Catching Up.

[Takahashi Aki]

Ever since this maddness, Sousuke had been able to find most people who he cared for most. The one to have evaded him was Roku. His grandmother had told he had escaped the hospital. Then he had heard developments of a masked crusader. Kasha was his name. Given the Cabal event, it would seem the vigilantes sprung up all over the place. Some of them were still operational. Some of them were not. Word about the Kasha did not die down.

Sousuke sat on the bench when he originally had what was best described as a heart to heart with Roku. He sat in very plain clothing. Sousuke looked healthier now. His body less frail. His eyes were no longer dark, but he had blue irises. He rubbed his face, then his temples. Ever since the end of things, Sousuke felt slightly slower. His brilliance seemed to register with him slower. He was also feeling tired as of late. He had been spending a lot more time with Yume due to their relationship. Sousuke enjoyed spending time with Yume. He felt ... happier now. He felt warm on the inside. This was something he hadn't had before. Something he was getting used to.

Sousuke snapped back to reality. Right. Roku. Back to Roku. He had always wanted to be there for him when he woke up. Unfortunately that was not the case. Roku woke up while he was trapped on the surface. Roku probably got the letter that waited for him. Hopefully Roku didn't do something stupid ... and died.

 

[Raizo]

It had been, what felt like, ages since he strolled through the Grand Palais. Ever since he awoke and his world was turned into a war zone, Roku seemed to be clad in a mask and fighting. His fights were what he felt were right, his fights were for a good cause, and these were two points he continually had to remind himself of as the body count increased. However, today he wanted to see the world from his eyes, not the eyes of the Kasha. The identity he had created was the life he had been living the most since he woke up from his injuries, even after the resolution of the Cabal events he continued to move in his masked persona to hunt down the loose ends left within the village. Today would be different. Today was a Roku day.

The Roku walking the streets of the merchant lands was one drastically different from the one that walked these very roads years ago. His hair was no longer long and flowing, it was short and spiky. His attire was no longer a suit and tie, it was now something very similar to a karategi. His appearance, with more of his muscular frame showing, was now more fitting of someone who had spent their life honing their body, and while Roku was always that person he seemed to want to hid his obsessive training. Now, whether based on his current experiences or the unlocking of his new latent ability, Roku seemed to fully embrace a new way of life.

He continued his stroll, with a face that seemed to be as dead serious as you could be, until his eyes happened upon a figure he was not expecting; Sousuke. His stonewalled face would lighten, his mouth would slightly droop open as his eyes would seem to widen as if in great disbelief.

"You..."

It was a whimpered word that slugged out from his mouth.

"Sousuke..."

The mixture of the emotions welling up in him were laced throughout the name.

"You... goddamn idiot! What the hell! Just sitting around like a piece of crap!?"

He was happy to see his friend, even if this last outburst in no way made it seem like that.


MFT -

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Sousuke sat up as he heard a familiar voice. His eyes widened as he turned his head. It was Roku... well he was different... he pointed at Roku's hair first and foremost. He was stunned. A horrified look came over him. "Your lovely locks."<i></i> Sousuke blurted out. Yes. Those locks were his pride. Now they were gone. Sousuke's eyes narrowed. His hair was kind of like his hair now. "You know spiky hair is my thing, but it looks ... ..."<i></i> He paused. "It does not fit you. It is unbecoming of you. There is far less for the ladies to grab onto now."<i></i> This was something Sousuke would probably not usually say. Even Sousuke seemed surprised by what he had said.

Sousuke coughed. "You are a difficult person to find."<i></i> He began. "I was almost to the point of ... mmm ... having to expand my methods and begin a far wider range of search."<i></i> Sousuke was a detective from time to time. Finding Roku if he decided to use his full skill set would take ... not as much time as it presently did. Sousuke looked at Roku reading him over. "You are much more healthier. I suspect you feel as such given your weight now. In the past you were maybe slightly under weight, but now everything is much more ... proportionate. Balanced in all things even... except maybe your temperament but that doesn't have much to do with your physical health. Emotionally well... that's a different matter."<i></i>

The Steward's mood seemed to bounce back and forth. A bit of his old monotone self still in place, but he seemed to express himself much more easily now. It was not like he was being held back. "I trust you were in receipt of a correspondence from myself. Your recovery is superior than to what I imagined it to be. This is exceptional."<i></i> He observed. No doubt Roku had several questions for him. Sousuke it turn was ready for them. Why would perhaps be the first of them.

