CHAPTER 10
Approaching the pier, I started looking for any signs of them. There was nothing. Come on, Kai. Where are you?
Nearing one hundred and fifty miles per hour, I turned the corner, nearly losing control of the car. Speeding ahead, I saw Aoi standing at the dock with a smirk. Time slowed down as I saw them all sitting behind them, tied up and blindfolded.
I slammed on the brakes, stopping a few feet away from Aoi. I glared at him through the windshield, before getting out.
"You made it! Great!" Aoi said, smiling wickedly. I glared at him. "I was almost starting to think you weren't going to show up. That would've been bad for your little family here." Aoi dragged a knife lightly across Kai's neck while smirking up at me. A tiny line of red appeared across Kai's skin. I wanted so bad to just go over there and save him, but I knew one move and Aoi could easily kill him.
"What do you want, Aoi?" I cut him off from what he was about to say next.
"That was a pretty nasty trick you pulled. You probably thought you were going to get away with it, didn't you?" I didn't answer.
"What do you want?" I repeated. I was not in the mood for wasting time.
"I want to propose a trade. Your life," he said, and then pointed towards Kai and his family with a knife in hand, "for theirs." I stared at him. He can't make me choose between him killing me or them! It seemed an obvious choice to me.
"Ok."
"Miya, no!" Kai yelled out. I looked at him, helpless to say anything to him. He won't understand, but it's the only way.
"Shut up," Aoi said, pressing the point of the knife into his side, leaving a little mark, making Kai whimper.
"Aoi!" I yelled, making him look at me, "Don't touch them, or the deal is off." He smirked, and moved the knife away from Kai. "Let them go."
I watched as Aoi cut the ropes on Rachel, Alanah, and Miku. They hurried away from Aoi.
"Awe, you took MY car. Why?" Miku whined. I ignored him, and watched Aoi as he removed Kai's blindfold. I watched as Kai stared at me, tears in his eyes. Forgive me, Kai, but your life is worth more than mine. Aoi cut the ropes harshly, and kicked Kai forward. I ran to him, and helped him up, glaring at Aoi.
"Are you alright?" I asked Kai. He looked at me, pulled his arms out of my grasp, and walked away from me. Hurt at his actions, I looked at the others for some reasoning as to why he did that. Rachel had gone to talk to Kai, and Miku and Alanah were avoiding eyes contact with me. My attention was pulled back to Aoi as I heard a click behind me.
"Your time is up, Miyavi," Aoi said, holding a silver revolver in his hand. I felt the fear rising in my stomach. This was actually going to happen. As much as I didn't want it to, Aoi was serious. My only comforting thought was that at least I was dying for a good reason. Dying to save Kai. I'd thought about how I would die a lot, but never did I figure this. This was better than a lot of things I had thought might happen.
"Wait," I said, "Just one last thing." Aoi sighed, and gave me a tired look.
"What?" he asked with an irritated voice.
"How did you know?" I asked, curious to know, "How did you know that I was still alive?" Aoi smirked.
"Ah, you see, Ruki was another well paying costumer of mine. When he stopped showing up, I knew something was up. So I did a little research, the paper helped some in this, and I figured out that he had died from falling from an eighteen foot drop; and who was the culprit? Ah, it was you!"
The newspaper! Dammit! They would've had my name in it. Of course, it all seems so obvious now. I'm such an idiot!
I didn't move. I waited for him to shoot me. In a way, I was looking forward to it. To finally escape all this pain. Unfortunately, today was not the time. It was not going to be over that easy. Of course.
Just as Aoi had pulled the trigger, I saw Kai jump to knock the gun out of his hand. The bullet hit me on my left side. I felt the blow knock me over, and I felt my back hit the pavement.
Sitting up, I put my hand over the wound, feeling the warm blood beginning to soak through my shirt. I looked over, and saw Kai sitting on the ground wide eyed. Aoi had seen the gun beside Kai, and bolted towards it.
"Kai! Grab the gun!" I yelled. I tried to stand up, but pain raced through me, and I settled for leaning against the tire of the car. Kai grabbed the gun beside him, and pointed it at Aoi, who stopped moving.
"Careful kid, you don't know how to handle that," Aoi said to Kai, "Now give it to me before you hurt someone." Kai stared at him, hands shaking as his grip on the gun tightened.
"Don't Kai! Don't give him the gun! Shoot him!" I yelled to him, trying to help him as much as I could. He looked over at me, scared; then back at Aoi.
"You don't want to go to jail, do you?" Aoi asked him. Kai swallowed, hands shaking, and lowered the gun a bit.
"No, Kai! He's trying to trick you! Shoot him!" I told him. Why did Aoi have to say that?
"I-I don't want to go to jail, Miya," Kai said, desperately.
"You won't, Kai. It's self-defense! Please, Kai," I begged, knowing that I probably wouldn't be awake much longer, and I wasn't sure what he would do then.
"NO! Give me the gun!" Aoi yelled at him. Kai frantically looked between the two of us. His hands were shaking even more now. A few tears fell down his cheeks.
"Kai! We don't have the time! Shoot him!" I told him. He shut his eyes tightly, and pulled the trigger.
Aoi, obviously shocked that he would actually shoot, tried to get away, but I couldn't see where. When he fell, and didn't get back up. I guessed that Kai had hit him good enough to kill him.
Kai dropped the gun with an audible gasp, and moved away from it. It was silent for a while before we heard the distant sound of police sirens.
I got up, wincing at the pain, but continued walking towards him.
"Are you ok?" I asked, concerned, as he trembled. He looked up at me.
"I-I killed him. I just killed somebody. I'm going to go to jail…Miyavi," Kai said, stuttering as he stared at Aoi's motionless body.
"You won't go to jail, Kai. I promise," I told him. They won't charge him. It was self defense. "I won't let them."