Gasps and muffled cries were heard as blood splattered on the virginal walls of a small room… A small fat man grinned as he entered the house, unaware of the onslaught currently happening at the second floor of the house. He hummed to himself as he was peeing in the comfort room.
Jin stared at his work he sighed. Two are missing. He looked around and counted the bodies. Only 2… so the third survived, the other one seems to be missing too. He thought, he hid himself while looking for the said survivor.
"aaa—kii—" a soft raspy voice called the fat man.
Aki nervously turned around and saw his 'business partner' covered in blood. He took a step back not making the slightest sound. So, they did send an assassin! He swiftly ran and went out the house, not even bothering to help his blood soaked partner.
Jin stopped in front of the comfort room and stared at the man. "Still alive?" He asked.
The man was sobbing. Jin took a step forward. "I warned you, didn't I? Tell me where you are keeping the children that you guys kidnapped." He took out a potion and forcefully made the man drink it.
He gulped down the white potion and instantly regained the strength to talk "I don't know! I am only in charge of looking for the buyers!" He said softly. "Aki's the one hiding them!"
"Tch…I'll leave you here, it's up to you to whether to live or to survive." He said in disgust. "If you survive, and yet you'll continue to sell innocent children, I'll kill you and your family."
The man sobbed louder. "I'm sorry!! I swear I won't do it again…"
--
In no time Jin caught up with the old man named Aki. He pinned him to a tree with his shurikens. "Where are you hiding the children?!" He said in menacing tone.
Aki laughed. "The children are all dead!"
He shook his head disapprovingly, and then stabbed one of his katars in his leg. "Bastard, tell me where they are. Where are those 20 children?!"
His face twisted in pain yet he still continued to laugh. "We already killed 10 of them. Did you know? Our customers said that their hearts were the tastiest!"
Jin's red eyes turned into slits. "Unforgivable… " He raised his right arm and in one swift blow he cut Aki's arm. "Where are the other 10?"
He bit his lip as tears came out from his eyes. "I sold the girls to a man named Goya, they are workers on the red district in morroc!!"
Jin closed his eyes. Poor children. "You don't deserve to live. You scum." He raised his arms and swung his katars.
"AAAAACCCCKKK!!" Aki's scream echoed to the empty forest near the city of Amatsu.
-
Akai woke up and found out that neither Ai nor Ruby was awake. "What a great time to take a walk." He said to himself.
He wore extra warm clothes and proceeded downstairs, where he saw the owner of the inn, sitting patiently in the lobby. "Good morning." He said politely.
The lady smiled. "Good morning to you too, young man. It's such a nice day today." She said with her Amatsu-accent. "Do you want some tea?" She asked.
Akai politely declined and left the inn.
--
Jin sat at a nearby benched, he had just finished changing his blood soaked clothes, and washing his beloved weapons. He stared up in the sky. "humans are so disgusting…" He said in distaste. Flashbacks of the faces of those he killed constantly appearing in his mind. "but, I'm the same…" He smirked.
Akai stopped in his tracks as he saw what seemed to be an assassin cross sitting on a bench, with a distraught and weary face looking up the sky. "Hey." He said.
Jin stared at him and in that instant recovered from his trance. "Hey." He answered.
Akai walked towards him and did the most unnatural thing, he sat beside him. Jin looked at him questioningly for a second. "Are you done with your mission?" Akai asked, he was after all curious on why the cold assassin had such a look.
"Yes." He replied.
He paused and then asked again. "So who did you kill this time?" He asked again, he wanted to know.
Jin stared at a white bird that landed in front of him. "Some people who do not deserve to live."
"It's not your decision to make, whether a man deserves to live or not."
Jin grunted. "They—They took innocent children away from their parents, killing them and selling their body parts to people, and those who weren't killed became slaves." He stopped and stared at Akai's face. "Now tell me, do they deserve to live?"He said, a hint of sadness in his usually cold voice.
He was taken aback. "I see…evil people do exist" Akai stared at the skies. Maybe he's not as bad as I think. "Tell me, do you kill for the sake of justice?"
