Kenji was what others considered to be a drifter, but his drifting had a definite direction. Perhaps it wasn't so much that he wanted a home, but that he wanted to be free from the obligation he felt to follow Sumi. Envy was an emotion that Kenji had had to work to suppress all of his life and he was once again feeling it with this drifter who seemed free from all attachments and yet relatively content with his position in the world. He nodded to Christian in understanding.
He only had one bite left of his sandwich when to his surprise Christian reached over and patted him on the thigh. In the hasty preparation that the family had given him for his trip to America they'd tried to teach him a thing or two about American culture. He remembered hearing somewhere that Westerners valued their personal space but that they would often get closer to one another than the Japanese.
Kenji wanted to give Christian the benefit of the doubt even though he'd worked alongside American men during his time in New Haven, they'd all been different from Christian. When Christian didn't move his hand after that patting was when Kenji started to feel a little uncomfortable. He took the last bite of his sandwich and cleared his throat as he fidgeted a little under Christian's hand.
In the end, his upbringing won out over the butterflies in his stomach. He reasoned that this man had been kind enough to feed him without asking anything in return and the very last thing that Kenji ever wanted to do was to be rude. He swallowed thickly and took a moment before looking back at the other man. "I noticed that when I first came to America. When the other shado- mmm... they're like maids.. when our maids went to the store they would always bring back junk food and everyone at the compound thought it was the best food in the world. It made the girls happier to eat a bag of.. what were they.. Cheetos!... than something like a New York Strip." He laughed, some of his nervousness showing through in the tone of it.
He suddenly remembered that he had picked up some mint leaves on his way to the Trading post. He reached in his pocket and took out one to suck on before holding out another to offer Christian. He was trying to remain calm and polite but there was no doubt that his heart was beating a little faster than before.