A/N: I thought my last update for this chapter was a bit short, so I added a bit to it. I hope everyone finds it satisfactory. The first half of this chapter is the same as last time, we just see a bit of Konro and Beni at the end.
Scene VI
The Shobu Family Flower Shop
Second District of the Commercial Wards, First Block
There was something oddly comforting when it came to the silence of the shop.
Especially, in the early morning before the streets of Asakusa came alive with people and shouting and laughter; before the children came out to play in the square, while mothers' discussed their husbands' latest missteps with exasperated patience and a watchful eye; before the other shopkeepers opened their doors and displayed their wares and called at the top of their voices to passersby as to why their product was of the superior quality. Before the waking of the Asakusa commercial district, there was peace and tranquility and Shobu Kaede opening her backdoor to slip inside and begin her day's work.
She enjoyed that time as much as her private sessions in the dojo.
It was, yet, another chance for her thoughts to run about as she sketched out new designs in an old book given to her many years ago by her mother, to clean the buckets filled with flowers and greenery, and have the opportunity to get ahead on the orders for the coming day. She worked in blissful quiet, her mind alight with the warm memory of a hand worn from fire and a secretive, but giddy, smile playing at her lips as she did so. All morning she went about her list of tasks, cheerful and happy, despite the recollection of her father's poor behavior during last night's dinner fiasco. Kaede, when she had woken to prepare for the day ahead, decided she no longer cared.
Konro had let her touch his hand, hadn't shied away from her weakness, and had offered her a gaze which had spoken of deep affection and utter gentleness.
Kaede was happy.
And she had every intention of remaining so, no matter what anyone said about it.
She was about to place the arrangement for the bookbinder's family (the town itself was holding a memorial later in the day and Kaede herself had been personally commissioned by the council for the event) on her worktable, when the backdoor leading into the side alley swung open and alerted her of a new presence by way of the chiming of a bell. Kaede raised her head, just as Toshiro stepped fully into the room and shut the door behind him. She finished setting down the large design, full of bright yellows and fresh whites, and wiped her hands on her apron before addressing her cousin.
"Toshiro!" Kaede smiled broadly, her blue-bolt eyes lighting up in surprise. "Whatever are you doing here?"
Her cousin laughed, a dry sort of sound, and held up a cloth bag by way of answer. "I don't suppose lunch is something you'd be interested, eh?"
She grinned and quickly went around her center table to the far wall which housed an old desk and a heavy metal door on one side. The desk was organized with papers and orders, as well as a calendar to keep it all straight, and the door lead to a large cooler for the safekeeping of her flowers, leatherleaf, and other living materials for her work. Kaede rummaged about at the desk, searching for her canister of tea, which was probably cold by now, and once found, she brought it back over to the main table and began to prepare a place for her and Toshiro to have a bit of lunch.
"How kind of you, Shiro-kun." She signed, using the nickname she had given him many years ago when they were children. She never called him that in front of Momo or the rest of the family, though. It was something between the two of them. "I was just thinking about going down to Izu-san's noodle shop and grabbing something there."
"Well," said Toshiro, setting down the bag of foodstuffs so he could assist her in rearranging the table. "No need for that. Momo made some onigiri and a couple of bento to go with it. She packed your favorites too, if I saw right. My guess is she wanted to make up for the fact you didn't eat much last night."
Kaede offered him an apologetic smile, smoothing out one corner of the table before beginning the task of untying the bag.
Toshiro looked up at her, his expression wry with a tinge of humor pulling at one side of his mouth. "From what I heard, dinner was quite an . . . interesting . . . affair."
"Well, it was certainly lively." Kaede nodded in agreement but her focus remained on organizing the bento and onigiri. "That's for sure."
"'Lively'? Is that the word, now?" Toshiro grinned and it was far closer to the sort of look he had when he was younger and up to a hell of a lot more trouble. "Hmmm."
Kaede eyed him skeptically, one brow raised in incredulousness. "Something to say, Shiro-kun?"
The grin widened, white teeth poking through in a knowing smirk. "I wish I could have seen the look on Oji-san's face when you told him to 'pick up a matoi and see if he had the stomach to put his hand through another man's chest'."
Kaede nearly tipped over her canister of tea, catching it last minute and ensuring it didn't spill over the bento she was laying out. She squeaked, mortified at the fact her cousin had been made fully aware, and in great detail, of the exact events at dinner.
"I didn't say it quite like that!" She protested, fingers fumbling as her dark head came up quickly so as to correct the statement. "It was more like-!"
