ODE TO THE MURDERED, bonten

40

PART FOURTY !
veracity within the lips. 

            AS SOON AS THE WORD TRAITOR LEAVES WAKASA'S LIPS something within you shatters completely. the initial emotion you felt was shock, fear, then your head clears, something fleeting and hot conquers and before you know it you're no longer on your bed, nor was the knife cutlery on your bedside. you rushed to him with the intent to hurt, but Wakasa seemed laidback, almost bored.

   he leans out of your attack, the knife almost poking through the skin of the cushion as he grips your shoulder and pins you firmly on the couch. you hide your wince, glare penetrating. you try to knee him in the gut but he fixes your position and has you disarmed in an instant.

he's straddling you, your legs flail trying to push him away but he was much stronger than you, more firm compared to your barely recovering body. you had almost forgotten that Wakasa is far older, and far more experienced in combat than you. your impulsiveness and franticness to the situation funnels through your wild actions.

"are you done?"

you don't answer his direction question. eyes that were ones so obscured and mellow now lit with an untamable glow that even Wakasa wasn't expecting from you.

    the sweet little thing captured between the lion fangs of Bonten's bastards—only to quickly find out you're a wolf in sheep's clothing, prowling beneath the palpitating framework of Tokyo's underground madness.

    the reason for the sudden violence from the different organizations, the rising crime rate, you had a play in it. if Tokyo's current underground food chain is a deck of cards you'd play the wild card. for years you were just the same as them all along; something that only he knows and something that he now demands from you.

his eyes remained unreadable. you glare at him and he pushes you down, emphasizing how serious he was.

    "how?" you asked him instead.

    "Shiba Taiju's party." he answers you curtly, clean cut and dry. "i went to look for you when you haven't gone back to the venue, thought something bad happened. but then i saw you talking to some rats at the balcony."

you go stiff at his confession. and just like that, after months of keeping things peaceful, keeping your ties and past hidden from old friends—a single phrase from a mere informant to Bonten—completely shatters your world in half.

"i also had my own suspicions, with the way Shiba was giving you those looks. it's like he knew who you were and what you—"

    "you're threatening me aren't you, Imaushi. what, gonna rat me out to Mikey?" you spit between gritted teeth.

     a single pause, then two. "no."

    you thought you heard wrong, then your gaze draws up to him. no?

    "what?"

"no as in, i won't report you to Bonten," you feel his hold on you loosen a bit, then he speaks. "if, you answer a certain question of mine."

    Wakasa Imaushi wanted a transactional agreement. due to your baffled reaction you remain quiet, Wakasa had taken this as his sign to finally ask,