A/N: As of right now, this is labeled complete and a one-shot. This is not set in stone however.
Why is this happening to me?
Smoke rose slowly and steadily from the small tobacco filled luxury between Luka's hands. The ceiling, the walls, were painted yellow from the constant exposure to this: those walls at least that weren't already that way from the previous occupant.
Crossing her legs, barely sitting upright in her old yet still perfectly comfortable brown armchair, the boss of tthe do-anything-for-hire Rozovyy Company was looking at trouble. I hate trouble. Didn't Jesus say something like that? Or was that moses with the laws? One of them ought to be, don't bring me trouble, bitch. And another one gotta be, don't bring me troublesome bitches.
"Meiko, explain this shit to me. Who's that? Where is my bag full of money? Bullets ain't cheap and we're still paying off that obscene gatling-gun that Rin bought in parts." I swear to god almighty, if she gambled away the money and brought back a hooker to make up for it, I am sending her on vacation in the deep sea.
"I'm-" The object in question tried to explain herself.
Meiko hit the teenage girl in the head, hard. "You shut up or you'll become merchandise." Meiko was all out of patience. "Look, the Hatsune family had some trouble with their merchandise so they're short on money. She's the boss's daughter; Hatsune Miku."
"So? What am I supposed to do with her?"
"Keep her until they get the money together to pay us for the job." Meiko shrugged. "They said it'll take them a couple of weeks, a month at most." Meiko ducked when an ashtray came flying her way.
"A month? We're not babysitters! I run a business here, a dangerous business, this ain't the place for spoiled rich ladies!"
"I'm not-"
"You shut up!"
"Like hell I will. Who do you think is going to run the Hatsune family once my old man turns to dust? Me. I'm not just the boss's daughter, I run a fifth of the family already."
"If you're that conveniently experienced in shady business, you will have no problem making yourself useful then. Hey, Kaiko! What and when's the next job?!" Luka whistled. "Haku!" No reply. "Where the hell is she?"
"You sent her shopping half an hour ago." Rin, a blonde woman not quite in her twenties yet, with short hair, grime and smudge smeared over her face and hands, dropped a dirty envelope in Luka's lap. "And Kaiko went with her. This is the next job."
Luka ripped the envelope open and slumped even further into her armchair, putting her brown leather boots on the wooden table placed in the center of the room, around the armchair, two couches and a beanbag. "Mr. Chen? I swear, why doesn't he just call instead of insisting on the letters."
"What we doing next?" Rin's twin sister, in process of lazing around on the couch with a fashion magazine covering her face from the light of the room, sent out a life sign in slightly broken English.
"A bunch of idiots from the south sea are ignoring the rules and selling a bunch of drugs right under the nose of the triad. Says here they have some friends with the Koreans and Chen doesn't want to start a war with them so he wants us to make them go away." Luka skimmed most of the letters. These jobs are nothing unusual. South sea is awfully unspecific; what are they, Thai? Pinoy? Further south? Maybe Chinese, though that's not south.
"Oh, we haven't had one of those in a while. How do you wanna do it?"
"What kind of drugs?" Miku, fearlessly walked up to Luka and grabbed the letter from Luka's hand. "If I am here, I will make myself useful alright. I will not have you return me home and complain that you had to feed and shelter me in this dump of yours for free."
"I can't tell if you got guts or if you're stupid." Rin shrugged and pulled a wrench from her belt. "Boss, I don't really wanna deal with drug selling sleazebags up close. Can we just blow up wherever they store their shit?"
"Chief Wang will be all up your ass if you blow up another property, Rin. You wanna visit the land behind bars so much?" Luka didn't move much, just enough to reach under Miku's skirt and lift it up. "At least you're not wearing kiddy underwear. I thought all Japanese girls wore animal print shit or something."
Miku completely ignored Luka. I am not going to let some middle asia boss gook push me around. Father might have a high opinion of them, but I can't see why. They look like average street thugs to me.
"Yo, yakuza lady, you ever used a gun before?" Luka reached under her own butt and pulled out a custom modified magnum. "Something like this? You're not gonna be much use to me otherwise."
"If you care to lose an eye or ear, you are more than welcome to put your gun to the test against my skills with a Katana, a Japanese Sword." Miku reached for the scabbard that was fastened to her waist. "Right here. Right now. I will not be insulted by you."
"You need to calm down, sister." Rin waved her wrench in Miku's general direction. And with a horrifying gust of wind and a sharp clang, her wrench was cut through the middle. "What the hell? You madwoman, I liked that wrench!"
"Don't gesture it towards me then if you cherish it."
"You realize you are technically my hostage, right? We're not your goons in your family that are forced to treat you with respect." Luka couldn't really get upset at this girl. Damn, I could barely see her pull the thing out. And did she seriously just cut a wrench in half with a bloody sword? Is that thing a light saber? Is she a Jed- no wait, Jedi are the ones with the stick up their ass. Is she a sith? Darth Miku?
"Hostages don't work. They are fed and sheltered for free."
"Sword sharp, tongue sharp, which one sharper?" Lenka spoke up again and went back to sleep when she was ignored a second time.
"I like you. Hey Meiko, any chance we can just tell them we are good on payment and keep her? I always wanted a ninja." Luka reached over the armchair and for a bottle of cheap whiskey. She's cute. And she's not taking any shit. I like girls with guts.
"An agreement was made between my family and your company and it will be held." Miku put her sword back into her scabbard. I am glad I practiced with the sword since I was little. Forcing them to respect me through brute force seems to be the most optimal way to go about this. Thank god my legs stopped shaking before we came in here.
The door downstairs opened with a loud creak and its signature whine, a sign that Haku and Kaiko had returned. "I'll think of something to deal with those cretins pissing in the triad's soup. Yo, new girl, what do you Japanese drink? Only that sake stuff?"
I don't think at all because I am not of age yet. Father is strangely adamant about just that, considering what kind of business we are running and how much I am involved in it. "I generally don't indulge in-"
"Wow, daddy's little girl can't handle alcohol? Now you fit that spoiled rich girl stereotype-"
Miku grit her teeth in anger. That infernal pink haired woman really knows how to get under my skin. "I said I generally don't indulge in alcohol. Your crude liquor won't trouble me."
"Okay, then let's go. I am not taking some Japanese yakuza out on a job without knowing a thing or two about her and you gotta discuss that over drinks to loosen the lips." And loosen that stuffy attitude of hers. I already got Kaiko complaining about Meiko and me drinking and smoking in here. I can't deal with another one of those.
Jumping out of her armchair and landing solid on her feet, Luka stretched so much that her black tank top revealed her stomach and Miku looked away in shame. "Oh, you're bad with showing skin? Come ta think of it, you are wearing that stuffy as hell thing."
"Kimono. Boss, the word 's kimono. All Japanese clothes are called that, right?" Rin offered and was promptly rewarded with Miku glaring at her. "Hey, what?"
What an ignorant woman. "This is the traditional outfit that female officers of the family wear. My mother wore it as well." Miku slid the right top half of her outfit off and revealed her bandaged chest as well as the large tattoo covering her shoulder, a green dragon biting a hare in half. "You best not make light of tradition. Tradition killed your favorite wrench." Her outfit consisted of a long skirt, boots, an open jacket-mantel combination and a t-shirt beneath.
"Tradition can go fuck itself for all I care. Boss, can I punch her? She fucked with my stuff, so I can punch her, right?"
"No damaging the merchandise. You lose your damn wrenches twice a month at least and get new ones, stop making a fuss."
