"Run!" Mei shouted and yanked my hand. I followed her instinctively, my feet moving quickly while my brain tried to catch up.
There was a crowd of girls in the alley, waiting for a chance to see Pumped 4.2 if they exited from one of the rear doors. They'd all rushed towards us when we suddenly popped out of the emergency exit and then turned away in disappointment when they realized we were no one important.
Mei pushed through them, clearing a path for us with more agility than I ever would have thought her capable of. As we reached the end of the alley and met the sidewalk, my brain finally caught up. "What are you doing?" I asked Mei as she hesitated for just a moment before she turned right and began running again.
"Mei! Stop!" I shouted this time and pulled back on her hand. To my horror, she started to let me go. She was going to run off by herself and leave me behind if I wasn't willing to keep up. Speeding up, I tightened my grip on her hand. There was no way that I could let her get away. What would she do all by herself in Tokyo? Standing out like a sore thumb in a bright red cheongsam?
The sidewalks were even more crowded than normal because of the recent concert. Mei wove through the crush of bodies as if her life depended on it, pulling me along behind her. The light at the crosswalk started flashing the walk symbol just before we reached the corner. We crossed the street and dashed down another block. At the next corner the lights flashed don't walk and Mei stopped as she tried to decide which way to go.
"Mei," I gasped behind her, tugging on her hand. "I have asthma. I can't run like this forever."
She turned to look at me just as a pair of arms encircled her and pulled her into the chest of a large man wearing a black suit and sunglasses. Mei immediately began screaming and kicking her legs. I froze and stared in complete shock for a moment before remembering my self defense lessons and going straight for his knees - his eyes would have been the best target but I couldn't get to them because Mei was in the way. I kicked and stomped down on the knee that was closest to me.
The man responded by swinging Mei's legs at me as if she were a weapon. I jumped away and dodged, looking for an opportunity to kick him again. At the same time people on the sidewalk were taking notice of us. Voices were shouting and a few men came over to help us. "Hey, what are you doing?" a tall man asked and grabbed our attacker from behind by his suit jacket. "Let that girl go!"
"Fuck!" the man yelled and looked at the line of traffic on the road. Was he looking for an accomplice? Someone in a car? There was no way that I could let this guy put Mei in a car. I stepped forward and renewed my efforts at kicking him in the knee. He was just way too big and burly. It felt like my foot was just bouncing off of him.
Finally, the attacker got tired of the man who had continued to pull at his suit and loudly demand that he "let go of the girl". Tucking Mei under his arm, he turned to confront the man and a few others who had stepped up to help. I saw my opening and took it, throwing everything that I had into a kick that landed square between the attacker's legs. With a roar of pain, he dropped Mei and doubled over.
I didn't wait to see what he did next. Grabbing Mei's hand and pulling her up off the sidewalk, I took off running back the way we had come. After we'd run past a few shops, I spotted a restaurant. Risking a quick look behind me, all that I could see was the milling crowd. If we were lucky our attacker had been detained by the other men. As far as I could tell, he wouldn't see us if we went inside the restaurant.
I hurried Mei inside and back to the women's restroom, where I locked the door and pulled out my phone to call Soryu.
"Where are you?" he demanded, not bothering to say hello.
"I don't know. In a ramen restaurant. Some guy tried to kidnap Mei. We're hiding in the restroom. Soryu, help us," the words poured out of me. My heart was racing. What if the man had followed us? What if he found us in the restroom?
"I've got your location on my phone. I'm already on my way. It helps to know which one of these shops you're in," he said, his voice grim.
I turned to look at Mei. She was crouched on the floor, crying. "Soryu's coming to get us," I said. "We're going to be alright."
I watched her nod in response as I dug my inhaler out of my purse with my free hand. Soryu's breathing and the distant sound of people on the sidewalk filled my ear. I wondered how far away he was as I took a couple of puffs from my inhaler.
"Are you okay?" he asked. When I answered with a "yes", he said, "I can see the restaurant now."
He was coming. He was close enough that even if the man in the sunglasses found us, Soryu would be able to protect us. I felt as if my bones were melting with relief and tears pricked at my eyes. "He's almost here," I said to Mei. "He's coming to get us."
