He had heard her. In fact he had known she was there the moment her ki flared up at the sight of them.
On instinct, he fired at the man's legs. Trying to cover up the sound of her bike as she pedaled away.
The man cried out, clutching his knee.
He glanced at Lizuka. Surely he hadn't heard her. Right?
Lizuka turned to him, his grin turning into a sneer, as he took the gun from him.
He fired another shot. This time silencing the man's cries of pain.
Blood splattered on them, as he fell forward. Dead.
He turned Lizuka and snatched the gun back.
"What the is wrong with you!" he growled. "You just killed our only informant."
Lizuka raised his eyebrows and scoffed. "The only informant that could have helped you. You mean. The agency has plenty of other informants, and you know that."
"That still doesn't change the fact that you killed him," he whispered, walking closer to him. "This wasn't an assassination mission."
"It was for me," Lizuka grinned, crossing his arms. Daring him to come any closer.
"Who the hell told you that?" he growled.
"I did," Saito waltzed into the alleyway, smoke trailing behind him. He looked down at the body and nodded.
His cold eyes flickered to his. "And you. I will not have you ruining these mission just so you can seek out your personal vengeance. Have you forgotten already the reason you are here? Battousaii."
"It is not vengeance. And I have not forgotten, your presence is enough to remind me of it. However, I do not see why the need to kill him arose. Wolf."
"That is something for me to decide, you are simply a dog," he took a drag of his cigarette, and leaned towards him. "That follows my orders."
He glared at him, his clutching his sword.
Saito rolled his eyes and turned back around.
"Were there any witnesses?" He asked Lizuka.
Lizuka shook his head, and both men turned to him.
He shook his head slowly as well, hoping neither of them saw his hand tighten impulsively around the sword.
Saito stared at him for a moment too long. And something told him he knew he was lying.
"Should there be any witnesses, the both of you know what to do."
"You know I don't kill anymore." He said.
Saito ignored him, and instead gestured to the body.
"I'll get someone to clean this up. Lizuka you're off duty now. Battousaii," he looked back, tossing him a black envelope. "New orders, straight from Katsura."
He caught it in time. And tucked it in his jacket. Something to worry about later.
X
The gallery was silent, save for the muffled sound of drills a few rooms away. All of the paintings in the room sat on the floor, leaning on the wall, and ready to be hung.
Kaoru's fingers grazed the frame of the first painting. Familiar eyes stared back at her. There was a hint of a smile beginning to form on her face. And a pinwheel held by hands just out of view.
She smiled bitterly. A moment frozen forever in time.
She looked back at her eyes. At the warmth they had once held. To think it had just been a week before…
She shook her head. Now was not the time to mourn. What's gone was gone. She had more important things to do
She moved on to the next painting, and the next, and the next. Until she finally reached the last one in that room.
Crossing her arms, she leaned on one foot. She'd been in every room, and so far she had been successful in not finding the painting. But what if it was in a storage closet somewhere? Hidden just out of her sight? It's not that she didn't trust her boyfriend, it was just that–
"There you are,"
She turned around, Enishi leaned on the doorframe, interrupting her thoughts.
She grimaced.
He frowned and walked towards her. "Babe what's wrong?"
She sighed, hugging herself. "Are you sure," she asked, letting him wrap his arms around her. "That you are absolutely not going to include that painting?"
Enishi sighed and rubbed her back. "I swear to you, that I will not put that painting in. That will only ever be for the two of us to see."
He leaned down and kissed her ear.
"And for our kids too,"
She chuckled and looked up at him.
"A bit too early to be thinking about that, don't you think?" Her voice muffled by his shirt.
He laughed as well and ruffled her hair. "Come one babe, I'll drive you to work."
X
"Jeez," she said, flipping through stations. "They never have anything good on at this time," she opted instead to turn the radio off.
She tapped her fingers on her knee. Then on the seat. Finally on the window.
She groaned and leaned into Enishi. "Talk to me, I can't stand the silence."
He chuckled and shifted gears. "What do you want me to talk about?"
"Anything!" she exclaimed.
"Alright, where is that place you wanted to go for your birthday?"
"The fancy place?"
"Yes, that one."
"You mean you're still taking me?"
He frowned, "Of course, why wouldn't I?"
She laughed nervously but gave him no answer.
"So what's it called again? I'll have to look up the directions." He extended his palm towards her.
She grasped it. "I think it's in French? It's something weird like Soursum. It's smackdab in the middle of downtown."
She drew circles in his palm.
He hummed in response. "So when is it again?"
"My birthday?" she gaped at him.
He laughed, his hand closing in on hers. "I'm just messing with you."
She laughed, entwining her fingers. "You better be!"
He gave her a boyish grin, "What if I'm not?"