"I am charging the Hatsune family for that wrench you cut."
"And to come back to your comment, I am simply embarrassed by your shameless showing off of your body."
Luka looked at Miku for a long moment before she abruptly broke out in laughter. "Y-You can't be serious! You showed off your bandaged tits a minute ago!"
""T-That's different!" I hate this woman!
Luka laughed and laughed. While doing so, both Rin and Meiko left the room, leaving yakuza and, effectively, mercenary boss alone. Although there was Rin's twin sister that nobody paid attention to. Nearly a minute passed before she came to her senses. Meanwhile, Miku had gotten herself seated and was inspecting the blade of her sword. Tsk. I chipped it. What a disgrace.
"I really like you. So, let's hit Rozena's. Right now."
"I presume that's a bar?" I've been to countless bars on family business and to convince some of our more thickheaded customers that they should not be lazy with their payments. Although I never visited a bar this early in the day. I didn't know they even opened that early.
"Heh, well, I guess you can call it that."
=== Rozovyy Company ===
"So who is your lightweight date?" A very fat woman in her fifties cleaned out one of the large glasses behind the bar proper, with Luka sitting right in front of her and downing her sixth shot of vodka. Miku was passed out on her chair, face down on the bar. From one moment to the next she had suddenly started babbling and crashed a minute later.
"I wouldn't call her a lightweight. She made it through four shots of your cheap ass bootleg vodka. If you served this in my homeland, they'd shoot you." Luka felt pretty buzzed by bow as well. "The stuff you serve us could be used to run a jet. Or my damn torpedo boat."
"So, who's she? She's got a sword, that face and those clothes, she's one of those Chinese ninjas or something?"
"Ninjas are Japanese."
"Same thing, same thing."
"Mr. Chen will have you strung up on some extra sturdy steel rope if you keep spouting that racist shit." Luka slapped Miku's shoulder a few times. "Hey, time to wake your sorry ass up and get walking. I am not carrying you unless you wanna owe me one on top of owing me money."
"Customer?"
"Merchandise. Kind of. The yakuza I did that transporting job for got their accounts all messed up and now they can't make good on the payment, so they sent her over as, what's the word?"
"Collateral?"
"Yeah. I swear, I had it on the tip of my tongue."
"Just get her out of here before she pukes over the bar."
Kicking the bar stool out from under Miku's butt, Luka caught the yakuza daughter. "Hey, snow white, time to wake up." And Miku was still out. "Hey Rozena, what's the Japanese equivalent of snow white?"
"How would I know? Pay up, you know I don't let people keep tabs."
Luka dropped five US dollars on the bar, taken straight from her black jeans. "Fuck, she isn't waking up. I really hafta carry her now." Leaning Miku against the bar, Luka quickly grabbed her legs and lifted her up, carrying her piggyback.
Walking the streets of Bajiqu, a rotten city in Indonesia where crime syndicates thrived and made their own rules, Luka really had only one complaint about the place. It's too damn hot. It's too damn hot all the time. "Rozovyy. Hey!"
Luka turned around and watched a young Chinese man, in his twenties, run up to her. "Mr. Chen has sent you a job offer and he would like-"
Luka frowned and kept frowning. "Now look, I understand that to you Asian folks, tradition is important and stuff, but cell phones are real handy."
"We keep telling the boss, but he just hates technology. He wants to know if you-"
"Rozovyy Company is taking the job. We haven't decided how and when." And I wish everyone would just stop calling me Rozovyy. One day I am gonna kill Meiko for that. I didn't know it meant pink in Russian. Luka was of Russian heritage but had only lived a scarce few years in her youth there. Her pink hair was a rare sight, even in Bajiqu.
The sandstone colored buildings contrasted heavily against the open blue sky and the six rivers that ran through the town, the lifeline of the city and especially the poor. The streets were full of people selling various things, from highly peculiar tasting fruits to stolen merchandise and sexual services.
I'm doing this too often. Carrying home unconscious girls, that is. How do I know? Because nobody is even batting an eye at me doing it. Not like they'd mess with me in the first place. Not while I'm on such good terms with both the triad and the South American cartel.
Walking over a dirty stone bridge, spanning the full four meters of the river, Luka stopped, put Miku down and stepped down to the riverbank, where a dozen or so women pulling water. Luka handed a dollar to one of the women and took her bucket, filled with water. The river never got any colder than lukewarm in the city, but it would do.
Miku woke with a loud gasp and immediately reached for her sword, which was no longer on her waist. "Where- what-" Miku swallowed and looked up, dripping wet, facing that uncouth mercenary woman. "What did you do?!"
"Waking you up, what else. You know how annoying it is to carry you when it's this hot?" Luka waved to the woman, pointed at the bucket and put it down. "You can be drunk at my place, now get moving."
"You-!" Miku felt a surge of nausea come over her the second she jumped to her feet.
"Easy, easy. No use in letting all those shots go through your head again, backwards."
"I can't believe I let you convince me to drink that… devil's brew!" Miku covered her mouth and nearly fell back down when Luka threw her scabbard back to her.
"There you go. I didn't want you to go all drunken slasher 3 on me. Or anyone else." Luka looked up at the sun. "I seriously need to think about installing an air conditioner."
"A little heat is nothing. You should experience the summers in Japan." Miku still felt sick. I am never drinking whatever that was ever again.
"Come on, how much longer are you going to play that tough yakuza girl?" Luka walked towards Miku and put her arm around her shoulder. "Like, you're so stereotypically yakuza, that can't be the real you."
"Stereo-!?" Miku's fingers and eyes twitched. I should cut her. My honor demands I cut her. But father would disown me if I dishonored him by cutting down his business partner. This damn woman! How can she be so pretty, so… seductive looking, and yet still so crude?
"By the way, we got no extra space to sleep. There is no way I can let you sleep on the couch, Rin will devour you in your sleep. And by devour I mean-"
"I'm well aware." Miku glared at Luka but refrained from getting rid of her arm. "I got the same kind of impression from Meiko."
"Rozovyy is not just my company but also my harem!" Luka was very proud of having enough skill to hire respectable, skilled women from all over the world that were all like her; interested in the fairer side of humankind.
"You tell yourself that, or will any of the other corroborate that story?"
"Damn, you're all no fun allowed, aren't you?"
Miku couldn't believe what she was hearing. "I absolutely know how to have fun."
"Do you?" Luka walked away and pulled a pack of cheap cigarettes from her pocket. Searching everywhere for her lighter, Luka turned to Miku with an asking look. "You got-"
"I don't smoke. Those things will kill you one day."
"So will bullets. And much faster than cigs." Luka finally figured out where her lighter had gone. Reaching between her breasts, she pulled out a flamboyantly flashy one. Lighting her cigarette, she offered another one to Miku.
"I said I don't smoke." Miku quickly became annoyed when Luka didn't rescind the offer. Rolling eyes, Miku took a cigarette and put it to her mouth, but refused to light it. "Happy now?" The cigarette fell from her mouth and she caught it with her honed reflexes. "How do you talk with one of those in your mouth?!"
"Put it in a corner. Slur your words a bit. Easy." Luka waved at Miku. "Let's go."
They passed through the streets and Miku took in the sights for a while before she revisited an old topic. "So where am I going to sleep? Is there a hotel nearby where-"
"Does this place look like there are hotels where you don't get kidnapped, robbed or raped?" Luka shrugged. The police force they had here in Bajiqu was mostly decorative. "You're sleeping with me."
