It's evening, the sun setting in the distance over the seemingly-endless expanse of buildings which are Tokyo, lights glowing from many of the windows even though the sky is still somewhat light. It's not terribly cold either, the winter milder than usual, though considering this is the rooftop of a 47-story building, it's a bit chillier up here than it is at ground level.
The chill doesn't seem to bother Kyouko overmuch though, as she lounges against the rail, peering off into the distance and watching the sun as it blazes its way past the horizon. She has a packet of Pocky on the small table nearby, one of the chocolate-and-cracker sticks hanging out of the corner of her mouth, her blue hoodie (over a long-sleeve shirt and jeans) her only concession to the chill.
Sunset from the balcony is beautiful. Sunset from the roof, though ... from the roof, this far above the city, sometimes the city light gets diffuse enough to actually be able to see stars.
Especially when Kunzite cheats on it.
He's still Kazuo when he leads Unmei up from the apartment, black coat pulled on over his typical white shirt and jeans. (By now, Unmei is well aware that Kazuo is one of those people whose wardrobe consists mainly of eight copies of the same outfit. Well. Maybe not mainly anymore. Zoisite has ... opinions. But he still defaults to that same, over and over.)
Naru is content to be silent as she leans on the railing next to Kyouko, watching the sunset. It's not a cranky sort of silence between them, but a content one. Naru has a coat on, she is eternally cold, and her hot drink steams in the cool air.
There's something to be said for the fact that she is willing to be leaning on the railing of the roof, although there's no looking /down/ to be had. Out or up, those are the options for where Naru is looking.
Unmei Tama followed behind him, her hand wrapped around his tightly. She'd been getting better, a little bit every day. She still had lots of dark energy, but at least now she wasn't in constant pain. More just this nagging desire to just... eat.
Fortunately, Kun had been there to help her. As had Yuzu. So she was getting the dark energy slowly relieved and was almost sleeping well. She was still clingy as heck, of course, but at least she was crying on them a lot less(not completely stopped, mind you, just less.) She'd also been able to focus better, too! She was playing games with Kun and getting a lot better every time! Every word of praise he gave her made her sqwee emotionally with delight and he was likely learning that this girl did, indeed, seem to function exclusively off positive reinforcement. She came to the right place for it, at least.
"It's a beautiful night," she said softly. She was wearing a black coat, likely from one of Zoi's trips, and wearing an outfit similar to her own. Just with a bit more pink. She'd even redyed her hair blue.
And then her eyes fell on Kyouko and Kun would feel her suddenly push into his back. "Oh gosh it's Kyouko she's going to stab me oh crud oh crud what do I say, Kun? Did you tell her I was here?" She clasped him, completely unaware her frantic yelping could be heard by likely everyone on the roof.
Kyouko had made her intentions to not frequent the upstairs apartment while Unmei was in residence (a fairly strong indication of her mood, since Mamoru's apartment had been a second home to her for a very long time now)... but she also hadn't quite expected that to go on for this long. Her own fault, really, for continually underestimating Mamoru's desire to help people, despite having been on the receiving end of that help more than once. Also, maybe she was thinking that the roof didn't count as going into the apartment?
Either way, she's just leaning there on the railing, next to Naru- possibly part of the reason Naru is willing to be there is because she knows Kyouko would catch her if by some extreme confluence of bad luck she happened to fall- in companionable silence when that silence is rent by fearful yelping.
She shoots a glance sideways at Naru, managing to convey a host of emotions likely only her girlfriend is in a position to be able to read, before glancing back over her shoulder with the most wryly suffering look she can conjure. "Relax, kid, I ain't stabbin' anyone tonight." Well, unless someone should attack her, but that goes without saying, really.
"House rules," Kazuo says to Unmei for approximately the fourteenth time today. (For sanity's sake, don't multiply that out by the number of days she's been here.) His hands find hers, and make the usual gesture at unpeeling them, but with no particular force behind it; the gesture translates fairly readily as 'I'd prefer you not be doing that just now, but if you really need it, go ahead.'
(There are a lot of gestures to be translated, from him. Words of praise are also metered -- even when she's done well, a word or two acknowledging it is often all there is -- but they are, at least, given when earned.)
He glances railward at Kyouko and Naru. "Good evening, both of you. It's good to see you, Kyouko; how is your sister?" As if the terrified semi-villainess clinging to him were merely the latest item of fashion Zoisite had insisted he try.
