Tenchu: Future Memorys
Minabi sits, arms folded under her chest, in her house robe. Her robe is old and grayed - the butterflies still red and gold, but softer now - warn in. Her eyes are dim - angry, glowing in the warmth from the lit lamps. She sits - with her legs crossed - feet bare and tapping constant on the ground.
Renji sits next to her, his chest bare. Black training pants pool, a few inches to long, around his ankles. His hair is bright in the dim glow - eyes sharp blue. his face, unlike Minabi's, is passive - blank.
Kai didn't expect this. Rebellion races through his veins, beats in time with his heart - he can still hear the sound of the wind in his ears, the feel of the world under his feet. The thrum of adrenalin - which had been ebbing - ignites again, picking his heart beat up.
Minabi's lips twitch, downward, a tick. She waits - Renji too - until he pulls his boots off and steps up into the hall.
Kai flexes his hand once - twice - and breathes. He opens his mouth -
"So." His mother bites, her voice shaking the rise paper walls. The ways she says it makes him stop - he feels the adrenalin poor down his back.
"Ma -" Kai tries.
Her hand flies up, the lamps around her flickering - shuttering like the wind moved them. Her shoulder jumps - tight - and Kai shuts his mouth.
"You alright?" She says.
Kai slams his outer vest on the floor in their room, his nose bleeding, and slams the door behind him. A wind races down the hall after him - shuttering the doors and windows - the entire house radiating with the fury of the Master. The wood groans.
"Do I look alright?" He bites, low. She doesn’t flinch at his words - not any more, not like she did when they were younger. Instead her eyes are glossed to the bite - sometimes Kai feels guilty about being the one to start the jading process, of dulling the innocence that sits inside his sister. He knows that he started it - that it's not as bad as the things she has done as of now, how good she is at what she does - but the fact that he started it hurts him sometimes.
"Yeah." He admits.
They both know their mother didn't hit him - not physically, and she didn't mean to actually hit him like she did - her anger changes the air pressure. She's up - in one of the long house dresses that their father bought her - digging out a towel from their joined dresser.
She insists on holding his nose herself - batting his hands away and touching his face gently.
"I was out running." Kai says. He tells Chou, because he knows that he can tell Chou anything. Knows that whatever he says to her will never come out. "With Hino, and Ruri. She tough both of us shadow jumping - I knew Ma was up and didn’t want me out at all cause she said but i didn't want them to get in trouble too -"
"Alright." She says, soft, and tilts his head back for him. "Shut up."
And he does, because asides for telling her things, he listens to her too.
Renji sits next to her, his chest bare. Black training pants pool, a few inches to long, around his ankles. His hair is bright in the dim glow - eyes sharp blue. his face, unlike Minabi's, is passive - blank.
Kai didn't expect this. Rebellion races through his veins, beats in time with his heart - he can still hear the sound of the wind in his ears, the feel of the world under his feet. The thrum of adrenalin - which had been ebbing - ignites again, picking his heart beat up.
Minabi's lips twitch, downward, a tick. She waits - Renji too - until he pulls his boots off and steps up into the hall.
Kai flexes his hand once - twice - and breathes. He opens his mouth -
"So." His mother bites, her voice shaking the rise paper walls. The ways she says it makes him stop - he feels the adrenalin poor down his back.
"Ma -" Kai tries.
Her hand flies up, the lamps around her flickering - shuttering like the wind moved them. Her shoulder jumps - tight - and Kai shuts his mouth.
"You alright?" She says.
Kai slams his outer vest on the floor in their room, his nose bleeding, and slams the door behind him. A wind races down the hall after him - shuttering the doors and windows - the entire house radiating with the fury of the Master. The wood groans.
"Do I look alright?" He bites, low. She doesn’t flinch at his words - not any more, not like she did when they were younger. Instead her eyes are glossed to the bite - sometimes Kai feels guilty about being the one to start the jading process, of dulling the innocence that sits inside his sister. He knows that he started it - that it's not as bad as the things she has done as of now, how good she is at what she does - but the fact that he started it hurts him sometimes.
"Yeah." He admits.
They both know their mother didn't hit him - not physically, and she didn't mean to actually hit him like she did - her anger changes the air pressure. She's up - in one of the long house dresses that their father bought her - digging out a towel from their joined dresser.
She insists on holding his nose herself - batting his hands away and touching his face gently.
"I was out running." Kai says. He tells Chou, because he knows that he can tell Chou anything. Knows that whatever he says to her will never come out. "With Hino, and Ruri. She tough both of us shadow jumping - I knew Ma was up and didn’t want me out at all cause she said but i didn't want them to get in trouble too -"
"Alright." She says, soft, and tilts his head back for him. "Shut up."
And he does, because asides for telling her things, he listens to her too.