Happy reading everyone!

'Open the fucking door Dora!'

The door to the trashed bar that once housed the Gecko gang rattled as Dorama's lackeys cleaned up and tended their wounds. With their leader gone so soon after losing their dealing with the Hiruma yakuza, all they'd really have for a while was the bar. All their other territories were in danger of being poached by rival gangs in the neighbourhood. None of the members left - many already started bailing to join other gangs or go solo - were ready to start meeting those who wanted to get on the action this soon.

'Please I gotta hide! Everyone's tryna kill me!'

'Fuck off! Everyone knows that boss got arrested! So piss off with your bullshit 'cause we ain't giving up this place!'

'What? How the hell did Dora get thrown in the slammer? Fuck - open the damn door anyone!'

'Who the hell are you anyway?' another gang member retorted this time, a short man with a scarred face hosting multiple piercings.

'Dora's friend!'

'Didn't sound too friendly just now!'

'Aw come on, you know how it is...'

The man closest to the door sighed and motioned to the others. Those still able to fight pulled out their weapons for caution and stood alert, facing the door.

'Alright, I'm coming.' The latches and locks were undone, and Kuujo stumbled inside. The gang member gaped in disbelief as he shut the door and replaced the locks and latches.

'Motherfucker.' The entire bar stirred as the assassin pulled himself upright, no small range of surprise lost on their faces. He, for the most part, was oblivious to their startled expressions.

'Thanks, Jinta.' He wheezed as if he had been running a while to get there, hand on his chest as he let out winded coughs.

'What the hell do you want?' The man named Jinta sneered, his gold teeth making his expression crueller.

'The kid found me! Your boss messaged me and told me he would and now I'm here like she said I should be!' Kuujo looked like he could burst into tears, dragging his palm down his face as he lamented. 'How the fuck did she get arrested?'

'Bounty hunters.' The scarred man shrugged, resuming his work of putting furniture back in place. He barked orders at some of the others and they scrambled to answer. He gave Jinta a look. 'Can you handle the wash-up?'

'Yeah yeah, thanks Mizuku,' the man who had opened the door for Kuujo pinched his nose bridge in frustration. 'Ushijima Dorama-sama's clearly not here anymore. And we sure as hell can't keep you here before the cops or some bounty hunters bring the rest of us down with you when they find you. The plan - whatever the fuck it was - has clearly gone to shit. So what are your options?'

'Not good. Boss Ikubo might kill me if I go to him for anything.'

'Not if you bring in the kid!' Both men turned to Mizuku, who was wheeling in a new bartender stool that had broken during Kaoru's manhandling. 'I heard Dorama-sama saying that the kid would never pull off killing either of you, but that won't stop him from trying. If you tell Ikubo-sama about the boy's plan to do him in and then bring him alive instead of letting him just get shot by the guards or something, that saves Ikubo-sama from paying the bounty on his head to whoever gets him. And maybe convince him to hide you instead of killing you.'

'Maybe?'

'You're a sucky assassin man, maybe is all you get,' Mizuku scoffed and walked off. Kuujo gave Jinta a pleading look, but he shrugged as he lit himself a cigarette.

'He's got a point. You've what - failed to kill two kids in your career? And one of them's tryna do you in now. Pretty sucky.'

'Fuck you, Jinta.'

'You mean Dorama-sama?'

'Everyone wants to fuck your boss Jinta.' Kuujo fished out a cigarette and held it out for the dreadlocked man to light. 'I'll sneak out through the back to the boss. Any tips about how to handle the kid?'

'I'll check boss' computer for his purchase history with her void card, see what he might have on him to get an edge over all of you losers.'

'Did Dora give the brat her card or something?'

'He stole it.' Jinta inhaled a deep smoke from his stick as he looked away in an attempt to look casual.

'He stole from her? And got past you guys? And you're not the losers?'

'I will drop you at the police station myself.'

'Thanks for the cig bro.'

Jinta let out a long exhale, and then nodded.

'Don't mention it.' He gestured to a gang member who was moving out a cleaning set with the fingers holding his stick. 'Follow Kenji and ask him to take you to the office outback. Wait for me there.' Kuujo nodded, leaving Jinta and Mizuku to watch as the assassin and the goon walk out of their sight.

'You didn't tell him about the bounty hunters that want to save the brat?' Mizuku snorted as he held up a cigar stick for Jinta to light up.

