22: Gleaming pearls.

"That's all well and good," Pain suddenly interjected, who, together with Kisame, also came to the seat hollow in which the red paper napkin was still lying on the glass table. "But your window is about to close, if you're not aware of it."

Everyone turned to him. I let go of Kakuzu and wiped my eyes with my sleeve. Now I could finally say that–

"What the actual fuck?" Asuma asked annoyed. "Do you all perceive private conversations on a different frequency than we do?"

Kisame raised his broad shoulders and grinned. "I'm a bouncer, I have to be attentive."

"And this is my club, so don't complain," Pain added. "You need men who can intervene, right?" At the silence that followed, he nodded. "Now you have three. Hidan is your decoy. So the only thing missing is the sniper."

"Yep, that's my task," Genma said eagerly, stood up, pulled out his cell phone and absconded into a corner with a "I'll be right back".

Gai beamed enthusiastically, but Asuma buried his face in his hand, groaning. "Heavens, if Tsunade finds out that we are dragging civilians into it..."

"Look at it positively," Gai said and swung to his feet as well. "She will never know if we are successful. And that's what we're going to be. Believe, Asuma, believe!"

Asuma just grumbled, shook his head and heaved his camouflage travel bag onto the glass table, which Pain saw with a grumpy twitch of his eyebrows. "What kind of choice do I have. Well. Kakuzu, you position yourself in the North. You"—he pointed at Pain—"take over the East. You" – he was addressing Kisame – "the West. Gai and I take over the South side with the main entrance. Look for high points from where you can see over the wall. I don't have enough radios for everyone, but I'll give you my phone number, we'll start a group conversation, and if you notice any suspicious movement, report it. Hidan?" Hidan nodded enthusiastically. "You must not fall out of your role and buy Genma and.. Pearl as much time as you can. But if you sense danger, then run."

"Oh no, running away was never my style," Hidan waved off nonchalantly.

"YOU RUN!" growled Asuma with gritted teeth and sparkling eyes. "It's bad enough that we involve you, we won't risk your safety unnecessarily. Of nobody. So hold back. This is a stealth mission, not a rampage. And regarding weapons.. Well, I can't give you any."

"Don't worry," Kisame grinned and took a silver knuckleduster out of the pocket of his tight leather pants, into which he stuck his fingers. "I'm served and Pain is good with clubs. We know how to defend ourselves."

Asuma shook his head at the shiny metal on Kisame's fist, but now turned to me. "I have a protective vest for you. Shall I help you—"

"I'll do it," Kakuzu immediately interjected, took the vest and I could literally see how the two men exchanged angry sparks. Dad was a good one. He put the heavy fabric around my upper body, checked that the clasps held and that the relatively light-weight plates were in place. "Pearl, if you want, we'll talk afterwards," he murmured and stroked my cheek again. It was clear in his dim eyes that it bothered him how the truth had come to light, so I patted his stubbly cheek in turn, smiled, and said with as much cheerfulness in my voice as I could muster, "It's all good, dad. Please don't think I'm angry with you or anything." I snorted, grinning. "How could I? I already knew from Madara's appearance that there were things in your past that connected our worlds. And I owe my life to you, so.." I kissed him. "I still love you. So honestly, I don't have to talk about anything. You are and will remain my dad."

Kakuzu smiled and took a deep breath, as if he could only now do it again. "Good luck in there."

Genma reappeared, nodded to his colleagues, answered their questioning looks only with a "He's getting into position." and also helped himself to the bag. He took off his rain jacket and put on a second, slightly larger protective vest, swung a small, black sling bag over his shoulder and took out a black piece of fabric. "We don't have any more time, we have to go."

Asuma addressed my second family. "The three of you take your positions. Call me on the way so that I can have you all on the line right away." Kakuzu, Pain, and Kisame disappeared. "Hidan, you are also going out with Gai, but stay with him first. At Genma's signal, you start the diversionary maneuver. Gai? Channel four."