To my surprise, she stood up and quickly began wiping the tears from her eyes. I watched as she straightened her shoulders and her back. "I'm sorry, Sakiko," she said, looking me in the eye. At that moment she really seemed like a princess. Regal and commanding. "I made a big mistake. I put both of us in danger."
"We're going to be okay," I repeated. "Everything worked out just fine."
"I'm in the restaurant now," Soryu said. "I'm going to let you go while I talk to the manager."
I put my phone away and turned to Mei. She was standing straight and staring at the door, waiting for Soryu. He'd rescue us, but he was also going to be very angry. I could see that she was getting ready to defend herself.
"It really is going to be okay," I said yet again. I didn't know what else to say. Now that she was no longer crying, anger was bubbling up inside of me.
"I will not go back to Hong Kong. I'm not ready to leave Japan," she said. "I just wanted to be truly free for a few hours. I wanted to know what it was like to walk without a guard. I thought that I would be safe. I thought the security here was too much and not necessary. I just want to feel what it is like to be a normal woman."
"Then let's make it our goal to do our best to get him to let you stay. You're talking about Soryu, right? And maybe your father, too? Let's just do our best and see what happens." I smiled at her to distract her and then turned to face the door. At this point, I had no real interest in whether she stayed or went back to Hong Kong. I just didn't want to deal with her complaining about the consequences of her own actions.
Soryu was knocking and saying, "Sakiko, it's me."
When I opened the door, he stepped inside and closed the door, locking it behind him. His eyes scanned over both of us and when he saw that we were unharmed he said, "They're pulling around a car to pick us up in the alley. It shouldn't take long."
After that no one spoke, but I could feel the anger pouring off of Soryu. He seemed huge in the small room. There was no doubt that he was furious with us.

A black car picked us up in the alley, not the limo. It must have been the car the other guards had been using. Soryu got into the back seat with Mei and I and immediately demanded an explanation of what had happened.
"It is my fault," Mei said, her voice controlled. "Sakiko had no idea what I was planning. I pulled her along when I jumped out the door."
I watched Soryu's face as she told him the rest of the story. He was filled with a cold rage and she was holding onto her dignity and a haughtiness that made me want to slap her, apologizing and saying that she had been wrong, without demeaning herself in any way.
"Do you think you can identify the man?" Soryu asked, turning his attention to me.
"He was big and bald. He was wearing sunglasses," I said. "That's all I know."
"I refuse to return to Hong Kong," Mei announced. "I am not going to try to run away again. There is no reason to make me leave early."
"We'll devise a plan and you'll do as you're told," Soryu said. I'd never seen him speak to her so coldly. It seemed that even Mei knew that it was useless to argue against him. She turned to stare out the window with a pout.
"You did a good job," Soryu said, his voice quieter as he spoke to me. I looked up to meet his eyes. "You stayed with her, you got her away from the kidnapper, you locked yourself in the restroom. You made very good decisions."
"Thank you," I said and turned to stare ahead. He was too close, his body pressed against my side in the close confines of the car. My heart was already tired from running and dealing with Mei's attacker. I couldn't deal with Soryu being so nice to me. I wanted him to pull me into his arms. I wanted him to make me forget how afraid I had been when the man had snatched Mei, how scary it had been to stand in the restroom and worry that he would come and bust down the door.
I counted everything that I could think of, cars, taillights, headlights, and traffic lights as we made our way back to the hotel. Anything to distract myself from him.

"Hey!" Baba yelled. "You ladies can come down now!"
We'd been sent up to the second floor living room while "The Men" had decided Mei's fate downstairs. Being excluded from the meeting had really pissed me off, but it had sent Mei into a rage. She'd even thrown a tantrum and broken a lamp. I'd had to lure her onto the couch for a makeout session to distract her from her anger.
It had worked for Mei but, for the first time in my life, it hadn't worked for me. I kissed her and a touched her and I even let her put her hand up my dress and play with my clit, but my body remained turned off. As much as I'd had to fight my attraction to Soryu in the car, now that we were in the penthouse all that I could think about was what the men could be saying downstairs.
