Failure

“I know your secret” Kenji said.

“Excuse me?” Takashi asked not really trying to be surprised. Struggling to keep the neutral mask, and he hoped he wasn’t shaking the way he thought he was.

“Like I said. I know your secret, Takashi Fujiwara” he leaned closer.

“What secret?”

“Do you really want me to say it out loud? I’m sure that Megumi would love to hear that”.

Takashi let the fear take over just for a moment, but that was enough for Kenji. That proved him right.

“That I’m sure you don’t want. You have no idea how this gang thing works, right?”

He was silent and Kenji went ahead.

“You haven’t seen someone beaten to a bloody pulp, or gunned down before you, or what was once a man left to bleed out? You really don’t know what you’re in for Fujiwara”.

“What can you prove? Because I’m not sure you know what you’re talking about” he wasn’t going to admit to anything.

“You may be right and you may also be wrong. Do you want to test if I know or not?”

Takashi was sure he was bluffing, but that eyes everywhere and he didn’t want to test his luck. He’d have to talk to Geiru first.

“Kenji”.

Both men looked up to the stairs, and Megumi stood there resting on her arms. How long had she been there?

“Megumi dear. Did you miss me already?”

She didn’t bother with a reply. She just continued staring.

“Fine, on my way” he relented and turned back to Takashi. “We’ll keep in touch”.

He left and when he looked up again, she wasn’t there.

VVVVV

“I’m sorry sir. It won’t happen again”.

“I hate failure Geiru and you know that. I’m not sure that I’m willing to let this one slide”.

“Just one more chance sir. I swear it won’t happen again”.

“And if it does?”

She knew he wanted her to give an answer.

“It won’t”.

“I hope not. For your sake Geiru” and he dropped the call.

Her door opened. She didn’t even bother to turn around. There was a sinking feeling in her gut, and she didn’t want to deal with anything.

“I think Kenji knows”.

Well there goes her already bad morning. Now worse.

“What did you do that Kenji knows?!” she demanded on her feet. She hadn’t cleared up everything with Takahiro, and there was a chance that Kenji knew. And if he knew that was a very big if, what about Megumi?

“I didn’t do anything!” he replied not calm at all.

“Have you been talking to him?!”

“Me?!” He was outraged. “You’re the one that had spoken to him most out of the two of us. Why would you be asking me that?!”

“Because I know what I’m doing Takashi! I’m a professional and you have messed this up!”

“I only talked to the guy once and I let him do all the talking. How am I the one that messed things up?! I may not be a gangster, but I am surely not an idiot!”

“This is bad” she groaned into her palms. “What did he ask you?”

“Suspicious questions. Why I joined the gang and where I was all the while” he sighed.

“First Takahiro and now this guy. I knew he was bad news” she moaned.

“What makes us so sure that he knows? He may just be trying to scare us with that and get us to confess, or actually fall into a trap due to…..”

“Takashi shut up okay? I’m trying to think”. There was logic in there, but this business was not up to a guess, or a game of chance. If there was a problem you had to take care of it before it escalated.

“Takahiro can’t find out about this. He’d kill me” she mumbled.

“So what are we going to do?” he asked.

“You’re going to do nothing….”

“Do nothing? I have been doing nothing and Kenji still found out about this”.

“Could you poison him?” she asked.

“No that wouldn’t be suspicious at all” he smiled grimly.

Yeah with the poison and all. Things had calmed down for a while so there would be a chance, just a little chance that she would have dropped her guard. This would be the perfect opportunity just to do it.…

“There’s a plan B!” she said sharply.

“Which is what?” Takashi asked.

“There was a plan, if everything went south, but we can’t pull it off”.

“How can’t we?” Takashi asked.

“If we take her out in this house, can you imagine what will happen? And it’ll be impossible. If you use poison it’ll be you. She’s never alone, and do you know how skilled they all are? They’d take you out in a heartbeat”.

“So we hire an assassin?”

“We’ll just have to wait until the opportunity presents itself and then, you’ll see what happens”.

“What do we do about Kenji?”

“We just have to lay low and play along. That is if Megumi doesn’t already know”.

“How do you think this will turn out?”

“You want the honest answer?”

He was silent.

