Scene XIII
Fire Brigade Guardhouse, Residence of the Asakusa Hikeshi
First District of the Commercial Wards, Fifth Block
Benimaru glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall and tried to swallow the worry burning in the pit of his stomach.
It was late, going on eleven, and Konro and the others still weren't back from the call-out yet. He'd stayed behind to look after the twins, sending a message with Daisuke to inform Konro that he'd be sitting this one out. While his duties as a hikeshi outweighed a great many things, his co-responsibility for Hikage and Hinata were of equal importance. Recently, both he and Konro had been somewhat neglectful of the two girls, though not out of any true intention. Konro had even pointed out that very fact earlier in the day and Beni, admittedly, spent the late afternoon through dinner pondering what to do about the issue.
It wasn't fair for the girls to be pawned off to Obaa-san every single time a fire broke out. Three times this week was more than enough. As well as the looks of sheer disappointment and forced bravery on their faces when, once again, the hansho sounded in the middle of story-time. Immediately, Benimaru made the command decision to stay home. It was far too late to get the twins dressed again, only to be sent out in the dead of night, for a run-of-the-mill fire. If Konro had a problem with his decision, then he could take it up with him when he came home.
Tonight, Beni was holding down the homefront. Konro and the others could handle an ordinary ol' fire. If they couldn't, they'd send someone back to get him. Only then, would he risk waking the girls and not for anything less. He didn't only belong to Asakusa; he belonged to Hinata and Hikage too. The fact they were surprised when he told Daisuke to go on without him, only proved his point. Not to mention solidifying his ever growing suspicion that the girls were slowly beginning to accept the idea that they would always be placed on the backburner compared to the rest of the town.
While they were fairly mature for being so young (if any five-year-old could be considered as such), they were still kids. Even if they were kids raised from near birth in a guardhouse filled with hikeshi and thus, knew what being one actually meant. They still needed Konro and Beni to look after them and not just with the whole standard crap (clothing, food, etc.). They needed them to be there, physically. At the very least, one of them at a time anyway. If he and Konro didn't come up with a better system and quick, the twins would start believing they weren't equally important. Like hell Beni was going to ever let them think some stupid nonsense like that.
I'm not gonna be like the ol' sonovabitch. Never.
His Master had been a hard man, yet not necessarily a cruel one. Benimaru would never call him nice or gentle, however. At least, not with him. The twins, on the other hand, he would completely melt over. Maybe it had to do with the fact they were girls. Or babies. He wasn't sure which one, really. Still, despite the old man's cantankerous disposition, Benimaru knew the geezer wouldn't stand to see them unhappy. Not for anything in the world. So, it was up to Konro and him to make sure the girls were taken care of and happy beyond reason.
If that meant one of them had to stay home from time to time so they could tuck the girls in and tell them a story (they liked picture books okay, but a story from Konro or Beni themselves was their preferred form of entertainment), then, by the gods, Beni would man up and fucking do it. He'd even make paper hats and do funny voices so Hikage and Hinata could tell the characters apart. Whatever it took to make them smile and not look at him with those bright, yellow eyes filled with disappointment and resignation at the sound of the hansho, he'd make it happen. He didn't want them to ever think they didn't mean the world to him; that they weren't first on his list of people and things to worry about (well, they tied with Konro at the very least). He needed them too, after all. More than he would ever admit out loud (at least to anyone who wasn't them or Konro).
Benimaru side-eyed the clock again, noting a ten minute passing since the last check. He was probably worrying over nothing, as Konro would be quick to point out. He had a bad habit of it and he knew it. That didn't make it easy for him to simply dismiss, though. He hated waiting. Period. No matter what it was for or why; it made him nervous and jumpy. He spent the last two hours alone deep cleaning the kitchen because he didn't know what to do with himself. Then, he made himself some goddamn tea in the hopes of easing the nagging feeling in his gut.
It didn't help.
With Hinata and Hikage asleep in bed and the kitchen so clean you could practically eat off the damn floor, all that left Beni to do was to sit with his cup of tea and worry. Luckily for him, that's when he heard the door to the guardhouse slide open and the pounding of booted feet echoing from the genkan. Benimaru jumped to his feet, tea forgotten, racing from the kitchen, down the hallway, before rushing into the entrance way . . .
