Kitsune no Ken GAIDEN Chronicles
Written by Neon Majestic
(DISCLAIMER: The Naruto franchise and the characters therein belong to and were originally created by Masashi Kishimoto.)
OoOoO
GAIDEN 36 – Retribution Deal
(N.B. This Gaiden begins on October 9, immediately following Gaiden 35.)
Monday morning, October 9, found Detective Chiba Yurika walking resolutely through the hallways of the Sound City hospital, her destination firmly in her mind. Before long she found herself outside Yukata's hospital room, where at the moment she could see through the doorway as the teenager picked at the food items on her breakfast tray. "Ahem," Yurika announced herself as she knocked on the open door.
Yukata looked up and promptly scowled. "What do you want, cop? It's too early for visiting hours."
"Good morning to you, too," said Yurika. "I got permission from the doctor to come and talk with you." She entered the room and eyed Yukata's breakfast tray. "Hmm, rice cereal, scrambled eggs with fried potato squares, a cheese sandwich, fruit juice…not bad, for hospital food at least."
"Oh, cool, you came to critique my hospital breakfast. Well, good, now you've seen it. Goodbye." Yukata picked up her fork and resumed her picking at the scrambled eggs.
Yurika decided to get to the point. "Your mother came by the precinct to see me yesterday. It seems you and she didn't exactly have a mother-daughter heart-to-heart."
"What business is it of yours?" Yukata demanded.
"Well, I'm the lead investigator in your case where you've been put in this hospital bed because somebody stabbed you. And as the lead investigator, I'm liaising closely with your doctor, who, by the way, has informed me that once you're well enough to move on your own power, you'll be required to go home with your mother for the remainder of your recovery time, seeing as your mother is your parent and legal guardian," Yurika told her.
"Oh, wonderful," Yukata said sarcastically.
Yurika studied the younger woman for a moment. "What did your mother do to make you hate her so much?" she finally asked.
"What do you care? I'm just another piece of one of your case-files with numbers on them, and when you're done with that, I'll be just another street rat who's part of a gang that you cops will be ragging on," said Yukata. "Or am I lying, huh?"
"Here's the truth." Yurika looked her right in the eye. "I look at you, and right now I don't see a number on a case-file, or a gang member. Right now I see a teenage girl who could have lost her life due to gang violence on the streets, who's lucky to be alive eating rice cereal in a hospital bed instead of dead on a cold slab at a funeral home. And I also see a girl who hates her own mother for reasons I can't quite wrap my mind around, when that mother comes across as a woman who's tried her best to raise her only daughter with all the ability she's got."
"Oh—is that the impression you have of my mother? Well, she must be a very good actor," Yukata replied.
"Okay. So I don't know everything. Enlighten me, then," said Yurika. "What—is your mother abusive? Did she beat on you? Cuss at you? Molest you?"
"No, no, and no." Yukata's expression was dark. "But she might as well have."
Yurika cocked an eyebrow…then both eyes narrowed. "Your father was molesting you and she knew and said nothing."
"No!" Yukata snapped. "My father—" She remembered where she was and lowered her voice. "My father died when I was nine. He was good to us. Don't you ever accuse him of something that sick."
"Then what?" asked Yurika. "What could justify you being here in Sound City instead of at home with your mother in Konoha Town?"
Yukata glared at the detective for all of ten seconds…then she looked away and sighed. "Last year, when I was at Konoha High School, a guy asked me out. I turned him down. Problem was, he was part of the school's group of hall monitors…they fixed it to look like I'd stolen a cell-phone, and I got dragged before the school's disciplinary board and was forced to pay for the phone—a phone that didn't even exist to begin with. My mother saw me go through that whole situation…and she believed the words of a pack of liars over her own daughter. She believed them while I was getting humiliated by the whole lot of them. So I ditched school, skipped town, and ended up here in Sound City."
"And with the Tiger Dragons," Yurika put in.
"Hey, at least they treat me like my opinion actually matters," Yukata said heatedly.
"Where are they, then?" asked Yurika. "As far as I know, the only visitors you've had here are me and Yui-san. Yet you got knifed, and not one Tiger Dragon comes to see you?"
"Come on, now, lady—you seriously think they're going to just come and see me if they think there's a chance the hospital's gonna call the cops on them just for showing up?" Yukata countered.
"…can't fault that," Yurika conceded. "In any event, I'd like to help you, but you need to work with me."
"A cop work with a gang member? The end of the world must be nigh," Yukata deadpanned.
