Learner's Permit
(Challenge: for the writing_game prompt 'learner's permit', 200 word limit. Kagetora, Haruhiko, Lan centric)
The kids are all right, Kagetora decides, but they're not ready to go out into the world on their own, not quite yet. Lan and Haruhiko dangerously lack direction, and while Kagetora thinks – knows – that they want to do good after all the nasty crap they've been caught up in, it's too easy to see them falling into another crazy scheme, or worse, through the cracks and into a world of dead teenagers and screwed-up statistics.
Sure, it would be a hell of a lot simpler to leave them to it. They're both 18 and know how the world works, even if they don't know how to get it to work for them. Let them make their own decisions and see if maybe they can swim a little bit on their own once they're thrown in the deep end, all alone.
Or, he could keep them close. Bring them in on some of his assignments. Show them the good that exists in the world, themselves. That sort of thing. Because the kids are all right, even though Kagetora thinks – knows - they've been through enough to justify being twisted and bitter and mean instead. Maybe, if someone doesn't step in now, one day they will be.
And that would be a loss. Better to teach Lan and Haruhiko how to drive down the right road now that they've finally found it than to merely point them in the right direction and hope for the best.
Kagetora, it turns out, is a very good teacher.