17

How dare you say that my behavior's unacceptable

So condescending unnecessarily critical

I have the tendency of getting very physical

So watch your step cause if I do you'll need a miracle

Harder to Breathe- Maroon 5

Z

"Hey, Han. Is he back yet?" I asked. I picked through the shirts in my closet. I pulled out one, considered it for a moment, then hung it back for a more practical one.

It had been decided that I was going to pack what I wanted to leave with in a laundry bag and stash it at Han's. Today was Saturday, and I was going to take Sean out to dinner and then out for a drive and tell him exactly what I was planning on doing. I had been nervously fidgeting with every tool I touched all day. D had been watching me work on his uncle's new Ferrari and had noticed.

"Something bothering you?" He had asked with raised eyebrows when he caught me agitatedly attempting to open a water bottle with a wrench.

"I haven't seen a GPS wired into a car like this. Plus, it's a Ferrari; I don't work with those much." I had stammered in response. "I don't want to leave any way for the police to track it."

He snorted in response and went back to counting money, but I didn't think he believed me.

"Twinkie said he changed and went out." Han told me quietly. I sighed in frustration; I had a whole other day in D's garage worrying about what to say." I can take you out if you want." He continued. I felt my lips twitch up. It sounded more like a date than anything the way his tone sounded.

"Okay. I need to get out of this apartment before I go crazy from worrying." I responded. I pulled a pair of jeans and a sweater off the hangers to change into.

"I told you; I'm not letting anything happen to you. I'll meet you at the little shop on the corner in an hour?"

"Sounds good to me."

Z

The crowd slipping past me like a current kept almost knocking me over. I had decided that since it was the ending of rush hour, I didn't want to bother with driving. It wasn't a long walk, but dodging the crowds was getting annoying. I was about ready to scream at the next person that bumped into me when someone grabbed my arm. I immediately started to jerk away.

"I'm sorry I scared you. Do you know how to get to the big square that's so famous? I'm new here." A sickly sweet alto voice that I never thought I'd hear again asked in my ear. I jerked around to see my brother's fiancée, Hanna.

She was just like I remembered her. Her dark, wavy hair was pulled in a ponytail and tossed carelessly over her shoulder. Her favorite aviators were pushed on top off her head. She still didn't wear any makeup on her tan face, but she really didn't need it. She still had on her uniform from work at the military base that day with her heavy black boots on. The only change was the sickly sweet tone that she had forced herself to take on, obviously telling me to act like I didn't know her.

"It's down three blocks." I answered with a jerk of my head in the general direction. My heart was pounding into my throat.

"Thank you so much. I never would have found it myself." She answered. She put her hand on my shoulder like some touchy people do when they talk. I felt a hard rectangle in hand press against my arm through my jacket. She let her hand fall off my shoulder by my purse and waved as she walked away. Her hand was now empty.

I forced face to keep the same bored expression it had when she walked up. I crossed the street and walked the rest of the way to the restaurant trying to process what happened.

I got there before Han and slipped into a booth to wait. I scanned the place for anyone that looked connected to the Yakuza. No one stuck out to me so I put my purse beside me and dug through it. My hand landed on a phone that wasn't there before and slipped it in my lap as I pulled out a tube of lip gloss and applied it to my lips. I waited a second before flipping it open in my lap.

I had a few unread text messages which I opened.

Miles- Tracked the number. Sent Hanna to find you. Don't trust anyone but her.

Zack- Overnighting your passport to Hanna. The second you get it run.

Zack- Found Shi's phone records. Working for Yakuza for two years. Suggested Uncle Jorge trade you to get out of his debt. Don't go to him for anything.

The last text was Hanna's address. The contact list revealed everyone's number that I could possibly need. I almost cried thinking about how glad I was that I finally had my family back. I put my phone up before someone noticed it.

I had been sitting for almost five minutes when someone slipped into the booth. I looked up expecting to see Han, but saw some random Japanese guy. He arms and legs seemed to be awkwardly long like he was still waiting to grow into them. His face was still round with baby fat. He probably wasn't much younger, but he was still in the awkward stage I had just gotten out of.

"You're way too beautiful to be alone in a strange country." He started off in thickly accented English. "I would gladly give you a tour, gorgeous."

"Not necessary." I answered in Japanese. He face deflated a little. "You look like a sweet kid, but I don't think I'd be sitting there when the guy I'm meeting gets here."

"Baby, I don't care if he was Kamata himself." He said in Japanese. Obviously this kid thought he was a badass. I was guessing he was probably fourteen.

"Funny you should say that." I heard Han's familiar slow bass in Japanese. He was already holding two cartons of take out. The kid looked a little afraid. "Sorry baby" He gave me a peck on the cheek. "We got to talking when I delivered this week's take; he insisted I have a drink with him."

