The Tattoo chapter eighty-five
Nino was sat beside the window hugging his legs when the new emperor arrived leaning heavily on a servant and he wasn’t sure how he was meant to react. He needed to know the truth but there was still a small part of him that wanted to hug him, to fall into his airs and breathe a sigh of relief that it was all over. The emperor came to a stop in front of him and the servant scurried out of the room leaving them alone together.
“Kazunari…” Ohno started moving towards him with his arm out stretched and Nino recoiled away from it shaking his head as he pressed his chin in the gap between his knees. Ohno looked both confused and upset by his actions and Nino hoped that that meant that at least some of their love had been real on his part. He turned to face the emperor saying in a calm and controlled voice;
“The contract is complete, emperor…Your father is dead…”
“Tiger…Did he do something to you?” Ohno whispered and Nino really wished that he hadn’t used the pet name, the name that he remembered the Shadow using on him when he had first seen the bodies of his family. He closed his eyes trying to calm down the erratic beating of his heart needing to stay calm and focused on what he wanted to say and do.
“Nothing more or less than I was expecting, emperor…but he told me something interesting about you…” Nino answered hugging himself tightly his nails digging into his back at the tattoo that he hated so much. “He told me that you enjoyed drawing tigers and dragons when you were a child…He commented that my tattoo was remarkably like the things that you would draw and asked if you were the one that gave it to me…Of course I would normally have put down anything that he said to be just a way to get a dig at you but my poison was already in his system…”
“Tiger…” Ohno moved forward again his hand coming to rest on his shoulder squeezing it tightly and Nino hated his heart for jumping with happiness at the feeling and his body for almost aching with the need to be touched. He could still feel the sickening seed of the emperor inside of him and he could feel the impression of the hands moving over him and he wanted Ohno to take that all away and he hated himself for that.
“Did you…Did you give me my tattoo? Are you the one that killed my family?” He asked staring into the rounded face of the man that he had come to love, a man that had shown him that he was more than just the poisoned spider. That was probably crueller than any of the other torments that the Shadow had put him through but it was a miracle that he didn’t cry when Ohno nodded.
“Yes…I did that…”
“…Why?” Nino asked hoping that there was a reason but unable to work out what it was, his family had been harmless as far as he could remember. His father had been distant but his mother had been warm and loving and his sister had been only a child younger than the sister that he had claimed to love. “You killed my family, you took me to a cave and gave me my cursed tattoo…And then you came and seduced me…Claiming that you love me…”
“I do, I love you like I have never loved anybody else…”
“How can you even say that? You murdered my family! My sister…My mother…I still see them, when I close my eyes I see them covered in their own blood…How could you have done that and sit here and claim that you love me?”
“…Because it is the truth, I love you my tiger…”
“I hate you…” Nino hissed tears threatening to blind him as he jumped forward and slammed the non-protesting man down his fists connecting with his face over and over again letting all of the rage in his heart out “I hate you with all of my heart…”
“I do not blame you for that…” Ohno told him when his punches had slowed blood pouring from his nose and mouth “But please for the sake of the time when you did love me, allow me to explain…”
“There is nothing that you could say to me that would make me want to listen…”
“Your father…He was one of those that took my sister…” The emperor told him grabbing his wrists to prevent him from either running away or punching him again. Nino wasn’t sure which it was but he knew that he couldn’t do either when he heard that muffled confession. In his heart he had been terrified that Ohno would give him that as a reason and he stared down at the bruised and bloody face through his tears gasping a disbelieving;
“What?!”
“…It is the truth, tiger…” Ohno breathed the expression in his face telling him that it was but his heart refused to believe that his father would do something so sickening. He had few memories of his parents it was true but the ones that he did have consisted of them being happy of his father being devoted husband to his mother and a good father to him and his sister how could that be the case if his father had been as sickening as the emperor? “Please allow me to explain to you what happened…”
“…Explain…Tell me how you murdered my family…” Nino growled staring into the brown eyes that he loved so much more than he loved anything else. He had wanted Ohno to tell him that his father had been lying, even if it had been a lie. Ohno nodded sighing as he pushed himself up against the wall on the other side of the window and looked out onto the garden that was being made fresher by a sprinkling of rain.
