Gang of the City Samurai

by Doublebend

AU! New in the hostile city, Shiina Yuya finds herself thrown into a world where gangs rule. With reasons of her own she ends up joining one herself, and finds new friends, thrills of life, and love. Not only main characters in this fic! R&R!

4. Enter The Tiger! And aprons

So I am starting a new chapter. I have absolutely nothing planned for any further ones, I'm just going with the flow. This one's good for Benitora fans. Not so much for Mekira's. I don't know what I did with the chapter title, I mean, the first bit's obvious, but the tail was just another hyper me decision…So it's really just for "fun".

I'm not exactly a big fan of Benitora, although I think he's funny. So I mostly don't pay attention to his fights, meaning I am uneducated in his techniques…oh well.

Remember when I said I will try to make it a YuyaxKyo? I am getting there, so hold in for a few more chapters. I think I'll try cramming in a YukiSasu, but I can't seem to find the right timing…I'll put in a warning when I do, so just skip those particular chapters if you are not a yaoi fan. I'll try to make the story as convenient for you to follow as I can.

New characters added in this chappie! I hope some of them are your favourites.

Disclaimer: Make me. I'm never going to give in. I will never admit that Samurai Deeper Kyo is not *Gets tortured horribly as robotic tickling hands are presented* ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! IT'S NOT MY PROPERTY! I- NO-OWN! Isn't that good enough?! Hey- hey, I said stop it already!!!

Please read on!

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When Yuya woke up the next morning it took her a blurry few seconds till she remembered where the unfamiliar, dark room was. It took her a further moment to recall the events from the day before, and to take it all in for a second time, the nine or so hours of sleep having dulled her senses a bit. She sat up, stretched, and swung her legs down from the bed. Rubbing her eyes, she looked around blearily at the room once more.

It wasn't an unfriendly environment; it just didn't look as though it had been used much over the past weeks. There were no windows, being built in a bridge and all, but it was large enough anyway to fit two single beds- both shoved to opposite sides of the wall- and a rather big walk-in cupboard. She had been surprised immensely at the amount and variety of objects that had been kept in there, when Sasuke had presented them to her in the Box the other night.

'I think most of these are Ikumo Okuni's clothes, like those she bought at a flea market and only wore them once,' he said, tossing cardigans, turtlenecks, undershirts, tights, shorts, and other pieces of clothing over his shoulder. Yuya scrambled to catch them as they came flying, unnoticed behind Sasuke. 'Apart from the stuff that Yukimura brought back here as "souvenirs" from his old girlfriends. Those which managed to last for more than two days, at least. That happy idiot.' The last words came out as a mumble.

'Does it bother you, then, that Yukimura is always around girls, from what I've heard of it?' Yuya asked. 'I mean, Sasuke-kun is still so young, so…'

Sasuke sighed impatiently. 'I'm older in the heart than I look. Don't treat me like a helpless kid, Nee-chan. But it's because I am "so young" that I learned to get used to these kinds of things- Yukimura was like this ever since I met him, so I had years of time to adapt. Oh, here we go, Nee-chan,' He straightened up, and turned to face Yuya. In his fingers dangled a pretty small bra. 'This looks about your size.'

Yuya snatched the undergarment from out of his hand. 'No, it does not!'

Sasuke blinked, and sighed exasperatedly again, before turning back to rummage around in his hunt for towels.

(Even so, he didn't have to go so far…I'll forgive him because he's still a kid, no matter what he says. The environment he grew up in must have had an influence on him, too.)

What infuriated her most was that the bra did fit perfectly- she had gone to sleep in all her borrowed clothes after the shower. Sasuke, by the time she had come back, was already lying on his bed, faced away from the door and breathing deeply. Now, however, his sheets lay crumpled and empty. Yuya supposed that he must have already gotten up, and decided that she should do the same.

Brushing the rest of the sleep out of her eyes, she threw the covers back onto the bed and proceeded towards the bathroom, at the very end of the corridor. There was another room in between that, but Sasuke had advised against entering it.

'It's an incomplete room the workers just abandoned, so we can't use it for anything except for storage,' he had mentioned, as they walked past it to the bathroom, where he was going to warn her of the irregular malfunctions that occurred in all of the water mechanisms once in a while, and how to deal with them. She had also clarified with him that she was aware of the unsuccessful "systems" the district managers had thought up in an attempt to suppress the crime rates of the city before. 'I think it was supposed to be some sort of surveillance room- you know, video cameras and stuff. There's some rubble left over there now, so even we don't go in much. We just stash things we're finished with in the room, but pretty much avoid it after that, since it's annoying to stub your toe or trip on some debris in the pitch black every time we make a visit.'

The bathroom itself was a mess of scattered washroom tools. Almost every inch of it, where water will definitely not come in contact unless spurted around with a hose, was coated in dust ten centimeters thick, the space between the tiles black with preserved grime. The mirror was cracked in the corners, and would not close the cabinet behind it fully as it's hinges had rusted. The toilet seemed to have something growing on it, and the drain in the shower was clogged with black hair.

'That's not mine, at least,' Sasuke commented as Yuya picked up a dark hairball like as though it was a dead rodent. He pulled lightly on a strand of his own silky, whitish hair. 'Yukimura, for some reason, never lets me bathe in here. I don't see why, since going back home just to take a shower and coming back again seems so bothersome. But since he doesn't either, and Ikumo Okuni's always saying how she'd rather commit suicide than be forced to do any kind of business in here, that rules them out too. I'm not sure if Bonbon even takes off that handkerchief of his for a shower, so Kyo's a possibility. You really have it in for him, don't you?' he added, spotting Yuya's reflection in the fragment of a mirror.

'You have no idea,' Yuya said through gritted teeth, squeezing the hairball like it was the guy in question's head, before dropping it and flushing it down the toilet. It gurgled horribly.

Now standing at the sink, head lowered, eyes closed as cold water splashed against them, Yuya dove her hands back into the running water, which was supplied through pipes that the builders had managed to add in as well as the electricity wires before the closing down of the operation, a little too roughly as the memory of the despicable man came back to her. Turning the tap off and drying her face with a towel she had hung on the rack nearby the night before, she checked herself for the last time in the mirror, gave her reflection a refreshing smile, and hurried to the living room conjoined with the kitchen.

The light had been newly fixed in the TV room, and it's brightness illuminated the room that had seemed so gloomy before. The little television was off, but a small radio sat on the wooden table and replaced the moving pictures with a lively commentary of an amateur baseball match. Sasuke was at the table when she entered, packing some books into his black randoseru, with an empty plate and a glass of unfinished orange juice in front of him. He looked up as she walked near the table and sat herself in a chair, nodded at her 'Good morning', and called over towards the kitchen, 'Hey, Yukimura! She's up!'

'Hai, hai~!'

Yukimura came hurrying out of the kitchen, holding aloft a frying pan and a plate. 'Good morning, Yuya-san!' he greeted her cheerfully. He set the plate down and tipped the saucepan over. Some bacon and fried eggs fell out of it promptly. 'This is your breakfast, as promised.'

'Thank you, Yukimura-san,' she replied, and smiled as he turned to bustle back into the kitchen. 'Is that an apron?'

'Hmm? Yes, a floral patterned one. It suits me, doesn't it?' he grinned.

'Very much. The food looks delicious! Itadakimasu!'

'Oh, you must be much hungrier than that, seeing as you haven't eaten since last night. But I have to take Sasuke to school, so just feel free to make more here if you want any! The gas works perfectly fine, compared to everything else in this place.'

Yuya looked up from her chow down. 'Eh? Oh, yes, it's still a Friday… But,' she turned to Sasuke, listening to the radio moodily next to her. 'Aren't you old enough to walk to school yourself?'

Sasuke glanced at her irritably. 'It's the school regulations. A notice for it is handed out at the start of every term. We have to be accompanied by parents or guardians- or fellow students, any kind of companions- on our way to and back from school. It's the whole "living in a gang street" thing, so you wouldn't have heard of it.'

'Wow,' Yuya said, thinking back to her own primary school days. She had long gotten used to Sasuke's prickly manner since yesterday. 'That's kind of inconvenient, since you guys wouldn't be able to play around freely after school, would you? Not without supervision, anyway.' When she was small, she would have explored the urayama of her school, sometimes with friends, sometimes alone. The deafening hum of the cicadas would have led her to concentrate for the nearest of the sounds while she was out to catch the insects, and sometimes she would go and play in the stream at the nearby park, this time to catch tadpoles, frogs, lobsters and other types of water creatures, as well as to dip her feet into the cool, running water, shielding them from the heat.

Here in the run down city, though, it seemed nothing like her old suburban home. She felt a certain kind of pity to the children who grew up here.

But Sasuke shrugged. 'Most of us stay out as much as we can till dark, and no one has gotten into trouble with gangs yet,' he said arguably. 'Besides, I'm fine, since being a part of the Gang of the City Samurai means they've got my back.'

'But it's not as if anyone who tries to attack you on first sight knows that,' Yukimura said, leaning through the open counter window. He eyed Sasuke sternly. It was enough for both Yuya and Sasuke to stop staring at the grinning teddy bear face on his chest, surrounded by a pink background with the flower patterns hanging around it. 'And, truthfully, I'd prefer you don't blab it to everyone you meet. It could make you a target instead, and I'll have even more trouble with my day job than I already do.'

Sasuke made a face. 'Yeah, yeah, I know. We try keeping it a secret to avoid these conflicts with the people around us,' he told Yuya. 'Yukimura says it'll make my school life much easier, while he can worry over his work and status with girls.'

'And if she's smart, then Yuya-san will do so too,' Yukimura added. 'It is for the best, you know, Yuya-san. Try to keep your life outside as simple as possible. Don't let anyone know you're part of a gang now unless you're in a pinch, but also try to avoid all that in the first place. And, oh yeah,' he started rustling in his trouser's pockets. 'We have something for you here…'

He drew out a narrow, brown envelope and tossed it through the counter window. When Yuya caught it, it sagged down as though something small and heavy was in it.

'That's the key to the door downstairs. It might be a bit fast to give it to you, seeing as you were only made a part of the gang yesterday, but if you need someplace to hide, then use this place as a last resort. Only as a last resort. When you do, be sure that no one will see you, that no one is following you- we like to keep our little hideout a secret, so that no intruders comes knocking at the door to "bother" us.

'Don't lose, or give that key away to anyone, Yuya-san. Keep it some place safe. Maybe not your wallet,' he added hastily. 'You should also know that money is the thing that most of the ruffians in the street will be after- so keep that out of sight. Oh, and remember to lock the door when going out, always. Are you done packing, Sasuke? We need to get going if you don't want to be late.'

'Right, right,' Sasuke swung his bag onto his bag and gulped down the rest of his orange juice. 'Bye, Nee-chan,' he said to Yuya. 'Are you going home now?'

'Do you remember the way?' Yukimura asked in turn.

Yuya nodded, mouth full with bacon. Swallowing it down, she smiled at the two. 'I think I'll go quit my job today. I decided on it last night, but I'm hoping that I can find another one in town as well. Is it fine for me to hang around the city to search for one?'

