Chapter Text
It’s become a strange sort of routine - a knock at his door, a smile that could hide a body on its own, eyes twinkling, planning five steps ahead at least.
The temptation was there, to shut the door on his terribly knowing, terribly amused face, but he’d only fool himself into believing he could actually do it, so he never did.
(‘A nice man’, they used to call him, strong and a will made of steel. Coming here, meeting Sou, had made him realize just how terribly weak he actually was.)
If someone had told him beforehand, a year ago, maybe a month, hell, even a week; he wouldn’t have believed them. Would have told them he’d knock the bastard’s teeth out, not - not this. Not this close body interrogation gone wrong, not the teasing eyes, while that utterly hideous scarf got removed by oh-so-skilled hands. Not the hot mouth crashing against his own, not the teasing fingers playfully gliding through his hair. And definitely, definitely not his own mouth responding, his hands resting on slim hips, pushing the other backwards, into the wall, a responding soft groan, whether of pain or something else he didn’t dare ask-
He could have stopped it, then. Could have chalked it up to some weird heat of the moment thing. But he didn’t, and he wouldn’t, if he got a second chance.
(He’d already told you: He was a weak man. It was just a shame it took him this long to figure that out.)
"You’ve gotta meet with Miss Sara soon, don’t you? Wouldn’t - ah - wouldn’t want to make her wait, would you?"
"Shut up."
"Make me."
He was late. That was happening a lot lately, Sara realized, intently staring at the clock on the wall, as if she could make Keiji appear by pure willpower alone.
But of course, she couldn’t, so she simply let out a resigned sigh and sat down on the couch - a process she had repeated at least ten times the last thirty minutes.
"Sara…?"
She looked up, a weak smile already plastered onto her face."Hey Kanna, what’s up?"
The girl nervously shuffled her feet, her fingers nestling at the handle of her bucket.
"I, uh, I wanted to talk to you about something. If you… have time, that is?"
In theory she shouldn’t, but hey, what was theory to one Keiji Shinogi, huh?
Sara patted the place next to her. "Yeah, I do, no worries. Come, sit down."
Kanna did, her hands stiffly placed in her lap.
"So, what do you wanna talk about?"
"It’s. Uhm. Kanna knows you two don’t get along, but she’s really, really worried and she doesn’t know who else to talk to, so-"
"Hey, hey, slow down." Sara put her hands up in the universal ‚calm down‘ gesture, Kanna’s barely strung together words still filtering through her head. "Who’s got you worried, Kanna?"
"Sou."
Of course. Of course he was the one worrying the girl, really, who else could it have been.
"What did he do this time?" Kanna looked at her, a little scared - but not for herself. Never for herself.
Maybe that had come out a little too forceful.
"Okay, th-"
"He didn’t do anything!"
Sara blinked, surprised by the girl’s adamant reaction. "He didn’t? But then, does that mea-"
"He’s got-" Kanna had jumped up by now, nervously tippling her feet. Her hands were flying around in exaggerated gestures and it took Sara a minute to realize she was frantically pointing at her collarbone. "He’s got this bruise, right here! It’s ugly and red and big and Kanna doesn’t think Sou even knows she knows about it, because she accidentally saw it when they were sleeping and his shirt collar slipped down, but Kanna did, and she’s not stupid, and she knows someone else had to have given him that! She’s just… worried about who, and why, and what if they’re gonna do it again." She abruptly sat down again, out of breath, chest heaving up and down and cheeks a little flushed.
Sara put a hand on her shoulder, rubbing reassuring circles into the stiff muscles. "Hey now, it’s alright. So Sou got hurt, and you think one of the others did it?" Kanna nodded, silently. "It’s alright Kanna, okay? I’ll look into it and make sure it doesn’t happen again, yeah?" The girl nodded once more, still keeping quiet, and it was a little funny, how the meek girl had turned so loud for just a second, yet turned silent soon enough again.
Sara saw a flick of blond and her eyes flew over to the clock, confirming the time.
"Now, how about you go to bed? You’re still sleeping in Sou’s room, right? It’s late, and he must be getting worried by now. You, on the other hand, don’t have to worry anymore. I’ll take care of it, I promise."
And she meant it, too, she really did. Any other time she would have expected some greater plot behind the bruise, some great trick, some unforeseen twist he was planning for them yet again. But as Keiji came into view, she realized two things that sweet, innocent Kanna never would:
One: There had always been this weird tension between Keiji and Sou, one she had been sure would lead into something more, something heated, if all of them hadn’t been there, acting as a sort of buffer.
And two: Maybe everyone’s presence hadn’t been enough of a buffer, after all.