Chapter 12
Sano woke to the sound of arguing from downstairs and snuck down there to see what was going on. Minako was standing in front of her cousin, hands raised in the air, and yelling. "You can't tell me that you don't know where they came from! Bruises don't just appear!"
Kinta flinched as Minako's voice rose to a higher pitch. "Trust me Minako! I don't know where they came from!"
Sano grabbed Minako's shoulders and pulled her back. He was able to see what she was freaking out over, and frankly he thought she had every right. Kinta's left eye was black and her bottom lip was slightly swollen and both her arms had bruises where someone had grabbed her.
"Why are you letting him do this too you?" Minako asked, referring to Shigure.
Kinta trembled in anger, "how dare you say that he did this too me! It wasn't him!"
"How am I supposed to believe that?!" Minako shouted.
Sano pulled her back further, "come on, we need to get going."
Minako ripped herself from his grasp, "I'm not going today."
"Well you're not staying here!" Kinta shouted.
"Like hell I'm not!"
"Get out of my house!"
Minako stood there, dumbfounded, then turned and walked up the stairs. She came back a few minutes later with her bag and went straight for the door, not waiting for Sano or saying goodbye to Kinta. Sano ran after her and slipped an arm around her waist, "hey, I'm sure she didn't mean it."
"Yes she did, but it doesn't matter. I have enough money to rent some place."
"Or we can ask Shiro if we can stay there," Sano suggested.
Minako looked up at him, a look of sadness in her eyes, "do you think he'd let us stay?"
"I'll talk to him about it when we train today," Sano told her. "I'm sure he'll let us stay, and it'll give you more chances to be with Amida," he assured her. She smiled at him half-heartedly. When they reached Shiro's he was standing outside with Amida in his arms.
"Welcome back," he said to them. He looked at Minako and asked, "what's wrong?"
"I'll explain later," Sano promised.
Minako took the baby and smiled at him, then took him inside the house. Shiro looked at Sano, "so what happened?"
"Her cousin, Kinta, has bruises on her arms and face and Minako wanted to know where they had come from, but Kinta said she didn't know. Well, Minako made the mistake of accusing her husband, Shigure, and Kinta kicked her out."
Shiro shook his head, "well, until this blows over you two can stay here."
"Can you read minds?" Sano asked and laughed when Shiro tilted his head in confusion. "I was going to ask you if we could stay here until Minako and Kinta could figure things out."
Shiro chuckled and they went to the back where another day of training went by rather quickly, although painfully on Sano's part. He came into the house with more bruises and pains than he did the day before.
After putting Amida down for a small nap, Minako went upstairs to a guest room, which used to be Kunto's room, and sat on the floor. She put her head in her hands and began to cry silently. Sano came in and sat next to her, not disturbing her and waiting until she was ready to talk. Minako looked over at him and took a shuddering breath, "I made a mistake didn't I?"
"You had every right to freak out, but you shouldn't have freaked out on her. And blaming Shigure right off the bat probably didn't help any either," Sano reasoned.
"So I messed up," Minako surmised.
Sano was trying to think of something that would make her feel better, but he knew that the best thing to do would be to tell the truth. "Yes, you messed up." Minako hung her head and Sano put an arm around her shoulders, "Shiro said we could stay here until this blows over."
"You mean if it blows over?"
Sano shook his head, "it'll blow over. Just wait a few days and then go back and try to talk to her again. But, uh, be more calm about it this time." Minako smiled and Sano stood, "I have to go help Shiro, but we'll be outside if you need anything." He went to the door and stopped, turning around. He went back to Minako and bent over, kissing her, then walked out.
