The ambulance was rapidly nearing its destination: THE SHINJUKU CITY HOSPITAL. Ryo knew very well that if Kaori wasn't made to wake up soon, there won't be any possibility of her waking up at all. That was one of the worst nightmares that he ever had ever since he grew fond of her. Due to this very feeling Ryo didn't accept her love initially; he thought that if he did, then there was a wide possibility that Kaori might get hurt due to him. This was the very fear that lurked within the darkest corners of his mind; the only fear that he had never ever given a second thought about, until the previous year when Kaori was 'seemingly' dead. He knew in his heart how hard it was for him just to be alive without her. Each and every moment seemed like a decade where he was exiled from his own self from the only place he was destined to: his love Kaori! Ryo saw the face of now-asleep Kaori, sleeping peacefully with the hem of his jacket gripped tightly in her right hand and thought of the day he first saw her.
This story started on one of the unnamed streets of Shinjuku. City Hunter was not formed then. After all, Hideyuki (Kaori's Brother) and Ryo hadn't met till then. The morning was no different than the previous one; the sun was shining brilliantly, the astral breeze was similar to any other day. There was not a vestige of the wrath the night had presented itself with. Ryo remembered very well; he remembered that day as if the incidents happened just a few moments ago. Ryo still remembered the morning because that was the first time something good had ever happened with him. LOVE! So small a word yet so deep and pure in its literal sense!
The night was a stormy one (We are talking about the night just before the day mentioned above), with cats and Dogs raining. Ryo was new to the town, with nothing but his favourite toy (Colt Python 0.357 Magnum) in his holster. The gangster of his rival group had followed him in this new city too. He had no other way out except to kill them. All eight of them broke in on him. Ryo was an easy match against four to five in a fair fight, but against eight? Well the result of it was as expected. Ryo was fast, but the constant lack of food and lack of shelter, had made him weak. He fell prey to the group, but he never gave in, he fought until the very end. His weakness caused him to be unable to dodge their bullets, which resulted in his injury. He was a heartless killing machine then. All he knew then, was to survive, he then lived totally on his guerrilla instincts. The fight ended at the break of dawn. New sunrise had brought new hopes and new possibilities in the lives of all the people: especially in his! As the light of dawn grew stronger, so did the hope of remaining alive fade from his mind. Ryo could understand very well that he didn't have much time. The wound on his chest spit blood. There was blood everywhere around him. From the place he laid on his chest, he could see with hazy eyes, people walking on the street, momentarily looking at him and then again walking off as if nothing had happened. Then…. Just then… he saw eyes: Large eyes with tears on 'em. His senses were gradually sinking, but he could feel someone approaching at a fast pace. Moments later, as he opened his eyes, he felt that someone was trying to roll him over his back. The person even succeeded after quite some tries. Just when Ryo was about to be sunk in the lifelong darkness that encored his soul, he heard a female voice "So you're one of those street thugs again, aren't you? Why can't you people lead a normal life, huh? Aren't you people afraid of guns and bullets?" Ryo slowly opened his eyes only to see a figure in a yellow T-shirt and a brown skirt. His hazy eyes couldn't make out the face of the person then; he was not even in a state to do so too! He had just murmured "Don't save me. Go, walk out … far from me…. Pretend… I … never …. happened!" The person, perhaps, had gave out a dainty laugh and then Ryo heard the same female voice again "Well, I can't leave you alone. If I do so, you're gonna die!" Ryo again had fluttered his eyes open in shock, but he couldn't keep them open for long, he murmured "Let….. me … die…. I .. am …. a Trash. You … go ..on" Those were the last words of himself that he could remember. All that happened after, was a mystery for him till today. He still can't remember how she managed to take him to the clinic. Ryo came to his senses after about 5 days of this incident. The Old Doc had said that he had tried everything to wake him from the coma Ryo was in, but he could do nothing. Ryo just knows this much that those 5 days were the shortest days of his life. The female voice speaking - "Why can't you people lead a normal life, huh? Aren't you people afraid of guns and bullets?... Well, I can't leave you alone. If I do so, you're gonna die" ran in his head all the while. Ryo didn't ever sleep peacefully until then, but those 5 nights? It was quite surprising that he had had a sound sleep. When he woke up, he couldn't remember anything at the beginning, but with the passage of minutes, he recollected the incidents of the particular rainy night, and as soon as he felt good enough to be sitting up (which was about after 2 days of his awakening) he fled from the clinic in the dead of a night. He still remembers the teary eyes of this soft-cornered girl (his 'sugar boy': Kaori), he had seen through the window of the first floor when he was waiting to meet someone in the blind alley just on the opposite end. That person he was waiting for, was none other than Hideyuki Makimura, her brother. Although that meeting ended unpleasantly, Ryo had saved his life twice after that, which led both of them to start a new organization, with a pen-name jointly against anti-socials of Shinjuku: "City Hunter". Ryo decided to be the face of the organization led by just two unknown people, the sole aim of whom was to eradicate crime from the small city of Japan. Hideyuki himself was a police inspector, so in a way the job became much easier. Both of them decided not to tell Kaori about this. By that time Ryo and Kaori met for a numerous times, and Kaori had already fallen for Ryo. But Ryo knew what was at stake, so he kept as much distance from her, as he could. At times it was not enough, he himself repented sometimes, but he knew what she meant to his partner Hideyuki. Hideyuki was not the one in the dark too, he had observed that although Ryo could easily dodge bullets, for some mysterious reason, he couldn't dodge the large maces thrown at him by Kaori as a reward of his lecherous activity. Hideyuki understood everything. Time was going well. After about four years of the start of a new life (in form of the "FACE" of "City Hunter"), this happy moments came to an abrupt end. Hideyuki was murdered by a drug syndicate. Hideyuki's death completely shattered and baffled his sister Kaori, who moved in with Ryo to the apartment he and Hideyuki had jointly bought in an intention to make an office of their organization "City Hunter" The completely shattered girl, sought a home to return to, at the end of the day, Ryo gave her that! Just the day after she had shifted with him, Ryo took her with him in the evening. Kaori asked a dozen times regarding their destination, but Ryo didn't speak out a word. Initially, Kaori had refused to come with him, so sad se was, but after sometime, she herself offered to come. She said "Brother's memories are haunting me Ryo! They won't let me eat or sleep. What should I do? Can you take me with you? Can you make me like you? A homeless wanderer?" The word "homeless" had stung him, but he didn't mind at all. He took her with him to a skyscraper. "Hey! No one lives here! This is a private property! We shouldn't be entering in here" she had said, but Ryo had insisted "Trust me. Come" Kaori knew in her heart that however bad a condition might rise, she could always look forward to Ryo. She didn't refuse further and came with him up to the terrace. While looking at the sunset together, she had said "Don't ever leave me Ryo! Please don't" to which Ryo had replied with a Stallion-of-Shinjuku smile "Of course not! How can Saeba Ryo leave a mokkori bust alone!" Instantly, the result was as expected, Ryo's head was smashed against the wall with a 100 tonne mace from Kaori's hands.
Ryo came back to his senses, as the ambulance was now at a perfect halt. THE SHINJUKU CITY HOSPITAL had arrived. Kaori was … unconscious?