"The cops in Konoha Town have been known to work with members of the Nine Terrors in recent months. Try again." Yurika couldn't help the slight smirk and upturned eyebrow on her face.
"…point." Yukata's expression was one of begrudging resignation. "You said you want to help me. What do you have in mind, exactly?"
"I occasionally work with Sound City's local dispute resolution center—it's a way of reducing the number of court cases that start from unresolved disagreements," said Yurika. "If you let me, I could get you and your mother to come to one consensus—at least to get you two talking again, if not fully reconciled. It would be a start, at least. And this way, it would be one step toward confirming your innocence of that phone-theft charge your school pinned on you."
"And in exchange?" Yukata asked.
"You give me whatever info you can into who caused you to be here in the hospital to begin with, so that I can do my job as a cop and bust them," Yurika answered. "Two ways of getting things resolved in your favor. Think about it."
Yukata looked down at the rest of her breakfast, her brow furrowed as she considered the offer. Then she closed her eyes…and then reopened them, determination blazing in them. "One condition of my own."
"Hmm?" Yurika eyed her curiously.
"I'll let you mediate between me and my mom. That's it. As for dealing with the person who stabbed me…" Yukata eyeballed Yurika. "I want to bring someone else in on this, to make sure the person gets caught properly. The last thing I want is any reprisal on the Tiger Dragons from my stabber, or any loss of my rep with the gang, because of any kind of association with you."
"And just letting me go and bust the perp isn't simpler?" asked Yurika.
"Look, either we do this on my terms, or we don't do it at all. Simple as that." Defiance came back over Yukata's face.
Yurika put up her hands. "Fine, fine. We'll do it your way…for now." She sighed. "So. Who do you have in mind to call?"
Yukata took up her spoon and stuck it into her rice cereal. "There's this guy in Konoha Town…"
OoOoO
A few hours later, in Konoha Town…
The insistent knocking at the front door interrupted Kushina's cleaning endeavors in the bathroom. "Coming! Coming!" she cried, setting the cleaning items down on the edge of the bathtub and hurrying to the front door. "And who…" She opened the door. "…have we got here? Oh, hey, Ibiki."
True enough, Morino Ibiki was standing on the porch alongside a woman Kushina didn't recognize. "Morning, Uzumaki-san," Ibiki said gruffly. "This here is Chiba Yurika, a detective from the Sound City police. She came to see me first, since this town is our jurisdiction, before coming here to see you."
Kushina glanced at Yurika. "Forgive me, but…Yurika? What, were you a marvelous discovery at birth?"
"My parents were crime-scene investigators with a poor sense of humor," Yurika answered. "And yes, I got a lot of teasing about my name during my school years. Please spare me."
"Getting right to the point, if we may," Ibiki interrupted. "Detective Chiba is here because a member of the Tiger Dragon gang in Sound City—Yukata, the gang's second-in-command—was stabbed and hospitalized. She's fine, but she specifically requested to see Naruto before she'll cooperate with the investigation into the attack on her."
"A member of the Tiger Dragons, huh…then I guess that means you know about Naruto from them," Kushina addressed Yurika again.
"His confession on Maito Guy's radio show about being a Kyuushingai was all over the airwaves. It's hardly a secret at this point, especially after what happened at Parliament a few months ago." Yurika shook her head. "Let me level with you, Uzumaki-san. Personally, I don't like the Kyuushingai—lots of people don't—but in my case, it's because some good cops who I've known for years, who I graduated from the police academy with, lost their lives in the line of duty during the 365 days. Still, I'm professional enough to put my duty before my personal feelings, and if getting anywhere into this investigation on Yukata's attacker means abiding by her request and calling in a Kyuushingai who she happens to know, I'll just have to roll with it for the time being."
Kushina nodded. "I understand. So…Yukata saw fit to request Naruto, huh? I'll let him know once he comes home from school."
"Good. I'll be at the Konoha Town precinct, acquainting myself with your city's methods of crimefighting." Yurika nodded. "Morino-san, shall we?"
"Right." Ibiki flashed Kushina a two-finger salute. "Later, Uzumaki-san."
OoOoO
"Nope…nope…nope…crap…crap…absolute crap…" Yukata muttered to herself as she flicked through the channels on her hospital room's wall-mounted TV with its remote.
Knock-knock-knock. "Hey, leader girl."
"Eh?" Yukata looked up—and she beheld four familiar faces at the doorway, all members of the Tiger Dragon gang. "Hey, you guys! What took you so long to come visit me?" she asked.
