Souls of the Damned

Kana didn't flinch away from the doctors and healers when they told her and Xen that the poison extraction would be painful. Instead she laid down, very still, and let them start. She kept quiet and remained still for the most part as the process went on, but for whatever reason, found herself refusing to pass out throughout the entire process. She wanted to tell Azazeal to keep her conscious through it, but he wasn't in the room with them. The immortal girl's brown eyes only closed once the doctors had finished and were heading out of the room.

'Why do you want him coming with us?' Azazeal questioned as she slept. Kana didn't stir, and the Shadowshifter seemed to become aggravated. 'He's not of any use to us. Of any use to you. Cut him loose. Please, m'lady. Let him go away from us.'

When Kana awoke, she looked at the clock. How had she been outcold for less than an hour? The brown haired girl laid her head back on her pillow and groaned lightly. Everything hurt still. Her stomach was burning especially fiercely. When she looked down at herself, she saw that most of her upper body was bandaged except for her face, neck, and forearms. Her shirt was neatly folded on the chair nearest her bed, letting her know that Azazeal had been in the room at some point. Closing her eyes for a moment, the brown haired woman took a breath before opening them again and just staring at the ceiling. She couldn't fall back asleep for whatever reason. When Xen finally woke up, Kana turned her head to look at him, blinking when he sat up. "Where are you going?" she asked curiously.

The brown eyed male turned his head in the direction of the voice. He'd not been aware that someone else was in the room, but things were no longer muffled. He could hear clearly. It would only be a matter of time before his senses were back to normal. Kana looked better, in the sense that their was no poison in her system, however, it was clear she was still in pain. That was his doing. Did Kana regret it? That was none of his concern. Her question didn't seem to shape his intentions as he stood. Unlike Kana, only his shoulder and midsection was bandaged. Most his skin was still visible, well toned and marked with multiple designs of ink. If he was sore, it did not show in his fluid motions. The obvious answer to Kana's question was 'away,' but he doubted she wanted that as an answer. However he had no reason to lie to her either. "I'm no longer injured. I shouldn't take up unnecessary space." Xen's brown gaze shifted towards the door. Where was her Shadowshifter? It did not matter. He moved for the door, extending his senses up to the door and then further out. That was better. He reached the doorknob. "I will come back."

Brown eyes blinked at the response. "I don't think they actually healed you, just removed the poison," Kana half muttered, giving a small frown. "Can't you feel your wounds anymore?" Or could he never feel them to begin with? She doubted that was the case. What kind of person, even an immortal, couldn't feel pain? Then again...he'd told her that he'd been bred to be a soldier. Maybe it wasn't such a far-fetched theory after all. When Xen started towards the door, Kana's frown deepened. No he won't. He's leaving. Abandoning you just like everyone else, a voice hissed. Kana's expression almost saddened, but instead she gave a small sniff and forced her face into a neutral expression, shrugging lightly despite the pain it caused. "Alright." She was used to having no one but Azazeal. If Xen wasn't coming back, then so be it.

Xen didn't look surprised by the response she gave him. He looked at the bandages. He supposed that they would have been unnecessary if he had been healed. Her follow up question didn't draw his gaze away from the bandages. "I can't feel them." He opened the door as a nurse got ready to knock. The woman looked startled. "Y-you shouldn't be moving. You'll rip your stitches." Xen didn't reply, so she stared up at him for a moment, and a light blush colored her cheeks. "D-does he understand what I'm saying," she asked Kana. She looked to the brown haired female. "You shouldn't be sitting up either. You'll recover much quicker if you allow yourself to rest." She pulled a pen from her pocket. "With that being said, if you're interested in a quick recover, there is a hot spring right outside the village with healing properties. Not like an actual healer, but it mends wounds and helps the pain of broken bones and things of the sort. I can get some other nurses to help you there, if you wish."

