Eros. (Benimaru Shinmon)

五十六☾

"B-Benimaru..." I whispered, my eyes wide open in surprise as I looked at Benimaru right in front of me. His warm breath, coming from his mouth, hit the bare skin of my face, causing a shiver to run down my spine, making me realize how close our faces were. Everything lately has been a deja vu moment...such as this moment bringing me back to the time in Asakusa.

I could feel my heart beating insanely fast and hear it in my ears, the rising to my warm cheeks. He was making me feel somehow weak at this moment. Then his eyes moved from my eyes slowly down my body, soaking in the outfit I was wearing and stopping at my mid-thigh. He slowly used his hand to touch the scar-the same scar I had received from the accident. His eyes slowly went back up my body and looked into my eyes once again.

"W-What are you doing?" I questioned, trying to compose myself.

"That's what I want to ask you," he replied with a serious tone.

"What?" I asked.

"You bailed on being my date for the festival and knowing you, you would have come to Asakusa that day even if it came off as a command...so why are you distancing yourself me?"

We both knew each other well then. But going off his assumption, if he knew that I would be his date and noticed I didn't show up...why didn't he call? Even if this question were rolling through my head, my eyes noticeably widened for a moment. I just stared at him with a lump in my dry throat.

I couldn't even answer his question. Should I just tell him the truth...but what did it matter...even if I did...Akira and Ichijiro don't like him and made it perfectly clear at the table moments ago.

"If you know me so well as you proclaim then you know that I am not distancing myself from you..." I mentioned trying my best to sound honest and cold as usual but my eyes betrayed me. The unconscious side to side movement of my eyeballs was enough to tell Benimaru that it wasn't true.

"Enough with the lies...you are creating distance between you and I, I want to know why?" Benimaru demanded as he grabbed my chin and turned my face, making me look at him.

I saw his eyes flicking back and forth, as he looked from one eye of mine to the other, searching for any answer or motive he could find, looking directly into my soul, making me feel nervous amd vulnerable under his piercing gaze.

"I can tell that guy, Akira his name is, wants to kill me and would if he could because of my decision back then, along with that little boy you had used back in Asakusa to neglect Konro's request...I know they hate me for what I did back during the great fire...but Did I do something wrong to you?" he then asked in a voice that held sadness which pulled the strings of my heart.

He was waiting for my answer. I knew he wasn't going to let me go until he got his answer. But what reason could I was going to tell him for creating this distance between him and I... that I fear that he will use my feelings this time to try to suppress my role in the Fire Force as he did when he was trying to hold me back from leaving Asakusa to join the Fire Force? Or, because it was due to the very reason he had stated and that they were my family and if that meant sacrificing my feelings for him...that I would. These weren't the reason I considered worth telling.

"Why would I create distance between you and I?" I counter questioned, pulling my wrist from his grasp, "We are both in the Fire Force and if requested to come to a Company under reasonable means, I am obligated to come in...so I can't possibly avoid you."

"That's what I'm asking," Benimaru said, getting a little frustrated.

"Then there is nothing to worry because...There's nothing like that," I responded, avoiding eye contact and tried to walk away, but Benimaru placed his hands on the wall on either side of my face, leaving me with no way to escape. I was trapped.