Keomi could feel her heart stop as she read the name on her phone. She felt the world freeze and at that moment nothing could touch her spirit. She couldn't feel the wind blowing against her nor could she hear the few people left on the dock. Kumika Yukimi. The name of the girl she had saved from Akutagawa.
Evidently the Boss no longer thought that the young girl was a worthy enough asset to keep alive. Which meant if she did not kill the young girl now, soon those who do not care about children's lives will come after her.
A lesson Mori had said.
"A lesson and a test in one day." Keomi spoke out into the ocean her eyes growing colder, "Perfect."
But Keomi knew there was only one decision that she could make on this path that could save her soul. On the other side of the coin there was a path that she could never come back from. Staining her soul with blood forever. To kill the child or to save her.
But there was never really any choice. She could not kill the child. But she could not allow herself to die either as payment for that child's blood.
She waited there at the dock for awhile wondering if he would show up. He was always around when she did not want him to be. Just one time she needed him to be there when she needed him to be. Thirty minutes passed and the summer air was growing colder by the second. The moon was a symbol of an unforgiving chill in their city.
"Come on Dazai. For once can you just show up when I actually want you to." Keomi spoke with a huff and in disappointment she allowed her shoulders to sag ever so slightly. The Boss would be expecting her to complete her mission before the sun rose. Using the night sky as cover.
"I wasn't aware there was a time when you ever wanted me to show up, Keomi-Chan." Dazai replied as he leaned against the railing his front facing the people while his back faced the ocean. The opposite of Keomi. He spoke her name in relaxed tone his lips lifting up into a barely noticeable smirk.
"Trust me, I never thought the day would come either Traitor." Keomi responded using the nickname so many of the port mafia used, namely Akutagawa, when referencing Dazai Osamu. Still, she had to hold back a sigh of relief that the man had actually appeared when she needed him to.
"What are you doing out here on the docks wishing for the traitor of your comrades to come around?" Dazai responded turning his head to look at the side profile of Keomi's face. His hair falling as his head tilted as Keomi watched him from her peripherals.
"I received my next target directly from the Boss." Keomi held up her mobile phone in the air shaking it slightly as she spoke the words. She didn't even glance at the man as she handed the phone to him so that he could read the name.
"Kumika Yukimi." Dazai spoke aloud as he read the name off of the phone and only then did his eyes met hers. She looked towards him and all he could see in those eyes were steel cold determination. Eyes were the windows to the soul after all.
"I refuse to allow her to die. But I also refuse to die for disobeying the Boss." Keomi looked away from him and then she spoke again as she felt the cold air float through her messy bun once more knocking more hairs out of place, "You probably won't be seeing me for awhile."
"I'm your fail-safe, aren't I?" Dazai let a sloppy grin make its way onto his face as if they weren't discussing death.
"If I'm not back out on the streets in a month I need you to come looking for me. While I still refuse to abandon Akutagawa..." Keomi trailed off not wanting to speak the next words no matter how true they were. Dazai knew what she was going to say. Everyone at the agency now understood her driving force.
"Your family is worth more than anyone at the Port Mafia could ever be." Dazai finished off for Keomi watching her carefully and nodding in understanding. He had come to believe that she would sacrifice any and all of her morals to find her family. Then Yukimi came along.
"I see far too much of myself in that child to allow her to die now." Keomi responded remembering the way the young girl gripped her arm with tears in her eyes. Like she was the only thing that could save her from drowning in a sea of sorry.
"The Boss will be furious with you surely you realize how much easier it would be to simply leave the Mafia." Dazai replied even though he knew their was absolutely no way that the young girl would do so. She wanted to avoid being like him at all cost and that would only cement her in being like him.
"I can't abandon him Dazai. I can't be like..." Keomi didn't want to say the words even though she knew that Dazai understood what she meant. Even if he was a traitor... he wasn't a bad person. No matter how much the Mafia seems to think so.
"Me?" Dazai's eyebrow raised and he tilted as he watched the girl in amusement.
