, he wanted to leave already. The people here were already annoying him to a certain degree, but he had enough self-respect to not do anything about it. His other family members, however, wouldn't be so inclined. Even now, he was certain they were causing mayhem.
He opened his eyes in time to see his cousin trip, and without much thought, moved swiftly, encircling his left arm around her torso and pulling her back up to him. She would have been pulled closely to his chest at the motion, and he stared a head as if staring at a foreign object. "Are you alright, Reiko?" he stated, finally lowering his gaze to meet hers.
Rather than smashing her nose into the ground as she had expected to do, she felt something firm grip her around the waist, and she was pulled back against something solid, but warm. Blinking, she realized that she was in fact braced against Eienâs chest, and that it was his arm around her waist, and her heart gave a familiar little lurch and stutter before picking up its pace. She suddenly felt as though sheâd just run for days. Coughing slightly rather than laugh nervously, she stepped out of his grip, because while she very well wanted to stay there, that would look strange. By the time she answered the question, there was hardly anything out of the ordinary about her demeanor at all, and even that little could probably be attributed to her near-disaster.
Placing a hand behind her head, she smiled sheepishly, an expression curiously reminiscent of her father. She was honestly just glad she hadnât fainted right thereâit had been a near thing. âOh, me? Yes, Iâm fine! Nothing to worry aboutâyou could have let me fall, you know. I do this sort of thing all the time, really.â Of course, heâd known that already. âThank you, though. I might have broken my nose, and that would have been a bit messy!â Not to mention a bit uncomfortable for some of the other vampires in the area. Kikoâs blood shared a lot of properties with Ichirouâs, her many-times great-grandfather, and as such, it was somewhat difficult to ignore, especially when spilled.
She pursed her lips in thought, though, and when a loud crash sounded from somewhere in the distance, she sighed. Naya was probably at it againâthat happened with alarming frequency. Or⊠it would have alarmed her, were she not so used to it. Shaking her head, Kiko looked back up at her cousin. She wouldnât deny that it was at once wonderful and terrible being alone with him, it wasnât hard to tell that he took no joy from anything here. âActually, if itâs all the same to you, EienâŠâ and they both knew it was, âI think I might go back to the library for a while. Festivals are nice, but I think this oneâs about to come to an end⊠Nayaâs afoot.â She tried not to feel too disappointedâreally, she expected nothing else to have come of this. She would just take it to have been a nice evening with her cousins and be satisfied with that. Reiko was more suited to lonely nights in the library, anyway; it was her comfort zone, and that was for a reason.
Eien furrowed his brows lightly at her comment. "Why would I let you fall? Others may have, but your safety is my concern, regardless of how it comes to be," he stated, his eyes narrowing in the slightest way. Why would he let her fall though? He was here, she was falling, the solution was clear. He caught her, and in doing so prevented her from breaking her nose. He sighed softly, watching as she stepped from his grasp, and bent down to pick up the stuffed animal he had dropped prior to keeping her from falling. Once the creature was situated in his hold, he turned towards her, about to speak when a loud sound caused him to turn towards the direction. He could smell Naya and his brother's friend, Tora, off in that direction.
"Naya," he spoke, shaking his head softly before turning back to Reiko. He regarded her a few seconds before blinking slowly and turning once more in the direction of the crash. "Your sister seems to have a way of causing things to crash and explode, I believe I will accompany you to the library. I do not wish to be around when they burn down the stages or set off an explosion," he spoke, extending his arm out for her to take. The library did have a nice ring to it right about now, excluding the sound of something else crashing echoing about.
It wasnât an inaccurate assessment of what would probably happen, honestly. With a light sigh, Reiko managed a rueful smile and took the proffered arm. The library it was, then.
They managed to find seats without any difficulty, though they filled up in the few minutes after. âThank you, Eien,â she said, smiling brightly despite herself. âIâve been looking forward to this for a while, actually⊠though I was serious when I said we can leave if itâs bad.â She scrunched her nose slightly. She really didnât like it when people ruined a perfectly good play with poor acting or something. Not that she minded novices; everyone had to start somewhere. It was more like⊠when you could tell that the actors just didnât care about the material, and had made no effort to learn about itâit felt like a disrespect for the literature, and Reiko had a lot of respect for literature, being rather a bookworm herself.
