This story begins with a small family - The Yamamoto Family, a family known for their extreme wealth. Mr. Yamamoto was a very educated business man who married a beautiful young woman from Kyoto, Japan. In 1991 they had their first son, Phoenix, named after Mr. Yamamoto's wealthy father. A life of inheritance, and prosperity was quickly put to an end when Kenshin Yamamoto – the grandfather's past caught up with Konomaru – the father. Kenshin was a huge part of Yakuza [the Japanese mob] back in the early years of the 1950s. Learning that his father had stolen from Yakuza, Konomaru and his family went into hiding.

On December 28th of 1998, Konomaru was murdered along with his wife. His young son, Phoenix, who had picked up a gun, and shot 3 of the men, and also managed to stand up to 2 others, was spared by their leader Tsunamaru – another main leader of Yakuza. After being drugged and having his memory erased of the incident, Tsunamaru raised and trained Phoenix on his own, making him believe that he was his uncle. Soon, by age 17, 10 years after his parent's murder, Phoenix was the Yakuza's main weapon. He was often used to protect the drugs that were traded between Japan and other countries, or simply for the protection of Tsunamaru. But lately, the men of the Yakuza, like Kazuma, and Renji, have taken advantage of Phoenix's obedience by using him to make money in underground fights, knowing for sure that he'd win every time.

"Phoenix, you dumb dog! Get up!" Renji shouted through the huge steel cage that Phoenix was kept, in the basement of the large mansion.

Phoenix's eyes slowly opened up as he looked through his jet black hair to see one of his masters. Renji was a short, muscular, light skinned boy, about 18 with long red hair. Even though he wasn't as tall as Kazuma, he seemed to have more authority. Kazuma was an average height boy the same age as Renji. He is a tanned skinned boy with short brown hair. The two boys were low ranked members of the Yakuza, often only getting jobs as recruiters. In their free time they would take Phoenix out in the town to make money.

Phoenix quickly walked out of his cage and Kazuma closed the door behind him. They had a car waiting for them outside of the building in the curved driveway in front of the mansion. They put Phoenix in the back and sped off. Phoenix looked out of the window, completely amazed by the things that passed him by. He hardly ever got to be outside. It was dark outside, about 2:30am, and Phoenix stared at the city lights. His eyes widened as they pulled up to a huge brick building. It was made to look like an old warehouse, but clearly came to life in the night hours. In this city, where police refuse to go, people from all corners of the state would gather here for quick money.

"Hurry!" Renji yelled as Kazuma let Phoenix out of the car. He grabbed Phoenix and led him down a long alley. They stopped when they got to a door with a large man standing in front of it.

"Phoenix Yamamoto is here." Renji said.

The man in front of the door smiled at Phoenix before opening the door to let them in. The three boys could hear loud cheering and chanting as the got closer to two giant metal doors. When Renji pushed the heavy doors open they saw two men already fighting. One man who was much larger than the other stood tall, ready for the other man's attack. He was tall and very muscular. He was an African American man with long black dreads. The other man was a dark skinned Cambodian man with a shaved head. He was bleeding badly, and looked to be having trouble standing. The crowd was going crazy; cheering for the person they thought would win. They all wanted the large man to finish him off.

"Can I help you?" Renji heard a man say.

They saw a tall, skinny, bald man that was wearing sunglasses.

"We're here to let him fight." Renji said confidently.

The man looked over to Phoenix and let a smile come to face.

"This boy would get killed. You know that." He said before looking over to the large black man as he punched the other man hard in the face, violently knocking him unconscious. The crowd erupted into loud cheers as the man put his arms up in victory. The whole time Phoenix stared with wide eyes, admiring the fight.

"I guarantee you, he will win." Renji said, again with reassuring confidence.

The man laughed. "Is that a bet?"

"Yes. One grand. If he wins, I get one grand." Renji smiled.

The man burst into laughter once again. "You're very sure of yourself. Alright, but if he looses…you give him to me." He said with a grin.

"Deal." Renji said before shaking the man's hand.

They gave each other one last look before the bald man lifted up the microphone in his hand to his mouth.

"We have another challenger!" he yelled as the Cambodian man was dragged off of the stage. "Here to challenge…SAIGA; our undefeated champion!"

The crowd went wild once again.

"What is his name?" the man asked quietly to Renji.

