46 Such Care

"Ara, I'm here. Come with me…"

Homura Ryuu shifted on his feet, and extended his hand further upon seeing that Ara was too cold to move on her own. She was just able to turn her head towards him, but the rest of her body remained unmoving.

"K-Kou?" she whispered, her confusion written on her face. She was definitely wondering what he was doing here.

The Koutaishidenka frowned upon noticing the trembling of her lips.

Yes, she was definitely freezing. Without a word, he knelt down to grab her and pulled her out of the concrete cylinder gently towards him.

He wanted to release some ki to make her dry, but as this was the first time they're really spending time together, it wouldn't be a good idea. He didn't want to scare her. For now, it's best to act like what normal humans would.

He lifted her up on her feet and took the towel from Koga and patted her dry – or tried to at least stop the water from dripping from her hair to her face. She shivered and he wrapped another towel around her before pulling her close against his body to give her some of his heat.

Lightning flashed again, and thunder roared so loudly and he noticed that she looked more upset, and thought she was probably really scared of the thunder.

He couldn't understand the rationale of that fear, but knowing that she's human and that it was normal for them to be fearful, he accepted it. He lifted her up in his arms, and frowned at her feather-like weight and walked back into the car with Koga following behind with the umbrella and Ara's schoolbag.

"We'll get you warm in no time." He deposited her at the backseat and saw her hesitate. "What's wrong?"

"I'm totally soaked," she replied worriedly, and Homura was amused.

"Well, good thing you realize that," he replied, although he knew she was worried about getting the seat wet.

"Don't worry about the car. Worry about yourself," he said softly as he sat next to her. He then wrapped her with a thick blanket before ordering the driver to go to his apartment in Gaienmae.

On the way, Ara remained quiet, and Ryuu didn't bother her. He already heard from Gin that she had an argument with her brother and that she had confessed to being depressed enough to kill herself before.

Her confession and the heart to heart talk with her sibling probably took a toll on her emotionally, and so he didn't pester her about other things for now. He did have some things he'd like to ask her, about her plans and other things, but they could wait until she's feeling better.

Soon, they had reached a high rise building in an upscale neighborhood. Ryuu got out of the car and assisted Ara out. The girl didn't have much energy, and so she just quietly followed him without any fuss. Homura Ryuu was pleased with the level of trust she was showing him.

"Young Master," Koga called, and Ryuu took Ara's bag from him and slung it over his shoulder.

"You may leave us. Inform Suzuki we found her and she'll be staying with me here," he ordered softly, and Koga bowed and waited for them to leave before he climbed back in the car and drove away to the parking area.

Ryuu's assistant, driver, and servants had a sole unit in the same building although at a different floor so it would be easy to cater to their master while giving him a lot of privacy at the same time.

Ara followed him silently towards the topmost floor, and he watched as her face filled with amazement upon seeing the interior of his apartment. It was a simple abode, with simple decors and colors, the shades of white and gray. But a great part of the room was eye-catching, for it was a wall filled with bottles of different sizes and shapes.

"It's my collection," Koutaishidenka told Ara as he ushered her into one of the rooms. It was decorated simply as well, but it was definitely a girl's room.

Ara turned to him with a questioning gaze. "I had this room prepared for you. There are no clothes yet in the walk-in closet next to the bathroom, but I put a shirt and shorts on the bed. They're mine and they're probably big, but you can make do with them for now. We'll get you shopping downstairs when the rain let up or tomorrow. Go get yourself a bath and change into something warm."

Ara paused for a while as if to absorb his words, and then she smiled shyly. "Thank you," she whispered, and then she entered the room to follow his orders.

As Ara took her bath, Koutaishidenka prepared some hot tea for her and some Japanese sweets, and placed them on the counter. Unlike the Homura House, his apartment was very modern, and so it had its own bar. Aside from the hot tea, he also prepared other drinks for her so she had a lot to choose from.

Ryuu also got a bit wet from the rain when he picked her up, but he'd wait for her to come back before he'd take a bath and change.

=====================

Ara trudged slowly towards the bathroom. Her body felt stiff from being under the freezing rain too long. It was stupid of her actually. She had already known it would rain so hard considering that it was her own doing. Her divine inheritance could manipulate the weather like that, and yet, she just sat on that bench and let herself get frozen to the bones because of her desire to cry.

After her tears were spent, she realized her mistake but it was already too late to run towards shelter. She was already soaked to the bones, and all she could do was crawl inside a concrete cylinder to at least stop herself from getting rained on further as she tried hard to control her emotions.

But it proved to be a difficult feat. She had always been a crybaby, but since it was a sign of weakness, she had fought hard to control her emotions. So now they had piled up and burst all at once. Ara wouldn't be surprised if she went down with a cold after this.

Ara removed each and every piece of wet clothing on her body. Naked, her body shivered and she immediately stepped under the hot shower.

Thank goodness her school bag was waterproof. Her precious sketchbook was inside.

Also…

Thank goodness Kou found her. It was very kind of him to cater to her like that.

"Weird," Ara murmured.

She didn't know why she felt at ease with him. It was as if she was just with Ivan, the Flame Emperor. The latter was as caring as Kou was of her. She wondered if all fiancés gave off a feeling like that – a sense of security that didn't make sense sometimes.

At the thought of Ivan, another wave of nostalgia assailed her, but this time she used both of her hands to slap her face. "STOP."

If she let memories take over her once more, who knew what would happen to Tokyo. She would feel totally guilty if it started flooding because of her.

Also, it's really not nice to think about Ivan anymore. She's engaged to Kou now. Even if she was never in love with Ivan, and was just fond of him as a brother, it would be disloyal to Kou if she kept thinking of her former fiancé.