Fuedel Again [Blistered and I]

Jeffrey had been resting at home with his feet slung over the couch, looking up at the ceiling as he laid there. During that time, he grown somewhat attached to something that his grandfather had handed him a few years ago, something that he warned to never let go of even if his life depended on it.

That item was an ancient samurai sword that hailed from the feudal days of Japan. Specifically, somewhere around the 16th to 17th century. The original owner of the blade was a master swordsman that could manipulate the blade with extreme skill and power, capable of punching holes and slashing through an opponent cleanly.

For now, the katana hung on a wall in the living room, sheathed. And yet, Jeffrey occasionally looked at it as if he could hear a voice talking to him despite he heard nothing. Well, that was before he heard someone being moved in outside. He never really paid much attention to it in the past, but as he got up to look outside, he saw someone that seemed to catch his attention.

She seems to have your attention, doesn't she? Eiji Kazuya's voice spoke to Jeffrey's mind, causing him to snap his head back to the katana that hung on the wall.

"Yeah, she does. What's that matter to you?" He asked the katana.
Nothing. I'm just saying. Eiji spoke back.
"Look, just button it for a minute. I just wanna see who this gal is and maybe even introduce myself to her." Jeffrey said, heading back to the couch and pulling his shoes on sock-covered feet then began to head outside.

Ayume shouted something in Japanese to the movers, who all stopped to stare at her blankly. Thoroughly frustrated she told them in plain English that they were done for the day and dismissed them without another glance. They had unloaded all the heavy things like furniture, now all was left was boxes. Some of them were quite heavy, but she was sure she could handle them if she used a little backbone. She unbuttoned the top button of her dress at her throat to cool herself. America was a lot more humid than she was used to. She ached fiercely for a familiar face. Someone she could talk to without resorting to the primitive English language.She entered the truck and picked up a particularly large box, groaning with the effort it took her to lift it.

Jeffrey stepped outside into the humidity, getting the feeling that he possibly stepped into a sauna. "Puh..." He groaned audibly as he brushed a hand through his hair then lifted his icy blue eyes up into the mid afternoon sun. "God, how I hate summertime..." He muttered to himself then looked about for a moment then spotted the movers leaving the young Japanese girl muttering to herself in a rather irate fashion. She was clearly annoyed that they simply just left her there with all of this stuff just left out there on the front yard, even attempting to heft a rather large box of valuables on her own.

Walking over, Jeffrey noticed how she looked, and upon close observation, it turned out that this woman was Japanese. After stepping to the other side of the box and assisted her in lifting it up, Jeffrey spoke in the woman's language. "<You should be careful with this, madam. You're more than likely to hurt yourself in trying to do this on your own. Allow me to assist you with this.>" He spoke in fluent Japanese to her while assisting her with her task.

She looked at the boy, eyebrows rising in slight surprise. She could immediately tell the boy was not Japanese, but he spoke the language extremely well. Her lips curved into a small smile. At least this American took the initiative to learn a more beautiful language. She let the blond boy take most of the weight of the box. "Thank you," she said, picking up a smaller box. She strode into her house, expecting the boy to follow, and set the box down among a pile of other smaller boxes.

(I suck bad today > < )

"No problem." Jeffrey answered with a shake of his head and a smile following soon afterwards. After balancing himself correctly with the heavy weight of the box he carried in his arms then sauntered into the house with her, being mindful to place the box carefully on the floor. Who knows what breakables were in there. Not that he would want to know, anyway.

He then stood back up to his feet a little while later then glanced outside. "Need anything else brought in here?" He asked with a small smile on his face. "I don't really have much else to do other than sit in the house all day." Jeffrey added, gesturing with a thumb back to his own house.

(Please. I do worse than you on a Sunday afternoon.)

She glanced out the window where he pointed, to his house that was next door. "You live next door." It was more of a statement than a question. Through the window she spied the katana that hung on the wall. She turned dark, almond shaped eyes to Jeffery. "You're interested in the Japanese culture?" she inquired. She knew many Americans liked their culture, what was there to dislike? Though most of them had poor knowledge of her history.

Jeffrey glanced back to his house for a moment when he heard the girl's question then gave a small smile. "Yeah. I live there by myself." He answered her statement as if answering her question. When she inquired to the katana she spotted through the window, he nodded gently.

"Yeah. My grandpa gave me that sword over there. Said it was from the 16th or 17th century. I've had that for a while, ever since he handed to me about several years ago. That was before he died of course." He added, his tone becoming a tad solemn for a moment before turning a forced smile to her. "But, I don't like dwelling in the past. Brings up too much pain." He concluded.

"Anyways, let's get the rest of your stuff inside your place and maybe we'll talk more over a coffee later, eh?" He asked, his smile becoming a little more natural now.

She nodded, a small smile curving the edges of her lips. "I'd like some coffee."

It took nearly an hour to unload everything in the truck, but without his help, Ayume knew it would have taken much longer. Once the truck was unloaded and all the boxes put in a corner until she could deal with them, she glanced at Jeffrey. "It would take a long time to find my coffee. Do you have any at your house?" she inquired, her eyebrows raising slightly.

It took an hour, but once all of the bigger stuff was off of the moving truck, Jeffrey helped in putting everything into a corner of the house where she said to him that she would take care of things from here. When he heard the girl's response, he nodded with a smile. "OK, then." He said.

"And as a matter of fact, I do." He added with another nod, his voice sounding perfectly pleasant. "I hope you don't mind pumpkin spice!" He concluded, laughing a little as he turned towards his home, walked up to the door and opened it to allow himself entry. But before he went in, he stopped and glanced over to the rather goregous Japanese girl and allowed her to go in first.

"Please, come in." He then said, bowing slightly and motioning with his hand to let her go in first.