The next morning after we had gotten something to eat, Suzuka came back to pick us up at eleven. Toki was falling asleep at the table, his head down on his folded arms as he held a cigarette in one hand. It was clear he fell asleep when the cigarette started burning down little by little leaving the long cylinder of ash in the burning paper's wake. Jia eventually removed the cigarette from his hand as he let Toki sleep as he drank some of his tea. Aoki and myself sat back silently, having breakfast. After a little while, Aoki finished and then lit a cigarette himself. Jia smoked after he was done as well and said,

"Poor Toki. He must be exhausted."

Aoki moved his cigarette away from his mouth as he said,

"He's always tired Jia."

"I know."

Just then Suzuka arrived and walked over to our table. He bowed his head as he said,

"Ohayo Jia-sama."

"Ohayo. Is everyone here?"

"Hai. We're waiting on you."

"Sou ka. It's about time we go then."

He woke Toki up as he gestured him to get up as the rest of us got to our feet. Jia then went with Suzuka, the rest of us following.

Toki was asleep for the most part. He was even nodding off as he walked to the car with Jia. Once he sat down again he fell asleep again. Suzuka looked at him, then at Jia as he said,

"Is your guard all right?"

"Oh, he's just not use to getting up early."

"Ah. Well, Jia, you know you will be sitting at the head of the table."

"So I hear. I have to stand in place as owner. I don't think Shido ever managed to accomplish that."

"Iie. He was only at the head of table because of his seniority. You Jia, actually have power."

"True."

The limo pulled up to the shrine we had gone to a couple of years back and the same shrine we went to about two years ago. We entered as usual and were given a different room to change. Toki fussed as always, but it seems he didn't have enough strength to today because he just argued once then went to change. I was using to slipping on traditional garb every now and then considering I had done it for most of my childhood and the early part of my teenage years so I could do it pretty easily and quickly. Everyone else struggled with it and often didn't wear it correctly. Aoki tied his hair back for this but didn't take off his sunglasses which was understandable. Jia slicked his hair back and we waited for Toki in the end who finally came out, dressed properly but looking exhausted. We followed Jia out to the main hall and traveled into the dining hall where all the other oyabuns of the Japan were. Jia wore an all white gi, white hakamas and a matching kami-shino with a silk obi at his waist. He held his hands inside the long, loose sleeves, walking with grace even in tabi socks and sandals. Jia had grace in just about anything he did or wore. The rest of us wore black gi's, the cuffs on the sleeves of the kami-shino's were white, a tassel tied in the front was also white. Once we appeared in the dining hall, Jia walked up to the front as all the other oyabuns bowed their heads as he passed them. The rest of us walked behind him as Jia then stood at the head of the table. Everyone was still in their bowed position as Jia then sat down on the comfortable pillow, on his knees, in front of the small kneeling table. Everyone then looked up carefully as the rest of us sat behind Jia. There were the usual guards from all the other cities looked at us, looking around at each other. I noticed there were a few new faces, some reminding me of Jia's first meeting here as Suzuka sat to Jia's right. Jia then removed his hands from the sleeves of his kami-shino and rested them on the table as he said,

"I see a couple of new people. Which in a way is good but in others, it's mostly bad. Who are you?"

Jia gestured to a young looking man at the far right of the table. All eyes on him as the young man picked up his head and said,

"Kimatori Eien. I run Sapporo."

"Naze? What happened to the other oyabun?"

"Ano...he passed away last spring."

"And who are you to him?"

"His son."

"If you were Akikazu's son why is your last name different?"

"I lived with my mother under her maiden name when my father and her divorced. I took my mother's name."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-seven."

Jia nodded as he said,

"You know what you're worth here?"

"Hai Jia-sama."

"Good. Then don't speak again unless I address you."

Kimatori nodded as he bowed his head once more and looked down. The other oyabuns exchanged glances among each other but no one dared to say a word. At the far left of the table, way at the end was another new face. Jia said,

"You at the end. Stand up."

