"Akira, baby, I am your mother"

Akira reeled at hearing this. She took a shaky step back which made Diana's hand on her face fall to her side. The sound of the door shutting snapped them all out of the trance which Diana's words had put them in.

She looked around to notice that Sebastian had left. Diana looked up at her with sad and loving eyes. Akira mumbled "I need some air" before shakily rushing out of the room.

Leo speaks up in a brokenly tight voice "Akira's o-our I-Iris?"

Diana nods and the tears collected in her eyes slip out. She closes her them as Eiran wipes the tears from his mother's eyes and consoles her. "Don't cry mom. We've finally gotten our Iris back." His voice tight from the withheld tears "it's going to be okay now."

Diana nods and opens her eyes to Leo and kai hugging and silently shedding tears. "Come here boys" Diana opens her arms wide. All of them rush into her arms for a group hug.

She understood that Sebastian and Akira both need time to process this. She didn't want to rush Akira into anything. She still couldn't believe that she finally had her baby back, her light in the dark days, her daughter.

"I can't believe she lived with us for two months and we still didn't know" Kai's muffled voice sounds.

Time skip

Dr.Nakamura had checked up on Diana again and given permission for discharge. It had been a few hours since Sebastian and Akira had left the room, and they both hadn't returned yet. This worried Diana even more when Leo couldn't find them anywhere outside.

Eiran tried calling Sebastian but his phone was off, so he asked the guards at their home if he had come and they replied in the affirmative.

"Seb's at home." Eiran informs everybody hanging up the call.

"Ir- Akira?" Leo asks, guilt from the previous fight lacing his voice.

"No idea, none of the guards have seen her" Eiran answers dejectedly

Diana listens to the conversation quitely, with moist eyes.

"I've some idea where she might be" kai says suddenly picking up his helmet and Leo's too.

"You guys go back home, I'll bring here there" he says before rushing out.

"Where will he even go?" Diana asks weakly.

Kai makes his way towards his black BMW S1000 rr . He puts on his helmet with a blank tinted visor and starts his beast of a bike. He drives towards the one place where he's daring to hope he might find her.

He parks the bike and takes off his helmet before entering the building, quickly taking the lift and entering practice and training area. He was walking through the hallways when he suddenly hears punches upon punches making contact with something.

That's her, He realises and quietly walks towards the source of the sounds. The punching sounds creepy in this eerily silence hall. Afterall it is 1 in the morning.

He enters the room only to find the punching bag swaying and the hall empty- His head makes contact with the concrete floor as somebody starts hitting him.

Akira is breathing quick and shallow as she steps back from not very hurt kai...or so she hoped.

"Oww..the fuck" he says groaning and getting up from the floor.

Akira just stares at him as he massages his abdomen. She might or might not have hit him a bit too hard there..

"Akira it's very late you need to come ho-" he gets quiet as he finally looks at her, and all the memories come rushing back. He chokes on the lump forming in his throat once before swallowing it all down.

"Akira, your name I mean real name is Iris" he speaks softly staring at her "you have Dad's eyes.." Only Akira and Seb have Dad's eyes. Those nearly black eyes clash with moist light brown eyes. Leo blinks and clears his throat so as not to let his emotions get the better of him.

She stares blankly at him lost in a whirlpool of emotions that even she can't decipher. So she does what she does best, detach. She becomes indifferent to these weird feelings inside her. Yet something inside her churns as he speaks about her, her dad. She had a dad.

"Ir- Akira, I get it. It must be very hard to understand your emotions right now but please come home with me." He says in the softest and warmest voice.

"No" she answers coldly "go take care of your mother"

"Akira" he asks cautiously as the lump in his throat comes back "do you remember anything?"

"No" she replies with no emotions.

She doesn't want to deal with them right now. Nobody was there when she was weak, a child struggling to stay warm, had to fight for scraps of food as entertainment to people. Why? Why had they suddenly barged into her life when she could handle whatever shit life threw at her? When she didn't need them, that was when they decided to turn her life upside down.

She's never seen any relationship where anyone does anything purely out of the goodness of their heart. Everybody wants something. What could they want? She was already working under them. Now Kai was teary eyed because had found his sister? She is not her. She doesn't remember anything. If she had been their sister, then there's nothing left of that girl in her anymore.