Inexplicably, I was also still waiting for the hammer to fall. I'd explained my side of the story to Eisuke and Soryu when we first arrived at the penthouse. I hadn't been a part of the plan to run away, I'd protected Mei and gotten us both to safety and Eisuke had told me that I'd done a good job just as Soryu had done. But I still felt like I had done something wrong. I couldn't escape the feeling that I was going to be punished, even though logically I knew that no punishment was coming. On the contrary, they'd even said they were going to give me a bonus.
Mei pushed away from me when we heard Baba calling us and gave me an arrogant smirk. "We'll finish this later."
She'd had her fingers in my cunt and she hadn't even noticed that I wasn't into it? I shook my head at myself as I followed her down the stairs. I was in a bad mood. Normally that would have had me itching to fuck Mei and forget my feelings, but for some reason all that I wanted to do was go to sleep.

"This is the plan," Soryu explained after Mei and I joined the men. "The two of you are the same height and you look similar enough to fool anyone who doesn't know you. Sakiko, you'll wear Mei's cheongsam and pose as Mei from here on out. That includes going to the matchmaking meetings."
"But-" I interrupted, shaking my head. "But won't that mess up the matchmaking? How is Mei supposed to find a husband if I'm the one going to the meetings?"
"I do not really want to get married. So, this plan is good for me," Mei said.
"You've got a lot of opinions about the men from the meetings, Sakiko. We'll just think of this as an opportunity for you to weed out the candidates that don't meet your standards. Mei can meet the ones that you approve of," Soryu said.
I frowned at him, but before I could argue Mei said, "Yes, go to the meetings for me. You can let me know if there is a decent choice. We should have thought of this from the beginning. But Sakiko cannot wear my cheongsam. Her boobs are too big."
"Is that right?" Soryu said. He pulled out his phone and stepped away.
Eisuke was smirking at me because Mei had made a comment about my breasts. I glared at him angrily.
Baba took over where Soryu had left off. "Sakiko, you're going to stay at Soryu's townhouse, wearing Mei's dresses...or dresses like Mei's. Anyone watching you will think you're Mei. Hopefully, this will draw the kidnapper out and we'll be able to figure out who's targeting Mei and why," he explained. "Mei, you'll stay in the penthouse and wear Sakiko's clothes."
"So, I'll be used as a lure," I said, not particularly happy about it. Maybe this was the punishment that I'd been anticipating.
"What?! If I am Sakiko then I can go anywhere," Mei crowed. "And I will not have to go to meetings. I can explore Japan all day!"
"Yeah," Baba agreed. "Ota and I can take you sightseeing."
"Oh, that sounds like so much fun! I am so happy now," Mei squealed. "Where will we go first? Can we go to an amusement park?"
While Mei talked about fun, Soryu came back into the room and walked over to me. "You know that you'll be staying with me?" he asked. When I nodded, he said, "Daichi Yamashita is on his way. He's going to measure you and make the dresses that you'll need. Would it be possible…" His hand gestured nervously, giving away for just a moment the fact that he was embarrassed. "Could you wear Mei's dress and just not close it up in the front? You could wear a jacket over top of it? If someone's watching, we need them to see you leaving the hotel and think you're Mei."
"Yeah, that's fine," I said. "I can do that."

"Are you okay?" Soryu asked. It was just the two of us in some expensive car.
"Yeah. Just fine," I replied.
After a few moments, he said, "You don't seem fine. You aren't your usual self. It's like you've lost all your energy. I know that the kidnapping attempt had to have been traumatic."
"It was really scary and Mei…" I felt my throat tightening. It was like my body was telling me to stop talking. I never talked about my feelings, but for some reason the words were escaping whether I wanted them to or not. "I know that I'm just an employee. Mei and I aren't actually friends, but that was a really low thing to do, making me run away with her like that. She didn't think about me getting in trouble or losing my job. And I know that I shouldn't expect that. I know she's a spoiled princess, but I really don't like being used like that. Like I don't matter at all."