"Understood~," Gai sang. "Ah, here, Pearl, if you need it." He threw me a hair tie, which I caught in confusion. How did he look with his hair pinned up?! But hey, I was grateful for the piece with which I immediately tied my ponytail. Gai grabbed Hidan, who threw a grin over my shoulder, and marched away with him.

Now Asuma, Genma and I were alone. "Showtime," Genma winked and was about to pull the fabric, which turned out to be a balaclava, over his head when Asuma grabbed him by the wrist. "We should later talk about the fact that this damned Bill Butcher confessed to an attempted and a completed murder in front of us."

Genma paused. His eyes darted to me for a moment and he replied quietly, "To me, it sounded like a good man with a bad past made the right decision. I don't know what you heard, Asuma, but to me it didn't sound like anything that is of our concern. The case has been solved. A hitherto unidentifiable Hyuuga has successfully assassinated the head of the Akaiisan-kai. Look at the files, they contain everything we need to know."

"And Kakuzu?" asked Asuma. "Is he just supposed to get away with it?"

Genma replied with a sigh at first. "What do you think, Hinata? Should Asuma imprison your dad a second time?" he asked without looking at me.

I smiled. "Well, I don't know what you think Kakuzu said, Asuma. I understood that he saved my life as an infant and is responsible for bringing the clan wars to an end. Both sound pretty good to my ears and you shouldn't punish him for that. Besides, he has only just confessed his love, I don't want to take that away from him."

Asuma stared at me with a crumpled face but let go of Genma's wrist and jerked his head. "Whatever you say."

"Save the rodeo for Hiashi," Genma said, putting on the mask that left nothing more than the area around his eyes, and patting Asuma on the shoulder to encourage him. "Now come on, let's rip his balls off."

The three of us also left the Ame, with me carefully locking the door, and made our way to the Hyuuga estate. At a street corner, Genma and I separated from Asuma and walked quickly to the place that had been my last contact with my clan's property just three hours ago. Genma looked at the clock and groaned. "We can't make it to six anymore, fuck. But I guess we have to try."

"I have a plan," I said hoarsely. Finally, there was no one left to interrupt me.

Genma's covered face lifted. Only now, when the focus was completely on his eyes, did I notice how long his lashes were. Enviable and a detail that I was not allowed to pay attention to right now. "What plan?"

"We wait for Iroha in my room and when he knocks, I say that Hanabi and I won't come to dinner."

His eyebrows rose. "And that's supposed to work?"

"What else can we do?" I asked back. Yeah, maybe it was a good thing that I hadn't expressed this idea in front of Asuma, spoken out loud it sounded really stupid. But now was not the time for scruples. I smiled and hit him in the chest with my fist. "Believe, Genma, believe!"

At least I was able to elicit an amused snort from him. "You've already spent too much time with Gai. But okay. We try to do it this way. At least it makes things easier for us." That flattered me a bit. He grabbed his radio, which was attached to the front of his vest. "Smoker, please copy."

"Smoker read?", Asuma's voice sounded from the device.

"Our window has a buffer. Pearl and I go in. Over."

"Roger, Senbon. Beast is in position, as are all the Storks. We have our eyes on you. Over."

"Roger. Over and out." Genma turned a knob and asked, "Crow, please copy."

There was no voice, but a single crack.

"Are you in position? Over."

A second crack. I bet everything that the sniper was on the other end of the line. I just wondered why he didn't talk. Was he perhaps mute..? Or she? We didn't want to be sexist.

Genma's eyes narrowed and as he spoke, I could hear him grinning. "Just don't shoot my ass off, darling. Over." No, not a woman. It just couldn't be, otherwise this jealous animal in me would awaken again.

Several cracks, clearly angry even without verbal accompaniment, and Genma giggled darkly. "Jokes aside. Crack me when you see something. Over." With that, he let go of the radio again. "Ready?"

I nodded. It was eighteen minutes to six. Genma crouched down and wedged his hands into a leg-up that catapulted me up to the top of the wall. In my opinion, this wouldn't even have been necessary, after all, I had used this path often enough and knew where to put my now completely dirty slippers, but I also didn't want to take the feeling of lifting as much burden off my shoulders as possible in this situation away from Genma. Besides, I had to admit to myself, my body was quite exhausted, and so I was grateful for any help I could get. It didn't do us any good if I collapsed in the middle of this mission.

