That evening, once the job was reported as complete, Akiko headed up the stairs to the second floor of the bar. She intended to do some light training to help take her mind off it.
"Hashimoto. That you? Come in here."
That was Mikoto's voice. He was speaking from his room. His door was opened slightly.
"Huh? Need something from me?"
"Just get in here."
Akiko, a little unsure since no reason was given, entered the bedroom. Inside, the Red King was sitting on a couch.
"Close the door and take a seat here." He pat the empty spot next to him.
Akiko gently closed the bedroom door. "So, mind tellin' me what this is about?"
"I will when ya sit down."
"Ugh, fine." She went over and plopped down next to the king. "There. Now your turn."
"I was thinkin' that maybe ya should learn about my parents to make up for me punchin' ya."
"Are you serious?!"
"Yeah. But I'll warn ya that it's not very pleasant."
"I don't care. If you wanna tell me, I'll listen."
Mikoto took a deep breath. "Fine."
It all stated when he was six. It was night and Mikoto's father needed to go out and meet with a friend, leaving Mikoto and his mother alone in the living room. No one thought a burglar would choose that night to break into the house.
The mother quickly hid herself and her son in the closet soon after the person broke through the kitchen window. She dialed 911 and sent them the house's address as well as the current situation. She was stroking her son's head in an attempt to calm him down, though it didn't help much since she was also shaking in fear.
It was when the burglar was searching the living room for things to steal that a young Mikoto spoke to his mother in a fearful whisper.
"What'll happen to us?"
The burglar stiffened upon hearing that whisper and glared at the closet. "Is someone there?" A gun was taken out when that was said.
Mikoto's mother burst out of the closet, making the burglar think it was just her and not her son in there, and tackled the person to the ground. After a bit of wrestling around, three gunshots rang out and the mother went still, her body hitting the carpet. Liquid crimson was slowly coming out of her, soaking into the fabric below.
"Mom?" Mikoto's shaky voice rang out as he stared at his mother's unmoving body with wide amber eyes.
The burglar was now aware of the son's presence. The person took one step forward when men in blue uniforms broke down the door and rushed into the house, guns drawn. They pinned the burglar down and got handcuffs on the person.
Mikoto saw this as a chance to speak normally. He looked to where his mother lay. One man in blue had two fingers on the side of her neck.
"Mom? You can get up now." But his mother didn't budge. The man who had his fingers on her neck looked at the others dressed in blue and sadly shook his head. But Mikoto at that age didn't know what that meant and kept telling his mother it was safe to get to her feet. Eventually, one of the men came over to Mikoto and squatted down so he was eye-level with the six-year-old. The rest were forcing the burglar outside in a very rough manner. The one with Mikoto pulled to little boy into a tight hug.
"I'm sorry, kid, but your mom isn't going to get up."
"For right now. Something put her to sleep, right?"
"I hate this part of the job..." he growled. Then he spoke to Mikoto again. "She won't be waking up. She's dead."
Mikoto shook his head. At this point, tears began to well up in his eyes. "My dad will get home and everything will be better."
It took a lot of convincing on the man's part, but Mikoto eventually ran to his fallen mother, crying loudly. The red on her had gotten cold, just like her body.
Shortly after this incident, Mikoto noticed that his father had taken to drinking a lot, trying to erase the memory of the fact his wife was gone now, but nothing he did could make him forget.
In an attempt to vent his frustration and rage, he began beating his son, saying that it's Mikoto's fault his wife died. He knew how protective his wife was over Mikoto. It wasn't hard for him to figure out what happened, seeing as how she's dead and Mikoto's unharmed.
"You little shit!" he yelled while kicking Mikoto mercilessly in the ribs. "If you had never been born she'd still be alive!"
"Please stop! You're hurting me!"
"Good!"
Mikoto was too scared to say anything. When he was questioned about where he got the cuts and bruises, he simply replied with that he accidentally hurt himself while playing.
Even as he got older, Mikoto never knew if he should tell someone about being beat several times a week. His father only beat him while drunk. When he was sober, he was really kind to Mikoto, since his son was the only living thing that remained of his wife.
One day, when he was 14, Mikoto came into the house after school.
"I'm home." There was no response. His father should be home by now. "Dad? Are you here?" He began looking around the house.
The light was on in the kitchen. That was weird. The only time it's on is when he and his father are eating. A feeling of foreboding entered Mikoto but he pushed it down.
