Chapter Text
It worked out that Beni didn’t have to do the paperwork himself, at least not all of it. The plan had been to split it evenly, but even though he was the one who’d gotten a decent night’s sleep, Benimaru found himself working at barely half the pace Konro was. It wasn’t actually difficult work, just incredibly, mind-numbingly dull.
Even if there was no matchbox to fuel or maintain, no official log of miles driven, no weapons or research to budget for, there was still plenty of paperwork to do. Building supplies were expensive in Asakusa, if only because of the sheer amount they went through. It was one of the downsides to the way they did things. Maybe the only downside, though: Beni was certain he’d rather deal with fixing some houses than all the Empire’s rules. …Actually, he’d prefer if he didn’t have to be the one everyone expected to raise hell in the first place: it was supposed to be an honor, how everyone saw him, but whatever Konro said, he still didn’t feel like the right man for the job.
He blinked, realizing he’d gotten distracted again. He didn’t have time for that train of thought right now. How long had it been? Ah, at least three lines he had no memory of reading. Great.
Benimaru shifted restlessly, leaning back against the wall. After a few moments of scattered thought he opened his eyes.
Konro was sitting nearby, close enough for Beni to look at the stack of papers he was currently holding. More budget stuff. Beni could handle the rest of the work - sign this paper and check over those ones - as tedious as they were, but he always hated that part of it. It wasn’t like he was too bad with numbers, but he always got distracted because he’d rather be doing literally anything else. Konro always did this type of work, just to save time. …And to actually get it done, since Beni would just keep ignoring it. To hell with the Empire and to hell with all their unnecessary, repetitive paperwork.
He tipped his head back to rest against the wall. “You want to take a rest or something?”
Konro paused, one finger marking the place where he’d stopped reading.
“I’m fine for a bit longer. What about you, Beni? Having trouble staying awake?”
Not like he’d admit it. “I wasn’t the one up all night coughing.”
Konro shrugged. “I’ll live, it’s just one night. My shoulders aren’t even as sore as yesterday. Don’t worry about it.”
He sighed, not wanting to push it into an argument. They were both stubborn enough that they’d never get the paperwork finished if that happened. And speaking of that -
He felt almost guilty. He could at least try to get through a bit more.
Benimaru signed off on exactly four pages before he stopped again, looking unseeing at the papers as his thoughts drifted elsewhere.
Eventually he found himself watching Konro again. Instead of tying his hair back like usual, it was still in its loose braid from the night before, and a few more of the shorter strands had fallen loose. He rubbed one finger absentmindedly under his nose as he focused on checking for mistakes in the numbers that had been recorded.
“You sure you don’t want a break or something?”
“I’m fine, Waka.” Again, he didn’t look up.
Benimaru scowled. Actually, maybe he did want to start an argument after all. As he’d noted plenty of times, they were both stubborn bastards.
“Just do it later. You look sort of pale anyways.”
Konro dropped the papers in his hand onto the larger stack next to him. “Oh, please, as if I’m not used to looking like I have one foot in the grave - what the hell does that matter?”
Beni blinked, sitting up a little straighter, as the man across from him let his bandaged hand fall back onto his knee in defeat. When he spoke again it was quieter, as if to balance out with the tone he’d taken before.
“…I’m sorry. Beni…I didn’t mean to say that.”
“Not your fault, jackass.” It took a moment for him to put the words together, but he guessed he shouldn’t have been that surprised, really. “…I’d be pissed about it too.” He added the second half after a moment, quietly. There wasn’t much else to say.
The silence felt too loud all of a sudden.
“If you want to keep working, I’m not stopping you. Could use an extra set of eyes on that, though.” Beni pushed himself away from the wall.
He had no intention of actually checking any of the calculations himself, and there was no doubt Konro knew that as well. Once again he offered a little help hidden behind more casual words, and once again his intentions were understood as clearly as if he’d said them outright.
“Couldn’t hurt. …Thanks.”
