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Post by Matsumara Arisu on Jun 27, 2012 6:59:17 GMT -5
One week to go. One more week of walking back from the Shanachie Theater late at night through the less than hospitable border between Little Asia and the rest of Rhy'Din. Arisu wasn't sure how she felt about confining her life to Little Tokyo, but it was the best way to live a quiet life in the same compound as Obaasan. She filed out of the theater along with the rest of the bar staff, hands in her pockets as dark eyes scanned the street. He was always somewhere nearby, no matter how long she made him wait.
Her suspicions were confirmed when he pushed from his lean in the shadow of an alleyway to join her side. True to their agreement, Hayato no longer waited for Arisu to be alone before approaching. Instead, he came near as her coworkers said their goodnights for the day before they each went their separate ways. He didn't speak once during the exchange.
"Konbanwa, Hayato-san." Yes, she was trying to be civil these days, offering her ever-present shadow a flicker of her sunny smile as she fell into step, wriggling her fingers in farewell to her colleagues as they went their separate ways. "Long night, was it?"
"Not terribly. It gave me some time to read," he replied with a shrug. "Are you going to head straight home or do you care to take a detour this evening?" Obaasan wouldn't be pleased either way.
She scuffed the toe of her sneakers against the cobbles thoughtfully. "Well, I'm gonna get yelled at anyway," was her thoughtful response. "What did you have in mind?"
"Follow me," he gestured with an otherwise idle hand as he turned and started walking in the opposite direction of the route they normally took. "If she gets too upset, just tell her we had to circumvent the usual streets because of all the fighting lately. I wouldn't want you to get hurt, after all."
"She enjoys yelling at me, I'm the only one who yells back," Arisu snickered impishly. "She's got two sons and five grandsons who just stand and take it." Turning to walk alongside him, she didn't question the route. Despite her wariness around his weapons, Arisu did actually trust Hayato.
"Some people prefer a challenge," he agreed. "Do you enjoy yelling at her? You do everything in your power to go against what she says half the time." He tossed a glance over at her, squinting thoughtfully.
"Yeah, I grew up in a city that didn't make a big deal out of traditions," she shrugged, glancing at him. "I don't like the formality Obaasan insists on. I'd rather just, you know, live."
"Did you not grow up with her?"
"Well, yeah, sure." Arisu shrugged again, running a hand through her hair. "I grew up in the same house, but I was in America, I was going to an American highschool where kids get a lot more freedom. It's not like I didn't do what she wanted - I graduated, I just didn't go to college."
They turned the corner down onto a street lined with mostly dark storefronts of shops closed down for the night. A handful still flashed their open signs near the end. "Why didn't you?"
"I didn't want to," she admitted with a chuckle. "I'm not an academic kind of person. School was boring, I wanted to get out there and get a job and learn stuff. Obaasan doesn't see it that way, though. She says since I'm not getting an education, I should be popping out babies."
That made him laugh. It was a quiet sound, but a laugh nonetheless. "What is she going to do when she realizes that won't be happening anytime soon? I'm assuming you don't plan on popping out babies for at least a few more years."
It was a nice surprise to hear him laugh, earning him the most relaxed smile he'd seen from her yet. "I think she'd just be pleased if I got myself a nice Japanese boyfriend," she snickered, rolling her eyes. "She nearly had a fit when she found out my first boyfriend was black."
"I can only imagine." He'd met Obaasan a few times in passing before he was assigned to watch over Arisu, usually when he had business with her father or brothers. Since taking up his most recent duty, however, he'd been seeing the old woman a lot more. "Do you ever want to go back to America?"
The question gave her pause. It was a difficult one to answer. "I, uh ... I don't really know," she admitted reluctantly, tucking her hands deeper into her pockets. "Going back would mean starting over, on my own, without my family anywhere close by. I mean, it's a freer way to live but ... they wouldn't be there."
"So, you don't want to leave your family but you don't want to conform to the lifestyle they've chosen for you?" he shrugged. "You're in a tight spot, it seems."
"Couldn't be much tighter," she chuckled, shaking her head. "I'll find a place to fit in, eventually. Of course, I could completely scandalise everyone and go live outside Little Asia."
"Obaasan wouldn't react kindly to that at all," he replied with another quiet laugh. "So you don't have a plan?"
"Gee, mister, what gave me away?" Arisu broke into a peal of giggly laughter, jumping up to click her heels at random. "Why, you offering to make up a plan for me?"
