Opposites (Will)

[Kasumi]

A shiver went up Kasumi's spine as she walked through the alley. It was night and rather cold, but that wasn't why she shivered. The thing was, a man had been following her for the past hour now at the least, no matter where she went. Every time she looked at him though, he would act as if he was doing something else. She would've went home, which was nothing but a cave, but either way, she didn't want him to know where she lived. Okay, got a stalker, how wonderful.. Here I thought Fate was the only one crazy enough to like me, but apparently not. Gotta get away from him somehow, but I've been wandering around fro awhile now and I haven't lost him yet.. Shit, this might be bad, I don't wanna fight a pedestrian, not now not ever.. What if I get arrested.. Hell, that's what woman's prison is like, nothing but hell.. She continued on and tried something that was simple she felt stupid for not thinking of it, she began to run. Looking over her shoulder, her blood ran cold. He's running after me and hell, he's much closer than he was when walking!!!

Kasumi would've kept running, but she tripped over a large rock she didn't notice, flipping forward into a trash pile that was really messing with her senses. Coughing, she sat up only to see a pair of shoes in front of her. Looking up, it was the man from before. Crap.. "Caught you.." The man's voice was deep and husky as well as a little winded. "Oh, have you now..? I wouldn't be so sure." She said as she stood up, only to be shoved against the wall. "Um..ow?" The man only got closer and she pressed herself on the wall. "Okay, personal space.." She said as she looked to the side, her eyes widening as the man just smiled. "No such thing when you're with me." Now she was getting angry. Disgusting bastard.. "Get your filthy ass hands off me you pervert!" She yelled at him as she brought her leg up and kicked him, make him grunt and grab his stomach. With that, she began to run away, but the man stood up and held his hands out, shooting out a sticky substance. She fell to the ground as it hit her and wrapped around her. "Ew! What is this supposed to be..?" She said, but quickly had to move when the man had come to try and retrieve her.

"Stay away from me!" "Don't count on it!" Dammit! If I knew that he had powers, I would've kicked his ass a long time ago! With that, Kasumi heard a pocket knife drawn out and turned just in time to be scratched in the face with it. "Ah! That hurt!" She yelled as she stomped on his foot making him also cry out in pain. "Bitch!" "Damn straight!" She said as she dodged another swing at the knife and ran again, but it was harder now with that goo keeping her hands entwined behind her. Sadly, she was caught within seconds. Stupid loser! Can't he find someone else?! The man's hands were wrapped around her waist and she struggled, of course, but stopped when she felt the cold blade against her throat. "That sure got you to be still.." Clenching her teeth, she bent her head down and quickly lifted it back up, smashing it in his. He dropped his knife and grabbed his face as she ran off, but he quickly followed.

[will]

Will had been wandering the streets, trying to just stay out of the way, and not touch anyone, or at least not be over whelmed with their emotions be cause of his super sharp senses and empathy, and he was fairly successful, to the point that he found a fairly deserted alley to step into, and vanished away into the shadows, where he huddled up next to a dumpster inside a large by huge cardboard packing box, that was stacked next to some old cheap wooden crates, and it was there that he dozed off, until the noise of some kind of struggle woke him up and a girl crashed into the trashcans across from his box, causing him to startle awake in time to see her run off and be chased by a rather plain but mean looking man, but when he caught her, Will left the confines of his box and slowly walked after them, and when he saw the knife, his eyes glowed brightly, even as the girl managed to evade him again, William saw that she would not get far enough away fast enough, and so he at last acted...


Tackling the man to the ground William fought with him over the knife, but sadly, the man was better accustomed to using weapons than the forgotten messenger, and so the knife found it's mark many times, but then so did the boy's fists, and soon, the man was knocked out, laying in the middle of the alleyway, his knife stuck in William's upper leg.

But then from what he could tell, the girl was safe, so pulling the weapon from his leg he stepped over to her and gently cut a slit in the goo and pulled, removing most of it from her arms and shoulders, before he at last went down to one knee and panted, bright shiny blue blood dripping from his wounds...

