Two Sides to Every Coin (OPM Garou x OC)

Chapter 5: Suffer in Silence

~
'Why should we let a monster back into our society?' one hero association board member asked, his tone dripping with condescension.
Saya in her uniform, sitting across from said member, among three more, kept a stoic expression.
'Garou is not a monster,' Saya stated simply, 'He was just an angry kid who made a lot of poor choices.'
'He attacked heroes! He demolished a city!' the one shouted, standing from his chair.
'City Z was abandoned, no one was hurt,' Saya stated, 'As for the heroes, I can't dictate whether their choices on wanting to kill Garou were right or wrong. From my point of view, both as a hero and a mother, I say he needs to be given a fair chance. He never did and look how quickly the world turned their backs on him. Yes, life isn't fair, but he was wrongfully exiled and he had nowhere to turn. He did the only thing he felt was right to protect himself and correct the wrongdoing in the system. It wasn't right, but it made things very clear in the eyes of the Association. That's why there are new protocols, now, so corruption wouldn't repeat. Or did you all forget about that?'
This silenced the room, remembering the times of bias and corruption when those thugs took over. This silenced the defiant board member.
Saya continued, 'If it wasn't for the heroes that stayed, and for Saitama, this Association would've collapsed a long time ago. This Association is supposed to stand for unbiased justice, not run it for the sake of publicity and to save face. Yes, it's funded by the people, but even the people know what we're supposed to stand for. I say Garou deserves a chance to do right.'
'And what if he turns back to hunting heroes? We can't rely on Bang on taking him down,' the board member countered.
'Then, I'll take responsibility and handle it,' Saya stood up slowly, making the member cower slightly at her towering figure. He slumped into his seat, frightened into silence.
An older member sighed and stood, addressing the Saya, "I apologize for his behavior, Guardian, he is not as experienced in the field as you are. In regards to Garou, I hope you're right about him.'
'He hasn't had a single violent incident since entering the program. Now, aside from heroes claiming false reports against him out of spite, I'd say that's a major improvement,' Saya relayed, 'I know for a fact that he's trying to change.'
The older gentleman nodded in thought, 'Well, we'll file for his exoneration. We'll notify you when it's done.'
Saya nodded to him, 'Thank you.'
~
TWO MONTHS LATER
The house resided on the other side of the mountain where the dojo sat. It was far enough, so Garou can have his own space and still have some privacy. Garou just finished moving some furniture into the living room. The house was finally complete and he was ready to move in and start his new life as a free man.

A man.

He really didn't think of himself as such in his earlier youth. Not until Kaana came into the picture.
Garou sighed to himself, thinking about the flaming redhead that changed his life. If not been for Kaana, he would've either had stayed up in the mountains, or die pitifully, and nobody would've given a damn or thought about him.

