CHAPTER FOUR: THE BLACK DRAGON RETURNS!
Introducing...drum roll please...YOSHIHARU HONDA!
This one's pretty long! YAY!
--
Matsuyo and the others shouldered their way through the crowd to where a man was seated atop a motorcycle.
"Yoshi!" Matsuyo yelled, waving. Yoshiharu Honda turned to her.
"Hey, Matsuyo-chan! Tohru-chan!" He parked his motorcycle and walked over to them. Heavily muscled arms stuck out slightly from his sides. When Yoshiharu reached them, the big man enveloped Matsuyo and Tohru in a bear-hug. On his left arm was the tattoo of black dragon. On the back of his vest words were printed and a black dragon of a darker shade decorated it. The words read: "Black Dragon Suicide Squad. Yoshiharu Honda, the Legendary Black Dragon."
"Suicide Squad," Arisa read aloud. "Just like Kyoko-san." Yoshiharu released Matsuyo and Tohru and turned to Arisa.
"Yeah," He said. "You can think of the Black Dragon Suicide Squad as a male version of the Red Butterfly. Vests were given to those with reputations. Oh, that reminds me...Matsuyo, Tohru, I have gifts for you. I still keep in touch with my gang, and I got these made for you." He reached into the bag on his bike and took out two vests, much smaller than his." He gave one to Matsuyo and the other to Tohru.
"See, Yuki-kun and Kyo-kun? I told he was nice," Tohru said. She put her on and turned so Arisa could read it.
"Black Dragon Suicide Squad," Arisa read. "Tohru Honda, the Red Dragon. Honorary member." Above the words was a red dragon. Matsuyo turned so Arisa could read hers too.
"Black Dragon Suicide Squad," She said. "Matsuyo Honda, the Blue Dragon. Honorary member. Awesome." Matsuyo and Tohru grinned.
"Wow, he really is a pansy," Haru commented quietly to Kyo.
"A pansy, hm?" Yoshiharu turned to him. "And you are?"
"Hatsuharu Sohma," Tohru introduced Haru. "And these two are Kyo Sohma and Yuki Sohma." She gestured to the two of them. Yoshiharu was at least seven feet tall, several heads taller than Haru. Haru looked at his face. Yoshiharu had a scar on his jaw and a mean look in his eyes after he took off the sunglasses. His long black hair was pulled back in a pony-tail and two locks of hair hung on either side of his face, framing it
"What makes you so sure of that?" Yoshiharu asked Haru. "What fighting style do you use?"
"Martial arts," Haru said. "You?" Yoshiharu smiled. It was the smile of a wolf.
"Oh, I fight a little dirtier," He said.
"Let's see then," Haru was about to get into a start position but before he could, he was already sprawling on the ground. Yoshiharu had left-hooked him.
"No fair," Haru said.
"I told you my style is dirty," Yoshiharu said. "We call it street-fighting. But I'm not about to beat up a kid." Kyo and Yuki held him back.
"I told you Yoshi wasn't a pansy," Matsuyo said, smiling in triumph while Haru struggled to get at Yoshiharu. He eventually calmed down and Kyo and Yuki let him go.
"Yoshi-kun is just really nice," Tohru said. "He loves giving us gifts. I remember Obasan used to say he'd spoil us rotten if he kept giving us these gifts. So he doesn't give them to us as much."
"I thought you'd left your gang," Yuki said. Yoshiharu shook his head.
"You never really leave a gang," He said. "You just...go on vacation, I suppose. But when you're needed, you go back." It was then that everyone remembered the crowd staring dumbstruck at Yoshiharu. The girls and guys immediately swarmed him.
"Hey, how do you join the Black Dragon Suicide Squad?"
"Can I feel your muscles?"
"Awesome ride!"
"How'd you get that scar? It's so cool." Everyone then cleared the way for the Prince Yuki Fan Club. Motoko smiled at him.
"So, you're a Honda?" She said sweetly. Yoshiharu growled in annoyance. He hated crowds. And girls who acted like queens.
"Are you stronger than Yuki-kun?" Minami asked.
"I don't know," Yoshiharu stepped back. The Prince Yuki Fan Club followed. Matsuyo could tell Yoshiharu was about to lose his temper, and thought desperately for something to do to help him.
"Oh girls!" She yelled. "Borin-I mean Yuki has just admitted his undying love for the three of you!" Yuki threw her a glare as the three girls ran at him. He dashed off, and the girls began their pursuit. Yoshiharu wiped his forehead with the back of a gloved hand. Everyone noted that the gloves were fingerless, and ended a little less than halfway up his fingers.
"Are you actually afraid of girls?" Haru asked venomously.
