The Seven: Wanted Dead or Alive

Title: The Pastor

Prompt and Word Count: Deliver-645

Characters: Jakotsu

Summary: Part 138 of The Seven: Wanted Dead or Alive.

Prompt Summary: Jakotsu meets someone who reassures him.

Won second place for prompt!

Making his way to the front of the small room, his footsteps echoing like thunder in the otherwise silent room, Jakotsu picked up one of the small sticks from the jar sitting on the table. Holding one end over the flame of a lit candle, he waited until it had caught fire before using it to lite another candle on the table. Saying a silent prayer, he began making his way to the back of the church; sitting down in the last pew.



Sitting down with a heavy sigh, Jakotsu turned his attention back to the candle table; concentrating on the flames as they danced with each slight breeze that managed to get in through the cracks in the wood. He had no idea how long he had been sitting there before someone sat down at the other end of the pew and only noticed their presence due to the squeaking of the wood they were sitting on.



As he waited for them to speak, Jakotsu soon realized they had no intention of doing so when an entire minute had passed without a word spoken. Curious, Jakotsu glanced over to his left and took in the young man sitting only a few feet away from him. His dark clothes and white collar gave him away as a pastor and Jakotsu raised his brow in question to his silence; having assumed he would have tried to deliver a sermon to him since he was in the church.



Still he remained silent and Jakotsu found his curiosity taking over. Raising his head fully, he questioned, "Plan on saying anything?"



Smiling, the pastor finally spoke, revealing his voice to be soft, yet masculine. "It is not always easy to tell if one's silence should be interrupted in church. Some find it offensive to be spoken to while praying."



"I don't mind. I'm not really sure anyone was listening to me anyways," Jakotsu admitted before turning his attention back toward the candles at the front of the church. As he watched them, he could not help but wonder why he had bothered to light one since he doubted anyone was willing to listen to his prayers, but chalked it up to it not hurting to try either way.



"Why do you believe no one is listening to your prayers?" the pastor inquired as he followed his gaze to the candles; absently noticing one more of them had been lit since he last looked earlier that morning.



"I once worked a forbidden job."



"You mean like at a gambling parlor or something like that?"



"Something like that," Jakotsu agreed, not about to try and explain that he had been a saloon girl. That would open up far more questions than he could answer at that moment and he couldn't risk getting kicked out of the town. Bankotsu was expecting him to be there when he returned.



"Are you still doing that job?" the pastor inquired and Jakotsu shook his head. "Do you plan on starting it up again in the future?" Again he shook his head. "Are you ashamed of the job you did?"



Sighing, Jakotsu explained, "I am ashamed that my life got so bad that I had to resort to such a job, but I am not actually ashamed of what I did. I did what I needed to in order to survive and, even though I have no intention of doing such a job again, if my life ever reached such a low point again, I would do what I had to to survive again."



Smiling, the pastor assured him, "One must only turn away from that which is unclean and ask for forgiveness to be forgiven. And even before forgiveness is asked for or given, there is always someone listening to your prayers. We do not lose his love or attention simply because of our actions.”