Budo's father angrily got into his car. He slammed the car door shut and firmly pressed both of his hands against the steering wheel and let out a ragged sigh. He didn't want to admit it but he felt absolutely vulnerable. He had no clue to where his son could be nor did he know the condition he was in. He felt the cold creeping of anxiety snake down his spine as his mind went to the worst possible conclusion of his sons fate. Masuta-Sensei may have not shown it, but he did deeply cared about his son, Budo was his only child, his own flesh and blood. He loved him even though he had the most troubling of times showing it. Masuta-Sensei goes into his glove compartment to retrieve his flask. He uncaps it and tilts his head downward as he chugged the remaining of the delicious and bitter liquor it contained. Once it was empty he threw the flask at the back seat and rested his head on the steering wheel.
Budo's fathers mind suddenly flashed the excruciating image of Ayano Aishi. The devious girl who had taken his son in the first place. The girl that had Ryoba Aishi's vile blood coursing through her. Once again anger took over him and he banged his fists against the dashboard of his car. This was all her fault, she was the barrier that blocked him from his own son. Masuta-Sensei angrily shoved his car keys into the ignition and turns it, automatically the vehicle starts up and the interior lights up. Masuta-Sensei puts his car in drive and sped off down the moon-lit street.
Masuta-Sensei drove through the night to his house, his anger did not diminished at all. He wondered why he was the only one doing something when he shouldn't have to. There was no sense of justice in this town, it was corrupted with vile people as well as cowards who turn their heads away. His mind briefly flashed to Ryoba's trial the thought made him click his tongue in anger. He was tired of it all.
In the distance, Masuta-Sensei spots a police car parked on the left side of the street he was driving down. He felt himself glare at the car and gently, his foot hit the accelerator further. The police was one factor contributing to this injustice, they did nothing against Ryoba's case just stood there and believed in her lies and now her daughter stood in her place. Her daughter had his son. His foot slammed on the accelerator and immediately his vehicle collided with the police car. The harsh impact caused both vehicles to bruise and cave in with deep dents. The headlights of the police car shattered and crumbled to the ground.
Masuta-Sensei's vision was temporary covered with the cushion of the air bag that came out of his car. What he did was reckless but he couldn't care less, the anger within him was dangerous and breaking something was the only thing that would quench it. Masuta-Sensei puts his car in reverse to high-tail it out only to find that he couldn't. His car was stuck in the other vehicle in a tangled mess. There was no way he could get out of this mess now.
"Damn it all!" Masuta-Sensei cursed under his breath. He rests his head once again on the cushion of the air bag. His breath smelled like alcohol and his legs shook violently from the crash. "Damn it...damn it.."
A sudden tap on the window door echoed throughout the car. Masuta-Sensei quickly jumped at the sound and turned his head around to meet face to face with a man. He suspected it was a police officer ready to take him in but the man before him was not an officer, in fact he looked more like a doctor. He had dark-rimmed glasses and chestnut colored hair, and he wore a long white coat. His grey eyes resembled that of a raging thunderstorm.
"Sir, please step out of the car." The mans deep voice says through the window of his car.
Masuta-Sensei raised an eyebrow at the mans assertive tone. "Why should I? You're not a cop."
"That may be true." The grey-eyed man replies earning a smug grin from Masuta-Sensei's face but in a matter of few seconds that grin was wiped from it when the grey-eyed man flashed him his crime scene badge, showing the name Satoru Orochi. "However, I am a forensic scientist and very close to the police department when taking down destructive people like you." The grey-eyes man replies curtly.
Masuta-Sensei curses under his breath at his luck. He slowly unlocks the car and steps out in front of the grey-eyed man shooting him a glare. The grey-eyed man briefly glanced over at the wreckage that laid across from them.
"May I ask why you had the need to purposely struck one of my officers beloved car?"
"I don't need to answer to you, I know my Miranda rights."
"I see, so you aren't that uneducated as I thought."
"What the hell did you say!?"
"Silence, everything you say is currently be recorded under my benefit but be my be guest if you wish to threaten me." Satoru says as he glances over at Masuta-Sensei with an almost bored expression on his face.
