Misplaced Friends

Tabitha would not have forgotten Anna. She had spent days with the girl. They hadn’t been the most interactive days, and it had been uncomfortable quiet, and she had been blind for most of it… but she would not have forgotten Anna. She was so happy to have Sharaku here now. Anna responded positively to hearing about her sister. Tabitha fidgeted at hearing he had been looking for her… not just stumbled on this. It was odd. She just wasn’t used to someone going looking for her.

They got loot and headed out together. He quietly said he was glad that she was alright and she again felt uncomfortably close to crying. She put her hand on his shoulder and kissed him on the cheek. An impulse that probably toned down all the others. The high energy survival instincts that told her to be extreme and just happy to be alive. She then looped her arm against his and held him close. “Thanks… I’m glad you came to get me… you’re the only person who would have,” she told him. It was a sad statement, but it took away none of her appreciation. She was so happy to be better, even with her magic stitches in her wrists. Even how much it hurt. She was happy he had been there for her, and yes, she was crying, but not enough to get his shoulder wet.

2827/2000

Sharaku didn’t say anything about him being the only one who would come after her. He wasn’t sure that was entirely true, but he didn’t argue, especially since he was probably the only one who could have done so successfully, at least. He just let her cling, nodding his acknowledgement of her gratefulness. It had been a long couple of days, especially the parts where he was searching for and fighting for Tabitha. Being a hero was too much work. No wonder he didn’t do it for a living.

Sharaku didn’t miss Tabitha’s silent crying, and one of his hands went up to pat the side of her head gently. “By the way,” he told the girl that was following behind them, “Those idiots back there won’t be bothering you again, I promise. I’ve taken care of everything, so you can feel safe and relax.”

Finally, they were back in town, and walking down the streets. “Let’s take her home first,” he told Tabitha quietly. “It’d probably make her and her sister feel better.” He shrugged. He was thinking of giving them some of the easier stuff to pawn off for a bit of extra money for all their troubles. They’d cross that bridge when they came to it though.


1813/2000

Who would come get Tabitha? Really? She had no one she considered a friend. Her exes, who she was quite fond of, were not fighters. On top of that they would never know she was missing. She didn’t keep track of them. Her family? That was laughable. Sharaku had high hopes for their guild mates if he thought any of them would stick their neck out for Tabitha Wolfe. The best she could hope for was that someone might have done the job for money and stumbled upon her. Alternatively someone who really wanted to get on the good side of Tabitha, but she doubted that. Besides, her good side was quite small, and Sharaku was inhabiting the majority of that right now.

He patted her face and she shifted away some to dry her eyes. She didn’t want him knowing she was crying, even if it seemed like he did. He started comforting Anna, explaining that the men would not bother her. She nodded timidly. Tabitha agreed they should take Anna back first. “Anna, are you looking forward to seeing your sister?” Tabitha asked as they walked.

“Definitely,” Anna said. She was still quite timid, due to the circumstances, but Tabitha felt a sort of attachment to the young woman. She had a bond, so she knew how Anna felt. When they reached town Tabitha followed Anna’s lead. She seemed to know where they needed to go. She reached a hotel room they were apparently renting, and went to the door. Tabitha kept ahold of Sharaku’s arm, uncomfortable in the city. It was just… odd. She wanted to be at home in her house, not here, and not in the light. She knew she looked a mess, and she didn’t like it. Going home to lick her wounds was at the very least a requirement.

“Kendra!” Anna said when her sister answered the door. The immediate bawling and hugging made Tabitha stop. Family. Ugh. It was weird. She wanted to go home.

“You can… tend to them… I will just…” She trailed off as Anna mentioned her by name. And Sharaku. There was a lot of crying. Kendra insisted on thanking Tabitha, who didn’t have any of her usual shine. “Um, yes, you’re welcome. I didn’t do anything for her… Sharaku did though. He was quite the hero. It’s a good thing you talked to him,” Tabitha said with a nod. She was perfectly happy to direct the praise to him.

Kendra nodded, “Yes, thank you so much for helping my sister, and your friend.”

3253/2000

Sharaku was stuck in the house of the rescued sister for much longer than he wanted to be. They wouldn’t let him leave without thanking him at least seven or eight or forty times. He stopped counting after six. Especially once he’d dropped off a bit of the spare loot that he’d gathered that would be easy to pawn and told them that they deserved it after what they’d gone through. He really wanted to feel like a hero for all of it, but he knew better. Sharaku Narita was no hero. He didn’t have the time to be. He wasn’t a good enough person to be.

