Chapter 14

Time

A/N: Meh...

There was too much happening.

Way too much.

Drugs.

Money.

Power.

Emotions running on high...

Damn her life at this moment.

Nai sighed as she sunk deeper into the tub; the bubbles coated her shoulders and wet those pesky tendrils of hair at the base of her neck. She glanced to her laptop on its stand by the tub, the conversation on the screen steadily changing.

Kanra- "Someone out there is being really naughty with their money~!"

Setton- "What are you going on about Kanra?"

Kanra- "There's a lot of American Dollars in circulation these days."

Taro- "I noticed that too. I saw a guy who was clearly Japanese use it at the store the other day."

Kanra- "Uh oh~!"

Shit. Uh oh was right. That money was supposed to only travel between the families for the drugs. A high circulation of the bills would just draw attention.

Setton- "This cant be that big a deal."

Saika- "It's just money right?"

Kanra- "Dirty money maybe... I think I saw the cops confiscate it from some kids the other day."

"FUCK!" Nai's computer crashed against the opposite wall in the bathroom and she splashed back into the tub. Sloshing water all over the floor. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

"My lady!"

Her usual men kicked in the bathroom door, guns drawn, "Is everything alright?"

She sunk into the tub, letting the water wet her chin, "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

Her gaze was distant, "Yes...thank you."

They looked to each other before leaving the bathroom. Nai sat in the water a little longer, her eyes narrowed at the sparkling knobs on the tub's opposite end. She could just drown now...It would save her a lot of trouble. She sunk deeper into the water, the breath from her nostrils making bubbles.

Her eyes had been closed when her phone buzzed on the sink across the bathroom. She opened them, glaring across the tiled room and the buzzing stopped. But it started up again incessantly and the little gadget finally buzzed its way into the sink.

Nai took her time climbing from the porcelain bowl and wrapping her body in a towel.

"Hello?"

"I know you were logged in."

"So you're a hacker now too?" she was mad, but honestly too tired to even raise her voice at the info broker.

Izaya snickered, "What if I told you I had some free information for you?"

She entered her room, Masaomi was on her bed with his laptop; he looked up and acknowledged her with his eyes then looked back to the screen. She sighed, "I would tell you I don't want it."

"Really now? I find that hard to believe."

"I'm done Izaya. Stop manipulating me..."

"I respect you too much for that Nai-kun. You're a smart young woman, I'm sure you can figure this money thing out on your own."

Masaomi watched the phone bounce across the bed and listened as his guardian walked into the closet. "Did you do your homework?" she asked.

"I'm finishing it now." He answered.

"Good."

"Is everything alright?"

She came back into the room with her hair still pulled up and dressed in the black shorts and tank she chose to sleep in. "Yeah." She stretched across the bed, "It will be anyway."

"I heard you in the bathroom, and that was Izaya on the phone..."

The woman smirked at him, "Why are you even in my room?"

"Like I said. I heard you in the bathroom." He saved his file and closed the computer; "You've been acting strange since yesterday."

She sat up and moved behind the blonde, hugging him. "You're a good kid Kida..."

"You're avoiding the point."

Nai hugged the boy tighter but her eyes wandered to her phone, the message light pulsing, "It's nothing you need to worry about."

"Yakuza stuff?"

"Yes."

The blonde let the room go quiet for a moment before smiling. "I've been thinking of changing my last name."

"Really now?" she smirked.

"Something awesome and foreboding like Hagane. Maybe even dye my hair brown and get some awesome green contacts and a tattoo."

Nai was laughing by the time the boy was done rambling, she grabbed his neck in the crook of her elbow and rubbed his head with her knuckles, "You little shit!"

"Maybe not the tattoo part!" He giggled.

They calmed as a knock sounded on the door. Nai fixed her mussed hair, "Come in."

Her father entered the room with his arms folded. Kida turned his eyes to the carpet, he had a habit of glaring at the man and he was threatened with his life the last time he was caught, he didn't plan on telling Nai that. Daifu crossed his arms, "I need to talk to you."

"Go ahead." Nai kept her arm around the teenager.

"Alone. Now."