As the words came out of my mouth, my mind made the connection. This was because of my parents, because they'd never treated me like I mattered. To them I'd always been something to be used, abused or ignored. Their own feelings and desires had been what mattered, mine hadn't existed at all. Mei had treated me just like they always had. Having fun with me and then using me just because it suited her.
And that's why I was expecting a punishment. Because I'd done something wrong, even if it wasn't my choice or my fault. Growing up I would have been punished by my father no matter if I was innocent or not. It made me feel sick inside. I covered my face and bent forward. I knew that I was fucked up. I knew that having sex with people to hide from my feelings and my memories wasn't fixing anything that was broken inside of me. But I'd still thought that I'd left some of that stuff behind. I'd thought that I'd outgrown it or moved past it.
'I haven't seen my parents in years and I never have to see them again,' I reminded myself. I wasn't going to be punished. I'd done well. I'd saved the princess. I was going to be rewarded. I was no longer a child. I was no longer the victim of my parents' whims.
Yes, Mei had used me, but I'd never really expected anything else. And I was leaving her behind, just as I'd left my parents. I was sure to see her again, but I was no longer her companion. I had a new job and I would do it well, just as I had always done.
I sat up straight and concentrated on building up the feelings of determination inside of me. All that I had to do was focus on succeeding. I'd been given a new task. I would pretend to be Mei and show Soryu and Eisuke that I was an important member of the network. I would make sure that my position was secure. That was the most important thing.
I would work to increase my security. I would keep myself safe. Mei had endangered that when she had tried to run away, just because she had selfishly wanted to go somewhere without a few men in the background watching her. There was no telling what would have happened to me if the man had succeeded in taking her. Without Mei there to confirm my innocence, Soryu and Eisuke might not have believed me. I could have lost everything.
With a sigh, I pushed the thought away. The worst hadn't happened. I was still in good standing with the network, even better standing since I'd dealt well with the problem. I didn't need to worry about the past, I needed to focus on the future.
"You know," Soryu said. "We have a therapist in the network. You're welcome to talk to her about what happened tonight or anything else."
"I'm not going to talk to a therapist," I said. "I already know that I'm a little crazy. I don't need anyone to confirm it."

Soryu's townhouse was enormous. I stared up at it in surprise as he pushed a button that opened a garage door. The garage door lead down into an underground parking garage that housed a dozen cars. I'd figured that Soryu was probably rich because he always hung out with Eisuke and wore suits, but a place like this in the city had to have cost a fortune.
I followed him upstairs to a large living room where two men stood up as soon as they saw us.
The older man looked to be in his early forties. He had a scar over his eye and a bit of gray in his hair. He gave Soryu a serious look and a nod as we stepped into the room. "I've taken care of everything, Boss," he said. "The room is ready."
"Mei," Soryu said, "This is Kyoichiro Okawa. If you need anything in the house, he's the one to talk to."
The other guy was younger, maybe twenty-four. He had a huge smile on his face and was bouncing a little with excitement. Soryu nodded at him and said, "This is Ryosuke Inui. Guys, this is Mei Ling Lee. Let's do our best to protect her while she's staying with us."
While Kyoichiro gave me a polite nod, the younger man stepped forward to shake my hand with a look of wonder on his face. "I've never met a real princess before. This is the best day of my life."
"It's nice to meet you, Ryosuke," I said, trying to look regal since he obviously thought a Triad princess was just as good as an actual one.
"Everyone calls me Inui. You can too. I'm going to do my best to protect you, Princess Mei," he said and bowed with a flourish.
Beside me I heard Soryu make a soft scoffing sound and he said, "Kyoichiro, take Mei to her room. She needs to change."
I'd packed my underclothes and a few things into one of Mei's expensive suitcases. Soryu handed the case to Kyoichiro and I followed him upstairs where he opened a door to a bedroom and showed me inside. "I stocked the bathroom with soaps and things," he said. "Just let me know if you need anything else. And, if you don't mind my asking, can you cook?"
"Yeah," I said. "I can cook."
