She could not wear purple, Haruka decided mentally as she ran her fingers over the soft silk of a violet kimono with butterflies in various colors and sizes ornamented into the fabric. If she did, she would have to put her hair up, too, for the two shades not to blend into one another and putting her hair up would expose some of the head of the phoenix on the nape of her neck, where the body and flames stretched down to her shoulder. Her fingers ghosted over a cream-colored one, never touching it in feat that it would remind her of the sensation of Suzaku's. Maybe a red one?

Before she had the chance to reel herself into a state of depression by going through all of things that reminded her of her old life, she decided to leave. Just as she had turned to do so, she was startled to a halt by the sudden embrace that caught her from behind, arms resting lightly around her shoulders. Her breath hitched and she had to repress her every instinct to reach behind her and toss this person across the marketplace like a football. A chin fell to her shoulder and by the way the arms pulled back a bit at the move, this person was much taller than her.

"[color=salmon]Miss me, my dear? I know a certain part of me that definitely missed you.[/color]" came the smooth, almost seductive comment from the man behind her. She could tell it was a man by the voice.

For a long moment, a moment so long, in fact, that it might have gotten a bit weird, Haruka just stood like frozen. Her every muscle was clenched and she had no idea what to do. She could not quite place the voice in her mind. She turned her head just enough to see red. No, literally. She saw red hair and something clicked inside her head. Immediately, her face matched his hair in color and she was sure she radiated heat from pure embarrassment.

This man, who was so obviously hugging her in the middle of a populated area, was a hooker. Half the women, and men, if she remembered correctly, there were likely clients of his at some point and knew very well what he was.

“[color=plum]I, uhh,[/color]” Haruka mustered oh-so eloquently. Her throat snared up and she was sure she was going to explode any minute now, “[color=plum]Thanks?[/color]” she finally managed, only to immediately start mentally kicking herself. What the hell kind of response was that?