Akio and I headed quickly to the hospital and raced up the stairs as we were both on the phone, trying to find out more information on where Ren was. Finally one of the lower heads called Akio from the ER and we went there. In the waiting room was Kotei, his face covered by his hands and his hair as he sobbed to himself, rocking back and forth. His hands were soaked in blood and so was his blonde hair. I looked at the lower head as I said,

"How long has he been here?"

"Since they brought in Kinomoto."

"Was Kotei there?"

"Yeah. He was there when they shot him."

"Someone tell me what's going on!" Said Akio.

The lower head sighed as he bowed his head slightly and said,

"I'm not sure sir. I wasn't there. Just Nagashima's guard and his son."

Akio looked at me as he said,

"Go ask him what happened."

"Why me?"

"He talks to you more then anyone else! Go!"

He shoved me inside the waiting room where I went in, hearing Kotei sob softly to himself, still rocking as his leg shook. I walked slowly over to him as I said,

"Kotei?"

He didn't stop his actions. I finally knelt down in front of him as I reached up and grabbed his hand as I made him pull it back down as he looked at me. His eyes were blood shot red, tears still flowing from them. Blood was splattered on the side of his face, staining his blonde hair, his lips quivering as he breathed hard. I tried calming him down first.

"Relax Kotei...he's gonna be okay."

"It's...it's all my fault...."

He closed his eyes, more tears running down his cheeks as I said,

"No, it's not. Tell me what happened."

I went into my pockets as I took out a folded tissue there as I handed it to him. He reached up and wiped his nose as he said,

"We...well I was. Because I just had to...we went to this club. And I was there...doing something. Ren was...just...sitting at a table. When we were going to leave...we were at the door. And...some guy kept looking at me because I think I flirted with him earlier. And he was mad I had said no to him because Ren was here. And he said something to his friend and his friend raised a gun at me...but Ren was there...and he moved me..."

He stopped, tears running down his face again as he closed his eyes and covered his face again. I could piece the rest of the story together. I could only imagine Kotei's hysteria as he saw Ren was shot. I then patted his shoulder, getting back up as I said,

"I'll bring you some coffee."

As I started walking away he said,

"They wouldn't let me in."

I turned back around to face him as I said,

"What?"

"The hospital...wouldn't let me in. Because I'm not family. They let his wife in..."

He reached up to his face as he wiped his tears back as he said,

"The bitch doesn't care about him half as much as I do. She never could. She only had his babies to keep him tied to her. Ren's too good a man to ever abandon her since she's the mother of his kids."

"Why do you say that?"

"If you saw her right now, you would see she's not all that concerned. She's more worried about her support system. Who's going to take care of her if he dies."

"He's not gonna die."

"She's praying for that too. Just for all the wrong reasons."

I then said I would be back soon as I left and went to see Akio.

"Some guy got mad at Kotei's teasing. Decided to take him out, Ren took the shot."

"It can't be just that. Not with the possibility of someone being here in New York."

"That's what I'm thinking. Is Ren's wife here?"

"Yeah, she's been here. She's seeing Ren."

A few moments later, a woman came out. She was plain looking, not bad on the eyes. She was petite, had short black hair that hugged her face and wore a knee length black dress with a matching coat over it. She did not look nearly as distraught as Kotei did and she was his wife. She was being escorted out by Nagashima as they both walked over to us. Akio and I bowed our heads slightly as Nagashima said,

"This is Mrs.Kinomoto, Ren's wife."

I bowed my head slightly to her as did Akio. Akio then said,

"We'll stand guard here until more of our people or your own come."

"Thank you. I'll collect my son and we'll leave."

I nodded as Nagashima went to get Kotei. We watched from outside the doors as Kotei refused to leave and he snatched his hand back from his father who tried coaxing him to come home with him. Kotei refused to budge from the chair he was on. Finally Nagashima came back out to us as he said,

"Could one of you watch him until my guard gets here?"

"Sure, it's no problem sir." I said.

Ren's wife looked at me as she then turned and left with Nagashima.

