The Border of Asakusa (Benimaru x Reader)

Last Night

Happy New Year!! Manga spoilers ahead. (From here on, some things will be from the Manga, others will be added lore/worldbuilding)

Also, the ending of this chapter... I um, I took the idea from Outlander. It um, apparently helps? *hides face*

-----------------------------------------------------------

Gaku's phone pinged with an emergency alert "Fuck." He snapped it closed.

"What?" Konro popped his head out of your kitchen.

"Obi's been arrested..."

"What?"

Gaku rested the folded phone against his lips. "Probably because he dropped off the corpses of the of the Holy Sol's Shadow."

"... shit. Waka!" Konro called upstairs to your room. "I know you can hear us."

"Company 8 has been named enemies of the empire." Gaku finally added on with his head resting against the wall. "I told Vulcan to bring everyone here."

"Good. Waka! You should help Obi." Beni's eyes remained fixed on you on the floor. "When she wakes up, and finds out you didn't help Obi, she's going to be pissed and you know it."

A full silent minute passed before Beni stepped outside your room. "That's low."

But it worked. "Well?" Konro asked.

"Fine. Gaku, you're in charge of her."

"Sir." Gaku bowed his head.

Beni stepped back into your room. "I'll be right back." He kissed your forehead, before he bowed his head to rest against yours. "Please. Don't wake up with him..."

Gaku tossed his overnight bag onto the floor of your room, and pulled his shirt off with one hand behind his back. "So. Beni doesn't sleep, huh? He just watches you?" He took a seat near the lantern light. "I hope he at least talks to you. Tells you a story..." He perused the small collection of books you kept on the table by the light, including the book on Buddhism he'd lent you. "Knowing him, he probably just sits here and broods. Obsessively monitors you. Not very stimulating for you." He sighed. "And all your books are non-fiction..." He smirked. "Can't say I'm surprised, hun." He pulled his book off the top of your stack and opened it to your bookmark. "... reincarnations and past lives, huh?" He snapped it closed. He brought his knees up, rested his forearms on them, and bowed his head to grip the bridge of his nose. "Sure, we can talk about that." He stated, composed. "I'll start with what feels like my past life at this point, and then, we can talk about yours."

"I was the second of 5 boys in the strongest pyrokinetic family in the empire," He finally began. "My youngest brother was Konro's grandfather. He was the only one of my brothers who was even slightly redeemable. The rest took closely after my father, who- was horrendous. I was the only one of us who didn't have my abilities by age 7, so... He tossed me into a festival bonfire, hoping it would either kill me or ignite my pyrokinesis. When it did neither, my only saving grace was I was fast enough, nimble enough, and pain tolerant enough to escape the pit mostly unscathed." He looked down at his hands and rolled his lips between his teeth. "Eventually, I practiced my healing techniques on my own scars, but, I always felt uneasy at festivals... I'm sorry I took that out on you this summer... But," He put himself back on track "in my youth, powerless, and terrified of my own family, I trained every day, attempting to build my body, not unlike your friend Obi. Though, perhaps it would be more appropriate to say my skills aligned more closely with your friend Joker. It was important to my father that all his sons were in close service to the emperor. I had to sell myself somehow... and I offered myself as an assassin. He took my offer. I was the Holy Sol's Shadow, before it was an organization. And I was very effective." He shifted to lay down with his hands behind his head, two inches from you. "A few years later my powers finally appeared. I was the first 3rd gen pyrokinetic. That same day, I returned to my family home for the first time in years... and burned my father alive." He smirked. "My bothers never mentioned it. Seemingly, they didn't mind." He stopped, not hearing the soft rhythm of your breath. "Y/n?" He rolled to his side and held your wrist.