Chapter fifteen – Sacrifices that we're willing to make
Disclaimer:
WARNING: REFERENCES TO SEX (NOTHING MUCH), ABUSE AND VIOLENCE
"I guess that's just part of loving people: You have to give things up. Sometimes you even have to give them up."
― Lauren Oliver, Delirium
After breakfast and a quick shower, Tsuna stood outside of Rinko's apartment, the woman wearing her usual 'work' clothes. She was wearing a short black dress with the same coat but different black boots. With the gift bag in his hand, he was ready to get to Yuiji's house. He glanced at his wrist watch. 9:00 am. "This is for you" Rinko said as she walked down the stairs. He looked at the plain black, backpack she was offering and he shook his head. "Hush and take it, Tsunayoshi-kun" she forced the bag onto him. "Besides, I haven't used that since I graduated from high school" she said with a wistful tone of voice.
"I…..you're doing so much for me" he said and she ruffled his hair, an act that made him oddly homesick as he thought of Kyoko. Rinko, despite the fact that he had just met her last night, felt like the older sister he never had. She looked out for him. She provided him with food, money, shelter and now this. Everything she did, cemented his belief that she was a great person.
"Hey, don't worry about it Tsunayoshi-kun. We're two of a kind, you know" Rinko said as she placed money in his hand. He tried to refuse it, seeing as he hadn't completed the job as yet but she forced him to take the money. "It's okay, Tsunayoshi-kun. Just come see me when you leave, okay?" she made him promise and he nodded.
"I will" Tsuna said and she patted his head, a gesture he had performed his sister. "I'll get this gift to Yuiji-kun" he promised as well.
"I'm counting on you" Rinko said and with a smile, they left on their separate ways.
Rinko felt dirty as she slipped the thigh high socks on her feet, the thong riding up in places that began to feel uncomfortable but like the pain of her existence, she grew used to it. She could hear her colleagues (could she even call them that?) gossiping around her, some even throwing a few looks her way. She stood up straighter while she adjusted her cleavage. "Is it true, Rinko-chan?" one of the girls whispered as they crowded her. Rinko who was staring at her face in the mirror, applied blood red lipstick on her lips. "Is it true that you disobeyed Iwao-sama, AGAIN?" they asked. Rinko wanted to roll her eyes at them, when a rapt knock came from the black door.
"Rin, you're up" a voice called and Rinko frowned as she flung her hair over her shoulder. As she strode across the room, the door opened into one of the 'private rooms' that only special patrons were allowed access to. Mark's eyes softened at her. That big American softie.
"Make sure and get that ticket for me, okay?" she whispered and he gave her a nod, before she entered the dimly lit room that smelled like stale sex. When she pushed past the curtains, she could see her latest 'client', waiting for her on the bed, flinging his jacket on the dresser. He looked like those men who would see in those cubicle offices, with the well prepared bento that his 'perfect' wife made for him after she bid him farewell at the door like it was her duty. Rinko shoved the sneer down and propped her high heeled leg on the bed, as the man's eyes grew wide with revolting lust. "Are you ready for me?" she asked and he eagerly nodded. She had to try her best not to vomit.
Yuiji's house was fairly nice, average, and modern, something like Tsuna's own home in Namimori. The neighbourhood was nice too. Tsuna with his backpack strapped on, the camera he had gotten from Aoi secured around his neck, the money he got from Rinko in his pocket, the knife secured in his jeans, he stood outside in the cold. He was watching the house for an entire minute since he got off the bus and walked to the house. It wasn't like he could just go up and ring the doorbell before saying "Hey, can you give this to Yuiji-kun? His mother, the one you don't want him to see, sent it".
He glanced at the side, watching as parents and children moved towards the house, most of them looking his way. Which was justifiable because a kid all by himself in the cold, staring a house with a wistful look on his face, would warrant curious concern. An older woman waddled over to him, after having exited a red Toyota, a gift of her own in her hands and a son around Yuiji's age at her side. "Are you lost, little boy?" she politely asked.
"I don't know if I have the right address" Tsuna nervously said as he rubbed behind his neck. A lie of course, but he couldn't exactly say why he was there or what he was supposed to do.
"Are you looking for someone?" the woman asked as her son peered up at Tsuna with rather large eyes.
"My sister is in Yuiji-kun's classroom but she got sick. She insisted I bring this over to him" Tsuna explained and he surprised even himself with the quick thinking. The woman released an 'Aha' and gently grabbed his elbow.
"The party is just inside there, my dear. Why don't you come inside with me and my son, Goro-kun" the woman said and 'Goro' kept staring at him. Creepy kid.
Tsuna bowed and thanked her. She introduced herself as Hada something and when she asked for his name, as well as his sister's, he knew he couldn't give her the real thing. So he improvised. He forced himself to trip and fall.
Goro giggled when he fell flat on his face while Mrs. Hada released a high pitched scream of surprise. "Are you okay?!" she asked as she had to help him up. Tsuna sheepishly smiled as he brushed off some snow off his face and coat.