He paused to arch a brow at her and shrugged. "No, it's not my place to make plans for you. Your father would have a fit if I did anything other than make sure you weren't shot and didn't get knocked up by a non-Asian boy."
"Oh, so you're here to frighten off any guy who likes me who isn't Asian, too?" She snorted, rolling her eyes. "My dad is as bad as his mother." A thought occurred to her as she glanced teasingly at him. "So ... you can't do anything if I decide the best way to get my revenge for being followed around is to get freaky with a Korean?"
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Post by Matsumara Arisu on Jun 27, 2012 6:59:33 GMT -5
"Technically, no. But I know your father will shoot me if I don't stop it." He shrugged before her second question came around and he arched a brow at her. "Decide you like Koreans all of a sudden?"
She flashed him a grin. "I'm torn between Koreans, Taiwanese, or just hooking up with a kyodai," she teased cheekily. "Now that would freak Obaasan out. My dad, maybe not so much. I guess I could try and go for someone higher in the rank than him, that might make him stop interfering. Whaddya think?"
"If you find someone higher ranked than your father who is under the age of sixty be my guest," he snorted weith amusement at the notion. "What about a half Korean, half Japanese kyodai?"
"That'd be a find, wouldn't it?" she chuckled, nudging at his elbow with her own. "That how you ended up in the circles, not being pure?" Not academic, no, but that didn't mean she didn't know how to use her brain on occasion.
"No, I just liked fighting more than I liked going to school. I was thrown out of my father's house for skipping too often and eventually could only live off of the winnings. No one wants to hire someone with hands like this." He lifted his hands to display his knuckles. They were covered with a pale layer of skin from scarring, breaks and all manners of cuts he'd received in the past. "They think I'm some kind of criminal."
Her eyes lifted from his knuckles to his face with a sardonic smirk on her lips. "You are some kind of criminal," she pointed out matter-of-factly, displaying a rather more Caucasian attitude toward the Yakuza than her family would be happy with.
"I wasn't back then," he replied with a dismissive shrug, his hands falling to swing down by his side again. "Back then I was just a stupid kid."
"Hey, I make a living out of being a stupid kid, don't knock it," she grinned, shrugging herself. "You really half and half?"
"Yeah, my mother's family moved to Kyoto from South Korea because of some kind of business venture with my grandfather. And you're not a stupid kid. You're a stupid woman. There's a difference. It's not as cute as it used to be."
"And you were doing so well," Arisu sighed, rolling her eyes at the insult. Her eyes dropped to the cobbles in front of her feet, shoulders rising instinctively as she fell silent.
"I'm just teasing you, Arisu," he assured her with a small smile, infinitely amused by how personally she took the insult.
"Yeah, well ..." She shrugged again. "That one hits close to home. Surprised you didn't know that. My dad's always prodding at me for being stupid."
"I'm not your dad," he reminded her quietly. "And he's just trying to help you. He doesn't know how to handle you. Your brothers were easy."
"Not as easy as you might think," she murmured, but didn't expound on that. Some secrets would forever remain secret, no matter how close a friendship became. "I'm not that hard to handle. Talking to me works."
"You're a girl. Taking to your son is different than your daughter, I'd imagine. But that's none of my business, I just don't want you to resent him." He fell silent after that, glancing up at the sky for a few moments. "It's starting to get late. I should get you back."
"Are you trying to make peace in the Matsumara household, Hayato?" she asked with a small smile, coming to a halt to look up at the sky with him, wondering why he'd wanted a walk in the darkness in the first place.
"No, I just have a lot of respect for your father," he replied. "Most of the fighting has been on the other side of the gate, the route you always take. At least this way we'll be able to avoid most of it. Doesn't mean we should linger, though."
The friendliness in her gaze flattened as her jaw set. "You could have just told me that," she pointed out quietly. "It'd be easier than trying to make small talk with me, which obviously gives you an ulcer." Offended that not even he considered her worth telling the truth to, no matter how trivial, she lengthened her stride, hands swinging at her side in irritation.
"Told you what?" He frowned at her as she sped past him. "I wasn't making small talk." Hayato stared after the woman before he remembered that he was supposed to follow her everywhere and started off after her.
"That your detour was to make your life easier," she muttered, shaking her head. "That you know where the fighting's happening. I'm not a kid, I know people are fighting. And I don't like being left out of the loop."
"I didn't do this to get around the fighting. I was planning on taking you to get a drink but..." he shrugged. "But I remembered that you're a bartender."
