When Tyson reached the Tachibana residence, he found all the lights to be off. He rings the doorbell, assuming Mrs Tachibana to have gone asleep with Hillary, with Mrs Tachibana being  an early sleeper, as she was a very busy person.

No response.

 He rings again and even calls out their names in the silent neighborhood. After impatiently waiting for a minute or two, his worries get the better off him. 

Hillary was supposed to be here. She couldn't have gone anywhere after the state she was in when he left. He also knew that they kept a spare key under the rose pot next to the door. And he was quite sure Mrs Tachibana wouldn't scold him if he barged into their house without warning. Otherwise, why would she take the trouble of even telling him the spare key's hiding place?  He reasoned his actions and let himself in.

"Mrs Tachibana.... Hillary !! Tyson here. Are you people in there?! "

Still no response. Tyson starts feeling a bit uneasy at this. The hallway was a bit dusty, and even he knew that The Tachibana residence was never dusty. And if the mare sight of dust could make him feel uneasy,  the scene that followed it as he entered the living room raised goosebumps all over his body. 

The two sliding glass doors, which covered the entire wall in front of him and led the the garden, was smashed to pieces, scattered all over the floor. The ivory coloured curtains were torn to pieces. An antique vase, Mrs Tachibana's dearest possession lay before him, partially broken. 

Dread filled his heart and he had to take the support of the door frame to stand erect. What had happened here? Where was Hillary?!! Mrs Tachibana? Tyson races through the hallway,  barging into every door in his way, with his mind creating more gruesome image than the previous one on how he would find Hillary, mixing them up with the blood stained memory of Kai from the day before.

 When he finally reached Hillary's room,  which was located on the first floor, only to find the room to be in a state similar to that of the others, Tyson didn't know whether to be grateful or worried about not finding anyone in the house. He collapsed into the torn bed, rocking back and forth, sobbing hardly, for he couldn't imagine anything happening to the Tachibanas.

 The sweetest family he would ever know, who had more or less adopted him, treated him just as he was treated when he was a little toddler, as though they had always been in touch over the last decade. Mrs Tachibana, who was the closest thing to a parental figure he had had in his recent life. Mr Tachibana, who was the perfect mix between the overprotective father of a daughter and a father teasing his son for not being bold enough to ask the his crush out. 

And Hillary!! The girl who had gone from the 'wicked witch of grade eight' as he so eloquently put it, to 'being back to friends' to his 'newest crush'. He couldn't even think of losing any of them. God couldn't be any more cruel to him than he was already was, could he? He couldn't possibly take away any more loved ones from him, could he? I couldn't be  a cursed child to all the people whom he loved,  could he? 

After rocking back and forth for a few more minutes, he tried thinking of anything positive in the situation,  as he always does. It was just   following his mother's advise, one of the few memories of her which had followed him from his childhood days to his teen years,  for somehow, it made him feel closer to his mother than ever before. 

Then he noticed it. A thin layer of dust caked on the study table. This confirmed him that the attack, for whatever reason it was caused, wasn't recent. A giddy sense of happiness filled his heart, and he immediately messaged all the three Tachibanas.

Where are you

Within seconds, he got a reply, from non another than Hillary herself. 

Hospital

He thought he might be frustrated with her because she wasn't following the rules set by her itself,  not giving herself the needed rest. But his joy of knowing that she was alive surpassed it. Sure,  he wouldn't take his eyes of the phone  until he received messages from the other two and well, but at least it was a starting point.

Then after impatiently waiting for a few more minutes for a reply,  he thought of asking Hillary herself of the other two. 

Family 

Out of station.

Just the confirmation he had desperately needed. All of them were safe. Tyson released a breath he never knew he was holding. Maybe it was just a stupid robbery or something. He chuckles at his own high-wire imagination. 

He washed his face to get rid of the tears,  though his eyes were still tinged red. Just before he locked the front door, even though it wasn't really protecting anything inside, his phone beeps up again.

Talk to you later.. And you know what, Kai is awake.

Another reason to get back to the hospital,  he thought. Kai owed them all an answer,  maybe even accompanied by an explanation. 

