AN: Hello everyone, sorry to have disappeared on you lately. My life has been packed with all kinds of stuff lately and I have not been able to write much. I am still taking a break from my regular multi-chapter fics so I can tackle them with fresh ideas and I am currently working on oneshots I have been wanting to do for a while but have not been able to finish any of them because of how busy I have been. Fear not though, since this fic is already written and just waiting for betaing I should be able to post the last chapter sometime soon so at least you won't have to wait too long to read the conclusion to this story.
This chapter is packed full of stuff and lots of things take place in between Thursday afternoon and Friday afternoon.
Thanks to Ashida and Rekishichizu for betaing and pointing out some loose ends that needed tying.
I do not own Finder Series.
Please review when you are done reading (^_^)/
*******VF*******
My Fault: Chapter 7, The end of it all. Part II
Late Thursday afternoon, Miko had just arrived from her shopping. She had entered the estate's main living room, when one of the maids came running and calling for her. The woman informed her that her father had taken a turn for the worse and was dying, so Miko rushed to her father's room to mock him in his final hours of life.
She walked to her father's room, the sound of her steps marking an angry cadence in her hurry to see the man die. She entered the room and sat on a comfortable chair near her father's private mini-bar, taking a wine glass and a wine bottle, she settled to enjoy the momentous occasion.
The rasping wet noises coming from the man before her were disgusting and sickening. The smell in the room was like that of a rotting corpse, which she surmised, was not too far away from the truth. Miko considered once or twice leaving the room and its filthy smell, but set her convictions in stone and stayed, she would be damned if she missed one single moment of this glorious victory.
"Won't you die already?" she snapped at the suffering man. "I have things to do and would like to leave sometime soon. God, it has already taken so long for the poison to take effect and now you are taking forever to kick the damn bucket."
"You… did… this… to me?"
"Of course I did, who else would have done it? Who else could hate you this much to want to see you suffer and die a slow, painful death? Though now that I think about it, with how long you are taking to die I should have chosen a different method."
"Why? I am your father, why would you do this to me?"
"Why? You dare to ask me why? You know, that is the same question I asked myself. Why? You are my father so why did you favor her over me? I am the eldest. It should be obvious that I was the one to inherit the company. Did you really think I would not realize that your little ploy with Asami was so that she could have a chance at taking my place as your heiress? For a moment there, when you first spoke of taking over Sion, I thought you meant it so that each of us could have a company of our own. The one single moment I thought that maybe you cared for both of us equally, the one moment I thought you meant to redeem yourself and you had to open your mouth and ruin it by saying the one who managed to capture Asami would have it all."
"I heard you father, that same day, I heard you speak to my maid and order her to give me a tea to prevent pregnancy every day so that when the time came, even if I managed to sleep with Asami I could not win. But I did not drink the tea did I father? I started making my own plans, and in the end I won. Me! I outsmarted you two and won, I showed you who was better. Even if this child isn't Asami's, I am the one who will have it all. Oh, one more thing before you make your trip to hell, I was there when my sister died. I set up the accident and I watched her burn, trapped in her car, I heard her scream and saw her flesh burn as she cried for my help. Go to hell knowing it was your fault entirely for always putting her before me."
He began to fight for breath and to shake uncontrollably, his face contorted in pain and wet groaning noises left his mouth as he fought the inevitable. She sat before the bed with a glass of wine in her hand and enjoyed the show all the while recalling the events that led to this moment.
It had always been like this, ever since her mother died after giving birth to her little sister, but today was the day things changed for the worse. It was the day she changed.
"Look father! Happy birt…" she happily ran into her father's office with her present in hand.
"Not now Miko. I'm busy," he said interrupting her.
"But…"
"Not now!" She had tried to protest, to get his attention once more but he just shouted at her.
"I'll just put it here. You can look at it later." She said putting her drawing on the desk of her father's home office. At twelve she was already exceptionally talented.
Her father turned back to looking at his work and ignored the girl sitting quietly in a corner, eagerly waiting for him to look at her drawing of him while he sat outside drinking his tea. She sat there for close to three hours and finally decided to get his attention again.
