[b][i]Ken Illustrious Ikari and Hajime Sakurazaki[/i][/b]

Ken Illustrious Ikari was heading for Reverio's home; Hajime was at his side, and both carried their swords openly.

They now had a name and face to attach to the person Ken had murdered, and an organization to name as the legal front of the Conspiracy... And Ken knew whom he had to kill next; his heart had grown cold upon hearing [i]that woman's[/i] words and how she was stoking the subtlest embers of social unrest - A wedge between Gifted and Non-Gifted. He will need Reverio to bring this conspiracy down; he was ready to concede a lot of things to do that.

After all, he was not going to disturb [i]Chinami's[/i] quiet life, all so that he can be acknowledged by her. 

[i]Imagine that; I want that woman to acknowledge me. Who knows, she might have been my first love, if not for Hajime... Nah; her standards are too high.[/i]

He arrived at Reverio's apartment door; found him not at home yet. Nevertheless, Ken decided to pass the time to wait for his... Friend (?) before saying to Hajime, "Hajime, I keep believing this, that I broke a band of true companions before it was fully formed, that my courage failed at the wrong time. And now, I come to him because I need to ask a favor? What I [i]should[/i] be doing is ask for his forgiveness, then refrain from doing anything more. As it is, I broke the fellowship that was forming between us, a fellowship he tried to form, but which failed due to... Disagreements."

Hajime's response to this was, "Then why not refrain from asking for a favor, then? Apologize to him, admit fault for ruining the fellowship, then solve [i]our[/i] problems on our own."

Ken turned to him, then ventured one more concern, "He deserves to know."

Hajime acted as a foil once again, voicing ideas that were pushed at the back of Ken's subconcious, "Then let him know, but tell him that you don't need his help if he feels obliged to give it, that you're letting him know for [i]his[/i] sake, not yours'. That if he feels obliged to help, to stay out and let you handle it, but that if he is genuinely willling to help you to rekindle the friendship you break, with no preconditions besides that, he can join."

He paused for effect, then continued, "But what's important is to admit to your faults, to apologize, but not feel obliged beyond that. My mentor, Akio Takaki, told me that when you did something bad, to not feel entitled to people's forgiveness, nor to let your genuine faults put you in their debt."

Leaning close to Ken's ear, he whispered, "And do not let him know you killed a man. That is the sort of thing that he or someone he might allow to know can use as blackmail..."

Ken looked away a little and said, "How quick I was to leap to murder as a solution. But honestly, I don't feel that much guilt. How sociopathic, even if only for a moment..."

[@Dezuel]