Renji smiled "Phoenix Yamamoto." He waited for the reaction he expected when anyone heard the name.

Sure enough, the man's eyes widened. He hesitated for a while as he looked at Phoenix before going back to the mic.

"Our challenger – here to take the title is – PHOENIX. YAMAMOTO!"

Renji loved how the crowd was louder than ever before. He walked over to Phoenix, taking off his collar.

"Make it interesting, Phoenix." He whispered.

Phoenix walked over to the rink and stepped through the steel cage, looking over his opponent. He saw as Saiga began to laugh hysterically once he stepped onto the floor, but noticed Phoenix showed no fear.

"You must be ready to die little boy." He said before smiling.

Phoenix stayed quiet, narrowing his eyes at him.

"I'll give you only one rule to follow." The bald man said. "Stay alive!"

The bell sounded and Phoenix lowered himself into a stance, catching Saiga off guard. It was pure strength against agility, and skill. Saiga grinned and charged at Phoenix. Just before he could punch him, Phoenix ducked and brought his leg to his side, tripping Saiga onto the floor. The crowd cheered for him to get up, surprised that the small boy could've knocked him down in one quick movement. Saiga finally realized that Phoenix wanted a serious fight. He quickly got to feet and charged toward Phoenix again. Expecting Phoenix to duck when he went to punch him, he brought his leg up to kick Phoenix in his side. Phoenix quickly put his hands on top of Saiga's shoulders and lifted himself up into the air, turning and kicking him in the side of his neck before landing on the ground. Saiga once again fell hard to the ground, this time struggling to get back up. Phoenix stood up straight and ran toward Saiga. He grabbed the back of his black shirt, and threw him back against the steel caging. Phoenix jumped in the air, bringing his foot straight to Saiga's face. Saiga quickly grabbed his foot, slamming Phoenix to the ground. The crowd got louder again as Saiga moved on top of Phoenix, pinning his arms down.

"Come on, Phoenix!" Renji yelled from the side of the rink.

The man with the sunglasses had a grin on his face. He was sure it was over for Phoenix now. Saiga's weight made it nearly impossible for Phoenix to get his arms free. He smiled down at Phoenix before quickly punching him on the side of his face. Before he could regain focus, Phoenix was punched again, and again until a cut, running with blood formed on the side of his face.

"No! Phoenix! Fight back! You're going to be killed!" Kazuma yelled angrily.

Both boys knew it was bad enough if he had even one small scratch on him, but knew they'd be killed if Phoenix wasn't in his cage again in the morning. They saw as Saiga drew his hand back for one last strong punch. The crowd held their breath as he brought it down to Phoenix's face. Renji looked up to see Saiga's hand completely inside of the rink's floor. Phoenix had moved his head far enough to the right to dodge his punch. While Saiga tried to get his hand out of the floor, Phoenix used his free hand to punch him on the side of him arm, breaking the bone. Saiga let out a harsh scream of pain, and loosened his grip on Phoenix. It made it easy to push Saiga off of him. He got to his feet quickly getting behind Saiga and putting him in a head lock. The crowd cheered for him to finish the job.

"Kill him, Phoenix!" Renji yelled from the side lines.

Phoenix instantly broke Saiga's neck, letting his body drop to the floor, lifelessly. The crowd roared, people who'd lost their money in a bet booing, others cheering loudly. Renji smiled at the man with the microphone.

"We have a winner! Phoenix. Yamamoto!" he yelled.

He walked over to Renji and handed him the money. "Now…get out of my building." He said angrily.

"No problem. Phoenix! Let's go!"

Phoenix, once again obeyed. They walked out after putting Phoenix's collar back around his neck.

"Wait." Kazuma said as he lifted Phoenix's face to his. "I don't know Renji, it looks pretty bad." He said as he examined the cut on Phoenix's face.

Phoenix flinched as he tried touching he cut. Renji laughed.

"It doesn't matter; we'll just say he fell or something." Renji said, counting his money.

"Are you listening to yourself?! Stop walking!" Kazuma yelled.

Renji turned around to him with a scowl on his face. He'd pushed him too far.

