Darker Than Love

MOUSE IN THE TRAP

"I already told you, old guy, you are required to take a long leave until I tell you to go back. I've given you three months, haven't I?" Kenji mutters these words in a somber voice as soon as the front doors of his new office open up, revealing a limping old man barging his way into the place along with three other big buffy men trailing him from behind. He sighs heavily in utter defeat and closes his eyes for a second.

He can not really expect the old man to stay put within his own territory for any much longer now since he has obviously just gotten even way more restless than the day he finally had gotten out of the hospital. And as Kenji watches the four men enter his new office with no apparent signs of slight hesitation, he immediately stands and scowls in the old man's direction.

However, the old man just deliberately ignores him as he and the other three guys behind his back halt from their tracks and politely bow their heads at Kenji as their silent courtesy greeting. Too late to recompensate over something that the young boss has not been warned about.

"What are you doing here, Sakamoto?" Kenji asks right away after a slight pause, quite peeved over the sudden visit of the old man. Yet Sakamoto still does not even bother to respond at him, much to Kenji's displeasure. And instead, he just hobbles his way across the floor to walk towards him, taking a couple of shaky steps as he struggles on his one foot and the pair of crutches he's holding on both of his sides.

He is clearly having difficulty managing his movements while Kenji just watches him with vague displeasure, a little bit worried to see the old guy's condition himself. Though even if Yanagi feels that way, he could not really go out and just tell Sakamoto everything about it. They are not young girls, for chrissake.

And Kenji knows how assertively uppity this guy really is. The old man would never even take pride in something that would make him feel pitiful. He would certainly abhor it. He is still a Yakuza after all, and he does not need anyone to feel bad for him after what had happened. Pity is the very last thing he could ever really want to receive in his life right now. And Kenji can fully well understand how deeply resenting it is to be in his situation.

If he was Sakamoto, he might never even show up himself.

"I really have to get used to this, you know. I need some exercise," The old man briefly explains as he stops a few steps away from Kenji, smiling nonchalantly. He tries to sound as natural as he could get, eager not to show his discomfort in front of the young boss. Though obviously wincing, he still finally manages to gain a steadier balance on his one foot as he finally looks up to face Kenji and grins.

"I was advised to use these awfully heavy crutches frequently and more outside my so-called jail of a house. So I've thought of coming here just to show you how far I've been progressing since the last time you've seen me lying down on a boring mattress. And can you even believe this?" He says to Kenji with an amused face while he gestures towards his injury and the steel crutches he is now clutching in both of his hands, "I'm way too old to even lose a damn beefy leg right now, but it seems like I look just completely fine with these three damn legs supporting me. Don't you think so, Boss?"

"Please, Sakamoto," Kenji just wearily sighs back, rolling his eyes at the old man as he ruefully shakes his head, "Just do me a favor, will ya? Take a seat on the couch over there right now. I'm really tight on the schedule today so I don't have much time to chat with you."

"You're so mean, Boss. Can't you even spare some few hours and sympathize with this old pathetic injured guy standing here before you today?"

"You're just bored that's all," Kenji refutes back with an unconcerned face, "And I've already told you. You're still on leave so you have to make the most of that vacation time, recuperating and adjusting with that leg. I can't afford to have you losing the other real one now, Sakamoto."

The old man laughs despite his heavily insensitive remark, and it does not seem to really affect him at all. In fact, Sakamoto just finds himself feeling all much lighter and more relaxed for the first time today ever since the time he got out of the hospital. In fact, he has not been really feeling good lately, and a part of it was because he found himself useless now. But meeting the young boss today somehow relieved a lot of his heavy burden. He really missed this... It has been too long since he got out of his house, it feels weirdly refreshing.

Just being outside today has completely comforted him better. It's far more encouraging now after he has seen the sun shining above him and gets to relive the Tokyo scenes running their courses like any other day of his life. For the very first time, Sakamoto has felt just so gratefully contented to see those mundane things happen before him right now.

He might have already been too old for all this sentimental crap, but thing is, he still gets quite scared even about the littlest of things surrounding him. If he had not been faced with death through that horrifying reality, he would never even be feeling like this. It is really strange how things that you were once so used to take for granted have just suddenly turned into something more that you desperately wanted to get back now.

Yet for Sakamoto, aside from his old age, things and regrets are the very last things he should even be deeply troubled about. He had already lost a leg because of his own rashness and arrogance. And he has already learned so much just from experiencing that.

