Sour Hearts

Chapter Seven, Adjustment and Judgment

After a VERY long car ride we finally arrived at the new house. There was little to no sound as we pulled onto the long, smooth, concrete drive way; unlike our old house, that had gravel in front. The yard was large and luscious, with butterflies and bumblebees softly flying and landing on small flowers. There where small benches underneath the occasional evergreen oak. I was surprised how much could fit onto the property without being crowded.. then again, it was a very large property. At least two anchors. It was probably a minute long drive just to get through the drive way to the house. Once we got to the house, I really started to appreciate it. It was gorgeous.
The house was large, fitting to the property, and built out of smooth, dark oak, with marble and large tinted windows. The houses build was round, with a stair case leading to the front door. There where of course rectangular accents, such as the large 6 car garage and the upstairs balcony on the left side. Beautiful, healthy green vines ran up the front of the house in small amounts. Along with a few rose bushes at the front with small clear ponds with fish inside. And to think.. this is only the front half. As I admired the jaw dropping house and front lawn, I felt a weight fall from my chest and shoulders.. and then a new weight replaced it. A new house means a new start.. but a new start means new clients, not our usual clients that we've known for years. What if the people we hire are undercover cops?

Neru pulled into the large garage. The lighting was bright, LED lights. Lots of shelves and cabinets, with plenty of table space. This would make a great killing room for Neru. It will have to be repainted of course.. white paint is just too risky. I opened the car door, and the thump of closing it echoed throughout the garage, as did the other doors. It was odd, normally a garage would be hot and muggy.. but it was cooler than the outside. Ryu moved to the door and pressed a button, I turned to look where she was looking- the garage door closed! I've never seen anything like it. Ryu confidently entered the house, Neru followed close behind. I moved to follow, when I noticed Akai stepping away from the door sheepishly.

"You okay, Akai?" I asked softly, turning to face her. "Y-yeah.. it's just.." she turned away. "What?" I stepped closer. She faced the ground, I couldn't see her face, but.. the fresh water droplets on the ground said it all. I placed my hand on her shoulder lightly, and pulled her into a gentle hug. She stayed still. Her nails digging into her arms. After a few moments, I felt her arms move to reach around me. She moved her head on my shoulder as she sobbed, gripping me tighter. I held her closer, moving my hands softly up and down her back to calm her. "I'm sorry to be such a bother." She managed to say through the sniffles. "You're not a bother.. I just want to help you." I whispered. "Oh Yukki.. I just don't understand you." She pulled away from the hug. "You know, I don't exactly understand you either." We both chuckled awkwardly as tears dripped down our faces. "Yukki.. my parents are cops." She took a serious tone, then paused and thought for a moment. "I wanted to follow in their paths."

  "And.. now you can't." I said, thinking out loud. "I'm sorry." I said as I realized it was my fault she could no longer follow this path. "Do you.. want to follow your parents paths?" She asked. "My.. parents..?" I thought, "Akai.. I don't really.. have parents." I said, "I don't really remember what they even did for a living." I said, trying to think back to when I was 6. "What do you mean..? You have Ryuketsu and Neru." Akai asked. "They aren't my parents.. they're more like.. weird aunts that Im forced to live with."

"What happened to your real parents?"
"The loss of my parents.. was the product of a terrorist attack ten years ago." I sighed. Akai began to speak, but was quickly cut off by Ryu opening the door. "Hello? We're trying to explore the house here. Not have a stupid heart-to-heart, romcom, soap opera convo' here." She said, dragging us inside.

  "Oh wow.." I said, as I admired the inside, that was even more beautiful than the outside. It was all beautiful marble, with a spiral stair case in the center, leading to an open second floor, a loft I think is what it's called. The lights where beautiful. They where warm orange-ish tones coming from a modern chandelier.
The down stairs had a bathroom with a large hot tub/bath/shower, and a double sink. Along with a large guestroom bathroom and walk in closet. And then a very large kitchen. We carefully walked up the stunning spiral stair case, into the large upstairs. There where three equally large bedrooms, each with a walk-in closet. Also two bathrooms, slightly smaller than the downstairs, and a very large living space. "Uhm, Ryu.. this place is wonderful, but.. we don't have any furniture. And I can't imagine that we have any money left over after buying this." I said anxiously. "We've got plenty, we've been stockpiling. Killing makes a lot more money than you'd think, Yukki. Neru especially makes extra, since people seem to think that her wimpy methods are more 'humane' and want to pay extra."

"Wimpy?" Neru turned to look at Ryuketsu. "Yeah, Neru. Wimpy." Ryu snapped back. "Do you really want to start this? We just got here." Neru growled. "Yes. Because I dont understand you! If you're gonna kill, have fun with it." She argued. "Really? Have fun with it? Killing is our job. Jobs aren't fun!" Neru shouted. "If Jobs aren't fun, then why didn't you choose a more tame job? Like an office job?" Ryu shouted back. "You know, Ryu, I've killed a loved one once, I won't hesitate to do it again." Nerus voice turned cold. Ryu paused in shock before speaking. "Oh? What're you gonna do? Sneak in my room at night, sing me a lullaby and bore me to death?"

"FOR ONCE, WOULD YOU SHUT THE ACTUAL F-"

"Woah, woah, woah guys!!" I ran over before it could escalate anymore. "Guys. You're different. But in the end, you're both killers. It doesn't matter how you do it, as long as we don't get caught. So let's just chill.. okay?" I instigated. The two killers glared at eachother. "Fine." They sighed. "Thank you.." I sighed back.

  "U-uhm, sorry to interrupt but.. I was curious what my situation will be..?" Akai asked, awkwardly. "What do you mean?" Ryu asked, still bitter from the fight. "Well, I'm sure I'm not someone you'd want around with the whole.. trying to kill you and everything."

"Right. Let's get into that."