"This isn't fucking fair!! Why am I always the bad guy!?" Masuta-Sensei yells slamming his fists against the hood of his car out of frustration. Satoru watched him with a raised eyebrow and a hint of amusement on his face.
"Well, I don't think purposely crashing into a car is something a good Samaritan does." Satoru replies to the mans distress. Masuta-Sensei shot him a dirty look and Satoru spoke again. "Anyways, drivers license and registration please."
Masuta-Sensei mutters under his breath as he went into his coat pocket for his wallet where his drivers license laid. He could feel those stormy grey eyes watching him intently and it pissed him off. More than anything Masuta-Sensei wanted to deck this so called 'forensic scientist' in the face and speed off but he knew that would just lead to more trouble down the road.
Finally, Masuta-Sensei pulled out his brown color wallet and produced his drivers license. He irritably handed the plastic card to the stormy eyed man.
Satoru Orochi briefly skimmed the card and pauses for a moment. "Ah...so your last name is Masuta..huh?"
"What of it?" Masuta-Sensei asks annoyed.
"I believe I met your son before, Budo Masuta, correct?"
"Huh...!?" Masuta-Sensei was startled. "You know my son?"
"Indeed I do, I was doing some questioning on Akademi's buried student case. Your son was one of the victims, I have yet to question him on the case though." Satoru says recalling the young boy with the white bandana.
"If you were investigating...then that means you question that Aishi-brat! Right!?" Masuta-Sensei says taking a step closer to the man. Satoru raised an eyebrow once again.
"I take it you mean Ayano Aishi." Satoru corrected.
"Yes, that's exactly who I mean I-" Masuta-Sensei suddenly pauses before he quickly grabs onto the mans shoulder. "You have to help me! That little bitch kidnapped my son!" Masuta-Sensei pleaded desperately.
Satoru looks down at him with widen eyes, his interest obviously peaked. He then quickly regained his composure and took the mans hands off his shoulders. "Kidnapped?...What time did this occur?" Satoru questions.
"Today, late afternoon! He was last seen at this old mans ramen shop who, by the way, didn't even bother to call the police." Masuta-Sensei replies. "I heard she just ran with him and no one stopped her! My fucking son could be dead for all I know!"
"I see, and the ramen shop you mentioned in the one located in the town down the street?"
"Yes, my son has a bad habit of going there." Masuta-Sensei replies shaking his head. "That shop is where he probably attracted that Aishi-brat."
"Hm...Quite a predicament you are in Mr.Masuta, but rest assured I will find your son because I am also worried about his well being." Satoru says trying to hide his interest under a professional mask. Now was finally the time to get Ayano Aishi exactly where he wanted her.
"You will?"
"Yes, I will make sure to bring you back your son and Ayano Aishi to justice." Satoru replies as the man let out a sigh of relief. Satoru adjusted his glasses. "Now...registration please."
________________________________________________________________
The pitter-patter of rain had eventually stopped around Budo and Ayano. He held the girl close to him as she continued to mumble softly under her breath.
"I don't need you...I don't need you..."
She was trying so hard to convince herself that she almost sounded like broken record repeating those words over and over. However, Budo didn't care if she needed him or not because he knew he needed her, just thinking about separation filled him with an violent amount of anxiety.
He desperately loved this girl that it was unhealthy.
Ayano slightly cringed under Budo's hold. He held her the same way she wanted to be held by her Senpai. Gentle and loving, not ever wanting to let go. Ayano hated it, and more than anything she hated that she just sat there being hold by someone other than her Senpai. Yet, she couldn't bring herself to hate this it because she genuinely cared for this person. Budo Masuta. She desperately held fistful of his shirt in her hands.
The moonlight seem to hover over them as if the moon itself was watching over them. It was quiet, aside from the Martial Arts Leaders racing heartbeat.
Eventually, Ayano's subtle voice died down into gentle breaths, her hands gently slid off from his chest back to her side. Her head remained buried against his shoulder. Her pink lips parted and she spoke softly. "I don't understand.. anything anymore..."