Two months now since he was officially exonerated from the Hero Association Wanted List. Now, he had a house, a job at the dojo, so to speak.
Now, he felt confident in his decision to finally pursue Kaana. Now, he had to figure how he was going to go about doing so. It was difficult for the Martial Artist, as he had never felt this way toward anyone and, as a result, had no experience in being with anyone. Garou figured that he just needed to find the right moment to do so.
When, was the question.
Just then, he heard a knock at his front door. Garou walked over and when he answered it, he was mildly surprised to see that it was the source of all his love, torment and desire.
Kaana. The man eyed her up and down, she was wearing black yoga pants, her Tai Chi slippers and a green; tight long sleeve shirt.
"Hey, Garou," Kaana greeted in kind, smiling brightly at him.
Garou kept a blank expression, as to not elicit any suspicion on her end, "Hey. What brings you here?"
"I just wanted to come by, see how you're settling," Kaana gazed inside, seeing the furniture, "Still moving in, I see. Do you want some help?"
"No, I'm fine," Garou quickly dismissed, awkwardly turning his gaze away, "Look, I got to finish this up. Is there something else you wanted?"
His eyes glanced towards her and he noticed that her shoulders slumped, "Oh. Well, um, I can just come by another time, then."
Garou's eyes widened as he internally panicked, 'Shit! Not what I meant! Don't let her leave!' he cleared his throat, "You can...stay, if you want. It ain't like I'm telling you to leave."
Kaana blinked at him, surprised that he wasn't trying to get her to leave.
She suddenly became flustered, "Um...Well, I guess I'll just get straight to the point. I wanted to invite you to dinner. That's why I came out here, but I was trying to...ease into asking you, I know you don't like social affairs very much."
"Mm," Garou hummed, rubbing the back of his head, butterflies in his stomach, "You know, you could've just led with that."
Kaana shifted from one foot to the other, chuckling sheepishly, "Sorry. So, are you interested?" her tone hopeful.
Garou paused at this. He still, technically, wasn't on good terms with her in-laws. Saya seemed neutral with his presence as she hadn't spoken with him, personally. Saitama, however, put him off to some degree. Regardless, he didn't want to drive Kaana away, as he wanted to show her that he was interested in her. This was going to be much harder than he'd thought it'd be.
Sighing to himself, "When?"
"Tomorrow night. I'll meet you at Bang's dojo to pick you up," Kaana's smile just seemed to brighten even more and it caused a contentment to settle within Garou's heart.
Garou couldn't stop the soft smirk from appearing on his face, "Alright."
There was an awkward pause, both not knowing what to do or say next.
Garou decided to try to invite her in, but before he can do so, "I should get going. I know that you're busy. I'll see you tomorrow."
Before Garou can say a word, Kaana had turned on her heels and seemed to just scurry off. As soon as she was out of sight, Garou scowled to himself, 'Dammit! Nice going! Why didn't I speak up?!' he stopped berating himself and just shut the door behind him.
He'll have time to think of about how to approach his inner demons, later.
So, as the night went on, he decided to crash on the couch, as the bed wasn't put together, just yet. As usual, he stared holes into the ceiling, unable to rest his racing thoughts. His mind going back to the times of when he and Kaana looked out for one another back in the mountains.
It wasn't like that, back then. It was a long journey for them, built on trust, which ultimately led to his infatuation with her. Now, it felt like they were drifting apart.
He remembered when he feared for Kaana's life for the first time. A real scare for him, now that he thought about it.
~
This took place in the middle of the first winter. The winter was dark, cold and harsh. That night, Kaana and Garou had actually gotten into an argument.
'I've told you not to try and take on another predator. There's too much snow and there's a chance of an avalanche,' Kaana was spreading a medicinal paste she made across a large flesh wound on Garou's shoulder, 'The last thing we want is to get caved in by the snow.'
'Will you shut up about it, already?!' Garou barked at her, 'I get it!'
Kaana was a bit stunned at his outburst, then snapped back, 'Don't get mad at me because you got hurt! That's your own fault!'
'Maybe if you've done the hunting in this fucking blizzard, then maybe you wouldn't have to waste this shit on me!' Garou had become increasingly defensive of late, especially after Kaana had opened some old wounds of his, but that's another story.
Kaana lashed out by slapping him near his wound.
Garou grunted and snarled at her. Kaana just stood up, 'If you feel that way, then lick your wounds, yourself! I don't have to help you!'
'I never asked you to!' Garou scowled. Garou went to lie on the furs and let the paste do its work, lying on his stomach and arm folded under his chin.
Kaana paid him no mind and stood up, grabbing her katana. Garou noticed her putting on her shoes, 'Where are you going?' he question lazily.
Kaana spat, 'I'm taking your advice. I'll go hunting, instead, since you came back with nothing. Maybe I'll have better luck than you did.'
'Good luck not dying out there,' Garou huffed, closing his eyes.
Kaana huffed and opened the door, shuttering as the wind blew harshly. Steeling her nerves, she walked outside and shut the door.
>>>
Garou's eyes snapped open, darkness welcoming him. Blinking away the sleep, he groaned and slowly sat up on the furs, rubbing at his eyes. The fire had long been out as Garou gazed around, 'Kaana?' he turned and noticed that she wasn't asleep on the furs with him. Or was even in the cave with him.
He felt dread form in the bottom of his stomach. She had not returned, yet. Garou immediately shot up from the floor, grabbed a fur pelt, and raced out of the cave, shutting the door.
The snow and wind blew against him as he trekked outside into the forest, calling out for Kaana over the howl of the storm.
He found her just a mile from the cave. Kaana was almost completely buried in the snow, a tree had fallen on her.
He wrapped her up and ran back to cave with her in his arms.