Finding the Truth

[Noel Rayburn]

She looked toward the window, the sunlight's reflection was really making her face between too pale and too beautiful, he could not decide which. He turned a tad red at the thought of her being pretty, however by the time her thinking process was done and she was turned back to him, his red had long faded. When she started to challenge him, he knew for some odd reason, she felt she really could change Noel. That she had a chance, that everything she had dealt with in her life, would work on Noel as well. He listened to her argument but already knew the unbeatable argument of time. "You can't change something, that does not want to be changed."

[/color] it was short simple, and was the best way he could tell her the flat out truth about Noel. About explaining anything about Noel. Her history, her regrets, her mistakes. Not to mention the whole complex life she lives and feels guilty about. It was like as if all that guilt had built p so much, it was a drug eating her alive. There was nothing really you ould do, you would have to really challenge her, but in the right ways. He knew there was no way to free him, so how could there be hope for her? The only way he could think of was a wish, but even then. Would she just end up like him? Mindless slave to the wish? Also, what if Azuki did go out and make her a better person. What would happen to him? How would that work? That creature made a threat, was it worth save one life, and risk thousands more? He knew that breaking Noel from her imaginary land, was impossible, especially from the direct approach. The short forgotten routes to freeing her, will be impossible too. The only chance he really had was Azuki proving him wrong. Even then, what would happen?

Making a decision to stop Azuki's obvious line of thought, he turned to her, and with almost no expression written across his face, he spoke. "Is that all your questions?"[/color][/blockquote][/size]

[Azu Sterling]

Sighing, Azuki absently ran her fingers through Gray's fur. Letting him calm her senses and nerves down before she let them get to her. It was strange. Very strange indeed, since no one really made her nervous. But yet, here was John, a complete stranger to her was able to make her nervous by just sitting there and talking to her. Closing those blue eyes, Azuki let her breathing slow down, as if she was falling asleep, and yet she wasn't. It was something that she had been able to do very easily when she didn't want to sleep at night.

"I won't force her to change. I can see that she doesn't want to change because she believes that she is already perfect. I can easily show her that she isn't, but I won't. I merely want her to understand that I can be her friend without her needing to pay me to pretend." she said, opening her eyes to look over at John. He was different that was for sure, but something about him, made Azuki want to talk. Want to actually be apart of something that wasn't quite there.

"I'm done. For now at least." she said, turning her attention to the waitress and nodded for the check. Azuki turned his attention towards John and smiled, softly for once. "Do you have any questions for me, John? I'll answer them as honestly as I can."

[Ginger]

He listened to her, she was so sincere, he felt his heart go to her, to comfort her. He was going to argue about Noel believing she was perfect, but that was not part of the question and answer game. He listened and nodded, as if this person had a chance, a chance where he had failed. Her deep thought, made him wonder, did he have such thought? Did he dare go into that deep in the mind? He started messing with the table, as if his thoughts were bothering him. He merely create a small tiny hole, by the time she spoke up saying that she was done. That she did not want to ask anymore. He gave a sigh and asked once more, ignoring her own comment of asking her questions. He had plenty of questions, just none of them felt the right. Maybe just maybe, he could give her more answers, before asking his own. "Are you sure, you have no more? I will not allow you to do this again, you do have to understand this is a sort of one time deal. There is no telling the next time we'll meet again like this."

[/color] he looked her directly in the eye and had seriousness written all over his face. He wanted her to understand, this was a one deal thing, that this will never happen again. He practically swore it on his father's honor.[/blockquote][/size]

[Azu Sterling]

Azuki reached over to John and let her finger tips touch his skin softly. Before she retreated her hand to the edge of her side of the table. "Of course I'm sure. I don't need to ask questions to understand what I see John." she said, giving him a smile. Usually her smiles meant nothing but something about this man. Something that mad her want to actually show some genuine concern towards a girl that clearly didn't want it. To bad.. Azuki would try.

"Now, any questions for me that you may have." she said, watching him carefully. "Like you said, this is the only time it will happen. Since we don't know when we will meet again." she added, a soft but sad tone seeping into her voice. What was it about him that made her act like this?

