48

Toya

I check the time as we're sitting in the waiting area of the hospital. We brought the boys in just an hour ago.

Rei woke up and started freaking out while holding Killuhua in her hands, she did not even explain what's going on, she demanded I drive us here as fast as possible, now she's quiet and not saying anything.

She's always worrying me.

She sits up when the doctor calls us inside. We were kicked out for hovering over his shoulders, I can't help it, my son is barely here on earth and already he's giving me problems.

Kai arrives and the entire family is here with Rin, they're late, meaning his phone was off, he's a dead man, my dad's going to have his head.

"Are they alright?" My sister whispers peeking through the door.

"Yes, just a lactose intolerance to formula, it may go away as they grow older, or it may get worse, but for the first few years keep them off milk, this was a fatal case, had their mother not been a healer you'd be making funeral arrangements at the moment." The nurse says.

I can literally feel Rei's heart sink.

Kai asks everyone to leave the room for a moment, we stand outside and I comfort Rei who is crying again.

"It's alright Rei, it happens, how would you know they have an allergy to formula? We all expected complications, they've been inside of you for over decades, but this does not come with a manual." Katsuki comforts her.

"I can't lose them again." She cries into my chest.

I chuckle when she has a box of tissues on her lap, she's going to be alright, "You're tougher than that." I remind her.

She smiles slightly and I smile too.

My mom breaks down staring at me and I am not sure what to do now, what did I do?

"I missed watching you grow up into a great man." She comments.

I look away, why did she have to go on and say that. Rei offers me a used tissue, and I glare at her, what the hell? Now's not the time for her silly pranks.

I turn my head and my sister is laughing at me. I glare at her too.

"The way you look at her, my son is truly in love." My mom has a complete melt down and Rei and I glare at each other.

That really pisses me off, especially after the conversation we just had, my family is going to be devasted when they find out we're not getting married. She said no to my proposal.

~

Kai

She has some nerve to say that at a time like this. It's unprofessional, rude, and damn well inhumane.

I take her hand into mine and look her in the eyes, "Miss, I don't know if you're having a bad day, or you're just a bitch, that was seriously uncalled for, don't you think?" I ask looking her in the eyes, I really don't want to kill her, but every fibre of my being just wants to put her head on a silver platter.

"I apologise sir, that was uncalled for." She says clearing her throat.

"Alright, so tell me the reason, clearly, you're under a lot of pain, do you hate children?" I ask trying to handle this in a way Rei would.

"Of course not, I adore children, it's just, I cannot have children of my own. Nothing is working." She breaks down and I sigh, I should ask Rei to do this, but now's not the time.

I bite my hand and I give her a drop of my blood. Once it's in her body I use it to fix her problem.

"One too many abortions I see." I comment patching up her womb, illegal abortions to be exact.

Same method some creep used to use, I felt awfully satisfied when I ended his business, more satisfying when I put him in the grave.

There are just some lines that should not be crossed, even I would never say yes to killing an unborn child, they deserve a fair chance to walk a different path from their parents, or an even better one.

"There, happy parenting, now you better clean up your attitude and treat my damn wife with some respect, or I will leave you in an even worse condition then when I found you, clear?" I look her in the eyes.

She's not sure if she should be happy or scared, poor thing, doesn't even have a boyfriend to make her pregnant, but I know a desperate bitch when I see one, in my line of work, you watch the women slowly lose their minds.

It's somehow different between men and women, for us, we seem to handle it just fine, society makes it okay for us to be the way we are, women, they have no specific lane to walk, just societal rules.

Don't get a tattoo, don't dress like a man, don't walk like a man, don't talk like a man, don't work like a man, don't be sexual like a man.

When they enter this industry, it's a man's world, and slowly but surely, they start defying society, the price, is their humanity.

The first kill changes them so much, my first kill made me feel invincible. I wanted to do it again, I didn't change, I finally had a reason to be who I really was.

Those of us who walk this line, we've been longing to walk it from birth, we didn't change because of a traumatic experience, or love, or something like that. I loved the idea of being a crime boss, I wanted it.

The same way kids dream of being doctors when they are older I wanted this life, I do this because it's my dream, I see nothing wrong with it, and maybe that's where society and I butt heads about it.

Women, they're not given freedom to think that way, I told everyone I would be a Yakuza king, they laughed, if a woman said the same thing, she'd be judged, scolded, and belittled for the rest of her life.

When they enter this game, they feel like they're at war within themselves, the person that helps them through that, they attach themselves too, think it's love, it's just an illness like Stockholm syndrome, but different, because we don't make them do anything, and we don't make them afraid, we're not holding them hostage.

The flaw, is that it's rare to find the kind of women made for this life, it destroys most. They lose their minds, and this nurse is one of those types, she's about to be under the misfortune of thinking she's in love with me.

She'll be dead within the year if she goes down that path.

The sad reality, is that they're all too stubborn to listen to reason.

~

Toya

Rei is more sensitive now, I don't know what it is anymore, at first, I thought it was the pregnancy, but clearly, it's not. I would assume it's killing Magenta, but this started before those events.

Her power is acting up same as mine.

My sister drags us to therapy twice a week, told her we're getting married and she was so excited I thought she would plan my honey moon instead this is what I get.

"We're not going to lose them Rei, okay." I kiss the top of her head and she nods.

Rei was diagnosed with Post pregnancy depression. I felt like slapping that counsellor until she was dead, she didn't help, she just made her feel even worse.

I get that the symptoms are the same, but this is a new world, powers are in play, she did not even bother asking what our powers were, I know Rei, and depressed is not it at all.

Something's in the air, something really bad, and she can't quit put her finger on it, but her intuition is never wrong, the calm before the storm has ended.

The door opens and the nurse calls just Rei and I inside, her attitude is turned down a bit and she is less stuck up than before, I wish she was dead, but I just want to know if my kids are alright or not.

"We'll be keeping them overnight, this is a visiting hours chart, and your family can come in and see them now, but not all at the same time, they are currently temperature sensitive as their fire and ice powers are manifesting, be mindful of what you do around them at all times." She excuses herself in a hurry.

We have everyone enter 2 at a time, when visiting hours are over, they leave and we stay.

Kai takes Rei's hand and looks her in the eyes, "I want us to move, just until we're sure, all our enemies are really dead. I don't feel safe here, I don't feel safe in this world, but this is a world where even we stand a chance, I need your help Toya, I want to join the assassination core. It's exactly what we're good at anyway."

I nod, "Way ahead of you, I already signed up, you should sign your own crew up, but what you're doing with those kids is important, it's really great, I don't want you to stop, one day we'll need someone to look out for our kids, mentor them, they can do that."

Rei smiles, "Well, you guys have your thing, and I have mine, I actually enjoy working on those islands. I'd love to move away from here, and, I am so sorry for being so self-righteous in the past, it's not my damn place to judge you, do what you need to do, just be home more please, I'll let anything slide, but if you neglect my kids, I will kill you myself."

I laugh and nod, "Sure, that's perfect."

"Alright, deal." Kai says shaking on it. Rei extends her hand towards me and I shake on it too, all I really want to do, is actually just kiss her right now.

"Deal."