In some ways, Benimaru wasn’t unlike a cat. He could be almost clingy one minute, begrudgingly entertaining Hikage and Hinata or brushing his elbow against Konro’s as they sat next to each other - and then in another moment decide he was through with the affection and shrug off something so little as a hand on his shoulder. In the end, though, he was better at little gestures than words.
Benimaru folded his legs under him, looking over Konro’s shoulder (more around than over, he wasn’t tall enough to look over his shoulder even with how he was sitting) and tried to make sense of the paperwork for a moment.
“Uniforms? We haven’t even needed new ones in a while.”
“Yeah. Still have to submit the forms saying that, which means I need to check over the records of what we have.”
Beni reached around to point to one of the lines that showed no change, nudging beneath Konro’s arm. “We’re burning through less of them now. Literally.”
Actually, maybe this wasn’t the right time to bring it up. He kept talking.
“The uniforms, at least. The twins’ stuff doesn’t count. But at least we don’t have to sew on new sleeves every other day now.”
It was one of the worst attempts at changing the subject he could’ve come up with, but Konro took it in stride - like he was looking at getting as far away from what he’d said as possible, maybe. He laughed, and Beni felt it, with his forehead leaned against the taller man’s back.
“He made me learn to sew the sleeves back on myself.”
The memory of their master was bittersweet at the best of times, but with Beni’s thoughts already circling around his responsibilities he didn’t want to linger on memories of the old man.
“You could’ve just worn something you didn’t have to tear to shit every time you lit your fire. Even the brat from the Eighth knows that much.” Beni hid his smile in the familiar blue cloth, words muffled by the layers of fabric and bandages.
“Yeah, yeah. I told myself it was about restraint, that I’d go further without resorting to flames. …It never worked with you around, so I just ended up fixing a lot of sleeves.”
Beni murmured something between a protest and a laugh and settled in, his cheek resting between Konro’s shoulder blades where it wouldn’t be painful if the areas around the carbonized patches were still tender.
“Don’t let me fall asleep, alright? I’m trying to help you out, here.”
***
Beni woke just over an hour later to the sound of a clanging bell.
“What the fuck?” He sat up, looking around and trying to clear the disorienting fog from his head. “I told you to keep me awake, jackass!”
Except for his hand, Beni hadn’t moved at all in his sleep. It had been helping to hold the paperwork but had fallen at some point to rest on Konro’s knee. Beni jumped back, alert and irritated as he got his bearings.
Konro seemed just as surprised as he was. “I…think I fell asleep too. Here,” he was already standing, reaching down to pull Benimaru to his feet, coughing a little from the sharp breath he had taken when he’d jolted awake.
“Not your fault.” He took the offered hand. “Nothing for it…guess I’ll head out.”
“Right. Be careful, Waka.” He released the shorter man’s hand and reached up to brush a short strand of hair behind one ear - he had hardly moved his hand before it fell back out of place again. Beni watched, fighting the urge to roll his eyes.
“Just another day,” he shrugged into his sleeves. “Shouldn’t take too long. Can you keep an eye on the twins if you need to?”
“Sure, sure, I’ll handle things here. Go on out there, Beni, they’re waiting on you.”
The men’s shouts reached Benimaru as he made his way onto the street. He tried to tune out the usual celebration at his appearance and instead find the name of the person who’d turned infernal.
Hm. Well, it was a name he knew, but it would be more strange if it wasn’t, really. No one he knew too well, this time: the woman had kept a shop years ago, but he hadn’t seen much of her in the past few years.
There wasn’t much of a choice, and he didn’t like the loud celebration around him. Beni reached for a matoi flag, spinning it by its shaft and sending sparks flying it caught fire. He balanced on the matoi as he sent it shooting into the air, lighting four others and bringing them up to join him above the roofs.
From here, the source of the fire was easier to see. He couldn’t imagine that this woman was the type of infernal to cause too much trouble, but he still wanted to hurry.
The streets below looked small as they sped by below, and before long, Beni was back on the ground, across the street from the infernal.
