| [Feb. 22nd, 2012|05:10 am] |
Wakahisa was lurking by the back door to the kitchen, still holding his drying ladle, completely ignoring the large pot bubbling over on the burner. He reached to clasp Katsuko’s shoulder as she passed. She twitched a wan smile at him, but shrugged free with barely a hitch in her step.
Ryouma released her wrist and dug for his wallet. Wakahisa shook his head. “Just--bring her back,” he said.
“Sure,” Ryouma said. He ducked a nod and followed her.
Her pace quickened as she hit the street, long legs stretching, hands jamming deep in her pockets. Two chattering genin dodged almost unconsciously out of her path. Ryouma lengthened his stride to catch up with her, shortened it again to fall into step at her side. She didn’t look up at him. Her jaw was set, lips thin, eyes locked on the middle distance. What was she seeing?
That hesitant question about her family--and Beni’s violent reaction--had seemed like a turning point, and there was a whole tangle of issues there Ryouma didn’t know how to unravel. Katsuko had never mentioned her family much. He hadn’t known she had a little brother. Had thought she was as alone against the world as he and Kakashi were.
Beni and Nori had helped her move into a new apartment when her own mother kicked her out, she’d said.
Maybe she was.
He held his tongue, biting it only a little, while she turned down side-streets at random. Trees loomed up over roof-lines at last; their alley dead-ended in grass and scattered forest. Ryouma didn’t know this part of Konoha well enough to know if it was a public park or a tucked-away training field. The trees had already shed most of their leaves, and the grass was thin and yellow beneath its brown-edged shroud.
Katsuko stopped only when leaves crunched under her feet. She stood with her back to him, the sharp line of her shoulders rigid and brittle as flint under her shirt. Wind rattled in the barren tree limbs.
“Sorry,” Ryouma said at last. “So much for talking. Did I make it worse?” |
|