The Unceasing Path
Ch 13 : 友情歲月
A Story of Friendship – wherein a story is told, beginning, middle, and end.
[Flashback: The night of the diamond deal...]
It was a long drive to the docks and Minako was bored. Sure, she was driving towards a clandestine meeting at night on the waterfront to make a multi million dollar deal – that was going to be pretty exciting – but she wasn't there now.
Right now, she was stuck in godawful traffic, creeping along at 10km/hr through Aberdeen. Minako looked out the window for lack of anything better to do. She could see the harbour from here. The view was lovely, if one liked boats, boats, and more boats. The waters were chock full of boats. There were sleek, luxurious yachts, a big, glitzy neon-lit tourist trap floating restaurant, and scattered among those behemoths, there were scores of humble little fishing sampans and houseboats.
Minako snorted. The harbour was Hong Kong in a nutshell – shiny, clean and beautiful at first glance, but with grit and character a-plenty if one took a closer look. It was a city where the rich and the poor, ancient traditions and modern trends exists side by side, and nobody blinked an eye at anything. Hong Kong was a weird weird place.
Minako turned to her passenger to share her no-doubt brilliant observations. One look at Ami, and she thought better of it. Ami was in one of her moods. She hadn't said a word the entire ride, keeping her head down and eyes closed all the while. If Minako didn't know better, she would have thought that Ami was sleeping. She did know better though: Ami wasn't asleep. She was just faking it to avoid conversation. Minako debated talking to Ami anyways, but once again, thought better of it. Ami had one hand inside her jacket, and Minako knew what she was playing with under there. Either JanKam or MangYing. Minako could never remember which gun was which, and she had no idea how Ami could even tell them apart at all. Stupid Ami and her stupid quirks.
And stupid Ami for ignoring her!
How Ami being so chill right now? Minako was shitting bricks inside. She was scared. She hated to admit this, even to herself, but it was true. Being in the triads was a high risk high reward venture. Everyday, Minako had never been able to shake the feeling that one day, her luck would run out. She whistled, she sang, she fiddled with the radio. Anything to distract her from the uncertainty ahead.
Nothing, but nothing keeps Aino Minako down for long.
It wasn't the first time that she found herself in a high risk, high reward possibly-life-or-death situation. That was pretty much what the triad lifestyle was all about. Get rich or die trying. In 15 minutes, she was either going to be fighting for her life, or be 2.3 million dollars richer. Either way, it was one hell of a rush. Minako knew she should be used to this by now, but her adrenaline still got up every time.
She wasn't sure if that was a good thing, or a bad thing.
Really. Minako liked being alive, and the best way to keep stay alive was to enjoy the FUCK out of living. That little bit of extra motivation had gotten her out of plenty of jams.
Ooo! Speaking of jams. "YO!" Minako had to yell in order to be heard over the radio she was turning up. "I love this song!"
Ami grunted in response and nothing more. Minako rolled her eyes. Anyone else, she would have needled a bit more just for shits and giggles. Ami however, was Ami. There was a reason that they worked so well together. Minako did her thing, and she let Ami do hers. Minako prided herself on being a good leader even if she wasn't exactly proud of being a triad leader. A good leader knew what to expect from their people and how to bring out the best in them. With Ami, the trick was to remember that nothing was what it appeared to be. Whether she was goofing around, or sitting in silence like she was doing now, Minako knew that Ami was always thinking. It was weird how few people gave Ami any credit for her brains. With her reputation for violence, most of everyone thought of her as nothing but Minako's attack dog. Ami herself encouraged this, but Minako hated it. Her best friend was more than a dog on a leash.
She was smart, she was fierce, she was loyal and...well, ok, that did sound like a dog, but that wasn't the point. She loved Ami. She was family. Ami had her back, Minako had hers. That's the way it was ever since the beginning.
...Well ok, maybe not quite the beginning. She used to hate Ami's guts back in the day. They had first met in prison around 7 years ago now. Minako smiled to herself nostalgically. They were both so young back then. It had been around 3 months into her first stint in the the big house when Ami came into her life. The the warden had told her she would be getting a new cellmate – someone doing time for assault. Minako remembered being terrified at the news. Her overactive imagination had conjured up the biggest, meanest she-devilbeast to ever walk the earth.