We waited for a while as I brought some coffee for Kotei. He didn't drink any of it, he just held it in his hands, crying every now and then as he replayed the scene in his head. Akio stayed outside, pacing up and down the hallway trying to call someone in charge to let them know what happened. I kept Kotei company. After a while, Kotei looked up at me as he said,

"I wanna see him."

I didn't say anything, I just went outside as I told Akio the kid wanted to see him. Akio put his hand over his phone as he said,

"So what the fuck do I look like a receptionist? Go and take him in."

I rolled my eyes as I said,

"Come on."

Kotei got up, pulling up his coat as he set the coffee on the floor by the chair he sat in. We walked out and snuck past the nurse's station as I took him to Ren's room. I opened the door a little and peeked in as I then let Kotei in. He went in first as I followed, closing the door behind me as I leaned against it and listened for anyone. Kotei stood by me for a moment as he looked at Ren, seeing him laying there, an oxygen mask over his mouth as he had one of his arms over his chest. For a moment, I thought the kid had snapped and he was going to loose it right there, but instead, he took off his coat as he walked over to the bed and fell to his knees as he grabbed Ren's hand and began crying all over again. I turned away, continuing listening out for anyone as I heard his soft sobs and the beeping of the machines. After about twenty minutes, I realized there was only one sound now and Kotei wasn't one of them. I looked over as I saw him still there, his head down, his hands still clasping Ren's but he was motionless. I moved away from the door as I went over to him as I saw he had fallen asleep. I rolled my eyes as I figured he must be pretty exhausted. I picked up his coat as I put it over his shoulders and shook him awake. He looked up at me as he rubbed his visible eye and I started getting him to his feet.

"Come on. You need to go home."

"I don't want to..."

"You can come back tomorrow morning. First thing."

He nodded as he let go of Ren's hand and we snuck back out. By that time, I saw Ichiro and Tsubasa were there talking to Akio. Ichiro looked at me as we walked out and Akio said,

"There he is."

"Sorry, he took his time."

Kotei didn't say anything as we walked over to join them. Tsubasa let us know that Nagashima's guards were here and they were ready to watch over Ren and to take Kotei home so he went with them as Ichiro said it was far too late for anything else to be done now. Unless something major was going to happen now we should go home to rest. So we did. Akio went his way, I went over to Ichiro's place.

The next morning, I woke up as I looked up to see an out of focus object two inches away from my nose. I shuttered and flinched back as I saw Katie smiling at me.

"Hi!"

I laughed slightly as I said,

"Hi...what time is it?"

She held up her fingers to show it was seven. I groaned as I said,

"You have to go to school?"

"No. It's Saturday."

"Oh..."

She started climbing up on the bed, her stuffed animal in her hand as she crawled over me and fell in the space between Ichiro and I. Ichiro stayed sleeping, his eyes covered by his blondish red hair as he stayed on his side. Katie got comfortable as she snuggled under the covers and started smoothing back Ichiro's hair as she hummed. She then gathered her dog in her arms as she started going to sleep. I tried sleeping again since I had only gotten about four or so hours of rest last night, but Katie kept moving around and kicking and turning every few minutes so I finally gave up and got out of bed as I yawned and picked up my coat on my way out the door. I shut it behind me as I dug my cigarettes out of my pockets and lit one as I walked towards the balcony. Katie's nanny was up already as she greeted me. She asked if I needed anything and I said some coffee. I sat down on the living room couch as I smoked until Katie's nanny came out with the mug of coffee and an ashtray. I thanked her before turning on the TV and noticed the news was on. I watched as they mentioned a the club shooting, witness spoke about seeing a blonde kid with his friend being shot at, no one saw who did it though. I groaned, thinking it was bad for any one of us to be in the news. I sighed, taking a drink of coffee as I continued to watch. A little while later, Ichiro came out of his room, closing the door behind him as he walked out and saw me. He sat down as he said,

"Morning."

I said it in return as he sighed and took my mug as I let it go. He took a drink as he said,

"Anything good?"

"They mentioned the shooting last night."