The young man got to his feet, his dark gray and blue gi falling naturally down his arms and legs. He had a coil of orange and brown hair tied into a twist at the base of his head, stray ends falling in the back of kami-shino as he placed his hands in the sleeves of the coat and bowed his head slightly to Jia.

"Who are you?"

"Niikura Eikichi."

"What city is yours?"

"Kyoto."

"You run Kyoto? Since when?"

"Since Iida's death."

"I was not told you would be running Kyoto."

"You were told Jia-sama."

"Where were you the last time this meeting was held?"

"I was here. I just looked different."

Jia thought about that for a moment as he leaned back and consulted something with Aoki. After a moment as he said,

"Niikura, right...I do remember you. You've been too quiet."

"Been keeping things steady Jia-sama."

"Always a good thing. I had my problems with Iida in the past. It's why she's not around anymore."

Niikura nodded as he then looked down. Jia then said,

"Keep out of trouble. You'll be fine."

He allowed him to sit back down as waitresses dressed as geisha girls walked in the room, kimonos of painted silks swished by as gold plated hair decorations jingled with each movement the geisha made. They poured tea into small porcelain cups, setting each in front of each oyabun as they set the tea pots in neat little rows down the table, starting in front of Jia and leading all the way down to Niikura. Jia removed his hands from the sleeves of his kami-shino as he picked up the small cup and raised a toast to the other oyabuns. The other oyabuns returned the gesture as everyone then drank.

Dinner was served afterwards and Jia actually ate though he did so slowly and with much disdain. As I tucked my hair behind my ears I looked over at Toki and saw he had fallen asleep again. He had leaned back against the wall and dropped his head forward and slept soundly. Aoki sat beside me, obviously bored as well as he covered his mouth to hide a yawn. Once dinner was done, Jia patted his hakamas down for a moment before he turned to Toki and nudged him awake. Toki picked his head up as he said,

"Nani?"

"Give me a cigarette. I left mine in my coat."

"Where the fuck you think I got pockets on this shit?"

"You don't have any cigarettes on you?"

"Nah I aint got no pockets."

Jia looked at Aoki as he said,

"No pockets Jia. Gomen."

Jia sighed as he then said,

"Mikkie could you go get my cigarettes in my coat pocket?"

"Hai."

I got up and excused myself as I went back to our changing room and found Jia's coat hanging on one of the hooks on the wall. I unhooked it and searched his pockets for a moment, finding his case but nothing to light them with. Not much good cigarettes would do without something to light them with. I didn't feel right about going through Aoki's pockets or even Toki's but I picked Toki's jeans anyway and searched through his deep pockets for a lighter. Once I found his cigarette pack, I looked at it as I noticed he stuck a small red lighter in the plastic wrapping of his cigarettes. I removed it before going back to the dining hall, my arms tucked within the sleeves of my own gi as I sat back down and handed Jia his cigarettes. I also held out the lighter for him as he said,

"Isn't that Toki's?"

"I borrowed it for you."

"Arigato."

I lit his cigarette as he then took the lighter, holding it for Toki as he set it down on his case. Other oyabuns looked at him since no one had ever dared smoked inside a shrine at a meeting such as this. Jia did it before and he has been doing it since he's been in charge of the whole thing. He really didn't care what they thought. The other oyabuns asked for permission to speak and Jia allowed them, listening to how things have been in each city, how each oyabun was taking care of minor scrapes and problems. The two new ones Jia pointed out didn't say a word and kept quiet as the others spoke.

Finally when dinner was done and everyone had their share sake at the end of the meal, Jia stood up and said,

"I'll meet with a few of you through the week. Suzuka knows where I am."

Jia gave a quick bow of his head as the other oyabuns bowed their heads in return as Jia and the rest of us left. We changed out of the traditional garb, folding it and placing it back in a nice pile as we all then waited for Suzuka outside. Once he joined us, he had his limo brought forth as we got in and went back to our hotel. Toki was awake finally, rubbing his eyes and yawning every now and then but awake. He smoked finally but he still seemed as if he would pass out again. Jia reached up to Toki's hair and tucked it behind his ears as he said,

"Toki, you awake now? You've been sleeping since three in the morning."