On the other side of the wall, I jumped into the still very muddy grass and squirted a lot of mud on my pants, but at that moment I cared a wet fart. I immediately searched the windows for figures. In the meantime, some lamps had been switched on in the house because of the early darkness. The ground floor was almost completely illuminated, but no light was on on the upper floors. I couldn't see any movement and the large gravel lot around the corner was empty. So, the Hoozuki were already gone. Perfect.

Genma landed light-footed next to me and scanned the surroundings as well. He gave me a nod. "I'll follow you," he whispered.

It was strange to know that Genma was so close to my ass, but I shouldn't necessarily think about that right now. We were here for a reason, and that was not to be aroused or to evoke the same in others. Nevertheless, it was difficult to completely ignore his nose, which hovered only half a foot behind my buttocks, even when I climbed up the tendrils in front of him and stepped over the chair into my room. Genma was like a velvet-pawed cat as he elegantly squeezed through the broken window and carefully avoided the shards on the floor.

"We can talk quietly in here," I whispered scratchily and Genma flinched briefly, but raised his thumb. I turned on the small lamp on the shelf next to my futon. "We should cover the window. Actually, it's supposed to be locked and when Iroha hears the wind, he becomes suspicious."

Another thumb. I understood that he was afraid that his deep voice might betray him to someone. He helped me stuff my duvet into the broken window, which softened the roaring wind and prevented more rain from spreading on the floor. Heavens, Hiashi would kill me just for destroying his floorboards. On the other hand, I thought, he was basically responsible for the large stain of dried blood, sweat, urine and sperm that was barely visible under the shards and rainwater, so he couldn't complain. Genma hadn't missed the darkened puddle and he gave me a worried look because of it. Should I tell him? No, that was not an issue for this situation. We both had to be right here with our thoughts. He wasn't allowed to look at me as a poor lamb and I wasn't allowed to think of his cock or his hands or his woody smell or his strong arms or his distinct looks.. Oh, fuck. To distract myself, I pointed to his muddy shoes and said quietly, "You have to take them off, otherwise you'll leave traces. And I.." It was ten minutes to six. ".. I'll put on something else. Wait here."

"Hinata," Genma suddenly murmured and held me by the wrist. "We should stay together."

"Don't worry," I smiled and threw my head over my shoulder. "There's my closet. I'm not far away." 'You're welcome to come with me,' my horny brain added and shit, how glad I was that I hadn't said that out loud. It seemed like I was able to restrain myself at least sometimes. I went into my closet, ignored Hanabi's carelessly thrown kimono and the cut-open cable ties lying on the floor as much as possible, gathered the most comfortable things I owned, and finally put on a bra. Hail to the inventor of padded brassieres, at least that way everything didn't wobble around and I no longer had to worry about poking Genma or anyone else in the face with my hard nipples. In addition, I also looked for my running shoes from a drawer, which I had worn rarely enough due to lack of opportunities – but hey, at least I had some and could take off the thin slippers. I didn't care what traces I left in my room. By the time Hiashi found them, he had long since noticed Hanabis and my escape, and telltale clothes didn't make things worse.

In dry, warm clothes and again with the protective vest on my upper body, I put the shoes next to the chair by the window and went back to Genma, who was standing at the foot of my bed and looked with interest at the drawings with which I had plastered over the bare beige. The sight took some getting used to. He in wet jeans, a tight blue T-shirt and khaki-green socks – there was that color again! – with bulletproof vest, pistol in his belt holster and balaclava in front of colorful pictures that showed animals, flowers or a sunset in my sparsely furnished room, where remnants of yesterday evening and today's noon could be seen everywhere. Who would have thought that I would ever be at such a point. At my quiet steps he turned his head. "You really like buttercups, huh?" he asked muffled. He pointed to the like twenty yellow drawings on the wall.

