When Love Is a Loaded Gun
POV: Anika
Love used to be quiet.
It used to look like flowers in sunlight.
Letters folded with care.
A cup of tea passed without a word.
Now—
It looked like a loaded gun in her hand.
Anika stood beneath the low-hanging bulbs of the Kurosawa execution room, the metal tang of blood thick in her nose. Her kimono sleeves were rolled up. Her hands weren't trembling.
In front of her, bound to the chair by wrists and ankles, was the traitor.
He couldn't have been older than twenty. Still had a babyish mouth. Still wore the clan's crest like it meant something.
He had tried to poison Rai.
And failed.
Now it was her turn to make him a lesson.
A final exam in survival.
Rai hadn't made her do this.
He had given her the choice.
But she had asked for it.
Because if she was truly going to be his weapon, she couldn't just wear black and whisper threats.
She had to bleed for it.
The boy whimpered.
Anika tilted her head. "Your name?"
"K-Kaito."
She stepped forward. Clicked the safety off. "Kaito."
He sobbed. "I'm sorry—please—don't—!"
She didn't fire.
Not yet.
Because something in her still wanted to understand.
"Why did you do it?"
He sniffled. "They said Rai wasn't strong enough anymore. That he was soft now. That he let his wife walk the halls like she owned the clan—"
She smiled. Soft. Empty.
"Funny."
Click.
She raised the gun.
"I do."
His eyes widened.
"No—please, I—!"
She pulled the trigger.
It was louder than she expected.
It echoed.
And in the ringing aftermath, the silence screamed louder than he had.
She stood still.
Didn't cry.
Didn't shake.
She just… listened. To the slow drip of blood from the chair. The silence where his fear used to be.
Footsteps behind her.
She didn't turn.
She didn't need to.
Rai stood in the doorway, watching.
He didn't speak. Just came up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist. His cheek pressed to her shoulder, lips near her ear.
"You're shaking."
"No," she whispered.
He looked down.
Her hand was trembling.
But her heart was calm.
And he saw it.
The shift.
The final one.
"You never go back after this," he said.
"I don't want to," she replied.
Then she turned in his arms, gun still in hand, and kissed him with blood on her breath.
And Rai knew…
She wasn't a bride anymore.
She wasn't even a weapon.
She was his equal.
And if anyone pointed a gun at him again—
They'd face her first.