“You let him escape?”
Katashi had swallowed down his fear as a fist drove into his stomach. He’d busied himself with his other thoughts and began to distantly remember something that made him chuckle mentally. The image of Yoshiaki all battered and an inch closer to death flashed from the back of his mind. It was irritating that he had actually felt remorse and concern for the teenager and even worse that he was feeling a little satisfied at getting beaten up by his own father.
However, he had reminded himself: ‘This is for Kohana.’ It was like a personal mantra for him for every good deed he did. This mantra worked like a magical charm, but it made him even more aware of what kind of a monster he was. He killed people to vent out all of his anger and sadness, beat people half-dead just because he felt like it and wreaked havoc for the same reason. He was just lucky that he had always managed to get away without anyone knowing who he was. Memories such as these made him wonder just how and when he’d stooped so low.
Those thoughts of Kohana though… those were what gave him the satisfaction he wanted. If she knew who he really was, he could imagine the things she’d say for all of his sacrifices… and possibly her own choice words on how he’d been acting for all these years.
Katashi knew nothing like that was ever going to happen. As much as he didn’t want to, he was doing whatever he could to stay away from Kohana. The act of freeing Yoshiaki from those shackles that covered his bloody wrists and ankles pushed Katashi even farther away from Kohana.
Now, he knew that he was slowly walking towards the edge of that cliff. One more step and he would have to just watch as her back disappeared from his vision—as though the little amount of significant events of great magnitude that happened between them were all just fragmented dreams of one collected memory he wished to share with her.
‘I just hope that this sacrifice I made would be worth it.’ He thought with slight bitterness.
“Asuma-san will definitely appreciate the gesture.”
Kohana grinned slightly. “I hope so… it’s really the least I can do… to thank him as well.”
Bunko tilted her head slightly, watching as Kohana played with her fingers behind her back and stared up at the sky. “For what?”
Strangely enough, Kohana tilted her head as well, as though she had no idea what she was saying at the moment. “I’m not really sure, but it could be because if it weren’t for him, Shikamaru, Izumo-san and Kotetsu-san, Kiba wouldn’t have found me and saved my life. Also, there was one point when he tried to comfort me after… that mission. ‘Dunno if it worked or not, but he was really nice to me. He’s a good sensei to his team and he’s also the son of the Old Man. I find myself sort of indebted to Sandaime-sama because of all he did for me, and since he and his son are off to a better place, I guess I want to take this chance to thank them. I should be nicer to Konohamaru too, now that I think about it.” All of a sudden, she giggled even louder. “Looks like I really do have a reason to give all these flowers.”
Bunko smiled and reached forward to place her hand on Kohana’s head. “Yeah, you’re a good person, Kohana.”
Kohana raised her eyebrow and turned around. Bunko didn’t seem to want to take her hand off the top of her head, but she didn’t really care. “I kinda disagree, but if you say so, Bun-chan.”
Before the brunette could say anything else, Kohana slipped from underneath the woman’s hand and began to skip towards the entrance of the cemetery. “Anyway, let’s go to whatever place you were planning on dragging me off to.”