"Father, the drawing. Will you look at it now?" she asked again coming close to stand next to his chair.
"Miko! I told you I'm too busy for you right now, get out of here!"
He yelled at her again and pushed her out of the way. Her small body practically flew with the force of the push and she landed on the floor with a heavy thud. Calml,y she just got up and cautiously this time tried to tell him about what she had made for him. All she wanted was for him to look at the drawing and smile at her the way he used to. One smile, that is all she needed, one small show of affection.
"But father, the drawing it's for your birt…" She began again and he just stood up, grabbed her arm in a bruising grip and pulled her along.
He had been shoving her out the door and still she tried to tell him about his present. Before she had a chance to finish her little sister's running form appeared and collided with her father's leg to cling to it.
"Daddy!" He let go of her like he could not be bothered anymore and hugged Kaoruko.
"My little princes, have you come to visit me? What can your daddy do for you today?" He was smiling at her sister, smiling happily and tears began to run down her eyes. She felt so lost and so lonely. All she wanted was some love, to be loved by her father like her sister was.
"Daddy, I need a new horse. I'm tired of the old one already. Can I have a new maid too? The one I have now takes too long to do what I order her and she won't lick my shoes when I ask her to pretend she is my dog, and a bigger room too daddy, I want more space so you can buy me more clothing and toys. Can I have Miko's room? Hers is bigger and she doesn't need the space."
"Sure baby, anything you want."
Miko's mouth just hung open in disbelief, he was taking her room from her, the room where her mother and she had made such beautiful paintings on the walls. It was so unfair.
"Yes! I knew it, you are the best daddy ever. Oh, look daddy, look. I got the highest grade again," Said Kaoruko jumping up and down before shooting a smug look at her.
"My sweet Kaoruko, this is the best present a father can ask for on his birthday."
"It's your birthday today? Sorry I forgot daddy, here, a kiss for your birthday."
'That's it? A kiss on the cheek and he is all happy? And she didn't even remember his birthday! He never lets me kiss him, maybe if he did I could make him happy too, but he never lets me.'
"What a lovely gift, thank you," He said, smiling warmly.
She finally decided to interject in their little talk and running into the office she took the paper and brought out her gift as well. Miko had worked on it for nearly four months and was satisfied with the result.
"Father, here is my gift. Happy birthday," She said extending her little arms toward her father.
She presented her drawing to her father who took it in his hands and examined it. His brows met each other in an annoyed gesture.
"Why would I want this? It's just a useless piece of paper with a child's scribbles on it, Why don't you focus more on your studies like your sister does? You are the eldest for God's sake and so far you are nothing but a disappointment. How can you ever take over my company if you are this useless?"
He ripped her drawing to pieces and threw them at her.
"But father, I don't want to take over the company, I want to be an artist." She pleaded.
He slapped her small face for daring to defy him and a small drop of blood flowed from her bottom lip.
"An artist you say, what a joke, no more drawing or painting. No more of this art shit you hear me, from now on you will be tutored twice as long as you are now and I better see some results. So help me I swear that if you don't shape up and do at least as well as your sister, I will throw you out into the streets where hopefully you will die." He was now bending to pick up her sister from where she stood and held her princess style.
She was sobbing uncontrollably and trying to pick up the broken pieces of her drawing from the floor, along with the broken pieces of her heart. Her father saw her and holding her sister in his arms kicked her to the side to deliver the final blow to any sort of affection she had for him.
"You… you stupid child! I should have made your mother kill you in the womb when I found out she was pregnant. It would have saved me so many headaches and Kaoruko would have been my heir. I wish it was you who was dead instead of your mother."
Later that day, sitting on the table having lunch and looking at them, she thought about herself. It's not like she was stupid, it's just that she liked other things. She was just as intelligent as her sister and her grades were the top of her class but her sister was a show-off and had their father wrapped around her finger, just because she looked more like their mother than she did.
