[quote=Fabricant451]
"You may not be aware, but you did me a grand favor. So I'll return it as such. Tell me what plagues your mind, Asuka, and if my theory is correct, I shall endeavor to aid you. For while you may know swordplay, I know people. I know socialization. I know emotions. And you...you are wearing yours on your face. Which I never noticed how pretty it was before seeing it this up close." Noriaki grinned towards Asuka, her hand still firmly placed onto her shoulder.
[/quote]

Deep in her meditative composure, everything was closed off to the ronin, every sense becoming heightened as she tarried forth unto the path her mind set forward, the path she could see after clearing the very thoughts that obscured it, her inner journey to a safe haven, a nirvana where her absolute balance and concentration restored itself, and she could focus on the more pressing matters at hand, but alas, the heart, it was the strongest of muscles any warrior held in their entire being, and so much power it possessed to conquer the sharp mind of Asuka and again...plague the peaceful inner journey with troubled ponderings. The very look of the miko, it stayed in her mind forever, even as she closed her eyes. Hanami was bewildered and certain to Asuka...she was offended as well to the samurai's abrupt parting from her bountiful meal for she and the other women. [i]Perhaps I should not have acted so brash, that I shouldn't have done...ah me....what a fool I be.[/i] Another sigh permeated the evening air, already the pungent scent of autumn upon it, which Asuka breathed into her lungs, but exhaled once she heard the voice behind her. Twas the flirt who came to check up on her.

"Noriaki-dono. The meal was indeed wonderful, that it was, I will not lie, but....my stomach was not in the right to partake of another feast, for I have already indulged my hunger, indeed I have." Curtly, the ronin spoke to the armored philanderer. Twas not hatred she held for Noriaki as a human, no. More than most, Asuka took a strong disliking to the woman's intolerable actions earlier upon the journey, but even a few moments ago is still the past, and to dwell upon the past is to hinder thy journey towards the future. However, as she listened to Noriaki continue spouting her flowery verbose unto the ronin, she realized Noriaki was not speaking of if Asuka enjoyed the meal or not. Rather it was Noriaki stating she knew something was troubling Asuka, and indeed...something personal was. She tensed at the feel of the woman's hand upon her shoulder, firm and reassuring yes, but still a bit unwelcomed, just giving the woman's rather libidinous notoriety Asuka had known of. "How right of you to assume such of me, Noriaki-dono, that you are. It is as though you've read me as simple as one of your poetic scribblings, but I am confused as to what I have done to garner your aid of me in this dismal hour of mine, that I am. No matter. I shall relinquish that which has ailed me, but only unto you, Noriaki-dono, and indeed only you. No word that I speak shall travel amongst these very women I travel with, and with trust unto a fellow woman of the blade, I give you this....."

First, she sighed, deeper than before, her eyebrows furrowing as such bothersome words began to pool at her lips, then released, "I....I have feelings for Miko-dono, that I do, but I am afraid to requite them. Courage I wield upon the field of war, that I most certainly do, but when the matter comes to I fawning over such a beautiful maiden as she, my courage wains and I flee in fear, for never once have I felt such. Born was I not to a world of affections, but a bloodstained realm of hate, of prejudice and death. Taught was I to kill, not to show affection, for such is weakness." Weakness....it was the very thought of affection being such that turned an innocent child of the village into a legendary samurai....or in honesty...an infamous taker of lives. To live in those days, you were to hate all, give trust unto no one, and let not your lips speak for you but rather your sword. Asuka, the first day she tasted death's bitter-sweetness, affection meant nothing to her. She cared not to feel a woman's touch, rather to hear the dying screams of pain from her foes was what she relished most. "Now here I be...." Asuka continued, lifting her head slightly to look upon the village. "Returned to the world of the civil, and still adjusting to it, that I am. Ah...but listen to me ramble. I must sound a desperate bid to you, Noriaki-dono, that I must." She chuckled slightly, yet the heaviness of her emotions still dwelt upon her anxious laughter. "I...I just wish I could overcome this fear I face, that is all I wish for...."