"Never good."

"No. We still gotta find out who is in New York now. If it's something bigger then what the Yami or Itto Ketsuen can handle, then Jia will have to come back from Japan."

"Yeah I imaged so."

He sighed as he said,

"I don't think it should be that big though. Nothing has happened."

"Yet."

I took back my coffee as I took another drink. I handed him back the mug as he said,

"I'll find out today."

"So will I."

I finished my cigarette and then my coffee as we both got up and went to get ready. I still had to go home and change so I got my clothes from the other night back on as I tied up my hair properly and said bye to Ichiro before he took a shower and left.

After getting home and changing after a shower, I called Akio on my way out the door. He said he had spent all morning on the phone with Takeo, finding out if anything was going on. It was around nine as I lit a cigarette and said,

"So if anyone's here..."

"We should find out soon enough. In the mean time, I called Jia and let him know we had suspicion of something happening."

"What did he say?"

"He said that if it gets big to let him know. Otherwise leave it to the Yami and Itto Ketsuen."

"Okay. So...are we working or what?"

"Yeah we're working. Might as well help them while we're here. Anyway I'm gonna check on Nagashima."

"Okay, I'll start looking around for anything."

"Call if anything."

"Sure. Later."

We hung up as I went to work. It was pretty hard to get started since it was so early in the morning. Anything that could be happening, wouldn't be happening since it was so early. Nonetheless, it couldn't hurt to look around for anything. As I did, an hour later, Akio called as he said,

"We got a small problem."

"What?"

"Nagashima can't find the kid."

"I know where he is."

"Where?"

"Hospital. Where else would he go?"

"Oh...true that. Okay go check on him. I got work with Nagashima and the Yami."

"Fine."

I hung up and took a cab back uptown to check on Kotei. At the hospital, I went in past Nagashima's guard and went inside to see Kotei sitting there. It was almost as if I never took him home yesterday. Only difference this time was that he sat in a chair. I walked over to him as I said,

"What time did you get here?"

"Seven."

"Damn...I thought visiting hours weren't until eight."

"I bribed my way in. I had to see him."

"Any progress?"

"His hand moved a little. It may be just a muscle reflex though."

"He'll be fine. Gun shoot wounds to the chest usually take a while for recovery."

"How do you know?"

"Saw two of them first hand. Besides if he was gonna die from this, he would have the first night."

"Oh...so he'll be okay?"

"Yeah, he'll be fine."

He was quiet a while longer until he said,

"His wife won't come in today."

"Why not?"

"Why would she? I already told you, she's a selfish bitch."

"You really hate her."

"Aside from her being the only reason Ren won't touch me, she treats him badly. Ren knows but he won't leave her because of his kids. She knows that and it's why she continues to mistreat him. She knows he won't go anywhere."

"She know about you?"

"She knows Ren works for my father. She doesn't know I love him."

I nodded as he continued looking at Ren. I then knelt down beside him as I said,

"How do you know all this?"

"I see her. The way she acts. She acts like Ren is a walking bank account with her name on it. She's known him around the same time Ren started working for my father. Maybe more time. I don't know. But she's mean...she's evil and manipulative. She yells at Ren for nothing and Ren usually doesn't pay her mind...he cares more about his kids."

He held Ren's hand again as he put his head down and sad,

"She doesn't love him. She doesn't love him like I do. She never could. Ever."

"Why'd you leave home without telling anyone?"

"I wanted to see Ren."

"You scared the hell out of your father."

"I don't care."

"With shit happening now, don't do that again. If something were to happen to you, we would all be in trouble."

He didn't say a word and turned his face to hide as he held Ren's hand. I only stayed a while longer before I left to have a cigarette.

I stayed around for a while, waiting for Nagashima to arrive. Once he did with Akio, I let him know Kotei was in Ren's room and then went out with Akio as we went to work. It was late morning by then, early afternoon. We both had a cigarette as he said,

"Takeo and me are going to wait till night. By then something should happen. If not, it was all for nothing. I'm heading back to Japan if it's nothing."

