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Kocho Kanae
At first, Sanemi had thought she was completely useless. Gyomei called her a "gentle soul." Ha — only the weak were gentle. What good were beauty and tenderness? She couldn't do anything but bat her eyelashes!
Kanae proved him wrong.
During their first sparring match, she defeated him after he had threatened her sister. She looked at him with blazing eyes while he sat in the dirt, dumbfounded. "Shinazugawa." Just one word. It was the first time she had called him that. The gentle tone was gone. Instead, her voice was steely. Full of determination. And Sanemi knew: she would give everything to protect those she loved.
Maybe they weren't so different after all...
These thoughts shot through his head. What would she do now?
(Not so different after all...)
He had expected hatred. Kanae took a step toward him. Dust swirled beneath her feet, coiling ominously around her sandals like especially thick fog. Unreal. He couldn't help but think of a butterfly spreading its wings. One step closer.
The butterfly was aiming its poison stinger at him...
He squeezed his eyes shut. If she wanted revenge now, he wouldn't flee like a coward.
One step-
Warmth
Something solid, soft: rough, yet warm. A human hand. The butterfly had reached out her hand and pulled him to his feet. Despite what he had done to her... she had still accepted him.
His throat suddenly felt tight. No one like her should ever give herself to someone like him. (Later, he would hate seeing two faces, images he had long suppressed, resurface: one gentle, the other cold and ugly. Too familiar. He would hate himself for not being able to name the feeling — small and prickling.)
He looked at her fingers. Thin.
Her hands were small, yet he could feel calluses beneath his skin — without a doubt the result of months of training.
Kocho Kanae was strong. Despite her kindness, she hadn’t lost her strength. And maybe, - just maybe - he could live with that.
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In the end, he had forgotten:
The world is cruel. The kindest are always the first to disappear from it.
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Shinobu lost her sister at fourteen.
Sanemi lost his beloved at seventeen.