Shiro landed another punch at the bastard's face as Taiju hugged his sister. She would continue if it wasn't for Koko who stopped her.
"He's unconscious. He might die if you continue."
"Let him fucking die!" Taiju roared from the side.
"I'm not telling you guys not to kill him! But for fuck's sake guys, not in the middle of a street!"
Shiro was panting for air. Sweat tickled down from her brow. She spared one last disgusted look at the old piece of shit before barking out orders at Seishu for him to call one of their most trusted men.
"Tell him we're on our way to the hideout and everyone better be cleared out before we reach there. Nothing good will happen there tonight."
She got up from the place she had been crouching and approached the Shiba siblings. After hugging Yuzuha to her chest she ordered Taiju to drag the bastard. The boy accepted the duty with pleasure.
"Noshi, take Yuzuha home and then get home yourself."
"Are you sure you don't need anything else, leader?"
The girl didn't look at him.
"Thank you for everything, my friend."
And Noshi was one of the first ones to be saved by her. Even though he wasn't close to any of them in age, he had been the best gang member one could ask for. So of course he understood the unsaid thing his captain couldn't voice. With absolute sincerity he bowed to the girl.
"It was an honor to serve someone like you and this gang. Thank you for everything, Hanagaki Shiro."
And he left to carry out his last duty as a Black Dragon member.
If a tear or two slipped from his eyes, no one could blame him.
The man woke up with a bucket of cold water thrown into his face. He coughed out the blood in his throat and slowly assessed the room he was in, people that brought him there.
"You!" he shouted, "Who do you think you are, touching me and bringing me here-!"
A wrench to his face shut him up and he moaned in pain.
"Who? Don't you remember who I am? Look at me!" when the man didn't do as he was told, the girl grabbed his hair and tilted his face to look u to her.
"Don't you even remember this face, you bastard?"
"You…" the man could hardly talk, "You're live…?"
The girl let go of the hair and wiped her hand to her jumper like she was disgusted; for a fact: she was.
"No." she answered, "You killed that girl. And me? I am the ghost possessing her body. Another girl who remembers her pain along with her own rage…"
She then took a step back and grinned madly.
"Didn't you know?" she whispered, "You have to burn the witches or they will come back for vengeance. I'm fucking starving."
"Shiro." Inupi called from his place between Koko and Taiju, "what do you need us to do?"
The girl was quiet for a moment before she gestured the door.
"Get out."
The boys' eyes widened.
"What?!" snapped Taiju, "Oi, Shiro!"
Shiro sighed before turning towards them, her eyes were full of hate.
"You guys aren't these kind of people. You shouldn't be here."
"Look at me! He tried to hurt my sister! He hurt my sister." Taiju's eyes found hers unflinchingly, "Do you think I will let her be by herself with this son of a bitch?"
Shiro shook her head.
"I will kill him."
"We will enable you! We won't stop you from taking revenge, we would never!" Kokonoi roared.
"We are not weak." Added Seishu.
"I am." Shiro said, "You shouldn't see this part of me." And when the boy's all shook their heads she tilted her head with wish.
"Please guys." She whispered.
Her boys couldn't tell her no when it came to her asking for things in that way.
"We will be right behind the door. Call for us if you need anything."
-TORTURE SCENE STARTS-
Shiro started with his face. All of the man's teeth were broken or pulled out. His nose was broken. After she thought she was done with the face she broke all the bones she could identify on his hands. When his death threads become too much she used the knife she left on the fire and cut his tongue into two pieces with it. The man started to weep, to beg. While it was impossible to understand what he was saying, Shiro knew it all.
"Stop?" she asked, "Stop?!" She punched the man, causing him to fall down with the chair he was tied down to.
"Did you stop when Shiro begged?! Did you stop when my best friend begged?! Did you stop when she died?! How dare you beg of me to stop?!"
She took a deep breath before she straightened the chair and the man.
"You know what?" Shiro asked, "I won't kill you." She nodded to herself, "Yeah that wouldn't cut it."
After a moment of looking at his face her hand moved on its own to gouge out an eye and while the man screamed she wiped her head on a tissue.
"Hurts doesn't it? I wonder how you're going to live with an absent eye, how you're going to eat without any teeth. See? Isn't it cruel of me to make you live in that pathetic body of yours? After I've taken everything from you, it will be even harder to live. But you won't die. Maybe you will understand then. How it feels to not fit in your own skin. How it feels wrong to have your own body. That's… how all women feel at least once in their lives. Trust me I know. This body isn't my firs one after all. And I want to get out of its flesh every fucking day since I was brought in it."
Shiro gritted her teeth before forcing a toothpick into his ear.
"What am I talking about to a man bout to be deaf?"
-TORTURE SCENE ENDS-
"Why didn't you kill him?"
"…Living is harder; with a broken body no less."