The sound of arrivals prompt Naru to turn, glancing over to where Unmei is clinging to Kunzite and she offers the pair of them a smile. "Evening. It's entirely to lovely an evening for stabbings." She too, does not comment on the clinging, greeting them as if nothing odd was going on.
The look from Kyouko prompts Naru to slide one of her hands along the railing, to settle upon Kyouko's arm lightly. A casual, affectionate touch. Her free hand lifts her coffee mug for a sip, before the chill in the air makes it cold coffee.
Unmei Tama gulped and nodded. Slowly she'd let him unpeel her fingers. She looked up at him for support, then turned towards Kyouko. She chewed on her lower lip for a moment and eyed the woman.
Okay, there was only one thing to do now. She took a slow, deep breath and then moved over, folding her hands neatly in front of herself.
She then bowed politely(something she'd seen girls do in anime and, as Kun likely knew by now, she used to watch a LOT of anime and was getting into the habit again when he let her). "Kyouko, I... I'm sorry. For how I behaved before. I was rude, inconsiderate, angry and... I treated you a lot worse than you deserved. And you didn't like... knife me even though I probably deserved it. So... thank you. And I'm eternally sorry for the things I did and the people I hurt."
She took a small step back and instinctively cringed. Kun would probably recognize it as a sign she was expecting to get yelled at and getting ready to flee behind him.
Kyouko gives a small half-smile to Kunzite as he greets both her and Naru. "She's.. Momo." She answers, as if this is more than enough of a status update, which is likely is. Naru's hand resting on her arm causes her to glance down at it for a moment, as if considering something.. sharing another brief glance with the girl standing beside her before half-turning as Unmei approaches to give her little speech.
At first it's unclear whether or not the apology has any effect at all, as Kyouko regards Unmei with a rather flat stare and an expression which gives away nothing at all. She arches an eyebrow.. but Naru's hand is still on her arm, and Kunzite is there too. Really, Unmei could not have picked better company, save perhaps Mamoru, to get Kyouko to behave herself.
Finally, she makes a faint 'ptah' gesture and turns back to the railing, turning her back on Unmei, and shifting over so she's leaning slightly against Naru. She turns her head though, to speak over her shoulder. "I appreciate the gesture, kid, but here's the way it is- fancy words don't make past deeds go away. Plenty o' people in this world like to think that all it takes is 'sorry' to erase the crap they done. I know first-hand it ain't so. If you want me to believe what you just said, prove it to me by the way you act from now on."
She pauses a moment, and then adds, "Still.. takes courage to apologize. I know that, too. So like I said.. I appreciate it."
Kazuo answers Kyouko's half-smile with ... more of a quarter-one, really, but it adds another fraction at the answer about Momo. He inclines his head toward Naru, after. "Much too lovely," he agrees aloud, while letting Unmei stay in his shadow even as the cling is unclung. Nor does he move when Unmei does -- if she flees behind him again, well, that's still an option. Which sometimes makes it less necessary to take that option. Sometimes.
And then there's a moment of real conversation, or possibly just the semblance of real; time will tell, on that one. He listens, for the most part, without interfering. And inclines his head to Kyouko, after.
Naru watches Unmei as she gathers up her courage and apologizes to Kyouko, her attention shifting over to watch Kyouko about midway through the apology. She watches Kyouko quietly, a gentle squeeze of her arm at the gesture and she shifts a touch to welcome the lean against her.
"It does take courage to apologize." Naru agrees quietly, her attention settling back upon Unmei for a few moments, considering the girl.
"If you have time, not tonight, but sometime soonish, I'd like to discuss, and possibly even attempt, the practice together that we keep talking about, Kunzite." Naru comments almost as an aside to Kunzite, quiet enough not to inturrupt apologies and reactions therein.
Unmei Tama cringes a bit. Oh. She wasn't going to accept it, then. She couldn't say she was surprised. Her head lowered, eyes following suit. Right. Words couldn't make it any better. She'd screwed up a lot and now she...
Then she blinked a few times. Wait, it took courage to... "I-I will!" she said firmly. "I-I'll show with my actions! I will be a good person! I-I'll fix all my mistakes a-and make up for the stupid things I've done! M-Mamo and Kun said they'd even help my get out from Eclipse, so... so that's going to happen and then I'll... I'll fix all the things I did wrong and not make any more mistakes again! I-I'll be the best ally you ever had!"
