A/N:
1.This chapter was solely made for the purpose of explaining the reason behind the drawing that Kyou showed Shin in the manga, though the drawing is mostly mentioned in passing in this story as well. Puts head down in shame.
2.This is my longest chapter yet, but it couldn't be helped. I try to keep the word count between 3500-4500 but this time... shrugs

Disclaimer: Gokusen isn't mine but this story is.

The Sleeper (age 8)

A few months had passed since the first time she saw the okami gracing the steps of the Kuroda house. It was Takuyu Nomura's first case as a newly appointed Detective Officer. He was young and idealistic about the world, as most young people tend to be. His aggressive naiveté had him cursing the fact that the case was being filed as an unsolved crime.

He viewed it as a personal failure that he was not able to get any new leads or evidence. Detective Lieutenant, Shoutarou Sawada, put a rein on his overzealous subordinate explaining that one can not arrest people willy nilly, and even when one knew someone had inside information that would help the case, one can not force them to relinquish the information. Not so gentle prodding was allowed, but any further than that and one would be crossing a very hazy line that could result in suspension or dismissal.

Nomura grudgingly deferred to his superior's judgement. Detective Lieutenant Sawada was tacitly respected due in no small part to the fast pace at which he rose through the ranks, which had everyone labeling him as anything short of brilliant. Then again, it was no secret that he was vying for the position of chief of police, but that is another story all together.

Nevertheless, this incident plus the one with the Inubou Kumichou had marked a very crucial time in the young Kuroda child's life.

The seed of what yakuza life was like, the good and the bad, had been planted only to germinate years later in delayed revelations and unhurried contemplations. But for now, it lay forgotten, dormant. Her awakening postponed by half-truths given to her by the kumi, not in order to deceive but because they didn't think her young mind could process the information. So, like an infant, she was spoonfed the bitter realities of yakuza life.

In the midst of her confused mind, the only truth the young heir could understand, and was certain of, was her parents' last warning, which her grandfather had echoed: every action has consequences. Moreover, these consequences spread beyond the person performing these actions. And it was this particular clause that had her examining her actions, and those of the ones around her, closely.

The consequences of her grandfather's actions, which she could not get a straight answer from the kumi, had earned him unwanted interest from the okami and plenty of headaches for Furukawa-jiisan. Though as far as the yakuza was concerned, it had raised the Kuroda Kumichou's reputation, as well as the clan's reputation.

Meanwhile, the scene with the Inubou Boss had been a delicate situation which had been handled unconventionally, though not by choice. As far as yakuza politics were concerned, the consequences of her actions had helped the clan and averted a yakuza war, thus inadvertently gaining her renown amongst the yakuza... not bad for an 8 year old girl.

Thankfully, these events clustered together near the end of the young heir's second to last quarter. The Kuroda clan seemed to enjoy these breaks more than the young heir herself. School breaks meant the Kuroda Kumichou and his men would not have to keep a wary eye on the energetic child as they tried to figure out ways of keeping her in school.

Of course, this particular school break had an added advantage. Unencumbered by her propensity to get herself into situations that threatened her academic career, it allowed them to focus their whole attention on the young heir's recovery. It was this self-inflicted injury which had halted the progress of Kyou's training sessions until the time when she regained full motion of her pinky.

The grandfather was amused at her fascination with her newly formed scar. He watched discreetly as she spent hours looking proudly at the fibrous tissue that stretched around her left pinky like a small half-ring.

The granddaughter wasn't the only one rivetted by the injury. The Kuroda men, particularly those who had lost a pinky or two, watched with eager curiosity the long hours spent by the young heir while she underwent physical therapy. Maybe it was empathy or admiration that prompted the Kuroda men to swamp Tsuji with requests of a detailed account of Ojou's heroic act.

Tsuji reveled in the attention, and with a hand motion, gestured for the young Kuroda heir to come. Thus, it became commonplace to see the young child sitting on his lap as an avid audience waited for them to recount the story. At the end, it always ended with Tsuji saying 'show 'em the scar, show 'em the scar', and she always raised a left pinky in triumph amidst the kumi's oohs and aahs.