I startled a little. Did he know what that triggered in me? I watched his profile. His facial expressions were unfathomable because of the mask, so I could have read who knows what into his words. But soberly considered, he was only alluding to this one meeting, where he had called me "butterflower". Or maybe not even that and it was just a certain curiosity. I stared at the sketch of a flock of birds and probably took a breath a little too loudly as I tried to drive distracting thoughts of King out of my brain, because Genma started quietly, "Hinata.."

Suddenly there was a knock and Iroha said from behind the wood, "Hinata-sama, dinner is ready." It was clearly audible that his anger from earlier had not dissipated.

Now the time had come. I had to convince. I gathered all my courage and shouted back, "I am not hungry."

"I don't care if you're hungry or not, you should take part in dinner."

"What are you going to do, beat me up again?" I clenched my hands into fists. "Do you all seriously think that Hanabi and I will come down today?"

"Is Hanabi-sama with you?" asked Iroha.

"Yes," I replied. "And before you ask: Yes, she freed me. How else am I supposed to hold her in my arms? So get out of here and tell my father that his daughters prefer to starve rather than face him."

"Hanabi-sama, can you talk yourself?" Iroha asked angrily.

Genma and I exchanged a look. He reacted without hesitation, put his hand over his mouth and let out an astonishingly high-pitched whine. I nodded appreciatively. "She has been crying her eyes out for hours, so no," I said aloud. "And now go. We want to be alone."

Iroha moaned in exasperation, I thought I was catching a "What drama queens" and his steps moved away. A soft creaking told me that he had passed the third step from above and Genma and I were alone again.

"That was impressively realistic," I praised him quietly.

Genma tilted his head, gave me a smile in his eyes, switched the channel of his radio and said, "Smoker, please copy."

"Smoker read?"

"First round is done. Pearl and I make our way down. Over."

"Roger, Senbon. We send Decoy off. Over and out."

Genma sighed. "Do you think Hidan can do it?"

I let out a short, honest laugh. "If that guy can do one thing, then it's annoy. And if his social buffer alias Kakuzu is not there, no one will be able to stop him. So yes, he can do it. Let's get down so we can get out of here quickly."

"With pleasure," Genma murmured.

"Uh.. There is only one more thing.."

"Huh?"

"Can you pick locks? They locked us up. Shit, I should have mentioned that, but I forgot and.. well."

Genma looked at me in shock for a moment, but he quickly tore himself away from my face, knelt in front of the door lock and poked around in it with two needles for only a few seconds until it clicked, and he pushed the handle down. "Nothing could be easier. But shit, Hinata, we'll talk about all this later, cape?"

"Of course, at least I owe you that," I replied with a queasy stinging next to the navel. What would I do if he wasn't this perfect Tanuki who preferred to act instead of thinking and questioning..? Just now I felt more clearly than ever how much I appreciated Genma. And that's why I wanted to do everything I could to ensure the success of this mission. If we made it out of here alive at all. "Watch out on the third step. Neji, Sukunai and my father are all downstairs in the dining room, they won't be able to see us from there, but the less noise we make, the better."

"Roger," Genma nodded. "We shouldn't talk at all from here on, so one last question: Where exactly is Hiashi's office?"

"Down the stairs, third door on the right, along the corridor, door at the very end – that's where the camera hangs – and then the door directly on the left, that's where we have to go."

"What rooms lie ahead of us?"

"None in the stairwell area, then a toilet and the first access to the household room. In the first hallway the second entrance, the technical room, a bedroom for the bodyguards, which is now unused, the surveillance room and an outer door through which business partners enter. Behind Hiashi's office are several meeting rooms and.."

Genma guessed what I was getting at and quickly asked, "Can we use the outside door as an alternative escape route so we don't have to go through the entire house twice?"

I shook my head, my pulse getting faster and faster. I could tell from his seriousness that we couldn't afford to make any more mistakes, so I concentrated on fighting my growing headaches, even squinting my eyes to somehow counteract the static noise in my ears. "No. It is alarmed, just like all other doors that lead outside. If no visitors are expected, it beeps immediately as soon as you just press the handle. My room is our only unobserved way back to the outside world."