[Kasumi]

Kasumi continued to run around and dodge the man as he continued to run around and try to catch her. It was a lot like a cat chasing a mouse, only difference was is that the mouse here is helpless, he blocked her only exit and her hands were stuck behind her, making it inevitable for her to use her fire. She's already tried melting it with it, but it failed. Great! I can't use my fire and if I transform into my wolf form it'll more than likely get stuck in my fur and I am not going to the pet store to get it cut dammit! She bent backwards as she barely dodged his knife again, but lost her footing, falling to the ground. Grunting as she hit the ground, her vision went a bit sparkly as she knife went into her shoulder. Instead of crying out in pain, she sat there wide-eyed as she clenched her teeth so hard it would've broke someone's bone. She made a small and quick gasp, but lifted her foot and kicked the guy in the stomach, making him fly backwards and pull out the knife. That's when she cried out a bit in pain.

Kasumi got herself on her feet as the man did the same. He was about to act when he was suddenly tackled to the ground. Opening her eyes widely out of shock, she watched as the fight between the guy who she was fighting a minute ago and the new guy play out. There were times she wanted to act and help, but she couldn't find the right time to come in, not wanting to hit the new guy by accident who was quickly following after the man's moves. The new guy was getting hit multiple times with the knife, but yet managed to win. She stood there, stunned that this new guy came along and won against the guy easily and yet she didn't. Now she felt weak, since she thought she was the only one here with powers. Her eyes saddened though when she saw the knife stuck in the boy's leg.

Kasumi winced for the boy when he pulled it out of his leg, walking over and setting her free. He then got some of the goo off for her. She got the rest off as she once again gasped a bit when the boy fell to one knee. "You okay?!" She asked as she bent down herself to look at him. I can heal this, no problem.. "Thanks for helping me, by the way, I appreciate it.." she said as she reached her hands over to the boy's leg, just a bit away and an orange oval appeared near it as she began to heal him.

[will]

"It's okay... I-it was the right... The right thing to do..."
He glanced at her and gave a tiny shy smile, she was rather pretty to his way of thinking, even if there was a kind of darkness to her beauty, ad he couldn't sense anything sinister about her, in fact, compared to most other girls her age, she seemed wholly serene, and that was a pleasant change over the normal storm of emotions and thoughts most girls seemed to suffer from when he was around them, or even just observing them from afar, as he did with most people.


William closed his eyes as he felt his body start to heal itself, the cuts and slashes that marked him growing back together, now only his humble dark shirt bore the proof of the fight, however his leg was taking longer than...

The girl surprised him with the glowing hand, but when she touched him Will felt as if he was going to be ripped apart, his leg burning, actually burning in pain, his toes and fingers throbbing and his head pounding as he gasped then grunted loudly, and at last moaned out in pain as he slowly pulled himself away and shook, his steely blue eyes glowing and a layer of pale blue flame formed on his hand as he held it up at her to try and scare her back, but unlike most times when it would be big bright and hot, it flickered and spat sparks about, as if his fire was being blocked somehow, at least until the contact between them was broken, then his fire flared out back to normal and the pain faded quickly.

"Wh-what... What did you do to me?!?" he asked in a small scared voice that mocked his obvious size advantage over her, which was lost on him at this point...

[Kasumi]

"It's okay... I-it was the right... The right thing to do..."[/u]

The guy gave her a small, shy smile and she returned it, except not shy and small. "Yeah, but not a lot of people do the right thing nowadays. So it was pretty noble of you." She told him happily. He must be a shy boy.. Heh, he's the first one I've met in a long time that's shy. Sure Fate was shy a little, but he got used to it. He was pretty outgoing in the beginning though, then went shy and back to outgoing.. She looked down and just smiled, then to the guy. Filthy bastard.. Needs to go to jail, but then gain, why not just let him rot there? She shrugged and went with the second idea as she looked back over to the boy.

He shut his eyes, but didn't know why. So Kasumi looked up. It is nice, but still kinda cold.. Maybe he's someone that enjoys the cold.. I do, especially in wolf form. When she began to try and heal him, her hand began to ache. What the hell..? She put in a little more effort, but it just got worse. The boy gasped, grunted and then moaned in pain. Then got away and started shaking, holding up a blue flamed hand that started flickering. When her hands went back to normal and she pulled away, she jumped back a bit as it flared just fine.

"Wh-what... What did you do to me?!?"[/u]

Kasumi's eyes widened and she looked down. What, did I do? My healing has never failed or done that before... "I..I'm sorry.. I didn't o anything, I swear.." She told him quietly as she looked at her hands. "I was just, trying to heal you, your leg, it got hurt because of me.. I didn't mean to, cause you anymore pain... It wasn't my intention, I promise.." Her voice began to crack a little, but not much. She was more surprised and frightened, really. She didn't know what was up with her powers and plus, the guy was threatening her, although she couldn' be burned by his fire since she can control fire herself. Or, so she thinks. It may be blue, but it's still fire, right? I can control it, I can't be hurt by it..

