"Fucking shit," I cursed through gritted teeth as I crossed the red light.
I looked up at the rearview mirror checking for a red and blue siren. When I saw nothing, I pressed my foot harder against the gas pedal until I had parked my car in the closest parking spot near the building. I ran into the building where Suzuki greeted me with her familiar warm smile.
"Welcome back Amu! What can-
"Sorry, Suzuki, no time to talk right now!" I exclaimed running down one of the hallways.
Not bothering to knock, I flung open Kukai's door to see him and Kain deep in conversation. Kukai looked up first, a single brown raised. Kain looked back next, a cheeky grin on his face. Instead of directing his comment to me, Kukai turns back to Kain.
"Now I see why she and Ikuto are meant to be, both of them just barge into my room without knocking."
"Hey!" I accused although I too was grinning.
I grabbed one of the small pillows on the chair and threw at him; he caught it easily and smiled as well.
"What can I do for you milady?"
"I found out who pulled the trigger."
They both turned to look at me with interested eyes now.
"Really how?" asked Kain.
"There were witness reports," I grumbled still not recovering from the shock of hearing that people had actually given reports without my knowledge of the situation.
Without waiting for a response from either of them, I continued with the information.
"So the Chief from the station in Kyoto called one of the witnesses to come down to the station. She gave one of the forensics there every detail she could remember about the man who fired the first shot. We then used the sketch to find any men who were currently enlisted the system's database and looked like the sketch-
I started talking faster now, as I relived those last couple minutes when I found out who the suspect was.
"The witness had also told us that the man owned a two door black truck. So I paired that with the other piece of information – whoever this guy was, he had fired a Jericho 941 F. The suspect?"
I opened my bag and pulled out a picture. I laid the picture on the desk between Kain and Kukai.
"His name is Hikaru Tenachi."
It was silent for a moment as they studied the picture. Kukai was the first to speak.
"Listen Amu, I know you're very excited now that you've found the person who pulled the first trigger, and my guess is that you want to arrest him?"
"Of course."
"Well, we need an arrest warrant first of all and evidence would he-
I cut him off by going through my bag again.
"Here's the arrest warrant. It has the Chief from the Kyoto police station's signature and I'm going to get Tsukasa's after I'm done here. Here are copies of the witness reports, all the information regarding Hikaru are highlighted. The sketch is also attached the report of the woman who gave us the description. I also have all his personal information including the license number to his truck, his contact information, his work information, and some other criminal activity that he's done in the past."
Kain leaned forward and rewarded me with a high-five.
"Good job," he whispered under his breath.
I looked back up to Kukai who was studying the things I had put out in front of him. He held out the warrant to me.
"Go get this signed by Tsukasa first. After that, I'll get a couple other cops to come with Kain and me to get this guy behind bars."
"Okay," I replied not arguing about the fact that he had failed to include me in the whole arrest process. But as long as Hikaru was sentenced to spend time in jail, I was content.
Ikuto POV
The battery of phone was beginning to run low, and while that normally wouldn't have been a problem for me, it was now. I didn't like the idea of whipping out a charger, because I didn't want to make it seem like I had contacts that I still kept in touch with outside of the gang.
"It's been almost two days since we've been here, and we haven't even gotten close to Hidetoshi," mumbled Kyouta sourly under his breath.
Hitoshi hadn't spoken to me since last night, and Ryuu was busy gobbling down the food he had missed while he was knocked out. I leaned back against the couch and looked around the shabby building. A couple of men were sitting near us drinking beer, and other than that the place was practically empty. If anything was going on, they sure made it discreet.
At that moment, Sasuke walked towards us. I didn't bother to glance in Hitoshi's direction; I already knew what he was thinking about.
"Hey Ikuto."
"Hey Sasuke, what's up? Where is everyone?"
He plopped down next to me on the sofa and placed his feet on the table, an absent smile on his face.
"Oh, Hidetoshi went on a late night raid."
"Late night raid?"
"Y-yeah," he replied nervously now. "You know…to get more girls…"
Before I said anything, I took note of his eyes – dark, angry, helpless.
"If you're against it, why don't you do anything about it?"
He raised a brow defiantly.
"You think I haven't tried? I interfered, and this is what happened to me."
Sasuke lifted the hem of his white t-shirt, and from his hip to the upper part of his rib was large white slash. Any of us could tell what that was – a knife wound.
"Your brother pulled a knife on you?" I asked incredulously.
