Description: Kazue comes home after a fight and Rick does his best to figure out what happened
It's getting warmer now that it's officially summer and today is especially hot. Rick isn't the type to complain but he also doesn't feel like slaving over a hot stove for an hour or two to cook up a nice meal so instead he sat a grill down over the stove and grilled two nicely sized pieces of fish and set them atop a leafy garden salad. The small table in the apartment is set for two and he's expecting Kazue to return soon, actually having expected her a bit before now but not worrying too much since he's only now finishing up. With a variety of salad dressings now on the table he crosses his arms and examines his handywork, nodding. "Perfect! She enjoys fish so it should be to her liking, and it wont leave her feeling overstuffed while still giving the nutrition a growing woman requires." Nodding with satisfaction he takes his seat at the table and looks expectantly towards the door.
And then, a little time passes. And then a little more. Enough time that it really really seems like Kazue should walk in that door any moment.
Finally, she does. Slowly. Her clothes are soaked with sweat. She has a black eye, and her lip is split. There's some blood on her clothing and the knuckles of her fingerless gloves. She looks over to Rick, and then to the salad, then back to Rick. "I'll be a bit longer. Sorry." She turns towards the bathroom.
At first Rick isn't especially worried- Kazue is strong willed and he doesn't expect her to be on time for everything from the very start, though usually with food she's eager and punctual. As time wears on he starts to wonder what's going on, though, and not just because his perfect hot fish is now slightly imperfect and warm.
When she does come through the door he blinks, startled by her appearance, standing up right away, following her partway to the bathroom. "Kazue! What's happened to you? It... looks as if you've run into some kind of trouble." It seems like normal concern at first, but after a moment his eyes narrow slightly, "Did someone attack you? If they did, I can deal with this, if you know where they are." His right fist is clenched a little.
Kazue pulls out the medical kit, placing it next to the sink, then pulls off her gloves and rinses them off before laying them next to the sink. "I'm fine." She proceeds to methodically wash her knuckles, then her face, then turns off the water. She looks over at Rick after a moment. "Relax. There's no need to do something like that. I attacked them."
She looks at the shower and scratches the back of her head, her eyebrows furrowing a little. "You don't have to wait for me to eat."
Being told that she isn't extremely hurt doesn't do much to relax him, but hearing that she was the instigator removes any thoughts of dashing out to find any assailant, and he unclenches his fist. After seeing she knows well enough how to take care of her wounds he walks back to the table and sits down, though it seems he has no intention of starting dinner before her. "I don't have to, but I will. What happened, Kazue? If you'd rather not say you don't have to... but I would like to know, and feel I have some right to."
Kazue leans out of the door and looks over to Rick, and furrows her eyes a bit, then scratches the back of her head and looks away. "I don't understand what you mean by that. But it's embarassing. Let's just drop it." Her eyes return to the food. "...I'll hurry, since you're waiting." She retreats backwards a couple of steps, into the bathroom, and closes the bathroom door.
There's the sound of running water again.
Rick looks momentarily confused, "Embarrassing? What would be embarrassing that would be reason for a fight?" He pauses for a moment before looking back towards the door. "Kazue! Were you being harassed or... propositioned? If so you were justified in defending yourself!" He decides against telling her not to hurry, feeling foolish for not having come up with a plan if she did come home hurt- especially after trying to teach her to better defend herself too.
Kazue says something, but it's muffled by the sound of the shower. In less then five minutes - although given the situation, it may /seem/ like an eternity - she's back out of the bathroom. Her hair is still damp, and her clothes are damp and look like they've been wrung out, but at least the blood is mostly gone. She sits down across from Rick, and picks up her fish. "It wasn't something like that."
A short pause. "And just in case someone comes by later, I didn't steal anything." She starts to carefully tear the flesh of the fish with her teeth.
Rick isn't generally impatient, but when there's cause for concern and all he can do is wait the time does wear on him a little. When she sits down and starts to eat he does as well, quickly from hunger but not without some restraint for manners. Right as he's about to eat a bit of fish and salad he stops and looks across the table to her. "In case someone comes by? Kazue, now you really need to tell me what happened. I understand your wishes for privacy but if people will come looking for you I must know what I'm dealing with, if only to protect you."
Kazue turns a little red and looks away, worrying the piece of fish with her hands. "Well... I don't think they followed me, so...." She's silent for a long moment. "I was in a convenience store, and there was some snacks I liked outside of anyone's view, so I grabbed them without even thinking about it, and... well, then I had to put them back, so... but someone saw me." Her hands come apart as the fish is ripped in two, and she looks down at it, then devours it rapidly.
Rick lets out a little sigh, "Ahhh, I see. It will take some time for your instincts to change, after so long. But you did the right thing, Kazue, in trying to return them once you realized what you'd done. For that, I'm proud of you." He looks down at her hands for a moment, "Kazue... I don't mean to annoy you in a sensitive moment, but you should be more conscious of your table manners." After taking another bite of his food and swallowing it grins to her, "I think I know how to prevent this in the future! It's as simple as giving you some money to carry around, so that if you ever find yourself in a similar situation you can pay for the snacks without worrying."
Kazue blinks, rubbing her kunckles as she listens to Rick, then narrowing her eyes as he says he's proud of her. Her face becomes increasingly distant as he brings up table manners. "Of course I keep my promises." She picks up the fork and starts rapidly devouring the remaining lettuce in front of her - well, at least she's using a fork now. It's finished in a few moments, and she gulps from her glass of water, then stands up.
Able to read partway into Kazue's expression he gives a small shake of his head, "Don't be suspicious. Of course I am sad that you stole, but much more than that I am pleased that you realized the wrong you were doing and worked to correct it. That is difficult step that I thought would take much longer than this to take." He looks to her black eye, and then knuckles, "It's unfortunate you were punished for doing the correct thing, but sadly that can be the case. But you did do the right thing, and that is why I am proud of you! Be prideful of your accomplishment, Kazue, even if all you feel now is aching!"
"I don't need you to tell me how you feel." Kazue turns towards the door, and almost swings her heel up into a kick to bring it down in front of her- and then lets out her breath, and simply takes one more step forwards to turn the doorknob. She swings the door behind her, hard, but catches it at the last moment, the door wobbling back and forth a bit before it closes, not with a slam, but with a dull thud.
This really confuses Rick, at how poorly Kazue seems to be taking his praise. He stares after her for a few moments, only to smile to himself and slowly eat his food, murmuring to himself, "Oh, Kazue, you don't need to be so hard on yourself. Today was your first small step towards a bright future."
Log created on 03:34:11 07/01/2012 by RickKnight, and last modified on 06:49:06 07/03/2012.