[will]

Holding his hand up and open defensively William let the fire flicker on his fingers before he put it out, wisps of smoke trailing from the tips as he lowed his hand slowly, his face still uncertain, and red with shyness as he shifted to his feet and crouched there, balanced perfectly on the balls of his feet as he rubbed at his leg, the bright metallic blue blood no longer dripping from the wound, but still staining his clothes...

"I... I'm sorry I yelled, but that hurt... And I can heal myself..." he looked at her and then leaned in a few inches and blinked as he stared into her eyes, then he backed away slowly, his steely blue eyes big with worry; "Don't... Please don't hurt me..." He said softly when he felt sudden danger and heat at what the smelled in her, and while his memories where still very fuzzy, when one is an angel of light for time beyond time, you know that a demon, no matter what kind or from where, is dangerous, especially for a messenger, but then William didn't know all of that, all he knew was that he was suddenly worried by and mildly afraid of this girl, the girl with the ash and brimstone scent and the deep haunting brown eyes.


"W-w-who are y-you?" He asked softly as he moved back to the far wall of the alley and sat, his skin dirty, and hair messy, a mop of dark brown that tried to fall into his face and cover his steely blue eyes as he spoke, his hands fidgeting in his lap as he fingered the rip in his jeans and felt the skin knit back together, his senses wary of her, but also feeling that he could trust her, in spite of the fact that something else told him to fear her...

He wasn't too sure about all of this, but it HAD been the right thing to do to help her, he remembered feeling the negative emotions in the man, and the sickening lust that seemed to drip from him like water off the back of a duck. It made him shudder to think of why he had wanted to harm her like that, and the pleasure he expected from it, which didn't make much sense to him, but he was still learning.

[Kasumi]

Kasumi sat there and looked at him with half surprised and half frightened eyes. She watched as the fire flickered, then left, making smoke rise from his fingers. His was red, more than likely blushing or something. She watched as he crouched down and rubbed his leg. "I, I'm sorry, does it hurt that bad..?" She said as she reached out a bit for him, but then pulled her hand back, afraid to come in contact with him now. She really was sorry about hurting him.

"I... I'm sorry I yelled, but that hurt... And I can heal myself..."[/u]

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know that.. And since you saved me, I thought I's return the favor, but I guess I can't.. Don't worry about yelling at me though, I did hurt you after all.. I probably would've done the same." Kasumi told him with a smile, trying to reassure him that it was okay. They looked into each others eye for a minute, but then he back away, asking for her not to hurt him. "I would never! Never on purpose! I may not exactly be a good guy, but I've never hurt someone purposely!" She told him as she leaned forward, still on her knees, but so she could place her hands on the ground. She looked down shamefully as he looked at her with worried eyes. To her surprise, she was feeling so bad that tears were actually starting to come in her eyes. "I won't hurt you, please, don't look at me like I'm a monster! I, I'm not!! I'm not a monster! Please...!!" She closed her eyes tightly, leaned down and covered her ears with her hands as tears fell out. Only thing is, is that now she was getting absorbed in memories. The look the boy had on his face matched every other townspeople after she accidentally burned it down. The pain and rejection she felt began to wrench at her heart, in result to that, she began screaming. "Stop it! I didn't mean too! You can't..! Please..!Don't leave me alone.." She began breaking down into a major cry at the last thing she said. That was towards her home, the one she had been banished from.

Kasumi began calming down and she heard the boy ask who she was. "i..I'm Kasumi Kaji.." she told him through breathes, trying to stop crying. She saw him back away to the end of the alley wall. She just went back to looking down and clutched her hands on the ground, making some dirt come up as more tears fell down. Why..? It's only when I met this boy and the way he looked at me brought the pain back.. I thought I had gotten used to it, but why, when I see him that it just brings it all back..? I don't want him to look at me like that. Not anyone, not anymore, stop it, don't look at me, stop, stop it!! "Don't look at me!!" She yelled loudly and listened as it echoed. her eyes then popped open, remembering that he was there now and was the only one. "Wait.." she said as she looked up at him. "I didn't mean that.. I swear.."