"More like . . . ?" Toshiro questioned, waving a hand in a sort of 'go on' motion while his grin bordered on shit-eating. "Huh. Well, how about when you stood up and called him out for having a 'twisted brand of judgement' when it came to Sagamiya-san's character?"
Kaede's hands froze as her face went pink with embarrassment. For a moment, she forgot she couldn't form full-fledged words and opened her mouth as if to assuage her cousin. Then, remembering her muteness in the following moment, promptly shut her jaw with an audible clack! and turned away from him so as to hide her face behind several locks of her hair.
All humor fell from Toshiro's face then and he sighed softly, going over to the desk so he could pull up two small benches so they could sit.
"Kaede-chan," he began quietly; this time his face was kinder and more serious. "It's been obvious for a couple of years now. You don't have to-"
She made a great show of reaching over the table for a pair of chopsticks, picking them up with a silent itadakimasu. Instead of responding to her cousin's attempt to appeal to her, she simply took a bite from her bento and began to chew.
"Personally," Toshiro murmured around his own bite of rice. "I think it was quite admirable of you to defend Sagamiya-san the way you did. Obviously, nothing of any ill-will happened. I can't believe Oji-san even came to that conclusion."
She nodded absently, still refusing to meet his eyes.
So, Momo-chan had told him everything.
Wonderful.
She grimaced to herself, frustrated by the fact she had forgone any sort of self-control and now the entire family was, no doubt, made aware of the little incident (not that she offered any sort of detail about what exactly had happened) between her and Konro earlier that day. Obviously, the details themselves didn't matter. The fact was they had been alone together, in the dojo, with the doors shut, and her father and uncle had walked in on them sharing a quiet but rather (in her opinion) intimate moment. Naturally, her father made it perfectly clear, to the entire table, what exactly he thought about the matter. As if he had the right to make such a decision and turn it into a public display. Though, to be fair, she hadn't exactly helped the matter by jumping to her feet and flying into a tirade.
A hand reached out and patted her on the arm, gaining her attention.
Toshiro was staring at her, expression firm and a bit stern. "It's none of my business, I know. But, let me say this, at least. Whatever and whoever make you happy . . . well, I want you to know you have my full support. Sagamiya-san is a good man. He's done a lot for Asakusa over the years and it's clear he's always had this sort of liking when it comes to you. All those times he came over for tea . . . well, he's not as subtle as he thinks he is. Honestly, I'm not surprised."
Kaede blinked, taken aback by such a blatant admission by her closest cousin.
She set down her chopsticks, her hands coming together in a twist of rushed signs. "Truly? You don't think-? It doesn't . . . bother you?"
"'Bother' me?" Toshiro laughed good-naturedly. "Why would it 'bother' me? Kaede-chan, the first time I met Momo-chan, I nearly dumped a sack of rice on her head. You want to talk about a rough start, there you go."
She frowned. "That's not what I-"
He shook his head in slight protest. "Look, so you had the doors closed. It was a private conversation, right? So, it's none of my business. Anyone's business. That's between you and him. As long as he's respecting you and your boundaries, I don't see the need to get involved. You should have seen Momo, though. She was completely thrilled."
Color rose high on Kaede's cheeks and she tried hard not to appear more pleased than she really was. "It's not as if . . . we're not . . ."
Toshiro rolled his eyes but smiled patiently at her. "Give it time, then. Don't rush things."
"You really don't mind?"
"Kaede-chan," her cousin drawled and he seemed to be seeking for some level of patience. "I'm not Oji-san. Really. I mean, I got the whole Shobu aesthetic yeah, but that doesn't mean I'm going to be of the same mind. It doesn't matter what I think. If it's what you want, then I'm happy for you. Besides, I'm not stupid enough to get between an Asakusa woman and the man she wants." He grinned wickedly, at that. "Any man who thinks he can tell her 'no' is flat out delusional and practically asking for a death-wish."
Kaede giggled and she pressed the back of her hand to her lips to stifle any sound. "I suppose I should take the victory once I have it."
"Probably for the best, really." Toshiro agreed. "Momo-chan's rooting for you too, don't forget. She thought Oji-san's threat to fully ban Sagamiya-san from the house was a bit extreme."
"I'm not so sure it was an empty one." Kaede admitted forlornly and she shifted uncomfortably on her bench. "It's so hard to tell these days with Father. When it comes to Konro, he's completely irrational."
