Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Because of You ❯ 32 ( Chapter 32 )

Because of You Sequel to: This I Promise You Written by:Chocho Disclaimer:I do not own Gravitation or the characters from it.  I do not make any money from the writing of this story. Summary:Scott is back in police custody, but Karin is out there biding her time.  Will the police be able to stop her before she carries out her plot to assassinate Shuichi? Chapter summary:  Karin has finally avenged her brother’s murder. Warning:Angst, drama, romance, m-preg, language, m/m sexual content Inserts:  -- A/N:  Thank you to catti, Xunxin, angee330, Kimiko, lilshu65, usagi151 for actually taking the extra couple of seconds to review!  I love hearing what you guys have to say!  Love you all to pieces!  Thank you to the rest of you for sticking with me this far (even if you don’t bother to review)…Okay guys, so this is it.  The final chapter.  Enjoy!     ***     (Last Time)   The crosshairs in the scope where aligned perfectly over her target.  A sly smile crossed her face.   Finally.  It was here!   The image on the scope blurred behind sudden tears that stung her eyes.   It was so hard to believe that the day had finally arrived.  Everything had led her to this point.   Lowering her rifle, she tossed her head back and blinked her tears aside.  This was no time for this.  She would have time afterwards.  But not now.  Not here.   Nobody was above the law.  Not even the seemingly perfect Shindou Shuichi.  Once everybody knew the truth about what she was doing, discovered what a hero she was in ridding the world of a cold-blooded murderer, they would rejoice.  They would praise her!  She would become a god and be worshipped!   She knew it.   She could see it now!   But more importantly, her dear brother would finally be able to rest in peace, his murder having been avenged.   The sun glinted off the scope as she brought her target back into view.   ***   Chapter 32   Eiri bounded up the steps and vanished into the house.   Shuichi gripped the joystick located on the arm of his wheelchair and wheeled himself down the ramp and across the drive to Eiri’s car.    Maiko followed close behind him.   This was the same Mercedes Eiri had when Shuichi first met him when Shuichi was eighteen and a senior in high school.  The car was still in immaculate shape.  There was a time in their relationship where Shuichi had been almost positive that Eiri cared more for his precious Mercedes than for him.  Shuichi would have laughed at that absurd thought if it were not for the fact that part of him still felt that way.    Eiri’s Saab, the other car he had when they first met, sat under a tarp in the garage.  Like the Mercedes, it too was in perfect condition except for a tiny, microscopic ding on the front bumper, but since Eiri hardly ever drove it, what Eiri did not know would not hurt him.   ~*~   “So, Big Brother,” Maiko said as she followed Shuichi down to the drive.   Tearing his eyes away from his husband’s car, Shuichi glanced over his shoulder at his baby sister.  “Hm?”   “Are you ready?” she asked with a grin and a mischievous glint in her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the black Mercedes.   He did not have to ask.  Shuichi snorted.  “Hardly.”   Maiko laughed lightly.  As much as she loved her brother, she would not want to switch places with him if their lives were at stack.  Two six year olds.  A seven month old and in a matter of a few short weeks, three newborns.  Add a bed bound son, an autobiography and a solo album and her big brother was working himself into an early grave.  Why he constantly did this to himself, she would never know.   She looked up as Eiri set the last of her bags down on the front stoop.  Their eyes met briefly, before he turned and went back into the house.   “Did you talk anymore about hiring a nanny?”   Shuichi just gave his sister a look that said it all.  Eiri would hear nothing about allowing some stranger into their house and raising their children as if they were incompetent.  It would not matter if the person they were to hire came highly recommended by God.  Eiri had a hard time as it was trusting the bodyguards that Tohma hired for them, especially after what happened with Isaac Smith all those years ago.  So there was no way Eiri was going to hear of a live in babysitter.   “Aah,” Maiko nodded.   “…You know.”   Maiko looked at her brother expectantly.   “Mom and Dad are always complaining about how since we live so far apart.  She hardly ever gets to see the kids.”   With a roll of her eyes, Maiko nodded.  She knew all too well.  At least her brother was only a couple hours away by train.  With her living all the way to the north in Hokkaido, it was a little more difficult.   A thought occurred to her.  “Are you thinking about moving back to Tokyo?”   Shuichi shrugged.  