"The floor it is then." I will not be molested by that woman in bed. I only let my second in command touch me that way.
"Not even your ninja skills are gonna protect you against the cockroaches we get here. They're the size of a brick." Luka drew her gun. "And they're so fast, even I can't get them with this."
Miku just stood there, frozen. C-Cockroaches… the size… of a brick. "I-I can deal with that." Her expression was fear and panic stricken, belying her words. "I take pride in being the future head of the Hatsune family. I will not be intimidated by some in-insects."
"You say that but your face and hands are saying something else."
"Shut up! How can you live in a place with-" Miku couldn't bring herself to say it. "Those things!" For all the parts of tough, hardened yakuza inside her, there were also parts that were very typical for a girl. And Miku was glad that the insects in Japan were few and small. Because she was not very good with them.
"We just shoot or throw stuff at them. Rin does a good job of keeping most things out, though."
"What exactly does this Rin girl even do for you?"
"She's our mechanic slash bomb maker. She maintains our boat, too."
"You own a boat?"
"Not the kind you're thinking of. Big chunk of metal that magically stays afloat thanks to Rin's spit and blood."
"What about the others?"
"Rin's sis works the radio and she's our translator. Speaks a lot of everything, but none good enough."
"Is that her name? Rin's sis?"
"What? No, stupid. It's Lenka. Meiko is our resident bulldozer. Fighting, punching, kicking. I say who, she kills it. I say where, she goes get it. Kaiko handles our money. Haku handles food and cleaning. In case you care, Meiko owns Kaiko so don't even look strange at our hot blue chicken. Meiko would break even me in half if I laid my hands on her."
"So much for the harem."
"Nobody likes a girl that nitpicks."
"I'm not nitpicking!"
"And in case you're wondering what glorious me does out on the job, I give orders and kick ass. I can't beat Meiko in a shootout, but I can more than handle myself out there."
"What a dangerous bunch."
"Says the lady that walks around with a bloody sword!"
"This serves my protection and intimidating purposes."
"I bet it does. You realize you're gonna be protecting yourself when we move on those morons that are fucking with the triad, right?"
Miku, walking next to Luka, just looked at her strange. "What?"
"Don't act so surprised. What did you think I meant when I said you're gonna make yourself useful?"
"Are you crazy? What are you going to tell my father?"
"I am not the one that fucked up and couldn't pay the contractor. And what, did you think I was joking when I said we should just keep you?"
"You-" Miku opened her mouth and the words refused to come out for a moment. "You cannot just keep me!"
Grabbing Miku's hand, Luka sped up, pulling her along. "Watch me."
"Where to now?" I get the feeling that even if I shouted let go of me at her, it wouldn't achieve anything. This… woman has the mind of a monkey.
"I feel like fish stew, so I'm taking you out for some."
Why is this happening to me?
=== Rozovyy Company ===
"So, what are we actually gonna do? Raid them?" Meiko was lying on the couch, her back bent over the armrest and her head dangerously close to the floor, an open whiskey bottle in her hand.
"We could just blow-"
"Rin, if you finish that sentence I am docking the money for that building from your pay, even if it's not your fault." Luka sat in her private armchair, cleaning her gun. Unlike Meiko, she didn't own an arsenal big enough to outfit a small militia, so she took good care of her weapon.
"Honestly, you, yakuza girl and I can just go in and slaughter them. If they're stupid enough to mess with the triad, they can't be that smart in any way."
"Hey… are you really going to just kill those people?" Miku had retreated to the corner of the room because she didn't feel very welcome amidst the others. She felt a chill when Meiko glared towards her. "What?"
"I don't know how you run things in Japan, lady, but over here, if you fuck with the wrong people, you are asking for trouble and trouble will fucking find you. One hundred percent of the time it will find you."
"You saw this city of Bajiqu, Miku." Luka didn't bother to look at Miku, who she had introduced as Ninja Girl to every acquaintance she had met during their time out. "This isn't Kyoto. Or Tokyo. Or Osaka. If you mess up here, there are real consequences. No threats, no broken fingers or smashed windows. You fuck with the wrong people and you wind up dead."
Does she only knows those cities? Is that how foreigners view Japan? "Excessive. You could just run them out of town."
"That is not how things work around here." Rin joined in on lecturing Miku. "The Chinese triad. The South American cartel Gifalgo. The Italian Mafia, Aldel family. The Koreans. Those are the big players. And they don't step on each other's toes. So if something like this happens, it endangers the fragile balance that prevents this city from going bye bye in a single big ass bloody shootout." Rin eyed Miku from the side, sitting on the other end of the couch that Meiko mostly occupied. After the yakuza heir didn't speak up, Rin went on to business. "I can make some smaller charges that will just blow out some walls and their cars if they got any."
"That's fine. We're only hired to get rid of them, not for clean up of the bodies. Lenka, get in touch with the Koreans. Those idiots have friends among their people, they ought to know where we can find them."
Miku had not actually seen the face, or even the head, of the translator before. While Rin's hair was fairly short, her twin sister resembled an unkempt lion that didn't believe in hair dressers. And she had a large scar running from her forehead, over her right eye, all the way down to her chin. Someone did that. There is no way that came from an accident. Miku had threatened and hurt people before, but not quite like that yet. I knew we were doing business with some dangerous people. I just didn't understand how dangerous.
"Meiko. We don't need to ask them any questions and we sure as hell don't need any survivors that go tattling on us. You know what that means."
"Sure thing." Meiko smiled. Not in the same way that normal people smiled. A smile you only saw in shady and dangerous places.
"You look like you're looking forward to going on a rampage." Miku didn't like that look. She had no problem with the kind of business her family was running, and still she didn't like it.
"Don't think about it too hard, Japanese girl." Meiko didn't care for Miku that much. She looks cute, but her personality is terrible. Boring like a stick in the woods.
"Do you have some sort of problem with calling me by my name?"
"Don't worry about it. Meiko just likes to make fun of people a bit." Kaiko stood behind the couch, dressed in white and blue clothes, giving her quite a gaudy appearance.
"Oh shut it, Kai."
"For now, we wait. But don't get any funny ideas and don't get piss drunk. You're on call until we put those mongoloids out of their misery."
"You people have no mercy." Miku was not nearly as appalled as she thought she would be. To them, murdering a dozen people for violating the unwritten laws of the city is normal. If I suggested to father that we kill a tiny band of individuals that are infringing on our territory, he'd confine me to the main building for two weeks.
"What are you doing, talking like you're not involved? What kind of business do you think we are handling for your family?" Luka had a feeling that the little missus didn't know half as much about their family business as she thought. "Don't tell me you thought you were honorable criminals or something stupid like that."
"At least we don't just murder people."
"Not that you know of, anyway." Meiko shrugged it off and rolled over. "Do you realize what exactly we were supposed to get paid for by your dear daddy?"
"Transporting goods."
"Well, that's one way to say it." Luka finished cleaned her gun and pointed the barrel at Miku. "We transported goods that we took from someone else. Stolen antiques from a sunken Korean vessel. Turned out, the Koreans wanted to keep their shit, so they send in a salvage crew and a bunch of guards. There's no more sunken goods, but a lot of sunken bodies now. No survivors means nobody told the Koreans in this city that we were involved."
She's lying. I want to say it. That she's lying. But father did receive a strangely large shipment of rare objects right before we were due paying these people. "You barely seem older than me. How long have you been doing this?"
"This? About eight years. Wait. How old do you think I am?" Luka holstered her gun and reached for a can of beer on the table.