"Ayano...."
"Its obvious you've grown attached to me...you won't leave me alone...you just seem to be always there...I find it really annoying....however...I don't hate it and I don't know why...."
"Maybe its because you've grown attached to me too..." Budo replies softly to her question.
"Is that it?....Is that normal...?" Ayano asks innocently. Usually the things she would feel and her dangerous obsession with Taro was far from normal to other people, but to a killer like her, it felt so natural that she no longer knew the fine line between normal and pure insanity.
"Yes...its very normal..." Budo replies smiling at her kindly.
"....I see...then I'm very glad..." Ayano whispers feeling herself gently doze off on Budo's shoulder. She felt warm inside, if this feeling were to wear off with her usual coldness, it felt nice to feel like a normal girl should, even if it was just for a minute. Darkness eventually flooded Ayano's vision and she drifted to sleep.
The Martial Arts Leader stroked the girls charcoal hair affectionately. Ayano must have been exhausted by today's events and who could blame her? Budo's right hand slipped under Ayano's slender legs and his left held her back up. He carefully lifted her off from the ground and walked back into the house with her.
He closes the door behind them and walked into a room that he assumed to be Ayano's. Her room was small and furnished, fit for a doll. There was a desk with a monitor on top as well as a television right next to it. There were a few cabinets, a closet and a small bed with vanilla colored sheets.
Budo stepped into the simple room and gently laid Ayano down on the vanilla bed. Her clothes were still damp but he didn't want to rustle her awake in taking them off. He gently draped the sheets over her delicate body and felt his heart warm at the sight of her. She looked so peaceful when she slept even when she was in the hospital she had the same peaceful look to her. More than anything he wanted to curl up besides her, he knew she would keep him warm and even safe. However, he had to quench his desire in respect to Ayano. He quickly averted his eyes from the girl and felt his eyes survey her room curiously.
Surprisingly, her room didn't have any over the top girly content scattered around like plushies, posters or throw pillows. It was quite a simple room which seem to perfectly match Ayano's reserved personality.
Budo's eyes gazed over at the bulletin board near Ayano's computer desk. He approaches the board and intently gazed at the multiple pictures that laid on it. There was some of Ayano in her middle school days, and some of her on the first day of freshman year. Budo's eyes continue to glaze over at the memories until his eyes met a certain picture.
In one picture stood a young man beside a cherry blossom tree. The pink petals danced around him and his face showed a calm and oblivious one as if he didn't know the picture was even taken. It took Budo a few seconds to realize the picture he was staring at was no other than Taro Yamada. Budo felt his eyes widen at the picture then immediately he felt jealously boil within him. Now that he noticed it, there was a quite a lot of pictures of Taro on Ayano's bulletin board. He was too focused on Ayano to even notice Taro being there.
Before Budo could even stop his own actions his hand reach for the photo and plucked it off the bulletin board. One after another the photos of Taro Yamada fluttered to the ground. Just seeing Taro's face made Budo sick with anger and jealousy especially since he knew Ayano still had feelings for him. As the last photo flutter to the ground, Budo stared at the ground that laid the pile of photos emotionless. They didn't deserve to be there.
"Agh...what am I doing?" Budo says shaking himself out of his strange stupor. He never felt that empty and low before that it surprised him. He looks down at the pile of pictures of Taro and immediately felt guilty for taking down Ayano's photos of him. Why was he so mad? It was common for a girl to have pictures of the one she loves in her room. He quickly kneels down and gathered the pile of photos and tried to replace them back on the board using the tacks. Once he was finished he was sure Ayano would notice the raggedy mess he made of her bulletin board and sighed in defeat.
He takes one more glance at the photos of Taro. There was many of them, there was one of Taro reading a book by the fountain and another one with Taro leisurely walking down the hallway. Surely, Ayano had taken these pictures without Taro's permission.
"She really does love him..." Budo whispers to himself as he looks back at Ayano's sleeping form. There was no way her feelings for Taro would change quickly, it was a slow process. He felt his body walked towards Ayano's side. Once he was in front of her, he kneels down and rests his hand over her own. He gazes down at her face lovingly, admiring her pale complexion, her long black eyelashes and doll like pink lips. His charcoal eyes laid intently on her lips.
