like linen on fire

She navigated the maze easier than most, it was all of their homes, but it was as though Asahi was an extension of it, like the breeze that rustled the leaves. Hattori paused then, catching the silence, the stillness of her steps. She was hiding from him? Perhaps she thought it a game, playful as she was but Hattori was not exactly a playful man, even as a child he had been taught- or rather forced- to be quiet and serious. Seen and not heard.

"Asahi, I want to talk." He told the bamboo, as if speaking to the reeds and stalks themselves. "You are not in trouble." Hattori amended, thinking perhaps that was a concern of hers.