Tell Me Goodbye
Posting this here as well cause Winglin's slightly mad.
Satoshi Ohno was not your typical man. He was the type who looked at the world differently and that translated into the way he assesses things, the way he reacts to things. It wasn't easy to understand him and truth be told, very few people actually can. The one thing that people do know about him though is his unwavering loyalty to the clan. He had been brought up by the Ueno clan after all and they had trained him to become not only a capable administrator for the clan but also a deadly troubleshooter who made sure anyone who goes against the clan to regret it.
It has been nearly three years now since he made his bones and now he was trusted with all manner of assignments by the boss. Which was why even though he understood the assignment given to him today, he did not really appreciate it. He had been entrusted by the boss to pick up the ojou-sama who has spent the last six years studying in the states after living in England with her mother for almost ten years and he had subsequently been assigned to be her bodyguard for the next few months while the clan dealt with some delicate issue that had come up with a rival yakuza clan.
The last time he met the ojou-sama, sixteen years ago, she had been ten and was this tiny little thing that asked too many questions and wouldn't listen to anyone to save her life. Not that he had ever really talked to her anyway; she was the heiress of the Ueno clan. He was a nameless ragamuffin who did odd jobs for them.
He had no right to have even entertained that idea that…
Ohno shook his head.
That’s right. He was in no position to entertain that idea neither then nor now.
Funny how he remembered that right before she left the country he had wanted to tell her something…
Regardless though, he does what he has been ordered to do. It is who he is. So right now Ohno stubbed out the cigarette that he had been smoking, straightened his coat and walked into the arrival terminal of Narita airport. The place was bustling with people, tens of different languages floating around him. Ohno scratched his head uncomfortably; he hated being on situations that he could not control. The foreignness of the people around him was one of those things. He had never left the soil of Japan even once in his life, not even to go to Okinawa.
Checking his watch then the flight arrival schedule, he made his way to the correct gate, his head swiveling as he studied one interesting foreigner to the next. However the ones who really blew his mind were the ones who looked completely local but sound completely foreign. Or that foreign blonde businessman over there who was talking animatedly on his phone in fluent Japanese.
A moment later the sliding door separating the inner terminal and arrival hall opened and people, travelers, started pouring out. Ohno craned his neck, searching the group of people for the ojou-sama. He had not brought a name card because he that he could recognize her and pick her out in a crowd. He was not wrong. The moment she walked out of the terminal he recognized her. The scrawny little girl had definitely grown up and Ohno lifted an eyebrow at he tiny flimsy sundress and impossibly high heels she had on. Where the hell did she think she was??
The Maldives??
He approached her as she walked out into the terminal and spoke to her, "Ojou-san?" causing her to whirl around to face him, the skirt of that flippy dress whirling out with her spin, showing a lot more leg than was necessary. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
She didn’t remember him.
"I’m Ohno Satoshi, I work for you father," Ohno responded only to have her huff loudly at his statement.
"I should have figured that he would rather send one of his buttheads to pick me up than meet me himself.”
Ohno didn't respond. He was not the type. Ueno Juri sniffed in insult again before thrusting the luggage cart she has been pushing to him, "Fine then, since you're here we might as well get going."
Was nice to see you again too, Ohno thought sarcastically as he followed behind her. He could tell that he was just going to LOVE this assignment.
+++++
"Seriously, what kind of a man are you?" she huffed as Ohno grimaced in the effort, shifting the heavy shopping bags around so that he could distribute the weight around a lot more evenly.
They had been walking around Ginza for the better half of the day as the ojou-sama flitted from one shop to another, spending money as though it grew on trees. Then again, in her case it might have well been true. She stalked on, heels clicking imperiously on the pavement as her bodyguard (cum slave labour) stumbled after her.
It wasn't until another couple of hours later was she finally satisfied with what Ohno seemed as random wandering from store to store and more randomness in choosing things she seemed interested in.