"Damn it..."The Martial Arts leader mutters to himself and he bit his lip. Slowly, he leans down to her. His eyes fixated on Ayano's closed one before he gently places a soft kiss on the side of her neck.
"I'll wait for you...Ayano..." Budo whispers has his lips leave Ayano's skin. Despite her feelings for Taro Yamada now, he knew he could win Ayano's heart somehow. Ayano stirs a bit in her sleep before turning away to lay on her other side. Budo smiles lightly and moves away from the girl. He leaves her room and shuts the door behind him with a soft click.
Budo enters Ayano's now pitch black living room and flicks on the lamp illuminating a small area of the room. He walks up to the couch and slipped into it comfortably, he grabs a throw pillow and tucks it under his head. Finally, he turns to his side and closed his eyes letting sleep take over him.
***************************
The night was quiet with only the occasional chirps of the night crickets and the sound of cars driving by. The lamp in the back of the living room was on acting as a gentle night light.
scratch drag scratch
The sound of light scratching woke the Martial Arts Leader up. Still drowsy from sleep, his head cock to the side in confusion as to what had woken him. Then he heard it again, the sound of something scratching the door. Budo sat up on the couch now, his eyes now fixated on the entrance door. As he stared at the door, the scraping sound was heard again but abruptly stopped. Suddenly the doorknob began to lightly jiggle and turn, it was moved as if it were trying to be quiet. Budo began to sweat at this sight, he tightens his white headband that was wrapped around his head and clenched his fists. It was clear that someone was trying to get in.
Budo silently got up from the couch and cautiously makes his way over to the door. When he was finally in front of it he let out a quiet, nervous breath. He was capable of taking down whoever this was but the only questions remained was how armed was this person? And how many were there outside? The anxiety started to build up within him, the outcome of this situation had many possibilities and most of them he envisioned were not good.
After trying to calm himself down, Budo craned his head upward to peek into the peephole. With one charcoal eye closed, he gazed into the peephole and to his horror he was met with another eye. A red ruby eye stared back at him before it dilated once it spotted Budo's. Budo immediately yanked himself away from it and almost immediately loud pounding was heard from the door. Budo backed away from it feeling sweat run down his face. The doorknob jiggled and tried to turn again.
"I'm calling the police!" Budo says loud enough for the intruder to hear. However, there was no answer but a loud bang, it rang hard throughout the room and Budo could swear he heard the wooden door crack. His eyes darted around the living room for any sign of a phone. He spots one at the back of the living room and runs towards it. The harsh banging on the door never stopped but only got progressively louder. Before Budo could even grab for the phone the door suddenly swung open, hitting hard against the wall revealing the intruders dark silhouette.
"Damn!" Budo curses and gets into his fighting stance. There was no way he would go down without a fight.
The intruder slowly enters the room and stood across from Budo. There before him was a girl with blood-red eyes and short black hair, she wore a black and red school uniform, with black stockings and shoes. Her face was void of any emotion and in her right hand laid an iron mallet. The mallet was slightly bruised showing that the harsh banging came from it. She briefly brought up her right hand and moves her bangs away from her pale face. Her eyes then narrowed at the Martial Arts leader like a sniper easing in on its target. She slowly approaches him.
"Don't come any further!" Budo shouts keeping his fighting stance. However, the girl with blood-red eyes continued to slowly approach him, not bothered by his shout. The mallet in her hand slowly began to rise. Budo felt more sweat dripped down his face, this girl wasn't going to back down either. "You asked for it!" Budo shouted.
Budo was the first one to make a move. He runs at the red-eyed girl and ducks under her swing. Seeing a small opening, he raises his fist to do a clean uppercut but the girl saw it coming and dodged his attack. She came up to his side and grabbed both of his hands swiftly before kneeing him hard in the stomach. Budo spat out involuntarily from the hit. She quickly threw his body to the ground when he went limp. Budo fell to the ground and did a barrel roll as he quickly got up.
