After some digging and searching, Keisuike called Jia back. He told him they had known nothing of anyone being involved or triads or of any matter. Jia remained confused. He still had no idea who would ship him papers of properties that his father once owned. Before he waited any longer, Jia packed us up and we went to California. As Toki complained, it was hot. It was horribly hot and I tugged at the collar of my suit and tie. I had my hair tied up as Jia put on his Gucci sunglasses and said,

"I need this shit done as soon as possible. Who's awake?"

Toki yawned loudly as he said,

"Not me."

Jia covered his mouth slightly as he said,

"Tai? Gabriel? Aya?"

Tai nodded as he said,

"I slept on the plane Jia. I can work."

Gabriel couldn't even begin to lie when he covered his mouth, his eyes watering as Jia said,

"Aya?"

"I'm awake."

Aya was already wearing his Dior glasses, caramel hair shaping his face as he pressed his hand to his chest, undoing a few buttons from his shirt. Aoki then said,

"I'm awake."

"So am I." I said.

Jia nodded as he said,

"Good. I'll call Keisuike...we should get started."

We took different cabs, some of the top heads going to the hotel while the rest of us went to work. Jia went to meet with Keisuike first thing. Once we arrived at his building, Keisuike was there to shake Jia's hand as we came out of the cab.

"Good afternoon Jia-sama."

"Good afternoon. I'm exhausted. Tell me what you do know."

"I wish I could say I knew a lot but we don't know anything. California has been silent. I contacted other heads through the state within the time that you called me and no one has a clue."

"What about Eirinsu? Did anyone talk to him?"

"Yes, I called him myself. He too said he didn't hear anything of any triads. No one has come in to cause any trouble."

"No one is causing trouble. I would just like to know who knew something so personal. I'm not one to let my personal life....wait let me rephrase that. I'm not one to let my life be known that well."

Keisuike nodded as he said,

"Well, we'll continue looking. Jia, you should rest."

"No, I need to get this done. If you don't mind, my own people will go out to look."

"I don't mind at all."

Jia nodded as he turned to us and said,

"Go ahead."

With a slight bow of the head, we left and went through the city.

I went on my own as Tai and Gabriel paired up and Aoki and Aya paired up. I walked through the city on my own, looking around for anything. I paid a few of the lower heads that worked for Keisuike a visit to find out what they knew. The more I walked around though, the more I grew tired. I stopped to buy a cup of coffee as I then went on working. As I stopped to rest and get something to eat, my cell phone rang. I picked up as I answered and said,

"Yeah."

I heard Aya's voice as he said,

"Mikkie, where are you?"

"Getting a late lunch."

"We found someone."

I paused as I said,

"Where are you and Aoki?"

"Uptown."

"I'll be there soon."

I met up with them after about half an hour. I saw Aya standing out from the crowd, still looking a vision even though he was in his suit and sunglasses looking very professional but also like a model. Once I joined him, I said,

"What's going on?"

"We found a lawyer that worked for the Jade. Aoki's watching him now."

I nodded as we went inside the building and up ten floors as and walked out to an office. There, Aoki let us in as the middle aged man was sitting in a chair, his hands on his lap as he looked down. He looked extremely nervous. Aya took off his sunglasses with a smooth sweep as he said,

"This is the lawyer I told you about."

The middle aged man looked up as he said,

"Are you going to kill me?"

Aya looked a little surprised as he said,

"No, why should we?"

The man didn't say anything as Aoki stood by the door as Aya said,

"We just need to talk to you."

"All right..."

"We got word that you use to work for the Jade some years back."

"Yes. I did. Once they were collapsed, I went to work for a legit company."

"I see, so what of paperwork and things of that nature?"

"I don't know. The Jade's own people, or what remained, came in and cleaned everything out. After that, I don't know what became of anything."

"So...some of the Jade is still around." I said.

The lawyer looked at me as he said,

"I think so...yes."

Aya sighed as he said,

"That's bad news."

The lawyer shrunk back as Aoki said,

"We should go. I don't think he knows anything else."

Aya nodded as he looked at the lawyer and said,

"Thank you for your time."

We then left the building and went back to the hotel.

Once Jia was awake, we let him know our new found information.

"Some of the Jade is still around."

Aya tucked his hair behind his ear as Jia slouched slightly. He was sitting on the bed, in his bathrobe and pajama pants. He had just woken up and managed to get Toki dressed before he fell back asleep. Toki was on the other side of the bed, on his side, his back facing us as he wore sweat pants and a black wife beater. Anyway, Jia sighed as he ran his hand through his hair and said,

"We gotta find some of them. I need to find out who knew this."