'Nah. You think Zanza won't figure out that we gave them away? Do you want that to be our problem? Or the Battousai? Please.' he took another drag of his stick. 'Kudos to Ushijima if he gets the kid before they do though.'

'I doubt he will,' Mizuku snorted and snickered. Jinta smirked faintly as he put out the but of his stick and made his way to meet the assassin.

'Same.'

...

'How does Yahiko not even have a phone? We could have reached him ages ago!'

'Perhaps if you had provided the boy with one before needlessly gearing up to hijack a dangerous operation, perhaps - or wait, better still, instead of needlessly-'

'Oh my God Kenshin! His name is Yahiko! And shouldn't you have turned the boy over to social security after completing your dangerous operation? What did you leave him with me for?'

'You insisted on making it upon yourself to see to his welfare-'

'As a teacher! He is a boarder Kenshin, not my adoptive son-!'

'Guys! Please!'

The two snapped out of their shouting match - to be fair Kaoru was doing the yelling, Kenshin was half smug, half aloof - and turned their heads away from each other sharply. Sanosuke let out a heavy sigh and slouched in the pilot chair of BanZa.

Kaoru let out a quiet, tired huff. The truth was Yahiko was at the forefront of her mind and the dangers he was likely to face if he should fail, or maybe even worse, succeed. She hadn't made his regimen easy, the first weeks tainted by the anger and resentment she was fostering towards the redheaded samurai. But he had taken it like a champ. And then some. The commitment and determination he had shown to learning surprised her more than his progress. Right off the bat, she knew he had the makings of a talented swordsman, but that usually came with an arrogance she would have to beat out of any other student. With Yahiko, she found a voracious hunger to master, not simply advance.

Sure, the child was a dick - adult standard dick measure at that, but none of that translated to his work ethics. She tried imagining a child like that, with all of his trauma, succeeding at something like premeditated murder when he was meant to be a student of a sword that protects. That kind of thing left its mark on the soul as it stands, and she didn't want to know what that kind of mark meant for someone whose spirit was already unfairly burdened for so long.

Yahiko was also the better cook of the two, not to mention that he really pulled his weight around the dojo with chores too. Kaoru had just started getting used to coming home to someone waiting for her. Granted, it was the dojo, but it was a really warm feeling. Kaoru didn't want to lose that. She didn't want to lose him, really.

'I'm sorry Sano.'

Sanosuke's expression softened at her countenance, and let out a small sigh and nod.

'It's fine Jou-chan. Your worry is all over your face. We'll find the punk, no stress.'

She nodded back, but couldn't resist seeking a side glance at Kenshin to see if he would apologize to his partner as well. She let out an annoyed huff when she saw that was not the case. 'Besides who do you think is really at fault here?' Sanosuke rolled his eyes so far back they could have rolled into his head in exasperation, wondering why he didn't expect that the woman would be petty. He facepalmed in the background when his partner responded instead.

'We would all do well to share some blame in the matter-'

'I wasn't talking to you Kenshin-!'

'Oh no - he's right Jou-chan there's plenty of damn blame to go round if we want to play that game!' He half-shouted, setting the ship on autopilot and turning his seat so he could face the two where they were seated. They were in the adjacent co-piloting chairs of the main hatch. 'And you know what? You are the reason we are in this situation, Kaoru! You sent Yahiko after us and that is that! We left you - Kenshin left you guys! And he was very insistent on the opinion of this lifestyle, but did you listen? No! Instead you send out a child who had made a career out of running recon for gangs to disobey what should have been an order from an elder to him at least! A child with a bounty on his head!' Kaoru shrunk in on herself, feeling like at some point she had unconsciously shifted into an alternate reality where Sanosuke was the responsible one of them both. She was too flustered to notice just how smug the redhead opposite her side was. His partner certainly did though, and he spun on him indignantly.

'But I don't even blame her so much for acting that way. Because what else would someone like her do when you couldn't properly communicate to save your ass! If she was unyieldingly adamant about the hunting lifestyle, it's one thing. On your super sacred fighting style, that's another! But no! All she wanted was to keep in touch! We spent all this time with her during the Hiruma brother's drama and you act like she's insane for wanting to foster the friendship!' He shook his head dumbfoundedly and sneered. 'A kid like Yahiko would need a hell of a mentor and you could have been that! You're literally the buddha monk for that! You know this!' He pulled at his hair and threw his head back. 'But you just up and broad and then leave the two crackheads to their own devices and act surprised that between the two of them everything went to shit!'