Kana was a little bit surprised, actually, that Xen said he couldn't feel his wounds. That was...both unusual, and pretty cool. And fairly dangerous for him. Sure, he couldn't die, but could he go into a coma from things like blood loss? Kana watched the nurse stutter in the shadow of Xen's tall figure and rolled her eyes until the nurse addressed her. "It's possible," Kana said with a small shrug in response to her question. She gave a sigh though, when the woman said she shouldn't be sitting up either. That irritation changed to curiosity when a hot spring was mentioned though. "This village has...a healing spring..?" she asked, blinking several times. She'd been plenty of places in her hundred something years of living, but she'd never actually heard of a healing spring that was still running. She'd thought they'd all dried up ages ago. When she'd been little her mom and dad had tried to take her to one they'd heard of on a mission, only to discover when they got there that it had no longer been running for whatever reason. Kana frowned at the memory and pushed it away. "Yeah...that'd be nice," she said with a small nod. She'd keep this village standing. Hell...maybe it would be a nice place to settle down for a bit. Aside from the asshole ninja, the people here didn't seem too bad.

The nurse glanced at Xen when Kana said that he might understand what she was saying. "O-oh...." She then nodded."Um, yes, it's not that grand, but we try and keep it running. We know a lot of the others have dried up, so it's a big tourist attraction. People are willing to travel despite the dangers of madness." She gave a small smile. She then gave a small bow. "I'll leave you two. I'm going to find you an escort. I think you'll enjoy the spring." She then looked to Xen."You can't leave." Brown eyes looked down at the woman. She was not worthy enough to tell him what he could and could not do. He would not tell her as much. Instead he waited for her to cower away and then he started out of the room.

"Huh. Thanks," Kana said lightly, blinking when Xen left immediately after the nurse. "Xen," she called. "I want you to come back before the escorts get here. I want you to come to the springs with me," she told him. She didn't know if he would listen to her, but it was worth a shot. She'd been thinking about the way he'd phrased his question to her the day before. "All I want is to be of use...you don't seem to need my services...then you may use me...is that what you want?" She was starting to wonder if Xen really only responded well to orders, since he'd been a soldier at one point. In any case, it was worth a try. Maybe he'd never outgrown that need to have someone commanding him.

He paused, glanced over his shoulder at her and nodded. He was going to take that as an order. He then started away. He estimated how long it would take for the woman to return with the escorts. Probably not long. He could listen for her steps, but there was too many people to bother focusing on a single vibration. He could listen for something that distinguished her from others, but he hadn't paid much attention to what she was wearing. Things like jewelry bounced unique sound signatures. He found his way outside and looked up to the sun. It was warm against his skin. Reminded him of home. Not that he was truly aware of any such memories of home, wherever that was. He returned inside after a few moments. He'd only stayed out long enough to see the layout of the village from the hospital. He arrived back at the room a half minute before the nurse came in with two men. They greeted Kana and Xen with friendly smiles. "The Spring will do you both some good," the one on the left promised. He started towards Kana and his partner followed, not bothering with Xen since he was oddly enough standing on his own as though he weren't bothered by his injuries.

Kana leaned back again when Xen left, closing her eyes. She was guessing that Azazeal wasn't coming into the hospital simply because he didn't want to make a scene. In the dark he could be mistaken for a normal human, but in the light like this, he looked...too out of place and unordinary to be human. His skin was grey, after all. She was guessing that he still needed more souls. Or rather, more of her soul. Once she heard Xen come back in, she opened her eyes. She was a little bit surprised that he'd come in not even a minute before the nurse entered the room again. When the men came over to help her, she accepted their help, but the moment she was on her feet, they gave out and she fell against one of them, flinching heavily. "Fuck," she muttered. It wasn't really that her legs had given out, but more that getting out of bed and standing up had put stress on her abdomen, which had in turn caused her legs to buckle. Kana immediately held onto the man that she'd fallen against, using him to keep herself steady. God damn this hurt...