"A year ago they went on a raid similar to this one, and they brought back a girl…she was just a year older than me. I first bumped into her when my brother raped her, she out in the hallway crying. Thankfully, Hidetoshi didn't give much thought to his victims after he had his way with them, so I hid her in my room. And I simply, fell in love with her. One day, I was out on some mission that Hidetoshi forced me to go on…when I came back I found the girl crying again. He'd had multiple men rape her at once. I was angry, and so I helped her escape. He found out, I was punished…and so was she. He had her killed."
I found it hard to respond, so I only placed my hand on his shoulder.
"When is he coming back?" I asked after a few moments of silence.
"Probably an hour. Hey, I'd better go clean up the place, or he'll get mad at me. See you later Ikuto."
Of the four of us, neither of us spoke a word. And that's how it remained until Hidetoshi came in.
Amu POV
It wasn't until I was walking back from Tsukasa's office with the signed arrest warrant, that I had a change of heart and mind. I refused to just stand around and wait for Kain and Kukai to do all the fun stuff. When I marched back into their office, they were once again in deep conversation. I slammed the paper on Kukai's desk and gave them my ultimatum.
"You guys are taking me with you to capture Hikaru."
He looked wary as he looked at me in the eyes with his emerald ones. It was like he was trying to force me to give up my demands. As if I would just back down.
"Amu, it's in your best interest if you –
"I'm done having people decide what's in my best interest for me. I'm not that helpless eight year old from thirteen years ago. I've grown and I've matured. And I honestly do appreciate you trying to look out for me, but if you refuse to let me join you, then I will take this warrant, find a group of officers willing to assist me and I will put Hikaru behind bars. The only reason I came to you and Kain is because I believed you were the best at your job. That's it."
They looked at each other without a word as if their mean of communication was telepathy.
"Okay Amu, if it really means that much to you, you can come."
"Great, I want you, Kain, and a group of other officers out in the parking lot in 10 minutes."
As I turned around to leave, Kain's voice had me looking back.
"Amu…I'm sure wherever they are, they're experiencing the bit happiness you promised them because they know someone is fighting for them. I'm proud of you Amu."
I left the office without another word, the tight knot in my chest refused to unravel. And that was just as fine; I'd work better with them on my mind.
Kukai POV
Later
Amu had her entitlement to silence, just as any other person under normal circumstances did, but now, as she sat in the passenger seat of the car, I just wished she would say something. Anything honestly would do. I only wished I knew what was going through her head. Was she thinking about Hikaru? How it would feel to finally be able to lock him behind bars, knowing the bastard would serve a life sentence? Was she thinking about Ikuto? What was he doing? Was he okay? Or was she thinking about Noelle, the small girl who was still living with Utau and me because Amu had nearly killed herself because of the Karyn and Anju case. Sighing, I pulled out in front of the club where Hikaru was currently working according to the documents I had received from Amu.
"Are you ready?"
I watched her strap the gun Ikuto had given her on the day he'd left on her waist before turning to look at me. Her eyes were solid with confidence, determination, and vengeance.
"Ready as I'll ever be."
"Then let's go."
She nodded her head and followed me out. It was just the two of us that entered the club in broad daylight in that moment; the other officers were hiding out of sight around the building. There were few people in the building I noted, but that was to be expected as the life in this club would come alive when the sun set and the night appeared.
"You remember what to do."
"Crystal."
Amu POV
I approached the bar and took a seat on one of the metal stools. There was a man, his back to me, who was cleaning the glasses that hung on the wall. He clearly hadn't noticed my presence. I cleared my throat and he turned around, a pleasant smile on his face.
"What's your poison doll?"
I recognized him immediately, and my insides squeezed as I felt the bile buildup quickly. If I allowed it, I would've thrown up right there, but I forced it down, the acidic substance leaving a vile and burning sensation in my throat.
"Wine."
He raised a brow, but grabbed a glass regardless.
"Can't handle something stronger?"
Act cool and collected Amu. Remember Paris…remember Kyou. Act cool.
"Don't worry about me, I've swallowed things much stronger," I replied sending a wink in his direction.
And he was charmed. Just as Kyou had when I had out of fear acted out a hard to get waitress.
Hikaru slid the wine over towards me, leaning forward as he did. There was no more than a couple inches separating us – and I could smell him. The smell of alcohol, sweat, and tobacco radiated off of him. But I wasn't comforted by the smell of tobacco, because I knew it wasn't coming from Ikuto.
