BOUNDARIES
May 4, 1974
SAKURA:
He watched me from the doorway as I cried, face down, on the pile of blankets. "Sakura?"
"Leave me," I mumbled back.
He studied me for a moment; I could feel his eyes on me. For a long time, he didn't move. Then, he turned away. I felt an overwhelming lonliness wash over me, and immediately wished I had not told him to leave. I curled into a ball, shivering from the cold dampness in the sewer lair. It was always cold down here. Cold, damp, and dark. I shuddered and let the tears fall from my eyes, soaking the blanket underneath my head. I was not looking up, and did not see Yoshi walk back into the room.
He was silent, as he always was, and I had no warning from the icy silence until I suddenly smelled something different - something out of place. It was a sweet smell, almost like... I opened my eyes and saw a rose lying next to me. For a moment, I was startled. I looked up, and saw him standing in the doorway, watching me. I brushed the tears off my cheeks and picked up the white flower, inspecting it.
"Where did you get this?" I asked, confused.
He shrugged slightly. "There is a rose bush in a yard near the pizza shop that gives us their leftover food. It overlaps the sidewalk. I thought you might like that."
I stared up at him in surprise, and he took a step forward, kneeling before me. "What troubles you, Sakura?" he whispered. "Please tell me."
I bowed my head. "It is a lot of things," I admitted. "I don't know why I am here, in America. And a part of me really wants to go back. I have nowhere else to go when I leave here. But I don't even know how I would get back. I have no money."
Yoshi studied me, his eyes searching me. He reached up and brushed aside the curtain of hair that hid my face. "Sakura, you are welcome to stay here as long as you want."
I sighed. Of course he would say that. He would never throw me out on the street. "You are too kind, Hamato-san. But you have done more than enough for me."
He cupped his fingers under my chin and raised my eyes to his. "Sakura..." he whispered. "I want you to stay."
I studied him, trying to determine the honesty of his words. His eyes were filled with silent, masked pain that caught me slightly off guard. It did not take me long to realize that he was very serious. I said nothing, not entirely sure what to say.
"Please," he whispered. "Please stay."
YOSHI:
"Yoshi-san? Are you here?"
The quiet voice cut through the dark silence like a knife. I opened my eyes, my concentration broken, and stared at the dim light that silhouetted her in the doorway. "I am," I answered.
She was silent for a moment. "I am sorry. Are you busy? I do not mean to interrupt."
I rose from the mat I was sitting on, and walked silently to the dresser. There I lit a match and transferred the flame to a well-used candle in a glass jar. I could feel her eyes on me as they adjusted to the light. I smiled warmly. "You are no interruption, Sakura," I assured her. "Please, come in."
She took a few steps into the room as I sat down at the edge of the blankets that constituted my bed. She knelt beside me, five feet away, and bowed her head. "Why do you want me to stay here, Yoshi?" she questioned, raising her eyes to mine.
I studied her for a moment. "Do you believe I ask you for any other reason than that I have grown fond of your company? In this place where I have no human contact?"
She looked away again. "I believe you ask me with the purest intentions, Yoshi-san. I would only like to know what they are."
I gave her no answer. After a moment, she breathed deep. "If you so miss human contact, why are you here?" she asked. "Why don't you get a job and a house."
"For many reasons," I sighed.
"You are not here legally." That was not a question. It was obvious that she already knew that much.
"I am not," I admitted.
"But you could still find work," she told me, our eyes locking again. "You choose not to. Why?"
I did not speak. "Yoshi, why do you not at least try? I know you are not lazy, so why?"
I stared at her steadily. "Sakura, there are things about me which you do not know; and things which you could not understand."
"What things?" she demanded quietly. "Like why you left Japan?"
The words stung fiercely, and I turned my face away from her. For a moment, I studied the floor. Then I shut my eyes. "Why did you leave, Yoshi-san?" she questioned. I did not answer, and there was a long silence. "Were you exiled?"
Tears burned the backs of my eyes, and I forced them away. There was another long pause, before I finally found words. "Hai," I whispered. "I ran."
"And are you still running, Yoshi?" she asked.
I nodded. "In many ways, I am."
"Who are you running from?" she questioned.
I sighed deeply. "From a clan," I whispered. "A clan of ninjas."
"They want to kill you?"
"I am quite sure they do."
"Why?"
I did not feel the stinging that warned of the tears; it had already come and gone. There was no advisory as a single tear overstepped its boundary and rolled down my cheek. I closed my eyes and bowed my head. "Please leave me, Sakura," I whispered.
She must have known that she had overstepped her boundaries. Without a word, she stood and quickly disappeared.