Notes:This story follows my previous trilogies, Dreams, Rage (R rated so you have to go look.. it's not that bad, really.. but I wanted to be safe) and Love. Please read those if you haven't already. You will understand what is going on here much more.
Female/female relationship. If that bothers you then maybe you shouldn't be reading this.
I take a few liberties with Zaki's background as I have found no definitive information about her.
One more note.. I promise, really. This story unlike the previous trilogies is written in the third person. I found it rather confusing to follow the pattern that I had going with four people involved at the same time...
by
NinjaNao
Entering the building she noticed her brother sitting towards the back with her... boyfriend? Ex-boyfriend? She was at a loss as to how to refer to him. She hadn't exactly broken off the relationship with him, but surely after what he must have seen, he would want to.
She took a deep breath and started for the table looking around for the third person she had asked to come. She didn't see her anywhere. She hoped that she would arrive soon. She didn't want to face her brother and him alone.
She had arrived early. She wanted to gage the mood of the others when they arrived. She didn't want any trouble either, so she didn't wear her usual chains or even her mask. This was Gedo territory, and being as she was the Seijyun boss, well, if she showed up alone in a place like this, she would be asking for it. By the choice of location where she had asked her to meet, this wasn't a lunch date. She was aware of Edge's fondness for this particular place. When he arrived he sat toward the back. Then her brother arrived.
Upon seeing Akira arrive, she took the bandana she had been wearing over her head off and used it to hold her hair back, which she expertly pulled into a ponytail. She then put on her trademark mask and headed for the table for the meeting with her trench coat in hand.
Her brother was the one who noticed her first. He greeted her with a barrage of questions.
"Akira! Where the heck have you been? I was worried sick. What is the meaning of this? What the hell do you think you are doing? Have you lost your mind?"
Akira held back her tears. She had expected her brother to be angry, but the reality of it was something else. She could see the hurt, anger and confusion in his eyes. The last thing she wanted was to hurt and disappoint her big brother. She knew that he had plans for her. But this was her life. She took a seat opposite Edge and her brother.
"I asked her to come too." She replied softly.
"Why?" Edge asked. "I'm going to kill that bitch the next time I see her."
Edge suddenly felt a presence behind him and the distinct sound of a chain rustling inside a pocket. He held his breath.
"Care to say that to my face, Broom head?" Zaki asked. "The only thing saving your scrawny little neck right now is the fact that we are in a public eating establishment and Akira asked me to be here. At least I have the decency to be civil about it."
With that Zaki took a seat on Akira's side of the table. If she were anybody else she might have crumbled under the gaze the two men were giving her as she took her seat, but she was unaffected.
Daigo folded his arms and turned away. He wanted nothing to do with Zaki.
"Daigo, please?" Akira responded. "Talk to her? That's why I asked her to come."
Daigo didn't turn around. "I don't want anything to do with her. I want you to stay away from her." He replied. "We don't need her kind in our family."
"Her kind?" Akira prodded.
Daigo nodded. "I did some digging into Zaki's background." He replied. "She knows nothing of the hardships that you and I have endured, Akira. At least Yuu had been one of us until he got mixed up."
Now Akira was confused. What was her brother talking about? And what did Yuu have to do with any of this? Why did he have to bring him up? Wasn't this complicated enough as it was without bringing back her pain of losing him? She had been prepared for questions about Zaki being a girl and homosexuality, but not the subject of Yuu. "Daigo, what are you talking about?" Akira asked.
"Himezaki, Aoi. She doesn't feel our pain, Akira. She knows nothing of the way that we live." Daigo replied.
Now Zaki was confused as well. What was Daigo talking about? She, like Akira, had been prepared to defend herself over her sexuality. "You aren't making any sense." Zaki replied. "If you have something to say to me or about me, I would appreciate you talking to me, not as though I'm not sitting her next to Akira or at me. And I don't like people digging into my past."
"You don't know what's it's like to wake up in the morning as a child and not having your parents around. You don't know what it is like to wonder if you will have anything to eat the next day." Daigo replied.