The female nurse frowned lightly. She knew they shouldn't be moving. The girl was clearly in bad shape. The spring would do them good indeed, but at the same time, the trip was going to put strain on the girl. She refused to believe the male wasn't in bad shape too. He was probably just paying tough guy. She quickly turned her gaze away when he looked at her as if he knew she was thinking badly of him. She pushed her hair over her shoulder. "They will bring you back when you are ready to return." She then walked out and the men helped support Kana, taking her wait and distributing it evenly between the two of them. They were being careful since she'd clearly expressed her discomfort only moments before. They nodded for her companion to follow and then they started out of the hospital. The trip was no more than seven minutes where they were greeted by two young women. "Welcome to our spring. Whatever ails you will soon be a faded memory. Let us take you to the changing room. We also do massages and acupuncture if you're interested in either of those." They split off, leading Kana and Xen to two different areas to get them towels. The escorts sort of just wandered off to take seats and drink some tea. They did this often, so they didn't mind being away from the hospital.

Kana tried not to constantly flinch when the guys escorted her to the springs, but she couldn't help but to flinch every now and then. She hoped these hot springs were as good as people claimed them to be. Especially these annoying women that came to take them to get their towels. Kana had to hold onto the wall as she walked and ended up needing one of the women to help her get out of what was left of her clothes to wrap the towel around her. She wouldn't have been surprised if the woman was used to this, since a bunch of the people who came here were probably injured. Kana decided that it might be better to take the bandages off, since she'd be wearing a towel anyways, and more direct contact with the water was likely to do her some good. No matter how much hot water on her wounds would end up hurting. If they would have let her, and if she didn't think that there was only going to end up being a single bathing area, Kana would have gone into the springs with no towel on. As it was, she didn't want to accidentally get her blood in the water if her stitches ripped. This village was nice. She didn't need it being infected with Madness because of her.

Xen grabbed the towel he was offered, well aware of the look he was getting from the girl who had led him to the separate room. "That's a lot of tattoos," she commented, walking towards him. "Did they hurt?" Xen shook his head and then left out of the room. He didn't want to talk to her, and her intentions were not of his interest. He found his way to the spring, where it was quiet. He looked down into the water. No one else was here. He looked around, but didn't bother getting in the water. He didn't need it because he couldn't feel the pain. He'd only come here because Kana had requested as much.

Once she had her towel on, Kana tied her hair back into a bun on her head with a band and a couple pins that one of the workers had so graciously provided for her. It was a bit of a messy bun, since it had been literally decades since the last time she'd ever put her hair up like this, but that was okay. It was just to keep it from getting soaked. Insisting that she could walk on her own, Kana made her way to the springs with a towel wrapped around her. It wasn't an easy walk, but as she'd said, she'd made it there on her own. She blinked when she saw Xen just standing there outside of the spring. She then glanced to the steps that led down into the spring with a small frown. Well...if he wasn't going in, might as well give him something to do. "Can you help me down the stairs?" she asked, turning her brown eyed gaze towards him. The stairs looked rather wet and slippery and she'd rather not fall in the condition she was in.

He heard her steps before he heard her voice. They were different from before, when she'd first approached the village with the intent to burn it to the ground. Today those steps were heavier instead of confident and graceful, like she was gliding. No, today he could hear the struggle, feel it in his very being. She asked for his help and he obliged without hesitation, moving to her side and slipping his arm under her shoulder. He could have picked her up, but it didn't cross his mind. Very little things did. He helped her down the stairs and into the water. It was warm, comfortable. There was a scent to it. Not an overpowering herbal scent, but something more relaxing. This place was special, in the more defined definition that it was not a petty prank to draw in tourist. He let his hand gently glide through the water. The tiniest vibrations hit the edge and bounced back. Brown eyes stared into the water. Music. That's what he heard from hat simple action. He stretched out his senses, past the bamboo doors and into the outside. All was calm, all was quiet.

