Setsuna's arm had healed by the time she was taken to court. That was the only good thing. Now she was sitting here next to a lawyer who she'd met just half an hour ago who had informed her in no absolute terms that he'd been sent by Konoka and that the best he could do was to get her a life sentence instead of the death penalty. Her life was in the hands of a total stranger. Somehow, that wasn't a comforting thought. Touji and Kiyoko were seated to her left behind a desk in front of the room. Despite everything that'd happened Kiyoko had still made good on her promise to bring Touji a lawyer who looked like he'd be anywhere else but here. Touji was sitting beside him and he was tapping his feet and fingers on the floor and table restlessly. His clothes, which was a crisp black suit and pair of pants along with some shiny black shoes, were rumpled badly. His hair was dishevelled and the circles under his eyes had gotten worse. But Setsuna could see a gleam in them, a craftiness that she thought that Touji wasn't capable of. She realized the man was straddling the line between insanity and sanity and he was about to tip over the edge into something that he probably couldn't come back from. Kiyoko's eyes were as red as his but it wasn't because she'd been hitting drugs. Setsuna really liked to think that it was because she'd heard about Haru's death. She hoped it hurt. There were a lot of people here. The judge, the jury, the baliff, witnesses, court officials, people who she was sure was the media with cameras and reporters. There was one guy in the corner with a standing camera on a tripod who had already been set up when she got here escorted by a guard that wasn't Tsukuyomi. But Konoka wasn't, or her grand-father. He probably wanted to protect Konoka from a media circus-the grand-daughter of the esteemed Dean of the most prestigious school in Japan fraternizing with a low-level blood-thirsty Yakuza member. The judge was reading over the documents the baliff had given him. In Setsuna's mind she could imagine what he was reading.
Setsuna Sakurazaki. Offences-First degree murder, arson, torture, kidnapping, attempted murder…illegal human trafficking and drug smuggling, responsible for deaths of drug lords, underworld criminals, rapists and mafia bosses. It was just as well that Konoka wasn't here. She wouldn't have to see Setsuna get sentenced to death. Everything now was just a formality, the lawyers, the proceedings, the questionings. All they needed was the jury to convict them of manslaughter and they'd be sentenced. For Kiyoko she could bribe the court to not evict her but Setsuna knew that her mother had probably gotten the best lawyer she could afford and she'd get away even with all the crimes she'd committed. Touji too if Kiyoko had made good on her promise. There were too many offences stacked up against Setsuna, some she was guilty of others she knew that Touji and Kiyoko would have pinned on her. Setsuna closed her hands to stop them from shaking, looking down at the surface of the desk in front of her. The judge set the documents down, leafin through them and looked up. He had the face of a man who had seen too much in his life and wanted a rest. His eyes were as hard as stones.
"Sakurazaki Kiyoko to the stand," The judge ordered.
Kiyoko moved forwards, her hands manacled in handcuffs. When Setsuna looked up, Kiyoko passed her and their gazes met. Her eyes grew hard, as deadly as a blade. Even dressed in prison clothes, with her hair messy and unkempt, her face gaunt and thin, she still managed to look like a proud, refined woman. Then as she turned to walk up the steps into the pulpit on the left side of the judge she saw something in her mother's eyes-a tinge of sadness, regret. She sat down in the chair, facing everyone else. Her face was smooth again, expressionless. The face of a ruthless killer. In spite of herself Setsuna shivered. Kiyoko's lawyer, a robust man in an immaculate suit with greying hair, walked to the front.
"My client, Sakurazaki Kiyoko, has been held accountable for involvement in the murder of Sawada Senji," He looked at Kiyoko. "Is this true?"
"No," Kiyoko said straight-faced.
Half the people in the court looked angry at that. Some looked like they were going to leap out of the benches and start attacking her. It occurred to Setsuna that these people could be relatives or had family that Kiyoko had directly or indirectly killed during her time as the head of the Yakuza.
"You weren't involved in his killing whether directly or indirectly?"
"No."
Setsuna looked at her, raw black hatred consuming her.
"Where were you on the night Sawada Senji was killed?" The lawyer asked.
"I was at home," Kiyoko said.
"What were you doing?"
"I was eating."
"Three witnesses saw you come out of the alleyway which the police found Mr Sawada's body in. Not only that but your own son confirmed that you orchestrated the murder yourself and oversaw it after finding that Mr Sawada failed to meet specified agreements. How, if this is the case, is it that you were at home?"
Kiyoko's eyes flickered. For a split second Setsuna saw pain in them then her expression closed up again becoming smooth and cold.
"I told you I was eating at home. It was night time the witnesses were probably mistaken and my son…well he hears things sometimes. I never orchestrated a murder on Mr Sawada."
"No more questions asked," The lawyer said, returning back to his seat.