[will]

William bit his lip and looked at her, her tears suddenly pulling at him in such a sorrowful savage way that he had to fight not to cry himself, his empathy suddenly being bombed with her emotions, and he was guessing that if he couldn't feel anything before, than to feel something now must mean that the emotions where overpowering for her, and it didn't take a genius to figure out he was the reason she was reacting so badly...


Looking back at her in time to hear her sob and cry out, twisted his insides up to no end, making him feel low and dirty for causing her to cry like that, so much so he almost missed her name, but when she started yelling about not being a monster, and for him not to look at her, looked away in shame for his actions, that is until she softly sobbed out that she didn't mean it, and that she didn't want to be left alone.

"I d-didn't mean t-to scare you or h-h-hurt your f-feelings, and I-I understand you didn't w-want to hurt me now, I g-guess if you wanted to y-you could have h-h-hurt that man, but... You're r-really not like t-that are you?"

Moving to his knees, Will closed in on her and then reached down and took her hands in his own and then lifted them up as he looked into her deep sad, wet brown eyes, the rims of his own steely blue irises softly glowing; "I-I'm s-sorry K-Kas-Kasumi... I'm W-Will Talbot..." he then bit his lip and was over come with emotion, his own eyes closing before he leaned in and hugged her for a moment, before he pulled back and blushed again, "A-are you o-okay?"

[Kasumi]

Kasumi lifted her hand and began to dry her eyes. Geez, I'm so embarrassed now, just breaking down like that.. Ugh, I haven't cried in front of anyone besides Fate in forever...Geez, I must seem so weak now. Ugh, I hate crying.. My head's starting to hurt now and I'm sure me screaming and yelling random stuff just made things worse for him... He probably thinks even worse of me now than he did for hurting him.. If only I knew what people thought of me.. Nnnmm..

Kasumi looked up at him as he looked at her, staying in the same position. "You.. Didn't scare me.. I was just, remembering.. I'm sorry for yelling out like that.. I probably seem really weird now.. you, didn't hurt my feelings, don't worry." She said as she gave him a small smile. When he asked if she was like that, she just looked down. "Actually, I probably would've.. I just couldn't with my hands behind my back like that.." she said as her eyes blacked out when her hair covered them. "But.. But that would only be because he tried to hurt me! I never attack, unless I'm attacked first and you haven't attacked, so I won't hurt you, I promise!" She told him as she looked up at him, biting back her tears again.

Kasumi looked down as he grabbed her hands, then lifted them up. She wasn't sure if his eyes were glowing or not, but liked the color now that she really thought about it. "It's okay, don't worry about it. It's a pleasure to meet you Will." She said as she smiled, but looked surprised when he leaned over and gave her a hug. He began to move back, but she wrapped her arms quickly around him and pulled him back in, faintly seeing him blush. When he asked if she was okay, she just sat there, not sure how to answer it. Finally, she just gave Will a nod, partially because she was feeling better and also because she didn't want him to worry.

[will]

"I... I understand..." he whispered softly to her as she tried to explain herself, which did help, but it also wasn't totally necessary, as he understood her more then she could know...


Once the two where parted again and facing each other, Will let his hands fall at his side as he looked at her inquisitively, his eyes big and bright, the fear level was going away quickly now as he looked at her, and he thought to himself that she was rather pretty, and her hair was interesting, in the way the red and black both contrasted and complemented, and in the way it caught the sparse light, and framed her eyes just so. She was more than rather pretty, she was VERY rather pretty... Will smiled back at her nod and then he slowly stood up, and offered is hand to her, as he looked around some, his eyes glowing and his mood suddenly alert as his senses and empathy detected more trouble; "Uh... Kasumi... We should go, troubles coming..."

William had lived on the streets long enough to know the sounds, and feeling of a street gang coming, and he had a few scars to prove that point, and he wasn't willing to stick around to relearn what one should do when angry gang-bangers are prowling about, nor was he willing to leave this girl alone again, to a fate likely worse than what the still knocked out man had planed, and THAT had made him shudder already...

[Kasumi]

"I... I understand..."[/u]

Kasumi smiled a bit, glad someone did. It was strange to her, she felt small and dark compared to Will, he seemed so large and bright, like he glowed despite how dark it was. It was strange because she was surprised she wasn't afraid of him. she felt actually, really comfortable with him, which is why she felt the urge to hold him back to her when he was pulling away. She isn't all about physical contact when she just meets someone, but felt like it was okay with Will.