"Hey, we had to work up enough courage just to come—they've got cops outside on guard duty, right at the front of the ward," one of the two girls in the group replied.
"Cops on the ward? Why?" Yukata asked, surprised.
"Because of you, leader girl," one of the boys answered. "Luckily, they seem to think you're a minimum security risk—that's probably why they don't have any cops in here watching over you. But they do have a couple of uniforms stationed outside—probably in case you try to climb out the window or something."
"Pfft. Figures." Yukata made a disgusted noise with her teeth. "I should've known that detective who came to see me wouldn't have told me everything she was planning to do. Geez, you just can't trust authority figures anywhere, can you? But say, how'd you guys make it up here past them?"
"We had to leave our Tiger Dragon jackets behind before we could think to come through the front door," the second of the guys answered. "And we made sure not to come with any weapons, either. That way it didn't take long for them to search us and let us through."
"What, you couldn't just lie and say you were visiting somebody else?" Yukata quipped.
"Seems they're searching everybody who comes during visiting hours—they're not going to be that careless," the second of the girls informed her. "But anyway, enough about that…there's something you need to know. You deserve to know, even if Nigai took the leadership position from you."
Yukata at once noticed the sudden shift in their expressions. "Does he know you came to see me?"
"No. None of the other Tiger Dragons know about us being here." The first boy shook his head. "Nigai's planning to do something crazy…says it'll make our gang be top-tier—but all it'll do is bring the cops down on our heads if he pulls it off."
"Is that so…" Yukata frowned. "Talk to me, guys. What's he up to?"
OoOoO
"…you're very ambitious, anybody ever tell you that?"
Nigai leaned back in his seat and sipped from his beer can as he eyeballed the speaker, another young man with shoulder-length bluish-purple hair who was wearing the Purple Storm gang's trademark purple jacket with whirlwind designs on the shoulders. "I mean, check it—this plan of yours, to take down that Spiral Reaper dude and that Kyuushingai kid, it's just far out."
"Well, your boys who I chatted with last night said you Purple Storms aren't cowards—now's the time to prove what kind of balls you have." Nigai nodded. "And that goes double for you, right, Karyu? I mean, now that you're the leader of the Purple Storms after Arashi's death and all."
"Hmph. Well, nobody ever accused us Purple Storms of being chicken." Karyu crossed his arms over his chest. "But how, exactly, do you propose we go about executing this plan you've got?"
"Let's take it one piece at a time," said Nigai. "First, the Spiral Reaper. Have any of your guys been keeping tabs on him or his whereabouts since he got busted?"
"A couple of our boys are before the courts for cases of their own," Karyu answered. "They've sent word to us about that guy—his next court date's tomorrow, in Suna City. But his security detail's gonna be pretty high; seems they're looking at both his solo antics and what he did as a LOVE mercenary."
"Tomorrow…tight timing, but it can work," Nigai said thoughtfully. "All we need to do is find the truck they use to transport the prisoners for court, wait till they're going to load the prisoners back in it for transport back to their place of custody, then waylay the truck on the way and take the Reaper out of business."
"What about the Kyuushingai brat—Uzumaki?" asked Karyu. "How do you suggest we deal with him?"
"The kid's a Kyuushingai. You approach him head-on, he's bound to make mincemeat out of you. So…" Nigai nodded. "You hit him where it'll hurt him the most—his friends, his family, anybody he's close to."
"Not that simple, man." Karyu scowled. "People talk a lot in the local underworld—and plenty of that talk's been about Uzumaki. They say his mom's a badass bitch, his dad's some kind of freakish torture-nut, and every friend he has here in Konoha Town is highly connected, tough fighters in their own right, or both. And that includes the Hyugas and the Uchihas, the two richest families in town, plus I hear the mayor and the police have his back too. So, yeah, not that simple."
"…huh. For a Kyuushingai, he's sure got a lot of friends, doesn't he?" Nigai's wonder was genuine. "But there's got to be somebody in his circle that we can get to without worrying about them either being able to kick our asses themselves, or that anybody too important will miss them right away."
"If you've got any suggestions, I'm all ears," said Karyu.
Nigai thought for a moment. Then he took another sip of his beer. "All right, let's skip over his parents—they sound like trouble enough by themselves—and go over what you know of his friends. And, hmm, leaving off anybody from the Uchihas or the Hyugas—who else is he close to?"
