Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Thats all I could think about. My breath quivered shakily as I processed the words I had heard earlier from Akujin, her voice echoing in my head like a broken record player. My throat felt as if it was tightening up, as if a snake wrapped around my throat tightly in its grip. Only short, shaky breaths were all I could take in as my anxiety settled in. My heart raced like the fast pace of a beating drum, and it felt like it could leap out of my throat at any moment.
"No need for your worried state, Nitaru... After all your parents are in a better place now," rings through my head like an alarm. Why couldn't my parents just be left alone? What business did they have in any of this mess?
The buss rolled faster as it pulled out of the station, the wind seeping through the open crack in the window. For some reason, I felt a sense of relief from the wind that swept away the sweat from my forehead. I also felt bad for making Ruka chase after me since I ran out of Headquarters after hearing those... those menacing words. Ugh... I try not to think of it, but it's permanently cemented in my head.
I had always wondered why Riku betrayed me; no, not just me but all of us. The entire organization. He had been giving Akujin the latest details all along without any of us picking up on his stealthiness until it was too late. I don't think I could ever face him again without remembering the audacity and nerve he had to go behind our backs.
All of it had me wondering... what was Akujin thinking? With the source of information given, and all the secret plans the organization has; she knows it all, so it made me wonder what her next move would be. Some plan that would outsmart us, outnumber us, overpower us... Maybe just anything to stir us away from our original plan. Maybe something to make us turn away to another motive that could either fail or succeed in the long run.
I leaned back in the bus seat, trying to get comfortable with the rough leather that my skin rubbed against. Maybe Akari would be disappointed with my immaturity. Maybe she would have grabbed my ear and scolded me for my way of thinking, my way of finding solutions, my way... of everything. Maybe just my everything was the reason she is gone. Maybe if I was a better person...just if I could, just if it was possible to be a person that's not me. I just want to go home. I just to hug my parents after I run through that door and catch up on everything I've missed. If only I could, if only I could not be burdened with my family's past. If only I could just lay in my bed, looking up at the ceiling fan as it whirs above my head. If only, if only...
When I felt the halt of the bus as it stopped on the street my parents lived, my heart pounded with worry and anxiousness. I burst out of my seat, slipping swiftly through the crowded aisle of legs and feet. I wondered if Akujin was deceiving me to trick me, to separate me from Headquarters to start something up since she knows I'm unique to the other Assassins. Dashing down the cracked sidewalk, I never ran faster in my life. Exhaustion didn't exist to me anymore: I felt no urgency to stop. I had one thing on my mind, and it was to make sure my parents were alright. They had to be. They must be. They will be. Thats the only thoughts I had in my head.
I finally reached the pavement that was in front of my house, turning abruptly onto the path and skipping the first three of five steps onto the front porch. When I had approached the front door, I grasped the doorhandle, turning my wrist to open the door. For some reason, I felt that the door was unlocked; I was right. Gosh, I hope my parents are alright. Maybe they just left the door unlocked.
I threw the door open, the handle on the other side burying itself into the wall. The house was disorganized, which I find unusual. My mother is very good at making sure things are in order and that they are in the place they belong. One time, I had grabbed her homemade chocolate chip cookies and forgot to put the platter back in its proper spot. She had scolded me and showed me where the platter belonged.
The air in the house was thick and heavy, almost unbearable in my opinion. Every step I took resulted in a creaking sound from the wooden floorboards below me. The hallway was dark and quiet, and the steps that led to the upper floor were covered in shards of glass from broken picture frames that were along the stairwell wall. One of the pictures that had fallen caught my eye. I leaned down and gently moved the glass that was above the photograph. Grasping the photo's edge, I lifted it off the floor and I examined its contents. It was covered in blood. I looked even closer; it was a picture of my parents and me. I looked younger in the photo; I was about fourteen. I look down from the photograph and onto the floor, my eyes followed the blood trail that was in front of me.
