𝑯𝑨𝑳𝑪𝒀𝑶𝑵 𝑶𝑩𝑳𝑰𝑽𝑰𝑶𝑵 •𝒃𝒙𝒃•

Cold stone ~ Age 13

He felt it—dread—the moment he heard the knocks come from the front door. The house was empty, so it was him who was supposed to answer the door.

He did so with reluctant steps.

The door clicked open and he found himself staring at none other than Asao, "Sensei...?" He whispered, staring up at the man he hadn't seen for months. The mere sight of him already told him why he was there.

"Hi, Aizen. It's been a while, hasn't it?" The man sent him a small smile, although the trembling of his lip was obvious.

A while... "Yeah, it has. I suppose you're here because of a mission?" He got straight to the point, since there was no use dragging their conversation out.

"I am. I... did my best to put off the missions for you and Hikaru for as long as I could. But the time I borrowed has run out." Asao shifted on his feet, his whole posture screaming out reluctance.

So, the reason was just as Aizen had guessed. No wonder he wasn't getting any missions for a while. It was because of him, "I knew that already, but... your actions were welcomed. I can say that—in both Hikaru's and my name—it was appreciated," he averted his eyes, lightly leaning against the door side, "Would you like to come in? I think we have coffee or tea, if you'd like. It's been a while since we last spoke."

"Yeah, sure. We have time."

_

Asao sat across him, on the opposite sofa, a cup of tea steaming in front of him, "I'll start with an apology. That mission was... my fault. I don't have an excuse, except for the fact that my head was filled with things unrelated to the mission," he spoke, "I was too sure in our informant, and I wasn't suspicious of him at all."

"Things unrelated to the mission?" Aizen asked, not able to move past that sentence, "What could be so important that you couldn't stop thinking about it during a mission?" He didn't mean to be rude or aggressive, but he couldn't hold back the harshness in his voice.

Asao caught onto his anger, "I... I proposed to my girlfriend a few days before the mission, but her parents didn't agree with it, since they are civilians. We got into a big fight about the fact that I was a shinobi, and that there was a possibility of me dying and leaving her alone. Then, my girlfriend broke the news of her being pregnant to us all and it just got worse from there."

Ah... So that was what happened.

"I did my best to hide my troubles from all of you... I'm so sorry," his fists had clenched around the sofa's fabric, "I'm so sorry I was the reason for what happened. I'm so sorry I wasn't the team leader that you wanted—that you needed."

Hearing all of that... "You should have talked to us. You should have said something. I won't say that it's all right—because it isn't. It will never be all right, but we'll have to deal with that." That was no time for him to grow soft and to tell the man that it was okay. It wasn't. He made a mistake—a giant one.

"I know. I regret it. I truly do."

"Have you told Hikaru this? Does he know?" Aizen couldn't help but ask about the other boy.

Asao nodded, "I talked with him before I came here... You can guess what he said."

Of course he could, "He yelled at you and he blamed you, didn't he? His temper got the best of him, but it'll pass. The anger will pass, the blaming won't. You should know by now, he is the type to hold a grudge and not care who's at the receiving end of it."

The man didn't reply.

He knew.

_

Aizan sat still in the empty house, back leaned against the sofa. He stared at the untouched tea cup on the table, already cooled down. Asao left soon after he mentioned Hikaru, and told him to be at the Gates of Konoha tomorrow at dawn.