This was a turning point in Miko's life, it was the moment she started to hate them all and from then on, things just got worse and her father was more obvious in his disdain toward her. He ignored her often and pretended she didn't exist unless he actually had to talk to her.
Yes, she envied Kaoruko, she wanted to have some love and attention from their only parent and every time she saw them together, she wondered why it was not her who was loved. Her heart and mind filled with hatred, envy, and resentment until one day she realized it's not like she was stupid, she was actually quite smart, one day she will have them both on their knees and show them her pain, one day she will show them all who is better.
And show them she did…
Miko watched her father take his last breath and for the first time in many years felt free, she was finally happy. She was finally better than her father, now all she needed was to prove she was undoubtedly better than her sister. To do that, she needed to finish the job, she needed to take everything from Asami Ryuichi. She laughed, her happiness clear in the sound, before she composed herself to play her role of sad daughter.
****VF****
Akihito was coming back from work. He walked into his apartment and walked straight to the bathroom taking his clothes off on the way, he really needed a shower. Thirty minutes later, he stepped out of the bathroom feeling refreshed and noticed his phone was ringing, by the time he reached it the person calling had hung up. He picked it up and saw he had seven missed calls from his police contact.
"Hello?" he said when the phone went off again.
"I need to see you. Can you meet me at the ramen shop?"
"Give me one hour."
One hour later, he sat before his friend and waited for the shoe to drop. Whatever had the man with such a sour face had to be bad.
"Well? Are you going to tell me why I'm here?"
"Did you see this?" He said pushing a newspaper article about the murder of a young artist toward Takaba.
"The murdered artist? Yeah I did, it was strange that it's being called a robbery when nothing was taken."
"I thought so too, so I did a little investigating on my own."
"And…?"
"Rumor has it he was into forgeries."
"Really? Usually forgers are also counterfeiters since they have to be able to recreate the original artist's signature, so it might have to do something with it. Maybe he got on the bad side of a client?"
"I don't know may be. Here is the report on the investigation."
"Do you think this is related to our case?"
"I'm not sure but twenty years as a detective are telling me not to ignore it."
"Your instincts are usually right. Let me look at it."
He read over the report and his eyes narrowed the further he went into it.
"What do you think? You have good instincts too. There is something about this that is just nagging me to look at it closer. No matter how I try to ignore it, it just won't leave my head and my instinct is telling me to look into it, I think it might be connected to our case."
"Hm, I feel the same way you do; we have to look into this. Maybe it's just the clue we need. Can you pull his phone records and see if we can get anything substantial from it? Maybe he called one of the other victims and that is how he is connected to all this."
"Sure, I will get my friend to do it off the record and call you with the info when I get it, we should not be meeting in public too much.
"Sounds good."
They sat in silence for close to five minutes, Akihito could tell his friend wanted to tell him something. He was getting impatient with the waiting when the man finally spoke.
"Takaba-kun Honjio Yamato is dead."
"WHAT!" Akihito shouted his question standing from his chair in disbelief and several heads in the ramen shop turned his way.
"What?" he repeated sitting down once more. "You have to be kidding, we were certain, this makes no sense. We thought he was the one pulling the strings but you say he is dead. How? When?"
"He died yesterday morning, sepsis from infection. They performed an autopsy right away today…" he left the sentence unfinished and looked right into Akihito's eyes.
"You think there was foul play?"
"Yes."
"Looking at everything that is going on, so do I, the timing is just too good to be a coincidence."
"My sentiments exactly, what do you think we should do?"
"Well to be honest, I'm not above anything at this point."
"I fear the days when that sentence leaves your mouth… it scares the hell out of me, you crazy daredevil. Let's hear it then…"
"We need to find out what is happening. Soon. I have the feeling something bigger is going to happen. When is the funeral?"
"Hm, I thought so too. The funeral is tonight at eight pm at Zōshigaya Cemetery, should be done by nine thirty at the latest, do you have a plan?"
"Yes, I never thought I would be saying this but… let's steal us a corpse."
