Chapter 4

Aki decided that the best first step was to surveillance the Father and remember his schedule. It was going great so far until the third night when he was spying on Father Sudou from the roof when he was caught.

"Akihito, what are you doing here?" jerking around to find Sister Lou there standing with a stern face and her arms crossed over her chest. Staring at her for a moment trying to think of a good enough excuse and coming up blank.

Sighing he looked back down to where Father Sudou was still outside talking on a phone, "Watching him." Aki answered in a low voice. Walking over Sister Lou looked down to see who he was talking about and wasn't at all surprised with who she found.

"So, Father Sudou was responsible for your accident. And I take it now you're up here trying to get dirt on him for some revenge?" the Sister said with no hint of judgment in her voice or face, but Aki could see some kind of emotion, but he couldn't place it. Getting down on her knee so she was face-to-face with Aki, she placed both her hands on his shoulders and gave him a very direct look that he couldn't look away from even if he tried.

"Look Akihito, I know your upset with what happened, and that revenge might seem like the only right choice to do but it can also be a very dangerous choice. You don't know what could happen, you might find something that could chance your life or endanger it. I know to you that camera was everything, but it was not worth your life. I can't say with 100% of my heart that Father Sudou won't hurt you and that scares me, if he was willing to do this to your hands and not even show an ounce of remorse then what's from stopping him from doing something worst next time."

Akihito already knew all this, but it was for that reason alone that he had to do this. He has already accepted what happen to him and moved passed it in a way but what if this happens to someone else. All he did was take a photo of someone's back for Father Sudou to lash out.

"I'm sorry Sister but I have to do this. Yes, some of it is for revenge but most of it is from fear that he would hurt someone else. I might not be able to find anything but I have to at least try and pray I find something that will keep him in line so there won't be a repeat." Determination was written all over Aki's face and eyes. It was clear that he wasn't going to back down.

"Do you truly believe that he would hurt someone?"

This was the million-dollar question. Father Sudou didn't actually hurt Aki but he was the reason behind it and he didn't help Aki afterwards. He let Aki run out of his office bleeding and made no sign of helping till the next day and that was just to keep an eye on Aki and make sure he didn't say anything. But, that day he saw such coldness in his eyes that spooked him, and he couldn't get Asami's warning out of his head either. If Father Sudou was so dangerous that Asami was worried, then they should also be worries.

"Yes, I do."

Sister Lou took a moment to think about the situation and what would be the best course of action before she spoke again. "Okay. If you feel that he can truly hurt someone then I won't stop you but just to be clear I also don't approve of this either and no more late nights out. You're still a child Akihito and you need your rest. Ill see you to your room for tonight and tomorrow when you come to see me we will talk more in-depth then."

"You'll help me?!" Akihito was surprised that the Sister would help. He knew she would believe him, but he was sure that she would stop him.

"Not help per-say but I will make things easier for you. We will talk more tomorrow, like I said. For now, off to bed with you." Sister Lou started to lead Aki back inside. Once she was sure Aki was back in bed she headed out to a garage which was a small building kept in front of the orphanage that held four different vehicles, got in one and drove into town to pick up a few things for Aki.

The next came and Aki found himself with Sister Lou in the small nurse's office. He was a little nervous going there today but he was also hopeful that the Sister would actually help him. Coming to the door he brought his hand up to knock before he opened it up and called out to Sister Lou, but she wasn't there.

Thankfully he didn't have to wait long before she came in with the medical supplies in her hand. "Sorry Akihito, I hope you didn't have to wait long." Smiling as she took a seat in front of Aki.

"No worries Sister, I just got here myself." The rest went on as usual; change bandages, talk about the process, caution about possible infection or activities that could damage his healing hands. Once he had a new bandage he was about to get up and walk out but Sister Lou stopped him.

"Akihito about last night. I don't feel right having a child sneaking around something that could be dangerous, nor do I approve of vengeance. I want to make it very clear that I do not want you doing this." Pausing to give Akihito a piercing looks full of authority but with a hint of worry. "But, I know you won't listen to reason and me myself am curious to what kind of person the Father is so I'm willing to look away for now. I want you to be careful, so I bought somethings you could use to help you find something with out being caught."

Reaching into the medicine bag she pulled out a rectangular black bag and handed it to Akihito. Opening it he found a small hand-held silver camera with a wrist holder on it so if he had to run away quickly he wouldn't have to worry about dropping it, and two small voice recorders. "I want you to carry around one of the recorders at all times and place one in Fathers Sudou's office so that you won't have to be here at night. The camera must stay a secrete for now, so make sure to hid it well and only bring it out if your sure you have something. Furthermore, I want updates on anything suspicious or dangerous. Even if you're not sure you still tell me. Last but not least," Sister Lou placed both her hands on Akihito's cheeks and made sure he made eye contact with her before continuing, "you are never allowed to confront him or be alone in a room with him. Am I clear."

Looking down at the stuff the Sister gave him and then meeting her eyes again, Akihito was short on words. He knew he could trust Sister Lou, but he never knew he could depend on her like this, he never depended on anyone in fact. To see her go out of her way to help and protect him really touched his heart. Taking a deep breath to squash some of his emotions down he answered, "Thank you Sister Lou, I won't let you down and I promise to not do anything stupid or dangerous."

Feeling relived she gave Aki a hug and kissed him on his head before allowing him to make an exit. She still felt guilty about letting Aki do all the work, but she knew there was no stopping the boy, so she was just happy she could help.