. . . Only to be greeted with the tired smiles and muted greetings from a worn out group of hikeshi clad, from head to toe, in soot and ash.
Benimaru grinned, crossing his arms as he shifted his weight to one foot. "Took ya lot long enough. The hell happened?"
"I'll tell ya what happened . . ." A voice groused, exhaustion heavy in his tone. Konro lifted the faded blue noren, stepping through the doorway and rubbing out his shoulder with a pained grimace. The sleeves of his happi were tied about his waist, his shirt was torn and singed from the apparent use of his pyrokinetic abilities, and his hair was close to falling out of his ponytail. ". . . a goddamn house fire facing into a headwind, that's what."
Beni's grin fell, a frown of concern replacing it entirely. "Anyone hurt?"
"No, thank the gods." Answered Konro as he collapsed on the lip of the genkan, toeing off his boots. "The house is a lost cause, though. Gonna have to scrap it in the morning when we have more light. We got damn lucky the thing didn't spread to anyone else's in the process."
"It was a bitch and a half trying to get it under control." Added Daisuke, wiping the ash off his face with the tail of his shirt. "Dammit! I got soot in my eye!"
"Here," Shinbeita nudged him with an elbow, handing over a clean, wet cloth. "That should help."
"Thanks." Daisuke grumbled as he brought the cloth to his face and began to wipe away the mess.
"In any case," Konro started, untying the band barely holding his hair back. He shook out the strands, combing through it with his fingers before gathering it up again and retying the blasted thing. "With the wind being a pain in the ass, it made our job more harder than it needed to be. Sorry we're so late getting in."
Beni merely offered a half-shrug of acceptance. "Don't worry 'bout it. Jus' glad yer all a'right, is all."
"Oh, yeah." Gozu piped up from the doorway, brushing the soot off his happi. "We're fine. The Nomura family sure as hell ain't. Gonna need a whole new house and we don't have enough lumber fer it 'cause we used it all on the last repair job. Any idea how we're gonna pay fer that?!"
Konro glared at him, thin eyes narrowing even further. "We have a few people who owe us for a couple of services. Then, there's the fines to collect from the barfight last week which ended in a kitchen fire. I'll make the rounds tomorrow to gather the money and we'll go from there."
"Dammit, Kon-san!" Gozu hit the support post of the front door with the side of his fist, anger coloring the aging man's face. "We can't keep on like this! We don't have enough materials! We don't have any funds! Fuckin' hell, we don't even have fireproof happi! We scrape about, with our faces in the dirt, survivin' off scraps an' goddamn handouts! For the sake of the gods, look at us! Dogs live better than we do!"
The room fell into a hard silence, each man refusing to meet the eyes of one another. Benimaru's crimson gaze flitted from hikeshi to hikeshi, noting the holes burned into the fraying fabric of their clothing and the worn out soles of their boots. There was only so much a bit of polish and glue could do to keep them functional, only so many times a happi could be sewn back together and patched with any color that came closing to matching, and only so much they could afford themselves in the way of personal equipment. So much of what they did have was invested back into Asakusa herself. Every board, every peg, every pane of glass was bought at the expense of their backs, their sweat, and, of course, their own blood.
Yet, what did they have by way of protection?
Still . . .
"Yer complain'?" Benimaru snarled, his own temper rising to the surface. "The hell ya expect, Gozu?! We ain't gonna be lords or some shit! We're hikeshi! It's fire an' Infernals we should be fightin', not each other!"
"And what 'bout the next time, eh?!" Gozu countered furiously, throwing out an arm in frustration. "How many people gotta die 'fore we get some real equipment?! How can we protect anyone without first protectin' ourselves?! We barely have anythin' ta fight with!"
The entire guardhouse erupted into chaos. Men began shouting at each other, some supporting Gozu in his argument and some countering by screaming rebuttals. Quickly, the discourse turned into an all out brawl and fists began flying before either Beni or Konro had a chance to deescalate the situation.