'Today? I think it might, but don't stay out for too long. I have a feeling that Mekira wouldn't waste his time lying in bed…but, on the other hand, he may decide to lay off you since yesterday's fuss.' He smiled as he saw that Yuya looked a bit relieved. 'Well, time to go, Sasuke.'

'See you.' He waved back without turning around, and followed Yukimura (now rid of the pink teddy bear apron) out of the room.

Yuya waved, even though neither of them was looking. She then headed towards the kitchen, to fulfill the needs of her grumbling stomach.

Yukimura locked the door once he stepped out of the bridge house. He and Sasuke proceeded up the grass slope and turned to cross the bridge itself.

Last night's rain had left the ground slippery and obviously wet- Sasuke stomped into a puddle for no reason other than because he wanted to, although he was careful not to splash any on Yukimura, who was strolling next to him. The sun shone brightly on them through the morning air, which was much cooler than in the afternoon when the heat really gets going.

'You think it's a good idea to let her walk around freely like that?' Sasuke asked. 'I know you don't just "have a feeling"- an arrogant guy like Mekira, from what I heard, will be out for payback for the humiliation even if he was bleeding in the head.'

Yukimura sighed. 'If by some good luck, she managed to avoid them today, then I'll speak to her later about keeping her guard up for later times. If it comes to that, then she'll really be in trouble. However,' A smile danced on his smooth lips. 'Wouldn't it be interesting? If something does happen today… Wouldn't it just engrave Yuya-san's involvement with the gang even more? Because, although I do believe the Orochikiba gang won't stay at rest all the time, I do think that Yuya-san won't go down, just like that.'

Sasuke glanced incredulously up at the pleasantly smiling man and shook his head. 'You're unbelievable, you are,' he told the man. 'You might not be the only one I know who will place a girl in danger just because he wants to see how things will turn out, but you are the only guy I know who will say that with a straight, merry face like that.'

Yukimura laughed cheerily. 'Aww, Sasuke, you know that I don't really think like that! Of course I'm worried about Yuya-san's well being… I just happen to be more curious about the outcome, that's all.'

'That's exactly what I mean.'

'Come on, now, get your hands out of your pockets so that I can hold them. Don't slouch, you won't get any taller if you do! Here, up we streeeetch!'

'Ow! Owowow, you're going to pull off my arm! Let go!'

The two walked on, the smaller contradicting the other loudly, while his chuckles sounded across the bridge, around the satisfyingly cool atmosphere.

Yuya managed to keep in mind the instructions Yukimura had said to her regarding the key. She decided to stuff it into her sock for now, after locking the door and starting down the route she had memorized the night before back to her apartment. It consisted mostly of alleys, as Yukimura seemed to have regarded them as shortcuts, but it still took a good half an hour to weave her way through them to the site they had started from yesterday. Luckily, she met no shady, gun wielding men on the way- it almost seemed that the refreshing, sunny sky had chased them into hiding underneath shadows in corners and the like. Still, she stepped around the site of where the commotion had occurred the day before, taking a different path to reach her home. She wasn't sure if the other gang was still sleeping there, but certainly wasn't going to take any chances.

Finally reaching the door to her room, she fished around in her pocket for the key. The door swung open with a bang, but it wasn't the one leading to her room. It was of her next door neighbors''. A small, blondish head came dancing out, the figure dressed up in a rather frilly, pink dress tied with a big bow around the middle, a cute, high voice calling through the open door, 'Bikara~, hurry up! We're going to be late!'

She stops her bobbing immediately as she catches sight of Yuya, looking, startled, at the small girl, key still halfway in the lock of her own door. The younger girl returned her gaze, but with an unfamiliar expression to Yuya. Not wanting the girl to feel uncomfortable, she smiled a 'Good morning' to her, and proceeded to open the door.

'Um,' A small voice started. Yuya looked back at the little darling, who was now partially hiding behind her own open door. 'Are- are you the person who was attacked last night?'

Yuya hesitated, then recalled the racket she had made when the Orochikiba gang was after her. 'Ah! Well, yes. I'm sorry I made so much noise, did I wake you or anything-?'

She stopped, as what she could see off the peering girl's face, looked like she was about to cry.

'Did they- do anything to you?' She stifled herself with a fist in the mouth as a sob escaped her.

Yuya pitied the poor thing, and wondered how she could cheer her up. She smiled gently and shook her head. 'No, don't worry. I got away,' she said, remembering what Yukimura and Sasuke had said about not blabbing about her new gang life to everyone and anyone she meets. 'Oh, don't cry,' she added hastily, kneeling down to stroke the tearful girl's head. 'See, I'm not hurt- a nice friend came to my rescue and scared them off for me!'

The little girl hiccupped. 'Sorry…'

'For what?'

'For- for not being able to help you. You live right next to us, and we couldn't…'

She gave a huge sob, and buried her face in her hands. Yuya patted her head warmly.

'I don't blame you for anything, love. There was nothing a cute, little girl like you could have done against those mean men. But my friend could, since he was a strong grown up, so I'm safe now, aren't I?'

The small girl looked up, a relieved smile flooding onto her delicate face. 'That's, good,' she sniffled. 'You're a nice lady,' she added, touching Yuya's resting hand on her shoulder.

Yuya giggled softly. 'Oh, thank you.' (See, Sasuke? There's nothing wrong with being called cute or little! And she doesn't look much older than you!)

The other girl's expression turned back again to one of anxiety. 'But, but…Bikara and I thought that we heard some more people coming up here, though Bikara said that they left while I was asleep. Did they-?'

Yuya shook her head reassuringly. 'No, no. I was away, then, staying at my friend's house.' (So, Yukimura-san was right about them coming to "visit" here…) 'But he thought that it should be safe to go back now, so…' she shrugged. 'Here I am.'

The girl giggled. 'I'm called Antera-chan!' she announced, taking Yuya's hand and shaking it with both of her's, brushing away the last of her tears with her sleeve. 'I live next doors with my daddy-thingy, Bikara. What's Onee-chan's name?'

Yuya returned the shake. 'I'm Shiina Yuya. Nice to meet you, Antera-chan,' she smiled. Then a thought struck her. 'Don't you have school today?'

Antera smiled, and shook her head. 'I'm going to the dentist's today! Not that I have cavities or anything, just for a check up…' she added quickly, as though she was worried that Yuya might take it as the former way.

As Yuya nodded understandingly and straightened up, a voice in Antera's doorway asked, 'Who're you talking to there, Antera?'

It was a deep, but oddly feminine voice. It wasn't at all like Okuni's, which was just deep enough as a woman's, and had an adult quality to it. This one, though, sounded…fake. Phony. Like a child trying out their mother's tone. Still, Yuya ignored it, and didn't think it was anything abnormal, until-

(???)

Out lumbered a gigantic man, wearing nothing on his great, sun-tanned chest, his abs showing out magnificently around the toned stomach. His ears had numerous piercings, as well as a couple on the broad forehead of his squarish, rough face. His towering figure was tall enough to be able to scrape the ceiling of the corridor; indeed, he had to lower his head to avoid banging it on the lights. He held his fierce gaze on Yuya's stricken face.

(Antera-chan, I can understand….but shouldn't you be tough enough to scare away those gangsters instead????)

Antera tugged (bravely, in Yuya's opinion) on the large man's trousers. 'Bikara, this is Shiina Yuya-nee-chan! She is,' Antera whispered loudly. 'The person who was attacked by those men last night!'

The giant glared down at her, and Yuya found herself wondering if he was going to grab her around the neck and break it, and then cook her in a enormous pot for dinner. To her astonishment, however, his face cracked into a humble, guilty smile- or at least a horrible grimace that may have looked close to one.

'Oh, you are? I'm so glad you're safe! I was fretting about what happened for the whole night- did you manage to get away from them? I'm terribly sorry I couldn't come out to help, but I was worried about what will happen to Antera here, and the men outside sounded so scary! I couldn't possibly…'

Yuya raised her hands up in front of her in a motion to let herself speak in between the apologetic excuses. 'I don't blame anyone, really, I understand. I wouldn't want any harm to come to you, Antera-chan or anyone else who tried to help because of me. Um, I guess I should formerly introduce myself as your next door neighbour. I believe we haven't met before, Mr…Bikara?'

The man nodded. 'That's my name. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Shiina,' He leant down, and beckoned Yuya to come closer. '…Miss Shiina, you are a girl, aren't you?'

Yuya shot backwards, and stammered, 'Wha, ah… ye-yes, of course I am!' She flushed when she saw Bikara grinning mischievously at her while straightening up again, his head narrowly avoiding the light above.

'Sorry, Miss Shiina,' Bikara tittered. 'I was just joking. You see, I'm the Mama-san of the most popular gay bar around the place. I wonder if you have heard of it? No?' He asked, sounding a bit let down. 'Ah, well…I guess that's only fair, seeing as you're not gay, let alone a man. But, if you know anyone who may be interested in visiting, please let them know!' He gave a wink that seemed as though it had stars jumping out of it, and which gave Yuya the worst case of shivers down her back for many, many years. For politeness sake, she tried not to let it show and camouflaged it with a slightly shaky smile.

'I..I guess I would…' (If I ever find the guts to ask anyone to know if they're gay in the first place…)

'Ne, Bikara, what did you ask Onee-chan just now?' The Innocent Antera enquired, jerking on Bikara's pants again with big, questioning eyes.

'Nothing, Antera! I wouldn't want to give you any useless and untrue suspicions! Well, good bye, Shiina-san, I hope we meet again sometime soon!'

'Aww, do we have to go already? Hmph. Bye-bye, then, Onee-chan, I'm going to the dentist's now~!'

'Be good, then. See you soon,' Yuya called from across the landing, as she watched Antera's bobbling, curly pigtails round the corner down the stairs, and Bikara having to duck his head down to move across it. Feeling slightly cheerful from having met with her friendly, although slightly weirdish (at least one of them was) neighbours for the first time with a good impression, she finally walked through her own door to retrieve some of her most needed possessions for the long day ahead of her. Perhaps to grab a little rest in more familiar surroundings, too.

The manager was just about crying as she guiltily crossed the barren restaurant and walked out of it, this time devoid of her fast food uniform. She had tried to break it to him as gently as possible, and would have felt extremely sorry for the man if she was not in desperate need of more money- that and her rush to get out of the premises before her conscience caught up with her. She knew it was the right thing to do for herself, that she should take heed of Okuni's and Yukimura's words and find herself of a job of more credits, that she would starve to death if she did not earn herself enough money to by an ice cream soon- that is, before she kills herself with the consumption of expired food that may give her an incurable case of food poisoning. So why, why the hell did she feel this way?

Shaking her head to rid herself of the ridiculous notion of feeling sorry for quitting the only job she could find in a short while, and leaving a poor, tearful man alone in the run down restaurant, she continued her walk down towards the bigger, busier part of the city, to take a little window shopping stroll around some decent looking markets- window shopping stroll for a Help wanted! sign, at least.

She didn't notice the figure far behind her, only a tiny dot in the distance at first, but gradually getting larger, until it revealed a young man running towards her at break-neck speed, propelling hands hardly visible, as were his feet, which was pounding on the concrete street beneath him like hammers on nails. However, no matter how fast he was going, his scream reached her before his hurtling body did.

'YUYA-HAAAAAN!!!'