Aki ran down the hall and quickly placed one of the tape recorders in a fake plant on the Fathers desk that sat right beside the phone. Taking a moment to put the other recorder on some sting he found in the office and had it hang down from his neck, so it was hidden by his shirt but could easily get voices recorded. He made is way down his first period and prayed he got something.

He finally got something. In his possession was a tape recorder of Father Sudou and some guy named Sakazaki talking about some hand off. From what he gathered the Father owed Sakazaki a favor after he located some missing product of Asami and he was asking for some documents. Aki didn't know what the products or documents were, but he did know that Asami was meant to stay in the dark about it.

Aki was thrilled that got something on the Father, but he was also worried what the outcome might be. Heading to Sister Lou in the nurse's office he was thankfully he would be able to speak to her about this and get some guidance on what his next move should be when a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Turning around to see who the hand belonged he wasn't expecting to see Father Sudou there.

"Hello Akihito, how are you feeling today? Are your hands healing up nicely?" He said with a smile on his face. Aki couldn't help but remember the famous quote, 'never judge a book by its cover'. Here stood a very handsome man with long blond hair that framed his face perfectly, dark blue eyes and pale skin with a beauty mark on his bottom left chin. Yes, he was handsome, but that smile was too fake and his eyes hard as steel showed a different story about the inside.

"I'm fine, Father thank you. Now please excuse me, I'm supposed to be meeting up with Sister Lou to get my bandages changed." He tried to turn away and walk off but the hand on his shoulder tighten to prevent it.

"Not so fast Akihito. What's that in your pocket?" the Father reached into Aki's pants and pull out the recorded that held the conversation giving Aki a paralyzing look that worked for a second before Aki grabbed the recorder back and pushed Father Sudou into the wall behind him while shoving the recorder into his back pocket. "You little damn brat! You think I don't know what you're up too?" striking fast, Father Sudou grabbed the boy by his neck and shoved him hard into the opposite wall. Lifting Aki by his neck so his feet dangled off the ground and completely cut off his air. Aki tried to fight him off, but the Father gave him a violent shack causing Aki's head to hit the wall before he allowed Aki to take another breath.

"I warned you once, now if you don't hand me that tape recorder now I will make your death as painful as possible and sale your dead corpse on the market to be fucked!" Not waiting for Aki to do it, Father Sudou shoved his hand into Aki's pocket, ripping it in the process, to get the recorder. The fingers of the hand that was still on his neck dug into his skin causing him to wince out in pain.

Frantic, Aki started to throw punches and kicks to get Father Sudou off him and as luck would have it one of his kicks landed right on the Fathers groin. Releasing Aki and falling over from the pain the Father was defenseless to the kick Aki gave to his head. Not wasting anymore time, Aki ran off to his room to grab the phone Asami gave him, in the state of panic Aki barley notice the black dots that filled his view. Once he had his phone he went to the window and carefully climb down to the ground but because he was so dizzy from the lack of proper air he ended up blacking out. Coming to, he found himself on his now sore back looking up at the sky. He was able to make out a head that short of looked like the Fathers pocking out of the window that he had just climbed out of. Pushing himself up Aki ran as fast as he could into the thick trees till he found a very old tree house that he had used for some of his photos.

Once he was sure he was in the clear he gave a much-needed deep breath and tried to shack his vision clear. Reaching up to his neck he could feel a slight dampness from his blood around it. Pulling the phone out of his pocket he called one of the two numbers saved on the phone and listened to ringing.

"Akihito." Aki never knew a voice could cause such comfort. All the turmoil he put himself through the last couple of days seemed foolish now. He should have just called Asami right when he got ahold of the conversation then all of this could have been avoided, but there was no use crying over that now. Right now, he needed Asami's help.

"Asami." Instead of coming out in his normal voice it came out cracked and sounded more like gasping. Turning his head away from the phone he gave a rough cough and a deep breath. "Asami," this time sounding a lot more normal, "I need to give you something."

"Are you hurt? Did Sudou hurt you?" The angry voice gave Aki chills. Decided not to answer the question Aki instead gave him the information that he had.

"I recorder Father Sudou talking to a Sakazaki on the phone. He mentioned a hand off that is going to happen Saturday night at some club. Father Sudou is trading one of your documents for Sakazaki silence on some missing product that he found for Father Sudou. I don't know how but he found out I recorded him." Once finished Aki notice he was breathing hard again so he took some more deep breaths to calm himself down. He started to feel very tired, but he concentrated on Asami and struggled to stay awake.

"Where are you?"

"I'm hiding in an old tree house on the grounds, it's pretty well hidden so I should be okay here."

"Good, stay there till I call you and Aki, are you hurt?" the voice made it clear that he wasn't going to get out of answering this time.

Taking another deep breath Aki answered, "Yes, but nothing too serious."

"You have been breathing hard all throughout this conversation and gasping like you can't get a good enough breath. Sounds serious enough to me."

Taking a little longer than normal to respond due to fighting blacking out Aki responded, "I said I'm fine and I mean it. I just had to do a long distance run after getting the scare of a life time, that's why I'm breathing hard."

"Hmm, I'll see if what your saying is true soon enough. Till then don't move or make a noise, I'll be there in 25 minutes."

"Okay, see ya." As soon as the call ended Aki got an overwhelming feeling of being alone. Surveilling the area around him for any sight of the Father, Aki vision kept blurring and his head felt like it was being split in half. He was having such a hard time breathing that he started to cough violently as he doubled over so his cheek was rested on the floor of the tree house. He tried hard to stay conscious but with every struggle to get the next breath in he slowly slipped away into the darkness. His last thought before he finally gave in was that he hopes Asami would be the one to find him and not Father Sudou.