"Do you think you can make something for us? We're pretty hungry and the boss looked hungry, too. He gets cranky when he hasn't eaten," Kyoichiro explained. "None of us really know how to cook."
"No problem," I said with a smile. "I like to cook. Just give me a little time to change my clothes."

After changing into a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt, I followed the directions that Kyoichiro had given me to the kitchen. It was big and fancy, just the sort of thing you'd expect from a such a huge house. Kyoichiro and Inui were sitting on tall stools at the kitchen island. They must have been waiting for me.
"How many people live here?" I asked as I washed my hands.
"Six of us, plus the boss," Kyoichiro answered. "But you only need to prepare food for four people and yourself right now. I already made rice, it's in the rice pot."
"That's great," I said and went over to open the freezer. It was empty. When I opened the refrigerator I discovered that it was full of side dishes and a large box of six dozens eggs. "This is all there is? Eggs and side dishes?"
"If you tell me what you want, I can stock the fridge and freezer for next time," Kyoichiro said.
"Well, okay. I guess for now I'll make omurice," I said, setting the box of eggs on the counter. "There isn't any chicken, but I can fry the rice with some kimchi. Do you think that will be okay?"
"Yeah, that will be great because the boss loves eggs, Princess Mei," Inui said with an enthusiastic smile. "If you make eggs for every meal, he'll be so happy. But is it really okay for a princess to cook?"
I shot a quick glance at Kyoichiro who raised an eyebrow, silently challenging me to answer Inui's question. "It's fine for me to prepare dinner. I learned to cook in school," I assured him.
"You did?" he asked, his voice full of surprise and his eyes wide. "I didn't even know there was a school for princesses."
I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing at his naivety. "Yeah, it was a boarding school in Switzerland," I explained. Mei had told me all about the school where she'd majored in foreign languages and licking carpet.
Inui's eyes glazed over, he seemed to be daydreaming about a school full of princesses. I looked at Kyoichiro and raised my eyebrows.
"Let me help you crack those eggs," he said and reached for the box and a large bowl. "Inui, why don't you tell the princess how you joined the Ice Dragons."
"Okay," Inui replied, glancing at me to make sure I was interested. "I ran away from home right after I took my college entrance exams. I knew that I'd really messed them up. My old man would've definitely killed me once the scores came in, so I just left."
"Oh, that's terrible," I said as I started frying the rice. "Did you have a place to go?"
"No, but I got a job at a restaurant pretty quick and found some roommates," he explained. "It wasn't so bad, but then these guys from the Rat Snakes started bothering me. They were trying to get me to work at their host bar and they just wouldn't take no for an answer."
"It was even worse stuff than just a host bar," Kyoichiro interjected. "The Snakes do a lot of porn videos."
"Hey!" Inui cried. "Don't tell the princess that! Princesses don't know anything about things like that. And don't worry, Princess. I told them no, that's why they kept bothering me."
"Okay, Inui. I understand," I said with a smile. This guy was so cute. He may have been my age, but it was like he hadn't matured a bit since he ran away from home.
"Anyway, one night after work the Snakes were really bothering me and they chased me into this alley. They had me all by myself and they were starting to get violent, hitting me and shoving me and stuff. And then," Inui said, his entire face lighting up, "a door opened and the Boss stepped out. He was so much taller than all of the Snakes. He pulled out a gun and said, 'No one bothers innocent people when I'm around. You punks had better get out of here before I fill you full of holes. And never bother this young man again.' He was just like a hero in a movie."
"What?" I asked, cracking up laughing. "Soryu said that?"
"He's exaggerating," Kyoichiro said, ignoring Inui when he let out a huff. "But the Boss did save him. He brought him back to headquarters and we've been trying to turn him into a Dragon ever since."
"I am an Ice Dragon," Inui said grumpily. "The Boss already said that I'm one of the guys assigned to guarding Princess Mei tomorrow."
"I don't know if that's such a good thing, Inui," I said, setting the fried rice aside to start working on the omelets. "Standing around waiting for those meetings to be over can be pretty boring."