Setsuna stared back at her, mimicking her expression down to the cold, ruthlessness in her eyes. Kiyoko actually flinched.
"Next to the stand, defendant Sakurazaki Setsuna and plaintiff, Mrs Sawada," The judge said.
Setsuna couldn't look Senji's mother in the eye when she went up to the stand on the left side of the judge. The woman had been crying, her hair was wild and messy and she just looked miserable and in pain. The rest of the trial was a blur to Setsuna. As Mrs Sawada's lawyer interrogated her Mrs Sawada hurled words after words at her, grieving for the loss of her son. She spoke of Senji speaking about Setsuna in less than flattering terms saying she was standing in his way of getting to Konoka. At one point she broke down crying and had to be removed from the stand and picked up a nearby pen-opener and lunged at Setsuna who deflected it on instinct, twisting the pen-opener around as she'd been trained to. She hadn't even realized that she had held it one inch from Mrs Sawada's eye until she heard people yelling and the guard hauling the woman backwards while another hit her with a taser and took the pen-opener away from her numb fingers. Jerking as she dropped back down into the stand Setsuna caught sight of Kiyoko. The woman looked extremely satisfied with her.
When Mrs Sawada calmed down the lawyer said, "As you can see the defendant's relationship with my client's son is unstable at best because of their mutual interest in Konoe Konoka. The defendant is a part of the Yakuza who are notorious for silencing those who wrong them whether in personal affairs or business. It is plausible then that the defendant may have had some disagreement with my client's son and sought to punish him."
"That's not true," Setsuna said. "I didn't kill him."
Someone snickered-Touji. He drew a line across his throat telling her she was dead. He mouthed, You're dead.
"No further questions asked your honour," The lawyer said. He took his seat.
Setsuna's lawyer stood up, walking out to the front.
"We call Mr Anno as a witness," Touji swaggered up to the stand, grinning at Setsuna as he passed by her. His lawyer stood up, walking to the front.
"My client has been accused of raping Konoe Konoka and the murder of Sawada Senji," Her lawyer said. "Miss Sakurazaki may I ask what is your relationship with Miss Konoe?"
"Friends," Setsuna said.
Touji snickered.
"Did you have any problems with Miss Konoe?"
"No."
"Were you ever violent with her?"
"No."
"Did you ever think of her as more than a friend?"
Setsuna hesitated for a moment then said, "Yes."
"Then someone who you think of as more than a friend you would never think of hurting her would you?"
"Of course not,"
"Then why did both your mother and Mr Anno say otherwise?"
"Because they're liars. I would never have touched a hair on her head," Setsuna said. "Touji…he…"
"I stopped you from hurting Konoka even more," Touji said.
The judge slammed the gavel down, the noise echoing across the room. "Do not speak out of turn Mr Anno or I will have you charged for breach of conduct."
Touji crossed his hand over his chest in mock respect.
"You held some animosity with Mr Sawada did you not?" Her lawyer asked.
"I met him a couple of times with Konoka," Setsuna said. "We barely socialized."
"Mr Anno, would you say that Setsuna is capable of such horrific murder?"
"Definitely. You should've seen what she did when she was younger," Touji whistled. "Man it was brutal. Killing people with forks, nails, pens, popping bones, hanging them then letting them suffer and stabbing them…kinda like what she did to Haru."
"I didn't do anything wrong," Setsuna spat. "You killed him, you and Tsukuyomi."
"Actually Tsukuyomi was aiming for you," Touji said slyly. "It's not my fault he got in the way."
Setsuna whirled around, furious. Touji was grinning, his eyes dilated. He was fidgeting on the spot, twitching every five seconds.
"You bastard I should've shot you when I had the chance," Setsuna hissed.
"Like you shot those other guys right?" Touji's grin grew wider. "Like you wrecked Sawada's body so bad it looked like a piece of meat?"
"That was you," Setsuna said, her voice trembling with anger as she gripped the banister with her hands, white-knuckled.
"Sure what about Konoka? Wasn't it you who raped her?" Touji said.
Setsuna froze.
"I can tell ya everything judge. Konoka was screaming so bad and she wanted her to stop but she just kept on going ain't seen nothing like it before," Touji turned to the judge. "It was-"
With a bestial snarl Setsuna vaulted over the banister, seeing red. She caught a glimpse of Touji's face, fear in his eyes before a guard tackled her from the side.
"Let me go!" Setsuna struggled, snarling. Another guard pinned her down by the left side as she kneed the first one in the stomach. She screamed, "You bastard tell them the truth!"
