We found out later that the new Dietman had been indeed wounded fatally and had died on his way to the hospital. Jia paid Takakura and as always expected his silence. The former Dietman knew if he wanted to continue lining his pockets then he would stay silent and his remains wouldn't line walls. Jia now saw a powerful Dietman coming into place to try to take him down. And this man would do anything to be in power. Tai, Aya and everyone else started seeing this man as more like a tyrant king then a Dietman and Aya knew what that meant.

"Someone who likes to stay in power and would do anything to keep it. Even if that meant eliminating all possible reasons for him loosing it. I've seen it before."

Tai moved a chair out for Aya as Aya sat down, sweeping his longer bangs aside as he said,

"Jia, this man is worse then a yakuza because anything he does, he can get away with. He has law on his side. Something even you can't buy."

"To hell with that. There isn't a thing in this world that money can't buy. That includes law. If this fucker wants to come after me I'll let him. He likes power but he hasn't seen anything until he's gone up against me."

Tai sighed slightly as he said,

"This will be a problem for you Jia. Remember, you have dealt with his types before."

"And where are they now?"

"Don't under-"

"Don't tell me that Tai. I know better then to underestimate anyone I go up against. All I'm trying to say is that, Kemuri is familiar territory. So I have a good idea of what I'm doing."

Tai nodded as Aya then said,

"Just be careful Jia."

"Aren't I always?"

I've never dealt with a political enemy before. I really didn't know what to expect so even though I hung out with Aya to learn what it would mean, I still wasn't quite sure.

"Smoke and mirrors Jo. He likes to pretend he's the good guy and he seems like it to the mob because we're yakuza. Remember, zero value in this society. Those numbers on your back should remind you of that."

I nodded as I thought of it. With people believing the Dietman was doing all this to better the country, in reality, he was just out to kill us all. I wasn't exactly sure how to feel about that...other then annoyed I guess. People were way too stupid. Anyway we couldn't do much of anything but wait to see what would happen. The Diet had no choice but to bring in Kemuri since the elected Dietman was just killed. Once he was brought in, we prepared for the worse.

Over the next week, we watched as the system for us slowly changed. Jia pulled his people back as he saw new heads being assigned. There had always been heads signed to the police department, but so many of them had been scared or paid off to do anything of a real job. Now, Kemuri was putting his own people into it, meaning these people had to do their job. Jia had to start over with the threat, with the payrolls...with everything. The first new head assigned to the Roppongi District was too young and inexperienced. Once he found out his first priority would have to be getting at the 36 Moons, he folded. He, like many of the heads before him were afraid of the 36 Moons. They had families to protect, lives that they did not plan on ending so they could go after some oyabun. Everyone knew how powerful Jia was and no one wanted to go up against him. Especially no one like normal cops. Jia didn't waste much time snapping the first new head and he simply awaited the next. Kemuri's next started off easy enough, but soon turned out to be somewhat of a challenge. He declared war on all street crime and started shutting down clubs. Gabriel spent more time arguing his way as Jia's lawyer saying no one had a right to close down anything especially since every club held a pristine record. But the new head didn't move aside so easily. Of course none of Jia's clubs did have anything to hide. Most of them were fronts anyway that someone would have to do intense researching into to find anything illegal there. But nonetheless it slowed business down. Then something else happened.

"We're all being called in again."

We all looked at Tai as we all stood in Jia's office one afternoon.

"WHAT?" Said Jia as he stood up.

"I just saw it on the news. It's all over the paper. This new head is doing anything to track us down even if that means back peddling into our pasts."

A moment later Gabriel came in Jia's office. He took off his hat as his soft blonde and gold hair fell down around his face as he said,

"Tai's right. I just got word today. Everyone once working, or still working under you Jia is being called in to review past records and making sure everyone is still clean. But it's not just us. It's any yakuza that ever set foot in Tokyo and got a record for it."

"Fuck...that shouldn't be too bad. None of you have gotten arrested within the past couple of years."

"Except...one of us Jia."

They looked at me as I recalled my recent arrest almost two years ago for punching a cop when I was mad, trying to get to Miya the night he was shot. I reached up to my hair as I tucked it back and said,

"What does this mean?"

"It doesn't mean anything." Said Aya.

We looked at Aya as he stood up from the small couch against Jia's wall as he walked over to the desk and said,

"Jo was arrested but that doesn't mean they can tie him to us. What do they know? He was what....nineteen? At the time of the arrest. Now he's twenty-one. Not only has his appearance changed, but he has stayed out of trouble since then. Besides he could have been some freelance yakuza and no one could have been the wiser."

Jia nodded as Gabriel said,

"True, but if they find any reason now to pin him on us, he'll be called in with the rest of us."

"Who's goin in first gaijin?" Said Toki.

"You are. So is Aoki. Then Jun and Mikkie."

Toki cursed as Aoki sighed. Jun then said,

"Why me?"