"Okay."

So as Akio went off to wait until night, I went and got something to eat...which wasn't much. I just got a serving of rice from K-town since I was close by and got some chop sticks and went on eating like that. I stopped for a moment to check my watch as I then finished up and lit a cigarette as I went on my way to Ichiro's building. He was still busy with Nagashima and the Yami, working over deals and such so I was left to sit and wait. Around nine, I found myself dead asleep on the couch of the lobby. I only woke up when I heard my cell phone ringing. I sat up, all groggy and confused, momentarily forgetting where I was as I heard my phone. I dug it out of my pockets as I answered, hearing Akio tell me he was going to work. I nodded, asking where he was going to meet him up. Once I got the location, I hung up and started getting up as I tied my hair back up and went on my way.

When I met up with Takeo and Akio again, we were at Times Square. We met up in front of Barcode were Akio was being stared at by some girls, their boyfriends getting mad because Akio was so much hotter then them and he knew it. Whatever girls weren't looking at Akio where oogling Takeo and the pimp would sit there and smirk back, waving to them. I went over to them as I said,

"What's up?"

"Well, we got word it's a California head." Said Akio, his eyes never leaving the females gathered outside the arcade with their friends and boyfriends.

Takeo then said,

"It seems to be someone who's mad at Nagashima for selling out to Jia."

"How do you know?"

"The lower heads caught sight of the guy. He's camped out here...got a couple of heads with him. Over hearing got knowledge that they were from Cali."

"Oh..."

Finally one of the girl's boyfriends came over along with his friends as he started saying some shit to Akio. Akio just looked at him, a fine eyebrow arched as he said,

"Are you actually wasting my time?"

The guy was stunned and started to try to act all big and bad as his girlfriend tried pulling him back. The other morons of the group just encouraged him. Akio finally sighed, turning his head away as he looked at Takeo and Takeo just nodded, as if giving him a sign. Akio then looked at the guy as he grabbed his throat and slammed him against the wall as he said,

"What?"

The guy's friends started getting on him as Takeo and I pulled them all off. Akio then said,

"You wanna get in my face, know who the fuck you're dealing with first."

The guy looked at Akio afraid for a moment before Akio let go and then we all left. We got calls as we walked around Times Square, figuring out who and where the new head from Cali was and why he wanted to get Kotei and not Nagashima himself. I decided to go check on Kotei since he was just there with one guard and Ren was down. I let Akio and Takeo know as I hailed a cab and went to see him. Once there, I went up to Ren's room, the guard still there as I went in and saw Ren was up, Kotei smiling, feeling better as he held onto Ren's hand.

"Sorry to intrude. Just had to see how you were."

"I'm fine. Is something wrong?"

"You could say that. A head from California is here trying to take revenge on your father for siding with Jia."

"Why should they care?"

"Well Jia's pretty powerful and some people don't wanna give up their power."

"So...am I in danger?"

"I'm not even sure. But I can't be too sure."

Ren looked at Kotei with a worried face as he said,

"Botchan, you have to be careful now. You have to be sure nothing happens to you."

"What about you? You're here. So easy to get to..."

Ren shook his head as he said,

"I'm more worried about you."

Kotei then sighed, looking at Ren as I said,

"Relax. We're doing what we can for the moment."

He nodded as Ren shook his hand slightly as he said,

"Botchan, don't look that way. You make me worry."

He nodded as I said,

"When you leave make sure someone is taking you home okay?"

He nodded as I then turned and left. On my way out, Akio called me.

"The Cali head is in that restaurant."

"Thanks Akio, that clears it right up."

"Smart ass. I meant that same one with the Spanish name."

"La Primavara?"

"Yeah."

"Shit, that's not too far from me."

"Then get going. We'll meet you there soon."

I then hung up and went on my way."

---------------------------------------------

References

- Barcode is an arcade in Times Square. It's three floors but the middle floor you have to be 21 or over to enter. The top floor is for everyone else.

- La Primavara was mentioned in previous chapters. It's a real restaurant located near Rockefeller Center