 

[Raizo]

Looking past his outburst, Roku was very happy to see his friend. It had been a long time, and factoring in the accident and his coma, it was an even longer time than he could imagine. There was now a smile on his face, it was time to listen to Sousuke awkwardly suffer through human speech. And so it began, with Sousuke commenting on his new hair style and how the ladies would have less to hold. The more Sousuke spoke the more Roku's brow would furrow his once joyful smirk would turn to something much more pained.

"Sousuke... I forgot how much listening to you talk sometime made me want to punch you as hard as I could right in your stomach."

His annoyed face would subside as Sousuke asked about his letter.

"Yea the old cow gave me the letter..."

The word seemed to evoke something that caused a feeling within Roku to snap. His eyes would go wild as his right arm clenched tightly and slammed into the wall of an establishment next to him. The fist, without much resistance, would crush the a small chunk of the wall, sending crumbling debris below.

"Why?"

There could possibly have been more to the question Roku could have included with that 'why', but Roku's current temperament seemed to lessen his ability to include the rest of the question and at the same time he believed Sousuke knew what his 'why' referenced.


MFT -

 

[Takahashi Aki]

As predicted, Roku reacted the way he did. It would seem though that Roku would get violent ever so slightly. If necessary Sousuke would subdue him, but he did not think it would come to this. Yes. Roku was kept alive. Many wanted to simple pull the plug on him. Yet Sousuke knew differently. Roku could recover. He merely needed the time. Several items worked against his recovery, but the final outcome did flourish as Sousuke thought it would. Sousuke stood up. He held his hands behind him and stared Roku in the eye. "Because you are my friend, and always will be."<i></i> He answered simply. Friends do not let friends die. Even if truly Roku did not have a chance, Sousuke would keep him alive. He let the words sink in.

For a time it seemed like Sousuke was going to say nothing more. Sousuke sighed. He had been through the destruction of Sungakure. The loss of Okibi. He chose to have some members of the Cabal spared. It was not a good enough excuse. Sousuke looked tired. He would merely look down at the floor. "I don't have that many friends Roku. I have several associates. Lords and ladies who are not true to me, as you have been. It seemed wrong to let you die. Friends look after each other, as you looked after me, I did the same unto you."<i></i> He finally said. His tone was not cold and calculating as it usually would have been. "I wish I could have been there for when you woke up, but I was not. I was trapped on the surface during the Cabal invasion. I had to fight my way back into Suna. For that I apologize."<i></i> His gaze remained on the floor. What next Roku could do? Sousuke worked it out in is head, but even then Roku could surprise him still.

 

[Raizo]

He knew the answer, even before Sousuke started to speak. The answer wasn't all that important to him, the answer was clear. Of course, if in the other side and with the resources, Roku might have done everything to keep Sousuke alive. However, even though he knew the answer and he knew the rationale for it, he still could not let the matter go. It was clear to him that if his body had shut down multiple times then he should have died. Nature wanted his life, wanted to take him in and redistribute his mass into the grand circle of life. Sousuke, out of either his own genuine naivety or stubbornness, chose to stand in defiance of the order of things. Decided to bring him back one way or the other. But still, not even that was the thing that upset him the most. The thing that bothered him the most was the fact his pride and his life, two things he clung to dearly, were no longer in his hands. He was saved, he did not recover on his own. If Sousuke had never known him, Roku would be dead. Because of this friendship he was able to do what countless others were not able, including those he had just recently slain. This, his own mortality, and the loss of his brother, it was all just too much for him at the time. All he wanted to feel was pain, but all he could feel was numb.

"I understand."

His clenched fist released and removed itself from the wall. His face returned to his more natural smirking image.

"Yea, you being there would have saved me a lot of trouble. Fought like hell through this place to figure out where you were... got a little intense for someone who had just woke u--returned to the world of the living, I guess that is the better way to put it."

He had some many questions, so much more he wanted to blurt out. One of the things he really wanted to say was the thing that seemed to elude his tongue at this time. It was easy to let his own personal pride continue to eat at him, but instead his mind reflected back on what else transpired in his conversation with the granny. She mentioned that his soul had been fractured, maybe he understood first hand the hell of being forcefully brought back into existence.

"I don't have a large net of friends either... but you can't just defy nature. I mean shit, dying that many times could have deteriorated me from the inside out. I could be a vegetable or just simply a shell of who I was before the accident."

His face showed signs of pain, not authentic pain but a discomfort of aligning his words with his emotions.

"You are selfish, you are stubborn and you could not just give up on me regardless the odds..."

The pained expression subsided.

"Thanks, Sousuke. What you did was something no one else in the world would have done. You are a great friend."

Finally the words he wanted to speak had a chance to come to the surface.