Karyu frowned. "I remember this one chick…Yamanaka…her folks run a greengrocery here in town. But she's the kind of chick who'll kick your ass if you motivate her well enough. And I know through the underworld grapevine that she's friends with this kid whose family runs a deer farm near town, and another kid whose dad runs a butcher shop here in town too—and both of them helped to hand a bunch of other gangs their asses a while back. So, yeah, all three of them are off limits. Plus there's this one kid, Inuzuka, whose mom is a cop—definitely not good for your health. And then there's these two bastards who used to run with us…Suigetsu and Jugo…but they won't go down without a fight themselves, so they're not worth pursuing either."
"What about anybody else—like from his school? Classmates, teachers, anybody like that?" Nigai insisted.
"Hmm…you know, come to think of it…" Karyu fingered his chin. "The boys tell me that there's this new couple who moved in just across the street from him last month—I hear the wife's a teacher at Konoha High. Maybe we could target her and use her as bait."
"Is she loaded? Can she fight?" Nigai wanted to know.
"Negative to both, from what I'm told," Karyu answered.
Nigai smiled. "Then we have a way to get to Uzumaki."
OoOoO
Later that afternoon saw a certain whisker-faced blond young man, clad in his school uniform, trudging toward the front steps of the Konoha Town police department, and in a moment he was strolling up to the officer at the front desk. "Afternoon, he greeted her.
"Ah, Uzumaki-kun," she replied. "You're here to see Morino-san, right? He said to let you right in—he and his visitor from Sound City are in his office, waiting for you."
"Thanks." Naruto walked past the desk and headed inside, making a beeline for the police chief's office door and knocking on it. "Hola!" he called.
"Come in," Ibiki's gruff voice sounded from the other side.
And in Naruto went. "Got your message from Mom," he said. "And…" He beheld, in a chair near Ibiki's desk, a woman with a badge on her coat pocket. "You must be the lady from Sound City. Eureka, Yurika!"
Yurika gave Ibiki a flat look. "I do not envy you."
"Eh, you get used to his snark after a while," Ibiki shrugged. "In any event…" His tone became businesslike again. "If your mother gave you the message about Detective Chiba here, you should know about the girl Yukata from the Tiger Dragons."
"Yeah…Chi's right-hand girl…and she wants to see me, why exactly?" asked Naruto.
"That's for her to clarify. It was her condition in exchange for giving me any info to deal with the case of whoever stabbed her," said Yurika. "So, then, Uzumaki-kun, shall we go?"
OoOoO
"Hey, Uzumaki…been a little while," Yukata greeted her new visitor.
Naruto was sitting by her bedside, while Yurika stood off to one side and watched the exchange. "Hey to you too, Yukata," he replied. "So, you mind telling me what's so special about this whole situation with you being here in hospital, that you couldn't let the eureka-cop here deal with it?"
Yurika's eye twitched at the pun, but she forced herself to ignore it and focus on Yukata instead.
"Well…about that…" Either Yukata was deliberately ignoring the pun herself, or she was so preoccupied with whatever was on her mind that it simply hadn't registered. "I wanted you here because…well, you know about my history with Konoha High's Hall Monitors' Guild. You fought them, so you know the kind of douchebags they are."
"Yeah, I remember all that. So?" Naruto asked.
"The point is you basically didn't jump on the first viewpoint about me. You saw for yourself what kind of bastards they are. That means…that means you won't go by first assumptions, at least not in this case. That's why…" Yukata gave him a look. "If I'd asked the cop here from the get-go, she'd probably go arrest everybody instead of just focusing on the one individual. But I can at least hope…hope that you'll be not so narrow in your thinking."
"Hmm?" Yurika cocked an eyebrow.
Naruto's eyes narrowed slightly as he examined Yukata's expression. "Oi." He got her attention. "It was someone from the Tiger Dragons, wasn't it?"
Yurika started at that—but Yukata's face didn't have even a hint of surprise. "You're perceptive. I guess that's one reason why Chi-sama says you're an interesting guy," the girl said quietly.
"Wait—so this was an internal dispute all along?" Yurika spoke up.
"Yes, it was something internal, and if I'd told you so at the outset you'd have just gone and arrested everybody in the Tiger Dragons instead of just focusing on the one individual!" Yukata exclaimed.
"Ladies, ladies, you're both pretty, now can we please stop making this personal and focus on catching the guy who did the stabbing?" Naruto interrupted. "Now, Yukata, level with me here. How'd all this start?"