"Let’s get a drink," she declared and without waiting for an answer from him to what was more of a statement than any invitation she strode off down the street, leaving Ohno who was still struggling with her shopping bags behind. He found her two blocks down, sitting on the porch seat of a café, an Americano on the table in front of her, looking annoyed that he had dared taken so long to find her.
“Get the car,” she told him the moment he reached her and dumped the shopping bags on the ground at her feet.
What happened to ‘let’s have a drink?’ Ohno wondered but he didn’t contradict her. It wasn’t in his nature anyway.
“I’m not supposed to leave you alone,” he replied, sitting down on the seat across from her, “We can call the driver to come pick us up here.”
Juri watched her bodyguard’s back as he left her to her drink to make the call a few feet away. He was different this one. All her life she had been surrounded by one bodyguard or another but not one had any of them ever put up with her selfish demands with such stoic patience. She had seen the way the other men in the clan treated him so she knew that he wasn’t just one of her father’s dumb henchmen. He actually held a rather high position in the clan.
So why was one of the clan’s main trouble shooter being assigned the lowly job of a bodyguard?
Juri was not dumb. She was her father’s daughter after all.
It meant something big was going on and her father believed her to be in enough danger to warrant one of his top men to protect her. What ever the case was, this Ohno was certainly taking his job seriously. He might seem as though he was doing nothing much but following her around like a loyal little puppy dog but she saw the way his eyes darts around them, expertly scanning the surrounding for anything that might seemed suspicious.
Even now as he sat on the chair in front of her he didn’t seem as though he was totally relaxed.
“Ne, Ohno-san,” she spoke up, “Tell me, what is the old man up to these days. Things around the house seem a lot more tense than usual.”
“You shouldn’t concern yourself with such things ojou-sama,” he responded.
“You’re just as bad as the lot of them,” Juri scowled, crossing her arms over her chest, “Treating me as though I’m a child.”
“I do what is necessary for your safety.”
“For my father’s orders you mean.”
He didn’t respond, merely standing up and picking her shopping bags as the car approached them.
------
The blast rocked the very foundation of the house and Juri bolted upright in bed, stumbling to her feet as the smell of smoke filled the room. The entire Ueno estate seemed to have erupted into chaos and all she could hear around her were the echoing gunfire and shouting.
Even though she had always known exactly who her father was, this was the first time she had ever been slapped in the face with it.
Juri crawled under her bed, trembling at every explosion when her own door was kicked down with surprising force.
“Ojou-sama!” her bodyguard shouted and she suddenly found herself sobbing with relief.
Never had she thought she would be so glad to see him in her life.
“Here!” she responded, coming out from under her bed to see him standing at the door, gun in hand, blood running down one side of his face but a look of intense reprieve at the sight of her alive and in one piece.
“Come on,” he said, grabbing her by the arm and hauling her to her feet, “We got to get you out of here.”
“My father…” Juri choked as they ran through the smoking corridor.
“He has other men with him. My duty is to protect you,” was the answer they received.
They would occasionally stumble into some other people. Some who worked for her father, some not so and Ohno would open fire on them without even flinching. It was a bloody battle field and she was caught right in the middle of it.
They ran through the kitchen and burst out the back door only to come face to face with another group of assailants - three of them and one of them had a gun. Ohno lifted his own gun again but it clicked in his hand. No more bullets.
“Hide!” he shouted at her, shoving her behind one of the massive marble pots before launching himself at the other men. She crouched behind the pot, trembling as she watched him fight them. He was lighting quick and with one kick sent the gun the man was holding skittering from his hands. Now they needed to fight him and the men had a hard time against him but still, it was three against one and Ohno went down to his knees when one of the men hit him on the back with a metal bat.
He swung around catching the bat at the man’s next swing but another man kicked him in the stomach, sending him down.
“Ohno!!” Juri shouted involuntarily. Without even knowing when she had moved, she found herself aiming the gun Ohno had kicked away moments ago on the man attacking him. When did she pick it up? She shot and the recoil of the gun nearly sent her flying backwards.