Touji started to laugh. Setsuna clutched the guard's arm and twisting, flipped him over. She launched herself at Touji, blocking out startled cries and shouts and pitched into Touji, crashing onto the floor behind the stand. Before Setsuna could lay a finger on him, someone dragged her off-the guard she'd flipped and another one sprayed something in her eyes that burned and stung. Setsuna cried out, stumbling and wiping at her eyes. It was pepper spray. The guard hauled her back to the stand. Touji was sitting up against the wall, still laughing. The guard sat Setsuna down in her seat roughly, keeping a taser firmly pressed against her back. Setsuna blinked furiously. The pepper spray made her eyes water and sting. It was bad. She made to move but the guard clapped a big, beefy hand on her shoulder and shoved the taser into her side, shocking her. Setsuna twitched, clamping her mouth shut. It hurt but she wasn't going to show it.
"If you act out again Sakurazaki-san I will charge you with contempt of court," The judge said.
Setsuna said, "I'm fine."
"Then we'll proceed," The judge said. "I call Anno Touji to the stand."
Touji was tapping his feet restlessly, playing with his fingers. His clothes were crumpled, wrinkled and Setsuna could smell alcohol on him. He was muttering something underneath his breath, eyes darting from side to side. The people around him shifted, looking uneasy. Even his lawyer looked nervous.
When he didn't move the judge said in a sterner voice, "Mr Anno come to the stand."
Touji looked at the judge, "What if I don't?"
"Then I will have you under trial for contempt of court," The judge said, unrattled. "Get up."
"You're the boss," Touji said slyly, shrugging.
Setsuna looked at him, feeling tension creep into her. There was something wrong. He was acting werid. As Touji slipped his hand into his jacket his eyes met hers. A spark of realization flared inside Setsuna.
"Everyone get-!" Setsuna lunged to her feet, toppling over the chair at the same time Touji did.
Ripping out a gun he unleashed fire on the court-room, laughing. Setsuna dropped to the floor. Screams filled the air, mingled with gunshots that seemed never-ending. Setsuna saw bodies drop to the floor through the gaps underneath the seats. One of the other guards landed on his side in front of Setsuna, his eyes unseeing. His gun skidded across the floor. In five seconds the place had gone quiet. Setsuna fumbled, taking the gun with both hands. She could hear Touji laughing brokenly. Setsuna leapt upwards, opening fire on Touji. He staggered as the bullet she aimed for his shoulder hit its mark. Bang. A bullet sank into Setsuna's shoulder. Kiyoko was standing there, the gun aimed at her head. Then her eyes moved past Setsuna to the door. With sinking dread Setsuna turned around. Konoka was frozen, petrified in the doorway dressed in a formal blouse and skirt. Setsuna ran towards her but Touji soared above her, landing in a crouch behind Konoka with Kiyoko in tow. There was a flash of steel. He had a dagger to Konoka's throat in two seconds flat. Setsuna screeched to a halt, staring at Touji with loathing.
"Let's play a game," Touji said coyly. "Now I know the Yakuza ain't supposed to hold hostages but things are changing. I'm gonna rule this country and you ain't in the plans."
"You bastard," Setsuna snarled. "I never knew you were a coward. You don't even deserve to be in the Yakuza. You have no honour!"
Laughing Touji jerked Konoka towards him and grinned at her crookedly, "Honour is for idiots like you and Haru. I think I can get by without it."
Setsuna took a step forwards but Touji brought the blade closer to Konoka's throat and warned, "I'll gut her like a pig if you take another step closer."
Konoka's eyes were wide with terror, her face ghostly pale. Setsuna tried to send her a reassuring look, that everything would be ok.
"That's a good girl," Touji said. "Now Konoe you-fuck!"
Konoka had bit down on Touji's hand-hard enough to draw blood. He let go, stumbling and threw the dagger at her head. She ran, fleeing out the door as the dagger slammed into the wall, lodging itself in the wood. Swearing Touji wrenched the dagger out and disappeared after her, dragging Kiyoko with him. Setsuna bolted out of the room after him, tearing apart the handcuffs. Gunfire and yells pierced the air. She passed the two security guards who lay propped up against the wall, blood spilling from stab wounds in their chests eyes lifeless. Spilling out into the darkness onto the main street Setsuna was met with carnage. Police cars were lying on their sides, the lights blinking on and off pathetically. Police officers were half-out of broken windows and some lying on the street with holes in their chests or choking on their own blood as they tried to stem pools of blood gushing from open bullet wounds. Tearing herself away from the sight Setsuna searched the area for any sign of them. Then she heard a scream.
A.N: In response to some reactions about the rape scene I knew that part was going to be pretty heavy for most people but for the plot it was necessary. I tried to portray it in a way that was respectful because I know it's a serious issue and it shouldn't be treated lightly. So I do understand if that scene was too much for some people. I apologize if that's the case but this fic is rated M for a reason and I assume that people who do read this take note of that. Flu season where I am now-am sick have been sick for the past two weeks. Hope it won't impact my fic. As usual happy reading.
world: Am glad you gave the fic another shot. When I think about it now I think it went darker unintentionally somewhere after Konoka and Setsuna are at lockdown in the mansion.
