shotaro and ryu in addressing dream issues (never a pornography)

[halfboiledhope]

Shotaro is dazed a lot lately, lost in thought in the middle of anything that wasn't immediately paramount to his survival. He's been cupping a mug of now-cooled coffee between his palms for the last twenty minutes, eyes distant as the radio at the other corner of the office played the weather and the traffic stats in a gentle woman's voice that was decidedly not Princess Wakana's.

He shifts in his chair, crossing his right knee over his left, and finally lifts the cup to his lips. He makes a face as he swallows, but lowers it right back into his lap instead of getting up for another. The fact that Akiko popped out for a quick run to the grocery store is a distant note he's not thinking too much about.

Instead he is--as always--thinking about Philip.

Comments

[exceller_8]

He nods and swallows his coffee. "You're not alone." He says, simply.

"Believe me, I've tried." He gives a little chuckle. He had tried to hide from her, the way he hid from everything back then. She was dogged in her pursuit, and had somehow ended up at his side enough times that he had begun to expect her there. To miss her when she wasn't around. She became a part of him without him realizing it, and brought the rest of them with her. That pain had come as well... That was to be expected. Philip's death had unlocked the sadness that he'd locked away with rage so long ago.

He thinks about Wakana's face, when Shotaro had told her the truth, that she was the only one left. "That wasn't your fault." It wasn't the right thing to do, but.... She had to know the truth, eventually.

[kirifuda]

"I know," he says, and sips his coffee again. He swallows before he continues.

"Everybody tries," Shotaro says, humor coloring it. He remembers trying to keep the Chief's death from her, remembers when he and Philip had first formed Extreme. "She's strong." A lot stronger than him, anyway.

"Still shouldn't'a said anything," he answers, sighing full-body. "He wanted to protect her from... all this." It rankled, that he hadn't been able to keep his damn mouth shut. That Philip's death was so close under his skin that at the first provocation he'd spilled.

[exceller_8]

He nods, thinking about the iron will that keeps such a weather eye on the two of them. He wonders if she had to learn that strength or if she came by it naturally. Perhaps if Soukichi had been as open and warm as Akiko... But there's no sense in going down that road. "She is. We reap the largest benefit."

"You can't protect someone from the truth. Eventually it comes out, and knowing you didn't know can be unbearable. Chief could have told you that."

[kirifuda]

Shotaro doesn't have an explanation for her strength, though he'd probably lay that blame squarely on her stubbornness. Narumi Akiko couldn't give in out of her sense of pride, so she didn't, or something like that. "You're tellin' me," he says, a little bitter. He wasn't even sure what he'd have done about the rent, if she hadn't shown up when she had. Lost cats were best found with the threat of the Wrath of Slipper.

That hits like a blow, despite the fact that Terui says it plain as day. "Yeah, I know," he admits, small. At least a dummy version of her dead family hadn't been attacking him, at the time? "Woulda liked to be able to sit her down for it, though." If nothing else, in order to confirm where she was, where she was going, after she was made aware of the truth.

[exceller_8]

He takes a long draught of coffee, blinking slowly. It's been clear to him from the moment he started paying attention to anything other than his single-minded quest for revenge that Shotaro's relationship with Akiko is as truly a brother-sister relationship as any. Though Akiko is definitely the older sibling... He puts the idea of Shotaro being his brother-in-law out of his mind.

"It's not your responsibility, Hidari." He is tempted to leave it there. But he pushes on, despite not being altogether good at being long-winded. "It's up to her what she does with the information you've given her." It really isn't good enough. Wakana should be here to share the weight of Shotaro's grief, Philip's only living family member. But perhaps she's ashamed of what she has done... Ryu is not qualified to make that assessment.