Winter was fading, the cherries had buds just beginning to brave the cold, the temple was shining and he'd made sure to walk this way first. He wasn't going to enter yet, there were things he had to do first, people he had to see, honour was something that required permission to act and what he was going to do could cause problems for all. Logan took the time to orientate himself toward the Shinboku and bowed low to it's still green boughs, his lips whispering his intentions to the Kami who lived there. He would restore their honour as well as his own, he had been Yuriko's intended after all, he could still remember the day he found her gift in his locker.
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“Logan move your ass! You're being assessed in three minutes solider, get your gear and get moving!” The sergeant was a kiss ass but he was fair, Logan was going to somewhere off the mainland to have his skills assessed, to see if he still had what it took to be a weapon. He'd been calmer, more focussed, even the hicks who passed through here didn't annoy him as much anymore. He'd been clearing his locker when his hand had come across the gift in the bottom of it, wrapped in origami paper. He'd stopped and opened the small package, a piece of seaweed, a piece of dried fish, a abalone shell holding it all together. The paper had the small neat writing of Yuriko on it's reverse, he read the characters and a warmth had suffused his heart. She'd made him an offer of life, she wanted to share more than the garden with him, she wanted him as a husband. He was found still holding the little bundle by the sergeant, knelt in his locker. “LOGAN!! MOVE IT, OR YOU'LL LOSE IT!!” He'd dropped the bundle back into the locker, smiling all the way to the helicopter, little did he know it'd be the last time he'd be on base.
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Logan pulled out the crumpled paper that held the address of Yuriko's family, he'd never seen them at home, that delight had come afterward, at her funeral. Forty-nine days after the bomb had killed her, after the cowards that had shown their contempt for the people who worked with the gaijin. He'd been outside the ceremony, unnoticed he'd thought, the family were in mourning and he was in no fit state to be seen by anyone who had mattered to him. The house was dressed in solemn white, and it had been an elderly woman who had noticed him stood under a lamppost getting wet in the rain. She'd taken an umbrella and shuffled over toward him, her feet in traditional geta, she didn't speak to him, all she did do was shake her head at him and mumble something about Yuriko not being able to rest properly. That she left business undone and no one in the family could settle it, she would not enter Anoyo unless it was settled. She'd passed a small twig to him then, a piece of the coffin so he wouldn't forget his part in her life, she'd told someone of her intentions. But which were her mother and father he didn't know, they were all dressed in mourning, some in western black and some in traditional white. Logan stayed to watch the procession to the grave site, the weight on his chest crushing the will out of him. He'd hoped to have something normal, something that belonged to him, someone who had accepted him as he was. His fingers had almost crushed the small piece of wood into his hand, there was nothing he could do here, whatever he had had was gone.
Now he was back here again and this time the house was filled with life, he could hear the laughter of the children inside and the voices of happy people after a hard days work. Swallowing his nerves he opened the gate and walked toward the front door. After a few moments someone answered his knock, a small child with a huge grin on her face. Behind her a male face made itself known and he bowed low to the both of them, nervously Logan rose and spoke. “I am Logan, I knew Yuriko and seek to talk to your elders about her.”
The man ushered the child away with a few movements of his hand and stood there looking through the large gaijin stood outside his house, the man's eyes were lowered in respect and his arms were at his sides. He looked like the picture Yuriko had had in her room, the one that sat on the family altar now, but he looked the same as he did now.
Logan could feel the situation slipping away from him and he reached into a small pocket and pulled out the small twig from her coffin, holding it out to him while speaking, “I have come to ask permission to act for her honour, to allow her spirit to rest in Anoyo. To restore what was taken from her,” he made sure to meet the gaze of the man in front of him. “And from your family also.” They both heard the shuffle of feet behind them and the man at the door turned, allowing the sight of the old woman to meet their respective gazes. She just nodded and ushered them both inside, the little girl who was helping her grandmother to move ran and pulled Logan's hand into the house. The decision had been made, whatever came next he deserved.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Logan gets to the heart of the question and wonders what he'll find when he gets there.
Chapter End Notes:
As always, please tell me what you think.