We nodded, knowing how much this was meaning to Jia. After we were organized and went to get dinner as Jia got ready and fought with Toki to wake him, we waited. Since Jun was absent for this, Jo took over being the gluttonous one. He ate and ate as the rest of us talked and exchanged conversation about the given situation.

"Where you think we're gonna find more of these Jade guys?" Asked Akio.

Aoki shrugged as he said,

"We gotta start somewhere. If we can find one, we can probably find them all."

"Assuming they still communicate." I said.

Aya nodded as he said,

"Mikkie has a point. What if they don't anymore? It has been years since the Jade was crushed."

Gabriel yawned slightly as he said,

"We can find them. They are old men. Maybe some of them have heirs."

"True." Said Jo.

Aoki sighed as he said,

"If they have kids...what would they know?"

"Some could be following in their footsteps." Said Tai.

"Great all we need. A second generation." I said.

Later on Jia joined us as we went back to work. We searched the entire city, contacting Keisuike every now and then to see if he heard anything regarding anything. After spending most of the night looking and coming up with nothing, we stopped at a bar for a drink. Most of them drank, especially Toki, Akio, Aoki and Jo. All them being able to put a fair amount of liquor away. I also forgot how much Jia could set back. Everyone else didn't drink as much, or at all. Tai and I didn't drink. Gabriel had one as well as Aya. Everyone else ordered drink after drink. Toki and Aoki clicked glasses as they took shoots after licking their hands, putting salt on it and then picking a lime slice. They did this for a quick couple of shots, seeing who could do it faster as Akio said,

"You two are gonna get shit faced drunk and we're still working."

Aoki nodded as he said,

"We'll play later Toki."

Toki swallowed the last of the liquor in his mouth as he said,

"Aite...later. After we done."

He set a shot glass down as Jia then sighed and said,

"I'm completely lost on who would do this."

"Don't stress over it Li. You can't do a damn thing about it for now."

Jia nodded as he said,

"Let's go. We still got work to do."

We spread out into the city, me still on my own since my partner was absent. I didn't find much on my own, though I did hear a few rumors on old Jade members living around the area. No one could prove it or give an exact location so I was considering them rumors, until the time being. I was tired as it approached three in the morning. I sat down to rest as I looked around. I was in an all night coffee shop, sipping some of my coffee as I heard teenage girls and boys in a group not too far behind me. They talked and laughed, drinking coffee and eating cakes. I kept watching the window outside, the city now dark and few people around. I rubbed my eyes, taking another drink as I heard the girls commenting on me. I was annoyed with them giggling so I finished and got up as I left. Once outside, I felt a cool breeze and I sighed before I walked on. Around four, I was on my way back to the hotel, completely without luck. I knew that no one else had any luck either. By the time it was five that morning, I sat in the lobby and watched as everyone else came in. They too were exhausted and tired, also frustrated with the fact that we weren't finding anything. We decided to go to bed for the early morning.

I slept for most of the morning until about eleven. When I woke up, I saw it was dim, almost as if the sun had not risen at all. I sat up and opened the curtains as I saw that it was raining. Great...nothing like working in rain while you're on foot for hours. I showered and got dressed and called Jo to see if he was up. His phone rang for a moment as he then answered.

"Yeah?"

"Did I wake you?"

"Uh huh."

"Gomen...I was calling to see if anyone else was awake."

"Nah...it's..."

He paused as I heard him moving around. He then said,

"It's almost twelve."

"I know. So no one is up?"

"Not that I know of."

"Sou ka. Sorry to wake you."

I hung up afterwards and left my room as I went to get some breakfast on my own. As I sat there, reading the paper, hearing business conversations pass around me, I felt someone join my table. I looked around the paper as I saw Tai and Gabriel.

"Good morning."

"Good morning." They both responded.

I folded the paper and set it down as I went back to my tea and toast as Tai ordered something after Gabriel. We all sat quietly after a while as Tai then said,

"What time did you wake up?"

"Around eleven."

Tai nodded as he said,

"So did I."

We sat in silence for a while until Aya eventually joined us around one. Aya smiled, greeting us as he sat down and smiled as he asked,

"Anyone else up?"

"Not yet." Said Gabriel.

The hours started going by and one by one everyone started coming in to join us. After a while, Jia himself came down and after we finished eating, Jia sent us over to see Keisuike. Keisuike had found nothing and with a sad and disappointed look on his face he announced it.

"I'm so sorry. I apologize profusely."

He bowed his head as Jia said,

"It's not your fault. It's like looking or a needle in a haystack."

Keisuike sighed as he said,

"My people have been looking since five this morning."