"Hey eyes on the road mister!" she turned his chin forwards, "And if you aren't, then no more kisses for you."
He pouted, "not even one?"
She smiled, "Okay maybe one."
He pointed to his cheek. She gave him one on the corner of his lip.
"Another?"
"Now now, don't get greedy mister!" she wagged her finger, laughing.
Glancing out the window, she yelled at him to stop.
He braked hard, the force flinging them forwards.
He turned to her, wide-eyed, "What!"
She unlocked her seatbelt and opened the door.
He followed suit. "Where are you going!"
"Wait here! I'll be right back!"
She tossed her purse in the car and ran towards the familiar alleyway.
It was empty.
She stood at the entrance, frozen to her spot.
There should be police cars everywhere. Or a forensics team gathering evidence. At the very least a stupid yellow police line, marking the crime scene.
But there wasn't anything.
It was empty. No blood, no corpse, no weapons. Not even a bullet shell.
She took a step forward.
But she had been so sure. Of the three people she saw. Of the shot she heard. Last night. She hadn't hallucinated it… had she?
She made it to where the three men had stood.
Nothing denoted to there ever being a presence other than hers in that alleyway.
She frowned and examined the ground.
No bloodstains or anything.
There was no way she imagined it.
A hand fell on her shoulder, and she jumped. Her body tensed, and lowered, preparing for a fight.
"Woah, calm down. It's just me," Enishi said. "You know? Your boyfriend that you left stranded on the street? What are you even doing here anyways?"
She sighed and shrugged past him. "Nothing. I'm probably going crazy."
"Wait, what. Why are you going crazy?"
"Don't worry about it," she shook her head. "Let's just go, I don't want to be late."
He gave her a strange look, but turned the car on, nonetheless.
X
"Kaoru!" Tae greeted.
"Hey Tae," she shrugged on her work apron.
Tae smiled at her, biting her pen. The crossing her arms. And tapping her foot.
She sighed, "spit it out Tae, I know you want to say something."
"Oh please, could you stay late tonight too? I've got another meeting to go to, and I don't think I'll make it back in time to close!" She bent at the waist and clasped her hands together.
She grabbed Tae by the shoulders and lifted her back up.
"Don't worry, I can do it."
"Oh are you sure? I don't want to be impertinent."
"Oh come on Tae, you aren't bothering me. Really I have no plans tonight, and I could use the extra cash." She chuckled.
"That does remind me though," she said, ruffling through her apron. "Yesterday, this insanely huge guy, came in wanted to talk to you?"
Tae squinted, her nose wrinkling. "Did you catch his name?"
She held up a slip of paper, and read it, "Gohei Hiruma, he wants to purchase this building?" she frowned and shrugged. "Personally, he gave me a really bad feeling."
Tae groaned, "I can't believe he's taken to paying me visits."
"I take it you know him?"
"For the past two months, the man has been contacting me nonstop about wanting to buy my restaurant. First it was just a letter a week, then a couple of phone calls a week, now he's paying me visits!" she growled and rolled up her sleeves. "And pestering my employees? We'll see about that!"
Tae crossed her arms and huffed.
"Have you tried filing a report with the police?"
"Oh trust me I have! And every time, they say, 'we can't do anything until he really becomes a threat'" she said in a nasal voice. "I'm about to become a threat to that man myself, if he doesn't stop!"
She giggled; they bell ringing as she did.
She smiled at Tae, "Well that's my cue to leave."
X
Tae had left long ago, taking Tsubame with her. Like the night before, it was just her and the cook, as he finished up the last of the patron's meals.
He handed her the last meal of the day and took off his apron.
She smiled, hesitantly waving to him. He stared at her with dead eyes and walked out the back door.
"Have a good day!" she called out, unsure if he heard her, through the slamming door.
She sighed. Someday she was going to finally get him to talk.
"What even is his name?" she spoke to herself, walking to the front.
She shrugged and made a mental note, to ask Tae.
She learned from yesterday to unlock the door a soon as the cook left.
She crossed her arms, sitting proudly at the front counter. Now only the remaining customers would be able to leave, and no one would enter. Just in case.
She sighed, scrolling mindlessly through her phone. Her favorite redheaded customer had not shown up today. It wasn't the first time he didn't show, but something told her the incident from yesterday had bothered him enough to not come today.
She huffed, turning off her phone and setting it next to the register. It's not like she cared anyways. He was just a nice person to talk to. The fact that he was quite the eye candy was also an added bonus. Not that she would ever admit that to anyone, she had a boyfriend after all.
She glanced at the sample cupcakes Tae had left on the counter earlier. Their delicious frosting tempting her with just one look.