"I'm awake."

"Don't seem like it. You want something to drink?"

"Yeah...jus...it can wait till the hotel."

Suzuka looked at Jia and his gentle, loving actions with Toki. He was probably wonder what we all knew. After a moment, he cleared his throat and said,

"Jia-sama?"

Jia looked over at him as he said,

"Hm?"

"Tomorrow...is there anyone you like to meet first?"

"Niikura."

Suzuka nodded as Toki looked at him, leaning his head on Jia's shoulder as he said,

"Who's that?"

"Oyabun of Kyoto. He took Iida's place."

"Sou ka. He do anything I should snap his neck for?"

Jia smiled slightly as he said,

"No. I just want to meet with him first."

Toki nodded as Aoki said,

"Are we needed for anything tonight Jia?"

Jia didn't even bother looking at him, myself or Suzuka who sat across from them in the limo as he kissed Toki for a moment. He then said,

"Nah...you two are off for tonight."

Suzuka cleared his throat and looked off to the side as Aoki and myself looked at each other and then away. I knew he missed Aya...as for me, I started to think about Kazuki. Damn that man for entering my thoughts.

That night, having nothing to do, Aoki looked at me in the lobby as he said,

"You wanna go somewhere?"

"I guess. You think it's wise to leave Jia by himself?"

"Considering he's not really alone and that if any fool dared to interrupt Toki they'd be dead anyway, I'm gonna assume he's fine."

I nodded in agreement as I stuck my hands in my pockets and said,

"Where do you want to go?"

"You drink?"

"Not in mass quantities."

"Close enough."

He walked and I followed him. We went outside of our hotel as we hailed a cab and got in. Aoki pushed up his sunglasses as he told the driver to take us to one of the best bar in Okinawa. The driver nodded and we went on our way.

Drinking with Aoki was not at all like drinking with Jo, although father and son had similar habits, similar tastes in drinks and similar mimics they did as they drank. Aoki didn't talk much which was fine with me. Of course after he got a few drinks in him he sighed loudly and said,

"I can't wait to get back to Tokyo."

Of course what that really meant was I can't wait to see Aya again because I miss him. Of course if I had said nothing, Aoki would have gotten really upset with me so I said,

"Me either."

He ran his fingers through his hair as he took another drink from his glass. I drank from mine as he then said,

"I wouldn't know what else to do for the rest of the night."

"Sleep might be good."

"I can't sleep."

"Me either."

He looked over at me as he said,

"How long you been havin that problem?"

"A few years...all my life. Something like that."

He nodded as he said,

"Me too."

He reached into his pockets as he retrieved his cigarettes and took out his case. His was a beautiful silver one, his syndicate name engraved on the lid as he took a cigarette out and lit it as he inhaled and then exhaled as he rubbed his forehead slightly and said,

"It's going to be such a long week."

I nodded as I tucked my hair behind my ears and said,

"Yeah...it is."

I knew it was going to be just by tonight. Seeing all those oyabuns and the faces they made at Jia when they thought he wasn't looking forgetting that he had eight eyes looking out for him. Also, Niikura...someone that gave off his impression was likely to cause trouble or just be trouble. Aoki sensed my thoughts as he said,

"Niikura gives me a bad feeling."

"Me too."

I finished my drink before Aoki did...and that's because he had a couple and I had two. After that, we went for a walk, silently since we had nothing better to do. After a while, we had a game of pool and we spent most of the night there. Before it got any later, Aoki and I called it a night and headed back to our hotel. We had a meeting with Niikura the next morning and we had to find out of he was going to cause trouble...or just simply be trouble.

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Definitions

Gi- Traditional kimonos for men

Hakamas- Loose wide pants

Kami-shino- Formal wear coat

Obi- A sash

Tabi- Split toe socks wore for sandals