So Many Fragile Broken Pieces... [Asuka, Kureno]
[[Backdated: set roughly 3-4 days after this thread; still previous to Tsurude's announcement.]]Three days was a lot of time to think, especially if you didn't do anything else. Kureno was rather talented at thinking, being the rational person he was and meditating regularly. Only two or three things in his life had ever taken him more than a day
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"No, it's... mostly sort of... stiff." And sore, but stiff described the sensation best. Stiff like she'd over used it and now the muscles were demanding a well deserved rest. She pulled two mugs down from an over-head cabinet, along with matching spoons. "When they.... well, when they had to do surgery, they had to cut between the ribs under my left arm. Along with everything else, it's just made healing more difficult."
If you didn't smoke so much, she could remember Sakurai lecturing her, your recovery would go much faster. Which is why we're not letting you smoke until your lungs are done healing. She'd heard the same from Rin before he'd gotten... distracted... with Kakami, and likely would have heard the same from Tsurude if he hadn't spent his whole life dealing with her mother. That was about the only blessing she had right now in having Tsurude taking over as primary in charge of her case.
The kunoichi poured the coffee, leaving plenty of room in both mugs for amble application of sugar, and then brought his mug and her old tupperware sugar container over to the coffee table, so he could add sugar as he liked. She'd bring creamer, too, but she didn't keep any for herself. Only sugar or alcohol went into her coffee. "And made physical therapy necessary. Like I said. No pushups, for a while."
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He accepted the mug he handed to her, but his eyes looked a little past them toward her chest. The talk of her operation had him imagining where they must have needed to go to tend to her injuries properly. ...It also made him remember where those wounds were, and if she stayed still long enough, he could still see where and how that sword would be sticking out of her.
...He should probably stop looking at her like that before his staring was taken the wrong way.
"Thanks," he said quietly, turning his attention to the sugar. Normally he preferred milk if he was going to have anything at all in his coffee. But since there wasn't any, he took half a spoonful of sugar and took his time stirring it in, letting the hot drink cool.
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Unfortunately, the answer right now was .... not really.
Asuka wouldn't lie to Kureno, anymore than she would lie to Tsurude. (About this anyway.) So she just shrugged with one should, still stirring, and said, "I don't know. Mostly... all I really want to do is sleep."
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Maybe her therapy routine just wasn't enough activity for her. "Well what about some extra exercises to just keep up what you can?" he suggested hopefully. "How about going for a walk every day?"
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"I check my mail every day...." For all that it was only ten or twenty feet away from her front door. A dark look was aimed at the pile of boxes and envelopes by her mail desk. "... and I walk to the tower once a week for therapy..."
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There was another pause dedicated to him turning a sudden idea over in his head and letting it take more shape before he proposed it.
"...Well. If you want... How about a walk with me?"
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She stirred her coffee a little more, keeping her eyes on her mug, her voice quiet. "Do you want to?"
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Kureno only nodded, looking pleased at her response, before turning to his coffee. She did as well, after testing to make sure six sugars was enough, shifting to sit cross legged on the couch and warm her feet. There didn't seem to be any point in trying to pick up the thread of the conversation again, so she just let it be. Silence wasn't so bad, really.
But halfway through her coffee her mind had turned back to other, unresolved problems. Kureno had been willing to take the first step towards repairing their friendship, and there was no way she could express how pleased that made her. Not just because it saved her the fear of being rejected herself, but because it meant he really did still respect what they had, even if... she was an idiot, which wasn't exactly a recent revelation. But... just because he was willing to forget what he knew now, didn't mean he'd forgive what he would learn later. It was best he had everything from her mouth, and not learned from a village-wide announcement. If he hadn't come to her first, then it could be excused, but if he found out she knew and hadn't told him... had spoken with him, possibly repeatedly, without ever letting him know... that would just be more salt in the wound. Better she told him now and lose less respect than if he found out later.
"Kureno," she said eventually, cup still to her lips, speaking into her coffee. "There's something I need to tell you... before we go anywhere."
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Likely because he couldn't think of why, Kureno's gut twisted some in dread even as he braced himself to hear something his heart may not have been ready for.
"...What is it?"
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Asuka had never felt like such a chicken before. She'd rather take on all of Oto, even so obviously underpowered as she was now, then deal with this... mess.
"It's about my.... so called punishment for this mess." She sighed, closing her eyes. "The Daimyo's over-ridden Tsurude. I'm not being punished."
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"Oh." He tried to mentally shake off the surprise that had actually come with digesting that information along with burying that initial disappointment under a lot of guilt. How could he allow himself to be upset over her not paying a consequence for her irresponsible, selfish actions?
...It seemed apparent that he hadn't quite worked out all his resentment issues. Still, this is what he wanted to do; what he'd decided. Salvaging their trust had become far more important than any grudge now, even if some of that grudge still existed.
"Well. You are one of his Twelve Guard. It would probably reflect badly upon him if you were severely punished." Ah, trust in logic to give him something he could accept; something he would accept. (Something he had to.) "Sweeping this under the rug is just a politically necessary measure."
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