"You have been watching way too much Leverage…"
****VF****
It was ten thirty that same night, they had waited for the mourners and respect payers to leave and waited until they were sure no one would be coming by. The duo had paid the caretaker to look the other way while they dug the corpse out and promised to bring the deceased back the following night. Despite being paid quite the wad of money – there went Akihito's savings again and some money he borrowed from his friends – the caretaker refused to help dig so it was over an hour later that they loaded the coffin on the back of a windowless van and drove to the place where the coroner who was helping them waited to begin his work.
When they arrived at the coroner's designated meeting point, they saw three people waiting instead of one and panicked a bit. With fear running through their bodies they parked in front of the three people in the underground parking lot and stepped out of the van.
"Shinoe-san, we didn't expect more people to be waiting."
"It's okay, they can be trusted. These are my children and assistants, they are on board and will be helping me examine the body so I can meet the time frame you promised the cemetery's caretaker. I assure you they will say nothing to anyone. We have all taken time off to work on this only to get it done as soon as possible. Your vehicles are waiting over there, you can just leave my van over here and we will take care of the rest. Takaba-kun, I will call you with the results as soon as I have them."
"Thank you." They both said and bowed to the coroner and his assistants/kids.
Akihito walked toward his moped and his cop friend walked toward his car, they nodded to each other as a way of goodbye and went their separate ways.
****VF****
The next day, Akihito received a call from the coroner to meet him at a bar in Shinjuku, of all places Akihito thought a bar was not the greatest place to meet, given the fact that it was two in the afternoon and may seem suspicious. Given the circumstances and the rising feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach, he decided he did not care and went to see the coroner.
Sitting down in a booth in a dark and secluded corner, Akihito went straight to business.
"Did you find something?"
"Yes, it's as you feared, this death was an assassination."
The coroner related his findings, then he let Takaba know his boys had already taken the body back to the cemetery for burial.
"And the report?" Asked Akihito.
"I sent it to that person you told me about, just in case something happens to any of us. Is he to be trusted?"
"Yes, Takato is one of my best friends and he knows where to take the report if it comes to that."
"Good, I will take my leave then, it's time for some much deserved rest. I've been awake for way too many hours."
"Thank you Shinoe –san."
"Hn, don't mention it. Really don't, to anyone."
The coroner walked away and after waiting several minutes, Akihito left the bar.
****VF****
Around the same time, Asami had received a call from Miko reminding him of their appointment, as if he needed to be reminded of such dreaded encounter. She had threatened him about severing their contract if Asami dared to stand her up and leave her hanging. Asami was already picturing emptying his gun in her body by the time she was halfway through her threat.
She informed Asami that they needed to settle the matter of their, in her mind, impending and very logical marriage – as if Asami would ever let that happen – as well as discussing important things about the baby. The bitch had even dared to hang up on him after delivering her ridiculous speech.
Asami was oozing ire through every pore of his body by this point, how dare that woman threaten him? How dare she hang up on him? He had only tolerated her because he needed her father's company to disguise his merchandise until it got to Japan. He was so angry at all the crap she had been spewing at him, and that anger coupled with all the shit that had gone wrong since he met that cursed woman, made the normally composed man lose his cool.
Asami was overtaken by rage and took out on the thing that was closest to him, his phone. He threw the device against the wall where it shattered with the force of the collision. He hated that woman and had had enough of her. Asami decided he didn't care anymore, he would kill that woman himself once he revealed to her that he already knew who the father of the child was when she got there.
One hour before the time for their meeting, Miko got stuck in traffic and was running late, she took the opportunity to make sure her man was in position and informed the sniper to wait for her signal.
****VF****
Akihito had just come out from the bar where he met the coroner, his mind was raising with questions, pairing them with answers and putting the pieces of the puzzle together. He was walking down the sidewalk with no particular direction in mind as he tried to fit the pieces together.
