Aqua held Kamiki's hand in his own as he felt the life drain from him, still looking in his eyes for long after he moved on. He squished Kamiki's hand once and stood up. His eyes wandered for a moment before they landed on Akane, who sat leaning against the wall, her legs drawn to her chest. Aqua's hands balled up into fists as he saw Ruby and Kana in his peripheral vision, conflicting with his mind once more. Then he took one deep breath, walked over to Akane, and slumped down beside her.
"Why are you sitting here, all on your own? Are you not happy that we won?" Aqua asked as he looked at Akane, whose gaze bored holes into the floor.
"I don't know…" Akane pulled her legs even closer to her chest while her short hair covered her face completely. "That's a lie… I know why…"
"My plan failed so miserably, it almost got all of us killed…" Akane glanced up slightly. Her blue hair hung low, yet she was still able to catch a glimpse of Kana lying a few meters away. "And I hurt Kana… I'm sorry Aqua, I thought I could just do this without anybody dying or else, but I overestimated myself while underestimating Kamiki…"
"You are wrong," Aqua murmured as he, just like Akane, looked down at the floor. "Kana was hurt because I talked too much… I thought that he might not be beyond salvation… That my words could make him see what he had been doing all this time… But now I know how dumb that was."
"That wasn't dumb at all. My views on this might be a bit ancient, but he was your dad after all. I don't believe that, no matter what, a child would really want to murder their parent," Akane said.
"No, I definitely wanted it. It had to be done, otherwise all of us would have either died or lost everything…" Aqua responded.
"But that doesn't answer my question. Did you want it, or was it something that needed to be done?" Akane asked.
Aqua sat still for a while, then he spoke. "It is both… It needed to be done for obvious reasons, but I also needed it to finally rest at night. He killed my mother and wanted to kill my sister, too. A man like that doesn't deserve life."
"That makes me sad," Akane whispered as she bit her lower lip.
Aqua sneaked a short peek at Akane's quivering lips as the silence stretched for a moment. Then he suddenly jumped up. "Come on, let's get going, Akane, we can think later," he said as he reached his hand out for Akane to take.
Kana, who had by now been propped up against the chair, raised her hands further again as she saw Aqua approach her. "Ruby... should I look at it? It might not be as bad-" Aqua asked while he looked at Ruby, who seemed to be totally overwhelmed, partially with Kana's stubborn attitude, but primarily with the bloody slash on her face.
He tried to kneel next to Ruby, but she positioned herself right in between Kana and him. "I think you've done enough for today, Aqua. I will take her to the hospital, to have it looked at by a trustworthy doctor."
Aqua remained kneeling for a moment before he got back up and took a step back. "Good idea…" he sighed, "Just make sure not to slip up about what actually happened here. And... be careful."
Ruby stood up and helped Kana to her feet, too. Kana leaned on her as they walked towards the door.
"Give it back," Ruby growled after they took a few steps, her hand reached out towards Aqua. "My phone, I want it."
Aqua, who had hoped that her sudden stop would perhaps be a change of heart, reluctantly hands her phone back over.
Step… Step… Step… Aqua didn't have the guts to say something as Ruby distanced herself further and further.
The sound of the front door shutting, loud and heavy, felt damning and left a hanging dread over the entire penthouse.
"Aqua, we have no time to lose. Let's clean this mess up and think about a way to dispose of a dead body in the middle of downtown Tokyo." Akane said as she eyed Kamiki's corpse; his skin was already losing color.
"You are right," Aqua murmured, "this is not over yet, we will have to do this right. It would be a catastrophe if the police would find out what went down here."
Aqua joined her in gazing down at the unmoving body. A strong scent of iron, more than Aqua had ever smelled before, even on that day 15 years ago, hung in the air, and the perpetrator for it pooled at their feet. "Just hiding him is not an option. The police would turn this place upside down if someone with Kamiki's profile went missing. We need to get him out of Tokyo. For that we would need a car, preferably a boat too."
They stuffed their bloody shoes into a trash bag and put on some medical gloves they found in his kitchen as the sun started to fully set on the horizon. They carefully wiped every surface they could have come into contact with in the rest of the house and purposely left the living room for last.
"Akane, can I have your phone?" Aqua asked as both found themself standing in the living room once more.
"Sure, but why?" Akane asked while she was already handing it over to him.
Aqua swiftly unlocked her phone and began to dial a number. "I think I know somebody who might be able to help us, I just hope I'm right about it."
???: "Who's there?"
Aqua: "It is me, Aqua. I have a problem here, and thought you might be able to help me."
???: "I don't really have time. But what kind of problem are you talking about?"
Aqua: "It's Kamiki... He is dead, but I have no way to dispose of his body."