"About twenty, twenty-two maybe."
"Hah. She wishes." Meiko cackled and quickly got out of Luka's immediate line of sight when she drew her gun on her.
"I'm only twenty-six! And Meiko, you stupid fuck, you are older than me!"
"Hey, I don't walk around dressed like I'm sixteen." Hiding behind the back of the couch, Meiko drew a brand new Tokarev. "You wanna go at it boss?"
"Assuming about three dozen shots from each of you, plus furniture damage, one emergency room visit-" Kaiko started to count expenses and that put a serious damper on Luka's and Meiko's moods.
I guess money still rules, even in this backwater horror show. "Has that happened before? You two shooting at each other?" Miku couldn't imagine that.
"Twenty-seven times since we started living here three years ago." Kaiko was rather quiet, but when she spoke, the facts came out.
"Brutes." Miku was not afraid of offending those people. Not that they would be offended by that. If they live in this place, this cesspool of humanity, they must have hides as thick as samurai armor.
"Luka." Lenka was calling out from the next room, a dark pit filled with electronics, half of which didn't work. "Koreans say; feel free to destroy them. They are very mad."
"Any word on the whereabouts of our target?" Luka didn't bother to get up or praise her employee.
"No."
"Time to take it easy until we get a location. If we start asking around ourselves, we're going to spook them." Luka eyed Meiko and she didn't need to specifically tell her to not get too drunk. That went without saying between them.
"That isn't a very disciplined approach." Any organization needs their leader to take charge, to issue clear orders and to reign with absolute control. This… is completely wrong.
Luka barely dignified Miku with a response. "And? You gotta live it up when you have the chance. We're not exactly going there to invite them for tea." She's so naive, she doesn't realize at all what the real world is like.
"Luka, anything else tonight, other than keeping our eyes and ears open?" Kaiko wanted to take Meiko out for dinner before she went on drinking herself into a stupor.
"I've been thinking about that offer from Hung Wo." That got everyone's attention.
And Miku felt the hairs on her neck stand up like the room was loaded with static electricity. What's going on now? I never experienced chills like this. Father knows how to command authority, but this is… more… savage. Like she is dangling a slab of raw meat, bloody and fresh carved out of prey she just shot in front of wild, starved animals.
"Are you serious?" Meiko popped out from behind the couch and walked towards Luka. Rin, too, stepped past the armchair and faced her boss. "I ain't opposed, but you know there is no coming back from this. We either do it and go all the way, or we're going to be the most lively shooting gallery in town."
"I'm not your boss because I'm a pretty face." Luka crushed Meiko's question under foot with just that single sentence. "You got something to say Rin?"
"You know I have contacts inside the Aldel. What am I supposed to do about them?"
"We're not going in there with guns blazing. They have a hundred guys easy. Meiko ain't a terminator and neither am I. There 'll be time for you to get your contacts out. You know what out means."
"They're gonna be pissed. Pissed, but alive."
"Did I ever let you down?"
"What are you three talking about?" Miku left her post at the wall and approached the trio of dangerous women and instinctively stepped aside when a bullet soared past her ear and buried itself in the wall.
"You're not even a temp here. You're insurance. Stay out of it." Meiko didn't mind indulging the hostage a bit when there was nothing else to do, but this was business.
"Meiko." Luka's tone made the brunette clad in red look straight in her eyes. "If we are doing this, I am using her. We will need everyone on deck."
"What?! Luka, you can't be seriously thinking about bringing that naive child to a real job!"
"Is this my joke face? Hey, Rin, am I wearing my joker face?"
"The boss is right. If we're joining forces with Hung Wo, she can be useful."
"Luka, if our insurance dies, not only are we looking at a huge hole in our finances but also at a lot of trouble from the Japanese. I'm against bringing her in." Kaiko strongly preferred to keep the merchandise safe and out of the death trap.
"I am not going to send her into the middle of it. But someone has to take care of the rats fleeing the sinking ship. You, Haku and Lenka are not fit for combat, you know that. So who else am I gonna use? Rin? I need her all over the place. I'd like a copy even. And Meiko is our main brawn, I can't spare her."
Kaiko closed her eyes and quietly disagreed. "You are the boss and you rarely make the wrong call. I still object."
"Is nobody even going to ask me what I think?" Miku was fazed by being shot at but not enough to stay quiet.
"You're our hostage." Luka got out of her armchair and shoved Meiko aside. "You don't get an opinion. Unless of course you want to join us."
Miku wouldn't let herself be intimidated by this woman so easily. "I am going to succeed my father and take control of the family after he retires."
"If they ever come up with the payment." Luka grabbed Miku's right arm. "I personally think it is pretty fishy they would just send their sole heir away as collateral."
"What are you implying?"
"That maybe they don't have the means to get the money together. That they saved their own asses by sacrificing you."
"My father would never permit that!"
"We'll see. Meiko, Rin, Kaiko, with me. We're not done talking about this."
Kaiko briefly stopped next to Miku and looked at her with enough compassion that it classified as a kind look, for the standards of Bajiqu. "This is who Luka is. She doesn't play favorites. But you're misunderstanding her intentions, I can see it on your face. For better or worse, she likes you, so she wants to break you in. Our business, our world. I do think your family will make good on their promise to pay, but if they don't-"
There is no way father would abandon me here like this. But… "If they don't?"
"Pick your poison. Become one of us. I'm sure Luka will basically see you as an investment and pay you without crushing you under debt. Or, you could refuse to work for her and go work in a brothel or somewhere that makes enough money to pay off the debt that she will undoubtedly smash in your face if you mess with her good will." Kaiko left Miku alone in the room. Lenka was in the room with all the equipment, while Luka and the others went up the stairs, towards the roof.
A good minute later, Miku sat on the couch and wished her cellphone actually worked in Indonesia. Is that Kaiko woman right? Could they have used me as a bargaining chip to save face? I… want to say that is impossible, but father is very preoccupied with what people think of the family. A yakuza without respect is nobody at all. Miku spotted something white from the corner of her eye. Something that moved about!
Jumping up and drawing her sword in surprise, Miku anticipated an intruder or one of those… insects that Luka had told her about. Instead, she pointed her blade at a defenseless looking woman with extremely long white hair and crimson colored eyes. A ghost?
"I was just cleaning up. You looked deep in thought so I didn't speak up."
"Where did you even come from?! I didn't hear any of the doors open! And I would have seen you come out of that room with the tech things in it."
The woman pointed at the open door. "I did come in right after Luka left, to clean up. I have to get started on dinner. C-Could you put away the sword?"
Miku felt embarrassed when she realized she was still holding a helpless woman at sword's point for no reason. "So you're Haku? The one that does the cooking and cleaning here?"
"Yes. I'm not much use in a fight, but I like chores, so Luka pays me to cook and clean for her."
"You don't seem- you don't even feel like one of them. You're not even the same as me." Miku could tell an honest person from a criminal at least.
"People say that a lot. That I don't belong here in Bajiqu." Grabbing the empty cans from the table, and the bottle that Meiko had left behind, Haku carried it off, through a door that Miku hadn't seen open before. Behind it was a small kitchen.
"So why are you here? There ought to be better places for someone to work as cleaning staff."
"Luka and Meiko saved my life when they didn't have to. I work for them and live here because I want to repay their kindness."
Kindness? Those two? They are supposedly capable of kindness? That is hard to believe. But I can't say that to this woman.
