I got to work the next morning, my headphones stuck inside my ear as my mp3 player played out Dear for xxx from Due le Quartz. I yawned as I took the elevator up to Jia's office since he called for me. When I walked in I saw Jia standing by his window, a cup of coffee in his hand as he had a cigarette in his fingers. He turned to me as he said,

"Come, sit down."

I walked in, taking the earphone out of my ear as I shut off my mp3 player. When he looked over at me again, much closer, he saw the forming bruise on my cheek. He sat down as he rubbed the rest of his cigarette out and said,

"You can't find good coffee here. I miss Japanese coffee."

He took a sip as he said,

"What happened to you?"

I rubbed my cheek as I said,

"Got into a fight with some of Sung Hyun's men last night."

"When?"

"When I was walking home."

"Why where you walking?"

"I was close to home."

I rubbed my cheek again as I said,

"They said I was the newest, therefor weakest person to kill."

Jia shook his head.

"So what happened?"

"I killed them."

He looked up at me surprised to hear those words.

"Honto ni?"

"Honto."

He kind of quirked a smile as he leaned back against his chair and said,

"Sung Hyun is gonna be pissed."

He then laughed a little as his phone rang. He picked up and spoke for a moment as he said,

"I would imagine he would be pissed, two of his best are dead. That's what he gets for going after my so-called weakest member."

He looked at me as he then hung up and said,

"There's a problem already. Sung Hyun found out about the two killed."

"Oh..."

"It's okay. Just watch your back out there. Just do me a favor, don't go anywhere alone. It was two last time, but the next time it could be more."

I nodded as I got up and went to the lobby. Jia didn't assign me but I decided to stick around anyway. I watched Gabriel and Tai come in, they both gave a quick wave in my direction as they went to work. Mikkie came in a little while later, his hand in his hair as he pulled it free from a small twist in the back of his head as a swirl of black and blue came free and fell in a twist on his back. His hair was so long...anyway he went over to me as I pulled the earphone out and he said,

"What are you listening to?"

"Heavy Gauge by Glay."

He sat down, some of is hair falling over his eye as he said,

"You like them?"

"Yeah. This single anyway."

He went into his pocket as he searched through his playlist on his mp3 player and said,

"Listen to this."

He took out the small disk as he gave it to me and I pressed play. Sexually explicit lyrics began playing out to the song called Desire by Luna Sea. I scrolled through the list seeing other titles like Masturbating Smile, Electric Cucumber, Honey Blade, Same pain same night, Forbidden Lover, Feel, Slave, Sadistic Desire, Standing Sex, Orgasm. It made me wonder about Mikkie now...I think someone's sexually frustrated. Of course I wouldn't dare say that to him. We had switched mp3 players for now so we sat there listening to music for a while before he checked his watch and said,

"Hm, I gotta go."

"Okay."

We switched players back and then he left and I went back to studying and listening to music. Of course listening to Japanese and reading English was confusing me. As I worked, I suddenly felt weight on my lap and I looked down right away. I saw Toki grinning back up at me as he said,

"Hey baby."

I pulled the ear phone out as I said,

"What do you want?"

"I can think of a few things..."

He smirked as he brought the cigarette up to his mouth and inhaled. I went back to my studying as I remembered Mikkie's advice and did my best to ignore him. He kept tapping my book to the point of annoyance as I looked back down at him and pulled the earphone out as I said,

"What?"

"Whatcha listenin' to?"

"4AM. By Luna Sea."

"Good band. So baby, what's with the hair?"

He tugged at the growing bangs beside my face as I said,

"It's just there."

"You should change it. You're too pretty to stay so plain."

"I'm not suppost to travel alone right now."

"I'll take ya."

"I don't trust you."

He took the book out of my hand as he said,

"Don't listen to Ghosto. He's sexually frustrated."

He sat up as he motioned me to follow him. Already neglecting advice. I sighed and followed him out the door.

I had my hair color changed to a honey brown with blonde highlights as he it fell around my face. Toki said I should leave it long and since I never really cut it anyway. When I saw myself in the mirror I nearly screamed. I was almost blonde. I would never be allowed to go school like this. Toki smiled as he said,

"You look good Joryu."