"I see," he murmured and unexpectedly put a cool hand on my neck. "Hinata.. Is everything all right? You're glowing like a red light."

"Yeah, everything is fine. I just need.. It'll be okay."

"We can still cancel."

The bell rang from below and we both startled briefly.

"No, we can't," I breathed. "Come on, we're running out of time."

Genma's eyes told unease, but he resolutely shrugged his shoulders, opened the door, and we crept down the stairs in a kneeling position. On the last landing that would bring us into view of the hallway, I stopped. Genma glided past me without even a rustle of clothes and pushed his palm, in which he held a small mirror, around the corner and had raised his other hand with outstretched fingers to show me, that I should wait for his signal.

Also because of my throbbing headache, which seemed to get worse with every second, I closed my eyes and listened intently. The sweat ran unpleasantly tickling down my breasts and neck. Through the closed door of the dining room, I heard the voices of Hiashi and Neji talking, and Hidan's organ reached my ears from a little further away. ".. our savior, a world full of pain, don't you want to escape from it too?!"

"No! And now get out of here!" Iroha admonished, but Hidan interrupted him and I could literally see him in front of me, spreading his arms enthusiastically and hardly able to resist the energy that gripped him when he talked about his God. Like a jittery preacher, he must have run from left to right, waving his hands and babbling a blue streak, "No, I'm not going to get out. And do you know why? Because far too many people on this planet are sleeping. Wake up, buddy! Jashin is the only true answer! He frees you from your disgusting suit."

"And I'll exchange my tie for a leather rag?!", Iroha hissed back and I had to grin. Hidan had him on the hook. He was simply the best. What would I do without him? Or generally without my family.

Genma tapped my shoulder and I looked at him with burning eyes and blurred vision. I took a deep breath, shook away the streaks in my gaze and nodded as his thumb pointed downstairs. We crept on, groped over the warm wooden floor on the ground floor and opened the first door. Behind it all was quiet. On silent soles, I crawled Genma ahead along the wall, where the surveillance room was about to come.

Suddenly, Genma held my shoulder and I stopped in the middle of the movement and turned to him. He first raised his index finger, then he added the middle finger and made a questioning arm movement. I understood. We had only heard Iroha at the front door, so he had concluded that the second bodyguard was probably still sitting in front of the cameras. But that was Kou and call me naïve, but I was sure that he wouldn't tell anyone what he heard or saw. With my heart still beating unscrupulously, I made a soothing hand signal in his direction. Maybe it was stupid to bet everything on a card that I had only learned last night had been hidden in my deck, but we didn't have much else to do anyway. I continued my way and Genma followed me hesitantly.

We reached the door to the west wing. I took a trembling breath, tried to calm my pulse a little and entered the long corridor with the camera, which had too often meant my final march to so many bad memories. Without even looking into the corner with the black dot, I scurried into Hiashi's dark office, let Genma pass me and closed the door behind him.

I straightened up and hurried to the large bookshelf behind the massive desk, where I was pulling on a thick book about pure bloodlines—Hiashi was truly arrogant—and with a soft rumble, a part of the shelf behind which the safe was hidden, swung forward. Now it was up to my hope whether all this had been worth it. I shouldn't have concealed from Genma that it was just my theory that I could open this safe. Yes, I knew the retina scanner was special, but whether it would recognize my eye as my father's was written in the stars. It was just a guess, a last straw that I clung to. And here I was, risking the lives of so many people for a vague possibility, a lie. I prayed in my mind that I was right, leaned forward and flinched back only briefly when a red light glided over my eyeball.