"Why are you doing this!?" Budo says to the girl as one of his hand gingerly rubbed his hurt stomach.
"...." There was no reply but just the same expressionless face. She cracked her neck and slowly approached him again. Her blood red eyes seemed to glow unnaturally against the darkness of the room.
"Not much of a talker..." Budo comments under his breath as his hands tighten into fists. Budo runs at her once again and this time he threw himself on her. He hoped the unexpected move would caught her off guard and luckily it did. The two of them tumbled onto the couch causing it to fall over with a loud thud. Budo still conscious from the fall quickly tried to pry the girls weapon from her hand but to no avail it wouldn't budge. The red-eye girl struggled beneath him until her hands shot up in an attempt to stick her thumbs into the Martial Arts Leaders eyes. Budo quickly falter at the attempt and craned his head back to avoid it. This left the girl an opening to raise her slender leg and kick the boy off of her. Budo fell back but quickly sat up to see the girl starting to crawl towards him. He quickly backs up from her trying to get as much distance as he can. Suddenly, he felt the still wall press against his back and curses under his breath. The red-eyed girl lunges for him like a tiger about to pin its prey. Budo quickly threw himself to the side barely missing her grab. She hit her head against the wall. hard. Budo quickly backed away and stood up. The girl slowly removed her head from the now indented wall before slowly gazes up at him with blood running down her forehead. She showed no sign of pain or any expression for that matter.
"What the hell are you...?" Budo says breathlessly as he stared at the girl with disbelief. The only girl he knew that was this strong was Ayano but now she seemed to be a second place compared to this girls strength.
The red-eyed girl slowly got up and stared at him. The blood ran down her face like a river but she paid no attention to it. Without warning, the girl ran at him, it caught Budo off guard since she would always slowly stalk him but now it seems she was taking a rather bold approach. She raised her mallet high and hit down at Budo. The mallet grazed his arm before he could even think to dodge. Budo hisses in pain and tries to suck it all in, he's been through worst, he can surely handle this one girl.
The girl continued her assault and kept trying to aim for his upper body. Budo kept dodging her attacks but he knew he would eventually wear himself out if he kept evading her attacks. He had to act fast before he would meet the end of the mallet. Budo suddenly shot one of his arm out and grab the girls neck trying to find the key pressure point. The girl grabs his arm and right at that moment Budo hits her pressure point. The girls head twitches slightly and her grip on his arm loosened. She fell to the ground with her eyes still open and her face still emotionless. Budo lowers his guard and takes in a big sigh of relief. Before he could think of taking any further action he heard soft footsteps coming from the hall.
"Budo-kun..?" Ayano's head peers into the living room. Her form was illuminated by the soft orange lamp emitting in the back of the room. Her face suddenly froze when she saw the red-eyed girl on the floor twitching and bleeding from her forehead.
"Don't look, Ayano!" Budo says shielding her from the sight. He knew Ayano has been through enough and as exhausted as she was, he didn't want her to deal with anymore stress than she already had. "Go back to bed...I'll take care of this.."
"No, I want to know whats going on." Ayano says firmly moving herself from Budo but Budo wouldn't let her and grabbed her arm before she could go to the girl.
"I know you do but now is not the time, this girl isn't right!" Budo says recalling his fight with the red-eyed girl. Ayano struggled in his tight grip.
"Neither am I, I don't need a hero, Budo." Ayano firmly says to him. "I want to know why this girl had the nerve to break into my house!" Ayano says as her eyes darken. Budo felt a shiver go down his spine but ignored it, he couldn't have Ayano be reckless.
"Ayano, I understand how you feel but right now we need to-" Budo was suddenly cut off when a monotone like voice suddenly spoke.
"Ayano....Aishi...?" The red-eyed girl says craning her head to the side. Before they the two even had time to react, the red-eye girl slowly got up onto her two feet. Her movement was that of a robot. Slow and lethargic. Budo instinctively shielded Ayano with his body, however, he was shocked that the girl could even move at all after his deadly pressure point attack.