VVVVV

Takahiro smiled and dropped his phone. He had given her a simple task and she had failed. If he wanted, he could just make a call and out Geiru. And she had said that it wouldn’t happen again. Her word meant nothing to him, and if she died he’d just place another. But if she died, Takashi wouldn’t be able to kill Megumi.

And if Megumi found out, no doubt that would endanger Takashi, and he couldn’t afford the kid to die now.

“I said no business at the table”.

“It’s not business” he smiled widely.

His wife sat down by his side. “Then what are they doing here if it is just for a visit?” she referred to the goons not too far away from them at the table. “And you are always worried about not being followed, not wanting them to know where we stay. You’re not trying to stay low at all”.

"Who would dare to follow me?” he asked placing an arm on the back of her chair.

He was proud of it. Being a gangster and everything that came with it. The money, the power, the fear, the respect from everyone. There wasn’t usually any lines in this. Everyone would take every opportunity they got to destroy the other.

But everyone else knew their place, unless they wanted all of his wrath exacted on them. It was an unwritten rule they all followed because he was at the top. He ran the streets, he knew what happened everywhere, and his permission was needed before any little transaction took place.

He had thought getting rid of his major opposition at that time would put everything back in place. It had worked. At the top and the rest literally bowed to him. He had heard that his heir had gone crazy so he had basically won. Until a brat had just come up from nowhere and the stupid game was on again.

Turned out that the late Hirose had a daughter that survived the accident. And now the brat, Megumi she called herself, had a personal vendetta against him. Too bad for the poor girl. When he had looked into her history, no experience, always hanging off her father so in a way, no actual experience. He didn’t even want to bother with one who was so insignificant.

Until she posed a real challenge. She was actually good at what she did, and a real threat. Trying to uphold her father’s legacy in her own way. Very different from her father. Stealing all his business, all his partners, and actually challenging him.

The brat had some nerve. But from what he heard, she wasn’t really smart and it was the mad one still ruling the gang. He had seen her on few occasions, but he wouldn’t stoop to her level and rise to the challenge even, though she was really infuriating.

Slowly, even though he didn’t want to say it. She was rising to the top. And now everyone was moving to her side. Actually having the gall to laugh at him. He just hoped that they all hadn’t forgotten who he was. So just like her father, she’d have to be taken out and he wouldn’t have to lift a finger. And this time he’d make sure there was no survivor of the Hirose blood.

She was really dumb just accepting new recruits like that and no background check. And he hated everything about her, but he had been in this business, born into it actually and he knew what every leader hated was failure, and he had to remain one step ahead and the child had to learn her place.

Geiru had told him how she reacted and it brought a smile to his face. Every time he one-upped her, he was happy. That was until what happened a while ago that he lost his men. He wasn’t happy about it. Geiru had told him no mistakes and he had lost his men.

And that was why he was here. Anytime he got mad and wanted some reassurance there was only one woman in the world that could give him that. His wife Aiko. He had forgotten what failure felt like, and though he wouldn’t show it he was angry. And when he was angry he liked to hurt, but sadly who he wanted to hurt wasn’t here.

He knew that Megumi would be overly suspicious now, so they wouldn’t try anything for a while. The next time he saw her he wouldn’t waste any time and he’d end her just the way he did to her lovely father.

Back to his lovely Aiko. So beautiful, he thought looking into her beautiful black eyes. He never knew of women that would willingly marry into a gang. It was arranged because who would want to live in constant fear that anything could go bad at any time. She had given up her life, her safety, her everything just to be with a no-good gangster.

They got married and had a child. And if their child had made a friend when he was younger, who just happened to be a son of a longtime friend, and Aiko just adopted him and made him part of the family. That was just his luck.

He hadn’t been around for a long while. A very long time, so he never actually met the child. Takashi didn’t know him. And he knew that his wife didn’t want him getting involved in a gang. Neither did she want Lee to get involved.

But he had found out that the kid might have talent, and he could be rid of the Hirose’s forever, and he wouldn’t have to break a sweat. That’s why the kid couldn’t die now, and if Geiru knows what was good for her, she’d keep it that way.

“Leave all of you” Aiko said and they all stepped out without a single glance.

“Now we can be alone” she smiled, playing with his hair.

“How’s Lee?” he asked.

“He’s good. Doing really well” she smiled. “But we can talk about Lee later, can’t we?”