"Oi, kites!" Benimaru exclaimed, shoving one man to the side as he tried to get a punch in to the hikeshi next to him. "Knock it off!"
He grabbed another by the back of the collar, yanking him backwards and forcing him bodily to the edge of the genkan in the effort to prevent a further fight. Then, he caught the man's would-be opponent about the chest and half-threw him towards the front door, sending him through the noren completely. Again, he shouted to be heard but his words were swallowed up by the increasing volume of curses, insults to personal character, and sheer petty grievances. Any chance he could be heard by the surrounding men was completely ignored and the whole situation was quickly wearing on his already limited patience. If only they would listen to him, goddammit . . .
"ENOUGH!"
Instantly, the fighting stopped and the scene quickly turned from borderline violent to near comical with how the men stood, paused, in mid-action. Arms looped around necks, punches hung in mid-air, and some even were close to further ripping apart their clothing in the attempt to grab a hold of anyone, or anything, they could reach. All in all, it made for quite a sight. Though, no one was the least amused than the man who had shouted for silence in the first place.
Sagamiya Konro was standing atop the genkan, looking down at the chaos of his guardhouse and his men, displeasure clear upon his face as a thundercloud.
"The next man who so much as touches the next is going to be docked a third of what little pay he is lucky to get," he stated with deliberate slowness, the heat of his temper barely contained by the obvious twitching muscle of his jaw. "Am I understood?"
There was a steady murmuring of both compliance and apologies; men stepping away from one another in the attempt to follow through with the order. Shame and remorse swiftly replaced anger and frustration; several hikeshi were in the process of returning personal items which had been taken during the scuffle (one man had managed to remove another's boots and was now handing them back by the strings). Even Benimaru stood rooted to the spot, heart pounding from the sheer intensity radiating off his Master. It had been a long time since he heard Konro issue an order in such a manner; not since he was a young kid with no sense of self-preservation. There was a valid reason why the man used to scare the living hell out of him, once upon a time.
"Now," Konro barked sharply, blue eyes near to silver. "Those not on call, get the hell out of my guardhouse and go home. The rest of you, hit the bathhouse and get some sleep. We got work to do tomorrow. Dismissed."
With that, he jumped from the lip of the genkan and landed solidly on the balls of his feet. The man's icy gaze swept across the room as the men scattered to obey his orders.
"That's one way ta do it," Benimaru whispered from the corner of his mouth at Konro's shoulder. He gave the hikeshi he had previously shoved a stern look and nodded towards the doorway. "Get, would ya?"
"Right!" The man yelped, turning on swiftly on one foot and elbowing his way out the door. "See ya tomorrow, Beni-chan!"
When, at last, the genkan had cleared of men, bound for home or the bathhouse, a tired silence fell between the Master and his second. Konro sank bodily to the footstone and rubbed at his eyes with the tips of his fingers. He expelled a heavy sigh, his shoulders slumping under some unseen weight. Beni knew that weight. That shadow.
It had once clung to his adoptive father's back, many years ago. It was a creature every Master of the hikeshi bore. The manifestation of everyone's fears, their hopes, and the very existence of the people of Asakusa as a whole. The culmination of the burden of life and death. And here it was, almost visible on Konro's shoulder, trying to tear the man apart.
Benimaru ground his molars as his jaw clenched in frustration. Like hell.
"Hey," the young man came forward and took a seat beside the elder, draping his arms over his knees. "C'mon, Konro. It'll be fine. Jus' let 'em blow off some steam. They're tired is all-"
"No, Beni." Konro murmured with a shake of his head, ponytail slowly swaying back and forth. "Gozu's right. We do live worse than dogs. We make enough to keep the guardhouse, have a small stash of building materials, food, and then some left over for a bit of pay. There isn't much else. We already used what the Shobu family gave us in recompense for Tsubaki's fight so we could buy what was needed for that repair alone. Then, there was the fire at the bookbinder's. Then, the one tonight. They're getting worse and more frequent every time. We can't keep this up much longer. One way or another, we can't afford it."