[Noel Rayburn]

she gently touched his skin, he felt his heart suddenly race, his face turn a shade of red. Why does she make his heart pound so? He knew this was just with any sort of girl, but she made it worse, much worse. So she didn't need anymore answers? Too bad, there was so much she didn't know. Now it was his turn... What should he asked? What was there to ask? He could simply ask about her dog, but that seemed lame. Anyone could get a dog to follow them anywhere. Yet they were inseparable. "Why do you break rules and laws?"

[/color] he asked curious. She was technically on the wanted list, to keep an eye on.

He watched every inch of her to see her reaction. What was it that happened to her when she was little? What is it that kept her going? Why does she seem so sad and secretive? What was she hiding? All these questions, and yet none seem to be the right one. How was she not stressing out when she was to ask the questions? He felt a tad panic build in his chest, he quickly fought it down.
[/blockquote][/size]

[Azu Sterling]

When he asked the question she knew was going to come sooner or later. She simply closed her eyes, took a deep breath and thought about her answer. Even when she was a little girl, that was always something about her that brought in trouble. In grade school, she was the trouble maker in her class. She knew that it was only because of her name that Azuki did the complete opposite of what people expected her to do. It drove Melissa crazy at times but hey, she was going to get into trouble anyways.

"Rules and laws are meant to be broken." she stated. Letting him soak it in, it was something that she kept in mind. She loved to break the rules. She didn't take well to being demanded around.

[Noel Rayburn]

When she finally answered, he felt his heart stop. Such a simple answer one however, that meant all the world. He closed his eyes shook his head, he felt like he was going to barf. He shook his head closed his eyes, he knew she was right. All those other questions, they suddenly seem pointless, this was the real question. The answer she gave was the real answer. Had he asked the wrong question? No, that was not it. He felt himself get up, his chest practically doubled on itself in sadness and pain. "I must go."

[/color] he said before leaving the coffee shop. He quickly ran a random direction and headed down an ally. As soon as he was hidden away and out of view, he immediately started to puke and cry. There is a possibility the dog could sniff him out, however he hoped, he prayed it choose not to. Maybe the smell of pii would throw it off, just anything, anything for her not to find him like this. This thing, these rules... Without them, who was he?[/blockquote][/size]

[Azu Sterling]

As soon as he stood up, her heart dropped. Had she said something wrong? Had she did something wrong? For once, Azuki didn't want to do anything wrong. She wanted to do something right, and even though she knew Noel would kick her ass for talking to John. She knew it was right to talk to him anyways. However, she watched him walk out the door and take off. At first she just sat there, even when she had paid for the hot coco, Azuki just sat there. It wasn't until Gray took off after John, that she was up and after her familiar.

What had gotten into to Gray lately? Ever since the day she had met the girl and John at the pizza place, he's been acting weird. Out of place. And it worried Azuki to much for her to bare. Now, she knew that he could feel her feelings, her emotions that only Gray knew about. Was that the reason he started to act differently? Watching him turn down an ally, Azuki instantly followed but was stopped short when she saw John.

Looking down and back away slowly, Azuki whistled and hoped that Gray would follow her shortly. But he didn't. "Gray, come on. When need to go home.." she said, for once her voice not emotionless. It had every inch of emotion in it. And all of it, was going towards Gray. Azuki tugged on the gray wolfs fur, but he didn't budge. "Gray, come on. I know you can hear me in your head. It's part of being my familiar, so come on." she pleaded, trying her best to ignore John and the state she found him in. It was clear that he didn't want to be found and it was clear. That Gray wanted her to find him.

[Noel Rayburn]

When he finally stopped crying and barfing on the ground, he heard Azuki's voice and the breathing of the dog. He didn't see their shadows or even noticed their presence. He quickly started to clean himself up, but it was a pointless battle. He spoke in a low voice, "Sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me..."

[/color] He shed off the only layer of shirt he had on, picked himself up turned to the nearest trashcan and threw it away. He looked at Azuki and his face turned a brightest shade of red it had ever been, "I eer... I eer.. I need mouthwash."[/color] was really all he could get out. He toke a step to them, his face seemingly on fire in embarrassment. The next moment however, it started to rain, and not just rain pouring rain. He merely stood there like an idiot not knowing what to do, he should not let any of his Father's employees or his Father himself, see him in this condition. He'll be grounded for life.[/blockquote][/size]

[Azu Sterling]

Azuki looked up to John when he spoke to her. Saying sorry for something she didn't know what he had done. She noticed him shedding off his shirt before throwing it away. Now why did he do that? When he came over to her and Gray, Azuki saw his face and instantly felt bad for intruding on him like she had. But it wasn't her fault. It was Gray's! He had followed the damn man into the ally, leaving Azuki to chase after him. It wasn't fair but she did it anyways.