She whipped around, and was instantly met with a gust of wind, with dust, dead leaves and flying grit swept into it, hitting her face as the figure accidentally ran past her, swerved and skidded to a final halt right in front of her. Much closer to our point of view, we are now able to identify him to be wearing the usual green pants, a white, ragged shirt with a few red strokes added fashionably to it, which matched the much more coloured bandana tied around his narrow head, with equally narrow eyes, and a mouth stretched into a wide grin.

'Yuya-han! I didn't expect to see you today, especially not around here! Not that I wasn't hoping for it, of course! I would never be able to feel like that, not even if I did something terribly wrong without realising and was very afraid of you hurting me for it! Hopefully, I may never give myself to feel like that, either. You know, I was just thinking about you, like I was since I stopped throwing up yesterday, about how cute you might look if you smiled (at me), or if you had your hair down, or if you were wearing a frilly black dress with a laced white apron and had the first two done as well, or- hey, Yuya-han? What happened to you?'

He stopped his incessant chattering and peered at Yuya closely. She was breathing very heavily, her eyes shadowed, ponytailed hair bushy and wild, with bits of leaves and dirt clinging to it- and on her arms, and legs, and face, and her clothes, as well. Her windswept form left Benitora staring in confusion for a little while, before he started laughing to blow it off.

'What happened to you, Yuya-han? Did a typhoon arrive while I was away, and catch you in the middle of it? Or did you decide to roll around in that puddle over there because you couldn't be bothered with a morning bath? It's not good for yourself if you do that, you know. You could catch a cold, much less end up looking like that, haha- oh, wait, I mean, well…Yuya-han…?'

*****

'I'm sorry, Yuya-han…' (Was it something I said…?)

'You should be!' Yuya angrily attempted to flatten her spiky hair as they walked down a wider, tiled street. 'Don't you know that I probably would have to undergo about a million interviews to find the perfect job? And if I get kicked off for "problems in appearance", then it'll be your fault!'

'Umm…I think a million is a bit of an exaggeration. Most of the supermarkets around here have open spaces, and they pay enough for the workers there to last a week easily…oh, you have something here, Yuya-san…'

As he reached to pluck a curled, dry leaf from Yuya's still untamed hair, she slapped his hand furiously as soon as it came in contact with it. 'Don't touch me!'

'But…but there was a leaf, Yuya-han,' Poor Benitora stammered, bewildered, as he let it drop from his fingers to the ground. 'You don't know what could be living on there…Little worms or larvae, insects and bacteria of all kinds, making their slimy way to your soft, pretty hair-'

'AAARGH! I DON'T want to hear that again! Why are you here, anyway, Baka-tora?'

'It's Benitora…ahem,' he coughed, straightening up and regaining his jolly tone again. 'I am in the middle of that five rounds I promised to run for insulting you yesterday, and my deepest apologies for that as well, Yuya-han. I'm almost there, I've been running since three in the morning today!'

Yuya glanced at him sceptically. 'You're actually doing that? And how long does five runs take you anyway?'

'Five rounds around our – the Gang of the City Samurai- territory, Yuya-han,' Benitora corrected. 'You won't believe how large it is when we show you, next time we get the chance. We are one of the strongest, and infamous, of all the gangs in this area, you know. I wouldn't be the slightest bit afraid if I betted my life's savings on that no one in the whole of Japan wouldn't know about us, if this gang thing that's so popular in this area was spread around the rest of the country. Yuya-han? Are you listening?' He bent his head closer to her, anxiously looking for a sign that she was. 'Did I anger you again? Should I add more to my laps?'

Yuya spared him a look. 'Suit yourself,' she said, and couldn't help feeling that maybe she was being a bit too colder than necessary to Benitora. The now grinning man, however, didn't seem to care for her tone much right now.

'Alright!' he said happily, and began to lift his knees high as he walked, preparing for the jog ahead. 'Is this the first job you'll be trying out for, then?' he added, as Yuya started to veer off towards a pet shop they had just reached.

Yuya sighed. 'Yeah, probably. I guess I'll see you around then.' She wanted nothing more than getting away from the always happy-go-lucky man, so to snap out of her uncaring attitude that she was now beginning to feel uncomfortable with, as it felt more and more strained as time around him went by. Benitora grinned, waved a 'Bye' to her, and rushed on down the street, leaving a cloud of dust behind him. Yuya was careful not to lose herself in it this time; she stepped hurriedly away from it and into the shop, the small bell above the door tinkling lightly as it opened and closed again.

It was around five shops and four hours later when Yuya decided that taking care of yet-to-be-sold pets, Chinese 3000 years of medicine, practicing the art of making chopsticks, being the advertising bunny rabbit girl for an aerobics lesson, and starting a new career as an employee at a newly opened restaurant, Burger Queen, were not all what she was cut out to be. Therefore, after eating at the previously mentioned café and going around in circles for a couple of hours more, she finally decided to take Benitora's hidden advice, and hesitantly, grudgingly, dragged her feet to the nearest supermarket, though she was still unsure of the turnout.

So she was surprised when, after a brief detailing of her name, age, occupation and status (none) to the manager, she was easily granted her new job in the supermarket Shiseiten Maruetsu.

'It'd be very helpful if you could start work tomorrow. You said you could do that? Good. You won't need any uniforms- just pick off a blue apron like the ones the others are wearing from the rack outside the employees' entrance.' The man behind the desk said to her, waving a careless hand towards the window of the door to his office, where outside, Yuya could indeed see the blurred figures of employees moving around, wearing the aprons. 'Otherwise, you just need to put this on,' He slid her an empty name tag across the desk. 'And you're good to go.'

'Thank you, umm…' Yuya searched around for the manager's name to be written somewhere around the room, as discreetly as she could. While she couldn't find it, she did spot a shelf with files in the otherwise almost empty room. His desk and the two chairs on either side of it were the only other furniture in it. A low, but bright light shone down onto them, reflecting off the man's pale hair, lighting up his kind, smiling face. The odd thing was, his eyes were closed, as it had been since he had led her from the cashier, where she had asked for him, to this small room at the side.

(A/N: Hint hint. What do you think his name is?)

'You may call me Akira, Shiina Yuya-san. I prefer to uphold a friendly connection with all of my employees, especially new ones. I hope you may find that everyone here is very accommodating if you need anything, so please let yourself feel comfortable for work.'

'Thank you, Akira-san,' Yuya smiled, though she wasn't sure if he could actually see it.

As if to read her thoughts, Akira gestured at his closed eyes. 'Ah, you must also be wondering about this too, aren't you? Yes, I cannot see. But I am used to it, so there is no need for any wariness for my safety or otherwise. You will get used to it as all the others did, I assure you. I don't wear sunglasses because they may make me look like a shady character- and, as I have said just now, I intend to keep the interaction between my employees as welcoming as possible.'

'You are very caring to the workers, I can see, Akira-san. Thank you, I think I will get used to my new job faster than I thought,' Yuya said, not ungratefully.

Akira chuckled. 'That's good to hear. Now, I'd rather you get here before seven in the morning- either me or my assistant will be here earlier anyway, opening the shop about an hour and a half before that. We'll appreciate it if we get the other workers helping to set things up. At seven sharp, everyone will assemble near the cashier for my assistant to give each of you your respective jobs for the day- if you've finished with them, then go to him for other jobs to busy yourself with. The shop closes at ten, though some people may leave earlier than that because they work part time, or because of situations of their own. Will any of this be a problem to you?'

Yuya shook her head, but then remembered that her new boss was blind- she replied 'No' for good measure. After a few more questions from her answered, she thanks Akira again for giving her the job (which, she found out, pays a good lot more than Benitora had made it out to be), she walked out happily, practically skipping in joy, and promptly banged into another person standing outside the door.

'Ow- oh- sorry about that-'

'No, no, I was the one who was inattentive, it's my fault-'

'No, it's mine-'

'No-'

After a couple of minutes of arguing over whose fault it really was, each vouching that it was their own, they finally settled with that it was each other's fault, as well as their own because they had both started the whole thing by saying it was, and they weren't about to give in to the other and admit that they were wrong about that, and so it made each other and themselves very confused, and decided to just ignore the matter all together.

'Was I holding you up here for long?' Yuy'a asked the other person, a girl in a blue apron and a name tag, so clearly an employee. 'I'm sorry, I went in to ask for a job here…'

'Oh, no, I just arrived myself,' the girl smiled. She looked a few years younger than Yuya herself, and quite likely a high school student. Her long brown hair was permed, fitting her cute, blushing face. 'I was just coming to greet Akira-san and then get on with my work, but then the assistant manager told me that someone was in there so I had to wait outside. Not that you took so long, it was really only a second or too until, well…'

'Oh, yes…really sorry about that, um…Aya-chan?' Yuya looked up from the name tag of the girl and smiled.

Aya nodded. 'Don't worry about it. I was standing right beside the door, it was my fault as well. So, um, you're starting work here? What's your name?'

'Shiina Yuya. I'm starting tomorrow, so I guess we'll be working together from now on, huh?'

'Oh, yes. We don't have many people here, and it's a pretty big store for it, but everyone's very warm so I can assure you that everything will be fine. Well, I was nervous myself when I started this part time, so I suppose that you might want to hear this… I'm Kuonji Aya. Sorry for the late introduction, and it's nice to meet you,' she said, shyly.

'I guess you're still at school, then?' Yuya asked. 'It's nice to see that a young girl like you take work life seriously as well as your studies.'

Aya smiled. 'You make yourself sound old, Yuya-san. You aren't so much, just a bit more than me. And, well, I started because my parents told me that I should start earning my own pocket money by myself.' She reddened, probably because she had to mention her parents.

Yuya shrugged. 'It's still good experience, I think. Oh, um, are you going to greet Akira-san?' She pointed at the closed door right in front of the two of them.

Aya yelped. 'Oh, yeah! I have to get on with my work. Bye, Yuya-san, I'll see you tomorrow!' She rushed inside Akira's office as Yuya raised her hand in farewell.

Humming, and certainly in a good mood today, Yuya stepped out from between the automatic doors and headed back down the way she came. But not before looking up at the setting sun, and freezing.

She had to stop herself from crying out, 'Holy crap!' in the middle of the street, as she flung up her arm to check the time on her watch. It was still around six, but the afternoon was already physically dimming into the night. There were a considerable number of people left, hurrying in the streets, but this was a far more active part of the town- the place she lived in was surely to be deserted by now. She cursed once more, perhaps for luck, and started sprinting down as fast as Benitora had went, not so far from her present location, but hours ago.

She had to take a few breaks- it was farther than she had expected, having wandered around aimlessly quite a few times during the day. She was panting and was starting to feel weak in the legs as she staggered up the slope, just a few blocks away from her apartment- when a hand snaked out from behind and grabbed her around the mouth.

She tried to scream, but the hand was firm and strong, as was the rest of the person behind her, snarling in an effort to wrench her back towards a dark street in the sidelines of a normal view of a person, often unattacked. Another pair of hands stretched around her to help his comrade pull.