"They can be kind. I know it sounds unlikely, but it's true. We are close with the triad. I heard from Kaiko that Luka asked her to work something out so your family is not coming under siege by the triad trying to make us owe them one." Haku might only have been cleaning staff, a maid, but she still kept up with everything that was discussed.
"I don't actually know how much we owe her." Miku felt stupid admitting that, but she wanted to press this woman for information.
"I think it was close to 75,000 US dollars." Despite their location in Indonesia, the US dollar was the main currency between underworld enterprises in Bajiqu.
Miku didn't understand how much a dollar was in yen so used a conversion app on her phone. When she saw the number pop up, she nearly dropped her phone. E-Eight point six million yen? Where is my father planning on getting that money?! We are pretty well off, still- that much, just to pay a debt? "I… see."
"Don't worry about it. Luka is not going to tattle on you with the triad, even though they would love to use this situation to their advantage."
I didn't realize there were so many people involved in this. Father, why didn't you tell me that things were this dire?
"Do you like spicy food? I hear Japanese cuisine is usually very mild compared to what the locals here eat."
"I was taught not to be a picky eater. I will eat what you serve me."
"You should be picky, at least in this city. There are some places that try to swindle you or sell you expired stuff."
"I can't believe someone nice like you would work for someone like that woman."
"Luka's not a good person. Nobody in this city is, of course, if you look at it from the viewpoint of normal people. But among the people here in Bajiqu, Luka is well respected."
If someone saved my life I would be praising them too. "What did Luka save you from?"
Haku emptied out a shopping basket that had been sitting on the table. Miku couldn't quite figure out how those ingredients would come together, but there was a lot of fish. Again. "Six years ago, my dad ran up a huge gambling debt and ran away, so the loan shark took me away. There was a lot of being moved around and I finally ended up here in Bajiqu. Luka and Meiko didn't like that there were people doing human trafficking right under their noses, so they got rid of them. Most of the other girls just tried to go back home, but there was nothing to go back to for me in Japan."
"What city are you from?"
"Tsubotezura."
"Never heard of it."
"It's a small village in Shimane."
"In Chugoku?"
"Yes." Haku smiled when Miku got it right and started taking out the bad parts from the fish. "It's nice to have another Japanese person here."
"Where are the others from?"
"Luka originally came from Russia. Meiko we don't know, she doesn't tell. Kaiko is from somewhere in Europe. She insists it is her real name, but I don't know, I think she's lying. Rin and Lenka are from America."
"I never met so many different foreigners."
"Everyone is a foreigner in this city."
"I have a hard time coping with everything that is happening. It's shameful." The second she met another Japanese person, Miku felt more relaxed.
"I don't think it is." Haku started preparing the fish while she talked to Miku, who carefully remained out of the way, leaning against the side of the door frame. "How old are you?"
"Nineteen."
"The same age as Rin." Haku smiled. "Luka is usually much more detached from people, so she must really like something about you."
"My looks?"
Haku innocently snickered to herself. "You are very cute, but Luka is not so easily tempted. She has Meiko at her beck and call."
"So, what then? She hardly knows me well enough to judge my character."
"Who knows, maybe it is your looks after all. Are you going to eat with us?"
"Luka took me out to get fish stew earlier. I won't need much. Thank you for offering me your hospitality."
"She wouldn't have treated you to food if you didn't catch her eye."
"I get the feeling you mean that in a very specific way."
Haku just smiled silently and kept preparing ingredients for cooking. Miku eventually ventured forth into the kitchen and stood in the back, watching Haku from behind. That went on for over thirty minutes and ended when Luka came back down.
"Oh, that smells good. Haku, what are you making? And where did my ninja girl run off- there you are." Luka stepped into the kitchen and found Miku still in the back. "I expected you to have stormed out after our talk earlier."
"I am not an idiot. I don't know this city and I have nowhere to go." Miku glanced at Luka. "Don't make light of the a yakuza heiress."
"Maybe there is hope for you yet." Luka stepped out of the kitchen. "Hey, ninja, follow me."
"Can you stop calling me that?" Miku couldn't believe that the stereotype about foreigners being obsessed with ninjas was true.
"Samurai girl it is then." Luka enjoyed messing with Miku at a surface level. Leading her out on the street, around the house, they passed through several small streets, between tightly packed houses, some of them in questionable state. Miku could smell the ocean more and more with every step.
"Where are we going?"
"The harbor. I need to know if you can actually use that sword of yours in a real situation."
I don't understand this woman at all. But if she wants me to showcase my skills with the blade, I will happily oblige.
=== Rozovyy Company ===
"This is your room?" Miku was grossed out by the chaos. Worn, and clean, underwear was hanging from the chair and table, the metal bed frame and even the broken ventilator on the ceiling. Dozens of empty beer cans and a few larger bottles that had contained hard liquor at one point were all over the floor. Ammunition, spent and new, were on the table and the floor as well.
After testing Miku's skills and finding them just barely passable to play clean up on the next job, they had gone back to eat and shower. There was no hot water, but while Miku internally lamented that, she was hardened enough to deal with it just fine. That it was at least ten degrees Celsius hotter in Bajiqu compared to the Niigata region in Japan helped stomach it, too.
"How do you sleep in this place?"
"Try being shot at, or getting shot." Luka didn't bother to justify herself any further than that and just started undressing. Taking off her hotpants, it was far too risky and girly to run around in a skirt, kicking off her boots, Luka was down to her top and underwear in no time flat. "Don't tell me you're a prude that can't look at another woman's skin."
But Miku, contrary to Luka's expectations, was taking of her own knee-high boots and dropped her long skirt. She had come from Japan, which felt like an eternity ago, and she hadn't slept since. "I cannot believe I have to sleep in a place like this." I did consider the floor until earlier… I didn't know that… that… insects could grow so large. And fly!
"I expected you to be stubborn and keep all your clothes on." Luka nodded at Miku. "You're not gonna take off that stuffy jacket?"
Miku turned around and checked that her sarashi was still intact. She had bound it extra carefully because she was going overseas and she didn't know when she would have time to re-do it. Okay… it's still fine.
Beneath the jacket she still wore a t-shirt, mostly because she felt uncomfortable with just the jacket and the sarashi. Her mother constantly scolded her for that, but some things Miku refused to budge on. Taking off the jacket, she looked for a place to put it, but everywhere she looked things were already chaotic.
In the end, Miku just removed a bunch of worn clothes from the chair, throwing them on the table, and put her clothes there. Luka had already laid down on the bed in the meantime. Looking at her, Miku understood that this bed was absolutely not designed for usage by multiple people. I've shared a kotatsu with my aide before, this cannot possibly be worse.
Sitting down on the bed, Miku groaned a little. It reeked of sweat. No wonder. It's still this hot when the sun is already down. I can't even imagine how hot it would be if this city didn't have so many rivers and was build at the coast.
Luka, without a care in the world, already started snoring. The window didn't have any blends and even if it did, they probably wouldn't have kept out the heat anyway. Miku noticed that there was a flimsy blanket at the foot end of the bed. Grabbing it, she was relieved that it didn't smell of sweat.
Covering herself, Miku quickly realized how unbelievably hot it really was. This place is quite literally hell.
And when morning came, Miku was once more reminded of that. Covered in sweat, her sarashi was now just a very long string of bandages hanging loosely from her waist. That bothered her more than the fact that this Luka woman had both her hands around her head, firmly placing Miku's face against her breasts.
Miku did swing that way, even though her father complained about the bloodline of the family having to rely on adoptions now, but it was too hot and uncomfortable to really think about her situation like that. Groaning and pushing Luka away, Miku got rid of her bandages and hoped they had more. Walking around without sarashi, or at the very least a bra, would be very uncomfortable.