"Are you in here?" Mikoto asked as he entered the kitchen. He was unprepared for the sight he was met with.
His father was in the kitchen. He had made a noose with some rope and hung himself. His face was as pale as Mikoto's mother's when she died eight years ago. Was he dead then?
Mikoto just stood there for a few moments, speechless, before fishing out a meat knife and cutting his father down. But it was too late. His father was dead.
Mikoto's grandparents took him in. Though they were upset their son's dead, they didn't blame Mikoto for it. Mikoto saw a psychologist for the second time since his mother died, but it was tougher this time to get the redhead to express how he really feels. This marked the start of him bottling up his feelings.
"...So that's what happened?" Akiko was at a loss for what else to say.
Mikoto grunted. Was he having second thoughts about telling her this? "Don't tell anyone else about this."
"I would've thought Totsuka and Kusanagi already do."
"They know my parents are dead but not that I had been abused." He then grabbed her face with one hand and squeezed it. "I mean it: not a word to anybody!"
Akiko knows she should be intimidated. This is someone who could end her the second she spills what he just told her. But instead of agreeing to keep the secret, she just continued to stare at those beautiful amber irises.
The king was suddenly aware of how close their faces are. He released his hold on Akiko and shifted a little back from her. He was blushing a little.
Then Akiko's shout refocused his attention on her. "Gah! Oh, fuck it! I can't hold it in anymore!"
"What do you -" Mikoto was cut off when one of Akiko's hands flew onto his shoulder and the other went to the back of his head, slender fingers tangling in his messy red hair. Before he could react to this, warm lips suddenly collided with his. Amber eyes went wide in that instant.
Their lips parted and Akiko quickly stood up from the couch and took a few steps back, blushing a bright red. Mikoto was too shocked to say anything. "Sorry, Mikoto, I've been wanting to do that for a while, but I managed to hold it in. However, it seems I've reached my breaking point." She looked away, not wanting to meet the king's gaze. "That was probably pretty awkward, right? Just forget that ever happened. I promise I won't do it again." She turned, ready to head out of the room. "I'm fine with us just staying friends, even if it would make me a little sad. Just staying with HOMRA already makes me happier than I can describe."
"Hashimoto."
The sound of that deep voice along with her name made her stiffen. She turned slowly around, unsure if the redhead would be mad at her. "What is it?"
She didn't expect Mikoto to come up to her, using one arm to pull the woman against his body and have the other hand gently grip her chin and tilt her head so that her eyes were meeting his. Rage was not present on his features but rather a tender one, the eyes gazing down at Akiko full of love. His thumb was tracing her lower lip.
"If you felt this way about me for some time, then I wish that you did this sooner." He pressed his lips to Akiko's. She had expected his kiss to be rough, not this gentle. Her arms wrapped around his body, eyes closing and returning the pressure against his mouth. She's never felt so happy in her entire life. It was almost enough for her to want to shed tears of joy.
"About time!"
The king and clansman instantly stopped and looked to the door, where the voice had come from. Standing in the open doorway with a grin plastered on his face was Izumo. How was he able to open the door without either of them hearing?!
Then Izumo looked shocked and slapped a hand over his mouth. "I'm so sorry! That just slipped out! Did I kill the mood?!"
"A little," Mikoto replied. The interruption was causing the bulge in his pants to go down. "Have ya been there long?"
"Just showed up. Wanted to see if ya calmed down. I guess ya have if you two are makin' out."
"Whatever. So are ya happy now that we've done this?"
"Well, duh!"
"We're going to give this relationship a try and see how it goes," Akiko said. "Probably a week or two and then we'll announce it. You got what you want, so I assume you'll be able to keep it a secret until then?"
"Of course!"
"And that means you'll hafta wait to get your money from Kamamoto."
Mikoto couldn't help but smirk at the look of shock that appeared on Izumo's face. "How'dja find out?!"
"I thought it was strange that ya didn't tease me 'bout stayin' with Hashimoto, so I decided to interrogate Kamamoto for the reason since he was with you. He ended up spillin' the details of the bet ya made."
"Those two made a bet?!" Akiko exclaimed.
"Yeah. Kusanagi wagered 100,000 yen that we'll get together while Kamamoto put 1,000 that we won't."
Akiko was giving Izumo a death glare. "Trying to get us together is one thing, but putting money on it? You're the fucking worst."