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Chapter 26: Empty Promises

The car ride to the hospital was silent except for Kokoro crying in the back seat as Kasumi held her. Helena was driving and Hitomi looked back at Kokoro with empathy, feeling awful for her.

"It's – It's all my fault" Kokoro said between breaths.

"No sweetie, it's not your fault" Helena said reassuringly.

"No… it is" Kokoro said handing her phone to Kasumi.

"It's a text message from a blocked number" Kasumi said, "I told you not to tell them. Looks like the Boston Police force is down one detective" Kasumi finished reading the text message out loud.

"Oh my God! It was her, she shot Teddy. David was right it was a woman figure running away from the scene" Hitomi said.

"Sweetie, it's not your fault that Ayane is a psychopath and does not want anybody to be happy" Helena said, "You are not the reason why Teddy got shot".

Kokoro kept crying and found it hard to breathe when Helena pulled into a parking spot and said "We are here".

They reached the 4th floor of Massachusetts General Hospital and Helena asked the receptionist where Teddy's room was. Kasumi held Kokoro and Hitomi stood by them. David had just gotten there with Kane and Hayate. Ryu had to go home because if press was there is would have seemed suspicious that he was not with his wife.

"I am sorry, he is not allowed any visitors right now" Kokoro overheard the receptionist saying.

"Please, just one person, we are not all asking to go in there" Helena begged.

The receptionist looked at Kokoro and said,

"Alright just one person and only 10 minutes".

"Thank you so much" Helena said and she turned to Kokoro.

"Hey sweetie, she is going to let you see Teddy for 10 minutes so you can go see him now" Helena said squatting in front of her.

"Really?" Kokoro's eyes widened and Helena nodded.

"He is in room 403" Helena said.

"Okay I will be back" Kokoro said.

She walked toward the hallway slowly and tried to wipe away her tears. After what felt like an eternity of walking she was face to face with room 403 and she slowly opened the door. Teddy was laying on the white bed with his arm in a sling for his shot shoulder and a bandage covering the shot wound. He was hooked up to a million different machinery and his eyes were closed. Kokoro stepped closer and could not contain her tears spilling out of her eyes as she sat next to him. She joined hands with him and rested her head on the bed as she continued crying.

"I am so sorry" she said between tears, "This is my entire fault, I should have just kept my mouth shut and deal with Ken and you would not be in this hospital bed right now".

She sat there for a couple of minutes just staring at him and then she finally stood up and leaned over him kissing his lips gently as her tears fell on his cheek.

"I love you" she whispered before she made her way to the door.

Everybody was waiting for her in the lobby of the floor. Kate and Ryu were now there along with Kokoro's mother. Helena stood up and went by her and hugged her tightly.

"You okay? " Helena whispered.

"Yeah I will be thank you for everything" Kokoro said.

"Oh sweetie, I will always be here" Helena said smiling.

"What are they all doing here?" Kokoro whispered to Helena.

"Ugh, they were concerned about Teddy" Helena rolled her eyes. Just as Helena answered Ken walked into the lobby.

"Oh My God, I really can't deal with this right now" Kokoro said seeing him.

"Okay, I understand. Do you want to go home?" Helena asked.

"No, I am not leaving until Teddy wakes up but I do want to leave to go get some coffee or food" Kokoro said.

"Okay let's go" Helena said motioning Kasumi and Hitomi to come as well.

Kane approached them but Helena said,

"Please Ken; you can talk to Kokoro later, just not now".

He nodded and moved out of the way. The four of them left the hospital to go to a coffee house nearby. Kokoro sat looking at her coffee and thinking about Teddy.

"Sweetie drink some coffee, it will make you feel a little better" Helena said.

"What am I supposed to do now? What if she prints that story about Kasumi?" Kokoro asked.

"It does not matter what she prints about me, I just want us all to be safe" Kasumi said.

"I mean before it was just threats and playing with our feelings but it sure got a whole lot realer now that she hurt somebody" Hitomi said.

