Chapter 12

Stay Together For The Kids

We entered the outskirts of the town in my now gray (much to my dismay) Nirvash. The military had camouflaged it. After I parked it in an abandoned warehouse Emma and I disembarked for the town. As I looked around the city it reminded me of my hometown.

"So now what do we do?" Emma asked me. "Dunno. Maybe we should start by asking around." I replied shrugging. "This is a supposed to be a covert operation. That's probably not a good idea. Anyone could be a member of Kazoku." Emma reminded me. "You're right." I sighed.

"Hey, you gonna pay for that?" I heard someone yell. I looked over at one of the nearby food stands and saw a shop-keeper glaring at a twelve year-old boy holding a bag. "I..." went the boy. He looked like he was about to run. It was clear that he was shoplifting. But the boy also looked like he hadn't eaten in days.

So for whatever reason, I approached the two. "There you are." I yelled. "Huh?" went the shop-keep. "I've been looking all over for you." I continued. The boy stared at me. "You forgot your money at home again. Lucky for you I brought it." I told the boy. "You know this kid?" the owner asked. "Yeah, he's my little brother." I lied. "What are you doing?" the boy mouthed. "Just play along." I mouthed back. "Here," I said to the boy as I handed him my wallet. "Thanks, onii-chan." said the boy playing along. The boy handed the owner the money to pay for the food. Then the three of us left the shop.

Once we were out of site from the shop-keeper the boy handed me back my wallet. "Thanks," said the boy. "You're welcome. But you shouldn't be shop-lifting." I told him. "You do what you gotta do to get by. Why'd you help me?" he inquired. "Dunno, I just felt like it." I shrugged. "My name's Kaz." he introduced himself. Emma and I introduced ourselves as well.

"Why were you stealing food?" inquired Emma. "It's not for just me. It's for my brothers and sisters." he explained. "Your siblings?" I repeated. "Yeah. Hey, would you like to meet them? My family?" he inquired. Emma and I looked at each other. We didn't exactly have any leads on Kazoku so we figured why not? We had some time to kill. "Um...sure." responded Emma.

Kaz led us to what appeared to be a large abandoned warehouse. When we entered the building it was anything but. There were people everywhere. Most of them were in their late teens, but I noticed some little kids too. There were a few adults here and there. One of the teenagers who was playing pool looked up at us. I suddenly felt uneasy. We were surrounded by people we didn't know.

"Hey Kaz, who are they?" the teenage boy asked. "This is Hi and Emma. They helped me out. Look, I brought back food." responded Kaz. "What did mother tell you about bringing home strays?" he asked. "Sorry, the just seemed really nice." protested Kaz.

"If we're intruding then we can leave. We don't want to be a bother to anyone." spoke up Emma politely. There was another voice. "How did you help Kaz?" the voice asked. "I gave him some money to pay for his food." I answered. "I see." said the voice.

A woman in her late twenties to early thirties approached us. "Thank you for helping my son." she told us. "You're Kaz's mother? You look a little...young to be his mother." I remarked skeptical. The woman laughed. "Why thank you. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Joanna Sturgeon. But you can call me Jo. Everyone else does." she stated with a friendly smile.

"Wait, you're Jo? Then does that mean that this is Kazoku?" I blurted out without thinking as I looked around. Suddenly everyone drew a weapon. "Well you see now, that really all depends." replied Jo still smiling. "O-on?" I gulped. Her smiled disappeared and she glared at us. "On who you are and what your intentions are." she answered. "I..." I stammered.

"Thank god we finally found you. We want to join the family." spoke up Emma. "Oh really and why's that?" inquired Jo. "We thought you could help us." said Emma. "With what? Kazoku isn't exactly a normal gang. You said you helped Kaz out. And I'm thankful for that, but we're not looking for any new members. Go home to your parents, kids and never come back." retorted Jo. "We...don't have any. We're orphans. The Image killed them." I told her. "And the money we had, we stole it." added Emma. Everyone lowered their weapons.

"Is that so?" asked Jo. Emma and I nodded. "Let's take a walk...Hi, was it? Your girlfriend can stay here." said Jo. I placed myself in front of Emma to protect her. "Don't worry we're not going to do anything to her. You have my word." promised Jo. "Go on, Hi, I'll be OK." Emma told me. "You sure?" I asked her. Emma nodded. "Shall we?" replied Jo. I followed her. "As I said, Kazoku isn't a normal gang. Everyone here is an orphan. Myself included." began Jo.

Jo told me how Kazoku was formed. It was after the Image had reappeared. Jo had just lost her family, like so many others. But instead of wallowing in depression she did what she could to help others who had just been orphaned as well. She started by providing food and shelter for them just until support from the government came. But it never did.

