Eros. (Benimaru Shinmon)

四 ❀

Year 195

I entered my home and placed it by belonging on the side and took off my shoes. I made my way over to my small kitchen to make a decent meal for myself.

"Ramen," I thought to myself.

The thought of making some deep-fried/tempura pork cutlet sounded so good right now and I had the ingredients for it.

I washed my hands and grabbed my apron and began cooking. First, I needed to steam some noodles in a large pot.

Then, cut some onions.  I held a small, thin metal rod in-between my left index and middle fingers as I chopped the green food with my right. As soon as the knife hit the metal rod, I would stop cutting, place the knife down, and felt the spring onion.

When I needed to taste something on the stove, I held my hand at the shoulder level and waved it over the stove. When I felt the heat from the pot's contents, I lowered my hand a bit and moved that hand around the steam until I felt the ladle handle. Once I finished tasting the food, I'd tap the ladle on the edge of the pot before placing it back in.

The eggs finally came out. I held a small bowl with my left hand in place and held an egg in my right hand. After, I gently slid the egg on the counter until it softly hit the bowl, rather than simply picking it up. I traced the side of the bowl with the egg until it reached the rim. With a swift flick of the wrist, I cracked the egg on that rim and skillfully dumped the egg's content in the bowl with just my right hand. I walked over to the sink dropped the eggshell in it, walked back to the yolk filled bowl, traced my fingers across the table until II found a pair of chopsticks, and started whisking the yolk and egg whites.

Call me weird but I liked a fried egg instead of a boiled egg in my ramen.

Soon my meal was done. Complexly flavored, the perfect bowl of ramen combines clear broth with wheat noodles, slices of roasted pork, seasoned bamboo shoots, and chopped green onions. This aromatic stock—meat, vegetable, or seafood—contains up to 40 ingredients and is simmered for hours was right in front of me. The noodles, from thin to wavy, are aged for up to ten days in a cool place to achieve their peak flavor and texture.

"Thanks for the food," I thought to myself.

Before I could appreciate the art of my ramen, the big, hot, tasty noodles were shoved into my mouth, thrusting themselves in and out at an alarming pace. I almost choked as the noodles rammed down my throat repeatedly but I couldn't help it.

I stuck my tongue out, wanting to taste my precious home-made ramen again. The noodles obliged willingly, a thick rope of them pushing into my mouth.

I brought the bowl to my lips and felt a warm, tasty liquid release down my throat.

"So good," I thought to myself as I placed my chopsticks down and clapped my hands together.

I took my bowls and put them in the sink and began to wash the dishes.

Making sure that my knives were cleaned, I heard a small noise from my someone shifting my Noren. I didn't know what came of my but my reflexes reacted and the knife that was in my hand, instantly was embedded in the pillar holding my home's opening, every close to the person who had entered my home; Benimaru Shinmon letting himself in, not even bothering to knock.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"Konro forced me to come here to say thank you and to make sure you're safe; even though I made it clear that I didn't need your help," Benimaru replied.

"You're welcome and goodbye," I replied as I walked off to another area of my home.

I heard Benimaru sigh and look at my being. His right pupil is a red circle with a black dot in the middle and his left eye has a red iris and a white cross-shaped pupil bore into my own eyes, "I don't give a damn about you but I care about Konro and doing this is what he told me to do."

"Glad to see that you're a bitch," I glared, "Listen, I am fine and I don't need you to watch me like a guard dog; please tend towards the other people in this town and leave me alone; you were doing a fine job at it."

"I can't believe you still hold that grudge on me on what I said so many years back," Benimaru grumbled.

"Just shows how sexist you are," I replied as I walked another way, "Please see your way out."

Benimaru looked once more at me. His Tic-Tac-Toe eyes were now staring with a bit more interest, though Benimaru remained silent and observing. He chuckled slightly before he left, going back to the Peacekeeper's Brigade hangout.

"Asakusa possesses very powerful fighters that are more than able to protect their own without having to rely on the Special Fire Force. A woman in our ranks wouldn't be a good look and shouldn't be apart of this brigade; why don't you just become a good housewife  or something."

Those words he said to me that day played in my head over and over again. All I could so was obey because he not only told me that but the guys around him that day laughed at me about it. Those same men that Konro often request me to heal; were the same imbeciles who laughed at me when I requested to be apart of their brigade. Konro was the only one who politely let me know that it wouldn't be best for me to join.

But why...?

It could be because of the fact that they didn't know I had pyrokinetic abilities...but even if they did know...would they still have let me join; Asakusa was still on the beliefs of pre-industrialization. Women were meant to only serve while men protect...absurd.

A catastrophe happens in this world that disintegrate most parts of the world and turn so many of your people into Infernals, because we lack a Fire Force we rely on the men to fight against them in our district and yet when a woman asks to join, we cant!

I watched the whitish-bluish flames that burn on this cold night, like my finger tips like a hungry kiteen with a saucer of milk,  crackling, playful, gentle at first, fire flickered, flared, leapt, spat, shower of sparks like a fountain, plumes of black grey smoke, wound itself around the post like a great hungry serpent, devoured my hands-a rarity in this era

The warm glow it radiated, enveloped me in a sense of security. It was after all a mesmerizing spectacle to behold, the embers dancing in the air in a routine choreographed by the elements. The flames swaying in the breeze to music only it can hear, the crackling that makes the eerie silence comfortable...

"But if only they knew..." I thought as I allowed the flames to die out.