Faith. (Sequel)

Chapter 15 | Frustrations

''Is it okay to leave like that?'' Keiji carefully asked they moved away from the house. ''Madara-sama's going to be very vexed. He doesn't like being left out.''

Asami clenched her jaw. Wasn't it Keiji's fault in the first place? He should've just kept his mouth shut. He could also have made up a lie, but he told Madara that Asami told him not to say anything.

But Keiji's not the only one at fault here. Asami asked something impossible of Madara's loyal underling. She asked him to keep a secret.

And then there's Madara, the man who thinks he needs to know everything. No secrets. The only one who can have those is he himself. He's unfair. While Asami had to wait for three years, Madara doesn't have the patience to wait for three hours.

And Asami would be away longer than 3 hours.

"He'd have done the same if he were me." Asami said softly, burying her face in her scarf. ''He can't blame me for wanting to do this.''

Keiji sighed, not totally agreeing with her. ''But he can blame you for not saying anything.'' He argued. 

Asami gritted her teeth. Why was he siding with Madara now? He kept it a secret as well. It doesn't matter that she asked him to do that, he did it, and that's what matters. He could have betrayed her from the start, but he didn't. So why was he doing it now?

''It's not your problem so let's just stop talking about it. I'll figure something out when I get back.'' Asami snapped. ''More importantly, why does Mito want to meet me now? Wasn't I supposed to send back a response to her letter?''

"That was the intention." Keiji said. ''But she had to run an errand in a nearby village and she saw this as an opportunity to meet up with you.''

''You didn't bring her close to the house, right?''

Keiji didn't like the tone she used. Her voice was normally very soft and warm, not low and stern. He already figured that Asami was feeling a bit sick since she sounded quite hoarse, but he didn't know why she was acting so anxious and annoyed. Was it because of something he had said? Or because the small argument she had with Madara a few minutes ago? Did something happen before that?

No matter how many possible reasons Keiji came up with, he couldn't explain her sudden change in behavior and he also didn't dare to ask her when she was acting like this. He wanted to her calm down, not more upset.

Abrupt coughs interrupted Keiji's thoughts and he looked at Asami, who was covering her mouth. Even though she just seemed to have short fits of coughing, her face contorted in pain every time she coughed.

''Asami, are you alright? Let's stop for a second.'' Keiji said, placing his hand on her shoulder, hoping to comfort her that way. ''And to answer your question, she's about an hour away from here. She'll never find this place.''

Her throat still hurt from coughing, so she nodded instead of talking. Asami didn't show it, but she was relieved.

Her peaceful life was almost robbed from her last night. Never again would she let anyone get close to her family.

Not even her sister.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Madara sighed when he was finally done. The window was repaired at last. He figured that he should fix it because the cold air didn't only bother Asami, but him as well. And what else could he do now? He was in the middle of nowhere.

Madara looked over his shoulder when he heard a few noises and he saw Kouta opening the drawers of his nightstand. When Asami left the boy with him, he had no idea what to do with him. Madara wanted to go upstairs to fix the window, but should he take Kouta with him, or leave him downstairs? Would it be fine to leave him downstairs unsupervised? In the end, Madara took him with him.