"Hada-san, is everything alright out here?" a beautiful woman asked as she opened the front door. She was wearing a blue sweater, a straight black skirt, and pearls around her neck while her ebony coloured hair was held in a strict bun. That must be the step mother.
"Oh, yes. We're okay" Mrs. Hada said as they walked up to the house. "This boy, his sister is in Yuiji-kun's class but because she's sick, he came to deliver the gift" she explained as the step mother looked at him. He was expecting her to be as evil as the fairy tales depicted her, but the woman just welcomed them into the house.
"This is for Yuiji-kun" Tsuna presented her with the gift and the woman softly laughed at his very formal actions.
"Why thank you. I'm sure he will love it" the woman said as she took the offered gift. Tsuna nodded. "Would you like to come in and join us?" she asked and Tsuna wanted to hesitate. "There's cake" the woman said and Tsuna was tempted by the offer, but he had to decline. His story was flimsy as it was, if they started to ask too much questions, he didn't know if he would be able to maintain the lie.
"I have practice" Tsuna blurted out and the woman arched an eyebrow. He nervously laughed. "Plus my Mama told me not to stay out too late" he explained.
"That's too bad" the woman said and placed the gift on the table where the others were sitting.
"I'll just go" Tsuna said and was going to leave, when he felt someone pull on his coat. When he looked down, he saw the birthday boy himself staring up at him. He was the splitting image of his mother. And it hurt to know that she couldn't even get to see her son on his birthday.
"Do you like cars?" the boy asked and Tsuna looked at the mini model of a car in his hand.
"I guess" Tsuna said and the boy just smiled. Yup. Exactly like Rinko. He gently uncurled the fist that was holding onto his coat and turned to leave.
"You can take a picture for her, you know" the step mother said once Mrs. Hada and Goro had fully entered the house, leaving the three standing on the genkan. Tsuna froze and felt his hands grow clammy. "I know that gift wrapping skills anywhere" she said, having peeked inside the bag. Tsuna turned to see Yuiji standing next to his step mother who wore an amused look on her face.
"I….she just wanted him to get the gift" Tsuna pleaded and the step mother took out the gift before giving it to Yuiji.
"Take one of him holding it. I know she will love it" the woman said and Tsuna immediately listened. The step mother moved out of the way as Yuiji meticulously looked at the square gift, wrapped in nice red wrapping paper with tiny cars on them. He snapped a few as Yuiji moved to open the gift, just as his step mother had whispered him to and when he saw the remote controlled car, his eyes lit up.
"I LOVE IT!" Yuiji shouted and Tsuna who was taking out pictures, smiled. "Thank you!" Yuiji said to him and Tsuna quickly snapped a picture of the boy looking directly at the camera.
"Honey?" a male voice asked and Tsuna knew that must be the father. Warning signals went off in his head as he saw panic on the step mother's face.
"I'll go" Tsuna said and she nodded quickly as she guided him to the door. "Thank you" he whispered and she smiled at him.
"Rinko-chan isn't a bad person" she said to him as she held the door, closing it so her husband wouldn't see his face. "Whoever you are, thank you for helping her" she added and Tsuna nodded as she closed the door before her husband could get to him. With that, he hurried away from the door, just in time too, because the man had rushed out to see who had left the gift for his son. Now that his job was completed, he would get to see Rinko before he headed off to Iga.
Rinko's skin crawled as the man grunted on top of her. He was whispering "You're so good, God Yes…." as Rinko stared at the ceiling, lifeless as ever. She would mutter a forced 'Mmmm' or a reluctant 'right there' at appropriate times to please the man but Rinko could feel disgust clawing at entire being as the man continued. "You're not what your job makes you" Tsuna had told her…Tears leaked out of her eyes as she flung a hand over her face.
It wasn't like she hadn't tried. When she went to Tokyo to live out her dreams, she had gotten rejected by all those publishing houses she foolishly believed would publish her book. None of them had the courtesy to even read what she poured her heart into. They looked at her young pretty face and told her "Why don't you go into modelling instead? A girl like you isn't cut out for this" Rinko had politely taken her manuscript back, bowed and left as she always did. With her hopes destroyed by words that should be flattering but weren't.
After three months of living off the money she had stolen from her parents after she ran away, she realized that it wasn't going to last. To make ends meet, she started to work in a supermarket, had to deal with the harassment from her boss who made it his mission to grope her ass, every time he got.
She tried looking for other places to work, but a high school graduate without a college degree wasn't exactly what they wanted.
So she continued to work there, until the boss tried to rape her. She decided enough was enough and left to live with a friend in Yokkaichi.
Her former best friend had willingly offered her own apartment and kindly allowed her to live there for free while she searched for another job.
However, just in Tokyo, she couldn't get anything.
Until, her best friend told her about her own job. She had seen the nice clothes that she wore, envied the roses that were sent on her doorstep every morning and the new jewellery that seemed to pop up every other day. One day it would be a ruby necklace, the other a pair of diamond earrings.
"There's great benefits" her best friend persuaded her, just as she had done before, in making Rinko believe that she could be somebody in the world of fiction. "Come talk to my friend, Iwao-san, he'll hook you up" she promised her and ever the naïve fool, Rinko believed her.
