[I know I only posted the last chapter recently. I know you guys like happy endings. I don't give a flying carrot. (Yes, I said carrot). Thus, I present you with this. You're welcome. I'm not answering reviews this time, because that messes with the aesthetic way too much. There isn't a playlist song either.

I hope you guys know how much I loved writing this. It made me feel epically evil. Muahaha.]

The room was dark, concrete walls almost black with shadows. The single light bulb in the room was barely enough to cause said shadows, but with every gang member crowded around it, it was almost sufficient.

"We were fine before Yama, we'll be fine now. We just need a few days to get everything in order."

"God knows his murderer's going to pay, though. We aren't letting him get away with offing our benefactor."

A young woman with black and pink striped locks rolled her eyes, the silver hoop in her nose glinting in the dim light. "What's the point of that, though? It'll just waste resources. It's not as if he took anything. He'll get his due from one of Yama's. They don't need our help in ruining this guy's life."

"But helping in a revenge killing might get us on their good side, Emiko."

Said woman leaned back, her hands laid flat on the table. "But why would we want to be on their good side? Cash? We can get that ourselves. The only reason we ever tolerated Yama was for the action, and I think the vacuum he's left will snuff any of that for a while."

"I guess that's true," one of the other women at the table admitted, running a hand through her purple bangs. "After what happened with Yama, though, most of the gangs are lying low for a while. They're not exactly giving up, but you'd think they'd be able to man up and face it."

"Yama was a big figure in the underworld," Emiko reminded her comrade. "The fact that a guy with a knife managed to finish him off has made everyone else realize they're not invincible. Who knows whether this hit list includes anyone else?"

"You could be on there."

"I doubt it," the young woman scoffed, her wheels clicking against the concrete floor as she skated around to the other side of the table. "And if so, he's got another thing coming to him. Fujitas don't give up without a fight."

"Don't you think we should find some, I don't know, insurance or something?" The offending young woman flinched as her leader's glare hit her. "I mean, not that we need it. But just to be sure."

"What kind of insurance are you implying?"

The young woman hesitated for several seconds before replying. "...There's a rumor."

"About? Spit it out, Sakura."

"About a man who has a grudge against our little assassin."

Emiko glided in Sakura's direction, finally skidding to a halt in front of her. "And?"

"He's going to the leaders of most of the major gangs. He's already taken over Yama's, and has somehow formed an alliance with Asuma's," Sakura replied quietly.

A spark of interest leapt from one geisha girl to the next, and excited murmuring broke out.

"I didn't know they had formed an alliance."

"It's not common knowledge yet."

"It will be soon. You should have said something sooner."

"I needed your attention first," Sakura explained. "This man has sworn vengeance against the man who killed Yama."

"What for?" Emiko's eyes narrowed behind her pink and black bangs.

"No idea. I'm going to assume it's a personal thing. Anyhow, he's calling for alliances from all corners of the city."

"And you think we should join him?"

"I think that Asuma has surprisingly good judgement," Sakura said quietly, her eyes glinting in the dimly lit room. "If he trusts this man, it would be beneficial to all of us to join with him."

"Say we do, then," a younger woman from the back of the room said in a loud voice, rolling to the table. "Say we ally ourselves with this man and his salvaged gang. What then?"

"He's promised monetary benefits," the purple-haired woman replied easily. "And plenty of action. He intends to use the underworld to find Yama's killer, and he needs a good sized network for that."

"What else?"

"Protection."

Emiko raised an eyebrow. "Our cooperation for some money, some fights, and insurance that some guy who managed to off a fat man in a sweatsuit won't kill us?" She rolled her eyes and scoffed. "We can get that ourselves."

"Not exactly," Sakura gently corrected. "The amount of money is pretty great. And the kind of action isn't just some light jitterbugging—it's full scale war."

"Against who?" Emiko's eyes grew wide, and her gang leaned in to catch Sakura's reply.

"Against Yama's killer. And against the Big Hero 7."

"Big Hero 7, eh?" The younger woman who had challenged Sakura earlier let out a sharp bark of laughter. "You have fun with that."

"Are you saying we aren't strong enough, Jasmine?"

"I'm saying that, diminished as we are, we won't be able to stand up to them on our own—and we will be on our own." Jasmine looked up at Sakura, eyes glittering with amusement. "I'd trust Yama's gang about as far as I could throw them."

"So we impose a draft. Get our sisters back. Plenty of action there, right?"

Emiko nodded slowly, then sighed. "I guess we'll have to take a vote, then. All who aren't in for this deal, raise your fans."

A total of three young women, including Jasmine, raised their fans high into the air.

"And all in favor?"

The amount of fans raised high, metal spokes gleaming, obscured the light so effectively that the concrete walls were black.

"There we are then," Emiko said quietly. "So, let's go and bring home our...admittedly unwilling prodigal sisters then, shall we?"

COMING SOON

Put on Your War Paint: A Falling, Shatter Sequel