“Yes we can” he agreed standing up, and she mimicked him and she took his hand, leading him away.

VVVVV

“Ah Geiru” Kenji said. “There you are” he approached. “Would you be willing to go out right now?” he asked.

“Ms. Megumi wants me in her office today”.

“She’s in a good mood today, isn’t she?” Kenji asked.

“I don’t know” she shrugged. “I haven’t seen her”. Okay if Kenji really knew what was happening like he claimed, why hadn’t he told her? Or was he just trying to mess with Takashi? She never did like him and now, she wasn’t sure she was going to get anything out of him.

“Oh too bad” he pouted. “I was hoping we could go out and get to know each other more” he said.

“Well it’s really bad. Well another time then” and she wanted to walk past.

But he grabbed her wrist and not in a friendly way.

“Geiru Ito” he whispered. “That’s your name, right?”

“Yes. That’s my name” she replied her face blank. Not showing fear, not even when she had been caught. She had been trained for this and had prepared if she should ever be caught.

“I did a background check on you. Something that Megumi and everyone else failed to do. Seriously they are all idiots. They won’t do anything if Megumi doesn’t give out orders. And unlike them, I don’t follow orders” he explained.

“Tell me then what you found out” she said.

“Not much” he sighed. Unfortunately everything came up clean. Had a family, moved out and was living on her own and now no history with a gang. No gang at all and she wasn’t Takashi. She wouldn’t be easy to fool because unlike him, she had an understanding on how everything worked.

“You really cover your tracks” he said.

“Because I don’t have anything to cover up” she said.

“I know, but you should really be careful about where you have your conversations because anyone can just be lucky and overhear it”.

She looked back at him unfazed.

“How will Megumi react when she finds out that both of you are the rats?”

“I’m not. And even if you say that, it will be my word against yours. Why would I want to feed information from Megumi to another gang? What would I have to gain?”

“Power” he replied. “You want that, don’t you? That’s the reason that you joined a gang in the first place, and you feel very powerful being the one to relay information”.

“I am not doing anything. And if anyone is meant to be the suspect it’s you. You just showed up, and everything is out of proportion”.

“And who will Megumi believe?” he asked.

“You said it yourself. Aside popular belief, she is actually smart. I didn’t do anything and you can’t prove it” she freed her wrist.

“And she is smart. And also mean, and downright ruthless to people who betray her trust. She’ll find out soon enough”.

“Well too bad I’m not the one then” she said.

“Are we still going out though?” he asked as she walked away.

“We’ll see” and she made a turn finally out of his sight heaving a sigh of relief. So far he only suspected her and he didn’t know anything. He hadn’t traced her back to Red Dawn because she kept interaction with them to a minimum.

It was always over the phone feeding him information. Phantom wasn’t the only gang she had infiltrated, and hopefully it wouldn’t be the last. Kenji didn’t know anything. He was just trying to scare them so they’d fall into a trap. But he hadn’t set a trap.

She composed herself and pushed the door open.

“Good morning boss”.

“Morning Geiru” she didn’t even look at her.

She looked up at the ceiling and twirling in her seat.

Geiru took her seat the papers already there for her.

“Aren’t you bored Geiru? Of just staying in this house”.

“Well everything is being provided. Why would you want to leave?”

“Because it’s been a long time since I left this house and graced everyone with my presence”.

“Well if you want to…” talking to her was really awkward.

“I do want to. And when you’re done get dressed”.

“You want me to go with you?”

“You’re the mathematician so don’t ask me dumb questions”.

And when she was done which took a long time, she had to wonder how much money Megumi actually had. Then she had to change, and now she was with the rest that Megumi had chosen to go with her. Sachi, her right-hand Karou, Kenji obviously, and she had requested Takashi to join her.

She just hoped that Kenji had nothing up his sleeve.

Megumi came down with her long fur coat, even though it was warm.

“Ready?” she asked.

“Let go” Karou said.

She had expected for them to go to her club, but she didn’t. They were actually in another club that Red Dawn frequented. This wasn’t good at all, but as always she wouldn’t show anything and give Kenji that satisfaction that he was getting to her.

Megumi had been the one to choose this club and not him. But the question was why? Did she want to rub her victory in his face? Or was it something else? Megumi was unpredictable and so was her boss. She was really frightened.

