How curious, this woman, her manner of speech so different than what she expected. The blush on her cheeks only intensified as their faces drew close together, so close that Noriaki could swear she could feel their breaths on their skin. She wasn't used to this...this feeling of being drawn into the whims of another's flight of fancy...and yet it all felt so familiar...and not unwanted. But there was something in Ariiko's words that she took issue with, moments in her speech, her sultry, seductive phrases that caused Noriaki to hesitate, to cant her head to the side. 

As Ariiko pulled away, returning towards the door, Noriaki stood in brief hesitation, staring towards the departing woman's backside, gathering her thoughts, and more importantly - calming her breathing. She shook her head. Hesitation was not what Noriaki Okamoto did, not now, not ever. She'd never live it down if she let this fish escape the net, this rose to wilt and spoil the garden. 

"Ariiko," Noriako said, stepping towards the door, following after the woman, "Yours will be a name I commit to memory, never forgetting, for you have been a muse, a being from above, and I would be lesser for forgetting a name as fair and lovely as yours. I will not beg you for the pleasure of my company, or the pleasure of yours, begging is an act of desperation, and though I long to see you, to lay with you, to use you as a source of inspiration, I will not beg. I am speaking true, speaking genuinely, I do not wish you to walk out that door alone, for in doing so you walk out of my life. In a few days time I will be gone of this place, and I would prefer not to do so alone, and I know that deep down...you are of similar mind. Stay with me. Travel with me. I will be your protector, and you my muse." 

Noriaki reached out a hand to touch Ariiko's shoulder, having said her piece. She had been laying it on quite thick, but desperate times called for pleas of desperation. It had been a while since Noriaki was willing to remember the name of a potential nightly companion, and with the Princess and the guardians she was so fond of seemingly off and on their quest without their poet warrior, Noriaki was not willing to let another leave so easily. 

But she would not beg, and she would respect Ariiko's decision one way or the other.