Jin laughed wryly. "Justice? I kill for what I think is right."
--
"Ahh!! We're gonna watch the cherry blossoms today!!" Ai chirped happily as she was changing her clothes. "I hope they're still eating breakfast." She smiled to herself and went downstairs.
"Good morning everyone!!" She shouted.
"You're in good spirits today Airen." Jin said coolly as he ate his food elegantly.
"Of course--" Ai opened her eyes. "Jin?!" She pointed a finger at him, while gaping like an idiot.
Akai laughed, Ruby smiled and Jin grinned. "Idiot, close your mouth and come join us." Akai said.
Ai recovered from her shock then sat in front of Jin. The assassin cross ate silently, trying to avoid the soon-to-be sage's gaze.
Ruby who was beside Ai, nudged the gaping girl. "Ai… staring is not a polite thing to do." She whispered.
Ai blushed. "I'm not staring!" She said a bit louder that what she intended.
Akai and Jin laughed quietly. "Hmph…" Ai pouted and proceeded to eating her breakfast.
--
After breakfast…
"I didn't know you eat like…" A guy.
"Like what?" Ai asked.
Jin sighed in relief as he stopped himself from saying that she ate like a guy. "Like a uhh… a hungry… uhh.."
"Like a hungry guy, who hasn't eaten in a week." Akai said, nodding to himself.
Ruby laughed. "You eat like a hungry guy too!!" Ai glared at him.
Akai patted her head. "It's because I'm a guy, idiot." Ai continued glaring at him.
Jin who was dumbfounded laughed silently. They really are amusing. He then faced his left side, to where Ruby is. I wonder if she's just playing dumb, or she really can't remember me.
Ruby turned and smiled at Jin. "Anything wrong?" She asked sweetly. Jin slightly shook his head.
"Raakkkiii!!" A loud sob emanated from the upper floor of the inn, then a teenage girl came running down the stairs, behind her the owner of the inn was sobbing endlessly.
The girl named Raki stopped in front of the group, just below the staircase. "I hate you and Father!! You people are the worst parents ever!!" She shouted angrily, and then she left the inn.
The woman sobbed louder. Ruby quickly ran towards her, helping her stand up and guiding her towards the couch. "What happened?" She asked as soon as the woman became calm.
The woman named, Rosalla bowed her head. "My husband was found dead last night…"
Jin stiffened and Akai slightly shifted his gaze to him but remained silent.
"Was he murdered?" Ai asked.
Rosalla nodded, and started to sob again. "He-- there was pieces of evidence found in our storage house. That he and some of his friends were involved in the kidnapping and killing of more than 10 children…" She paused. "He…even sold their body parts to noble people!!"
Ruby gently hugged her. "That's awful… but that can't be real, right? There must be a mistake." She said calmly.
Jin gripped his fists. No, he was guilty.
Rosalla hugged Ruby back. "If only it was that simple… a few years back he was involved with something similar to the kidnapping case. Even if he was guilty I would still love him… but as you can see, our daughter no longer believes in us."
Ai sat directly in front of Rosalla. "You must've done something that made her lose her belief in you." She said solemnly.
"Aki and I, well… we, we didn't really spend much time with Raki, we always worked so we didn't have much time with her. Before we knew it she started to drift away and now, now that her father died as a murderer she ran away." She started choking in her sobs. "She said those things… those awful things…"
"I see… would you like us to talk to her?" Ruby said smiling at the old woman.
Rosalla chirped up. "Would you do that for me?? But she's a stubborn girl… besides you wouldn't know where to find her."
Akai smiled confidently. "Don't worry we'll definitely bring her back in time for the festival."
Ai stood up. "Would you tell me, the place where she would most likely to go to?"
Rosalla paused for a moment… thinking. "The lake near the forest."
"Okay!! Let's go find Rakii!!"
--
"Ahh there she is." Ruby smiled, and went on ahead to talk to the teenager. Akai, Ai and Jin followed Ruby silently for the whole time, all lost in their own little worlds.
