If there is anything I have learned this chapter, it's that I know nothing about law and doing basic research into international law isn't satisfactory. Rather than drive myself up a wall in frustration over trying to get all of the little details right, I'm just going to suspend reality and pretend that its close enough to truth to get by. I apologize in advance. Hopefully next chapter I will finally bring Honey into the mix. Next update will be around July 7th as long as my computer holds out. I may or may not have broken the hinge and frayed the wires keeping my computer alive...Worst case scenario I go off the grid until I can procure a new computer and then update like 3 chapters at once.

Chapter 9

Ryota Sato clenched his brief case tighter as he walked towards the courthouse with a guard of police officers surrounding him and his companion. As the district attorney in charge of the Sendo murder case, he had known the tiny likelihood of actually bringing this case to trial. Most of the cases regarding the yakuza never made it to completion for one reason or another, but here he was, almost to the courthouse to intervene in an opening trial. He had nearly dropped his morning mug of coffee when the girl standing beside him now had walked into the precinct as if she belonged there. Greeting most of them by name, Haruhi informed them that she had made a break in both of their cases.

As the officers on the case and the sergeant of the department piled into his office, she had taken the liberty to clear his white board and begin writing up a flow chart. By the end of her speech, all of them had been sitting there in awe wondering how they had not noticed it before. Haruhi Fujioka was one hell of a lawyer, but she would have made an even better investigator if she had ever considered it. When reviewing the tapes, she noticed the names on the records boxes. The box that had caught Tetsuya's eye and Haruhi's upon closer examination had the label "Nakajima-Sendo" written on it. It had only taken a little minor digging with the police to find a sealed identification record of one Tanaka Nakajima revealing his relation as brother-in-law to Tetsuya Sendo. With the recent natural death of Tetsuya's father and Tetsuya's absence from the group, Tanaka was the next known head of the Sendo syndicate. However if Haruhi was correct in her educated hypothesis, Tetsuya could still have returned and claimed the position as the next head of the Sendo syndicate if he broke his ties to the Kasanoda Clan. Tanaka would easily have motive and means for Tetsuya's murder if he thought his new position as head of house was threatened. All of this she had figured out over several email chains and the videos that were sent to her, but there still seemed to be something missing. How did Tetsuya know about the import of guns? Deciding to play the bluff and ask her later, Ryota focused on climbing the stairs together with the woman in question. Despite the escorts and the risk, she seemed unphased and if anything, all the more confident.

As they waited for the judge to arrive to open the case and state the charges, Haruhi took note of the others present. Kasanoda sat with a scowl on his face beside her and many of his men sat in the seat behind them. A woman and man sat talking quietly in the back of the court room segregated from the yakuza present and an assistant busily tried to ready the court room for trial. The defense attorney for the Hongo Mercantile group was a scrawny man by the name of Ren Ookami. He had briefly greeted them with a sparkling fake smile when they entered before promptly ignoring them. Haruhi wondered what role he played for the mercantile group when he wasn't masquerading around as a lawyer. Opening her briefcase to pull out her notes, Haruhi felt Kasanoda's stare on the man sitting beside her. She hadn't run her plan by him before heading to the police station this morning, but it was the only way she could think of hitting the Sendo syndicate with both cases. As the judge entered the room, everyone stood to honor him.

"We will now beginning opening proceedings on case #4452- Kasanoda vs. Hongo. May the lawyers state their names and representations," the assistant said loudly.

"My name is Haruhi Fujioka and I will be representing Ritsu Kasanoda's interests."

"My name is Ryota Sato and I am the district attorney assigned to Tetsuya Sendo murder case."

"My name is Ren Ookami and I represent Tanaka Nakajima, president of the Hongo Mercantile Company."

"You may all be seated," the assistant stated before taking his own seat near the judge.

"I have on file that you are charging Tanaka Nakajima with embezzlement of twenty billion yen. How does the defendant plead?"

"Not guilty."

"Your honor, we would like to add additional charges." Nodding his head, the judge consented for her to continue. "We would like to add the charges of first degree murder for the murder of Tetsuya Sendo and one count of illegal trafficking of firearms."

"Do you have evidence to support such claims, Fujioka-san?"

