Chapter 6: Not a Hero

Talk about awkward.

I stared down at my hands, thin and pale on top of sheets that felt and looked more expensive than anything I'd ever slept in in my entire life. "She's dead, then."

"I'm sorry."

I was still waiting for...something. Something that would feel like my mom had died. Something that would feel like there was nothing worth living for, anymore.

After Dad had "died in a car accident", it was just Mom and me. Somehow, we made it work.

And now, it was just me.

I swallowed a lump that refused to go away. "I guess it would be stupid to ask why."

"He's..." Tsubasa paused for a moment, as if searching for the right word. He shrugged, so maybe he couldn't find it. "I don't know. He's obsessed with your family. With what your father created. With your mother. I don't know why. No offense, but Fujiwara owns about seventy percent of all electronic sales. Your father's company wasn't much of a threat."

"No offense taken," I said dryly. "So, what now?"

He really did have the most beautiful eyes I'd ever seen. "I'm sorry. Every thing happened in a blur. I thought when he killed your father, everything would be over. When I heard he was going to go after your mother...I didn't think he was going to do it literally. I thought he was just going to ruin her. Financially."

"Your father is an asshole."

It didn't seem vehement enough.

Maybe I was still in shock.

He nodded. "In that, I would agree."

But a man who could order the deaths of two people... "He's killed other people before, hasn't he?"

Tsubasa stopped moving about the room, arms crossed over his chest. "I would be stupid to assume he hasn't. He can be quite ruthless. If there's something he wants, nothing can stop him."

The corners of my eyes prickled and I swiped at them angrily, trying not to break down. I had to think. Had to figure out my next move. "Why did you bring me here?"

"It seemed like the safest place."

I shook my head. "That's not what I meant. Why did you save me? Wouldn't it have been easier if you just let me die?"

He laughed. "Don't mistake this gesture as some misguided sense of honor. You think I saved you because I wanted to?"

I flinched.

"If I hadn't gone ahead with this, Ayame would have gotten it into her head to save you. She's too damn smart. Unfortunately, she's also ridiculously naive. She would've not only gotten you killed, but probably herself as well. And I'm not going to stand by and watch it happen. If something happened to Ayame, it would kill my mother. I won't let that happen." He took a seat at the writing desk, suitably far away enough for the green of his eyes to turn dark, muted. "Better I do this. At least, it'll work and we'll all survive. For a while, at least."

It took a while to digest his words. It made sense, in a strange way. I knew what he was talking about when he meant Ayame's naivete. She was smart, but too nice. She did not possess an atom of hardness to her personality. Neither did Kanae. At least from what I could tell. Maybe it had all gone to Tsubasa. It certainly seemed like it.

I stared at my hands clenched into the silk sheets. "I guess I should be talking Ayame. When I see her, anyways."

He nodded. "Perhaps you should. If I hadn't heard about you from her, I would've never known. And after your mother's death, I'm sure my father would have gone to great lengths to finish you off. He's not the kind of man to leave behind unfinished business."

I was unfinished business.

He rose from his seat, a strangely elegant gesture. "I've got to go."

He looked like something out of a dream, with that platinum blond hair, held back with the long hair pin that glittered in the soft lights, and my vision wavered. "Thank you."

I wasn't even sure if he heard me, but he stopped, his hand around the porcelain doorknob.

"Don't thank me yet," he said quietly. "You could still die, you know."

With those as his parting words, the door closed without a sound behind him and slowly, very slowly, I fell to pieces.