“Hiro. . .” Nyomi leaned his way and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Hiro didn't move. His hands stayed at his sides and his gaze found mine over her shoulder.
For the first time tonight. . .he looked lost.
I held his gaze.
I’ll kill tons of innocents and more, just to see that sadness leave your eyes.
As if he heard me, he closed his eyes. Finally, he put his arms around her and sighed. “Nyomi. . .you love me too much too.”
She buried her face into the corner of his neck. “Never that.”
My heart warmed.
The music moved through the room.
I turned to the cherry blossom tree. A third petal left a high branch. It turned once in the air and then landed on the tatami without sound.
A memory of my mother filled my head.
I must have been five at the time.
I looked up at her in the garden. “Why must they fall, mommy?”
“Leaves fall so new ones have room to open.”
I looked back at my brother and Nyomi.
Sighing, she let him go and came back to me.
Hiro pulled back from the hug and held the joint up between two fingers. The tip still burned. A thin thread of smoke rising from it in the quiet room.
Then he reached for the sake bottle on the nightstand, tipped the joint downward, and pressed the lit end into the narrow mouth of the bottle.
The ember hit the sake.
A short sharp hiss cut through the music.
A tiny curl of steam rose from the bottle's mouth.
Hiro lay down.
I watched him. "Nyomi sees it.”
Hiro looked at me. “Sees what?”
“My dragon. The shadow of it.”
Hiro stared at me. “How high are you right now? And what the fuck are you talking about?”
Nyomi snuggled closer and laughed. “Baby, I don’t think we need to talk about this.”
“Do you remember what my mother would say about the animal shadows?”
“Aww.” Hiro nodded. “Wait a minute. That stuff is true? I thought it wasn’t.”
“She sees it.”
