Midnight Run [Catherine, Isamu]

Her hands tightened on her knees, a seething she couldn't contain burning in her chest, a muffled, stuffy tone escaping the lapse of feedback hiding her face in her knees granted, "At least you get to see her."

As if releasing in resignation, her hands simply unclenched, "I can't ever go see my dad. How can I at this point? I've been gone so long and i've done everything he's ever hated. How could he ever want me, after everything i've done?"

That image, that damn image haunted her again, her breath shuddered as her eyes closed, seeing that picture float in the darkness. Their smiles, their gentle gazes, their ease - it told her plenty, especially that if she were ever to go back...

A crack hit her tone, "..At least you get to see her despite everything you've done to survive."

"..."

Isamu contemplated her words as he momentarily lifted his head. He didn't have an immediate response. She wasn't wrong. Despite his actions over the years, he could always visit her, enjoy her warm smile, and share her company until the nurses politely requested him to leave in the late hours of the night. Indeed, compared to her, there was freedom around his mother.

Of course, there was always the natural fear hanging at the back of his mind that his actions might come back to haunt him, that she might end up a target due to a severe misstep on his part. Or maybe she'd ask him what he truly did for a living and he'd be forced to tell her everything. Either way, he felt that he would inevitably lose everything he worked for. Even worse, maybe she'd just die. And that would be it. All his efforts rendered would be rendered meaningless.

"Do you think my mother would accept me after everything I've done to survive? For all the visits I've made, that hasn't made it any easier watching her fight for her life. Walking is a struggle for her. She can't leave her hospital bed and the few times she can, she has to operate in a wheelchair. I struggle with the thought that one day she'll be gone, that I'll receive the dreaded words no one ever wants to hear from a doctor when it comes to their loved ones. Yeah, I get to visit her quite a bit. I can't deny that, but your father's still alive and breathin', right? Able body and all?"

Voicing that question with genuine curiosity, he simply expressed himself freely as he shook his head. He knew nothing about the man personally, but that was fine. He assumed he was still able to operate well enough. Then again, he didn't expect Catherine to share everything about her life. Maybe she'd finally describe that to him. After all, she revealed her true name, albeit under special circumstances.

"If so, that means you've still... got a chance. Maybe. It might be small. Hell, it might be remote. I don't know yer dad. Can't recall a time ya described em' much, if ever, but... it's there. It isn't easy visiting my mother, knowin' everything I've done. All the people I killed to ensure she receives the best treatment money can offer. I fear that one day she'd ask, and I'd tell her. And she'd never look at me the same again. Or worse... she just dies. I think of that every day, and I hate it. So... seein' her for the first time on her own two feet, even if it was false, shook me harder than I expected."

Sighing softly, he shook his head. He didn't feel comfortable being vulnerable about this, but keeping it in wasn't going to make him feel any better, either. Turning his head to her for a moment, he asked the first question that'd been hanging on his head for a few moments now.

"What was your father like, anyway?"

A deep inhale, a slow exhale, her face pressed into her knees, a wet feeling on her eyes as Isamu spoke. Sure, the medicine she had given him not too long ago would've helped her condition, but without the refinement process it wouldn't have been nearly as effective at completely treating it, not to mention the steps required afterward to rebuild strength and her immune system. Modern doctors of most regards were on the lacking side with spiritual diseases, she's found - if it weren't for what she was, she probably would've been bedridden in that hospital just like... Perish the thought.

"He's alive," Her creaking voice emanated from her tightly curled position, "He's just happier without me."

He wanted to know so bad? She guessed she owed him as much for the beating... It wasn't like she could keep it a secret forever, and she doubted the guy was gonna go squeal about it to prospective employers now.

"...We didn't really do too much together," A reluctant mumble would speak, "It wasn't like he didn't love me, or that I didn't love him, but... It's like he didn't know what to do with me after... My mother..." She hoped she wouldn't have to finish that sentence to give the idea of what exactly happened, "...I came out really small and sick, the bills were high, he had to step out a lot to work off the bills... Then we had to move to the city. And I, just, hated it there - I never understood why we had to be there but..."

Squeezing her hands, her head would finally lift. Shimmers of tears rolled down her cheeks as she softly sniffed and looked away, "..He, he was doing his best, with what he had. I don't think he knew what to do, I don't think he meant to make that distance... He didn't deserved what I said to him when I was in the hospital... I, I... Even, even after I worked my ass to pay that bill remotely... I don't think I deserve to see him again. Not after all that, not when he's finally happy with someone again. I'm just a reminder of everything that's gone wrong in his life."

Her low gaze would drift to his direction, "..I know there's a way to treat your mom properly, but I need to kill someone in order to even get started. I, don't want that happening again, to someone I... Look, ugh, if it made things easier I could offer you a position at my, well, soon to be mine, company. You could put the assassin shit behind you, and you have a less scummy thing to break to your mom if it gets to that. It's a lot of metalworking and delivery, weapons manufacturing, but the lads aren't so bad and it's not impossible to adapt to."

His mood might have been compromised currently, but he was all ears. He listened to every word as she described what her father was like, expressing her regret about how it fell apart, the way her tears seemed to flow freely from her eyes.

Come to think of it, had he ever seen her like this before? No, of course not. He was always accustomed to her scowling at him, glaring at him as though she had daggers for eyes. And then, it hit him... like a freight train. For the first time, he wasn't merely listening to Catherine anymore. That woman wasn't present here.

He was listening to Anise reveal a moment in her life where everything fell apart. Her regrets, her pain... everything. Of course, it was her finishing words that momentarily rendered him speechless.

An exit from the bloodshed. An honest living. Something he could take pride in and talk about freely with his mother compared to his house of lies. A possibility. At that moment, he rested his hand against her hair, playfully stroking her hair for a moment. Even now, this woman confused him to no end. Why would she go to such lengths for someone like him?

"Someone, you what? Care about? Ya know, I've always wondered about that. The medicine... the other night you spoke to me, the way you tried to play off that gift as simple payment... and now we're here. You've told me your true name... you've told me about your father and now yer offerin' me the perfect scenario to escape from this current way of life. Why?"

He had already broached this subject before, but his only answer was that she didn't want to see him become a shell of himself, unable to operate as he normally did. Now that he knew a little more about her father, his effect on her life, and the fear of seeing him again, he couldn't help but wonder about it even more. It was certainly possible that she'd deny him again, but that was fine. Worth a shot, right?

"...Shut up," She'd lightly wave away his hand, digging through one of her pocket to pull out a card of contact information - - curling her lip and looking at him wearily, "Don't take any of this the wrong way. I just don't think anyone deserves to suffer for that. There's a load of old knowledge that's lost, and i'm planning on digging it up..."

She wouldn't specify what she was talking about - that wasn't the time for it. She had a wolf to kill before any of that became possible. Settle down.

"Well, great. You made my face a mess, and I made yours one too. We're even." Promptly, she'd stand up, and begin walking back to camp - shockingly, she actually wanted sleep this time.