She inched closer. It wouldn't harm to take one would it? After all, all the customers had gotten one, so it wasn't like she was being selfish… Besides they were samples, Tae wouldn't mind.
Someone cleared their throat, just as she reached for one. She whirled back around.
The last customer stood at the cash register, ready to pay.
She smiled and gave them their change.
With all the customers finally gone, she began her closing duties, and pulled out the cash from the register. As she made her way to Tae's office, she gave the cupcakes one last longing look.
"Soon, my sweet." She whispered to them, and walked away, turning off the lights as she did.
It didn't take long to lock up the money in the safe, now the last thing she needed to do was take out the trash, and she'd be free to go.
Just as she hauled the last of the bags over the dumpster, a loud window shattering sounded in the streets.
She frowned, and wiping her hands, she peeked out of the alleyway.
The place was silent, and it took her a bit to notice the dark figure running through the streets. There was an oddly shaped object in their hand, and she was not going to stay long enough to confirm if it was a gun.
She shuffled back inside, locking the door behind her. As she headed back to the front, she wondered what window they had smashed broken. There hadn't appeared to be any broken windows when she was outside.
It didn't take long to answer that question.
The window closest to the door was gone, replaced by sharp pieces all around it's fram. Glass was everywhere, and chairs were strewn about. And an extremely bloody man stood hunched at the counter.
She pressed against the wall, praying he didn't see her. Patting her pockets, she panicked when she found them empty. Where was her phone when she needed it the most!
She closed her eyes and stopped herself from cursing out loud. She risked a look back out and saw her phone lying next to the register, where she had left it earlier.
She glanced back at the man, who was shoveling the remaining cupcakes into his mouth.
He was eating the cupcakes! Her, cupcakes! The nerve of this man!
Tossing all caution to the side, she stomped out, grabbing a broom on the way. She flicked on the lights and yelled at this man.
"Get your hands away from those cupcakes!" she pointed the broom at him.
It was only when the man slowly looked up at her, did she realize the gravity of her actions.
"Who are you!" He yelled.
She gaped at him. "Who are you!" she yelled back.
Somewhere outside, a gun went off.
The man's eyes widened, and cursed, wiping the icing off his face.
He bowed, yelling a quick apology. He grabbed the final untouched cupcake and took it with him.
"Hey!" she yelled.
"Put it on my tab!" He yelled back and jumped out the broken window.
The last she saw of him was the character for bad he wore on his back.
X
As Kaoru swept up the remaining pieces of glass, she swore to herself that that was the last time she ever worked overtime.
"In fact, I'm going to take a nice long vacation," she grumbled, dumping out the dustpan.
She huffed, even more annoyed. Because she knew it wasn't true. There was no way she could afford to take time off.
"Stupid bills, and stupid student loans," she muttered, picking up the remaining chairs. "And stupid adulting, I never asked for this."
The last chair caught her attention, on it lay a small usb drive.
Frowning she picked it up. Could it have been one of the customers?
She knew she should put it in the lost and found. But she was curious, and absolutely had to know what was on it.
"Probably just boring conference notes, and work documents," she mumbled to herself.
But that still didn't stop her from tucking it in her pocket. With the silent promise of bringing it back tomorrow.
In the end, she found some discarded plastic sheets and tape that would help cover the broken window. Tae could figure out a better solution for it tomorrow.
She glanced at her phone. It was midnight, almost one. She sighed and tucked it in her pocket. No use calling her right now, she'd just get here early tomorrow and try to explain what happened.
She glanced back at the empty cupcake pan and stormed out. It's not like she had wanted one anyways.
X
Kaoru had yet to fix her bike. And originally, she had intended to ride a bus back home. Granted she hadn't expected to leave work so late, so now she was forced to walk home.
She grumbled silently and stomped through the empty sidewalks. Should anyone try to cross her path, they would have hell to pay.
A light drizzle started to fall, and soon turned into steady raindrops.
She let out a frustrated yell.
"Are you kidding me!" she clenched her fists and screamed.
A gunshot immediately followed, and she yelled at it to.
"Shut up!"
Three more followed, and she cursed and broke into a run.
She may be mad at the world right now, but she was not stupid and was not about to become the next murder victim on the news.
She saw them too late, just as she turned a corner. Someone ran out, and they crashed into each other.
She cursed, as landed on top of the person.
They groaned, as she rolled off them.
The person stood up instantly, reaching down and pulling her up as well.
"Next time, watch where you're…" she trailed off, and faltered back. "You! What're you doing here!"
The familiar redheaded customer stared back at her, with the same confusion.
"I could ask you the same thing as well, Ms. Kaoru."
Next Update: 10-23-21
In which Kaoru has an encounter with a certain redhead, and tries to remember the medical rambles of her best friend. See you next time!
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