The woman didn’t move. As he closed the distance between them, Beni could hear the crackling of skin turning to ash, could practically taste the acrid smell of burning hair and flesh.
Damn.
Well, it wouldn’t be much of a show this time, he thought. The boys would just have to get over it.
He stopped a few steps in front of the woman.
“Sorry for the wait. You held out pretty well. Thanks.” He spoke quietly, even though there was nobody close enough to overhead him, even though it wouldn’t matter if they did.
Without any further words, he drew back one hand and struck, right through the infernal’s chest. It was always better if he did it quickly.
She still didn’t move.
The fiery core was uncomfortably hot against his skin: Beni had some degree of fire resistance, but as a compound it wasn’t as strong as some second gens whose only ability was specialized heat resistance. It didn’t burn, but he still felt it. Like every other time, he thought that he preferred the heat to being numb to it.
“You can let go now. It’ll stop hurting in a second.”
And the infernal crumbled, turning to ash around his hand until there was nothing left.
Overhead, four of the matoi still hung in the sky. Hell, he could at least give them a little show. He sent the two outer matoi soaring over the rooftops towards the sound of the fireworks as he dropped the remaining two down within his reach.
The ones still in the air collided right as a particularly loud firework went off right below them: even from here, he could hear the cheering. That was enough of a show for today. It was starting to get cold outside. He was warm enough, but anyone unpowered would really be feeling the chill by now. Probably better that he didn’t wreck anyone’s house today.
Benimaru set his foot against one of the remaining matoi, feeding its flame and shooting back into the air, the other two fans just behind him.
The crowd had already started to disperse when he made it back to the guard house.
“Not much of a show today?” One of the younger men asked, not that he meant anything by it.
“Shut up, I gave you something at least. It’s too damn cold to be tearing up houses.”
“Yeah, nobody wants to stay in the guardhouse when our own heaters are shit, right?” One of the others pointed out.
The matoi fires snuffed out and he dropped the three of them against the wall. “I’m going inside.” He leaned against the wall, tipping his head back. “Damn paperwork to do. Got to get it in or it’ll be hard to afford shitty celebrations like this.” It was the most responsible thing he’d said all day. Damn, he really was tired, then.
***
“Everything alright?” Konro was already standing as Beni returned to the room.
Beni’s scowl deepened, more out of frustration than any real anger. “Of course it is. It’s the same as always.” He meant it in more ways than one - the same routine, the cheering, the heat against his skin. The responsibility of it all, still foreign and feeling like he was borrowing it from someone else.
“...You know I have to ask, Beni.” He took a step back, holding the papers in his hand out of Beni’s reach as the shorter man tried to take them from him.
“It went fine. Nobody we were close to.” Benimaru made another unsuccessful grab at the papers, then satisfied himself with leaning against the wall, crossing his arms across his chest.
“...Couldn’t hurt for you to go lay down for a while, if you didn’t sleep last night. You were coughing when I left.”
He sighed, softly enough that Beni almost didn’t hear it. “Maybe in a bit - let me finish these papers. You’re tired too, and I don’t want you making a mess of the numbers.”
Beni shrugged. Neither of them made any effort to move, one way or the other. Finally, the lieutenant turned aside to set the papers next to the other files. “...I’ll make tea.”
The discussion could wait until afterwards went unspoken.
Beni grunted a response as Konro moved past him, their shoulders brushing lightly as he left the room, close enough that Beni could hear the ragged edge to his breath as it caught for a moment.
The smell of smoke hung heavily around his clothes, and he could see flecks of ash on the cloth. He ran one hand through his hair, bringing it away with more of the stuff. He shivered, thankful that nobody was watching. A person, and all that was left was ash caught in his hair...
He needed to wash it out. Both for his own sanity and because it sure as hell couldn’t be good for scarred lungs. The smoke was bad enough, he figured.
Hardly conscious of his movements, he left the room as well.