Jia nodded as he said,

"It's all right. I'm not expecting you to find much."

Keisuike was about to lead him to his office when one of his lower heads came in.

"Keisuike-sama! Jia-sama! I found something!"

Both oyabuns turned to see the lower head rushing inside. He looked exhausted as he ran inside and said,

"By the docks. There's a man there that knows of the accountants and one of the heads of the Jade. He has an address and everything."

The rest of us looked at each other as Jia said,

"How did you find him?"

"I asked around this morning. A bar owner was telling me one of his customers had a strange mark on his hands and wrist. I asked enough until he finally gave me the address of where I could find this guy."

We got the address of the guy and Aoki, Toki, Aya and myself took off to find him.

The man was a middle aged man, working at the docks. He was working the offices of a shipping company and like Keisuike's lower head said, he did have a strange tattoo on his wrist and hand. It was a typical triad tattoo of a dragon tail. It probably covered his whole arm and body. Once he saw us, he stopped, looking up as he said,

"Can I hep you?"

"We got word you knew of the Jade."

The man got up from his chair from behind his desk as he said,

"I use to work for the Jade. What do you want?"

"We work for the 36 Moons. We'd like to know who you still know from the Jade." Said Aya.

"Some old friends of mine. An accountant. Just some business men that don't do this anymore since Sung-Lo passed away."

Aya nodded as he put his hands in his pockets and said,

"We'd like to meet these people."

"Is something wrong?"

I stepped up as I said,

"Our oyabun would like to know of something. Like who would have advantage of Sung-Lo's personal documents and things of that nature."

The man nodded as he sat back down. He opened a desk drawer as he took out a pen and small yellow note pad as he said,

"The only man I ever knew to be that close to Sung-Lo was his best friend. And as far as I know, his best friend still lives here."

He peeled off the yellow piece of paper as he handed it to us, Aya taking it as the man said,

"His name is Bussho. He knows all of Sung-Lo's personal documents. However, that man's health is less then stellar, he might actually not have anything that's worth your time."

"We'll be the judges of that." I said,

We then left.

With the address in hand, we arrived at a building complex in the center of the city. We went in, seeing Bussho's name on the directory of the building. We went to his floor, prepping for whatever might happen as we then went to the door and let Aya knock, Aoki beside him as Toki and I stood behind them. The door opened as Aya said,

"Are you Bussho?"

Toki and I took a look at who answered the door seeing a young man, short, dark red hair fell around his face, pale skin glowed as he wore black dress pants with a matching shirt that fell untucked with the sleeves rolled up. The strange thing about him was that on his left cheek was the kanji ketsurui, tattooed in black ink on his pale, snowy cheek. He blinked, dark brown eyes glowing softly as he said,

"No, that would be my father."

"Is he around?" Asked Aoki.

"No. He died some days ago."

"We apologize." Said Aya.

"What do you want anyway?"

"Your father had some papers deal with a personal matter." I said.

The young man then let go of the door as he dropped his hand to the side and said,

"You the 36 Moons?"

Toki nodded as he said,

"Yeah an you?"

"Takamasa Kaoru. I'm Bussho's son. After he died, I took over my father's papers seeing what I could get rid of and what I had to keep. Come inside please."

We walked inside, removing our shoes as in habit as he then closed the door and said,

"Can I offer anyone anything?"

We declined as he gestured us to sit. We decided to stand as he then said,

"I'm not a triad, I'm not a yakuza, I don't even know what my father was doing with those papers though I'm assuming that he was a triad. I was not very close to him...just my mother. She didn't let me meet him until I was ten years old. Since then, I meet with my father every other day. When he died, I was left the bulk of his estate and everything inside to do with what I wished."

"That's how you came about those papers." Said Aya.

"Yes. I read them, not knowing any of those names. Only the title of the 36 Moons. I asked around and managed to get an address in Tokyo. I didn't think it would make it."

"It did." Said Aoki.

"So you know nothing of the names on the paper."

"I didn't. After asking around enough, contacting my father's old associates, I discovered who Jia Li was. It's why I sent the papers to him."

"So what do you want?" Said Toki.

"Nothing actually. I have enough money."

The four of us exchanged looks as Kaoru swept his locks away from his face and said,

"I don't know anyone else to cause trouble."

Aoki got up as he said,

"You gonna keep this to yourself?"

"Who would I tell?"

We nodded as we all got up and Aya said,

"Our oyabun might want to have a word with you himself."

Kaoru nodded as he said,

"I understand. Thank you."

We all then left.

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Definitions

Ketsurui - Literally means blood tears