Ruby placed two hands on Raki's shoulder, the unsuspecting teen, jumped in fear. "What the heck!?" Raki shouted, glaring at the innocent looking princess. She looked away. "What do you want? You're people from their inn aren't you?" She said with distaste.
Ruby sat on the log beside Raki. She smiled staring at the girl. "Calm down, and yes we're from the inn."
She motioned for her to sit beside her. "Come here."
Raki obliged and sat beside her. "What??" She asked impatiently.
Ruby placed her arm around her head and gently brushed Raki's black hair. "You know, you should go back to your mom, she needs you. She needs you so much." She said.
Raki broke away from her hug, and stood up defiantly. "She's not my real mom!! I hate her!! She took my father away from me!! Father stopped loving me when he met her!"
The other three watched the scene in front of them silently.
"No he didn't! I'm sure he loves you just as much as before!" Ruby countered, slightly raising her voice.
"My step mom… she pressured my father to make more and more money each day!! That's probably why he kidnapped those children!! It was her fault!"
Jin looked away. Money was the reason he took the lives of the children, yes… money.
"We used to play every day…" Raki's voice started to quiver. "But, when he married her, he never spent time with me anymore… he was not there when I needed him most." She started sobbing. "That's why I hate them both!!"
"Please don't say such things, everything happens for a reason, please try to understand them."
"Then to tell me the reasons!" She turned around and started to leave. "Until then I won't come back."
Ai caught her wrist and spun her around, so that she was facing her. "You stupid selfish little brat!!" She shouted and slapped her across her cheek.
"Ai!!" Akai and Ruby gasped, Jin stared at her in shock.
Raki stared at her, more tears flowing from her eyes. "Your father and mother worked tirelessly to give you a decent home. Your step mother wanted your father to work hard so that you could live in a beautiful home. You're the one at fault!!"
"What?!"
"If you took time to understand them, talked to them… then maybe you could've understood them better! Just because you're a kid, doesn't mean that people would be the one to fix the gap between you. You should at least have the initiative…"
"Even if I did they would just have ignored me!!" Raki shouted. "I was so lonely… especially when father was involved in a crime 3 years ago, so people in my school bullied me. I couldn't even ask for their help!"
"It's your fault then!! How could they help you if they didn't know that you needed help?! You idiot!! Stop causing your mother so much sadness…"
"Ai stop it already…" Akai said sternly.
She loosened her grip on Raki's wrist. "You're lucky, you should know that. Lucky enough for you to have a mother, earnestly waiting for your return." Ai laughed bitterly. "It's not too late to change… I'm sorry." She turned around then ran away from them. Jin followed her in haste.
Ruby hugged Raki. "Raki… Ai's right." She said in a motherly tone while glancing at Akai worriedly.
Akai smiled and mouthed "Don't worry." Ai, what's wrong with that girl losing her composure just like that.
Cherry blossoms started to fall as she ran towards nowhere. Sobbing and gasping for air.
Ai stopped and sat down on a bench on top of a hill. "I'm so stupid." She said to herself, as tears constantly went down her face.
"Airen?" Jin said worried, though he didn't go near her.
Ai stiffened and tried to dry her tears. "I'm sorry… It's just that…"
He took a step towards her.
"My parents died when I was young. My mother didn't have any relative, and my father only had one brother… I was adopted by his brother and the wife."
"I see." He took another step, he was only a few inches away from the bench.
"You probably think it's stupid but… unlike Raki, my step parents weren't kind they used up all my inheritance, and took away the most important things. So… I kinda hated her for not realizing how lucky she was." Ai said. She laughed wryly. "I hate them… but I kept thinking it was my fault, I want to leave them but I don't have the strength to run away from them. I'm so stupid."
Jin smiled then hugged her from behind, his chin touching her head. "It's not your fault." It's not your fault that many rotten people exist.
Ai blushed at the sudden contact. "Jin?" She said questioningly.
"Airen I'm in love with you."
A deafening silence… as the sun set and the cherry blossoms twirled with the wind.
I'm getting worse in my writing skills aren't I?! waaaahh reviews please..!! I need to get better, so help me please??