He finally sighed as he left the house, where Tabitha had been waiting since she didn’t want to be part of the celebrations. He gave her a gentle grin as he looked her over quickly. She looked terrible, but it was terrible in a way that said she would be fine, eventually. That was better than the alternative. “Well, we’ve had more pleasant adventures,” he told her optimistically as he walked up to her. “Let’s try to never have to do that again. I don’t have any real desire to be a hero again. It’s not really my thing,” he lied with a smile. Sharaku had always wanted to be a hero as a kid. Now he simply knew he didn’t deserve it.

As far as Tabitha was concerned, Sharaku was a hero. He deserved it all. She hadn’t wanted to go inside and enjoy the praise. She felt a fondness for Anna. She would probably keep track of the girl if she could handle it. It might be a painful memory she wanted to avoid, but Tabitha was pretty mentally stable. She suspected she would be able to do that, and she wanted to.

She was happy when Sharaku came out of the house. Her wrists were still stitched up messes, but that wasn’t the most important thing to her. She could feel her knives in her boots. She could feel her boots. Those were important to her. Being barefoot made her kind of disgusting. Even when she had been a street urchin she had shoes. It was unpleasant to be without them. Still she would keep up as much of an appearance as she could until she was home to shower. She had been focusing on her knives while he was inside, and calling herself stupid for being caught off guard. Now she was back with Sharaku.

Tabitha stepped up to him and hugged him. With her arms behind his back she couldn’t see her wrists. She was also relatively helpless, but she didn’t care. It was worth it for this. So she hugged Shar and ignored him saying being a hero wasn’t his thing. “I’ve always thought it was. Maybe I think of heroes differently…” she said quietly. “Will you come home with me?”

3507/2000

Sharaku was a bit surprised by Tabitha’s hug, but it was easier to take when he was aware she’d been through a lot in the last couple of days. He silently cursed himself for not being able to find her faster, but it wasn’t anything that could be helped. Not anymore, anyway. He hugged her back after a moment, nodding his head at her question. “Sure,” he told her with a reassuring grin. She thought he was the hero type, huh? Well, he wouldn’t argue. He didn’t think anyone from Shadow heart was really a hero though. Even if they wanted to think they were for their own selfish reasons.

“Whatever you want, I suppose. It’s probably the least I can do,” he decided as she let go enough for them to walk, at least. They could still make it to her house. It would be a bit late by the time they got there, but they’d endured worse, at least as far as he’d figured. He walked in relative silence, but was content to let Tabitha talk or not. She could hang on or walk beside him or whatever she felt like doing. He was just happy she was alive, to be honest.

He should have been surprised by Tabitha’s hug. Since when did Tabitha hug anyone? She didn’t. he didn’t know her softer side, or that it actually existed. She didn’t want people to know that. She didn’t want to feel weak. She wanted to feel alone, but she was not lonely. When she wanted attention all she had to do was walk into a room, or walk out of it. In her guild hall she had enough leering men with inappropriate thoughts. She could practically read them like a book. They looked at her like a piece of meat, and she looked at them like a piece of paper scribbled on in crayon. They were not so difficult to understand, and she did not wish for any of them to understand her. Whether she was difficult to understand or not. She did not know either way, she just knew she did not wish for their understanding.

What she wished for right now was the arms around her to stay. She would have liked him to have felt more comfortable than surprised. Of course it was odd for her to be hugging him. It was odd for her to have cried at all, let alone around other people. It was odd of her to get so hurt from the butcher, and odd to have gone to anyone for help. Admittedly, it had kept her from bleeding out somewhere, so that was nice. Why did she have to keep coming back to him? She didn’t go back to anyone. Even her romantic relationships ended eventually, and she was never reduced to some crying, hugging weakling in any of those relationships.

Were she to have hugged him on her own terms it would be different. He would have felt awkward and probably blushed; instead of being angry he hadn’t helped her sooner. He hugged back at least, and she appreciated that. He was muscular enough but not massive. Being that she’d only ever liked women, she really didn’t have some need to date big bulky people. Date? Ugh, she needed to stop coming back to that. She wanted to lock him in her room and keep him, but that was a far cry from dating. Even if she did want to date him, right now she just wanted to feel safe. He did make her feel safe.

Sharaku said he would go home with her, and it was the least he could do. The least he could do. She held onto his arm like she had when they’d pretended to be dating. Except this time she was softer. She was less calm, less controlling, less pretending not to be pretending. It was not the least he could have done. The least he could have done was to worry that she was missing and maybe go looking for her. Going in alone to rescue her and then walking home with her. It didn’t feel like the least. Maybe she just expected that little from everyone.

4007/2000