"Then, we just keep workin'," Benimaru replied, tone terse. "I'll take on more odd jobs an' get a bit more revenue in. Old ladies seem ta like me anyway. Might be able ta convince 'em ta let me do some home repairs."
"Bullshit." Scoffed Konro, an exhausted half-smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. "You do those for free and you know it. Don't start charging little old ladies beause I can't keep shit together."
"Now whose talkin' outta his ass?" He bit back a snarl, lip curving nastily. "I'm the second, right? S'my fault too."
"Look, right now, Asakusa's my responsibility." Konro argued defensively, dropping his head in the palms of his hands. "That means anything and everything that happens is on my watch, Beni. I've got to-"
"-Figure it out tomorrow." Beni finished for him, standing up and brushing dirt off his pants. "Say g'night ta Hikage and Hinata. They missed you. Tried ta stay up so they could see ya before bed, but they clonked out around ten. So go see 'em and then hit the futon, a'right? We'll work it out in the mornin'."
"I can't." Konro jerked his head up, eyes bloodshot. "There's the report to write for the records and then I need to calculate the cost of the damage. I also need to figure out how much material we'll need and see if we can't order it on what little credit we have. If I can manage it, maybe-"
"Konro-"
"-there might be a chance I can-"
"Konro-!"
"-get a hold of a few contacts who owe me some favors-"
"Goddammit, Konro!" Benimaru roared, hands balling into fists at his sides. "Shut. The. Fuck. Up!"
The silence was back but, this time, it was imposing and damn near suffocating. The two men stared the other down, eyes blazing and jaws set. The classic stubbornness and pride that all Asakusa men possessed was now on full display, neither one willing to back down from his position. Just as they both opened their mouths to begin the argument anew, the abrupt creak of a floorboard sounded behind them and both men turned on the spot to face the new intruders -
- Only to find Hinata and Hikage, clad in their pink sleeping yukatas, standing in the middle of the room with their little yellow eyes wide and tears threatening at the corners.
"You're mad, again." Whimpered Hinata.
"Why are you mad?!" Sobbed Hikage.
Then, both girls began to cry.
Konro wouldn't be capable of feeling more like an asshole even if he tried.
It simply wasn't possible. Regardless of who or what, nothing was worse than making two little girls cry. Especially, his own. It took several long minutes to convince both children that Beni and himself weren't mad at them and only really frustrated because the fire had been a very bad one and the hikeshi might not be able to fix it. It wouldn't do to lie to them; after all, Hinata and Hikage were very clever and keeping the truth from them never served much of a purpose except to delay the inevitable. Of which, they always found out later regardless. So, in the end, he and Beni had learned to be honest and upfront fairly early on when dealing with the twins. It made things a great deal easier in the long run, for all parties involved.
They were all piled in the kitchen, Beni making a round of tea for everyone while Konro whipped up the twin's favorite midnight snack as an apology. The two girls were seated at the table, sitting beside one another, as they always did, and swinging their little legs out in front of them while they waited. Neither one so much as looked at them and Konro's heart fell to the floor beneath his feet at their rather timid display. It wasn't like them to be so withdrawn. Then again, it wasn't like Beni and himself to argue in raised tones for the second time in one day. Let alone, have to calm an entire guardhouse full of angry hikeshi at the end of it.
Well, the latter tended to happen from time to time, but not like tonight.
Nonetheless, he shouldn't have pressed the issue with Beni. He should have swallowed his damn pride and just accepted the advice when it was given to him, free of charge. Instead, he acted on his exhaustion and frustration, thereby waking the girls and giving them a fright. He deserved to have his ass handed to him on a silver platter. Beni would probably give it to him too, if he asked.
"I know we yelled," Beni began softly from the counter as he waited for the kettle to boil. Although he was speaking to Hinata and Hikage, he kept his back to them, thus allowing them a minute or two to get their emotions sorted. "S'not right that we did. M'sorry the others couldn't keep it down, but it got outta our control. Konro had ta yell at 'em, like he got's ta sometimes, so they'd cool it. Ya know he don't like doing that, if he don't have ta. But, it's a'right now."