But good things must come to an end, and it was time for our young heir to go back to school. Thus, this is where we find her on the first day of the last quarter of her 3rd grade, 15 minutes before the bell rang to begin the school day.

"Wish the break had been longer..." Yoshiro's crestfallen demeanor appeared more pronounced by his perennially sad-looking eyes. He turned to look at Ojou who was slouching lazily against a tree as she watched the other children say their final goodbyes to their parents before looking for their respective friends while others tried to sneak in a small game before the begining of the school day.

"Yep, ain't it always like that" Ojou responded as if her 3 and 3/4 years in school counted as a mountain of experience, but since she was talking to another 8 year old, the whole irony was totally lost on the two children who continued their conversation.

"You know what Ms. Ishikawa is gonna do, Kumichou?" Yoshiro looked at the young heir.

"Yeah, yeah. The infamous report on What You Did During The Break. Seriously, she should just give it up."

"...like she gave up on Show And Tell?" Ojou nodded absently. "You know she nixed Show And Tell because of your last report." Ojou looked slightly nonplussed at first but regained her composure quickly.

"Puh -lease, it was only a butter knife. I wanted to bring a kaiken but grandpa wouldn't let me." The boy laughed.

"Actually it wasn't what you brought but the report itself. Didn't you notice she got as white as a sheet?" He smirked as he recalled the report.

Ms Ishikawa had always reacted in some way to Ojou's Show and Tell reports. He hadn't noticed this until one time when, from the peripheral of his vision, he noticed Ms. Ishikawa nervously wringing her hands. He'd wondered if anyone else had noticed. A quick scan around the room confirmed that they hadn't. The reason for this, he noticed, was that most people paid an inordinate amount of attention to his friend's report. He had to admit her reports were most unusual though, being as he and his classmates were used to Ojou, not surprising.

"I was just using the butter knife to show how to conceal a kaiken. It wasn't like I tried to show people how to use the kaiken." A whiff of annoyance evident in her attitude. "Besides... didn't I just say grandpa didn't let me bring the kaiken?!".

"Fine, fine..." He said between chuckles as he raised his hands in mock surrender. "Anyway, having to write the essay is not that bad. At least we don't get any work for that period."

"Pittance for what we have to endure. I'd rather she just give us a longer recess if she's not gonna teach."

"Kumichou, you really have a temper!"

She lowered her gaze in brooding silence. She'd been told that by her mother one too many times. She always disagreed with such assessment.

She changed the subject, deciding that it was pointless to dwell on those thoughts at the moment. "So, what did you do during the break? I tried dropping by but your neighbor told me you guys had left." She sat on a nearby bench and took out a piece of paper.

"Yeah, we went to Hokkaido to visit some family. Nothing really exciting." He sat beside her. "I'm just gonna improvise." He peered over her shoulder to see what she was up to.

"Why? It's not like she's grading us for the essay!" She stopped her drawing and regarded him with interest. He leaned back to consider her question.

"It just sounds too boring to say I went to visit family. Besides nothing really exciting happened. What am I going to say, that I spent the entire time avoiding my aunt Miyabi because she kept wanting to squeeze my cheeks? And don't even get me started on my grandma!" He looked away, discomfited.

"What could she possibly do that is so horrible?" She asked in undisguised disbelief. Yoshiro's only answer to that question was a small shudder that unconsciously escaped him. His grandmother's constant teasing about how she saw his willy when he was a baby and that it was about as big as the tip of her finger was at best embarrassing. But, it was her asking how much had it grown now and having the rest of his aunts cackling that was mortifying. Of course, he wasn't the only one subjected to such twitting. His sister, Meiko, had endured ribbing as well, except hers concerned her growing breasts and an Aunt Flo which he had never met.

According to their teasing, he'd gathered that Aunt Flo only visited them like if they were part of some sort of secret society or something. Knowing how Kumichou loved mysteries, he made a mental note to talk to the young heir about this elusive aunt some time in the future.

