Smoke Rings in the Dark (Reader x Various)

A Question

"She's not talking to anyone," Mako told Asuma as they ate lunch, "She's moved down into the treatment area. We hardly see her, even at dinner time. When I try to talk to her, she just tells me she's fine and walks away." His eyes were focused on his ramen that he kept poking at over and over.

Asuma sighed, looking at the teenage boy in front of him. "I don't know what you expect me to do about it," Mako frowned as he lifted his head. "She's not talking to me either. She's upset, just like you are. She doesn't know how to handle things like this." Asuma was going purely based on what she talked about. Or what she didn't talk about.

After a few days of getting the cold shoulder, Asuma avoided going to see Y/n. It wasn't the best decision on his part, but he didn't know what to do. Y/n was so confused about how to feel. Her mind and heart were torn. Mako wanted to talk to her about the fact that she lied to him. Mako also wanted to talk about him calling her his sister. Y/n wanted to pretend the entire event never happened.

Mako thought for a moment while Asuma started eating again. "Then why keep trying?" Mako suddenly asked. Asuma slurped his noodles to answer, but Mako continued. "She keeps pushing us- you- away. Why keep trying? Doesn't it hurt?"

Asuma couldn't believe the kid. Almost sixteen and pretty damn smart. "When you love someone," Asuma paused, "you're willing to do anything for them. Even letting them have space to work things out. Waiting for them to seek you out. Y/n-" Asuma sighed heavily, "she's closed off, even from me."

"Then why not let her go?" Mako asked the obvious question. One that Asuma has thought about a few times over the week since the incident with Kenji.

Asuma smiled lightly, "I know you hate hearing it," Mako frowned, "but when you're older, you'll understand. In life, if you're lucky, you find the one person that makes you feel complete. That makes you feel at peace, no matter how rough the storm is around you. Y/n makes me feel that way."

Mako heard the admiration and love as Asuma spoke, "I guess that makes sense," he hated not knowing what it felt like to be in love.

Asuma ruffled Mako's hair, "It'll happen one day, son," Asuma stood up, putting money on the table, "don't overthink it."

Mako threw his hands around, waving Asuma off. Fixing his hair, he followed Asuma, "Will you try and talk to her?"

Asuma pulled out a cigarette. Lighter in his hand, he looked at it for a second. "Yea," he conceded, "I'll talk to her tonight after dinner."

Asuma walked Mako back to the store before he continued on his own. He had a few errands to run and wanted some time to think about the last week. When he took Y/n back to his apartment, it didn't go exactly how he planned. She shut down, not saying a word. He cleaned her wounds, and none were profound, and then she fell asleep.

The next morning Asuma woke up alone. He knew he should've taken advantage of her emotional mood. He searched for her, thinking she would have gone back home. After hours of searching, he found her at the cave. She was sitting on a rock that faced the mouth. The bodies of her former comrades between her and the cave.

Asuma didn't know what to do, or say, for that matter. He took a seat beside her, but Y/n only pulled away. She was folding in on herself even more than before. He could see the stains from the tears she had been shedding. He merely clasped his hands together and waited.

Y/n kept replaying the night in her head. She could see the cold look in Kenji's eyes. The devious smirk. The way he relished seeing her in pain. She had thought she was rid of the life that Suiren brought her. Suiren was following her wherever she went. There was no way around it. She had to walk away from them. It was only a matter of time before someone came looking for her again.