I loooved everyone's reviews, they made me seriously so happy. c':
That's when I realized I haven't been updating my stories in a while...
I miss reading my e-mails and getting messages about how much you guys enjoyed my work. :c
I know I've been busy but I promise not to neglect my writings!
Happy MLK day ^_^
Enjoy the chapter guys! c:
::Secrets Beneath Surfaces::
"Nagihiko," Amu muttered over a walkie talkie. "Nagihiko, come in! Over."
A buzzing sound almost broke her eardrums as her ally replied. "I'm here. Over."
"We're having a regional gang meeting. I'm standing alone. This is so awkward because everyone is just staring at me. Where are you? Over."
Amu could almost feel Nadeshiko roll her eyes as she replied in an annoyed voice. "Are you two lovebirds going to keep talking without including me? Over."
"Nade, you know I love you. But real talk...some weird glasses-wearing guy keeps staring at me. Over."
"We'll be there in a bit Amu, so calm your tits. Over."
"We are not lovebirds!" Nagihiko retorted. "Over."
Amu agreed wholeheartedly. "What Nagi said! Over."
"You two couldn't fool me even if you guys tried."
"...Nade, you forgot to say 'over'."
"Shut up dude, I wasn't even done talking! Amu, we'll seriously be there soon. Save us some seats if the line gets to you. Over."
The pinkette giggled into her gadget as she began placing her items over the two seats beside her, which happened to be a sack that contained a box of bullets and her trusty pistol, and another insanely stuffed sack which was full of food that she got from the refreshments table before sitting down (and that might just be the reason why everyone was really staring at her anyways).
"We are so not lovebirds," Amu muttered to herself, a slight tint on red playing on her cheeks. It wasn't as though they were dating or anything...it was simply acknowledged that they both thought the other was cute. That was all. After all, the way they met wasn't exactly the way lovebirds meet. "If we were destined to be lovebirds, I so regret knocking out his teeth. Not to mention he broke my ribs. But I guess it's not like we're on bad terms since we split the territory."
Despite all the opposition the two give, they really did have a thing going on. It just wasn't as transparent to them as it was for those around them.
The lights inside the room suddenly flickered, eventually turning off as she noticed everyone taking their seats. As soon as everyone began standing up in order to give the underground pledge, Nagihiko and Nadeshiko scurried in sneakily and took their places aside Amu.
"What took you guys so long?" Amu whispered to the Violet gang leaders as they moved Amu's belongings from their chairs.
"Traffic. And as in traffic I mean beating up people and throwing their bodies to the side kind of traffic," Nagihiko sighed. "They even got dirt on my new tee! God damn..."
Nadeshiko dusted her shoulder off a bit. "I didn't get much on me except dust. Nagi's just losing his game. You best start looking for a better man, Amu."
The pinkette only laughed before the three were hushed by the other leaders nearby. The three quieted down in respect to the meeting as the pledge ended and the lights flipped back on. Everyone took their seats.
Nagihiko glanced at the gigantic bag that was on the ground now by Amu's feet. "Holy shit Amu...so you're the one who emptied the food table? Nadeshiko cursed you on the way inside the room, you know that?"
"A leader's got to do what a leader's got to do. Free food means I can take it all if I want if no one else has."
"It's called having consideration, Amu," Nadeshiko rolled her eyes before her fingers wandered to the knot of the bag. However, Amu quickly swatted her hands away.
"Yeah. Consideration for my group, Nade." The two stuck their tongues out at each other as Amu hugged the bag tighter between her legs.
Nagihiko shook his head. "Girls," he scoffed.
And so the meeting between all the gang leaders in the region began.
"Interesting...so very interesting."
"What is it, chairman?"
"Nothing," Ikuto said as he quietly tucked an old book, pages with more wrinkles than the bags Tadase had beneath his eyes, into the heart of his desk. "Just feeling myself brushing against the rails along memory lane."
Tadase gave a curt bow, several files that were just assigned to him in his arms. "If that is all, I shall be on my way."
"You may go."