They started following her like lost skyfish. They started calling her their mother. "Can you imagine what it's like to be called a mother? It's not a bad feeling." she told me. Jo kept taking others in and her small family grew and grew. She resorted to stealing to help them. "Before I knew it, I'd formed a gang. We called ourselves Kazoku, because that's what we were, Family. I never intended to form a gang. We were just looking out for each other. It was entirely accidental. Over time I came to love them, all of them. They've become my precious children. It's because of them I'm the woman I am today." she told me.

"If it wasn't for my guidance who knows what might've happened to them. They might've starved to death. Or worse, become killers." she said. "Now we may steal and threaten, but we never kill. Each life is precious. Most of the weapons you see out there are fakes. Do you really think I'd give a bunch of weapons to children? What kind of mother would I be if I did? The military never came to our aide so what else was I supposed to do, but take them under my wing." she told me.

"The military never came?" I repeated. "You're not from around here are you? Alright, let me ask you this: Did you see one single garrison when you came to our little town?" she asked me. I thought for a moment. "No," I replied. "Now who do you think it is that protects this town from the Image? The answer is us. The Family are the ones protecting Bester, not the IEF. That's why we…'acquired' some LFOs from a local plant." she stated.

…

"You said you wanted to join Kazoku, right?" she inquired. "That's right." I lied. "We'll then, you'll have go through a little gang initiation first. Call it test of your loyalty." she said grinning. "What sort of test?" I inquired. Jo tossed me a spray-paint canister. "You any good with graffiti, kid?" she asked.

…

After vandalizing a back-alley wall Jo welcomed us to the family. Honestly I didn't think it would be that easy, but it was. Jo introduced us to the rest of Kazoku. We already knew Kaz. The one at the pool table earlier was Rick...and so on and so on. It was hard to believe that this one lady was taking care of so many. And not just human orphans, there were many Coralian orphans as well. It certainly was a daikazoku.

"So do you two have a place to stay?" Jo asked us once she finished introducing everybody. "Well for now we're staying at an old warehouse on the outskirts of town." I stated. "In that old building? You'll catch your death there. It can get pretty cold at night No, you're staying here tonight. This place may not look like much, but at least it's heated." she told us.

"Rick," Jo called. The boy came over. "Yes, mother?" he listened. "We have a spare room in the back with a bed don't we? I want you to take Hi and Emma to it. Our newest family members will be spending the night here." she told her son. "Alright. Follow me." Rick instructed us. He led us to a tiny room. Inside the room was a small twin-sized bed and not much else. "You'll have to share the bed. That or one of you will have to sleep on the floor. Well, good night and welcome to The Family." he told us. With that Rick left the room.

"Well, that certainly was easier than I thought it would be. So far so good." I remarked once we were alone. "Yeah, it almost seems too easy though. Do you think she suspects us?" wondered Emma. Zita removed her hazel contacts, placed them in her case, and crawled into bed. "Dunno. Too soon to say for sure. I will say one thing though. Jo certainly is amazing. Being able to take care of all of them." I commented. "Yeah, I think so too." agreed Emma. "You can take the bed, I'll sleep on the floor." I told her.

"But...the bed's big enough for two. Can't we just share it like Rick said?" said Emma. I stood there for a moment, stunned. "Wh-what? But I'm a boy and you're a girl. We can't do that." I stammered. "But you used to sleep with Yuki in the same bed all the time before we got transferred. You told me yourself." she replied. "That's different. Yuki and I are siblings." I explained. "Please, Hi?" pleaded Emma looking up at me with her true lavender eyes. As I looked into them, I found myself unable to refuse. I felt as if I was under some sort of spell.

"Alright, scoot over a bit." I sighed as I crawled into bed next to her. My heart was racing as I did. Then I felt something soft and squishy touch my shoulder which only made my heart race faster. "Um...Emma your boob is touching me." I told her. "Oh, sorry." she apologized scooting over a bit more. "Hi," she began. "Yeah?" I listened. "Would it be alright if I held your hand?" she requested. "Sure." I answered. "Thanks," she said grasping it. "Good night," I told her. "Good night," she said back. Then the two of us drifted asleep, still holding hands.

A/N: And here's the next chapter. I know I promised in the last preview to tell how the Nirvash typeHOPE would perform with Zita in the passenger seat, but that has been pushed back a chapter. Sorry. I promise the next chapter will contain it. Next time, Chapter 13: Behind These Hazel Eyes

P.S. Thanks again Ref for editing this chapter relatively quickly. I appreciate it. And I'm sorry I lost the entire original dream segment you wrote for me that is needed for the next chapter. Hopefully you'll be able to recall most of it. (Ref grumbles and face-palms) "Yeah, yeah," mutters Ref clearly displeased. Well anyway, stay tuned!

~Wave