In For A Long Night

Pain means weakness.

Hayabusa would always tell himself that, and it would almost always work. Almost. Right now, however, even he has to admit he's having a rough time. It's been three days since he embarked on his mission to find and kill the treacherous former Shadow, the one who wreaked havoc on the Order of the Scarlet Shadow ten years ago, and so far, he has absolutely no leads at all. What makes it worse is that the numerous ruffians he's encountered so far just adds to the struggle of looking for a safe place to stay for the night, until the next morning, when he has to continue on his search.

He can tell himself how pain means weakness as many times and in as many versions as he'd like, but there's no denying it. He's tired. So, very tired, and not just physically tired either. He feels there's something missing, something that left a hole in his heart the moment he stepped out of Iga and into the unfamiliar land beyond it. He should have expected it, honestly- everything he knew and everything he is was all in Iga. His family, the Order, the culture he grew up surrounded by. And of course, there's her.

Kagura.

Maybe that's what he's missing. Maybe it's his first and current love, the girl he's known for all these years, even way before he was initiated into the Order. It doesn't help much that he left without any prior warning, either. He knows how rude it was of him to just leave his best friend and childhood sweetheart hanging without even a goodbye, and he really, sincerely, feels the weight of his blunder in its entirety, but he had to. If Kagura knew, she wouldn't leave him alone. She would have insisted on following him, and he knows just how stubborn she can be.

If he could, he would have taken her along, but he can't. He shouldn't. This is too dangerous, the traitor he was sent to kill managed to take down the entire Order all by himself. Clearly, this task poses a great risk, and the last thing he would ever want is to see her in danger because she got caught up in his own mess. Perhaps it was the better choice, the way he left without a single word.

That doesn't ease away any of the guilt, though.

Hayabusa's thoughts are interrupted by a grumble coming from within him, right in his stomach. The dusk colors of the sky are slowly seeping down, further into the western horizon as they chase after the sun that has just set for the day, and with them they start to take whatever natural light is left. Looks like it's another evening in a tavern, empty-handed and exhausted, and having to deal with violent drunks again. Luckily, in the town he's managed to chance upon now, there seems to be an inn not far from where he stands. Maybe this place won't be too much trouble, he thinks to himself.

Soon enough he's sat in the inn's diner, near the walls so as not to stand out, trying to down whatever it is he's been given. It's not that the taste was bad, but it isn't anything he's used to, and much to his frustration, it's proving to be a challenge to him. The noises of loud conversations that fill the space of the diner isn't helping him, either. While no one seems to be gearing up for a fight, not yet at least, the atmosphere was nonetheless chaotic. There's the muffled out conversation and card games from the opposite side, the table next to him seems to be having a heartfelt, tear-jerking exchange, behind him were two men gossiping about a famous thief named Claude, and the ones in front of him-

"Have you seen what they've been talking about earlier? A girl with white hair and wielding some magical umbrella with her?"

Wait.

Could it be that's... Kagura, they're talking about?

There's a tinge of excitement he feels first, before he immediately takes it back, and the prior excitement is instead replaced with a whole flurry of emotions, mostly anger. Anger, because how and why, in all of hell, did she follow him here? How did she know where to look? WHY did she bother to look? There's a reason he chose not to tell her, and if it really is Kagura they're talking about two meters in front of him, that reason has all been for naught.

Then again, it would have been foolish of him to believe she wouldn't have found out soon enough, after he left. She makes it a point to walk home with him at the end of each day, even on late nights when Hanabi would challenge him to spar. Kagura also talks to him in the morning, before they start their days. His sudden absence won't go unnoticed by her.

Hayabusa shakes his head, both at this overheard information and at his food. That makes it two people he needs to find, and the most urgent one right now isn't the one he was sent on this mission for.

This just became a whole lot more complicated.