Nogitsune (7 page)

AFTER SAKURAGICHŌ
(
桜木町
後
)

She couldn't wait for the news that had been plaguing her mind for months.

"The Reagan's back," thought Yuki to herself.

For Imari “Yuki” Williams, this was a complete relief; especially since she was anticipating the return of her African-American father from deployment, Lieutenant Commander Anthony Williams, Operations Officer for the aircraft carrier USS RONALD REAGAN.

Not only did it meant her mother Yuka would be pleased to have him back so she wouldn't bring her depression of sorts in her direction. In an indirect way, this meant she was going to get income coming in thanks to the new kids who wanted to get tattoos to mark their journey and all the ports they visited in the Pacific area of responsibility.

When she was done with her last customer, another woman entered her doors as Yuki was putting up her tools.

“I’m sorry, I’m not doing any more tattoos for today. We’re closed,” said Yuki anxious to get back home to see her father.

“That’s not why I’m here,” said Illicit.

“What do you want?” said Yuki.

“A week ago, your best friend’s mother was murdered viciously on the streets and nothing has been done about it. Illicit said. “Nor will be considering the fact that it was yakuza related. It will be just another beautiful life lost to the senseless violence of the yakuza.”

“Who are you and how do you know all of this?”

“I go by the name of Illicit and I’m a very good friend of yours.” She looked up at Yuki with her eyes glowing red. “A very good friend that you haven’t seen in a long time.”

As Yuki stood there in a trance, powerless to move.

Illicit smirked and shouted her name. “Yuki!”

Yuki shook her head and glanced a second time at Illicit before jumping up from her chair and running over to hug Illicit! “OMG! Illicit, is that you? It has been ages.”

“Yes! It’s me.”

"So am I going to have to guess the reason for this visit or are you going to tell me already?"

Illicit went into her serious mode. "I will. But right now I have to tell you something.”

“What is it?” 

Illicit cleared her throat. “Iyaka Ioka is dead.”

Yuki covered her mouth and immediately began to tear up. “Oh my god! Iyaka? How did she—”

“Seven stray bullets from Kento Karahawa struck and killed Iyaka and the baby she was carrying.”

“Ayame must be devastated.”

Illicit placed her hand on Yuki’s and tried to comfort her, “Now is not the time for tears, Yuki. I have a job for you.”

“What do you need me to do?”

“I need you to help me incite a war between the Inato and Fukushima,” said Illicit.

“But how,”

Illicit circled around Yuki’s tattoo seat. “I need you to help me recruit some members for an all-woman organization. I want you to build something that will stop all yakuza factions once and for all.”

Illicit’s eyes began glowing once again, leering at Yuki. “Talk to Ayame tonight about this and convince her of our cause. If we can get her to join us, we can bring the yakuza to their knees. Do you understand?”

Yuki nodded without saying a word.

Illicit got close to Yuki’s face as if she was going to kiss her. Yuki opened her lips slightly as Illicit breathed a red mist into her mouth and whispered in her ear.

“You belong to me now! We…are…one!”

Yuki gasped and looked around, but there was no sign of Illicit. She remembered her being there and the conversation they had about the yakuza but she couldn’t remember her leaving.

The only thing she knew is that she felt a strong compulsion to go to call Ayame.

****

At a bus stop near the Zushi train station a couple of days later, Yuki Williams made a few calls to her friend, college student Ayame Komatsu, daughter of the deceased Iyaka Ioka and stepdaughter of Fukushima gangster Hideyoshi Ioka. Her calls went unanswered.

For several days, Yuki called Ayame obsessively and just when she was about to give up, Ayame pulled up in front of Yuki’s tattoo parlor in a hot bubble gum pink Rolls Royce Wraith, burst through the doors and told Yuki, "I need a drink."

Yuki just shook her head, grabbed her purse and jumped in the car.

Within minutes they were headed to one of her favorite bar in Yokosuka, a small bar called
Soul Power
, near the Fleet Activities Yokosuka Naval Base. They went to the bar area and Yuki ordered shots of tequila for her and Ayame. When the bartender gave them the shots, Yuki and Ayame took the glass and raised them.

"To Iyaka," Yuki said. "May she find peace in the loving arms of whatever she believes!"

"To Mom," Ayame said.

Their glasses clinked together and they took it to the head with ease. Both let out a hiss, then a howl. Yuki asked for two more.

"So what are you going to do?" asked Yuki.

Without hesitating, Ayame looked Yuki in the eyes and spoke with pure hatred, "I'm going to kill that son of a bitch Kento Karahawa."

Yuki chuckled. "Really? With what? What army you taking with you on your fuckin' crusade?"

"I'm sure I can find someone," Ayame said. “I already have one crazy ass bitch that is down for me.

“Who?”

“You, dumb ass,” said Ayame jokingly while hitting Yuki in the arm. “Yeah, I’m going to set Kento up by getting you to give him some and while you’re on your knees blowing him—”

“Hold on! Why I gotta be sucking him?” chuckled Yuki.

