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Enjin was not greeted as he entered the room. What he got instead of a greeting could not be described as anything else than an order. Curt and dry. Not unlike the woman who spoke the words herself.
“Sit.”
Nijiku hospitality, he thought, you never get used to it.
The servant that had led him here bowed and quickly made himself scarce, firmly shutting the sliding door on their way out.
Kyouka Nijiku sat across a low table of what Enjin could only assume to be her personal office. She would’ve looked right at home in the traditionally decorated room if not for the stiff line of her shoulders and the hard gaze that adorned her face. More than once, the blonde had found himself wondering if the woman was made of actual stone.
Enjin sat himself down in the tatami mat without complain. He had no desire to prolong this longer than necessary. The meeting from the day before had already been taxing enough and Riyo was waiting for him outside. He still felt uneasy taking his eyes off her for too long, lest she tried running from him again.
And that was not accounting for the fact that he didn’t even know why he was here in the first place.
The young commander hadn’t taken her eyes off him since he entered the room. She seemed to be studying him very closely but he had never been one to feel intimidated by a little scrutiny, so he busied himself by getting comfortable before meeting the woman’s gaze evenly.
“I was a bit surprised to be summoned this early in the morning.” He said when Kyouka made no effort to start the conversation, “I was under the impression that we already discussed everything that needed to be discussed during yesterday's meeting.”
“We did.” the woman replied, “This is unofficial business.”
Enjin's eyebrows raised in interest. “I see.”
He waited for the woman before him to elaborate, but Kyouka remained silent. Seconds ticked by as she seemed to be debating with herself.
“Well?” He asked, “Will you be telling me what this is a—”
"I have a younger brother," She interrupted.
"Oh?"
"He's currently sitting at the bottom of a well."
He started blankly at the young commander for a few seconds, “Oh.” He said drily.
He was not oblivious to the ruthlessness the Nijiku clan were known for, no one who had ever set foot in the district was. But being thrown into a well? It sounded a bit extreme, even as a training method. A punishment, maybe? Still harsh.
The blond didn’t really care if the judgement he felt showed in his face or not. Corvus had asked him to be on his best behaviour. But unlike yesterday, he was not sitting here on official business so he was under no obligation to play nice.
“Oh, don’t give me that look,” Kyouka snapped in irritation. The reproachful tone that tinted her words was evident, even if it did not seem to be aimed at the man in front of her. “He climbed down there himself.”
As if that makes it any better, Enjin thought. He stayed silent while trying to figure out what he was expected to do with this information. Luckily, he was not left to wonder long.
“His name is Zanka.” Continued the redhead, “I want you to take him with you.”
Enjin’s mind came to a complete halt and he felt his face go slack with surprise. Just— What?
“I—” He started, but seeing as he didn’t know how to continue, his mouth clicked shut. Before eloquently opening again, “You— what?”
Kyouka remained impassive. “I do not enjoy repeating myself.”
Enjin stared dumbfounded at the stoic woman. He hadn’t seen that one coming at all and his mind was going into overdrive trying to process what the woman had just said. Take her younger brother? Take him where?
Silence stretched as they stared at each other for the few moments it took Enjin to come out of his stupor. He shook his head in an effort to clear his thoughts.
“Okay. Okay, hold on just a sec” He said, “Your younger brother. You want me to take him with me...” He trailed off, more to himself than her “But, isn’t he a Hellguard? Or, you know, training to be one?”
“He is.”
“And you want me to take him.” He repeated. It wasn’t a question but, in an incredible display of patience, Kyouka nodded anyway. She looked all the world like she was already regretting this entire conversation.
Well, that makes two of us, Enjin thought. This meeting was getting increasingly confusing and he was not a fan. He waited a few seconds for her to elaborate, but it didn’t seem to be coming.
“Okay,” He said once more before asking the obvious, “Why?”
Kyouka did not answer right away, choosing to purse her lips and sigh heavily through her nose instead. Enjin had no sympathy to spare for her, though. He found himself quickly running out of patience for this whole interaction the longer he went without a proper explanation.
