Larel nodded glad to hear she was feeling a little better, he wanted to respond but he was still taking a minute to get the images of Alari shirtless, courtesy of Zenmaru, out of his head twitching a little as he forced all of them deep into his memory hopefully never to surface again.
He came back as he listened to Hotaru mention GO and offered a small nod before bringing his hand to his chin, he gave her a quick summary of the game since for the most part the two had played before, he hoped it would be enough to explain but he made sure to go over the rules too as well.
"That's pretty much it," Larel said smiling a little. "I'm looking forward to playing, it's been far too long."
Kaori glanced around the room and smiled a little, the tension in the room seemed to be at little less or at least it appeared like that to him. Since that was the case he figured it might be time to go and return to his original duty.
Kaori stood up and offered a small wave with a grin before turning and leaving the room, Larel watched him go but didn't return the wave, he wasn't sure what all that was about but he wasn't going to complain about Kaori leaving.
"The capital seems so close yet so far away," Larel mumbled before closing his eyes. "What did he even mean by that anyway...I'm not thinking about that annoying man that much."

Kaori decided to walk outside and get some fresh air, he stretched and let out a small yawn once out before looking around at the people going about the daily lives. 
Aside from what happened earlier today was such a nice day he loved it when it was warm like this, travelling in the winter was never fun especially alone. Kaori flinchws as little as Jin ran up out of his kimono and landed on his shoulder letting out a small yip, Kaori smiled at him forgetting Alari left him behind when he left to go be...well Alari.
Kaori reached and pet Jin's head smiling at the little fox, he was glad Alari kept this little guy around he always felt a little alone whenever Alari ran off on his own. Actually now that he thought about it Jin could change into anyone and he's taken Alari's form before, a small smirk appeared on his face which caused Jin to flinch a little.
He started to say something but Kaori decided to leave it alone since he didn't want a copy of Alari's form for his creation, only the real thing would spark his passion and the same with for Mera, no copies allowed.
"Hisugawa-san?"
Kaori turned around seeing a young man run up to him, he tilted his head before realizing it was a messenger, he offered the messenger a smile before nodding at him which caused the messenger to pull out a letter and hand it out to Kaori. 
Blinking a few times Kaori opened the letter, he didn't know that many people so he was curious who it was from, he scanned the letter with a smile but as he read on the smile faded and his expression darkened remaining even after he finished reading. The messenger tilted his head seeing the sudden change in expression but remained silent and stared at the fox on his shoulder, he wanted to ask if that was a Youkai?
"Jin-chan be a sweetie and burn this," Kaori said holding the letter over to the fox.
With a small yip Jin sent a small ball of fire out and the letter was engulfed in a blue flame, Kaori dropped the letter watching as the ashes were carried off by the wind his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Uh...Hisugawa-san?" the messenger said seeing his expression hadn't changed.
Kaori offered a small smile to the messenger and pulled a few pieces of gold out before handing it to the messenger.
"Sorry about that," Kaori said. "Someone I've come to like will be passing away soon."
"I'm sorry to hear that Hisugawa-san," the messenger said.
"Thank you for the sentiment, it was inevitable though just a matter of time in the end, anyway I won't hold you up."
Kaori waved to the messenger as he ran off lowering his hand as a long sigh escaped from him, he felt something rub against his cheek and noticed Jin was trying to comfort him.
"Haha, I'm alright Jin-chan. Just gotta keep smiling right can't have Oji-san come back to a sad face," Kaori said before turning and walking back inside going to his and Alari's room.

Alari reached the town with more time than he expected, a small smile formed on his face as he walked through the village, the smell wasn't the best in some parts of it but there was something to be said about being near the sea. He resided in fishing villages before, the people were generally kind, though he met some rough characters on occasion they had good hearts. 
Unfortunately there wasn't time to walk around and take in the village, he needed to find a place to wait until night fell so he could do what was necessary.
Alari walked down the road looking for a place to eat, if he was going to wait it wouldn't hurt to get some nourishment first, however he came to a stop as he noticed an old fisherman inspecting broken pieces of wood nearby. 
Alari's eyes drifted the wood and his eyes narrowed before he turned and walked over to the man, the old man glanced back at him and offered a kind smile before standing up pushing on his back a little.
"Hello and good evening, would you be able to tell me what you're doing?" Alari asked.
"Good evening young man, I'm checking this wood here. You see that symbol on it?"
Alari looked over at the wood and nodded, the symbol was one of the reasons he had walked over in the first place. 
"A circle around an eye," the old man said. "Neighboring villages have been warning us about bandits who attack by the sea bearing this symbol. My friend took his boat out and noticed a bunch of bodies and broken ships in the water, it was quite the sight though that was a little bit ago."
"I'd imagine it would be," Alari said. "Do you have any idea what happened?"
"Not really but I'm thankful to whatever stopped those bandits, I'd hate to think what would have happened had they made it here. Although it's a shame so many of them died, bandits or not they were still people."
Alari gave a nod and requested if he could look at the wood, the old man shrugged and watched as Alari knelt down and ran his hand over the wood, his eyebrows drew down as his hand rested on one of the pieces. 
"Ai was here," he mumbled standing up.
"You say something?"
"Ah no I didn't say anything," Alari said smiling at him. "Sorry to bother you I'll be going have a nice day."
Alari walked away and folded his hands behind his back, a glare formed over his glasses as his eyebrows drew dow realizing this was another matter that needed to be attended too, he raised his head slightly walking into a small building where he caught the scent of food, he would correct all of this tonight.