He was tired. Oh, so tired.
"Hey, can you spend an hour after work?"
"Hey, can you go through these extra files the next time you file in?"
"Oh, you're taking a break? I guess you have time to go through these things for me."
Shiro was just so damned tired. If only the dreams would give him a break. He sighed loudly as he brought his knees up into his chest and rested his forehead on them. His right arm hurt, he rubbed it, fingers digging deep into the muscle trying to smooth the ache within. It helped sometimes but not really.
He had a birthmark there, almost like a burn but it consisted of ragged lines stretching from across his back and shoulder before stopping abruptly in the middle of his upper arm. Just above the elbow in a smooth line across, it was interesting to see honestly. But the constant throbs of pain it produced in his most stressed moments however, were inexplainable even to the numerous doctors he'd been to.
He sighed again, today was just not his day. Maybe, just maybe... he could close his eyes for a minute and rest.
"Tadashi!" The shrill shout caused him to jolt violently, dark eyes snapping open with a gasp, "How long are you going to spend in the washroom? You know you're not going to be paid for time wasted like this!"
Shiro could just scream. Instead he swallowed his wail of sorrow and said in the most cheerful voice he could muster, "I'll right there, Missus Darcy, just taking a minute!"
Yes, he was hiding in the bathroom and he wasn't afraid to admit it. Head rested on folded arms anchored on top of crouched knees, he stooped on top of a closed toilet. He wasn't a fan of this particular hiding place and considering he worked in the lower levels of a small office firm, it was either this or the broom cupboard downstairs and the broom cupboard downstairs was out of question.
The lord knew what small critters lived in there and Shiro wanted no part of it, plus that in itself was shocking considering that he'd do about anything to get away from his evil despotic example of a manager. Not that he was a bad employee or anything but the woman was clearly out to get him. She screeched his name again, brutally butchering the pronunciation and he couldn't help the way his shoulders hunched as he inwardly cringed.
Tadashi Kurogane .
That wasn't his name. Well, it was but at the same time, it wasn't.
Tadashi Kurogane.
It never felt right.
Huffing, Shiro stood to his feet and rolled his arms, giving his right a lasting rub. It was time to face the fray.
"About time you came out of there, dude. Escaping Darcy like the rest of us." His coworker crowed and Shiro laughed, the sound forced, "Always."
This wasn't how he wanted to spend his life. He didn't want to die spending his life at some desk job that he could hardly care about, he would rather be- No! He squashed the thought. Reclaiming his seat in front of his business computer, he brought up the old files that he'd hidden.
'Takashi Shirogane, youngest pilot of his age and generation,' The name struck a bell in him as he read the age old article, dating back almost 60 near 70 years prior, 'Perished on the Kerberos mission along with two others, Samuel and Matthew Holt due to pilot error.'
Why did those names sound so familiar, so close, he didn't know. He had woken with name 'Shiro' on his lips so long ago, he just started looking and he was looking for so long, he could feel the end of his line nearing. And the name, 'Shiro' just felt so right for him, an eternal battle his mother would never understand.
