Invincible is merely a word.
"No, I couldn't."
Of course she couldn't. Neither of them were inclined to abandon posts for the sake of the other. It was the response he had anticipated, thus disappointment could hardly manifest. Duty was all too often incompatible with matters of the heart. Perhaps somewhere deep down Inosuke may have held out for a different answer, though at best it would have been a furtive, incomplete feeling. A strict attitude of realism inhibited all idyllic yearnings before they could fully blossom.
"Ashina may be home, but Ashina is here. The legacy is you and her. No matter where you may roam, that doesn't change."
Sharp wind hissed from flared nostrils. "I value your sentiment, fallacious as it may be," he assured before his gaze Henna's gesture toward their peers. "I don't expect you to understand," he continued, speaking with a gaze opposing the direction of his words.
"Ishida, Bernard!"
"Ashina is-"
Inosuke's attempt to slip his point in conversation before the convergence of two pairs meant an inevitable subject change was foiled by Ishida's collision embrace. At the severing of words, the display of affection played out in a rather one-sided fashion. Ishida would have received more laxity and reciprocation by throwing herself around a menhir. Inosuke gave a blank glance to Henna, then Bernard, then down to the blur of white tresses in his peripheral vision.
“I felt you die.”
Hairs on the older Ashina's neck stood up. Involuntary memories returned with a cadaver's chill. All this time, Inosuke had the false impression that she'd known, at least in some vague sense, that he had persisted. Clearly, her reaction wasn't as overripe or unbecoming as the admonishment, stifled and lingering in his throat, nearly proclaimed. A slow hand rose, crept reassuringly over his sibling's shoulder. "I thought you knew," he attested silently.
Another fleeting second, then Inosuke peeled his sister to a respectable distance. "I-" Rare hesitation. "I left you a note." It sounded silly now, inconsiderate, even. "I did not have time to explain anything before were all split up so expeditiously, I apologize." Not even a man as phlegmatic as Inosuke was immune to the awkward twinge that had taken over the collective presence around them. An abortive inclination of a grimace came to life as a twitch of Inosuke's lower right eyelid.
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