—
— Intentions —
23# - Reprisal
"An eye for an eye, leaves the whole world blind."
― M. Gandhi
―
— A. Misaki
Three days had passed, and yet...
"Usui, it's me... Misaki. Please call back when you get this. It's importa―Ugh," I collided against a passerby. "Sorry," I mumbled, before reverting my attention on the phone's voicemail. My finger pressed the end-call button.
I reluctantly put my phone back into my purse and kept on walking straight back home. What was Usui even doing? I heard he had gotten out of the police station two days ago. I even had checked his apartment earlier today, only to find it empty and left cold.
These last three days were wearing me out, making me run on thin hours of restless sleep. As a constant headache was thrumming in the back of my head, I silently put up with it, impatient to finally reach home.
Barely six in the afternoon and here I was, tired as if it were already past midnight. I sluggishly stepped into the elevator and strode to my apartment, closing the door behind me.
"Ah? Suzuna? What are you doing here so early?"
My sister was already cooking, her back facing me as she wordlessly chopped down some vegetables.
"My Uni session finished earlier... I have some free time around," she responded. My phone buzzed in my purse, a spark of hope enlightening my irksome days.
"I see, you're still going to cram school later?" I distractedly asked, my attention focused on the small screen. Seeing as I missed my sister's reply, I gave her a glance. She was wearing her apron over a long sleeved jumper. The warm weather was killing me.
I heavily sighed at the content of the text message. "I need to go out for a while again, don't wait for me."
As fast as I came in, I slipped back into my shoes and shrugged my jacket on to head outside. Phone already to ear, it rang the telltale beeps as I reached for the elevator.
A silky voice ―I very recently became accustomed to― picked the line up when I got inside. Swallowing my exhaustion, I gave out my best alert and business tone.
"Ayuzawa speaking. I will be there in about twenty minutes, Mr. Walker."
—
I was losing my precious time.
"Mr. Walker, I am well aware of how to testify the authenticity of these documents."
Gerald Walker, our firm's valued client, eyed Shizuko with a glance heavy with unspoken criticism. She had to step up.
"Misaki, it would truly be better to follow this script. You know how easier that would make it for us." I glared at her, although I knew she was being pressured from both side. Familiar with the difference of power Gerald Walker held compared to me, she had no choice but sustain as best as she could.
Only, there was no thin balance she could maintain right here. I ignored her and focused on the icy blue eyes that was quietly burning holes in my head.
"It is not my obligation to follow through your inkling. And I assure you that the quality of this," I pointed to the script, "is not required for the circumstances."
He sighed, and his fingers smoothed the creases between his brows. His bearing was alike to one someone would have when dealing with a child.
"I didn't foresee your objection over such a small matter, Ms. Ayuzawa. And I am certainly not pleased with your retort. Know that your firm will hear of this, would you keep this charade on."
My fists clenched under the table. Almost imperceptibly, I saw from the corner of my eyes the tall and grey haired body-guard shift the slightest at my gesture.
For God's sake, I wasn't going to hit a rich heir, no matter how tempting it was!
My gaze went back to Shizuko's one, her once smart and attentive eyes now coated in fear of reprisal. Please, don't make this too hard on us, Misaki, she silently pleaded.
"Fine," I worded. "Accept my apologies, but I need to rehearse alone."
A smile finally started to light up the raven haired heir's feature. "I'm glad to announce that we can, at last, conclude this meeting, Ms. Ayuzawa."
—
It was around 8 P.M when I finally reached my residence's parking lot. After several fruitless calls to Usui, I resigned to let it go for the day, considering to maybe catch up on some well deserved sleep instead. But as soon as I stepped in front of my apartment, an unusual sense of foreboding invaded me.
Something was out of place.
The door wasn't properly locked, and gave way after a flick of the key. Lights out, the room was immersed in the dark, save for the thin trail of light spilling from the Residence's corridor. I switched on the main interruptor, surveying my living room only to find it as it was, earlier today. Reassured, I closed the front door behind me.
Nero came a second after, as I was slipping off my shoes. I bent down to pat his head but he dodged my hand, his fur gliding through my fingertips. Purring, he strolled to the other side of the living room. I left him to his antics, but he toddled back, mewling all the more for my attention.
"What is it, Nero?" I smiled. He paid no heed to my words, and strolled back, feet away before turning his head. It was as if he were checking whether I was following him or not.
His atypical demeanor stirred my curiosity. I followed him and he trailed off to the bathroom's door. Scratching on the painted wood with all his might, he started to mewl again before looking up at me. Unsettled, a heavy feeling of apprehension constricted my lungs.
The sound of something shifting inside made me stand on alert and I opened the door to the waters' room.
It was locked.
"Who's in there? Suzu?"
Everything stilled for a brief moment.
"...Onee-san?... Y..You're back." Her voice was seemingly normal, yet, uncharacteristically wavering.
"Are you alright?" I asked, frowning as I leaned against the door.
"Yes, I'm fine, don't worry." I exhaled the breath I was unconsciously holding back. All about to leave her alone, the little feline hurriedly clawed the hem of my pants before I could move.
He began to frantically mewl again, warning me of an other story. And the slight trembling of my sister's voice I failed to notice a second earlier made me second guess my prior conclusion.
"Can you open the door, Suzu?"
She gasped, too lightly for it to be audible. The feline's ear quirked up and he raked his claws on the door anew.