"I went only to confront your father that day, if I had been in my right mind I never would have gone to your family home I would have called him out to me and killed him where you and your family would not see but I wasn’t and I didn’t…” Ohno whispered his voice heavy but relieved as if he had been wanting for a long time to be able to tell him this “I turned up to your house early…Only your father and sister where awake they were in the garden…I believe that they were planting vegetables…I watched them for as long as they were there and my heart grew so heavy in my chest that I couldn’t breathe. His arm was thrown around her shoulders and the expression on his face…” Ohno paused as Nino felt a thick lump in the back of his throat “…I was going to attack him right there in the garden but just as I was about to move I saw you…My fierce little tiger…You appeared on the veranda and even in my confused state I knew that I couldn’t confront your father in front of you…So I waited…It didn’t take long you were soon running off into the field chasing after birds and I took my chance….”
“You went in and killed them?”
“I went in to kill your father…” Ohno admitted with a nod “I wasn’t aware that your mother was a poisoner…Your father was expecting me but that is unsurprising as I had been attacking everybody that had been there with my sister that night...He kept your sister with him as a defence and refused to admit what he had done...Until your mother came into the room…He admitted it then and your mother attacked him, he reacted and killed your sister and her…Until eventually I killed him…I swear to you that I only killed your father by my own hand but it is because of me that your sister and mother were killed…”
“…And why did you take me? Why didn’t you just kill me or leave me there?”
“You…You were always the last link to my beloved sister Kazunari…I took you to the cave and I marked you so that when the time came I would be able to find you…” Ohno whispered saying what he had already told him before “You hated the shadow so much but you never even recognised me…So lost in the anger like I was…That is your true weakness my Tiger…”
“You could have told me the truth…You could have…”
“You would never have listened to me, you were just a child…And I…I was so lost that I barely recognised myself…By the time I came from my daze I had already completed your tattoo…I released you then…” Ohno whispered and Nino remembered that the Shadow had seemed different during that last day in his prison, almost tender and apologetic allowing him to see the sea “I came to you to kill my father because I believed that you would have the same desire that I did to see him dead…”
“Everything you have ever said to me was a lie…” Nino spat taking one of the last needles from his hair “How can you expect me to trust you now?”
“Trust that I love you…” Ohno whispered gently his eyes on the needle before tilting his head to one side and to expose his neck. “I told you that once you killed my father I would give you the Shadow that you had been chasing…And I will not stop you from getting your revenge…”
“Revenge…” The assassin whispered with a nod moving his hand and watching as his needle flew through the air and landed in Ohno’s neck sinking deep into the skin. He watched emotionlessly as his poison took effect and Ohno gagged clutching helplessly at his throat, this was the man that had murdered his parents and sister and finally he had gotten his revenge.
TBC
A/N: Dumdeedum…I’ve had this chapter and the next written since the start of this story so I hope that this was okay ^_^
“Kazunari…” Ohno started moving towards him with his arm out stretched and Nino recoiled away from it shaking his head as he pressed his chin in the gap between his knees. Ohno looked both confused and upset by his actions and Nino hoped that that meant that at least some of their love had been real on his part. He turned to face the emperor saying in a calm and controlled voice;
“The contract is complete, emperor…Your father is dead…”
“Tiger…Did he do something to you?” Ohno whispered and Nino really wished that he hadn’t used the pet name, the name that he remembered the Shadow using on him when he had first seen the bodies of his family. He closed his eyes trying to calm down the erratic beating of his heart needing to stay calm and focused on what he wanted to say and do.
“Nothing more or less than I was expecting, emperor…but he told me something interesting about you…” Nino answered hugging himself tightly his nails digging into his back at the tattoo that he hated so much. “He told me that you enjoyed drawing tigers and dragons when you were a child…He commented that my tattoo was remarkably like the things that you would draw and asked if you were the one that gave it to me…Of course I would normally have put down anything that he said to be just a way to get a dig at you but my poison was already in his system…”
“Tiger…” Ohno moved forward again his hand coming to rest on his shoulder squeezing it tightly and Nino hated his heart for jumping with happiness at the feeling and his body for almost aching with the need to be touched. He could still feel the sickening seed of the emperor inside of him and he could feel the impression of the hands moving over him and he wanted Ohno to take that all away and he hated himself for that.
“Did you…Did you give me my tattoo? Are you the one that killed my family?” He asked staring into the rounded face of the man that he had come to love, a man that had shown him that he was more than just the poisoned spider. That was probably crueller than any of the other torments that the Shadow had put him through but it was a miracle that he didn’t cry when Ohno nodded.
“Yes…I did that…”
“…Why?” Nino asked hoping that there was a reason but unable to work out what it was, his family had been harmless as far as he could remember. His father had been distant but his mother had been warm and loving and his sister had been only a child younger than the sister that he had claimed to love. “You killed my family, you took me to a cave and gave me my cursed tattoo…And then you came and seduced me…Claiming that you love me…”
“I do, I love you like I have never loved anybody else…”
“How can you even say that? You murdered my family! My sister…My mother…I still see them, when I close my eyes I see them covered in their own blood…How could you have done that and sit here and claim that you love me?”
