Chapter 8: Dreams and Nightmares

Hideo Sasaki

"What do you mean you don't know?! He's been in there for hours!" Akira screams as the orange and red-haired quintuplets hold her back from slapping the hospital receptionist across the face. The other 3 walked outside not too long ago, probably to ask Ichika what happened.

I haven't moved from this seat since I got here. My eyes have been locked on to the"surgery in progress sign" waiting for it to turn off. I still hear Akira causing chaos in the nurse's area as Yoshin and the girls try calming her down. I don't have the heart to talk to her myself. I wasn't fast enough to save her best friend. Not too long ago I questioned what this kids life would be like if I just had my guys slap him up one more time. He wouldn't be laid up in a hospital fighting for his life, but because I brought him into our world, this is the result. This is all on me.

I think about how his limp body felt in my arms. Holding him in the back seat as Yoshin drove us to the hospital. Looking at his face and realizing how young he looked without his suit. Just a normal teenage boy in a hoodie. A child. My child. I should've been harder on him, maybe then he wouldn't have disobeyed a direct order from me like he did. Because I've been so easy on him, he thought it was ok to do whatever the fuck he wanted. He didn't know any better. No one has ever tried him outside of a couple older guys in the organization who were just busting his balls. He's never had to deal with legitimate threats. Who the fuck would be dumb enough to attack him knowing who he was a protege to?

I feel a hand placed on my shoulder. I don't even need to turn around to know who it is. "Why didn't he grab the gun in the glove box? I've seen him handle 10 guys in training like nothin, why did he let them get the drop on him? I told the kid to wait... Why... Why didn't he just fucking wait..." I say without taking my eyes off the neon lit surgery sign. A single tear falls from my eye as I quickly wipe it away. I look down at my hands and notice my hands are still red with the kid's blood. I clench my fist and before I get up to scream in anger, Akio pulls out his handkerchief and hands it to me to wipe my hands.

"You raised a warrior; your protege will be fine" Akio said as he took the empty seat next to me. no more, no less. He's always been a man of few words when it came to situations like this and that's ok, his presence is enough for me. I think this is the first time I've ever heard him not refer to Fuutarou as "stray".

One of our men comes up to us and whispers in Akio's ear. Akio nods and sends the man back to his post outside the hospital.

"All the attackers are at the restaurant whenever you're ready" he said quietly in my ear. They were the last thing on my mind right now. All I care about right now is the situation in front of me.

Before I can ask who the attackers even were I hear my niece yell "Daddy!" Akira screams as she runs over into Akio's arms. "Make them tell us what's going on! Please!" She says sobbing in his chest.

"Please sir, we have no information to give you. I understand this must bea hard time for your family but..." the nurse began saying before Akio put his hand up to silence her.

"It's fine. Thank you" Akio said sternly as the nurse turned around and went back to her desk.

"Uncle please tell me he's going to be ok! Was he awake when you brought him in? Was he breathing? He's been through worse right? Please Uncle tell me!" Akira asked methrough her broken sobs. Her eyes full of tears as she looked up at me.

This broke me. I've had to deal with widows, parents, and orphaned children when members have died in the past, but seeing my little Akira so heartbroken over her friend is killing me right now.

"Akira... I'm sorry, I..." I began saying before I noticed the surgery sign turn off. We all stood in silence as the doors opened and 2 doctors come out in blood splattered scrubs. They both began taking off their face masks only to reveal that one of them is Maruo Nakano.

"Hideo, Akio." He said with a slight bow.

"Maruo please tell us how's..." I began to ask before Akira shoved me out the way.

"TELL ME HE'S ALIVE!" She screamed as she got in his face. Akio pulled her back as she held eye contact with him shaking uncontrollably.

"Mr. Uesugi is alive but we ran into... complications. The crack in his skull caused him to have a stroke twice on the table. We don't know the severity of his condition because he's currently in a coma" Maruo said causing Akira to let out a cry as she buried her face in Akio's chest.