"... I just need a few minutes, onee-san..."
I pulled on the door handle. "Open the door, Suzu, I need to take something inside."
"Can't it wait a little?..."
"It's important, please," I lied.
"..."
The lock slowly clicked off, but she didn't open the door nevertheless. Slowly making my way inside, she was facing the bathtub, a towel covering her head in the brightly-lit room.
"What are you doing, Suzu?"
She didn't answer, keeping her back facing me.
"Suzu?"
I stepped behind her, placing my hand on her shoulder. She shuddered at the touch.
"..."
Puzzled, I pulled her around to face me.
And blinked.
No... No, no, no...
Choking on my own breath.
There's no way it could have happened...
She was covered in bruises.
A blooming patch roughly the size of a fist was sprawled on her porcelain skin, all across her cheek. Bloody lip, swollen eyes from crying and crimson-red finger marks branding her jaws; someone or something had dug it's nails into her, tearing her flesh all along her throat.
My voice failed me at the sight, leaving me speechless. She started to tear up at my expression, her puffed eyes painfully welling up.
I instantly held her against me.
No, no, no...
"Who... Tell me who..." I whispered in her hair, my voice lost and frozen as she bawled against me. "Why... What happened..." I rasped. As a surge of tears glazed my sight, my throat closed on me. I couldn't finish my sentence, but we both knew what I meant.
I squeezed her trembling frame harder. Little did I know whether it was to comfort her, or myself.
"T-they..." she hiccupped between two words, and barely managed to utter the syllabes before her sobs overtook her. "I-th... hurt me becau...se I tried to...to escape..."
—
"Please..." She clung to me with a vise and desperate grip, not wanting to let me go.
"Don't go... Misaki... Please..."
Her voice was a broken mess, hoarse and hardly recognizable. And yet she still painfully howled my name as she pleaded me.
"D-don't do this, I don't want you to go... dan..dangerous..."
My mind was shutting her down, craving for violent respite.
"They hurt you. Don't stop me, Suzuna." I forcefully disengaged from her hold, pacing to my room to get a miniature recorder device and a disposable cellular phone. She followed me into the room, wobbling.
"I beg of you, please... please..." She whimpered, sinking down on the door threshold with burning tears streaming down on her face. "L-...let me call Hinata... P-please... Don't do this alone..."
Her words only kindled my anger, making me redirect it towards her.
Why in the world were she thinking about me when she had already been hurt that bad?...Why didn't she tell me?... Tell anyone?... WHY?
"Then, why... Why... WHY didn't YOU tell Hinata to help you?! WHY?" I roared, frenzied at her self-denial. She whimpered at my irate tone, but I was too far gone. Briskly stalking to her, I forcefully grabbed her forearm, yanking her. A cry tore out from her lips.
"What..."
Dumbfounded, I jerked her sleeves up, revealing days-old reddish-mauve hand marks everywhere on her wrists and arms. She recoiled back from my touch.
Damn...
"Damn them... Damn me... Why didn't I see that before..."
I stormed out of the room with a bundle of clothes and hurriedly changed. I wasn't even aware of what I was doing, running on a wave of blistering rage.
All I could see was red.
Red. Red. Red.
Tying my hair, I covered my face with my grey hoodie, zipping it to the hilt. The shoe drawer was wrenched open, and I began to search for my sneakers, throwing all the other footwear with wild impatience. Finally landing on them, I mercilessly writhed them on.
"No... Misaki... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." She wrapped her arms around my neck, almost too tightly when considering her current state.
Almost too desperately.
"It's my fault..." She broke down, falling even lower into her misery. "It's all my fault, I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." she choked, heaving with dry tears for she had cried so much already. My pure Suzuna was blaming herself instead of the rascals who made her suffer. Instead of blaming me for not helping her. My heart was wounded, wanting to tear out of my throat because of my weakness.
For all the people she could put the fault on... She keeps on blaming herself, for God's sake... My little sister...
I pulled her to me. "It's NOT your fault! It's mine. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not noticing."
I tapped on her chin, careful not to touch her bruises. "Rest, maybe drink some hot tea, and open the door when I will be back. I'm leaving you the apartment keys." She was a doleful mess, and I cursed myself for not dealing with her injury state any better way than indulge in my own insanity. I quickly went to the kitchen, retrieving a glass of water and diluting two doses of painkiller. "Here, good girl," I murmured as she drank it. I led her to my bed, tucking her under the sheets. She still gripped onto me when I started to stand up.
But to no avail would she be able to hold me back.
"I will be here before you have the time to call my name, alright?" I weakly smiled. She blinked, trying to stay awake as her mind fogged up with the drug induced haze. Heavy eyelids slowly closing on me, she still fought it until the very end.
"My brave, brave Suzu," I left a lingering kiss on her forehead.
"... Misaki..." she whispered, the name rolling out of her lips and waning in the thin air.
Akin to a wasted pray.
And with that, I left her, setting up the automatic lock behind my shadow.
—
Author's note:
Very fast update because I am so excited! It is soon the 2-weeks-holidays and I will probably update this story like MAD! Stay put for next update - on Friday night!
I hope the story gets a bit clearer for those who expect it to be, and I hope that you do enjoy it...
On another note, I'm raging mad along with Misaki against those ppl hurting her sister! NO ONE TOUCHES SUZU-CHAN! *growls*