(D11, LE) Quantum of Solace (Expecting)

[Moto Butaj]

Butaj said little until they were in the deep steppe. He had come for her late in the evening, scooped gently and carried onto horseback. They both knew the camp was no place for the emotions that boiled in them, because they would be too loud if they were just let out from tormented chests. But now that the wind has wiped the tears that couldn't be held and has whipped the angst from faces there is a modicum of calmness to be found across the emptiness of the billowing grass.

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki had been unable to sleep once again, weeping inconsolably into the furs that she now detested. Her smile as Butaj came in and took her was genuine, though the tears did not, could not, stop. She sat behind Butaj, clinging to him as though he were the only thing left in the entire world, and to let go would be to disappear into the nothing that surrounded her now.

[Moto Butaj]

When they have ridden sufficiently far, Butaj turns toward an outcropping with a reclined tree. He cried too, quietly, but the wind removed the stains of it from his face. "I am here for you." He musters a reassurance and cups her hands clenched on his stomach with his as Huludai slows down into a trot. "My heart has not changed. It won't ever." He brings her hand to his chest. "Here, cruelty of others has no entry. It's where you are."

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki couldn't speak, her throat clamped up with the sobs that she had spent the past hour finally releasing her emotions.

She placed her head against his back as she felt his heart beating and she could not help but begin to cry all over again.

[Moto Butaj]

He does not shush her. He knows what she feels, and how. "We will find the way, love." When Huludai stops by the outcropping he turns to kiss her forehead and to wrap her body in his coat. "I'll make a small camp for us."

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki followed Butaj down off the horse, still sniffling she spoke.

"I... I don't want him, and I know you don't want her. I don't want to go through with this sham, to put leagues between us, I can't stand it."

[Moto Butaj]

"I won't stand it either. We'll find a way." He embraces her close, kissing her face for a while, picking up her tears with his lips. There is no more tears from him, he's past that point and it brings him some small comfort that he can appear strong for her now that she needs it more than ever. His heart is still clenched by an iron ring and his breath is shallow but it matters less as long as there is something to be done for her, for them. He takes her in his arms and carries to a point of rest near the outcropping.

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki kisses back tenderly, almost afraid of losing more than what was already lost. She willingly followed after Butaj, hands never leaving his side. "It's my fault, if I had done better at the events... if I hadn't... If I had realized how much I would need the points." Her voice cracked for a moment. "I didn't collect as many eggs as I could have. It's all my fault."

[Moto Butaj]

"We both failed, Yuki, but with how the rules were I don't think we could have succeeded. She was way ahead. Where I failed was with misjudging that witch. She was the caretaker of shrines, she taught me how to pray to Benten-kami and I prayed aloud, fervently, from the depth of my heart I pleaded for you as best as I could. She witnessed it, she heard it all... What malice, what evil in her heart must there be to break us apart!" He cuddles her close. His voice and body tremble as he holds her on his knees.

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki sighed miserably. "I thought she was a friend. I helped her with the shrine, encouraged her even. She knew I favored you. I do not know what is in her heart... but I doubt there is little more than ice there." She shook her head and leaned against Butaj.

"I don't want to go back to Phoenix lands without you."

[Moto Butaj]

"Then we shall go somewhere else." He doesn't want to discuss Hotaru any more. He wants to remove her from between them. "The world is big. We'll find our place, my love. This way or another. This is not over. Don't be afraid. We're not to be parted, especially not tonight, but not in the future either. Let me prepare camp for you. I want you to be warm." He whispers affectionately, overpowering his own anxieties with the surge of confidence in their future. His arms close around her and buoy her, cradle and soothe.

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki shook her head. "I couldn't ask you to do that, to give up everything." She sat next to the Butaj, looking up at the stars that she had dreamed of not so long ago.

"Baatar is... he's not like you at all. I'd thought... I'd hoped..." She sighed. "I was left with practically no choice at all, stuck between two men I did not know." She leaned against Butaj and laughed a little. "I should have just let you abduct me and ride away."

[Moto Butaj]

"I see it the other way. Today much has been given up for us. I just want some of it back. What do we have to lose? We'll lose everything if we do nothing." He stands up to take some dry branches from the reclined tree and stoke a makeshift campfire. It doesn't take long. "Baatar, like most of my family, despises me, Yuki. I am a mutt to him." He returns to her side. "I really wanted to. We still can, go north, never come back here."

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki smiled. "Of course we'll do something." She paused at his suggestion. "North? To Phoenix lands? I'm not certain they will be so accepting of us. It's possible, but I do not think they would risk the wrath of the Scorpion and the Lion again over us."

[Moto Butaj]

"I was thinking about leaving the Empire." He speaks out honestly. "Leaving it all behind." He sighs. "But that wouldn't do, right?"