I left the drink untouched, and rested my chin on my clasped fingers, decreasing the inches between us.
"So tell me," I drawled. "What's someone like you doing in a place like this?"
"Well, besides the obvious point that I work here, I need the money."
"Really? And what for?"
I could feel his breath on my face.
"Do you have financial difficulty?" I asked venturing forward.
For a moment he paused, but then broke out into a grin.
"Not really. I collect guns. Does that sort of thing fascinate you doll?"
Perfect, just what I needed to lure him in.
"Of course. Tell me, do you have a Jericho 941F?"
Shock appeared first in his eyes, but he tried to mask it.
"And if I said yes, would you meet me after hours?" he asked winking coyly.
"Mmm, that all depends. Do you?"
"Yes."
I smirked, knowing that I'd had him in the palm of my hand now.
"And tell me, with all these guns, you must surely have some practice."
"Are you kidding? I could shoot twenty targets down in ten seconds in the blink of an eye."
"And that's how you killed Karyn and Anju."
He froze, unable to answer. And in a blink of an eye, I pulled out my gun.
"You're a cop!"
"Not just any cop doll, the cop who was standing with Karyn and Anju on the night you decided to shoot them."
Hikaru didn't say a word; instead he threw the glass of wine at me and made a run for it. Not fazed by any of his actions, I ran after him. It was smart on his part not to immediately run outside where a dozen cops stood ready for him. Instead, he played in his own territory as he ran towards the stage where three poles were stationed. He jumped onto the stage and ran into a door labeled 'dressing room'. Not wanting to slow down and jump onto the stage like he had, I increased my pace instead and ran up the stairs, following him in pursuit.
I gripped the gun tighter in my hand, as I walked through open area cluttered with racks of skimpy outfits slowly. I narrowed my eyes, looking for him. I turned around slowly, aiming my gun at every direction possible. Just as I was about to aim my gun at one of the racks in case he was hiding behind one, he pushed a rack towards me and made a break for it.
I fell to the floor as the metal trampled over me. Cursing, I kicked it away, grabbed my gun, and ran after him once more.
"Amu! Where the fuck are you going?" exclaimed Kukai from behind the walkie-talkie.
"Kukai, tell everyone to cover the back exits, he's heading towards the subway I think!"
"Are you positive about that?"
"What do you think I was doing on the way here? YES! I saw the entrance to a subway station just behind this building. And if I'm correct, then the dressing rooms must lead to an exit out of the club. And I bet he's going to use the subway to make his escape."
"I'll get right on it!"
I hurried across the hallway, and increased my pace. When I finally could see him, I smirked. I had him, and he was going down. He came to a door that was locked – practically a dead end.
"It's over Hikaru. You are going to go to jail and you're going to rot there for life."
He was smiling now, and I didn't understand why. I narrowed my eyes again, holding my gun up firmly. He began laughing and that ticked me off.
"You're serious aren't you? You really think that you'll catch me. Hah, as if!"
"Why'd you kill them?"
"A few years back they'd caused me some trouble. I was only returning the favor."
"They were kids!"
"They were the reason I got four years in jail," he corrected.
Sickness overflowed within me; this guy was truly vile. Right then and there he pulled out his gun, and I understood the reason for his smile. He honestly believed he was going to get away.
"Tell me, how does it feel to die the very same way they had?" he asked aiming the same gun he had used days earlier at my chest.
I didn't answer, not because I couldn't but because I saw no need to.
"Don't want to answer? Very well, I hope you die in hell!" he shouted firing his gun.
Immediately, I fell down to my knees in defense, and shot him in the knee. As he fell down, I shot him once more in the shoulder forcing him to drop his gun down as well. Grinning, I kicked his gun away, and sat on top of him. Grabbing the handcuffs Kukai had given me on the way here; I pulled his hands back together and cuffed his wrists. With him unable to move, I got up off him and pressed the red button on the walkie-talkie.
"Kukai I-
"Amu! Amu, are you okay? I heard the gunshot and-
"It's fine," I replied laughing. "That was me shooting him."
"Oh."
"Yeah, anyways, do you think you could send in a couple guys? And maybe call in the paramedics?
"Paramedics? What for?"
"I don't want the bullet wounds to get infected and for him to die. That's the easy way out – no; I want him to live behind bars for the rest of his life thinking about Karyn and Anju."
"Shut up," I said as Hikaru groaned.