"You were the light of our eyes Akira" kai breaths out as he slides down to sit on the floor "you were loved to bits"

He continues as Akira, sitting beside him, just stares ahead with dead eyes "you loved chocolates" he chuckles sadly at the memories.

"Seb would always slide you one sneakily when mom or..dad refused. We would go to the park together. you loved having picnics, eating chocolate covered strawberries" he looks at her as she stares head with no emotion and then continues "you know, Leo used to throw tantrums when Seb treated you like a princess and let you get away with stuff. You were one bossy princess.."

Akira stiffened as Kai places his hand on top of hers and says "we miss you sis"

She gets up, sliding her hand out from under his, and picks up the water bottle and drinks. Anything to distract herself.

Kai stares up at her with eyes full of love, sorrow and tears. Oh how he wanted to just trap her in his embrace, hug her and tell her that she's with her brothers now. They will protect her now, she can finally be a kid.

Suddenly a notification breaks him out of his reverie.

Leo👹

'come home'

'mom's getting worried'

'i don't want her to start hyperventilating again'

He knows very well why Leo hates to see his mom break like that. She used to have many anxiety attacks after Iris was kidnapped, dad died and the breaking point was Sebastian's kidnapping.

She was so emotionally weak by then, we hated to see her like that, not be able to do anything except witness her pain. So Leo always get very protective of her. He maybe be angry but his heart is in the right place. He replies

'omw'

He looks upto Akira staring at the wall in front of her with those dark eyes. She has never once shown any emotions except anger for the time she's lived with them. Oh how he wished that could make her the same, as she was when she was a child. Carefree and happy.

"Akira, we need to go home" he says getting up "mom's really worried.."

She shakes her head in a no. After pestering her for the next five minutes and making her snap, she finally agrees to go with him, grudgingly.

They make their way down the nearly empty building. Kai leads her towards his bike. He puts on his helmet and passes her Leo's.

She watches while Kai puts on his helmet and then says authoritatively "I'll drive"

Kai stares at her with an open mouth as she puts on her helmet. "You know how to?" He asks ,shocked.

"Yes" she answers getting irritated "get off"

Kai quickly gets off the bike and Akira takes his position in the front. "Hey, no scratches on my baby okay?" He says anxiously.

Akira nods as she turns the bike on. The happiness is in the air when she revvs the bike and it sounds like a beast. Kai quickly realises how well she can drive when he feels like he's going to fly off of the bike. He patted her on the back when she made a corner with a precision of a professional racer.

"I am so fucking proud that you're my sister" he shouts in the air due to the adrenaline rush

They make home in record timings and Kai showed her the parking for all their bikes. Akira quitely takes off her helmet while Kai is still buzzing with the adrenaline.

"Where did you learn to ride so well?!" He asks less shouts.

"Men from the last mafia" she answers straight to the point.

Kai nodded and they both made their way towards the mansion. Akira's inside were buzzing with adrenaline but her legs felt like they were filled with lead as she tried to move towards the mansion. The place where her apparent mother and brothers live. She wanted to run away, to go somewhere where nobody knows her, where she can just be a worker who kills people for for their living.

As Akira and Kai walked towards the huge carved doors, he looked at her to notice her walking completely detached from all emotions. He felt sad as he looked at his baby sister, he didn't wish her to become another Seb. Please don't..he pleaded in his head.

Kai held the door for her Akira as they entered and tried giving her a reassuring smile which she didn't reciprocate. The house was eerily quiet as they walked towards the living room.

"Oh Akira!" Diana takes a breath of relief as she moves towards to cup her daughters face as she speaks in a broken voice "don't leave like that..please?"

Diana notices Akira stiffening up when she cupped her face with her hands, making her drop them down to her side apologetically.

Kai tries to change the subject "Eiran did you order something?"

"Yeah, we were waiting for you. It's a pizza party!" He exclaims excitedly and then adds "it's on me don't worry"

"Nobody else is paying for it bro" Leo says light heartedly "it has to be on you"

Leo emerged from another room and came to a halt as his eyes met Akira's cold ones. He tries giving a wobbly smile which Akira doesn't reciprocate. Diana notices the tension in the room and quickly changes the subject to lighten the mood "come on kids, I am starving"

All of them make their way towards the dining room with the huge table which is currently covered with pizza boxes and drinks. They eat heartily, trying to ignore the elephant in the room which is threatening to trample them at this point. Akira notices the absence of her boss from the party.

