1 Chapter III: A Moment's Respite [Shinako/Private/NK] Fri May 26, 2017 5:01 pm
Kyohei
D-rank
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
The obnoxious ringing of the digital alarm clock atop Kyohei’s nightstand cut through the previously silent air as the time hit 5:30 a.m. Buried in pillows and a duvet the Uchiha began to stir in his bed, grumpily tossing himself about at the unwelcome noise shaking him from his sleep. Lying flat on his back the man groaned as he placed his left hand on his forehead, pressing down in an effort to soothe the pounding headache ailing him, no doubt an aftereffect of the previous day’s events.
“Hrrmmmm… Morning already?”
Kyohei bemoaned the alarm, speaking in the deep, gravely voice that came when he was on the cusp of sleep. On any normal morning waking up at this hour would have been natural behavior for the shinobi who routinely woke himself from bed in the earliest hours of the morning to get a head start on his work. On this morning, however, his body was still suffering from the effects of the drugs he had been taking, making even getting himself out of bed a chore. With his right hand the man reached out to the nightstand over the edge of the bed, feeling around blindly until he found the button to acknowledge the alarm and put an end to the noise.
The room now silent once more, Kyohei took a pillow from the head of his bed and used both hands to smother his own face with it, using it to muffle an extremely annoyed groan. Once he had taken that moment to vent his frustrations the Uchiha tossed the pillow to the side and simply laid on his back, staring intently at the white ceiling of his bedroom. Perhaps the one comfort the man had this morning was that the day was one of his scheduled days off-duty, giving him ample time to relax. The problem with that was he had spent almost all of his off-days at the office anyway since returning to the job. The man had little semblance of any familial structure or friend group left in this place. He was lone, just as he’d always been. Sometimes it made him wonder why he even bothered returning. He had seen his name on the memorial outside of Police HQ. In his absence that is all he had become, just another body left on the field of battle. The man doubted anyone in the village’s lives would have been negatively impacted by him remaining K.I.A. In that moment Shinako’s face ran through his mind, causing the thoughts in his mind to disperse and silence to flood the space once more.
As the red, digital numbers on his clock hit 5:35 Kyohei chided himself silently for moping like a petulant child and picked himself up out of bed. Self-pity never came to his rescue before. It never put food on his table or a roof over his head. It never cleared his mind of negativity. Why would it start now? The only thing he could do right now to begin resolving his issues was to begin his day.
Kyohei’s morning routine was always the same: brush teeth, shave, shower, coffee, breakfast, training, office, and as far as he was concerned in that moment, today would be no different. Upon entering the bathroom the Uchiha took his usual place before the sink, grabbing his toothbrush from its stand and the tube of toothpaste from the behind the faucet, ready to begin his morning ritual. As he tilted his head down to apply toothpaste to his brush, however, his eyes wandered towards the mirror above the sink and caught a glimpse of the door behind him, from which behind the towel shinako had used to dry herself the day before peeked out. The man paused for a moment, staring at the towel through the mirror intently. It had been a long time since the presence of anyone but himself lingered in this apartment. The man considered for a moment stopping what he was doing and putting the towel where it belonged, where he would have put it, but stopped himself. For some reason he preferred it that way. The thought made him anxious, but was not entirely unpleasant. Once again chiding himself for being distracted, he turned his focus back to the task at hand.
Next on the list of Kyohei’s morning routine was the shave, which he would move right on to after placing his toothbrush and toothpaste back in their proper places. The Uchiha covered his face in a thick, white lather and raised the safety razor to his cheek, only to have his eyes once again wander in the mirror, this time towards the shower rod on which the sweatpants Shinako had borrowed the day before hung neatly to dry. The moment of Shinako’s lips pressing against his skin as he held her replayed in his mind, causing him to tighten his grip around his razor. Was she just going to be everywhere today?
After shaving and rinsing the excess lather from his face, Kyohei immediately turned around and sought something with which to dry his face. Without thinking he turned towards the door and ran the towel hanging from it over his nose, mouth, and chin. It was not until a whiff of orchid flew through his olfactory that he recoiled and realized what he was doing. He pulled his face back for a moment and glared at the towel, but after a moment of deliberation he pressed the cloth back against his face and continued to use it to dry, enjoying the scent, although he wouldn’t even admit it to himself.
“What am I doing?”
Kyohei scolded himself for his behavior once more before hastily exiting the bathroom and making a beeline for the kitchen, putting off his shower until after breakfast just to get out of that room faster. As the Uchiha loaded up the coffee machine his eyes would find the bottle of alcohol Shinako had left him the day before sitting on a shelf in his kitchen. The man shrugged it off and turned away from the shelf, opting instead to head to the fridge to find breakfast and distract himself. What he would find in the refrigerator, however, was the sliced cheese Shinako had brought for their spontaneous picnic the day before.
“…”
Reluctantly, Kyohei accepted the fact that he was not simply going to be able to ignore whatever was going on between he and Shinako, grabbed the container of cheese from the shelf in the fridge and placed it on the kitchen table. Once his coffee was done he would fill his largest mug and sit at the table. He stared at the cheese on the table as if he were staring down an opponent on the field of battle, neither side willing to yield. This stare down would last until the rumbling of his stomach echoed throughout the room, prompting the Uchiha to simply pop a slice of cheese in his mouth.
“Fine. I’ll go see her today.”
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