"Hmm…" Yukata made a small noise in her throat before exhaling sharply. "When Chi-sama got busted after what went down at the Parliament building, I got the leadership of the Tiger Dragons in his place. But this one guy…Nigai's the name…he'd never liked Chi-sama's way of running the gang, said it made us soft, and he challenged me for the leadership. That's how I ended up here—it was a barehanded fight until he got the bright idea to surprise me with a knife."
"What does he look like? Was he with you when Chi tried to fight me that one time?" asked Naruto.
"Yeah. Dark skin, dreadlocks. Pretty hard to miss. Of course, you wouldn't really have taken much notice of the lower-level members in the Tiger Dragons, anyway," said Yukata. "But he's looking to make himself noticed…based on what he's up to…"
Yurika glared at Yukata. "Explain what that means. Now."
"I'm getting to that, thanks," Yukata glowered. "Well, anyway…a couple of the Tiger Dragons came to visit this morning. They said Nigai's looking to get revenge on you, Uzumaki, for how you humiliated the gang when you overpowered Chi-sama in your little skirmish…and also on Yamato-teme."
"Yamato Tenzou, former vice-principal of Konoha High School," Naruto supplied for Yurika.
"Yes…he's the main person responsible for me getting shamed in front of everybody when I was at Konoha High…" Yukata shook her head as the unpleasant memory came back to her. "And more immediately relevant to this conversation, he also dressed up one time as that Spiral Reaper serial killer wannabe. One of his victims was one of our members…seems Nigai wants to take revenge on him for that."
"Ah, yes, I remember now—I read about that when it hit the news a few months ago," said Yurika. "Yamato was arrested after he killed three people and injured two others as the Spiral Reaper, and later on he was arrested with the operatives of the LOVE syndicate in Konoha Town."
"One of those people was one of our Tiger Dragons, like I said…and another was Arashi, the leader of the Purple Storm gang in Konoha Town," said Yukata. "That's another thing my peeps said to me when they came to see me today—Nigai's planning to meet with the Purple Storms to make an alliance in order to take revenge on both Yamato-teme and Uzumaki here."
"What are the odds that they've had that meeting already?" Naruto asked grimly.
"By this point in the day, those odds are very good." Yurika crossed her arms over her chest. "But even if both gangs join forces for the sake of revenge, what good will it do? After all, Yamato is already in custody, and you're…well, you," and she nodded at Naruto.
"Still, better safe than sorry," said Naruto. "I'd better call my mom and give her a heads-up in case they try the home invasion route."
"And I should probably ask Ibiki what's the status on Yamato's security," and Yurika pulled out her phone.
OoOoO
"I see," Ibiki spoke humorlessly into his phone. "Well, I was one of the officers involved in Yamato's case. He's due back for his next court-date mention at the Suna City courthouse tomorrow."
"In that case, can I leave it up to you to handle his security measures?" Yurika asked from the other end.
"Can do and will do," said Ibiki.
"Thanks. I'll help Uzumaki-kun to deal with the other part of the issue, in the meantime."
"You do that, then."
"All right then. Bye for now."
Ibiki hung up the phone, waited a moment, and then dialed another number, putting the receiver to his ear and waiting patiently while the line rang. Then: "Hello, Suna City courthouse? This is Detective Morino Ibiki from the Konoha Town police…could you put me through to your chief clerk of the court, please?"
OoOoO
"Oh? So you're telling me a genuine thug took over control of the Tiger Dragons and is planning to team up with another gang to try and kill you?" Kushina asked into her cell-phone as she busied herself at the stove. "Well, isn't that a shame…to think they're going to rush to an early death so soon…"
"Just be careful, that's all," Naruto told her. "You may be tough, but you're not getting any younger."
"Are you calling me old?" Kushina asked as a vein bulged on her forehead. "I will have you know that I am still in the prime of my life! Well, as much as a housewife who's mother to a teenage brat like you can be."
"Need I remind you that Kimimaro shot you in the shoulder and Mangetsu beaned you from behind?"
"Only because they caught me by surprise, that's all!" Kushina said defensively. "And for the record, your father is the only one allowed to bean me from behind, hee-hee-hee…"
"HANGING UP NOW BYE!" Click.
"Sucker." Kushina put the phone down, a contemplative look replacing her expression of a moment before. "So…the Tiger Dragons have new management now, huh…and they're going to team up with this town's Purple Storms for the sake of revenge…" She closed her eyes and shook her head. "What a waste."