“Because you suck! But listen, this is how it’s going to go down. While you’re on your knees bobbing your head up and down, I’m going to walk up from behind and bloaaaawwww!”

When Ayame made the hand gesture of a gun being fired, Yuki knew she was all too serious and figured this was the perfect time to bring up Illicit.

“It’s funny you should bring this up. A very good friend of mine came to visit me and she had heard about your mother and all the foul shit that the yakuza had been doing and she asked if I wanted to do something about it.”

“Something like what?” said Ayame while taking a sip of 1800 tequila.

“Form an all-women organization and bring every living yakuza to their knees.”

“What do we need to do?” said Ayame.

“Get as many bad ass girls together and begin turning each faction against one another so that they break their treaty and begin warring with one another. Then when they’re weakened, we strike AND I PROMISE YOU Ayame, Kento will pay for what he did to your mother.”

More than anything, the passion in Yuki’s voice convinced Ayame that this wasn’t a game and they were going to make Kento and all Japanese yakuza pay.

Ayame nodded and smirked devilishly as thoughts of Kento begging for his life while she stood over him with a gun replayed in her mind.

“I like that! Bad ass bitches.”

Yuki grinned. “Yeah! Like…what’s the word? Sukebans!”

Ayame raised her glass. “Going old school? Really?” With a slight huff, she relented. “Alright fine! To the Sukeban and the death of all yakuza.”

With the clink of their glasses, it consummated the death of every yakuza boss in Japan. From then on in the eyes of the good friends, the Inato and Fukushima crime families were on borrowed time.

“So do you have anyone in mind for this little Cosa Nostra?” said Ayame.

“I think I might know someone,” smiled Yuki.

****

She stared at the clock as if trying to hypnotizing it would make it go faster. Or maybe it was more in part because of her boring algebra teacher teaching his craft as if he was sleepwalking. Most of the teenagers around her were into their own dramas, not caring one bit about his teachings as well.

As time was ticking away before school ended for the day and on to the separate afternoon clubs, there were only two thoughts on sixteen-year-old Ayuko Fukai's mind: getting ready for her practice with her dance group and getting her chance to bag the boy crush of her dreams.

When she went outside on the field near the Nakahiro High School building, she circled around to see if she could find him. Then, turning one corner, she saw him, standing alone waiting for someone or something. Ayuko started moving and just as she was about to get close, another girl came to him and the two kissed one another.

The minute the kiss occurred, it crushed Ayuko Fukai’s heart to the point she just stood still as her crush just followed his so-called girlfriend and her popular crew.

With one mission failed, she could still rely on the other one. She went to one of the public restrooms and changed from her school uniform that always made her want to rip it apart to her street wear that she found more comfortable. 

Ayuko went from the restroom to her locker and took out some compact discs. From there, she went into the dance studio of the school where they practiced ballet and theater. She took one of the radios and put one of her CDs into the drive, press play, and turned the volume on high. She went to the mirror that showed her reflection and DJ Khaled’s “I’m So Hood” started playing.

When DJ Khaled’s part started, Ayuko touched her body as she could see that she was gaining weight around her face and waist. T-Pain was close to finishing his part and the beat started, Ayuko went into her dancing berserker mode. Just like a ballet dancer, coordination, athleticism, and the specific moves to match the right beats were an intricate part of making her one of the most exceptional if not infamous dancers in Nakahiro High.

Dance made Ayuko forget about all of her problems. Coming from a broken home saturated with yakuza loyalties to having her own apartment paid for by her older brother, she used dance to make her statements.

Her chosen piece of music played a part as well.

Hip-hop had always been popular in Japan and teenagers like Ayuko not only embrace it, but used it to rebel against their establishment; in this case, a principal thinking about budget, female teachers with nothing to teach or male teachers who were horny and desperate, catching themselves looking at the short skirts of the adolescent female population when they hiked them up to expose their sexy, athletic legs.

When Ayuko made her turns, twists her legs, pump her fist and watched herself in the mirror to see what she was doing and what she could improve upon, she let the music in her mixed CD take her to other places in her subconscious.

In her world, she was and could be anything she wanted.

Even her own gangster brother…

****

Kobe had always been a prime base for the Japanese yakuza. Not meant to be nothing more than a gateway to two significant and marketable cities, the urban metropolis Osaka and picturesque Kyoto, it became the perfect spot to hold their meetings and established policy among the yakuza hierarchy.

The head of this particular commission had been Daiichi Fukushima, being the longest-serving oyabun in Japan, with two others slightly matching it. Sitting at the head table of one of their homes, he stared at one in particular: the oyabun of the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe connection, Shintaro Sagawa.

Sagawa and Fukushima had been rivals since their young thug days of Fukuoka, where the yakuza wars were bloody and vicious. Being survivors of those battles, they rose to become heads of their own families with Fukushima having more control due to his main business centered between Yokohama and Tokyo.