As her back hit the wall, deep inside the cloaked, narrow gap between buildings, she struggled just enough to get part of her upper lip out from the unknown man's grasp, and bit down sharply on the hand. The hands releasing in surprise as a yell of pain emitted from the guy, Yuya made a tremendous effort to get out of the small path, but was hit, once more, by a fist from the side. Hitting the ground heavily as a groan escaped her clenched teeth, she instantly felt a much rougher, violent hand grasping her neck from behind. She choked, twisted on the floor, but it only made things worse. The grip tightened, giving her little room to breathe.

'Hey there, missy,' A familiar, but yet strangely changed snarl sounded above her, a voice that sounded no longer like a voice, but of bare feelings of hate, bitterness, and excitement. 'Did you think you were safe, just because you were saved that time by that piece of shit from the Samurais?' Did you?' She was twisted around, onto her back, and was forced to stare up into the wild, crazy eyed face of Mekira. 'You shouldn't have, missy…We won't ever let you get away again!'

Yuya, still gasping for air, surveyed her surroundings rapidly with just her eyes. While behind her, blocking her way to the open street, were only two of his cronies, in front of her, and above her, was Mekira and perhaps ten or so of his underlings. Between the spluttering and wheezes, she managed to croak out, 'Hands…off.'

Mekira's eyebrows were raised to an extent that he had to be doing it all on purpose. 'And who's the little fry who's ordering us around, like the princess she is, eh?' he leered.

Still struggling, Yuya tried to make the noises coming out of her throat sound a bit more like comprehensible words. 'I-I'm with them, now!' She retched, having put too much pressure on the emphasis.

The man laughed, abnormally high pitched, loud and long. 'You think we'll buy that? Just because one of their gang picked you up, doesn't mean that you're a part of them! We don't even know the names of the members of their gang- you think that one as secretive as that will offer you a place in it so easily? Ha! Yeah ri-'

He cut himself off with a grunt, as Yuya kicked in, as hard as she could, between his legs. Being somewhat underneath him, she had a clear shot. But even as she scrambled up and tried to tear away from the two still guarding the exit, she only made it halfway through, as they each tackled her from both sides.

'Get off of me!' she screamed, the shrill sound bouncing off the empty walls of the surrounding buildings, as she thrashed violently even when she felt herself being dragged across the dirt back into the alley.

She put this up for a few seconds, furious tears forming in her eyes, until she suddenly fell limp, helpless, having lost her strength and hope. There were yells of glee as the men behind saw this, and she gasped as hard kicks were landed on her with dull, heavy thuds. She dared herself to look back, to stare once more into the men's sickening, grinning faces.

What she saw, swinging right at her mouth, was a sharp, bony fist.

'Nn-!'

Breaking free from the restraining arms with a sudden spurt of energy, she clasped her bleeding lips. Drawing her knees closer to her torso, into a small ball, though the feel of protection was now non-existent to her, she shied away from the laughing, terrible figures, stepping ever closer to her.

Mekira was in front of them all, eyes gleaming maniacally, his grin showing way too much teeth.

'I'd love to play with you more, missy, but we can't stay here for much longer,' he hissed, the muscles in his eyeballs straining to keep from them popping out of his head. 'In that case, we should finish our meeting here as swiftly as we can, right?' His laugh had too many dips and rises; he was breathing heavily through his nose. He brought his left hand, which had been hidden behind his back for a while now. A recognisable knife, one Yuya had seen before, was gripped tightly in it. 'No one to save you now…Goodbye, you trouble making missy…!!'

Yuya was about to squeeze her eyes shut, to save herself from the view of the swishing knife, when the man's head suddenly jerked back, as if something had come into contact with it. Mekira himself never saw it coming, for he had only glimpsed a small pebble flying at his head from nowhere- it had looked like nothing that could do him much harm at first glance, but then, that was before it hit him squarely on the forehead with all the speed of a small bullet train.

Yuya didn't quite get what had happened, but she was already scuffling to get back out to the open space. Only when she was out did she begin to wonder, but it didn't take long for the answer to pop up, literally, in front of her.

'Yuya-han! Come this way, quickly!'

'Be-Benitora!?' Yuya gasped, as Benitora grabbed her around her wrist and pulled her down the street, away from the enclosed space.

'Why are you here?' Yuya demanded. 'Was it you, what did you do to that guy-'

Benitora smiled back at her as they continued their escape. 'I only threw an itsy pebble, that's all. Simple things in life work strangely if you use them with the right pressure, at just the right angle. And I was just going to check on you, Yuya-han! I finished twelve rounds, I told you I could do it!'

'And I thought Yukimura-san was the happy idiot…'

'What was that, Yuya-han?'

'Nothing! At all. Hey, Benitora…where are you taking me?'

Benitora's footing lost a step; he tripped up his next few paces to regain his balance again. 'Eh? I thought you knew…'

'How am I supposed to?' Yuya snapped, tugging on his arm to get him moving again. 'You're the one holding on to me! You're running in front of me!'

'I'm sorry, sorry! Here-' He made a sharp turn, dragging a frantic Yuya with him, and started down another passage hidden in between buildings. 'We'll just keep going down this lane, and see how things go!'

'What kind of plan is that?? We're going to be killed! You can't hit all of them with chipped pieces off the pavement, you know!'

'I'll work on it while we're getting away, Yuya-san!'

A period of running, with a few arguments during it, later, the two were panting against a wall, Yuya clutching her way around the alleyway. The sky was a brilliant image of red and orange, finally merging with the darkest blues, but none of the last, cherished light entered the little dark path- they could only walk through the steadily lengthening shadows of the buildings before them. At long last, Yuya finally collapsed against the rough surface standing beside her. 'Do you have a plan now, Benitora??'

He was looking back around the corner they had just rounded, listening anxiously, frowning in concentration. 'Not yet,' he replied shortly.

Yuya sighed irritably, trying to hide her worry. 'Well! That is a surprise. And there I was thinking I could outrun them, if I had the great Benitora-sama alongside me! Really, don't think I'm not appreciative of the save earlier on, but,' her piercing glare turned from him, and up towards the sky hidden by the towering form of the building. 'You're a complete idiot. We shouldn't have run into a place like this, we should have called for some reliable help. Like the police, even. But no, we're just going to stick around in this dirty hole of a street, and wait until they come with their knives ready for cutting, and then-'

She was cut off, startled, when a thin, long finger was placed gently on her lips. Glowering down, though she made no movement to remove it, she just spoke against the pressing finger, 'What are you-'

'Yuya-han,' came Benitora's voice from beside her, quieter than usual, and much serious sounding. 'I admit I may lack the brains that Yukimura-han or Kyo-han, and maybe even Okuni-han and the brat, but what the police can't do, I can. They won't be able to help either of us; I, however, am intent on protecting you at whatever cost. I will get you out of here, unharmed. They're coming; I can hear them. I want you to leave this to me, and run by yourself- make your way to the Bridge. Go, quickly-' Now even Yuya could sense the enemy's presence, low snufflings and unheard remarks reached her. 'I'll keep them off, till you're safe. You have the key, don't you?'

'Yes, but,' Yuya grabbed his arm as he started to turn away. 'I can't leave you here with all of them! You're defenseless! You'll be crushed!' She made him look at her squarely in the eye. 'I didn't mean to set you up for this. I'm staying to fight with you.'

Benitora gave a small smile. 'If you did that, then there's really no point in me staying here at all, is there? If I am to be crushed, as you put it, for the person I hold dear to my heart, then so be it. However,' The sounds from around the corner were getting larger, approaching fast. 'I have no intentions to be defeated by those dogs. I am a Samurai, and I'll see to it that they won't ever hurt you again.' He licked the blood from his fingers, her blood, which he had wiped off her cut lip. 'Now, go. I promise, I'll see you safely in the Bridge. For nothing,' A full out, easy, ear-to-ear grin. 'Can prevent this Benitora-sama from seeing his love!'

'Benitora…' Yuya was still uncertain. How would he ever…?

'Go! Yuya-han,' Benitora shouted, leaping in front of her to guard her back. The view of his strong, determined back shoved Yuya to her decision; to run, to trust him, that she will see him again.

(Benitora…you idiot!)

The yell was, of course, heard by the Orochikiba gang. With whooping battle cries, they raced out from behind the corner. Yet their last scene of Yuya was her disappearing back as she sprinted around the other one, behind the battle-ready, unwavering form of Benitora.

'After her…!' Mekira cried.

'Like as though I'll let you,' Benitora growled, spreading his legs apart wider, to take up more space.

Mekira stopped, as did his underlings behind him, all staring at him for his next order. Mekira, however, did not seem to be able to give one at the moment. He was busy scrutinizing the opposing man's face through the weakening light. He seemed to recognize it.

'Benitora…?' he murmured, in mild wonder.

The called man took up a fighting stance. 'Gihyou-nii',' he responded stubbornly.

Mekira shook his head, slowly, at him. 'Oh, little Benitora, what are you doing out here, in the dark?' he hissed, advancing on him. 'Well, since we are old acquaintances, I'll let you go freely today- we're in a bit of a hurry ourselves, did you see that girl that went running just now?' His larger than usual eyes narrowed down again, just a tiny bit. 'And the man that helped her…ah, and what fate befalls us…his back figure looked just like yours…'

'That sounded a little poetic, Gihyou-nii,' Benitora said jokingly. 'It is quite a coincident, isn't it? Who else do you know where's an outfit like this?'

'Maybe somebody who works at a fish store. But you, Benitora, are from quite a different world to that, aren't you?' Mekira breathed out deeply, still coming closer. 'Tell me, little Benitora,' he said, his tone changing to a warier one suddenly. 'Are you friends with that girl? You should be aware that she has cheated on us a number of times, running away before we could settle matters with her, and so acquired our enmity…something that surely you don't want, now, is it?'

Benitora tucked a hand in behind his back, searching for something. 'Not a step closer, Gihyou-nii,' he said sharply, bringing forth a very short, metal stick about the length of a baton. It had slight red markings on it, resembling the stripes on his shirt and bandana. 'And to answer your question about the girl? Yes, I'm her friend,' he grinned, eyes opening to observe Mekira's reaction. 'And one day I hope to be more than that, to her.' He took hold of each end of the stick with both hands, and pulled; with many a clicks and clacks, layers of more of the pole was revealed to be hidden inside the first, finally finishing with a rounded end, wrapped up with cloth, on top of a metal rod longer than Benitora's full height. He took a stance, with the clothed end pointing at Mekira's chest. 'Your enmity? Ha, I could get that any day, just like Yuya-han did, escaping narrowly from your evil methods…and I couldn't care less about it, if I am to achieve it by protecting the person I love!'

All of the opponents hissed at his defiance, Mekira, in particular, looked displeased at his act. 'Last chance, Benitora' he snarled.'Get out of our way or-'

But Benitora had not waited to listen to the rest of Mekira's threats- he rushed straight at him, his pole deftly weighed in his hands. Yet Mekira was not taken aback at this silent attack; he leapt back, into the midst of his pawing cronies, and finally gave out the awaited order- 'Kill him!'

The first five that charged at him were easily deflected- they were repelled , hurtling back to the back wall, hitting their heads on it and stirred only once at most, clearly not getting up any time soon. However, Benitora's attacks were getting less nimble, easier to predict, as the remaining lot poured down on him. As he wrestled with three at once, two more came at him with their sharpened knives flashing around them- his face, arms and chests had numerous long, but shallow, cuts scratched upon them. Even as he rid himself of a pair by banging their heads together, he was overwhelmed by the remaining.