Her boss was capable of being so wicked. And if there was a chance he was here and he wasn’t pleased, he could out her as punishment. She shouldn’t think about that right now.

“What’s wrong?” Takashi whispered.

“We’re going to do it tonight” she told him.

“What?” he asked.

“We are going….my mistake, I am going to take her out tonight”.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“I’m sure. If it what’s I’m thinking, there’s going to be a gun battle and then I will take my chance”.

“Did you tell your boss that we’re here?”

“No and there’s no need for that. Even if he’s not here, someone else from Red Dawn will be here, and no doubt there’ll be a battle”.

“Why do they hate each other so much?”

“They have their reasons” she shrugged.

“Taking her out won’t work”.

“Then what do you want to do?”

“I’ll take her out because that’s why I’m here in the first place”.

“Takashi please don’t argue with me….”

“If you kill her, why am I here then?”

“I don’t know Takashi. Because even trying to seduce her you couldn’t, you can’t hold a gun and you have a problem with killing people. Tell me what you can do?!” she demanded.

“Problem?” Kenji inserted himself into the conversation with a smile.

“No problem” Geiru denied.

“Good then” he said.

“I’m going to dance” Megumi announced and she removed her coat, Geiru didn’t miss the way both men were so focused on her in her skimpy dress. And Takashi still hadn’t made a move.

“Don’t make any trouble” that was a warning and she left, her form disappearing into the sea of moving bodies.

Geiru looked to Kenji and she left with Takashi.

He turned to another delightful character, who for the first time since he had visited, was smiling.

“So Sachi, want to dance?”

She smiled at him. “No, nor would I recommend it”.

“What has you so happy?” he was curious. She was actually smiling and talking to him. Which was a huge improvement from what she did to him on a daily.

“Sister has a plan” she said and they turned to see her on a table dancing so sensual.

“Well I hope I like it” he smiled.

“You won’t” she said.

VVVVV

“Boss” a man walked in.

“Yes” he looked up.

“Megumi is here” he said.

Takahiro stood up slowly and he went to the window. He opened the window blinds, and he could see her dancing on a table, not caring that she was in what he considered as his club.

“Who let her in?” he asked softly with a smile.

“I-I don’t know sir” he could tell he was nervous. He’d pay for it later. It was his job to keep people like her far away from here.

“What do I do boss?”

Was he seriously asking?

He looked back at the window and this time she was dancing, but facing the direction of him and he thought she was actually looking at him. And she could because it was actually glass, and she raised a finger pointing at him still dancing.

“Get Jun” he instructed calmly.

He still stood there.

Megumi had already hiked the hem of her gown exposing her garter that held a gun.

“You know what to do, don’t make me repeat myself!” he barked.

She removed the gun and fired.

He got out of the way and the window went CRASH!

There were screams and everyone scrambling to the door or for cover. Her gang weren’t far behind, and she didn’t waste time before firing shots into the lights, letting all the tiny shards fall.

The rest of the gang who didn’t come with protection. Only Takashi took cover under a table. Covering his ears his blood and heart pounding loud in his ears. He was finding it hard to breathe. Where was Geiru?

The rest stood before Megumi.

“What now?” Sachi asked.

“Fire till we find a way out” and she jumped off the table still in her heels tipping the table forward, and then the battle began.

Jun had already taken a few and now they were firing at Phantom. There had been given a simple order. “Kill on sight” and Megumi had been alive too long. She could end it right now and make her uncle proud.

Megumi crawled away not even bothering to fire. She took cover behind a table, but it was already occupied.

“Takashi” she hissed.

He didn’t look at her. It was like he couldn’t even hear her. She rolled her eyes and went close to him. Now she had someone else to protect. She shook him wildly and he turned to her immediately.

He turned to her. It was Megumi. Her lips were moving, but he couldn’t hear anything. This could be his chance right here. He could take her out and escape, and they’d all think it was Red Dawn that did it and then take him away. He could, but at the moment he couldn’t do anything.

She pulled him closer to her chest. And then held onto him tight. Pushing him across the floor and the shots still firing.

“I think it’s time to go” Kenji informed them already backing away.

“No need to tell me” Sachi said already tinkering with her gun. She brought out what looked to be a bar? A bar but looked like a jewelry and placed it on the trigger. It shot multiple bullets into the air before throwing it over their cover, and they would have gotten hit too if they didn’t jump away.