"But he's alive? You're gonna fix him right Maruo?" I ask as I look him in the eyes. I see the hesitation build in his face.

"Hideo you know I'm going to do my best. I promise" Maruo said

"But... he's gonna be ok... right? I mean... you're the best brain doc in Japan, this is just a regular night for you right?" I ask with a nervous chuckle.

"Hideo, I promise I'm going to try my best to..." he began saying before I cut him off.

"I DONT NEED YOU TO TRY I NEED YOU TO PROMISE...!" I began to scream before catching myself and taking a long deep breath. "Why won't you tell me the kids gonna be ok? You're supposed to be the best. It's me man, I need you to come through for me here... Please, for old times' sake."

Maruo took a long pause before responding. His eyes never left mine while he ran through multiple responses in his head before picking the best one to say to me. "Hideo, I'm going to do everything in my power to save your boy, but you have to understand, the kid got his head caved in with a lead pipe. A lot of blood was lost. Even if he beats the odds and survives, we'll be lucky if he could form complete sentences..."

Akira let out a scream from hell as she fell to the floor sobbing. The 2 quintuplets who were still here ran over to help her up and take her to the seating area.

"What are you saying Maruo? The kid's gonna be a fucking vegetable? Is that what you're saying to me right now?" I say as anger begins replacing fear in my chest.

"I'm saying we don't know Hideo. We put him in an induced coma to protect him. These next 48 hours are critical. We're going to monitor him as closely as we can. I'm sorry I don't have better news for you my friend..." Maruo said gently as he put his hand on my shoulder. "you'll be able to see him once he's situated in the ICU".

He began to turn around and walk away before I grabbed him by the shoulder. "Maruo please... I beg of you. If our friendship has meant anything to you, don't let the kid die like this... You're one of my closest friends, I don't ask you for nothing. Please, promise me you'll save my boy..."

"Hideo, it's because I'm your friend, is the reason I won't stand here and lie to you by making such a promise. I take no joy in telling you there's a very slim chance Mr. Uesugi makes it through this, but I will promise you that I'll dedicate every waking moment tohis well-being. Put you're trust in me".

I let go of him and with a final pat on my shoulder, he's gone behind the double doors. I feel rage building in my stomach and Akio knows it.

"I want 3 men at every fucking floor of this hospital. No one goes in or out that we don't know about. If they come to finish the job i want them brought to me ALIVE!" Akio screams as Yoshin nods his head and starts making phone calls. "Akira" Akio says as he motions her to come over. "You'll be able to see him soon. Stay here with the girls, your uncle and I have business to attend to".

Akira hasn't stopped crying. She just looks at me and says "Make. Them. Suffer". Three words I never thought I'd hear this sweet innocent girl say. Maybe she takes after her father more than either of us could have imagined.

We start walking to the parking garage. There's nothing I can do to help him. If I stay, I'll just be sitting there waiting for him to die. At least now I'll be fixing things the only way I know how. The only way the Kurai Yoru knows how. Merciless revenge.

We walk up to the SUV as Bash rushes to open the rear passenger door and bows as we get in and close the door. He begins to get in the front passenger seat as Akio raises his hand motioning him to stop.

"Stay with Akira" Akio said. Without a response Bash bowed once more and closed the door. "The restaurant" Akio said to Yoshin who just got in the driver seat. He gave a look back through the rear view and nodded as he pulled out of the parking garage.

"Who did it?" I say as I pull out my gun to inspect it, making sure the clip is fully loaded.

"The men we let live after the situation with Maruo's girl. I'm guessing they wanted revenge and chose Fuutarou because of his close relationship with her" Akio said without turning his head to face me.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me... why Fuutarou? Why not Bash? He was the one who actually fucking killed them?" I ask in anger causing Akio to give me a look that he took back. Probably because he knew I didn't mean it in a negative way against his own protege.

