the path of the wind

"It is fine." He brushed her initial concerns aside, she knew him well enough-perhaps even better than most- to know small talk was of little interest to him. He was eager to brush past the pleasantries and get to the meat of the matter, and there was indeed a matter even if he couldn't quite work out what it was by reading her body language alone.

Kiriko, after serving the tea-a wise move-went onto explain why she'd called him here and- well, it wasn't what he'd anticipated at all. He had presumed she would want to talk about the aftermath of the attack or perhaps her feelings, things he hadn't thought were urgent at all, given how much he had on his plate these days. And more would be loaded on, it seemed.

He was silent and tense, his gaze unblinking as he watched her, as if the signs were something he could pick up with the naked eye. Which wasn't to say he doubted her, nor was he calling her a liar as she was a far more competent healer than he could ever be and yet... Hattori believed her when she hadn't foreseen this, he did not imagine it was all some plot of hers to meet some end. But it was unexpected, a shift in his path he hadn't prepared for in the least.

He sighed, it sounded more frustrated than he would have liked. After all that happened it hadn't been quite so easy to keep his cards so close to his chest, his annoyances slipped out more often than not. The look in his eyes harsher than he would have liked.

"And what do you wish to do about it?"