Life will never go easy. Even when you think you can just risk and leave it as it is, it will surely get back at you sometime later. Age is not just a thing that you could easily let go of while it increases with time... In fact, aging is actually a constant reminder to yourself that lets you know, without even really making you aware of it, that you would always be losing out on a lot of things as you grow older and much weaker.

The only good thing about it all is the fact that you will never actually get to realize the things you've lost until it eventually becomes too late for you.

And as for Sakamoto's case, it is probably far too late for him now.

He's already lost a leg once.

_____________________________

"Mr. Yanagi, an emergency phone call from the main headquarters."

The voice of his secretary's resounding from the intercom on his desk quickly cuts off the short conversation between Kenji and Sakamoto. They never even realized how fast the minutes have flown by until they have been interrupted. Kenji immediately stands up from the couch where he sits across the old man and turns to nod his head at the three other men standing by the doorway of his office. He motions at them to leave the room and the men just immediately understand and follow Kenji's gesture as they exit the office without any other word, leaving only Sakamoto inside, who is still sitting on the couch.

As soon as Kenji reaches the desk and presses a button on his intercom, the call from the other line instantly connects with him.

"This is Yanagi speaking," He says in a low monotone voice as he turns the speaker on.

"This is an emergency update sent to the main office this afternoon. Just today, the Patriarch (head) of Dazai Family, Irie Mitsumoto, was killed this morning inside his house," the person from the other line says in a bereaved tone, pausing as he takes a quick breath, "We are advising all executives of the clan to stay alarmed and keep their watch for now. We're still investigating the case so please, be careful."

The call abruptly ends after that and with the dial tone beeping into the speaker. Kenji remains frozen from where he has been standing beside his desk, taking a moment to absorb what he has been just told. Sakamoto, on the other hand, only stares at the young boss across the room with the same expression.

One boss down. And now, a new post on the executive table will be soon opened for a newly promoted boss from the lower ladder. It's already obvious, given these expected consequences. Someone within the clan must have been doing all these commotions between families, that is for sure. Someone is coveting the position in the executives and thinks that getting rid of the other bosses will let him take the place for himself.

Someone... has been betraying the families this whole time and it shows. Kenji does not have any evidence yet, but he is extremely sure of his hunch now. He just needs to wait for the right moment. He just needs to be patient. Because that's really how you could get to catch mouses in a trap, right? You have to try to lure them out of their holes with a bait they would never resist and you wait. You wait, no matter how long, until the very second, they have already let their guard down. And that is when you finally attack them from behind their backs.

Just like that mouse being deceitfully led towards its own trap, Kenji will make sure that the son of a b***h won't ever get away anymore the moment he finally gets a hold of him.

HE WILL PAY FOR EVERYTHING.

HE WILL PAY A HELL OF A LOT OF EVERYTHING.

---------------------------------

'He has never really killed anyone in the last three years... I'm the one who kills for him.'

These words have been constantly replaying over and over inside Aoi's head since the talk she had shared with Jin today ended in a full blur. And now, she seems to be in a complete daze.

Until this very moment, Aoi Chiba still could not stop hearing what Jin has revealed to her in his own voice while she tosses and turns over the bed, still unable to sleep. She squeezes her eyes shut instead. She suddenly wants to forget everything. All of what she heard today, she needs to reset her mind. Hell, she does not even know what to feel about Jin's answer anymore. He has given her something that was entirely difficult to comprehend. Something that just bothered her even worse.

For some reason, she just could not accept it that way.

Jin's answer only made her feel as if nothing of what she had ever really done in the past made any sense at all. As it turns out, there was really no point in all of the decisions and sacrifices she had endured for so long just to get here. Yet the longer Aoi tries to really get her head around of what Jin had told her about Yanagi and the truth she has desperately wanted to hear, the more everything becomes just ridiculously unbelievable.

Like, what the hell? What has she been fighting all this time, then? Was Yanagi really not the person she has been looking for? And how did Yanagi even manage to gain such a notorious reputation if he hasn't really killed anyone for that long? Because that's bullshit. It does not even make any sense.

But if he really hasn't killed anyone before, then who f*****g killed Kenichi? WHO IN THE HELL HAS DONE IT?