"No," her cousin disagreed with a thoughtful expression. "No, not in general. Only when the words 'and you' are used along side his name. Then, Oji-san's completely irrational."
Kaede blanched, irritation bleeding into her hands as she signed. "He certainly refused to explain the reason for that as well."
"My opinion?" Toshiro offered, putting his head in his hand while leveling a rather secretive look at her. "I think he's afraid of you actually taking charge. Not really of the family, but in general. He's grown accustomed to you always being in agreement with most things. That's not a slight, that's just how you are. You're an agreeable person. But, even agreeable people have things they can't compromise on. Sagamiya Konro just so happens to be one of those things for you."
"He's a good man," Kaede glanced off to the side, staring at the many portraits of flowers and trees which lined the walls. "He works harder than any other I know. He's always giving his time and effort and support to others. I just . . . I want to . . . give him something back, is all. Something he doesn't have to give away."
Her cousin looked at her with knowing eyes, a playful smirk spreading across his face. "I can think of a good number of men who would probably kill for an hour of your time. How disappointed they'll be when they realize Shobu Kaede has her sights of the Master of the hikeshi, of all people."
"Stop that, Shiro-kun!" Kaede blushed, her own face turning more red than a maple leaf as she reached over and swatted at his arm. "I'm not like that. I'm sure I'm not that . . . there's plenty of other lovely women in Asakusa who . . . you make it sound as if-!"
"What? You're a very pretty woman, cousin." Toshiro's smirk widened, "Pretty and kind and a good listener . . . I'm sure a great many will be sad to know just how unattainable you really are. Sagamiya-san better consider himself lucky he doesn't have more competition to contend with. Though, I suppose his presence alone could scare off any man if he wanted it to."
Her blush deepened and she looked away; she wasn't any better than any other woman in Asakusa. In fact, there were many who were more beautiful and hardworking than herself. If anything, the fact Konro gave her so much of his time, and patience in general, was a gift she couldn't ever take for granted. Men with power attracted many kinds of people, good and bad, . . . and women were no exception. She wasn't blind to that fact.
In regards to herself, however, one could make the argument that her name was her only true advantage. The Shobu name had a lot of stasis and notoriety to go with it, not to mention some small bit of fame and a fair amount of money. At least, it used to. Currently, their name wasn't doing much for them aside from drawing narrowed eyes and hushed whispers. In fact, nowadays, being a Shobu was a lot more difficult than it had ever been. Her father's actions had caused so much unrest in the community, their name was now starting to have a negative connotation attached to it.
Yet, she knew it wouldn't matter.
Not to him.
Because Konro wasn't the sort of man who cared about that kind of thing or let it drive his decision making. They weren't friends because he was 'Master' and she a 'Shobu'; their stasis and power had the least to do with it. If her name up and blew away, like dust in the wind, Sagamiya Konro wouldn't give a damn. He would still be there, standing on her engawa, at their usual time, for tea. He would still walk beside her in the street, chatting away about anything and everything in the world; yet, at the same time, nothing at all. He would still help her pull her cart, laden with flowers and bonsai, from delivery to delivery and not even think twice about it. If she asked, he would be there with a helping hand (or arm, in the case of anything particularly heavy) and a smile on his face.
With Konro, her name meant nothing. Not because the name didn't mean something to her, personally. But rather, because it was the least important out of all Kaede's attributes in relation to herself as a person. Sure, she was a Shobu. But, she was Kaede first. A martial artist. A florist. An older sister. A friend. Being a Shobu was last on the ever expanding list of things Kaede was in relation to him and she knew it. While being a Shobu mattered to her and in so bringing pride and respect to it, Konro simply looked at it as any other name. For that, Kaede was beyond grateful.
Because Sagamiya Konro, as Master of the hikeshi, could have any woman in all of Asakusa if he wished it and there wasn't any man alive who could deny him.
"For as long as I live, I won't allow it."
A stunning realization washed over Kaede like a heatwave and she dropped her chopsticks against the rim of her bento box.
They fell with a clatter and she stared at the back wall, over Toshiro's head, as the image of her father's scowl echoed within her mind. How Konro's face had become pinched with iron-ridged patience and stone-faced calm, but his eyes had been alight with barely restrained anger. How both he and her uncle had launched into a confusing argument over 'permissions' and 'allowances' which she hadn't understood in the current moment. How both men had tried to hide, with shifting eyes and awkward glances, the true meaning behind their words in her presence.
"My 'brand of judgement', as you say, has nothing to do with his role as a hikeshi."