"Medical malpractice Jun. That's staining you heavily."

Jun rolled his eyes as he said,

"It was not malpractice."

Jia then said,

"Well whatever it was, it's going down on you now. You all know what you have to say."

Aoki nodded as did Toki and Jun.

Within the next few days, Toki, Aoki and Jun were called in. They had the heaviest records, Aoki's going back from the time he was fourteen, same with Toki. Jun just had a criminal record from something back before I was in the 36 Moons. Something to do with impersonating someone. Anyway Jia couldn't go, though he wanted to, but he feared it would bring suspicion onto him plus Tai advised him strongly not to go. Aside from Tai, Jia, Aya and Akio would not have to go in along with me. Just Toki, Aoki, Jun and Mikkie. Their records were the worse. As we sat waiting the afternoon those four to come back, I looked at Akio and said,

"Why weren't you called in?"

"Most of the criminal records that the 36 Moons have came after the collapse. I wasn't there. By the time I became a head of the 36 Moons, Jia was already in a massive control of Tokyo. I just joined the fray. And I haven't gotten arrested. And even if I did, I don't have fingerprints so they couldn't get it out of me."

I nodded as I said,

"I hope nothing happens."

"I doubt anything will. I did this once before. Unless those four have gotten arrested for anything serious, they can't do anything by law. Toki and Aoki may have heavy crimes against them but the served time and did parole. There's not much else that the cops could do to put them behind bars. Gabriel covers us really well."

I nodded in agreement as Jia came downstairs with Tai. Jia was patting down his pockets as he said,

"I never have a Goddamn lighter when I need it!"

I got up as I took my lighter from my pockets as I went over to him and lit the cigarette for him. He cupped his hands around the end of his cigarette as he then inhaled, sighing slightly as he moved back and said,

"Thanks."

"Nervous Jia?" Asked Akio as he turned and looked over at Jia from the sofa he was sitting on.

"No, more like...paranoid."

Tai pat his shoulder slightly as he said,

"Relax Jia. I doubt anything will happen. Especially since they haven't done anything in the past couple of years to earn them arrests."

"Yeah...but..."

He trailed off as he looked to the side, his eyes down and concerned. We all knew he was worried about Toki the most. Mostly because Toki didn't flow with authority to well and he liked to smoke anywhere and he hated being told to put out his cigarette. Jia worried for a while until Mikkie showed up at the building first. We all looked at him as he said,

"It went fine. He asked for my recent job and what I had been doing with myself. There's nothing he could use on me."

Jia nodded as he said,

"Who went after you?"

"Aoki did. They took a long time in between though. In fact Aoki was the one that said I should go since they were wasting so much time."

Jia nodded as he then walked over and sat beside Akio. Akio then looked at him and said,

"You okay?"

"Paranoid."

Akio left it at that. About an hour and half later, Aoki came back. He said they were bringing in Toki when he was asked to leave.

"It's like they're trying to make us break by making us wait for so long."

"If they irritate Toki just enough they'll have what they need." Said Jia.

"Well Jia, let's hope that for once Silence can live up to his name."

Jia nodded as we continued to wait. We all sat in the lobby, Jia with his head down on the sofa as he started to fall asleep, an ashtray near a table that was near his head where five burned out cigarettes remained. Jia dozed in and out of sleep, Akio sitting next to him as Aoki and Aya shared a smaller couch, Mikkie and Jun standing, making small talk among themselves. Finally almost forty-five minutes later did Toki show up. Akio nudged Jia awake as Jia picked his head up and said,

"Toki..."

Toki sighed, coming in, exhaling the last of his cigarette as he said,

"Hey Li."

He came over to the couch and leaned down as Jia looked up at him and said,

"So?"

"They couldn't get shit on me. I aint do a damn thing wrong."

Jia sighed, finally relieved as he said,

"Okay, we're fine for now. Until Kemuri decides his next move we can't do anything."

"What if we leave Japan for now Jia?" Said Tai.

"No, I can't. There would be no one here to run things for me while Kemuri is in control. He could use that to his advantage. Damn...if only Nishiki..."

He paused and then looked down and away as he said,

"Anyway, leaving the country would be bad for me now. I can't risk it."

Jia rubbed his eyes as he said,

"What time is it?"

"Almost six." Said Toki.

"You hungry?"

"What a stupid question."

Jia smacked his arm as Toki laughed. Jia then turned to the rest of us as he said,

"Anyone hungry?"

"I am Jia. You know it." Said Jun.

Akio gave a gesture as he started getting up from the sofa as Gabriel joined them as well. The rest of us were allowed to go home.