"I do know what it is like wake up and not have my parents around. Do you know what it is like to live under the same roof with somebody who wishes that you were never born? Or punish you at a moments notice for the most minor of offenses? My parents leave me in Japan with my overly strict grandparents because this is where they want me to grow up. They want me to make friends and have a stable place to live. They don't want to uproot me every time my father gets transferred." She responded. "I am the way that I am because it is the way that I chose to be. So I don't know the hardships that you and Akira have suffered through. It does not mean that I am insensitive to them."
"We do not need your sympathy." Daigo replied.
"I wasn't offering any." Zaki snapped.
"You aren't worthy of my sister." Daigo replied.
Zaki could tell that Akira was still confused. Edge was equally confused. Zaki continued to address Daigo. "You know, I expected you to attack me for being a lesbian and corrupting your sister, but I didn't expect you to attack me for my upbringing."
Daigo chuckled. "Oh don't you worry. I will get to that."
Zaki sighed. "Okay. Fine. Then do you care to enlighten Akira and Edge as to what you are talking about?" she asked.
"Why don't you?"
Zaki sighed again. "Fine. I didn't have a harsh upbringing by your standards, but that doesn't' mean that it was happy."
"Oh, please." Daigo responded with a huff.
"Money doesn't always bring happiness. Sometimes it only brings misery." Zaki replied. "When I was little, I had lots of friends... or so I thought. It wasn't until I started doing things different than what they wanted that I realized that all they liked about me was the money. So I developed a sort of mean complex to keep people away. I still ended up with 'friends' so to speak. But they liked me for who I was, not my money. They became my gang. They are more my friends than any of my so-called friends of my early childhood."
Edge laughed. "Then you're a fake! And to think I was actually afraid of you!"
Zaki glared at Edge, making him nervous. "Listen up, Broom head, I can still take you. Don't you forget that. Just because I lived a so-called cushy life doesn't mean I can't defend myself." Zaki replied. "And let's not forget, you and Akira needed my help to rescue Daigo."
"Ha! Poor little rich girl. You have no idea what it's like. Do you have any idea what it took for me to earn enough money for that ring I bought Akira, which I lost by the way, thanks to you?" Edge replied. "You owe me big time. That ring cost me a fortune!"
Zaki took her wallet out of her pocket. "I don't owe you a damned thing, but it means so much to you. Here!" Zaki replied counting out a few large bills placing them down in front of Edge.. "How much was it? One? Two? Four?"
"Stop it!" Akira cried out.
Zaki sat back down putting her wallet back in her pocket. Edge stared at the money in front of him wide-eyed.
Daigo glared at Zaki. "Do you think money is going to repair his broken heart?" he asked.
"I am not the one making a big deal about my money." Zaki replied. "And to answer your question. No. All the money in the world will not mend his broken heart."
Daigo turned his attention to his little sister. "How can you be friends with a person like her?" He asked.
"Because she listens to me. She helped me when I needed to rescue you from Kurow's clutches." Akira replied.
Edge turned to Akira. "She's using you, Akira. Can't you see that now? She's a fake!" he replied. "And how can you say that you love her? She's a girl!"
Zaki leaned back in her chair. "So, it comes down to that, doesn't it?"
Daigo glared at Zaki. "You stay out of this."
"I will not." Zaki protested. "This is my business as well. Akira asked me to be here. She wanted me to talk to you. I've tried, but I can see that you don't want to listen."
Daigo noticed the tears in Akira's eyes. "Now look what you've done!" he accused. "You've made my sister cry. You will pay for that!"
"STOP!" Akira replied.
Zaki turned to Akira. "I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault." Akira responded.
"Like hell it isn't!" Edge exclaimed. "We wouldn't be here if it weren't for her. This whole mess is her fault! I would never make you cry, Akira. NEVER! And I won't leave you like that coward Yuu did, either."
Akira glared at Edge the best she could behind her tears. "Yuu wasn't a coward! He just got mixed up in something that he couldn't get out of. He didn't have the strength to find another way out. He chose the path that he felt would be the least painful for everybody. He never wanted to hurt anybody!" Akira defended
"But he did hurt you." Edge replied.
"He didn't mean to. I know he didn't." Akira replied. "He just wasn't strong enough. That doesn't make him a coward. I loved him, Edge, and I won't have you saying things like that about him."