In reality their relatives' proclivity to this particular kind of twitting was as close to cooing nonsense as they could get. Not unlike how some adults tell their infants in the most shrill squeaky voices, "I'm gonna eat you! I'm gonna eat you!". Yet no one bats an eye or calls social services. These cannibalistic threats lie virtually ignored. Apparently it is the shrill squeak that neutralizes the threat, although a soothing voice works as well as evidenced by the rock-a-bye baby lullaby. The nightmarish account of baby rocking precariously on a branch which eventually breaks dooming baby to what logic dictates to be a fatal fall, is apparently annulled by the soothing notes. The point being that some adults have a sick sense of humor, this writer included.

In the meantime, Yoshiro had thought about asking Meiko herself what was the deal with Aunt Flo, but decided against it. It was an unspoken agreement between the siblings to deliberately ignore the playful twitting to which their family subjected them. In an odd sort of way it had brought them closer together. Consequently, this had clearly confirmed it to him, the women on his mom's side of the family were twisted... just really really twisted.

"Hn..." He finally responded. Ojou having been living in the yakuza for a bit now understood that 'Hn', though not a word that could be found in the dictionary, in itself was meaningful enough. Within this context it just meant 'I'd rather not talk about it'. Thus, Ojou went back to her drawing.

Yoshiro studied his friend in companionable silence. He tried brushing his long bangs away from his face when a ball whizzed by them. He looked in the direction the ball came only to see a group of children waiting for the ball a few yards away. Yoshiro stood to pick it up and threw it back at them. They waved their thanks at him and went back to their game. He sat back down again and looked at the young heir. His long bangs draping over his sad looking eyes once again.

"You didn't mention what you did during your break, Kumichou" Yoshiro broke the silence.

"Well, I went to Kamiyama Shrine's Ball Catching Contest." She showed him the drawing she had been working on. He placed it in his hands and looked at it confused.

"It looks like a bunch of dead men in diapers." He said wrinkling his nose.

"What are ya talkin' bout?! This is Japanese tradition. Men wear fundoshis!" She glared at Yoshiro who scratched the back of his head.

"They still look dead." He grimaced.

"Fine! So, I'm no Kaii Higashiyama" The young Kuroda heir snatched her badly drawned picture and pouted. Yoshiro leaned towards Ojou to look at the drawing curiously.

"What's with the flowers on the bottom? I think that's what makes them look a lil' bit dead." Ojou rolled her eyes.

"You've never seen a dead body before so how would ya know?" She looked at her own creation thinking of the kumi that had been her inspiration.

"You know? For someone that hates doing the stupid essays on What You Did During The Break, you sure are putting a lot of effort into it." He pointed at the supposed drawing of men. Not to mention they were supposed to do it in class.

"Well, it can get pretty boring. I just basically tune out when other people are talking about their break. If I hear one more time about Eiichi's trip to Hawaii and him snorkeling in Upaukaliki island or whatever the heck the island's called, I'm gonna barf. Heck, if I could, I would tune myself out!" Yoshiro nodded at this. Eiichi was definitely a bit of a bragger. He was also good in sports which made him the golden boy of the school. This, of course, made him a bit of a snob.

"So, what does this drawing has to do with Kamiyama Shrine's Ball Catching Contest?" He said ticking each word off on his fingers to emphasize its length.

Ojou ignored that and answered, "Men wear fundoshis to participate in the festival. The idea is to grab the golden ball hanging off the sacred tree. You basically run while fighting the other competitors who will try to pull you down and kick you so they can get to the golden ball first. Whoever snatches the ball first is the Golden Man." She grinned when she said that as she put her little fists on her waist and puffed her chest in a superhero pose à la superman. And if this had been a sitcom you would probably hear the fanfare now.

Yoshiro smirked at Ojou's pose and said, "It's always about fighting with you."

"Not always." She complained. "It's just that sometimes you have no other choice but to fight in order to defend yourself." She added, "It's a matter of survival". She thought about the kidnappers and replayed the moment they'd taken her in her mind. Her fight to free herself from the gold-toothed man. Yoshiro trying to free her as well. It was this one particular moment that stuck in her mind.

As they stopped to wait for the pedestrian light to turn, a car stopped on the curb. A man, with a Baretta trademark cap pulled down over his forehead, got out and swooped on the children. He attempted to grab Ojou only to be hit in the balls by her bookbag. The man doubled over in pain. She swung around to grab Yoshiro and flee only to collide with another man, capless, and with a gold tooth that sparkled as he smirked. Yoshiro had crouched down. He was doing something to the neck of the prone body, but as he saw Ojou being taken, he swung his bookbag full force on the gold-tooth man's shin.