Just setting that bar a liiiiiiittle too high there. After all, she might be good but they had a LOT of awesome allies.
"Let's not kid ourselves," Kyouko comments, to both Kunzite and Naru, in the wake of her words to Unmei. "Stabbings only improve he loveliness of an evening." A mischevious little smile tugs at her lips at that comment.
Unmei's over-enthusiastic response to her own words just illicit a sigh from her. It may not be visible to Unmei or Kunzite because of the way they are standing, but her hand slides over to find Naru's and twine fingers with her as Kyouko says, "A bit of advice from someone who's been there- you can't fix all your mistakes. Mistakes have a way of stickin' around. 'Lotta times you gotta live with 'em.. and put all your energy towards not makin' new ones."
She chomps on the pocky stick still hanging out of her mouth, her eyes locked on the horizon, the sun now vanished behind the distant mountains as she squeezes Naru's hand lightly- the conversation perhaps bringing back unpleasant memories related to her own past mistakes, though her expression is contemplative rather than melancholy.
"It's the timing," Kazuo says to Kyouko, grave. "Sunlight and starlight on spattered blood can both be lovely, but sunset light throws the colors off. Clearly, therefore, to accommodate aesthetic values, we'll need to keep a moratorium till it's dark out."
Again, he lets Unmei's conversation with Kyouko stands on its own, not interrupting, not correcting, not intervening; but still, he hasn't moved. Even as he nods to Naru a second time, this one more fluid than the last. "After school Monday, perhaps, crises and homework allowing?"
"Still leaving the stabbings to you, love." Naru comments with a soft snort to Kyouko, amused and covering old ground. She gives the fingers twined with hers a gentle squeeze at the contemplation, quiet for a moment herself.
"I generally aspire to learning from mistakes and not making the same one twice. There's always new mistakes to be made, that's part of living." Naru points out into the conversation with Kyouko and Unmei.
"That sounds good." Naru nods after a thoughtful pause to Kunzite. "I can't think of anything on after school on Monday, crises and homework aside."
Unmei Tama gulped and nodded. "R-right. I... guess a second restart is... a bit too much. Heh heh," she muttered, scratching her head. She timidly walked further from Kun, though he might notice she got a bit tense, ready to run back at any moment. Slowly she made her way to the balcony edge and looked over the side, down.
And then quickly walked back towards Kun, the color drained from her face. Okay, she knew they were really far up. That much had been obvious. but there was a difference between knowing and *knowing*. "Should, err, I head back inside? So you and they can talk? I know I've been taking a lot of your time lately. Do you, ummm, want some free time? Without me? I could go bug Mamo."
Kyouko glances back over her shoulder again as Unmei retreats, but doesn't seem to feel the need to add anything else to her words to the girl- and she leaves Kunzite to answer for himself to the question, since while she always appeciates his company, she has nothing pressing to discuss with him that she would banish Unmei over specifically.
Instead she turns her attention to Naru, a faint smirk coming to her lips. "I will gladly continue to be on stabbing duty, babe." She says, lightly, though she keeps hold of Naru's hand. "And you're right.. there's always new mistakes. The difference is intent, I guess. Easier to forgive the mistakes you make while trying to do somethin' good than the ones you make bein' a selfish a-hole." It's clear she's not talking about Unmei, the girl already seemingly dismissed from her mind for the moment.
Then she sighs, over-dramatic. "Does that mean I need to make my own dinner, on Monday? Whatever shall I do, I've been spoiled rotten the past few months."
Kunzite doesn't actually look at Unmei wandering back, not till she comes close enough that he doesn't have to admit to having seen her go pale. But he says, as she does, "That's why there's a ledge. Also, if you fall, I can catch you before you hit. Unless you land on a balcony, but those aren't too far down." Since the highest ones are for their own apartment. "There's no need for you to go back inside on my account; if you want to on your own, you can." Or she can stay out here, presumably away from the edges. There's a lot of roof.
"As for dinner, there's always the terrifying and inconceivable option of sending someone for takeout. It remains theoretically possible. If we're taking items off the to-do list, someday we should finally get around to trying that crepe stand Nephrite's been claiming he owns for the last year." (And probably actually does own, after a fashion. Masato Sanjouin is still a somewhat unsettling topic, though.)
He's not saying a word about mistakes. Though half keeping an eye on Unmei again, while food's being discussed.