Kasumi loosened her grip on him, then finally let go, thinking might be awkward for Will. "I, I'm sorry, that was kind of out of nowhere. Sort of.." She said as now she turned a bit red. Will looked at her and she just looked back at him. His eyes are a pretty color.. I seem to be meeting a lot of people with pretty eyes lately.. I feel like an outside now, my eyes are just plain brown.. He then smiled, stood up and offered a hand to her. She looked at it, smiled herself and took it, now standing up herself. "Trouble..? What kind of trouble..?"

Kasumi didn't wait for an answer. She didn't have empathetic powers, but she could sense at least when something dangerous was coming, a pack of humans or not. Will was already hurt and she probably didn't help when she tried to heal him. She grabbed his hand and turned the corner, only to be met by some thug-looking men. She stopped in her tracks, looking surprised for a second, then went back to normal. "Excuse us.. We were just leaving.."

[will]

William smiled at her as she got up, the quick hug before had been nice, and he was almost sad it had ended, but then that was little more than a fond memory at this point, all kinds of alarms ringing and buzzing in his head as Kasumi bumped into a large by huge man in dark clothing with a bright red hat and a single gold chain, a few others dressed just like him standing and staring at them from behind the first guy...



"Excuse us.. We were just leaving.."



Will tried not to gulp, not so much from fear as worry, since he could feel and now taste the rather un-happy feelings the group had, and the hostility was rising, like a wave of bile around their feet, strong enough for him to taste, as he inched up next to Kasumi, and nervously laced his fingers into hers, their hands at their sides as he looked the five over and, somewhere in the back of his mind, started to size them up, and count the odds of the two of them either getting away, or beating the five of them...

"Leavin' fo whe're hoo-neey?" the man slurred slightly as he looked Kasumi over then sized William up and sneered at them, a wave of lust, anger and mallice smacking Will up side the head with a nasty flavor of sugar, gasoline and rotting flesh, alll of which made his eyes want to water.


However, upon catching a stray thought from one of the five Will cut a glance to Kasuim, and then he let go of her hand and stood in front of her and held his hands up, his eyes sudden;y blazing with light as his hands lit with blue flames and he spoke with much more bravado than he really felt; "Back off, we're leaving now, you don't wanna mess with a pair of freaks do you?"

He was hoping that the fear and disdain that was attached to that little snippet of thought he had caught was powerful enough in all of them to buy Kasumi and himself a ticket out...


Based on the fact that they all jumped back and then dashed off without another word told him that there had been.

"We need to go... now..." He said lowly as he let the light and heat show die out, his eyes locked back onto her pretty brown eyes; "Do you know a safe place?" He hoped she did, since he didn't and he doubted that large box he'd been staying in was big enough for them both, and anyway, she seemed to be much cleaner and better fed than himself...

[Kasumi]

The man Kasumi ran into had five others with him, dressed in clothing she never was fond of. It was gang-like clothing and gangs to her were nothing more than a group of wanna-be lapdogs. Five against two, the odds aren't great, but with our fire ability it should work out fine, they smell like nothing but mere humans.. I'm sure they'd piss themselves if a vicious wolf appeared in front of them. She had to do everything in her power not to laugh at the last part, but kept her serious look glued on her face, though the tips of her lips did twitch a bit. She looked down quickly though when she felt Will's fingers entwine with hers.

"Leavin' fo whe're hoo-neey?"[/u]

Kasumi glared to the side. "Certainly away from you, sleazeball." She snapped. I'm rather tired of being chased tonight, or hit on.. Normally I would maybe be flattered, but I don't want to be stalked, nor hit on in this manner, although I don't need anyone hitting on me, he could've done it better.. He really is a sleazeball. Ugh, I hate men like him.. She clenched her other hand tightly and just continued to glare at the men. She was quite fortunate nothing had blown up yet.

Kasumi turned back to Will as he let go of her hand, and watched as he stood in front of her. His hands then lit up with the same blue flames he had threatened her with earlier. He spoke, and she flinched a bit at the word "freak". She hated the word, pedestrians often called her it after destroying their town accidentally. Now she felt like a beat, abandoned, cold pup. Shading her eyes out, she listened as the men ran away. Looking back to Will, she watched his fire flicker. I wonder.. Lifting her hand, she placed her fingertips inside the blue flames, but quickly pulled back. "Aah!" she cried out as she looked at her hands. Ow! I, can;t be but by fire, so why did I,..? Nn.. So this is what it feels like to be burnt.. It hurts like hell! She looked from her hand back up to Will as his fire died out and said they need to go, she just nodded.