"Are you crazy… who the fuck gets up this early..." Luka groaned and turned over. "I ain't getting up..."
Miku ignored the woman and got up on her own and immediately stepped on empty bullet casing, hurting her foot. "Ow. Tsk." Dragging her feet to where she knew the bathroom to be, Miku came across Meiko, passed out on the couch, naked, with Kaiko right on top of her. Neither of them woke up, or if they did, paid no attention to her. Walking around in panties and a t-shirt was highly disgracing, but the stench of her own sweat and the feel of Luka's tits on her face were bothering her too much to worry about that.
Leaving the little clothing she had still on over the sink, Miku stepped into the shower and welcomed the cold water. It cooled her down and woke her up. I expected her to try something, after going on and on about liking me and being her type. I'm surprised she didn't. Rinsing out her hair, Miku looked in vain for shampoo or lotion. Soap was all she could find. I can't believe I'm feeling disappointed she didn't. She's seven years older than me and much more… drastic, than my father and mother. Although I hear stories about mother being quite wild before I was born.
Standing there in the shower, Miku rescinded an earlier thought. I take it back, I'm not disappointed. Here she is. She had noticing someone come into the bathroom. At this point, all her worries about being seen naked had evaporated. What Haku and Luka had said, how this city seemed to function, it made her old world seem to small and petty. She was careful about showing skin because her father demanded so, but it was he who got her into this situation in the first place. I am not going to marry anyone, so I might as well discard any thoughts about impurity because I was seen naked.
Luka just shoved Miku further into the shower, which was consisting of a corner in the bathroom, big enough for two people, with a drain in the floor. "Goddamn, you couldn't just wait until it's time to get up..."
"And bathe in my own sweat?"
"Don't cover yourself with a blanket, sherlock." Luka didn't often share a shower with someone else. Most of the time it was Rin, who she had to drag into the shower so the whole place didn't smell like grease, or Meiko, who was too drunk to shower on her own. "You ever slept with a woman before?"
I have, but what it's to you? "I didn't think you would care whether I'm a virgin or not."
"Who doesn't? If you're a virgin, only you're going to get off and I'm gonna be there agonizing over your shitty licking skills." Luka started by rising out her hair as well. "If I looked good with short hair, I would totally go for that instead."
"I prefer long hair." Miku sometimes put her hair in twin tails for fun, but never when she went outside on business. It just ruined any chance of looking intimidating.
"Long hair it is." Luka let out a huge yawn and grabbed Miku's butt without a second thought. "Oh, nice. I like 'em firm."
"Do you feel up every girl that you barely know?" Miku tried hard to keep her composure, but this was completely uncharted territory for her.
"No, just the really hot ones." Luka yawned again and trying speaking at the same time.
"What?"
"I said, to be real hot, you need to be more than just hot looking. Your personality is not terrible, but you really ought to get used to the real world. This ain't Japan. So; you a virgin or not?"
"It doesn't matter to you. I am not going to- hey, hands off!" Miku tried to push Luka away because all of a sudden the woman decided to grope her, feel her up real good. "I said hands off!"
"They're way bigger than they looked."
"I was wearing a sarashi! Now get your damn hands off my tits!"
Luka moved one of her hands. She was far stronger than Miku, and taller too, so she didn't have any trouble controlling her half-baked attempts of pushing her away. If she really wanted me to buzz off, she'd elbow me or something. She's a yakuza, she's gotta at least be used to roughing people up.
And Miku did draw a line when Luka's hand moved between her legs. An elbow was rammed against the stomach of the pink haired woman, followed by a backwards headbutt. Luka staggered backwards. "Damn, girl… rough play is fine, but know where to draw the line..."
"Y-You were the one that tried to rape me in the shower!"
"If I seriously wanted to rape you, you think I couldn't just do it?" Luka rubbed her forehead, which was glowing red. "I'm messing with you to see where your line is, princess."
"And you can't think of any other way than this?"
"What, I know where your line is now. I'd say this was a success."
"Hey, Luka, Samurai girl, how long are you two gonna have a lover's quarrel in the shower? Other people need one, too." Rin was talking through the door. "I was up all night prepping stuff, I need to get this coat of grime off me before I sleep or Haku is gonna kill me."
"I'm getting out- let me go already!" Miku tried to force her way out, but couldn't manage to slip past her.
"Fingering 's no good, groping is borderline, how about a kiss?"
"What the hell do you even like about me that you're this persistent?"
"You're like one of us without all of the baggage and the dramatic background. Two, maybe four years in this place, and you could be another me. I see potential and no landmines. If you mean physically-" Luka shrugged. "Have you looked into a mirror recently? Sure, you're no supermodel, but as far as we mortal people go, you're top shelf. And hey, I like the feisty ones."
"In Japan, there are no people like you. Brazen, direct, disrespectful people. And twice over none like you near me. Putting your hands on the heiress of a yakuza family? I don't know if you got guts or if you're stupid."
There was severe hammering on the door. "I have to fucking pee too! Luka, get your ass out of there and stop fucking around or whatever! Or I'm going to come in and take a leak, you and your new girlfriend in the shower or not! I'm waiting one more minute!"
Luka clicked her tongue. "Shesh, she has no chill. You heard her. Finish up."
Miku had incorrectly assumed there would be towels in the bathroom. Quickly throwing on her t-shirt and panties, which stuck to her wet body in a very uncomfortable way, Miku nearly ran past a cranky looking Rin, right into Luka's room, to grab her skirt.
Luka on the other hand just calmly walked to her room naked, the same way she had come to the bathroom. "Damn, I don't think I got any clean clothes left." Grabbing whatever was nearby, panties, bra, black tank top, baggy military style pants, Luka smelled the tank top and immediately threw it off again. Walking around with just her bra on, Luka went searching for Haku so she would do laundry.
Taking the opportunity to check out the roof, and dry at the same time, Miku found that it was a very bare bones roof. A flat stone roof with no rails of any kind or any furniture on it. There were a ton of cigarette butts on the ground. And more than a dozen empty cans. I guess Haku can't keep up cleaning up after them.
Standing around in the early morning sun, Miku got a good view of the town from above. From the coast, the city was built upon a slowly raising hill, covering about thirty meters between sea level and the ground of the buildings at the top of the hill stood on. It's bigger than Matsumone. At least I think so. I can't believe the entire city is full of people like Luka. What did I get myself into? Looking at the sun rising over the city, Miku thought that the town was not ugly, even if the contents were. At least she's beautiful. If we had business with some ugly, middle-aged man and someone like that tried to touch me like she did, I would cut them down, dishonor on my family or not.
Leaning against the wall of the small part of the building that connected the roof to the second floor via a staircase, Miku discovered that she wasn't too opposed to Luka touching her. There is no way I am going to stay in this place for several weeks and fend off her advances the entire time. Not without getting shot. And honestly, if I am to get close to someone, she seems like a good fit. If her services are sought after well enough that even my father contracted her, it seems like a good match in terms of business. She… is beautiful. Although I'd prefer someone more my age. Seven years is a lot of difference right now.
"What are you so deep in thought for this early in the morning?" Luka was now beside her, a cigarette in her mouth. She was still not wearing any top or shirt.
"Aren't you ashamed of walking around near-topless like that?" I need to go and find some fresh bandages to do my sarashi. It feels… really uncomfortable to just have my breasts touching my shirt like this.