He kissed my cheek as I stood up from the chair and went to pay. On our way out, he put his arm around my shoulder as he said,

"Where to now baby?"

I didn't like the way he said that. Luckily my phone rang and I answered right away as I heard Jia on the other end. A situation was going on and he needed Toki and me in Queens.

"Have you seen him?"

"He's here."

"Figures. Tell him to go to Queens."

"Hai. I will. We're on our way."

I moved away from his arm as I said,

"We have to go to Queens."

I hailed a cab and got in as he then followed me and we headed to Queens.

There was a situation. There had been a robbery in one of the restaurants that Jia owned. Three people were killed. They seemed to be two waiters and a host but the rest of us knew them to be working for the 36 Moons and the Yami. I saw Jia standing in the crowd with Tsubasa, the ningyo still glowing brightly, his hair now a white blonde, falling delicately over the shoulders of his black button down shirt. He glowed...I sighed as I then looked away as Toki broke through the crowd as he got to Jia and said,

"What happened."

"Sung Hyun's retaliation."

Tsubasa tucked his hair behind his ear as I said,

"What was the damage?"

Jia looked out into the crowd as the police kept everyone back. Gabriel, Jun and Tai were surveying the area inside since they were posing as the owners, Gabriel the lawyer taking stock of how much damage was done. Jia smoked a cigarette as he said,

"Not sure yet. Jun says it could be a lot."

I nodded and stood by the crowd as the ambulance pulled away, the three bodies gone now as the injured were taken care of. The police questioned witnesses but none were saying anything to go on. Jia then turned to me as he said,

"What happened to you?"

"Oh...I um..."

I tugged at a strand near my chin as Jia said,

"Toki you did this didn't you?"

"He was too pretty."

"Now he's even more pretty. He looks like Aya without the make up."

He then turned away and looked back at the scene as I wondered to myself if that was bad or good.

As the police started clearing out the scene, Jia, Tsubasa, Toki and myself stayed behind as Jun, Tai and Gabriel fixed up things. When they finished, Jun went over as he said,

"Three dead bodies, six injured. Besides the normal damage that gun shot holes do, there was minor damage."

"What about those injured?"

"Just innocent stand bys. The three killed were aimed for."

Tsubasa sighed as he said,

"So the three that were killed were more then likely sought out."

Jun nodded. Jia then threw his cigarette down as he said,

"Let's go."

Jun stayed behind with Tai and Gabriel as the rest of us went back to the building. Since I wasn't needed, I lingered in the lobby as Toki followed Jia and Tsubasa. A little while later, one of Tsubasa's guards, Ai'iro appeared and I told him where everyone was. I sat in the lobby, wondering what to do, I just stuck my earphone back in my ear and kept listening to Luna Sea. In Silence just started when I saw someone running past the building. I ignored it at first, though it struck me as odd and suddenly someone slammed against the glass doors. I got to my feet as I reached for my gun as I saw someone pressed against the doors, whoever was holding them there was smashing their face against the glass, blood poured from around their wounds. I took my gun from my pocket as I aimed. Suddenly I heard,

"Where's your boss?!"

I said nothing, just looked out at the scene in front of me as I saw a gun appear from behind the guy's head. I aimed, but couldn't see anything but the white hand holding the metal.

"Where is he!?"

I reached for my cell phone as I called someone outside. The line rang for a moment as it picked up.

"What."

"Aoki, there's some guy outside the doors...he's got one of ours against the glass with a gun to his head."

"I'm coming."

I then looked at the guy as I said,

"What do you want?"

"Don't talk to me kid, your boss has a lot to answer for. Where is he?"

"He isn't here."

"Don't lie!"

The guy against the glass looked at me as he said,

"Don't tell him!"

I wouldn't dare risk calling anyone upstairs, so I waited and neared the door as I said,

"You kill him, you'll be dead before he hit the floor."

"You don't scare me!"

I saw Aoki approaching as I said,

"I shouldn't....he should though."

He turned as Aoki came at him, fist balled up as he punched him with a sickening crack. The gun flew from his hand as I opened the door and pulled ours inside as Aoki continued kicking the shit out of the guy who was outside. I called Toki a moment later as everyone soon gathered outside and pulled the guy inside, his gun now taken away. The one who was our own was taken to be checked for minor wounds as Jia looked at the Korean.

