| [Jan. 22nd, 2012|12:23 am] |
Katsuko worried her lip, thinking. “Never thought about that before,” she admitted. “If I had a choice, maybe... I’d have stayed with my mother, taken over the dojo when she retired. Taught Hyoho Niten jus’ for the joy of it, y’know? It’s not just a killing art. My little brother could open up a studio nearby when his apprenticeship finished, so I could keep an eye on ‘im an’ things.”
She could see herself in a master’s gi and hakama, leading a group of students through the first forms while her parents watched from the house’s wide porch, a tray of tea between them. Katsuko swallowed down the knot of wistful longing in her throat and sighed. “I don’ regret it,” she whispered at last. “Becomin’ a ninja, I mean. My parents needed one kid for the village and one for themselves, y’know? My little brother... he’s a painter. He’s got talent. I wouldn’t have wanted him out in the field.”
Makoto was too kind for this life. It would have chewed him up and spat him out, leaving all the good things about him broken. She’d go under Kaminari’s knife a thousand times to stop that from happening.
There was a slight pause before Kakashi asked, "Your parents are dead?"
Katsuko blinked. “What? No. Um. They’re both still alive, as far as I know. I haven’t talked to ‘em in years.”
He pulled back just enough to stare at her. "Why?"
Katsuko rubbed a hand over her face. “My fault. After I came back from the labs I was a little...one-track minded. Couldn’ see how much I was hurtin’ everyone, just threw myself into missions. My mom...she didn’ like feelin’ helpless. There was a fight, as in a sword fight. I won, and she didn’t like that, either.”
"But you were family." The muscles of Kakashi’s leg stiffened. "I mean, good family. Ryouma's threw him to the wolves, but yours...they let you go?"
“Sometimes,” Katsuko murmured, thinking of Hatake Sakumo and the child he left behind. “Sometimes, it’s the people who love you that hurt you the most. That’s just how it is. I don’t blame my mother. Must have been terrifyin’, havin’ to stand by while I ran myself into the ground.” |
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