Eien tilted his head slightly before waiting for Reiko to take his arm. Once she did, he began walking at a steady pace, one that wasn't too quick nor slow. Just steady. His eyes glanced over the crowd every now and then, watching as eyes would flicker to him and then towards Reiko, and then back to him. He sighed softly through his nose. There were times where he seriously wandered how his father had dealt with such things. It was annoying to be regarded as something...like meat. Though if he recalled correctly, his father had actually indulged himself with these types of things, before he met Shizuka. He was brought from his thoughts by Reiko, and the arrival at the theater.
"There is no need to thank me, Reiko. Hikari can take care of herself, and I'd rather not be dragged into whatever it is she and your sister might conjur should their paths cross. Besides," he spoke, glancing down at Reiko as they stopped walking. "Is there something wrong with wanting to enjoy my time with my cousin?" he questioned, raising a slight brow in the process. He shook his head softly as he returned his attention back towards the stage, a frown etching upon his face as he watched the students set up the stage. They could leave if it was bad, but she was looking forward to this play for a while now.
"If the play is not to your liking, then we will leave. I do not mind either way," and he didn't. This was a once a year festival, one that he was quite well accustomed to by now, and he honestly didn't mind it as much as he might have portrayed himself. It was quite the opposite really. It always amused him, to a certain degree, to see what his cousin and his other family members could pull off. Well, there was also this plus side to it.
âNo, of course not,â Reiko answered quickly, waving her free hand in front of her face to banish the thought. No, there was nothing wrong with enjoying his time with her⊠though honestly, she was probably enjoying it a little too much. She had built something of a resistance to this over the years, and not longer did she have to worry about her heart beating uncontrollably or her face turning red or stammering in his presence⊠at least not usually. Then again, she did things like stutter with some regularity, if not as often as Farah, the poor thing. She had Reikoâs problem without her coping mechanisms, and it was painfully obvious. Truthfully, Kiko was as much of a wreck inwardly right now as Farah was outwardly when around Trevor, so there was that.
She really did enjoy the theater though, and so when the play started, she devoted her attention to it, or rather she tried. The first actor botched his lines, and all of the acting was⊠well, she wasnât sure there was a polite way to say it. Still, she tried her best to enjoy it, but half an hour in, after the seventh missed cue, she sighed and shook her head. This was really pretty hopeless. Reaching over, she tapped Eienâs arm with her first two fingers, making a face and then tilting her head towards the aisle, asking without words if he wanted to leave. She was certainly inclined to. It was pretty physically painful to watch one of her favorites being butchered, honestly.
Eien wasn't much for facial expressions. In fact, his face often seemed to remain pressed into a fine line, a new meaning to stoicism being defined by it really, however; the play had truly pulled at his facial strings. His lips pursed into a fine line before they tilted downwards, the frown growing more prominent with each missed cue, missed line, and atrocious acting. Was this what the drama club was reduced to? He shook his head faintly, only briefly turning to face Reiko when she tapped his arm. He blinked slowly at her before inclining his head.
"Is there any other place you wish to go?" he questioned. The play had proven to be a disappointment, and he still had tickets left if she was so inclined to go play more games. Though he was certain she wouldn't, she wasn't like his other family members that way. Or perhaps she was, and it was something he had failed to notice. He didn't give it much thought as he waited for her reply.
Kiko gave the matter some thought; she honestly didnât know. If she played the games, it would probably end in disaster, but she wasnât entirely sure what else she should do. Sometimes, it was difficult to figure out what to do with someone who very rarely expressed an opinion about anything. She knew he had them, somewhere in there, but he was very difficult to read, even to someone like her, who was accomplished at picking up on the smallest facial or body-language cues. Taking a deep breath, she expelled it through her nose, shaking her head a little.
âI suppose it would be no use at all asking what you want to do, would it, Eien?â She smoothed her face out into her best impression of him, pursing her lips into a thin line and letting her eyes take on a neutral sort of look, narrowing them a little so that they were more like his and less like her too-big, too-round ones. âIt is of no consequence to me what we do, Reiko,â she said as flatly as she could manage, but she couldnât hold the impression any longer than that, and burst into a fit of giggles, which was rather unfortunate, really, because of course her vision was hampered by this, and what should happen a moment later but that she tripped on what was presumably the tent-pole of something or another being set up, and with a small âmeepâ of surprise, headed face-first for the ground. She really was that unlucky, wasnât she?