"That's what you said at lunch," grumbled Hinata.
Konro glanced over his shoulder, finally meeting at least one bright set of angry yellow eyes. Hikage, on the other hand, had her head bowed so that she was staring, rather intently, at the grain of the tabletop. Again, his heart lurched at the sight. One little girl was still deeply upset, while the other bordered on childlike anger. He turned to Beni, who met his gaze with concern in his own mismatched eyes, before they both set down their tasks and slowly approached the table.
"We bickered at lunch, yes." Konro offered slowly, keeping his voice low and gentle as he took a seat across from Hikage. "We weren't really mad with one another. We just -"
"But, you're mad now!" Hinata countered, biting the inside of her cheek; a rather bad habit she had when frustrated or angry. "Everyone's mad! All the time! We don't like it!"
Beni frowned and Konro could practically see the gears turning in his head, as if filtering through every recent memory to check to see if he had been, in fact, more loose tempered with the girls than his usual grouchy self.
"I know things haven't been easy lately," Konro began again, trying to keep things from diverging into more hurtful territory. "Everyone's had a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it. We don't have a lot of the things we need and getting them isn't any easier. So everyone's stressed and, when a bunch of hikeshi are stressed, it's not a simple thing to keep them from loosing their tempers. Even if they have a right to be."
Hinata's face fell, her bottom lip worrying away at the top. "S'not that."
He blinked, taken aback by the response, and he looked to Beni for some sort of idea that he knew what she meant. However, the younger man seemed equally as baffled by Hinata's apparent rejection of angry hikeshi waking her and her sister up from a deep sleep and scaring the life out of them.
"Ya want ta run that by me again, Hina?" Beni asked carefully and Konro could see he was trying not to let on how the little girl was beginning to worry him. ""Cause I don't think Konro an' I understand."
"That's 'cause yer stupid, Beni." Hinata crossed her little arms and huffed, clearly frustrated by their lack of said understanding. "And Hikage don't wanna talk right now, so don't bother her."
Again, both men simply blinked at her as they struggled to grasp what had both girls so in knots.
"Alright," Konro relented with care, nodding in agreement. "Hikage doesn't have to speak if she doesn't want to. But, I hope she listens so that we all can understand why you're upset."
Hikage bobbed her head, still choosing not to look at them. It was an improvement, however, as the last twenty minutes or so had her completely unresponsive to anything anyone said to her.
"Deal!" Snapped Hinata, and she leaned forward so she could prop her arms on the table's surface. For a moment, she chewed her cheek, thinking rather heavily on something. Then, she raised her head and stated boldly, "You guys need a garden!"
"What?!" Konro and Beni both exclaimed in unison.
He nearly swallowed his tongue, while the younger man almost fell out of his chair.
"A garden?"
"Why a garden?"
"The hell are we gonna do with a garden?"
"I don't think we can even afford seeds right now."
"Ya know how much digging we're gonna have ta do fer that?"
"The setup alone is going to take a week, at the very least."
"When the hell are we gonna have time ta -?"
"I don't know, girls. A garden's a lot of work and I don't think we can -"
Hinata sat up straight and pointed sternly at each man, her little face broking no arguments. "No, no! It ain't about what you want. It's what you need. Right? You're always saying that, Konro!"
Beni released a put-upon sigh of exasperation, rolling his eyes dramatically so he could eye Konro with the same expression of irritation. "Yeah, Konro. Ya are always sayin' that."
"Fair enough," He relented, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "Okay, girls. Why do Beni and I need a garden?"
Hinata smiled and it was the sort she used when plotting something; especially, with Hikage as her choice of partner. "'Cause then Ka-chan will come over more! And if Ka-chan comes, then Tsu-Tsu will too!"
Konro paused, hand halfway from his face, eyes wide in shock. Beni, on the other hand . . .
"No." The young man stated bluntly, expression almost painfully neutral as he glanced from one little girl to the other.
"But, Beni-!" protested Hinata.
"I said, no." Benimaru insisted firmly, tone even.
"You liked the tsubaki from before!" she argued back, her little fingers curling into tight fists. "What's wrong with a whole garden o' 'em?!"
