Poston

Chapter two : Adjusting and Apologies

Nino spent a very restless night the first night. He was surprised anyone could sleep in unbearable heat, or on a poky straw-filled mattress on a hard wooden floor, or with the noise of crickets outside. It was really hard for Nino to calm down enough to give him any sleep at all.

It also didn't help that he had a lot on his mind. Like his conversation with Satoshi earlier that night. He had never really talked to anyone about his dad before. But no one had ever really asked before, either. People always assumed. It made Nino curious why he had opened up to this man he had never met before. Granted, it was only brief that he allowed himself to relax around him, but it was enough for Nino to realize that he hadn't relaxed completely since Pearl Harbor.

After spending countless hours wide awake and staring at the ceiling, Nino finally realized he wasn't getting any sleep that night, and he decided to sit up and see if he could read one of the books he brought. However, as soon as he moved to sit up, a very definite rattle could be heard inside the room. Nino froze, but dared himself to slowly sit up some more to see what it was. He saw that Satoshi was awake as well and was sitting up in his futon across from him on the other end of the room, wide-eyed and focused on something in the middle of the floor. Nino followed his gaze and wanted to jump and run when he saw it.

A light brown snake with a black diamond pattern across his back was slithering in the middle of the floor right in the moonlight shining through the window, a shiny gold rattle on its tail was glimmering in the dark moonlight. It paralyzed Nino, and he couldn't move even if he wanted to. The snake moved its head and Nino got to look into the yellow eyes of the snake, and for a second he was afraid the snake was going to attack him.

This is it, Nino thought as his heart raced. I'm gonna die here in hell not by a gun, but by a rattlesnake. My legacy is gonna be known as the guy who got bitten by a rattlesnake.

Suddenly, he saw something move in front of him, and when he glanced up, he saw that Satoshi had slowly gotten up from his futon and was now holding a wooden baseball bat. "What are you doing?" Nino hissed at him. "Where did you get that?"

Satoshi didn't say a word. Instead, he slowly went to open the door of the barrack, which creaked slightly as he opened it completely, before silently and slowly going back to the snake and began pushing the snake out of the barrack with his bat. With every push, the hissing of the rattlesnake's rattle became louder, but as soon as it was out of the barrack, Satoshi sprinted out to follow it. Nino finally got up and followed him outside. He could see the snake in the middle of the dirt, and before it could attack, the wooden bat came down hard on its head. Nino looked away but heard the bat come down twice on it before the rattle stopped moving.

"I think it's dead," Satoshi said, breaking the silence.

Nino let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Good," he breathed. He looked back at Satoshi, who had large beads of sweat on his forehead. "Well, aren't you a cold-blooded killer then?" he joked laughing.

Satoshi couldn't help but laugh with him.

Suddenly, a loud wail screamed into the dark night, making both men stop and look around to see where it was coming from. Then they heard yelling and saw flashlights coming from the main courtyard, looking like they were coming straight towards their barrack.

"Inside!" Nino screamed to Satoshi as he pushed him back inside the barrack and slammed the door. Satoshi moved in front of Nino and slightly opened the door so they could look outside. Army soldiers were screaming at each other, holding guns and running toward the front of the camp. "Where the hell did they escape from?" one soldier screamed.

"Block four," another one said. "But they'll have to come through Block three in order to get out."

"Block all entrances! Make sure no one gets out of their barracks. If they do and come towards you, don't hesitate to give a warning shot."

"Someone's escaped?" Satoshi asked.

"Idiot," Nino grumbled.

"Kazu?"

Nino turned and saw Natsumi and his mother sitting up, along with Ohno's family. "It's fine," he assured everyone. "Go back to sleep. Everything's fine."

"Why is the air raid siren going off?"

"Natsu, just go back to sleep!"

After a hesitant minute, everyone laid back down, and soon the siren went off as well. The soldiers continued yelling and talking loudly, but even after a few minutes that stopped as well.

It was unclear if they caught the culprits or not.

--

The next morning, everyone looked exhausted as they ate breakfast in the mess hall.

And everyone was talking.

"I heard they sneaked past the guards!"

"Did they get out?"

"How brave! Why didn't I think of the same thing?"

Nino only scowled as he heard such things. "Idiots," he said. "All of them! Those men were idiots for trying to escape. We're in the middle of nowhere! Where would they run away to?!"

"Kazu, relax," Natsumi told him. "People will talk about everything."

"Well it's a load of bullshit!"

"I would really appreciate it if you didn't swear in front of my children," Jun snapped as he stopped his fork and looked up at Nino. "I don't care if you curse in your barrack, but around my family you keep your mouth at bay!"

"Who are you to tell me what the hell I can and cannot say?!" Nino yelled back, standing up threateningly. Jun dropped his fork, making a loud clang against the plate as he stood up to challenge the shorter man. "You wanna fight?" Nino challenged. "Bring it! I can kick your little issei ass any day!"

