He felt…hot. Like after getting out of a really hot shower, the feeling of the hot water left a lasting feeling. He couldn't really tell how hot, mostly because of the incredible pain he was in.

Consciousness seemed to just barely elude him, like a leaf in the wind that he can't quite catch. It always managed to avoid his grasp no matter how hard he tried, sometimes he'd be able to hold it in his hand for a few seconds at a time but never enough to keep it from blowing away.

"Shi…ay…it…e!"

He was only vaguely aware of Misato's presence, her voice recognizable amongst the sea of other voices. Was she mad at him? Did he do something wrong? He couldn't quite remember, everything was too hazy…too painful.

"ke…Wa…up!"

It sounded less like anger and more like…like…Shinji couldn't quite tell. He was really tired.

"...inji…Shi…Shinji!"

Shinji woke up, above him was an unfamiliar ceiling. He sat in a finely laid out bed, much bigger than he was accustomed to. The room was plain, empty really, save for a desk, a closet, and a drawer on the side of his bed.

"Shinji! Are you awake?" A voice came from behind the wooden door, it was a new voice Shinji wasn't quite familiar with.

"Coming," He meekly replied as he left the bed. He looked down at his clothes, the ones he wore the night before. He hadn't had time to change clothes before he fell asleep. He didn't remember being set up in a room like this, so he had to have been moved.

Shinji walked up to the door and cautiously opened it, like a dangerous monster lay on the other side. He peeked out the door to see a girl a few years older than him. She wore a green dress and had pony tails swept to her left, with a small smile too.

"H-hi," Shinji said as he covered himself behind the door.

"Good morning, my name is Ayako, Uncle Kaz told us to wake you up when breakfast was ready. You're hungry, right?" The girl had a warm smile, but Shinji still hesitated to answer. Fortunately, his stomach answered for him.

"I'm sorry," Shinji apologized for embarrassing himself.

Ayako waved it off, "Don't worry about it," She took a step forward and wrapped her hand around the door's edge. The sudden approach caused Shinji to stumble backwards in surprise, relinquishing it to the girl. "Come downstairs, don't worry, everyone is nice here. You'll fit right in."

Ayako pushed the door aside and walked in, reaching out with her hand to pull Shinji up. He looked at her, then her hand, for a moment he considered backing away again. A part of him wanted to walk away, back into the bed he woke up in…but then it would be rude of him wouldn't it? To turn away from a girl extending her hand out to him.

Shinji deftly reached out and grabbed the girl's hand and stood up. She didn't waste any time and almost dragged him downstairs. She was going so fast Shinji almost tripped on the stairs. They stopped in front of the dining room, where another handful of children sat each helping set the table.

"Ah, he's awake."

Sitting at the head of the table was an older man, Shinji instantly recognized him from the other day. He had beaten up his sensei.

The other boys and girls finally noticed him and Ayako, none of them said anything, only looking to their elder.

"Good morning, Shinji, you had us worried you weren't going to wake up." The man said, his tone was steely and blunt…but not uninviting.

"H-Hi," Shinji awkwardly waved to the room, beside him Ayako walked into the dining room and took her seat near the head of the table.

Shinji didn't know what to do with himself, under the gaze of everyone in the room he felt it all like a steel girder. He was practically paralyzed. He was quickly regretting his decision to come down.

"Shinji," The man motioned to the nearest empty seat, "Please sit, you must be hungry."

Shinji followed the instructions given to him and sat down, the food looked delicious. He quickly looked up, the other children looked at him closely…as if they were waiting for something. The man was clearly waiting for him to eat first. Shinji took a small chunk of rice and ate it.

Immediately the room erupted in cheers and groans causing Shinji to jump, "Wh-What's going on?" Shinji asked.

The boy to his left looked at him with a big grin on his face, "We were betting on what you'd eat first, the rice or the eggs." He had clearly betted on him eating the rice first.

Shinji was the only one confused, a knowing smirk appeared on the man at the head of the table, "It's a tradition," He chuckled, "We make this dish whenever a new resident joins us, the kids take bets about which food will be eaten first."

Shinji found it awfully strange, but who was he to question other people's customs? … Wait, new resident? "Um, sir?" Shinji asked.

"Yes?"

"When you said new resident…did you mean me?" Shinji asked.

The room quieted down, the boy on his left quietly muttered, "I hate this part."

"Yes, Shinji, you will be living here from now on." The man's subtle warmness started to wane.

"But, I was already living somewhere else." Shinji didn't know what happened to his sensei, where was he? Was he okay?

"Shinji, I'm sorry to say but your sensei won't be coming to pick you up. He…" The man took a minute to find his words, "Passed away."

Shinji didn't immediately respond, he didn't know how to respond to be frank. He didn't know the man well enough, the two barely talked outside of his tutoring. It was hard to even have an opinion on him, he had no real positive or negative feelings about his tutor.

