âWho do you despise?â
âłâ( questions & comments ⢠accepting. ) ;
    Kureno cants his head curiously to the side, the usual untouched quality of his expression flickering into something far more readable â confusion, careful thought, hope laced with hesitant sort of spiderwebbing-cracks shuddering down its length. All of it breathes to life across his face without thinking, without noticing â lifelong instinct has him latching onto the attention ( brief but there, existing, real ) and he meets it with his own.Â
    There is, perhaps, an element of self consciousness â or, awareness of the self. It is so easy to fall into the world of dreaming, to uninhabit his body and catch a ride on some train of thought or another. But he is aware that it is Shigure who has asked him a question, and something fluttery and vibrantly cutting in his chest refuses to allow him to spiral toward the clouds.Â
    Itâs probably for the best. Because he knows the answer without really trying. Despise is such a heavy word. It rings with a bitter, rusted, piercing quality, and he just â he canât reconcile it with anything. As much as he has to learn â as much as he has no idea what love really is â he knows, somehow, that there is little in this world he does not love. For what it is. For what itâs worth.Â
    ( â there are exceptions. they come to mind, instant and unbidden. people that send a thrill of unease down his spine. but despise â
    â thereâs only one, isnât there? only one that comes close. )Â
    He can imagine Shigureâs reaction if he were to say it. Even the distance of space and time and pain canât really warp what Kureno knows is inevitable â how his face will change when Kureno tells him that the only person that comes to mind is only himself.Â
    But even that is â pale. Washed out, declawed, less hatred than dissatisfaction and confusion and â not really knowing who he is at all. An unsatisfactory answer by all accounts.Â
    â I donât know, â he finally says, firmly catching Shigureâs gaze as the honest truth comes out, unwilling to be denied. â I donât think I despise anyone. âÂ