MFT -

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Sometimes the simplest answers were the best ones. Roku understood this and accepted it. "I had quite a bit of fighting on my end. A battle in Soon's Sanctuary, and a rather large confrontation in Kuro's residence with Magentica and the Cabal ... that ... well more or less brought the place down to its knees."<i></i> Sousuke for a fleeting moment would change appearances. For a flicker of an instant Roku would behold the image of Shade. No one passing by would seem to notice the change. As the image vanished as quickly as it appeared, there was an exhaustion in the Steward. Roku could feel the tiredness. Sousuke would have seem to be stretched far too thin, and given little to no time for recovery. The tiredness seems physical as well as emotional. Something lingered upon the small man. Something that was unspoken and hanged on him like a dark shadow.

Roku spoke of a possibility of his condition. The Steward surprisingly responded to him with a snap answer. "You didn't."<i></i> There was something very sudden and forthcoming with the answer. It was something the old Sousuke wouldn't have said. If he even did, there would have been a long winded answer following. "Apologies."<i></i> He added shortly after as it seemed he had thought himself as being rude. Whether or not Roku saw the answer as being rude was an entirely different matter. "Your condition set a different precedent. You didn't have to be concerned with becoming a ... 'vegetable', your mind would have clawed its way back in. You have a very strong will."<i></i> Roku then proceeded to call out the Steward. He called him selfish and stubborn. Well, stubborn could be ... discussed. Selfish? Well. That too was up for debate. Sousuke had given his all for the realm. "Any time Roku ... but I don't think myself selfish. Stubborn could be up for debate ... given that I've learned cooking."<i></i> Sousuke coughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "It's taking quite a bit of time getting used to you with short hair. Without it you'll have a hard time winning the Mr. Suna Pageant. ... You know I was entered into that thing against my own will."<i></i> Surprisingly Sousuke's colour flushed. Yes. That was ages ago. Sousuke always wanted to talk about it. "My MkII or commonly known as Silver Centurion is broken and requires a complete structural repair ... but I will not be entering the contest again. I'm ... in a relationship. So... no more outings like the other one we had at that questionable facility."<i></i>

 

[Raizo]

Still as quirky as ever. He continued to speak, losing focus of the matter he was discussing, sliding through a couple of different topics all at once. It was annoying and refreshing. In however long it was since he had last seen Sousuke, at least while conscious, there had been so much that had changed. Even in the short time of waking up, so much had changed. Yet, here was Sousuke, still being Sousuke. His responses, some of the mannerism, were different, but through what changes he had developed there was still a core there that seemed familiar. There was that thing a girlfriend...

"Oh, shit! You son'uva bitch! Granny told me you were getting friendly with a woman. Go on, give me the details."

He was being the rude one now.

"Oh, sorry about your armor... machine... thing. I am sure that brought you great sadness, or something."

There was the first piece about his fighting, but Roku was not as interested in all that. Sousuke was a competent fighter, otherwise why have him as Kage, and Roku's life had already been too consumed by bloodshed lately, so he felt the need explore other aspects of his friend's life. Beside, if he couldn't have fought his strange ass back into the village, Roku would have had to bust him up anyways.


MFT -

 

[Takahashi Aki]

"I'm the spawn of a human, not a female canine."<i></i> Sousuke asserted as Roku accused him of being a son of a bitch. Some things never died. He chewed his lip. "Well. I am dating Yume of the House Sagasu, which is an Inuzuka branch-off. I'm fairly certain she is an acquaintance of yours... given we were all at that holiday gathering years ago ... sometimes it is on my name-day."<i></i> Sousuke's birthday was usually close to the holidays. Not on the holiday, but close to it. It had remained a secret that most holiday gatherings were actually on his birthday, not that gifts were given to him. He merely ... enjoyed entertaining his associates in what awkward ways he could. "Our relationship was made public as we had to ... kiss under the mistletoe. We were familiar with each other, but ... tradition is tradition, and so I complied of course."<i></i> He paused for a moment. "I've had cooking lessons and some lunch ... 'dates' with her."<i></i> There was a certain emphasis put on the word dates. Not like a date as in an allotted time, but a date as in something that people do.

When Roku spoke of how his armour was destroyed and how it brought great sadness the Steward shrugged. "The MkII has only been reinvented four times and upgraded ... it's natural for such things to occur."<i></i> He wasn't sad at all really. He seemed indifferent. "These sort of thing happen... every once and a while."<i></i> He hesitated for a moment. Roku did mention he had dealings with his grandmother. Usually dealing with his grandmother resulted in strife and conflict. "... How was my grandmother? She ... tends to have a lasting impression on people. She didn't pollute or corrupt your lungs with her cigarette smoke did she? I will be vexed if that is the case."<i></i>