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Throwing Stones

Chapter Twenty-Two: Declaration

Kagome pressed her finger to her swollen lips. She hoped it wasn't obvious, but Hawks kept shooting her looks as if he wanted to pull her aside to talk. Sure it could be about their disagreement earlier, but the way he kept glancing between her and Touya didn't bode well for either of them.

Himiko and Tenko weren't much better.

The blonde kept looking up at her curiously and asking her what she and Touya had been up to all day. Meanwhile Tenko had isolated himself from the rest of the group and kept shooting daggers at Touya. Overall the atmosphere in the dorm was awkward to say the least.

"I just wasn't feeling well earlier," Kagome explained to Himiko. "Touya simply helped me out is all."

It was a bald-faced lie.

Lying wasn't natural to her so she kept her head turned away and focused on anything except the people around her.

"Kagome," Hawks called to her. "You got a second?

Her shoulders stiffened.

She was not in the mood to discuss anything with him.

"Not right now." She shot back at him.

She was still feeling out of sorts. Between her and Touya's decision to keep their relationship secret and Hawks' lecture earlier, she was feeling stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"Please." Hawks' voice lowered as his hand grasped onto hers firmly.

Kagome sucked a breath through her nose. Now wasn't the time for them to be bickering and arguing in front of the program's participants.

"Fine, but only for a minute." She turned towards Tenko. "Would you mind taking over dinner duties, please?"

Tenko stopped glaring at Touya long enough to nod at her. Once he'd taken her place in the kitchen, Kagome followed Hawks outside of the dorm.

It was well past 6pm so only their cards would work on the front entrance right now. That still didn't stop the group from clustering together at the front door and observing their interaction with keen interest.

Kagome folded her arms over her chest, "Out with it."

Hawks splayed his wing the block the others' view. He the pressed his palm to the back of his neck as he shuffled his weight onto one foot.

"About earlier, I hadn't meant anything by it. I'm just concerned is all." Hawks lifted his head and met her gaze, "We don't exactly have much freedom in this agreement. I just didn't want you to get into anything that could cause you more problems in the end."

She knew that he was being honest.

Hawks always had considered her best interest first from the moment she'd suggested this entire project. His concerns also weren't without merit. There was a lot that could go wrong. If the Safety Commission ever discovered her present relationship with Touya then everyone would just be sent back to prison and she'd be barred from seeing him and her father alike. Getting a single visitation once a month at Tartarus was difficult enough. She didn't want to risk losing any more of her remaining chances to see her dad.

She couldn't tell him about the details of everything that was happening right now, but she could at least tell him about the village and its new generation.

"I appreciate your concern but you have to remember that I'm an adult. If I screw up then that's on me to fix. I don't need you to scold or lecture me about my decisions." Kagome kept her tone firm as she addressed her adoptive sibling, "I know you're coming at this from a good place in your heart but earlier I just didn't need to hear it from you right then. I just… need support is all."

That was the only thing she ever needed to be honest.

She just needed people to stand by her side until death finally came to take her.

"Does Touya know?" Hawks' expression turned sharp, "You said that he helped you earlier. So does that mean..?"

Kagome gave a sigh of defeat, "There wasn't much use hiding it. He knows I'm dying."

Her smile softened at the thought.

Touya had been the first person who hadn't looked at her with pity when he'd found out. Perhaps being on a slow march to death himself had altered his view of it altogether. Regardless, she'd found his words comforting earlier. She was human and didn't have a timer stamped on the bottom of her foot. Even if her body was slowly withering away, she wouldn't give up on living until her time truly came.

That was the lesson Touya had imparted upon her in their conversation.

"Hawks," Kagome turned, clasping her hands behind her back. "I want to start thinking about the things I want to do after this program is over. Maybe I'll go traveling or retire here with the others. I could plant a garden too. It'd be better to grow our own food anyways." She threw him a smile from over her shoulder, "What I'm saying is that I want to look towards tomorrow. I'm not going to let the reaper claim my soul so easily. If it wants me, it's going to have to fight me because I'm going to find a way to keep on living. Until the day this village becomes a proper town again."

She made her way towards the front door, "That's all I wanted to say. The bell will toll at some point, but it's not going to be today or tomorrow for me. So I'll just keep looking towards the next day and the day after that." She patted her palm against his shoulder when she spied the tears dwelling within his eyes, "You mind putting up with me until then? I'll drive you crazy but I like having my carefree and idiotic big brother around."

Hawks gave a faint nod of his head, his voice unable to speak at the moment with the tears he was barely holding back.

"You know," Kagome grinned up at him. "I'm glad dad found you when he did. I've gotten to have you as my big brother all these years as a result. Maybe it's selfish of me, but I'm glad you're here rather than running around in the world. Who knows, maybe you would've been part of the Safety Commission if dad hadn't picked you up."

The blond gave a disgruntled snort, "No way in hell."

He curled his arm around her shoulder as she felt the warmth of his lips upon her temple.

"For what it's worth, I'm glad too." Hawks responded in kind.

Her smile turned soft.

Come what may, she had both her family and newfound friends at her side.

Death no longer scared her.