“Broken Innocence” Chapter 1
The 2007 O Story
Based on the Anime ‘Bleach’

The door slammed behind Hideo Nakamura as he entered his slightly rundown home on the West side of Karakura Town. It was not much, but at that time, was the only home that he and his family could afford. His family was on the run now. His father had made a deal with the most deadly man in town and now that man wanted his life for repayment.

Hideo’s dusty brown hair was as unkempt as the messy bedroom in which he slept in. He opened the door to his room and immediately opened the white collared shirt of his school uniform. Hideo slumped down on his bed, which he had left unmade from when he awoke that morning. After sighing, he lay down and looked to the ceiling, as memories of the last few years raced through his head.

“Father thinks we can just run away from the problem,” Hideo thought to himself. “He thinks that they won’t find us. They will…”

That night, Hideo sat at the table with his mother and father to eat dinner. His mother, being of Chinese descent, prepared a traditional dish from her homeland. His father, an uptight man in a stuffy business suit, picked at the meal cautiously. Takao Nakamura was known for being a finicky eater.

“Mei, why don’t you prepare something that I’ll eat?” He said to his wife. Mei glanced across the table at her disappointed husband with a smirk on her face. “Because I want to starve you to death and then claim your life insurance, do you think I could get away with it?”

“Ha ha, not funny,” Takao responded. “I hate this stuff, but you don’t, Hideo.” Takao replied looking his son’s way, “So why aren’t you eating?”

Hideo had indeed not touched a single thing on his plate. He poked at it with his fork before setting it down on the table. “How can you all be so happy? They are still out there! Running away from them isn’t going to get rid of them!”

Takao and Mei were silent for a moment. They knew that their son was right; running would not solve their problem. However, at the same time they knew it was all they could do just to stay alive right now. They saw that their son was visibly quite upset. Takao leaned over and placed a hand on Hideo’s shoulder.

“Hideo,” Takao said softly. “The yakuza won’t come after us here. They are not on good terms with the gang that runs this area. Why else would I come here? We’re safe.” Nevertheless, in the back of his mind he knew all to well that they were not safe anywhere.

“Why did you even get involved with them in the first place?!” yelled Hideo.

“Don’t raise your voice,” said Mei. “Your father had no choice--” She was upset with the situation unfolding in her kitchen and did not want her family to suffer any more.

“There’s always a choice!” screamed Hideo again as he rose from the table slamming the flat of his hand on to the table top, “I’m… tired… of living in fear…”

Hideo ran upstairs to his bedroom, leaving his parents behind. He climbed into his closet, a place where he would oftentimes go whenever he wanted to escape from the torments of the outside world. In there, he formed a safe haven in his mind where he would not have to worry about the yakuza or his father’s bad decisions. He stayed there with his eyes closed until he eventually fell asleep.


A couple of hours later, there was a knock at the front door. Mei peeked through the peephole to see a young man wearing a baseball jersey. She slowly opened the door to greet the stranger.

“Hello, is this the Nakamura residence?” he asked.

“You have the… wrong house… we are the Tanaka family…” Mei replied with a hint of worry in her voice.

“Heh heh, that answer you gave me… you pretty much confirmed that you’re the Nakamura family,” joked the spiky haired man. “I could tell from the way you said it.”

Mei tried to shut the door, but the man blocked it with a mighty fist. He shoved Mei to the floor and towered over her. Takao entered the room and saw his beloved wife at this man’s feet.

“Who are you!? Get away from her!” Takao exclaimed.

“You didn’t think you could escape us, did you? The aliases you adopted can’t fool the yakuza.”

“This is not your territory! Why--”

The man silenced Takao by waving a handgun in Mei’s face. “It was NOT our territory until recently. Amano-san made a bit of a deal with the gang who ran this turf and we own it now, and by ‘deal’, I mean ‘blowing them to kingdom come’.”

Takao backed away with fear in his eyes. The man with the gun grinned. “Aw, some man you are. Leaving your wife at my mercy like this,” he said.

“You became part of our little family to get revenge on that business that fired you. We helped you exact your revenge and you worked for us in exchange. Your accounting abilities were a big help to the organization. It's a pity you had to let your conscience get the best of you," he said with a chuckle. "Running from the yakuza never works; because anyone that has ever tried this before always lost the race! Ha ha ha,” the man chuckled slyly.

Takao trembled and watched the tears roll down his wife’s cheeks. The man continued with his lecture. ”You were aware of the fact that you knew too much. You knew what would happen if you ran…and yet you did anyway. What, did you possibly think you could out wit the yakuza,” the man paused as if awaiting an answer.

BANG! A single shot broke the silence.

Takao’s lifeless body fell over to the floor. Mei shrieked out to her dead husband just before she too was permanently quieted by the man’s handgun. The man nodded his head and walked out of the door. His cell phone in his right pocket vibrated just then… He pulled it out to speak with whoever was on the other end.

“Oh? Amano-san, I just finished the hit,” he told his boss.

“Good,” replied Amano. “Daisuke Koroshiya… you’re worth every yen I pay you. I take you left the bodies?”

“Yes,” said Daisuke. “To send a message to the rest of Karakura Town… the yakuza have arrived.”

“Good… Let them all see what will happen to them if they cross the yakuza.” Amano-san replied.



Broken Innocence Chapter 2