"She didn't kill him?" asked Izana with wonder. Had he judged the girl wrong?
"She tortured him." answered Kisaki, "Then left him in a dumpster."
Izana hummed. The Black Dragons' leader really was one unpredictable suspect.
"What have you done, Kisaki?"
The boy fixed his glasses before he answered.
"Send one of our men to finish off the job. We will put the blame on her. I'm thinking about 10 years in prison."
The older male smiled, it seemed he found himself a demon of an accomplice.
Takemichi was home alone when the door opened and his sister entered the house for the first time in a while. She looked exhausted and burdened, even worse than when she had an unsuccessful attempt.
"Nee-san." he murmured, he felt more like his tired 26-year-old self in that moment.
"Takemichi." The girl greeted, "Sorry for leaving you home alone."
The boy's eyes widened with surprise. His sister was talking with such softness he hadn't heard in months, maybe years.
"It's okay."
Shiro reached the living room and threw herself onto the sofa beside Takemichi. She sighed and closed her eyes.
"I am sorry."
Takemichi blinked a few times before asking, "What for?"
The girl shook her head. It was as if words were dying on her tongue.
"Everything." She finally whispered, "Takemichi, you can't go back to the future."
"What do you mean, nee-san?"
"It's not safe. Even I don't know what might happen from this moment on. Everyone is dead, Kisaki and Izana looking for you… If you go back my friends will die-"
"What are you talking about? Everyone is dead?! Kisaki is alive?! Nee-san, that's not what happened at all!"
Shiro suddenly straightened and snapped her neck towards him.
"What do you mean? What did you see?"
The boy told her about the future he visited. The absent Toman boys, Kisaki's death, what he observed about her and Kurokawa and lastly three BD executives.
"I was with Inupi and Koko when I opened my eyes. They refused to let me leave the hideout, even knocked me out when I tried to leave. After I managed to escape I met up with Naoto. He told me Hina had been killed years earlier this time and Kisaki was dead as well. According to Naoto he died in a gang war by falling off of a building. Then Mikey and all the Toman guys disappeared and Izana became Tenjiku's no one and you were his second. I didn't understand then; I thought you were being used by Kisaki, helping him behind the scenes… Nee-san, please help me understand. I can't go back to the future and I have no idea why! Hina is still dead- I couldn't save her. You have to tell me why because I'm about to go mad!"
The older sister looked at him and reached out her hand.
"Let's shake hands Takemichi."
"What?"
"I think… your trigger has changed."
"What do you mean?"
"Tachibana isn't dead."
And Takemichi's mind went black. Memories he never had appeared in his mind out of nowhere. A future he never knew of made his eyes tear up and his hands shake.
Before he knew, he reached for the girl's hand and with an electric current through his body; he finally reached the place he had been yearning for.
Takemichi was gone. Shiro looked blankly at her hand. She wondered if she would know had he come back.
When the police came and demanded that she would come with them quietly she didn't object.
It would be okay, she knew what to do.
-BIG TIME SKIP-
Shiro breathed deeply as she took a step out of the prison compound. It had been 6 years since she had been taken in. Her being a rape survivor who killed her abuser had created waves on her absence. Thanks to the community's reactions to her case, she had received only 6 years of imprisonment too.
She took it slow as she walked down the stairs. The sun was shining above and there was a gentle breeze caressing her face. As she took the last step an unfamiliar voice called out to her.
"Hanagaki Shiro."
And though the voice was unfamiliar, the face wasn't. Shiro recognized the eyes of the past 5th division vice-commander of Toman.
"Sanzu Haruchiyo" she greeted and the man's eyes widened slightly. "Sorry about it."
"Don't expect me to help you because you were an ally before. I can't help you; no one can."
"I know." The girl breathed in the air of freedom one last time before she got into the car.
The most interesting thing in a few months was happening. Even with all the men inside the meeting room, it was surprisingly silent. Hanma had never seen the executives being like this outside of a torture session.
It was a tight situation, choosing a new executive. Normally Kisaki would handle these kinds of things alone; he was the one who assigned every last person in this room, excluding Izana. Hanma pitied Mikey for it -though he would never accept that he did- he was the one who wanted to be here the least. But if he understood right it was him who pressed the matter of a new executive and nominated the one they hadn't yet learned the name of. It was the most surprising thing to hear. They most certainly didn't need a new executive. (Yes Mucho had been with them from the day one and yes, death of a friend was always hard for the old Tenjiku executive. Yet that was even more reason not to bring up a new executive.)
Mikey's reactions had been weird for a while. Hanma heard Kisaki muttering about it, assessing the situation, making sure he still got his hold on the male.
"So, aren't you going to even tell us the name of the bastard you want to put in the place of Mucho?"