“Oi!” the men shouted, turning to look at her. She was still holding the gun even as she was trembling as they advanced on her but Ohno took the chance to grab a fallen piece of marble and bash the closest men in the head. The other two turn in surprise and he took them out as well.
“Come on!” he shouted at her, dropping the piece of marble and grabbing her so he could drag her out of there. They raced through the garden to the garage where they got into Ohno’s car to get out of there.
-------
“How long are you going to keep me here?” Juri ranted as Ohno came back to the hotel room he had checked her into with food and drinks.
“It’s been two days!”
“Your father has instructed me to make sure you stay safe.”
“But…”
“I follow instructions ojou-san,” he interrupted, settling down on the chair and switching on the television, “And until your father tells me it’s safe to take you home you will stay here.”
“I feel like a prisoner!” she wails, picking up a pillow and throwing it at him, one which he caught without flinching, “At least let me go out and stretch my legs or something?”
“No ojou-sama. You’re a target, especially now that the other clans know that you’re back here in Japan and that you escaped the raid.”
Juri sulked, sitting down heavily on the bed.
“You’re really just like all of them. Muscle head thugs who can’t think or themselves and only do what my father orders.”
He didn’t reply, merely glancing sideways at her.
“Aho,” she muttered, “Baka.”
He didn’t answer and she huffed in annoyance before getting off the bed and crossing the room to the suite’s dining table where he had put the food and unpacked them, sitting down to eat. Part of her annoyance melted away with her stomach being filled.
She turned to look at her bodyguard again.
“Tell me something though Ohno-san,” she spoke up, “My father IS okay right?”
“Yes. I contacted him the moment I got you out to safety. They managed to repel the raid at the manor but they have no idea what might happen next.”
Juri sighed, “Do you know what my father has been up to? What’s the reason things have been so bad lately?”
She looked at him, saw him hesitate, “Come on Ohno. I’m not a child anymore and I have no illusions who my father is. The least you can do is tell me what’s going on.”
Ohno paused, sticking his jaw out for a second, a habit she had come to recognize him to do when he was thinking then she could see him relent and he answered her, “You’re father is old fashion in the Yakuza world. He still believes in the adage of honour and brotherhood. Right now there is a rising clan in the town and they are dealing drugs. Something your father is vehemently against. So now the clans are at war and it won’t end until one of the other is completely wiped out - which means you as the heir to the clan are prime target.”
Juri gulped, sitting back in shock at the words Ohno just said to her. She had not thought that the situation was that serious.
“But if things are that serious… then how come you’re the only one assigned as my bodyguard?”
His eyebrow went up and she bit her words back. Because he alone was deadly enough. That’s why.
“It’s easier to move around with less people,” Ohno responded nonchalantly.
They sat in silence again, watching the television as though it was the most interesting thing in the world, but both well aware of each other’s presence.
“How long have you worked for my father?” Juri asked him after a moment.
“Since I was twelve.”
“How… how old are you now?”
“Almost thirty.”
“Oh.”
Had he been in the clan for that long? How come she didn’t… remember…
That was when Juri blinked, a memory flashed by her of a skinny young boy with those deep expressive eyes. She remembered that he spent a lot of time fishing in the pond at the back of the estate quite near the stables.
She had thought him… strange.
The few times she had talked to him had been returned with a blank stare… kinda like the one he was giving her now.
“Oh my god!” Juri exclaimed, jumping to her feet, “You’re him! You’re fishing boy!”
Ohno blinked.
“When I was still living on the clan estate you always went fishing at the pond near the stables.”
He opened his mouth as though to say something but his cell phone interrupted him instead. Ohno answered it and the look on his face changed immediately.
“What is it Ohno-san?” she asked him when he snapped his phone close and grabs her arm.
“We have to go.”
“Wha… what? Why??”
“We have to go,” he repeated firmly and that was the only answer she could get out of him.
------
How do you get from nowhere to the end of the world? Ohno was not too sure and the sight of the blood was enough to make his own run cold. There was so much blood.
