Kenshi, come on! We can't run from this forever!" The rain pelts Johnny's face as he pushes through thick brush to keep up with the swordman's brooding.The dark, gray sky furls in anger, lashing out in fits of lightning and thunder. Johnny loses his footing, dropping to his knees into the slippery mud. He groans in frustration as he struggles to regain his balance.
“No one is running, Cage. You just don't take no for an answer." Kenshi grits behind him as he makes his way toward the bathhouse, trying to completely disregard the actor's attempts to talk. Couldn't he take the hint that it would be better to just bury the other night into their memory? Just chalk it up to two grown, horny men letting off steam during a time of stress?
“Bullsh*t!" Johnny tackles Kenshi to the ground, ruining his clean clothes and fresh towel. Kenshi whips back and pushes Johnny, causing him to slide backward into the trunk of a tree. Irritated that he'll have to walk all the way back in the rain to replace his ruined supplies, Kenshi grumbles as he hastily picks up his things.
Honestly Johnny, nobody wants to put up with a brat." Kenshi makes to walk away again but is yanked back into a headlock looking up at Johnny's face.
"Let me go, Cage!" Kenshi struggles against his hold, but the actor's knees under his back makes it very hard to break his grip.
"No! You don't get to tell me I can't take no for an answer. Not when you begged me last night. You pleaded with me to have that moment. Now you're acting like nothing happened!" Kenshi cracks Johnny in the face, thinking the hit would startle him enough to let him go. But Johnny growls, and tightens his hold around Kenshi's neck.
"Fine, Cage. So much for me trying to save your little feelings. I'm acting like nothing happened because to me it was nothing. I was having a craving, I needed it sated. I scratched your back and you scratched mine. Now you're getting pissy with me like a little bitch because my back doesn't itch anymore." Kenshi swings again, missing Johnny but able to swing himself out of his grasp.
Once able to stand, Kenshi sees the hurt look painted on Johnny's face and it makes his stomach drop. He quickly walks away, deciding to abandon the soiled cloth. He just needs to get away from Johnny. Kenshi can't push away the cut-up feeling boiling in his stomach. He does not have time for this. The plan was to befriend the actor and take the sword. For his honor, his ancestors, and his clan. Now, he had actually fallen for the thief standing in the way of his family's freedom, and he felt bad about cutting it off.
By the time Kenshi gathers new clothes and a towel, Johnny is nowhere to be seen. He adamantly ignores the pang of worry rushing through him. Their shared room is still empty when he comes back from bathing too, but he definitely wasn't biting his fingernails waiting for the man or anything. That would be delusional, which Kenshi was not.
Johnny and Kenshi had their spat in the morning, and it wasn't until nightfall after Kenshi had fallen asleep that Johnny makes his way back to their room. Kenshi is awake from the click of the door, but is startled by something long and heavy plopping down next to him on the side of the bed.
Kenshi grazes his hand over the hilt of the sword and he knows. It's Sento, lying on his other side. He tilts his head up at Johnny, taking in the coldness in his puffy eyes.
“What are you-“
"I don't want to deal with you anymore, so here it is." Johnny says abruptly, "I know you'll only track me for it so I'm just gonna save you the trouble and cough it up." He turns on his heel, grabbing a pillow and blanket while swiftly making his way out of the door.
I don’t want to deal with you anymore.
It knocks the air out of him. So much so that he can’t call after Johnny like he wants to. Or find the strength in his legs to rush after him.
Kenshi should be happy. He has a space to himself for the night. He's got his ancestral weapon back where it rightfully belongs. He should be jumping up and down, rejoicing at the thought of finally completing his lifelong goal. Instead, it feels like Johnny stabbed him in the chest with the sword as opposed to relinquishing it to him. It felt oddly empty in the room the more he sat there without his friend's snoring filling it. Guilt and anger swirls in Kenshi's stomach until he can't contain it anymore. He couldn’t stop the tears from falling or the shaking of his shoulders. He can't hide from the feeling of betrayal that consumes him.
He did the right thing, didn't he? He couldn't pull Johnny into his family issues or even his family. He doesn't even know if his ancestors like Johnny, let alone accept whatever they were. Now, sitting inside a room that was once so full of life, he can't tell who should be accepting who.