"It's too late in the year ta plant tsubaki," Beni continued blandly, rising from his seat. "or any other flower. Winter's jus' 'round the corner. The frost'll kill 'em 'fore they have a chance ta root."
She puffed out her cheeks, temper flaring. "What 'bout Springtime? When Tsu-Tsu comes back-!"
"She's not comin' back, Hina." The young man remarked slowly and the mask he'd been so clearly trying to keep in place cracked. ". . . not fer a long time."
Again, the tiny girl opened her mouth to push things further . . .
. . . only for Konro to intervene before further feelings were harmed.
"Hinata, please," he gently place a hand over her tiny fists, giving them a comforting squeeze. "There's something you both need to understand about this-"
"But, he misses her!" She cried, ripping her hands from his and lurching to her feet. She pointed at Benimaru with a shaking finger, voice warbling. "S'why he's mad all the time! Why he won't play with us! And Konro smiles more when Ka-chan's 'round! If we get a garden, everybody'll be together, and then-!"
So, that was the matter.
The girls had noticed their inner turmoil and, therefore, hatched the best plan two five-year-old's could. A plan to keep their guardians happy by drawing the people who made them so, together. A rather easy solution to a rather complex problem yet, not one which would actually provide all the remedies to the hurts they carried. Not that the girls could be expected to understand that. The innocence of a child certainly had a way of making rather large issues seem so . . . simple.
However, he couldn't deny how much his heart hurt at hearing how their personal drama had bled into their duties as guardians and, thus, making the twins feel as if this was somehow a burden they were now responsible for solving.
"That's right," Konro said lowly, rounding the table so he could take a knee before the tearful girl. He reached out, extending his arm as an invitation, and offered her a sad smile. "Beni misses Tsu-chan. Very much."
Hinata sniffed, bottom lip trembling. "And you like Ka-chan, yeah?"
"Yeah, I do." He answered honestly, with a nod.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Benimaru standing off to the side, angled so he wasn't facing any of them. His head was bowed, hair falling before his eyes so as to further hide his true feelings from the rest of the tiny family. His stance was ridged, hands balled at his side, and all of him was tense; like a ball of string wound far too tight. Though he had the appearance of a man standing on the cusp of losing his temper, Konro saw through the facade for what it truly was. A person on the brink of breaking. Their conversation from the day before echoed in his memory; the day the young man had been late to the fire scene. It seemed, even after admitting how the lack of contact with Tsubaki affected him, nothing had changed.
Beni remained raw and wounded, despite the fact he was continuing to try and shield those emotions from the rest of them.
"Then," Hinata carried on, tears pooling in her sunspot eyes. "A garden-!"
"C'mere, Hina." Konro beckoned to the little girl, his own emotions welling to the surface. "It's alright."
For a moment or two, she simply stood there, her little frame shaking with the unbridled confusion all children have when trying to understand the matters of adults. Then, finally, she hiccupped loudly and threw herself bodily into Konro's arms, her cries muffled by the worn and dirty fabric of his happi. He held her to him, hushing her gently while rubbing comforting circles into her tiny back, but this only made the tiny girl sob even harder.
"You too, Hikage." He offered the arm not filled with Hinata to the second, who was staring at them with tears in her own eyes.
She silently climbed down from her chair, almost tiptoeing around the corner of the table, before forgoing all sense of composure and grabbing onto his arm with all the strength a five-year-old could muster.
"I don't like it!" Hikage wailed unhappily as he wrapped his arm around her. "I don't like it! Why's everybody so mad?! Nobody's happy anymore! Why? It's not fair!"
"A lot of things in life aren't, I'm afraid." Konro murmured quietly, his hold tightening around them. "I'm sorry, really I am. Tsu-chan had to go away because there's things she has to do, so she can be happy."
"What 'bout Beni?" Hinata pounded a tiny fist against his chest angrily. "Friends aren't s'pose ta hurt each other! Don't she care 'bout him?!"
