ANOTHER LIFE || Banana Fish: Alternative Ending ||

~Banana 28~

"What do we do now? We messed up big time." Sing lets out a loud frustrated grunt as he retires down the sofa, his question directed at Yut Lung who is standing at one side of the room.

"Why don't you ask that to Mr. Lynx?" Yut Lung ardently replies and throws his attention to Ash who also claimed his place on the opposite side of the room, attention intensely focused on the vast horizon.

Cain slips his hands in his pockets and laxly laid his back against the cold pillar. "This incident would render us paralyze for a while." He comments.

"If only a certain someone had stuck to the plan, we would've at least knew that Leopard's identity."

Ash moves no part of his body but his eyes and blankly looks at Yut Lung playing on the slick black locks of his hair.

"Every second that fucking bastard is out there, who knows how much longer can we keep breathing. If only..." Yut Lung grits his teeth. He has been keeping his cool until now but being in the same room with Ash is a cruel torture for him.

"If you have something to say, spill it." Ash nonchalantly says and this caused Yut Lung's thread of patience to finally snap.

In a split second, Yut Lung sprints over the other side and now his holding Ash on the helm of his shirt, looking at him with eyes full of mixed undescribable emotions but wrath and pain were the most evident.

"He was before your eyes! He was within your grasps yet you let him go when Eiji called you! How is it that in your eyes, his life is what's most important? Do you even know the price of letting that beast run around?" Yut Lung tightens his grip on Ash but Ash only regards him impassively, his eyes barely holding any life.

Yut Lung loosens his grip and rests his fists on Ash's chest, chuckling dryly all of the sudden. "Why do I even bother telling this to a beast like you. Even if you try, you won't be able to understand me."

"Yut Lung." Sing decides to step in before hell breaks lose but he is utterly ignored.

Yut Lung shots his eyes of hatred to Ash with tears racing down from them. "You won't understand because it wasn't your men who were killed! It wasn't your men who were sacrificed! It wasn't---"

"Yut Lung that's going beyond the line. Stop." Sing interrupts, gripping Yut Lung's hand to make them let go of Ash and drags him away.

"I trusted you, Ash! I trusted you!" Screams Yut Lung while desperately trying to free himself from Sing.

"LET GO OF ME!" He yells but Sing continues to drag him away with all his might.

I'm looking forward for a slap. It's so fucking exciting I'm going out of my mind.

During the slim chance Sing's hold loosens a bit, Yut Lung took this opening and quickly gives Sing what he was expecting to receive.

"I told you to let go!" Yut Lung snarls at him with labored breathing. Without anything else, he pushes Sing out of his way and walks out storming.

"Damn." Sing mumbles while looking where Yut Lung had exited, licking the corner of his bleeding lips. "He went all out I thought I was gonna lose my head."

The once intense atmosphere is now dead, not peaceful but dry and dead. Sing turns to Ash, pointing a finger to him.

"You owe me big time, Ash." He proudly declares. "I'm gonna go after that spoiled brat and patch things up for you. You better pay me back later."
After all his almighty heroic announcement, Sing immediately scoots off, leaving only Cain and Ash in the room.

Silence settles in with the two playing a mental game of endurance, whoever talk first looses.

Cain eventually yields and breaks the silence first. "I was meaning to ask you this," he starts off. "What happened back there? I don't believe you let our target go for the reason Yut Lung said."

Self doubt is evident in Ash's eyes while he is silent, still looking for the words to say.

"It's true." Ash calmly says, pressing his forearm against the glass window and letting his forehead rest on it.

Cain didn't utter a word. He is surprised and confused but he knew Ash would further explain so he kept quiet.

"That man was in front of me. I had him. But when Eiji called me..." He pauses and takes in a deep shaky breath. "I just lost my mind and left the plan. The thought of losing him was just too much for me to bear. I couldn't breath and it was killing me. So I left."

Cain lends Ash an open ear, afterall it's not always Ash lets out his thoughts in the open like this. Given that fact, the boy before him must really be in great pain.

"That idiot is a genius with messing with me. Breaking me." Ash continues, his voice trying to sound harsh and blaming but instead, his words came with pain and longing. "But I'm to blame. I let him mess me, break me." Ash moves from his place, turns around and swings his limbs to calm his nerves.

"Shit." He mutters to himself. He slumps down an empty seat, face downcast and his hands locked together behind his head. "Why am I being like this?"

Cain has a suggestion solution in mind and is now picking a way to say it. He goes with the harsh way, thinking that it will be more effective.

"Then maybe it's time to let him leave? Or you leave him?"

Ash was avoiding any eyecontact all along but after hearing the those words, he shots his eyes to Cain. He stares for a while as the reality of the suggestion sinks in his head and the stares back at the ground.

"Don't mind what I said. Just do what you want. I trust you." Cain says. "I gotta get my ass outta here before I pull your trigger." He bids before leaving.

Ash is deep in thought, weighing all his thoughts. He was so close to picking an answer to Cain's options when a sweet innocent laughter rings in his ears and cuts him on it. Ash bolts up and looks outisde the window and down at the garden.

There he sees Eiji. Carefree and cheerful. Ash admits it's odd but accepts the fact that seeing Eiji's smile takes all his worries and problems away and soothes all his aching. He thinks again about his supposed-to-be answer.

How am I supposed to live without him?

Upon realizing the meaning of the tender thought that suddenly crossed his mind, Ash shoves it aside.

Ash feels warm for a reason.

But it gets warmer. Warmer. And then eventually hot enough to let his blood boil.

Ash had completely forgot about the reason behind Eiji's laughter. He subconsciously omitted a piece. He totally forgot to include that Ace in the picture.

"Those two! What do they think they're doing?"

Ash furiously turns on his heels but when he is about to reach the door, the question slaps right back at him.

What do I think I'm doing? Getting all worked up.