Shadow Hearts: Covenant and all its characters are copyright their respective creators.
Candy Canes and Gingerbread
04: Everyday New Days
WARNING: Contains end-of-game Shadow Hearts: Covenant spoilers for Karin and Yuri.
Autumn, 1887
Every day was a unique day, a special day.
"Kakei-san, if you don't remove your hand from my ass this minute -"
That's what they were supposed to be. Every day was a New Day, and he always fought to believe in that, no matter how repetitive his life sometimes seemed. Because everybody went through these episodes in life, only to continue living with it.
"Yakitori at Table Three!"
But there would sometimes be Those Days, that were supposed to be Everyday New Days but weren't; days that start off innocently enough until you find mysterious women crumpled on the street, holding a vision of the future in their hands.
"Two bancha!"
Somebody yelped as an empty ashtray flew across the compound. Laughter followed, and the hum of activity continued uninterrupted. It was just another Everyday New Day at the local coffee shop, although to call it that was a severe understatement. This was the bastion of intellectuals, the gathering of social wit, the melting pot of opinions on important issues; issues touching on education, on health, on the future of this fair country, on the sales at the supermarket down the street; important issues dear to the hearts of old men hunched over steaming black coffee and housewives clutching overstuffed grocery bags.
"Here you go, Colonel. Just the way you like it," the portly waitress placed a plate piled high with fried mee and steaming vegetables, radiating the scent of chili. Proprietor Toshiki-san nodded briskly at the handsome young man before putting down a second, smaller plate. "And another for the young lady."
The redhead might have nodded, perhaps even whispered something, but it was hard to tell over the clatter of plates and voices. The foreign language may have had something to do with it, too.
Toshiki-san sniffed slightly, throwing her head back and returning to the kitchen, taking yet more orders on the way. Neither of them moved for a while, caught in a bubble of stillness while the rest of Everyday continued to operate around them. The stillness was large and looming, settling comfortably in the uncomfortable expanse of the table, shifting only to allow Colonel Jinpachiro Hyuga space to gesture towards the smaller plate.
"Please, eat. You look exhausted," Jinpachiro offered politely, his expression shifting between concern and uncertainty. It wasn't everyday he dined with such a beautiful young woman.
Even rarer for her to be dressed so risquély in the autumn chill.
Perhaps the rarest part of it all, the most laughable part of it all, was the picture of him, four years in the future, which she had held in her hand!
...Perhaps. He was still deciding.
Amber eyes glanced briefly at the plate, then lowered to look at something else, something invisible to his eye but clearly apparent to her. He almost wanted to ask - What did she see? The boy? Him, six years from now? - but he feared asking anything at this point. Jinpachiro rubbed the back of his neck, more than a little bemused, before taking his pair of wooden chopsticks. Breaking them, he methodically began shifting through his own plate, pushing around the sliced spring onions and fried mee and... was that a prawn?
Well, that was new! Toshiki-san was always so stingy with this precious ingredient, but he finally got one from her! All those smiles and politeness were finally paying off!
Just as he was about to share this wonderful discovery with his dinner guest, Jinpachiro looked up, and the words died before they were formed. She was observing something; shimmering orbs planted firmly upon her target, silently taking in the information presented before her. He shifted, uncrossing his legs self-consciously, one hand lifting to push back his short, coffee-brown hair. She was observing him, and he dropped his chopsticks unceremoniously on the table.
Hmm.
It was hard to explain the amusement of finding a single prawn to an outsider, and this young woman was obviously not a frequent patron. How did you deal with such people, anyway? And he'd thought the army had prepared him for anything! ...Well. He'd certainly have to get back to them on this little episode, now wouldn't he?
Yes, yes he would. He would have to, whether he wanted to or not.
"Don't let the appearance fool you. Their cooking is really very good," Jinpachiro explained, trying a different approach in strained, heavily-accented English. He picked up his chopsticks. "Did you see their sign outside?"
"...'Restaurant Tasty'."
"And they're not lying." Jinpachiro was ecstatic. This woman could speak English! Finally, some progress! "Go ahead, try it. It looks like she gave you some prawns, too." Toshiki-san was certainly being generous today. A certain mark of one of Those Days.
