5

- Uhg well ... good luck to you- he says placing a hand on Travis's shoulder making a quick outing with his girlfriend.

- You didn't mean to say that, did you? - He asks, rubbing the back of his neck with discomfort.

- And why wouldn't I? Just because we are on a date and especially because we are together I hope you treat me like a lady, I have let you slip a lot of things for now, but if you do something that I do not want ...

- Jeez Jane! You could shame the scared face Luis is wearing!

- Well, I learned a few things from him while you were trapped in the hospital.

- Like what? - His voice suddenly darkens.

- That? Is the great Captain Travis jealous?

- How did you learn Jane?- he repeats without stopping looking at me very seriously.

- The scared face? - I respond weakly.

- I hope it's just that- he murmurs before placing his hand possessively around my waist and pulling me closer to him.

- Well ... How is it to be jealous? ... you know what they say about jealousy.

I feel Travis tighten his grip around my waist even more.

No way can it be being jealous ...

XXX

- Come on Jane, you don't have to walk behind me, I wouldn't have asked you to come if I didn't want you with me.

I was trying to give him a respectable distance, but what he says is true so I pick up my pace to catch up, I find that even though he walks slowly it still takes me two steps to catch up with his only long pair of legs. I look up into his eyes and I am glad I am walking to the right of him since he does not realize that I am watching him out of the corner of my eye and knowing him for so long I have the advantage that I can read him a book.

Even so, he catches me looking at him out of the corner of his eye and extends his hand towards me, when he took it, his eyes as expected crinkle happily as he smiles and there it is also as expected my wayward heart beating strongly.

Stupid heart, always making me fall in love with the wrong guy. Why am I listening to you? Why couldn't you make me fall in love with someone my age? And revenge, the power search, emos boys don't count! For not screaming out loud, do your heart like to be trampled on?

Travis stops and I do it next to him, I watch in silence as he dips a cloth into a bucket full of fresh, clean water that he has been carrying, I watch him carefully and lovingly wash some names from the memorial stone.

Another New Year's Day tradition is washing the tombstones of those who have lived before us, it is an act of purification that cleanses and refreshes the dead, but in a sense, it is also purification for the living.

All these years that I have known this man I have known that his delay is caused by these people whose memories are etched in stone forever, but I don't know anything about them, but something about being with him right here at his request gives me the guts. to be daring.

- Who are they?

- The closest thing I had to a family- he answers giving me a sad smile.

My heart clenches again, but this time for a completely different reason.

- He was like a father to me- he says, pointing to the name of his teacher. He was like a brother, my irritating little brother- he says pointing to another name. I'm surprised to see the cloth wetting the last name Taki followed by the first name Kira. My mind quickly connects this person whoever he is to Travis's mysterious scar- And she loved her like a sister- As she washed Gin's name, she watched the water drip like tears. She was my old team of hers when she was younger — she answers my question before she asks.

I take my turn extending my hand towards his, he takes it, and this time our fingers intertwine, the warmth of my hand warming the cold of his soaked one.

- And your real family? - I ask in a low voice leaning on him so that my arm and my left shoulder are pressed hard against him.

- They are not here, my mother was a civilian but she died when I was born and although my father was an elite officer he was in disgrace, it still does not change the fact that he was a great man.

- No, I'm sure not - I say wondering exactly what had happened, but he has already revealed more than he has done in the 10 years that I have known him.

- The people my father appreciated came first, that's what he died for and why he was disgraced in case you're wondering- he says raising my hand to his lips and giving him a soft kiss.

I think my body temperature rose at least ten degrees higher and I don't care if it's January I could throw that bucket of cold water at my head right now.

- How could you be in disgrace for an honorable philosophy like that?

- You would be surprised - he answers, kissing my hand a second time, this time placing his kiss on the inside of my wrist.

Oh god, Travis! What are you doing to me?

When one thought crosses my mind another comes ... one that burns me with anger.

What right do people have to judge love?

XXX

- I don't understand, how could you not? - He asks with a smile and his eyes shining towards me.

- I had no reason to do it, when you know it's always going to be there you just automatically postpone it until you never do it at all, it's natural to put it off.

- Never take things for granted Jane, even if you think she will always be there you will only regret it when you wake up one day and find out that she is gone.

- I know, it's so easy to get lost in everyday life and forget.

- And yet not taking things for granted is what breaks that monotony in the first place, come on, how can you lose all this after all these years? - He asks looking into the distance and asking me to do the same.

I put down what I was eating and stand next to him near the rock and I must admit that the man is right. Looking into the calm night we see the entire town spread out below us, shining like the stars in a sea of ​​black sky, it is impressive.

- You're right, what was he thinking?

We exchange smiles and stay together in comfortable silence, somehow I believe that our conversation is not really about the view on the landscape, while somewhere far away a soft melody travels through the air.

- Crazy kids, you can't keep your music down- he murmurs but he smiles at me and his hand is extended towards me.

I smile back at him and take his hand silently, accepting, allowing him to dance slowly, his hand resting on my back and mine resting on his shoulder. But as for our joined hands, he doesn't hold them in the air as you normally would while dancing, instead, he rests them intimately close to his heart.