Chapter 2: Seven Billion Reasons

"What if I win?"
I am not going down. I am not going to be taken out by my own employers. I am not going to lose to this. "What if I bring the Port Mafia something more valuable than the bounty?"
My name is Nakajima Atsushi, and due to a series of events, I ended up working for the Port Mafia, an organization that is linked to almost every aspect of Yokohama: from politics, to economy, they are everywhere. Needless to say, they don´t run their business on a strictly "legal" way. I was rescued from starvation by a man named Nakahara Chuuya, who happens to be an executive on the organization. I´m not really sure what that means, Nakahara-san just seems to order people around and get angry. Constantly. I´m not sure what my job is either: so far I´ve been sent to guard cargo and run errands for higher-ranking members of the Mafia. Nothing too suspicious of course, this might even be a comfortable job if it weren´t for the gun. After giving me food and water, after giving me a roof to sleep under and a bed to lay at night, after making me feel safe, Nakahara Chuuya gave me a gun.
I don´t know how to feel about him, or the organization, but for now, remaining alive is enough.
Everywhere I go disaster follows. At least that´s what I used to think, but apparently I turn into a white tiger whenever moonlight hits me (makes me sound more like a werewolf but I swear it´s the truth) There was nothing following me, I was disaster all along. Thanks to the Mafia I now have some control over it. I still find it really hard to remain in human form at night but at least I can transform at will (sometimes) and I can even remember what happens when I transform.
I´m not claiming that it´s easy being here, the only reason I learned to control my ability was because my life was put in risk (by my own superiors) more than once. Nakahara-san himself pointed a gun at me (and fired said gun) at least three times. I don´t think he´d do it if I wasn´t capable of doing what I do, at least that´s what I want to believe. I want to trust the person that saved me.
Akutagawa-senpai though, that is person to fear. Akutagawa is also an ability user, a very powerful one too. He can control his coat, which may sound a bit ridiculous but do not, I repeat do not make fun of it. When he is using Rashomon, it becomes a ferocious shadow, sharp, strong, impenetrable. Sometimes it seems to me like he was born to kill. He is in no way stronger than Nakahara-san, but he is much more violent, probably a little bit, ummm, I don´t want to say crazy but... With Nakahara-san at least I can be certain that he won´t kill me unless he has a reason to, but when working with Akutagawa-senpai I fully depend on his mood. Which is not good at all.
I grew into a routine inside the Mafia pretty soon: training, following Nakahara-san around until he has a job for me, doing the job, and then going home to sleep. I never asked too much and people only told me what I needed to know, I thought that if I kept going like that nothing too big would ever be required of me and I could stay away from violent jobs. That is, until the bounty.
Somebody was offering seven billion yen in exchange for me.
That´s seven billion reasons for the Mafia to get rid of me.
It didn´t take long for people to turn on me once the bounty was offered, and I knew Nakahara´s loyalties were first and foremost with the Mafia but even before I could fully consider running away, I was cornered. That day, somebody sent me to a warehouse by the ports where Nakahara-san had first found me, supposedly to aid in the transportation of some valuable cargo, but as soon as I walked in, the doors behind me closed, and Akutagawa was wainting for me.
"I was sent to pick you up, were tiger." That was probably the first time I saw any emoton at all in Akutagawa´s eyes. He was agitated, I could see danger in them. The Mafia had sent him for me, they were going to trade me for the bounty.
"Akutagawa-senpai." I tried to remain calm. "Surely you understand that nobody willing to pay that much for somebody has any good intentions right?"
"And surely," He said "you´ve realized that the Mafia´s intentions are only good when it benefits us." He put a hand to his mouth, as he usually does when coughing. (which is constantly) "Rashomon" His cloack came to life and adrenaline rushed through my body. I had to fight back. My hands turned into paws, but Rashomon was too strong, too fast, as soon as I managed to sidestep a sharp shadow, another attack was already on the way. If only I could get closer...
Once I was stabbed for the first time, the shadows just kept coming, I lost my balance and soon there was a piece of Rashomon piercing me from every direction. He was going to pin me against the wall. No, It will all be over if he does with a surge of strength, I managed to pull myself free and get close enough to Akutagawa to send him flying back with a punch.
My victory was short lived, without even fully standing up, he managed to stab me with Rashomon in the stomach and started to approach.
"They want you alive, weretiger." He wispered, wrapping his fingers around my neck. "So don´t make this any harder than it has to be."
"Aku-Akutaga" breathing was becoming harder and harder, "Akutagawa-senpai." Just when I thought I couldn´t take it anymore, a ray of sunlight hit me. The doors had been opened and Nakahara-san strode in.
"I thought I was at least going to be informed if my subordinate was being sent away you know." He sounded as unpreoccupied as always, even a little bit playful. "Oi, brat, are you going to drag my name through the mud after I went through all the trouble of training you?" Akutagawa´s grip loosened a bit, that was enough. That time I did manage to stand against Akutagawa senpai a bit more, but at the end we were the same: me cornered, him choking me. Not an ideal situation.
"You are still too slow, Atsushi." said Nakahara-san. "If you managed to fully control your transformations then maybe you´d stand a chance against Akutagawa, but as things are right now you are no match for anybody."
"Nakahara-san" maybe I could negotiate with him. "Please don´t send me away. "Why wouldn´t I?" He asked. "Give a good reason not to claim the bounty."
"Isn´t it suspicious that a foreign organization offered that much money for me in the first place?" I asked" It´s true that I am wanted by the government too, but they know almost nothing about me. They don´t even realize that the man-eating tiger is a human. How did they know to offer the money to the Mafia in the first place? Something is just not right."
"One way or another, money is still money." He said, "So convince me, Atsushi."
"I can make myself useful."
"Akutagawa´s hands tightened against neck."What could someone like you possibly do for the Mafia?"
"I have to agree with Akutagawa here." Nakahara-san took a few steps towards us. "What can an errand boy do for the organization?"
It´s not that I had any reason to want to stay there so badly, but somewhere inside me, there was an urgency not to leave. A desire to stay well fed and clothed and warm, an anger towards the people who´d casted me out. All my life I had tried to do good things. To be good, and I´d ended up a starving orphan. So far the world hadn´t shown me any reason to follow the rules and be a model citizen, it was just something I thought I had to do. But what if I didn´t? What could I possibly owe the world?
"Anything" I answered "I can learn to control this power, and I can do whatever the Mafia needs of me."
Nakahara-san smiled. "Is that so?" "Akutagawa, let him go."
"Eeh?" he was still hlding me in place. "What can he possibly do that´s worth more than 7 billion yen?"
"Akutagawa." They looked at each other defiantly, until Akutagawa finally dropped his gaze and let me go.
"I´ll be leaving now" he looked at Nakahara-san once again. "sir" There was poison in his words, but Nakahara-san didn´t seem bothered at all.
Once he was gone, Nakahara-san came to stand in front of me.
"You are still too weak" He said "I should´ve let him kill you."
"He never intended to kill me."
"Don´t get smart with me brat." He looked happy about something. Was he planning this from the beginning?
"You said you´d do anything, didn´t you?"
The full weight of my promise hit me just then. "Yes." Would they ask me to steal? To kill somebody?
"Then here is your first real job."

Hello, Shikakku here:

There was something wrong with this with the formatting on this chapter and it was impossible to read, so I have corrected it. Sorry to anyone who had any problems with it.

Anyways, I´m having a lot of fun with this and the story is already shaping up.

Thank you very much for stopping by!