On a side order from Mekira, two more darted forward- but went completely past the flaying Benitora. Instead, they made to reach the other end of the street, and turn the corner- intent on following wherever Yuya had gone.

Benitora noticed them, and realized- and he went into a frenzy.

Pushing his current opponents away from him with a sudden burst of strength, he made to catch up with them, pole at ready. 'DON'T EVEN THINK OF IT!' he roared.

The first man he caught up to, he dealt with a strong, swinging, arm. It caught his nose, breaking it; he crumpled, pressing at the flowing blood, still quite conscious. The other didn't even see it coming- but he did feel it.

It felt like it was played in slow motion. Benitora's arm stretched, the long stick thrusting forwards, it' cloth ripping as the right pressure was applied to it, positioned at just the right angle. From it, three sharp, shining white pikes emerged- and was buried once more, in cloth, muscle and blood.

The man felt the warm pressure build up in his throat before the actual pain reached his brain; combining that with the shock, and the coughing up of the blood was enough to make him feel more than dizzy. The lance had gone right through him- ripping through his arteries first as it struck him in the back, through various tissues and muscles before penetrating his windpipe and re-emerging out front. His vision was hazy as he toppled forwards, so he didn't exactly see the other end of the pike sticking out from his chest, and was pretty much dead by the time he hit the floor, so he didn't have to feel the blade being yanked out again, or the horrified stares of his comrades on him, and of that of his killer.

Benitora was hating himself immensely for a few seconds after the man had fallen, bloody pike in hand, until his mind automatically reminded his embittered heart of Yuya, running for her life, and all his regret was swallowed up by rage and a different kind of hatred. He turned slowly to the other man, the one with the broken nose, who looked up at him fearfully, begging him please don't, have mercy, please- and with a swift slash across his throat, he fell silent again, the blood spurting all around him, and dribbling on the ground. He, like his mate killed before him, barely had time to form a scream as he died.

Breathing hard, and full of resolute, the blood splattered man turned slowly to the standing remainders of the group. The count went down to nine, five unconscious- three subordinates still up and one cowering Mekira. He took a patient step towards them.

'No one…' Benitora's voice sounded. His eyes glaring, fiercer than ever before, fixed unblinkingly at Mekira. 'No one…especially not you, Gihyou-nii, will hurt Yuya-han again!!!'

Mekira made a sound that suspiciously resembled an 'eep'. 'Get...get him! Go!' he screeched at his unsure, frightened minions. The pitiful drones, knowing nothing apart from listening to their leader's orders, took their last unwilling, quick steps towards the man with the spear, knives held for what blockage they could use to save their bodies. Benitora eyed them mercilessly, all of his humour gone, left far behind the slaughter now taking place in the enclosed street.

'Guaaah!'

'No- Uaahh!'

'Ah, you- Aaaaargh!!'

After a brief and grotesque episode of Benitora stabbing the pitiful, mindless men to rest, he swiveled back round for Mekira- and finding himself with two groaning, rising men, the other three still unconscious. The awakened men blinked, gaped, unable to understand the situation immediately as the blood covered alley opened up before their hazy sights.

'What the-ah-'

'Fu-UWAAAAH!!'

Two more bodies hit the ground heavily, sliced across their chests. After a period of writhing, the gasping bodies lost their energy, and slowly died. By which time, the lance had pierced through each of the other three men on the ground- only one woke to the pain, before quickly dimming out again, the bloody scene etched into his closing mind. The others died peacefully, in their sleep, not aware that they will never wake again.

Benitora's heart, however, had no such thing "peaceful" to it. It was a maelstrom of mixed feelings, turbulence in his weighing of good and bad, his actions- and of Mekira, and Yuya. Worry for the girl prevailed over the tiredness, and the disbelief of what he had just done. Letting this lead to the case of Mekira, Benitora cursed to have overlooked the most important danger. But, he reasoned with himself, he had been standing in the way of the path Yuya had taken- no one had gone past him since his first kill. Therefore…

He turned on his heels around the corner from which he had came, following Mekira's tracks down the walled street. Leaving behind the bodies of the men, dyed red to match their surroundings, he started to hunt down the whereabouts of the scarpered Leader of the fallen Orochikiba gang.

The small seed of regret was blown off of him as he thought of Yuya and her safety, and how he could leave this all behind as soon as he found her. With this to urge him on to finish the job quickly, he speeded up; and an animal like howl rose up towards the stars beginning to show themselves in the night sky.

******

The door was wrenched open- and the slamming sound echoed on both sides of it, into the twilight outside, up the stairs inside the still, silent room. Yuya slid down it, coughing-but didn't waste much time there. Still out of breath, she staggered and clanged up the stairs, a hoarse voice shouting as she went. 'Yukimura-san?! Sasuke-kun!'

No reply. As she burst into the main room, it was pitch black. No sign of anyone having been here for a while was evident to Yuya, who rushed to the bedroom, and eventually the bathroom, skipping the third as it was unlikely for anyone to be there.

'Okuni-san!? Is anyone here??'

She paused on the tiled floors of the washroom, breathing hard in the musky, stale air. The ruined mirror showed only her panting, searching figure. No one else was in the bridge house.

She stepped out, all motives lost to desperation. The sudden feeling of loneliness in the spacious corridors caught up with her, and she made no movement, unsure of her next action. Head bowed, the slight outline of the girl shifted slowly to the edge of the stairs, hand clutching the railings so hard her knuckles went pale. In a husky, weak voice, a last attempt was made.

'K-Kyo…?'

The deafening silence rang through the empty hall. All doors remained closed, and nothing budged, in the shadows, apart from the despairing, crumpling girl, with her face buried into her grubby, soiled hands.

(Isn't anyone here to help me…?)

Benitora would be hurt, she was sure of it. He would not stand a chance… Yukimura's voice sounded in her memory, his unusually grave tone filling the room, as the TV flashed on around her, and the other three, casting their shadows to dance wildly on the wall behind them- 'Accidents with them could result in heavy injuries…or even fatal ones.'

A hollow, gaping feeling opened in Yuya's heart. Why, she kept repeating to herself, like a mantra, Why is there no one to save him…?

Why do you need somebody else to do that? A voice, mocking, taunting, intervened her train of thought. Why cannot you go by yourself? Why are you so weak, not to be able to do anything with your own power?

Why didn't I stay? Yuya thought on, with a wrenching jolt to every word, to every understanding. I could have helped him, I was the only one who could…

Salty tears dropped from her closing eyes, falling to her hands and trickling down. In the darkness, her gasps were all that sounded around her. But, through negative thoughts, an image broke through- friendly, smiling eyes, set upon a determined face of Benitora.

(Yuya-han…)

Even he was willing to stand up to fight, to protect her. He will be giving his all, for her.

(I have no intentions to be defeated by those dogs. I am a Samurai...)

Yet, what could he do? How could he hold his own against that lot?

(I promise I'll see you safely in the Bridge.)

That was his promise. An empty, senseless promise that was used to convince stupid, cowardly her to run and leave him at the hands of his murderers. She was here, now, in the safety of the Bridge hideout- where is he?

Still fighting, her mind's voice answered itself. Still alive, for your sake. Are you as shameful as to reject his efforts? His power in trust, to survive?

Yuya did not know where this knowledge came from, in the situation of her unaware of Benitora's condition, which was the root of her being upset. But, the certainty tore through her downbeat feelings, and showed her a new light, her new duty to wait, with faith, that her "friend" will come back.

(No,)

Her legs straightened out; her hand grabbed at the railing, and she rose, and walked on down the stairs. But though she had reached the steel door, she did not even touch the knob to open it, but instead pressed her palms on the smooth surface to lean against it. Her eyes squinting through the peephole on it, she searched for any sign of people approaching the Bridge.

(I'm not. I have faith in him- I know he'll come back. I can't do anything to help him, but right now, I can only believe in his promise.

Thank you, Baka-tora.)

*****

Benitora caught up with Mekira just a few streets away from the first scene. However, he had been led on a merry goose chase before then, and only as Mekira returned from the roundabout did he finally manage to get closer to his heaving back. The two men faced off with each other, both standing their ground on opposite sides of the road, much wider than the street before, both breathing hard, leaning against a wall or supporting their bodies with their hands on knees. After almost a full minute or so, a high, breaking sound crack through the steady paces of their gasps. It rose even more, and Mekira threw his head back, mouth wide open, the maniac laughter escaping out of it.

'Splendid!' he yelled. 'Absolutely amazing! Benitora, I never thought you had it in you!' The mad cackling went on. Benitora's face had a look of one struggling to understand.

'That was the best blood festival I have ever seen,' Mekira continued, his long, thin fingers holding his forehead, shadowing an eye. 'So wonderful, to see that those useless men actually had an ultimate purpose!' He took in a ragged breath, lowering his hand from his head. 'To show me that displays of ruthless, cold hearted murder- all dealt by you, Benitora!'

Benitora was looking at him with disgust and loathing. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. 'Those men were your friends, or at least they risked their lives for your stupid orders! Whatever they were, they were human, people you had spent time with- and you're treating them as though they're trash, throwing them away for a sick "purpose" like that!?' His grip on his lance, still clutched in his hands, tightened till his fingernails dug into his palm, drawing blood.

Mekira shrugged, leering at the sight of an even more infuriated opponent. 'Why, of course. People I spent time with? Don't make me laugh! They were only kept by my side for the strength I needed to work like this- I needed a dependable group, servants who could collect the power I deserved for me! And while you're tossing insults for that, Benitora…what about yourself? If they were only human, with emotions and relatives and friends, what about you, who killed them all mercilessly, without a care in the world?'

'I do have a care in the world,' Benitora snarled. 'I'm not going to say that that makes it alright for me to kill them, but I had vowed to myself,' He raised his weapon, pointing it directly at Mekira's heart. 'I won't let anyone lay a hand on my Yuya-han!'

'Yuya? Is that her name, then. I will remember that for my next meeting; we aren't quite done yet. But, regrettably, I'm afraid that will be dealt with after I take care of you!' With his last words ascending to a holler, Mekira charged straight at Benitora, leaping high into the air and bringing his knife down. Benitora parried it with a loud clang; he was not taken aback.

'I won't let that happen!' He gritted his teeth, and with a huge effort, threw Mekira over his back. The Snake-face tumbled around a few times before regaining his balance; he skidded round to tear back towards the other man. Keeping a low stance, and dodging the blows Benitora lashed out, his knife thrust out just as he got close enough. The sharp edge nicking the side of his stomach, Benitora hissed in slight pain, and leapt back a few feet to avoid any other attacks. Both men stood apart, out of breath already.

'You have improved much since the last time we fought each other, little Benitora,' Mekira said softly. 'Although it was just a fist fight to be specific, you seem to be holding your own for quite a long time now.' His grin stretched across his face. 'Like I said before, Benitora, you can now kill in cold blood. I tried to teach you this before, there is no such thing as survival if you cannot be a murderer here.'