Like Kaoru, Kenshin felt like he had slipped into some sort of limbo, and his ears burned red as he looked away to let out a deep breath.

'But the Hiruma broth-'

'Oh don't you dare!' Sanosuke pointed at him in righteous anger. 'You and I know that is a weak-ass excuse for your paranoia Kenshin! The paranoia that the girl probably wouldn't have held against you in the first place if you actually spoke to her and not act like you had speech impediment issues!'

'I don't act that way.' His retort was painfully petulant and the swordsman looked much younger than he normally did already.

'THEN WHY IS COMMUNICATING SUCH AN ISSUE HERE?'

Both Kenshin and Kaoru were now red in the face, ashamed of themselves and weirded out by the unrealness of the situation. They exchanged sheepishly and looked away. Unsurprisingly, Kenshin was the one that found his voice first.

'You...' he let out a sigh as he slouched, suddenly appearing very exhausted, 'you know it's more than that, Sagara-san...'

'Don't explain that to me, tell Jou-chan!'

'I can't-'

'Her! Not me!' Sanosuke insisted forcefully, throwing his hands up and turned back to his piloting controls. 'I need to focus on finding Yahiko, so don't drag me into your low budget soap TV!' He shuddered and muttered quietly to himself. 'Ugh, something about that entire conversation was so fucking weird men...'

...

Yahiko was pretty much running on adrenaline by the time Ushijima Kuujo had arrived at Ikubo's estate. He didn't think to get anything to eat, and when he grew hungry he was unwilling to risk missing his arrival because he had gotten food. He figured himself accustomed to hunger anyway.

Of course, his change in lifestyle over the past weeks had drastically reduced his tolerance for hunger. His mood had soured considerably as soon as he saw Kuujo on the screen, standing by the gates and pressing the buzzer via the CCTV system he had hacked. There was an argument that ensued as the goons guarding the gates immediately started bringing out guns and Kuujo brought out his own gun and held it up in the air in a show of peaceful intentions. His hands were tied behind his back as one of the more dressed up henchmen exited the mansion and made his way to the courtyard to see Kuujo. Both of them exchanged words and the man sucker-punched the assassin before walking away and gesturing to the goons to bring him along. Every now again the two dressed up henchmen would radio something over their walkie-talkies. The CCTV couldn't pick it up though, and Yahiko paid no attention to it.

Yahiko took note of the passage, making his way into a street sewer hole with only the gear he would need to get into the house. Ikubo's house - on account of its sheer size - was directly connected to the sewage system that connected industrial property and channelled the waste to the sector's sewer processing plant. Yahiko had found the one closest to the mansion which would lead to the network of tunnels that had no CCTV.

'Ugh, this place smells like shit,' Yahiko grimaced once his feet found the pavement that was created for the sewage workers to reverse o whenever they needed to go underground for maintenance. 'Naturally.' He added for no one's benefit in particular as he realised that it was supposed to smell, in fact, like shit.

He kept his eyes trained on both the map and the CCTV live footage, which he placed side by side on the viewer. As he suspected, all security manpower was placed at the outside entrances, private vaults and Ikubo's office themselves. Everywhere else simply held passcodes. The hardest part of his mission would be to get a weapon from the arsenal-garage. He had decided against a sword, partly because he didn't want to steal anymore, partly because borrowing one from Kaoru without her noticing was damn impossible, partly because it was impractical and mostly because he respected Kaoru's kendo way. A sword to protect shouldn't be involved in revenge. Even if it was an honourable one.

Kuujo was placed in a waiting room where he was grilled by two additional high-rank looking henchmen and roughhoused by the goons. After breaking the man's left hand, a potato sack was placed over his head and he was led by the arm on the way to see Ikubo. Yahiko felt a mix of satisfaction and envy at the man's condition. Meanwhile said would-be avenger found himself at the sewer tunnel that connected to Ikubo's sewer system that was under surveillance. Yahiko leaned on the mouldy walls, knocking to make sure the sound was hollow and then pushed in the bricks to reveal the secret passage. The sewer system would lead to the collection chamber that held the waste of the property, which was located in the outside compound. However, the secret passage would lead to the arsenal-garage, which held their weapons under a safe that needed to be hacked manually. A daunting task in the face of time constraint, but not impossible for the little ex-thief. He made his way through.