"I thought the same thing but I think I have the answer" Akio said.

"Well? You gonna fucking tell me?" I ask angrily. Why the fuck do I have to play 20 questions with this fucker at such a serious time.

"Goro's daughter was with them. Apparently, she was the one who dealt the finishing blow toFuutarou" Yoshin said from the front seat.

The severity of the situation hit me all at once. This wasn't just a random attack on my protege, this was a declaration of war.

"I'm going to fucking kill her" I say as I cock back my pistol.

"Hideo, for all we know, she acted alone. Let's think about this. Goro may know nothing about this and..." he began saying before I cut him off.

"IF IT WAS YOUR PROTEGE WE WOULD ALREADY BE BURNING THAT FAT FUCKS COMPLEX TOTHE GROUND, DON'T TELL ME TO THINK ABOUT IT!" I scream at him. Even Yoshin looks back nervously. No one has ever spoken to Akio like that in front of people. Even me. But I don't give a fuck right now.

He paused for a second as he looked me in the eyes. Looking at the seriousness in my face. My rage. My pain.

"The full force of the Kurai Yoru is at your disposal my General" Akio said as he turned to face forward. My brother, now and always.

We pull up to the restaurant and I don't even wait for Yoshin to open the door. Fuck formalities. I start making my way to the back door of the restaurant and the men hurry to open the doors, bowing as I walk past. I make my way to the back office and pull out my gun just as the doors open. Before the attackers even notice I walk in the room I blast the first one I see in the face causing the rest of them to scream in shock as they immediately begin to plead for their lives. I walk over to the corpse of the man I just shot and empty the clip into his head.

"AHHHH PLEASE GENERAL SASAKI PLEASE NO!" "IT WAS HER SHE MADE US DO IT!" "I WAS JUST THE DRIVER I DIDNT THINK THEY WERE GOING TO HURT HIM!" they begin to scream. All of them were put on their knees with their hands tied behind their backs before we got there.

"Oh? You were just the getaway driver?" I ask as I walk up to the former Kurai Yoru member.

"Y-yes general, I wasn't even there I was in the car!" he began saying as I walk up to him and grab him by the head and snap his neck. Watching his body collapse to the floor brought me pure joy. The screams of the remaining men filling my soul put a demonic smile on my face that I haven't seen in years. By the time Akio made his way into the office these two were already dead.

"Let me make something extremely. Fucking. Clear. You're all going to die horrible deaths today. You can either take it like a man as you scavenge your souls for the last bits of honor you have left or you can die like the dogs you are. The choice is yours!

I reach out my hand to one of the guards without looking at him as he reaches into his jacket and pulls out a blade. One of the men put his head on the floor pleading for mercy as I walk over to him and say "you're next" and plunge my knife in his back, poking his lungs full of holes. Again, and again I stab and stab and stab until his body stops moving. I kick over his corpse and spit on his face. Only 2 left, worm and the girl. Both of them sobbing.

"You, Worm, C'mere" I say to worm who looks up at me in pure terror. "I said... come... here" I say waving him over with the knife in my face. He crawls over to me on his knees and begins kissing my shoes, begging for his life. No honor.

I motion for the guard to who gave me his knife to come back over and take his knife back. I pull out my gun and discharge the empty mag and put out my hand expecting another. The same guard obliges and put a full mag in my hand. I crouch down and pick up his face with the barrel of the gun under his chin.

"You're the one who likes to talk right?" I ask him as he begins to blubber out a response. "Open your mouth" I say as he looks at me confused. "I said open... your... mouth" I say once more as I grab him by the throat causing him to open his mouth gasping for air. I shove the barrel of my gun in his mouth. The tip of the gun hitting his tonsils as I pull the trigger blasting a hole out the back of his head. He falls to the floor and just like the first one I killed when I walked in, I empty the clip into his head.