"Oh," Shinji said.

"You are remarkably calm about this," The man commented.

"I don't know how to feel, I didn't know him well." Shinji admitted.

The man gave him an odd look, "How long have you lived with him?"

Shinji thought for a minute, time was hard to tell when he was so young. "A year?" He was unsure of the specific time, but that felt right. "Can I ask another question?"

"Of course."

"Does…Does my father know about what happened?" Shinji hesitantly asked.

"Not yet," The man answered, "I haven't reached out yet, but I will as soon as I can."

Shinji was a little disappointed, but maybe it was just too soon. If his father heard what had happened, surely he would come to claim him again.

"Thank you, sir." Shinji made a small bow.

"Please, call me Kiryu," The man gave a small welcoming smile.

One by one, the other children greeted Shinji. Each were orphans, all brought in by Kiryu after Second Impact. The oldest was Ayako, whom he had already met. After her was Taichi, he was the biggest of them all. Next were Mitsuo, Riona, Koji, Shiro, Izumi, and Eri. All of them happily welcomed Shinji into their own little world.

For the rest of the day, the other kids showed Shinji around the Orphanage, a rather large compound in comparison to his previous home, and the various facilities they had access to. They practically dragged him all across the grounds for the whole day, it was pretty exhausting, he had never had this much excitement with so many kids. By the end of the day, Shinji was more than ready to hit the bed and sleep.

The next day had come, and Shinji hoped to hear any news from Kiryu about his father. Nothing came.

"What?" Shinji asked.

"I have not been able to reach your father, I'm sorry. For the meantime, feel free to stay with us, we'll have this sorted out." Kiryu gave him an apologetic look, he clearly realized how much Shinji would prefer to be with his father again.

So Shinji spent the day again with the other children, and they showed them around their small prefecture, where the best food was, the local doctor, friendly neighbors and ones to keep away from. It was another exhausting day, but one Shinji enjoyed.

The next day came, and there was still no response. Shinji elected to help with the dishes, to show Kiryu his gratitude for letting him stay.

The day after, still no response, Shinji helped cook dinner that night.

The next week passed, Kiryu had been given a cane to help him walk better. Shinji waited hand and foot on the orphanage's patriarch to help him adjust.

By the end of Shinji's first month, he knew the orphanage and the prefecture like the back of his hand. He would often go out with Ayako to pick up ingredients at the store for dinner, then help Mitsuo clean, and help Eri set up the table when food was ready. For a while, things felt like they were supposed to be this way. Shinji was ingrained into the orphanages day and day routine. Until he was called up by Kiryu.

They had just finished dinner, Shiro was talking about this cool manga he had been reading when Kiryu approached him.

"Shinji, can you come with me?"

At first, Shinji thought the old man needed help. That was until he reached his office.

"There's no easy way to say this, Shinji, but you will not be going back to your father."

Shinji stood stunned, not quite registering what he heard, "Excuse me?"

Kiryu sighed and shakily stood up, "I'm sorry," He placed his hand on Shinji's shoulder. "You're welcome to stay with us. The other children will love to know that you are staying."

Shinji gloomily nodded before leaving. That night, as the house had fallen asleep, Shinji laid in bed looking at the ceiling when a sad realization crossed his mind.

The kids of this orphanage lost their parents to end up here, Shinji was the only one whose parent did not want them.

To Become A Dragon

"Please don't be late, please don't be late, please don't be late!" Shinji quickly ran out from the train station, ignoring the unsavory looks he got from the older citizens. He didn't pay them much attention, he was in a hurry.

It had been a year since Shinji had officially joined the Morning Glory Orphanage, and what a year it's been.

Over the course of that time, Shinji slowly became accustomed to the hectic way of life living with so many people. Up to that point, Shinji really didn't know what a full household felt like, waking up to laughter and shouting was unusual to him.

It was strange at first, Shinji was normally one to keep to himself, but that was near impossible living with so many other kids. Shinji was pulled left and right, regularly he would be forced to help cook dinner with Ayako, or clean the house with Shiro. These weren't bad, in fact Shinji welcomed cooking and cleaning. He found it oddly comforting, it gave him a goal that also doubled as a productive thing to do. It took some time, but Shinji grew to like his new life.

Of course, it would not be like this if it wasn't for Uncle Kaz. Shinji did not let himself forget that it was his kindness and generosity that led him here, so he tried to pay it back as much as he could whenever possible. That meant waiting on the orphanage's patriarch hand and foot when he could. Which led to today.

Last week Riona had dragged him out of the orphanage in the early hours of the morning, the sun had yet to clear the horizon and Shinji was still half asleep.

"Riona, what are we doing out so early?" He let out a big yawn, stretching his arms out to get rid of his stiff limbs.

