Kyojuro Rengoku Ice Heart And Flame Soul

| Chapter Twenty-Two | Harsh Words

Kyojuro had come back inside from training in the yard, and he sat at the table with his cup of water. He watched as I rushed around, looking under things, behind things, on top of shelves, even outside.

I scrambled around and panicked. How could I have lost it? There was no way. Kyo took it off of me and I was sure I left it where he dropped it, but I couldn't find it!

Just to double check, I walked outside again. I thought maybe it had been picked up by the wind and blew somewhere nearby. I even took a look on top of the roof. It wasn't outside.

I ran back inside and began to aggressively look under things again. I even picked up the table and turned it sideways, and moved the chair, thinking it might have been there.

"I can't watch this anymore, Rika. What are you looking for?" Kyojuro stood up and asked.

"My haori!" I said, as I continued to search frantically around the room.

"Where did you last remove it?" He asked.

I stopped moving and looked at him with a glare. He knew perfectly well where it was last removed. And not even by me.

"Ah, yes. I recall our... encounter." He said.

"Uh huh. But it wasn't outside!" I shouted.

"Take a breath. You are working yourself up."

"Kyo! I can't lose that! It means too much to me." I said, continuing to search around the room.

He walked up behind me and put his hands on my shoulders. "I will help you find it. Don't worry, it isn't lost."

I took off into the hallway and ran to our room. I looked in there for the third time. My gaze first went to the rack where his haori hung, but mine didn't hang in its place beside his.

Kyojuro came into the room and searched as well. He looked up onto the top shelves. He was much taller than me, so he had a better view of them.

I searched under the bed, but found nothing there. I sat down and put my hands on my headband, letting the silk soothe me. I took a deep breath, trying to ease my anxiety.

Kyojuro looked over at the rack. "Unfortunate that it wasn't left where it should have been." He said.

I looked up and glared at him. "Alright Kyojuro, just because you grew up in a big fancy house, with two parents who loved you and a younger brother as a companion, doesn't mean that everybody did! I didn't get to learn how to keep my house in order! I didn't have a house! My family was slaughtered. Or did you forget that?"

"Rika..." Kyojuro said. "I think you are forgetting something."

"No, I didn't get the perfect spoiled rich life that you did! I didn't have the love and affection that you did! I never got to have my own room! For a year, I lived in the streets! I never had enough clothes to even put away! Only ever having what I wore!"

I became furious. I looked on the shelf, shoving my clothes over, and my haori remained nowhere to be seen. I went to the rack holding Kyojuro's haori and pulled it off. I thought maybe mine sat underneath. But I found nothing.

"Oh, you're right, I did forget something. Your mom is dead." I heard him clear his throat, but I ignored it. "You still grew up with a rich lifestyle because your dad was a Hashira!" I threw his haori onto the floor in a heap and went to the other side of the bed.

Kyojuro walked over and picked his haori up from the floor, hung it back onto the rack, and smoothed the wrinkles. He patted off some dirt that gathered from me throwing it on the floor and turned back to watch me search.