“You can’t expect me to just accept such a request without giving me more information, Commander.” He argued, “You’re being awfully vague about giving your youngest away. And somehow” He continued, not without sarcasm. ”I don’t imagine your family would be all too happy about one of their members leaving with a cleaner, of all people.”
“Rest assured our family will not be a problem.”
Enjin mentally rolled his eyes. Oh, by all means hand him over, then.
Once again, he waited for the woman to continue. She did not.
Enjin gripped the bridge of his nose in frustration and took a deep breath.
“Okay, let’s start over” He raised his hands for emphasis as he dropped all pretence of humour. “Explain. Properly. Or I won’t be entertaining this conversation anymore.”
Kyouka huffed, clearly annoyed and, for the first time since he set foot in the room, broke eye contact with him. If Enjin believed the woman capable of any kind of emotion, he would say she looked unhappy. A frown adorned her features as she looked to the side and Enjin got the wild impression that she was seeking the strength to utter her next words.
“Zanka has always… struggled to keep up with the ways of our clan.” She started, “He’s tried. He always has.” She quickly amended.
Another sigh. She kept staring at some distant point, lost in thought. Enjin did not interrupt her, not wanting the woman to lose momentum now that she had finally gotten started.
“And he has succeeded, for the most part.” She continued, dragging her eyes back to his, “Until recent events.”
Enjin stared impassively at the woman. An uncomfortable weight was slowly settling in his stomach. This didn’t sound good.
“You must understand that failure to excel is not acceptable within our clan.” The young commander explained, “Much less being dependent on anything that is not your own strength.”
“You don’t say,” He said, unable to keep the sarcasm out of his tone. But he wasn’t here to share his opinion on the ways of the Nijiku clan. “What does this have to do with—”
“Zanka is bursting with anima.” She cut him short, “Always has been, ever since he was a child.”
Enjin’s eyes widened in surprise. How in the world—? How did she even know that? He wanted to ask, but she barely gave him time to recover before she continued.
“Recently, he seems to have bonded quite strongly with a useless piece of wood he picked up during training.” Even as she said it, she couldn’t help but look pained at having to admit such a thing. “It won’t be long now ‘til he awakens as a Giver.”
She leveled Enjin with a hard and unforgiving look.
“There are no givers in the Nijiku family.”
Both the tone and the choice of words were clearly meant to illustrate that this was not a suggestion but an absolute truth. The sun rises in the east, the ground is filled with trash and there are no givers in the Nijiku family.
Enjin got the message loud and clear.
He swallowed around the sense of dread that lone statement gave him.
“Zanka won’t leave, if given the chance” Kyouka continued, “not of his own volition. Not if he thinks there's the slightest chance he will accepted despite his misgivings.”
His mouth turned down in distaste at her choice of words. However, he could recognize how delicate the situation the woman was exposing was and let her carry on.
“He'll keep trying harder and harder to please our family,” She said as she looked at him fervently, willing him to understand. “but it won’t change a thing.”
The blond did, unfortunately, understand. He had enough personal experience with the Hellguard not to. Enough experience in this fucked up world to have a pretty good idea of where this was going.
“You know as well as I do what the Hellguard thinks of givers,” Kyouka said as she closed her eyes. Enjin looked down at her hands and took notice of her tightly clenched fists. “Zanka will not be the exception.” She stated, looking at him again.
“His instrument will be taken and destroyed.” She admitted, making him wince in sympathy. Just the thought of someone putting their hands on Umbreaker with the intention of damaging her was enough to set him off. “But the damage would have already been done.”
The damage of having awoken a vital instrument in the first place, Enjin thought. What a disgrace, indeed.
“They won’t ever let him forget,” Kyouka continued through gritted teeth, unable to keep the frustration out of her voice “and he’ll be reduced to the example they’ll use to illustrate the weakness his peers are not meant to fall prey of.”
Enjin meet the woman’s eyes with matching seriousness.
“He won’t be treated fairly ever again.” He surmised.