"Yes your honor. I would like to submit the following exhibits as evidence and request that this case be moved to the Shinjuku district court for trial." The judge accepted the files from Haruhi and began looking over them with a frown on his face. Ryota pulled out another copy of the exhibit files that she was submitting to the judge and handed them to Ookami-san for review. Bringing his eyes up from the paperwork, the judge let out a sigh and frowned harder at her.

"So you are requesting a joint case with the Tokyo Police Department, increasing the number of charges, and filing for a change in venue. Fairly bold for an opening statement Fujioka-san," the judge commented.

"We believe these charges to be true and the evidence to support our claims," she replied evenly. Back behind their table, Ryota was sweating bullets between the glares from the defense attorney, the yakuza, and the judge. Acknowledging her guts the judge shook his head in understanding and looked back over the papers.

"You understand that this is supposed to be the opening proceedings for the embezzlement case and that these charges should have been filed well in advance to today?"

"Yes your honor, however we were waiting on circumstantial evidence to check out prior to bringing in the additional charges. Since we have not truly began the proceedings we should be able to file the additional charges and make the necessary arrangements." Unable to argue her logic, the judge sighed again and put the papers down. He hated when lawyers wasted his time, but her argument was valid. She had not stated the opening claims and therefore, the case had not opened officially. There was wiggle room in the law to allow for such changes.

"And how does the defendant plead to these new charges?"

"Of course not guilty, your honor. This is outrageous! Filing additional charges the day of opening statements is unprofessional and inconsiderate to my client. These should be considered in a separate hearing with Sato-san as lead attorney and the defense should be given ample time to prepare a counter to these false claims."

"It is unusual yes, but within the law. You will be given a week to prepare and I will see that the necessary arrangements are made for the change in venue. Case adjourned." Slamming his gavel down, the judge took the papers and stalked out of the court room. Returning to Ryota with a smile, Haruhi offered him her hand. "It seems like we will be working closely in the future. Please take good care of me."

"It would be my pleasure Fujioka-san. I was surprised that went as smoothly as it did," he replied shaking her hand. Both of them turned to stare as Ookami-san walked away talking quietly on his cell phone. "It seems like we will have quite a challenge with him."

"I'm sure it won't be anything we haven't handled before," she smirked as she packed up her briefcase. Grasping the handle, Haruhi went to Kasanoda.

"Kasanoda-kun, may I introduce to you Ryota Sato. He will be helping me with your case and is the district attorney in charge of prosecuting Tetsuya's murderer." Bowing to the known yakuza head, Sato felt sweat run down his back. Though the man in question seemed to be scowling at him, he bowed shortly in return.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Kasanoda-san. I am honored to be working this case with Fujioka-san and finding justice for you and Sendo-san." Giving a murmur of a reply, Ritsu ran a hand through his tied back hair. The tension of distrust between them was high but Haruhi was still smiling between the two.

"I didn't see Mori sempai around."

"He had something come up. His father's guard saw me to the police station and will pick me up there after I finish there." Kasanoda frowned in surprise, but shook his suspicion away. Mori knew the court date was today and had assured him that he would be here. Something wasn't right.

"I will head out first. Excuse me," he said with a bow. Waving his hand for his men to follow, they left the court room. Thinking about how well that went, Haruhi smiled at Ryota.

"We should probably head back to the police station. I want to see if Awai-san and Shidehara-san found anything in the records box of interest." Agreeing with her, they walked out of the court room. Haruhi felt the hair on the back of her neck rise up at the sight of the empty lobby. Reaching a hand to stop Ryota from moving any closer to the front door, Haruhi knew something was wrong. "The guards aren't here. They were supposed to be waiting for us outside the entrance of the court room."

Recognition flickered through Ryota's eyes followed by fear. He was so used to being tailed with a set of guards that he nearly forgot they were there sometimes. Pulling him away from the front doors and beginning to move deeper into the courthouse, Haruhi tried to keep her calm. Every corner they turned there seemed to be no one around. Ryota pulled out his cell phone and tried dialing out for the police unsuccessfully. There seemed to be a phone blocker in place on the building.