"No," Yoshiharu said flatly. "I'm already seeing someone, a girl back in England. And I can't stand girls like those three."
"What's her name?" Tohru asked.
"Emma," Yoshiharu said. He took a black wallet out from his back pocket, opened a flap in it, and showed the group a picture of her. Emma had brown curly hair, green eyes, and red lips. She was smiling brightly. She, too, had a black leather vest and wore a white tank top. Emma was sitting on Yoshiharu's motorcycle in the picture.
"She's beautiful," Saki said. She was picking up waves from Yoshiharu, fiery waves, and some were the same as Matsuyo's. He was worried about Matsuyo.
--
Haru was beginning to hate Matsuyo and Yoshiharu. Everyone could feel his animosity towards the brother and sister. It was like a shadow looming over him. But Matsuyo and Yoshimaru were oblivious to this. It was still lunch-time, and they all sat together, Yoshiharu telling an interested Arisa stories about the Black Dragon Suicide Squad, Kyo and Yuki trying not to listen. The stories were pretty gruesome, mostly about gang fights.
"A guy comes at me with a ten-inch blade," Yoshiharu began. "I try to dodge, but he catches me. That's how I got this scar"-he ran a finger over the scar on his jaw-"But then I right-hooked him, and he fell to the ground. But he's trying to slice my legs, you see, so I kick him hard in the stomach..."
"This is all true?" Haru asked.
"I was there," Matsuyo said. "One of the gang, a boy named Hideki, was stabbed right in front of me. He was fighting a member of the opposition, and the bastard pulled a knife on him...stabbed him right in the stomach..."
"Did he die?" Arisa asked. Matsuyo shook her head.
"But he can't fight anymore," She said.
"Hideki was very special to Matsuyo," Yoshiharu noticed the looks of shock on the group's face, so he explained further. "They were best friends. Inseparable. I think sometimes she'd rather've spent time with him than me." Matsuyo hugged him.
"Hideki is my friend, you're my brother," She said. "You'll always mean more to me...that's a really mean thing to say, isn't it?" Yoshiharu grinned.
"Ah, no worries," He said. "So, Hatsuharu-kun, are you still sobbing over what happened early." Haru shook with barely controlled rage.
"Well, Yoshiharu-kun..."
"Yoshi-chan is twenty-one," Matsuyo interrupted Haru. "So that's Yoshiharu-san to you, disrespectful..." Her cousin's light touch on her arm stopped her.
"I don't see gang-boy here as my superior," Haru said spitefully. "I see him more as my inferior. I think he's lucky that I call him -kun, I ought to just call him by his first name." Yoshiharu's dark eyes smoldered.
"I think you're wrong there, boy," He said. "Very wrong..."
"So, how was your ride here?" Tohru diverted the conversation quickly before it reached dangerous waters.
"The same as always," Yoshiharu followed her lead. "Emma wants to buy a Vespa. I, for one, don't want a motor-scooter. I like my ride just fine."
"Can you drive?" Yuki asked. Yoshiharu nodded.
"Yeah, but I don't like to," He said.
"Why?" Kyo asked.
"I don't know," Yoshiharu said. "I just don't. So, you four-"
"Five," Haru interrupted, knowing he was the one left out of the conversation.
"Four," The big gang-member insisted. "You know Matsuyo and I are Irish, right?" The group nodded.
"Interesting combination," Saki said. "An Irish-Japanese child. Hard to imagine." Matsuyo shrugged.
"Yeah, but dad and mom fell in love, so it doesn't matter," She said, pushing dark locks behind her ears. "So, what's the Sohma family like?" No one answered.
"What, it's not like you're cursed, right?" Yoshiharu joked. Suddenly, Kyo was choking on a piece of bread, Yuki spat out his juice, Tohru fell out of her chair, and Haru scratched his arm on the edge of the table as he whipped around. Matsuyo and the others ignorant of the curse that burdened the Sohmas watched this display with mounting suspicion.
"Are you?" Yoshiharu asked.
"No!" Three of the four cried. The suspicion mounted even higher.
"The idea is just so ridiculous," Yuki said smoothly. "It was difficult to even fathom such a notion." The rest nodded in agreement. And the ignorant group accepted Yuki's lie. After all, he had explained it without so much as a twitch.
--
When Yuki and Tohru got up to refill their cups, Tohru breathed a deep sigh of relief.
"Thank you," She said. Yuki looked strangely at her.
"For what?" He asked. To him, he had just been doing what was expected of him as a member of the Juunishi.
"For your quick thinking," Tohru explained. "If it hadn't been for you, your secret would be out. You saved your family, Yuki-kun, you're a hero." Yuki laughed.