Did he suspect an attack at the studio before they even agreed to attend it? Was that the reason he refused to attend the show?

******

All Hillary could do was stare. Stare at the person who had caused her so much hardship in the last fortnight. The potential cause to all her problems. All her friends' worries..

"I wasn't expecting some silly girl to sabotage my plans, to make my work so much harder, to stand up for herself for such a long time without even letting the cause for all her problems, her supposed friends, to even know. Hads off to your resilience." He said, clapping mockingly.  

Hillary had not idea in how to respond to the situation, because she wasn't expecting to meet him in person, like ever, and certainly not in the hospital itself.  "But seriously, was it even worth the struggles you are going through? I just start with ransom calls, blackmails, but no. I try to scare you off by attacking your house in the middle of the night, still you hold yourself from telling your teammates. 

When your mother got here due to a suspicious accident, you didn't tell them then either. Heck, I should have done a bit more verification about your financial stand, you managed to pay off the bills quite easily without any help. And alas, your friends won. You thought the story was over, didn't you? You convinced yourself that your friends were safe, didn't you? But look what you made them all go through..." he continued, spreading his hands for a dramatic effect.

" The Blade Breakers are never safe. They and their families just have way too many enemies, and as long they are together, it's just icing on the cake. You don't have to get yourself in their mess, girl. 

I'll give you one last chance. Turn back now, and no one will know. I'll let you go. You'll never see me again in your life. All your problems will be solved. Go live life like everyone else. Get yourself out of this mess."

Hillary risks a glance at Kai. His eyes were closed, calm as though patiently waiting for death to engulf him. Hillary would have taken  offence a if they already weren't in such a dangerous situation. How did he even think I'll let him die?!!

Then it occurred to her. Suzie had gone to find the police. Hillary  just hope she will be here soon. All Hillary had to do was bide time...  

"Why are you doing all this? The championship was over days ago." She asked, her voice to slightly breaking at the end. He threw his head backwards an started laughing hysterically. "You still didn't get it? The championship was just a part of the deal, mostly my partner's. I was out for his blood and his blood alone," he said,  pointing at Kai "-even if there had to be a few negligible sacrifices here and there." he shrugged, casually leaning against the wall. 

Hillary clenched her fists in anger, from how casually he was referring to her mother's near death as negligible sacrifices. She grit her teeth to not display anger while asking, "Then why was Max the one who was targeted at the talk show."

"Not every misfortune that happens to these spoiled brats is linked to me, you see. I told you before, they have a lot of enemies.  Tsk, tsk, now I see what you are doing... Wasting time, are we now? No hospital staff is assigned to come to this floor for the hour at least. No one is present in this floor except for the three of us. What will you do?" he smirked,  arrogance and ego evident in his voice. 

All her childhood, Hillary had spent most of her time with her father learning new skills. This was back when her father wasn't as busy as he was at present and had been since the last four years. From swimming to golf, from art to cooking, her father seemed to be just excellent at everything he does. He had been, and still remains as her only real life hero.

And just before the interactions lessened due to a lot of traveling from his company's side, they had started some self defence training, working out on weekends, mainly on mixed martial arts, and sometimes switching to judo,  because the eleven-year old Hillary loved to judo-flip her Teddy bear, which was way larger than herself, while her father showed her new techniques on it and increased it's weight to upto twenty kilograms in those days. She had also taken a few months of kendo training at the Granger's dojo too, so she might know at least something which might be of use,  she desperately tried assuring herself. 

Playing along with his rules was out of question,  because even before she reached the stairs, Kai would be dying, if not already dead. 

As she stared at the casually smirking attacker, his knife still in hand, who had so much arrogance to simply assume that she would just walk away, after all she had gone through in the last few days; all Hillary could think of was whether she could pull off a judo flip on a fully grown adult, weighing around sixty-five kilograms. 

"I haven't got all day,  you know." He reminded her impatiently, before starting a countdown from ten. She attacked him before he could utter eight.