She kissed the blonde on the cheek, "You can sleep in here if you want." It was only ten'o'clock and it was Friday, but the boy didn't waste any time crawling under her comforter. Her smile was quick as she pulled her door closed and stepped into the hall.

Her men had been dismissed when she left the bathroom, no need in keeping them up when she was safe in her own home.

"That brother of mine raved about you all day today."

"Really?"

Daiki narrowed his gaze on his daughter, "He was proud of the rat you caught. Such a feral house cat you are. But still a housecat nonetheless."

Nai rolled her eyes, "I'm not the one making the decision on who gets clan head. There is a reason it's leaning in my favor."

Her father's smile was oddly placed in the situation, it was secretive and mocking, "Because you haven't messed up yet." He shoved a piece of paper at her chest, making her stumble backwards into her closed door, "Kill him."

She unfolded the paper. There was a name, a time, and an address, clearly in her uncle's handwriting. "Why?"

"Ojo's order's Nai. I wouldn't ask questions if I were you. It's not the first time he's asked you to kill someone."

"I'll put some men on it."

Daiki's smile morphed into a smirk, the smirk his daughter inherited and knew all too well, "No. You handle it this time. No drive-by or ordered hit. Just you and your gun."

Nai crumpled the paper as her father headed down the hall. Why would her uncle ask her to kill someone personally? He would never ask that of her... But she didn't dare question him. She turned back into her room to find Masaomi's honey eyes peering at her over the edge of her comforter.

"It figures that old fart would make you frown after I worked so hard to make you smile. Totally unacceptable."

The woman crawled under the comforter and hit the teen with a pillow, smirking, "Go to sleep kid."

"Good afternoon Shiki-san."

The man smiled at the young woman as she entered his lair-like office, "What brings you to me unannounced Nai?"

"My apologies, I was just looking for someone trustworthy to talk to."

"No friends?"

"Not in the underground unfortunately."

He watched her take a seat across from him and sigh a little more heavily than people her age normally sighed. His little cousin was hurting, "Talk to me."

She rubbed her forehead and bit her lip, "I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing anymore. I told myself I could be this tough and merciless face of the family not even two days ago and I already want to hide in my room and never come out."

"You don't have to be ruthless all the time."

"But I do." She cut him off, "I don't match what the families want for a clan head, I have to match it. I have to be more than a mere criminal, I have to be a stone-faced killer and I don't know if I can do that."

He nodded in understanding, he remembered proving to her grandfather, his own uncle that he could handle heading the smaller faction of the family. That had been tough also, "What does your uncle say?"

"He had my father give me this."

Shiki reached for the paper but not without cocking an eyebrow, "He didn't give it to you directly?"

"No. But it's his handwriting."

"This is calling for a hit. Didn't he have you do three when you came home?"

Her own brow raised, "Not with me doing the killing personally."

"That is odd." He lent back on the couch and crossed his legs, "He normally wouldn't make you do such a thing."

She nodded. She knew that. Something definitely felt off but at the same time...if she didn't kill this person, was she putting her family in danger, even if it was just their reputation? "Thanks for listening. I'm gonna go."

"Be careful Nai. I mean it."

Nai checked her phone for the time and nodded, "Yeah, sure."

"Are we coming with you my lady?"

"No." Nai sighed as she checked the ammunition in her gun. One bullet was more than enough, but she liked to be sure it was full. "I'll be going in alone, it's fine."

The car door closed and she checked her phone again, "Seven twenty-six."

The time on the paper she received had been seven thirty. A kill was to happen at an appointed time in order to route a way into safety and away from a possible phone call to police from a neighbor or passerby. The young heiress took a deep breath and approached the small home.

She knocked on the door, and waited.

A man answered, his tie loose and his eyes tired, "Hello?"

"Hiro Sakamoto?"

"Yes."

It only took one shot, just one to the chest, muffled by her pressing the barrel close to his body. It only took another few seconds, right when she felt her phone buzz the seven thirty alarm in her pocket, for her to notice the young woman standing deeper in the home, clearly in shock.

"Hiro!" she screamed out in terror.

And at seven thirty-one, Nai had shot her too.