They looked into each others eyes as he asked if she knew a safe place. A safe place? I can do that... She made a slight nod movement, but grabbed his hand and bolted off, but only going half as fast, since she didn't know if he could keep up with someone that could go as fast a wolf could. Of course, she held his hand with her unburnt hand. she probably could heal it, but since it was Will's fire she was burnt with, she wasn't sure if it would work. It might be best not to try it, either.. I'll probably end up hurting myself like I did Will a minute ago.. She continued to run as they entered the desert lands, where she lived currently. she let go of his hand as she stood outside the cave entrance, turning to him and looking at him sheepishly. "Home sweet home." She told him, turning back around, biting her lip and entering. right in the middle of the cave, she turned and looked at him, waiting for him to come inside.

[will]

Will bit his lip when she had burned herself with his flame, and it bothered him that they seemed so much alike but where also so very diffrent, and something in the back of his head kept nagging at him, since he could sense great conflict in her, but not of mind or body, but in her heart, in her spirit...

Confusing, yes, currently vital, no, and so when she nodded and took his other hand, he followed her with ease, all the way to the farthest parts of the tow, into the arid wasteland of the desert, into the foothills where she lead them to a cave...


"Home sweet home."

Will gave Kasumi a small and thankful smile as he bowed his head slightly as she looked back at him, a tiny blush on his slightly dirty cheeks, his over all look one of gratatude, his dirty jeans and jacket still smudged and stained, with dirt and blood, the brown and blue smeared across his person, but even so, he looked only tired and hungry, not beaten and stabbed and slashed as he had been, which was a testament to his supernatural born toughness.

"Thank you Kasumi..." Will said softly as he stepped in and looked about the small bare cave, then looked back to her, a small stirring deep in his body that moved him forward to her, his hands rasing slowly, and reaching for her's, he took her hands into his own and then pulled her closer for a hug, the unknown reason for ths action regestering in Will's mind as a need to be in contact with someone, to feel their warmth, and their heartbeat, to know that while he may have felt alone, he really wasn't, and holding Kasumi now, hugging her gently, he felt a gentle peace settle over himself as he felt her warmth, and heard her heartbeat.

Slowly he let go and smiled at her before he looked about, then took his jacket off and bundled it up and sat down against the wall of the cave and settled himself, his steely blue eyes still clear but again tired, his eyelids half closing for a moment as he stared off out of the cave for a few moments, thinking to himself...

[Kasumi]

Kasumi returned the smile as he smiled at her. He then bowed his head. Eh...? She could of swore she saw him blushing, but wasn't sure. Looking him over, she saw all the dirt on his face, jeans, and jacket. It also had blood on it, and she felt bad for that, since it had been her fault. Walking over, she wrapped her arms around his neck and took him into another embrace. "Thank you so much for tonight.. If you hadn't came, I don't know what would've happened.. The man alone was bad, but then there was that gang... With them combined, I might as well be dead now, or worse.. So thank you, I owe you one.." She told him with a smile. She didn't even mind the fact that he was dirty. Or bloody. she then let go of him.

"Thank you Kasumi..."[/u]

Kasumi smiled at him. "No problem! It's the least I can do!" She told him happily. She rubbed the back of her head as he looked around. "Yeah.. It's not much, but better than nothing, right?" She asked, but then gave him a confused look as he took her hands, only to pull her into yet another hug. Blinking for a few seconds, she raised her arms to hug him back. "Will...? You alright...? I'm sorry, does your leg hurt?" She was referring to the healing incident earlier, of course. She really didn't mean to, how was she supposed to know it would do that..? It was the first time she was unable to heal anyone! It was still a mystery she couldn't solve, so she figured she'd ask him later.. Maybe he knew why. Right now, she figured it wasn't the time.

He let go, and Kasumi did the same. She watched silently as he took off his jacket, bundled it, then leaned on the cave wall. She walked over and sat on her knees next to him. "Are you tired? It's okay if you want to sleep. I won't mind. I'm kinda tired myself. Big night." She told him with a slight laugh. "Or, if you want, there is a river nearby. You could wash off there.. If need be." She told him, referring to his clothing and himself. He was dirty too, not just his clothes. "I'd offer to wash your clothes, but I don't have any back-up clothing for you to wear as these clothes dry..."