A full investigation soon went underway. Jia found his new enemy in the newest head named Watashi Sou. Watashi started small and ended up going big. He put halts in Jia's businesses as they went under investigation and that made Jia so angry because he knew it would only be a matter of time until Watashi had something to bring Jia in. Though that in itself would be difficult since everything was under false names, that could buy us more time. If Watashi somehow did find anything to pin on Jia it would only be after so much false leads and dead ends. Like Akio said, Gabriel covered us well. We all awaited but stayed quiet. We were glad for once that none of Jia's enemies had risen up to try and take over now. We had to lay low. A lot of other yakuza we knew were being question on end and Kemuri seemed like he was bringing a stop to use since crime slowed down a lot but we still did our work, doing what we usually did but a lot more careful now. More cops circled areas, places of business were watched over, none more over then the Dragon Leaf. Even though Jia didn't own the Dragon Leaf, for some reason it was watched over as if it was headquarters. Jia couldn't go there as often as he use to. Jia was annoyed being watched at every corner. Suddenly every well dressed man became prime suspects and watched over at every turn. One night, on my way to work, I was going towards Jia's building when I stopped to light a cigarette. I leaned down to block the wind and once I looked up, I saw two cops standing in front of me. They looked at me strangely before one of them said,

"Hey there kid."

I glared at him as I then bowed my head slightly as I started to walk past them. One cop held me back as he said,

"Where's a young man like you going off to?"

I didn't say anything as I backed away and then turned to walk the other way. I felt one of them grab my shoulder as I said,

"I'm on my way to work."

"Work? At this time of night?"

"Last minute paper work I have to hand in."

They let me go as I went towards the subway. I noticed as I stood on the platform that they were following me. I then turned to walk further down the platform as I got my ear piece in and called Jia to let him know.

"Loose them."

"I'm trying to. They keep following me through the crowd."

I looked up at objects that could reflect behind me as I noticed the two cops still following me.

"Do not draw attention to yourself."

"I'm trying not to. But these guys keep following me."

"Just walk at a normal pace and try to get back here without them behind you."

"Okay. I'll call you if anything should happen."

I hung up as the train arrived and people began flooding forward and out from the subway cart, I took my chance and got in, ducking among the masses as I then crouched down and hid behind mass amount of people and tried to see if the cops had followed me on board. As I crouched down, waiting, my cell phone rang again. I put my ear piece back in as I answered, hearing Aoki on the line.

"Hai?"

"Where you at?"

"Train on the way to Jia's building."

"I'll meet you on the platform."

"Hai."

I hung up as I kept my ear piece in and slowly got back up. I looked around for a moment and almost sighed in relief when I saw the two cops looking around. I had gotten up too soon. I cursed as I turned away, hoping they wouldn't see me as I took down my hair as waited for the train to open it's doors. The flood people got out as more got back in as I hoped the cops would think I left and as they looked out the windows, I sat down in the seat behind a couple of high school students and waited. There was about three more stops before I reached Jia's building and I kept moving along the cart, hiding behind people as I tried to avoid being seen. I got to my stop, I slowly snuck out and was relieved to see Aoki standing at the platform like he said he would. There were few people on the train around here since it was the business district so I had to stay in the vestibule the rest of the way to Jia's building. As I got out, I heard the two cops shout at me but I didn't turn, I kept walking casually, but I turned away from Aoki, not wanting to get him involved. Finally the two caught up to on a now semi empty platform as they started shouting at me. I turned and yelled back, telling them to leave me alone to either arrest me or stop harassing me since I wasn't doing anything. But they weren't the usual kind of cops, I could tell as they started dragging me back to the edge of the platform. I saw their intentions and they began to mock me, saying I was a petty little yakuza, they could tell by the "pen writing" on my wrist. One of them grabbed my arm and pulled up the sleeve of my wrist to reveal Akui on my skin. I started to pull back and I almost fell over when one of them let go of me suddenly. I heard a train rushing towards the subway that was not going to stop and I started to fight them, knowing they were not trying to talk to me, they were trying to kill me. As the train came closer, they dragged me to the edge of the platform, the tips of my shoes going over the edge and I threw back all my weight as I shoved one forward. The first cop fell onto the tracks but the second one still had a firm hold on my shoulder and wrist. The train was starting to come towards me and it was so close the wind began picking up, my hair untucking and flying around my face. I finally moved myself back and grabbed the cop by his arm as I started to shove him forward with me, determined that if I was going to meet my end then I would not go alone. He still held onto my arm so it seemed we were both about to go over. I took a deep breath, preparing to land on those tracks when I felt someone grab my same arm and pull me back. I turned slightly to see Aoki as he grabbed me and pulled me back again, almost shaking the cop off me. Once the cop's hands slid off my wrist, I fell back and landed on my side as I looked up just as Aoki gave the cop the final shove and turned away quickly as the train came by just as the cop fell. Aoki's coat was picked up by the wind of the train passing by, his hair flying up as well as I started getting up. I held my wrist, rubbing it slightly as I said,

"Thanks."

"They managed to follow you?"

"Yeah. I tired to hide but I guess they followed me through anyway."

"They weren't regular cops."

"No....I could tell."

"You okay?"

I nodded as he then walked ahead and I followed.