Chapter 6
Blunders
Hikaru takes an intake of breath before sighing and forcing himself to turn the door knob. It was ghostly silent, if not for the loud beeping of the heart monitor and the patient's troubled, raspy breathing.
The nameplate at the door read "Darcy Nobles", which made Hikaru remember seeing the name tag on his waitress at the diner. The sight of her with various needles from machines attached to her just to keep her alive, and her legs bandaged up completely made Hikaru want to run and hide.
But he didn't.
Because he knew she was this ill, weak, and injured because of him, because he wasn't good enough to keep his anger and powers in check.
She was the sole survivor, and though Hikaru had killed many people before, both intentionally and accidentally, he hadn't become numb to the concept of death. No matter how many times he killed, or how many people died around him because of him, seeing someone die or knowing it was his fault hurt just as much as the first time he experienced a death at his hands.
The memory burned in his chest, ate away at him constantly, creating a larger hollow in him that would soon make him numb to the concept of death and ultimately make him a monster.
Before that, however, he would weep, lament, and bathe himself in sorrow and despair. That was exactly what he did; sat on the plastic, wobbly chair beside the patient and held his face in his hands.
"H… Hello?" A raspy, soft voice says in a heavy accent, and Hikaru shoots up at the sound of someone's voice. Her brown, wavy hair was tied in to a bun, and her green eyes fluttered awake.
"Y… You're the man who was at the diner, aren't you?" She spoke slowly and with difficulty. Placing a bandaged hand on his cheek and using her thumb to wipe away a tear, she continues, "I wasn't able to get the sake to you; my apologies." She chuckles weakly, giving a smile to Hikaru.
"Maybe next time, when I'm up on my feet with my own five-star diner in Japan, I can serve us a cup of sake, on the house!" She says, getting too excited and breaking into a fit of coughs.
She giggles, and continues, lowering her hand and intertwining it with Hikaru's. "Wouldn't that be great?"
Yamato feels a lump in his throat, but squeezes her hand regardless, "Yeah. That would be wonderful." Hikaru mutters, feeling himself shake and tremble. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so, so sorry, Darcy. You don't deserve this. You deserve so much better." He hears his voice crack and weaken, and melting himself into her warm embrace he continued to spurt apologies.
He didn't have the heart to tell her that she would never walk again, would never stand up on her feet in her diner and pass around orders on plates.
She would never deliver him the sake.
Ogami dodges the incoming punch from his opponent, and swiftly ignites his fire and burns the criminal. He stares at his fire, and, hearing the criminals' screams of pain, he can't help but think back to the incidents that had occurred.
"You see?! That was just an excuse to avoid confrontation with me, wasn't it?"
"You even have the audacity to not say sorry, do you? This is why no one likes you, you never show respect for anyone but yourself!"
"You're a coward, Ogami! All you ever do is run away!"
He was never one to let words hurt him. But when he did, they burned him more than fire. Hearing those hurtful words coming from Sakura, though, his mind was overwhelmed with thoughts, memories, and words. His faded memory of her words made them harsher than they actually were.
Maybe Toki was right. Maybe all he could ever do was run away.
"Ogami! Get the hell out of the way, moron!"
Ogami blinks twice, and before he knew what was happening, Yui was in front of him kicking a criminal on his face and finishing him off. She turns around, hissing at Ogami. "You idiot, you would've been killed if it wasn't for me!"
A long, bleeding cut ran all along her right cheek – the consequence for saving Ogami.
He purses his lips.
"And I don't even get a thank you, do I?"
Ogami thinks back to Sakura's words, and in all honesty he was ashamed. He didn't want to be this way; over a girl.
"Th… Th…" He urges himself to say a single phrase of gratefulness, yet it suddenly becomes difficult to speak at Yui's awaiting stare, and his breath catches from all the struggling. He coughs from the saliva gone the wrong way.
"Tch. I shouldn't have expected anything from you. You disappoint me, Ogami." Yui spits, glaring at Ogami briefly before walking away without him.
Maybe Sakura was right, too. Maybe he was so weak that he couldn't even say thank you or sorry.
But as Yui walks away, completely out of earshot and sight, Ogami hears himself mutter, "Thank you."
