"Because I don't know if you have." Homura watched as Okita took the key from the table, glad he didn't try to refuse it at the very least. Even if he decided to abandon Homura and the History Club, Okita's Hijikata had been part of the original group that had earned that key. That alone gave Okita a right to it, though that wasn't Homura's reason. He simply trusted the man enough to give him something so valuable. "You haven't spoken to him since his introduction on the bulletin." An observation that didn't need to be said, but one Homura vocalize anyway. There was only so long they could dance around the truth in silence, with little fry-men to serve as distractions.
He chuckled at the chiding, despite the somber mood that had taken over their discussion. To appease Okita, who was the most likely to do the lecturing, Homura began to eat his own portion of fish. He wasn't so cruel as to deprive the swordsman's new clan of their home, after all.
"Nataku knows what it means to be someone who kills." That was the single purpose of the Toushin Taishi in the eyes of Heaven: to prove their loyalty by slaying those who would defy the will of the gods. Homura could remember the realizations that slowly settled into his mind after his own first kill. One by one, emotions and thoughts fell into place, each as capable of crushing him as they were of becoming his foundation. Nataku hadn't been the Toushin Taishi for long, but he had been one for long enough to build the shelter that would keep him safe from the burden he had been forced to endure. Or so Homura believed, and hoped. "That is why I want you to tell him. I want him to see that there is more available to him now, even if he must continue to fight and to kill."
He nodded at the man's request to be singled out, but the boy's arrival in the room also gave Homura a chance to let Okita see Nataku first, even from a distance. "That's him." Homura motioned to the child, speaking to a very tall man Homura hadn't previously met. "With a pair of golden eyes."
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He chuckled at the chiding, despite the somber mood that had taken over their discussion. To appease Okita, who was the most likely to do the lecturing, Homura began to eat his own portion of fish. He wasn't so cruel as to deprive the swordsman's new clan of their home, after all.
"Nataku knows what it means to be someone who kills." That was the single purpose of the Toushin Taishi in the eyes of Heaven: to prove their loyalty by slaying those who would defy the will of the gods. Homura could remember the realizations that slowly settled into his mind after his own first kill. One by one, emotions and thoughts fell into place, each as capable of crushing him as they were of becoming his foundation. Nataku hadn't been the Toushin Taishi for long, but he had been one for long enough to build the shelter that would keep him safe from the burden he had been forced to endure. Or so Homura believed, and hoped. "That is why I want you to tell him. I want him to see that there is more available to him now, even if he must continue to fight and to kill."
He nodded at the man's request to be singled out, but the boy's arrival in the room also gave Homura a chance to let Okita see Nataku first, even from a distance. "That's him." Homura motioned to the child, speaking to a very tall man Homura hadn't previously met. "With a pair of golden eyes."