"And what, you think I'm already drunk?" she asked in a sharp tone.
"No, but I don't imagine the idea of going out to get drinks isn't terrible exciting for a bartender."
She snorted, sighing softly as she slowed to a normal pace again. "Bad assumption," was her quiet information. "Just because I serve drinks to earn money doesn't mean I don't enjoy a night out in a bar."
"My mistake." Silence overtook him again. It was a comfortable fall back, easy to maintain and safer from invoking further hostility than his words seemed to be.
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Post by Matsumara Arisu on Jun 27, 2012 6:59:50 GMT -5
Silence it was, then. Awkward, uncomfortable silence on her part, at least. Arisu was too defensive a lot of the time, very aware of her place as the only daughter in the Matsumara family and how that simple fact had tradition and overprotective relatives crowding in to lay out her life for her in detail. Hayato was one of those details that she'd almost convinced herself might be a friend, but every now and then, he said something or did something to remind her that he was only in her company as a punishment for something he had done elsewhere in the organization. It was galling and annoying, and no matter what he said, it was clear that almost everyone she knew still saw her as a child.
They walked and passed by countless turns that would have led them back to Little Asia; it seemed he was either taking an incredibly long route or he had another idea. It wasn't until they came upon a large, noisy building with lights shining warmly through the windows that he slowed down and gestured to the door. "Want that drink?"
Drawn to a halt in surprise, Arisu's dark eyes flickered from Hayato to the bar he indicated. A peace offering, it seemed. Slowly, a small smile reappeared on her face as she tucked her hair back behind her ear. "Yeah," she nodded, her voice quiet. "Yeah, that'd be nice."
The place he'd led her to was loud, obnoxious and very much unlike the drinking establishments of Little Asia. It had a decidedly more western air to it, abandoning the more complicated customs of the east for the simplicity of comfort and a friendly atmosphere. Given the hour, most of the patrons were well past drunk and most of the staff were looking haggard. Few paid them mind when they first stepped in.
Bars like this were places Arisu was well used to. She'd been to more than a few with a fake ID in the past couple of years to be completely confident in picking her way between the tables and groups of people to get to the bar. Glancing back at Hayato, she flashed him a faint grin. "You sure you're comfortable here?"
"I'm not as tied to tradition as everyone else is," he reminded her with a small smile. "It doesn't kill me to get a drink outside of Little Asia."
"Uh-huh." She snickered softly, pulling her wallet out from her back pocket as one of the 'tenders approached. "Two Badsiders, two shots of Everclear please."
He reached out to try and still her hand while fishing for his own wallet. "This is on me."
Blinking in surprise that he'd actually laid a hand on her without her life being threatened, Arisu's smile grew, her hand sliding her wallet away as he stepped up. "Be my guest."
He studied her thoughtfully for a moment before turning to the slightly exasperated bartender to hand over payment for the drinks. "I'm sorry that I upset you earlier, I really was just trying to get to know you."
She bit her lip, settling into a perch against one of the stools as she met his eyes. "People don't talk to me," she told him in a low voice. "They don't tell me the truth about the things that affect me, the things that are safe for me to know. I know I'm difficult, but it's hard not to be when you have to fight for every little scrap of information about your own life."
"I wasn't trying to be secretive, either," he replied. "Yes, I took you that way partly to keep you safe but it wasn't the only reason. Your father never said I had to keep things from you and I don't intend to. This is a business your family is involved in and you need to know."
"Only because I'm a target," she pointed out thoughtfully, flashing a grateful smile to the 'tender who finally brought their drinks to them. "I'm in deep just because I'm a Matsumara and they think keeping secrets from me keeps me safe. It just means I'm not gonna know what I'm dying for, that's all."
"No one's going to kill you." He didn't bother mentioning that kidnapping was a very viable option as well.
He didn't need to mention it. She knew it. Her fingertips lingered on the curve of her shot glass for a moment before she knocked it back, grimacing a little as she swallowed the potent spirit. "Well, not until you get forgiven."
He didn't comment on that. When that time came he wasn't sure what would happen next, likely she'd be assigned a new guard. He wasn't sure who that would be, though. "Cheers." He brought his shot glass into the air for her before knocking it back and setting it back on the bar.
She snorted, impressed he'd managed to down the liquor in one go without retching. "Not bad," she grinned impishly, enjoying the slow spread of warmth as the Everclear hit the spot. "But you wanted to get to know me, huh? What did you want to know?"