"Of course, she does." He said soothingly, kissing the tops of their heads. "But, sometimes, a person can't make everyone happy. Sometimes they have to make a choice between themselves and everyone else. Sometimes they have to do things because, if they don't, they'll regret it for a very long time. Tsu-chan left so she could find her own happiness. But, that doesn't mean that the people she left here, in Asakusa, aren't still important to her."
"But, Beni's sad!" Hikage cried, burying her face in his neck and twisting his collar roughly in her hands. "He's sad an' he won't-! He won't-!"
Konro glanced over his shoulder, trying to keep Beni in his line of sight, so he could see the young man more clearly. Benimaru was turned towards them now, staring at the pair of little girls in Konro's arms with a kind of growing horror in his mismatched, crimson eyes.
"That ain't-" He began, but his words trailed off in a choked gasp. His expression twisted into an intense form of self-loathing, lips slanted and jaw clenched. "I wasn't tryin' ta-"
"Beni," Konro stated firmly, mouth set in a grim line. "For the sake of the gods, get over here and tell them you love them."
The young man jerked, as if given a sharp prod in the ribs, then stiffly approached them with hesitant steps.
"Hey," he carefully knelt down to one knee and visibly took a shaky breath in order to calm his nerves. "Hey, it's okay you two. Really. I'm-"
"I swear, Benimaru," Konro growled in frustration, a vein twitching along his temple. "If you say you're 'fine', I'm going to-"
"Jeez, lay off would ya?" Insisted Beni sharply, glaring up at him with a look that would have anyone else sweating. "I'm sorry, a'right?"
Konro, however, merely raised a brow at him, unimpressed. "Wanna try that again?"
Beni grimaced, sucking a breath through his teeth with a hiss before sighing heavily. He carded back his bangs, giving them a rough shake, as he appeared to search for the words and patience to put the situation to right.
"M'sorry, Hina." He muttered at last, keeping his voice level and tone clear of all irritation. "M'sorry, 'Kage."
Both girls half turned in Konro's arms, peering up at Benimaru with expressions of reservation. The young man sighed, eyes closing warily as he leaned his head in one palm. For a moment, they simply stared at him, guarded and nervous, before letting go of Konro entirely. Tentatively, they came forward and embraced him as much as their little arms would allow. Instantly, Benimaru's own wound around their tiny shoulders, drawing them close to him and Konro swore he heard the young man fight a shaky half-sob.
"I didn't mean ta make ya upset." He continued, voice thick with emotion. "Thought I made it up ta ya, earlier. Ya know? With the flower and all. But, I guess ya were jus' tryin' ta be brave. S'pecially in front o' the others. But, ya know ya don' have ta be at home, right? Ya can be sad, if ya want. Or scared. Or anythin', really. S'a'right not ta be brave, ya know."
"But," Hikage warbled, face still buried in Beni's chest. "But, Beni's always brave. And Konro's strong. I wanna be, too."
"'Kage," The young man pulled away so he could meet her eyes, a deep frown tugging at one corner of his mouth. "Konro's not strong 'cause he don't talk 'bout what bothers him. He's strong 'cause he does. And I ain't brave all the time. Fact is, I'm scarred. A lot. I'm scared right now."
"Beni's scared?" Asked Hinata, looking at him with a kind of wonder Konro hadn't seen for some time.
"Yeah," agreed Beni with a nod. "Yeah, I'm scared. I don't know when Tsu will come home and I can't write ta her yet. I don't know if she's doin' a'right. If she's sad or scared. And not knowin' . . . well, I don't like that much. Like when ya two are sad. Makes me feel like I'm not doin' my job, ya know?"
Both girls blinked owlishly at him, obviously not understanding. Beni grunted, gnawing at his bottom lip and Konro smiled in bemusement as he struggled how to convey his feelings.
"Ya see," the young man started again, gaze flickering from one twin to the other. "When the old man died, ya were real little. So ya probably don't remember 'im much. But, he left Konro and me a job ta do." Here he prodded each girl in the stomach, raising a strangled giggle from each one and causing them to smile. Even if was only a little one. "Can ya guess what that is?"
