The Acknowledged
Tomari
"Tomari, do you still not get it?" He tilted my chin down so that I met his eyes which, if you ask me, was a total mistake on his part. There was no way I could answer him now even if the question wasn't rhetorical. Once our eyes met all of my retorts and replies disappeared in my throat. How is this possible? How is it that one man can make me speechless just from a look? I swallowed the lump in my throat or tried to anyways. Do I still not get it he asks. How come he gets all the cool lines when I'm stuck with none? That's totally unfair if you ask me. "Tomari?"
Oh, so maybe the question wasn't rhetorical. I slowly let out the breath I didn't know I was holding. "Its not that I don't get it," I mutter. "I do, or at least part of me does anyways. The other part doesn't want acknowledge it." I answered honestly.
He didn't say anything right away, and watched me for what seemed like eternity. I suddenly wondered if his knees were killing him as he'd been kneeling down on the floor for quite some time now. "Tomari. Close your eyes." I rose my eyebrows in confusion. "Just do it."
Ugh, I thought. Any other day I would have responded with a smart comment for him giving me orders. "O...Kay," I mumbled, still wondering what he was up to.
I couldn't see him but I could feel him watching me, and hear him breathing in shallow breaths. He took away his hand, leaving me feeling suddenly cold, and his voice was quiet when he spoke, yet there was a trace of something in his voice I didn't understand.
"Do you like it here?"
"Yes." I answered almost instantly, and although I wasn't sure what exactly 'here' was I knew that as long as he was by my side I'd always like whatever 'here' was.
I had a sneaking suspicion about what he was doing. It was a truth exercise. As long as I didn't look at him I could answer honestly because I couldn't see his expressions. If I looked at him while he asked these questions I would more than likely lie or avoid them. Very clever, I thought and then tried not to smile.
"What do you like about it?"
"The woods," I replied but then thought better of it. "The pack, the name of the town, the naïve humans... Just about everything."
"Then what are you afraid of?"
I tried to stop myself from answering. I really did, but once I opened my mouth the words just grew arms and legs and came out on their own. "The pack. The pack and... you."
He was quiet for a moment. "Why the pack," he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Why the pack, Devlyn? Why do you think?" I asked rhetorically through clenched teeth. "Mine was completely librated with only a few survivors. Everyone I ever knew were killed right before my eyes including my mother, father, and friends. Well, they weren't really friends but they were people I've known since childhood.
Do you honestly believe I'd even want to join another one after that? I don't think I could survive another attack. I don't want to see something like that again, and I'm afraid I will if I stay any longer." I shrugged. "Maybe I just wasn't meant to be in a pack." I whisper the last part. Again he didn't speak for a while, leaving me to believe I'd fallen asleep.
"You don't think I can protect you from that?"
"From what?"
"From a repeat of six years ago."
I shook my head. "Maybe you can maybe you can't, but that doesn't mean you'll always be able to protect me from any harm that comes my way." I sighed. "The Rogues are here, Devlyn. The odds of you guarding me from their attacks seem pretty low if you ask me."
