Hey again guys! Thank you sooo much to all the people who reviewed1 I love you all! Thanks to all the people who reviewed twice: Shizumu Hitome, Crystal Renee, dinkydaelf, and everyone else!
A HUGE thanx to Fanfiction Wanderer for reviewing every chapter. You rock my world *wink wink*. Btw, she has an absolutely kick ass story entitled The Thieving Seer. You guys should check it out!
As always, reviews are appreciated ^_^
Chapter 4: The Worth of a Finger
Shishio's office was dark and dank. Heavy curtains hung against the windows, not a ray of sunlight penetrated into his cave. It smelled of topical burn ointment and bandages, and the Saiko Komon himself sat back in a corner, eyes glowing with greed.
"Shishio, you must understand, I…"
"Sit, Zanza." Shishio pointed to a foldout chair in front of him. "It would be in your best interest not to speak." And then, after a short pause, "ZANZAYOUINCREDIBLEIMBECILE!" Zanza shrank back a bit. "What…. In hell…..were you thinking? If you weren't my brother, I would have chopped off all of your fingers by now, you worthless piece of shit!" Shishio sunk back in his chair. "I've given you three days to come up with a damn good excuse for why your stellar plan fell short. Why don't you share with the class?"
"Uh, well…… you remember the plan, don't you?" Shishio gave Zanza a blank stare. "Okay, you and Kenshin decided to export the opium to the United States and sell it for twice the value as a delicacy on the black market….. my job was to get the opium safely from the warehouse to dock 20 without interferences."
"This much, I know. The information I'm lacking is what exactly transposed three nights ago to make our little business headline news."
"Ahrem….uh, well, as you know, the Kikai Nyoru Shi…those bastards… have been giving us hell inside our territories, using our name and muddying it up. They've been collecting on OUR debts, Shishio!" Shishio didn't look amused. "Huh, well, the night of the shipment, Misao came to me with a piece of information. She had heard on the streets that the Kikai was gonna tip the cops, let them in on the action. Can you imagine? The Kikai working for the cops?!"
"…….." Shishio gave an unruffled stare.
" *cough cough* Well, I confirmed it with our spy within the gang, Soujiro." Zanza was getting worked up, "Well, did you expect me to just let them ruin all my planning, Shishio?!"
"I specifically told you that you were to keep this entire thing quiet and blood free. I paid off the proper officers, it shouldn't have been a problem. Any shit throwing monkey could have done this, Zanza."
"I DIDN'T SPILL BLOOD!!"
"Well, can you explain to me how Kenshin wound up axing someone?"
"Kenshin had to go down to the docks to pay the boat captain for his troubles… that 500 grand."
"Yes……..?"
"Well, I used one of the beat up black cars and turned the lights off as we approached the dock… I wasn't gonna take any chances, Shishio. I even brought Misao along."
"…….."
"Kenshin had the suitcase with the money, and he went to talk to the captain up on deck. Misao and I waited below with the car. Just then Misao whispered something weird to me, like 'the night has eyes, too'. I thought she was going nuts, but all of a sudden, outta nowhere, guys with red Kikai jackets started crawling out of the alleys. In a minute they had us surrounded, just me and Misao. We were held at gunpoint, Shishio! I called out for our backup, but the K's had already taken care of 'em. Then I yelled for Kenshin, 'Boss, you allright up there?'"
"And in doing so alerted the hoods to where your boss was. Smart."
"Anyway, one of the Kikai's ran up to the top of the deck, gun in hand. I caught sight of his face, it was Fujimaki Hikaru, and he had a pistol. He had that stupid, bastard, jerk smile on his face, as he spat through his teeth and said, 'Gimmie the money, Himura-Sama or your friends and your little opium shipment will drown tonight. Surely you are smart enough to realize that you have been beaten.'" Zanza did a fairly bad imitation of the dead man. " Kenshin was about to hand over the briefcase, when outta nowhere, Soujiro landed in between the prick and Kenshin."
"Thoroughly blowing his cover, the cover that I have worked months to perfect!" Shishio rasped, throwing his hands up in the air and unsettling some of the maps on his desk.
"Then I heard a gunshot, and when I looked back to the deck, Soujiro had been shot through the shoulder. The Kikai's surrounding me and Misao started firing. That's when we lost Kenshin to Battousai. One flip of that sword, and there went Fujimaki through the air…. Serves the little prick right, if you ask me, Shishio."
"I didn't."
"But Shishio, the opium shipment went through…. Do you know how much yen that'll make the Family?"
"Why don't you continue on with the rest of the story?"
Zanza sighed. "The Battousai killed the rest of the K's there… and the police happened to be in the area. They didn't waste their one opportunity to get something good on the legendary mob boss…. and took him down to HQ. But Shishio, think about it, the Kikai slaughtered 32 of our good men down by the boatdocks…. 32 to 24! And there are no witnesses to Kenshin's crime, how are they going to prove it? You paid off the captain and he was the only one alive to see!"
Shishio cut him off, " There are no witnesses, brother, because they are all dead! Those NUMBERS are not important. Two things are. Number one, our clan has killed an important member of another clan. Retribution will be paid, just wait. Blood will cancel blood. Number two, YOU let the bosses hands get dirty, YOU led the boss into a no-win situation and left him dangling. Solely because of your lack of planning, our boss is facing a court date, we've lost our spy within the Kikai Nyoru Shi, and now, I have to let some treacherous lawyer into our business and our records, risking our very way of life! She'll alert the whole world to the way we live! Our entire way of life is now hanging in the balance!"
"Shishio, the lawyer isn't that big of a deal. After the case, we'll just make sure no one ever hears about her again."
