Redemption
Prologue:
« Si on juge de l'amour par la plupart de ses effets, il ressemble plus à la haine qu'à l'amitié. »
- François de la Rochefoucauld
Rough translation: "If one judges love by the majority of its effects, it resembles hate more than it does friendship."
"I'm not who I used to be." Her words were small and solid, like stones dropped into pond. But still he shook his head.
"Everyone changes." His words were large and hollow and she was suddenly consumed with the need to fill them up. The curtains ruffled in a breeze that brought the subtle scent of the sakura blossoms with it. Her thoughts drifted to the upcoming festival and she reveled in the essence of the sakura. To her they smelled so wonderfully clean and fresh and right all at once. One glance at him, however, and she was sure he couldn't smell them. "Uncle's changed." He paused. "I'm not the same person either." His words gained substance.
"No, you're not." She quickly agreed. He stared at her answer, surprised she wasn't surprised by his confession. She smiled hesitantly, then resolutely. She was reminded of a brief moment in a cave, except she knew this time was different. He'd made a different choice—a better one. But it was still absurd. Here they were, with past, present, and future meeting up in a single moment to decide the value of them all and he was surprised she wasn't surprised. Of course she wasn't surprised. This. . . what could she call it? This thing existed for moments like this and this alone. Did he never think of these things? Then she remembered he didn't smell the sakura blossoms. "Come on, don't look at me like that." She wanted to reassure him. Even if he didn't realize it, he had a long way to go before he would be ready to follow in Uncle's footsteps. She wasn't even sure if he realized that that was still his destiny, his honor, just as much as hers was to help him fulfill it. "Change is for the better. This is something you wanted, just not in this way." He cocked his head quizzically.
"What do you mean?" His words were almost full.
"I'm saying the things we want don't always come the way we want them to but they still come." Underneath her words resonated the words of a fortune-teller, but they melted away before she knew they were there. The slight breeze grew a little stronger and the smell of the sakura blossoms flooded her nose. He put his hands on the window sill.
"What is that? Do you smell that?" Her eyes sparkled and she wanted to laugh because his words could now sink like lead. Instead she grinned.
"It's the sakura blossoms."