Ink Stained

59: kyoto, day two*

But at least in the city she'd be surrounded by humans, and know how to make her way around on her own. If she got lost, all she needed to do was put on an innocent, confused smile and point at the brochure when asking directions, to show that she was unfamiliar with the city and needed help. It always worked.

And if it didn't...well, she didn't train with two Daitengu for no reason.

She quickly walked through the many halls with the tourist brochure open in her hands, squinting through the bright morning sunlight at the pictures and captions under them, wondering where she could go to first. She squinted when sunlight fell on the pictures as she reached the landing of the staircase leading out of the Palace.

She wasn't looked where she was going, but when a familiar voice called to her she looked up and almost ran right into Shin.

He had stopped in the middle of her way as if to catch her attention. His hands shot out to grip her shoulders and steady her wobbly balance when she almost tripped over the staircase. He gave her a small smile as he released her when she finally righted herself.

"G – good morning, Shin-san," she said gratefully, her shoulders still tingling from where he had so briefly touched her. "Thanks."

"Morning," he greeted. A slight frown darkened his face as he reached up to brush the tip of his thumb under her right eye. Pai kept herself still as a statue at the unexpected move. She watched him blink, as if surprised at himself. He withdrew his hand yet she still could not move. "You didn't sleep."

Pai gulped nervously, rooted to the spot. "How do you know?"

"You have shadows under your eyes."

"Oh," she mumbled, reaching up to touch her cheek. She hadn't been around a mirror yet so she didn't know how deep the shadows must have been for Shin to notice. Some would probably call her mad for how rare she used mirrors, but...she didn't like looking in them. She didn't always like the person staring back. "It is not easy to get used to a new place, I guess."

He nodded at her attire. "You headed somewhere?"

"Shii-chan is with Kouta-sama for the, um, signing of the Treaties," she said, not knowing how else to phrase it. "So I thought I would go into the city and take a look around."

"On your own?" he asked, eyebrow lifting dubiously.

Recalling her sleepwalking attack on Shin the other night, she said confidently, "I am not sleep-walking. I think I will be fine."

He shook his head. "No, it's not that." He glanced down at his wrist, as if expecting to see a watch there though there wasn't, before looking up at her again. Shin was standing one step below her, even though his tall stature still made it so that they were at eye-level rather than her being the taller one. It made a nice difference, though, that she didn't have to tip her head so far up to look him in the eye. "Can you wait ten minutes? I'll go with you, but I need to get changed."

She finally took notice of what he was wearing. He was dressed in black slacks with white stripes down the sides and a form-fitting sleeveless tee that showed off his leanly muscled body. A thin sheen of sweat beaded on the tanned skin of his arms. A pair of comfortable-looking trainers were on his feet, well-worn but still more than functional.

She did her best not to stare at his lithe body. She'd seen him dressed similarly back at Ayashi House when he trained, but after everything that happened between them, now it seemed...different, to see him like this. It felt different to have him stand so close. She didn't want to move away from him like she usually did when in such proximity with someone.