Anger hit her next, like a wall of flame. A tongue of heat welled up within her and her bio-electrical manipulation capabilities suddenly came to life as tiny blue sparks flickered at the ends of her fingertips.
"Kaede?" She heard her cousin's concern come from far away, as if she was kilometers apart from him instead of only about the span of an arm and a half.
"If I recall correctly, Sagamiya, I've already made my stance on the subject perfectly clear."
Her father knew.
"He doesn't have the right to deny anyone the opportunity, regardless. Anyone would be honored to accept an offer from you-"
Her uncle knew.
"It seems I'm . . . less than worthy in his eyes."
Konro . . . he . . .
"I won't allow it."
So, they thought they could hide it from her.
They thought she wouldn't be able to see through their knowing glances and round-about conversations.
They thought she would simply ignore it, as if she couldn't, with enough time, figure out the truth.
Konro wanted to . . .
. . . and her father wouldn't allow him.
Kaede gritted her teeth, her anger building.
They assumed . . . and they were wrong.
Second District of the Commercial Wards, Second Block
Sagamiya Konro pinched the bridge of his nose in the vain attempt to stave off the headache building behind his eyes. He was still emotionally raw from the last hour or so; the confession of his past and true feelings now a shared burden between himself and Beni. While, at first, there was guilt over the initial process, Konro couldn't deny he did, admittedly, feel a great deal better now that someone else knew and understood. At least, somewhat anyway. It wasn't a catch-all fix.
Beni still believed, despite everything, that Kaede deserved the truth. Konro owed her that much, regardless of the circumstances.
Konro knew it too. He honestly did, but the threat of her father was hanging over them like an axe . . . and he refused to be the one to hold her back. Compared to what Kaede could do for herself, if given the opportunity, the love of Sagamiya Konro paled when juxtaposed along side one another. He may not care for the Shobu name or their Style, but to her . . . to her, it meant everything. It was her life, her purpose, and she wanted to be a part of the generation who would take it even further than the last. To force her to chose between himself and her family . . . what honor was there in that?
It wasn't love.
It was selfishness.
And for what? Truly? He was a stand-in 'Master' with hardly any personal wealth, despite the respect and the fear and the awe of Asakusa as a whole. If Kaede abandoned all she had ever known, what sort of future would she actually have with him? A man whose past was paved with anger and destruction; who hurt anyone who even tried to bridge the gap between him and the empty void of solitude. A man who didn't understand what he had until he lost it all by way of his own blindness and rage. A man who, only now, fully understood the ramifications of his actions and only because he was being denied something he never thought he wanted until it was staring at him with beautiful, blue-bolt eyes.
No.
He did this to himself.
He couldn't drag others into it and force them to live with his mistakes. Certainly, not Kaede. Not one of the most giving and selfless and hardworking people he had ever known. Not someone who, if he asked, would drop nearly anything just to have tea with him and listen to his woes without a care in the world. He knew her. She'd do it. If he asked, she would. There were many things Shobu Kaede would do for a great many people, but there were things she wouldn't give up. At least, not for just anyone.
But, Konro . . .
He knew . . . he knew, when it came to himself and even Beni, Kaede would move the very heavens in order to make them happy.
It was wrong of him to take advantage of her giving nature and kind heart. Her father was greatly mistaken about her being naïve, Kaede was more than self-aware of the sort of person she was, but he wasn't entirely so to worry about Konro himself. Because Shobu knew he had sway over her heart and he could, in fact, use it for his own personal gain if he wished it so. Which was why he was in such a panic; he didn't want to hurt her. He didn't want his feelings and selfishness and wants to overtake anything Kaede desired for her own self. If she wanted to be family head, if she wanted to take over the dojo and be Master of the Shobu Style, then Konro would put it all aside so she could have every possible chance at succeeding.
If it made her happy, if her family's legacy meant that much to her, as he knew it did, then it was worth more than anything Sagamiya Konro could ever offer in comparison.
Right now, at this moment, Kaede needed to train and he made her a promise to help. He just needed the space and a proper location to do it, without running the risk of her father catching wind of it. Private and out of the way; preferably quiet and with little chance for any accidents (whether that be to them or to property, in general). But, where? Asakusa was the smallest district in the entire Tokyo Empire; they didn't have parks or small forests or anything of the like as some of the others did. They were all cramped together, one block to another, with very little room for the kind of training Kaede was most likely needing.
Hells, it had been hard enough training Beni. They had to go down to the river, at times, just to . . .
Konro stopped.
"Oi!"
