Chapter 13
The boy walks her home, despite her telling him he shouldn’t.
He flits around her, like a tiny, scared little bird, ready to bolt if she snarls at him and she relents, her shoulders relaxing against the strain of her feelings, her eyes glazing over again as she remembers a different boy--man--who did the same.
They are so similar it aches.
Ashura’s child blathers on and on about his day. Ramen is a popular theme. He invites her to have some. She respectfully declines, ignoring the pained light in his eyes. She can’t--she can’t--be around him. Not when Ashura is--not with--she just--
She just can’t.
Sakura sees her mother’s relieved face in the window and then sees how it stills, hardening at the sight of the boy next to her.
She frowns.
“--Anyways, so that’s how Jiji told me about--”
“This is where I live.” She tells Ashura’s child softly.
His blue eyes lock onto hers. She tries not to look away.
She fails, lips trembling a little as she stares into the ground.
“Oh...Okay!” Ashura’s child smiles and she can see him trying to cover the pain that blooms in his eyes.
He’s not him. He’s not Ashura.
And then, because she can’t help herself, because she is weak when it comes to them, she steps forward a little, laying a hand on his cheek. Blue eyes blink in shock, hesitantly leaning into her touch.
He’s so very warm.
“Thank you.” Sakura whispers.
She turns away and doesn’t look back once.
He is not Ashura.