"Work for Sung Hyun I'm guessing. So I'm here. What do you want?"

"You worthless piece of shit! Mr. Lee is gonna make sure you're face down in asphalt!"

"I'm terrified, really I am. What do you want?"

His tone was deadpan, single toned as he spoke. He had a cigarette as the Korean said,

"I was sent to kill you."

"Just you. I'm insulted. I had armies come after me before."

The Korean smirked as he said,

"Who says we'll come after you alone. Arrogant bastard. That's why all your people will first!"

Jia looked at him as he turned to me and said,

"Kill him. Aoki will dispose of him."

He turned and left the room as I was left with the Korean. I pulled the safety off my gun as I took a single shot and watched him crumble into himself. I then went upstairs as I heard the commotion. I watched with horror as Akio came inside, his chest and hands covered in blood as he quickly explained that Aya and him had been ambushed. They took close shots at them both but caught Aya instead. I turned to see where Aoki was once standing to see he was gone, as Jia gritted his teeth and shouted as he said he had to go. Tsubasa got on the phone to call his own people and check their status only to find out his other guard Jiki had been shot as well. I got the car around as I quickly took them to the hospital.

We waited for a while, just checking the status of both as Jia cursed over and over again. Sung Hyun was becoming more of a pain then he thought. As we sat in the waiting room, everyone called everyone else, making sure that everyone was okay. Jia also called in his other allie, Misadowia Yuki who was one of Jia's sub syndicates besides the Yami. Yuki reigned over the more legit part of Jia's syndicate, making it out to be a legit business when it was really just a front. He explained the situation of everything going on and then hung up. Aoki, was no where to be seen either. A while later, Estuya and his boss came in. I had met Estuya earlier so he and I were good friends besides me and Hisoka. I was surprised to know he actually worked for Yuki and not Jia himself. Yuki looked like a kid himself, his hair was blonde, stick straight and fell to the top of his shoulders but it was pulled back. He was dressed in a black three piece suite, a red tie and on his finger was a band of gold. It was on his ring finger. Estuya came over to me as he said,

"What's going on?"

"They shot one of Jia's men, Aya and one of Tsubasa's guards Jiki."

Estuya sighed, his short dark orange hair falling over his eyes as he said,

"They shot pretty Aya."

"Hai."

"Nice hair by the way."

"Oh...thank you."

He smiled as he then said,

"We'll probably work clear through the dawn."

I nodded as Yuki notioned Estuya over to him so he went. I sat back down as everything was talked about. When the doctor came in, he wet over to Jia as he explained how Aya was okay, just in too much pain to talk. He had been wounded seriously, one of the bullets went through his lung and it caused the lung to fill with blood so it had to be drained. And the bullet had also exited through the back. He had taken a bullet to the shoulder and to the forearm so he couldn't move his arm well and another one in the thigh. Other then the serious pain he was feeling, he would live and with enough time, he would be able to move normally again. A second doctor came in later to report to Tsubasa on Jiki's wounds. He had been shot only once but more seriously. The bullet had gone through the side of his neck, almost hitting the jugular but missing it by mere fractions. Jiki wasn't going to get up any time soon.

Once the vitals where given, Jia, Tsubasa and Yuki started sending everyone out. Everyone was also precaution to be careful and to shoot, no more questions. Jia now understood that Sung Hyun was out to pull his people out from underneath him so when no one was left to guard him, Jia would be last. Once everyone but Toki was assigned, Jia looked at me and said,

"You...stay with me."

"Me?"

I was a little stunned he would ask someone like me to stay."

"Hai. Aya is Aoki's partner and Aoki is already out and since I know he won't come back until he kills someone, I won't even bother. I need another guard."

I stood up as I said,

"Okay..."

"Don't take the job if you're scared Joryu."

I thought about it for a moment. I had come so far already...and I already changed my hair...what's a change in jobs too? I looked up at Jia as I tucked my hair behind my ear and said,

"I'm not scared. I'll take the job."

Jia nodded as he motioned me to follow him. Jia explained to both Toki and myself that he was sending people out to search out where Sung Hyun was standing. Where his own people were and what he owned. Jia was firing retaliation back on him full force and whoever was caught in the crossfire, it was their own fault. He was not looking to be merciful anymore.