[center][h3][color=C0392B]Rudolf Shilage[/color][/h3][/center]

[color=c0392b]”I trust if that ever changes, you'll be the first to let me know. At the end of your knife or otherwise.”[/color]

No more needed saying between them, the rest carried through in the cold standoff between their respective bearings. Asakura Chisato and Rudolf Shilage held no friendfship between them that might bridge this gap, the way the others could, but within that same distance...

He nodded, curt and slight enough that it could be mistaken for a simple shift in posture. Of all the people that came out of this speaking sense... He was a little surprised it was [i]her[/i]. Maybe expressing an actual like or dislike was akin to an outburst of disgust, or maybe she was just far enough and cold enough to have no qualms about trying to ameliorate a ranting comrade—

But all the same, it brought a strange sense of satisfaction, hearing that at least that unfriendly and stiff shinobi agreed with him. She didn't like it. That was good.

That was correct.

Recognizing he had leveraged the consequences out into as good a furthering of their common goal as he could, as the others had been sure to note, was one thing. He could accept that his desperate efforts were recognized for what they were... But brushing off the act as a whole had never struck a chord that sounded sane in him.

It was strange. In the back of his head, he knew it was strange, this interplay of distaste and tension... but it felt like the way things should be.