Eros. (Benimaru Shinmon)

八十

The morning light streamed into the room, warm and golden, as I slowly roused from sleep. I blinked a few times, my eyes adjusting to the brightness, and stretched out, feeling the comforting softness of the futon beneath me and the warmth of the blankets wrapped around me. As I shifted, I realized I was no longer in Benimaru's lap but had been carefully placed in the futon, surrounded by layers of blankets that cocooned me in warmth.

I looked around the room, my gaze landing first on Akira, who was sitting nearby, watching me with a quiet intensity as he munched on an apple. He was calm, but there was something guarded in his expression. I glanced over to where Ichijiro still lay sleeping, his small form curled up peacefully under the blankets. His fever had broken, his breathing steady and even, and for a brief moment, I felt a wave of relief wash over me.

"His fever's down," Akira said, breaking the silence. His voice was steady, reassuring. "He's going to be okay."

I nodded, feeling a small weight lift off my chest. "And you?" I asked, concern lacing my voice as I looked at him closely. There were bandages peeking out from under his clothes, and I could see the shadows of exhaustion in his eyes.

"I'll heal," Akira replied, taking another bite of his apple. He seemed casual, but there was an edge to his tone, a tension that told me there was more to the story.

"What happened?" I asked, my mind flashing back to the moments before I'd lost contact with them. "After I tried contacting you... what happened?"

Akira's gaze darkened slightly as he recalled the events, and he lowered the apple from his mouth, his expression hardening. "I saw Burns going in," he began, his voice calm but tight. "I knew something was wrong the moment I saw him, so we followed. I wanted to see why the hell he was there... but I didn't expect what happened next."

He paused, glancing over at Ichijiro, who was still sound asleep, before continuing. "We were ambushed by the Shadows. They captured us and took us to some hidden area where the Commander tried to coax information out of us. When we refused, they got violent. We tried to fight back—Ichijiro and I—but they outnumbered us. I got slashed, and Ichijiro... well, he unleashed something. I don't know what it was, but it knocked out several of them. After that, they restrained us and..."

Akira's voice wavered, and he looked away, his hands clenching around the apple as he struggled to continue. "The Commander... he stripped down, was planning to do unspeakable things to Ichijiro. I couldn't—" His voice broke, and he swallowed hard before forcing himself to continue. "I screamed at him to do it to me instead. But then, something happened. They were summoned by the others, something about intruders. Before he left, he said he'd come back to defile us both... to the bone."

His words hung in the air, each one cutting deeper into me than the last. I could feel a rage boiling up inside me, rising like molten lava. My entire body tensed as I absorbed what he had just told me, the thought of what they had endured, what had been threatened, igniting a fury within me that I couldn't contain.

Heat began to radiate from my body, low waves of searing energy rolling off me, distorting the air around us. My fists clenched, the intensity of my anger burning through me as I struggled to keep control. The image of that vile man, the Commander, filled my mind, and the thought of what he had nearly done to Ichijiro, of what Akira had gone through, was enough to make my vision blur with pure, unbridled rage.

"I'll obliterate them," I vowed, my voice low and laced with the kind of deadly calm that only comes from the deepest of anger. I turned my gaze to Akira, my eyes hard as steel. "I swear on everything I have, I will make them pay for this. They won't get away with it. Not one of them."

Akira didn't speak, but the way he looked at me, with a mixture of relief and an understanding of the resolve in my voice, told me he believed me. I then glanced at Ichijiro, still sleeping peacefully, unaware of the promise I had just made on his behalf.

The heat waves around me intensified for a moment before I forced myself to take a deep breath, reigning in the flames that threatened to burst free. I wouldn't lose control, not here, not now. But my promise was made. There would be no mercy, no hesitation. The Shadows would face the full force of my wrath for what they had done—for what they had dared to do to my family.

I leaned back, still trembling with anger but resolute. My mind was already racing with plans, strategies for how to track them down, how to make each and every one of them suffer for their crimes.

"The Holy Sol will need us..." I murmured, the words hanging heavy in the air as my mind raced through the implications. Akira's eyes met mine, his gaze steady but laced with unease.

I stood up slowly, the heat from my earlier rage still simmering beneath the surface, but I forced myself to focus, to channel that anger into something more productive. The room was bathed in morning light, the warmth of the sun contrasting sharply with the cold realization that we were now in a fight much larger than any of us had anticipated.

"They'll come after us," I continued, my voice growing stronger with each word. "They'll try to tie up loose ends, silence anyone who knows too much. We're not just fighting the Shadows; we're going up against the entire Holy Sol Temple."

Akira nodded, understanding the gravity of the situation. "Then we need to be ready. We can't afford to let our guard down, not even for a moment. If they find out we're still alive..."

"They'll come at us with everything they have," I finished for him. My fists clenched at my sides, the reality of our situation settling in like a heavy weight on my shoulders. But I wouldn't let it crush me. Instead, I let it fuel the fire within me, the determination to protect those I cared about, to ensure that the horrors Akira and Ichijiro endured would never happen again.

I turned toward the window, the light spilling over the city of Asakusa. The very streets that once felt like home now seemed foreign, threatening. I knew that returning to the safety of the past was no longer an option. The world had changed, and so had I.

"They'll need us," I repeated, my voice firmer now. "Because they know we're the only ones who can expose them. We've seen too much, and that makes us dangerous. But it also gives us power."

Akira stepped closer, his expression serious. "Power that we'll have to wield carefully. The Holy Sol Temple isn't just any enemy—they're entrenched in every aspect of society. One wrong move, and they'll have the entire Empire after us."

"I know," I said, turning to face him fully. "But we also have an advantage. They are unaware of the power we have."

Akira glanced at Ichijiro, still peacefully asleep despite the gravity of our conversation. "We'll need to move carefully," he said quietly. "Especially with Ichijiro. He's strong, but... what he went through, it's changed him."

I nodded, understanding the weight of what he was saying. "We'll protect him. We'll protect each other like we always have."

A brief silence fell between us, broken only by the soft sounds of Ichijiro's breathing and the distant hum of the city outside. I could feel the gravity of the moment pulling us together, binding us in a shared determination to face what was coming.

"The Holy Sol will try to erase us," I said finally, my voice resolute. "But they don't realize who they're dealing with. They think they can silence us, but we're not going to let that happen. We'll fight back, and we'll expose them for what they really are."

Akira gave a small nod, the resolve in his eyes matching my own. "Then we fight."

The room seemed to buzz with a new energy, a sense of purpose that filled the space where uncertainty had lingered. I looked back at Ichijiro, my heart swelling with a protective instinct that only fueled my determination further. We would heal, we would regroup, and then we would take the fight to them. The Holy Sol Temple had made a mistake, and they were about to learn just how costly it would be.

"Let them come," I whispered, more to myself than to Akira, "We'll be ready."