Edge turned to Zaki. "Ha!" He replied. "What do you think of that? Akira loved somebody before me!"
"I think you are a jerk for bringing up the past like that." Zaki replied. "Can't you see that you've upset her?"
Daigo looked at Zaki. "The only person here who is hurting my little sister is you." He replied. "I want you to stay away from her. Do you understand me?"
Zaki sighed. "I will do whatever Akira wants."
Akira wiped away her tears and turned to Daigo. "Please stop, Daigo." She replied softly.
"Akira, I'm only trying to protect you." Daigo responded.
"I know that, but I'm not a little girl anymore." Akira replied.
"I don't want anybody to hurt you."
Akira took a deep breath and looked her brother in the eyes. "And you don't think this is hurting me?" she asked. "I want you to try to understand."
Edge turned to Akira. "What about me? Don't you think it hurt me to find you kissing Zaki after rejecting me?"
"I'm sorry." Akira answered. "I didn't know that she would be there, honest. I admit that she was the reason that I said no, but I did not know that she was there."
"Sure you didn't. If you ask me, it was a wee bit convenient for her to be there and for me to stumble across the two of you kissing like that." Edge replied. "What does she give you? Money? Expensive gifts? Booze? Drugs?"
"Last night was not Akira's fault. I knew that she was meeting you at the park. She told me. I knew that you had purchased a ring. I suspected what you intended to do with that ring." Zaki replied.
"You knew I bought the ring? You've been stalking me!" Edge exclaimed.
"Akira mostly, but yes." Zaki admitted.
Daigo glared at Zaki. "You stay away from my sister, do you hear me?"
Edge nodded in agreement with Daigo. "Yeah. Stay away from Akira."
Zaki looked at Edge. "I intended to. I watched the two of you kiss and it was just too much. I ran off. That would be the last time I watched either of you." She paused. "Akira found me."
"Yeah, right." Edge laughed. "Found you right where you were supposed to be, you mean."
Akira shook her head. "No, Edge. I told you. I didn't know she was there. I ran off to try to get my head straight." Akira replied. Tears formed in her eyes. "I know that I hurt you, Edge, but I couldn't say yes. I needed to clear my head. I couldn't tell you why I said no. I never wanted to hurt you."
Daigo continued to glare at Zaki. "You will leave now." He replied.
"I will go when Akira tells me to go." Zaki responded defiantly. "If Akira wishes, I will leave and never speak to her again."
"Daigo! I don't want her to leave." Akira replied. "I want to be with her right now. Please try to understand."
"I don't understand." Daigo responded. "You loved Yuu. You loved Edge. How can you be in love with Zaki?"
"I don't know. I just am." Akira answered. "I still love Yuu. And I still love Edge. I just can't commit to spending the rest of my life with him when I am having dreams of being in the arms of another. I had to work things out. I just didn't think they would work out like this."
"You dreamed of her?!" Daigo asked.
"Yes." Akira answered. "I didn't think she cared about me like that though, until I found her in the park last night, crying."
Daigo nodded. "Then it's over. You've explored this little fantasy of yours. Time to come back to reality. Tell Zaki good-bye and let's go home."
Akira sighed. She turned to Zaki. "Take your mask off."
Zaki's expression did not change. She did as Akira asked.
Daigo and Edge were stunned as the gang leader removed her mask. She was beautiful. There was no grotesque disfiguration or hideous facial scar, just the blemish free face of a beautiful a young woman. She was the exact opposite of the intimidating gang leader she was known to be.
Before Daigo or Edge could react or say anything about how Zaki looked, Akira leaned in and kissed her tenderly. She pulled away and smiled noticing the shocked looks on the guys' faces. She leaned in and kissed her again, this time a bit more passionately.
The kiss left Daigo and Edge speechless and frozen in disbelief.
Akira stood up. She looked at Daigo. "Good-bye." She replied before turning to Zaki extending her hand. "Let's go home."
Well, that's the end. I never thought it would be so long. It was only intended to be just the one story... "Dreams". That was all. If you want me to continue in 'my world' review and let me know that you enjoyed it. I will try to write more. Or email too... violintide@yahoo.com