Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2019 16:25:52 GMT -8
Angel set her empty cup down beside her plate. Where it had started off filled with mouth watering food that probably cost a salaryman’s daily earnings, it was practically wiped clean now as Angel stifled a belch and carefully wiped her mouth with a napkin given to her by Ueda. She lifted her eyes from her plate and looked at the six Yakuza sitting across from her. Daisuke Yamamoto in particular looked like he was studying her carefully. Angel set the napkin down on top of her empty plate and bowed her head, in thanks.
“Thank you, again, Yamamoto-san.” Angel spoke softly and humbly. More so than she was used to doing. But she was here in a place where she knew she had to mind the way she spoke. The way she carried herself. She hated having to humble herself to underground criminals but it was better than being dead.
“Now then….” Daisuke said, leaning forward in his seat and folding his hands in front of him. His expression still stoic and cold as it had been the moment Angel came before him. “You didn’t just ask to see me to hand me an envelope of money and get surprised with a free lunch. Truth be told, when Ueda brought this to my attention, I almost shrugged it off and had him tell you to go to hell. But your family owes me a lot of money. Money that I’m slowly making back, plus interest because your father decided that his addiction was more of a priority than paying back what he was already indebtited on.”
Angel heard those words and she knew the look on her face gave her thoughts away. The way her eyes widened and she felt a gasp suddenly leave her chest. Heard it exit her lips. Like Yamamoto had just thrown an unexpected announcement at her.
Daisuke furrowed his brow and let out a low grumble as he watched the girl’s behavior. “You didn’t know.” He said with a realization before it came to him. “That’s right. Tanaka took you to North America to expand on your own opportunities there. An effort to help your family repay the Yamamoto Clan. Can’t say it did much. Although, like I said, I appreciate today’s effort.”
Angel looked at the money on the table and tried to process what she was being told. Yamamoto was acting like what she had just given him was a surprisingly large amount; but it was no larger than what she normally sent her parents each month to add to what her father was putting together to pay. “...Yamamoto-san...I don’t understand. The money I’ve given you just now...you’ve been getting that from me every month, now. For over a year.”
Yamamoto raised an eyebrow as if he were far from amused by her attempt at a joke. Beside him, however, Lieutenant Suzuki let out a sultry chuckle. Eido Tanaka slowly turned his attention from their Patriarch to Angel with a twisted, amused smirk forming slowly across his face.
“You’ve been sending the money to your family directly ever since I left and returned here, yes?” Tanaka asked, seeking confirmation.
“Yes!” Angel snapped her head towards her former manager but her tone was confused and desperate.
Lieutenant Sasaki leaned back in his seat and let out a laugh that pierced the air like a wild hyena. His one good eye closed shut as his chest and shoulders shook. He slapped his thigh. The leather of his glove slapping against the leather of his pants. “Eeeeeeh, heh heh heh! Her old man’s been squandering her fuckin’ dues at the track and casino!” He opened his eye to look directly at Angel and shook his head. “Some lovin’ family ya’ve got there!” Sasaki’s laugh filled the entire upper area. Some of the Yamamoto men at other tables even glanced over there, tentatively until the man suddenly slammed his hand down on the table and half stood out of his seat. “THE FUCK’RE YOU ALL LOOKIN’ AT?! Is it the eyepatch?!”
“Sasaki.” Daisuke Yamamoto said firmly and Sasaki slowly sat down. He picked up a bottle of saki and popped the cap off, drinking directly from the bottle. Daisuke watched Angel again as she sunk into her seat with the realization. All of this time. The past years of her working as a professional and “making big money” had resulted in her father’s payments to Yamamoto ceasing and were being squandered?! “You didn’t know the payments had stopped.” Yamamoto confirmed.
Angel looked up at the man with anguish on her face. Worry in her eyes. What did this mean now? What kind of repercussions would it bring?
Yamamoto closed his eyes as he fell silent for a moment. When they opened, they seemed softer. Not to say he didn’t still look cold and intimidating, but strangely...not as much as a moment before. “Ueda.” Was all he said.
Angel looked over to Ueda, sitting in his usual dark red suit with a silk black shirt, with thin silver floral designs in the fabric. He was already studying her intently when she met his gaze.
Ueda’s eyes narrowed before his gaze too gave away his realization and he turned to the Patriarch. “She didn’t know.”
Yamamoto’s eyes shifted back over to Angel and he gave a small nod of acceptance. “In that case, Kusanagi-san, your offering is very much appreciated. I do hope the food was to your liking. You are free to go.” Daisuke Yamamoto looked back down to his plate and picked up his chopsticks to resume eating.
Angel placed her hands on the table and leaned forward in a quick, desperate gesture. “Wait!” She heard several clicks of handguns having hands laid upon them and blades peeking out of their sheaths. Lieutenant Sasaki barely budged an inch but her thumb pushed her katana out of its scabbard. Still, with the woman’s sword never leaving it’s home, Angel felt cold, sharp steel pressing against her throat. Her eyes shifted to her left. Ueda hadn’t gone for a weapon at all. As if he knew she wasn’t going to try anything on their boss. Sasaki, however….
In the time it took everyone else to simply reveal their weapons, Sasaki had drawn his and placed it - the blade of a magnificently crafted tanto - against the platinum blonde woman’s throat. “You so much as breathe funny...and I’ll marinate the wagyu in your blood.”