“…Because it is the truth, I love you my tiger…”
“I hate you…” Nino hissed tears threatening to blind him as he jumped forward and slammed the non-protesting man down his fists connecting with his face over and over again letting all of the rage in his heart out “I hate you with all of my heart…”
“I do not blame you for that…” Ohno told him when his punches had slowed blood pouring from his nose and mouth “But please for the sake of the time when you did love me, allow me to explain…”
“There is nothing that you could say to me that would make me want to listen…”
“Your father…He was one of those that took my sister…” The emperor told him grabbing his wrists to prevent him from either running away or punching him again. Nino wasn’t sure which it was but he knew that he couldn’t do either when he heard that muffled confession. In his heart he had been terrified that Ohno would give him that as a reason and he stared down at the bruised and bloody face through his tears gasping a disbelieving;
“What?!”
“…It is the truth, tiger…” Ohno breathed the expression in his face telling him that it was but his heart refused to believe that his father would do something so sickening. He had few memories of his parents it was true but the ones that he did have consisted of them being happy of his father being devoted husband to his mother and a good father to him and his sister how could that be the case if his father had been as sickening as the emperor? “Please allow me to explain to you what happened…”
“…Explain…Tell me how you murdered my family…” Nino growled staring into the brown eyes that he loved so much more than he loved anything else. He had wanted Ohno to tell him that his father had been lying, even if it had been a lie. Ohno nodded sighing as he pushed himself up against the wall on the other side of the window and looked out onto the garden that was being made fresher by a sprinkling of rain.
"I went only to confront your father that day, if I had been in my right mind I never would have gone to your family home I would have called him out to me and killed him where you and your family would not see but I wasn’t and I didn’t…” Ohno whispered his voice heavy but relieved as if he had been wanting for a long time to be able to tell him this “I turned up to your house early…Only your father and sister where awake they were in the garden…I believe that they were planting vegetables…I watched them for as long as they were there and my heart grew so heavy in my chest that I couldn’t breathe. His arm was thrown around her shoulders and the expression on his face…” Ohno paused as Nino felt a thick lump in the back of his throat “…I was going to attack him right there in the garden but just as I was about to move I saw you…My fierce little tiger…You appeared on the veranda and even in my confused state I knew that I couldn’t confront your father in front of you…So I waited…It didn’t take long you were soon running off into the field chasing after birds and I took my chance….”
“You went in and killed them?”
“I went in to kill your father…” Ohno admitted with a nod “I wasn’t aware that your mother was a poisoner…Your father was expecting me but that is unsurprising as I had been attacking everybody that had been there with my sister that night...He kept your sister with him as a defence and refused to admit what he had done...Until your mother came into the room…He admitted it then and your mother attacked him, he reacted and killed your sister and her…Until eventually I killed him…I swear to you that I only killed your father by my own hand but it is because of me that your sister and mother were killed…”
“…And why did you take me? Why didn’t you just kill me or leave me there?”
“You…You were always the last link to my beloved sister Kazunari…I took you to the cave and I marked you so that when the time came I would be able to find you…” Ohno whispered saying what he had already told him before “You hated the shadow so much but you never even recognised me…So lost in the anger like I was…That is your true weakness my Tiger…”
“You could have told me the truth…You could have…”
“You would never have listened to me, you were just a child…And I…I was so lost that I barely recognised myself…By the time I came from my daze I had already completed your tattoo…I released you then…” Ohno whispered and Nino remembered that the Shadow had seemed different during that last day in his prison, almost tender and apologetic allowing him to see the sea “I came to you to kill my father because I believed that you would have the same desire that I did to see him dead…”
“Everything you have ever said to me was a lie…” Nino spat taking one of the last needles from his hair “How can you expect me to trust you now?”
“Trust that I love you…” Ohno whispered gently his eyes on the needle before tilting his head to one side and to expose his neck. “I told you that once you killed my father I would give you the Shadow that you had been chasing…And I will not stop you from getting your revenge…”
“Revenge…” The assassin whispered with a nod moving his hand and watching as his needle flew through the air and landed in Ohno’s neck sinking deep into the skin. He watched emotionlessly as his poison took effect and Ohno gagged clutching helplessly at his throat, this was the man that had murdered his parents and sister and finally he had gotten his revenge.
TBC
A/N: Dumdeedum…I’ve had this chapter and the next written since the start of this story so I hope that this was okay ^_^