"Not really." Taking her place next to Miku, Luka just smoked in silence. "They have good cigarettes in Japan?"
"I don't smoke."
"I see."
Long moments of silence passed while the two girls just stood there in the sun. Police sirens were going off in the distance and Luka didn't even seem to hear them. Finally, Miku could take the silence no more. "Don't force yourself on me like that again."
"If I force myself on you, you'll know. So what, you're just gonna let me touch you in bed then?"
"If the alternative is having you jump me in the shower every day, I guess I have to."
"You know, it would be much more fun for me if you were all embarrassed and shit. You know, like, more typically Japanese."
"What kind of image do you have of Japanese people?"
"Nothin' really. Just what you hear people say."
"Too bad I don't fit your stereotype. What a letdown this must be."
Luka pulled long on her smoke and exhaled it a few seconds later. "Not really. It would be fun to get you all riled up, but you wouldn't be material to keep."
"I don't even know what to call this situation."
"Welcome to Bajiqu. What you just said is basically the slogal of the city."
"What a weird city."
The silence returned and for once, Miku didn't dislike it, far from it. Strange… just standing here with her… it's kinda making me feel at peace. I guess it makes sense in a way… I was always the lady Miku, the heiress that everyone had to respect. Who was trying to fill the shoes of her father and mother. But here, I'm nobody. Just insurance, a hostage that she happens to like. Nobody has any expectations of me and all the rules went out the window. "So what are you going to do today?" Being at peace for long is not me, though.
"Lessee…" Luka drew smoke a few more times. "I'm probably going out to look for a job to do for the Koreans. I want them to like us. They've been expanding a lot lately and I can see a real conflict with the triad coming soon. I want to be able to march in there and tell them to think again and cool it before they start world war 3."
"Wouldn't that mean a lot more business for you?"
"And a whole lot of bullets coming from me. And having to pick a side. Rozovyy is neutral. Ugh, I really should think of a way to change that name."
"It's a little hard to say, but got a nice ring to it. Rozovyy."
"When you say it, it sounds much better, because you don't know how to pronounce Russian. Not that I know any Russian other than Rozovyy either."
Miku didn't respond with anything and they returned to silently standing there. Luka eventually finished her smoke and threw the butt away, to slowly die and burn out in the sun. It started to smell like eggs and grilled fish from below pretty soon after that, which told Luka that food was ready.
"Mind if I tag along today?"
"Oh, you've fallen for me now?"
"You wish."
"Then that's a no."
"You can kiss me once in exchange."
"Four times."
"Once."
"Three times."
"Twice."
"With tongue."
"I'll bite it off."
"Tsk. You yakuza negotiate like the Irish."
"I take it that's an agreement then."
Luka snatched Miku's hand and pulled her away from the wall. "I feel like I am getting the bad end of the stick here. Two kisses for playing babysitter?"
"Take it or leave it." Miku was not intimidated and stepped forward, her face only centimeters from Luka's. "I get the feeling I am going to learn something here."
Maki's back was slammed against the wall, Luka's hands to both sides of her head. "And you had the gall to call me brazen." Her lips didn't just meet with Miku's, they dominated. Greedily, skilled, Luka trapped Miku in a kiss that went on and on, the Japanese girl trying to back out of it and failing. Her mind wanted to stop Luka, but her body didn't share that opinion.
Her lips… they're nothing like I've felt before. This isn't my first kiss and… it might as well be. Nobody has ever kissed me like this before. It's so hot… like branding irons on my lips, marking me hers. Miku's breath ran ragged, her chest heaving with erratic breathing. And finally, when Luka finally had finished ravaging her mouth, Miku just stood there, her lips slightly apart, glistening wet, panting sounds escaping from her. "You really… got your money's worth..."
Luka licked her lips a few times and smiled. "You're not bad. I thought some rich girl yakuza heiress would be awkward as hell and have no experience; but you're not bad." Luka smiled and closed one eye. "But I got a lot to teach you."
"Luka?" Haku had come out on the roof to look for her boss. She was wearing a small apron over her chest. "I made breakfast."
"Come on, yakuza girl." Luka taunted her latest acquisition. For all I care, they don't have to pay me another dollar. I am just gonna keep her. Even if they do pay, by the time the money comes she won't be leaving of her own will anymore.
"Call me by my name. Or should I call you Rozovyy woman? Because it sure fits your hair color."
"I'll shoot you."
"I'll cut you."
"I really do like the feisty ones."
Sitting down around the table in the living room, the kitchen was far too tiny, Luka hit Meiko in the back of the head the moment she walked by. Kaiko dodged the blow that came for her without even looking. "How many times do I gotta tell you to not fuck on the couch and pass out on it? Do you know how damn hard the couch is gonna stink if you keep doing that?"
"Not all of us can fuck around in the shower." Rin finished up her breakfast in a hurry. "I'm gonna hit the sack. Only wake me if the house is on fire or the apocalypse hits and fire rains from the sky."
"She sleeps during the day?" Miku just grabbed a plate of fish and one of the hard boiled eggs. It was a far cry from the rather luxurious breakfast that she was used to, but she wasn't actually a picky eater.
"Rin sleeps whenever she can." Luka was already picking apart the fish with a fork.
"Did Luka break you in last night?" Meiko could be extremely crass.
"No." Miku didn't really get the way Meiko phrased that, but the meaning was completely obvious. "She tried to in the shower and I shot her down."
"Oh, mighty boss got turned down by some underage Japanese girl. That's priceless."
"I'm 19, you booze for brains." Miku glared towards Meiko. If she was going to be part of this group, even if only for a couple of weeks, she had to fit in. And trash talking each other seemed like it was normal around here.
"Do you have a death wish?" Meiko pointed her fork at Miku.
"Do you? You think you can beat a trained swordswoman in hand to hand with a fork?"
"Both of you, shut the hell up. I don't need this shit over breakfast. And Meiko, she kissed better than you do."
"What? Bull. Shit."
"It feels like you munch on my face, sometimes." Kaiko stabbed Meiko in the back out of nowhere.
"So what's her deal, boss? We gonna have her watch the house?" Meiko changed the topic.
"I don't think even this town has anyone stupid enough to try and break into this place. Not even the Buddha is gonna have mercy on someone that fucks around in here with Rin in the next room."
"So what is she gonna do? I am not playing babysitter."
"She's coming with me."
"You serious about that? You know she's insurance, right?"
"Meiko, are you forgetting who's the boss here? The brains of the outfit?"
"You. And Kaiko. Respectively."
Kaiko got her dish and got up and out of the way. "Don't complain if your face hurts after Luka punches you for being rude."
Miku sat on the same couch as Luka, the same couch that Lenka had occupied the day before. The one that didn't get defiled by Meiko and Kaiko. "When are we leaving? The less time I have to spend around her, the better."
"Watch your mouth, samurai girl."
"Enough with the fucking threats." Luka raised her voice and Meiko immediately backed off. "That goes for you too, Miku. I like you, but don't you think you got a free pass to talk shit about Meiko and have me protect you if you piss her off too much."
"I understand." Better not push my luck. I thought trying to be one of them was the way to go, but I guess I'll have to get there slow.
"We're leaving after I finish eating and find something to actually wear." Luka informed Miku, reached behind her and quickly fondled her ass for a few seconds. "Payment for stopping you from getting your ass kicked by Meiko."
"Sure. Whatever." I can't even get mad about this anymore. She's just going to keep doing it, so I might as well let her do the small stuff so telling her to fuck off when she goes too far carries more weight.