As she sprinted inside the room, using the sofa as a cushion to launch herself on the attacker's shoulder, pushing herself back to bring the attacker to the ground with her,  she was sure that she had taken him by surprise.  Scrambling to her feet immediately, she punched him a few times in the face. A few of her blows had made an impact. Hillary was sure that she had broken his nose and he now sported a bruised eye.

 But she didn't have much time to appreciate her handiwork,  for the element of surprise had faded. And apparently, as an assassin who must have had some sort of training somewhere, had way more surprises under his sleeve than she ever would. She kept on with dodging his blows at the last moment, and with being unable to cause any serious damage to her opponent,  she knew it was only a matter of time when he would strike her. Exactly, only a matter of time... She gently reminded herself.

Hillary stamped the assassin's feet, distracting him momentarily. And in that moment, Hillary grabbed a surgical knife to nail one of his hand to the wooden table. He cursed loudly, and with both anger and pain fueling his strength, he kicked Hillary hard in the gut. 

Hillary slid across the floor and hit the opposite wall with a thud. Her vision blurred for a second and by the time she stood up, she was once again pushed roughly against the wall by the assassin. His un-injured hand was around her neck, the 'playing with its prey' look now  replaced by a murderous glaree. His fingers tightened around her neck, lifting her off the floor, his nails digging deep into her skin. 

"Still stubborn! See what this stubbornness makes you pay!! " He hissed, squeezing her neck. Hillary started struggling to breathe. She kicked and splayed aimlessly, logic suddenly replaced by wild instincts. But it was a futile attempt, as the assassin was at least one and a half foot taller than her,  and a lot stronger. Hillary couldn't even touch him in that position, so a well-aimed punch was pretty much out of question. 

"I told you didn't I? That your friends will not  help you. They won't even care if you die right this moment? They have never brought you happiness and will never bring you some in the future either. " 

Hillary's vision started tunneling by then due the continuous lack of oxygen. Hillary wished she could blame the lack of oxygen or survival instincts to be the cause of agreeing with a murderer. But Hillary was tired of putting up a show. Tired of it all. She just wanted to grab a pillow,  curl up and sleep,  completely forgot about all her worries,  problems, and responsibilities. Or using a time machine to go back in time, never get involved with the Blade Breakers in the first place worked fine for her too. 

Black and red spots danced in front of her eyes. She knew she was going to lose consciousness anytime now. Opening her eyelids every time they closed was getting harder. And the possibility of never opening them again was the only thing that kept her going. Fighting a losing battle wasn't worth.. 

But the chance to complete her thought never came as the iron-fist hold on her neck was suddenly released. Hillary slid down the  wall, her eyes unfocused. Her breath came in gasps and her head was throbbing badly. Blood was scattered over the floor in front of her, and it took her a moment of logic over horror and breathlessness to realize that it wasn't of either Kai or herself. 

Unfortunately,  it wasn't of the assassin's either, but of a busted blood pouch that was hanged upside-down over a pole, which was lying exactly in front of her. It somehow spurred her out of her daze. Hillary looks up at Kai, wondering how he had pushed that, only to find the assassin standing right next to his bed, the knife lost in the previous chaos back in his hand, raised directly above Kai's heart. She must have zoned out for a few minutes. 

"Your bloodline surely has some attitude Hiwatari. Alas, as much as I would love to torture you until you beg for death, I would have to cut-short our meet now, blame Voltaire for your pitiful death..."

 As she inched her hand towards the broken piece of the pole, careful not to give herself out, all she could think of was,  I will not let him stab Kai.

As soon as the rod was in her hand, she took a random swing at him before even standing upright. It hit him hard in the side.  It was immediately followed by a swing to his head and neck, bringing him to his knees. But he wasn't deterred that easily, and Hillary realised it too late.

The assassin quickly stood up, the wooden foot-rest at near the bed in hand, and at took a swing at her. The wood connected with her shoulder, once again sending her crashing to the floor. The wooden foot-rester had broken to pieces and splinters on impact . 

Hillary had hit her head at the same spot for a second time in the last few minutes. The pain in her head reached such a level that she could not here anything of her surroundings except for the buzzing sound in her ears. Hillary could not even open her eyes. She was sure that the impact had drawn blood this time, slowly soaking her hair. 

