[Thread] [All Fall Down] [Inosuke and Shikako]
Making dinner was turning out to be a battle.
And the kitchen was losing.
Inosuke slammed every door and cabinet, nearly ripping the handles off of them. Chouko would kill him if she saw what he was doing to her kitchen and the food, mutilating rather than cooking. After the anger just came the quiet acceptance. Ibiko was a bitch who was ruining his life. Maybe this was for the best. Maybe he could became a teacher in the academy or become a cell leader like Asuka.
There were a lot of maybes.
He wasn't sure he liked that.
Whatever the hell Inosuke was doing, he was making a hell of a lot of noise. Shikako, from her spot out in the living room, quirked an eyebrow at the various slammings and choppings and, after a moment, decided it was about time she saw what he was up to before Chouko's kitchen was destroyed.
She hefted herself to her feet and poked her head into the kitchen. "Inosuke...? The hell are you doing...?"
"Cooking," he said simply, driving his knife so hard into an onion that it poked into the chopping board underneath. Calm. Cool. He needed to just relax. This was ridiculous. There was no reason to worry Shikako. Inosuke didn't even plan on telling her exactly what happened with Ibiko, just that he was… relocating. "Dinner will be ready soon…ish."
His pale cheeks were pink from his inner turmoil and his hands were clenching painfully. If only it were Ibiko's neck between them. If only.
Shikako blinked at him, not missing that the knife stuck in the chopping board for a second. Something had made him mad. After a moment, she sidled over to lean against the doorway, watching him with a thoughtful frown.
"...Do you want to tell me what the matter is or will that not help?" she asked, voice quiet.
Inosuke sighed and put down the knife, gesturing for her to come closer. When she got to his side, he pulled her by the wrist into an embrace, hugging her tightly. It was nice to hold her like this without her flak on or without worrying about their parents walking in. He didn't want to talk, he just wanted to hold her like this.
Life is short, Shikako's mother was fond of saying, you've gotta live while you're alive.
He wanted to live. And he wanted Shikako to live with him.
Well, now she was slightly worried. Shikako carefully shifted in his embrace so that she could wrap her arms around him, leaning her head on his shoulder and running her fingers through his hair.
"Hey, s'okay," she murmured. Seeing him this upset always unnerved her. Always.
She seemed so small in his arms, fragile, too thin. Funnily enough, she could still kick his ass when he wanted to. He couldn't willingly give this up, not a lifetime of friendship and memories just because Ibiko was PMS.
"I quit T&I."
There it was. She knew how proud he had been when he'd made it into T&I, knew full well how hard he had worked for it. Sighing, she hugged him a little tighter.
"....sorry."
Inosuke shook his head, detangling from her and moving back to cut things up. If he had hugged her any tighter her back probably would have broken. He tended to get over enthused, felt his emotions with no limits. This was too much even for him. The disappointment, the anger.
"It's okay, I just figured out that it's not for me." Lies. It was what he was born for, trained for. "I'll find something else to do. I'm versatile like that!"
Frowning thoughtfully at him, Shikako leaned back against the counter and watched him cutting things again. No matter what he was saying, his body language was giving him away. There was no lying to one another in Team 10; they all knew each other far too well to get away with it anymore.
"...How'd you figure that out?" she asked quietly. There had to be a damn good reason or he wouldn't do such a thing.
"It's not a big deal," he insisted, wiping sweat from his cheek with his arm. The kitchen felt really warm since the oven was turned on and things were boiling on top. "These things happen. I mean, my mother wanted to join ANBU once upon a time and look how that turned out. She owns a flower shop."