Actually, it was not something Eiri and he had spoken about, but it was something Shuichi had been thinking about off and on ever since Fujisaki came to him with the proposal of appearing on Desert Star’s debut album.   In fact, it was that pitch that started Shuichi into thinking about releasing a solo album.  Having been in the business since he was in high school, Shuichi knew all too well, what went on behind the scenes.  And there in lay the problem.  It was not going to be as easy as it was when he was younger.  It used to be torture when he was away from Eiri for just a week.  So, how much more distressing would it be now that he had a family?  Now that Eiri had become much more than just his lover?  Would the boys understand why their mama was away from home so much?   Would it be easier if they were to move back to Tokyo if he were to put out a solo album?   These were all things Shuichi knew he and Eiri would have to talk about sometime very soon.   Maiko gazed about the yard.  Her eyes landed on the house that was just visible over the wall and through the bare branches of the trees that separated it from her brother’s and wondered.   Sighing, Shuichi ran his fingers through his hair before lacing his hands behind his head.  He stared over the car and across the yard.   He had no idea what the right thing to do was.  Shuichi knew what he wanted to do, but was it the right thing for his family?   Something among the brush across the street caught his attention.   Seeing her brother tense, Maiko called out to him softly.   “Hm?”  Shuichi pried his eyes away from the deep shadows that ran parallel to his house for a moment.   “You okay?”   Was he?   Shuichi turned back around.    He had no idea.   There was nothing there now.  What was it that he saw?  Had he actually seen anything in the first place?  Or was he jumping at shadows?   “I need a vacation,” he decided.   Maiko snorted.  “Don’t we all?”   Chuckling lightly, Shuichi grabbed the joystick and rotated his chair around.  He gazed at the house.  “Where is Eiri?”  What, did he go to the bathroom and fall in?   Maiko shot her brother a glance.  “Why?  Eager to get rid of me?”  She grinned.   “Yup,” Shuichi agreed with a deadpanned expression.   “Jerk,” Maiko laughed swatting her big brother playfully.   Snickering, Shuichi turned to grin at her and that was when it happened.    ~*~   She could not believe her eyes.  Lowering the rifle, she gazed around the tree and across the street at the scene unfolding before her.   She almost could not believe her eyes.  Had she actually done it?   By God.  Was it finally over?   A giggle bubbled up inside of her.  To those who would hear it, it sounded vaguely hysterical.  Though she herself could make no distinction.   The contingent of men in black that the almighty Seguchi Tohma had hired in an effort to protect his family from the psychotic bitch that they thought she was (and she would freely admit that she probably was) were racing around the yard shouting into earpieces she had not noticed until now.  Their guns, which they must have gotten special permission to use, were drawn.  Their eyes darted everywhere, searching.  Searching for her, she realized.   She snickered.   The tall skinny Japanese guy that had been like Shindou’s shadow since that murderer stepped out of the house- well, technically, wheeled out, she could not but help laughing as she corrected herself- had pushed his charge out of the chair and into the ground before pulling Shindou’s sister down with them.  None of them were in view.  How much would you like to bet that sorry excuse of a bodyguard was covering Shindou with his body, just in case?  Always the good little soldier.   She felt a rush of nausea.  She knew they were only doing the job they were hired to do, but she did not understand how they could agree to protect a murderer.   Dropping to her knees, she quickly dismantled her rifle and placed the sections into its case with practiced ease.  Snapping the lid closed, she got to her feet and slung the strap over her shoulder.  Pulling her wrap around shades down from their perch on top of her head, she glanced one last time over her shoulder at the utter chaos that was unfolding behind those wrought iron bars.  Slipping on her sunglasses, she turned and vanished within the deep shadows.   ~*~   A woman a little on the short side with chestnut brown hair that just tickled her lower back and dark hazel eyes hidden behind a pair of black wraparound shades that had diamonds embedded around the rims stepped out of the trees.  Her French manicured nails painted a light dusty rose carried a nondescript case.  Her full lips were bright red.  Because of the seasonal rain, the back of her boot cut, low waisted blue jeans and the black heeled boots that she sported were covered in mud.  The sun glinted off a gold band on her left ring finger as she fixed the collar of her black leather jacket.   She glanced up and down the street.   