"We're going shopping, duh," Riona pulled out a small purple purse.

Shinji recognized it instantly, "Isn't that Ayako's? Does she know you took it?"

"Of course! She's the one who told me to take it." Riona turned the corner, making their way to the local train station.

"But what exactly are we buying?" Shinji probed, "I already got groceries with Shiro the other day."

"Oh, right, Uncle Kaz's birthday is next week, and we are getting him a cake."

That day, Riona and Shinji went into the city and put an order for a cake. It was a nice chocolate cake that read "Happy 38th Birthday Uncle Kaz!". When the two came back, the kids discussed their plans. Who would put up the decorations, cook the food, clean the house, and pick up the cake. It would have gone great, if Uncle Kaz didn't decide to come home early.

Ayako stormed in from the kitchen, "Uncle Kaz is on his way home now!" She shouted.

Everyone was in disarray, they hadn't expected him to come back for another couple hours. They had to be fast about getting things ready, but most importantly someone had to get the cake.

Shinji had volunteered and soon ran out of the house to the train station. Every second he sat on the train hoping it would get to the city faster was dreadful. How can a birthday party be complete without a cake?

When the train stopped, Shinji bolted from his seat giving as many apologies as he could.

"Where is it? Where is it? Where-?" Shinji wasn't paying attention, looking back and forth he didn't notice the body he had just ran into.

"Ow!"

Shinji tumbled to the ground, concrete scraping his elbows and knees. He looked up to see who he bumped into, "I'm so sorry!" He quickly apologized.

In front of him was a girl, older than him by twice his age at least, she wore a white puffy jacket and a red clip on her hair. She stood up very dainty, she didn't even look mad, "It's alright, I'm fine, what about you? Are you okay?" She reached down to give him a hand; Shinji took it without asking.

"I'm fine, I'm very sorry I ran into you." He deeply bowed to her, showing his profuse apology.

She waved her hands side to side to play it off, "As long as we're both not hurt, it's fine. In fact I'm glad it's you, I thought you were…" She didn't finish that sentence, "Oh by the way, you wouldn't happen to know the nearest station to Kakizawa?"

Kakizawa? That's where he just came from. "Uh, yeah," Shinji pointed down the road to the station he just came from, "That should take you there, though it might be a while before the train comes back around."

"It's no problem, thank you!" She briskly ran off, looks like Shinji wasn't the only one in a hurry these days.

It didn't take much longer to find the cake shop and request his order, they had just finished baking it and he could tell. The warm smell it exuded was almost divine. Uncle Kaz was going to love this cake.

Having the cake put him at ease, like things were going to be alright. Even if he was late, he had the cake. That's really all that mattered right now, Shinji was going to go home, see Uncle Kaz wowed by the amazing cake and they'd all have a wonderful night together. It would be perfect.

Shinji walked up to the station when something bumped into him, Shinji fell onto his butt and he lost his grip on the cake box, he could only watch as it hit the concrete. The cake was lost, anger swelled through him and he looked up to see who had so carelessly ran into him. It died in his mouth when he saw who it was.

Two men, dressed in deep black suits, with the girl he talked to earlier being dragged kicking and screaming.

"Help! Please!" She looked at him with pleading eyes, before being yanked away.

"Stop squirming, we have places to be." One of the men commanded.

Shinji could only watch as she was taken in front of him, his legs felt like they were weighed down with cinder blocks. He was watching a girl be kidnapped in front of him.

"Stop shouting too, or else I'll make you stop." The other man threatened.

As she was dragged away the two locked eyes for a moment, it was clear what she asked of him. But Shinji didn't know if he could do it.

'Help me.'

They had dragged her around the corner, no longer in sight. Shinji didn't know what to do, call the police? He had no phone, and he had a sinking feeling he didn't have time to find one. His gaze shifted to the cake, it was ruined, but the only thing that wasn't were two words, 'Uncle Kaz'. What would he do? The man had been like a rock for the other kids, giving them virtue whenever they needed. On rare occasions Uncle Kaz would show his true strength, the kind that could easily face a hundred men. Shinji admired it, much like the rest of the kids, he had never met someone that strong and kind before. So the question begged…

"What would Uncle Kaz do?" He asked himself.

The answer was simple, so Shinji stood up and ran.

The two men were situated in a small alley, the girl they dragged wore handcuffs so she couldn't get away. One of them looked really angry with a bright red hand mark across his cheek.

"Do that again you little shit and I won't hold back." He angrily said.

The girl was defiant, if somewhat scared, and spat at him. The other man couldn't help but laugh at his compatriots' struggle, "That's it, I don't care what the boss says."

The man raised his hand and back handed the girl, "Easy," The other said, "She's supposed to come back in one piece."