"No way, Princess Mei," Inui cried. "It's my job to protect you. The Boss said that you are in real danger and someone is trying to kidnap you. I'll be totally vigilant the whole time."
"You make sure you do that," Kyoichiro said, his voice serious, "or we'll trade you to the Rat Snakes. I hear they just got in a big shipment of black market bourbon."

"This looks great," Kyoichiro said. The two of us had just finished setting the table. Inui had gone to find Soryu and someone named Yuuto. "See this?" he asked, tapping two fingers on the table. "If the Boss does that, it means he liked your food. It means thank you in Hong Kong."
"Thanks for letting me know," I replied and looked over in time to see Soryu and Inui coming into the dining room. Soryu's face was as serious as usual. I'd thought he might relax at home, especially with his men around him, but it seemed like that wasn't the case.
"Thank you for cooking, Mei," he said as we all sat down at the table.
It felt strange being called Mei, especially since I was so angry with her. It was something that I was going to have to get used to. After we'd taken a few bites, another man hurried into the room and sat down at the other place setting.
"You must be Mei," he said with a sexy smile. He was probably in his later twenties and he was obviously well aware of the fact that he was very good looking. He took a bite of his omurice and then winked at me before saying, "This is awesome. We never get a good home cooked meal around here. Thanks for making this."
While Kyoichiro, Inui and Yuuto devoured their rice, I wondered about my lack of response to Yuuto's mild flirting. Normally, I would have been tingling with excitement and flirting back, wondering about how easy it would be to hook up since we were living in the same house. But instead of feeling excited, I just felt numb and tired. Maybe Mei's betrayal and the kidnapping attempt had been more traumatic than I thought.
"Thank you, Mei. That was great. Don't worry about the dishes, we'll do them later."
I looked up from my plate to see that the three Dragons had finished their food and were headed out the door at a near run. "What was that about?" I asked Soryu. "Were they that hungry? Maybe I should have made more food."
"There's a soccer game," he replied and took another bite of his omurice. He was eating at a normal pace and hadn't yet finished half of his food.
"Oh, you're not interested in soccer?" I asked.
"I like soccer, but not enough to rush through this meal. Kyoichiro usually makes nearly burnt scrambled eggs. It amazes me that someone can do something over and over again and still manage to fuck it up every time. Not that I can cook myself, but you'd think he'd have learned something by now," he said.
We ate silently for a couple of minutes and then a thought occurred to me. "Why didn't you just send Mei back to Hong Kong? Wouldn't that have been the easiest thing to do?" I asked, watching his face.
He grimaced and looked up from his plate to answer me. "If I did that, then the objective would have failed. We need to strengthen ties between the Ice Dragons and the Bell Crickets. It's worth much more trouble than this to do that."
An idea popped into my head that made me lose my appetite. I pushed my plate away. "Why… Couldn't you just marry Mei yourself? Wouldn't that be the best way to meet your objective?"
"I don't have any intention of getting married," he said with a grimace. "And I certainly wouldn't marry Mei. It wouldn't matter what the advantages were."
For some reason his answer made me feel very happy. I looked down to hide the smile that spread across my face. I was glad that he wouldn't marry Mei. She didn't deserve him. She was too immature and bratty for a serious and strong man like Soryu.
"If you're finished, are you ready to go upstairs? I'm sure you must be tired."
I looked up in time to see him tap two fingers next to his plate. I felt satisfaction spread through me. He'd liked the food that I made. Inui had said that eggs made Soryu happy. So, even if he wasn't saying it, I'd made him happy. I bit my lip to hide another smile. "Yeah," I said. "I'm ready to go to bed."
We walked upstairs together. It turned out that Soryu's bedroom was just a couple of doors down from mine.
"Will you make breakfast in the morning?" he asked, pausing outside his door.
"Yeah, of course I will," I said. "If I don't we'll all have to eat Kyoichiro's burnt eggs."
He rewarded me with a little smile and said, "Thanks. Let's have breakfast at eight then. The first matchmaking meeting is at nine thirty."
We exchanged goodnights and I went to my room. I didn't ask him to take me into his room and fuck me. Even though I wanted to.