She tilted her head and looked at him pointedly. Sorrel's hand trailed down to brush against his cheek, and rest against his shoulder. "You're only mean because you want people to be mean to you." Her grey eyes, sot as rainy day clouds, searched his lavender ones. "You hurt too. I don't want to hurt you more." For a brief second, it felt like the two of them were speaking as one, the angry and the fearful, saying the same word but meaning two entirely different things.

Her head ached. Lancing pain pounded her temples. Sorrel leaned against the fox spirit, and clamped her hands over her head. "I don't want balance. I don't think I would even like the real me!"

"You silly human. I was a mean thing even before I wanted anyone to be mean back." Well, he had always been a rude thing, maybe not so much as mean. Maybe. Naru let out a soft sigh. "You don't want balance? So you enjoy it when the other part pushes you aside, and does things you don't approve of?" She was holding her head, leaning against him. Naru shook his head.

"The real you is the person you are meant to be, not two half empty shells that dominate over the other for control. Do you like being this way? I'm sure there are things the you does that you don't like. You could change that. You could make that other part better, more to your liking, but the only way to do that is to accept that part of you. To become whole." Naru felt like this was pointless, you could lead someone to water, but you couldn't make them drink. "It's your decision though. I honestly don't care what you do." There it was. That rude streak of his.

Sorrel stiffened with every word. She kept wondering why her other self didn't just take over. The answer was simple. She really didn't want him to, even as angry as she was. Naru's words made her think too much. Buzzing like flies, each little word stuck in her mind and wouldn't go away, no matter how she swatted at them. "You don't care at all?" Her eyes flashed. She never felt angry ..

And yet she lashed out. She bit Naru's lip, then recoiled like she'd been burned. "I apologize ..." Even tough Sorrel knew he wanted to be hurt, she felt guilty about it. Horrified, really, that she was capable of acting that way.

Naru had been about to make his reply when she bit him. A soft sound of surprise slipped past his lips, and he winced lightly. Then he was smiling, and even laughing at her. She had bitten him, it was her and not that other part of her. Which only supported the point he was trying to make. "Two halves. You are one and the same, see? Just because it's easier to shut off the emotions you don't like and pretend to be another person to deal with those does not mean they aren't yours. It's all you." He shrugged then. "Like I said, I really don't care, it's your life, not mine."

His expression, his demeanor, had quickly gone to one of disinterest. As if he really didn't care. "Why should it matter to me what life choices you make. It shouldn't matter to you what life choices I make." He shrugged again, and then pushed her off his lap, to dump her in the floor. "That is for biting me, also, apology not accepted." He ran his tongue along his bottom lip, wondering just how far he could shove until her personalities switched.

He kept saying he didn't care, but she wanted him to! She wanted him to care. There wasn't anyone else who'd ever even seemed to for a little while. Was he just like everyone else then? Sorrel hated his laughter. Kindness had no part in that sound, nor joy. "I don't pretend!" Sorrel would have said more. She smacked against the floor with a loud groan.

Her eyes weren't her eyes anymore when they lifted. Sorrel shifted nimbly to his feet and grabbed the foxe's hair. He pulled hard and fast, used his feet to shove the chair back onto two legs so Naru hung precariously, stopped from falling only by Sorrel's hands. "What have you been saying, you mongrel?" He tugged hard on the hair. A few white strands fell to the ground. "I should make you scream."

Naru opened his mouth to speak, and only a loud yelp came out. His hair was being pulled and that hurt. His poor tender scalp, but he grit his teeth letting out a small whimper. When the other spoke, Naru laughed again, there was a hint of pain in it, but that should be expected given the treatment his hair was currently going through. "Only the truth. I don't care that you like to pretend to be two different people, but I hate cowardice." His voice had turned rather harsh as he uttered the word cowardice. "I don't think you'd make me scream, the little girl hiding inside of you wouldn't like that. Would she?" He reached out and grabbed Sorrel's wrist with his left hand.