The kid obviously understood that Han was trying to say he was late from meeting with Kamata -which should have been enough to scare any normal Tokyo civilian off. He was still a little pale but he made no move to get out of Han's seat.

Han apparently decided he wasn't dealing with him anymore and sat on my side of the booth. He really kissed me one time and the kid got the picture and scurried off. When Han finally pulled away from me he had a smug look on his face.

"That wasn't necessary." I told him. He just shrugged and pushed my food towards me as he moved to the vacated side of the booth.

We ate in silence. I was itching to tell him about Hanna, but I didn't dare with the restaurant crowded like it was. Every bit of my paranoia from week one in Tokyo came back.

We were almost done eating when I got a call from DK. I struggled to pull my phone of my pocket. When I finally got it, it was on its last ring. DK was not very happy about that.

"Get over here to my office now." He spat out and hung up. I shut my phone and rolled my eyes.

"I've been summoned by His Highness." I said with as much sarcasm as I could muster. Han stood up for me to get out. "Thanks for dinner."

"Be careful." He gave my hand one quick, inconspicuous squeeze and watched me go out the door.

Z

I walked into DK's storage closet with my hair dripping wet from the sudden rain storm. The clouds had been threatening all night, but the storm broke as I was a street away from the casino. My thin sweater clung uncomfortably to my biceps and my hair was flattened to my head.

DK sent everyone out the second I walked in. It was late, and there weren't as many people there as usual. He stood up from his chair and stalked over to me. He stood in front of my like he was considering what to do, then took the last yard in a single stride and punched me in the face,

His hit brought tears to my eyes and made me take a step backwards. I unconsciously put my hand against my stinging cheek. It took all of my will power not to let the tears start falling. He forced my back against the wall.

"Where was she?" He asked. His forehead was almost on mine and it made it ridiculously hard to think.

"What are you talking about?" I tried to push him off, but he gripped my arms harder. As scared as I was, I couldn't help but notice he was really unfortunate looking from this close up.

"Neela. You were supposed to be watching her and that gaijin." I started to realize why Sean had missed dinner with me. My silence made him even angrier.

"I-don't know. Let me go, and I'll see if I can find out what happened." I answered slowly, hoping to talk him out of strangling me. He let my arms go and put his hands on my rib cage and squeezed. I let a few of the tears fall when it felt like my bones were going to crack under his grip. I hit him in the chest with my closed fists, but he batted them away like I was a fly. I didn't have enough room to pull back and punch him.

"Not so much fun now, is it? If you weren't so busy fucking my partner, you could have stopped this from happening to you. Han's probably with another girl now that you're not there. You really think he cares about you? The second he gets bored you're back to the same place you started all those months ago. "

"You're completely unstable," I whined.

I whimpered in pain when his grip tightened even more. I could feel my ribs bruising. I just knew they were going to break. His words sunk into my head and I knew that if I wasn't getting on a plane soon he would be right. My eyes had been locked on his in fright, but when they slid almost closed so I didn't have to look at him anymore he knew he had me.

"How often have you been giving it up to him? That's what kept him interested, isn't it?" he chuckled sinisterly and pushed himself closer to me. I started sobbing when he put his lips on my neck and then bit down. Thankfully I was lucky tonight and my phone went off again. Unfortunately, he just pressed more of his body weight on me and started pulling at the waistband of my jeans.

"That's a call to work." I whimpered.

He pulled away from me and let me slide down the wall into the floor before walked back to his desk.

"You're lucky you belong to my uncle." He told me when he got behind his desk.

I fled out the door and grabbed my cell phone. My hands were shaking so hard I could barely open it. My knees were buckling badly.

"Hello?" I answered shakily.

"Ms. Gonzalez. I would like you to run a shipment to Kyoto tomorrow during the day. I want you to be at my office at two in the afternoon tomorrow." When Kamata was done with his instructions, he hung up.

I opened the back door and stepped out in the still pouring rain. I practically jogged down the street until I got to the one parking spot I could find 2 blocks away from DK's office I was still crying, but the rain hid it. I hated to cry, but I couldn't stop. I sat heavily in my driver's seat. I didn't even bother shutting the door to keep out the rain. I finally calmed down enough to drive. I had to get out of here earlier.

Z

I snuck in the Han's garage at two that morning. I had grabbed my bag from my garage and spent forever double checking everything I was taking. I had smuggled the clothes, a box of pictures, and my brother's flag out of my apartment in a laundry bag, then repacked it at the garage with my mother's book of poetry into a bag I could take on the plane. I knew I was an overly sentimental person, but for some reason having a piece of the people I loved made me feel not so alone.