'Shut- shut up,' Benitora gasped. 'And I said before, I'm not like you- I don't base my actions on meaningless things. I do things in my own way, for my reasons.' His opened eyes glared out from beneath the shadow. 'I won't be anything like you, Gihyou-nii. Thinking you're too cool to hang out with anyone you could beat up, thinking you're the master over everyone because you pick the best fights… I only wish I should've disagreed with you earlier. You know, everyone was at the verge of celebrating because you left, if they weren't so damn scared of you.' He straightened up, staring at Mekira, a look of pure rage. 'They saw a bully who had everyone's fate in his hands. I can see, now, that you're just an effing coward, good for nothing, except at stealing treasures which are rightfully other people's. You've got no right to live, much less than your brainless buddies back there.' He steadied his pike.

Mekira's eyes narrowed. 'What can you say about me at all, Benitora?' he spat, face twisting to an equal look of hatred. 'You know nothing, brought up in a cushy home- I bet you're regretting leaving it now, aren't you? Joining some god forsaken gang, practically living on the streets; a dirty life like this is too hard for a young master to understand, a waste of thinking for the rich little boy who has slaves to lick his shoes from the day he was born!'

Benitora, amazingly, cracked a smile. 'I get something along those lines almost everyday, from a brat who I could never understand, too, just as he can't understand me. The same goes for you and I, Mekira,' he said, pronouncing the man's gang name for the first time. 'Right now, and probably on till the day I die, I won't care for whatever obstacles you had to go through in the past, to become who you are now- I only know that whatever you did ever since I've known you, it was rotten and sick to the bone. Unforgivable, and I'll make you pay for it.'

Mekira gave a short laugh. 'I guess this it then- the final showdown between us. Of course, I never expected a prideful young master like you to work anything about me, or of that of my ways, out- I merely wanted to make a statement. You say that I will not know anything about you-' His smile turned scornful again. 'Does that mean that anyone else will? I have never met one who does to me, and you are no exception.'

'Perhaps, a day will come when somebody will,' Benitora replied calmly. 'Some things I did… I regret them. Perhaps that person will declare to finish me, too, for myself to pay my sins with my hurt, and death. But until then, I plan to fight- to live on, by defeating you first.'

Mekira smiled. 'How touching. But I sincerely doubt that you will ever get that far, as I will kill you here, right now.' He took a stance, prepared to run, knife cocked towards Benitora's direction. Raised above his shoulder, it gleamed in the moonlight, shining down on their last fight underneath a velvet of a clear, dark sky. '…Get ready, Hidetada.'

Benitora shuffled his left foot behind the other, spear held steady low down. 'You too, Gihyou-nii.'

The wind blew, and unseen dust swirled around in the gap between them.

Before they had settled once more, the two had left their positions, and were running at each other on full speed.

'UAAAAAAAAAHH!!!'

'HAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!'

Their battle cries mingled with the other's as blade met metal stiff, pikes blocked by knife. Sparks as metal hit each other flashed through the dark, never endingly emitted as the attacks were blocked, the weapons rarely staying together for long. On the few occasions they did, the two men stared into each other's eyes, a million feelings exchanged between them before they sprang apart again.

'Give up, Benitora,' Mekira shouted as he spotted him stumbling in between a turn. 'You can't win against me, no matter how strong you became!'

'We'll see about that!' came his heated reply.

Growling in irritation, Benitora ran around Mekira, trying to catch his back. In one fraction of a moment, it seemed as though he had- but as he sprinted forward for that one chance, Mekira whirled around, the tip of his knife cutting into his arm. Crying out, Benitora sprang back again, much farther away this time. As Mekira made no sudden moves to follow him, he lifted his arm to examine the wound. Luckily, it was not so deep, though some blood still dripped out of it.

'Your movements are too sloppy, little Benitora,' Mekira yelled across at him. 'You have no chance, do you hear! I'm stronger than you, faster, and more experienced! I'm better than you, and I'm going to kill you! You hear me!?'

'Yeah, I hear you loud and clear, Gihyou-nii,' Benitora mumbled. 'The insanity I can hear can't be healthy for you. It doesn't matter if you're better than me,' he answered loudly. 'No muscle strength will ever stop me from protecting my loved one!'

'"Your loved one", ha! Let me teach you one more thing before you die, Benitora. In this world, there is no such thing as love. Love is a useless feeling that only muddles and deceives weak ones into grave mistakes they can never again crawl out of. Love is unreliable, untrue to the world- so it's better just to ignore it altogether, to keep your head clear and straight forward with fighting and hating. If you had enough time to love some pitiful woman, then you should have worked more on your battling styles- reusing the tricks I told you isn't going to save you!'

'Oh, don't worry Gihyou-nii – I've still got some up my sleeves yet!' Benitora grinned, and licked the blood trickling down his arm. 'I think…it's time to finish this,' he added softly, before taking off.

'Tch…impatient fool. Eager enough to rush to his death, I see,' Mekira sneered, as he saw the other man sprint towards him, face contorted in concentration as he approached him, fast. He blinked. 'What-?'

If he had time to, he may have paused to rub his eyes. For it seemed as though that not only one Benitora was heading towards him, but three.

(Don't tell me…)

Mekira glanced over his shoulder. Sure enough, four more of the forms was leaping towards him, surrounding him.

But his lips twisted into a smile, as understanding struck him.

'"Shadows", Benitora? Such an old trick? I'll just cut through them, you know!'

If he had been up closer to him, he might have spotted the curling at the end of Benitora's lips, too.

(This isn't just ordinary "Shadows", Mekira…this is a technique that's going to cost you your life…!)

He let out his battle scream, just as Mekira rushed at him, cutting down the two in front, dispersing them back to the blackness. Knife drawn, and this time, ready to hit a sure strike with all his might, his steps flew like the wind, as Benitora also took his final one-

(Hassun-!!)

The two forms collided, then streaked past each other; a still moment lengthened as they simply stood, backs to each other. Then, with heavy groans of pain, the figure of Benitora crumpled, grabbling at the cut in his side. Mekira turned to him with distaste, and eyed him like as though he was some appalling creature half hidden in the soil of a garden.

'You were lucky. I flunked that one. Don't worry, seeing as you're in no condition to fight anymore…how about I end it quickly, right now?'

A pause; then a laugh dropped from the kneeling man's lips. 'How can you do that, when you're the one already beaten?'

He frowned. 'What are you-'

'Take a good look at yourself, Mekira, and see for yourself what you have become.'

Prepared to rebuff the comment, Mekira looked himself down- and froze in fear. Somehow, unbeknownst to him, his body had became like a piece of paper clamped too many times with a hole puncher- the gaping openings showed right through him, his still pumping organisms bare for the human eye to see. His last strength was sapped from beholding this- with a loud moan, he fell forwards, having finally being put on a path that will slowly lead him to his death.

Through the retching, he looked up at the straightening back of his last opponent. 'You…you bastard, Benitora…'

Benitora did not turn. 'That's the difference between your power and mine. I have a reason- and one strong enough to help me through the pain I've brought upon myself. So I won't regret this, Gihyou-nii,' He was talking to himself now; the body on the ground was no longer heaving, and it lay still as it became one with the night. 'I won't regret my decision to let go of a part of my past.'

The next breeze that passed the scene didn't sense the presence of the other man. He was long gone, weaving himself through the alleys, clutching at the still bleeding wound on his side. Benitora felt his head drifting off sometimes as he walked on- he stumbled to the ground, or had to use something to regain his consciousness to keep walking, more than a few times. When at last he had reached the street looking over the dark river, he let a small smile escape onto his lips. The bridge towered a little way off, and, praying that he will see Yuya, unharmed, inside of it, he puffed up his chest with some effort and proceeded to march up towards the door.

It opened before he reached it; a bundle of light brown hair hurtled towards him.

'Benitora!'

Too surprised to make a sudden reply, the called man looked down in surprise as warm heat was pressed against his stomach, thin arms wrapping around the middle. Before he could relish in the delightful moment, however, the warmth left his body, and in exchange he was rewarded with a smart impact on the side of his head.

'What took you so long???'

The slap wasn't exactly unexpected, but Benitora gave a grimace anyway. 'Oww, Yuya-han, you shouldn't treat the injured this way…'

'It's because you were late, Bakatora! Injured? Don't give me that, here, let me see…' As she peered at him through the dark, Yuya's flushed, angry face turned swiftly to one of horror as she took in his form. Yet she investigated the wounds, her expression turning stony again. 'Well, that isn't much. Come inside and I'll have them treated.'

Benitora was taken aback by this. 'Eh? You would? I mean…Yuya-han, you're probably tired today. You don't have to do this for me, you should just go and rest.'

'No,' Yuya's face was hidden as she dragged him into the Bridge. 'I want to help,' she continued as they climbed to the second landing. 'I'm not going to shy away from this one, not like last time…The least I can do, is this.'

She stopped suddenly outside the bathroom. She did not open the door, or turn to Benitora, who was looking at her anxiously. 'Yuya-han…?'

She spoke, her voice sounding as though she was choking back tears. 'If it weren't for me, you would never had to trouble yourself with them… You would never have gotten hurt. I can't do anything, all I do is bring danger with me, to the people around me…' Her breath hitched, and she spoke no more.

Benitora laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. 'Yuya-han…' She did not react. 'Yuya-han, please look at me,' He said, tone a mite forceful. Her head shifted a little, but not fully. Benitora sighed. 'None of these are your fault. Most of this blood isn't even mine. Mekira was an unstable guy who would have attacked anyone that came across his path. You're not the first, Yuya-han - I've seen others, far worse off than you or I am now. I couldn't help them, but the numbers just went on piling up till I couldn't leave it alone any longer. I had a score to settle with him, Yuya-han. It would have ended this way, even if you let it be.' He let a laugh enter his voice. 'Truthfully, I'm glad to be over it- it feels good to be rid of a burden I've carried for so long. And you know? I think I would have never been able to own up to him, if it weren't for you, Yuya. I, and all the other would-have-been future victims of the Orochikiba gang, have you to thank for, relieving us of the pressure.'

Yuya faced him then, her eyes glistening from suppressed tears. '…I'm not in your way, or anything?'

His smile grew larger. 'Of course not! Yuya-han, you are my motivation! There, don't cry,' he added, as Yuya furiously scrubbed her eyes with her curled hands. 'You're a part of the Gang of the City Samurai, aren't you? You have to be strong, and support us if we get hurt, until the day comes for us to do the same for you…'

(And I'll always guard your back if that happens. You can fight with your strong soul, but not necessary by yourself. I'll protect you until that day.)

Yuya nodded, gave a sniff, and spoke back with her usual, brisk voice. 'Well- well then! Get in there so I can do just that! I- I'll go get the first aid kit…' She did not meet Benitora's eye.

He realized after a few seconds. 'Oh! Look in the cabinets in the kitchen, Yuya-han. It should be in the third from the entrance, but we've used it so much we can't seem to remember every place we put it…'

'Never mind- I'll find it myself.' She dodged around Benitora's bulk and ran towards the living room. After a short while, the clanging of metal echoed back to him, followed with Yuya's shriek.

'Oops…pots and pans. Sorry, Yuya-han…' He grinned, and opened the bathroom door. 'I'll be washing up first!' He called over his shoulder. 'Knock before entering, if you find it!'