Yoshiro looked at her quizzically wondering what she was thinking. He waved a hand in front of her face but her attention seemed to be focused on an ant carrying an oversized piece of bread. He gave her a slight nudge sideways.

"What's up?" This brought her back to reality.

"Hmm... There's something I was wondering." He waited for her to continue without making a sound. Ojou turned to face Yoshiro and asked. "What were you trying to do to the neck of that guy that tried to kidnap me?"

He remained silent, his mouth agape, as if he was trying to decide whether he should answer the question or not. The first bell was about to ring and Yoshiro stood up dusting himself off. "Come on let's head to class. I can tell you on the way there."

She stood and skipped around Yoshiro as she said, "OK, spill!"

Reluctantly, he explained, "There is this fighting move my aunt Miyabi taught me, though I have not been able to master it."

"Get outta town! Your aunt showed you a move. That's awesome!" He shrugged a little trying to downplay the whole thing.

"Well, it's called The Sleeper and it is supposed to put your opponent to sleep."

As they entered the room, they took their respective seats.

"Sounds cool!" She said honestly. He was glad she hadn't asked why had his aunt taught him a fighting move.

"The idea, according to Aunt Miyabi, is that you pinch a nerve that causes you to sleep... Hold on... Was that what she said? Maybe it was stopping some chi... could it be blood flow... Nah, I'd say nerve... Yeah, I think" She rolled her eyes as she waited patiently until he finished arguing with himself.

"How much pain do they feel?"

"The other person just passes out. There is no pain and they just wake up like... from a deep sleep." He said trying to remember, as best as he could, what his aunt had said.

"So, do they pass out or do they sleep? I mean, if it's just sleep then you could bring someone out of it just by shaking them so they'd wake up, right?" Yoshiro had not thought about it

"Well, I dunno. I guess it's more of a passing out but when you get up you feel refreshed as if you just woke up."

"You sound like a commercial." Yoshiro stuck his tongue out at her. She grinned. "Then, for how long are they out?"

"If done right they'd be out for hours otherwise it could be minutes... but Aunt Miyabi wasn't very specific about the number of hours." He paused for a few seconds.

"Could you show me this move?" Ojou asked with genuine interest.

"I can't get it to work myself but I can show you what I'm doing." Yoshiro shrugged. "Since you're good with moves, you could probably help me figure out what I'm doing wrong" Ojou nodded.

"Hey, Shoda." Shoda was the boy that sat in front of Ojou. He turned around to look at her. "Do you want to help us with a fighting move? Yoshiro says it doesn't hurt. It just puts you to sleep but we haven't figured out how to do it yet." Shoda nodded. He was ecstatic that the Kumichou had actually talked to him. He had been one of the boys that Jiro used to bully so he was thankful that Jiro's terror had come to an end. The rest of the class watched with curiosity.

Ms. Ishikawa just happened to enter the classroom at this moment. Walking towards her desk she gave one small glance around the classroom in quiet acknowledgement as she laid the books and stacks of paper on her desk. While she waited for the bell to ring, she busied herself with the papers.

Yoshiro who sat beside Ojou, stood up from his chair and poked Shoda on the right side of the back of his neck. Shoda didn't feel anything. Ojou studied carefully the position of the fingers, the location on the back of the neck and the thrusting maneuver. She prepared herself to try The Sleeper on Shoda. She made a mental note to try not to put much force on it, in case it worked, and poked. At that moment, the first bell rang. Ms. Ishikawa gave a quick glance around the classroom. She had intended to turn back to the stack of papers in her hands but happened to see Shoda's head slump forward and before it hit his desk, Ojou leaning forward and holding it. Yoshiro called out. "Shoda?" The boy didn't respond.

