Author's Note: Hello, everybody! Sorry I have been quite slow at uploading chapters, that's because I am very busy with arranging my practicum and household duties. I'll update more soon, but if I don't then that means I'm busy with thesis life and practicum life haha! Thank you for reading my story ^_^ 3

Chapter Eleven

Yoichi's POV

I thought I would see a Chieko that was smiling when I got home. I thought that I would eat something delicious that she made and we would laugh about how awful the mission was. I thought that when I saw her once more that she'd be laughing, her eyes sparkling with mirth and admiration for my men and me. That's what I thought as I stared at her crouched on the ground between the lifeless bodies of Ichigo and Samo. Her shoulders were shaking and she was somehow covered with blood. I can hear her cries from where she sat and my heart was torn when I look at her but my body couldn't do anything. I could feel the men gather around behind me and I could hear the others whisper a curse. They were all waiting for me to make a move. We all knew this was Ryoichi's doing. he was trying to get Chieko from me in order for me to undermine me.

Ichigo and Samo fought to save her. They fought for my clan and as a result they died. I could feel anger sweep up into my system and I could feel myself shake. I slowly took steps toward where Chieko cried, avoiding the dead bodies beside her. As I reached her, I hear her hiccups and cries and my eye start to water. I knelt beside her and held her shoulders. She jumped at the touch, fearing maybe I might be one of the men who killed her friends and that I came back to finish the deed off. She slowly recognized my touch and she slowly raised her head. Her eyes were swollen from crying, her nose running from all the snot as she cried. Her hair was in disarray, her usual blush evident, yet her lips were pale and she was shaking. Her eyes showed great pain that sent my heart hurting as well.

"Ichi… I tried…" she whispered. I nodded as I held her shoulders, pulling her to me slowly. "I tried, Ichi. I tried." She locked her arms around my neck and she sobbed. She kept on shaking her head and she was saying something about trying to let them stay with her but she couldn't.

"I was there, I hid in the bushes when the men killed them… I couldn't move. I was too scared. I remembered…" she cried. I wanted to take all the pain away from her but all I could right at that moment was to hold her. I scanned the faces of my men who were either too shocked or too moved by how they saw Chieko when we got home. I looked at Tsuyoshi who stood beside the body of Samo, his body shaking with rage and as Tadao tried to calm him down, I shook my head and Tadao left his brother alone.

"What are we going to do, Yoichi? He's going after Chieko." Tsuyoshi asked. He gritted his teeth as he tried stopping his tears.

"Call Soryu Oh." I said. He looked at me, bewildered that I would call upon my friend at a time like this and he glanced at Chieko in my arms, helplessly crying, and he finally understood.

Soryu's POV

I knew that I was taken with Chieko the moment that I felt myself feel lonely as I watched her walk away from me in that incident in the playground. As I sat in the dark in my sofa, I closed my eyes and remembered the way she smiled in the picture frame that Yoichi had in his study. She was so beautiful and divine that I knew she was too fragile, even if she can fight; I knew that she would be in danger sooner or later. A woman like her shouldn't be in our world. She deserves much better. With that I felt my heart sink.

I wanted to continue on pondering and imagining her face when my phone started to ring. I answered to a shaking voice of Tsuyoshi Mamiya. From his voice, I knew something's wrong.

"Mr. Oh. We need you here at the clan residence. Please make haste. Bring men with you." Tsuyoshi said and before I could even reply he ended the call. I hastily called Inui and Samejima and I also called upon my other men and drove straight to where Chieko and Yoichi were.

Upon my arrival, I could see the front of their house somehow lowly lit. As I walked nearer the place, I noticed the ground was tinted with blood. Something happened here and a chill went down my spine. I quickly knocked on the door and I was let inside. As I entered the hall, I could see everybody gathered over something and as I got nearer, I noticed that they were gathered by two black body bags and I stopped cold. I noticed Chieko was beside both, her head down, and she was clutching at both. She was crying, I could tell. Her voice was the only feminine cry I could hear around the room. I scanned the group of people in front of me and they all look so desolate and forlorn and angry that I knew someone has killed their comrades.

"You see, I lost two of my best people, Soryu." I heard Yoichi speak as he stood beside me. His voice was quiet, yet it was filled with pure hatred and it only reflected in the cold glint in his eyes as he stared at the way Chieko mourned over the two dead bodies. "Who are they?" was all I asked.

"Ichigo Shizuna and Samo, one of Chieko's closest here in the mafia." He stated.

No wonder Chieko was so sad when I looked at her. She was the type of person who actually loved everybody in her household, and I can see that. I took a glance at her again and I saw her being embraced by Tsuyoshi Mamiya and she clung onto him as she cried and cried for the fallen people who protected her. Tsuyoshi tried to console her through rubbing his hands along her hair however he broke down and he embraced Chieko as tightly as he could. I tried so hard to tear my gaze away from how they have embraced each other.

"Why did you summon me here, Yoichi?" I asked the man who also looked at what I was also looking at. "Do you remember the deal I asked of you?" He replied, his gaze still stuck on the embrace Tsuyoshi was giving Chieko. I can tell by the fire in his eyes that his mood was getting surlier every minute and seeing Chieko being embraced by Tsuyoshi isn't helping him alleviate the surliness.

"What's going on?" I asked Yoichi.

Yoichi looked at me and he grinned that made my blood go cold.

"Ichigo and Samo died, protecting Chieko."

Chieko's POV

"Ichigo and Samo died, protecting Chieko." When I heard my name I suddenly glanced up and saw Soryu Oh standing by the far side of the room with Yoichi. They were both looking at me and my heart stopped. I started to loosen my grip on Tsuyohsi and he moved away to give me space. I don't know what I was doing, but as my eyes locked on Soryu's I just had the huge urge to walk to him and find the comfort I have been looking for ever since Mr. Shizuna and Samo died.

My feet slowly walked towards to where they were, my feet tumbling each other when I walked towards them. I couldn't keep my balance anymore for my eyes blurred and I cried new fresh tears and Yoichi caught me before I collapsed on the ground. I could feel Yoichi's strong grip steady me as I got myself together but my eyes were on Soryu the entire time.

I didn't mean to but I fought to get away from Yoichi's grip and somehow stand in front of Soryu Oh. As I stared at his gray unfathomable eyes, I could feel myself break and I wiped my eyes as I felt hot tears fall on my cheeks. "Please." I whispered as I turned my head up and looked at him straight to his face.

I was too desperate, too lonely in this placed that I called home that I wanted to get away from all the memories that I see. I slowly reached out my hand to Soryu and I gripped his shirt as tight as I could. He held where my hand was and he steadied me through holding my shoulder in his other hand.

"Please." I managed to say again. "What is it?" He asked. I felt everything around me disappear and all I could see was his face and his presence, nothing else. I closed my eyes and looked down. I took a deep breath and started to look at him again, mustering up all the strength I had left and say…

"Please take me away from here."