"For a small thing like that?" He said. "I'm no hero." Tohru shook her head.
"I think you are," She said. "I think you're a great hero." Yuki blushed deeply at her praise.
"Uh...Honda-san," He tugged the collar of his shirt. "You're embarrassing me."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Yuki-kun! I didn't mean to!" Tohru grasped his arm, Yuki smiling slightly at her behavior. "I didn't mean to embarrass you."
"It's fine, Honda-san." Yuki said. "You don't need to apologize, really. You're acting like Rit-chan." Tohru rubbed at the tears in the corners of her eyes and smiled. Ritsu Sohma was known for being over dramatic about, well...everything.
"I wonder what would happen if Matsuyo-kun, at the very least, found out," Yuki continued.
"Mat-chan isn't a bad person," Tohru insisted. "I don't think she'd tell. I think she might use it to black mail you, but really she would be bluffing. Matsuyo isn't the kind of person to go around spreading secrets that could destroy not just five people, but an entire family. She's had her own experiences with secrets. And the fact that, at one point, they were found out has never been good. " Yuki still seemed deep in thought about the matter, and remained silent the rest of the day.
--
At the end of the school day, Yoshiharu sped off on his motorcycle to the hotel he was checked into, while Tohru, Matsuyo, Yuki, Kyo, Momiji, and Haru walked back to Shigure's house.
"So, Yuki-kun, what do you think of Yoshi-chan?" Tohru asked.
"He seems pleasant," Yuki answered, still as thoughtful as he was at lunch. Everyone had asked him what he was so fixated on, but he hadn't given them an answer.
"What about you, Kyo-kun?" Tohru turned to the orange haired boy. Kyo coughed several times.
"He...well, I...you know what," He said. "He seems kind of cool."
"Ha—Momiji-kun," Tohru was about to ask Haru what he thought about Yoshiharu, but decided against it. "Were you there when we met Yoshi-chan?" Momiji nodded.
"He punched Haru in the face," He said. "But I think Haru shouldn't have called him a pansy. Otherwise, he was really nice. He called me a sweet kid."
"Yoshi-chan was always a lot nicer than me," Matsuyo said. "I would have called you a--" A hand covered her mouth. Matsuyo looked up slightly to see Haru staring warningly at her. Suddenly, Haru yelped in pain and withdrew his hand. Matsuyo ran over to a patch of bushes and retched.
"Ow! My hand!" Haru yelled, shaking out his damaged hand.
"Your hand?! What about my mouth? Ugh, I'll never get that dirty taste out of my mouth! Disgusting! Don't you wash your hands at all?"
"Are you kidding me? You BIT me!" Everyone watched quietly as the two went about their spat.
"You're repulsive!"
"You're dangerous!" Haru and Matsuyo glared daggers at each other.
"What makes you think you can spread germs around like that? I could have caught some dangerous disease or something from that shit-covered hand of yours!"
"What makes you think you can go around biting people like that? You could've ripped my hand off!"
"That would've been a gift! No one would have to shake it anymore! You probably spend your time pawing through garbage cans! Ugh! I can still...blah!" She spat on the ground several times.
"I oughta--"
"Let's go home," Yuki interrupted Haru. Matsuyo brushed past Haru. Time seemed to slow as she smiled smugly at him and mouthed 'ladies first.'
--
"So, Yuki-kun, what were you thinking about?" Tohru asked. She, Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure were in the sitting-room while Matsuyo cooked dinner again. Yuki looked up at all of them from his book.
"Well, I suppose that those who should hear what I have to say are present," He said. "So...I think we ought to tell Matsuyo about the curse." Everyone gasped.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Shigure said. Yuki took a deep breath.
"We can assume that, with O'Connor-Honda-san living in this house, she will find out at one point," He said. The others shrugged or nodded. "I think that the best option is to let her know. I think that she may be more likely to keep a secret if we tell her than it catching her by surprise. Yes, Honda-san found out accidentally, but she is the kind of person who can handle it. I don't think O'Connor-Honda-san is really as likely to react well."
"What if she tells anyway?" Kyo asked.
"No! Mat-chan can keep a secret!" Tohru insisted. "I've told her millions of secrets."
"But I don't think any of those were as...well, big," Shigure said. "I'd like to trust Matsuyo-kun, but I'm not sure."
"Oy! Get your asses in here if you want to eat!" Matsuyo's voice came loud and clear from the kitchen. Everyone stood up and started walking into the kitchen when Yuki's foot caught on the threshold, Matsuyo standing right in front of him. Yuki fell forward, Matsuyo caught by surprise...