If you like what I got, please consider leaving a review! I know it's very early in the fic, but I rarely get any feedback for these types of things, so it'd mean the world if I got any. Honestly, just letting me know if you think the fic is worth continuing is more than I could ask for. Anyway, thanks for reading!

II.

Pink on green on blue. A cocktail stick staked with a red, a green and a blue gummy bear leaned against the rim of the martini glass. All of the colors glittered in the neon light of the sign above the bar counter—The Door Handle. The old bartender set the drink on the bar, fingertips black with cigarette ash. "On the house." Black like her fingers was her voice. "If you promise not to tell."

"Thanks, Auntie Matsu," Akira said, "but he's paying."

Professor Soru Tokugawa took the cocktail stick from the martini. "I didn't see this on the menu."

Which was her favorite part about the drink. "That's because it's not on the menu."

"I didn't know Akira had friends in such high places." Tokugawa raised his drink to the harried bartender. "Cheers."

Something totally lacking of the bartender. Reason enough for Tokugawa to abandon his toast.

"Whatever you have going on," the bartender said, "I don't want to know."

"It's purely academic." Akira smiled. "I promise."

"We're discussing literature from class today," Tokugawa said. "Akira had an idea for an essay on Romance Era short stories she wanted to clear with me." The barkeep was static; Tokugawa continued his explanation. "I had very clear guidelines for the essay, and very rarely do I change them. But Akira is one of my brightest students, so I thought I'd hear her out."

"Purely academic." Akira sipped the pink out of her glass. "Matsu, you should really try your own drinks sometime. Tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers. See, Sora? I've been paying attention in class."

"Which play's that from then?"

"Can I have a hint?" Tokugawa's smile made Akira smile. "I know it, don't I? Is it Twelfth Night?" Tokugawa nodded, Akira threw her arms in the air. "Hell, yeah."

"That martini must have you in a good mood."

"You bet it does," Akira said, lips stained pink, "Best drink in town."

"The colors are rather pretty, but lechery, sir, it provokes, and it unprovokes." Tokogawa put on the same smile as when Akira raised her hand in class. "Akira-san. Which one's that from?"

"Is that from The Comedy of Errors?" A blush came. "Sora, that's perverse."

"So often plays and poetry are." Tokugawa pushed his empty glass to the barkeep. "I've made up my mind. I'll have what she's having, if it's not too much trouble." But his eyes stayed on Akira.

The face the barkeep made said it was. "They're for Akira only."

"Come on, Aunty."

"We're out of gummy bears." The old woman slapped her rag on the counter. "I'll have to get some from the back." Through a door behind the bar she went, into a large stockroom, full of boxes and crates. Open boxes had ammunitions, open crates had AK-47 and .35's. Men in sweaty business suits, with glittering gold rings, sat on closed crates, and shouted over the shouting men crowding a poker match.

Hidetaka Anno had two high pair. "Not bad." Everything he said was like he said it through teeth. The scar from his nose to his chin kept that jaw shut. "Not bad at all, Koichi. So. Are you gonna fold then?" Anno set down his cigar and leaned over the table. The shouting grew—the crowd liked it. "I can see it in your eyes. You got nothing."

"Anno—" The barkeep had shoved her way into the crowd to Anno's side.

"Whaddya want, Aunty?" Anno picked up his cigar and put it back between his teeth. "Can't you see I'm in the middle of a hand? Koichi's aboutta fold. Isn't that right, Koichi?"

"Akira's here," the barkeep said. "She's on a date."

"With that pretty boy?" Anno smacked his lips on the cigar end. "Who gives a shit."

"No. With her teacher."

Anno looked at the old woman, surprised. "You're kidding me, right? For fuck's sake." He set his cigar down. "Koichi, fold so we can get the fuck outta here. Got some business to handle."

Koichi shook his head. "Not this time, boss."

"This's about my niece, asshole," Anno said, "poker can fucking wait."

Koichi shook his head.

"Mother of—" Anno threw his hand on the table. "Fine. I fold. Was junk anyways."

Kochi tossed down a low pair. "Should've played the hand, bossman."

The crowd exploded into laughter; Anno growled as he and Koichi slipped out with the barkeep. Anno's foot tapped while the Matsu lit up a cigarette for all three. "How old's the guy? He a teacher's aide or something?"

"English professor," the barkeep said.

"Jesus Christ." Anno put the cigarettes between his teeth and chewed on it. "Yeah. That's about it. We'll teach him a lesson or whatever. Goddamn these creeps." Anno spat the cigarette. "No, this is a cigar kind of day. Any day I get to knock some sense into a predator's a good day. Do the bathroom trick."

"Bathroom trick. Got it."

The barkeep split from Anno and Koichi, back to buzz of neon lights, to the thump of club music, and to the giggles of an academic conversation. Neither Akira or Tokugawa noticed the barkeep hadn't come back with gummy bears. Neither noticed the barkeep had come back. However, they noticed the barkeep spilling a gummy bear martini, over the counter, onto Tokugawa's lap.

"Oh, my god." Akira held a hand over her mouth. "I think that's the first time I've seen you spill a drink, Aunty."

