3 Acceptance

She stared at the older man who had not to long ago stormed into the house in order to hurt her mother. He had a much calmer look in his eyes now, than when she had first seen him outside. The stool he was sitting on was in pretty bad condition, one leg was barely even attached to it, but he was able to keep a perfect balance. "Maybe he's the same as mom?", she thought. She didn't know to much about her mother's past but their father seemed to have left them because of it. It was a long time ago so she didn't remember all the details to well but some of the fights they had had was about bad people coming for them because of her mother's actions. Was this man sitting right in front of her one of those so called, "bad people? " Sure, he had seemed angry when he first came but know he just seemed to be lost. The demon she had seen before was no longer there or if it was, it had buried itself deep inside of the man.

Hotaka noticed that the girl still seemed to be scared or at least doubtful. Even so, he was surprised by how calmly she was handling the situation at hand. Someone had just rushed into her home with the intent to take her mother away and she seemed to be treating it as if it was just a normal occurrence. The girl had short black hair and beryl colored eyes, she looked nearly exactly like a younger version of Aiko. Her age was easier to guess up close, she seemed to be around thirteen years old and the younger brother was probably about seven. The boy was sleeping on the same futon as Aiko and him and the girl were both sitting facing each other. He was on a stool in the right corner of the main room and she was in the middle of the room, by the futon, sitting on a chair. Even though he was in the corner and she in the middle, the distance between them were only about two meters. This house was definitely cramped.

After he had heard the daughters plead for mercy, Hotaka had just sat down and not said a word since. Aiko still hadn't moved but he wasn't thinking about that right now, the thoughts going through his mind right now were about this quest he had embarked on. "What if the other three also had moved on with their lives like Aiko?", "What if I'm the only one who's been stuck in this limbo while the others have moved on?".

Those were all thoughts going through his mind and it made made him feel a great despair but also an equally great wrath. They had killed the person he had held dearest in the whole world, in order to escape the lives of outlaws. They had all been able to kill a person who they had known and he couldn't even do the same because of a girl he had never met. He was sure that if the girl hadn't been here, Aiko would have been dead right now. Should he be thankful or was this just going to prolong the inevitable? He knew that revenge was never seen as anything good and that the consent was to accept and move on. He thought that this was just what people told themselves as an excuse when they didn't have the willingness to do anything about the situation they were in. "Should I just find another family and forget the one I had?!", he had always thought that the struggles of life was what made it worth living.

He may not be able to kill Aiko, but what about the others? He was sure that at least Daiki was still living a morbid way of life. Although even he could have changed, but what was he supposed to do then? I need to do something for her, I can't just accept the fact that she was killed and move on. He realized that a big part of what he was really searching for was a way to ventilate. The feelings inside of him felt like a thick fog which wouldn't let up, no matter how hard the winds blowing on it were.

"Who... are you?", it was the girl who had ended the silence. He thought for a short time and answered, "My name is Hotaka and I'm a... " he paused for a bit, "former acquaintance of your mother." The girl observed him with analytical eyes from top to bottom and said, "are you out to hurt her" He made a deep sigh and then started talking again, "No, not anymore." She was unsure of what to say but decided to followed up with another question. "What made you have a change of heart?" He wondered what to say and then answered, "Reality set in and I came to a crossroad, basically, you helped me remember something I had forgotten long ago" She got a surprised look on her face and said, "what did you forget?" she noticed that his eyes were different now, they were a lot more hopeful than before. "What you made me remember?, well if I'm going keep it short, you basically made me remember what the taste of green tea is like" She stared at him with an emotionless expression and then she started to giggle. "You sure are a weird guy, Hotaka" She no longer felt any fear towards the man who had broken into their home, it was actually more of the opposite, she was intrigued by him. That's when she noticed that Hotakas lips were making a faint smile, but it wasn't just out of joy. It seemed to be a mix of all kinds of emotions and this was even more evident by the tears that were sliding down his cheek. " Yeah... I also think it's kind of funny, but still... thank you... so much." Hotaka finally felt like he wasn't some dead man aimlessly walking without a destination. Finally, for the first time in what felt like forever, he felt like just any other man living in the present.