"If you're that scared, then leave. There's nothing we can do now, and your ass won't get me caught. Calm the fuck down!" Renji said, standing close to Kazuma's face. Phoenix was standing close, looking down to the ground. Renji's expression changed as he stepped over toward Phoenix who hadn't said a word all night. He put his hand under his chin, making him look up again. He knew Phoenix didn't like looking anyone in the eye. Phoenix's light green eyes moved around, looking at everything except Renji.

"Lets get our little pet something to eat." Renji smiled.

Kazuma sighed. "Fine."

The boys drove further into town, stopping at a store that was opened 24 hours. It was just a small convenient store, but it was Phoenix favorite place to buy beef jerky. They got him 5 sticks and a drink, and walked outside. Phoenix leaned up against the car, eagerly waiting for Renji to open it. He smiled and held it up to Phoenix's face after taking it out of the package. Phoenix hesitated, looking to Renji, then Kazuma, and then the food before reaching to grab it out of his hands.

"Ah, you know better than that. Open your mouth." Renji said, toying with him.

Phoenix put his hands back down beside him and opened his mouth. He leaned toward the food, but Renji kept pulling it out of his reach until Phoenix was close to his face. Phoenix quickly leaned back when he realized what he was doing. His face turned red, and both boys laughed.

"Come on. What's wrong, Phoenix?"

Phoenix looked at him again before he moved the food back to his face. Phoenix tried again, but Renji only moved it away another time.

"Alright, come on. Give him the food. We have to go." Kazuma said as he looked around the empty road. He could see a black car sitting at the end of the road. It was too dark to get a good look at it, but it was giving him a bad feeling.

"Shut up, Kazuma. Let me have some fun with him." Renji said doing his trick again a third time. Phoenix still tried desperately to get the food, but always leaned back when he got too close to Renji.

"Why are you afraid?" Renji asked before grabbing Phoenix's arm roughly and pushing his body against the car. He grabbed the hair on the back of Phoenix's head and pulled his head back. Renji threw the food to the ground before licking and kissing on Phoenix's neck, making him let out small whimpers. It made Renji smile even more.

"Renji. Look." Kazuma said as he saw the lights of the car on the end of the road turn on. He heard the engine start, and started to panic.

"We have to leave now!" he yelled as he started to run to the other side of the car.

Renji looked behind him to see the black car speeding down the road. He didn't have time to react before the car stopped in front of them, and two men with machine guns got out.

"Bring me Yamamoto alive." They heard a man yell from the car before the men opened fire at Kazuma and Renji. Phoenix ducked behind the car. He saw a few packs of beef jerky lying on the ground, and reached to pick them up. At that moment he heard the gun fire stop. He could see a river of blood flowing from the side of the car Renji was on. It didn't affect him. He felt someone grab his arm and pull him to his feet. It was the man from before that had bet on Saiga.

"Hello, Phoenix." He smiled.

Phoenix only stared up to him, holding on tightly to the food in his hands.

"Put them in the trunk. Dispose of their bodies. One of the men took Kazuma's keys out of his hands and the other put the bodies in the black car's trunk. Phoenix saw a silver car pull up next to them. The man put him in the backseat of the car, and followed in after him.

"Drive." He said to the man in the front.

Wah swept the floor of his father's small local restaurant. His family owned this small business on the outside of the city. It didn't bring in a lot of money, and it wasn't very popular, but the Ibanez family ran this store for generations, and his father planned to pass it down to him. Wah was a 19 year old, average height, Native American boy with long black hair.

"We're about to leave, Wah." His father said as he switched off the lights to the back of the store. They'd stayed a few hours past closing time to rearrange the furniture in the store in one of his father's attempts to "create a new look."

"Alright," he answered as he picked up the last of the trash. He grabbed the bag out of the trash can and stepped outside. Wah stopped when he saw a familiar silver car speed past the front of the shop. He remembered the car from the well-known man named Katsuke Koriyama. People suspected him of being a member of the triads – a well known enemy of the yakuza. Wah was often told to stay far away from the Koriyama mansion deep into the country of the state near his home.

"You ready?" Wah heard his father ask.

Wah looked back toward where the car had driven. "Yeah," he answered after a while.

The two pulled up to there small, quiet house in the forest of an Indian reservation. Just one mile away was the Koriyama mansion. Wah shared this small house with his father, mother, and small brother. It was 6 in the morning by now, and Wah was exhausted. He kicked off his shoes after closing the door to his room, and fell onto his bed.