Chapter 16

(Sophia's pov)

I lay on the table, my shirt just below my bra and I look at Katsumi, my eyes never leaving his as Kureha gently touches my stomach. I adjust slightly, the paper crinkling under my weight and I wince the closer he gets to the stitches.

"Is that pain or tenderness?"

"A bit of both, I defiantly feel some tightness."

"Well, some tightness is to be expected."

While it had been a bit odd to explain and I was upfront about my relationship with Kaoru but after listening to concerns for a few minutes Katsumi agreed, meeting me at the doctor's office. Like it was fate his appointment was two hours after mine and that allowed us ample time to walk around or talk before his checkup. If I wasn't with Kaoru I wouldn't mind pursuing a relationship with Katsumi. He was kind, good looking, an excellent fighter and happened to know a lot of my friend group and the underground arena.

I felt safer with Katsumi there, his eyes watching all of Kureha's actions like a hawk. He was in a chair at the end of the bed.

"And here? Any pain?"

"Just tenderness, it's not stabbing pain."

It's not like I didn't trust Kaoru but I knew how protective he's been lately and I didn't want to risk a brawl in the middle of a hospital.

Kureha hums "Okay, can you sit up." I move, my eyes widening just the slightest when his hand goes under my shirt, the cold stethoscope touches my skin "Breathe in." I do "Again." I do and feel his hand move slightly down my back "Again." I do and my eyes widen at Katsumi when Kureha's hand moves around my hip, his body moving closer to mine.

Katsumi is up off the chair and twisting Kureha's hand away from me and into the air "What are you doing?"

"I'm just holding her hip, relax boy." He smiles, nodding to my body "I noticed she had some bruising there and since she's dating Kaoru Hanayama I got concerned. The man has godly hand strength."

Both eyes turn to me I feel myself blush slightly "I'm fine."

Kureha looks at Katsumi then his hand, waiting for the other man to let him go. Katsumi pauses two beats longer than normal and releases him. His eyes a hard warning to behave.

Kureha smiles like he's been giving a challenge. His hand moves, hitting Katsumi's chin with an open palm twice and I watch him crumble backwards in pain before hitting the chair. I knew that hit. It was the same one Kureha had used on Baki, it used the water in the human body and amplifies the pain throughout the entire body.

"Stand down boy. I quite enjoy punishing naughty brats like you." When his eyes shift to me I feel my mouth dry "Oh my, do I scare you so much that you had to bring a bodyguard?" he smirks, falling into an easy peace "How is your arm movement?"

I clear my throat "The left one I have full function, the right still pulls on my stitches. I can't move it past my head without pain."

He nods once, writing something on his chart "That should go away after the stitches come out."

"I have a kendo tournament-" I stop talking when his snap up to mine.

"Sophia..." he sighs "While I admit you are healing faster than most people do and you survived something most people wouldn't you are still injured. Participating in the tournament is not only dangerous to your health but your record. You have to consecutive wins, right? Would you want to risk that at half strength?"

"It's three weeks away. If I can get the stitches out before the tournament will you clear me to participate?"

His eyes hold mine intensely "You're determined to do this?"

"Yes."

"Alright. If you are healed before the tournament I will clear you to participate."

..

..

I lift my hand, gently touching Katsumi's face. His left eye was red, the blood vessels bursting from the hit "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," he sighs, placing the Kleenex under his bloody nose "Kureha may be an asshole but he's smart enough to leave damage without leaving damage." I shine the flashlight in his eye and watch the pupils react normally "It just looks bad, I've had worse from my old man."

I watch him fold over the Kleenex, the blood already slowing when my eyes catch the reflection of a sleek black car behind us.

"Shit," I chuckle, glancing over to the car.

"What?"

"It's Kaoru." I sigh, pulling out my phone to see if I'd missed any messages.

"Wow, you weren't kidding about protective..." he snorts.

When I find no messages or missed calls I roll my eyes "Stay here, I'll go see what he wants."

I stand, watching Katsumi turn, looking in the window at his reflection. I walk over to the car, knocking on the black window and when the door opens I gasp. Two pairs of hands reach out, grabbing my mouth and my body and I'm pulled into the car. The door slams and the car drive off. When Katsumi turns around, we were already gone.

