HSV - Space is good sometimes

Gankona leaned against the couch cushion, closing his eyes in deep meditation as he used the padding to prop his elbows. Taiga and Roujin were out training, which left him the opportunity to digest his bitchy mood in peace; it had been a slow week since his irritable mood had been escalating to this point, which in return made him come off as more sharp-tongued and shrewd than usual. Normally, he would get snarky from time to time and occasionally would spew out a few insults, but only if he thought the other person could handle it. However, today was not a normal day- nor had the whole week been normal, for that matter. For the most part, he had been distancing himself from people other than his clansmen... Which, for people who hadn't known him longer, might have come off as somewhat concerning. For those who had known him for a great while, knew that his sudden change of mood was only occasional and would pass given enough time.

Moriko was one of those concerned people as she walked up to Gankona's apartment. She had been debating with herself for a bit if she should go or give him his space. She didn't want to seem clingy but the Hayashi had noticed Gankona had been putting distance between them. He was moody and had this irritated scowl whenever she saw him leaving her to worry.

Did she do something wrong? She wondered to herself. Why wouldn’t he just tell her? She came to his door and stood there for a minute or two. Just debating that fine line of action, leaving him be and seeing what happened, or going to him in case he needed someone. She didn’t want to bother Tai or Rou about this, she knew her paranoid mind was overcomplicating the issue and he was probably fine. But still, she sighed and just hesitantly knocked on the door... Giving into her need to nurture and protect.

He sighed and opened his eyes in time to see a shadow move across the curtained window and stay at the door. He peered over toward the door before mustering up a weak growl. He felt his body tense up slightly as his mood continued spiraling; he stood up and quickly cracked open the door before returning to his seat- he knew it was more than likely Moriko, and if she wanted to come in then she would. He didn't feel the need to greet her.

She opened the door to see Gankona walking away and her concern only worsened, maybe he was sick? She felt a lump start forming in her chest as she walked in and closed the door behind her. She approached Gankona to gain his attention and sign to him to see what the problem was

His dark eyes narrowed at her once she began to gesture hand signs, rubbing his chin and jaw line in a flustered manner, 'I'm fine' Gankona signed sharply.

Submitting a soft sigh she signed back, 'Your body language stats otherwise. If you're not feeling well just say so.' she was trying to be gentle, she was more concerned than anything else.

'I said I'm fine,' Gankona signed, his eyebrows furrowed in frustration as he shot her a nasty look, 'do you always have to be up my ass?'

Between the look and his words Moriko stopped, she just kinda looked at him, not quite believing he had just done that. After a brief moment of starring her down, his eyes strayed away from her face and off into the distance- he was too ill-tempered at the moment to have a decent conversation. He knew he had more than likely crossed the line with that hasty remark, but he couldn't bring himself to show sympathy.

Moriko just gazed, even without a heated voice she still felt it, and it still stung more then she’d like to admit. What did she do wrong? She was worried enough since was basically avoiding her for the past week, and now he's snapping at her? She didn’t bother keeping the hurt hidden. It showed on her face and she just turned away heading for the door. She shouldn’t have come.

Gankona continued to look off to the side disregarding the Hayashi; he refused to acknowledge her, but after catching sight of her leave out of the corner of his eye, he leaned back against the cushion- digesting what just happened.

She glanced back at the apartment then looked down as she headed out of the Fujihara compound, the words he spat hurt more than they should have, but still, was it her? She bite her lip slightly then shook her head.

He wanted space? Fine, she’ll give him space.

It was a couple days later when Moriko was at the nearby training field. She shouldn’t still be bothered by what happened with Gankona, but she was. She was used to being snapped at, she was already dealing with a moody Fujihara before she met her boyfriend, but she was use to Narashi’s attitude... Moriko had taken Gankona to be a bit sweet... she didn’t want to think she misjudged him, but maybe she had.

With a grunt she landed her final punch on the training dummy and panted. She had been out here just training her heart out, just trying not to think about it. Maybe she was just overthinking it, people had bad days, and she knew Gankona could be moody... She… did have a habit of overthinking things.

Moriko looked out at the lake as she let her heart rate slow down. That was enough training for today. Feeling her heart steadily slow down Moriko stepped away from the abuse dummy that was smoking slightly from her fire jutsus. She sat next to the lake and stared out at the glistening waters, hugging her legs. Part of her wanted to go and see Gankona, but what if he still wanted his space? She groaned slightly rubbing her temple, maybe she should give it another day? She doesn’t want to come off as clingy... but deep down, she knew she had begun to love the Fujihara, but she didn't want to admit to it in fear of messing everything up. She sighed, she thought she had gotten to a point in her life where she could bypass these stupid insecurities. This relationship thing was harder than it looked. Should... she apologize for being pushy? She knew deep down she should have left him along but she worries too damn much, Gakona was a grown man, he can care for himself. He was honest too, if he wasn't feeling the relationship anymore he would have said so. Maybe he just snapped at her to get some space... She sighed, no she'd need to apologize, but when would she go to him?

Meanwhile on the busy streets of Omoichidou, Gankona walked along seemingly relaxed and unconcerned with the things around him. It had been two days since the peak of his nasty mood, and he could feel the pressure ease from his shoulders as he trailed along the streets, slowly breaking off into the path leading toward the training grounds. He knew Moriko well enough that she'd more than likely be there, it's not like it was that hard to piece together of course.

He skimmed passed the freestanding sparring bag, taking note of the faint trail of smoke steaming from it, then peered over to see Moriko sitting next to the lake; her back faced him. Gankona quietly walked in her direction, then casually sat next to her as if nothing was out of place, staring out into the distance with her.

She glanced at Gankona when she saw him sit down next to her, her heart fluttered slightly, but still her brows furrowed a bit, not really sure of where this was going. When she saw him messing with his sleeves and pull out the stuffed dog, she turned her head to him, giving him a curious look.

Gankona motioned the stuffed animal over to her, encouraging her to take it before gesturing hand signs, 'we both knew you weren't getting an actual dog.'

Once she saw the dog was for her she smiled on instinct and took it, she didn't care she looked a bit like a little kid. She held the dog and read his words, she blinked realizing he remembered the story she had told him a while ago about how she got Akihiro.

She didn’t quite remember how they got to the subject, but he was curious as to how she had gotten the dog. She explained the story of how Jun was moody from a bad mission, and ended up snapping at her. Upset she had left the house. Next time she saw Jun, he was lugging over a six week old puppy he said was hers, she forgave, named the dog Akihiro, and that was that. She had joked with Gankona that if he ever upset her, he’d need to give her a puppy too…

Gankona signed at her again, 'So would you like to get dinner?' He asked, acting like this didn’t just happen.

Moriko looked at him, smiling softly. Okay, she saw what was going on here. She accepted his invitation with a kiss on the cheek. Apology accepted Fujihara.