A synthetic form of snake and spider venom, capable of inducing necrosis it was a dosed so low it would have been missed if you were not specifically looking for something amiss. There were other substances in the deep tissue and the intestine, stomach and several organs looked like they had been eaten away. Had they not been doubtful of the cause of death and run every kind of test imaginable instead of the standard autopsy and had they gone with the result from the first autopsy: Sepsis due to a severe abdominal infection that compromised the internal organs, they would have missed the murder and not counted it into their theories. But something just didn't feel right, something made no sense. Both Akihito and his police informant had agreed they needed to get a second opinion, they were right to do so. This discovery would put things into a different perspective.
His phone went off and he pulled it out of his pocked to answer the call.
"Takaba speaking."
"Takaba-kun, it's me. I got the info from the phone records, the phone number for the man who was pushed down the stairs appears as one of the contacts in the phone and there are several calls to him from Ume-san's phone. There are also several calls to and from Honjio Miko, we were right, the murders are all connected."
"I really don't like this."
"I know how you feel, I will try to see what else I can find and let you know as soon as I find anything." The man hung up and Akihito went back to walking aimlessly.
He stopped in his tracks and went over the information he had found, along with what he had just learned. If the father was not the one pulling the strings, then things made more sense. Questions he had rolling around in his mind had suddenly a plausible theory for an answer.
He knew that the maid had learned that the eldest daughter had an affair with her personal bodyguard. He also knew the electrocution was actually intentional, to shut her up, it would have worked too, if the maid had not been a gossip and told her best friend. He learned from the bodyguard's roommate that the man was afraid for his life and that Miko was obsessed with getting pregnant.
Akihito was sure both the bodyguard and the maid had been killed by the same person, the hired gun, Kobe Shouichi. Then if the father was not the culprit and sent the man to kill the bodyguard for sleeping with his daughter, then it only leaves Miko as the culprit, she killed him because she got what she wanted and once she confirmed it, and then she killed the OBGYN who knew about it.
Everyone knew she hated her sister, so that did not need much explanation, and now the final pieces of the puzzle had come into play.
The phone records linked the man who was, undoubtedly, pushed down the stairs to the artist and both of them to Miko. It had been her all along, the culprit had always been that woman and not her father, the man probably got in her way and that is why she killed him. She must have hated him too, for doing it in such a gruesome way. All this, and still a question remained, what was the artist's part in her plan? Then the idea hit him, the artist was not just an artist, he was also a forger and a counterfeiter. She had been living in Asami's condo for a long time now, with access to his office.
'If she managed to get in, she could have easily stolen papers with his signature from there, she could have made a will in Asami's name and have the artist replicate Asami's signature leaving her with everything. Then, oh God! Asami! She is going to kill him. I need to tell him before that woman gets to him.'
He tried calling Asami but only got to the voicemail so he quickly called the only person who knew Asami's whereabouts were at all times. The man answered on the second ring.
"Takaba-kun, what can I do for you?"
"Kirishima, you said last night Asami was meeting that woman this afternoon to talk about arrangements for the child. Where is he now? Where are they meeting?"
Kirishima heard the alarm in the boy's voice and by instinct was already signaling Suoh to come over in case something needed to be taken care of.
"He is at his personal suite at the Park Hyatt, they are meeting at three thirty. Why?"
Akihito looked at his watch then at the street signs.
'Three ten and he was not too far, just over ten blocks. He had twenty minutes, maybe if he ran as fast as he could he could make it in time to warn Asami. God please let him be alive when I get there.'
His ears picked up on Kirishima's voice still calling his name and he answered the question the secretary had asked.
"She is going to kill him, Kirishima, she is going to kill Asami." He said already running in the hotel's direction.
"Are you certain?"
"Yes."
"Suoh is calling but he won't pick up the phone. We are on our way with some men just in case the hired gun has been hiding around and is ready to come out."
"You won't make it in time, if she is going to do it now he might be dead by the time you get here. I am closer, almost there. I will make sure Asami knows the truth. I will protect him."
"Don't hang up then, keep the call going then, I want to hear everything that happens to act accordingly."