Using the emp-gun to shut down the camera and sensor networks in one blow in one blow would be a dead ringer to the security that someone was in the house. Going for the directional all-power killer was the choice to buy him more time. Once he reached the garage he would immediately kill the power from there through the west wing and slip through the door and halls before anyone would figure that it was anything more than a power-failing. The security coded rooms were on a network as well, with the bedroom carrying the added benefit of not having any sensors or camera. He would slip from room to bathroom to the next room and into the next passage and kill the power in that direction as well. He would slip into the master bedroom, which shared a bathroom with Ikubo's office. That way he would slip in and avoid the heavy security by his office.

He would only kill the cameras and sensors completely once he was in Ikubo's office. Then the gun would do all the rest.

...

'Call your boss already!'

'He heard everything you had to say while we were interrogating you.'

'I have more to tell him!'

'No you just want to beg for your life,' the henchman laughed. The goons laughed too, dragging him roughly down the hall with his good arm. 'We already beat everything you had to say out of you. You really tried to hold leverage over the boss after your fuck ups?'

'So why am I alive then, huh? Why am I still here if I'm no longer needed?' Kuujo could be heard sniffling under the bag and they laughed at how pitiful he sounded.

'I expected you to beg me, not to me ask smart questions, huh.' The henchman mused, faux-impressed by the assassin's boldness. 'Well, we don't know what the brat will do if we killed you. So we won't. He wants to take a shot at you and the boss at once, so we're sorta giving him what he wants without tipping him off.'

'He's a pretty smart kid.' One of the goons piped up and the other nodded in agreement.

'I know right? Almost makes me understand why this oaf here had a had time snuffing him out back then.' The henchman agreed as he gestured to Kuujo behind him with his gun. 'Hack tools, emp guns, geo-tracking viewers for the hidden passages? I hope boss keeps him, he'd make a helluva asset in the gang.'

'Will the boss kill me? After you get the boy?'

'Ask the boss when you get there Ushijima.' The henchman sighed in exasperation and shrugged.

'But hey, didn't the boy turn good or something? I heard he went on the straight narrow from one of the local goons?'

'The local goons know him?' The other henchman asked in surprise as Kuujo retorted grumpily at the goon, 'Ask the kid he when he gets there.'

The first henchman frowned and with a wave of a hand had the goon who spoke to hit him.

'Don't talk over the boss' men and don't disrespect them either, Ushijima.' He cautioned with a tut before nodding at the goon. 'They know him?'

'Well yeah. His identity sort of blew up when the sensei that took him in was rescued from the Hiruma brothers by bounty hunters.'

'Huh. I mean heard a female student beat them up,' the henchman mused sceptically.

'That's rumours, Toma-sama. The bounty hunters caught the kid while he was following her and found out who he was through snooping and stuff. When the brothers went down and the whole gang scattered, the word was that it was because the kid sold them out or something. I think the top bosses knew who he was but kept it lowkey to keep the brat under their thumb.'

'But once the brat was caught and used to take them down, the secret identity was out.' Toma concluded with a clap of his hands, then let out a laugh. 'If he's on the straight and narrow why is he trying to do a better job than Ushijima-chan over here?'

'Well he managed to kill his parents,' another goon offered as everyone else laughed. 'I don't know, the kid might not buy into staying with us.'

'I guess, but there are ways of persuasion.' The other henchman drawled off as they arrived at the office of Boss Ikubo. He took note of the six men standing guard by the door with a raised brow. They nodded at him, their hands on the gun on their hips. He nodded back at them and pressed the on the mic button of the passcode lock on the wall. He heard himself faintly as he spoke through the mic into the office desk phone inside.

...

'Let Ushijima Kuujo in on his own.'

The stutter and disbelief on the other end made Yahiko's stomach churn with a deep sense of satisfaction and he showed it by pressing the pistol deeper into his captive's skull.

'B-boss. W-we didn't discuss that. Is everything okay?'

'Are you questioning me you little shit?'

There was silence on the other end and then a sigh. Yahiko watched his viewer on the desk as Toma showed visible frustration and confusion behind the door.

'No Ikubo-sama. My aplogoies.'

'You better be damn well sorry. Is the bastard armed?'

'No boss we stripped him clean of everything while we questioned him.'

'Good. Now let the mother fucker in and go check on the shipment back in Osaka. You know we'll pack up from here soon.'

'...yes boss.'

Ikubo's hands calmly left the intercom speaker button and his dark eyes met those of the young boy who had made himself comfortable by his left on the desk. He had perched himself such that he could keep an eye on the door, towards which his other handheld another gun to which Kuujo could be greeted with.

