READER'S DISCRETION ADVISED

THIS STORY CONTAINS MAN ON MAN, WOMAN ON WOMAN, GRAPHIC SCENES, RAPE, GORE, SMUT, STRONG LANGUAGE, RACISM, AND USAGE OF DRUGS.

DISCLAIMER

I DO NOT OWN THE FINDER SERIES OR A SOME OF THE CHARACTERS.

ALSO

SOME OF THE SCENES AND PLOT WAS INSPIRED BY Business As Usual by Kadzuki Fuchoin. TO WHICH SHE HAS GIVEN ME HER PERMISSION TO USE.

I've mastered the art of bouncing back.

^anonymous

Is this what death feels like…? Tori wonders.

There's no light at the end of the tunnel for her, only endless blackness. She naturally assumes that she's being sent to Hell, which isn't a surprise considering her choice in lifestyle. Nor did she really repent for it at all, or even so much felt the need to.

If that's the case, the journey isn't at all what she expects.

For a long while she feels like she's floating. It's warm and comforting. Like a mother hugging her child.

But it doesn't last….

The darkness that surrounds her seems to slowly shrink. Contracting around her, not caring if she wants to stay or not. It holds her firmly in place and soon the warmth slowly turns cold around her. She then feels like her body is burning, not painfully, from the inside.

"Tori!" Akihito's voice suddenly shouts from somewhere in the darkness, causing a burst of adrenaline.

Akihito snaps awake, staring at the ceiling as he breathes in quick pants. Ebony lifts her head and looks at the photographer. Akihito rubs his eyes before looking over at the digital clock on the nightstand, 2:48 am. He's lost track of the number of times he's been yanked awake from his slumber. It's next to impossible for him to relax entirely- how can he when thoughts of his cousin out there badly wounded and possibly lying in a pool of her own blood causes a hammering in his veins. When he does manage to get some shuteye he is constantly pulled out of his shallow, troubled sleep at regular intervals.

Letting out a sigh, Akihito moves to get out of the bed. Ebony hops down from his chest and pads along beside him as he makes his way out to the bathroom. After relieving himself he goes into the master bedroom, only to find it empty. He then goes to his yakuza lover's office, flicking the light on and finding it also empty.

Always working…. Akihito thought to himself.

Right as he's about to flick the lights off something suddenly captures his attention; a video camera sitting on top of the wine cabinet. Akihito enters the office and walks towards the camera. The memory of when one of the men back at the motel shoved a camera in between the cushions of the couch flashes in the photographer's mind.

Could it be…?

As he recalls Asami had sent his men to the scene of the attack for some reason, so no doubt it's the same one. Akihito reaches for it- but stops halfway, hesitating. If it is the same video camera it might show how bad Tori's injuries are.

But….

Akihito takes a deep breath and picks up the video camera. He goes to settle on the couch as he turns it on. There is a bit of static on the tiny screen for a brief moment, giving Akihito a few seconds to brace himself when it begins to clear.

The footage starts with the five men standing in front of Tori, who is still bound to the chair in front of the shut door. Her legs are in the air but then she lowers them, crossing them. Her lips curved in a small confident smile.

"Let's get her!"one of the men shouts.

Akihito's body becomes a bit tense as he watches what follows after. He can't help but be amazed at how nimble his cousin is despite her restraints. When she does a split jump over one of the charging men he runs into the couch, the impact caused the video camera to fall to the ground. It is then kicked and when it slides to a stop Tori is seen standing with her back towards it.

"Why isn't the shit working!?" the bald man growls, blood gushing from his nostrils.

"I gave her the second one- it's supposed to be top quality!"another man responds.

"Maybe she's a junkie," one of the men assumed.

"A junkie who's beating your asses," Tori says in a smug tone.

The men then charge at her again, and Akihito is filled with awe as he watches his cousin's superior fighting capabilities. The feeling reminds him of when he had first seen Tori take down the bullies back in elementary school with her black belt martial arts skills, tae-kwon-do and kung fu to be exact.

"Aki?"

Akihito's eyes snap up from the video camera and finds a figure wearing a hoodie standing in the doorway. At first fear fills him, but once the intruder pushed back the hood it is instantly replaced with overwhelming relief and joy. Without thinking he quickly gets to his feet and runs over.

"Tori!" Akihito says as he nearly tackles her with the force of his embrace.

"Hey," Tori chuckles lightly as she hugs him back with one arm.

When he feels something move against his chest Akihito pulls away, finding Ebony being cradled in her mistress's arm. He then looks at his cousin with concern. "A- are you okay to even be moving around?"

"I'm fine," Tori says reassuringly.

Akihito looks her over; the jacket hangs loosely on her frame, she's still wearing her jeans and sneakers, the only thing missing is her fingerless gloves. Without thinking he reaches out and lifts the jacket and the black shirt underneath enough to see her abdomen. Not a bruise or a scratch despite the hell of a fight she was in.