OoOoO
"Hmm? Oh, Uboshita-sensei, you're still here?" Hatake Kakashi, the resident math teacher and not-so-secret pervert of Konoha High School's faculty, addressed his fellow teacher as he entered the staff room.
Uboshita Yumi, the Spanish teacher, looked up from the paperwork she was perusing at her desk. "Ah, buenas tardes, profesor," she replied. "Just going through a few little things before I head home."
"I have to say, you seem to be fitting in quite nicely since you joined us here," Kakashi remarked. "How would you rank the school so far, compared to your last school?"
"They're not much different, all said and done," Yumi answered. "Some students show promise, some need a little elbow-grease…just like how it was back at Shimo City High, it's the same here."
"Well, however you slice it, you're already really popular among the boys and the girls," Kakashi observed.
Yumi gave him an amused look. "Do I detect jealousy in your tone, señor?" she asked.
"Oh, far be it from me to be jealous of someone like you," and Kakashi put a hand to his chest to emphasize his self-address.
And then Yuhi Kurenai, the resident history teacher, chose that moment to show up at the door next to Kakashi. "Says the perv who was upset because Yumi-sensei was stealing his so-called coolness factor."
"CRAM IT UP YOUR DRY HOLE, MISS 'I'M ONLY A D-CUP AND SHE'S A DD-CUP'!" Kakashi exploded at her.
"BASTARD, I WILL CUT YOUR BALLS OFF!" Kurenai fired back.
Yumi's only response to this display was to put her hand to her cheek and giggle. "My, my, my, such animated spirit you two have! And all because of me, the new teacher on the block!" she remarked.
"Well…" Kurenai looked extremely sulky as she turned to look in Yumi's direction. "As long as you do your first duty as a teacher, I guess it can't be helped that you're so popular here after only a few months…or that your boobs are way too big for a lady teacher…" and here her scowl deepened and she looked away.
"I'm sorry if I've caused you any discomfort. It was truly not my intention to do so." Yumi's smile did not diminish as she stood up from her desk. "I just hope that we'll be able to get along eventually, if only for the sake of the students we oversee. Their welfare must come before our personal grievances, yes?"
"…well…when you say it that way…" Kurenai had the good grace to look sheepish.
"It's hard to argue with that." Kakashi sighed. "So…will you be going home shortly, then?"
"Actually…" Yumi shook her head. "Seeing as I've only been in Konoha Town a short while, I think I'd like to familiarize myself with the local eateries. Would any of you care to join me? My treat."
"Huh?" Kurenai started. "Can you afford it already?"
"Don't worry about it. I'd just like to feel like I'm pulling my weight. Plus, it'd be good to get better acquainted with the rest of you outside of work hours, don't you think?" asked Yumi.
Kakashi fingered his dust-mask. "Hmm…I suppose it'd be something different from the norm…"
"What norm? You wanking to lousy cable porn all by yourself?" Kurenai needled him.
"This coming from the woman who's got neither husband nor boyfriend to plug her obviously unused socket," and Kakashi gave her a stink-eye.
"Are you two in love with each other and denying it?" Yumi wondered aloud.
"SCREW THAT!" Kakashi and Kurenai yelled simultaneously.
Yumi just laughed. "Ha, ha, ha! Such an interesting set of co-workers I have here…"
OoOoO
Unbeknownst to Yumi at that moment, just a little distance up the street from her house, three punks in solid black jackets were lounging around, one smoking a cigarette, another shuffling a pair of dice in one hand, and the third leaning against a nearby lamp-post. And all three were eyeballing Yumi's house.
"That's the teacher's house, all right…right across from the Kyuushingai kid's house, down there," the punk with the dice commented. "Shouldn't she be home by now?"
"We can afford to wait for her. She's probably just running some errands or something before she comes home," the thug with the cigarette answered.
"And when she does come home…" The thug leaning on the lamp-post licked his lips and leered.
OoOoO
END GAIDEN 36
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NEON MAJESTIC: In this continuation of the rise of Nigai of the Tiger Dragons, we see the alliance between the Tiger Dragons and the Purple Storms taking greater shape…and also, we see the return of minor character Uboshita Yumi, the new Spanish teacher who Kakashi and the other teachers are jealous of due to her being cooler (Kakashi) or sexier (Kurenai) or for whatever other reasons (see Gaiden 9). But trouble's looming as these three guys who're up to no good wait for Yumi to come home…
More to come in the next Gaiden!