"If not actively trying to do something good, at least not actively trying to do something bad." Naru nods on the notion of mistakes. "Ignorance is a fixable condition, fortunately, but it does provide plenty of opportunities for new mistakes." She flickers a smile for Kyouko, an almost rueful little chuckle.
"Clearly you are going to starve. To death." Naru assures Kyouko on the notion of her having to feed herself for dinner, her tone dryly amused. "Waste away to nothing, pining in the kitchen, unable to call for pizza, or microwave something for dinner. It'll be tragic, and I'll mourn forever."
"Nephrite owns a crepe stand?" Naru asks, with a note of surprise to her voice. "That might call for a field trip."
Unmei Tama blinked a few times and then just stared at kun. "Oh, we're getting take out? Can we get chinese? It's been so long since I've had good..." she then blinked. Wait. She's in japan. Is it rude to ask for chinese food in japan? Was that like going to france and asking for italian? She completely locked up until...
"Wait, he owns a crepe stand? Just how rich are you people? I feel like I've ended up on lifestyles of the rich and magical these days," she said with a sigh, rubbing her head. Then eeped. "U-uh, actually, err, I-I'd be good with anything."
Yes, her lack of focus had completely missed the point that they were talking about dinner for -monday- and not -today-.
"What are we, made of money?" Kyouko rhetorically asks Kunzite, regarding his heretical notion of sending for takeout, and in direct opposition to Unmei's assertation that they are filthy rich. Of course, the fact that they are, in fact, filthy rich (or that they're standing on top of a multi-multi-million-dollar penthouse that likely cost more than a hundred crepe carts) doesn't factor into the conversation.
To Naru, she smirks, "Oh, come now, you wouldn't let me starve. I'd haunt you forever, and then what would you do? Much safer just to make sure I have something to eat." A pause, and then, "Though for the record, I am all in favor of seeking out a crepe stand."
She sighs though, glancing up at the now-dark sky. "Not tonight though. I'm beat." She glances back at Kunzite and Unmei, then over at Naru again. "I'm for crashing, I think. You?"
"Nephrite owns a lot of things," Kunzite assures Naru. "Or did. I haven't inquired into their current status. Several of them might be applicable to staving off the pining." He glances back to Unmei. "Not, granted, at the moment. We're planning for Monday night. I'll keep Chinese on the list of possibilities, though."
And then, rather than answering the 'just how rich are you people,' he pauses again to consider Kyouko's question. Then experimentally runs a thumbnail over the back of his own hand, as if to see whether it could peel off a paper note. "Excellent point," he says to Kyouko. "I'm sure we can find someone to cook if you'd really prefer to save mone. Zoisite, maybe."
(Zoisite is gently banned from cooking in either of Makoto's kitchens. Just because nobody wants to have to wonder what was being cooked, and whether any unwholesome elements were really entirely scoured out.)
"Exorcism." Naru replies to Kyouko and then grins brightly. "Besides, that's one of the few excuses for skipping the gym."
"Just when its getting dark enough to meet Kunzite's stabbing aestetics too." Naru comments on the now-dark sky, but she nods. "I have a bit of drawing to do before bed, but it's not getting done up here." Adding to one's magical sketchbook is best done in slow and steady doses, rather than making for a spectacularly exhausting day, which inevitably would be a crisis day.
"Hey! I cook in that kitchen! No sending Zoi!" Naru protests with a laugh as she gives Kyouko's hand a tug, moving away from the edge of the roof. "Good night you two."
Unmei Tama nods. "Okay! I ummm..." She started to reach for Kun's hand, then paused. She then walked off on her own. "I'll... go study some more of those go things you gave me, okay? I'd like to learn a bit more. When you come inside, if that's okay. OR not. Whatever you like. Bye!" she said, before just running inside.
Unmei was still having a bit of trouble with the whole... being social thing. Luckily her new friends were so patient!
"I did manage to feed both myself and Momo for like, months before Naru started cooking for us all the time y'know." Kyouko protests, despite she being the one who had brought up the lack of Naru-dinner in the first place. "There's no need for extreme measures!" This to Kunzite, for his suggestion of sending Zoisite to cook. Clearly she doesn't want to face Naru's Wrath either.
"Ehh, there's plenty of time ahead for stabbing." She says to Naru, with a grin, but allows herself to be tugged along by the hand. "Night." This to the other occupants of the roof as she lets Naru steer her towards the door leading down to the elevators.
She even goes without protest, rather than trying to convince Naru to just leap over the edge of the roof. Must be love.