Right about this point Kirishima was deeply regretting leaving Asami's side to go get some documents from the office instead of having someone bring them to him. Truth was, he needed a break from the tension around his boss since Takaba had left and right now his decision was kicking him on the ass. He should have known better than to leave Asami's side when Suoh was out chasing a possible lead on the hired gun working for Honjio, Kirishima felt like an amateur when faced by his oversight.
Akihito did not answer, he just held the phone in his hand and continued running, Asami's life depended on it.
When he reached the lobby, it was already three thirty seven, he hoped he was not too late and ran to the elevator uncaring of the people staring at him for running inside a hotel. The ride up the elevator was the most tortuously slow moment of his life, it seemed as if the elevator moved slower than imaginable.
He ran out the doors as soon as they opened and ran down the hallway. Akihito knocked insistently on the door, he could hear talking from inside, it could only mean Asami was still alive. He had made it on time.
"We don't need anything." Shouted a female voice from behind the door.
"Asami, are you there? It's me I need to speak to you." He put his phone in his pocket still connected to Kirishima.
Seconds later the door opened to reveal Asami and Miko.
'He is alive, he is alive, I made it in time. Thank you God, I made it.'
Asami stepped to the side and let him in, he would rather talk to Akihito than to the woman so he would just shoo her out and schedule a meeting for later.
"Akihito, what a surprise."
"Ah, yes, sorry for coming unannounced. Asami, can I talk to you privately?"
Miko was perplexed, who the hell was this boy to be speaking to Asami in such a familiar manner? Why was Asami suddenly letting a person come unannounced into his private suit? She could not allow this boy to stay, it would ruin everything.
"Excuse me boy, but Asami-san and I have important things to discuss. I'm sure you can come back another time."
"No," It was Asami who spoke and what he said infuriated her to no end. "Akihito stays, you and I can re-schedule this talk for tomorrow."
"Are you asking me to leave?"
"I'm telling you to leave."
"I'm the mother of your child! I will not be treated this way." Akihito let a snort out and looked at Asami to see what the man's reaction was.
Asami's eyes were cold as he spoke to her, his voice went to that dangerous low tone that signaled he was quickly losing his patience.
"You may be the mother of my child but Akihito is the most important person in my life. He takes precedence over you, that child and everyone else in this world."
"How dare you! To treat me like this in front of this… this… lowlife nobody!"
"Leave! Now!" Asami was pissed and losing his cool quickly.
"I'm not leaving, whatever he has to say I'm sure is not important and nothing that can't be said in front of me. Speak quickly boy and then leave."
Akihito was about to say something to the crazy bitch but Asami was faster than him. He took a threatening step toward the woman and spoke with a chilling tone of voice.
"Don't you ever dare tell Akihito what to do. You are not good enough to direct your words toward him."
She wanted to hurt this boy who had gotten in her way, this boy who made her feel less. This boy, who showed her yet another person who would put someone else before her. She could tell from the way Asami stood protectively, slightly in front of the boy that Asami cared for the blonde, maybe Asami had even slept with him. She latched on to that and spat her venom at the boy.
"Not good enough to speak to him! Apparently I'm good enough to fuck though, was the boy not giving you what you needed? I can tell you have fucked him too. Maybe it's because I could give you something he can never give you that you slept with me."
She had begun walking around the suite's living room and unconsciously, Asami had been turning to keep his body in between her and Akihito. She stopped by the windows slightly to the left side with her back toward the glass while Asami stood facing the window and Akihito slightly to his right.
Akihito had had it with this woman, he wanted her gone and Asami safe so he could tell Asami everything and let Asami's men capture her. Sadly, his fuse was notoriously short and before he knew it he was throwing truths her way.
"You have given him nothing! You may think you have everyone fooled but I know that child is not Asami's. I figured it out, all the things you have done, all the people you have killed to keep your dirty little secret. You are a sick person who has no regard even for her own father and sister. You, are not fit to be by Asami's side, you disgusting murderous bitch!"
