Fue-chan sat in the main quarters of Hazel’s house, her hands neatly folded in her lap, her posture better than it ever was. Her arms and hands had been bandaged, although she’d insisted it really wasn’t necessary. Her hair was also now all the same length, a neat, cute chin-length cut, making her look more like Sailor Saturn than she had before.
It’d been about a week that she’d been here. Most of the time she was very quiet and soft spoken, and Hazel had had a lot of trouble getting anything out of her for the first couple days. After that, she admitted to him that she’d done the cuts to her arms and hands and her hair. He’d just stared at her, but it seemed pretty obvious by now that she wasn’t mentally stable. She had hardly smiled at all, and he wanted so badly just to hear her laugh, to see what it sounded like. She had a deep intensity in her amber eyes and seemed to always be saying something in them that never got past her lips.
He came out of the kitchen quarters now--a worthless place, really, for him since he didn’t eat human food, but it had been helpful for Jaydrian and other visitors he’d had that needed supplement. She sat there, very still and quiet. She wore a dress of Jaydrian’s--one of the more conservative ones and the skirt a bit too long on her--a long, flowing cream colored dress with a tight bodice and slightly gathered sleeves that ended just after her thin shoulders. Her hair fell around her face darkly, and her skin shone palely. Save the strips of bandages wrapped around her arms and hands, she looked like a beautiful porcelain doll. Very fragile. She was off in thought, as she often was here, and didn’t look up as he approached her.
Once in front of her, Hazel reached a hand down and gently tipped her chin up to look at him, tilting his own head curiously, “Are you hungry?”
She didn’t jump or jerk as he touched her, but gazed up at him, waking lightly from her thoughts and shook her head, “No, thank you.”
He nodded, his gaze lingering on her. She hadn’t eaten much, but she’d had eaten, and on a pretty regular basis, so that’s what seemed important. She wasn’t starving herself and not overstuffing herself either. Hazel seemed pleased.
“I....”
His gaze, having never left her, deepened a little as she started to speak.
“I....” her eyes gazed down for a moment before raising to his ruby colored ones, “I think I need to go back.”
The demon was silent a moment. He had expected she’d want to, but he didn’t feel it was wise quite yet. She was still mentally fragile. And besides...he....he wasn’t ready to give her up.
“Fue....” he never called her by the -chan, or any other suffix, “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Nothing changes there, and you know it. Perhaps wait a while till you’re more ready to handle the stress.”
Normally, she would have gotten offended with anyone implying she wasn’t able to handle stress or whatever, but she could tell he didn’t mean to offend her by his tone, by the way he looked at her. He only meant it with concern.
“I know you’re worried about whether I’ll snap again....” when she spoke, Fue-chan spoke almost rather slowly, as if thinking through everything she was saying carefully, “...but I need to go back. I keep leaving without telling anyone... and I didn’t...” she made a slight face, “leave on the best terms.”
Silently, she thought how mad Seibrum must be with her. She’d scared him half to death and gotten him injured and framed for something he didn’t do. It....it had never meant to happen that way. Zei...she didn’t care what she made Zei out to be, but she never meant to hurt Seibrum, and she knew she had. She hoped he would slap her when she got back.
Hazel knelt now in front of her, taking her thin, graceful hands in his own large ones and gazed at her seriously, “I’m sure they will all understand if you need to stay until you get better. I can send word if you want.”
It seemed to tempting. It was wonderful here, the village very small and quiet. None of the neighbors knew each other, and none seemed to mind. Hazel’s house was big and very beautiful, a pretty little garden and bathing pool outside. It was peaceful and mind-settling here. But, as much as people had told her to stay somewhere until she ‘got better’ she knew she couldn’t.
Gently, pulling her hands away, she spoke gently, “I have to. .....Thank you so much for all you’ve done, but I need to go back.”
He watched her with worried eyes, perhaps a bit sad. She was young, so young, but even he wasn’t that old, for a demon. So many times he could have leaned in, when the moon was glowing romantically and the dim light of twilight surrounded them, and kissed her soft lips. But he wouldn’t. Now was not the time, and it would be cruel. It didn’t require self-control--it wasn’t an urgent, frantic need to feel her lips against his--he could simply know that she would be angry and hurt and it was very easy for him to sit back against the wall next to her and watch the moon in a comfortable silence.
But he couldn’t hold her here, and if she wanted to go back, he would let let her go. Watching her porcelain face a moment longer, he nodded and straightened up again, “Very well. I’ll take you back then.”
She nodded, getting up also, her long skirts falling gracefully, raising a hand to brush a lock of hair off her face. Hazel didn’t waste his time looking at her as she went on, “Hazel....you can stay too, you know..”
Memories of his conversation with Jayd and that hellish Cojin flashed back to Hazel. He didn’t care about what Cojin said to him, that didn’t matter, but it was Jayd. She was like his daughter, and she’d told him to leave.
“I....don’t think I can.”
The girl tilted her head, “Why not?”
Hazel brushed some of his long, dark hair off his shoulder, his back still to her, “Jaydrian doesn’t want me there.”
There was a bit of a silence, then Fue-chan spoke, “So? She doesn’t own the hotel.”
“I think it’s better if I don’t stay.”
Fue-chan narrowed her eyes, the spark of her stubbornness kicking in, “Why? Because the oh-always-silent-one told you to leave? Who cares what she says. You’re not staying because of her, you’re staying because of me.”
She’d meant it in the most innocent, friendly way possible, and he knew that, but he knew that if he did stay, that would solely be the reason.
Hazel looked at her quietly now, “And what will I do?”
She shrugged a little, “Be my friend? Make other friends?”
Hazel had never really had friends. It wasn’t something you’d expect, as he was such a friendly guy, but he’d only met people briefly, impressed them with his charm and gorgeous face and moved on. He’d never really had a friend besides Jaydrian before, and it was odd to even call her something like a friend.