Yoshiro and Ojou looked at each other grinning in celebration of the succesfully executed move. The rest of the class was awed. Ms. Ishikawa was aghast. She ran towards Shoda. Thinking the boy was in danger and forgetting she was talking to the young Kuroda heir she said, "What did you do to Shoda?" The young heir was surprised that anyone had talked to her in that tone. She looked at Ms. Ishikawa dumbfounded. The rest of the class were stunned as well. And, as if in a relay race, the young heir let go of Shoda's head only to be caught by Ms. Ishikawa who held it as she brushed the strands of hair away from his face. "Shoda... c'mon talk to me. Shoda?" She kept repeating. Ms. Ishikawa looked like she was about to cry.

Ojou finally said, "He's just sleeping." She thought it best not to give Yoshiro's shoddy explanation as to whether he was sleeping or had passed out. Ms. Ishikawa checked his pulse. The regular beatings of his heart attested to Ojou's statement, though she was unable to wake him up. She gently let the head rest on the desk. She then crouched beside Ojou's desk. And, in a low tone, as composed as she could manage, she asked "What did you do exactly?"

"Are you sure you wanna know?" Ojou didn't think it was a good idea. If The Sleeper worked on her, since she was squatting down, she might hit her head. However, Ms. Ishikawa kept insisting.

What Ojou didn't understand was that she didn't want to experience what Shoda experienced. She just wanted an explanation of what had happened. Still, at 8 years old, things are usually taken quite literally, and it was the word exactly that had thrown off our young heir. After all, how can you exactly tell if you don't exactly do? So, she looked at Tatsuya, Yoshiro, Rini and Tomiko and motioned them to come. They understood Ojou wanted them to make sure Ms. Ishikawa didn't injure herself in case the move worked.

Ms. Ishikawa looked at the 4 kids flanking her with measured suspicion. But before she could say anything, the late bell rang and she saw Shoda lifting his head woken from his slumber while Ojou said "...get comfortable." Then everything faded to black.

-o-

"I'm home" Kumiko and Yoshiro had arrived at the Kuroda household.

"Ojou, you're early. It is only noon. Shouldn't you be at school?" Kuroda didn't know if he should feel suspicious. After all, he hadn't received a call from either Principal Takeda or Ms. Ishikawa.

"Yeah, we were let out early." That was strange. He couldn't remember any special holiday or anything that merited only half-day of school. But, before he could ask 'why?', he saw the drawing in her hand.

"What's that?" The Boss asked instead.

"Today we were gonna talk about what we did on our break" Yoshiro offered. The kumi didn't know why but it already didn't sound too good. They mentally tried to remember the things she had seen during the break that might be even remotely related to the family business. A blanket of dread seemed to spread over the Kuroda men. They'd have to do some damage control if anything was leaked. Someone cursed under their breath but no one knew who. Slowly, cautiously, the Kuroda men started filing towards the living room as if telepathically summoned by some unseen creature. Furukawa-jiisan, the Kuroda lawyer, had remained seated at a small desk in the living room as he trifled with some papers.

"Oookay..." said Kyou a bit concerned. They needed to have a little talk with their Ojou about keeping Family Business private

"Well, I had drawn this and was going to use it as visual aid for the essay." They all looked at the badly drawn picture. Remembering what Yoshiro had said earlier, she decided to clarify what she had attempted to depict. "It's a picture of men", she said. They looked at it carefully.

"Hey, Kane! This one looks like you." One kumi said.

"Yeah, it even has the swollen eye." Another kumi added.

"Well, I guess this one must be Yasuo!" Kane said.

"How can you tell?" Yasuo came over to look at the picture.

"The haircut, dude." Kane pointed at the weird looking hair which was surprisingly similar. Yasuo passed four fingers through his hair blushing a little embarrassed.

"She even got you down to the four fingers on your right hand." Kyou chuckled looking at the picture. At that the other kumi looked at it and laughed. Suddenly Kyou's face darkened.

"What's wrong, Kyou?" Wakamatsu said putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I-I'm not in the picture." Kyou said a bit slighted.

"Hey, neither am I!" Wakamatsu said a little hurt.

"I didn't get to see you in the fundoshi, remember?" She said gently.

For this festival, the men usually gathered in the yard of the Kuroda house but Kyou and Wakamatsu had to leave early to help with some last minute preparations at the shrine. Once in the festival, an all out brawl had erupted, unrelated to the contest. The Kuroda Boss, wanting to keep the child out of the way, left her at Uomasa-san's house. So, they concluded that she drew a picture of the ones she saw gathered in the yard. That Ojou didn't find the whole thing strange spoke volumes of her. Kyou-san smiled at her feeling a bit mollified.

