Naru let out a soft whimper as she pet his other ear, he didn't want her touching his ears at all. Not after stabbing one of them with a needle the way she had. Both ears twitched, and he whined softly when she began to pet him, running those fingers through his hair. A slight shiver ran down his spine, as he rather liked being petted and having those fingers run through his hair. Still, he was very upset that she had maimed his lovely little ear like that. "Well, it's a terrible revenge!" He hissed lightly at her.

Sorrel was right though, things certainly were not boring anymore. "You just don't understand, because your stubby human ears are no where near as sensitive as mine." He was being rude and insulting, but that wasn't too unusual for him, a frown on his lips. "My ears should be off limits, they never did anything to you at all." Naru was pouting.

She laughed. "Oh, pet ... Your ears are part of you. They deserve this just as much as the rest of you."He was being cute. Adorable, really. She had half a mind to pierce his other ear, after getting reactions like that. But no, that would be for later. She was already enjoying the satisfaction of having the fox under her power. The revenge she'd been planning for so long ... It had never seemed like it could be so sweet!

"I could get another one of those fruits for you, if you're good." She stopped her petting, and moved to the spirit's back. Her fingers worked on the rope binding his chest. Soon, that much of his bindings fell away. "You don't need to be so rude, you know." Only then did she start petting him again.

Naru was scowling, though there wasn't much he could respond with. Sorrel was right, those ears were a part of him, and he did deserve the pain. The soreness was already going away now though, but the weight, just the sensation of the earring felt so odd to him. That ear twitched and flicked a bit. "It's uncomfortable and I don't like it." He squirmed a bit. When she undid the rope around his chest, he just wriggled some more, frowning deeply.

Though her petting seemed to be keeping him rather calm, or a bit more docile than he had intended to be. He couldn't help it. Being pet felt rather nice, he was still frowning though. The promise of fruit should have been a lovely thing, but he just glared at her. "I don't want fruit, I want that thing out of my ear. Immediately!" When she told him he didn't have to be so rude, he rolled his eyes. "Being rude, usually keeps annoying humans away." Apparently it wasn't keeping her away, but being rude to her, was just a way of instigating reactions from her. Ones that would put him through pain or something.

"Is sitting there and petting me all day also part of your revenge? If so, it's a terrible revenge. I like being petted." He turned his head and stuck his tongue out at her.

Sorrel rolled her eyes and tugged on the new piercing. "Well maybe my revenge is making you my pet." She tugged at his collar with a half smile. She was being horrid, and she knew it. She enjoyed it. "What better revenge to be had on a nature spirit then to bind him tight and cut his freedom away?" She bit him then. Alright, so she wasn't immune to Naru's appearance.

Sorrel liked pretty things. That was never something she'd been able to hide under her male facade, her male self. She still needed him. That part of her. Suddenly, Sorrel fell sick to his stomach. Like he was going to throw up. He shoved Naru away, and didn't move to pick the chair up when it tumbled to the floor. "Shut your mouth before I gag you."

Naru winced slightly when Sorrel tugged on the piercing, it was still a little tender, but that was to be expected. "I won't be your pet, I'll leave when I get too bored." He had said that alot, though he wasn't entirely sure he could get out of that collar that kept him within close proximity. And those shackles might not be affected by his magic either. He wasn't ready to try any of that yet, though.

He was a bit surprised when she bit him, and a sound of surprise left those lips, followed by a soft whine. He had kind of liked that, though maybe Sorrel wouldn't realize that he had. Then suddenly he was being shoved. Talk about rude! The chair fell and with it, Naru. His wrists still bound to the arms of the chair after all. He grunted lightly and hissed like an angry cat. "And you call me rude." Naru was clearly annoyed, and he wriggled around. "Eww. Do you ever clean? Your floor is very dirty, and I don't like it. Let me loose or set me back up, I want off of your dirty, nasty floor this instant!" Naru hadn't even really looked at the floor.

Part of him wondered why Sorrel had suddenly shoved him away and the other part wondered if Sorrel would really gag him.

Sorrel moved to the sewing box and pulled a strip of cloth from within. It was more then wide enough to do the job. He moved to kneel by the other man and held the cloth up to Naru's lips. "Enough!" The cloth fit perfectly. Now he wouldn't need to hear any more of Naru's annoying prattling.

With a scraping sound, Sorrel righted the chair. He ruffled his hair and glared at the spirit. His scared hands twitched when he stared at them. "What an annoying pet you are. I wonder what you did to scare her away?" He smiled grimly as he pulled another chair to ace the other man. Sorrel settled down on it to wait.

