Understanding
By: Lily
Rating: PG
Theme: #26 - Gun
Word Count: 950
Warnings: Mentions of death. Spoiler for the Kitazawa sequence.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation. It belongs to the wonderful Maki Murakami.
Summary: Mika and Tohma have a talk after Kitazawa's death.
Tohma sighed softly and stared up at the night sky. The stars weren't as welcoming as he had hoped and seemed to glare down at him in aversion. It was nearly morning and to anyone else it would be easy to smell the crisp morning air. To Tohma, however, the night still reeked with the stench of blood and tears. Eiri… his sweet Eiri, turned out to think he was a murderer. The worst kind, in fact… killing someone he cared for.Mika finally found the man she was looking for. Eiri had only stopped crying as he fell asleep. Mika doubted he would be out for long, but it gave her enough time to talk to Tohma. She made her way slowly outside onto the balcony of their hotel room and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. Despite her wish to be gentle with him, he still started slightly until he realized who it was.
"Ah, Mika-san…" he spoke softly, the stress that fell upon him evident by his tone of voice. "You should be sleeping."
"I wanted to talk to you," she retorted, just as softly. She drew her sweater tightly around her body and stepped out onto the patio. She didn't stop until she was directly next to him, their shoulders nearly touching. She didn't look at him and instead opted to stare out at the bright New York lights.
"I understand…" Tohma had been expecting such a thing from her. Though, he had assumed he would be reprimanded for ever bringing Eiri to the States in the first place. Not that he had known what was going to happen. Had that been the case, he would have made sure that Eiri stayed as far away from Yuki Kitazawa as possible.
"You told me Eiri only shot him once," she spoke as softly as he had earlier, but her eyes remained toward the skyscrapers and bright lights.
"I did," he confirmed, a slight frown crossing his features. "What of it?"
"When I helped you move the body," she started after a deep sigh, "I noticed two bullet wounds."
"Did you now?" Tohma asked, studying her carefully. "You're rather observant."
"Why are you allowing Eiri to go through this?" she demanded. Though her tone was still gentle, Tohma could tell that she was on the verge of losing her temper. That, he assumed, was the reason she refused to look at him.
"I have my reasons," Tohma answered, leaning against the balcony railing and closing his eyes.
"I would like to know them," Mika stated, a bit more sharply than before. "If you refuse to tell me, I reserve the right to go inside and tell Eiri the truth." In any other situation, Tohma would have stood his ground, but her threat to tell Eiri what he had done broke down his will. Again he sighed and turned to look at her.
"Because the man doesn't deserve to live," he told her bluntly, feeling no need to sugarcoat it for her benefit. "He would have hurt Eiri again; if not him, then others. I could not allow that to happen."
"So you finished the job and are still making it seem as though it's Eiri's fault?" Mika finally turned to him, anger burning in her eyes. "You'll have to forgive me, but I don't think that's a good enough reason to—" Tohma lifted a hand to effectively silence her.
"Don't patronize me, Mika," he told her coldly, his eyes regarding her with ice to match the fire in hers.
"And why not?" she snapped, her patience clearly diminishing. "You're allowing my brother to live in anguish with the thought that he killed somebody he cared for!"
"Because if he knew that there had been a chance for Yuki to live he would have wanted to bring him back," Tohma explained, reaching up to massage his temples gently. "And if we tried to take him to the hospital but he died on the way there, Eiri would live in more pain with the thought that if we had been faster there was a chance to save him."
Tohma chose not to mention his own hatred for the man and would gladly take the blame for his death, if he thought it would do Eiri any good. However, he felt that Mika did not need to know that. Despite his silence on the subject, she seemed to see that fact as well, for she regarded him with a mildly skeptical look, though her hard countenance fading. Thankfully, she didn't inquire about his personal motive and nodded, looking back out to the skyline.
"I see… Perhaps you're right then." She resigned to that and closed her eyes.
"Perhaps," he agreed. "Are you still angry with me?"
"I am," she told him. "But not as much as before. I understand you now… at least a little bit." He couldn't help but allow a soft chuckle to escape his lips.
"I'm certainly glad for that." He moved over slightly to wrap his arms around her waist. To his surprise and great happiness, she did not recoil or attempt to push him away. In fact, she seemed to lean into his embrace, her expression softening further.
And they remained that way, and would until the sun rose over the dusty streets of New York or until Eiri awoke. Whichever came first.
