Her footsteps stop then as she isn't sure what to expect. From beside the dummy, Sho's tears are violent. "Stupid asshole." He sobs. Attempting to wipe at his tears with the sleeve of his olive green shirt, Sho doesn't dare look back to Marie despite the fact that he knows she must be close enough to hear. "God damn stupid asshole."
"Sh-Sho...what's wrong?" Marie calls quietly, unsure who 'he' could be.
At first, Sho says nothing. Instead he punches the floor of the dojo then swipes up his training swords. His body is strangely shaky as he walks the swords back to their proper place. He attempts to hold himself up strong, but two tears escape his aching eyes as he turns to face the dummy again. From the corner of his eye, Sho can see the pitiful look Marie is giving him, but – at least for a few minutes longer – he wouldn't let her see just how broken he was. Damnit, he was almost the god of his own world. He will not cry.
But even as he tries to tell himself this, his spine shivers under the weight of his sadness. As he reaches the training dummy, Sho's knees finally buckle again. He shoots his arms out, to keep the top half of his body from slamming into the ground then suddenly all hell breaks loose. His tears seem no longer willing to work with him and they simply begin to pour out of his eyes as his body starts to crumple into a heap on the floor. Despite this, his posture stays proud, at first. Next to him, Marie reaches out her hand but, at that very moment, Sho begins to speak.
"You know that emptiness you use to know?" He looks up to her, his brilliant blue eyes red and watering. Marie steps over to him and sits down near him. With a nod, she grasps her purse tight. She isn't sure how he would feel about a hand on his leg or arm and she was a little afraid to do more than that right now. Both of Sho's hands are in tight fists as he attempts to take deep, calming breaths. Each one, however, cracks and fizzles into another sob. "Well, that's something I'm still trying to get use to."
"What do you mean?" Marie asks innocently.
"That other personality...he was killed by Yu and his buddies." Sho's voice cracks as he says this. Then his – what was still strong seconds ago – posture breaks. His hands pull at the edges of his hair before slamming into the ground. "I kept trying to tell myself...he really isn't dead. He's just being quiet." Weak to the point of almost being inaudible, Sho's voice crackles and strains to make sound. "When I started to remember...things from when I was with Dad...a week or so ago, I realized he wasn't around anymore. He never use to let me deal with that kind of pain." Sho curls in on himself, bringing his head almost all the way to his knees as he pauses unable to speak. The memories were painful, sure, but the lack of the other half of himself was worse. Now, he remained to be nothing more than a half empty shell, full to the brim of unwanted memories from two minds. After a few moments of silence, Sho lifts his head and tries to speak again. "I've been trying to wake him back up by fighting like him, but I don't know how. That shit head was always too calm for me to understand. I have never been able to fight like that. He'd walk into the scene and make two slow motions where I would have jumped around and darted back and forth a few times already." He shakes his head with a bitter smile. "I can't do it."
Marie looks at him and finds herself feeling horribly guilty. She had brought this all up. Why had she brought it up? They had been having so much fun and then she went and brought up the most painful parts of Sho's past. Unsure what to do, Marie just sits there, watching the broken teenager cry. Oh man, this was too much for her.
"He really is dead. That stupid frickin' idiot." Sho's words are bitter, the tears have begun to slow at last, but it is obvious his heart still aches as his strong posture has vanished. He looks over to Marie and points a finger toward her. "I swear...if you tell anyone about his..." His words growl out his clenched teeth.
"I won't." Marie shakes her head and raises her hands. She honestly didn't know who she would tell or why anyway. No one even knew she had hung out with him at all yet.
"This...feeling is just so..." Sho holds his hands up and stares at them. "Miserable." He grabs his head and sighs. "I never wanted to be that alone. He knew that."
"I..." Marie starts to speak but realizes she doesn't actually know what to say. Sho looks at her with sad eyes. Her hand tightens into a fist as she doesn't know what to do. She's suppose to hate this guy! Why can't she hate him!
"Can you make me a promise?" Sho's voice is weak and almost frightened when he speaks again. Marie nods then takes a deep breath as she isn't sure what kind of promise he's going to force her to make. "If you decide to throw me out with tomorrow's garbage, at least let me say goodbye first?"