And coming for the shoulder, she hoped that the foot-rester had broken to pieces due to the fact that it was an old one and not because of the force behind the hit. An unbearable pain soared through her upper body every time she even slightly shifted it. 

So, she did not expect that the pain could reach another level when she was roughly pulled to her feet by her hair, the assassin whispering in her buzzing ears,"I thought of giving you an easy, fast death, but NO. You are an insufferable b*****. Now I will give you a slow death. The misery you will go through today will haunt you your whole life..." Hillary had no time to register his words before being unceremoniously thrown onto the two-seater couch. The impact of it with her injuries made Hillary scream as loudly her weakened lungs and exhausted energy would allow her. Tears streamed down her cheeks. 

"Oh-no....Don't cry baby. You asked for it. " He says in a teasing voice, full of lust, before forcefully jamming his lips on hers, her scream cut short. Hilary's eyes shot open at this, shock evident on her face. The shock slowly morphed with anger as she struggled strongly to escape him, only to get more deeply entangled in it. The assassin has deepened the kiss by then, his tongue touching every part of her mouth. Imagining his spittle in her mouth wanted to make her puke. Instinctively, she bit his tongue hard. Her mouth was immediately filled with the coppery taste of blood. The assassin was caught off guard. He immediately released her, sitting up on the couch and howling in pain, while fanning his tongue which was completely covered with blood.

In a fit of rage, he tore open her blue tank top with his bear hands, causing more pain in her dislocated shoulder. She screamed loudly, as loudly as possible before he pressed his palm against her lips. 

"Playing naughty are we? I like my women rebellious." He whispered near her ears, before whistling softly. "You surely are a sexy wh*** baby. Hope the night is just as beautiful..."

Hillary was suddenly aware of her bra being the only thing covering her upper body. His kisses moved downwards from then. Down her neck, through her midriff and to her belly button, leaving a bloody trail on her skin. Each kiss sent a shiver through her spine as she felt her body shutting down.  Hillary started feeling sick, dizzy and numb at the same time with each touch.

Hillary was beyond anger now, she started crying helplessly, pitying and scolding herself for the mess she got herself caught into, mentally begging the police, anyone to come soon.  The fear and anxiety had built to such an extent that it made even breathing painful, further aided by the the kick in the gut. Her shoulder bruise has swelled up and had gone numb someway along the line. She was sure she was hyperventilating as her cries become sobs wrecking her whole body. Her breaths came in shot gasps. The assassin was completely on top of her by then, making things worse. As she realised she was losing consciousness, she resigned herself to the fate that by the next time she would be conscious, if she was left alive in the first place, she would be molested,  scarred for life with the violence induced on her body and with her luck, which was the worst, maybe even...

A steely bang resonating around the room. Suddenly Hillary's entire body was free, the attacker's weight no longer restraining her. The attacker was on the  floor, his hands supporting his kneeling body. The entire right side of his face was completely covered in blood. 

******

Kai stood a few inches to Hillary's right, a broken part of the pole in his deathly grip. It was slightly stained of blood. His gaze was fixed on the assassin and assassin alone. His breathing was uneven and ragged, his lungs not yet ready to breath without assistance. His forehead and chin was creased with sweat while a small stream of blood leaked through his halfway soaked bandage. 

He knew he was hurting himself like hell,  maybe even to a degree that the damage becomes irreversible. But he could not stay there watching someone hurt Hillary, watch someone hurt anyone in such an inhuman, cruel manner. When he was struggling to sit up straight, to call anyone helpful from the land-line on the bedside table, his hands had come in contact with the steel rod. Nothing else had mattered from then. Watching the attacker howl in pain satisfied his fury. 

As the attacked got up,  Kai tried to take another swing at him, only to realize that he did not have the strength to even stand upright. The pain in his chest, which seemed to have vanished the last few seconds,  hit him with an intensity that wasn't present even when he was shot. He collapsed on his knees,  his white-knuckled hands shaking with strain, unable to bear it's own weight. 