"So all you talked about was the festival?" The grandfather interrupted the kumi's fascination with Ojou's drawing.

"Well... I never got to give the report." Ojou looked sideways trying to find the right place to recount her story. She didn't want to talk about the kidnapping. It seemed to put them in a strange mood. A stale pause hung in the air and the Kuroda Kumichou was bracing for the worse. "Well, Yoshiro was telling me about this new move his aunt taught him."

"Your aunt taught you a move?" A few of the kumi asked in unison. Yoshiro blushed.

"Yeah, she's an acupuncturist." Yoshiro said as way of an explanation hoping they wouldn't ask any further. Yoshiro, however, was out of luck.

"Why did she teach you this move?" The men knew that most relatives, particularly of the female kind, tried to discourage fighting. This new bit of information put the boy in a new light amongst the yakuza men. Yoshiro's blush increased.

"It was after those boys beat me up. Against my parents wishes, my aunt taught me this move, The Sleeper. She said to use it if I need to defend myself. I've tried it, but I haven't been successful."

"So, you showed this move to Ojou on someone?" Wakamatsu asked the boy.

"Yeah, Shoda volunteered so that I could demonstrate on him. If you do it right the person will be out for hours and hours." The Kuroda men had never heard of this but they were interested to hear about a new fighting move.

"Anyway, after Yoshiro tried it on Shoda unsuccessfully, I tried it on Shoda. Since I didn't want him to be out for hours, I tried doing it as softly as I could." Ojou said as Yoshiro nodded.

"Aaaand?" The grandfather was getting impatient.

"He slumped." The Kuroda men were stunned. "It was only for 5 minutes but it was pretty good." She said as a matter of fact.

"Unfortunately, Ms. Ishikawa saw Shoda's body slump and came over quickly demanding the Kumichou tell her what she did to Shoda" A few of the men were puzzled at the mention of the Kumichou but Kyou explained that it was Ojou's nickname at the school. The men smiled approvingly.

"So, I showed her." Ojou shrugged casually.

"You mean... sh-showed her showed her?" Tsuji, the oldest of the Kuroda kumi asked. Ojou nodded. "How l-long was she o-out?"

"Don't know. She's still out." Several of the men slapped their forehead with the palm of their hands. As the murmurs in the room increased to a deafening sound. One kumi was heard praising her natural skills at learning a move so quicky especially after seeing a failed demonstration. "She's got thinking skills" another one said.

"Ssshhhh" Kuroda commanded the men. He shifted his attention to his granddaughter and said "You left Ms. Ishikawa knocked out?"

"No, she's more of... in a deep sleep." Ojou thought it better to put it in that light. Though Yoshiro claims it supposedly puts you to sleep, she wasn't sure if he understood it well himself.

"Yeah, the people experiencing it do not feel any pain and are in no harm", added Yoshiro.

"Hold on a second. If she's been out since classes began, how come you are here at noon?"

"Well, we thought she'd be out for about 5 minutes but then 30 minutes passed and she hadn't woken up. We still thought it might just be a matter of an hour" Yoshiro said.

"The problem was the other kids started getting antsy and running in the classroom and stuff" Ojou said. "So I told them they could play quietly and if Ms. Ishikawa wasn't awake by noon then I would let them go home." The men couldn't believe their Ojou could have that much power over her peers.

"So, when Ms. Ishikawa didn't wake up and the bell rang for lunch, Kumichou let them go in groups creating a distraction so each group could sneak out."

"In groups? W-wait, a distraction?"

"Yeah. You didn't think they were just gonna let us leave just like that?!" She asked with a questioning look. The grandfather's scowl struggling to stay in place.

The Kuroda men silently looked at each other wide-eyed, an unspoken question left in the air. The Kuroda Boss tactfully addressed it. "It is safe to assume you weren't caught". One thing was for her to get caught sneaking out of school. He could deal with that. Another thing was her getting caught in aiding and abetting truancy of a whole classroom.