"No one knew that I was supposed to be here today except for the other officers on the unit this morning. Do you think we have a mole in the unit," Ryota fretted as he tried to keep up with the girl calmly racing forward.

"We can figure that out later. Right now we need to focus on getting out of here. I got a bad feeling about this," Haruhi said as she spotted an employee side entrance. Hurrying towards the exit, Ryota stopped her from pushing the door open.

"I'll go first. If it's all clear, I'll run a hand through my hair and if it's not….well it's been a pleasure."

"Don't be an idiot and try to sacrifice yourself. We can go together," Haruhi replied as she moved to push against the door. Blocking her easily, Ryota stopped her.

"Absolutely not. If we both die then there will be no one to represent the case. You can bet that no one else in the city would have the guts to take the case if we get taken out." Frowning at him, Haruhi could see his point even if she didn't like it.

"Fine. Keep trying your phone while you are outside. We need help. I'd guess that cell phone blocker was placed somewhere near the center of the courthouse or near where the trial was held meaning we are probably close to escaping its reach. Call someone you know we can trust." Nodding his head, Ryota pushed the door open and walked out into the bright sunlight.

Hikaru was running late to his next meeting across Tokyo. Revving his black crotch rocket louder in annoyance, he watched the traffic officers arguing with the drivers of the car accident. It appeared as if three cars had collided, blocking the intersection in front of the local courthouse and making clean up difficult. Another accident sprung up only a block down at the following intersection from drivers checking out the accident rather than focusing on their driving. Growling inside of his helmet, he considered calling Kaoru to give him a heads up that he would be late. His brother had left the mansion earlier with the limo to prepare the designs for the buyer they were meeting this afternoon. As usual Hikaru had decided to wait until the last minute to leave for the appointment and now he was paying for it. He had even taken his motorcycle to insure that he could speed there rather than try to harass a limo driver into speeding.

Revving the engine again, he spotted a small group of men walking down the front stairs of the court house. Was that Casanova-kun in the center of them? He had not seen him in ages, but surely that was him. Hikaru wondered what had brought the yakuza leader into the courthouse. The group of men froze on the stairs, eyes darting between the two wrecks suspiciously. Casanova-kun ran back into the courthouse as his men followed suit. Perhaps he had forgot something inside? Movement on the side of the courthouse drew his attention away from the scene unfolding. A young man in a grey suit walked quickly out of the courthouse onto the sidewalk and looked around. Running a hand through his brown hair, he seemed relieved as he turned to face the door he came from. As the door open, Hikaru felt his heart stop. The girl walking forward confidently while looking around them resembled Haruhi, at least how he imagined a grown-up Haruhi looked. Dressed in a tight pencil skirt and a matching blazer, she looked the part of a sophisticated lawyer. His thoughts were interrupted however by the sound of gunshots.

Diving at the sharp sounds, Haruhi jumped behind a low cement planter and curled up in a ball. Bullets ricocheted off the cement close enough to whip the wind past her. Looking across the sidewalk, Haruhi felt a small wave of relief as she saw Ryota hiding behind the back of a parked car. Grasping his chest as if his heart was going to rip out, he stared back at her with wide eyes. It had been too close for comfort. Pulling her brief case closer to her ankles, Haruhi opened it to pull out a small powder mirror. Using it to peak around the corner, she spotted the shooters wrestling with several traffic officers and a few of Kasanoda's men. A stray bullet went through the mirror in her hand shattering it and causing her to scream as she dropped it.

"Haruhi," Ryota yelled in concern as he scrambled to the edge of his cover. He considered darting over to her spot to check on her condition, but there was definitely not enough space for both of them behind the planter. Before he could move, a man riding a crotch rocket shot forward over the sidewalk towards them. Skidding around the edge of the planter, he shouted, "Get on!"

In a moment of indecision, Haruhi's eyes flickered over to Ryota who was staring at them in horror. Even in her fear she recognized the voice behind the helmet. "I won't leave my friend here!"

"Get on Haruhi. The police will be here any second. I'll be fine. Just go!" With a last glance at the district attorney, Haruhi took the offered arm and was swung onto the bike.

"Hold on," the driver yelled as he shot forward down the sidewalk away from the erupting yakuza gun fight in front of the court house.