Twisted Hearts▪︎Akutagawa Ryuunosuke

九°• Love deeper than Wounds

It had been a full day since their last encounter.

Hanabi took each step in a slow, steady manner. Dragging her foot behind her, her wondering eyes met with the endless sky. The sun peeked through the horizon, dusting the atmosphere in brilliant colors of purple blending into red. It's rays shone brightly in lasers through soft white clouds. The rain before had damped the air, spilling puddles on the black-painted roads and sending droplets of water on the natural green of tree leaves.

She had exited the ship yesterday, leaving Akutagawa with an unconscious Atsushi. Heaviness tugged on the dull strings of her heart, like a puppet weighted down by stones. And since then, she had received news that Akutagawa was in a life-threatening condition, and was currently being hospitalized in an unconscious state.

She had no idea of her destination, only wandering aimlessly around with her head in the clouds.

At last, she reached a playground right in the heart of the lively city. Children's laughter and chatter drowned her ears deeply, and the fresh smell of nature filled her nose. At the corner of her eye, she noticed an ice cream truck right beside the park.

Ignoring the questionable stares from parents, she queued up amongst the other kids and bought herself a strawberry flavored ice cream. Settling down on one of the benches there, Hanabi took more time to engulf herself in sea of questions in her head.

For one, she desperately wanted to tell Akutagawa where she had gone for three whole years. But she brushed the thought away in an instant, as she had made a deal with a boss himself not to. She doubted Mori would be pleased if he had known that she had broken a part of their trade.

For the second, Hanabi was in a mess of her own emotions.

And the last, the person causing all this stress, unknowingly.

Now why was it that she always felt a certain way in front of the Mafioso? That she kept feeling the urge to blush and stutter when she talked to him. That whenever he looked her in the eye, she felt her stomach completely turn, and at the same time, she felt like giggling as a schoolgirl would.

Maybe that was the reason behind the famous phrase: Butterflies in your stomach?

But what Hanabi felt, was definitely not as light as a flutter from a butterfly's wings.

It was as strong as tyhoons.

And shamelessly, Hanabi wished Akutagawa felt the same for her.

Her river of thoughts had been interupted by the ringing of her cell phone, which was loud enough to startle her. Embarrassed and thankful that no one she knew had witnessed her being scared by a phone, she dugged it out from the pocket in her grey skirt and put it next to her ear.

"Hanabi!" A voice wailed from the other end. It belonged to no one other than Higuchi, whom Hanabi recalled, was Akutagawa's subordinate.

"You have to come Quick!" Higuchi continued, practically in a hectic panic.

"What is it?"

"It's Akutagawa-senpai!" He's been captured and taken hostage by one of the Mafia's enemy organizations!"

Hanabi's eyes widened, and she ended the call after saying that she'll be there soon. Standing up, she dumped the rest of her ice cream in a trash bin (regrettably). Then, she took the first few footsteps in a rushed state, eventually accelerating to a sprint.

°••°••°••°••°☆

"Hanabi!"

Higuchi gasped when she spotted Hanabi running towards her. They had agreed to meet at the Mafia's weapon safe house, which was a small, barely illuminated store right beside the main building of the organization.