Five minutes later, Luka had borrowed a white tank top from Rin without telling Rin, and she was slowly pacing down the street with Miku right behind her. "Haku's got a scooter to go buy stuff, but she's gotta do laundry today, so we can't use it. So we walk. Better for you to see the city up close, too."
As they passed through the streets, Miku did see the city. Black market merchandise being sold out in the open. Stolen goods fenced in broad daylight. Exotic things she didn't know being sold and exotic people she didn't want to know being sold as well. Prostitution is crazy here. I was wondering why they were talking about brothels so openly.
Making it all the way to a field office of the Koreans, a small bar that was entirely populated by Koreans, Luka raised her hand as a greeting to the bartender. "Seong-Han."
"Luka. What brings you here?" The bartender's English was almost peerless and without accent.
"Anything need doing? Kicking up my feet all day every day is bad for the body, the soul and business."
"We do have an issue you could take care of. Sung-Ah." As he called the name, a woman in fancy clothing rose from a table in the back and walked towards Luka. The entire right half of her face was blue and swollen. "One of the South Americans got too drunk. We would take care of it ourselves, but-"
"I get it. After the weapon's deal went south last month, things are still hot and you don't want the drama. Who is it? I'll pay him a visit and remind him to drink in moderation."
"Wendel Camberlin. Speaking of foreigners… who is this girl?"
"You don't really need to worry about her. Now, about payment- one of my girls has been really on edge lately and she's really into, what's her name… Sae-Yon? No, that's not quite it. Sorry about this, Seong-Han."
"You must mean Sae-Young. She doesn't get much work outside a few special people."
"Boob implants that size aren't my thing either, but Rin loves them. So, I take care of this for you, maybe Sae-Young can pay my shop a visit when she's free?"
"Your business is always welcome here, Luka."
"Don't make such a big deal out of it. We've known each other for years."
"I still wonder about that Japanese girl. I can tell she is from Japan. You foreigners think all of us asians look the same, but that isn't so."
"We have business with the Japanese too, even if they don't settle in this city. She's new at my shop, so don't give her trouble."
"Even in this city you don't see many women that walk around with Japanese swords."
"It's her thing. Like I keep telling you, don't worry about it."
"Don't make her come to our business alone. We don't like Japanese."
"I'll keep it in mind. Anything else you need doing?"
Miku watched the bartender lean forward and lower his voice, so that only Luka could hear him. They talked for about a minute and then Luka nodded twice, and walked away. Leaving the shop, Miku had waited just outside the door, Luka lead the way again. "What was he saying?"
"He wants information on something. Information is the oil and grease that keeps a gears of any business running."
"Where are we going now?"
"The South American Cartel. They have an idiot I need to take care of and I don't want them to find out later why. I do a lot of work for them, so they'll understand."
Passing through the city again, Luka bought some squid on a stick for herself and Miku, eating as they go. Luka really didn't talk much outside, creating an air of professionalism and mystery about herself that drew Miku in and made her want to know more about her as a person.
Luka stepped foot into what was obviously a brothel without even saying anything to Miku, who was visibly put off by being in such a place. "Carlos. Hey, Carlos!" Luka raised her voice and sounded quite angry.
A very fat, middle-aged white man with a thick cigar in his mouth came out of a backroom, several whores getting out of the way since Luka shouting was always trouble. "Luka! Senora! What brings you here?!"
"Bad business. One of your guys messed up a Korean prostitute real hard. You know what I think about that. The Koreans would probably want to cut off his dick and his right hand for this, so I am taking care of it instead, so he can keep both his damn dick and his hands. He'll be needing both of them for a while."
"Is it Wendel?"
"Yeah. He's done this before?"
"I've just about had it with that guy. Last week he beat one of the Chinese whores so hard that he broke her jaw. Cost me a pretty penny to make that go away."
"You want me to do something about him?"
"I wouldn't mind if that fucker left town and never came back. Or just never comes back."
"This reminds me that your outfit still owes me money for transporting all that booze and making sure the Italians don't mess with it at the harbor. Tell you what, I'll wait a little longer and take care of your problem, but in exchange I will find something brand new that spits bullets. Nothing fancy, just something solid."
"I like your modesty. You never ask for an arm and a lag like all those other cutthroats out there."
"Yeah, yeah, but thank yous don't make my belly full or put down the retards that fuck with me."
"Speaking of retards, what's this about some morons pissing around with the triad, selling drugs? Do they have a death wish? You know anything about that?"
"Beats me. But if that's true, you should tell your guys to look closely and take example of what not to do, else they become bullet stew."
"Good to know. So, what did you bring me here? She's exotic. Some kind of asian, yeah? She's not Korean, right?"
"She's not a whore, and she's mine, so take your ox sized hands away."
"Haha, okay, okay, no need to get snappy. Anything else I can do for you?"
"Lemme have a shot, I'm drier than a thirty year old virgin."
After four shots, Miku was forced to down one as well, the two women were back on the street. "What are you gonna do to that Wendel guy?"
"Kill him. The Koreans want justice, his own people want him gone. Nobody is gonna miss a rampaging moron that keeps beating women until they look like they were beaten by five people."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that. Life is cheap in Bajiqu."
"You don't care at all?"
"Do you?"
"About some man that beats women getting killed? No. He deserves it. But I thought you might care a little about murdering people."
"If I did I wouldn't be in this business. Mind you, I don't go around willy-nilly shooting people. That's just bad and gets you in trouble."
Miku kept pace with Luka and they visited a few more place before they sat down at a stall that sold actual Japanese food. Not sushi or anything fancy like that but various bowl foods, such as ramen or udon. Eating together, Miku was perplexed by how quiet Luka was outside. I think I had the wrong impression of her.
"You want to do the deed?"
"What?"
"Your first kill, I guess?"
"I'd prefer for it to be more meaningful than some random women beater."
"That's stupid. There is no meaning in who you kill or how. They fucked up, they fuck up so bad that they make someone want to kill them, then someone kills them. That's all there is to it. If you try to put meaning to killing people, it's just gonna haunt you."
"You don't have nightmares about the people you killed?"
"My dreams would be crowded as hell. No, I don't. I sleep like a rock."
"The answer is still no. You took that business on, you finish it."
"Right answer." Luka didn't say anything else and just finished her ramen and left the bowl on the table. Walking through the heat of noon, they made a few stops at whorehouses and some other questionable outfits. Luka didn't bother to really introduce Miku anywhere, and Miku just kept observing.
Miku was on edge when they climbed the stairs to the fourth floor of a gambling parlor. Luka slid open the door and looked inside. "Any Wendel Camberlin here?"
A drunk white man in the back, tall, muscular and a comically short haircut, looked up. "Who's asking?"
A gunshot alerted all the guests in the room. Before anyone could even pay attention, Luka had drawn her gun, fired a single shot and covered the wall behind Wendel in red. Miku was speechless by how calm Luka was during all of that. The owner of Rozovyy looked around and found a less than average scared elderly man. "You own this place?"
"Ya."
Luka grabbed a nearby pencil and wrote down a few numbers. "That's a good cleaner. Call them." Luka then put about thirty dollars on the table. "This should cover the cleaner."
"You're from Rozovyy, ey?"
"Sorry about the mess."
"Better than bullet holes and more dead."
"True that."
Luka raised her hand again and left, Miku just standing on the stairs, looking at her in disbelief. "Less gawking, more moving that cute ass of yours."
I don't understand this woman at all!
=== End of Job ===