Eien rose a brow at his cousin, watching her with curious eyes as she spoke. His brow ascended further when she tried to imitate him. He would have found it rather amusing, however; she burst into a fit of giggles, her eyes closing, and taking a few steps back. He sighed, shaking his head in the process. She was correct though in that thought. It would be useless to ask where he wanted to go, because in all honesty, he wanted to leave already. The people here were already annoying him to a certain degree, but he had enough self-respect to not do anything about it. His other family members, however, wouldn't be so inclined. Even now, he was certain they were causing mayhem.
He opened his eyes in time to see his cousin trip, and without much thought, moved swiftly, encircling his left arm around her torso and pulling her back up to him. She would have been pulled closely to his chest at the motion, and he stared a head as if staring at a foreign object. "Are you alright, Reiko?" he stated, finally lowering his gaze to meet hers.
Rather than smashing her nose into the ground as she had expected to do, she felt something firm grip her around the waist, and she was pulled back against something solid, but warm. Blinking, she realized that she was in fact braced against Eienâs chest, and that it was his arm around her waist, and her heart gave a familiar little lurch and stutter before picking up its pace. She suddenly felt as though sheâd just run for days. Coughing slightly rather than laugh nervously, she stepped out of his grip, because while she very well wanted to stay there, that would look strange. By the time she answered the question, there was hardly anything out of the ordinary about her demeanor at all, and even that little could probably be attributed to her near-disaster.
Placing a hand behind her head, she smiled sheepishly, an expression curiously reminiscent of her father. She was honestly just glad she hadnât fainted right thereâit had been a near thing. âOh, me? Yes, Iâm fine! Nothing to worry aboutâyou could have let me fall, you know. I do this sort of thing all the time, really.â Of course, heâd known that already. âThank you, though. I might have broken my nose, and that would have been a bit messy!â Not to mention a bit uncomfortable for some of the other vampires in the area. Kikoâs blood shared a lot of properties with Ichirouâs, her many-times great-grandfather, and as such, it was somewhat difficult to ignore, especially when spilled.
She pursed her lips in thought, though, and when a loud crash sounded from somewhere in the distance, she sighed. Naya was probably at it againâthat happened with alarming frequency. Or⊠it would have alarmed her, were she not so used to it. Shaking her head, Kiko looked back up at her cousin. She wouldnât deny that it was at once wonderful and terrible being alone with him, it wasnât hard to tell that he took no joy from anything here. âActually, if itâs all the same to you, EienâŠâ and they both knew it was, âI think I might go back to the library for a while. Festivals are nice, but I think this oneâs about to come to an end⊠Nayaâs afoot.â She tried not to feel too disappointedâreally, she expected nothing else to have come of this. She would just take it to have been a nice evening with her cousins and be satisfied with that. Reiko was more suited to lonely nights in the library, anyway; it was her comfort zone, and that was for a reason.
Eien furrowed his brows lightly at her comment. "Why would I let you fall? Others may have, but your safety is my concern, regardless of how it comes to be," he stated, his eyes narrowing in the slightest way. Why would he let her fall though? He was here, she was falling, the solution was clear. He caught her, and in doing so prevented her from breaking her nose. He sighed softly, watching as she stepped from his grasp, and bent down to pick up the stuffed animal he had dropped prior to keeping her from falling. Once the creature was situated in his hold, he turned towards her, about to speak when a loud sound caused him to turn towards the direction. He could smell Naya and his brother's friend, Tora, off in that direction.
"Naya," he spoke, shaking his head softly before turning back to Reiko. He regarded her a few seconds before blinking slowly and turning once more in the direction of the crash. "Your sister seems to have a way of causing things to crash and explode, I believe I will accompany you to the library. I do not wish to be around when they burn down the stages or set off an explosion," he spoke, extending his arm out for her to take. The library did have a nice ring to it right about now, excluding the sound of something else crashing echoing about.
It wasnât an inaccurate assessment of what would probably happen, honestly. With a light sigh, Reiko managed a rueful smile and took the proffered arm. The library it was, then.