[Gima Taro]

He didn't notice her wide eyes at first, eyes closed as he drank at his tea. That was good. Relaxing. Yeah, if she could help him out, that'd be great. He didn't want to seem as though he was abandoning the girl- He cared about her a lot.

But obviously, this was... Secret for a reason. At least for now. As his eyes finally opened, and he heard her words- Of which she seemed to almost stutter them a bit... He tilted his head. Was she crying? Kai stood up, suddenly, moving over and around the table as he placed a hand over her shoulder.

"Of course. You're here, working for the village... You teach the students... And you work with us. You live here. You're one of us now. Unless... You don't want that?" He would understand if she wanted to keep her identity from her home village, after all, but the words Taro spoke had a sense of loyalty to them as well. He deeply cared about those from his village, and at this point, even though she'd been an academy instructor here for a short time, he still felt like she was part of the family. Part of the pack, even.

"...You're a good spirit. I think the village is... Really lucky to have you." He tried to read her, to see what she thought about this, as he scooted a bit closer to her. That was weird- He felt a ping, a tinge of sadness and pain at making her cry- And it wasn't just because of her association to the village, either.

Push it aside.

"If the others don't accept you, you'll always be a part of my team, and my friend, too." Friends. Something Taro took very, very seriously. Loyalty to his friends? Absolutely paramount. And... In a way, he had a hunch she might be able to identify with what he said. He hoped so, anyways.

"A-And cut the waterworks... We've already ruined this table with blood, lets not ruin it with tears too..." He tried to act tough, smiling lightly at her as he patted the catgirl on the shoulder.

[miyake mikio]

CONSEQUENCES BE DAMNED Amegakure, for all its secrecy and spying, was made up of a tightly-knit people—they looked after their own come hell or high water. To be an outsider existing on the fringes of such an intensely loyal community was to be inherently distrusted; even if not maliciously, Mikio was treated as Other. This was not something that she thought about on a conscious level, but ever since she had moved to this land a certain kind of quiet loneliness had dogged her steps, a feeling that she barely understood and knew even less how to put into words. Taro put his arm around Mikio’s shoulders and told her you’re one of us now, and she felt just the tiniest bit of that loneliness slip away like so much dust on the wind. She leaned against him without thinking twice about it. She sniffled loudly, wiping the tears and bubbling snot away from her face with the wet sleeves of her jacket. Her eyes were puffy and red, her petite button nose swollen pink with the ferocity with which she scrubbed the boogers from nostrils. Mikio was a mess: but she was beaming through it all, unfiltered joy shining through the gloopy wet evidence of raw emotion. "Happy waterworks, Ta-ko,” Mikio said, wobbly still. "Thank you. You made me really happy.” Gima Taro -- 221

MADE BY NIGHTBLOOM