???: "... What?... You're joking right?... No you're not the type. But why? I thought-"
Aqua: "Well there were complications, It ha-"
???: "-I can't help you with that. I can't risk our image because of this... I'm sorry."
Aqua: "Are you serious Ichigo? I thought you wanted this too."
Ichigo: "I did... Once upon a time at least. But I changed. Don't misunderstand me, I miss Ai just as much as you do. But I can't just risk Ichigo Productions and every person we have signed because of Revenge."
Aqua: "... This was not revenge for Ai... He tried to kill Ruby... there was no other way, I was ready to let him go, let him go for what he did to mom. But I will not sit here and let him do it again, not to Ruby."
Ichigo: "I understand what you mean, bu-"
Aqua: "You do not understand a thing... I called you because I thought you, of all people could understand, understand why I would not want it to happen again. But I guess I was wrong."
Ichigo: "Aqua, you don't understand, just think about Ruby's career, if we get involved it could be over for her."
Aqua: "No Ichigo, you don't understand. If they convict me for this it will be over for her too. "
Ichigo: "I can't believe it. You actually murdered him? Ai wouldn't have wanted any of this."
Aqua: "I know that myself... I know that Ai would not have wanted any of this... But I also know that Ai would have done the exact same thing in my position, even if she would not want to do it."
Nothing except for breathing came from the other line.
Aqua: "In your situation, on the other hand... Ai would have definitely risked her own career to save Ruby's."
Ichigo stayed quiet.
Aqua: "I don't need much from you, you will just have to come to the address I text you with a car. Then Akane and I will load him up, we are going to drive to the docks, get on your boat, and dump him in the pacific."
Ichigo "... I will help you, for Ai's sake, because... I did what I did back when Ai died. But that's the first and last time, afterwards we're done."
Aqua: "Perfect. I will text you the rest of the details later. Goodbye."
Ichigo: "Goodbye... and... be careful."
"You did well, Aqua," Akane cheered the second she heard the call end. Filled with nervousness, she held her breath for the entire duration of the call. "I totally thought he would just hang up, but you totally got him."
Skin pale and eyes white, they turned back to Kamiki. Not a single ray of sunshine peeked through the blinds anymore by now; now that the part they had carefully avoided all the time had finally caught up to them. Aqua's heart felt like someone had a voodoo doll of him and pierced a needle right through it; in this instance, Akane's petite body shivered at the mere thought of this all.
"Akane, if this is too much for you. I can do this alone, I really mean it this time. I know my way around this sort of thing." He said as he placed his hand on Akane's shoulder.
Her body froze momentarily; then, her shivers were replaced by a pinkish blush which spread across her face. "I can't let you do that…"
"Except for you can," he said as he eyed Kamiki's expensive-looking knives up and down, carefully evaluating which one would do the job the finest.
"Really, let me handle this. I would be more efficient alone anyways."
"I- I appreciate it," Akane murmured as she trailed in Aqua's shadow.
She smiled at him once before she quickly made her way to the other side of the room. She began to rip the tarp off the floor and walls, but couldn't focus at all. Her eyes wandered back to Aqua every other moment.
This was definitely not the right thing to do… I chickened out even though I wanted to stay by his side for the entire way. But I just couldn't do it. The thought of cutting a human into pieces alone… It's too much.
But it's probably the same for him, too. Yet, he still does it without complaining… Is that why I love him? No, it's definitely a part of it. But there is soooo much more.
Aqua picked up the knife with his right hand while he located the exact location of the shoulder joint. When he finally found the joint, he started cutting. First, he cut through the skin, and then through the muscle. He continued by cutting through tendons and ligaments while he moved around the joint capsule in circular movements. After he had all the tissue around the ball and socket joint cleanly severed, he pulled off the first arm with ease. He repeated that exact process with the left arm before moving on to the legs. Unbeknownst to him, Akane stopped cleaning and was watching him from across the room. He similarly worked on the legs; he first cut through the different layers of tissue between the pelvis and femur before he popped the joint clean out of the socket.
Akane was mesmerized by Aqua's precision. If she had tried it, it would've definitely ended in a bloody mess, but he was methodical about it. To her, watching him was like watching a professional at work. She was so engulfed by his movements that she barely even noticed that he finished up. She quickly turned her attention back to the tarp when she finally did notice, silently praying that he didn't see her peek — it would've been so embarrassing. There was barely enough blood left in Kamiki to bleed out of the joints where his limbs were connected to just a moment ago. Aqua gulped as he placed his knife on Kamiki's throat, and a tiny cut appeared along it.
With a damp thud, Aqua's knife fell onto the tarp in between his legs. His eyes were filled with horror as he looked down onto the bloody blade, the bloody hilt, and the bloody gloves. "What am I doing here?" he whispered as he tried to pick his knife back up.
I became a doctor to save lives,
not to take them.