"Yeah." Keomi let out a small sigh and moved so that she was no longer looking out at the ocean. Instead she was leaning against the rail like Dazai was as the few who braved the shadows of the night walked about.
"You know eventually you're going to have to make a choice." Dazai spoke and Keomi was confident that it was his favorite thing to say to her, "Whether you want to avoid being like me or being like me to protect those who mean the most to you."
"That's the question isn't it?" Keomi disregarded his question about a choice and replacing it with one of her own, "Who matters the most to me? Is it the family who raised me? Maybe the men I consider my closest friends in this lifetime? Or is it the innocent girl I swore to protect?"
Dazai only looked at her so Keomi continued not looking at the shaggy haired brunette, "If Yukimi wasn't around my status at the Mafia wouldn't be in jeopardy. I would be a step closer to the Boss trusting me. I wouldn't have to worry about sacrificing my relationship with Akutagawa for that of my family."
A more vicious person would simply do the job that Mori had tasked Keomi with. The child would only prove to give her more problems as time went on. It's not as if it would be terribly difficult to figure out where the agency had placed the child. Simply turn on the loving charm before that she had displayed and then kill her before they figured out the truth.
But would Keomi really have any humanity left to return to the family that she had been fighting for?
"That's true." Dazai replied to her simply not giving away his thoughts on the matter. Only then did Keomi turn to look at Dazai with a sad smile on her face.
"You know Akutagawa thinks we would get along well if we were on the same side of things." Keomi spoke while licking her dried lips and Dazai's eyes went down to the action. For the second time in her life, Dazai Osamu made a pang go through her body. She wondered why now, after the first time when she met him months ago, that it happened. She had to ignore it.
"Do you think he's right?" Dazai pondered aloud while his eyes continued to watch her lips instead of her eyes. Both parties deciding to ignore that little fact.
"Probably. I try not to think about it that often." Keomi's eyes flitted down for the briefest moment to the brunettes lips thinking that his eyes would stay on her own pair of lips. But when her eyes flitted back to his she found his eyes on hers and his lips pulled up to a smirk.
"Maybe one day we will find out if his hypothesis is right or not." Dazai gave a mischievous smile at the girl before turning forward and getting up from the rail.
"Good-bye Dazai." Keomi spoke quietly where only Dazai could hear her as she spoke his name instead of Traitor or Dazai-Kun. Instead just saying his name with no hidden meanings or motives.
"I'll see you in a month, Keomi."
Keomi headed back to headquarters knowing that the next month or so of her life would be agony. She had stopped to eat a large amount of food and drank more water at once then she could remember. The Boss would limit her energy levels through her food supply. She figured if she started with a large quantity it would help her in the long run.
"I apologize for failing you Boss." Keomi spoke softly bowing her head towards the Boss while Chuuya stood aside watching her. He tried to make sure the fear he felt in his heart for his pupil would not show on his face. The Boss wouldn't like this response one bit.
"What is your reason for failing Keomi? Was it too difficult to find a child?" The Boss asked in a mocking way towards Keomi while shaking his head.
"The agency seems to be the ones who captured the girl. I could not trace where they have hidden her." Keomi responded her head still bowed towards the Boss as she threw the agency under the bus.
"I see." Two words that held so much anger in his voice. Keomi couldn't hold back the flinch and every single person in the office saw it.
"I deserve any punishment you deem fit for my transgressions Sir." Keomi spoke and only then did she dare to lift her eyes to the Boss who was watching her intently.
"Your failure can not go unpunished as you have said." Mori walked towards her and got down on one knee in front of her, "However, I understand that you do not have the power right now to kill someone who is protected by the agency."
Keomi watched as a devious smile that showed all of his teeth grew on the Boss's face. Like he had struck Gold in his mind and that he had come up with the perfect solution. Keomi watched him hesitantly as he held out his hand for her to take.
"Stand for me my beautiful little bird." The Boss watched as Keomi put her hand in his and he pulled her up to stand, "For today you will be reborn into something completely new."