'That's pretty impressive Ikubo-sama,' Yahiko teased quietly, a shit-eating grin on his face. 'I'm glad I decided not to wait for him to get here. The satisfaction of getting one up on you is killing me. Can't say I won't want to see it on that murderer's face.'

'Look kid, I've got no beef with you-'

'- well I damn well do and you know why.' Yahiko snapped as he undid the safety of the gun against Ikubo's temple. 'Don't make me angry old man.'

'Sorry.'

Yahiko nodded and watched as the passcode lock beeped green and slid open to reveal one Ushijima Kuujo with a broken left arm and a trembling right hand. His eyes widened and he opened his mouth to speak. With the application of pressure to his temple, Ikubo spoke instead.

'I don't wanna hear it, you idiot.'

Kuujo nodded stiffly and stepped inside, the door sliding shut as he trained his eyes on Yahiko's gun.

'You know who I am.'

The man could only nod stiffly.

'Do you know you deserve to die?'

'I-'

'Ikubo told you not to talk you bastard!'

Kuujo only nodded again, trembling like a leaf. Yahiko wasn't meant to be there. He was meant to walk in on them talking and then be followed through whatever path where the power went off till he entered the office. He shouldn't have been in so early on and already having the freaking boss and him at gunpoint on his entry-

'Good. That will be al-'

'Boss?'

Yahiko frowned at being interrupted and glared at the bald chubby man at his mercy. Ikubo only shrugged.

'Beats me kid.'

'Boss? Should we come in now?'

Ikubo pressed the mic at Yahiko's heated glance to the intercom.

'What did I tell you before you dumbass?'

'To check on the business in Osaka.'

'So why the hell are you here?'

'Business is good, boss.'

Yahiko gave the man a look of disbelief, and the boss could only bite his lip.

'So you're telling me that if I dropped dead right now everything would be smooth and running over there, you jack ass, huh?' Ikubo demanded with a good show of annoyance. Yahiko kept his hand on the trigger of both guns.

There was silence for a long while, and then Toma chuckled over the intercom. Ikubo let out a snort too, much to Yahiko's confusion and growing annoyance.

'If Yahiko Myojin pulled the trigger right now on anyone in that room,' the child froze at the sound of his name just as he was. 'His life would end immediately. And the business would still be running smooth. No one would take it from our hands.'

'What the fuck?' The boy whispered, glaring at Ikubo. Kuujo let out a sigh of disbelief, but wisely stayed put since Yahiko's other gun was still pointed at him. Ikubo smiled at his would-be murderer.

'We have a policy here under my regime, Myojin-kun,' he explained calmly, his hand still on the speaker button of his intercom. 'If I ever feel like I'm about to die, I cuss my right-hand man out and ask him to check in on business for me. Because if I die he takes over. And of course, I don't want to lose it to him, I love running the business! So he damn well better make sure he can run it when I'm gone because I'm not gonna be happy I'm gone.'

'You're bluffing.'

'Well I mean maybe, but can you outshoot all the other men at the end of that door? Because now for sure they know you're here.'

'You don't want to keep Kuujo alive!'

'Well I mean Toma's words were anyone who dies, but you can test that.'

'FUCK YOU!'

Ikubo chuckled and leaned towards the intercom, knowing that he had won this battle.

'Tell all the men to come in.'

'Roger that Ikubo-sama!'

Toma could be heard barking orders to enter as he punched in the code for the door and Yahiko started thinking of shooting them and running back out through how he got in, but before he could finish that thought six men stormed through the bathroom and trained their guns at Yahiko. The boy's mouth opened slightly in disbelief, and he turned his head to when the door slid open and Toma led the eleven other men into the office. The chief henchman let out a loud laugh with his goons as the other henchman gave a round of applause.

'That little shit is smarter than we gave him credit for, isn't he?'

Kuujo started to answer with a nervous laugh when Toma hit the back of his head.

'We weren't talking to you, kneel.'

'And you,' the other henchman aimed his gun at Yahiko's forehead as Kuujo shamefully sunk to his knees. 'You know you won't leave here alive if you kill anyone, so put your hands up nice and slow, because believe it or not, you don't have to die today.'

'I don't give a damn if I die! These people are the reason I'm here at all! They didn't have to kill them!'