Endless milliseconds passed, in which my heart jumped around in my throat and almost made me regurgitate the burger and fries from so many hours ago. In my head, every scenario that could follow if I was wrong played out. The security mechanism would sound the alarm, Kou, Iroha, Hiashi and Neji would come. Maybe this Crow managed to kill one of them from a distance, maybe Genma managed a second one, but Kou and Iroha were armed themselves, not a meter foot from me Hiashi's favorite katana hung on the wall and by God, the bloodbath he could cause with it forced tears to my eyes. My chin vibrated and I was about to turn around and apologize to Genma for my failure – when it clicked in front of me. I blinked away my worries and watched as the thick door of the safe swung open, revealing a few binders and a heavy calendar book.

I gasped in disbelief. That.. It... I was right.

Genma pushed me aside, took all the documents out of the safe and carelessly stuffed them into his sling bag. Then he raised both thumbs and his eyes smiled. But every spark disappeared from his joyfully glittering irises when it cracked once from the radio on his chest. His hand trembled slightly as he pressed the button on the side.

A series of short and long cracks followed and I knew immediately that it was Morse code. 1 B C

Genma seemed to communicate this something, because his eyes widened and he typed back with his thumb: D C ?

K S A B. After a pause, Genma's silent interlocutor added: X ?

"L M T," Genma recoiled and lowered his hand.

Now I raised my arms questioningly. Genma leaned next to my ear and whispered, "We have a problem. The second bodyguard is back in the surveillance room. He was able to brush off Hidan, don't worry, he's fine. Only now we are stuck. One of them didn't notice us, with two pairs of alert eyes we won't be so lucky again. But I'll find a way out of here, I just have to.."

"No," I gasped, slapped my hand over my mouth and staggered backwards until I hit the wall and sank to the floor. Now the time had come. My heart broke out of my chest and I had no chance to prevent my impending panic attack. Blue stars appeared on my retina, the noise turned into a deafening beeping, cold sweat ran down my forehead in streams. "No..." I whimpered and clawed at my scalp. "That.. no.. He will.. kill me.. and... you... It's all my fault..."

"Shhhh, Hinata, be quiet," Genma whispered. From the piercing volume of his voice, I vaguely realized that he had also fallen to his knees. With gentle force, he pulled my wrists off my face and I blurredly noticed a bright spot in all the blackness. "Please, calm down. We'll get out of here, I promise.."

What was this feeling? I was sweating, I was barely breathing, my heart was racing, my vision fuzzed. It was just like... back then. Panic. I felt panic. I was having a panic attack. What had King said? I had to be aware of what I was afraid of.

Yeah shit, I was afraid to die. And contrary to any irrational feeling, it was damn well within the realm of possibility, of probability, that I actually died here.

"I'm counting, you're breathing, through your nose, in here."

Blindly, I grabbed Genma's hand and pressed it against my stomach. One.. I sucked in air. Two.. I felt a warm resistance on my diaphragm. Three.. I held my breath. My pulse was pounding in my ears and eyeballs, my veins and lungs were about to explode, but I slowly exhaled the air again and repeated the procedure until the world around me stopped spinning and the bright spot became clearer. It was Genma's face. He had torn the balaclava off his head and looked at me with a worried look. "Hinata..?" he asked, barely audible.

Distraction..

I didn't know why I was doing this; I could have distracted myself with so many other things, but I grabbed the back of Genma's head, cupped the moistened hair at the nape of his neck, pulled his beautiful face closer to me and pressed my lips to his. Nevertheless.. Now that I tasted his saliva and sweat on my upper lip, I knew what had moved me to do it. If I was about to die, I wanted to feel him at least one more time. To be scratched by his whiskers one last time. Play with his tongue one last time. His lips returned the pressure, opened and I surrendered to him. Resigned myself to my fate. Now he could come. Now Kou could betray me, who had definitely seen us, now I didn't care about anything. I gasped softly into Genma's mouth and at that moment I would have accepted even Hiashi's precisely guided blade with which he pierced our hearts, united them forever.

Genma ended our kiss, which was certainly out of place for other people's opinions, leaned his forehead against mine and murmured, "I'll get us out of here and then I'll fulfill your every wish. You won't die here and not in this way, Hinata, I promise you." He snorted softly, laughing. "I give you my word." A tear ran from the corner of my eye at his deep, soothing timbre. Genma briefly breathed his lips against mine, moved away from me and pointed first to his ear and then to the radio. So, Crow listened in. I nodded in understanding and, in addition to the fear and acceptance and shame and the small feeling of happiness because he had returned the kiss and the assurance that he would free me from this situation, I was deeply impressed by Genma's lying talent. He was simply prodigious.