Benimaru tried to keep himself from doing much thinking as he changed into fresh clothes and ducked his head under a faucet. It wasn’t until he was toweling his hair dry that he paused, blinking at his reflection. The ash may have been gone from his hair and clothes, but he still felt a lingering warmth ghosting across his hand and arm. It was imagined - even though he knew as much, he couldn’t get it out of his head.
Shit, he was tired. From experience, he knew he’d be out of this funk in a few hours at most, and that the phantom heat would get out of his head...not that he could afford to wait around in here until then. But the tea was probably ready by now, and a warm drink did sound nice, for what it was worth. The twins were bothering the rest of the guys, so at least there would be a few more calm hours before the evening.
Once again, he was barely aware as he stepped into the guardhouse’s hall and returned to the room a few doors down.
He sighed as he sank to his knees, folding his legs under him and squinting at the steaming cup set before him.
“I only just finished, so you might have to let it cool.” Konro smiled, looking down at his own cup.
Beni lowered his eyes again as he reached for the tea, his fingers wrapping around the little green yunomi - the cup was warm, and feeling its heat against his hand kept him from thinking about the heat of burning flesh he’d felt there earlier. He brought his other hand up to hold the porcelain cup as well.
He didn’t want to let it cool, actually. The first sip went down a little hot, but not enough to actually burn. Probably. He winced.
“Beni, I told you to let it cool.” Konro was still smiling, he could tell without even looking.
“Shut up.” He fought to keep from grinning, not wanting to admit that he definitely deserved that one.
“I know it’s not as good as when you make it yourself, but…” he drifted off.
Benimaru looked up, still holding the cup in both hands.
“Do you know how many years it took for me to understand that damn line?” He smirked openly. “It never made sense to me. Maybe I was just a stupid little brat, but you really thought that was the best way to try to talk some sense into me?”
Konro laughed. “I wasn’t trying to be confusing, you know.”
“I’m not good at making tea.” Beni cut him off. “Who knows, maybe it’s fine. I never liked it the best when I made it...turned out too bitter, or something. So I didn’t know what you meant for years.”
“That’s what you were confused about? Beni, you could’ve just asked me - ”
“Probably. I was a stubborn little bastard, though.”
“And you aren’t anymore?”
“Jackass. Anyways, I always thought it turned out better when you made it.”
“...Oh.” Konro reached for his own cup, flicking a loose strand of hair over his shoulder. Beni noticed only now that he’d let it out of what was left of the braid. “That’s quite the compliment, then.”
He raised the cup to his lips, and took a slow sip. The tea had cooled to a more comfortable temperature. He sighed, setting the cup down. “Ah - that is good.”
Beni thought for a moment. “Some of the old women would say the tea’s good for you - that it’s supposed to help inflammation or something, I think. You’ve probably heard it from them already, though.”
“Hm. I’m not sure about that, but a hot drink always makes it feel easier to breathe, for what it’s worth.”
“Makes sense.” Beni took another sip of his tea. “Good to know.”
“Beni, I can take care of myself - ”
“Sure, sure. I’m not saying you can’t.” He lowered his voice, looking down again at the tea he was holding. “...Let me feel like I’m helping, at least.” He could practically feel Konro watching him.
“Beni, I - alright. I don’t mean to worry you.”
“I’m not worried,” he mumbled. It wasn’t even a good lie.
“If you say so. If you want to help, how about looking over these numbers with me? That way we’ll be sure we don’t miss any mistakes.”
Benimaru shrugged, already getting to his feet. “Fine. Move over, then.”
“We’ve got to take all of this month’s records by the First’s headquarters before the week’s up.”
“Damn church bastards… I’ll do it tomorrow, then,” Beni grumbled. “Here, hand me some of those. We should get this done before everyone gets back from rebuilding and the twins come bother us.”
He reached for the papers as he settled in, leaning back against the wall and letting his head rest against Konro’s shoulder.
“We’ll finish before then if you don’t fall asleep this time.”
“Jackass. Don’t act like you weren’t asleep too.”