DID JIN DO IT THEN? WAS IT REALLY JIN WHO KILLED HER LOVER? AND WHEN ALL THIS TIME SHE HAD BEEN MADE TO BELIEVE THAT IT WAS KENJI ALL ALONG, IT WAS ACTUALLY SOMEONE ELSE?

And maybe someone else really did it. Or Jin could just be lying about everything too. But then, who really is the one? Aoi could no longer think about what's-not and what's-what now... She is just so confused that her mind is slowly breaking apart.

Nobody really knows, after all.

And as this uncertainty continuously grows heavier inside her chest, Aoi becomes even more dismayed and disappointed about herself. She never even noticed Kenji crawling over the bed behind her until she feels an arm pulling her back. And in an instant reflex, she immediately turns to her opposite direction to face Kenji's warmth.

"You're still awake."

His voice is mellowed down and deeper than normal as he brushes a lock of hair against her cheek as soon as he has whispered those words to her. He sighs heavily after a second, sending a faint brush of hot breath on her forehead. Aoi does not say anything back though, as she just presses her body closer to his instead. They seem to be both completely distracted by their own thoughts that neither has even dared to say anything after. Yet even though her mind has been occupied the whole time, Aoi could still sense something wrong with Kenji's mood tonight.

He is unusually more passive and resigned than how he normally is. He does not even try to get Aoi in the mood.

Something must have happened then. And Aoi suddenly feels a little worried and concerned by this sudden change in him. She contemplates asking him about it but then realizes that it would be too intrusive of her to say anything. It is not as if she is obligated to show any concern about his personal matters... Since what he really does in his own business does not have anything to do with Aoi's.

After all, their relationship has been completely just physical until now. It is all just between the sheets.

Just s*x.

Aoi could only close her eyes to shut her mind off from thinking about anything else. She does not have to think about Kenji anymore. This whole setup is just turning even more complicated than she could ever really handle now. Every time she attempts to get closer to the truth, she just keeps getting weaker and more vulnerable at the same time. And she knows, even if she does not want to admit it, that the longer she stays here with him, the harder it would really be for her to ever want to leave.

And if she ever really gets to leave this place, can she even forget him as well?

Him.

HIM. That word alone becomes even more confusing to distinguish.

Who is him now?

Who is Aoi thinking about? When she thought of that man that she has to forget in the future... Is it still the same person as before? Or has that man in her mind already changed? Because just for a split second there, something else flashed inside her head. It wasn't clear at first, but she could still recognize it.

That person... Why did he show up suddenly? Why does he keep ruining everything?

And why is Aoi getting confused about it?

This is not what she really wants to feel. But this is already happening.

____________________________

Morning seeps in like a fresh blooming flower that next day, as the light peeks through the tinted windows and the white silk curtains behind their bed into the room. Its radiance eventually brightens up the whole space in a beautiful glow. Aoi Chiba finally stirs up from her slumber, still a little drowsy and dazed as she stretches an arm above her and yawns.

She then gets up from the bed, looking around the room only to stop her eyes on the empty space beside her where Kenji had slept on. She subconsciously reaches a hand over it as she runs her palm over the area where his warmth is still faintly felt. She should have already gotten used to this, but for some reason, she still feels a little upset about not being able to see him there the next morning.

"Good. You're awake."

A deep low voice suddenly cuts into the background, quickly stealing Aoi's attention away from her thoughts, as she turns her head towards the direction of its sound. She then immediately sees Jin standing in the hallway leading to the bedroom, looking at her with a blank face.

"What's wrong?" She consciously asks him with a frown.

Jin takes a moment first as he just stares at Aoi with an unreadable face, not saying anything for a while. And Aoi could not even know what to think of his silence as she just starts frowning deeper back at him with anxious eyes. The temporary suspense suddenly makes her frantic as she holds his gaze.

"There's a funeral today," Jin finally informs her with a steady voice as he goes on, "You'll be attending it with Boss today. All the executives will be there, Miss Cherry."

No way.

"And you will be introduced as Boss Yanagi's woman."

No effin' way.

"Why?" her voice cracks a little as soon as she speaks out the word at him.

"Because he knows that person will also be there," Jin simply tells her back.

"That person?" Aoi just anxiously repeats.

"The one who ordered you to kill Boss Yanagi," he clarifies right away, not even batting an eye on her. Not even changing his tone when he continues, "That person is going to show up there, Miss Cherry, as one of the executives. And you will have to point him out to us today."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------