He walks on, heading back to the place the Code: Breakers had chosen to meet; ever silently, yet his thoughts racing, mind elsewhere. He didn't hear the twig snap near him, or running footsteps come behind him.
Thud!
"You sure that was him, Kiyome?" A man with medium-length black hair and gray eyes asks, staring at the navy-haired man's unconscious body laying on the floor.
"Why? You want to join him, Mizuki?" Kiyome offers, grinning and twirling her bright, curly blue hair and winking with one of her evergreen eyes.
"If you're so interested, why don't you?" Mizuki mutters under his breath. "Let's just take him and go."
"Ogami hasn't been back in a while, don't you think?" Heike asks Sakura and the rest of the Code: Breakers. "This wouldn't be happening if you had just followed my directions and come back with him, Yui. You know the Maji might be looking to capture or kill us. It isn't safe to travel alone."
He sips his tea, waiting for Yui to rampage at his scolding.
"Ugh! It wasn't my fault he was being so pissy, annoying, and pathetic! And anyway, he should've followed me! You can't expect me to freaking babysit him!" Yui yells angrily.
"Right, well, the fact still stands that the Maji are out and about." Heike says, sighing. "But I'm sure Ogami can handle himself."
"Of course he can! He's just behaving like a child over what happened between us. It's ridiculous, really, and in all honesty I'm not worried, not that I should be." Sakura says, crossing her arms.
"Right." Toki says sarcastically, grinning.
3 Days Later
"What's so important that we had to waste our time coming here?" Yui asks, groaning and placing her feet on the table.
"Yeah, for real!" Toki adds.
Sakura rolls her eyes, "If Heike called us here on such short notice, it must be important, right?"
Heike nods, "I got a call from the government very recently. Apparently, they've called Ogami for missions several times over the past three days, and not once has he answered." He sighs, stopping to pour himself some tea. "Which is quite unusual, no doubt. He more than often answers phone calls from the government, and from what they've told me he always returns any missed calls from them, as you all should. However, he hasn't returned any calls, and has somehow disabled the GPS installed in his cell. This is quite a concern, yes? I believe Ogami is past his rebellious phase, after all."
Silence overwhelms the room.
"W-Well, you don't know that! He's just being a baby over what-"
"You continue to say that, Sakurakouji, but Ogami isn't quite a drama king to cause such a ruckus." Heike pauses. "He's more probable to keep himself from causing any unnecessary drama."
Sakura waits for someone, anyone -Toki, Yui, Yuuki, Prince - to object and agree with her on her inference that Ogami was just overreacting, and that he was perfectly fine. However, no one did, hence the thick silence in the room.
"Toki? You know Ogami is quick to criticize us and make a scene, right?" Sakura says, but the question is left lingering and unanswered for quite a while.
"I don't think he'd make a ruckus this big, you know?" Toki says, sighing.
"Well, then, what do you guys think happened to him, then?" Sakura asks, voice shaky. "He can handle himself, right?"
Heike opens his mouth to answer, but the sound of a ringing phone interrupts him.
Sakura takes the vibrating, ringing phone from her pocket, and the caller ID leaves Sakura's mouth gaping.
"It's Ogami!" She chirps, sounding more happy about it than she had intended to. "I-I mean, it's Ogami. See, you guys? I told you, he's fine!"
Yui takes the phone from her and puts it on speaker after answering, placing it on the table.
"Oi, Ogami, how freaking long do you intend to keep-"
Yui is interrupted when a voice emerges from the phone, one that didn't belong to Ogami.
"Hello~ How are you, Sakura-chan?" A voice asks sarcastically on the other line. Sakura grabs the hone, concern taking over her senses as she realized the voice belonged to one of her kidnappers. Renzou.
Before she can say anything, Renzou continues. "We have your little Code: Breaker boyfriend~! Why don't you tell us how you're doing today, Ogami-kun~?"
There is a brief silence, perhaps Renzou giving Ogami a chance to answer, though Ogami didn't reply; maybe he wasn't there in the first place.
