Soon enough, the red Ferrari came to a perfect halt. Kaori cocked her neck from Ryo's lap to see a huge mansion, ahead the large iron gate that was closed. The Mansion was surrounded by a beautiful garden. Kaori's heart skipped some beats when her eyes fell on the path among the trees in the garden that lead to the mansion. Ryo opened the door and went out, motioning Kaori to sit straight, and with a swift movement of his wrists, made sure that she had had her seatbelt on! Then he neared the automatic answering machine that was seen beside the pillar to the entrance. "Who is it? Please tell your name after the beep", came a mechanical voice as soon as Ryo went near it.

Ryo was as cold as ever. "This is Saeba Ryo!" he said in his characteristic calm voice. After what seemed like hours 'actually, minutes' a similar cold voice came from the machine "Well, well, City Hunter. Be my guest. I've been expecting you and so I have prepared a little something for you. Hope you like it. COME ON IN!" Kaori had beads of perspiration on her forehead. Her wide eyes were proof of how frightened or horrified her mental state was, but Ryo, on the other hand, was nonchalant. He coldly came and sat on the 'driver's seat' of the vehicle and started the engine. The gate opened now, and both of the cars entered one after the other.

Ryo, although was driving casually, had his senses awake like a hawk. The "CITY HUNTER" was back in his form and the 'LECHEROUS, PERVERT, GREAT WOMANIZER' of Shinjuku was dead, the moment the red Ferrari entered the compound of the mansion. Ryo's eyes gauged everything; even Umibozu was awake in his senses. Blind, though he was, with years of guerilla training, he had trained to master all of his senses to their peak even when one of them was rendered ineffective. He had his 0.44 Magnum in his hand. Miki and Saeko weren't sitting idle either. They were no fools. Although Miki was driving the car, she had her hand on the open dashboard of the car where her favourite 0.32 boar was sparkling. Saeko had her Sentinel Arms Custom Combat 0.44 Magnum cocked up in her hands. They knew that the way up ahead was going to be a tough one. Just then without any clear reason, Ryo's eyes widened. In a jiffy, he untied the seatbelt from Kaori in the blink of an eye as he jumped through the opposite door of the vehicle with Kaori clutched in between his arms. At that very moment, the petrol tank of the vehicle went up in crackling flames as it bursted into a sprinkler of fire which emitted splinters of metal. Miki had instantly stopped the hoodless jeep as soon as she saw Ryo jump out of the Ferrari. Saeko, Sayuri and Umibozu jumped out of the jeep from either sides of it and were there behind Ryo in a flash.

Ryo didn't focus on anything except the smoldering flames that was burning the red Ferrari before his eyes. Just then, a voice came from within the smoke "Hello Ryo! It's been a long time! We meet again!" Ryo's eyes widened as his hands brought out his favourite 0.357 Magnum almost reflexively out of its holster on his chest. Moments later a person was seen to come forth from behind the raging smoke of the burning splinters of the vehicle. The person had beautifully back-brushed yellow hair and he held a gun in his right hand. Although it was a simple automatic revolver, there was a white telescopic lens attached to it which corroded upon the beauty of the black beast (the gun is mentioned). Ryo had gritted teeth, "So you ARE INDEED here, Robert. I knew it! Besides me, it's only you who could attempt from the speeding vehicle and the terrace over a kilometer away from where we were." The person spoken to, had his gaze fixed somewhere else. The center of his concentration wasn't Ryo, but the figure attached to him: Kaori! Ryo observed this and his grip on Kaori tightened a bit. Kaori looked surprisingly back at him, but Ryo couldn't answer anything. Umibozu didn't move even an inch. Meanwhile, Saeko and Sayuri took steps towards Ryo, facing the new person as they did so. "You're the anonymous killer, Robert, right? The killer with the accuracy close to the City Hunter, isn't it? Your weapon of choice is the Nagan M1895 which is in your hands at the moment but you often use an Auto Magnum for close range shooting too! A person from the underworld just like Falcon here, and……." Saying this, Saeko turned to Ryo and with a twisted voice, said "Your partner. Right, Ryo?" there was a silent knife from her side. Ryo had, by then, come over his primary state of being surprised. He got back on his feet and helped Kaori up who leaned on to his chest for support. The stranger spoke again, but in a playful tone "I am surprised Miss Nogami Saeko! I didn't think that anyone other than from underworld would possibly know so much about me. You sure know your work and I must say you're good at it!" Then he again turned to Ryo as his voice was serious yet again "Ryo! If it were any other ordinary occasion, I would be happy to sit, drink and chat with you till late night, but as you can already guess, I am pure business at the moment." Then, pointing to Kaori with his gun, he said "My employer wants her for him." As soon as he heard it, Umibozu sensed Ryo's aura burning.. Saeko and Sayuri looked with surprise at the person before their eyes. They thought they knew the perverted, womanizer quite well, but this was a completely different person standing with Kaori close to his chest. Ryo spoke in his softest tone yet his voice had a deadly warning "Move your gun away Robert." Even the person spoken to, was a bit astonished before moving the gun away. Umibozu now came forth, beside him. By then, Sayuri and Saeko had a grip on the situation. Ryo was looking like a perfect messenger from hell with his head sunk low over his chest and his eyes burning in the flames of anger and revenge. Ryo caressed Kaori's red hairs with unwavering compassion and gently handed her to Umibozu who picked her up in his arms. Umibozu was a fatherly figure for Kaori and so it was nothing for her to be shy about, yet she opposed. When Umibozu was moving away from Ryo with Kaori in his arms, Kaori almost jumped from his hands to over Ryo. She verbally said nothing, but her tearful eyes said a lot. She nodded her head in a No, whispering "Don't so it Ryo! I'm right here beside you. SO you don't need to do this, please!", but all she could see in Ryo's eyes was loneliness, anger and desperation. For the first time in her staying with Ryo until now, she could read his mind. She could sense his loneliness and his fear of being left alone again and she could also sense the anger boiling deep inside his eyes for the person who had made her suffer. He wanted to fight for her. He finally had a reason to fight. Ryo had a faint sad smile on his lips as he nodded his head in a yes, and freed himself from her grip, patting on her head as Umibozu picked her up and walked away. She stopped him and whispered "Put me down Umibozu –san! I can walk!" Umibozu could sense the utter pleading and the tinge of remorse from her voice and he put her down without a further word. Kaori stood on the ground, supporting herself against Umibozu's abdomen as the male affectionately put his arms on her shoulders so that she might not slip down in any case.

