Reaching across the table, Sakura tilted the pot of tea she had brewed to fill Ataru's cup, then poured the rest into her own cup. Raising her cup to her lips she took a sip, and then nodded approvingly. "So you see, all my life I've had poor health and a frail constitution. But when you ... got overly friendly with me in the entryway, I realized that your natural capacity to draw misfortune was so powerful that with a little encouragement it could draw forth the disease spirits that have been haunting me for all my life."
"So you decided you'd use and abandon me to help yourself." Ataru replied in a somewhat cross voice.
"I still intend to exorcise the spirits haunting you, but with my mother gone I wouldn't have been able to set up to perform the ritual in my weakened state."
"Then why didn't you just tell me what you wanted to do!" Ataru yelled, slamming his hands on the table.
"I would have preferred not to give you the idea that you were fully allowed to do whatever you wanted."
"I'm hurt that you think that little of me,” Ataru looked away from Sakura with a sad expression on his face.
Her face unmoved, Sakura put down her cup, reached under the table, and pulled Ataru's hand off her leg.
"Yes, I'm the sort of person who would rather live life as fully as I can than hide out of fear!" Ataru declared angrily. Then his expression shifted to the thoughtful style he so seldom revealed. "But I am not the sort of person who would hurt a woman for my own gratification, nor am I the sort who would turn away from someone I can help."
Sakura looked at the scruffy but earnest face of the boy. "Perhaps," she admitted before taking another sip of tea.
"How about this then, if you want me to help you to finish restoring your health, but not be able to push too much, why not tie me to a chair so you can always just step away anytime you want?"
Sakura looked over her teacup at Ataru, then lowered it to the table.
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(Posted Sun, 27 Jan 2008 22:40)
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