Standard Disclaimer: All characters belong to Inuoe, but the story here is mine. At least…

My Little Dark Secret

The moment Ah Lian set foot into the apartment that she is sharing with her friend, Ah Yin, a piercing screech escaped the interior of the kitchen as Ah Yin came running out of it and started scolding her.

"You were suppose to be here half an hour ago! Where were you? You know how angry Ah Joe gets when we are late for the operation!!!"

"Ah Yin, stop yelling at me… You're giving me a headache. Besides, I'm not that late. It's only 7:15pm. The operation only starts at 10pm. We still have time for a quick shower, dinner, before hitting the road."

"What! Hardly have time to catch a bus and you still can stay this cool!!!"

"Ah Joe would understand. You don't have to worry much. He'll forgive us. Besides, he's my brother and your fiancé, if you have forgotten."

A blush crept onto Ah Yin's face. "Fine. But if he starts running amok, don't come running to ME to protect you later. Now go and get ready. We're bound to be at least 10 minutes late!"

Half an hour later, both Ah Lian and Ah Yin were reporting themselves at the Chinese Embassy where a tall, fair, dark brown haired Chinese man was waiting for them impatiently.

"I've been waiting for you girls for the past hour. Where have you been? Didn't you get my message that the operation had been dragged forward to 8:30pm! We hardly have time to meet up with the guys and get our equipments ready for the operation!"

"No message and I didn't now." replied Ah Lian calmly. "But we still have time for all those. Chill out, bro."

"At a time like this! If we fail this operation, you know what the Chief is going to do to us! He'll strip us of our post and send us packing on the next flight!"

"We won't fail. That I promise you." answered Ah Lian confidently. "You and Ah Yin are really meant for each other. Both such nervous wreaks."

The couple blushed and with double force, they both pulled Ah Lian out of the embassy and headed towards the Chinese Elite Drug Enforcement and Police department located right next to the embassy. When they arrived there, 5 more other guys were waiting for them. The first one, Jerry, looks like Nicholas Tse, the second, Kenny, looks like Takeshi Kenishiro. The third one, Kevin, looks like Shawn Yeu, and the fourth one, Eddy, looks like Kim Rae Won. They were amused when they saw the funny antics the trio were at.

"Look what they have just dragged in… a fighting, sprightly, little wild cat. Having trouble with her again, Ah Joe?" asked a macho hunk (Lee Hom look-alike…hehe), Gary.

"As usual, this little wild cat is as rebellious as ever. Can't even give her own brother a break! She is half on hour late and she can still be annoyingly calm and indifferent about the operation."

"And hungry too! You guys didn't feed me before dragging me here. I can't possibly function without energy, and the energy comes from food!" answered a subdued Ah Lian.

"You'll get your treat AFTER the operation. Now let's get to work, everybody!"

And with that order from Ah Joe, the group scrambled to get everything in order before adjourning to the darkest part of Kanagawa, where a notorious Chinese drug lord, Master Fung, ruled and manipulated the Japanese underground drug market. Their mission was to arrest him before his next drug shipment was to sail to Thailand at midnight that night. Ah Lian and Ah Yin were posted as decoys to lure the drug lord out of his hiding place while the 6 'gladiators' would arrest him before he found out what was happening.

It was time for the Master to visit his favourite night club, The Tavern, and both Ah Lian and Ah Yin followed him in. They began flirting in front of him, drawing his attention. At last, he took the bait and flaunted with them, slowly teasing them. They managed to lure him out of the Tavern, alone, into the dark alley and he was immediately ambushed by the 'gladiators'. Unfortunately for the 6 heroes, unbeknownst to them all the gang of the Master's mobsters had followed him out secretly, and they were soon trapped in a ring of the Master's mobsters and so a bloody fight erupted. Punches flew everywhere, and everyone became sour with plenty of bruises. Even the girls put up a good fight as they used their expert martial arts skills to knock any guy stone cold.

The fight became even bloodier when some of the mobsters unsheathed their knives and began hacking away at the Chinese fighters. If it wasn't for their fighting skills, they could all have been killed, but as they were capable of dodging weapons, them managed to hold out long enough for Ah Yin to get help from the Japanese Police department.