With the rest of them.

Jun had to take cover and she was quick about it. The rest not so lucky. She jumped over the bar table as the gun went crazy. Just rolling round the floor.

Gosh how many bullets did they have?

Takahiro stood up as he saw them make their escape, but he was able to make eye contact with Geiru before she made a bend. He touched his bleeding cheek.

What did Megumi think she was trying to do?

“Jun!” he screamed over the firing gun. “Follow them and make them hurt!” he growled.

And the gun was just able to stop firing at that time.

Outside, Megumi had to take care of two by herself, while Takashi just stood there. It was easy for her though and she grabbed the poison maker and threw him into a car. Now was when the rest decided to show up.

“Let’s move. We don’t have any time to spare” Sachi said.

“Ride with him” she told Kenji exasperated. Of course she knew the “him” she meant, and he got in without further complains. Other than that tiny change, they left as they came. Sachi and Karou and Megumi with Geiru.

The last car just sped away before Jun came out with the rest of her team.

They weren’t going to get away. If the famous Takashi couldn’t kill her, she’d do it herself.

VVVVV

Geiru had to think. If she were able to shoot her now and jump out, she’d disappear. But she couldn’t just leave Takashi in their hands. They’d kill him and he wouldn’t make it. She didn’t see him when they battled. So she could imagine what would happen when it would come to physical torture.

What she needed was an opening and she’d take it when it presented itself. She held onto her gun tight.

They heard screeching of tires.

“Took them long enough” Megumi smiled and turned to Geiru.

They weren’t at the front. They were in between two cars at the front and two at the back. One with Kenji and the other with Sachi. And they always attacked from behind.

They were flashing lights. But not from ahead or behind, from the side.

Geiru saw how Megumi looked. The look of disbelief on her face and her eyes reflecting….lights?

“Get out of….!”

Megumi couldn’t finish her order. They were hit from the side the both of them falling to the left, Geiru on her as the car rolled to the side. Both of them bumping into each other continuously. It stopped when they hit a wall.

Megumi pushed Geiru off her with a groan, and rest her head against the side of her window trying to catch her breath. She was sure she had a concussion.

Geiru was in the process of sitting up, when a shot was fired and she felt it brush past her face. If Megumi had moved at that moment she would have taken a hit to the back of her head. But it did pass through the window, but it was stuck because they were plastered to the wall.

Geiru sat up cautiously. She knew that there was a battle outside and Megumi was unfit to do anything. Everyone was engaged in one thing or the other and no one had come to check on them. This was her chance. She had already put the silencer on in the club.

A shot had already been fired and they wouldn’t hear this one. A shot had already been fired and even if they did see the bullet in the window, she could lie and say that during the battle a stray bullet.

She leaned back and raised her gun.

Megumi opened her eyes slowly and the first thing her eyes saw were glass. She was against the window she could tell with how squished her face was.

But her eyes caught something else. Someone actually. There was no time to think. She flung herself back pushing Geiru against the glass, and Megumi held onto her hand pulling it over her shoulder and trying to remove the gun from her hand.

Geiru had wanted to shoot her.

Okay Geiru had to do something fast. She hadn’t expected Megumi to wake up. All she had to do was pull the trigger and she could at least cause a lot of damage. But she’d have to weaken her. She placed her other hand round her neck while that battle raged on outside.

Megumi left the gun and her hands went to the arm around her neck. Now Geiru placed the gun against her neck.

Megumi threw her head back and due to the pain, the gun left her hand and it might have been a mistake on Megumi’s part because she was dizzy instantly. Geiru scrambled for the gun, but Megumi shot her knee out wildly and she hit Geiru again pushing her back against the door.

And that instant the door opened and Geiru fell back, the back of her head hitting the ground hard. Her legs still in the car and her upper half on the ground, and on the car. The smell of gunfire in the air and she could also smell blood. Her whole world was tilting and before she was consumed by darkness, was the smirking face of Kenji.

Megumi watched as he removed his foot from her face.

‘How did he know?’

“We should leave before Takahiro gets here” Karou said.

“Clean this up and take care of this” she gestured to Geiru on the ground.

Karou knew better than to ask questions. Even if one of their own was currently bleeding, unconscious on the ground. She knew that she’d find out later.