Uncertainty flashed across her features, as she looked around, and a million eyes averted towards their respective rice bowls. Although they tried to keep it discreet, the entire shop was staring at the Colonel and the foreigner; some lecherously, many critically, but most out of characteristic nosiness. Jinpachiro was a common face in this town, but the woman he was with had become a curiosity within minutes of stepping through the door. Certainly, her exotic outfit didn't help their situation any.
Just when he felt the ominous silence threatening to settle once again, she picked up her pair of chopsticks, and in that split second, the sound of breaking wood was the most wonderful sound to his ears. This was good. She was finally reacting to him. It didn't feel like he was speaking to a block of ice anymore... albeit, a block of ice with flaming red hair and intense, beautiful eyes. Her gaze tore through his being easily, seeing things he thought weren't there but felt like it should be, making him shuffle and nervous to the point of forgetting what he was supposed to do.
And there was a lot to be done. Of course there was. Things like this didn't happen, only to be left aside and forgotten. That's why they happened on the more special days, outside of the normal special days.
But as they ate in silence, Jinpachiro found that he wasn't ready to let this woman go anywhere. He didn't even know where he was going to send her! She wasn't a runaway, she wasn't a fugitive; she was just a woman carrying a picture. A picture that really didn't mean anything to anyone except him, and her, and the little boy standing between them.
"Tch, flüche!"
At the harsh tone, the swirling mess of emotions and duty- duty to his superiors to turn her in, and to watch as they snatched her away before he could find his answers, before she could actually look at him with something akin to friendliness- readjusted itself into a half-eaten plate of food. The redhead was frowning against the floor. The clatter of chopsticks against raw cement finally registered in his mind, and as she bent to retrieve them, he thought her fingers shook a little. Just a little. Slender fingers that didn't look capable of hurting a fly, yet the fencing sword she carried had certainly been no mere decoration.
...He was an idiot.
"Let me get a new pair for you," Jinpachiro quickly stood up, snatching the tainted chopsticks from the ground. "You wouldn't want to eat from anything that's touched this floor, trust me."
She looked up at him, curiosity mixing into the molten gold of her eyes, sunset-flame hair falling over her face. Jinpachiro thought his heart might've skipped a beat, but it was probably due to the upcoming confrontation with Toshiki-san for a clean pair of chopsticks. The proprietor didn't appreciate people handling her things carelessly, and anyone who had to face her would obviously feel nervous.
Yeah, that was it.
As the Colonel was about to leave for the kitchen, he unbuttoned the thick army coat he'd forgotten to remove. With uncharacteristic nervousness, he gently placed it over the redhead's shoulders, careful not to touch her with his ungloved hands. "You look cold. I'll get you some tea..." A hesitant pause. "You drink tea, don't you?"
Just when he feared another awkward silence would ensure, as he shuffled under her unnerving stare, she smiled and nodded. "Yes... Please."
He smiled back, the reaction strangely natural. One could always rush through Everyday New Days and not miss a thing. But there were some days where you had to take it one step at a time. And Jinpachiro found himself - with the lightness in his heart, and the vision of her first smile firmly engraved in his mind as he marched into the kitchen for a pair of chopsticks and a cup of hot tea - to like Those Days the most.
Tiger5913: I never thanked you for your lovely reviews, have I? -glomps!- Thanks for reading my one-shots, and don't worry about the confusion with Yuri's chapter. I have this bad habit of trying to make things all 'mysterious' until I reach the main part of the fic, at the risk of losing my readers' attention. XD;; Thanks for sticking with it until the end, though! I loved Yuri's simplistic thoughts as a child, and the minute I saw that scene between him and Anne, the fic was just begging to be written. XD Oh, perhaps it's just my browser picking a fight with the site but I can't seem to find The Belated Honeymoon anywhere! Woe!
Puffy Tribulation: Thank you for your feedback, and much like with Tiger, I thank you for re-reading Nicolai's piece after the initial confusion! Very glad you liked it, as you seem to be a Nicolai fan, judging from your other reviews. I'm insanely glad that you gave Veronica's chapter a read-through as well; I've always thought of her as a strong woman, so it's fun to write a backstory for her because, well... much like Nicolai, she has none. So it's fun to make stuff up. XD