"Fufufu, it doesn't matter what you think you nosy little boy, nothing matters anymore because soon Asami will be dead and I, his legitimate wife, will be left with everything." In one smooth movement she pulled a gun from her hand purse letting it fall to her feet and pointed the gun at them before Asami was able to pull his out.
Asami narrowed his eyes angrily at her, once he made sure Akihito was safe he would make this woman pay for everything that has happened these past few months.
"Wife? Are you delusional? You are not and will never be my wife." He said coldly.
"Oh, but I am Asami-san, you say you know the truth boy. How about you enlighten Asami here?"
It only took Akihito a second to figure it out, it was not a will, it was marriage papers and family registry.
"The artist, you had him forge Asami's signature…" With just that sentence even Asami understood what was going on.
"Fufufu, I see you did investigate. Too bad you will both be dead soon."
"What I don't understand in all this is how did you manage to pass someone else's child as Asami's, he must have bribed your OBGYN to get a prenatal paternity test done?"
Now that, was something Asami himself was interested in hearing as he had ordered Kirishima to find out the veracity of Miko's claims of his paternity as soon as the woman had left the room after delivering the horrible news, and had been certain the child was his because of the report Kirishima had handed him. He had not known he was not the father until Akihito had come across the information and Jun delivered it to him.
"Ah, that. It was quite simple actually, he did pay my OBGYN to have the test done, but she was a close friend of mine and in on the plan from the beginning. She was supporting me and aided me in providing Asami with a positive match as the father of the child. She got all remorseful on me though, so naturally I had to get rid of her before she did something stupid and ruined it all."
She waved the gun between them again before setting it on Asami again.
"Miko, put the gun down and I might end your life without suffering," Said Asami.
At that moment, she lifted the arm not holding the gun above her head, almost like she was signaling someone. 'The killer, he is a sniper!' Akihito's mind was working at lightning speed and his body reacted immediately, tackling Asami and pushing him out of the way.
The bullet went straight through Akihito's side, blood oozed from the wound as he lay protectively on top of Asami. They lay on the floor protected from the sniper by a couch next to them.
Asami quickly switched their positions so Akihito was behind him as he crouched protectively before the bleeding boy. He made a motion to take one of his guns out of its holster when he felt a bullet hit him in the arm and the gun fell from his hand. Miko stood before Asami with the gun pointed at his chest.
"Don't even think about it."
"You won't get away with this!" Shouted Takaba from behind Asami, who just waited for the opportunity to strike.
"Won't I? I think I will get away with it and not even be a suspect thanks to you. You see, I was here talking to my husband when we were interrupted by a disgruntled ex-lover who was angry at being replaced by a woman. We tried to calm you down, but you went crazy and shot at Asami-san killing him. You would have killed me too if by some lucky chance I had not gotten a hold of a gun and protected myself and my unborn child. Sadly, you died in the exchange so they won't be able to question you, but really who is going to doubt a pregnant woman who just lost her beloved husband?"
She shot at Asami's thigh and Akihito tried to get off from behind Asami to check the injury, but Asami's arm held him in place. She shot Asami again on the same thigh enjoying the painful groan that escaped him.
"Why won't you let him out from behind you? Does the boy really mean that much to you? It doesn't really matter anyways, I am going to kill you both. Now for Asami Ryuichi's grand finale, how about a shot to the head?" She said pointing the gun at Asami's forehead.
Akihito could not let this happen, Asami was fast losing blood and was weak. He would not let that woman kill Asami even if he had to die to protect him. Weak as Asami was, he could no longer keep Akihito behind him and in a matter of seconds after seeing the gun pointed at Asami's forehead, Akihito had taken Asami's gun from the floor and stood before Asami as he yelled "NO!"
****VF****
Ah, a cliffie… how evil… Thank Ashida for that by the way (^_^). So, what do you think? Will Aki survive this fic? Will Asami go insane if Aki dies? What will happen with Miko and the baby? All answer to your (I'm assuming) many questions will be answered in part three. You are welcomed to speculate though.
Leave your comments before you go, I hope to post soon.
Setsuna