"It happens." The barkeep handed a rag to Tokugawa. "Bathroom's around the corner, out the door on the left. Sorry. That and the next one's on the house."

"No, worries at all, ma'am. I wasn't paying attention either. I'll still pay for all the drinks we have tonight." Tokugawa soaked up some of the martini on his pants and set the glass right-side-up. "I'll be right back, Akira." Then he got up and left the bar.

Akira sipped the on her martini. "Didn't know you were such a clutz, Aunty."

The bar was cleaned by then. "I'm not."

"Are you sure you're alright, Aunty? The bathrooms are on the other side of the bar." Shock came across her, and she got off her stool. "Aunty, no! Please!" One move and the barkeep's hand were over the bartop around Akira's wrists, holding her. "Aunty, no." Tears were already in her eyes "Not him. He's a great guy, I promise. There's nothing between us."

One step into the dirty back-alley—into a bright, cloudless evening—and a pair of hands were on his lapels. Tokugawa went for the throat, but another pair of hands caught his arms. A kick to the gut and he went limp, and three men in business suits threw him against the alley wall. Another kick to his gut, and his body spasmed against the brick.

"Please." Tokugawa wheeze and coughed. "Take whatever I have. Please. Just leave me."

"Your life, then?" Koichi flipped open a knife.

Tokugawa raised his hand; Koichi lunged. Something red—surging with purple lightning—shot from the professor's fingertips. Koichi dropped dead, foot twitching. Anno's foot kicked the glasses off Tokugawa's face.

"Koichi, Koichi..." Anno knelt over the smoldering hole in Koichi's head. "No, no, no. What the fuck." Anno looked over, and Hideo and Gin were beating the blood out of Tokugawa's skin. "Don't kill em."

"He shot Kochi—"

Anno roared. "Don't fucking kill him!" But no tears. "Gin, take this piece of shit to the back. Put a gun to his head. Shoot em if he moves." Anno took the half of Koichi's glasses off his face and stuck them on the v of his shirt. "Gin, take Koichi." And with a body over their shoulders, they left.

"Ah, poor Koichi. You did what I said. Scared the guy so bad he blew your brains out. With fucking magic. Amen." He did the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. "My fault, I know. Christ, this your plan for my best man?" One hand on his forehead, the other on the wall. "Magic, really? What the fuck."

Akira burst into the alley, the barkeep pulling at her arm.

Anno grabbed her by each shoulder. "The fuck you think you're doing?"

"What am I doing?" Akira was in tears. "What're you doing? Where's Soru?"

"See the blood you're standing on?"

Akira looked down. "Oh, my God. What did you do to him?"

"That's Koichi's blood. Your boyfriend shot Koichi."

"No, no. He couldn't have." Akira shook her head. "He wouldn't have. He said he'd never… unless it was self-defense." Her face turned red. "It was self-defense, wasn't it? Wasn't it!"

Anno grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "Date someone your age!"

"Everyone my age is immature," she said, struggling, "and they lie. You know Throne, right? He lives in my building."

"The sissy-looking guy. Prussian or something. Seems like a nice kid."

"Last week, he ran out of his door, covered in blood, the day he said he'd help me with my homework. I offer to help him and he says, 'I'm fine.' Hasn't talked to me since. What the fuck is that? How can I date someone that does that?"

"You're immature," Anno said, "so date someone that's immature."

"Fuck you."

Anno raised a hand, but balled his fist and put it down. "You wanna know the last time someone said that to me and didn't kiss the bottom of a lake?"

"No, go ahead. Go ahead and hit me. I'm sure dad would've left me with you if he knew you hit."

Anno slapped her. "You ungrateful, little bitch. I pay for your school, I pay for your rent, your car, your stupid little shopping sprees—I pay for your goddamn drinks. Show a little respect, or I'm cutting you off."

Akira tripped over her heels and fell to the ground. "Never talk to me again. I don't want your money. It's covered in blood, anyway."

Anno's tongue moved uncomfortably inside his mouth. "Akira."

"Fuck off." She kicked the ground at his feet, scraping the bottom of her dark red heels.

"I'm sorry, Akira."

"Fuck off!"

"I shouldn't have said that." Anno sighed through his teeth. "I'm not gonna cut you off. Koichi—it happened so fast, it got to me. I lost my temper. I lost my senses."

"You don't have to cut me off." Akira stormed out the alley. "I'm cutting you off," she said as she turned the corner.

"Want me to make sure she doesn't do anything stupid?" the barkeep asked from the alley door, two cigarettes between her fingers.

Anno hands trembled for one of the cigarettes, took it, and rolled it in his fingers. "No. No, let her go. I'm sure it'll blow over in a day. Maybe a week. At most a month."

"Thought today was a cigar kind of day."

"Cigars are for good days." Anno stuck the tack between his teeth. "Thought I was going to teach a prick a lesson about enabling daddy issues. Got Koichi shot in the head, got my daughter pissed at me. Got a hostage to deal with too."

"Daughter."

"I say daughter?" Anno stepped on Tokugawa on the way to the alley door. "Jesus Christ. Feels like she is."

"Shouldn't have hit her."

"I know," Anno went through the door, head down, teeth grit. "I know."