𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑. || 𝐓𝐎𝐊𝐘𝐎 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒

PART 28.

"Move and I'll pull the trigger. Get it?" his intent was clear and his voice was hushed quiet to not alarm the employees near his office. He was especially proud of his mockery. Naoto found himself subconsciously waiting for her notice his absolute genius at wordplay. 

Y/n stared blankly and raised her hands in compliance. He had the weapon, meaning he made the rules. There was nothing even Y/n could do to beat a shot that close. But, as she stood in place she finally processed the moments before. 

"Are you trying to make a..joke?"

He was silent, staring back at her.

"Were you expecting me to laugh while having a gun in my gut?" 

"Who ever said I expected you to laugh?" he defended after immediately standing from his chair with his weapon still steady in position. Naoto continued to mutter his breath saying, "After everything I've had to put up with today, some recognition wouldn't kill you," earning only an exasperated feign of laughter from Y/n. 

"Are you a child?" 

"You accusing me for being childish? Hilarious."

"It's hilarious that in September, two years ago, all your 'promising' leads only led you to dead ends."

"I should have known you--," Naoto near lost his composure once he rose from his seat, finger lifted pointed her direction, just waiting to violently swing through the air once he went on his tangent. Yet, he took a deep breath and recentered his focus back to the primary issue at hand. "I am not going to bicker back with you like I'm twelve. I am not a child."

"You look like a child."

"Again, not doing this with you."

"I can tell, you're not doing anyone."

His facial features remained stern and entirely unbothered by the small jokes tossed out from Y/n's mouth. She wanted to get under his skin just enough to loosen the precision of his gun placement. The pressure on her abdomen made her almost sore and how much longer could she really stay undetected in a police department, just under the nose of the exact department trying to pin her down with dozens of charges. Surely, the consequences would be far more harsh than simply jail time. 

Naoto straightened himself in his chair. "Tell me Y/n Hanma, sincerely, are you currently more useful to me alive or dead?"

OCTOBER, 2005

"Stop following me. I have a knife on me." 

Following footsteps stopped in their tracks and Y/n stopped herself to prevent her back being turned to the one person she trusted the least. Kisaki was just standing there, watching, she figured even calculating the next words to leave his mouth and the movements that would be most beneficial for him to get whatever he wanted from her. 

"What do you want?"

"You, I want to apologize to you." His voice was uneasy. Admitting an apology was obviously something similar to a foreign language for him. He couldn't even look at her directly while speaking. It seemed so pitiful that Y/n felt sick to her stomach at the sight. 

"I don't want it. If you have actually mustered the slightest respect for me then you would leave me alone."

"It is because I respect you that I can't let you live this lie." 

Her immediate reaction was offense. Terrible, previously rooted, offense that resurfaced from the previous number of sentences that he's slung her way. "A lie? How dare you come here and--and just claim you know what is good for me? You don't know me."

"But you see, I do know you. I know you don't want to be a burden to them. I know you feel that weighing guilt of the things you've already done. How you set up Pah to be imprisoned and even persuaded the attempted murder of Draken. Do they know how broken you are in reality? Do you really think they'd just accept you after the truth of what you've done, in depth, is revealed?"

Y/n forced her gaze down to her hands and those stained palms. 'Sin' and 'Punishment', crime and consequence, there was going to be reaction once all of her actions were brought to light and with Kisaki so close, it was sure to be soon. And Baji? Someone who she knew had boundless loyalty, suddenly left without regret in the blink of an eye. How much did she really know about Baji? How much did she know about any of them? Y/n knew Kisaki just as well if not better based on the amount of time she's spent with them. As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. She glossed rose-colored tint over the "new" life she's lived up till now. 

"Even I couldn't just smile blissfully in the faces of people like you." She hadn't realized that he was much closer now, circling similar to a some kind of vulture. Just waiting on his prey, circling, and picking apart at open wounds. "It's a talent, really. But, I don't judge you Y/n, no, quite the opposite. I applaud you. You know where people like us belong."

Waiting for his prey to fight against fate, take that step.

"Fuck off and stop talking. I just need two more days," she said weakly in submission in response to his torturous monologue of what she could not find in herself to accept as anything but truth.

 Before they finally just.. die.

"..two more days and I'm yours."