"Sophia?"

..

..

I feel cold water hit me and I gasp, the water going into my mouth and I blink, taking in the blurry outline of lights "HEY! WAKE UP!"

I blink again, feeling my head fall forwards. I assumed I was drugged, the heavy numbness over my body wasn't consistent with passing out. I fall forwards and feel the heavy rope wrapped around my chest. I lift my feet, trying to determine what was tied down. I notice that both my arms and legs were tired down.

I see a memory flash above my head. I was in a car and I kick my legs out, smashing one man into the window and try to kick the other. I see blood on my shoe and smile softly, well that explained all the rope. I twist my arms, checking how tight the rope was and bite my gag in anger. It was to tight to get out of quickly.

What had happened?

I push past the pounding headache and try to remember. It comes back to me slowly.

Right, I was kidnapped.

I feel hands on my body and my phone is taken from my pocket. The window is opened and it goes out the window, crashing against the street. I feel a gag over my mouth and I cry out in anger as its tied tight. My hands are next and I wince as the rope is bound. Ignoring my pain I kick my leg up, smashing one man against the window and watch with a smile as blood smears across the glass. I twist, trying to kick the other guy. My foot hits his arm and I feel twisted onto my chest. I toss my head back, hitting him in the face when he pins me to the seat and more yelling.

"Ah! Bitch!"

"Get the drugs!"

I feel a sharp pain in my lower back and I watch as the seat spins, the room going dark.

I take in a breath and look up, taking in the two men that took me. I can't help but smile with my gag as I take in the dark bruising and bloody spots on their clothes.

"What the hell is this?" An old voice asks and I turn to look at a man I'd sat was in his eighties. He had snow-white hair, a receding hairline and a tough face. I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared but my heart wasn't pounding like it had when I was facing off against Doyle or Dorian. Plus, the shape of his chin, the firm lines and bone structure made me feel like I've seen him somewhere before "What's with all the ropes?"

"Were sorry boss, but she's quite a handful."

I snort loudly at that and stare straight at one of the men who took me. The old man also snorts, taking both of them in "you two got your asses handed to you by a little girl?"

"Ow, Pwease." I spit through the cloth "Vhat vas easy."

"Hey girl, shut up before we cut out your tongue." One snapped but the old man moves over to me.

"You have a lot of guts. Talking like that to a yakuza member. If I were you I'd be afraid."

He pulls the cloth from my mouth and I pull my head back as a long line of spit falls from the cloth to my chin "Or maybe, you guys aren't as scary as you think."

He laughs, a crazy old laugh that only someone that's seen the shit he's seen can rightfully do. He pulls up a padded chair sitting before me and I force my heart to calm down, deep slow breathes. He leans back, pulling out a cigarette and lights it up with a fancy high powered lighter. I use this moment to glance around, from the large open space I was sure we were in some sort of abandoned warehouse, probably outside of the city and away from anyone that could hear my screams.

I notice two black cars parked by the entrance of the warehouse and four guards by the door. Including the three that took me, there were seven guards in total. When the two guards move closer to their boss I see their handguns strapped to their belts, I'm assuming another tactic to scare me.

The old man draws in a slow breath of smoke and sighs, blowing it out his nose "So... I hear you're dating Kaoru Hanayama?"

I force my face to remain calm "What's your point?"

He smiles "You know who Kaoru Hanayama is right? You don't strike me as the type of woman who goes after men like him."

I smirk, cocking my head to the left "Or maybe you can't read people as you think you can."

The hard slap turns my head to the right and I gasp, moving my jaw a few times to make sure nothings broken. "More attitude like that and I'll slap you again."

My head snaps to the right, taking in one of the guards that took me, he was a bit younger than the rest. I wasn't sure what it was but despite the circumstances, I didn't feel afraid. After going toe to toe and face to face with Sikorsky, Dorian and Doyle these men paled in comparison.

I smile "What's wrong boys? Your big bad boss can't handle a little sass?" at his silence I continue "Awe, don't tell me this is his time kidnapping someone?"