Kana was honestly surprised at the certainty with which Xen moved towards her. Anyone else probably would have given her a look at the request, but not him. He just made his way over to her and helped without a second thought. Heeded her 'command' ever so efficiently. Kana nearly shook her head. That wasn't any way to think about another person. The brown haired girl wrapped her arm around Xen when he slid his arm under her shoulder, walking next to him carefully. Once in the spring, Kana immediately felt more relaxed. This was definitely a healing spring, no doubt about it. Once she was near a seat in the spring, she sat down heavily, resting her back against the edge of it, watching Xen move his hand through the water. "Why don't you sit down and relax a little? Whether you can feel your injuries or not, a little rest never hurt anyone," she told him lightly. This was easily the most relaxed she'd been in a long time. Maybe it was the spring, or maybe it was the fact that she no longer had Kyla's voice and the voices of many others raging around inside her head.

Once she was in the spring, he focuses his attention on the water and the sounds that accompanied it. The sounds that accompanied all of this. Madness had washed away all the birdsong, all the small pitter-patter of creatures big and small. It had scared away all things natural and replaced it with an eerie silence. Kana asked him to sit, or rather suggested. He looked to her, his brown eyes never drifting from her face as he took a seat as well. He didn't think the water had the same affect on him. He could not appreciate this the way she could, however he would attempt to relax. He took in a small breath and looked up into the surrounding trees.

When Kana followed Xen's gaze and saw nothing of particular interest, she couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking. And then he went and sat down, keeping his gaze locked with hers. When Xen was fully sitting, Kana blushed lightly and looked away, letting herself sink a bit lower into the water so that it was only her neck and above that was out of the water instead of her shoulders and above. Immortal and mad or not, Kana was still a girl. She didn't usually like when men tried to keep her gaze, because it usually meant they wanted to try something with her. And even though Xen didn't seem like that kind of guy, it still felt awkward. It was funny though. She'd noticed that moving around in the spring didn't hurt as much as outside it. This water was definitely soothing, and instead of worrying about Xen staring at her face, she decided to lean her head back and close her eyes after taking a deep breath. Even the scents of the water were calming and wonderful. She would stay here until the sun started setting if she could, though she doubted the two of them would be allowed to stay for that long.

He saw the blush that colored her cheeks. It was an odd sight, to watch one's cheek turn colors from a rush of emotions. Any other person would be curious about what emotion had caused such a reaction, but not he. He was never curious, never questioning. He was just there and being there was enough until he was of use. She sunk lower into the water, but he didn't follow suit, instead he took a moment to relish the music of the water once more. Xen could not recall a memory where he had been as relaxed as he was now. He wasn't an uptight person, but to truly relax was not something he did. He sort of just wandered wherever his feet took him. His head tilted lightly when he heard footsteps nearing, but he didn't look in that direction.

"We don't mean to bother you all, just wanted to know if you wanted anything," one of the ladies spoke. "Tea? Light snacks? Or a courtesy massage or cleaning?" She gave a polite smile. "All is free of charge of course. We want out guest to feel welcome and relaxed."

Kana nearly sighed when she heard someone talk to them, but instead only opened her eyes and turned her head slightly to look at them. She was quiet for a moment at the offer. "Do you...have matcha?" she asked after a minute, looking over at them curiously. Matcha was a Japanese style green tea that her parents had occasionally made. She hadn't liked it as a child, but as she'd grown older, she'd started growing fonder of it. Brown eyes slowly blinked. "You know what...never mind. I'm fine for now. Thank you." With that, Kana sank lower into the water, until the water was up to her chin. Forget her parents. She honestly hated the fact that she couldn't forget them. Everyone had told her that they'd been traitors. Some had told them that they'd abandoned her. She'd never believed them, having loved her parents more than anything in the world. But now look, she'd figured out that they'd been telling the truth. She glanced to Xen. "Are you going to get anything?"