Something jarred his shoulder and he glanced down to see Beni, a twin in each hand, staring up at him with a thoroughly annoyed expression.
"The hell, Konro?" He blew a piece of bang out of his eyes with a irritated huff, only for the lock to fall right back in place. "Don't just stop in the middle o' the road. Ya nearly-"
"You've been down by the river at lot lately, yes?" Konro asked hurriedly, not listening one bit to the young man's grousing.
Beni blinked rapidly, eyes slightly wide in puzzlement. Then, they narrowed in the following second, suspicion pulling at the corners.
"Yeah," he drawled cautiously, offering Konro a wary side-eye. "Why?"
"I need a place," Konro continued in a rush. "Somewhere quiet with a bit of room. Somewhere that doesn't get a lot of traffic. With good, even ground. Know a spot like that?"
Beni raised a brow at him, caution bleeding back into suspicion. "Got a few in mind. Why the hell do ya-?"
"Kaede needs help with her training," Konro supplied quickly, crossing his arms. "I gave her my word but, we can't do it at the dojo. Her father's pissed enough with me right now and I don't need to add more fuel to the fire. So, we need a place to ourselves."
Benimaru's smirk was practically evil. "'Training', huh? Is that what we're calling it now? Gotcha."
"That's not-! Beni-!" Konro fumbled, tripping over his own words, He glanced about the busy street to see if they were being overheard. "Dammit! That's not what I meant! Her father's putting more pressure on her than ever before. She asked for my help, so would you please-!"
"Yeah, yeah." Beni waved a hand back and forth dismissively and his face fell back into one of his typical apathetic variants. "Nice and quiet. Good ground. No losers. Decent place to shack up in-"
"Benimaru!" Konro hissed through clenched teeth, practically seething.
"What?! Ya asked-!"
"I did no such thing!"
"Don't whine ta me 'cause ya don't like the answer, jackass."
"That's not the answer I was looking for and you know it!"
"Aww, c'mon, Konro. Just make it nice an' cozy and-"
"One more word, Shinmon Benimaru, and I swear I'll have you doing watch-duty for a month!"
"Whatever ya say, Konro." Beni rolled his mismatched eyes skyward before tugging gently at the twins' wrists. "C'mon, ya two. The shop's only gonna be open fer a little bit now. Gotta go catch Kaede 'for she closes up, a'right?"
"Okay, Beni!" replied Hinata.
"Let's go!" answered Hikage.
And off the two went, slipping out of Beni's grasp and running down the lane as fast as their little legs could carry them. It was just as well. The shop was only a few stores down at this point. Catching up to the pair wasn't going to be difficult.
"Ya coming or what, Konro?" Beni snarked over his shoulder when Konro hadn't moved to follow.
"Yeah," Konro sighed tiredly, resigned to the teasing with an air of put-upon patience. "Yeah, I'm coming. The whole lot of you are gonna make me go grey before I'm forty."
"Tch." Beni clicked his teeth, lip curling a bit in annoyance. "Yer not that old. What's it now? Thirty-five? Ya got plenty o' years left."
"Not many young ones, though." Konro answered, coming up beside Beni and taking the lead. "Won't be long till my knees give out and this line of work catches up to me."
"Don't say shit like that," grumbled Beni as he stuffed his arms through his sleeves. He glanced off somewhere to the left, keeping his eyes out of Konro's line of sight.
"Beni," Konro began quietly and he was careful to keep his tone clear of any antagonism. "I can't keep this up forever. Eventually, even the strong hit their ceiling. I can only go down from here."
"Yer still hella strong." Beni retorted, a razor edge entering his own voice. "Always have been. And not just cause of yer flames. People listen ta ya. They respect ya."
"I'm not the one the men are waiting for," Konro replied carefully, eyeing the young man with no small degree of caution. They'd been down this road before and they always ended up in the same place. At a stale-mate. "The hikeshi have always been led by a Shinmon. It's only right that a Shinmon become Master, when the time comes."
"I ain't fit fer that crap," Beni's hands tightened under his sleeves and Konro could see, by the angle of his head, how his bangs were, once again, covering his eyes. "I'm a brat, Konro. I ain't like ya."
"I don't want you to be." Konro insisted calmly, looking down at the young man with sadness in his thin, blue eyes. "I want you to be you. Shinmon Benimaru. The Master of the Iai Chop Forms and of the hikeshi. It's your inheritance, Beni. Not mine."