A month had passed and while after three weeks Akutagawa finally came from the shadows of the city once more. No one had seen Keomi or the Wisp in the city since. Dazai could only assume that the girl was still alive by the way Akutagawa acted in the city. He imagined that if his protege died that he would kill those who stood against him more ferociously.
"What do you think happened to Shizuka-San, Dazai-San?" Atsushi asked while he watched Dazai spin around in his chair throwing a paper ball in the air over and over.
"Who knows Atsushi? She's in the Port Mafia, there could be any number of reasons for her disappearance." Dazai shrugged his shoulders in mock indifference, not that anyone in the agency knew this. No one knew of his meeting with the girl either. He was already working on trying to find her like he had promised but it was proving to be... difficult.
"I guess it's just... the President seems really worried." Atsushi replied and it was true. Ever single member of the agency had noticed the differences in the way the President was acting. He seemed more stressed than usual, especially since the members were able to pick up on that fact. Normally, the president hid his feelings well.
"I'm sure she will turn up eventually Atsushi. The Boss wouldn't get rid of someone like her on a whim." Dazai replied even though he wondered if that would be exactly why the Boss would choose to get rid of her. Her power was immense and it was still growing after being dormant for the majority of her life.
"I don't think that would comfort the President at all." Atsushi's eyebrows scrunched together as he thought about the President some more. He wished he could help him in some way. He should have never let Dazai talk him into letting Shizuka-San go so many times when they knew the President wanted her.
"It remains true all the same."
"The Boss hasn't told you anything about Keomi's whereabouts Chuuya?" Akutagawa asked Chuuya for the third time this week and Chuuya wished with everything in him that he had an answer for the kid. Not only because his constant show of worry for the girl was pestering him but also because he had grown fairly fond of Sparks himself.
"I wish I had an answer for you Akutagawa, but all the Boss has said is that she is serving out her punishment amicably." Chuuya responded and while he had no idea what his temporary protege was currently doing he knew one thing for sure. She was alive. Otherwise the Boss would have shown her death through the halls of the Mafia to show the people what happened if they crossed him.
"I find it hard to believe that no one other than the Boss knows what is going on." Akutagawa retorted as his arms went across his chest and he leaned back in his chair. They were at the bar they frequented with Keomi after they had successfully stopped a shipment that was going to one of the Port Mafia's Rivals.
"Where's Keomi today? I haven't seen her in awhile and while I'll never turn away a paying customer..." The Bartender, Akutagawa could not be bothered to remember the man's name, spoke to his two patrons looking at them with curiosity burning in his eyes.
"She's off traveling for now but she'll be back soon. We figured we'd have a drink of her regular though while she was away." Akutagawa was the one to answer the man nonetheless even though he spoke in a bored tone.
"Ahhhh," The Bartender drew out the syllables and gave them a knowing smile, "You guys miss her a lot, hm?"
The two port mafiosos looked at each other knowing that in their particular circles you were never meant to admit such a thing. Caring about people was a weakness that neither of them could afford to have. But here... perhaps they could admit it more to themselves then this meaningless man that Keomi had grown a liking to.
"Yeah... It's hard not having her around all the time." Akutagawa was the first one to answer again while Chuuya was being peculiarly silent, which was odd for him. Akutagawa had a sad smile on his face that was tight against him.
"I've grown used to her calling me Shortie." An innocent tug pulled Chuuya's lips into a small smirk as he spoke the words. The tiniest of chuckles echoed through his throat as he thought about her always calling him that. From anybody else he would hate it, or perhaps kill them, but from her.... He just enjoyed messing around with her. He could never hurt her.
"Alright then, two regulars for the little lady. Wherever she may be." The bartender poured the two drinks in front of the pair putting in the flower that both boys knew she enjoyed so much.
"To wherever she may be." Chuuya lifted his glass towards Akutagawa while the Bartender walked away to serve the rest of the few patrons in his fine establishment.
"To wherever she may be." Akutagawa mumbled clinking his glass against Chuuya's as his smile fell from his face. He mouthed the words once more to himself trying to let them sink in, "To wherever she may be."