"Yeah but we are not just going to give in to her" Helena said, "If we keep it up then this will be the rest of our life. Being in relationships with people who we don't even love and playing along in her game of puppets and master".

"Well until we figure out what is best we need to play it safe" Kasumi said, "After Ryu and his team bring down Brown it will be easier for us to focus on her and bring her down".

"Kasumi is right" Kokoro said, "We cannot afford to let somebody else get hurt".

After a few more minutes of talking they headed back to the hospital. This time there were even more people in the reception area but now it was Teddy's collogues some in uniform some not. Many of them greeted Kokoro with warm embraces and she forced a smile to greet them.

"Alright I am going to go back home to see how Arianna is with the baby sitter" Kasumi said to Helena.

"Oh I will come with you" Hitomi said, "I might as well change and get a change of clothes for Kokoro because I don't think she is leaving any time soon".

"Yeah that sounds good" Helena said, "I will stay with her".

Hitomi stood up to went into the hallway.

"Hey" Hayate called after her, "Do you need a ride?"

"Umm we were just going to get a taxi" Kasumi said.

"No please let me drive you back" he said.

"Okay" they both said.

….

When they got to the apartment Kasumi immediately went to hold Arianna and talk to the baby sitter. Hitomi and Hayate went to her room and Hitomi sat at the end of her bed as Hayate closed the door.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked.

"I am just sad with everything that is happening if it had been you on that hospital bed, I don't know what I would have done…" she drifted off.

"Don't think that way" he said standing in front of her, "I know it's hard but at least Teddy is still alive and as for me, you never have to worry about that. I will always be right here" he smiled as she looked up at him. She stood and hugged him and rested her head on his chest. When she looked up at him again he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her gently. His hands travelled down to her waist as she ran her fingers though his hair and deepened the kiss until they could no longer hold their breath. They parted and she felt lightheaded from his lips and scent. She closed her eyes and kissed him again allowing herself to be wrapped with his passion. Her body was on fire and she finally parted from him.

"I have to get going because I have some appointments but I will call you later" he smiled.

"Okay, that sounds good" she smiled and lightly kissed him goodbye.

…..

Hayate got to his office and pulled out a red velvet box with an Engagement ring in it for Hitomi. He placed it in his safe and got some papers ready for his appointments. His secretary knocked and peeked her head in.

"Your appointment is here sir" she said.

"Okay thank you Blake, please let them in" he said.

"Hello" Hayate heard a familiar voice and chills ran down his spine.

"What do you want Ayane?" he asked as he closed his door, "I got your text message about wanting to talk".

"Well first of all it's very nice to see you too" she said.

"I don't have time for this foolishness Ayane"

"Tell me how is Teddy doing?" she said taking off her sunglasses.

"You know I knew you were a horrible person deep down but I never expected that much" he said.

"Hey, listen in my defense I did not shoot Teddy, I aimed for David, it's not my fault that Teddy had to be the hero of the hour" she said.

"You knew he would push David out of the way that is why you aimed at David" he said looking at her.

"Whatever, he is still alive right. Can we all just move on?" she said.

"What do you want from me?" he asked her.

"You know what I want" she said walking over to him and pulling at his tie until they were inches away.

He moved away and said,

"I am with Hitomi".

"Oh is that who that ring is for?" she asked.

He laughed a little thinking about how ridiculous she was being.

"Oh I am sorry I did not know I was funny but I will tell you this, I will not stop until you are mine. So let's get off to a good start. I want you to break up with Hitomi" she said simply.

"Excuse me?" he said.

"You heard me. Obviously not right away because she will get illusions that I made you do it and think that she is in some sort of fairytale were everything ends up okay in the end. Well newsflash this story does not have a happy ending. So a little incentive for you, if you don't do what I say then Hitomi will end up worse than Teddy".

"You know what I am done with your threats to everybody, controlling us like this is a sick game" he said taking her by the arm and pushing her against the wall holding her by the throat.

"What are you going to do? Kill me?" she asked smiling.

"I am really close to it but I am not you" he said letting her go.

She grabbed him by the shirt and kissed him but it did not last long as he pushed her away.