It wasn't long before the commotion attracted the attention of the police and the fight soon broke up as the mobsters fled the scene before the police could catch them, living the Chinese Elite Drug Enforcement empty-handed and badly bruised. The operation was a complete failure. Ah Lian suffered a deep cut over her right eye. A thug had lunged a knife directly at her eyes. She could have lost her eye-sight if she had not dodged it on time. It was now bleeding profusely. Her brother had asked her to go home and clean and before it got infected and this time, she obeyed. They others looked on her as she slowly made her way home to the apartment.

Back home, she immediately clean her wounds and applied medication on them. As she slowly got herself ready for bed, knowing that the others were now filing a report on a failed operation and that Ah Yin will be back in a short while, she began thinking over the operation, the Chinese Elite Drug Enforcement department, and how she had got into it in the first place.

Flashback

It was two years ago when she was celebrating her 15th birthday. Her brother, who was 5 years older than her, was not home to celebrate with her. She was all alone since their parents' death 5 years ago, and she was anxious of her brother's whereabouts.

After their parents' death, her brother was the one who had looked after her ever since. She had suffered the most from her parents' death. She became aloof and insecure, quiet and pessimistic. Hadn't it been for her brother, she would have lapsed into a depression. It was why she loved her brother dearly.

However, her brother was so much older than she was and was already studying in the university while she was still in junior high that she had to learn how to defend herself from bullies at her school. Her brother was not always around to fend for her and she was the target of most the bullies in school. That was why she developed a sharp tongue to scare away the bullies and she had honed her martial art skills for defence. Not only that, she had naturally built a wall of silence around her in order not to attract any attention. Now, she only uses her sharp tongue when needed or threatened, and it always comes so naturally to her and she can't break the habit easily.

She was sitting by the phone waiting for her brother's phone call when suddenly her brother burst into the room hurriedly with blood running down his arms.

"Zhen me le, ge? Ni mei shi ma?" (What happened, brother? Are you alright?) Ah Lian asked frantically.

"Kuai shuo men! Bie rang wai mein de ren jing. Kuai dian!" (Close the door, quick. Don't let anyone in. Hurry!)

But before she could do anything, the door burst open again and there stood a gang of 5 muscular men with sticks in the hands, ready to bash anything and anyone in their way.

"So, you think you can run away from us, can you? Well, guess again." snared one as he lifted his stick and was about to strike Ah Joe when Ah Lian, being a black belt karate student then, came between them and battered the stick away from the man's hand.

"Don't you dare touch my brother, you creep!" screamed Ah Lian.

With her polished karate skills, she managed to force the men out of the room before she phoned the police department, reporting a gang fight there. The police reached there and caught the men, and that was when she found out that her brother was involved in a secret operation under the Chinese Elite Drug Enforcement department. He had been injured during the mission. The shock slowly registered into her head and she began having a new sense of respect to her brother.

"Da ge, wo ye siang yau chan jia." (Big bro, I also want to join.)

"Haha…you can't, little sis. You are still too young for this. Besides, it's too dangerous and I don't want you to get injured the way I was."

"But I want to join!"

"Why?"

"Because I want to be just like you…"

And that melted his heart. The department found her a potential candidate for the missions ahead and soon took her in and trained her the way they trained her brother. Since she could fight and had an active mind, they agreed to take her in, on the condition that her brother would keep a close eye on her development.

End of Flashback

Now she was thinking whether she had made the right choice to follow her brother's footstep. That time was just the spurt of the moment when she made her decision. Now she had a slight regret for ever volunteering in this department. They had warned her that it would be dangerous, but she had agreed to stick around so that she could exercise her confidence. But since then, her confidence had not risen one bit. She was still shy around people, and when faced with an intimidating person, she would automatically snap at them.

Just like that boy, Rukawa. He had frightened her and that had left an impression that he was an intimidating person. She didn't want to snap. She somehow knew that he just wanted to be friends judging by the innocent look he gave her, but the reaction was so naturally the moment she felt his hand clasp her wrist she retaliated. She wanted that friendship, yet her mindset was that ANYBODY could harm her and her brother, so why risk being hurt? She didn't dare to trust anyone, yet she didn't like that feeling of mistrust. It made her lonely. She wanted so must to have friends but she was just too insecure.

Could anyone help her?

Author's Notes: What do you think? Please keep the reviews coming in…