I felt my heart jump at the trail of scattered red dots, and it led me into the kitchen. The trail continued over the black linoleum, and I glanced up from the floor at the kitchen table. My heart dropped, and the photograph flew like a feather down to the stained tiles. There. There. There it was. That nightmare I had envisioned when Akujin said those words. They were right here before me once again, echoing in my head like a broken record. There. There was... There were my parents, lying next to each other on the linoleum next to the kitchen table. My mom had her arm over my dad's shoulder, and her face hidden in the crook of his neck. It looked as if she tried to hide herself from whatever she was seeing. A gasp left my mouth as I saw syringes next to their hands, and I knew already they were intoxicated with some sort of liquid that entered their bloodstream.
I dropped to my knees in disbelief. No way. No way Akujin actually did this. No way. I had only assumed it was her. Her and her dirty schemes she plays. If only I could've been here to protect my parents from what occurred.
"N-no way..." I shivered in disbelief, fear, and many other emotions.
I looked up at the fridge, my eyes finding a note on the fridge with a magnet holding it against it. I didn't want to get up, neither read whatever was on that note. My legs quivered as I struggled myself to my feet, my hands grabbing the table in a flash as I felt my legs give out, causing me to collapse back down to the kitchen floor. A piece of the table had broken off from how hard I gripped it for support when I was standing.
My eyes blurred with tears as the pain coursed through my body. I had never thought a minor fall would cause this much pain. I looked up at the ceiling, wondering if I could get up, if I could be stronger and not a wimp that I am showing myself as right now. In desperation to read the note on the fridge, I crawled onto my knees towards the refrigerator. With no hesitation, I grabbed ahold of the fridge door, lifting myself upwards with all my strength. The pain spreading through my body didn't matter. Only finding out what's written on the note and where Akujin is.
Grasping the note, my eyes quickly scanned over the written words in the black ink. My heart dropped, and my hand crumpled the note to the point where it shredded itself from the pressure. Knuckles turning white, I dropped the note from my hand and stepped towards the bathroom. The smell of rotting flesh was evident in the air, oppressing the smell of flowers from the nearby vase.
I stepped down the hallway in curiosity, becoming closer and closer towards the odor. My hand grasped around the cold, metal doorhandle. Shockingly, I twisted the knob and pulled the door towards me, but the door wouldn't budge. Not even the slightest inch. I tried again. Similarly, I was faced with the same result. For some unknown and strange reason, the door wouldn't open. My mind only knew one thing was for sure; something or someone was dead in there.
I decided to walk towards the front door; tears stained at the ridge of my nose. I closed the door behind me, slowly walking towards the porch steps that led down to the concrete sidewalk. With each step, my leg threatened to give out again. I gripped my fist together tighter, trying to maintain my usual demeanor. As I stepped onto the sidewalk besides the road, the sky turned a greyish color and thunder rumbled in the distance. Rain began to patter down, starting as light and escalating to a greater measure.
Lightning crackled through the sky, and the rain shot down like bullets from the thick clouds above. My clothes became soaked in the wetness of the downpour, my hair drooping into waves as it becomes drenched, covering my forehead and eyes in the process. The only thought that was on my mind was Akujin and how badly I wanted to come face to face with her. Although the organization had planned strictly how to encounter and fight her, I wanted to face her solo. I was done listening to Tokima. After all, I was their dog on a leash, always obeying them like I was supposed to. But that wasn't going to happen anymore. I was fed up.
"Whether you like it or not Akujin, I'm coming for you," I muttered to myself, summoning the pair of dark red and black obsidian daggers I had, "It's time to settle it once and for all, and I won't stop fighting, even if it means dying to get you weakened."
I continued down the pavement, watching the lightning crack through the thunderous sky. This was it. Akujin pulled the final straw. Just wait until I find you Akujin. It'll be only a matter of time before I clash with you again, just like how we fought in Shinjuku. Though this time, I won't let any death be in vain.