Edie's mouthing at his hand was met with little more with a grunt before he placed her in the pack. It was perhaps a far better traveling situation this way. The night couldn't have come soon enough as his muscles in his arms were beginning to tire from transferring the bag back and forth over his shoulders. It lent to his unceremonious dump of the duffel at the base of the tree which resulting in Edie's slight tumble. He was actually surprised that she chose to shift back into her human form and pull her clothes back on.

He was more surprised however at her retort at him which led to her voice wavering. He had seen Edie cry before and knew that was the sound of impending tears. Just why she was going to cry Kato didn't understand. Luckily for Kato there wouldn't be any guessing game tonight as Edie stuttered and sobbed through her words. Obviously there had been much more to it than the heat and having to walk. Kato was left gaping, opening and closing his mouth in disbelief before he finally shook his head and rubbed at the back of his neck. "I didn't-..." It had never occurred to him that she would have been bothered by the interaction with the women earlier. But...obviously it had and it caused him great distress. "It's different here, Edie." He felt like he was going to be repeating that a lot. "Yes, she did compliment me. She said Osun and Kibuka had smiled upon me at my creation. Osun is goddess of beauty and Kibuka of war..strength...but compliments here are not just on the person but it's a compliment on the whole family. I didn't flirt. I thanked her for the compliment and bid Aje to bless her family. Aje is the deity for wealth here." How very different and difficult it must be for Edie to be in a place she understood nothing about, not even the language. It would have been how he felt the first time he left his homeland.

Edie's confession of her feelings for him, that delicate L word, caused Kato to tense briefly. They had danced around it so carefully before and now here it was, sobbed at him from the dirt laden with confusion and heart ache. Kato could handle it no more. He stepped forward suddenly, not caring if Edie fought him, taking hold of her arm to haul her up from the ground to her feet and swiftly push her backwards with his body so her back was against the trunk of the tree and his front was flush with hers. There was determination and sureness in his movements as he sealed his lips over hers in a passion fueled kiss. He broke the kiss only when the need for air determined it necessary though didn't move away from her. "I brought you here because I wanted to share my homeland with you; I want you to see its beauty. If my family is disagreeable with you...you show them these," Kato took her hands in his and brought them to rest wedged between where their chests touched, "you show them exactly who you are and how strong you are." He couldn't make a promise that the entirety of the herd would be accepting of Edie because he himself didn't know. He would like to think that the joyous herd he had grown up in wouldn't look down at her.

"It doesn't matter if you don't fit in Africa," Kato's gaze searched Edie's as he let go of her hands in order to slide his down her sides to rest on her hips as he pressed her more firmly against the tree trunk. "because you fit here, with me." He dropped his head to kiss the sun-kissed skin of her shoulder, trailing those caresses of his lips to the flesh of her neck before pausing with his face buried there. "I do love you, Little Dove." Kato's own declaration was muffled against her neck but was still clear enough to be heard. "Never doubt that."