The redhead nodded in affirmation and took a few measured breaths to collect herself. After a few moments, she found it in herself to keep going.
“Still, he will try.” She emphasized quietly, “And he won’t stop trying. It’s what he’s been taught to do.”
“He will push and he will fight and he will destroy himself in the pursuit of something he's never going to achieve.” She stated, her voice almost a whisper now, “No matter what he does, it’s never going to be enough.”
“Zanka will spend the rest of his days trying to prove himself when, in their eyes, he has already failed.” She finished.
A heavy silence stretched between them. Kyouka stared off into nothing, seemingly lost in the aftermath of a confession she had not ever wanted to make.
Enjin remained silent as he studied the woman before him. The picture of the future that awaited the young Nijiku were he to remain in the Kamuatari district had been painted clearly enough. He had little doubt it would play out exactly like she’d described.
“What about you,” He finally asked, “Has he already failed in your eyes?”
Kyouka eyes widened at his question but quickly regained composure.
“My personal feelings do not matter.” She answered.
“You clearly care enough about your younger brother to try and spare him from a miserable future,” He replied, having already anticipated her answer, “So I think they do.”
The woman glared at him in defiance, but Enjin very pointedly did not budge. If he was to accept her request and take the boy away, he wanted to know what her personal feelings were on the matter.
He didn’t have to wait for long. Dutiful soldier as she was, Kyouka knew which battles were worth fighting and which were not. She was the one requesting something from him, after all.
“We are all born with good qualities,” is what she finally said, “Zanka’s are just not well suited for the Hellguard.”
“I will not say that’s not disappointing,” She continued, “And even though I fully believe that, with time, he could have polished himself to fit his role,” She said, “Time has run out and things will simply not play out that way. A refusal to see that would be both stupid and counterproductive.”
Counterproductive. Of course. Only a Nijiku could speak of their own kin in such cold and clinical terms.
Enjin sighed again, but let it go.
“If he won’t leave of his own volition” He questioned, “What makes you think he will just come with a complete stranger like me?”
“As soon as his vital instrument manifests,” She answered, “I will expel him from the clan myself.”
Enjin stared at the woman in shock.
“I just need you to give him a place to go when it happens.”
To say Enjin felt unsettled was to put it lightly. “You would do that,” He slowly said, “You would really do that? To your own brother?”
“Without hesitation.” She retorted, not missing a beat.
He gave the woman an incredulous look, which Kyouka met steadily. He kept staring at her as he turned her words around his head, trying to make sense of it all. Until he came to the horrifying realization.
“You won’t tell him,” He whispered, stricken “you won’t let him know. You’ll just kick him out and you’ll let him believe he has irrevocably failed you because of something he can’t change about himself.”
“He won’t understand” She said.
Enjin’s shock quickly turned into unadulterated anger.
“And what exactly won’t he understand, Commander!?” He barked.
The woman’s hackles visibly raised. Unused to such a tone being used on her, no doubt. Well, though luck. Enjin was not a fucking Hellguard and he would not back down just because she threw him a dirty look. Especially not after she kept spewing out such bullshit.
They looked at each other aggressively in a standoff. Seriously, the fucking gall of this woman. The tension in the room built up every second they kept glaring at each other and just when Enjin thought it was about to snap, Kyouka blinked first.
In an uncharacteristic display of emotion, the woman lowered her eyes in what the blonde dared to describe as sadness.
“That there’s nothing for him here.” She said.
Enjin’s shoulders dropped with a heavy sigh. Well, that, at least, he could agree with.
His anger disappeared as soon as it had come and he rubbed his eyes in frustration. If the boy was truly to wake as a giver, as Kyouka thought he was soon bound to do, the Hellguard truly had nothing to offer him. And neither did his clan.
He stared at the conflicted woman before him while he willed his body to lose all it’s remaining tension. As horrified as he felt, he understood that, in some twisted way, what she was doing was an act of love. Enough love to spare her younger brother from a miserable life. But not enough to stand up against the family for him. Not enough to fight for his right to exist as he is.