Hinata and Hikage put on their serious thinking faces, both raising a hand to their chins and pinching it with their thumb and forefinger. Just like Beni did when he was in the mist of a particularly heavy thought.
"Hmmm." Both twins hemmed and hawed.
"Protectin' Asakusa!" Hinata answered excitedly.
"Keepin' the hikeshi in line!" Hikage pipped up, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
Benimaru only shook his head, expression still serious. "Nice try. But, that ain't it."
Their faces fell in unison and they looked to one another, curious and uncertain.
"Then-" Began Hinata.
"-What is it?" Finished Hikage.
The young man sighed, brushing his bangs out of his face so he could see them clearly, and then he gathered them up so he could hold them close again. "Lookin' after little kitsune, like ya."
"Us?!" They exclaimed, eyes wide with surprise. But, they were smiling, nonetheless.
Konro had to bet, every bit of money he had to his name, that that had been Beni's plan all along.
"That's right." He nodded gravely. "It's a big one, too. Yer a bunch of terrors, ya know that? We gotta stay sharp and keep on our toes, otherwise, things like this'll happen. Can't have that. We've gotta be better or else we'll be letting ya down."
Both girls turned rather thoughtful at that.
"Beni shouldn't hide from us." Hikage muttered, rubbing the tip of her big toe in a circle. "If Beni's sad, he should say so."
"Yeah," agreed Hinata, nodding her head rapidly. "Beni don't have ta be brave all the time, neither."
Konro had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing at how Benimaru's face slackened and his eyes nearly bulged in shock at the two little girls' lecture. The poor man looked as if someone had confessed their undying love for him. But, then, coming from two little five-year-old girls, they may as well have. For what was it, if not love, that they expected Benimaru's full emotional honesty about his feelings in regards to themselves?
"I think Beni understands now." Intervened Konro, placing a large hand on each of their shoulders. He offered them a comforting smile and then met Beni's eyes, grin widening. "Sometimes, you just have to say it a few times for it to get through his thick skull."
"Thanks, Konro." Beni grumbled, tossing his head so that his bangs fell back in front of his face. He turned away, suddenly interested in the wall off to his left.
"Ah, Beni," he shook his head, but his smile never faded. "Don't get so embarrassed. It's not like Tsu-chan's here to give you a ribbing."
"If she was here," Beni groused, expression exasperated. "She'd slug me fer makin' 'em cry."
"Well," Konro shrugged absently. "I suppose she'd have to slug us both, because I think this was a group effort on our part."
The young man grinned, the corner of his mouth tilting up in chagrin. "Good thing Kaede isn't here, then. Don't think she'd be very impressed right now."
"Ha!" Konro laughed, throwing back his head. "That's true! The lecture she'd give me would be ten times worse than any punch Tsu-chan would give you."
"Don't joke about that, stupid." Benimaru winced in mild horror. "That's yer death, yer talkin' 'bout. 'Least Tsu's punches only hurt fer a second. A lecture from Kaede's-"
"Alright, girls!" Konro interrupted, scooping up the twins in one fell swoop. "Who wants a story before bed?"
"I do!" Said Hinata.
"Me too!" Added Hikage.
"Oi!" Benimaru protested, struggling to his feet. "Ya two already had a story!"
"From Beni." Hikage grinned mischievously, sticking her tongue out at him.
"Yeah," Hinata agreed with a smirk. "Now, it's Konro's turn."
"Brats." Beni chided under his breath, but the twins only giggled at his misery.
"Come on, Beni," Konro encouraged, nodding towards the stairs. "Get dressed for bed and then we can all have story-time. Together."
The young man huffed, shaking his head, then offered them all a tired grin. "Yeah, a'right. But, none o' that fairy-tale crap. Can we have one 'bout somethin' cool, this time?"
Hikage's smile turned absolutely evil.
"But, I wanna hear a story 'bout the hikeshi and the flower maiden!"
It took everything in Konro's power not to trip over the lip of the first step of the narrow staircase.
Benimaru, however, barked a high laugh that echoed off the walls. "Now, that's a story I'd pay good money ta hear. How 'bout it, Konro? How does that one go?"
"Children. I'm surrounded by children."