Persona - Mask of Origins

His purple eyes widened and he pushed himself off the wall, "Sure, why not." Orphan laughed/hissed at him and he scowled at the ground, "I'm always playing where someone will find me. Bad luck I guess."

 

Yuki went inside and turned the lights on. Her parents were always gone on business, so she lived at home by herself.

 

Zain nervously looked around at her home, it was bigger than the orphanage. It had a homey feel to it. "You're parents gone on buisness or somethin?" he didn't really want to impose on her personal life but he had to ask about her family.

 

"They're pretty much gone all the time, so I have the house to myself." Yuki said as she grabbed a drink from the fridge.

 

"Oh," he kicked off his dirty shoes in the doorway and followed her around like a dog. Sitting at the table he pulled his guitar in front of him, "You like music?"

 

"Yeah, nothing with lyrics though." Yuki said as she sat at the kitchen table.

 

He smiled, "I've got just the song for you then. It's new so I don't really know what to call it." He started to play the song he played by the lake. Orphan, who'd been restlessly swarming around in his mind settled down to listen.

 

Yuki leaned back and listened. She had forgotten about her bag that she had tossed to the side when she walked in.

 

His song came to an end and he smiled a little easier, "We can make that your song if you'd like." he wasn't sure if he was joking or not but he liked Yuki enough to give her one of his songs.

 

"That would be great!" Yuki said as she stood up. She then went to get her bag.

 

Zain watched her with admiration. Even though her parents were always gone, she still could smile and continue with school like they were here. His thoughts drifted to his own family who'd died when he was a little boy, barely old enough to remember them. Zain still got some of the best grades in school but most of the time his thoughts were somewhere else. He stood, "I should be going now. It's late, I didn't mean to take up your time."

 

"That's alright. Having people over helps break up the boredom." Yuki said, smiling.

 

He tilted his head, turning slightly red, "Then, um, if it's not too much of a bother. Would you mind if I stayed for dinner? If you haven't had any. I'm a pretty decent cook if you wanted me to make something. Uh, I haven't had anything to eat since lunch." He gave her an embarrassed smile.

 

"Sure, why not?" Yuki said before turning the tv on. She flopped down on the couch.

 

Zain, with free reign over her kitchen, set about making what he'd been craving. Instead of the plain pasty food at the orphanage. Liz, in the kitchens, had taught him to make the finest dishes. Ones she could only make for Lady Shiv and the other counselors.

~Twenty minutes later Zain had prepared what he could with Yuki's supplies. The scent of risotto and chicken with carmalized mushrooms filled the house. Zain felt proud of his skill so far. "Yuki, you want dinner?"

 

"Yeah, it smells delicious." Yuki said as she walked into the kitchen. She could never resist good food.

 

Zain felt his face grow hot, "It's not much. Not nearly what I could do in a huge kitchen like really rich people have and all sorts of herbs and spices at my disposil." he caught himself before he started talking about cooking too much. Zain sat and served Yuki and himself some food. Self-consciously, he pulled out a black feather earing and attatched it to the metal band on his ear. It lightly brushed his neck as he ate.

 

Yuki smiled and started eating.

"This is delicious! You should be a chef."

 

He touched the feather and smiled, "Yeah? Hmm, I don't think Lady Shiv would approve of that. To her I'm just a rag muffin with no future." he laughed and savored the taste of his food and the feel of company who didn't hate him.

 

"That's not true. You've got a big future ahead of you. You shouldn't let anyone tell you otherwise."