Chapter 32
Spear & Shield
Chapter 32
The long descent down the look-out stairs left Yasu with aching knees and too much time to think. Her coveralls and work gloves were caked in a fine grit of stone dust and sand, coating her haori in its coarseness. Her hitai-ate was pushed to the crown of her head, serving no purpose beyond keeping her hair out of her face.
There were a series of blisters developing along the palm of her left hand from gripping the chisel all day. The nail of her index finger had turned a strange purple-blue color from accidentally hitting it with a hammer.
She was ragged and dirty, but it felt good. Too bad her heavy heart wouldn’t let her enjoy the feeling.
Twilight had fully set in. Streetlights and lanterns illuminated the main roads, guiding her way towards the market district. It was late, and she had another long day of work ahead of her tomorrow. Even so, Yasu found herself restless. Though her body was physically tired, she found herself at a loss after her father dismissed her for the night.
Hunger had brought her to the teahouse, but a meddling sister-in-law got her to stay.
Which is how Yasu found herself in the grip of gossip by one Ushi Megumi. Of course the topic of a tall, handsome jounin was brought up, though only after Yasu agreed to help with the dishes.
But Yasu was in rather desperate need of sisterly advice...
"So what do you think?" she asked, winded from her rambling explanation of what occurred a few days prior.
“I think,” the older girl sighed, wiping her hands on her apron, “I think you need to acknowledge and process your feelings.”
Yasu paused. A blob of suds slipped off of the dish in her hands, splashing into the sink.
“I thought that’s what I was doing.”
Megumi tossed her a wry look, “You’re just talking-out the situation. You’re not telling me how you felt about it.”
“Isn’t it the same thing?”
“Nope!” Megumi chided, playfully bumping into Yasu’s side. “You’re a textbook over-thinker, Yasu-chan. But going over all the little details and hypotheticals won’t help you actually deal with the situation. Now tell me, how do you feel?”
Yasu’s cheeks noticeably flushed. To distract herself once more, she began furiously scrubbing the next plate on the pile, “Embarrassed.”
“Very good. Now, why are you embarrassed?”
She stuttered, unable to articulate a valid response, “B-because! I kissed my friend! While we were fighting! It all happened so fast...!” Despite her incoherent thoughts, the words continued to tumble out of her mouth, “And I did it unprovoked...! I was only trying to distract him! I should have used a genjutsu or trip-wire instead! But then he started kissing me back and--! We were just training-- and I just took off like an idiot-- and--!” She began scrubbing another plate, “And it’s not like he’s shown any interest in me to begin with!”
Megumi leant against the counter, propping her chin in her hand as she watched Yasu fall to pieces.
The younger girl had crawled into the teahouse, shrouded in a cloud of apprehension, doubt, and vexation. At first, Megumi was rather concerned. Megumi had seen Yasu anxious before, usually over work or something silly like that... but never quite like this. But that worry quickly dissipated when she realized Yasu was merely dealing with a problem she had never dealt with before.
Romance.
Megumi smiled fondly at the troubled girl, “Don’t scrub so hard, you’ll scratch the china.”
“Sorry!” Yasu muttered with the same amount of pure confused frustration as she had said everything else.
“So he kissed you back?” Megumi continued. “You didn’t tell me that part. Was it good?”
Her cheeks got redder, “Megumi-chan, that’s not the point.”
“Actually,” she corrected with a grin, “That’s exactly the point.” Megumi pushed off the counter, returning to the task of drying the plates, “Now, Yasu, you’re a lovely young woman--”
The lovely young woman in question let out a miserable groan.
“--And Gai-san is obviously a red-blooded male--”
It took all Yasu had to not drown herself in the dishwater.
“But I still think that reaction might be worth looking into.”
Yasu pursed her lips, picking up another dish and scrubbing in slow, aimless circles.
“You see,” she continued, her voice sage and neutral, “Contrary to popular belief, people typically like it when you’re up front about your interest. You say he hasn't shown an interest in you, but I don't think that's the case. What kinds of signals were you sending?”
“Signals?”
“Yeah. How did you show your interest beforehand? How were you flirting with him?”
“I…” Yasu’s thoughts scrambled, instantly reliving every single memory with Gai she could recall. “I… Didn’t? At least I don't think I did. Not on purpose, anyway.”
“Seriously?”
“No! We were always just training, it’s not like we were hanging out or anything…”
“What? You had lunch with his students here just the other day.”
“That was just a one-time thing.”
“And didn’t you go on a picnic once?”
“We were training then, too!”
Megumi chuckled at Yasu’s stubborn frustration, “To be honest, Yasu-chan… It sounds to me like you guys were dating and didn’t even realize it.”
“Don’t say that,” she groaned. “I feel like enough of an idiot already.”
“Love makes fools of us all,” Megumi grinned like a cat.
“Gods above, don’t say that…”
The grin stayed, “And you’re sure he hasn’t shown any interest in you? It seems weird that a guy would be that persistent without an alternative motive.”
“Of course not!” she picked up the final dish, scrubbing this one much more slowly than the others. “I mean… He calls me a ‘beautiful flower’ sometimes.”
“A beautiful flower?”
“Yeah, or a ‘Blossoming Azalea,’” she added, miming quotations.
“That’s…” Megumi caught herself, “That’s kind of sweet, actually.”
Yasu shook her head in denial, “That’s just how he talks. He says it all the time.”
“Just because he says it all the time, doesn’t make it less sweet.”
The way she said it made Yasu blush. “He’s just complimenting my taijutsu, Megumi-chan.”
“And you were just trying to distract him. But there’s more to it than that, isn’t there?”
Admitting her sister-in-law was right on all accounts, Yasu handed off the last dish. She rinsed her hands clean of soap, her skin raw and wrinkled from the water. Her new blisters were pinkish-red and needed to be wrapped. Another long day of craving lay ahead. She would need to wake up early tomorrow, too. Her tumultuous thoughts were far from quelled, but she knew it was time for her to go.
Yasu let out one more tired sigh, looking over to her sister-in-law with pleading eyes, “Megumi-chan… What should I do?”
The older woman half smiled with a small shrug, “Honestly? You’re gonna have to talk to him eventually, Yasu-chan.”
Yasu deflated, reluctantly agreeing.
“My only advice is to be honest. Be straightforward… And maybe spend some time with him that doesn’t involve punching each other.”