What she had gotten instead, was Ami.
Ami was tiny. 5'2 on a good day and scrawny as hell to boot. That had been a huge relief. Relief had then turned into curiosity, which then quickly became dislike.
Ami had been pleasant enough, but something about her had seemed...off. Her laughs had been a little too loud, her jokes, a little too inappropriate. Her smiles had never quite seemed to reach her eyes. Ami was simultaneously too wild and too controlled. It was a strange combination. Minako had always prided herself on her ability to read people and with Ami, she had seen nothing but a ton of red flags. Nothing about Ami had seemed real. In her experience, people like that were best avoided, and so, she had avoided Ami as best she could– a difficult task given that they shared a 80 square foot cinderblock box with only one bathroom. That had made for awkward few weeks to say the least.
Then, along came Christmas day.
On that day, Usagi had came to visit and because Usagi was a giant sweetheart, she had come bearing gifts. Usagi had even thought to bring a gift for the cellmate Minako had been bitching to her about for the past month. Minako couldn't quite remember what the gift was now, it had been so long ago. She only remembered that it was something small. A pen maybe? Either way, it was probably just a random thing picked off the prison's "approved gifts" list and purchased at the commissary. Minako would bet dollars to doughnuts that Ami still had whatever-it-was stashed away in a drawer somewhere.
The look on Ami's face when she got her gift was indescribable - something between happiness and disbelief. Minako hadn't known what to make of it. It had been a blink-and-you-miss-it kind of moment and so, Minako had ignored it. She'd really not wanted to get involved with her wierdo cellmate.
Not until all hell broke loose.
Visitation period had come to an end, and Usagi was being escorted out of the room by a guard when she'd suddenly yelped. By the time Minako and turned around to see what was going on, Ami had vaulted over the plexiglass partition and smashed the guard's face into the wall.
It had been chaos. Ami had disappeared under a dogpile of prison guards, and Usagi whisked away before Minako had known what was what. She wouldn't know the details until the next Usagi came to visit. Usagi had told her, in a hushed whsiper, that the guard who was escorting her out had been very aggressively 'asking her out' the entire time. The yelp had been from when the guard had reached around and pinched her butt uninvited.
That must have been what Ami had smashed his face in for. After that point, there was no more ignoring Ami. Minako owed her cellmate a debt of honor for protecting her family. Saving Usagi had earned Ami a solid beating from the other guards, two weeks in solitary, plus another 6 months added to her sentence. Minako had felt terrible. Their release dates were within spitting distance of each other's when Ami had originally been scheduled for freedom early in the new year. It wasn't fair. When Ami was let out of the hole, Minako had made sure to be there for her. She'd finally gotten a sense of who Ami was. Ami wasn't a hardcore criminal or a crazy psychopath - she was just desperately lonely and hid it under a tough outer shell.
And so began a beautiful friendship.
The rest was history. When Minako had finished serving her sentence, she went straight back to work for Boss Luna. She had no choice, given the amount of debt her family was in. This time however, she didn't go alone. Ami had come with her just as she promised she would.
Thank the gods for that.
Minako had discovered too late that it was a bad time to be working for Luna. Boss Luna had so many sworn enemies that nine lives wouldn't have been enough to satisfy them all. They had unknowingly walked into the midst of a massive internal power struggle.
Without Ami, Minako was sure she would have been killed a dozen times over by Luna's many enemies. With Ami, she was able to put an end to the gang war on Luna's behalf.
It was a long war, but it was necessary. Under Luna's leadership, the Yuet To Tong went back to the old ways. Honour and duty, family before profit as it should be. Minako had emerged from the war at Luna's right hand – a lieutenant second only to Luna herself.
That was a good thing. Things were better this way. It was worth the price.
Minako pushed away the memory of finding her best friend kneeling catatonic in a pool of blood. She didn't need to think about the bodies, or the way she had to drag Ami away from the gruesome scene before the cops showed up.
No. It was time to focus on the present. Just another day in the life of.
The traffic finally let up. Minako breathed a sigh of relief. They were finally driving up to the pier - and not a moment too soon. Minako pulled the car into a secluded spot and turned off the radio.
"Hey, Ami, wake up. We're here."
"I wasn't asleep." The terse reply was typical Ami.