With that statement, the blonde allowed himself to lift him head up and exit the room. The dark-haired CEO simply spun his chair around to face the grand window that overlooked the sum of the company's main headquarters. Ah, how he enjoyed this view.
His eyes lingered on a fleeting white butterfly as it went from one window side to the next, disappearing within only moments.
It reminded him of another fleeting object he once had in the palm of his hands.
Opening the wooden drawer right above his lap, Ikuto took out the same aged book as before. The man had noticed Tadase staring at it far longer than he should have, which meant that the subordinate had some unnecessary interest in it. Then again, he had mentioned its worthiness of interest while the blonde was in the room.
With a small smirk going only to the left of his face, he began flipping through it once more. No, this was no ordinary book after all...it was a precious gift. A gift that had been written and signed by a person whose appearance was more fleeting than that of a butterfly in his life, and all these years, he had cherished it so due to the hope that he would one day again see her face stare at him once more.
You see, this book was not just any ordinary book.
It was a collection of letters that he, Ikuto Tsukiyomi, had bound together himself. It was filled with messy handwriting, ripped-and-taped-back-together photographs and booth stickers, candy and gum wrappers, all these seemingly trivial things and whatnot.
"I won't ever forget what you did to me..." the man softly laughed to himself, allowing his head to lean on a propped-up arm. "Hinamori Amu."
The pinkette suddenly felt a shiver run up her spine. Nagihiko, noticing the small incident, patted the young woman on her back. "Are you feeling alright there, Amu? That meeting did leave a bad taste in my mouth."
"It sucks that barely anyone is offering you help, Amu. It's that Saaya bitch. She whored around and now she has a little authority, so she's using it to corner you. Foolish and wasteful of power, that woman." Nadeshiko scanned her nails. "If anything, she should stay the pawn she is, instead of trying to act like a queen."
Amu sighed, rubbing her right arm up and down with her left hand. "I'm fine, just a little cold I suppose. Nothing bothered me much in the meeting. I needed only some money and I received more than enough support in this meeting. I wasn't expecting anyone to fight with me."
"It isn't that cold," Nadeshiko said, her eyebrow raised. She noticed that the weather had been consistent. That shiver must have been a coincidence."Perhaps you're catching something?"
"Of course not," Amu replied still as she continued finding warmth through friction on her right arm as the three began to make their way back to the Red Clover Base.
Little did they know, the meeting's outcome was far more different than the trio had thought.
Back at the meeting area, Saaya laughed pompously in the midst of the servants cleaning up. After all, the meeting had taken place in her very own den—Snow Leopard Point. The Snow Leopard clan, a group of smaller gangs, had been originally led by Jun, a well-respected man in the underground community. After Saaya seduced him however, she gained half of his reputation and authority in the underground. Now she was a villainous queen, and her people had no choice but to obey her poisonous commands.
Saaya put a viperous arm around her new husband, her head coyly leaning on his shoulder and nudging into his neck. "That fool deserves not even an ounce of support. We shouldn't interfere with the outside world. Should they come in, it would ruin the balance of everything! Isn't that right, dear? Hinamori Amu needs to be stopped."
"Hinamori Amu is a good leader," Jun replied without much bias towards neither his wife nor the woman in question. "Although her getting involved with the outside world will not be any of our business. Her base is her control, and if she wants to fight with the outside, then so be it. As long as it doesn't spread to us, the commotion is irrelevant."
"I can't believe you would hold a meeting specifically to find aid for her though!" the redhead spat venomously. "She has done nothing for us, and will not do a single thing in the future!"
The man sighed, his 40-year-old breath rustling the beard beneath his mouth. A hand ran through his dark green hair, and then locked it with his 32-year-old wife's. "Dear...you do not understand her strength. Her being an ally benefits us far more than her being our enemy. Besides, it is only money after all. Just this once, sweetness... Let go of your grudge against the woman."
Saaya growled, slapping the man's hand away from hers. "I never had a grudge against her. I simply fail to see the light in her that you seem to see every day of your life!" With that, she stomped away angrily. Jun simply sighed, rubbing his temple as he began to make way into the office of his base.
