Part Three

We found ourselves a hotel, one of those self-manage types where you just insert money and press a button for the keys to the room of your desire. She showered and sleep, I, on the other hand bandaged up my wounds and cleaned out a gun that I took from one of those thugs. Sleep isn't an option for me, much worst was that the adrenaline from earlier still coursing through my veins making sleep impossible. Years of being a killer made me cold but the two years that I was out turned against me, once in a while I would glanced over at the bed she's sleeping in to reassure myself that all of this is real and if what she said is true then the possibility of us being attack without warning is very real.

Kyoto was a nice place, though this isn't the time to enjoy the scenery or the foods. I know someone from here, and sure as hell would help if she haven't gotten herself kill yet for a little favor. We stayed in the hotel for most of the day, but headed out before nightfall after I told her there's someone that I wanted to see and that I wanted her to come with me. She could told me no, but she smiled that knowing smile of hers and went with me to a different part of Kyoto, a less friendly part. It took us a while but we were finally at the front of the Black Crystal Club, she moved closer to me but I surprised her by taken her hand and headed inside.

Inside, the thumping music, the thick smell of cigars and alcohol hung in the air with the large dance floor packed with your people like sardines in a can. No matter how many times I've seen it, I could never understand why anyone would want to be on such a crowded dance floor. Though undeniable to the fact that business is business, and with the place always jam-packed like this means more dough for us.

"You're not allow up here," a burly man said to me, he stood before me with his muscular arms crossed over his chest in an imposing manner.

"Let me guess, you just started this job…" I trailed off noticing that I do not know this person, in my two years of absent things around here changed though most of the employees here I've known since this place first opened up.

"Tell Yuuki Nao to either get her ass down here or I will come up there and you will be out of a job along with everyone in this club," I said to him firmly and calmly.

"Kyo, let them through, the boss would be very piss if she know you're giving them a hard time," a bartender called to the man.

"Come," I said tugging at Shizuru's hand pulling her up the stairs with me once the big lug in front of us moved out of the way though reluctantly.

It wasn't a kind of meeting where old friends hugged and shed tears, because when I was close enough to the table with multiple women chattering and laughing away my gun was quickly drawn a few seconds faster than the red head sitting in the middle of all the women there. She was sharp but still aren't fast enough against me. Her one weakness would be women, it was her sexual preference and it had caused her more troubles than not.

"Ladies, leave us be," the red head spoke first and at her words the women obediently left and headed for the first floor.

"Hiring new muscles?" I asked though my gun remain trained on her.

"Heard you're dead," she added after nodding her reply to my question as she put her gun away.

"The old me, need you to look into someone for me…"

"Whoa, the Blackcat is in need of my help? Is the sky falling?" she cut me off with her melodramatic words.

"Don't you fuck with me Nao, I don't have time for that bullshit right now. Any other given time, I would not mind but not now. I need a favor from you, look into Wolfgang Yuri and I need some firepower. This gun is a piece of garbage," I said coldly and the small smirk disappeared from her face.

"Come with me then," Nao said as she stood up turning completely serious.

We headed down the hall and up a small hidden stairs leading up to the third floor. If you look at the building from the outside, there would be no chance in hell you would know that this place is a three stories building because it looked like a two stories building. I put my gun away as soon as we started moving away from the noises, and she fished out a key from her jacket's pocket to unlock the door as soon as we reached the third floor.

"So the old bro tap you out huh?" Nao asked closing the door behind us.

"Something like that," I replied with an added shrug.

"You don't seem too concern, finally found yourself a hottie?" Nao asked walking passed me only to turn around and give a wagging brow expression of hers.

"She saved my life," I left it hanging as there's no reason to tell Nao about the fact that yes I am in love with this woman next to me and yes she got some serious gang bangers coming after her.

"Well, that's good, have a seat and there are drinks in the fridge over there, I'll make some calls to get what you need." Nao said pointing to the small fridge sitting in a corner near the couch.

"Thanks," I nodded my head.

"No problem, your problems are my problems man." Nao said and I realized that even though I haven't seen her for over two years, she still hasn't been able to stop saying the word man in most of the sentences in a conversation.

~o~

"She can undo many things, but the one thing she can't is her own sins…" the woman Mikoto called Nao said as soon as Mikoto left the room.

