Disclaimer: I own it not. Non.

Warnings: Implications of things that happened in volume four of chu.

A/N: And here I am, pretending I know how Shingen thinks. Vague placement of time, but other than that… eh -shrugs- If you don't think too hard, your brain won't break.

Locked in a Cage
08
(Take)

In many ways, Shingen was a prisoner to his own heart. And despite the fact that he was actually fully aware of it, he did nothing to escape it.

He didn't want to walk away from the captivating and awe-inspiring beauty of Karasuma Rika, after all. Once he had set eyes on her, he'd known she was the one and only, and did everything to pursue her.

Yet there were doubts, when he saw the carnage in its entirety. He wasn't like them, would never be, yet the horrors were clear. He could see it, hear it, and be a witness to it, although he had no idea as to why. Shingen was more of a pacifist, after all, so such actions usually made his stomach squirm uncomfortably.

Sometimes, in his weakest moments – when he allowed common sense and the larger picture of both sides to overwhelm him – Shingen wanted to ask Rika: Why? Why all this?

Wasn't there a way without hurting the others?

No?

It wasn't like Rika really acknowledged him as anything more than 'Onii-sama's strange friend'; she barely listened to him when he tried to strike up conversation. Although it did sadden him at times, Shingen didn't allow himself to wallow in his own pity.

Still, there was something strange about all this: the pretty, kind girl named Kujyou Himeka who came home with them one day, and the younger girl, Karasuma Himeka…

Everything was a little strange though, he reasoned, and he really, truly loved Rika. There was nothing that could make him think differently of it.