Chuckling as a string of words followed him into the room, the door closed again with a quiet click.

*****

'…The men's bodies are yet to be identified, but the police has determined the great possibility of their death to be brought upon by the same weapon. While a more specific estimated description of the weapon has yet to be announced to the public, the investigators of the body suggest that it was at least more than fifty centimetres long, sharp edged and had around three pointed knives attached to it. The neighbours expressed their shock at this brute murder of so many people while interviewed.

'"It was truly a horrible sight to see. The floor was practically flooded with the blood, and there was hardly a patch left that wasn't red. I still can't believe that such a thing happened so close to our homes. It's…it was like slaughter for the pigs. It's wicked."'

'"I think I won't be able to sleep at night after seeing that. There were so many bodies lying on the ground. Very gruesome. I hope that the police finds the person who has done this, and quickly. I won't be able to rest peacefully until then."'

'On a different news, a body of one more man was discovered lying on a street of a residential area, quite near to the previous incident of the murder of ten men found dead in between the Eastern office building and the bistole behind it, Asa Ichiban. Investigators believe that this killing has connection with that, although they have determined that the wounds are quite different to the other event, as he had several circular, open holes in his body. The width of the holes ranged from six inches to thirteen, and the investigators suspect that they were made from large bullets or a drill of some kind, although there are other theories, and contradictions to this matter. Nevertheless, the police concluded that this murder could have been committed by an acquaintance, if not the same person, of the mass murderer of the ten men. They also have reason to believe that the dead people may have been in, or had connections to, the still rising problems of gangs in the area, which may have been the reason for their deaths. Police are still investigating the crime scenes, as well as the murderer's whereabouts.

'Now, time for the weather. This was Minami Yumi with this morning's top news.'

'Good morning. This is today's weather, and a report on cloud movements and temperature. Up till midday, it seems that the Kanto region will be covered with a thin layer of cloud, which will disperse from time to time, yet there is no threat of rain…'

Benitora whistled as the TV continued with the six o'clock news, flipping the bacon in the frying pan as it sizzled and smoked. The cheerfully smiling teddy bear face stared up at it from it's pink apron.

'Hello there, Tora-san,' a womanly voice sounded for the doorway. He turned to find Okuni leaning against the frame, smiling as she left it to sit at the table.

'Good morning, Okuni-han!' Benitora beamed at her through the counter. 'It looks as though it will be a much cooler day today, doesn't it?' He nodded at the TV, still rambling on about the climate of the evening.

Okuni glanced back at it. 'Oh, yes. Much healthier for my skin, too. A humid air isn't good for smooth ones as mine. Too much sun is bad, too.'

Benitora waved a hand as he set the pan down. 'Yeah, yeah, your beauty tips work wonder on people like me. Nice new shirt there. Makes you look big today, too.'

Okuni glared at him so hard that his head might have exploded from the intensity. 'Much thanks for that. No wonder every girl you speak more than five words to end up wanting to run you through with a knife.'

'Oh, yeah, speaking of knives,' Benitora began, but was interrupted by the door opening again, and a merry voice trilling out, 'Morning, everyone!'

Yukimura bounced into the room, his beam casting a shining light on all that stood in his way. Sasuke followed grumpily after, his hand stuck in the pockets of his ultra-small shorts. 'Ah, Okuni-san, you're here too?' Yukimura asked brightly, spotting the woman with her elbows on the table. 'What a surprise! You're not, Tora-san,' he added as the other man opened his mouth to say something. Benitora shrugged, and turned back to his bacon, which was now smoking profusely. Ignoring the yells of panic emitting from the conjoined room, Yukimura asked the woman, 'What brings you here so early in the morning?'

Okuni took her arms off the wooden surface and leant back in her chair. 'I collected a good deal of rumours from that last incident. Thought I might share the ones I'm concerned about with you, before anything else happens.' She stretched, and gave a big yawn. 'Excuse me,' she said, rubbing her eyes. 'I've been up all night, going round places and such.'

'Haven't we all,' Yukimura agreed, smiling at her as he, too approached the table. 'Sorry, but maybe we should leave your briefing till we're all here. I don't know when Kyo-san is showing up, but hopefully soon. We can fill in one member with information quickly. But a night without sleep is especially bad for a woman's health, Okuni-san. You should take care of yourself more, you look a little peachy.'

'I'll take those words to heart, thank you. And what about you? It's a Saturday, and almost seven- you could still be asleep by now!'

'Yeah, but we have something to take care of here,' Yukimura answered. 'Sasuke lost his game here last night, and we're here to find it,' he continued, acting oblivious to the whooshing sound in the kitchen as Benitora's perked up ears deflated once more with emphasis. 'Silly boy.'

Sasuke spluttered behind him, and yanked his hands out of his pockets. 'What are you saying, you idiot! You took it away from me that day, so it's you who let it drop out of sight! Don't bring me into it!'

'Sasuke, there's no reason to be so upset over losing your friend…'

'It's not my friend! What kind of sad person do you take me for?!' (A/N: Sorry, unknown readers who take offence in this… I am one myself, so don't feel troubled, don't hate me…)

'Aside from that, it still cost ten thousand and eight hundred yen. If we used that money for something more constructive, then maybe you wouldn't have grown up to be such a kid.'

'You're the one who bought the damn game, for no reason apart from a gift. And we only got it a few weeks ago, how could it affect my behaviour? Wait- I'm not a kid!'

'We have gone through this many times before-'

There was a bang on the counter, as Benitora practically pounded the plate of ruined bacon on it. 'An-san,' he grinned, eyes half shadowed scarily. 'Is the only reason you came here today, to search for the noisy brat's stupid game???'

Yukimura, Sasuke, and Okuni all looked at each other, before turning back to Benitora. 'Yes,' Yukimura replied with a straight face. 'I guess it is.'

'Don't you think that there's a little something you'd like to congratulate- scratch that, just talk to me about?'

Yukimura cocked his head to one side, appearing to think hard. 'I don't think so.'

'Think harder, then! It was on this morning's top news!'

'Is it about the whale that washed up on that beach in Osaka?' Sasuke asked.

'Or the sudden raise in the gasoline stations' prices,' Okuni guessed.

'Ooh, yeah, that's going to be a pain in the ars-'

Benitora passed a hand wearily down his face. 'No, seriously guys- about Mekira? About the whole Orochikiba gang?'

'What about them?' Yukimura continued to taunt him, even when he was aware that he was close to tearing through the man's patience.

'"Eleven men dead, practically speared in the alleys!"' Benitora snapped. The plate in his hands cracked from the pressure he was giving into it. 'Stop playing dumb, at least say something about it!'

'Oh, that. Yes, I'm thinking about including it in my next magazine. It's cutting it a bit close, since it's due to be released in two weeks time, but I think it'll be good enough.'

'I thought that one was a fashion magazine, Yukimura-san? What good is putting on an article about a mass murder in the dark streets?'

'What's wrong with introducing the new fashion of the century- blood splattered rough clothes with holes in their crucial parts?'

'Everything, especially coming from you, Yukimura-han,' Benitora grumbled, dumping the wasted bacons into the bin behind him. 'You're all taking this a bit lightly, don't you think?'

'Not really. I mean, we were kind of expecting you to commit something rash like that, ever since Yuya-san came,' Okuni replied peacefully, examining her nails. 'Speaking of which, where is she?'

'In the next room, sleeping like a baby, last time I checked on her. Last night was a real rush for her.'

'And you're used to it, are you? Good,' Yukimura went on, without waiting for an answer. 'But there is one thing I'd like to say. We are people who never rest from fighting, ever. We do not have the time, nor the heart, to care for other's well beings, if that means that you will be risking your life for them. The last thing was lucky- Mekira was a nutty madman who liked to waste his time on bullying one, young girl, just for the fun of finishing her off. If he was any stronger than that, he had a potential chance of killing you in place of him. If another enemy comes, and this time you can't stop them, then you have to remember that you fight alone, in this battle for survival.'

Everyone was staring at him as he finished, but his stone cold eyes only bored into Benitora's. Sasuke looked up at him with an unreadable expression, before dropping his gaze to the floor as he proceeded away to look for his lost object.

'I don't accept that,' Benitora replied at last, stubbornly. 'You were the one who used to treasure companions the most, Yukimura-han. You gave up a lot to protect those you loved. And now you're telling me that I'll have to throw the ones most precious to me away, if I want to live?'

'In time to come, Benitora, you'll learn to think that way,' Yukimura shot back, his tone kept level.

'No, not in time to come. Not ever,' Benitora growled, eyes never leaving Yukimura's face. 'I've vowed to myself to that I will save Yuya-han from ever falling down a path like mine. I will protect her, and if there comes a time when one of us must kick the other out of the way, let it be her who does the kicking. An untainted person like that deserves to live more than me.' The bitterness was evident in the words, his voice.

Yukimura's face relaxed quickly into a smile once more. His testing was over. 'Somehow, I'm glad you're thinking that way. I hope it doesn't change. So, then,' he rested his elbow on the table, his chin cupped in his hands in turn. 'What do you want us to do?'

Benitora blinked. 'Huh?'

'Do you want us to tell her about what you've done?' Okuni asked. 'Or do you want to keep the whole thing quiet, seeing as she's just woken up.'

'Either way, she's going to find out,' Sasuke piped up from the sofa, which he had his hand dug into. 'Aha! Gotcha!' He pulled out a dusty game from the gap between the cushion and the armrest, triumphant in his treasure hunt. 'It could be for the better or for the worse if she hears it out of your mouth rather than from some person she had never met before.'

'Actually, um…' Benitora fidgeted on the counter. 'I think I'm not really ready to tell her I'm a murderer. You know, for one thing, it'll spoil my chances with going out with her,' he grinned sheepishly. 'But for another, it's that I can't believe it myself, even now- I've never done so much before at once, even with you guys.'

'Ah, well, we'll just call that settled, should we?' Yukimura said brightly. 'We'll just wait till you pluck up your courage and tell Yuya-san that you've done so many and has too thick a skull to acknowledge it yourself. Other than that, we're clear!'

'…Really, Yukimura-han, your mood swings are getting kinda spooky.'

Just then, the door swung open again, making all of them swivel their heads around. Yuya, in a new set of clothes she had no doubt scourged from the now infamous Box, walked in with her arms raised in a stretch. Closing her mouth from a yawn, she blinked as she spotted the people in the room. 'Yukimura-san, Sasuke-kun, Okuni-san, you're all here today?'

'Good morning, Yuya-san,' Yukimura and Okuni chorused, while Sasuke only nodded his head, staring intently on his game. 'How was your day yesterday?' Yukimura asked, with a knowing smile.

Yuya snorted, looking into the kitchen as Benitora gave a thunderous round of 'Good morning!' when he sighted her. 'He must have told you about it. Mekira and his gang-'

'Oh, yes, we heard about that,' Okuni waved her hand in front of her face, as if to brush it off. 'But Yukimura-san informed me that you went on a job hunt as well?'

'Eh? You're interested in that?'

'Why of course. As a member of our gang you should update us on your front life, so we may have means to contact you if the need arises. Also an estimated rate of your salary, please. We need to note down how wealthy you are, so when in requirement of money we can decide what percentage of the price you must pay.'