Shishio smiled a wicked smile. "Well, at least you're not a total failure, Zanza. But that's not getting you out of anything. Put your left hand on the desk."
Zanza grimaced and firmly closed his eyes as he placed his appendage on the cold metal. Shishio brought out his long sword, and ever so slowly hacked two of Zanza's fingers off from the knuckle up. Zanza fought to hold back the tears collecting on his eye rims. Maliciously, Shishio held up the recently estranged digits for Zanza to see. "Now get out of my sight." He mouthed silently.
Well, that's all for right now, guys! Liked it? Hated it? Just want me to review your fic? TELL ME! C'mon, you know if you're reading this far down, you want to!
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Lara
AACK!
Well, with the new regulations beginning on December 13, I had to combine two chapters because this was deemed as a long "authors note"… even though it is central to the understanding of the story. Alas, is ff.net turning into big buisiness corporate America?
Anyway, now this chapter is really long because of it and I am sorry, but there is NOTHING I can do.
Hullo fellow Kenshin Fans! When I first started writing this fic, I forgot that everyone was not as obsessed with gangs as I am…… so I enclosed this list of definitions and other things to help you understand the story better! However, I am not going to tell you which characters are which positions in the gang….. you're just going to have to keep reading!
Okay, here goes!
First things first. The Japanese Mafia is called the YAKUZA. They are notorious for evil doings and causing trouble all over Japan. They are 5 TIMES bigger than that of the American Mafia (which still exists, by the way). They originate from a group of town defending warriors or samurai by the name of Machi-Yakko. Until the occupation years, Yakuza served as political watchdogs protecting the common people (mostly by illegal means, but anyway), sort of like a Japanese Robin Hood. In the 1940's and '50s, however, they put away their swords and started to use firearms, becoming a public menace rather than the underground hero.
The mob boss, the person running the entire mob, is called Oyabun, or Oyabun-Sama, which translates roughly as "honorable father"
Below the Oyabun, there are three bosses. They are (in order of authority, greatest to least)
Saiko Komon: if you've ever seen the Godfather, think Consigliere. He is the advisor to the Oyabun, and almost everything the Oyabun does, the Saiko Komon gives his opinion. He heads up a team including advocates, secretaries, advisors, and the bookkeepers. Most likely, if the Oyabun dies, he is the replacement.
Waka Gashira: He is the clan's middle man and leader of the first regime of warriors, often referred to as wakashu, or children, to the Oyabun.
Shatei Gashira: He is the leader of the second regime of warriors, often referred to as Kodachi, which can translate to mean siblings or brothers. These are the warriors that often carry out the dirty work that the YAKUZA is famous for. Neither class of warriors is better than the other.
Stemming off from the Children and brothers, come lesser children and lesser brothers… and so on and s fourth.
Originally I had a nice little chart for you right here in case I was super confusing. FF.net hates me and therefore wouldn't load it. So, if you're stuck, refer to my not so neat and unique outline below:
I.Oyabun
A. Saiko Komon
1. Bookkeeper
2. Advocates
B. Waka Gashira
1.Children
1a. Lesser children
C. Shatei Gashira
1. Brothers
1a. Lesser brothers
And so on and so fourth ^_^
Little Facts that you'll need to know:
The most famous mob leader of the YAKUZA was Yoshio Kodamo, think Japanese Al Capone.
It is a common practice in YAKUZA life that when someone has offended the Oyabun, or gone against his wishes, they cut off the tip of their fingers starting with the pinkie on the left hand and moving
all the way to the thumb on the right hand as the seriousness of the crime progresses. You then give the severed finger to the Oyabun as a show of complete loyalty, but if you have done something particularly horrible, even this will not save you from being exterminated.
When one faction of the YAKUZA goes against another faction of the YAKUZA and kills someone within that faction, retribution must be made. Someone of equal rank within the other YAKUZA must die. This often turns into all-out blood wars because it is very difficult to calculate a person's worth and then match it up to another person's worth.
THIS IS THE YAKUZA HONOR CODE
It's often displayed in places where YAKUZA frequent.
When you are wearing the family crest in a public place, don't do anything that might hurt the gang's reputation. Inside the gang headquarters, when you greet someone, sit in seiza (seated with your legs folded under you) and be sure to tuck your thumbs in under your hands. The thumb is our most important finger because it is the last one to be cut off if we disgrace the gang too many times. Hiding your thumb is also a sign of respect to the oyabun (gang leader). When you greet someone on the street, be sure that you bend your back in the shape of the character 'ku' when you bow. When you greet someone on the street, never take your eyes off him or her when you bow. Never give a person an opening to attack you. The only people you should lower your eyes to are your seniors in the gang and the oyabun (boss). When you talk to your superiors never put your hands in your pockets or fold your arms in front of your body. When you decide to do something, do it immediately without any hesitation. Never be late for anything either. Not even one minute. Never compare yourself with the other gang members, try to place the blame on someone else for your mistakes, or make excuses. When you are given an errand or task to do, take full responsibility for it. Don't tell gang secrets to your family members, wife, or children. Think of everyone else as a part of your family and don't think of yourself as an individual. Don't argue or form factions within the gang. If you don't know if you can do something or not, adopt the attitude that you can. If you have a fight or dispute with someone from another gang, if that person is wrong, never back down, even if they are tougher or in a higher position than you. If there is an accident, do your best to contain it quickly and make sure it doesn't get out of hand. Never give in when you are negotiating. Don't rationalize yourself into making concessions and always act in accordance with your gut instincts. If there is a big problem, stay calm and think about what you can do personally to improve the situation. Endeavour to learn the rules, names of gang members, and practices of the gang as best you can. Avoid becoming complacent and never lose the spirit and enthusiasm that you had when you first joined the gang.