"I don't know," he shrugged, pushing the glass away to replace it with the Badsider. "I'm not so good at this."
"You're better than most of the guys I know," she pointed out with a chuckle. "You haven't even tried to grope me, and we've known each other at least a couple of weeks now."
"Yet," he replied with a little shake of his bottle. "I haven't tried yet."
"Yet." That brought another of those giggly peals of laughter from her lips as she lifted her own bottle to her mouth. Handsome as he was, Arisu didn't believe for a second Hayato was interested in her. He had his pick of women who didn't give him a headache, after all.
"I just need to get a few more drinks in me," he elaborated as he watched her with a small smile. "Why do you think I brought you here? Now we're out of earshot of your family."
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Post by Matsumara Arisu on Jun 27, 2012 7:00:08 GMT -5
"Okay, that is a tease," she laughed, pointing a finger at him from around the bottle in her hand. "You just want me to stop making your life hell."
His smile widened just a small amount as he turned away to take a sip of his drink, offering no more on the subject. "When do you start your new job?"
"End of next week." Arisu studied him a moment longer, vague suspicion touching her eyes before she relaxed warmly. "And no more late nights, I pulled the afternoon shift."
"Well, that'll certainly lead to less shouting matches when I drop you off."
A dark flush touched her cheeks as she groaned laughingly. "We're not that loud, are we?"
"You're not, but she doesn't mind starting while I'm still in the room."
Snickering, Arisu rolled her eyes. "Obaasan would follow me herself if she thought she could get away with it."
"I don't know if she would now. I think she likes me a little bit. She offered to let me sleep in a guest room a couple of nights ago when I brought you home after work."
Her jaw dropped. "You're kidding."
"No, I'm not." He shook his head as he took another sip. "She kept asking about what we were up to, why it took us so long to get back."
"Oh god." Arisu's groan was touched with laughter as she shook her head. "She's gonna ask you when you plan on marrying me next, you know."
"She's already started hinting," he chuckled quietly at the embarrassment that colored her laughter. "At least she isn't yelling at you for running around with some non-Asian boy."
"Two weeks and she's already got me shacked up," the young woman muttered, exasperated with her grandmother's sweet but entirely too optimistic ideas about how relationships actually worked in the real world. "Just tell her I hit you, that'll stop her from asking," she suggested. "I'm not ladylike enough for good boys."
"I'm not a good boy," he reminded her with a pointed glance. Not long ago she was yelling at him for killing a man, after all. "Let her go on thinking this way, it will make life easier on you."
She'd been trying not to think about that. It was easier to be comfortable in his company when she didn't think about the man dying at his hands right in front of her. "It doesn't look good for you if she starts to gossip to her friends about it," she pointed out quietly.
"What's the worst that could happen?" he asked with an arched brow, shrugging dismissively.
"Uh ... my dad decides it's gonna happen no matter what we say," Arisu snorted, looking at him as though he'd lost his mind. "You really wanna risk being married to me for the next fifty years just so I have an easier home life?"
He shrugged again and considered her question for a long moment, sipping his drink. "The real question is do you want to risk being married to me? I know my life. It's unlikely I'll live a terribly long time and I doubt I'll ever marry under normal circumstances."
The beer bottle hit the bar with a loud glassy thump as she stared at him. "You're really considering it, aren't you?" she asked in astonishment. "You'd give up your own freedom, just because of one gossiping old woman?"
He laughed quietly. "I don't really have much in the way of freedom as it is, Arisu. You should know that."
"What, you think things wouldn't change?" she asked pointedly. "You think the traditionalists wouldn't expect you to put your foot down and "tame" me, or keep you from taking on risky asisgnments until you've got at least one kid?"
"Listen, I'm not seriously considering it so you can relax." He lifted a hand to ward her off. "It just wouldn't hurt to let Obaasan keep thinking this way just a little while longer, at least until you get your new job."
"Oh, yeah, one more week and then just call it off," Arisu snorted with laughter once again, rolling her dark almond eyes. "Good luck with that."
"Two more of the same," he told the tender, setting more money on the bar to pay for it before he turned to face her. "You argue too much."
"Oh yeah? You want me to turn into a yes girl, do you?" She wasn't giving an inch here; she was the youngest of four, and she'd been trouble for them far longer than she'd been a headache for him.