Inwardly, I slapped myself. Concentration, Hinata! Fuck.. The panic attack might have been appropriate but giving in to the crushes on Genma was definitely not. We were in shit up to the scalp. A plan was needed. I scrambled back up. Genma also stood up and put on the mask. "All good?"

I nodded. "We don't have time for any fear of death."

"Fuck, no, we don't." He adjusted his protective vest. "We have two options. Either we accept that this will set off the alarm, climb out of the window and hope that we can run fast enough and Crow is the angel of death he claims to be, or we sneak back, our luck runs out and we both get a bullet in the head. What do you think?"

"Do you trust me, Genma?"

He nodded immediately and honestly that hurt with this huge mess we were in right now, just because I hadn't told him the truth. But I ignored my rebellious sense of guilt. "Then we'll sneak."

Genma blinked confusedly. "Hinata, that was a joke. We're not going out there again. Crow is a very good shooter and the others can also intervene, so we have a chance."

"No," I said firmly. "I won't put my family's life at risk if I have an ace up my sleeve." Genma frowned but listened attentively. "The second bodyguard in the house, Kou, is not like Tokuma or Iroha. I can't explain it to you now, I will, don't worry, but he's on my side. The fact that we can stand here and talk is proof. Do you think it was lucky that he happened not to look at the monitor at the right moment..? He helps us, well... He helps me. He already did it yesterday. Therefore, once again, do you trust me, Genma?"

This time he hesitated, but again he answered my question in the affirmative. "Then let's go. I finally want to get out of here."

"Don't let me regret it, Hinata, I'm a good sprinter."

"But I am not," I replied half-clumsily. It was quite possible that I just wanted to prove something to him by forcing him to put his life in my hands or rather Kou's, but I really wasn't too athletic, especially with all the panic in my blood that made my body tremble vehemently, and the increasingly heavy Kevlar vest. "Ready?"

"If you are..", he murmured and leaned forward again. I did the same and opened the door a crack. My brain would have expected to look into countless gun barrels aimed at me, but the corridor was still deserted. My eyes slid up to the camera. The red dot flashed. I breathed courage, begged Kou for his support in my mind and pushed the wood completely open. Genma was right behind me. We passed the door to the central aisle and voices were reaching my ears.

".. fucking fanatic. And gay, I'm telling you. How he stared at me, disgusting faggot. It's best to blow him up," Iroha snarled.

"Then you can be glad you got rid of him," Kou replied calmly. I recognized the figure standing with his back in the doorway to the surveillance room by his slightly graying black hair as that of the man on whom my and Genma's life depended. "Shall I bring you something from your locker?" he asked in his most sycophantic tone.

"No," Iroha said, and squeaking metal sounded. "Just make sure you go up to the two trulls before you bunk down. I don't want to put up with this cunt anymore today."

"Of course," Kou answered. "Wake me up if you notice something, but I assure you: the night shift is always very unspectacular."

"Well, hopefully, a little rest never hurts," yawned Iroha.

Kou stepped a little further out of the room, saw Genma and me crouching on the corner and didn't react in any way. He merely closed the door, glanced at his watch, and turned toward the entrance to the hall. Quite inconspicuously, so that it could have been just a nervous twitch, he waved in our direction.

I didn't hesitate any further and followed this silent invitation, Genma close to my butt. When Kou pushed the door open, however, he stopped abruptly, bowed immediately and said submissively, "Hiashi-sama."

My body froze and Genma actually let out a horrified gasp behind me.

"Kou," my father's voice scratched in my ears like fingernails on a blackboard. I shuddered and had to slap my hand over my mouth so as not to scream or whimper or make myself known in any other way. "I just wanted to go to you. Look after my daughters."