How could this have happened?
“Ohno-san,” she smiled, holding out a hand to touch his cheek gently, “Ohno-san, I’m sorry… I’ve forgotten…”
Just four hours earlier they had been rushing for the safe house, rushing to get her to safety and now she was in his lap, bleeding to death in his embrace. Why now? Why was she apologizing to him?
It was he who had failed.
It was he who should have kept the news of her father’s death from her, get her to safety. That was the duty he had been entrusted with and he had done more than fail that duty - he had been the one to deliver her right into the trap.
When his phone rang and she grabbed it from him, when she heard about her father’s death he should have steeled his heart and not give in to her pleading. He should not have brought her back to the manor to see him regardless of how he promised he would protect her.
The attack should have been expected. What he had not expected was her throwing herself in front of him to protect him from the bullet.
“I forgot,” she whispered to him, “About that time… when you gave me the pebble to make me stop crying…”
He gasped, grasping the hand she pressed against his cheek. He had not thought it meant anything to her. He had only been a scabbed knee orphan then and a pretty pebble was the only thing he could afford to give to the crying ojou-sama who had been running around in the garden and fallen and hurt herself.
What could it have possibly meant to her?
“Avenge me,” she whispered, “My father… my clan… The men will follow you. This clan have no one else but you now.”
“Ojou-sama…” he choked but she smiled turning to look at what was left at the clan members who nodded in return to her.
“Ojou-sama!”
His voice could not reach her anymore and Ohno felt an unfamiliar wetness touch his cheeks.
He had not been able to tell her goodbye… just like the last time when he heard she was leaving the country.
He had wanted to tell her goodbye then and he had not been able to either.
“Aniki…” a soft voice over his shoulder made him turn to look at the man kneeling beside him. Matsumoto Jun was one of the young ones whom he had been training, a fierce fighter and loyal to the clan.
“What do we do now aniki?”
“We avenge them,” he whispered though the last words of his thoughts were not voiced, so that I may have the right to tell her goodbye properly.
Satoshi Ohno was not your typical man. He was the type who looked at the world differently and that translated into the way he assesses things, the way he reacts to things. It wasn't easy to understand him and truth be told, very few people actually can. The one thing that people do know about him though is his unwavering loyalty to the clan. He had been brought up by the Ueno clan after all and they had trained him to become not only a capable administrator for the clan but also a deadly troubleshooter who made sure anyone who goes against the clan to regret it.
It has been nearly three years now since he made his bones and now he was trusted with all manner of assignments by the boss. Which was why even though he understood the assignment given to him today, he did not really appreciate it. He had been entrusted by the boss to pick up the ojou-sama who has spent the last six years studying in the states after living in England with her mother for almost ten years and he had subsequently been assigned to be her bodyguard for the next few months while the clan dealt with some delicate issue that had come up with a rival yakuza clan.
The last time he met the ojou-sama, sixteen years ago, she had been ten and was this tiny little thing that asked too many questions and wouldn't listen to anyone to save her life. Not that he had ever really talked to her anyway; she was the heiress of the Ueno clan. He was a nameless ragamuffin who did odd jobs for them.
He had no right to have even entertained that idea that…
Ohno shook his head.
That’s right. He was in no position to entertain that idea neither then nor now.
Funny how he remembered that right before she left the country he had wanted to tell her something…
Regardless though, he does what he has been ordered to do. It is who he is. So right now Ohno stubbed out the cigarette that he had been smoking, straightened his coat and walked into the arrival terminal of Narita airport. The place was bustling with people, tens of different languages floating around him. Ohno scratched his head uncomfortably; he hated being on situations that he could not control. The foreignness of the people around him was one of those things. He had never left the soil of Japan even once in his life, not even to go to Okinawa.
Checking his watch then the flight arrival schedule, he made his way to the correct gate, his head swiveling as he studied one interesting foreigner to the next. However the ones who really blew his mind were the ones who looked completely local but sound completely foreign. Or that foreign blonde businessman over there who was talking animatedly on his phone in fluent Japanese.
