Darker Than Love

THE RIPPLES ON THE WATER

The thunder blares into the room and its gruff sonorous sounds rumble from the huge tinted windows behind the bed.

Cherry finally wakes up a little later that morning, groggily getting up from the bed as she squints her eyes into the view of Kenji's place with the sounds of the rains continuously showering from the outside and it faintly resonates from the roof above her. Like yesterday, she is still all by herself on the bed. Kenji Yanagi is no longer inside the place, and she did not even notice how and when he had left. But unlike the previous morning, Jin Sasai is also nowhere in sight...

Some other guy is now guarding Cherry in his stead. The man is distinctively shorter and younger with buzz-cut hair and she could partially recognize him as one of those men she had seen greeting Kenji the first time she had entered the building. And as soon as she sees his presence, standing so frigidly near the elevator doors as any bodyguard does, she could not help but raise her question about the absence of Jin.

"Where's the big guy?"

It is no surprise that Kenji would be out again today, but the sudden disappearance of Jin is not something Cherry would have expected. Not that she is missing him for any reason. She is actually even more relieved that he's not there with her. Though she still could not help but be curious now since she has already gotten used to always seeing him lurking around her from a near distance.

Even more so, she does not really recall hearing anything about him leaving her or going out for today.

As the sound of her soft voice reverberates across the room, it quickly catches the guy's attention. The young man immediately turns his head to look in Cherry's direction and blinks his eyes for a second. He must not have noticed that she has already risen from the bed. And so when his eyes met hers, he quickly gives her a formal bow of his head, bending his body to a right angle, before eventually greeting her.

"Good morning, Miss Cherry."

"Are you my new bodyguard? Did the other guy finally leave? Or is he just out for today?"

She wonders if it would be much better to have someone else like this one rather than Jin to watch over her all the time. But then, she's still not sure yet about this younger man. Would it be easier to fool someone like him instead? He looks kind of pretty weaker compared to a man like Jin, but she can't really be that too certain from that first impression.

After all, if he has been chosen to substitute the bigger dude then he could possibly be still as obstinate as Jin.

"Boss Yanagi has ordered me to watch over you for the meantime, Miss Cherry," The young man finally answers her in a monotone voice as he steadily turns to looks straight forward again in a rigid posture and continues, "I was told to take post until Boss Sasai returns tomorrow. My name is Hokuto Miura. You can address me as Miura, Miss Cherry."

"Miura, huh? Okay." Cherry mutters at the young man, staring at him with a slight frown on her face. The thunder cackles again. The room goes colder.

"Your breakfast is already on the table near you, Miss Cherry."

Cherry nods to that as she quickly glances to her right and sees a delightful meal waiting for her and is neatly placed on top of the table. But before she could even try to leave the bed, only then does she finally realize how barely naked she actually is under the sheets as she clutches on the comforter wrapping the middle of her torso.

Right. She had slept in Kenji's white shirt that night which she had chosen after discarding the only set of clothes she had the first night she came here. It somehow slipped her mind. She also hasn't taken a shower since yesterday and she really has brought nothing with her aside from that flimsy dress she had worn in the club. Pretty inconvenient, isn't it?

And since the transfer of her residence has been too sudden, she even forgot to remind Kenji to give her the chance to pack her belongings first. Cherry wonders how she did not even think about those things for a second when Kenji told her she is going to live here with him from now on. She could have set things straight with him at first.

If Jin was there, it would have been easier to demand things from him. This younger guy does not really look like he would willingly leave the spot from where he is standing.

"Kenji said I could use the phone on the bedside table if I have any requests, right?"

The flashes of lightning suddenly blast a surprising flicker coming from the window, along with the roaring bursts of the thunder echoing throughout the room. Cherry flinches and jolts from the bed. Whereas, Miura just blinks as he gives her a glance.

"Yes, you could, Miss Cherry. Just dial one on the phone and it will direct you to the front office," he then answers her after a beat.

The rain gets heavier as Cherry tries to reach the phone on the bedside table without letting the comforter slip down from her waist. She is only wearing her silky underwear behind the sheets and the thin fabric of Kenji's shirt is no use hiding what she would never want to show at this time. And although she had boldly stripped right in front of Jin the other day, she still felt a little embarrassed to even do a sudden display right in front of this young man she still barely knows.

Well, not that she really knows so much about Jin. But that man is entirely different in so many ways, she no longer felt embarrassed about anything with him.