All of them pick up their canned drinks when Eiran suddenly raises his can as if to make a toast. "To Akira, our sister" Eiran says proudly and everybody toast to it. Akira sips on her drink while Eiran makes the toast.

So, suddenly she was a part of this family? Her mind was refusing to come to terms with this fact. She needs to sleep on it. Her head turned towards the clock on the wall which displayed the time as almost 3 in the morning. What day is it tomorrow?...today is-was Sunday...Oh god.. She had school tomorrow. Even the thought of it was exhausting.

She focuses her mind back to the current conversations going on while pushing her exhaustion towards the back of her mind. Kai, Eiran and Diana are engaged in conversation while Leo listens to them. Akira notices Leo's uncharacteristic silence.

Kai yawns, which brings Diana's attention towards the clock on the wall. She immediately gets up. "everybody full?" She asks looking around at everybody.

"Yeah" "Yup" "Mmm" Eiran, Kai and Leo's voices echo.

She looks questioningly at Akira who nods away. Akira notices how soft and lovingly Diana looks at her. That makes her want to run out of the room.

"Okay kids, you need to go to sleep now" she says commanding them and adds smugly "after all you three also have school tomorrow"

"Mooom" kai groans while Leo straight up slams his head into the table with a dull thud.

"Mama I don't wanna go" Leo speaks sweetly with puppy eyes as he turns his head on the table to look at his mom.

Kai understands the assignment and gives the same puppy eyes to his mom.

She looks at them and Akira notices the love in Diana's eyes as she says in a stern voice "alright but you still gotta study during the day alright?"

Both of them nod happily with grins plastered on their faces. "Now you kids better head to your rooms"

All of them head upstairs to their rooms, the twins with identical grins. The first room is Kai's and he wishes both of them goodnight as he disappears inside. Next comes Leo's room and he speaks up suddenly, breaking the silence "hey..umm..Akira? Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Akira stops in her tracks and turns around, and nods, waiting for him to continue. He looks down with guilt etched on his feature and then drawing a deep breath he steps back. "come in" he says.

She reluctantly enters the room. Leo notices how Akira takes in each part of the room and then stares at him with a tense posture.

"Umm..it-its alright you know?" He tries to sound reassuring to make her comfortable "you can relax"

Akira then stands facing him, with a dead stare that he had only seen Seb give him. It was the kind of stare that sent chills down your spine. He gulps back his nervousness at talking to- apologising to his sister. His Iris.

"Listen umm..I am sorry for losing control..you know..back at the hospital" he says staring at his hands, not able to look at her. He hurt his baby sister. He hurt her. He was a monster. Why couldn't he control his emotions? What was wrong with him? Why did have to stop taking those pills?..

"It's alright" she says plainly, staring at his nervous form particularly at the eye that had turned a dark shade of black and blue with green at the edges.

He felt the need to clarify his actions. To make her understand that he couldn't control himself. That he is a monster. A monster who hurts people he loves.. "No-No.. I-I want to tell you that" he speaks nervously "-that I have anger issues." There. He said it. He owned it. She can judge him and hate him for this if she wants but at least he owned up to that fact.

"Okay" she says not knowing how else to respond. So what? Nearly half the people she knows have anger issues. She knows they can't control their anger. So can't she. It's not big deal. Is that why he was so nervous? Weird..

He looks up at her with shining eyes and sorrowful smile. It's okay. She said it's okay. She doesn't think he is some monster. She accepts him. A wave of relief flood him.

He suddenly drops down and starts to grab something from under his head while muttering "I wanna show you something" to Akira.

Akira stands back as Leo pulls out a box covered in dust. He sits on the floor beside his bed and gestures her to join him. She slowly moves towards him and sits beside him. He blew off the dust from the box and carefully opened it. Akira notices his shaky hands as he did so.

He turns the box upside down, scattering a number of photographs and trinkets on the carpet. He shakily picks up one of the photographs and turns it around. Akira notices a small girl and a boy squatting in the snow as he makes a snowball while the girl looks at it with twinkling eyes and an open mouth.

