[Kaoru doesn't want to go - really doesn't want to go, because this topic, Chizuru, is so important to him. Even her reassurances don't help a huge deal in the end, but he won't ever actually be reassured until he can see Chizuru with his own eyes and reach out to touch her for himself. She exists as a phantom until then, and even more than the abuse he suffers through, her stark absence pains him. He wouldn't ever wish for her to be here (though that, too, is starting to twist under the huge pressure of just wanting to be by her side again), but it's an impossible technicality that he'd gladly overlook.
But he can hear her move away, and hear movement from the hall, so he's up and running as fast as he can. He raises a hand while he goes, wiping at his eyes, sliding into the hidden area that he uses to go between his own room and the other side of the courtyard right as he can hear the shoji screen fly open where Sen is.
She'll be able to hear the sound of the guards looking around on the outside, presumably getting down on hands and knees to check beneath the porch. There are a few concerning stirs - a is that a footprint? and an I think this area is warm! - but nothing that seems to indicate Kaoru is still around to be caught.
As for the guard in the door, he levels Sen an angry look. No grand-standing this time, at least; he seems to have learned his lesson.]
stares out into the distance...
But he can hear her move away, and hear movement from the hall, so he's up and running as fast as he can. He raises a hand while he goes, wiping at his eyes, sliding into the hidden area that he uses to go between his own room and the other side of the courtyard right as he can hear the shoji screen fly open where Sen is.
She'll be able to hear the sound of the guards looking around on the outside, presumably getting down on hands and knees to check beneath the porch. There are a few concerning stirs - a is that a footprint? and an I think this area is warm! - but nothing that seems to indicate Kaoru is still around to be caught.
As for the guard in the door, he levels Sen an angry look. No grand-standing this time, at least; he seems to have learned his lesson.]
Who were you talking to, huh?