The rainwater was still dripping off of me. I was now completely soaked to the bone and shivering from the iciness of the water. My bangs were weighed down and hung directly in my eyes. That was a good thing; it covered my bruised face.

Even though it was a Saturday, it was relatively quietly in the garage. It looked like most of the residents had gone to bed early and people had left to get home before the storm got worse. I slipped down a hall that held the bathrooms and made my way to the very end with my bag slung over my shoulder. Han had crammed a futon in the very corner of the storage room that was filled with spare parts in boxes. Sometimes Han slept in there when he didn't want to be bothered. Either he was there or he was in his actual room with a model.

As I knocked I silently prayed the DK was wrong and that he hadn't brought a girl back here tonight; I couldn't go to Sean or Twink looking like this. I waited for a few minutes in the bare, dark hallway until Han opened the door. His hair was still wet from a shower and completely messed up from where his head had been on a pillow. He was shirtless with black sweat pants on. He had a groggy and confused expression plastered on his face.

I moved my hair out of my face so he could see the bruise blossoming on my cheekbone. The look slowly dissolved into a slight expression of horror. It was the look Earl described him having when his Silvia came up the ramp with Sean driving. I felt a little special bringing out the same expression as his precious car. It briefly crossed my mind that it was a pathetic thought, but I dismissed it quickly.

"What did he do to you?" He asked forcefully. His voice was still clouded with sleep. He reached out to touch my arm in a gesture of concern. I shirked back out of his reach. He adopted a wounded look like I had just slapped him. Aside from that, it was completely unreadable.

"I'm okay. I need to stash my bag." I choked out. I winced when I heard my voice cracked. I sounded like I had been crying.

He took it off my shoulder and wedged it between a shelf and the wall. He reached to pull me into the room from my place at the door frame, but thought better of it and just motioned for me to come closer. I couldn't make out his expression, because the room was dark except for the light from his charging cell phone.

I silently obeyed and sat on the futon he had just vacated. He flicked on the lights to get a better look at my cheek bone. He spotted the bruise on my neck and ran his finger over it. I let him fuss over me for a second.

"You have to talk to me." He told me. He grabbed one of his shirts that he had laying at the bottom of the futon. It was probably the one he tossed off when he went to bed.

"He's unstable. He got angry when I didn't know where Neela was tonight." I answered in a stilted voice. He motioned for me to take off my sweater so I could pull on his dry shirt, but I hesitated.

"What did he do to you?" He asked. He rubbed his finger against the wet material of my sweater at my elbow. He was observant enough to know that he grabbed my upper arms and didn't go further than that.

"He hit me, then he pushed me into a wall and grabbed my arms. He squeezed my ribcage in after that. I felt like my bones were about to pop." I said quietly. I unbuttoned my sweater and slipped it down over my arms. My white tank top was almost translucent from the rain, but I didn't care. "He had to let me go because Kamata called."

"Kamata thinks you're too independent as it is. If he goes to him with something like this it will get you in trouble." He said. He kneeled in front of me to examine the hand prints on my arms. He gently pushed up my tank top to see the bruising on my ribs.

"The guy I called when I was with you, Miles, found me." Han stopped checking out my bruises and looked me dead in the eye. "My brother's fiancée found me on the street and slipped one of those disposable phones in my purse. The tech guy of dad's crew, Zack, did some research and found out Shi has been with Kamata for a while now and was the one that suggest my uncle trade me for his debt. Miles sent my passport."

"When will it get here?" Han asked without hesitation.

"Tomorrow, but I have to go to Kyoto in the afternoon."

"Get the passport in the morning, If you can ditch the guy with you, do it. Leave the second you get the chance. If you can't explain this to Sean, then I will. This isn't like the last time you left; he'll know you had to leave."

"I think I should leave after I get back from Kyoto. He'll look for me if I don't come back." Han considered this, then nodded in agreement.

"Where are you going?"

"I want to go to San Jose, Costa Rica. Miles has a house there and I could use some warm weather." I joked. I was still shivering from the cold water.

"Please change into something dry. Your lips are almost blue."

"There's no point; I'm leaving in a minute."

"Ellie." He began.

"Fine." I grabbed his shirt out of his hand and went to walk out toward the bathroom. He grabbed the sides of my tank top and pulled it off when I turned my back to him.

"Han!" I shrieked, more from the cold air than anything else. He shushed me and poked at my ribs. I flinched in pain. He grabbed the shirt and slipped it over my head. He had obviously worn it at some point that day because it still smelled like cologne.

"Why don't you stay here tonight?" He asked. "He knows your apartment number and can easily get Neela's key." The thought really scared me.

"What makes you think he won't look here too?" I responded.

"If he does, I'm here to stop him."