"What you watchin'?" Tori asks as she reaches for the video camera.

"Er- nothing," Akihito moves his hand before she can grab it then turns it off.

"One of your and Asami's pornos, eh?" Tori jests as she follows her cousin in the office.

Akihito feels his cheeks heat up a bit as he puts the video camera back on top of the wine cabinet.

Tori touches the scratch along his cheekbone. "How'd you hold up against Emi and Arata?"

"That Arata ran off so I only had to deal with Emi."

Ebony lets out a mew.

Akihito smiles and pets her. "Of course you were of great help Bonny-pi."

"Sucks I wasn't there to see."

"Yeah, but it wouldn't have been half as interesting as watching you in action." Akihito says as he begins to make his way out.

Tori chuckles as she follows after him, flicking the light off as they exit the office. "Well, I gotta get going,"

"What?" Akihito looks at her.

"I only came to check if you were okay,"

"No, stay and hang out a bit." Akihito tugs on the sleeve of her hoodie.

"I got some other important stuff to do. Another time, okay."

"I'll hold you to that," Akihito grins. Right as she turns to go down the hall Akihito grabs the sleeve of her hoodie again. "Actually Tori-chan, I've been thinking…."

"Yeah?"

"Umm, do you think maybe you can tutor me in self-defense?"

Tori looks at him for a moment, a bit surprised. "Y- yeah of course, I'd love to!"

Akihito smiles.

"But, don't you think it'd be better if Kobe or Yo-"

"No!" Akihito cuts her off. "I want to do it without anyone knowing- especially Asami."

"Why?"

"Because I've seen your skills! Hell- I bet you can even easily get Asami on his back."

Tori can't help but smirk as she remembers that night she had dinner with the crime lord.

"If I can do that just once, then maybe he'll stop having his people keeping a constant eye on me twenty-four-seven."

Tori let out a light laugh. "Aki he's still gonna have his peeps watching you anyway."

"But they'll do it at a distance like they use to, which was tolerable. I don't know what's going on for him to suddenly spring a couple of bodyguards on me, but I can't help but feel that even after it gets resolved I'm still gonna be stuck with them."

"Again Aki, can you blame him? I mean you know how 'popular' he is. And… know how people will try to use you to get to him."

Flashes of Akihito's ordeals run through his mind; Feilong, the casino ship, the Ai case. "No doubt it's gonna keep happening. But at least I'll be able to protect myself."

"I get ya," Tori says. "But Aki-"

"I'm tired of being beat up all the time." Akihito cuts her off. "Of feeling helpless when faced in those types of situations. I want to be more like you."

"It's not that I won't teach you, Aki. It's just I feel it would be a lot better if Kobe or Yosuke were involved. After all they're specially trained for all that."

"So are you," Akihito counters. "Heck you're a thousand times better than all of Asami's men combined. I mean you were drugged and were still able to take down all five of those guys."

Tori bites her lower lip, contemplating.

"Come on. It'll be just like old times." Akihito extends a hand. "Team Gemini?"

Tori looks at him for a brief moment, then with a smile extends her hand and the two do their secret handshake from when they were kids.

"Team Gemini."

Arata's horrified screams echo throughout the warehouse from the pain Asami inflicts on him. Emi is sitting lifeless in a chair, she passed out a while ago from blood loss but not before she was forced to witness the yakuza's cruel methods. Though the other subordinates weren't as fortunate, some would avert their eyes away from the scene of their boss literally chewing his prey alive.

"Kirishima,"

The bespectacled man steps forward. "Asami-sama,"

"My phone."

It is then Kirishima hears the familiar ringtone of the boss's phone. He hurriedly walks to where Asami stands and slides his hand into the inner pocket of the coat to retrieve the phone.

"Who is it?" Asami asked without tearing his murderous gaze from the ex-actor.

Kirishima almost breathes in relief. "It's Takaba-sama."

Asami's lips curve into a smile, a clear sign that he wants the phone answered. Kirishima swipes the green button and holds it to Asami's ear.

"Akihito, you surprised me. I thought you were asleep."

"I was, but I woke up starving. We did miss dinner you know."

Since Kirishima is standing so close to the boss he can practically hear Akihito and can't help but notice how more… normal- upbeat his tone is.

"I missed mine too, which is understandable given the situation," Asami signals Suoh with his free hand and the bodyguard immediately steps forward to take the bloody baseball bat.

"Yeah, since I'm up I had Kobe get some groceries delivered and was wondering if you were up for a very late dinner?"

"Why?"

"Because if you are, I'm cooking. If you're not, I'll still cook but I won't leave any beef for you," Akihito replies rather cheekily.

"Prepare it. I'm merely tying up some loose ends," he looks at the silent ex-actor hanging from chains bounding his hands, he's passed out either from the pain or internal blood loss. "I'll be back in an hour."