Nino knew that Jun would be willing to put up a fight. He didn't really think that Jun would actually reach across the table and grab his shirt to punch him though.

"ENOUGH!" Natsumi screamed as she stood up as well. By this point, practically everyone in the mess hall had stopped what they were doing and were watching the almost-brawl. Jun and Nino had locked eyes and were staring very dangerously at each other, neither one willing to let the other one win. "You're acting worse than your children!" Natsumi told them. "Everyone is just as irritated about being here as the next person. But we have to live with it! Don't make it worse by beating each other to death!"

His sister's words really got to him, and immediately Nino let his guard down and pulled Jun off of him. Then he turned to look at his sister. "You had to say that," he hissed before storming out of the silent mess hall before Natsumi had time to think over what she just said.

But Nino had no idea where to storm off to, so he walked back to his barrack hoping to find some peace and quiet. Instead he found Satoshi digging a hole with his hands under the barrack. "What are you doing?" Nino asked him.

Satoshi looked up at him and stopped digging. "Well, I figured we might want to bury that rattlesnake before too many more people notice it," he explained. "Mom almost had a heart attack. So while everyone was eating, I decided to stay and do that."

Nino frowned and sat on the steps to the barrack, watching as the older man took his baseball bat and push the snake into the hole before covering it up with dirt. "That was brave of you last night," Nino said. "I'm sorry I was too paralyzed to help."

Satoshi shook his head. "Don't worry about it," he said standing up. He sat next to Nino and handed him something. Nino took it and felt the smooth rattle feel like silk under his fingers. "I was just as scared as you," Satoshi explained. "I was afraid it was going to bite you, so I just reacted."

Nino handed the rattle back. "Thank you," he said. "But it made me feel like I couldn't really provide for my family. I couldn't really before we came here either. I'm worthless."

"No you're not."

"You ran a butcher shop while your father was gone."

"We were close to going into debt, too. No one would buy from us, so in a way it was a good thing we sold the store. My father is going to be furious at me when I tell him that."

"What? That no one would buy from your store?"

"That we had to sell. I can just picture his fury now. It will just make me more of a disappointment to him than I already am."

Nino looked back at him. "A disappointment? How could you be a disappointment?"

"You'd be surprised."

"Give an example."

Satoshi thought a minute. "I didn't go to prom," he responded.

"So?" Nino asked. "I didn't go to mine either."

"How come?"

Before Nino could say anything else, he found Natsumi storming up to him. "How could you?!" she nearly screamed at him. "You've got Matsumoto-san's children upset as well as Mama!"

Her brother sighed. "It would have been fine if he hadn't threatened to punch me!"

"It would have been fine if you had kept your flapping mouth shut!"

"What?" Ohno asked, completely lost as to what was going on.

"Oh," Nino said, realizing Ohno wasn't at the mess hall that morning. "I kinda insulted your cousin."

"Kinda?!" Natsumi screeched.

"Good," Ohno responded. "Maybe he'll finally get some of that hot air of his out of his system."

If Nino could have laughed, he would have. His sister just stood there, gawking in awe at the way this conversation had gone before she finally had enough sense to close her mouth and walk back towards the courtyard. When she finally disappeared out of sight, the two men couldn't help but burst into fits of laughter.

"You're going to get killed!" Ohno said laughing.

Nino laughed into his hand. "I agree," he responded. "But I'm not sure who is going to have the pleasure of doing so, Matsumoto-san or my sister."

--

The first week was hell. It took a long while to get used to everything, such as the tar covered barracks, the unbearable heat, and the lack of privacy. On day three, Mama and Mrs. Ohno had stitched a large curtain to go across the room to split it in half. That way, the girls could change on one side and the boys could change on the other without having to go outside to wait.

"We should see if there are any jobs available here," Ayumi said one morning. "I'm tired of staying here in this barrack all day."

"Good idea," Natsumi agreed. She looked over at her brother. "Kazu, maybe you should do the same."
Nino, who was lazily strumming his guitar, stopped and looked up. "No thanks," he answered before going back to his music.

"Let him be, daughter," Mama said, a little smirk on her face. "Your brother would rather sulk around and become pale-faced and ugly before he god-forbid went outside and interacted with people. That's okay. He can help me and Seiran sew the futons together and sew curtains and wash dishes and do laundry and—"

Again, Nino stopped and looked up at his family, irritated and frustrated. "Fine," he said putting his guitar down and climbing off the futon. "I'll go interact with people since you all are so eager to get rid of me."

"Don't slam the door on your way out!" Natsumi called out laughing.

Nino slammed it anyway and started walking down towards the mess hall, where the job postings would be at. When he got out into the main courtyard, he was pleasantly surprised to suddenly be almost run over by a couple of children. "Woah!" he exclaimed, stopping the excited bunch. "You almost ran me over!"

"Sorry, sir!" one of the little girls laughed.

Nino looked closer and saw that he recognized these children. "Hey, you're Matsumoto and Sakurai's kids, aren't you?"