"No, I just don't think you need to argue about every little thing." The drinks were delivered more swiftly the second time around, likely due to the fact that some of the patrons were beginning to trickle out of the bar and they hoped to get rid of the newest pair as quickly as possible.
"Why not?" she grinned, knocking back the second shot easily. "It's better than being quiet and resentful."
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Post by Matsumara Arisu on Jun 27, 2012 7:00:29 GMT -5
He smiled at her and turned to down the second shot just as easily as the first before he picked up the bottle and slid from the stool. "Because it's nice to agree with people every once in a while. Come on, we should get out of their hair."
Taking up her own beer, Arisu slid down with Hayato. "You're right, we should," she agreed, just to see his reaction to this from such an apparently argumentative woman.
He turned to look at her with a completely unblinking, passive gaze for a few seconds before another small smile split and he jerked his head to the door. "After you."
Her own smirk was wide and obvious as she held his gaze, flashing him a wink as she slipped out ahead of him. "What a gentleman."
He took a sip of his Badsider as he followed her out into the street. "I was told to treat you like a proper lady," he explained, letting the drink swing by his side as it hung between a pair of fingers.
"And what does that mean, exactly?" she asked curiously, her head tipping to one side as she looked him over, tapping the neck of her own bottle against her cheek.
"Letting you go ahead of me, being generally nice, things like that, I would imagine. How am I doing so far?"
"You're getting there," she chuckled, rubbing a hand through her hair as a whim took her for a moment. She didn't act on it, but it was there, at least.
"I'm glad to know I'm not disappointing."
"Definitely not disappointing yet." There went that whim again, and Arisu gave up. The worst that could happen wasn't exactly life or death, after all. Her hand swung around to curl to the back of Hayato's neck, drawing him to her for a kiss she was never going to admit to having wanted for a while now.
"Yet?" he asked, arching a brow at her before she swung around to pull him into that kiss. He stumbled forward, caught completely off guard and by total surprise. Interestingly enough, his free hand rose to curl against her jaw as his lips began to move against hers.
She had intended it to be just a tease, never expecting him to return the gesture and send her intentions off into the ether somewhere. Her smile faded as she stepped closer, lips parting just enough to taste him on her tongue before she remembered herself, drawing back with a soft gasp. Dark eyes opened to stare at him in amazement.
Immediately his hand withdrew and he stepped back. His attempt at masking his thoughts was not as successful as before and his equally dark eyes were alight with anxious uncertainty and desire. He smoothed out his shirt and cleared his throat, unsure of what to say next.
Her own hand had not retreated from him, fingertips curling into the short crop of his hair at his nape. "I didn't think you liked me," she heard herself murmur in faint confusion, her own eyes darker with an echo of his anxious desire. "Not enough to want me to do that, anyway."
"Well...why do you think I wanted to take you out?" It felt strange, the prolonged contact from her. It also gave him cause to step forward again, to close the distance between them so he could taste her breath in the air and ignore the voice in the back of his mind that warned against what might happen if he didn't decide to use some self control.
His step forward was enough to reassure her that she hadn't just made a silly mistake. "You already said it," she said softly, her lips curved in a teasingly rueful smile. "I'm a very stupid woman." She drew him in once again, wanting more than his breath on her lips as her eyes closed to savor the intimate contact.
It was difficult not to smile at her in return as she drew him in. The curve of his lips didn't last long against hers, though, and he closed his eyes to the world as the rush of that intimate delight swept through him. For a time he allowed himself to ignore the voice in the back of his head and his duty so he could enjoy the moment for as long as it would last.
Her lips played beneath his for what felt like an eternity, tasting him, enjoying the relaxed response he gave her in these moments. Even when she drew back, it wasn't far - just far enough to meet his eyes with another small smile. "You gonna take me home, Hayato?" she breathed softly. "Or did you want to take me somewhere else?"
"Somewhere else? Do you want to serve my head up on a dish?" he chuckled quietly, his voice a careful whisper of sound. "Wakarimasen. You're a big girl. You decide. I'm just supposed to follow you."
"Hmm ..." Her laugh this time was soft and low, brushing her breath over his lips as her nose stroked against his. "Maybe I'll save that for another night, then."
"Assuming Obaasan doesn't decide we should just share a room?" he flashed her a smile and leaned close to touch his lips to hers again. "I should get you home."
"Before I decide to take advantage of you right here," she teased laughingly, her hand reluctant in its gentle release of him. Her beer had been almost forgotten by this point. "Obaasan would probably insist on sitting in to make sure we did it right."