It seemed Sorrel really was going to gag him. The fox just stared as the gag was put into place, he didn't move or wriggle until that chair had been righted. Once he and the chair were right side up again, Naru squirmed a bit and wriggled. Though something very interesting had happened, and when Sorrel sat down in front of him, Naru leaned forward a bit to peer closely at the other person. A split personality? It seemed like it. Perhaps Naru had done far more damage to this person than he'd initially thought.

He sighed through the gag and slumped a bit in his chair. No longer leaning forward. Naru was thinking, but he was quiet. Not even attempting to make a noise through the gag. His ears had even drooped a bit, the one with the piercing still flicked occasionally just because of the odd sensation of being pierced.

Sorrel scoffed. He leaned his arms against his knees. "What? Nothing to say now?" What a great difference. The fox looked so sad. So down trodden. It was wonderful. "What? Are you finally realizing what happened? What had to be done so I could survive? The little girl who nearly died at your hands was thrown into a gladiator's life. She chose to take the only chance at survival she had. She became me. A boy more then tough enough to survive anything, to grow into me." He shrugged. "The old me doesn't show up very often. But you were just too cute and pretty to resist." He spat on the ground. Hard scale scrapped against leather as Sorrel pulled his knife out again.

Naru's eyes were down, looking at his lap. There was an ache in his heart that he didn't fully understand, but he knew it was his fault. He had broken this person, he had taken their home from them, their family and friends and he had broken them. It might have been better if Sorrel hadn't survived that rampage, to end up broken. Naru deserved so much pain at this person's hands, but would it be enough? Both ears twitched and Naru looked up when he heard the knife leave it's sheath.

His body tensed a bit, but he was scowling, and his ears were up. Almost instantly his mood seemed to have changed from looking downtrodden to that scowling expression. That expression of irritation and annoyance, his eyes though, were on that knife.

Sorrel tested the edge on his skin. "I think I may just cut your tail. Piece by little piece." He stood and moved to the fox's side. The tail was soft in his hands when he grabbed it. No matter how it twitched, moved or how much Naru squirmed, Sorrel kept his grip. He lowered the knife. Its edge met skin ... but stopped.

Sorrel stared at her hand, at the knife... Then dropped it. She didn't want to cause Naru that much pain. He had destroyed everything she'd known, and now he looked so pitiful. Trapped.

Naru's eyes were very wide when Sorrel spoke of cutting his tail, they got even wider when the other stood and gripped his tail. That knife came down towards it and Naru's body tensed a lot, and he squeezed his eyes shut tightly. That tail twitched and Naru did squirm and wriggle. He even whimpered softly. This was dangerous. Things were getting too dangerous, and he wasn't even sure he could escape.

The pain never came, instead there was the sound of the knife hitting the floor when it was dropped. Those eyes opened and he looked at Sorrel a bit uncertain, maybe even a little afraid. He spoke, but all that came out was a muffled sound, after all, Sorrel had gagged him minutes ago. He scowled at that though and made more muffled sounds.

Slowly, Sorrel slipped the gag from his mouth. It still hung around his neck though, ready to be used at any moment. "What happened to me? Do you know?" She knew about the blackouts. The fadeouts. Sorrel was aware that she had given up this part of her, both parts of her had always known that. She wanted to give it up, the part that dreamed, that hoped, that wished for love. The soft part had needed to die so Sorrel could survive.

But this soft part had never pushed to the surface so often. Not before Naru's presence. She was confused. Lost.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" The words jumped from his lips the moment the gag was pulled away. This person, everything this person could have been was gone, there was only two parts of a whole but not even completely whole. It was a tragedy, and it was all his fault. It was all his fault and for all his power as a spirit, he could do nothing to help. Nothing at all. "Do it! Cut my tail into pieces! Pierce my ears, kill me. Do whatever you want to me, make me suffer for my crimes against you. Punish me!"

That was all he could do, suffer at the hands of this person, but his suffering couldn't heal this person's broken mind, or bring back their village he had destroyed. He could only hope that suffering at this person's hands would help make Sorrel feel somewhat better. "I can't bring your village back, I can't change the things that happened to you, I can't make any of it unhappen, all I can do is offer apologies, sincere and true, but that isn't enough. Apologies can't make you feel better. I killed everyone you love, and you were put in a horrible situation. Nothing I do can ever make up for any of that. So punish me until you think I've atoned!" There were tears at the corners of his eyes.

At first, all of this, it had been just a game, to him at least. He had wanted to be punished by Sorrel for putting the young person through so much turmoil. But Naru had shattered this person, and sometimes there were no putting the pieces back together, and even if there was a way to 'fix' Sorrel's mind, Naru wouldn't even know how to begin. This was all he could do.

She remembered biting him. She remembered petting him. Her past had always been a mystery to her. All Sorrel had known was that her other her, her him her, had wanted to hurt Naru. The young woman didn't even know how she knew his name. It stuck, though. And now this pitiful fox was in tears, and she could feel that other self struggling to take hold again. He was fighting to take over and make Naru pay.