"Sir, it is not even seven o'clock," Kou replied and I admired him for his courage.

Hiashi probably felt differently, because he said frigidly and with a clear threat in his tone, "Do you want to resist my order? The two have been up there for hours and the fact that Hinata refuses to eat is striking. She never misses an opportunity to eat her fill."

I now bit my fist painfully. This godless son of a bitch. From behind, Genma put his warm hand on my shoulder and I clasped his fingers tightly, grateful for this gesture.

"Should I bring up a portion for the girls?" Kou asked almost indifferently.

"No," Hiashi said sternly. "They have decided to starve, so they will. Maybe the whore will finally lose some weight as a result." My father laughed coldly, Kou was silent, I bit my fist bloody and Genma's fingers cramped in my bony shoulder. "Just make sure they are in bed."

"Yes, sir," Kou said with a bow.

"And Kou?"

"Yes, sir?" Kou straightened himself up again.

"Take Hanabi, that is an order. She has to get used to it."

"… Yes, sir."

"I will now got to bed."

"I wish you a restful night, sir."

Without another word, I saw my father's long kimono pass by between Kou's legs, heard his footsteps on the stairs and, after about a minute of agonizing silence, a door one floor above us. Again, Kou waved silently over his shoulder and Genma and I crept upstairs behind him, with Kou deliberately stepping on the creaking step that Genma and I also deliberately skipped. The three of us entered my room, Kou closed the door and even before he turned around, he said quietly, "Go now, Hinata-sama."

"Kou-san, come with us," I murmured and was about to approach him, when he turned around and shook his head with a smile. "Someone has to hold the fort here, doesn't he?"

"My father will kill you when he finds out that you helped me."

Kou's light gray eyes became sad for a moment, but his smile was all the wider. "Nothing will happen to me, don't worry about it. Is Hanabi-sama safe?"

"Yes.."

"Go to her. Tell her that I'm sorry I couldn't protect her. She doesn't deserve it." Kou snorted. "Are you aware that she used to sneak out of the room after curfew to play poker with me?"

My mouth opened. "No.. That's how she became so good. She learned from the best."

With pursed lips, Kou bowed slightly. "Thank you very much for the compliment. When we meet again, the three of us will play a round of Texas Hold'em, what do you think?"

"Against you and Hanabi?" I laughed muffled. "I might as well pass on all my flips to you. But agreed, you're big blind."

"As you wish," Kou smiled.

"Hinata..", Genma said and I turned to him. He was standing by the window and had already put his shoes back on. I nodded, but turned to Kou again. "Thank you for everything. And keep your head down, there will be some rolling here soon."

"Of course. I'll wait until you're downstairs, then I'll sound the alarm. The lead should be enough for you to escape. Hurry up."

"Just a moment," I suddenly remembered and I hurried through the open bathroom into Hanabi's room, Genma calling softly after me. I grabbed the pastel green plush bunny from my sister's futon and returned. "Almost forgotten the most important thing."

Genma looked at the rabbit with a frown, but Kou had understood. "Say hello to Hanabi-sama from me."

"Greet her yourself when you see her." I didn't hesitate for a second and hugged Kou goodbye. "Thank you..", I whispered into his gray jacket, smiled at him one last time, shoved Wasabi-san into my neckline, where it was protected from the persistent rain and any dirt, slipped into my sneakers and climbed down the vine grid after Genma. Under the protection of the deep black evening, which was only flashed by occasional lightnings, we stole off the property on the same path as Hanabi and I hours ago and made our way back to the Ame Club.

While running, Genma looked around several times, took his radio and said, "Crow, thank you for your support, you're discharged for today." It cracked in response. Genma switched the channel. "Smoker, please copy."

"Smoker read," Asuma answered.

"The meeting point is the start, over and out."

"Roger, over and out."

Then Genma switched off the device completely, pulled the balaclava off his head, which exposed his already sweaty hair to the heavy rain and simply growled, "Oh fuck, Hinata, we did it." Without another word or a second of hesitation, he bent down to me, took my face in his now cool hands and kissed me.