She did oversee cleanup and their accountant was placed in the trunk.

Takashi watched, not really knowing what to think about anything. They had been found out and it was a hundred percent chance he was going to die today.

Kenji came back to the open door smiling at him.

“Well baby, I’m sure you weren’t expecting things to turn out like that, right?” and he got in and closed the door.

VVVVV

Getting to the house everyone stayed out of her way. She was pissed and she had a gun so it wasn’t a good combination. Kenji followed with Karou, who had Geiru on her back unconscious. Sachi followed and by her side was Takashi. He could see her watching his every move.

He wasn’t really sure of where they were going. He had never seen this part of the house. Kenji opened the cellar door or was it a basement? He wasn’t really sure.

They stepped into the room and down the stairs, and he knew he was walking into his own demise. Sachi closed the door with a bang and he almost fell.

“Hang her!” she ordered.

Karou dropped her and went to set up the chain from the hook on a bar. She hung her easily. She must really have a lot of practice.

“Wake her up!” Megumi sat down on a chair that had already been set there. Maybe she had used this room for a while.

“Megumi, what about Fujiwara?”

Megumi turned to her sister. “What about him?”

“His friend tried to kill you, and you think he’s not a suspect” she was looking at him.

What was he going to say?

“We wake her up first and we’ll see what she has to say. I know people and someone who can’t even defend himself would try to kill me?”

“Megumi you have to think about this…”

“And I am” she sighed. “Wake her up”.

Karou walked to the side and she opened a fridge and got a bucket and a pitcher. The cold air coming off it was a warning sign, and she scooped up an amount and then she poured it slowly on Geiru who awoke with a gasp.

And due to the cold water it caused her to take deep fast breaths, her chest heaving.

“Why were you trying to kill me?!” she asked immediately.

Geiru took long to answer. Still trying to catch her breath.

Karou scooped up more water and poured it over her slowly. That was what made it worse.

Sachi couldn’t hold it in anymore. If she wasn’t going to talk, Takashi would.

“You!” she turned to Takashi.

“What do you know?” she asked.

What did he know?

“I am not going to waste my time on someone that looks like he’s going to shit his pants”.

“So you’re just going to overlook him?!” and she got her gun out and aimed it at him. “Talk now!” she warned her finger resting on the trigger.

“How did you know I had trouble?” Megumi asked Kenji.

“Just a lucky guess” he shrugged. “And the movements coming from your car”.

“Back to the situation at hand!” Sachi called to her attention.

Geiru got her breath back.

“Why did you want to kill her?” Sachi asked.

They hadn’t planned about this. If they ever got caught which they never thought would happen. She was the one who got caught and there was no way she was getting out of this, but Takashi could if he played his cards right.

He had to think. They already thought he wasn’t capable of doing that so he could save himself. But the only way he could do that was throwing in Geiru. Was he going to do that? They weren’t friends and all what she had said about leaving him to die. She hadn’t been joking.

“Have you suddenly gone deaf?” Sachi asked.

“I don’t know why she tried to kill you” he answered.

“And we’re meant to believe you? You’re her friend aren’t you?”

“We aren’t friends” he denied vehemently. “We just met that day in the club. Outside actually and we both wanted to get lucky”.

“You want me to believe that?!” Sachi yelled.

“Calm down!” Megumi barked and turned to Geiru. “It was Takahiro wasn’t it?”

“You’re actually smart. Who knew?” Geiru dropped the act of obedient accountant.

“Who else would try it?” Megumi asked herself crossing her arms.

“What was his plan?!”

“To have the upper hand against you and it was working until that plan. Your face was to die for” she chuckled.

“I didn’t expect you to be the one” Megumi smiled. “Tonight is just full of surprises”.

“What about Takashi?” Sachi asked.

“What about him?” Geiru asked.

“Well he’s Fujiwara’s son, isn’t he? Obviously you were going to accept him, and if you thought I was with him you’d accept me too. It wasn’t that hard, you know?”

“Still doesn’t explain why Takahiro didn’t take Takashi if he knew about him. I don’t believe this”.

“Well after I revealed all your plans and pushed you to the bottom and killed you, I’d prove to you that Phantom is just another gang compared to Red Dawn”.

“And then you’d convince Takashi to join” Kenji completed.

“Yes” she said narrowing her eyes.

