Irikumu Tsukisan

Forging Your Route

Seeing Hibiki in a cage was strange. A good looking guy locked up and moping. She understood how some girls could pick his route even if the man called the player horrible things. She glanced over to Kosuke, arms folded over her chest. The man locked eyes with her. Heat roared between them, Kosuke broke into a comforting smile. "Did you come here to stare at one another?" She looked forward to Hibiki now.

"Well, not really. But look at her, brother. Actually look at her. She's perfect. How could I not steal a glance or two?" He watched his brother look to her and nod vaguely without realizing it. Curious, he thought as his mind focused on the path he was likely on. It made his brother more dangerous. "We came here to talk."

Hibiki looked to Kosuke with a raised brow. "Talk? After all you did?"

"All Sakura did. She wanted us to kill you yet you remain." Makenzie spoke softly. "Though that isn't true either and I feel like you know that. Look. You two are family and no matter how much you yell or point literal swords at one another nothing will change that. Or the fact that buried under it all there is a fair amount of unconditional love there."

Kosuke looked to her with his stern faced easing a little. They hadn't quite had that talk yet, but it was clear to see she was speaking from direct experience. Her eyes remained focused on Hibiki. "It is the whole reason I am here with him, in spite of you doing the things you did."

"What have I done?" He rests his forearms on the bars, smirking a little.

"Joking, right?" Kosuke growled. "You killed father, stole her kiss. Treated Sakura as an object to manipulate. Your transgressions will never cease it seems."

"Father deserved it, she liked it and Sakura secretly wants away from you."

"I did not. Who the hell wants to be called vulgar names then have someone's lips forced on them? It was not pleasant. And you need to brush more." Kosuke tried not to laugh at her outburst. He had to cover his mouth a moment in order to look at his brother. "Look. I understand the plight. But glance at him. He is your brother. Deep down there is no way you believe he killed your mother maliciously. He loves you. He wouldn't hurt you. It was an accident. Life is never fair."

"Says the woman who slept her way from blacksmith daughter to army whore?" Kosuke hit the bars hard with the sheath of his sword. Hibiki stood tall, looking to his brother's rancid expression.

"Stop. She is not really apart of this. And she is right." Kosuke sighed. "I will make you a deal. If I let you go, you have to leave Japan. Full stop."

"Leave? Brother why would you want that?" He glanced to Makenzie then back to Hibiki, the man's eyes followed. "O... Ohhhhhhh. It's her? You scared that I will get my hands on her one day?"

"No." He placed his hand on the bars. "I'm scared that some day she will not be as graceful as she is right now and one of us will kill you. Either I do it and she feels awful for the rest of her life, as if she made me kill you to defend her or she does it and a very small part of me resents her. Because she is right. I do love you, unconditionally."

"She can't kill me." He laughed a little. "You might be able to. So you protect her from me and she would leave you? That's what you're worried about? She's going to leave you eventually anyway. Once she meets another man with more money..."

Makenzie looked down as Kosuke retired his sword to his waist. "I've already met her mother. Their family doesn't need help from ours." He looked up to his brother through bangs of white.

"Even if they have to rebuild?"

"Yes. She is wealthy." Kosuke smiled a little. "She will never have to worry about that."