I looked down at the card in my hands as I then looked back up at the building I had parked in front of. Well...the address was right. I shut off the engine as I got out, the card in my hands as I looked at the sky scraper in front of me. I sighed as I went ahead, going to the glass front doors, a table with a huge vase of flowers in the path. I pushed the doors open, going in as I saw no one was there. I kept going in, my jeans hanging down my hips as my boots scraped along the pretty marble floor. I kept walking, looking back down at the card as if it would change and tell me something new. I wasn't sure what to do or where to go from that point and I was just about to forget the whole thing and call Miya when I heard,

"Hey...what you doin here kid?"

I look over to the side of the lobby as I see someone sitting up from the couch. He had a cigarette in his mouth as he pulled a black cap down over his forehead. Blonde bangs fell to the sides of his face as I said,

"Uh..I'm looking for someone.

"Oyabun's not lookin to hire kid. Go home."

"I'm not looking for a job."

He got up, looking very much like I was dressed so I thought he could have been maybe a little older then me as he walked over to me and said,

"Who you lookin for?"

It was then I realized I didn't know my father's name anyway. Just a description.

"He's tall..has sunglasses on...smokes a lot-"

"Oh, Aoki. What you want with Aoki?"

"He's my father..."

I held up the card that he had given me as he took it and said,

"Oh...you're Aoki's kid. I expected something more...more...well more not like you."

He grabbed my face, turning it to the side as he said,

"You're a pretty little thing."

"Hey, knock if off Toki."

We both turned to the side to see my father walking out of the elevator, cigarette in hand. The other guy let go of my face as he smirked and said,

"Good looking kid."

"You touch him and I'll make sure you look more then one finger tip next time get me?"

Toki laughed as he said,

"Ne otosan. I'll leave you and your kid."

He walked into the elevator as my father looked down at me and said,

"Mother got to you?"

"Yeah...she kicked me out."

He sighed as he said,

"So what do you want from me?"

"You said if my mother gets on my nerves to come here."

"Yeah but I didn't say I'd do anything for you. You came here to get employed."

"Employed? But...I don't.."

"You can't be a spoiled brat all your life Joryu. You get a job, you handle yourself and you can do anything you want. You and me, we got the same problem. We wanna be in control of ourselves with nothing to stop us. Only difference is, I'm a lot older then you and I have that control. You wanna get it, you earn it."

Ha...what was I but an eighteen year old brat that had everything handed to him before hand. My mother had taken care of me until my father came back into the picture and then I had everything provided for me. But now I had no choice and I had to take care of myself. I looked down and then back up as I said,

"Who do I have to see?"

He motioned me to follow him to the elevator and we went upstairs.

I followed him down to an office as he then knocked on the door and I heard someone say come in. I went inside as the door was opened for me and I walked in. There I saw who must have been the oyabun of the 36 Moons. I walked in, bowing my head as I said,

"Sumimasen..."

He looked up from the papers he was working on as he said,

"Who are you?"

I heard my father walk up beside me as he said,

"Jia, this is Joryu. He's looking for a job."

The oyabun, Jia, looked up at me then at my father as he said,

"Your kid?"

"Hai."

"What can you do?"

I fumbled with the card in my hands as I said,

"Uh...nothing."

I heard Jia sigh as he said,

"You're Tachimine Aoki's kid and you can't do anything?"

"I'm only eighteen."

"Your father did a lot by eighteen."

My father inhaled another cigarette as he said,

"He can drive."

Jia looked back at me as he said,

"Drive?"

"I love to drive. I drive fast."

I was actually becoming hopeful. I found myself wanting this job though when I got here, I had no intent of actually looking for a job. Jia thought for a moment as he said,

"I'll try you out. You break on me once though and I send you back home to your momma get me?"

I nodded before I bowed, grateful for the chance.

I was tested all right. When there was a scrape with some local nobodies, I was in charge of driving while my father, Toki and this other guy Akio went into the place and fought it out. They came back out in a rush, gun shots coming from them and towards them. They got in the car and the minute the door slammed, no one even had to tell me to go, I just checked to make sure everyone was in with a quick glance and then drove off in a speed of dust and tire screeching. My first job and I was good at it.

It became my job. So I got well adjusted to it. I wasn't someone of high important status so I knew no one outside of the people I was assigned to drive for. I met the few choice people, Toki being one of them. I found it hard to believe he was a yakuza since he dressed like I did, he smoked and catcalled anything with a pulse. His favorite victims were Aya, my father's partner and Mikkie. Mostly though, he stuck by Jia's side. My father's partner Aya was someone else I knew well. He was so pretty. He reminded me of Miya only Miya was more...masculine. Miya...I haven't seen him in forever. As I worked through some weeks, I learned things I should and shouldn't do. I learned I wasn't allowed to call my father, father anymore. We worked together so he was now Aoki to me. I wasn't allowed to leave anywhere without notice and I wasn't allowed to dress like a common thug when I was at work. Any money I got, I reinvested in myself, getting my own place, buying three piece suites, cutting and fixing my hair and most off, fixing my car and then having enough to set aside for whatever and travel expenses. Jia soon let me know that I would have to travel to New York with them whenever the situation arose and I fully understood that. One night, as I left off work, I realized I had not seen Miya in forever. I told Mikkie on my way out that I was going to see a friend of mine and left my cell phone on as I went out the door.

I drove to Miya's place where I threw rocks at his window until he came. He was so surprised he nearly shouted as he turned away in a rush. Within a few minutes he was outside. He jumped on me as he said,

"Joryu where have you been!"

"Working. How you been Miya?"

"Worried about you baka!"

I laughed as he pulled back looking at me. I noticed how tired Miya seemed from working at school so much. He was going to morning classes, then school, then after school classes then tutoring sessions and study groups and on Saturdays he was taking morning classes and then if he had time, he would have some fun...if homework wasn't holding him back. The only reason Miya and I were still close was because I did all these things with him. Though it was boring, I was glad to be with him and man I sure as hell didn't miss that at all. We took a walk away from his house down to the playground we use to play at as kids and sat on the swings as I told him what had happened. How me and my mom got into a fight, how it was true that my father was a yakuza and that I was now doing the same thing.

"You're a yakuza Joryu?"

"Not really....I just drive for one. I'm too young. Plus I don't have any experience. All these guys I work with are so...they're amazing. What they do...some of them pull double duty all over the place. They don't seem that much older then me either. Especially this one guy.."

"You sound like you're enjoying it."

"I'm not doing anything bad. I'm driving. It's what I do all the time anyway."

He didn't seem too happy with me being a driver though I wasn't doing anything wrong at the time. His dark hair fell over his eyes as he said,

"What about school?"

"What about it?"

"We were gonna go to the same college...and all our plans now Joryu? What about that?"

I wasn't sure what to say. This was my best friend who I basically planned my whole life with. Only now my whole life was taking new routes I never saw coming.

"It's just a job Miya."

"What if something happens?"

"Nothing will. I'm just driving a car."

"You never know."

He looked away as he started pushing the swing back and forth with his sneakered feet, the sand at the bottom making a small build up around the toes of his sneakers. I sighed as I said,

"I can't go on the way I've been Miya. My father's right you know...all I've ever been in life is this spoiled brat. I could never take care of myself though I want control of my life. If this is a way, not the only way, but a way to start taking control...then...so be it."

He turned back to me as he looked a me for a moment and then said nothing else. He eventually looked back at his watch as he said he should get back home before his parents figure out he ditched his studying to come to see me. He asked when I would stop by and I told him before I have another job. I walked him back home before I hopped in my car and drove home.