A moment later the sliding door separating the inner terminal and arrival hall opened and people, travelers, started pouring out. Ohno craned his neck, searching the group of people for the ojou-sama. He had not brought a name card because he that he could recognize her and pick her out in a crowd. He was not wrong. The moment she walked out of the terminal he recognized her. The scrawny little girl had definitely grown up and Ohno lifted an eyebrow at he tiny flimsy sundress and impossibly high heels she had on. Where the hell did she think she was??
The Maldives??
He approached her as she walked out into the terminal and spoke to her, "Ojou-san?" causing her to whirl around to face him, the skirt of that flippy dress whirling out with her spin, showing a lot more leg than was necessary. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
She didn’t remember him.
"I’m Ohno Satoshi, I work for you father," Ohno responded only to have her huff loudly at his statement.
"I should have figured that he would rather send one of his buttheads to pick me up than meet me himself.”
Ohno didn't respond. He was not the type. Ueno Juri sniffed in insult again before thrusting the luggage cart she has been pushing to him, "Fine then, since you're here we might as well get going."
Was nice to see you again too, Ohno thought sarcastically as he followed behind her. He could tell that he was just going to LOVE this assignment.
+++++
"Seriously, what kind of a man are you?" she huffed as Ohno grimaced in the effort, shifting the heavy shopping bags around so that he could distribute the weight around a lot more evenly.
They had been walking around Ginza for the better half of the day as the ojou-sama flitted from one shop to another, spending money as though it grew on trees. Then again, in her case it might have well been true. She stalked on, heels clicking imperiously on the pavement as her bodyguard (cum slave labour) stumbled after her.
It wasn't until another couple of hours later was she finally satisfied with what Ohno seemed as random wandering from store to store and more randomness in choosing things she seemed interested in.
"Let’s get a drink," she declared and without waiting for an answer from him to what was more of a statement than any invitation she strode off down the street, leaving Ohno who was still struggling with her shopping bags behind. He found her two blocks down, sitting on the porch seat of a café, an Americano on the table in front of her, looking annoyed that he had dared taken so long to find her.
“Get the car,” she told him the moment he reached her and dumped the shopping bags on the ground at her feet.
What happened to ‘let’s have a drink?’ Ohno wondered but he didn’t contradict her. It wasn’t in his nature anyway.
“I’m not supposed to leave you alone,” he replied, sitting down on the seat across from her, “We can call the driver to come pick us up here.”
Juri watched her bodyguard’s back as he left her to her drink to make the call a few feet away. He was different this one. All her life she had been surrounded by one bodyguard or another but not one had any of them ever put up with her selfish demands with such stoic patience. She had seen the way the other men in the clan treated him so she knew that he wasn’t just one of her father’s dumb henchmen. He actually held a rather high position in the clan.
So why was one of the clan’s main trouble shooter being assigned the lowly job of a bodyguard?
Juri was not dumb. She was her father’s daughter after all.
It meant something big was going on and her father believed her to be in enough danger to warrant one of his top men to protect her. What ever the case was, this Ohno was certainly taking his job seriously. He might seem as though he was doing nothing much but following her around like a loyal little puppy dog but she saw the way his eyes darts around them, expertly scanning the surrounding for anything that might seemed suspicious.
Even now as he sat on the chair in front of her he didn’t seem as though he was totally relaxed.
“Ne, Ohno-san,” she spoke up, “Tell me, what is the old man up to these days. Things around the house seem a lot more tense than usual.”
“You shouldn’t concern yourself with such things ojou-sama,” he responded.
“You’re just as bad as the lot of them,” Juri scowled, crossing her arms over her chest, “Treating me as though I’m a child.”
“I do what is necessary for your safety.”
“For my father’s orders you mean.”
He didn’t respond, merely standing up and picking her shopping bags as the car approached them.