"Well, I'll get the things you wanted. And Amu."
"Hmm?"
"I'm proud of you."
Ikuto POV
Sasuke and I were sitting in our beds in our room when Hidetoshi came back from his raid. We immediately afterwards heard screaming and crying. I saw Sasuke tense, but other than that we both remained silent. A knock came at the door.
"Come in," replied Sasuke evenly.
A large muscled man entered the room. His eyes were ice cold.
"Ikuto?"
"What?"
"Hidetoshi wants to talk to you."
"Now," he added when he sensed my delay.
As I got up off the couch, Sasuke pulled me towards him.
"Ikuto, don't fight with him, there's no point."
Nodding my head, I followed the man. Men looked at us with wide eyes or sinister smiles. They'd high five the man who was leading me or praise him. I, on the other hand, ignored them both and just followed. We stopped in front of a little office, if that's what you really chose to call it. It was a larger version of the room everyone else shared and that's pretty much it – well that's pretty much the outside of it. He opened the door and shoved me in.
"I brought Ikuto," he said quickly before slamming the door behind me.
I could hear him running away.
"Come closer Ikuto."
Looking up, I saw him sitting on his bed shirtless with a pleasant smile on his face.
"Okay? What do you want?"
"My, what a rush you are in. Slow down. Much better, now here's what I wanted to talk to you about. Me and two other trusted members are going out for another raid tomorrow night. The women at the warehouse are said to be very obedient, but the pimp in charge has bumped up the security. We plan on killing him and snatching up the women, and that's why I need you. You proved yourself well the other day in the beat it."
Looking at his face disgusted me completely, but I masked it. If I was going to kill him, I'd need him to trust me.
"Why didn't you just ask Hitoshi? He's a much better fighter."
"True, but he has a wild temper and a cocky attitude, and I don't need that. Meet outside the warehouse tomorrow at midnight. Now leave."
Thankful for the short talk, I walked out of the room, and explained everything to Sasuke and the crew.
Normal POV
"Damn you to hell!" shouted Hikaru as an officer locked him into his cell.
He looked around the dingy area and cursed. That bitch, whoever the fuck she was, was going to pay – pay for putting him in this shithole and pay for injuring him. A knock came at his cell door.
"What now?"
Looking up, he realized that whoever was standing there in front of his cell was covered up by the shadows.
"Reveal yourself!"
"I'm good, thanks," the man drawled.
Hikaru was already out of patience.
"What the fuck do you want?"
"Do you want revenge?"
He studied the shadow carefully.
"Yeah, against some pink haired brat."
The shadow slid a small white note under his cell.
"That's her phone number."
"Wait why'd you give this to me?" he shouted but the man was already gone.
He crawled out of bed and limped towards the piece of paper.
"Excuse me, officer, I'd like to make a phone call!" he shouted.
Amu POV
"Geez Ami, you have no idea how good it felt to slap the cuffs onto him! I felt like I was in an action movie!" I said with overflowing excitement.
"Good for you," she replied with honest kindness as she washed her plate and put it in the dishwasher. "I'll be upstairs if you need me."
Nodding my head, I finished up my food and did the same.
The phone rang. Too busy to pick it up, I waited for the voicemail to switch on as I cleared the table.
"Listen Amu, you're going to pay for what you did to me. Do you hear this bitch? I'll make you suffer, just as they suffered, and there is nothing you can do about it."
Author's Note
Hi you guys (: I hope you guys enjoy this quick update, and as usual I'm really sorry about the lateness and bad quality of this chapter. I've been pretty busy lately. Since I last updated, I had a bazillion painstaking finals and tests. May 18 was the last day of school for me…WOOH SUMMER (: haha. May 19 was my birthday; I'm finally 15 woohoo as well. (*side note* I can't wait till I start driving) And then there was the usual laziness to write and writer's block for a while.
Another important thing! As many of you guys know, I started a new story, Amore Destinato. My stories lately have been about guns and violence (hehe) and I decided I wanted to do something light and fluffy. I've only written the prologue so far, and now I have writer's block since I'm still debating on how I wanted to approach it. I mean, most of my ideas sit in a notebook, and stay there. If I' m still interested about that idea, I'll write. With this, I started typing the idea, liked it and published. Haha.
Hmm…what else…
OH! This story is getting PRETTY darn close to finishing up. I don 't want to give too much away, but I'd say just pay attention to every detail. ^ . ^
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