Stone Cold | Tanjirou Kamado (old version)

17. For whose sake

The blow was clean.

Her grandmother's hand flew up to her cheek so fast she didn't saw it coming, not even if she had wanted she had been able to dodge it, not even if she hadn't been dizzy or slightly confused, if the world didn't spin under her feet or if she had known where her feet were.

The only thing she safely knew was that the strength of the blow made her end up facing the ground.

Her eyes, as cold and accusing as they have always been, examined Ayaka carefully, digging in new cracks, searching and finding the deepest parts that could be reached. She went so deep she reached her soul, at least Ayaka felt it like that, as if her grandmother could see even the smallest corner of her mind, all places to hide, all places to take shelter on, her grandmother found her with her storm and her rain. Ayaka would never be able to hide anything, not from her, not with the crashing feeling that appeared on her chest every time Kaede Fujioka left her gaze to fall down on her.

She could see, able to go through the smallest nooks, hidden in between the foils of what could be seen at first sight and not. It would be no use to try and raise an icy wall made out of snowy storms, just like Oyakata-sama, her grandmother could see without looking, whatever it was on cut in wouldn't matter, because they didn't take that way to see.

Even so, Ayaka didn't have the courage to look at her grandmother's eyes, to fight against those unnerving eyes of hers from which she couldn't escape. Maybe if Ayaka didn't look at her she'd disappear, but it's useless when her grandmother harshly grabbed the collar of her haori to put her down on her level, forcing her eyes to fight against hers.

They were tough, almond shaped and of a dark gray that came close to black, like storm clouds that hovered over the sky carrying the rain and thunder used to punish her. Ayaka would prefer that over confronting her grandmother.

"Do you know how worried we were!? People on uniforms appeared at sunrise, they explained nothing, the only thing they said was it had to do with you! And of course, just as always, my grandniece didn't reply to any letters! We thought you were dead!" Kaede shook Ayaka from side to side, as she tumbled without strength to stay on her feet in between the harsh swings of her grandmother.

Ayaka blinked, eyes fixed on the specks of dust in the air.

"I was going to visit soon, to tell you everything," she muttered weakly, exhausted as the strength on her voice faded away. A marauding ghost, that was what she appeared as, everything phased through her seemingly without touching or affecting her. "First I had to make sure I could protect you, but I promise, I wanted to see you, it's just that-"

"And when is soon!?" Kaede inquired, eyes turning sharper. Ayaka didn't dare reply, and her grandmother knew that, so she grabbed her shoulders harder, so hard her nail sank on her skin, as if she wanted to inject all those feelings directly into her heart through her veins. "Don't lie to me, you weren't going to come back."

She didn't answer. Her grandmother hissed furiously and finally let her go. Ayaka fell to the floor, sight fixed on the floor, on the mud and the dirt, where she belonged.

"Are you stupid or something!? Are you really planning on running away like a coward all your life?" Her grandmother didn't seem to need an answer.

"I just do what I must," Ayaka replied in a whisper, barely heard. Feelings came back, and they hit twice harder as they cracked her stoic facade, that of a frozen mountain, with ice creaking under the sun. "I'm not a coward," she added under her breath, perfectly knowing she was.

As much as the ice melted the winds didn't waver, her grandmother's eyes held no mercy and they never would. Rain flooded the mountain and dragged with it the melted ice on the paths. Fury was something natural to the Fujiokas. It may come out explosively with strangers, outsiders to the holders of the wisteria name, but when it's a fight between family members, who held the same kind of fury in their eyes, it made itself known silently, not noticed unless looked at, and there was a lot to look at on the eyes of a Fujioka.