And not enough to tell him the truth.
Enjin breathed long and deep.
“Well,” He sighed, “can’t say you haven’t made your case, Commander.”
The redhead’s squared shoulders finally seemed to relax the slightest bit, taking his statement for the acceptance it was.
“He’ll work hard.” She vowed, “And he’ll make you proud, I assure you that.”
“Like he hasn’t been able to make you proud?” Enjin snapped tiredly. Honestly, his patience had already been tested enough today.
Kyouka, it seemed, had nothing to say to that. Instead, with what Enjin imagined was no small effort on her part, she slightly bowed her head, “Keep him safe.” It was not a plea. Such a thing would be unbecoming of a Hellguard of her rank. This was probably the closest she would get.
Enjin exhaled heavily. He just could not wrap his head around the inner workings of the Nijikus, but quickly decided he had no interest in doing so.
He slapped his hands against his legs and stood up. It didn’t seem like he’d get much else out of the young commander. Not anything he wanted to hear, anyway. And frankly, he was more than ready for this conversation to be over.
He squared his shoulders and met Kyouka’s eyes evenly, “Where do I find this well.”
The redhead gave him quick and precise directions, as ready as he was to get things moving along. He nodded and, not sparing her another look, headed for the door.
“Enjin.” She said to his back.
He turned to look at her. Whatever emotion might have softened the woman’s features over the last few minutes was completely gone now. The older sister dutifully tucked away and the ruthless Hellguard commander back in her rightful place.
“He never hears a word of this.”
Enjin narrowed his eyes at her in disdain. Just because he was humouring her request didn’t mean he was required to play by her rules. “No promises.” He said, and saw himself out.
Out in the hallway and finally away from the oppressive aura of Kyouka’s office, Enjin took a few moments to gather his thoughts. Having such a complex situation being figuratively dropped on his lap first thing in the morning had not been on the cards when he woke up today. A giver Hellguard trainee, he thought. Not only that, but a Nijiku. Of the main branch, no less.
What a mess.
Slowly he made his way down the hallway, giving himself time to fully calm down. It wouldn’t do any good to allow Riyo to see him like this. His socked feet barely made any sound on the polished wooden floor as he walked.
Servants and Hellguards alike ignored him as he openly watched them go about their day, serious and diligent in the fulfillment of their tasks. Not a movement wasted. Not a smile in sight.
How cruel, he mussed, to willingly subject yourself to a system that will not allow any displays of love, even among family. To forbid yourself from openly caring about your own flesh and blood, and having to go about it in such roundabout ways instead, in the name of strength and duty.
To deliberately cause suffering to your little brother as a means to protect him.
How unnecessarily cruel.
The pale morning light hitting the inner gardens of the Nijiku household reminded him of how early it still was. He’d been woken up at the crack ass of dawn and told Commander Nijiku required his presence immediately. It feels like ages have passed since then, even though it couldn’t have been longer than an hour ago. Two, at best.
He sighed tiredly and cracked his neck, letting go of the last of the stress that had built up during the impromptu meeting. Nijikus do have that effect, he guesses. They really were made of something else; so strict and rigid all the time. He could never live like that.
To his immense relief, Riyo was waiting right where he left her. If she was salty about not being allowed any further, it didn’t show on her face. She was unworriedly sitting on the entrance’s stone stairs while openly staring at the stoic guards standing by the gates, seemingly having the time of her life trying to get a reaction out of them.
Enjin could see her hands, though, small and restless, clearly not used to being deprived of the comfort a weapon. She was doing a great job at keeping them busy by pulling loose strands out of the sleeves of her haori, though. Her thin frame was almost completely swallowed by the cloth. She really ought to eat more, he thought, maybe they could get some manju before they left.
The girl visibly lighted up when she saw him coming through the gate. She readily stood up, eager as he was to leave this place behind.
“Ready to go?” She asked. Her big eyes looking at him calculatingly but, Enjin was pleased to notice, with a little more trust every day.
He smiled at her reassuringly,
“We’ll make a quick stop on our way out.”