------
The blast rocked the very foundation of the house and Juri bolted upright in bed, stumbling to her feet as the smell of smoke filled the room. The entire Ueno estate seemed to have erupted into chaos and all she could hear around her were the echoing gunfire and shouting.
Even though she had always known exactly who her father was, this was the first time she had ever been slapped in the face with it.
Juri crawled under her bed, trembling at every explosion when her own door was kicked down with surprising force.
“Ojou-sama!” her bodyguard shouted and she suddenly found herself sobbing with relief.
Never had she thought she would be so glad to see him in her life.
“Here!” she responded, coming out from under her bed to see him standing at the door, gun in hand, blood running down one side of his face but a look of intense reprieve at the sight of her alive and in one piece.
“Come on,” he said, grabbing her by the arm and hauling her to her feet, “We got to get you out of here.”
“My father…” Juri choked as they ran through the smoking corridor.
“He has other men with him. My duty is to protect you,” was the answer they received.
They would occasionally stumble into some other people. Some who worked for her father, some not so and Ohno would open fire on them without even flinching. It was a bloody battle field and she was caught right in the middle of it.
They ran through the kitchen and burst out the back door only to come face to face with another group of assailants - three of them and one of them had a gun. Ohno lifted his own gun again but it clicked in his hand. No more bullets.
“Hide!” he shouted at her, shoving her behind one of the massive marble pots before launching himself at the other men. She crouched behind the pot, trembling as she watched him fight them. He was lighting quick and with one kick sent the gun the man was holding skittering from his hands. Now they needed to fight him and the men had a hard time against him but still, it was three against one and Ohno went down to his knees when one of the men hit him on the back with a metal bat.
He swung around catching the bat at the man’s next swing but another man kicked him in the stomach, sending him down.
“Ohno!!” Juri shouted involuntarily. Without even knowing when she had moved, she found herself aiming the gun Ohno had kicked away moments ago on the man attacking him. When did she pick it up? She shot and the recoil of the gun nearly sent her flying backwards.
“Oi!” the men shouted, turning to look at her. She was still holding the gun even as she was trembling as they advanced on her but Ohno took the chance to grab a fallen piece of marble and bash the closest men in the head. The other two turn in surprise and he took them out as well.
“Come on!” he shouted at her, dropping the piece of marble and grabbing her so he could drag her out of there. They raced through the garden to the garage where they got into Ohno’s car to get out of there.
-------
“How long are you going to keep me here?” Juri ranted as Ohno came back to the hotel room he had checked her into with food and drinks.
“It’s been two days!”
“Your father has instructed me to make sure you stay safe.”
“But…”
“I follow instructions ojou-san,” he interrupted, settling down on the chair and switching on the television, “And until your father tells me it’s safe to take you home you will stay here.”
“I feel like a prisoner!” she wails, picking up a pillow and throwing it at him, one which he caught without flinching, “At least let me go out and stretch my legs or something?”
“No ojou-sama. You’re a target, especially now that the other clans know that you’re back here in Japan and that you escaped the raid.”
Juri sulked, sitting down heavily on the bed.
“You’re really just like all of them. Muscle head thugs who can’t think or themselves and only do what my father orders.”
He didn’t reply, merely glancing sideways at her.
“Aho,” she muttered, “Baka.”
He didn’t answer and she huffed in annoyance before getting off the bed and crossing the room to the suite’s dining table where he had put the food and unpacked them, sitting down to eat. Part of her annoyance melted away with her stomach being filled.
She turned to look at her bodyguard again.
“Tell me something though Ohno-san,” she spoke up, “My father IS okay right?”
“Yes. I contacted him the moment I got you out to safety. They managed to repel the raid at the manor but they have no idea what might happen next.”
Juri sighed, “Do you know what my father has been up to? What’s the reason things have been so bad lately?”
She looked at him, saw him hesitate, “Come on Ohno. I’m not a child anymore and I have no illusions who my father is. The least you can do is tell me what’s going on.”