"Oh yes ma'am, we will bring some out right away," the one who'd been speaking responded, however she paused a bit confused when Kana changed her mind. "Oh, okay. If you wish for the tea, we will bring it out for you." She then looked to the man. He was quite handsome with his dark skin and his inky hair and all of those wonderful tattoos. She could see the wolf and the dragon and the koi fish and the nine tailed creature and the grim reaper and the foreign characters and most clearly the black angel wings that stretched along his back. Such a beautifully handsome man. A shame he shook his head no in response to the woman's question on whether he wanted something or not. She'd have loved to give him a message or acupuncture or anything that would allow her to see the multitude of well defined muscle. If she had a fan, she'd be fanning herself right now. "Call us if you need anything," she said with a bow before walking away with her coworker. She wondered if those two were together. Such a lucky woman.

"Thank you," Kana said again when the woman left, telling them to call her if they needed anything. Once more her brown eyes closed and she let herself fall into relaxation. This was nice. "Hey Xen," she asked, her eyes still closed. She didn't care what his expression would be, though it probably wouldn't change too much she was sure. "Isn't there anything you enjoy doing? Or...foods you like eating, or...anything like that?" she asked, taking a slow, deep breath, and letting it out just as slowly. She just wanted to learn a bit about the guy. She knew he was a soldier, or used to be. That he was immortal. That he couldn't feel pain. He used to be one of Kyla's. And he was good at taking orders. Or rather...that taking orders was all he apparently did. He didn't really speak unless spoken to. Maybe he wouldn't be such a great traveling companion after all. But she supposed it was better to have someone who talked too little as opposed to someone who would talk to much and was too sensitive and would piss her off all the time. But coming up with something to talk about with a person who didn't seem to have an opinion about anything was...going to be a bit of a task. At least she wouldn't be lonely.

His brown gaze shifted slightly when she spoke his name. Her question was not one that he'd ever been asked, or at least not that he could remember. He didn't have an answer for her. "I don't have a desire to enjoy things," he told her. "I do what is asked of me." Food was something he ate whenever it was available, so he didn't really have a favorite. The brown skinned male was not picky in anything. "I don't have a favorite food." The only thing he really liked was horses, and he didn't know why, but she knew he liked horses, he'd told her as much when the quested had been presented. He wasn't concerned with things such as happiness and joy and pleasure, or anything that could remotely satisfy a need, because he had none.

Kana frowned lightly, even with her eyes still closed, at his words. She sighed lightly. She'd hoped that wouldn't be his answer. "Do you have a favorite...well, anything? I mean...I know you like horses, which means you're capable of liking things, but...even if you don't desire to enjoy anything, there has to be something that you do enjoy, right?" She didn't know if a life of no emotion, no desire, was a curse or a blessing. Would she be able to live like that? Well...technically if she were to live like that, she probably wouldn't really care, because of the whole 'no emotion' thing. Did Xen really not have any emotions?

The male with inky black hair searched his memory once more. "I was not trained to like things, nor enjoy them." He looked across the spring. "What I was trained to do was to follow orders without question or hesitation. There was no time to consider what would satisfy me, only what would appease the one in charge of me." He closed his eyes. "I do like horses, and the sounds of natural things." He paused. "There isn't a lot of natural things anymore." No matter how far he stretched his senses, he couldn't hear anything. He supposed he liked things as they came, but they never really stuck. For a short time he liked children, but that faded once his services were up. "The only true thing that I like is being useful." He didn't need to be useful, but it was better than mindlessly wandering. Having a purpose was always a plus.

Kana listened to Xen quietly, slowly opening her eyes to look at him. He enjoyed...being used? What kind of life was that..? The brown eyed girl frowned lightly. Well, at least she knew of some things that he liked. Like...natural sounds, he'd said. She wondered if there were still any running waterfalls. Thanks to Madness a lot of creatures, like birds...squirrels...they were all quiet. "So you're saying you actually...like taking orders from people..?" she asked, looking over at the black haired male. She'd sounded a bit skeptical as she'd asked the question, but at the same time...she guessed that his demeanor should have been proof enough of that. He'd even told her before that all he wanted was to be useful. She supposed...as long as he wasn't unhappy, it wasn't too bad a life for him. Kana herself could probably never do it though. She had too many uncontrollable emotions.