The Boss Queen (Izana Kurokawa) COMPLETED 👑

NINE

"No, tell that to her yourself," Izana only said in a monotone. "The brat will more likely to appreciate it if you thank her personally." He folded his arms over his chest and crossed his legs, leaning his back against the chair. "I heard from Ran that you'll be discharged by tomorrow."

Kakucho nodded his head. "It's what the doctor said. Although, I was advised a few days of rest for complete recovery, so as to not open the wound." He gently slid both the origami cranes and the card back to the paper bag and carefully placed it on the bedside table near him.

"I see."

"How's Akari?" he asked. It had never failed to cross his mind about the girl's condition ever since he woke up from the surgery.

"She's doing alright. Only a little traumatized. That fucking bastard Ogai almost tried to harass her if I haven't arrived on time," Izana replied bitterly. "I thought he was a formidable one, only to be disappointed. I already gave his pathetic ass a good beating. If Akari hadn't stopped me, he would've seen hell now."

Kakucho's irises widened at the male's answer, his chest tightened as guilt struck his features. He slowly averted his gaze away and lowered his head in shame. He knew he was at fault. "I'm sorry, Izana. I failed to protect her." If only he paid more attention to his surroundings that day, especially to her, Akari wouldn't have experienced that shit.

"If it was in different circumstances and she died, I would've fucking killed you myself, Kakucho," Izana stated grimly. There wasn't even the slightest touch of humor in his voice like he was actually going to do it if things went seriously out of hand.

"I understand. It will never happen again. I promise to protect Akari even at the cost of my life," Kakucho swore and turned his attention back to the bleach-blonde male. He truly meant every word he said and had no ill-intention to it. He knew that the girl was very precious to Izana that the latter was ready to risk everything just for her.

That's right.

Kakucho heard from Rindou the day before that their commander stormed his way to the enemy's hideout alone without thinking twice and beat the living shit out of every single delinquent present in that building just to rescue Akari. If he was in that situation too, he would probably do the same as well since the petite girl was like a family to him.

Izana said nothing. He was only silent while his orchid hues wandered aimlessly as if he was in deep thought. Afterwards, he heaved a long sigh and rose from his seat. "I've stayed long enough. I'm only here for that. Take good care of it," he finally said with his usual poker face as he reached for the door before he added, "rest while you can because I'm going to work your ass to the bone once you've recovered well enough."

Kakucho only watched the teen leave without giving any response until his figure disappeared through the door and shut it closed with a soft thud.

Kakucho blew out a breath he didn't realize he was holding for a while. Then his mind went back to Izana. He can't read what the older male was thinking. Was it related to Akari?

Kakucho always knew that Izana was treating the girl quite special than his subordinates in the gang, even to him who had known the older teen almost all his life. Unlike him who sees Akari as a younger sister he never had, Izana was far more different than that. And he was definitely sure it wasn't just the brotherly-type one. Their commander was giving off a different expression than his usual cold authoritative demeanor whenever he was with her. Kakucho could see clearly how much Izana was enjoying the girl's company and wasn't the kind of person who will just attack an enemy's territory without any solid reason unless someone extremely important to him was involved.