"Yep!" the smallest girl in pigtails smiled raising her hand. "I'm Yuki Sakurai! I'm four!"

"I'm Samantha Matsumoto!" the second little girl said raising her hand as well. "And I'm three!"

"I'm Charlie Matsumoto!" the only boy said, copying the girls. "I'm four! Hey, aren't you the guy that almost beat up Papa?"

Before Nino could answer, he heard a voice next to him. "Who almost beat up your papa?"

"Sato-ji-chan!" Charlie and Samantha exclaimed running over to hug him. Satoshi was caught off guard as well, but not as much as Nino had been. "That man almost hit Papa!" Charlie said pointing up at Nino. "He called Papa an issei and everything!"

Satoshi laughed. "It's rude to point," he answered pulling Charlie's finger down. "And I heard about that. This is Kazunari Ninomiya, and he's living in the same barrack as me. Be nice to him, okay?"

"Okay," the two said before looking back at Nino. "Sorry for being mean."

"Ah, no you're fine," Nino said nervously. "Um... you know it was just a misunderstanding between me and your father."

"You should tell him that," Samantha said.

"Papa said you made him so mad that he wanted to stomp your guts out and everything!" Charlie added.

"Oi!" Satoshi warned.

Nino frowned, finally realizing how big of a mistake he made with their father. "Yeah, I bet your father's pretty mad at me." He felt a small hand tug on his pants leg, and he looked down to see Yuki looking back up at him. He knelt down to her. "What is it?"

"My papa always says that if you make someone sad or angry, you should tell him you are sorry," Yuki said.

Nino felt his heart drop a little. "You think I should apologize?"

"Yeah!" Samantha exclaimed. "You should say you're sorry!"

Satoshi stood up straight and looked at his roommate. "That might be a good idea," he admitted. "We don't know how long we're going to be here, so you might want to be on good terms with him unless something happens."

Nino frowned. "Yeah," he groaned. "Alright, I'll go apologize."

"Yay!" the two Matsumoto children screamed before grabbing the older man's hand. "Let's go! Papa's in the barrack!"
Nino and Satoshi followed the two children as they led them to barrack six, then they quickly opened the barrack door and walked in. "Papa! Guess what!"

Nervously, Nino walked into the familiar yet different barrack. It looked almost identical to his, only it had more mattresses, an extra window on the left wall, and instead of on the floor they were on the wire bed frames that the army had provided for everyone. Nino saw that the women had not set up curtains to separate the barrack in half, but the large sheet on one of the beds suggested that they were working on it.

On the bed closest to the door, the two children went over and nearly jumped on the man laying down on it. He had his hat on over his face, which suggested that he was trying to sleep, and Nino proved his guess right because the man groaned sleepily as he was being shook awake before lifting his hat to look at his children. "What is it?" he asked.

"We found Mr. Ninomiya living with Sato-ji-chan and he wants to apologize!" Samantha explained.

"Eh? Mr. Ninomiya?" Jun sat up and saw Nino and Satoshi standing at the door, not really sure if they could come in or not. "Oh," he said as recognition registered finally. "Okay. Um... Sato-nii can you take the kids somewhere?"

"Sure," Satoshi answered. "C'mon, folks. Let's go see if the mess hall has any candy or ice cream yet."

The three children happily bounced off with him, smiling and laughing happily as they did so. "Can you close the door behind you?" Jun asked Nino.

Nino nodded and did so after he walked in. He went over and stood next to the bed as Jun rubbed his eyes and put on his glasses. "I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting any visitors," he explained. "Sammy was up all night crying, so I'm a little worn out. You can sit down if you want."

After Jun moved his legs, Nino sat down next to him and took a deep breath. "I blew a fuse the last time I saw you," he began. "You asked me to behave and I didn't, and I would like to really apologize for that. I got us both upset because I was frustrated and angry, and I'm sorry."

Nino watched as Jun watched him, letting him explain himself before he frowned and leaned over with his elbows on his knees. "I'm sorry too," he said. "I haven't really adjusted well here, and I was just as frustrated as you."

"I don't think anyone is getting adjusted here well," Nino said. "It's hard to when we are being forced here against our will."
Jun nodded his head. "I accept your apology."

"And I accept yours."

"And promise me to look after my cousin and his family," Jun replied looking up at Nino. "Satoshi has had it particularly hard since Uncle Shiro was taken. There's been a lot of pressure put on him."

"I've noticed," Nino admitted. "He doesn't talk much."

"Uncle Shiro used to get mad at him for saying things. So he doesn't talk often." He looked up. "I hear that you lost your father last December. I'm sorry."

"Masaki told you?" Nino asked. When Jun nodded, they both chuckled. "Well I'll look after your family if you look after mine."

"Deal!"

Nino smiled and stood up, relieved that he had gotten somewhere. Maybe living here in the middle of nowhere wouldn't be so bad after all. "Thank you, Matsumoto-san. I'll see you tonight at dinner."