Three days later, she was forced on her knees to suck cock for a living.
"Welcome to the family, Rinko-chan. You'll love it here" Iwao smugly told her and she knew by the way he loomed over her, that she wouldn't.
Even now, she didn't.
Sensing her lack of participation, the man shifted away from her, his naked body pulled away from hers.
"What the fuck is your problem?" he asked. She was downright sobbing. All he wanted was a quick fuck. Rinko curled into herself as her sobs turned into laughter.
"There's just so much I can take" she screamed in the pillow and the man grabbed up his clothes. Fuck this. As he placed his boxers back on, his boner already wilted.
She thought about her best friend, the girl who had overdosed on cocaine and died some years ago. Who had left her to live this shitty life she brought to Rinko's doorstep.
She thought about the one man who made her fall in love with him, who turned his back on her, when he found out what she did for a living.
She thought about the day she found out she was pregnant, when she stood in the doctor's office crying as the nurse tried to calm her down.
She remembered coming to love the mistake that turned into the best thing in her life.
She remembered the nine months she spent alone only to have that fucking bastard swoop in, right after she gave birth to Yuiji, saying that he was going to fight for his son.
She remembered, as weak as she was, Yuiji screaming in the hospital room, as Rinko attacked him. "You have no right!" Rinko shouted at him as they battled it out until the doctors had to pull them apart.
She had yelled the same thing when he gained full custody of their son, who was only three years old back then. "You have no right!" she cried but even the judge who had dished out the verdict, only turned her nose up at her.
Like always there weren't anyone to save Rinko and she found herself drowning in her own sorrows.
She screamed again, punched the pillow and when the man heard the faint word of 'shameful', he turned to her.
"What did you say?" he asked and pulled her by the hair. She laughed, mascara blotching her skin and distorting her face. It wasn't even meant for him…..it was all for her. Thinking that the broken smile was a taunt, she didn't even see the punch coming her way.
"Do you beat your wife like that?" she urged and he just turned red in the face before rushing out, just in time too…..seeing as Mark-san had entered.
"Rinko" Mark whispered and she cried as he wrapped his jacket on her shivering shoulders.
Preview -
Three hours later:
"Where did she go?" he asked, dramatically rolling up the sleeves of his shirt as he approached the man tied up on the wooden chair. He whistled at the man who couldn't even keep his head upright. "You are one cruel motherfucker, Abe" he smirked as he gave his jacket to one of this underlings.
"I aim to please, sir" Abe said as he bowed to his employer. Iwao chuckled and stood in front of the man. Out of his ten fingers, eight were broken. His right eye was missing, scooped out with a very rusty spoon (the two were on the table on the left), his teeth were strewn on the floor (the pliers that was used was on the table), and his right cheek was charred as a mark was branded on his face. Abe, the one who had obeyed his orders, sneered at the man whose clothes had been tattered to pieces in the assault.
"You going to tell me where she went now?" Iwao asked as he stooped down in front of the man.
"I don't know" the man cried out and Iwao sighed. He stood up and with a quick kick, threw the man with the chair sideways on the already dirty floor. "I DON'T KNOW!" the man screamed as he struggled with the ropes searing through his flesh.
"Check her apartment, look for any clues you can find. The other girls said that they saw her with a kid, find him. I want to know who the fuck that kid is and if it comes down to it, bring me hers" Iwao commanded to one of his henchmen that were standing guard at the door. He nodded and walked out the room. Iwao turned to the man who was sobbing on the floor.
How shameful. He was one of his best bodyguards, now he was lying in his own piss and shit, crying like a three year old.
"You always had a soft spot for that bitch. Do you think I didn't know you wanted to fuck her?" he asked, pressing his weight down on the man's face. "The only thing I could never understand was why Rinko? Why the slut you were ordered to guard?" he questioned as he stooped down to look at the man whose eyes could barely stay open.
"Maybe he loved her" Abe smirked and Iwao glared at him. "Sorry boss" he mumbled as he shrank back.
"Love" Iwao scoffed and turned to the other men in the room. "Do you hear this idiot?" he asked and they chuckled while Abe pouted. "Love" Iwao shook his head. "It's stupidity, not love. You were stupid enough to think that you would get away with disobeying me" Iwao said as he stood up, taking up the 9 mm with the silencer attached to, the one his subordinate had handed over to him. "Such a shame, you were a good slave" he added and he pulled the trigger, releasing two bullets in his skull. He gave the gun to Abe and told him "Take out the trash". Abe nodded and as Iwao walked out the room, he pretended not to notice the blood splattered, overturned picture, with the words "To my American softie" scribbled on the back.
A/N: It's been awhile since I promised to update every Sunday but as I've said, I'm a mess.
Some stuff happened that threw me off my game and I know it's not a good enough excuse but...Sigh.
I didn't even get to read any reviews AGAIN, so I'll try to get to that asap.
I'll be better guys, just have patience with me and my shitty ways.
-Frosty