"You're absolutely sure you'l be back on time right? You were late the last time- and the time before that too. I mean really Asami, you need to learn some time management."

Asami chuckles. You are not getting away from that comment. "One hour, Akihito."

He ends the call before Akihito could retort.

"Awww man," a familiar voice echoes through the warehouse. "I knew I should have came here first."

All heads snap in the direction of the source, and all eyes rest on Tori crouched on a stack of crates with her pet marten on her shoulders.

"Tori-chan," Asami says with a hint of astonishment in his voice.

She hops down from the crates and approaches, looking at the dead corpses of the ex model and actor with a hint of disappointment.

"You really know how to bounce back don't you," Asami comments, taking note on how her movements don't seem to show any sign of causing even the slightest discomfort.

"You know it," Tori responds as she pushes Arata, the chains creaking as his dead body sways a bit. She clicks her tongue. "Zhong Fai must be getting impatient,"

"Zhong Fai?" Asami asks.

"Yeah," Tori turns to Emi, kicking a couple bloody nails laying on the ground by her designer heels. "The guy is so desperate he even got these two to try and do his dirty work."

"Well shouldn't be long until he slips then," Asami says as he turns to a table to take up a cloth and clean his hands.

"And when he does I got dibs," Tori says from behind. "Still would have been nice to have some fun with these guys too."

Asami turns to look at the blonde right as she punches the dead actor in the face, making him sway more.

"Then again," Tori says as she looks at the yakuza. "Doubt your boys could handle seeing my methods."

Asami does notice that a few other men look a bit pale.

"Perhaps next time you can show me a few," Asami says with a slight smirk.

Tori chuckles. "Alright old dog, hope you're ready for a new trick or two."

Asami smirks. "Suoh will escort you out."

The large bodyguard obediently approaches and gestures for Tori to follow, setting the bloody bat aside on a table before exiting.

When the elevator clanks to a stop Suoh and Tori step off, walking down a long brightly lit hallway.

Suoh can't help but stare at the young assassin from the corner of his eye as they walk down the brightly lit hallway. She is wearing a black spaghetti strap tank-top and a jacket tied around her waist also her fingerless gloves are missing. Being one of the few who had seen the video camera footage, he's impressed to see she doesn't have a single bruise or scratch on her. He then begins to think of the overwhelming relief he is feeling at the fact that she is fine, which again is strange. It's been bothering him day and night on where he may have seen her and he can only think that it was before-

"You okay, Peaches?" Tori asks.

"Hm?" Suoh responds.

Tori looks up at him. "I mean, it's just that I noticed you were a bit… tense back there."

"It's nothing," Suoh says, then, without thinking, adds, "It's just that the boss's punishments are getting more extreme."

"Yeah," Tori grins and looks forward. "But to be honest it looked like he went easy on Emi and Arata compared to what I had in store for them."

"But still, for him to get worked up over that lowlife brat Takaba." Suoh then quickly looks at the young assassin, though she doesn't react to the remark. And yet, like with Asami, he can feel her anger and irritation towards the negative mention of her cousin.

The Hell, why are my lips suddenly loose?

"I mean, a simple bullet to the head use to be Asami-sama's style but whenever Takaba-sama is involved…" Suoh trails off, unsure how to label his boss's erratic behavior.

After a brief moment, Tori lets out a light chuckle. "Nice to know I'm still easy to talk to after all these years."

The two turn a corner and soon approach a door, which leads out through a darkened alley. At intervals, on either side, more of Asami's men stand in the shadows. When they reach the end they stop.

Tori turns to look up at the large man. "Hey will you be honest with me?"

Suoh just looks at her.

"You… really don't remember me, do you?"

Suoh shakes his head.

Tori put a hand to her chest in playful offense. "Ouch. And to think I took my first steps for you."

Suoh lifts a brow. First steps…?

Tori smiles and bids the bodyguard goodnight before continuing on her way.

BRIEF WORD FROM THE AUTHOR

Omg it feels so goooood to be back, loves!

Again sorry the updates took a while, but thank for hanging in there. I also hope you enjoyed this chapter. And… yea pretty much all I gotta say for now haha.

P.S.

As for updates, I can't promise that there will be a set schedule on when chapters go up (again you know with life and all) but I will try to keep to one every two weeks. Actually I wasn't planning on posting so early but decided eh, why not give them a little gift:)

SHOUTOUT TO

Kadzuki Fuchoin

As said in the disclaimer above some scenes in the chapter will be borrowed from Business As Usual by Kadzuki Fuchoin, who again has given me permission. In fact some of the plot from her work is more of a kickstarter and also a great inspiration, as in the whole story won't have the exact same plot but something very similar. Also be sure to go check Kadzuki-sensei's account and some of her works:)