'You know that's not true, Yahiko Myojin.' Toma said in a painfully reasonable tone that made the boy red with anger. 'You know you don't want to die. Not here, not like this. Or you would have died a long time ago. And not because of this fucker, anyone could out dodge him,' he kicked Kuujo to go down on all fours for good measure. 'Except your folks, sure I'll admit. But you have incredible survival instincts. And that's why you're here today. So put both hands up in the air and let's talk about your options.'

Yahiko sniffled, his eyes brimming with unshed tears as he slowly raised both gun-holding hands in the air.

'I mean he could kill Ushijima I guess-'

'You sure boss? I mean-'

The bang of Yahiko's gun cut off the henchman that had interrupted Ikubo, taking everyone by surprise. All eyes turned to Kuujo to find him still trembling from the bullet that was just inches off of his head. Yahiko cursed out loud as Toma and Ikubo burst into laughter, while the other henchman let out a low whistle.

'I'll be damned, this kid is mad. Your aim's a little off, but you're a thief by profession. Not a killer. Yet.'

'Plus all these emotions and shit,' Toma pointed out with laughter. 'don't do that again unless you were specifically asked to by the way.' He looked Yahiko dead in the eye. 'Boss?'

'Well, now I certainly don't want Kuujo dead yet with how much the kid wants it!' The boy glared at the mob boss, who ignored him with a laugh. 'Ranma get the kid.'

The second henchman moved towards Yahiko with his gun still pointed at him and told the boy to drop the guns on the table. As the boy was walked away from the boss and to the centre of the office, Ikubo lit himself an imported cigar and reclined into his chair.

With the information Kuujo had given them, they had quickly figured that even though they didn't know the secret passage he would use, he would likely find a way to the least secured access point to their boss when armed with a hacking tool. Knowing that Yahiko owned an emp gun, they had alerted surveillance to treat all blackouts and failed cameras as security compromise and follow the trail discreetly as it made its way through the mansion. That Yahiko had gone straight for the kill instead of waiting for Kuujo was unanticipated, but with a pre-existing assassin-protocol at hand, he never had the upper hand.

'You're a lot smarter than your parents, Myojin-kun, you know that? A real shrew.'

'Don't talk about them!'

'Watch your tone punk,' Ranma pressed the gun to the back of Yahiko's head, but Ikubo waved his hand.

'Oh, it's alright. He's mad he lost them, and that's okay.' He said sympathetically, humming in the back of his throat. 'I had to do it though, and you know that. You've sent enough time underground to know how these things work. It's the principle of the thing. They tried to run when they owed me, and no one runs when they owe me.'

'I did,' the boy said quietly and hung his head. 'For six years.'

'Oh, I know. And I'm impressed too; you've got certainly got more talent than half the men in this room.' He said with amusement in his eyes, before gesturing his hand to the boy as he made his offer. 'Work for me Yahiko-chan. You don't have to die today.'

Yahiko looked up at the man. And then looked away. He didn't want to die. Toma had been right and so was his boss. It was because he never wanted to die he lived this long. To even try and process his trauma would mean to be overrun by so much emotion that he'd be like any other kid - vulnerable prey for the kill. So he had shut everything down and kept his eyes open, learned and work and run and learn. And the moment he was safe, he let his guard down, all it took was one trigger to let out all the pain. And now he was here, between a rock and a hard place.

'You even get to kill Ushijima Kuujo yourself.'

'No please have mercy!' Kuujo cried out, his hand up and clasped together as he begged for his life. 'I swear I'm not completely useless.'

'Either way, he's more useful than you,' Toma kicked the man to him shut up, 'and the boss didn't tell you to speak.'

'Come on Myojin, you could even get the gun up close and personal,' Ikubo ignored the whimpering assassin and leaned forward seductively, 'so you don't have to miss this time. And you won't even have to see my face again. Ranma would show you the trade, Toma would teach you how to handle a gun, you'd make enough to pay off your family's debt and live like a king too.'

'I hear he's a learning swordsmanship boss.'

'Excellent! Benji was a sector champion in his day!'

'District champion, boss.' Toma corrected with a grin

'Great stuff!' Ikubo smiled when he saw the boy's conflicted emotions. 'Give the boy some space. Let him pick his options.' He gestured to the goons that still had their guns aimed. 'Take him somewhere quiet. Take Ushijima for a walk with our boys. Bring 'em all back in the evening.'

The relief on his face made the men in the room chuckle.

'Come on little man,' Ranma grabbed the boy and secured his wrists behind him in a knot. 'Time to think about big life decisions and shit.'

Hope you enjoyed it! Reviews and criticisms are always welcome!

=UwU=