She wouldn't help him do that. Sorrel wiped a tear away, and unwrapped one arm and then the other from the chair. She was the one with tears in her eyes now. "Give me a hug." Sorrel slipped onto Naru's lap, and settled down. She dug her stubby nails into his arm, and glared at him. Daring him to refuse.

Naru was silent, quietly watching as Sorrel untied his hands. He didn't move, didn't attempt to get up or anything. He just watched a bit uncertain, then she was slipping onto his lap, digging her fingers into his arms and telling him to hug her. Naru didn't hesitate, he put his arms around Sorrel and pulled her close, he pulled her close and held to her tightly but gently.

The thought to refuse never even entered his mind. It was a hug, she wanted a hug. He could at least do that, even if he couldn't do anything else. Though why a hug? Why would anyone want to hug the person that had taken everything from them? Naru didn't quite understand it, and he couldn't find any words. What could he say? What should he say? He had already told Sorrel to punish him as way to make things right, so what was there left to say? He pressed his face against Sorrel's neck and nuzzled gently, his ears twitching, one of them flicking gently against Sorrel's cheek.

She curled into him and closed her bright eyes. Sorrel breathed deep, savored the fact that she was actually close to someone else, for once in her life. She loved the feeling, even if it came at the hands of the person who'd stolen everything from her. When the tears began to fall, she sniffled and lifted a hand to Naru's head. She played with his ears, tried to distract herself from the sorrow. Bone crushing sadness, and the flash of memories ...

It was too much. It hurt too much! Her grip turned into his grip. The petting turned into ear twisting, and the soft sobbing turned into a growl of anger. "I want to tear these off so badly." But he wouldn't, because that soft-hearted part of him wanted Naru whole.

Naru held Sorrel gently but tightly, letting her cry if she wanted. Her hands found their way to his ears and he made soft sounds as she gently played with them. Soon though those soft sounds turned to soft whimpers and whines as his ears were twisted instead of touched gently. "Do it, then. Tear my ears off, do whatever you want to me." Naru's first instinct had been to shove the other off of him, but instead those arms around Sorrel tightened a bit and Naru clung to the other.

"I can't take back the things I did, so punish me. Whatever way you see fit, kill me if you want. Do whatever you want. Make me atone for my crimes." His hands fell to rest on Sorrel's hips and Naru moved back a bit, to look the other in his eyes. "I can't fix any of this, so do whatever you want to me." Naru was being sincere. He really would allow Sorrel to do whatever he wanted to him.

Naru was hugging him. Sorrel stiffened. He swallowed hard and his hand fell away. "I can't kill you. She won't let me hurt you too much either." No one had ever held him. Touched him. Sorrel acted on reflex. He felt bone snap under his fingers, and flinched inwardly. The other him was going to hate that. "I hate you." Sorrel smacked the fox's hands away and wrenched away.

Once his feet were on the floor again, he turned to face Naru. "It isn't revenge if the target is willing. You took that away from me too! " He grabbed the dagger from the floor, and pointed it at the fox. He trembled from head to foot.

Naru's lips parted, to say something, but all that left them was a loud yelp as that bone snapped. Pain shot through his fingers and forearm, and his wrist throbbed and ached. Sorrel had broken it so quickly, as if a reflex to being touched, then the other was shoving Naru's hands off of him and jumping away. The fox stood, cradling his right hand against his chest. Gods it hurt, but it would heal. It ached, but it would heal.

He lowered his arms and inhaled deeply. "I could've stopped you from putting this collar around my neck. As powerful as I am, you are only a human, if I hadn't wanted you to trap me, you never would have. Didn't you think, it was far to easy?" His left hand moved to tug on the collar a bit. "I want you to punish me. I want you make me suffer. I want you to hate me and torment me for all the pain I've caused you, because I can't punish myself for it. I've tried, but nothing I can do to myself is good enough. Then you come along, a survivor. So I jumped at the chance of letting you punish me. But know this, revenge isn't real. Revenge isn't a real thing, it's only a thing that turns aching people into monsters. Your revenge, once you've extracted it on me, would only make you hate yourself. You'd become the thing you hate, you would become like me. I killed your people, destroyed your village and other villages out of revenge, and it has only broken me. It didn't change anything, it didn't make anything better, it only made me a monster, and made everything worse. I don't deserve your forgiveness, I can't even forgive myself, I deserve only pain and punishment."

He was frowning slightly. "Gaea locked me away, isolated me in a forest of the spirit realm, but what kind of punishment is that? Being alone for a thousand years so I could think about how terrible I am? That's not a punishment, that's an absence of a punishment, and you. You are the only one who has a right to punish me. I have taken everything away from you."

