He thought he was becoming paranoid the past few days, shadows moving in the corners of his eyes, like someone was following him. Continuously, he denied it and told himself that it was just his overactive imagination, that he was simply sleep deprived. The man took a deep breath to produce a long and tiring sigh as he laid back in his chair and pen resting limply in his hand. This job at the warehouse was never a well-paying job, but it was one that paid the bills, unlike his apprenticeship at the herbalry. Once or twice, it crossed his mind to swipe a bit of cash from the register seeing as he was the one that handled all the checking and the old man would never notice, but that money was not his. For the time being, he would stick to the low paying, medial work. It was only a matter of time until his master's body ran it's course. Not that he wished him ill; it was simply the truth.

A bell sounded the large warehouse above his head, causing him to jump slightly. Finally, it's over, he thought to himself as he heaved his body from the chair that had molded to his shape after hours of sitting there. His job, sure, was to make sure everything was stocked, but that round only took a few minutes. Most of the job was tiring paperwork, causing his fingers to become sore by the day's end. One signature on his time card and his boss stamping it, handing over a small bundle of yuans for the week's work, he was ready to leave. He slipped on his long coat and hung his cane from his arm. Today was a nice day, barely an ache in his leg as he strolled out of the ware house and onto the dark streets.

There! Right there! Yuuta wouldn't dare turn around, but he swore he saw that shadow again. Hoping his change in course wasn't too abrupt and suspicious, he began to walk in the general direction of the shadow, noticing a dark figure against the wall. With cane in hand, he struck the wall next to the shadow's face. "Who are you? And why have you been following me?"

His eyes narrowed at her as she began to babble. "Hey," he responded dryly when she greeted him. "You're still a really bad liar." The first time he met her, she tried to claim she was going to a secret book club. It appeared her lying skills hadn't improved at all. And being an equalist, she probably needed to improve that little flaw in order to keep it a secret. Not everyone was an idiot, but, then again, not everyone was as suspicious as him, always questioning what came in his path. He rarely believed in 'fate', something some people looked to when things went wrong, nor in coincidences, but in life itself. Things happened and not everything had a reason.

"No, I'm not in deep with the triads. Or into fighting the police. Sadly, it looks like I'm stuck with an Equalist," he snorted, removing the tip of his cane from the wall. "Yeah. I'm so lucky," he grumbled, hanging his cane around his arm again and putting his hand in his pockets as he began to walk off. Luck was not... in his favor. His mother was dying and the healing wasn't even slowing down the process. That, and the fact he was being followed by this girl. "Leave me alone," he said loudly.

Yuuta rolled his eyes. Her attempts at lying were pathetic and even more so as she tried to cover up for him seeing through them with ease. And her attempts to lecture him were just as bad. It almost made him want to rolls his eyes once more. "Preposterous," he replied. If smiling more lead to more smiles, then he would smiling right now? No. He was upset. He was tired. He was angry that he had been followed. There was little that made him want to smile.

However, he couldn't argue with the fact he needed to talk to someone, to get a few issues off his chest. And who else than his apparent stalker. He let out a long sigh as he continued to move forward in the dimly lit streets. "If you really want to know, I'm angry and upset. My mother's illness is neither better nor worse. All that I'm paying for and she still isn't better."

Yuuta shook his head, rubbing his eyes. The last thing he wanted to happen was to get teary eyed around his stalker. What kind of upper ground would that give her? None, probably. If she wanted to do... anything to him, really, she could have. Maybe - just maybe - there was some hope for her. Even if she was annoying as all get out. "No, but... how long will that last? I don't know how much time she had left or if what I'm doing - working like this to help pay for the treatment- is worth it." Would she understand the necessity of his mother to him? She was all he really had. His father? No idea as to what, who or where he was, almost a complete mystery though it was not one he cared for. Any man to leave a woman by herself to raise a child... disgraceful.

The man sighed, turning a corner as he continued on home. She helped him back last time, right? So it wasn't like he was giving away where he lived to this girl. He turned to look at her, first noticing her bright red cheeks. "Are you okay?" he asked dutifully. As a medicine man of sorts, he was always on guard as to how to help people within his expertise, illnesses of which were a part of. Perhaps she had a fever or something of that sort, his mind instantly thinking of what would help for a fever.

Faith?!, he wanted to scream at her. How could he have faith in something that seemed so hopeless? All he wanted was to have as much time with the woman who raised him all on her own. He had sacrificed so much to get her help so that she could come back and live a long, happy life, but if all of it was for naught then shouldn't he have her back, spending the most of his time with her in her last days? The thing he feared the most was a letter or a knock at the door from someone to tell him his mother passed on without him by her side. The idea of it all just made him so stressed.

"I'm an herbalist. I help people," Yuuta decided to say, keeping as much resentment out of his voice as possible. Somewhere down in that rock-hard heart of his, he was glad she remembered their first encounter. Despite how annoying it was to be around her (it still was) and how many times she stuck by his side even if he continuously pushed her away was somewhat pleasing. While everyone and everything he pushed away left, there she was, stalking him.

"Yeah. No pity parties," he said with a tinge of nostalgia in his voice and a small smile cracking the edges of his lips. "Fine, I won't ask again," the herbalist said simply to tease the poor woman, though he doubted she would get the fact he was teasing. In all actuallity, it probably sounded like he was really annoyed at her for correcting him with that gruff voice and closed in body language.

Yuuta continued walking on, forgetting where he needed to go to. Shachi seemed to take a large portion of his though process, leaving him with little to remember what he was doing before. Now that was new. Back to the matter at hand: the shop or the apartment? Heading back to the place he slept might require some social curtesy where he invites her in to give her a cup of tea (not like Shuai bought any good tea leaves). But heading to the shop might keep him there, which also meant sleeping on the sick beds. Though it did well in an emergency, this was not one of those times and going there and willingly sleeping there, risking his health, was not something he wasn't going to do.

