Okumura Syndicate

Chapter 141: Battered Senseless

Meanwhile, Fleur had her own matters to attend to. While having moved in herself, she was yet to tell Craaq of their promotions and that he too will be getting a new room, a slightly fancier setup given to caporegime. First thing that afternoon, as soon as Rou and Vox had left, she headed over to her former training room in her new attire and went to break the good news. Swinging open the door, she saw Craaq and the soldiers looking at her in awe.

"Fleur, is there a formal occasion going on?", said one of the soldiers, staring at her long purple dress. Fleur put her finger to her lip and explained, "You probably wonder why I asked for all ten of you, both sectors of my squad, to gather in this room. I'm here to answer your queries.". Another soldier cowered in fear, "Don't tell me it's a high profile assassination?!", they yelled. "It's nothing like that.", replied Fleur. "I actually have some good news.", she added.

"As of last night, I've been promoted.", she announced, all of her former soldiers bounced and cheered, upon hearing information that was four years awaited. However, Fleur wasn't done, "There's another thing that needs to be addressed, and it includes Craaq packing his bags...", she informed. "What? Am I being ratted out?", said the anthro bunny fearfully. "Oh, it's nothing like that.", Fleur emphasised. "So I'm being executed?!", Craaq then exclaimed.

"No Craaq, the news is good for you too, you're going to be my replacement.", Fleur finally revealed. Craaq was in shock, "Me? A caporegime?", he questioned, not seeing how he, being the coward he thought he was, could be promoted. "Of course I chose you, your confidence to speak out far outweighs many soldiers I've worked with, the only person I could view has superior has already been promoted himself.".

"I'll do my best, ma'am!", announced Craaq. He made a pledge to the soldiers, "Working with this squad, I promise I'll grow more confident, especially since now I'm out of my helmet, since I've known most of you since I first arrived here. Finally, I'll do my best in the capo meetings, even if Rou and Viper scare me a little...". Fleur and the soldiers applauded him. After that, Fleur had a request.

"Speaking of capo meetings, I'm holding one tonight upon Rou's return. Luckily for us the higher ups won't be there.", she explained. "Which means we can talk about Vox.", she then commented in a whisper. "I understand.", replied Craaq. The short anthro bunny saluted before hopping off to move into his new room, a completely new life for him.

Back at the tavern, 4 hours had passed, and the constant back and forth between Rou and Shiva was still going on. By this point, the sun was setting and everyone needed to go home, both men were exhausted. "Rou...how the hell have you kept going?", groaned Shiva, lazily whipping the capo with vines. "I should say the same about you, surely you'd be tired by now.", muttered Rou, freezing said vines with his already frostbitten hands.

"Shall we just call this fight a draw? Structure and chaos just as good as each other?", asked Shiva, breathing heavily from the workout. Rou didn't respond, the man had his head in his icy hands. Finally, he looked up at his opponent, "What fight?", he remarked, confused as hell. The fight was finally over, both sides were victorious, despite both being slightly injured and extremely lethargic. However, the blue haired man appeared in a trance, and was only barely aware of the battle that persisted for so long.

"Give us a bit of time.", said Shiva softly. Rou could barely hear his voice, "Shiva...?", he mumbled softly. The structured man began walking towards the lake in the distance, looking at his reflection. "Rou, what's going on?", asked Aster, "How much can you remember?", but he was already too late, the man was already gone, seemingly forgetting the fight completely.

"So this is what's going on?", Demitris thought to himself. "By day, a tyrant dominated by anger, by night a man who doesn't know what to do with his life. Whoever's responsible for this will pay!", he then said out loud. "Young Demitris, what the hell are you on about?", enquired Vox ominously. "I said that?", jittered the soldier. "I-I didn't mean any of it!", he emphasised.

"I understand...", replied Vox, backing off from Demitris's private business on the face of it. As Aster brought Rou back from the lake, Demitris ran up to his superior. "Rou, you're hurt, let me help you!", he exclaimed, allowing him to use him as a crutch. "Y-you're so kind...I don't deserve this...", he uttered. "You deserve everything Rou...", said Demitris in response. Rou leaned on Demitris, causing the shorter man's heart to go into overdrive as he pulled him closer. "This is nice.. ", he reflected.

The night began to set in, and Aster, Demitris, Rou and Shiva all loaded into the carriage, with Vox volunteering to pull the reins. Some questions were answered that day, while others were left unsolved. Plans were made where most were unaware, just waiting to come out. But certainty was created on this unconventional night, and Aster and Demitris, as well as Fleur, had the thing they were striving for, a plan, which they just had to put into action.