CONNECTIONS, H. Kazutora

043

Sounds of leaves crunching as I ran through the dark forest. Panting. Why am I running? I tried to stop but couldn't, my legs just kept on running. Where am I? I looked around the unfamiliar area but was completely clueless about my surroundings. Who or what am I running from? I feel like I'm being followed.

What's happening?

I lifted up my hands and it was completely covered in blood. Blood? Confused to why there are red liquid splattered everywhere on me. Suddenly my legs stopped running, I looked up and in front of me was Mikey. Standing on top of a pile of bodies. Chifuyu. Mitsuya. Draken. Inui. Hakkai. Yuzuha. Hina. Takemichi. Smiley. Angry. I stared in horror as a quick memory of how my friends were killed.

Chifuyu getting shot in the head.

Mitsuya getting choked to death.

Draken getting stabbed multiple times in the chest.

Inui getting pushed off a 10 floor building.

Hakkai getting burnt alive inside an abandoned building.

Yuzuha getting drowned inside a pool.

Hina getting electrocuted while bathing in the tub.

Takemichi getting his head chopped off with an axe.

The twins getting beaten up to death.

They all died because of one person. And that person was Mikey. He killed everyone.

Everyone except Kazu.

I need to get to Kazu. Where is he. I have to find him. I can't let Mikey get to him first.

My eyes spotted a man with long black hair and yellow streaks standing with his back facing me as the light from the moon shined at him. I quickly sped up my pace and hugged him from the back. "Kazu! We need to leave!" I yelled out as I tried pushing him to move but he wouldn't budge. "Kazu! Hurry!" I yelled again and quickly went in front of him.

My eyes widened as I looked up to see Kazu, blood dripping down his face. His eyeballs were gone. They got plugged out. His body fell on top of me as I just stood still. My hands trembling as tears quickly streamed down my cheeks. Out of nowhere, loud but slow footsteps approached me from the trees. Mikey. A cold, sick, twisted grin was plastered on his face as he sprinted to me then shoved a gun in my mouth and pulled the trigger. Everything suddenly went black.

"(NAME)"

"(NAME)! WAKE UP!"

I opened my eyes to see Kazu on top of me with worries washed all over his face. He has both of his hands placed on my shoulders as he shook me. Cold sweat sliding down my forehead as tears poured down my face uncontrollably. I lifted up my trembling hands and cupped his cheeks. "You're eyes.. They're still here.." I blurted out as my voice cracked, "My eyes? Yeah they're still here, what about them?" He asked, I was about to answer them when a feeling of nausea erupted in my stomach. "(name), tell me what happened—" I pushed Kazu away and hopped off the bed, making my way towards the bathroom with a hand placed on my mouth. Immediately once I got to the toilet bowl, I began to throw up.

Kazu rushed over to me and crouched down, then patted my back. "(name)..." , After a few minutes I was done. I went flushed the toilet then went over to the sink and cleaned my mouth. Still trembling from the nightmare I just had. I fell to the ground, hugging my knees as I sobbed quietly. Kazu crawled on the floor and picked me up to lay on his lap. We stayed in that position for another minute in silence before he spoke up, "You can tell me what happened whenever you feel like it, but now it's still really early in the morning so how about we go back to bed—" , "NO" His eyes widened a bit by the way I suddenly raised my voice. "No... I don't want to go back to bed.. please." Even though I was really tired, I still didn't want to go back to sleep. I'm afraid that nightmare might replay again once I fall asleep.

A heavy yet tired sigh escaped his lips as he caressed my cheek. "So how about we go for a walk outside? Get some fresh air?" He suggested with a gentle voice. I nodded my head and wiped away my tears as I stood up from my spot.

...

We're walking down the streets in silence. We didn't have an actually destination but just followed the street lamps. The entire time I was clinging myself onto Kazu, looking left, ride and behind us every 10 seconds. He noticed my weird behavior but decided to keep his mouth shut.

A cold drop of water fell on top of my nose making me stop in my tracks and look up to the sky. It's... raining. "Oh it's about to rain, we should go back home." Kazu turned around and was about to walk back from where we came from but stopped due to someone hugging him from the back. He looked over his shoulder in confusion.

My eyes began to water as a picture of him from my dream flew back to me. "Kazu.." I muttered out. He hummed out a response as he turned back, embracing me with a warm hug as rain poured down.

"Please don't ever leave me."

It's the same thing he said to me, years ago. I promised to never leave him, but he never promised me the same thing. He let out a small giggle before cupping my cheeks, lifting my face up to look at him in the eyes. "I won't. Don't worry. I'll never leave you, no matter what goes between us" , "Promise?" , "Promise." He stared me with a sincere look, giving me comfort. He planted a kiss on my forehead before smiling at me brightly.

I really do love this guy. I don't want anything bad to happen to him. I'd gladly risk my life for him. The last thing I want if I die is to be in his arms.

We took shelter under a closed up shop nearby. We just stood still, admiring the rain. I let out a deep sigh before opening my mouth to talk. "I had a nightmare." , "Is that so? What happened in it?" , "Mikey killed everyone. He had this twisted grin on his face when he was about to kill me." Kazu didn't say anything but just stared at me.

"I still don't get how a 15 year old like him that loves goofing around acting like a fucking dumbass can grow up to becoming a leader of Japan's worst criminal organization. I know he's gone through a lot in the past and lost many people that meant a lot to him but why..."

"Well you know him. He's not the type to show his vulnerability to others, he keeps them all to himself. Even if we try to get it out him, it would never work. The life that he's living now.. isn't the life that he chose."

"..."

"I understand how much you want him back but please (name), he had a reason to hide himself away from us. So we also gotta do our part and stay away from him. He isn't the same 15 year old Mikey we used to know." 

"Yeah.. I guess you got a point."

——————
Can't wait to write chapter 45😈 Guess what's gonna happen😇