"Of course not!" She was slightly indignant that her grandfather thought she'd be caught. "I'm really good at stealth and distraction." Ojou said as if it was the most natural skill. The Kuroda men let out the breaths that they didn't know they were holding. The grandfather inwardly chuckled. To be able to sneak out a whole class under the teachers' noses without getting caught was monumental, especially for an 8 year old. His granddaughter was definitely a natural leader.

"She had it all organized." Yoshiro bragged. "She let them go on the condition that they had to go straight home. They aren't supposed to go downtown or anything like that."

"And you trust they'll do as you say?" A kumi ventured to ask.

"Of course! I'm the Kumichou." She was surprised at the question. She'd grown used to people listening to her without much question. Especially after the incident with the 10 broken pinkies.

Americans had their middle finger gesture, which means... well... we all know what it means. Japan has the pinky gesture which means a girlfriend. But, in Japan, within this particular elementary school, amongst 10 specific boys the act of the pinky gesture made by a particular Japanese girl meant I'm watchin' ya. I can still break your fingers. Her newly scarred pinky taking on an almost prophetic quality as she waved it at the boys. And, she made the gesture often in front of the 10 boys. After all, her grandfather said no breaking or slicing pinkies, he never said anything about threatening. The boys didn't have to know they were empty threats.

A growing murmur erupted as each kumi wanted to know her distraction tactic and how did the groups sneaked out unnoticed while her grandfather and Kyou marveled at her ingenuity. The same kumi that had said it before said it again "She's got thinking skills".

All the praising was interrupted by one particular kumi who said, "Excuse me, but I think we are forgetting about Ms. Ishikawa."

"Yeah, how come it was only a few minutes with the boy but hours with Ms Ishikawa?"

"I tried to accomodate for her height and weight."

"So, you HIT HER HARDER?!" Kyou said without waiting for Ojou to finish explaining.

"Well, hit is such a strong word..." She muttered thoughtfully.

"Yeah. ...more like poked." Yoshiro corrected.

"poked?" The kumi looked at each other.

"Yeah, like this" And she went towards Furukawa-jiisan who was still sitting at the desk handling some papers completely oblivious to the little story. She walked behind him and poked him with two fingers on the right back side of the neck. Furukawa dropped the papers and slumped. The Kuroda men were impressed.

"Ooooh, that was pretty good." said one kumi.

"It's like the Vulcan Nerve Pinch." Wakamatsu said.

"No, it's the Vulcan Nerve Poke" Kyou marveled.

"It's The Sleeper!", protested Yoshiro.

"The only thing is that it seems so underhanded attacking from behind." Ojou said frowning. The Kuroda men agreed.

"Yeah, it's more of a stealth move if you want to move undetected", another kumi said. The rest of the Kuroda men nodded.

"Maybe you can use it also as a last resort in order to flee." Yoshiro said trying to be helpful.

"Flee?... Boy, men don't flee. They escape leaving a bloody trail behind", said another of the Kuroda men. Yoshiro looked warily at the men. Ojou had not reacted to this statement. At this point Furukawa-jiisan woke up.

"What the hell happened?" Furukawa said a bit dazed.

"Ojou was practicing a sleep inducing move." Furukawa shook his head.

"I really don't want Ojou practicing her fighting moves, sleep inducing or otherwise, on me." The lawyer frowned looking at the hazy mess of papers strewed all over the floor. 'Just when I had finished arranging them in the right order and everything.' He sighed in resignation and knelt on the floor carefully gathering the papers so as not to break the glasses that were surely hidden somewhere within the mess.

"It was only the Vulcan Nerve Poke" offered Kyou

"It's the SLEEPER!" Corrected Yoshiro.

ahem ahem The Kuroda Kumichou cleared his throat. Everyone's attention rested on him. "Wakamatsu, Toru, go to the school and make sure Ms. Ishikawa wakes up before the school day is over. If she hasn't woken up by then, bring her here." Wakamatsu and Toru bowed and left.

"Hmm... I wonder..." Ojou pondered. Everyone looked at Ojou.

"What is it?" Kyou said.

