Fragments of a Shattered Home [Hana/Josh]

Hana joined Josh in a laugh, at least for a short moment. She was trying to suppress the pain and the loneliness she felt now that everyone was gone, but it proved too difficult. As Josh talked, she sucked her lips in between her teeth and bit down, trying to stop herself from crying. As she tried, however, she was fidgeting with her fingers and staring hopelessly at Josh. Finally, her eyes began to redden, and a moment later, the tears forced themselves to the surface...

“Daddy’s dead…” Hana whimpered, her voice showing a certain innocence and youth, likely the last time she would ever get to sound like his little girl. Hana finally let herself really cry, accepting the events of the night before as more than just a nightmare, but her reality in life. Hana suddenly stumbled into Josh, trembling as she wrapped her arms around him, clinging to him as if to keep herself from sinking any further than she already had. She buried her face in his chest, sobbing uncontrollably as her tears soaked through his shirt.

Joshua caught the changing of the mood in the air, the shifting in how Hana held herself.

He’d guessed the breaking moment would come eventually.

And break she did; she stumbled forward and he caught her. She hugged at him and cried, cried like so many around the Soul Society would be and yet entirely in her own way. Feeling her own pain both alike and unlike so many others. She clung to him tightly, and he returned the favor to let her know that he was there. That she wasn’t alone.
“I’m sorry Hana,” was the only words he could offer, and he meant it; he meant it for many different reasons, but mostly he meant it because she was in pain and there wasn’t anything he could do for it. Nothing except be here. So he stayed, and let her cry it out.