'You have to pay…well, I'm not quite sure of that yet, because the salary could change according to our efforts or sales. But from what I heard yesterday, it's not much, so don't expect me to be much of a help in financial matters.'

'Smart, Yuya-san,' Yukimura reached out to take the glass of water Benitora had presented on the counter for Yuya. Waving aside Benitora's scolding, he took a sip. 'You wouldn't believe the hell I'm in because of Okuni-san's calculations. A huge distortion in my bank account because of her.'

Okuni laughed, raising her hand to cover her mouth. 'Well, Yukimura-san, there really is no one else for the job of a treasurer, is there? If you were in charge you'd probably try your best to count yourself out, and then we wouldn't be as efficient as right now, will we?'

'Okuni-san declared herself "treasurer" before we could stop her,' Yukimura explained, sounding slightly tired. 'She, for some reason, thinks I'm biased. I do have to support two at my place, you know,' he said to Okuni, still smiling behind her hand. 'It's not easy with a money vacuum cleaner of a kid to pay for.'

'Hey!'

'Kidding. Just kidding, Sasuke. Stay in school.'

'Speaking of jobs, Yuya-san, when does your new one start?' Okuni asked, turning to the other woman.

'Um…the manager said that I can begin today, at around…' There was a pause. 'Excuse me, what time is it right now?'

'Past six thirty,' Yukimura eyed her concernedly. 'Don't tell me you're-'

'I'm going to be late!' Yuya practically screamed, rushing back to the door and jerking it open. 'Sorry I can't stay long, everyone, but I have to-'

She was about to take her first step out of the room when she jolted back, clutching her head. Kyo looked down at her, both surprised and annoyed, as she peered up to verify the identity of the person she had run headfirst into. Disregarding the shadow that passed through her face, he spoke.

'Hey, ugly, I got you-'

'I haven't time for your stupid insults, get out of the way already!' Yuya snapped, and pushed past him down the stairs. The door slammed hurriedly after a brief moment.

'-a present,' Kyo finished, scowling down at the closed door. 'What's that brute's problem?' he grumbled, entering the living room with a narrow box in his hand. He set it down on the table as he, too sat down. Benitora finally joined the rest, carrying a plate of fruit in one hand, trying unsuccessfully to untie the pink apron ribbon with the other.

'Hey, hey, Kyo-han, don't call my girlfriend names like that,' Benitora said.

'She's your girlfriend now?'

'Yup! Though she doesn't know it herself.'

'She didn't even greet you.'

'Yes, she…so?'

'…But, Kyo-san, is that what I think it is?' Yukimura pointed at the plain box he had brought into the room, eyes widening considerably. 'And for Yuya-san…'

Kyo nodded. 'I got the cheapest I could find, though there shouldn't be any malfunctions. It should be enough to please her.'

Okuni sighed, and straightened up. 'That's so like you, Kyo-san…doing things only up to halfway. Hmm…' She stared about the room, thinking. 'We still aren't sure if we're keeping her, though, are we? Don't argue, Tora-san,' She silenced him with a look, and he closed his mouth with a disgruntled expression. 'You know that's how things are right now, since she hasn't done enough to please us. Call it, on probation? We'll see how things go the next time we move.'

'About that, Okuni,' Kyo turned his frowning gaze on her. 'I've a suspicion that you've got plenty of information on this one by now. Care to tell us?'

Okuni tossed her head and gave a supposedly radiant smile. 'Why, certainly, Kyo-san. Who do you think I am? The country's, no, the world's best informer. All the best for the Gang of the City Samurai, is it not, Kyo-san?' She batted her eyes at him.

'Just get on with it, Okuni.'

'…Very well. I guess that since Yuya-san is out of the way now, this'll be the perfect timing. But please, Kyo-san get that box out of sight.'

'…Is it bad news?'

'Depends on how you may take it. Under the sofa, now.'

Kyo gave an irritable sigh as he got up, apparently as bad tempered as Sasuke. From his stooped position when he looked under the sofa, he gave Yukimura a frown. Tapping him on his shoulder, he silently handed the man with the questioning smile a thin package from beneath the sofa.

'Oops!' Yukimura laughed, reaching back to take it. 'My bad, I forgot.'

Sasuke stared at him exasperatedly. 'First my game, now this. What would have happened if Nee-chan found it?'

'Well, at least we can use it for this meeting. Right, that thing safely under there? Good, let's get this over with quickly, I need to go for that article on the Orochikiba gang soon…'

Benitora turned the volume of the television down, and they all huddled around the wooden table under the light of the overhead lamp. Sasuke, for the first time, seemed to be giving his full attention, and even the faces of Yukimura and Benitora looked serious, while Kyo's looks like the King of Hell himself. Okuni started her talk.

*****

A few days afterwards, Yuya came back again, happy in her new life, but guilty that she had not visited for a while. So she was surprised when Yukimura and Sasuke, who always seemed to be there if they had nothing else better to do, handed her Kyo's "present".

We haven't seen it ourselves, knowing Kyo-san,' Yukimura said meaningfully. 'Although we have the general idea. But it's yours, now, so you should be the first one to touch it.'

Bemused, Yuya sat at the table and opened the box gingerly. In it, she found a three-barelled, sturdy looking gun. She stared at it in wonder before finally daring herself to hold it.

The other two examined it from over her shoulders.

'Well, at least it's not something Kyo-san will go to length at to poison- don't drop it, Yuya-san!'

'He wasn't kidding when he said he got it cheap. The thing's ancient! Does that shape mean it can only shoot three bullets before reloading?'

Yuya inspected it, turning it in her hands. 'It seems authentic, though,' she commented, with a hint of grudging in her voice (probably because it was from Kyo). 'How could it have not been expensive?'

'Because the shop he got it from most likely would have sold guns as weapons, not museum items to ogle at,' Sasuke said, turning away with his arms behind his head, having lost interest already. 'They wouldn't care if it was an antique or not, they only wants to know it's capability in a fight. Which means,' He glanced back, sounding bored. 'That thing wouldn't do you much to help you survive.'

Yuya frowned at it for that, but had to stifle a laugh when she imagined Kyo going shopping like a…well, like a normal person, even if he was entering an illegal weaponry shop. Still grinning, she raised her head, and spotted something in the box she had overlooked before.

'Hang on, there was a note underneath the gun…'

'Oh?' Yukimura came over again to read it.

Hey, bitch-

I went through all that trouble to get this piece of garbage for you, so use it for whatever you like, but only if it's going to help us in someway. Otherwise, keep it close to your skimpy body and out of sight. That means your body, too. You should be grateful, so prepare yourself to work hard for the gang as our dog. As your first duty, I want that filthy pigsty of a bridge, fit to be called your home, to be cleaned by next week. If you try backing out of it now, I'll personally beat the shit out of you and haul you back to the dump you were born in.

By the way, the thing's loaded already. I put the note underneath in hopes you'll splatter your own brains out without me having to do it myself. If you are reading this, then it's a major disappointment to the world.

Yukimura had finished it earlier than her, and was already scooting back to the other side of the room. Yuya's face was an interesting shade of purple, and her slacking mouth began to form words of unrepeatable quality.

'WHAT THE *%#$*-'

Yukimura had gotten his hands over Sasuke's ears just in time. Resisting the struggles as the younger boy fought with all his might, he steered him towards and out of the door, leaving behind the stream of phrases running amok in the living room behind him.

And so began another day as a member of the Gang of the City Samurai.

---

Yaaaay! That was Chapter Four, folks! I thought I'll do some justice to Benitora on this one, seeing as I felt that I was being a little bit mean on him for the last chapter, and earlier on this one. Besides, I was ready to get rid of Mekira to work on bigger, better things.

…I have no idea what those things are.

Actually I have no idea what to do for the next chapter either, having killed off Mekira and all. Another reason why I haven't revealed what's in Yukimura's packet, as well as Okuni's "information"- as the author doesn't know herself. I guess Yuya gets on with her cleaning. I should make that one a small tribute to Okuni, then.

I didn't quite intend to make this chapter as bloody as it turned out to be. I just don't have the guts. I don't swear much, either, but my environment helps writing Kyo's speeches down a lot more easier (You can guess what sort of environment it may be). I suppose the first part of this chapter made it look as though it was going to be a boring, Yuya's day thing, so I apologise if I shocked some people. This one was much longer than the other chapters, wasn't it? I guess they just keep on growing. I'm going to try cutting the next one off short, since I won't have much time in writing all these from now on. I have to go to a sort of summer study thing, visiting another school during the holidays, and then I'll be going overseas. That'll take me a month and a half or so, and then I'll be back in school. Right, paper draft. I must buy a notebook.

Aya is my first OC! I didn't really intend to have one in this story, but I couldn't find a character from SDK with the right personality. I considered Santera, but I've already chosen her to be the good friend of Antera at school. Did I get her and Bikara right?

Speaking of Bikara reminded me of the usual vocabulary thing. Not that you really need to know.

Randoseru (ランドセル) You know Japanese primary kids have those sort of square shaped stiff bags at school? That's what it's called. Usually they're chosen by colours to genders- red for girls and black for boys, although there can be exceptions, such as a girl having a black one or vice versa, maybe because their parents had bad eyesight (unable to identify one colour from another, or unable to identify one gender from another) or maybe because they had elder siblings of a different gender who graduated primary school already, and had passed their randoseru down to them. There are also other colours, the bright ones like pink, orange, etc for girls and darker ones like green, blue, etc for boys. You could also have cute little characters engraved or imprinted on them too, like Hello Kitty or Ultraman. …I don't want to speak about it anymore, for some reason. (I had never been the girly type)

Urayama (裏山) Literally means "The mountain behind". Japan's a pretty mountainous country, what with earthquakes and volcanoes and all, so it's not unusual to have your school situated on one, unless you live in the heart of a city (which is boring, as I have learnt here in Hong Kong. There's just no space, and the air stinks). Therefore there's almost always an extra door at the back of the playground leading to it. I used to love playing there, and the stream- although I never went there alone, dragging my poor little sister in a trail behind me.

Mama-san (ママさん) In a gay bar, a hostess/ host club (I think, maybe- never being in any before, being the good girl I am) there's the person who manages most of the stuff that's going around, so you could call it the leader of the place- that's a Mama-san. They probably got the cushy job from being the actual starter of the club, or had been chosen by the previous Mama-san, or had been one of the most popular in the place. So Bikara…'nuff said.

Shiseiten Maruetsu (四星天　マルエツ) Oh, I don't know. Just that the closest supermarket near my former home in Japan was called Maruetsu, so I decided to use that. Shiseiten, well, you pretty much know where that came from. I like Akira when he was a kid, he's so cute (I have no idea myself, I just seem to be drawn towards boys in short shorts…ugh) but I've only gone up to the place Bontenmaru and Hotaru meet in the manga, so I don't know much about them, and I haven't even glimpsed Akari yet, so I have no idea what her/his personality is. Can somebody please tell me?

Preferably on a review. Haven't I begged enough for them? Thank you to the new ones, as well as .v again, and I hope you guys continue reading this fanfic.

…I haven't slept for five days…and why are my Author's Notes so loooooong???

R&R. PLEASE.