The girl spoke again, her eyes staring directly at Ayano. "You are the girl my employer seeks...you're coming...with me..."
"You'll have to go through me if you want her!" Budo says glaring as he swiped his arm out to block the red eye girl.
"Budo-kun..!" Ayano says looking up at the Martial Arts leader as if he was crazy.
The girl licks the red blood that has now trailed to the corner of her lip. Her eyes pierced through the Martial Arts Leader then at Ayano. She loosens her grip on the mallet and the mallet drops to the ground with a loud thud.
A look of confusion flashes before the Budo and Ayano.
"My employers conditions shall be met. I will not fail him." The red eye girl says as both her arms go behind her back. What she reveals next made Budo's eyes widen in shock. In the red-eyed girls grasp was a magnum pistol, the silver gun produce a flashy glint of silver light and he could see that it was fully loaded. The girl swiftly removed the safety lock and points the silver weapon at Budo. Budo still in shock quickly snapped out of it, now was not the time to make mistakes. He felt his hands shake as he brought them up to his fighting stance, most of his Martial Arts training consisted of self-defense techniques against fists, kicks and knifes, never a gun. Fear started to settle in when he realized that any moment his life could end. His heart hammered violently against his chest and he could feel his throat tighten making it hard to breathe.
However, he remembered someone important to him was behind him. Ayano. The girl that saved his life countless times, she showed him good times and bad times that he would never regret having. She was the only girl that made him feel truly alive. The anxiety that had build up within him had melted from him as he firmly stood his ground.
"B-Budo-kun, what are you doing!?" Ayano says alarmed when she saw that Budo made no effort to move. She had never been in a gun fight, it intrigued her a little but she didn't want Budo to get hurt or even worse. That was the last thing she wanted.
Budo could hear Ayano's panicked voice behind him but he paid no attention to her. He was willing to take a bullet for her even if she objected it. If this was a chance for her to continue to be alive then he would take a chestful of bullets for her. He would do this because he ultimately loved her so much.
The red eyed girl narrowed her eyes at Budo's persistence, knowing that it would not matter in the end. A corpse is a corpse. With the gun still pointed at him, the red eyed girl adjusted her aim to his neck. She wanted to hear his blood gurgling screams and see the waterfalls of scarlet blood spray out of him like a fountain. Her index finger touched the trigger ready to push it.
"Budo..!?" Ayano says to him again trying to shake him from his stance but he didn't allow himself to move, he was a human shield now. He was ready for any outcome there was.
"Budo, stop it!" Ayano pleads latching onto his arm but her pleads were ignored.
The red eyed girl's index finger pulls the trigger emitting a loud BANG from the silver gun.
"YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" Ayano screams as she tackles the Martial Arts Leaders body to the ground. The spiraling bullet rushes by and misses them by a hair. It hits the wall leaving a circular indent.
"A-Ayano!" Budo says coming to his senses. She was on top of him, her charcoal eyes staring down at him with anger and determination. She quickly glances up to see that the red eyed girl was hesitating on shooting since she was on top of him.
Thinking fast, Ayano noticed a lamp that was turn on behind her. She kick the dresser that had the lamp on top of it. The kick was hard enough that the lamp toppled over and fell onto the ground shattering it and completely engulfing the room in pure darkness. The red eyed girl let out a surprised gasp and Ayano took the advantage of grabbing the Martial Arts Leader and running to the nearest room. Their escape was rash and Ayano knew the red eyed girl would be tailing them. She enters the nearest room which was her parents room and rushed Budo in before locking the door behind them.
A few gun shots were heard down the hallway causing the two to quickly back away from the door. It would only be in a matter of seconds before the door would taken down by the girl.
Ayano glances around the room wearily, if they were to go to the window they would risk being caught and even shot. She then glances over at her parents closet door.
"This way!" Ayano whispers at she quickly dragged Budo into her parents closet. She quickly shuts the door and fiddled with the lock. Ayano could hear light footsteps echo down the hallway making her heartbeat quicken. Finally, she manages to lock the closet door right before a loud bang was heard and the sound of a door landing on the floor.