Ohno paused, sticking his jaw out for a second, a habit she had come to recognize him to do when he was thinking then she could see him relent and he answered her, “You’re father is old fashion in the Yakuza world. He still believes in the adage of honour and brotherhood. Right now there is a rising clan in the town and they are dealing drugs. Something your father is vehemently against. So now the clans are at war and it won’t end until one of the other is completely wiped out - which means you as the heir to the clan are prime target.”
Juri gulped, sitting back in shock at the words Ohno just said to her. She had not thought that the situation was that serious.
“But if things are that serious… then how come you’re the only one assigned as my bodyguard?”
His eyebrow went up and she bit her words back. Because he alone was deadly enough. That’s why.
“It’s easier to move around with less people,” Ohno responded nonchalantly.
They sat in silence again, watching the television as though it was the most interesting thing in the world, but both well aware of each other’s presence.
“How long have you worked for my father?” Juri asked him after a moment.
“Since I was twelve.”
“How… how old are you now?”
“Almost thirty.”
“Oh.”
Had he been in the clan for that long? How come she didn’t… remember…
That was when Juri blinked, a memory flashed by her of a skinny young boy with those deep expressive eyes. She remembered that he spent a lot of time fishing in the pond at the back of the estate quite near the stables.
She had thought him… strange.
The few times she had talked to him had been returned with a blank stare… kinda like the one he was giving her now.
“Oh my god!” Juri exclaimed, jumping to her feet, “You’re him! You’re fishing boy!”
Ohno blinked.
“When I was still living on the clan estate you always went fishing at the pond near the stables.”
He opened his mouth as though to say something but his cell phone interrupted him instead. Ohno answered it and the look on his face changed immediately.
“What is it Ohno-san?” she asked him when he snapped his phone close and grabs her arm.
“We have to go.”
“Wha… what? Why??”
“We have to go,” he repeated firmly and that was the only answer she could get out of him.
------
How do you get from nowhere to the end of the world? Ohno was not too sure and the sight of the blood was enough to make his own run cold. There was so much blood.
How could this have happened?
“Ohno-san,” she smiled, holding out a hand to touch his cheek gently, “Ohno-san, I’m sorry… I’ve forgotten…”
Just four hours earlier they had been rushing for the safe house, rushing to get her to safety and now she was in his lap, bleeding to death in his embrace. Why now? Why was she apologizing to him?
It was he who had failed.
It was he who should have kept the news of her father’s death from her, get her to safety. That was the duty he had been entrusted with and he had done more than fail that duty - he had been the one to deliver her right into the trap.
When his phone rang and she grabbed it from him, when she heard about her father’s death he should have steeled his heart and not give in to her pleading. He should not have brought her back to the manor to see him regardless of how he promised he would protect her.
The attack should have been expected. What he had not expected was her throwing herself in front of him to protect him from the bullet.
“I forgot,” she whispered to him, “About that time… when you gave me the pebble to make me stop crying…”
He gasped, grasping the hand she pressed against his cheek. He had not thought it meant anything to her. He had only been a scabbed knee orphan then and a pretty pebble was the only thing he could afford to give to the crying ojou-sama who had been running around in the garden and fallen and hurt herself.
What could it have possibly meant to her?
“Avenge me,” she whispered, “My father… my clan… The men will follow you. This clan have no one else but you now.”
“Ojou-sama…” he choked but she smiled turning to look at what was left at the clan members who nodded in return to her.
“Ojou-sama!”
His voice could not reach her anymore and Ohno felt an unfamiliar wetness touch his cheeks.
He had not been able to tell her goodbye… just like the last time when he heard she was leaving the country.
He had wanted to tell her goodbye then and he had not been able to either.
“Aniki…” a soft voice over his shoulder made him turn to look at the man kneeling beside him. Matsumoto Jun was one of the young ones whom he had been training, a fierce fighter and loyal to the clan.
“What do we do now aniki?”
“We avenge them,” he whispered though the last words of his thoughts were not voiced, so that I may have the right to tell her goodbye properly.