Kohana willed herself to become patient. She’d just realized that Osamu had lied to her back then, when she’d inquired about that one milky eye. She remembered being told that he was born with mismatched eyes, but she overlooked this easier than she’d thought. Osamu was going to tell her everything he hadn’t wanted to tell her and would never tell anyone. The least she could do was to listen and accept him. It wouldn’t be hard, because she’d spent so much time with him without knowing much about the man.
Besides, whatever happened in Osamu’s past didn’t change that fact that he was the Osamu who saved her life and took her under his wing and treasured her. If anything, maybe she’d be thankful for whatever happened years ago.
“If you so desire to know what I looked like, I remember storing a painted portrait of myself under the floorboards of my room.”
Kohana nodded furiously, earning another chuckled from Osamu. She was glad that these chuckles were genuine, and she liked the sound, because even though Osamu smiled more often now, she could only count in one hand the number of times he’d laughed when she was present.
“Now, about the clan… what would you like me to tell you first?”
Kohana chose her words carefully; she’d noticed that the smile on his face faded just a little bit.
“Umm…. What were the people like?”
The smile grew once again, and Kohana nearly let out a sigh of relief.
“I used to think that the best in humanity could be found in those who lived in the Satoru Clan, but I stopped believing such things when I entered Konoha. Everyone I knew worked to the best of their abilities, nourished their children, treasured almost every little thing and when everything was falling apart, when the very core of the clan had been taken from us, everyone fought for everything they ever believed in.”
Kohana cast her eyes downward, to the clenched fists of her master. Her voice came out quieter, more cautious and saddened. “What core was that?”
Osamu’s smile turned miserable. “Happiness. More than anything, our clan believed in happiness. That is why our clan was shut out of the shinobi world. More than anything, we thought that peace equated to happiness, but like I said, the clan had its secrets… The rest of the clan, those who didn’t belong to the main family, didn’t know that one of the clan’s secrets went against the reason why we never associated ourselves with the outside world.”
Kohana’s eyebrows pulled together as her eyes widened. She watched Osamu cover his eyes once again with his lashes, but this time, she couldn’t even see his lips anymore. She didn’t see the grimace on his face, but she could feel the rage and sorrow that rolled off him in waves that hit her full force.
“Sensei…” she whispered, but she doubted he’d heard her. Not once had she ever seen her teacher like this. He was never one to reveal his feelings so easily, but this time, he was laying himself bare. Kohana would have been happy about this if it weren’t for the fact that they weren’t talking about the very foundations of his clan. Kohana wanted to feel guilty about asking. She wanted to tell Osamu that it was enough, that she didn’t want to know anything more, that he needn’t force himself, but in the end, she’d be lying to herself and to Osamu. And aside from that, something inside her told her to keep silent, because Osamu was telling her all of these things out of his own volition. He was the one who offered to tell Kohana everything.
But Kohana still didn’t like the thought of being the reason why Osamu felt so obligated to tell her his story. It felt so wrong.
“If… it’s okay if you excuse me for the night—“
[22] Bloodlines
Start from the beginning