Just then, the stranger 'Robert' spoke yet again, "So, Ryo! The rumor was true it seems. That lady means more to you than what meets the eye, isn't it? My employer had warned me that you would act south. So I guess this is how it will be, is it?" Kaori saw a sparkle in the eyes of the stranger as he said this and she turned to Umibozu, "Who is this, Umibozu-San? How does he know Ryo? And what was Saeko talking about him being Ryo's partner? I am Ryo's partner, am I not? So where does he come in from?" Umibozu's gaze came down through his sightless eyes, from the two men to the weak female he was supporting on her legs, as he gave out a deep sigh. "Kaori-San, I don't think Ryo would want me to tell you about these. There is a past to him that you don't know of. Before coming to Shinjuku, Ryo had two other accomplices. One of them was Robert and the other was Kenny. Both of them were tremendous shooters and just like Ryo, both of them aspired to be the top in the underworld. Due to this, Kenny had challenged Ryo to a duel. Kenny lost the duel and his life too and Ryo emerged victorious. But sadly, Ryo didn't want it; he didn't want to kill his comrade, but he had no other choice. When he came to Shinjuku, Robert had already left for a mission. Ryo was truly alone here, before he met you people, especially you, Kaori-san. You've made Shinjuku a home for that bastard. You've taught him to be a human again. You brought out the gentle side of him once again, that he had long forgotten about, both of us. It's all thanks to you Kaori-san, that Ryo is a normal human being."

"So stop the fight Umibozu-san! He doesn't need to fight for me anymore. I don't want him to fight. I don't want him to get lost like my brother. I hate my brother now, for leaving me alone in the world. If Ryo wouldn't be there, I wouldn't be alive perhaps by now. Call him back, please." Cried Kaori. Umibozu didn't move an inch from his place, and neither did he allow Kaori loose, to try and stop Ryo from having the duel which was evidently underway. Tairo, Sayuri and Nogami were standing beside Umibozu like statuettes. Now the stranger brought out the barrel of bullets from his gun. He put out all of the bullets except the last one. Ryo too brought out his gun and, after opening the safety catch, extracted all of the bullets, leaving one, in it. Umibozu now stepped forward, giving Kaori's responsibility to Saeko who had promptly come to her aid, breaking the silence with his calm and unwavering heavy voice "I will be the official witness to the duel, any objections?" Both of the men (Saeba and Robert) nodded in a 'NO' silently before closing the gun in each of their hands and putting it back in its holster. But Robert suddenly raised his left hand. Umibozu and Ryo, both looked at him in unison. Robert calmly brought out his gun yet again, and started unwinding the screw that held the white telescopic lens to the gun. After getting it loose from the gun, he brought down his left hand and held it, while keeping the gun back in its holster yet again. "This will be the trigger. We'll go off when this hits the ground. Is that fine?" he asked calmly. Umibozu and Ryo both nodded again in a 'YES'. The stranger now tossed the lens high up in the air.