Chapter Twenty-Nine: Sento

I locked the door to the shop, then rotated a stiff shoulder as I turned to make my way home. It had been another busy day without the boss, and I was exhausted.

As my feet carried me to my destination, I allowed my mind to drift back over the last few weeks. A lot had happened; Tomoyo and I had decided to marry, then I got beat up and lost my memory, causing me to forget about our promise. My childhood friend Kotomi had been the main driving force behind my recovery, so of course we ended up growing a lot closer together during my lessons. Since Tomoyo had basically refused to tell me about our relationship, Kotomi and I ended up closer than we would have otherwise.

By the time Tomoyo finally decided to tell me about our previous relationship, restoring what I figured was the rest of my memory, it was too late; Kotomi and I were effectively an 'item'. Somewhere along the way the girls had decided that I would date both of them, and I figured that Kotomi was giving Tomoyo a chance to 'win me back'.

Tomoyo giving up really surprised me, though; I remembered her from school as a strong girl, so I never expected her to roll over the way she did.

While all this was going on, Kyou was apparently pursuing Pastor Jeff, my friend and mentor of sorts. I remembered meeting him at the hospital during my recovery stay, and smiled as I thought back on our conversations about…well, pretty much everything. He had some weird beliefs, but he came by them honestly, at least.

"Hey."

I snapped out of my train of thought at the familiar voice; the kid – Tanaka was his name, if I remembered correctly – leaned against a nearby wall, smoking something that smelled disgusting. "Hey," I returned.

"You doing okay?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm doing a lot better, thanks."

"Got your memories back and everything?"

"I think so."

"Yeah, sorry about that." He pushed himself off the wall, tossing his smoke to the side. "Listen, I hate to do this, but I need you to give Sakagami one more message."

All of my training with Tomoyo and the time spent reading Lee-sensei's book flooded my mind. "As long as it's verbal this time, I have no problem helping out."

He sighed with a smile as he shook his head. "Come on, you know this isn't how it works." I saw him gesture to the side, and some familiar faces started to show up. "Thugs only understand thugs. But don't worry; we'll stay far away from your head this time." He glanced over his shoulder at one of his gang, and I followed his gaze to see the kid who had talked to me before, the one who had hit me in the head. "Shiro here sucks with the bat, so he's not getting it this time."

"That's some small comfort," I said, allowing my awareness to expand; in addition to Tanaka, there were four boys in front of me, and I had to assume that there were a few behind me.

"Good," he said blowing in his hands before rubbing them together. "Let's make this quick, then. Oh, and…I got nothing against you, it's just that Sakagami put my older brother in the hospital a couple of years ago, and I know I can't pay her back directly, so…" He shrugged, and-

My body moved on its own, ducking down as I suddenly felt danger from behind. I straightened just as quickly to see Tanaka holding his hand over his nose.

"Shit!" he grunted. "Have you been training or something?"

I didn't answer; I didn't want to lose focus at a time like this.

He uttered a few more curse words as he gestured to me with his free hand, and the boys on either side of him started to approach me. I sent a silent request to Pastor Jeff's god for…something. Anything.

I knew they couldn't all attack me at once, and I ducked as the first one took a swing at me, jabbing him in the stomach. My path took me toward one of the others, so I changed my angle and slammed into him with my good shoulder, knocking him back several feet in to the wall behind him. I then turned back to see the one I had jabbed bent over and clutching his stomach, so I kicked him in the butt, sending him the rest of the way to the ground.

My warning signal went off again, and I ducked again, this time driving an elbow back into the stomach of another kid. He doubled over, putting his head just over my shoulder, so I looped my arm around his neck and threw him judo-style over me onto his back; hopefully the ground wasn't too hard.

I held that position, kneeling on one knee with my hands in ready positions as I watched the remaining members of Tanaka's 'gang' look at each other with worried expressions.

One of them suddenly got a fierce expression and drove his fist into his hand before charging at me. I readied myself to throw him when he suddenly flew sideways, slamming into a group of nearby dustbins. "What the-?"

"I heard that someone has a message for me," Tomoyo said smoothly as she casually flipped her silver lengths. "Well, here I am."