"Please sir... Mercy... PLEASE!" Sasha screams as I walk up to her. I crouch down and whisper into her ear. "Don't worry sweetheart, I got something special planned for you".

Fuutarou Uesugi

"Fuu please. Don't leave me. Wake up. Please, you have to wake up" I hear a voice say as my eyes fight to open.

"C'mon sleepy head wake up! We're gonna be late!" Takke says as she stands above my bed.

"Huh? What are you doing here?" I say groggily rubbing the crust out of my eyes. I look over at my alarm clock and see it's not even 7AM.

"Well duh, don't you want breakfast before we leave? We need the energy for the trip! We're gonna be walking all day!" Takke said as she pulled the covers off of me.

"Trip? What trip?" I ask confused?

"No way you forgot?! It's our Kyoto trip! Cmon! Get dressed, we'llwait for you in the kitchen" Takke said as she threw my uniform at me.

Before I can ask her anything else she runs out the door. Damn, the Kyoto trip is today? How the hell did I forget, I've always wanted to go to Kyoto. I jump out of bed and start getting ready. I put on my uniform and start making my way to the door when i hear voices on the other side. It's not dad or Raiha? Who could be here this early? I open the door and no one's there, just Takke sitting at the table playing some game on her phone.

"FINALLY let's go!" she yells as she gets up.

"Was anyone else here? I thought I heard something?" I ask confused.

"Huh? Nope just me. Raiha is still sleeping so be quiet!" she said in a rough whisper. I look over and see her crib. "Hurry up and brush your hair, you got some mean bed head!" she says as she reaches into her bag for a brush.

I grab it and walk over to the bathroom. I turn on the light and look in the mirror to style my hair when I realize...

"My hairs black?" I ask out loud confused.

"What did you expect? Pink hair?" Takke said with a chuckle. "c'mon hurry up!" she said as she walked out.

I look deep in the mirror. Why would my hair not be black? What am I even saying? I start brushing my hair when the lights start to go on and off. Again, and again the lights begin to flicker. I stare at the light bulb go on and off. On and off. On and off.

CLEAR!

"Huh?" I say as I snap out of it and open the bathroom door looking at Takke. She looks up from her phone confused.

"What?" she says as she gives me a funny look.

"Oh... I thought I heard something. Never mind." I say as I turn back into the bathroom and just as I'm about to close the door I hear her say "you can't leave me!"

I turn back around and she's sitting there again on her phone. I'm so confused. Maybe I'm still half asleep. Whatever my hair is good enough. I hand her back her hair brush as the lights begin to flicker again. I look up at the light bulb and shake my head. Dad probably forgot to pay the electric bill again.

We start making our way out the house. Just as I'm about to open the front door, it swings open and I look up to see...

"Oh, I caught you just in time! Don't forget your lunch sweetheart!" she said with the warmest smile. The sound of her voice alone brought me to tears. "Fuutarou honey? What's wrong?" she says as I run into her and hug her as tight as I can.

"I missed you... Mom".

A/N

And we're back! So sorry for the long break everyone. Needed a little time after the holidays to get the creativity flowing again. Being completely honest, Iwas having a hard time finding inspiration to write. I was noticing that the last 2 chapters I posted were getting pretty low views and barely any comments. I honestly thought people gave up on my story and kinda just gave up too but then I found that drive again after a couple people commented asking me to continue. Thank you all so much for staying with me. This chapter is especially short and that's on purpose, it's meant to be a teaser of what's to come in the "dreams and nightmares" arc. We're going to see how Hideo reacts to Fuutarou being attacked and what this means for the Future of the Kurai Yoru. We saw glimpses of Hideo and his ferocity in past chapters but I definitely plan on dialing it up to 11 in these next chapters. Also, I purposely left out Ichika and Miku. Don't worry, Miku is going to see that Ichika was wearing her clothes. And lastlyyyyyyyy we finally got a Fuutarou Pov... or do we? Stay tuned people! Thanks again for your continued support!