"Ogami's just a little shy~!" Renzou says. "But-"
"Stop wasting time, you moron!" A feminine voice scolds, roughly taking the phone away from the playful man. "Listen, you idjits. We have Ogami with us, and whether you believe us or not is up to you. Just know that if you Code: Breakers don't come to the black, abandoned garage next to Saltwater Bridge by nine P.M. today, we will kill him. You have our word."
Izumi seemed like she was about to hang up, but Renzou took the phone back and started to say, "By the way, Sakura-chan, the only reason we called you in particular is because you were the first person on Ogami's speed di- Ow! What the hell, Ogami! Izumi, why didn't you tie him up corre-"
The call ends.
Sakura shakes away her blush at hearing she was on Ogami's speed dial, and starts to stomp to the door. Rage, concern, and fear clouded her thoughts.
"Sakurakouji, where do you think you're going?" Heike asks.
"To save Ogami, of course! What else?" Sakura answers hastily.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that. Not yet." Heike says.
"Well, what do you expect me to do?! Stand here and wait for him to die?!" Sakura asks, her voice shaky and eyes watering with tears.
Heike was about to answer, but Toki interrupted.
"Sakura, we need to make a good plan in the four hours that we have. If we march in recklessly, we'll surely get ourselves killed." Toki says seriously.
"But Ogami-"
"Ogami this, Ogami that. It's funny how you're freaking out over him getting kidnapped when you were the one trash-talking him just a few minutes ago." Yui says harshly.
"That was different!" Sakura shouts. Yui just folds her arms in return before retaliating.
"Oh, different, huh? Ha! That doesn't change the fact you weren't worried at all earlier."
Sakura was furious at this point, thinking, Who does this girl think she is?
She yells, "You don't know anything about me, so don't-"
She is interrupted by the cold laugh coming from Yui's lips, "Oh, Sakura-chan. I know a lot about you."
"Yui." Heike's warning went unnoticed.
"I know about how you were so head over heels about Ogami."
"Yui."
"I know about how you were so pathetic and defenseless that Ogami had to come and save your sorry ass."
Sakura opens her mouth to intervene but was quickly silenced by Yui.
"I also know about how Ogami didn't care about you enough to even say goodbye to you."
"Yui!" Another warning. Ignored.
"Not even your parents care enough to be around."
"Yui, stop, goddammit!" This time Toki was the one to call out her name, but Yui just smirks, unflinching at Sakura.
The angry expression that once covered Sakura was gone. She stared, still, at Yui with tears surfacing around her eyes.
Quickly, unexpectedly, she ran out of the room.
"Sakura-chan!" Toki yells desperately, running to the door. No luck. He turns to Yui and gives her a furious look. "You're such an asshole, you know that?"
She rolls her eyes and walks away, muttering, "Whatever."
Sakura didn't know where she was going but she didn't care. She just needed to get the hell out of there.
Eventually, she was out in the rain on a street she didn't recognize. She wasn't sure what she should do, stranded, cold, and alone, and she couldn't help but feel like she was being watched.
She took out her cellphone and punched in Yamato's number, asking him if he could come pick her up.
"Of course." His quick answer.
Fifteen minutes later, he pulled over in a car she didn't recognize and quickly rushed her in the passenger seat.
"Are you okay? What were you doing in this part of town? Why are you crying?" He asks her questions, removing his coat from his body and placing it over hers.
Sakura didn't answer any of his questions.
The drive was quiet once Yamato got the hint that Sakura's didn't want to answer any questions. During the ride, he received a phone call, but his only reply was, "I'm busy right now."
Twenty minutes later, they arrived at his house. He led the way inside and got her a cup of water. After taking sip from her glass cup, a brief silence fell upon them.
"I'm sorry I bothered so late."
His eyes shot up from the ground at hearing the apology, before he smiled.
"There's no need to apologize. You didn't bother me at all." He stops a moment before continuing. "Sakura, tell me what happened."
For a brief moment, she wanted to tell him everything. About the Code: Breakers, Ogami, and the organization that was after her. She wanted to let it all out, leave nothing held in.
But the rational side of her told her to keep quiet.
So she decided to reveal something else about herself.
"Did I ever tell you about what happened to my parents?"
Yamato didn't answer straight away, so she took that as a sign to continue.