But Kai still had control over his senses. The click-clank of boots indicated that the attacker was on his feet again. Kai could practically feel the anger emitting out from him in waves. 

"You son of a b****" he spat, addressing Kai, his saliva mixed with blood. "Both of you are going to die in this very room, I swear." and if Kai was in a better condition, if his head wasn't bowed down catching his breath, he would have rolled his eyes at the old-style monologue-centric villain. But he had to remember that he was just as efficient in his work, for he was the only one to have broken through all his defense mechanisms and reached his team. 

The attacker reached for his knife the third time that day, "So, any last wishes?" he asked, his words slurring slightly due to a swollen tongue. It was a theoretical question. It wasn't like he was actually going to fulfill any of our wishes. But still, Hillary tried. "Please. L-eve im." her words barely made sense,  yet the meaning was perfectly clear to the other two in the room.

 Kai's head instantly jerked in her direction. She wasn't looking at him. Her gaze, though dazed, held the attacker's eyes. Her shoulder was lopsided, innumerable bruises making their mark on her clear, pale skin. One side of her hair was cut to her ears, her upper body was barely covered. Her face was red, stained with both blood and tears, her eyes bloodshot. 

 He had thought Tyson was the ultimate level, welcoming him back to the team, saving his life, when all he deserved was abandonment, for sins done then and before, especially to his family. He hadn't understood what he had done to receive such loyalty back then, neither did he understand it now. What was wrong with this girl? Why wasn't she trying to save herself? They barely knew each other other? What had he done to receive this kind of loyalty?

A devilish laugh broke the silence as the attacker threw his head back and laughed loudly. "You seemed to have bought yourself a very loyal wh*** Hiwatari. Let's fulfill her wish then, shall we?" 

A fast swish was in the air and before Kai could realize, the blade buried itself in her upper arm. A small whimper was the only response he got as Hillary collapsed into the sofa laterally, her eyes shut, trying to control her breathing between the pain and hiccups of sobs. 

"Let's go on with our previous plan Hiwatari, torturing you until you beg for mercy, while our  Miss Hiwatari enjoys the show. Then she can have her turn."  

A rage like never before filled very part of his being. The situation strongly reminded him of her mother begging Boris to stop his punishment, during his earliest days in The Abbey. Offering herself to bear the burnt of his mistakes.

He unconsciously resolved to not make any noise of weakness, not shed a single tear of pain, just like he used to before. To just grit his teeth and bare with the attacker for about sixty minutes. Surely he could survive this, couldn't he? For he had faced situations with way worst odds than this before. 

He momentarily glanced at Hillary, whose eyes were drooping due to exhaustion. If he could choose to save one of themselves by the end of this day, he would choose Hillary without a moment's hesitation. He didn't know why, but he terribly wanted to protect the girl. She had no idea of how difficult life could become with every passing year,  growing up in a secured environment her whole life, and he wanted her to be ignorant of it for as long as possible.

 He closed his eyes and waited for the first impact to come,  as he could feel the ground as the attacker readied himself for a well-aimed kick. But the impact never came. Instead, a loud bang of a gunshot filled the air. 

******

The police had finally arrived. That was all Hillary could think of as she saw a bullet penetrate the assassin's thigh, making him immediately collapse on the ground. He was soon restrained by two more police officers. One of the few brave nurses who had panicked at the sound of the gunshot and had made their way to the topmost floor, immediately set on helping Kai back to the bed, while giving the now semi-conscious Kai a few medications while one of them urgently left the room, calling for a doctor.

As for herself, Suzie was the first one to make her way to her,  closely followed by two police women and a nurse,  who was offering her a pale blue blanket, which was draped around her as she left the room, surrounded by the four of them whispering encouraging words, which she barely heard. 

All she could see was the sly smirk the assassin's face morphed into as she passed him, which made her want to retch. Though her legs weren't directly injured, she barely made it to the stairs before her legs finally gave out, before several pairs of soft arms caught her, her vision tunneled off and the sweet bliss of unconsciousness enveloped her, where she could stay ignorant to the pain and trauma for a few more hours. 

******

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