"What are you doing?" he asked annoyed.

"Taking what is mine" she said walking towards the door.

"I am not yours nor will I ever be yours. Now leave please" he said.

"We will see but remember what I said, tick tock" she said stepping out of him office and closing the door.

"Damn it" he said throwing his papers across the room and clenching his fist.

There was a knock on his door and his secretary came into the room and asked,

"Hey, is everything alright?"

"Umm, yeah listen I am going to be out for the rest of the day so send all my calls to voice mail" he said picking up his jacket and phone, "And please cancel all my meetings" he said leaving his office.

"Yeah sure" she said but he had already left.

Hayate speed his way to his apartment. He shut his door firmly and threw his keys on his kitchen counter. He made his way to his office space and swung the painting behind his desk open. When he finished punching in the code the side wall slid open and he walked through it to come to a large opening with a desk and chair. The computer was on and the side wall was fully equipped with karate attire and gear. Ryu stood in the corner of the room, waiting.

"Hey, what's the emergency?" Ryu asked.

"I am sick of this, of playing games with Ayane and Brown. We need to end it now".

"I agree, and I have spoken to my boss and Frank and Gabriel and we have agreed that the best option for us is to attack at the weeding. Since it is going to be at their private estate and it's a weekend long we have some time to do recon work the days before the weeding" Ryu explained.

"Alright that sounds good because everybody is going to be busy the day of the weeding so that is our perfect window and with infiltrating Brown we can get him and Ayane because he might have the recorded tapes of her visits" Hayate said.

"I think it is best that we stay away from Kasumi and Hitomi for now while keeping a safe eye on them"

"Yeah about that, Ayane paid me a visit today and told me to break up with Hitomi or else" he said.

"Ayane may have in a way helped us, so at least now you have an incentive and desire to protect Hitomi and eventually be with her after this all ends" Ryu said.

"Yeah, so when is the weeding?"

"In two weeks" Ryu said.

"Alright see you then, I guess"

…..

"Hey" Hayate said as he approached Hitomi at Kokoro's shop the following week. Everybody had sort of gotten back into the rhythm of things and Hitomi had helped a lot with the shop since Kokoro was at the hospital most of the time.

"Hi" she said cheerfully as she reached up and gently kissed him. But he did not let go, he kissed her, tasted her and let it linger on his lips and through his body.

"Hey, is everything okay?" she asked when they finally parted.

"Umm, can we talk" he said and she nodded as they went to the back room.

"What's up?" she asked crossing her hands in front of her.

"Listen I promised I would be honest with you and I have not been completely honest with you" he said.

"Oh really?" she said fearing what would come next, "How so?"

"Well everything that has been happening since the beginning with Ayane, the reason she found you, all of you was because of me" he said, lying through his teeth.

"What?" she said feeling her pulse rise.

"I helped her find you guys and get her position of power because I wanted to bring down Kasumi, bring her back but the only way that seemed possible was by bringing down her friends"

"What about Brown?" she asked trying to keep calm.

"Ayane does not care about Brown's plans, she has ones of her own. She wants to bring Kasumi back to our home and get proper punishment".

"So everything that happen between us, was that fake too?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess so" he responded.

"You guess so?" she almost yelled, "I knew it was too good to be true. I should have trusted myself and not let you bring me in with your promising words, because that is all they ever wore, words without action. I can't believe I fell for this; it was always to good to be true. I should have known you were always a coward; you can never talk about your feeling honestly. I want nothing to do with you but just answer one question. Did you help her with hurting Teddy?" she asked tears streaming down her cheeks.

He cleared his throat and responded,

"Yes" and before he could get another word out she slapped him across the face as hard as she could.

"I can't even look at you, get out and take you empty promises with you" she said throwing the ring he had given her.

He stood there for a moment wanting to wrap his arms around her and tell her he did not mean any of it, that none of it was true but this was best. Her being safe for this time was worth all her tears. He left and dot into his car as he slowly drove away.

One Week Later…

The Day of the Weeding…