Chapter 5

"Are they gone?" I asked Hitomi.

"Yeah."

I looked back to see nothing. We were in an alleyway. The auction didn't go as expected. We were sitting there, me, Hitomi, Han, & Mei in the auction. There were all sorts of stuff being sold. I wanted to place a bid for them, but realized why I came. Not for those things.

Hitomi kept tapping me & pointing at some of the people who were going hysterical over getting the highest price. It was kind of exciting, watching them argue back & forth & people jumping up & down & some cheering when they 'win' or whatever.

Han pointed at a man sitting to the other side. He was saying that he barely moved the whole time & I said he must have been waiting for something good to show up. And well, that something good was the dragon figurine of Jann Lee's. The man was the first to place a bid then some of the people. I quickly followed them. The guy at the podium could barely see me & hear me. I had to scream to tell him. Some more people placed bids until the man placed the highest. Then nobody placed anymore. So I did. I couldn't let him win, right?

"It just a stupid statue, let it go," Mei had told me.

But I ignored her & kept placing bids. Soon we were placing bids back & forth, me & that man. The price was getting higher, the guy at the podium was getting ecstatic, some of the other people were gasping & all because neither one of us would stop placing bids.

Why did he want it so bad?

It went on for about three minutes until I knew I was at a very, very high price. That's when the man finally sat back down. I did, too & listened as the guy at the podium finally said sold.

"That man's mad at you," Hitomi whispered to me, pointing at him.

He was. He was staring me down & then I knew I made a mistake. I had spent most of my parents' money, not mine on the stupid figurine. It wasn't like they wouldn't notice it. Of coarse they would! And another thing, I got on that man's bad side! I didn't who he was or why he was so angry with me for taking the dragon from him. Bad karma . . .

And yeah, he tried to take it back. Well, I thought it was him in that car. He had chased us, Hitomi & me, in a black car when we were in the parking lot & I had the dragon in my hands. Mei & Han had got to safety by hopping a fence. I was too far ahead to notice the many ways I could have gotten away. I was just running. Hitomi didn't leave me behind to run for my life. She stayed behind me then pulled me in different directions. I had to follow her when she got ahead of me. I wasn't ready when she climbed over a tall fence to a No Trespassing area. I ran into the fence & fell down. I didn't let go of the dragon though. I had to climb the fence with it in my arms.

"Drop it!" Hitomi was screaming at me, "It's not worth it!"

I didn't listen to her. I didn't know if I really wanted it 'cause it was pretty & it was Jann Lee's or if I thought there was some kind of conspiracy going on & well, you get the idea, right?

I knew one thing though. I was afraid. I could have been killed by this man!

So we were safe. Thanks to Hitomi. I was too afraid to get away myself.

"Leifang, that was stupid!" I could tell she was really angry.

I didn't blame her. I could have gotten both of us killed a few minutes ago.

"All that for this!"

She was pointing at the dragon I held in my right hand. I was bent over, gasping for air. I ran fast & long. I finally straightened up.

"Hitomi," I started to explain myself, "he wanted this! Don't you understand?"

It's like that one movie I watched with Jann Lee before he kicked me out.

Hitomi said, "You should have given it to him. No, better yet, you should not have competed with him!"

"Hitomi, it's like a movie I watched with Jann Lee once," I was holding the dragon tight, looking at the ground, remembering the movie, "There was a secret to the car at the auction. The bad guy wanted it, but so did the good guy. The good guy won it, opened the compartment in the car & found diamonds . . ."

I looked up at Hitomi to make sure she understood. She said it was just a movie, but before I could object, she then said that despite that, it could happen. We both looked down at the dragon.

Could it-?

"Break it open!"

I looked over at Hitomi. She was shaking with excitement.

"No!" I said, holding the dragon safe from her.

"We're never gonna know why it's so important if we don't!"

"But . . . It was Jann Lee's . . ."

I couldn't do it. It was a remembrance of him. I couldn't destroy it. What if there was nothing inside? I would have done it for nothing. I paid a lot of money for it, too. And the money wasn't mine.

"If there was something good inside, wouldn't you think he would want you to crack it open?!"

Hitomi was getting persuasive.

I just said back in a whisper, "Who knows? Maybe he wouldn't want me to for my safety."

"For your safety?" she gave me an odd look, "It's too late for that now, don't you think? Besides, you're a big girl, you can take care of yourself. Prove it to him since he always denied it."

She was right.

I looked down at the dragon in my hands. Diamonds or small things could fit inside of it. I would hate to do it. It was so pretty. It felt like it was made of glass. It was sort of heavy & sort of shiny. Tapping it too hard could probably crack it then it would break into tiny pieces.

Wouldn't be able to put it together again . . .

"Just break it in half," Hitomi suggested, "We can definitely fix it back if nothing's in it."

You better hope so . . .

"Well, okay."

As I placed the side of it above my knee, I knew Hitomi was grinning from ear to ear. Like I said before, she didn't understand. She didn't know how much it meant to me. Jann Lee wasn't much of a friend like I wanted him to be.

"Leifang, I'm busy," he had said when I came to visit one day.

He was annoyed, shut the door in my face.

Yeah, well, that's Jann Lee for ya . . .

I was surprised that after the first tournament, I felt like I knew him all too well.

"What're you waiting for?" Hitomi asked me.

I was stepping on a box in the alley with one foot. I lifted the dragon in the air above my knee then I brought it down. I closed my eyes, thinking that it would shatter to pieces. I felt it hit my knee, but that was it. No clash. I opened my eyes & looked down. It was still intact.

This thing is stronger than I thought.

"Boy, Leifang, that was weak," Hitomi said.

Didn't seem like she was annoyed.

"Try harder," she told me.

"But then it'll shatter," I said.

"We have to get it open!"

"All right!"

After about three more tries, it finally broke. Broke a little more than what I wanted. Shattered to be correct.

No . . .

What I found inside made me want to scream. I held my face in my hands to make sure I didn't. There was nothing inside.