Naru tugged the other towards him, tugged him hard. Hoping to pull Sorrel against him, both would fall of course, the chair would tip over backwards and Naru would hit the floor first, with Sorrel on top of him. "You want someone to care though, don't you? Both of you? It's hard to care though when you're just standing there, ripping yourself into two. Why should I care about you when you don't even care about yourself?" That hand let go of Sorrel's wrist and that arm wrapped around him, Naru raised his right arm and the bandages and splints fell away. It still hurt, it wasn't fully healed yet, but he didn't care, he ran that hand through Sorrel's hair. Gently, tenderly. "How can anyone care about you when you make it so difficult?" His voice, it was soft. Tender, genuine and filled with concern.

Sorrel growled. His nails dug into the chair. The grip of his other hand tightened, tightened. What could he say? Naru was right. Everything tilted. The angles weren't right, and it happened so fast ... He wasn't able to react, except by forcing his body to limpness. Sorrel wriggled a bit, tried to get away from Naru as quickly as possible, but the fox spirit was stronger then he seemed. Stronger then a human, certainly.

Nails dug into flesh when Naru wrapped his arm around him. Sorrel shuddered. Naru's words finally started making headway. Slowly, Sorrel's head fell. His body went soft, and he sighed. Grey eyes closed. It felt so nice. He didn't even care if it was a trap to get away ... Not right now. And when that other him reared her head, trying to take his place, he refused with grim determination. Why should she bask in the fox's embrace? Why did she have the right to be happy? He was tired of hating all the time.

He slid his arms around Naru and held on tight.

Naru held Sorrel tightly but gently, running his hand through the other's hair. "I'll stay with you forever if you want, Sorrel." Naru had never once said that human's name, but he said it now. He said it with gentleness, as if the name was a delicate thing that would shatter if if left his lips with too much of a push from his breath. "I'll be your friend, your pet, your prisoner. Whatever you want, but it isn't fair, is it, for one part of you to have me and the other part to want me. It isn't fair if you're both at odds with one another, because you are just one person. Accept the other part into your heart and mind. Find a balance. Find the thing that will make you one whole person again and embrace it."

He moved his head slightly to nuzzle Sorrel gently. "Why should one part have to hold all the anger, while the other part holds all the love? That isn't fair to either of you. You need both, you need to be whole." This was the only way he knew how to help, embrace and be gentle. He had pushed earlier and it had brought out the other half, which was fine, this half needed to hear these words too.

Sorrel's eyes flickered. He stopped breathing for a second, hearing his name said in just that way. She stole a breath and shed a tear. He lifted a hand, she brought it down to lay it against the fox's soft throat. Nothing would ever be the same again if Sorrel gave in, let those sweet words and the caring embrace shatter the walls that had taken years to build. But what Naru offered was such a lure ... A friend. A promise to stay by Sorrel's side forever ... Would that matter, once the pieces were put back together again? Would Naru matter?

Sorrel shifted, straddled the fox and looked down. "We're scared."

Naru let the other sit up, reaching only to take the hand that had been placed on his chest. He brought that hand to his lips and kissed the back of it gently. Tenderly. "I'd be worried if you weren't scared. It's alright to be frightened, but you should never let the fear hold you back." He let go of Sorrel's hand, and moved his own to rest gently on the other's hips. "I'm right here, Sorrel, and I won't leave. I'll be here every step of the way and I promise, I will never ever do anything to hurt you. Never again." His eyes locked with Sorrel's eyes.

"There's nothing to be afraid of though, you'll see the world much more clearly once you become whole." He reached up, resting his palm against Sorrel's cheek and just caressing in a gentle and tender manner.

Sorrel leaned into the touch, then bent down. Lips brushed against each other, before melding together.Stormy eyes closed, and fingers tangled with lavender silk. When those silvery eyes opened again, a new light shone from them. "Naru. If this has all been some kind of scheme to get yourself free ... I'll kill you." She tempered the words with a tiny smile and lay down again. Though really, the chair made things as uncomfortable as they could get. It was a wonder the fox spirit hadn't made any nasty comments yet.