"It's not surprising you don't know. The only other person who knows about what happened is Aoba. And she doesn't even know all the details."
She stops once again, taking a deep breath.
This time, Yamato broke the silence. "Sakura, you don't have to force yourself to tell me."
Sakura shakes her head, "You deserve to know."
She closes her eyes momentarily, and begins, "It was a little after the Code: Breakers left me, before you and I met. I was sad about Ogami- well, everyone- having to leave me like that, so I went to Aoba's house to talk about it and distract myself. It was a fun Tuesday night. I really was enjoying myself, you know? I was starting to cherish Aoba's friendship a lot more than usual, and it was healthy to avoid bottling up my feelings. I was walking home after a long night at her house, and, from so far from my house, I heard ambulances and police cars and I saw so many lights and fire and, and... I thought, you know, that can't be my house. It's probably some other house.
But when I did get there, and there was police tape everywhere and people gathered and people taking dead bodies inside some kind of vehicle, all right in front of my burning mansion, I mean, I still didn't want to accept it. Even now. I had pushed past all the other people, crossed the police tape, and was asked to step back. I told the police that that was my mansion burning. I lived there. Those dead people they were taking away were my family, well, considered. I asked where my parents were. They had to be there somewhere, right? I was waiting for them to pull up in a car and hug me and tell me they were glad I wasn't in there when it happened. But they didn't. The police looked at me with this pitying, sad look and told me they were missing. They don't know what caused the fire. Or what happened. I'll never know."
She didn't realize she had started to cry.
"Sakura, I'm so sorry." Yamato says softly, pulling her into a hug. "I'm so sorry that happened to you, that you had to go through that."
She hugs him back even tighter. "I want my mom, Yamato. I want my dad. I want everything to go back to how it used to be. I don't want this." She mumbles between sobs.
He strokes her hair. "I know."
They stay in that position for a long time, holding each other for support while Sakura cried into his shoulder.
Yamato pulls away from the hug momentarily. He pushes the hair from her forehead away and kisses her forehead softly for a few seconds. "It'll be okay."
His phone starts to ring, and cursing to himself he pulls the phone out of his pocket. "I have to take this. Do you mind?" He asks cautiously.
Sakura shakes her head.
"Okay, I''ll be quick." Yamato walks a few steps away into the kitchen, but Sakura can still hear him clearly.
"No... I can't. I'm busy... ... I'm telling you, I can't... ... I'm doing something right now. Don't call me anytime soon."
Yamato hangs up the phone angrily. He walks back towards Sakura as if nothing has happened.
"Are you sure you don't want to go? That seemed important." She asks worriedly.
Yamato responds by sitting back on the couch and taking her hands in his. "Nothing is more important than you right now."
"Damn, he's unconscious." Kiyome says in disappointment. "And he didn't even scream that much, little twerp. Has too much pride."
"He is a strong one, isn't he?" Mizuki says, impressed.
"Well, he's not as fun as I thought he would be." Kiyome states. "And he didn't give any information."
"When he wakes up, you can try again. After the meeting."
Kiyome opens her mouth to say something back, but is interrupted by Hibiki barging in.
"Damn brat!" He says angrily.
"What is it, Hibiki? Is Hikaru finally going into his rebellious phase?" Kiyome playfully asks.
"Be quiet."
Kiyome just chuckles in response.
"I'm going to kill that idiot when I get my hands on him." Hibiki says angrily, angry about his brother's rude and foolish actions.
"Ease up on the kid. He's probably got a girlfriend or something." Mizuki says nonchalantly.
"Wait. What?" Hibiki asks, confused.
"Yeah, don't you know?" Kiyome adds. "He has a thing for the girl that the leader is planning to use for his plan."
Hibiki finally puts it all together; why his brother always ditched him more than usual and was a lot more busy.
"That idiot!"Hibiki yells.
Kiyome and Mizuki both jump at the sudden outburst.
"I specifically told that bastard to stay away from her from now on! His mission to keep watch over her has been over for months!" Hibiki shouts as he opens the door to head out, but someone stops him in his tracks.
"Leader." Hibiki says in surprise at the man before him.