“Release her” Megumi told Karou.

“What?” Karou asked baffled.

“Excuse me?” Sachi lowered her gun.

“Tell you what Geiru. We’ll fight if you win you’ll shoot me…”

“Megumi” Sachi said.

“And no one will do anything. And you can leave with Takashi”.

“Meg dear….” Kenji tried.

“But if I win, I will send you off to your gang”. She didn’t miss the look of fear in her eyes.

“Takahiro as much as I hate to admit it is much like me. Hates failure and you dear, have already failed” she was in her face.

“And I know how he can be. Very sadistic, right? You can see it in his eyes, and if you go back he’ll take care of you” she smiled. “Karou release her, and I won’t say it again!”

Megumi walked up to her sister and held her hand out. Sachi reluctantly handed her gloves over, and Geiru was dropped.

They all stepped back and gave them a lot of room.

Kenji stood back, but close to Takashi.

“Looks like I was wrong” he said.

Geiru rubbed her wrists and looked to Megumi. She wasn’t Sachi so she shouldn’t be scared. She was crazy. She really hadn’t been able to find anything about her, only what everyone had said about her. Daddy’s girl, not smart and not a good leader. That was it. But she has seen her do things that were against the rumors.

But she had never seen her fight. But she knew what she was capable of. But Megumi not so much.

She took a stance and so did Megumi.

Megumi threw a punch which she caught and used her knee to hit her side, but Megumi jumped back pulling her along and catching her in her stomach with her knee, making her double over.

She caught her by her hair, and used her knee on that exact same place again, and then pushed her onto the floor.

“Are you out yet?” Megumi asked.

She was getting really cocky and Geiru delivered a sweep kick, which had her tumbling and Geiru was over her throwing punches.

Sachi struggled to stay put where she was. Her fingers were itching for a place round Geiru’s neck, but Karou was close to her.

Megumi pushed her off and landed a leg behind her neck which stunned her a bit. Megumi cleaned her already cut lip, and she delivered many kicks to her head and neck area. She was still wearing her heels.

And it hurt.

Really bad.

She rolled away and Megumi followed. She got a heel to the face which she was sure broke her jaw. Or if it didn’t break, it bruised badly.

It had spit and blood going round them.

Then she focused her kicks onto her ribs and back.

Geiru attacked her legs making her knees buckle, and then she was on her own knees and hit Megumi’s neck, and before she went down she spun around and wrapped an arm around her, and pushed her down onto the ground, and grabbed a leg digging her knee into her spine.

Megumi growled and threw her elbow making her bite her tongue, making pain explode inside her mouth, and then she delivered an uppercut which took out the fight from her, and she lay there as Megumi delivered punch upon punch to her face. The leather making it much more painful.

Megumi straddled her hips and punched with all the rage of every loss, until she was sure she was blacking out. She got on her feet still circling her.

“Is this the best Takahiro has to offer, really?” she spat and kicked her in her face again which was already bruised and bloody. “If only he could see you know. How do you think he would react if he saw you now? He’d kill you himself!” she yelled and stomped on her head.

“Don’t tell me you’re done” and she stepped on her back and Geiru screamed. She could feel her bones cracking under the pressure.

“Pathetic” and she stepped on her outstretched hand and smiled at the satisfying crunch before stepping off.

“She’s out” Megumi said and threw her gloves at Sachi.

“What do I do to her?” Karou asked.

“Chop her up and send her back to her gang” Sachi instructed.

“He’ll take care of that” Megumi sighed and she walked out with Sachi.

“You’ll keep an eye on him right?”

“Yes” she replied.

Takashi just stared at what was once the tall standing Geiru, and now just an unconscious bloody heap. Kenji took in his expression and then he laughed.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

Takashi couldn’t walk up to her because there was nothing he could do without drawing suspicion. After everything she had said at the last minute, she had saved him and now she stood the chance of dying. Well she was going to die from what everyone had said. But they were going to send her back and now he was going to be alone without a guide on how any of this worked.

He was with some of the worst people to ever set foot on earth. Manipulative, heartless and unforgiving killers who had no regard for anyone, and were much worse when it came to their enemies. What was he going to do now?

He looked to Kenji and he knew this was all his fault. He would pay.

They would all pay for this. Not just Megumi anymore. He didn’t know how, but he would get there.