Fragments of a Shattered Home [Hana/Josh]

Hana touched nothing. She didn’t look for the safe. She didn’t sit down, open a door, anything. She was terrified to get blood anywhere. When he found it, she focused on him again, her mind wandering any time there was silence. She looked at the safe and then shook her head. “Can I take a bath?” Hana asked in a way that showed she needed permission, and then added, “Please.”

Whether actually given the permission or not, Hana did walk away. She made her way to the bath and began preparing for once. It took a good hour and when Hana reemerged again, she was wearing some of her old clothes, not a shihakusho. She looked less dead with the blood all washed off, even if she seemed completely exhausted. She walked around until she found Josh, "The safe... It will open with kido; I was never taught which one."

Joshua turned back to look at Hana when she asked, and mentally kicked himself; he had thought about saying she should do that but had guessed she may not have wanted to in the house. Seems he should have gone with his gut there.
“Go ahead, I’ll keep kickin’ at this,” he said, giving her a small reassuring smile. He watched her make her way off, letting out a sigh after she was out of earshot. He turned his attention back to the safe, rubbing the back of his head with a hand. Maybe he should have taken the time to learn how to crack safes all those years back. Welp, no time like the present.

By the time Hana returned Joshua was still hunched over the safe with a look of mingled concentration and mild annoyance. He let out a breath, and turned back to look at her as she came in.
“Yeah, that’s about what I’d pieced together. Ain’t had any luck crackin my way into it though. Safe crackin’ is, in fact, not one of my thousand and one secret skills,” he said with a small chuckle. The safe showed evidence that he had been at work here; there were small nicks and scrapes in places, and something that might have been a burn. It was all very localized to the safe luckily.

“It… will be fine. You should not worry about it… I don’t want to…” Hana said and then walked back toward the door. She had thoughts to leave, to go back to Koga, to go to her barracks, but… she was home for the first time in two years. It seemed like her bedroom had not been touched in that time. Her mother wasn’t here to kick her out and yell at her. This was, legally, her place now, right? She could just… stay here, and that felt very strange.

"My presence here has not been welcomed for years now... Is it wrong to sleep in my room?" Hana asked, her hand gripping the wooden frame of the door as she stared doon the hall toward her bedroom. "...How do I find him?"

"Alrighty," Joshua said, standing up and stretching. One eye tracked Hana as she drifted towards the door, and he sheathed his blade before reaching back over and pulling the bed back over the safe; it wasn't much, but given the state of the grounds he didn't think it likely anyone would know that no one was home here right away it was probably enough. For now at least. Hana spoke up, almost more musing aloud rather than really asking a question. That didn’t stop Joshua from answering though.
“That’s yer call Hana; does it feel wrong?” he asked, and left her to ponder the answer. Technically, this house was her’s now. No reason it should have been wrong.

It was also where he family had died, so maybe it would feel wrong. Not his call to make in the end.

Her next question however, he had more to say on.
“You don’t. Or more to the point, ya can’t. Ain’t none of us can right now. Senkaimon got blown up in the scuffle with the big guns. We couldn't go after him even if we knew where his ass was planted right now,” Joshua said, gently but firmly. He let that answer hang in the air for a few moments before he continued.
“That won’t be that way forever though. When the time comes, we’ll work it out. Might take some time, will take some work, but we’ll find him. You’ll have my help on that.”

Hana was perfectly still and silent while Joshua was talking, until he said ‘you’ll have my help on that,’ and Hana’s hand revealed how tight it had been squeezing the wood of the sliding door to her parents room. It suddenly cracked, snapped like a twig under her grip. Her shoulders lifted and dropped as she gave a heavy sigh and began pulling splinters out of her hand.

"I will kill him without anyone getting in my way," Hana said adamantly, flicking a splinter away. "I require no help from anyone to complete this mission, so I will not ask for it or allow it. Just leave that criminal's life to me..."

Hana,” Joshua said as she neared the end of her statement, his tone sharp as a knife’s edge. Once she turned to look at him, she found a sight most unfamiliar; Joshua was staring her down, and all the joking and carefree nature had been pressed from him. His eyes were hard, cold, and entirely lacking the warmth they normally held. Coupled with the long hours and his missing hat, he almost looked like someone else.

Someone dangerous.

“Do you think, right now if we were both fresh and rested, ya could take me out in a fight? Do you think you’ve got the strength for it?” he asked, cold and straight to the point.
“Cause if you want to take his life, ya will have to do better than even that. I had a crack at him, and I couldn’t take him. I knew roughly what I was getting in ta, and I couldn’t finish the job. And I don’t think we’ve seen ‘im dig deep yet. I don’t think we’ve seen all the cards he has to play. So, ya think ya could take me?”

When he called her name, Hana looked over her shoulder with narrowed eyes, angry, challenging even. However, to anyone who knew her, she was little more than a kitten in a bad mood. It did not matter how real this felt, how deeply she meant what she said, his look and his words shattered any semblance of will she had been trying to keep up. His words stung, probably more than they should.

"Go to hell, Josh," she said as tears welled. She clenched her jaw shut tight and she walked out of the room. 'He's right, I am so fucking useless...'

“Think we’re more than halfway there,” Joshua retorted, and let out a sigh. Hana started to walk away and he followed to the doorway
“Hana, my point is this; ain’t either of us able to take the bastard. Be as mad at me as ya want, I ain’t any happier than you at sayin’ it out loud,” he said, his tone softening. He was letting the tension get to him, and some of his own thoughts were coloring his words.
“Neither of us is strong enough, yet. When you’re ready to change that, come find me,” he said, a solid weight on confidence in the statement as Hana walked away. He couldn’t blame her for being angry and emotional, even if it was frustrating.

Hana didn’t think he’d follow her, but when he did, she picked up the pace and left him at the doorway. She found her bedroom and went inside, slamming the door shut behind her. Flicking a switch, a light came on and she looked over to her bed. She took some time to remember her old things, running fingers along dusty furniture, and then pat the bed. The comforter was a mess, but she kicked that off and laid down on untouched sheets. She always preferred these western beds over the traditional futons. She hated the Division barracks...

The last few days moved through her mind like an avalanche the moment her head hit the pillow. The fighting, the amount of power released, hollows, Reida, Josh, Koga, Akira... Luckily, her exhaustion finally took her and she was able to relax, so Hana closed her eyes. Within seconds, she was asleep...