He couldn't deal with it. His mind shut down. It left her blinking at a hurting fox spirit. She could only assume it was that other her, the warrior, who'd done that to him. Sorrel didn't even know how much time had passed. Sorrel pulled bandages from somewhere, under the mattress, and found sticks lying around. She used them to bind up and steady Naru's wrist. Her touch was gentle. Caring, even. He had hugged her after all, despite the fact that her other self had done so much to him.

"Are you alright?" Sorrel murmured the words and reached out. Her fingers brushed his skin. So soft. Softer then any human's skin, she thought. She searched his face for answers, and saw it in another time, another place. Fierce then, full of hate. She shivered. Sorrel should have hated him, but all she wanted to do was protect him from herself. "Sorry, pet."

Naru plopped down in that chair, cradling his wrist against his chest once again. It ached and throbbed, but it was healing. A simple broken bone, but he almost relished the pain, even squeezed it once with his left hand as Sorrel moved about gathering sticks and bandages. "I'm fine." He spoke the words quietly, letting her tend to him. There had to be a way to make the two personalities one, without one of them over powering the other. A merge. An acceptance of everything.

"No, I deserve it. I deserve your hatred and whatever you want to put me through. I took everything from you. I want you to punish me, to make me suffer." He reached out, with his left hand, resting the palm against her cheek and gently stroking his thumb against her flesh. "You shouldn't be nice to me at all." He lowered his hand and leaned back against the chair. "I'm a monster, so hate me, hurt me, punish me."

She leaned into his brief touch like a flower shifting into sunlight. Sorrel sighed when he pulled away. She fingered the scar upon her neck, and looked to the floor. "I don't want to hurt you. I want to ... take care of you." Sorrel glanced up, her grey eyes searching. "You may have destroyed everything, but you're also the only person whose ever seemed to care about me at all, even a small bit."

He scared all of her because of that. Because he cared, because he wanted to atone for what he'd done. Even the angry, defensive, part of her ached for some kind of caring. It was hard to reconcile that with everything else, with the fact that he'd ripped her life away. She could deal with it easier then her rigid other self.

"The other me will probably hurt you when he comes back. " And she would probably show up to take care of him again. Shaking her head, the young woman knelt down to unbind the man's ankles.

"Why?" Naru stared at her, why could she possibly want to take care of him? Because he cared about her? That one simple thing could not possibly be the only reason she would want to take care of him. His ears twitched and flicked, for the moment the uncomfortable weight of the earring was completely forgotten, unnoticed. Naru didn't want her to take care of him, comfort him or any of that sort of thing, he wanted her to hate him, to hurt him because that was what he deserved.

When she moved to remove the shackles, Naru leaned down and caught her wrist gently with his left hand. "Leave them. Let the other you do whatever he wants to me." He tugged her up, gently but almost effortlessly, pulling her into his lap again, there he wrapped an arm around her and held her close. Tight and gentle. Close. He nuzzled her cheek softly, before pulling back to stare into those eyes.

"There shouldn't be two separate parts of you. There should only be one, you need to find away to become whole again. To merge with the other you without letting it take over completely and without you taking over completely. You shouldn't be divided the way you are. It isn't strength, it's a weakness. As a whole you'll be so much stronger." A slight frown touched his lips. "I want you to hate me, both parts of you, hate me and hurt me, because I don't deserve anything better than that. In fact, I deserve much worse than that, so do what you will to me." He was sincere, so sincere.

She blinked and looked at the fox spirit, confusion in her eyes. Sorrel pressed her lips tight closed when Naru pulled her to him. "I'm scared of him ... He's so angry all the time ... Nothing ever seems nice. It's all dark and grey and full of hurt. Why would I want to take all of that in and accept it all?" Sorrel blinked and lifted a hand to trace the scar Naru's anger had left on her.

"If I did succeed, I wouldn't even know who to be anymore. I wouldn't know how to feel, how to even be! I don't see how that would help you get punished." Sorrel reached out, touched his ears. She tugged on the pierced one lightly. "If you want to be hated so badly, why are you so nice?"

"It isn't for me that you should be whole again, it's for yourself. Your true self is lost, divided. How you feel, what you feel, it's only a part of who you are. You need to find the balance, balance the other parts anger. There has to be a balance." He hugged her a bit tighter. "Because it's a part of you, even if you deny it. That anger, that hurt, it's all a part of you." He couldn't do this, he couldn't repair this kind of damage. If Gaea were here, she would know exactly how to fix such a broken soul.

"I am not nice. I'm rude and mean. I'm a monster, I wiped out your village and countless others. I would've murdered you too, then, if I'd known there had been a survivor. I am not nice, and if it weren't for my oversight you would not even be here today." His ears twitched and he fought to ignore the feeling of her hands on them, but a soft sound left his lips, even as he tried to stop it.