Naru murred softly at Sorrel, making no attempt to move away, from the other. It was rather uncomfortable, but for the moment that kind of thing hadn't mattered at all. Now his muscles were beginning to cramp from such odd angles and what not. When the other threatened him with a tiny smile, Naru rolled his eyes. "I've told you like a hundred times, if I wanted to leave, I'd have left already." He hugged Sorrel tightly for a moment, and rolled to the side. Making the chair tip over and spill them out of it.

Naru kept rolling until he was flat on his back and Sorrel was laying against his chest. "Besides, I said I'd stay with you, didn't I? Do you really trust me so little that you can't believe me when I say something like that?" He sounded a little annoyed and promptly pushed Sorrel off of him. Not hard like earlier, then he sat up. "Besides, I let you leave the shackles on me." He wriggled a foot so the chain clanked against itself, as if to further put emphasis on his point. Then a hand went up to touch the collar around his neck.

"And I've kept this thing on, and it won't let me get to far from you." Truthfully though, Naru still wasn't sure he could get rid of that collar with his magic or those shackles. Both items had been tempered with the purpose of keeping someone like him trapped, but a good bluffer never showed doubt in his own abilities.

It was strange. She could remember everything so clearly now. And now, with Naru's arms around her, seeing the way he acted ... Oh it made her angry. The bubbling emotion threatened to spill over. Hadn't she already forgiven him earlier, before the two parts had mashed together so suddenly? Sorrel shook her head and sat up.

"I find all of it just a bit hard to believe." She lunged for his wriggling foot, and promptly unlocked both shackles. The metal fell to the floor with a loud clank, and lay there gleaming uselessly. Sorrel touched the collar. "This should be enough, either way." She cared for him, but she hated him just as much.

Naru was watching her closely, then she was removing the shackles from his ankles. Well now he had a bit more freedom than before, that was something. Though the fox honestly hadn't cared. He shrugged when Sorrel spoke. "Believe whatever you want to believe." He was being rude again, though he couldn't force her to believe in something she didn't want to. He wasn't going to try to force her to believe anything.

He caught her wrist when she touched the collar. "Well then, what are you going to do with me? Are you still hungering for vengeance?" His grip had been gentle, but he released her hand quickly after he had asked those questions. His ears twitching a bit and he reached up to touch the one with the earring in it. Naru still didn't like it, but he could endure it. At least it wasn't a tacky piece of jewelry like those shackles had been. He lowered his hand, his eyes never once leaving her.

She glared at her wrist, then turned those eyes to Naru. "I don't know what I want anymore. I care for you, and I'm angry at you all at the same time." Blunt. She hadn't been like that .... well never. Something twanged inside, a discordant note in the whole. There were a lot of those. She still felt like a he sometimes, like him.

How was she going to do this, pull all of her together? It seemed like an impossible task.

"Emotions can be tricky, but I'm sure you'll sort yourself out eventually." Naru shrugged at her. "I find it hard to understand why any part of you would care for me. I'm rude, arrogant, and downright mean at times. Also, I ripped your world asunder without hesitation, without a second thought, I slaughtered all of your friends and family, so I don't understand how you can feel anything that isn't anger towards me." It really didn't make much sense to him.

Though he mostly brought up what he had done in the past to see if it would push her to get angrier at him. It was cruel to try and purposefully bring up such painful memories, but Naru was actually only trying to help Sorrel become whole. Completely whole. That and he really really did not understand how any part of her could actually want to be kind to him.

She shrugged. "I don't even know why, myself. I'm confused about it all." Sorrel eyed the fox warily. "What exactly are you trying to do?" Sorrel sat on the floor at the spirit's feet. He hands were so full of scars ... She only knew how she'd gotten half of them. A good part of her was hidden away, both good and bad. Apparently, that included whatever reasons for the affection she felt for her new ... pet.