"I know." Minako picked up the bag of diamonds from the cupholder and tossed them up and down. "Just teasing ya. It'd be ok if you were though. I could totally handle this job in exchange for your share of the loot."
"Not a chance." Ami snagged the pouch out of mid air. "You armed?"
"Nah. This is just a simple buy-n-sell. Sends the wrong message if I show up packing heat."
Ami narrowed her eyes then pulled a gun out from one of her holsters. She spun it around and held it out grip first.
"Take JanKam. She's fully loaded. 15 plus one in the chamber."
"Really? You're letting me handle one of your girls? I'm flattered"
"Don't be an idiot." Ami pressed the gun into Minako's hands. "Keep your eyes open. Be ready for anything."
"If you insist." Minako squinted out into the darkness. The pier was deserted but for a couple of seagulls. "Weird. Ming's not here yet? He's normally early. Ah well...make sure he shows you the cash before you hand over the goods ok? You sure you don't want me to come with? I can probably sweet talk him into a better deal."
"No! Just...stay here. I want to check things out first." Ami opened the car door and paused. "Goodbye Minako."
Ami got out of the car and walked off into the darkness.
Minako watched her go with the worst feeling in the world. Her hands tightened around Ami's gun. That offered a little comfort against the big red danger alert screaming inside her gut.
She looked around. Everything seemed legit. It was oddly still and peaceful.
The wind picked up, Minako looked behind her, startled by the sound of leaves rustling.
Oh shit! What was that?
A pinprick of red caught her eye in the darkness. She spun about. The same red dot appeared on Ami's back. Right between the shoulder blades.
Minako leapt out of the car.
"AMI! DOWN!"
Ami turned. She started to say something, but Minako never heard it. All she heard was the sharp crack of a high powered rifle.
Time slowed. Minako saw every sickening detail as it happened in slow motion.
Ami lurched. Her head snapped back at the force of the impact. One hand reached into her jacket as she staggered forward in an dogged attempt to stay on her feet.
Set up. This was a set up.
Minako started running to her friend. They were in trouble. She could see Ami's face clearly now. Her mouth was moving. Ami was trying to tell her something. She must have figured everything out already. She always did.
Bang.
Another shot pierced the night.
Ami fell backwards.
A splash, and then silence.
That was it. Silence.
Ami was gone. Over the edge of the pier and into the water below.
No. This wasn't possible.
That did not just happen. Any second now, Ami was going to leap out of the darkness guns blazing. They were going to fight their way out of this together and then make the bastards pay. Nobody fucks with Aino Minako and Mizuno Ami.
Come on Ami, hurry up. Can't do this without you...
Minako fell to her knees in stunned disbelief. She barely even felt the sharp blow to the back of the head that knocked her out.
It wasn't until afterwards, when she came to, tied up and alone in the trunk of a car, that Minako realized what Ami's last words had been.
Run.
A.N.
Welcome, dear readers, to the halfway point in the story!
I think I say this every time I write a Minako scene, but daaaaaaaaamn, she is fun to write. She totally steals the spotlight everytime because she is just the perfect character blend of heart and off-the-wall dialogue.
Also: apologies for being a bit late with this chapter (especially after the cliffhanger that was the previous chapter). I do solemnly swear to never write a flashback within a flashback ever again. The past perfect tense and I have been fighting all week, and I'm pretty sure I just got my arse kicked. I had so hoped to do better editing...but c'est la vie.
Anyhow, as stated, this is the halfway mark in the story. We've got another 13-ish chapters to go, and I hope we've all been enjoying the ride so far. As you can expect, the next few chapters will be a bit more Mako, a bit more Minako, and a bit more Haruka. "Real time" will resume soon in Ch: 14 - Above the Law.
Oh! And trivia notes, for anyone not familiar with Cantonese (FYI: there are many bilingual bonus easter eggs in this story), the names of Ami's guns, Jan Kam and Mang Ying translate as "Sincerity/True Feelings" and "Firefly". We can all take a wild guess as to where I got those names from...
But really, those are pretty badass names for guns, if I must say so myself.
Oh wait, I just said it. Damn, this author's note is getting really meta...
Cheers,
-Drift.
Up Next:
執法先鋒 - Above the Law - wherein desperate times call for desperate measures.