"The Sleeper is a move from acupunture so force shouldn't be important" Ojou continued her musings aloud. "Maybe it's in the actual movement of the wrist or fingers." And, without waiting for a go ahead, she ran towards Furukawa-jiisan who was still crouched down looking for his glasses, a stack of papers clutched in his right hand. Unfortunately, the moment he found his glasses, Ojou tapped him softly with a flick of the wrist. Furukawa-jiisan slumped down again, breaking his glasses in the process and sending the papers he had managed to gather sprawling all over the floor once more. The men waited 5... 10... 20 minutes. Furukawa-jiisan didn't wake up.

"Furukawa-sensei is totally out" Dai informed the rest of the kumi. The men huddled around the lying form.

"I wonder how long he'll be out" Tsuji prodded Furukawa-sensei with a foot. This, of course, was followed by scores of feet attempting the same move, as if they were testing a car by kicking its tires, closely followed by approving murmurs.

"Wow, that was hardly any force." Yoshiro said impressed. "Teach me how to do it." At this moment, Kyou had knelt down to pick up Furukawa-sensei. It wouldn't do to have Furukawa in the middle of the living room floor with papers sprawled all over.

Riiiing

'Great. Juuust greeaat! This must be Ms. Ishikawa or worse Principal Takeda.' Her grandfather shook his head dejectedly. He looked at the time. School was already out. Chances that they found out about the whole class sneaking out was minimal, or so he hoped. So, all they had to do was keep quiet about the whole truancy thing with the whole class or she'd be expelled.

Riiiing

"Just move your fingers like this." (thud) (thud) She had demonstrated on Kyou-san which made him slump dropping Furukawa-jiisan in the process.

Riiiing

"Oh" Yoshiro said. Dai approached and Yoshiro tried it on him but it didn't work. The grandfather was busy thinking of a plan and hoping the call was actually Wakamatsu.

Riiiing

"Hey! Don't!." Dai glared at Yoshiro putting a protective hand on his neck. Once satisfied that he had scared Yoshiro, he proceeded to move Kyou away from Furukawa-sensei.

"No, more of a tap." The young Kuroda heir ignored Dai's glare as she positioned her fingers. "Like this." (thud) (thud)

Riiiing

"OJOU, STOP THAT!" She had demonstrated on Dai. And like a domino effect Dai fell on Kyou-san who fell on Furukawa-jiisan making the glasses he still clutched in his hands completely irreparable.

Riiiing

"Somebody give me an aspirin, NOW" The Kuroda Kumichou said as he kneaded his temples before he picked up the phone.

A/N:
1. No, the next chapter won't be the phone conversation. I think I have done enough phone calls for now.
2. I do so love messing with Kyou and Furukawa. You will see more of this in one or two more chapters.
3. I had planned on mentioning all the OCs I have introduced at the end of each age installment but it seems that I keep adding more and more and more OCs. So, if you don't recognize 'em, manga-wise, then they're mine. Again, all names come from Ninja Warriors (male and female competitions) except for a few that came from a website with Japanese baby names.
4. I defer to Wikipedia's info on the drama as to the first name of Shin's father: Shoutarou. I don't think the manga gave him a first name.
5. I should probably have done a bit more research on the fake move but one sees it often enough in movies and shows that I thought I could get away with it without giving the explanation they do on these movies or shows.
6. This is the last chapter for age 8. Next chapter we begin age 9. Woo-Hoo!

A/N2:
1.kaiken - A dagger kept inside the kimono for self-defense. Common among the wives and daughters of samurai but very popular with the Yakuza as they were easy to conceal (As read from "Who Ate The Flying Chair?" and Wikipedia under Aikuchi)
2.Kaii Higashiyama - Born in Yokohama, Higashiyama graduated from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1931. He was awarded the Japan Art Institute prize in 1956. In 1968 he completed large murals on the New Imperial Palace, and in 1969 he was given the Order of Cultural Merits and designated as a person with cultural merit. In 1975 and in 1980, he completed murals in the Toshodaiji Temple. (As read from Wikipedia) I don't know if this man is as famous as Dali or Picasso but I try not to westernize too much unless I am too lazy to do the research.
3. jiisan - 'old man' or 'grandfather' (term of address)
4. Upaukaliki - Obviously not an actual island. My intention is not to offend but to point out Ojou didn't know the name.