Kurenai Yuhi's words fell, and the courtyard fell silent.
The twilight had completely faded.
Lamps had been lit beneath the eaves.
Their warm yellow light fell across her profile, softening some of her usual coolness.
Lie Yang did not speak immediately.
He looked at Kurenai Yuhi.
She did not look away either.
The blush on her cheeks had yet to fade, and her fingers still clutched a corner of her qipao, her knuckles faintly pale from the force.
She said she was willing to stay.
It was not because she had been forced by genjutsu.
Nor was it an answer she had given after being controlled by Lie Yang.
She knew very well that she still retained her memories.
She remembered Konoha.
She remembered Kakashi.
She remembered Might Guy.
And she also remembered the blood-soaked ruins where Lie Yang had taken Shisui's and Kakashi's eyes.
Yet she could not deny that the illusion of these past few days had not forcibly given her a false life.
It had merely shown her another possibility.
No pursuit.
No missions.
No deaths of comrades.
No constant schemes and betrayals to face.
She simply sat in the courtyard, waiting for someone to return.
That scene was far too peaceful.
So peaceful that it gave her the urge not to wake up.
"You shouldn't trust me so quickly."
Lie Yang finally spoke.
Kurenai Yuhi raised her head.
"I don't trust you."
"Then why are you staying?"
"I just don't want to leave for now."
Kurenai Yuhi's tone regained some of its steadiness.
She looked beyond the courtyard.
The night wind swept through the treetops, and the leaves brushed softly against one another with faint rustling sounds.
"I don't know what Konoha is like now."
"I don't know whether Kakashi and the others are alive."
"Even