I was fascinated ever since the moment we met; I guess I was always drawn to the bad girl types though never any of them killed anyone. She isn't charismatic, though she has this vibe about her that no man would dare to challenge her authority. I must admit that she certainly is charming in an awkward kind of way, it doesn't seemed as though she could express herself properly and furthermore she cursed a lot though never at me. When she promised to always be there for me on the train the night before, I felt my heart skipped a beat as it was one of the most cliché yet sweetest thing anyone had ever said to me.

"Ara, her own sins?" I asked, intrigued to find out what this woman meant by that though I could guess the answer.

"Being a ruthless murderer for a half-ass half-brother," Nao replied sitting down just across from me and poured herself a glass of whiskey while I enjoyed a cup of tea that Mikoto made for me before she left.

"I used to hate the world, wanting to be tough and…" she paused for a moment taking a sip of her drink. "I needed money to pay the hospital bills; my mother was in a car accident and had been in a coma since I was thirteen. I ended up joining a local gang, you know to be tough and get some money. We extorted money, bootleg, and dealing drugs; the Tokyo Syndicate didn't like the fact that there are some punks making deals on their turf. She was sent to shake us down; we were a cocky bunch ya know? I mean, this kid come out of nowhere and told us to take a hike, she's around my age for crying out loud and the guys in the gang I'm with are usually a few years older than me. I never saw it coming man, a few popping sounds and they dropped like flies. I don't know why she didn't kill me though, she left me alive but wasn't long that I got in trouble with the law."

She paused again and I could only assumed that she was arrested for drugs possession, though the idea of a girl running in a gang with a bunch of guys is pretty hard to digest. Nao finished her drink and poured another, it seemed as though she's thinking what to say next and whatever it is she is going to say it will be important to both herself and perhaps Mikoto as well but I could only guess. I was surprised that they were friends by the way they greeted each other earlier, but Mikoto introduced her as an old friend and so I belief her words.

"I was trialed and sentenced two years on drug possession, good thing it was only a little bit or I would still be in jail." Nao said throwing her head back and laughed heartily. "Now if you think she bailed me out, she didn't but I was in jail and with no money I quickly regretted for taking the road that I took because now I can't pay the hospital bills. I was nineteen when they released me, first thing I did was rushing to see my mother but she was transferred to a private clinic with better treatment by an unknown benefactor. It's where she got the best doctors working to take care of my mother and bringing her out of her coma, and two and half years later she come out of it and now all better. I bumped into her after my mom woke up, told me to go legit and she helped me start a business. Here I am owning a legit club and no fuckers try to harass me for protection money," Nao finished draining her second glass of whiskey dried.

"But no matter how many people she saved, the numbers of people she had to kill will always remain far more than those she saved. There are things that she didn't know or perhaps doesn't remember at all, and that is the twisted childhood. I may be legit, but that doesn't mean I can't do background check and find things about that person that they themselves didn't know of." Nao said and once again she poured her glass full of alcohol.

I wanted to ask about Mikoto's past, but it wouldn't be right to know it from someone else instead of from Mikoto herself. Yet Nao's words lingered in the back of my mind, if what she said was true then perhaps Mikoto herself doesn't remember much about her actual childhood. My thoughts were cut short when the door to the office clicked open and shut again, Mikoto was back with a backpack on her back and casually tossed the car keys onto the table in front of Nao. She got this serious look on her face, but then again I've never really seen her playful side but maybe someday I will be able to see it.

"Got what you needed?" Nao asked looking up at her friend.

"Yeah, gonna need you to look after her for a few days if you don't mind," Mikoto said nodding in my direction though I noticed that ever since she returned she haven't so much as looking directly at me.

"Mom would love to have someone around, how does Okinawa sounds to you, Fujino-san?" Nao answered Mikoto's question and in the same sentence asked me about a small island just south of mainland.

"By the way, I'm going to have to ask you to get me some more of those wines, we got some rich customers that got expensive taste." Nao added and Mikoto simply just nodded her head.

"Don't drink too much," Mikoto said.

"Yeah, yeah, there's a bedroom connected to this office so you two can stay here. I'm heading back down and no one's coming up here so don't worry about making noises," Nao said as she got up and headed out though not before giving a sly grin.

I do not know if that woman was planning anything or hoping that there would be something between us, and sometimes I do wished that there was something more between us. However, my new bad girl is hopeless when it comes to the topic of romancing, I know that she's attracted to me like I am to her but sometimes it looked as though she's with me because I saved her life. I really didn't save her life, she saved herself by somehow managing to walk from wherever she was shot to our meeting place, which was at a quiet and nearly deserted park.