Leo clears his throat to make the lump that has formed in his throat go away before speaking up softly "that's you" he says putting finger on the girl in the photograph "and that is me" he says pointing to the boy.

He notices Akira unable to break her eyes away from the photograph as he continues "it was your first snowfall, and when I showed you that we could make snowball out the snow, you went crazy with joy" he says reminiscing "but when I tried teaching you how to, you could not make them. And that's why you are looking at me making them with awe"

He smiles softly at the memory of baby Akira laughing loudly when he showed her a snowball for the first time. He looks at Akira now, she is the same little sister, his joy. He diverted his eyes when she looked at him and started picking up another photograph.

Leo stared at the photograph as memories flooded his mind. There he was, his dad, opening Christmas presents with Akira. His eyes were fixed on his daughter and that smile, that never left his face whenever he looked at her. He looks at Akira staring at the photograph and even though she kept it masked but he felt the sadness, the heaviness which settled upon her, or maybe it was his own..

He knew that she had probably connected the dots but decided to explain the photograph anyways "So..This is d-dad" his voice broke at the last word. No you can't breakdown in front of her. Be strong Leo. Take the pills later..he reminded him self.

He continued "And this is you." He said pointing towards the little girl, giggling while holding gift wrappings "you know dad loved you so much.." he couldn't find the right words to explain his dead father's love for her daughter so he decided to continue "you know..when you were kidnapped, you were 3 and a half at that time." He takes a deep breath to stop himself from breaking down "your kidnapping put out the light in him. He tried to be happy..for us. He couldn't, he couldn't smile. He was our happy place, and watching your happy place break down does something unexplainable to you.."

Oh god no..he wanted to remind her of the happy times, not make it about himself. What is wrong with you? Can't do anything right..

He turns his to look out of the window and blinks quickly to keep his tears from falling, then taking a deep breath, he picks up another photograph. He could feel her staring at him but couldn't build up the courage to meet her eyes.

There stood, a happy family, looking at them through the photograph with joy filled eyes. Akira's breath hitched and Leo notices though she quickly masked it and he didn't address it.

"This is us Akira" he says softly, staring at the family in the picture "This is us before everything went wrong....we were actually the perfect family.."

Akira's hand comes up towards the photograph and softly takes it from Leo's weak grip. She stared at it, as if lost in a daze. They look at more photographs and Leo explains each one to her. The photographs came with the memories that he had been trying to suppress all these years.

It was 4 o clock , and both of them sat in silence when Leo fell asleep staring at a photograph. Akira was feeling exhausted too, physically, mentally and emotionally, all at once. She dragged herself up from the soft carpet and out of Leo's room with one photograph still clutched in her hand...

She entered her room, and let herself fall on the bed face first. Hoping that sleep would engulf her, let her escape from all the confusion, anger, sadness and the spark of hope somewhere inside her too. It was all too much. Too much at once. It had never been so emotionally draining in her entire life. She could take physical exhaustion and mental exhaustion too, but this was new and she hated new.

She tossed and turned in bed hoping to find some rest in this all too soft bed. Knowingly or unknowingly her hand reached towards the picture that she had brought with her from Leo's room, now kept on the bedside table. Some light from the street lights outside seeped into the room through the balcony, dimly lighting up the room.

She brought that picture near her face and looked at it deeply. There stood a happy family, proud parents, kids with smiles so wide that nothing the world could throw at them could dim their joy. A slow and sad smile tugged at her lips, faint and barely there, but a smile nonetheless.

That small girl, the girl giggling in her father's arms as her brother tickled her while her father protected her from him. That girl was her. The mom who was smiling as she looked at the scene. The mom... Diana. Sebastian, her boss, now her apparent brother, was the one smiling evilly as he tickled the girl..Akira. Two small boys, looking slightly older than the girl, pulled Sebastian back by his t shirt to stop him from tickling her. Two boys...Leo and Kai....

She didn't even remember anything, didn't even know the name of her apparent father but there was an odd warmth radiating from the man in the picture. She dared to imagine what her life could've been..if she didn't have to fight for scraps of food, steal for warm clothes, find warm enough cardboard boxes to sleep in.

A happy life?

A.N------------

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