When his hand rises again a loud voice hits the air "Enough!"

Everyone's head turns as the large doors burst open, the metal bending inwards as Kaoru had punched it. His large hands bend it enough for him to step through and I feel my eyes shut in relief. The rest of Kaoru's men run into the room, easily outnumbering the men four to one and I watch each of them lower their weapons to the ground.

Kaoru seemed oddly calm, only stopping once he was in range of us, his hands crossing before him. The old man pulls out a stopwatch, pushing the button "Four hours and Twenty three minutes, took longer than I thought."

I stop, staring at both them annoyed "Does someone want to tell what the fuck is going on here? Kaoru, who is this?!"

"He's the fifth-generation leader of the Fujiki Group, Akita Taro. He's my uncle." His eyes turn to Akita as Kizaki uses his knife to cut my bindings "What is the meaning of this uncle. Group leaders don't kidnap other leader's women."

"Well, that's why I took her." He smiles "you have never shown a real interest in anyone, so much so I was beginning to worry that you'd never settle down. So imagine my surprise when I get the call that my nephew has a girlfriend. Not a date to a party or a one night stand but an actual girlfriend." He leans back on his chair "you run one of the largest groups in Japan; I wanted to make sure she had what it took to stay in our world."

"Seriously?!" I snap "You got your men to kidnap me off the street, drug me, tie me to a chair and interrogate me for a test?! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!"

"You drugged her?" Kaoru states darkly, eyeing up the men that took me.

Both of them raise their hands in surrender "We only drugged her because she decided to get violent."

"Oh please," I roll my eyes "That was hardly violent. Had I been at full strength you wouldn't have made it down the block, let alone here."

"Full strength?"

I glance at Akita and lift my shirt, rip down the gauze from my now bleeding wound, showing off my dark bruising and stitching for everyone to see "I got out of the hospital a few days ago. I have massive internal swelling and I lost my right kidney. I can't move like I usually can."

I move my hand, gently sliding the tape back into place as Kaoru murders my uncle's men with his eyes "We weren't aware she was injured."

"Wow, so not only are you kidnappers but you're stupid kidnappers, great!"

One of his men steps forward "I will cut out your tongue brat!"

I will admit he was quite intimidating to look at. He was large, six feet I'd say, lined with muscles and had many scars on his face, even worse his nose looked like it was ripped off in a fight, the pink skin was now flat on his face with two holes surgically cut for him to breathe.

I step forwards, feeling Kaoru stop me "You'll try." I push down his arm but don't move "If you think I'm hiding behind Kaoru's power, clearly I kicked you too hard." My face hardens "Get this through your thick head, you imbecile. I don't give a shit who you are or who you work for. I am not some weak damsel in distress. Come near me again and I will break you with all of my strength."

"Tatsuomi, I don't care if you're the leader of the Nagao groups or the head supervisor for my uncle. Threaten Sophia in front of me again and I'll kill you." Kaoru states, sliding his hands out of his pockets like he was showing his resolve. When Tatsuomi doesn't speak he turns to his uncle "Uncle, family or not this crossed a line. I'm not okay with you taking my woman. She is not someone people can touch so easily..."

"You care for her that much?" he muses "So much that you'd threaten your only living relative? You'd threaten my men?"

I feel his eyes on me "Yes. I would threaten anyone, even Yujuro Hanma."

Kaoru's uncle leans back, taking another drag of his cigarette, taking a few moments to glance between us, digesting his words "Fine. If you have that much faith in her I have no doubt she'll do just fine." Kaoru's eyes widen as he snaps his fingers. One of the men removes a folder from a briefcase and hands it before me "She has proven she can hold her own against our men; now let's see how she does in the business world."

I glance at Kaoru and open the red folder. Inside were sheets of paper with pictures of buildings and other information "Inside the folder are four businesses we recently purchased, you are now in charge of them."

My eyes snap from the folder to his face "... What?"

"You have two years to make them succeed." He stands slowly, placing a hand on my shoulder "You'll have access to all of our resources, use it wisely."

"I- um- excuse me!" I stutter but he pays me little mind, only smiling at Kaoru before leaving

"Cherish her Nephew, she's a good one."