The ringing from the other end soon cuts and a voice suddenly brings Cherry back as it greets her.

"This is Akihito speaking, any request from the Boss line?"

"Ah, no," Cherry takes a second before she finally speaks back to the deep low voice speaking from the phone, "This is not Mr. Yanagi. But I'm currently staying in his room and he told me that I could ask anything if I needed something."

"Yes, Miss Cherry," the man quickly replies with a reassuring voice, "What would you want for today?"

"I need some clothes."

"Clothes?"

Well, obviously, Cherry would have to actually return to her old house if she has to get her clothes. But she already doubts they would ever let her actually leave this place if she even tries to ask them to... So, she thinks that it would be better to just have them buy her some new stuff. After all, if Kenji is really planning to keep her there a little longer, might as well use that advantage of the situation to make Kenji spend his money on her expense.

"I need outfits of my own size. Women's underwear, shirts, dresses, pajamas, anything casual," Cherry demands through the receiver as she twirls on the lock of hair near her ear. "I need lots of it. And I need them today."

There's a long pause from the other end and Cherry raises a brow as she waits for any response.

"Will do, Miss Cherry. We'll bring it to you right away."

It must have caught the other person off guard when she has started talking about her clothes with him, and Cherry eventually drops the call soon after the man from the other end reassured her of the estimated time it would be delivered to her. She carefully puts back the phone on the table and she reaches for the meal. She then starts having a feast on her breakfast, not minding the presence of the young man from a distance.

After a few minutes, the sky clamors again with the lightning flashing the room through the windows. Cherry slowly raises the cup of coffee against her lips and takes a small sip, turning her head to look out through the thin curtains covering the glass panels behind her.

"Is there a typhoon coming?"

She suddenly intonates these words, unaware that she has even voiced out her thoughts, and stares at the incessant flow of water droplets on the windows. Rains aren't strange in Tokyo during the autumn season but it still makes Cherry feel uneasy when this kind of heavy weather visits the town.

Thinking that she is deeply curious about it, the young man across the room answers obediently after a moment.

"They said it'll be out of the country this weekend, but it'll bring heavy rains for the rest of the month."

Cherry does not really mind if he didn't answer her back but she feels much better to know that somebody actually responds to her question. During this cold day, it is truly more comforting knowing you're not all alone.

At least, for today, she is completely not all by herself.

______________________________

Kenji Yanagi never really likes the aseptic and faint flowery smell of hospitals. It would always make him dizzy and annoyed.

But this morning, he had blindingly rushed his way to the central hospital in the middle of his tight and critical schedule after getting disturbed by that abrupt call he had shared with his old-time trusted ally and friend, Sakamoto. It was weird when the call got cut off and soon right after that moment, he even immediately receives an alarming update from one of his men in Shibuya that one of the main territorial buildings in their vicinity had suddenly exploded.

Kenji Yanagi has already figured it all out the first minute, even without knowing that the said building that had just gotten attacked was also actually where Sakamoto's office is located. And at the time, Sakamoto had been connected in a call with him before it went off.

Turns out, the call had been cut short because of the sudden explosion. And recalling that exact moment before Sakamoto's line had gone dead, Kenji Yanagi could no longer keep himself calm. He tries so hard not to go into a rampage as he struts into the hospital lobby, not even minding how dangerous it could be for him, showing himself outside in broad daylight.

Upon hearing another follow-up that Sakamoto and a few of his injured men have been carried into this place after being rescued from the incident, Kenji Yanagi quickly left his office that very minute and drove straight to the location just to check them all. Hell would definitely break loose if something worse happens to Sakamoto or to any of the injured guys, and Kenji swears this to himself as he enters an elevator.

It's no f*****g way that it had been all just an incident, of course. Somebody is really trying to test Kenji's patience here. But who the f**k is he? And how dare he try to attack one of his people!

Kenji is still grasping on loose ends. He has no idea yet who to attack right now. Why out of all the possible places, they would even try to terrorize Kenji's property in Shibuya? It has been obvious all along that Kenji has always been staying in Kabukicho, so why Shibuya? Why are they targeting Sakamoto now?

Is this how desperate they can really get?

Just what in the hell are they really planning to do here?

It's on, Kenji angrily decides himself right there and then. This war is so completely f*****g on. Until he finds out who the f**k has been behind all of these attacks, Kenji will make sure anyone who has been working on it will brutally perish in the worst possible way one could ever imagine.

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