"I shall never understand a woman's jealousy... But in return, she is never going to understand what it truly means—" the man murmured to himself as he walked into his office, his eyes immediately locking with a certain blonde visitor's.
"—to be a leader in the underground."
"Ah," Amu said as she pointed towards the map on her desk. "Here is my plan that I've been working on. First of all, there is almost nothing of ours on this left area of our territory, which happens to also be the majority of where their building will be above. The other part of the building resides over some of our houses, so we will have to make plans to move those few houses. However, where the building hits my headquarters, we will not be giving it up. If they do want us to give it up, I will be fine with it as long as they pay up a sum of 100 million dollars. These terms, if accepted, will be peaceful."
"100 million is a lot..." Rima questioned. "If they do want it, what if they decide to take it by force?"
Amu shook her head. "Not even the police will help them. Let's see exactly what they can do."
Nadeshiko laughed as she threw her arms around the pinkette. "I just love the way you do things, Amu. You're so ruthless! You are so not worth someone like her, Nagi." Nagihiko only rolled his eyes and ignored his obnoxious sister. Apparently she was only graceful on the outside, but on the inside, she is one batshit lady. Then again, if she wasn't, how could she be one of the most renowned leaders down here?
Rima took the contract papers and sealed them into an envelope. "I will have someone deliver these as soon as possible."
"Thanks Rima," Amu smiled as Rima left the room immediately. However, just as quickly as Rima had left the room, she had returned with a certain blonde behind her. The three inside the room were surprised.
"Rima doesn't joke when she means as soon as possible..." Nagihiko whispered to Nadeshiko, who nodded in agreement with her jaw still slightly dropped.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Hotori Tadase, the Vice Chairman representing the Chairman today. I have already read through your terms and communicated them to my higher-up. Please allow for ten seconds for me to receive a reply."
"Can we trust him?" Amu asked, to which Rima nodded. The next ten seconds were silent and suspenseful. It was too quiet.
So when the beep of the blond man's cell phone sounded, almost everyone jumped in the room. He quickly took out his phone and looked at the message before just as rapidly placing it back into his pocket and pulling out another envelope from under his suit.
"Your terms cannot be negotiated with. Here. Read this in private, Hinamori Amu. All information in that envelope is to be kept confidential." With that, the blonde left swiftly, the door shutting behind him so quickly that Rima couldn't even reach it in time. When she had opened it again, the blonde messenger was gone without a trace left behind. An odd man.
The room was quiet with all eyes on the yellow envelope for a while until Amu spoke up. "...I'd like to have this room to myself."
Nadeshiko felt her voice come upon hearing Amu's, immediately voicing her own opinion. "It isn't right how he rejected your conditions so quickly. It's as if only his conditions will work. In any case, this is likely to end in war, not peace," Nadeshiko said as she stepped closer to Amu, holding herself from slapping the folder out of Amu's hands. "If I were you, I would burn this folder and kill him."
Nagihiko tugged on his sister's shirt, pulling her back. "We'll be leaving now, Amu."
"But my opinion has been stated!" Nadeshiko yelled all while being dragged out by her twin sibling. Rima bowed to the pinkette before exiting along with the two other leaders, leaving Amu isolated in her headquarters. With a sigh, she put her hand into the envelope and pulled out the paper with her eyes closed. This is the last of it, she thought as she hesitated to open her eyes. After this...there's no going back anymore.
To her surprise, the paper consisted of only a single sentence.
"Come alone to Seiyo Fairgrounds, the clock tower, at midnight on January 25th."
Amu instantly grabbed her tool belt and weapon-filled coat. Today was the 24th and it was already 9 P.M., and if she didn't leave immediately she would not be able to make it. But there was no way she was going to be backing out of this one.
Pressing a hidden button on the wall, an elevator appeared and the pinkette stepped into it with cold hard memories pounding against her temple.
"You are the same as you have always been, Tsukiyomi Ikuto," she growled as her ascension began.
'But I will never be that same Amu in your mind ever, ever, again.'