"Don't be sorry. I should be for intruding on you." she said, looking away from him as soon as the rain came down. Sighing, Azuki walked over to John and grabbed his wrist with her cold hand. "We need to get you out of this rain, before you catch a cold. My house isn't to far from here and my father left a few shirts there you can borrow." she said as she walked towards her home. The last time she had taken John to her home, it was because of the girl and he had zoned out like he was in a spell. Once again.. It bothered her deeply but she wasn't going to show it. As if realizing something, Azuki looked at her hand on his wrist before removing it quickly and putting both hands in her black jeans. What was she doing? Why was she doing this?

[Noel Rayburn]

He listened to her and nodded, then let her drag him towards her house. He didn't really bothered fighting back, mainly for the new company. He also knew his house was closer from here than hers, and that it was probably dumb walking across city shirtless with another girl, with him being son of the Mayor and the supposed "innocent" boy of his age. Her hands were cold, unlike Noel's who always seemed to have warm hands, he however did not mind this, it was actually refreshing to have another girl drag him then just Noel. Not only that but Noel wasn't around to make a big deal out of it.

Azuki suddenly looked at her hand and quickly removed it from his wrist and snuck them into her black jean pants. He looked down at the wrist she was just holding and began wondering, would it ever happen again? Was he at all in her league of bad boys and breaking the laws? Would his Father forever punish him if he followed her way of life. The silence just began to grow making his thoughts more intense. He hated the silence and really wanted to break it, "Soo... Your old man had shirts left over? What do they look like? he, not that it really matters, just you know... The rain is so cold.. I think I see my breath..."

[/color] he let out a large cloud of warmed up air and created a minor cloud, that soon dispersed. His body started shaking as if it suddenly realized it was freezing cold outside.[/blockquote][/size]

[Azu Sterling]

When he mentioned that he could see his breath, Azuki began to worry. It was cold outside, but she hadn't really noticed. The cold didn't bother her as much as most people, but then again, Azuki hadn't thought about John being affected by the cold weather. "He has a few jackets you can borrow, or have. A t-shirts as well as long sleeves." she said, before she whistled again and Gray took off. Coming around a corner, Azuki spotted her house and lifted up her hood before turning to John.

"My house is just right there, you think you can make it?" she said, before picking up the pace. She could see his breath and his body shaking, something she knew it wasn't a good sign. Reaching over, Azuki grabbed his wrist again, not caring for the fact they were touching and dragged him until they were at her door. Since the door was already opened because of Gray, Azuki just walked in and pushed John over to a couch closest to the fire place and wrapped a wool blanket around him.

She disappeared upstairs before she returned with a long sleeved shirt and a jacket. "Here, put this on. " she said, before sitting across from him still in her drenched clothes. Azuki's black hair was glued to her face, framing her blue speckled eyes as she looked over at the fire place.

[Noel Rayburn]

He followed her in and before he knew it, she was pushing him to the couch closest to the fireplace and wrapping a wool around him. He gave a sneeze as soon as she was a few feet away. He wiped his hand against his nose, feeling his head fill up with fluid from the new cold. He was glade for the warm wool blanket and slowly started to drift away. Before he knew it he had passed out on her warm comfortable couch, that when she came in with the jacket and asked him to put it on. He was so out of it, there was no reaction or anything. The best bet she had was to probably shake him awake or something. His dreams were just filled with his deepest sorrows and secrets. They seemed to dance all around telling truth and lies. If only he had made a decision, if only he did this, if only this had happened. On and on.

[/size]

[Azu Sterling]

Realizing that John was asleep, Azuki put down the jacket and shirt on the coffee table before she removed herself from the living room. Going up her stairs, Azuki went up to her room and changed into a pair of gray sweats and a black tank top before she returned back to the living room with a blanket for herself. Laying down on the opposite couch, Azuki whistled softly and Gray showed up, jumping up at the other end of the couch and kept her company. Slowly, Azuki's eyes glazed and she drifted off to sleep, for once tired from the emotional combat she had with herself around John. It was exhausting.