"Hey!" Shinji shouted.

The two men looked towards the alley entrance to see Shinji, "Were we supposed to get another?" One of them asked.

"Beats me,"

"Let go of her, I already called the police!" Shinji bluffed.

The two men looked at each other and chuckled, "I doubt that, run along kid, this doesn't concern you."

"You destroyed my cake, I won't let you take her too!" Shinji shouted.

They looked at each other in confusion before looking back at him, "I don't think you realize what you're getting into, kid, last chance."

Shinji did not move.

"You don't have to do this, ple-!" Before she could finish, one of the men slapped a piece of tape across her mouth.

"I told you to stop shouting." The man said, "Take care of that brat, will ya?"

The other man said nothing as he walked to Shinji, "I've had enough of kids today, at least I can beat the shit outta one."

The man punched him before Shinji could move, a man that size was too fast for him. Shinji hit the ground faster than he realized, almost immediately he was being kicked in the stomach.

"This. Is what you get. For. Sticking your nose. Into shit!" The man kicked again and again.

Shinji felt nothing but pain as the man kept kicking him, he could vaguely hear the girl screaming through the tape on her mouth. There was nothing he could do, he wasn't strong enough to do anything. He was too weak to fight back.

"It's my turn, asshole!" Above him, a man had appeared, punching the kidnapper in the face. "How about you pick on someone your own size!"

The two men went blow for blow, but it was clear the newcomer was stronger than the kidnapper. The fight was fast, the newcomer had beaten the two kidnappers easily.

"Aniki, holy shit, what did you do?" Another man, probably a friend, had come to see what had happened.

"They were beating up a kid!" Shinji's savior bemoaned, "I had to do something. When I heard the screaming I had to help."

Shinji could barely make out the two, the man who fought off the kidnappers wore a vaguely red shirt, and the other man had ridiculously large hair.

"Alright kid, get up and du-wait…holy shit! Oh holy shit, Aniki!" The large haired man started to freak out.

"Why are you freaking out, man!?" The red shirt asked.

"This is one of Patriarch Kazuma's kids! Grab 'em, I'll call the boss!"

Shinji felt himself be picked up, he was too hurt to bother to put up a resistance. He simply let himself drift into unconsciousness, it was preferable to staying awake and feeling the pain. Sometime during his unconsciousness he had a thought, he never wanted to feel this way again.

"...ji, ar…ake?" He didn't know when, but his hearing started coming back.

"Shi…, ...re you awake?" Shinji started to groan, feeling came back to him bit by bit.

"Shinji?"

His eyes fluttered open, immediately he recognized where he was, last year when his life changed he woke up in this exact room. Sitting beside him was the girl from earlier, a relieved expression across her face.

"Oh, hi," Shinji greeted, "How long have I been here?"

The girl chuckled, "Only a couple hours, the two men who saved us left us here with your caretaker. He was quite shocked to see you come in covered in bruises."

"Where is he now?" Shinji asked.

"Downstairs, he left a couple minutes ago to talk to the other children." She pointed to the other side of the bed, another chair sat beside him, likely for Uncle Kaz.

Shinji sighed, "I should apologize to him, I ruined everything."

The girl laughed, "You!? Apologize for what!?"

"Huh?" Shinji turned back to her in confusion, "I ruined Uncle Kaz's birthday, we got this cake for him and I wasn't being careful enough so it fell."

She kept laughing.

"Please stop, it's embarrassing enough," Shinji groaned.

The girl must have felt some pity for him because she calmed herself down, "I'm sorry. What I mean is, you have nothing to be sorry about, you helped me. Stopped me from being taken away from those men, if it wasn't for you…I don't know where I'd be right now."

Huh, he hadn't thought about it like that. Maybe he was too focused on what he had screwed up, he hadn't realized the one good thing he had done.

"Now that you're awake, I can thank you, Shinji, for saving me." The girl gave a small bow to show her deep appreciation.

"Oh, um, it's alright. I only would do what Uncle Kaz would do…ugh." A problem quickly arose, he didn't know this girl's name.

"Ugh?" She looked at him quizzically.

"I just realized, I don't know your name." Shinji admitted.

"Oh," It seemed she also realized that issue too, "Well, I guess the least I can do is introduce myself."

She stood up very prim and proper, as if rehearsed, and cleared her throat, "My name is Haruka, Haruka Jingu, thank you for saving me!"

The consequences of Second Impact continue to be felt through the Yakuza side of this story, no more is Haruka Sawamura, long live Haruka Jingu. Of course as the events of Yakuza 1 never occurred Kiryu would have never met Haruka before. So why is she here now? How did she find her way to Kiryu again? And where is Yumi? Questions for another time unfortunately, because after this chapter it's back to the present where Shinji will have his rematch with the geometric rail cannon, Ramiel.