I unconsciously glanced over at Tanaka, who was no longer holding his nose, allowing a trickle of blood to flow from it. "Y-You…"

"Yeah; m-me," she said, copying his stutter. "Now, what do you want? Are you here to get revenge for me beating up your brother?"

"Y-Yeah…" he replied, suddenly unsure of himself. "Y-You put him in the hospital for a long time, s-so…"

"I'm sorry," Tomoyo interrupted.

"Huh?"

"I was wrong to do that to your brother, and I apologize," she said, bowing deeply. "I know it won't give him back the time he lost, but it's all I can offer."

"Wh-Why…?"

"What he did was wrong, but what I did to him was excessive and didn't fit his crime," she said, still bowing. "Please forgive me for dishonoring him and your family."

I looked from Tomoyo to Tanaka to find him in open-mouthed shock. "Y-You can't apologize! I have to fight you!"

"What good would that do?" I asked, moving next to Tomoyo as she straightened. "She'd likely thrash you and your friends; you and I both know that."

I watched as the poor, frustrated kid worked his jaw. ""But...But…"

"You've been waiting for this chance for a long time," I said sympathetically. "And she's taking it away from you by apologizing."

"Nii-san couldn't talk right for weeks…"

"And that must've been hard," I said, starting to feel pity for his situation. "But even if you could beat up Tomoyo, what good would that do?" I gestured over at the former delinquent next to me. "She's not that kind of person anymore. She cares about others, and cares deeply about them."

"And because of that, I have nightmares about all the people I've hurt, even if they did deserve it," she added. "That's why I'm asking you to forgive me."

"Let it go," Shiro said, resting his hand on Tanaka's shoulder. "You'd be beating up the wrong person, anyway; she's not here anymore."

"I think it's really great that you have such a strong sense of justice," I said, "but if you were to beat her up, you'd be becoming the person she used to be…and the person you hate."

His eyes widened. "Shit…you're right." His eyes started darting around wildly. "I don't want to be that! I don't! I have to go! I have to go!" He turned to run down a nearby alley.

"Shiro," I called, stopping the teenager as he started after his friend. "Thanks. Take good care of him."

He gave me a smile and a thumbs-up before dashing into the alley after his friend.

As he left I looked over at Tomoyo. "I think I could've handled them this time, but I'm glad you-"

POW!

I staggered from the blow to my chest. It didn't hurt much, but it did knock the wind out of me. "T-Tomoyo?"

She whirled on me with fury and tears in her eyes. "How could you?!" she yelled, and I had to duck to avoid the roundhouse kick she sent my way.

"What do you mean?" I gasped, still trying to catch my breath.

"You and me…and…" I couldn't understand her next words as she lunged at me, and my training and studies kicked in, spinning me to the side as she dashed past with another punch.

"And what?" I asked, my evasion training being pushed to its limit as she came after me over and over again. "What's wrong?"

She cried out as she threw punch after punch after kick, and I found myself glad that I had done all the self-study of Lee-sensei's book that I had. "Tomoyo, stop! If you have a problem with me, I want to work it out!"

As we went on, however, I noticed that her blows were getting sloppy and lacked the force that they'd had, and I realized what the problem was; us.

I continued to parry and dodge as I thought back on our relationship, from seeing her beat up the delinquents in school to breaking up with her to stop keeping her back, from getting together again in December to losing my memories in the fight, and I finally figured it out: she needed me.

She threw another punch at my head, and I ducked to the side and stepped into her, bringing us face-to-face, and I kissed her. I could feel the heat coming from her and taste the salt of her tears as my lips touched hers, and I could hear and feel her gasp at the touch.

She shoved me away, sending us both stumbling several steps away from each other. "Wh-What are you doing?" she demanded, clearly winded.

"What's it look like?" I replied, breathing heavily as well. "I kissed you."

"I know that!" she barked, apparently not remembering her question. "But…why?"

Why had I kissed her? I already knew that she loved me, so was it to get her to stop attacking me? It had worked, but…

If it wasn't to test her feelings, then was it to test…? "Tomoyo, I'm done fighting you. I have some thinking to do. I'm sorry for upsetting you. Please excuse me." Without giving her a chance to respond, I walked past her and went home, not even looking back.

I had a lot of thinking to do.