Nineteen

Raena

I walk into the club and sit at the bar, I look from the corner of my eye and it's that Rei girl. Crap I can't let her see me. I wish for a mask and put it on. I relax enjoying my drink, she looks really nice.

My heart skips a beat noticing her walking into the VIP lounge, it's just her and Kai and she's drink alcohol like it's water.

Doesn't matter, I'm here for my own goodtime tonight. I'll kill them some other time.

I sit at a table all by myself drinking a bottle I wished for. A male with really nice spiky hair sits in front of me, he smells familiar, but I can't quit put my finger on it.

"Mind if I sit here?" He asks with a really nice smile.

"Not at all." I relax a little more, to my surprise the guy just invited more people at my table, that should help with blending in. would have looked more sketchy sitting on my own, besides, the club is the perfect place to meet strangers and act like you know each other.

They order drinks and I have fun getting to know people I have never met before.

"So, where are you from?" The guy with the nice smile asks.

"Nowhere in particular, I travel a lot. I like it that way." My eyes are glued to the door when I see Toya Hiryu walk in. I have never seen him in person before, but he is totally my type. I want him tonight.

He should tell me if he needs a distraction. Looks like he needs one. He sits next to Rei and Kai grabs him by the throat.

"Woah, what's going on over there?" Someone asks trying to look in.

I can't hear what their saying, VIP lounges here have doors, Toya just forgot to close the door, but now it's closed.

Trouble in paradise? I'll wait for him outside.

I drink by myself outside. A short while after I bump into Toya who was leaving the club pissed off.

"Bad day hot stuff? You almost burnt my dress off, need help relaxing?" I raise the bottle of liqour in my hand and he grabs it chugging it down, "Wow, you're under a lot of stress. How about a walk? There's plenty more where that came from."

"Not interested."

I roll my eyes, "Geez, you're such a stiff, do you ever go out? You should learn how to show a girl a goodtime."

"Yeah, do I look like I need lessons?"

"You're just pissed off, it's all over your face, when you get home with an attitude like that, you're going to scare the first person that sees you." I walk past him crossing the street. I need to take a walk, I haven't been out in a while, I need this.

I turn feeling warmth. Toya is behind me. I stop so we can walk side by side. We walk aimlessly in silence. I don't really want to talk, there's nothing to say, I don't want to say the wrong thing.

The only conversation that is being had is through this bottle of Gin we're sharing. We walk into a building and I'm confused, I was so sure we're walking aimlessly.

Toya walks me to the door and lets me in after unlocking it. We sit inside, he lit the fire place and gave me a blanket. What a sweet heart. Reminds me of Rin, or maybe Rin learnt from him. He admires this guy so much I fell for him before I even knew him.

What I do know is that he's passionate, he protects the people he loves, he's kind and sweet, he has a temper, but he's always thinking about the people in his life.

"Hey, what's bothering you?" I ask just wanting to know more about him.

"I can't control my anger because some psycho ex girlfriend of mine is using somebody to manipulate me through my dreams. I hurt the mother of my children and she doesn't even want to see me. I didn't do anything serious, but who knows, it may have been the beginning."

"What did you do?"

"Yelled at her, choked her, made her pregnant without her permission. I'm just pissed off she'd go drinking even after finding out about the baby, but I think she's coping, I can't be selfish, she's also being hunted by the woman, we all her. I wish I could find them, but I can't."

"Well, if you need somebody dead, I'll help you. I'm skilled at getting rid of my personal problems for good. Though, if this woman is scaring you in your dreams why not fight back? Makes no sense, conquering your fears in your sleep will get rid of her, doesn't mean you have to do it in real life."

He sits down next to me, "What you're suggesting is that I take a gamble that the next time I have another nightmare, I fight back, thing is, she's never been in your head, you can't tell reality from the real world."

"So, it's not like you'd hurt your loved ones in the dream, what you can't do out here, you can't do in there, either wise you would have done it already. Face your fears and she'll leave you alone." I relax wishing I knew this when I was younger.

Toya sighs rubbing his forehead, "I can't risk it, I can't separate that dream world from reality."

I shake my head, "Then enjoy being used like a puppet to wrack your family. Do you even love Rei?"

He glares at me asking how I know her name, oops, tongue slipped, "Everybody knows who she is, and how important she is to you, or maybe they thought she was, how can you say you love someone but don't trust them, what are you hiding that is worth losing her over?"

He snatches the bottle from my hand and again chugs the drink down, "I do love her, I do trust her, I just don't trust that she will stay when she knows the real me."

"Tell her that, then it will fall on her to decide if you're worth it or not, and if she thinks you're worth being with no matter what your flaws she'll say that."

He scoffs, "She'll say yes, because she doesn't really expect the kind of truth I'm talking about. I know her, and I know she would leave."

I snatch the bottle and look him in the eyes, "Then end things, be with someone who can handle the truth, why torture yourself, be free for once, before you make a mistake."

He looks me in the eyes, "Then put that bottle down and tell me all your secrets, and I'll tell you all of mine. Every secret that you say that I like, I'll take an item of clothing off, say something weird and I'm putting my clothes back on."

I smile, "Well, I'll start with the biggest secret I've been hiding from you all along, "I'm the girl you killed by ripping her heart out 7 years ago at Rei's place, and no, I don't want revenge, just a good time, I need a friend, you need a friend, let's be friends." I chug down my anxiety of him being mad at me right now.

The alcohol sure doesn't burn when the real fire is in the heart.

"Well, my secret is that I'm the leader of the Domei, a yakuza group, not even my family know. Nobody knows.."

I take the blanket off, the fire place has warmed the room up nicely anyway.

"I have spent the last 5 years hunting down everyone who made my life hell since childhood, I killed them all and there's only one person left."

He takes his shoes off, "Impressive. I actually haven't done any killing in a while out of fear Rei might find out, or my kids might walk in on me, even in the most unlikely of places."

"Burn, double life curse," I take my one sock off and he complains that shoes and socks come off together, "Okay, it's coming off, anyway, my next secret is that I want to kill Kai Riden, he killed someone important to me."

Toya sighs, "Secret of mine is that I feel the same, it's just that because of Rei I can't kill him. His daughter would be devastated. She's like my own daughter to me, I just can't hurt her like that."

"That's so sweet, secret, I still want him dead." I look him in the eyes to show serious I am.

Toya smiles, "I understand, secret, Kai killed me 7 years ago but I was brought back to life."

"That's no secret I knew about that."

"No, you didn't know it was Kai who did it." He rubs his forehead again. He's getting drowsy too.

"Hey, if you don't do something you'll fall asleep and end up in that dream land of horrors again."

He stands up taking his jacket off, "I've been hard for you from the moment I walked through that door. Come here and keep me awake."

"Thought you'd never ask."