"I ain't any of that." Beni muttered bitterly, his tone becoming more self-deprecating. "I still haven't - I'm just a thug, like all the rest. The old man was wrong, Konro. I can't be . . . I'm not . . ."
"Give yourself some credit," encouraged Konro. It was a trying conversation. Every. Single. Time. But, he had to be patient. Beni was a stubborn man and didn't react well to being pushed in directions he clearly didn't want to go. "You know your stuff. You've been a part of this brigade for practically most of your life by this point and it shows. You react quicker than I can at points."
"I fucked up yesterday." Benimaru sniped back, a tinge of anger slowly bleeding it's way through. "You lectured me, remember? The fuck kind of 'Master' needs reminding of shit like that."
Konro winced. Well, point to Beni on that one. Yet . . .
"You're still young," he supplied with a shrug. "There's some things you're never prepared for, no matter what. You have to go with what you got and try and make it work, sometimes. Hells, how do you think we got this far without Master? I certainly didn't know half of what I do now when I first started out. The same is bound to happen for you too."
"Yeah, till someone ends up dead."
Konro had enough.
He reached out and grabbed Beni by the shoulder, forcing the young man to turn so he could look him in the eye. His grip was iron-clad, fingers digging deep into the soft intersection between the collarbone and the joint in the effort to prevent him from pulling free of Konro's grasp. Beni yelped in shock at being manhandled, but it was short lived when he was forced to meet Konro's narrow gaze.
"Yes, Beni." Konro growled lowly, temper spiking under the effort to keep it at bay. "People die. And they will continue to die regardless of who leads. If not you, then someone else. Someone with less talent and less sense. Someone who doesn't have the knowledge you do or the heart to give a damn. By then, you won't be able to change it. Right now, you still have a choice. People will die, but they can die under the hand of Shinmon Benimaru who knows them or they can die under some no-name who doesn't feel the burden the way you do. A no-name who can possibly get more people killed because he has less tools and less brain."
Benimaru bowed his head and Konro could feel the young man tremble, the old wound once again ripped open for them both to see. For a moment, the two stood there, off to the side, as the people of Asakusa weaved around them without a second look. Neither moved or said another word, but simply remained rooted to the cobblestone in an old battle of wills. Konro was toeing the line more than he ever had before, the old promise to their Master an ever tightening leash on his word. It was the closest he ever came to saying it outright and he hoped it would be enough.
"Ya act like yer gonna die or somethin'," Beni's voice came as a hoarse whisper, cracked and broken. The young man suddenly caught Konro by the same arm pinning him in place, the thin hand's grip a great deal stronger than it let on in appearances. He slowly raised his head, just enough for his mismatched crimson eyes to glare menacingly up at Konro's face through a curtain of shaggy, black hair. "Ya can't talk shit like that. Ever. Ya got that? Fucking sonofa-"
"I won't live forever," Konro murmured sadly and his eyes softened at the look of sheer vulnerability in Benimaru's. "You know that. Our Master didn't. The twins' lost both of their parents early too, same as you. Nothing in this world is promised, Beni."
"Shut the hell up." Benimaru spat through gritted teeth, an ugly sneer pulling at one side of his face. "I ain't takin' over jackshit. Yer Master, so deal with it. Don't pawn it off on me just 'cause yer knees are achin' a bit. I ain't yer fall-guy. So get the fuck over it."
Konro opened his mouth to assuage the young man, but Beni was already ripping his shoulder from Konro's fingers in a rough shrug of anger. The young man offered him another dark glare, resentment pulsing in his eyes, than jerked his head away and thrusting his arms deep into his sleeves. He was gone, swept up in the flow of people before Konro had the chance to stop him, arm left outstretched in the hopes of catching some piece of him. Konro stood there in the street, alone with nothing but himself and his own self-deprecating feelings of guilt and pain.
Why couldn't he make Beni see it?
Why was everyone around him so blind to their own capabilities?
Why was it, that no matter how many times he tried, he couldn't break through?
Not even once.
Konro sighed, even more exhausted now that he and Beni were at odds. Especially, just after they had managed to get through Konro's own past with little changing between them. Now, he'd ruined any good will he bought for the next couple of days. Beni always retreated, physically and emotionally, after Konro tried bringing up the subject. He should have waited a bit more before making another attempt.
Time won't wait for any man, though.
Eventually, they'd run out of chances to put it off. One day, it would be too late. It could be tomorrow or next week or even, a year from now. But, it would come and Shinmon Benimaru would be Waka. The true question was, would Konro live long enough to see it?