"Here, let me see," he said with a sigh as he stopped walking and turned towards her, picking up the arm she had been talking about, one that was less relaxed and presumed to be the injured one. He rolled up her sleeve, noticing a bit of bruising and discoloration. He was a medicine man, with the knowledge of how to cure illnesses, though not with the knowledge of fixing broken legs or burnt fingers. Still, health always interacted with other areas of health, leaving him with bit of an idea on what he was looking at.

"The muscles are inflamed. I'd suggest asprin and not moving it around as much," he told her at long last, gently letting go of her arm, stuffing his hands into his pockets that still tingled from the touch of his skin. "Compression helps as well- try bandaging it." He looked at the street sign as they passed it. He was almost back to the apartment.

Yuuta sighed, noticing he was smiling at her comment and forced himself to frown again. He didn't like to smile; he wasn't sure why, it just felt like too much effort and too much of an opening for other people to feel comfortable and friendly around him. But maybe he was willing to smile around Shachi? The though befuddled him, so he ignored it. For now, at least. "Oh yeah, glassblowing and, what else? Secret book clubs?" he retorted, feeling like he made some sort of joke. Well, that was something new. "But, hey, take my advice or don't." If she wanted to let it hurt, he wasn't going to stop her.

"Why would I be mad at you?" he asked. Sure, he had a grumpy demeanor that a lot of people thought that meant he was angry or irratated with him, but that was rarely the case. For most people. There were people he just couldn't stand. He would apply that group to Shachi, but, somehow, her annoying demeanor was a welcome distraction. "Here, I'll wrap your elbow. I have some supplies in the apartment." She had helped him here last time and he hoped she wouldn't over think the gesture to think he care about her or cared about her cause. She was... a, uh, friend, he guessed. And one of the few people that could deal with him, which was a group that included his roommate Shuai and his mother. Even his own master wanted him gone sometimes. Shachi on the other hand had actually followed him around. That was certainly a first.

He limped up the stairs, using the hand railing and his cane to help him up so not to anger his bad leg. By the door, he inserted the key, opening the door for Shachi, entering behind her. "Take a seat," he told her as he gestured towards the couch, leaving his cane by the front door, leaning it against the wall before heading towards his room where he grabbed a roll of gauze, taking it back to the living room. Taking a seat on the couch was relaxing and nice to get the pressure off his leg. "Give me your arm."

With her arm in his hands, he quickly set to work, noticing he had been doing a lot more outwardly help than the internal help he actually professionally provided. Helping with sores, cuts and sprains were for the other practitioners, not a man who kept himself in the line of help of the diseases of the body. The common cold changed constantly, so finding the right mix of herbs and minerals was tricky but it wasn't like he was working blind. He knew his stuff. That stuff that now included working as a normal physician. He couldn't remember why he had always been so into medicines or helping others as he was not much of a people's person, but he liked it. Need there be anymore reason?

Shachi was certainly a character of her own, stalking him, an Equalist bad with lying skills and rather stubborn in her effort to befriend him. Much to his dismay, what she was doing actually worked. He couldn't remember being able to look back on a person and think thoughts of reminiscence. He wasn't thinking of Shachi as his best friend or anything, but she was certainly the closest he's been with most people. And to think that she stalked him. Now that thought just threw everything out of proportions.

"I want to help," he told her as he unwound the gauze, tearing the strip of it off from the rest of the roll when he deemed it long enough for the moment of need. "It makes me feel... nice," he said out loud as the realization hit him. "I've never been a people's person, much less the kind of person people want to be around. Helping others is my way of being nice, I guess," he confessed, the insecurity of his voice a new sound even to himself.

He straightened her arm and draped the gauze on lightly to flatten it out before holding one end in place as he wrapped the rest around her elbow. When her elbow was fully covered, he tied the two ends together, letting go of her arm altogether now that his work was done. He sunk into the couch, the day's worth of stress just melting off. "I wish I could do something like that for my leg," he chided, a hint of a smile -but a smile nonetheless- on his lips.

Yuuta rolled his eyes at her little plea. "Don't," he said simply, though when he glanced up, seeing her bat her eyelashes, his gaze quickly went right back down. Why did she have to tease him like that? It was unfair! No, not unfair. That was just how she was. It was... annoying. Yeah, that's it. She's always been annoying, why should anything be different now? The longer he thought on it, the less it annoyed him.

He shook his head, a little entertained for the moment, the faint smile growing into a real one. "No, not really," he told her as his hands went to his hair, pulling out the ribbon that held his hair in the ponytail. "Have... have I told you?" he asked, raising a brow at the young woman, unable to remember if he had told her or not how his leg became the way it was.

"When I was younger, I got hit by a satomobile and my mom could barely afford to keep up with the rent, so getting me to a healer was something we couldn't afford so the muscle is permantly damaged. To tell the truth, we both thought I just had broken a bone, put a splint on it and I rested." He remembered when he was younger, after the accident, always wondering why his leg never ceased to hurt. Of course, it didn't hurt as much then as it did now, the muscle being older and more worn down over time.

He was taken back by her statement. "Really?" he asked her. Her and her "secret book club" thought they were helping people in a sense, but perhaps she meant in a more physical sort of way, the kind of treatment he provided. "Probably even rarer for someone like me," he said with a sigh. More often than not, people in his profession were soothing and kind. Him, he was irritable and snappy. The last thing a stranger might think of him as would be a herbalist.

He coughed into his hand. "On the topic of, uh, stating the obvious, I have to say I'd never pitch you at the kind of person who would want to Equalize everyone. Why?"