Hanma shared the sentiment with the older Haitani brother. It was such a tight secret that not even him, Kisaki's right hand man, didn't know about it. The only ones who knew about it were Mikey who was ambitious about this new guy; Izana who didn't care much and Kisaki who seemed to hate the idea.
The hour tickled. It was 8 p.m. It was about time that pink haired freak come into the room with the newly tested member of their gang. From that point on it was on executive's hands whether to let the guy stay or kill him before he could start planning shit against them.
"Don't have much hope." Kisaki told not only to Ran but everyone inside the room –maybe to Mikey especially-, "I do not believe they will pass the test. They aren't someone who would kill. It was interesting to hear Mikey nominate them to begin with. They aren't cloth cut to do this shit."
Said person was quiet where he sat but he glared at the glassed man across from him. He looked pissed off for some reason. He used to be much more calm and obedient towards the no2 of the organization; while he and Izana was in the same room the blonde couldn't even look at anyone in the eye, let alone Kisaki. That was the change that made Kisaki so anxious.
When it was quarter past 8, ten minutes later after the original plan, three individuals stepped into the room. One was an intimidatingly built guy, the second person was Sanzu Haruchiyo of Toman and the third was someone who was bloody. They were short and weak looking, their limps slim and rest of their body not so different. They had long black hair that fell into their face –blood made it messy-, their bloody hands tightly -maybe too tightly- tied by plastic handcuffs, cheap looking black clothes…
Hanma stopped on his observation of the new persona inside the room and turned his head to his co-workers instead. There was a slight recognition on Kakucho and Haitani brothers' faces; Mochi and Takeomi seemed to assessing the newcomer with understandable confusions, Izana looked amused, Kisaki… not so much.
Mikey was smiling.
It wasn't a fully bloomed smile, more like a sassy smirk but it was an expression Hanma hadn't seen on him since their teenage years.
"You're finally out, huh?" murmured Izana. Hanma turned his attention back to the bloody stranger and froze when he saw them- her. She was using her tied hands to get the dirty hair out of her face. It wasn't so young and lively anymore. Adulthood had brought her, high cheekbones and a lean face. Her colorless lip was gashed and bleeding. She blinked a few times as if to get used to the brightly lighted room. When those black eyes started looking around the room and met his wide ones Hanma's heart dropped inside his chest.
Hanagaki Shiro was back on the game in the way she started it: bloody and bleeding.
Ran kept his bored façade but inside he was anything but.
He had an idea what the test was; he had carried out one for new recruitment a few years back.
You were put into room with a few different people –usually enemies captured by Tenjiku or, rarely, other new recruitments- there was a single gun which might be loaded with full shots or with none at all. It was easy to understand: those who survived though killing others would live, the rest would die.
"Did she pass?" Kisaki asked with a sneer on his face. He seemed to still hate the girl.
"It would be better if you decided it." Answered the tall guard. His face was nauseous.
"We put her against one guy, if she lived it must mean she killed him. Is it too hard for your simple mind to understand?"
"Sir, she didn't just kill him." stated the man. Kisaki's face took a weird shape as he heard the guard.
"What happened?" the younger male snapped.
"When she got into the room she didn't make any moves to get the gun," explained the guy. Shiro, while this conversation was happening, was looking around the room and meeting the eyes of a few executives who caught her staring, when it was Ran's turn, he looked away from the guy beside her by chance and met her gaze. He raised a brow and she tilted her head to the side. Maybe she was trying to remember who he was. It could be that she didn't recognize him with his hair cut short and back to its original color, blonde.
"The guy was a repeated offender of the gang; it wasn't his first time…" Shiro passed her attention to Rindou but didn't give him as much attention as she had given to Ran.
"She directly asked him that. If this wasn't his first time there. The man had the gun by that point."
When she looked at Akaashi her eyes widened ever so slightly so did the man's eyes. There seemed to be a silent conversation passing between them as they stared at each other. Shiro creased her face as the older man chuckled ever so quietly.
"She started talking to him, the man was getting anxious. She told him there was only one bullet in that thing and suggested playing a game. The man refused saying why would he waste his chances on a game, he had the gun. She told him if he missed the first one or if the bullet wouldn't shoot right away she would get to kill him with her hands and it would be painful for both of them. The man accepted in condition of her being the first one to take the shot."
Shiro looked like she had finished observing and looked at Kisaki right in the eyes.
"She put the gun on her temple and pulled the trigger. Then she pointed it on the man and shot him five times on the chest."
As the tale ended, Ran got the chills. What was this girl? How was she doing that?
Izana's hoot of laughter only enhanced the tension inside the room before he snapped his fingers and took the girl's attention on him.
"Tell me what your price is."
Shiro met his eyes with hers and was quiet for a few seconds.
"I want his head." The girl answered nodding towards Kisaki. Izana grinned ear to ear.
"Granted."