With a sly smile twisting her lips, she walked confidently down the deserted barely used road that was full of more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese towards a silver BMW parked long the curb several yards down the street whose engine was running.   The trunk popped open.  The lid bounced several times before settling.   She placed the case that carried her instrument of revenge into the hole that was usually reserved for the spare tire.  She slammed the lid closed.  The passenger side door was pushed open.  Rounding the car, she slid into the passenger seat.   The doors were locked automatically after she closed the car door.   She put her seatbelt on and then was flung backwards into the seat by the tremendous press of G forces as the BMW shot down the street.  Nothing was left in their wake but a cloud of dust.   “Karin,” the male voice broke into the silence.   Karin glanced at her companion out of the corner of her eye.   The once student body president’s face was set grimly.  The sun created a mirrored effect with his glasses.  A gold band on his left ring finger glittered in the sun for brief sporadic moments as his grip tightened and then unclenched and then tightened again around the steering wheel.  In sneakers, tan khakis and a polo shirt underneath a sweater vest, he could be mistaken for someone’s father.   “Are you sure about this?”   Karin shrugged.  “It’s too late for regrets now,” she said.  “Besides…It had to be done,” she added in a soft whisper as if she were speaking to herself.  She continued to ignore the nagging voice in the back of her mind.   “…It’s just…”  There was a heavy sigh from besides her.  “…Shuichi…he is my brother-in-law after all and-”   A spark of rage ignited within her, but Karin quickly out it out.  “Was,” she corrected more calmly than she actually felt, “your brother-in-law.”   “And whose fault is that?” was the disgruntled retort.   Karin rolled her eyes and heaved a disgusted sigh.  “Please!  It is not as if I held a gun to your head.  You willingly got yourself involved in this.”   He said nothing.   Turning away from him, Karin stared blankly out of the window.   Several things happened at that point.  Her partner cut a sound string of curses, the car came to such a sudden halt that Karin was thrown forward- her hands slapped against the dashboard to keep her from smashing her face into its hardness- and a chorus of voices called out to them.   “Rinjin Karin!  Step out of the car with your hands up!”   Groaning, Karin slowly sat back.  Her sunglasses had slipped off and were lying at her feet.  She pushed her hair out of her face.  She knew she would be sore in the morning.   “Driver!  Step out of the car with your hands where we can see them!  Now!”   “Shit!  Now what?”   Karin glanced around them.  She cursed over a rapidly beating heart.  They were completely surrounded.  There had to be dozens of them swarming the car from all sides.  She could even hear the unmistakable sounds of a helicopter.  How the hell had that happened?  Where had they all come from?    Her eyes went wide as the answer struck her.    No, she refused to believe it.  It could not be.  But the truth was right outside the car’s windows pointed right at her.  There was no other explanation.  Even though she herself watched as the police pulled out a week ago.  She thought they had given up their stakeout.  Given up on catching her in the act.  A month had passed with nothing happening.  But obviously, she had been wrong.   It had been…   “…a trap.”   But…   A slow grin spread across her face.  It did not matter.  Nothing mattered anymore.  She had accomplished what she had set out to do.   Sliding off her seatbelt, she reached for the lock.  A hand on her arm stopped her.   “What the hell are you doing?”  His eyes were wide with panic behind his glasses.   Karin shrugged off his hand.  Unlocking the door, she pushed open the door and with her hands raised over her head, she slowly stepped from the car.   She would freely admit to her crimes.  Even if it meant spending the rest of her life in prison.   She had been stalking Shindou and his family and long before the first photograph arrived at his doorstep.  She had attempted to kill his boys in Osaka last month.  She had threatened him and Yuki-san.  And she had indeed shot Shindou dead.   She had finally avenged her brother’s premature death at the hands of that cold-hearted bastard.  Shindou Shuichi had finally gotten what he had had coming to him for the last seven years.  Yasashii could finally rest in peace.  And that was all that mattered.   ***TBC***     A/N:  Holy sugar cookies!  There is only the epilogue left, which will take place six months later.  I am sorry that this was so short.  And I will apologize in advance if it came over as seeming somewhat rushed.  That was not my intent at all.   So, what did you think?  What happens to Shuichi?  Did he make it?  And if not, what about the babies?  Do you absolutely hate me for making you wait?