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Post by Matsumara Arisu on Jun 27, 2012 7:00:55 GMT -5
"That's a...disturbing thought." He was slow to step away from her, missing the contact before it had even vanished entirely. He turned to look down the street, his beer barely hanging from his fingers at this point. "Come on."
"Hai, Hayato-san." It was another soft tease, a sweetly obedient affirmation of his hardly spoken instruction to follow. Switching the bottle from one hand to the other, though, Arisu stepped close enough to link her fingers with his.
He glanced down as they started walking to watch their hands as his fingers curled to link with hers and another small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, though he allowed it to stretch no wider than that. "So you can be agreeable on a whim. That's good to know."
She snickered softly. "I can be all kinds of nice if you approach me the right way," she assured him laughingly, bumping her arm to his. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna serve you up to my brothers on a platter."
"That's good to know," he chuckled quietly as he bumped her arm in return. "This may be...well, stupid. But I have to ask. What does this mean?"
She did him the courtesy of thinking about that before responding. "What do you want it to mean?" she asked quietly. "I like you, Hayato. But it doesn't mean I belong to you. Not yet. If it goes further, that's when that happens."
"Oh really?" he arched a brow at her. "So if I decide to try and take this further you'll belong to me? You sure you're comfortable with that term?"
"Only if it's reciprocal," she countered with a pointed glance. "I'm not belonging to you if you don't belong to me, and vice versa."
He offered another one of his small smiles as he squeezed her hand warmly. "Then we'll have to see where this takes us."
The smile he got in return was soft, pleased, and oddly shy, her head ducking as they walked along. Her fingers curled tighter to his for a moment before relaxing, a sign of her agreement with the plan offered.
"I've always thought you were beautiful, you know." Given recent events he no longer wanted to keep his private musings a secret. "I don't think you've noticed me much, but there was a time when I was with your father and brothers often before I was made into a kyodai."
"Always?" Her head tilted curiously, surprised to find that he could apply a word like that to her, conveniently not allowing herself to absorb the actual compliment. "How long have you known who I am?" she asked softly. "I could have sworn I'd never met you before you got stuck with babysitting me."
"For several years. When you were in America and your father was in Kyoto he had pictures of you in his office. He's the one who got me involved in everything. Every now and then he'd talk about you and point at a picture. I would always smile and nod and say: Your daughter is very beautiful, Matsumara-san. You must be very proud. That seemed to make him happy."
Arisu flushed in the darkness, surprised and not a little bit pleased by this little revelation, not just that Hayato had known of her for so long but that he could say confidently that her father actually seemed to like her. "Why didn't you ever come and visit with the other kyodai?" she asked quietly. "Mama always seems to be opening her doors for dozens of visitors everyday."
"I did. On several occasions. I had longer hair then and was a little scrawnier," he shrugged. "We never spoke though."
"Why not?" She was curious, yes, but she was also a little concerned. She hadn't been repulsive to people from her mid-teens, had she? "I wasn't allowed to, you know, initiate conversations with the men Papa and the boys brought home, but you could have spoken to me."
"I've never been an overly talkative person," he shrugged. "I wasn't sure how your father would react, either. He's very protective of you."
"Look who his mother is," was Arisu's quietly muttered indication in answer to that. Obaasan was her papa's mother, after all; he had to have learned it from her. "He's pretty reasonable, though. I mean, he didn't shout back at me when I pinned him down after you told me the orders were his."
He chuckled quietly. "Well, aren't you just a little bit happy that he had me follow you around now?"
"Hmm ..." She flickered a teasing half-smile in his direction. "Well, maybe a little bit."
"Good," he turned to look forward again, considering another question. "Are you going to tell anyone?"
"Only if they ask," she told him truthfully. "Or not at all, if you don't want me to. I know it could get a little awkward for you, being on guard duty and all."
"I don't think anyone should know. Not until I have a chance to speak to your father about it."
She nodded in agreement. "You're probably right. I'll try not to shout it from the rooftops until you give me permission, then." Dark eyes twinkled teasingly as she looked over at him.
"You're so reasonable," he snorted and rolled his eyes at her. "I'll talk to him as soon as I can."
"You can't complain; you've known all about my better qualities for years, remember?" She laughed, squeezing his hand again as the Matsumara compound came into view. Of course, he'd have to go through the approval of her brothers as well, but Arisu had a feeling that Nishimura Hayato was more than capable of dealing with those three if he had to.
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