“Hey man, relax.” Ueda said tentatively. “She isn’t gonna--”
“Shut the fuck up, Ueda!” Sasaki cut the man off without even looking at him. He kept his one eye, narrowed, on Angel. “I’ve been watching you eyeball this one the moment she walked in. You wanna fuck her so you’re tryin’ t’play middle man. Where the hell is your goddamn loyalty at? Shit, if she’s so goddamn hot to you, why don’t you just have a round with her sister? They practically look the same. ‘Cept this one looks like she got scared shitless somewhere in life!”
“Sit down, Sasaki.” Yamamoto said calmly, laying his chopsticks across his bowl of rice.
“Boss…?!”
“I said sit down. And put that thing away. You handle it so much, one would think it’s your dick.”
Sasaki paused for a moment and his eyebrow hopped up and down like he couldn’t even argue that point. Before he abided his Patriarch’s command, he leaned towards Angel again. “I like that look in your eyes. Fear. Shit gets my blood flowin’!” He pulled the tanto away from her throat and slid it back inside a black scabbard and tucked it back under his snakeskin jacket.
Angel swallowed out of relief and turned her gaze back to Yamamoto. “What’s going to happen to Tsuki?”
Daisuke looked at her with his expression never changing. “She will continue to work on repaying your father’s debt herself. Unfortunately, it seems as though she’ll be staying with us for longer than expected. Payments are a bit behind, after all.”
“May I see her?” Angel blurted out, trying to keep her emotions in check. “Please? It’s been forever. I just want to make sure that she’s okay!”
“That, I cannot do.” Yamamoto said, never even budging from his position. He was like a statue. “Perhaps, in the future. Once you’ve continued to prove you’re more reliable than your father.”
“Do not worry.” Suzuki mused from her seat. “Your dear sister is in good hands. Trust me, Yukiko-san. I oversee it myself.” Suzuki chuckled and licked her lips salaciously.
That did it. Angel lunged over the table, reaching for her with her hands. Tanaka and Ueda flew out of their seats and both caught her around the waist. Angel felt more arms grab her around the waist as lower members of the Clan rushed from their seats and fought to pull her away from their female Lieutenant. Yamamoto said nothing. Just a motion of his head prompted Tanaka and Ueda to release her and sit down while about four or five Yamamoto Yakuza held onto her and dragged her towards a back door on the upper level. Angel kicked and thrashed. Grunted and screamed as she was carried through the door which lead to a staircase. She fought all the way down as the Yakuza carried her down the stairs to the floor level. One of the men released her and moved to open the door. The other four, like it was some kind of movie, literally threw her through the doorway and to the ground in the back alley behind the restaurant.
“Get the fuck outta here! Stupid bitch.” One of the men chided her before slamming the door shut, loudly.
Angel sat there on the ground, watching as the door slammed shut and everything finally came crashing down on her, emotionally. The tears came full force with light sobbing as Angel sat there in the alley, covering her mouth so as to avoid anyone passing by from hearing her. She didn’t need the attention being drawn on her.
Angel stared out the window the entire cab ride home. Tears streaming down her face that she tried to keep wiped away. The one time the driver opted to ask if she was okay, she didn’t answer him. She didn’t say a word all the way to the bar that he dropped her off at, in Dotonbori. She didn’t say a word at the bar, except for her initial order of a lemon sour. After that it was just her tapping on the counter for refills until she was cut off and made to leave. Angel did so without a fuss and stumbled home in the early evening.
Her family was sitting down to dinner as she walked in the door and kicked off her shoes. She was drunk but not completely incoherent. She managed to hang her jacket up on one of the hooks on the wall and quietly walked passed the dinner table, towards her room. On the way by, she saw her family watching her. She didn’t even want to look at her father; still sitting there in his black slacks and white dress shirt with his sleeves rolled up and top buttons opened. It took everything in her power not to slap him across the face right there. She just kept walking.
“Yukiko-chan?” Her mother called. “Where have you been?”
“Out….” Angel responded flatly, heading for her room still.
“Oh….” Her mother’s tone said she wanted to know more but was deciding not to press, based on her daughter’s clearly upset tone. She returned to her sweet, motherly tone again. “Well, dinner’s ready, if you’d like to join us.”
“Not hungry….” Angel called back as she stepped into her room and closed the door.
Inside her room, Angel paused to stare at her open travel bag she had brought with her. She needed to pack for her flight the day after tomorrow but she just didn’t feel up to it. She dragged her feet over towards her bed and just laid down. She almost felt herself starting to drift off when a knock jarred her from her journey towards sleep and her eyes opened. She groaned.
“Yukiko-chan. It’s me.”
Dad.
Angel felt a burning inside her chest. Not a physical sensation. Emotional. Anger at even hearing his voice.
“I’d like to be left alone.” She called back, trying to sound as assertive as possible. To her disdain, the door opened with a creak.
“Hey.” Her father poked his head in carefully as if checking to make sure she was decent. When he saw she was still in her jeans and tank top, he calmly stepped in. “I don’t know a lot but I know when my daughter is upset. Do you want to talk about it?” Masahiro Kusanagi asked tentatively.
“I don’t.” Angel responded flatly, lying on her side, with her back to the man. “Trust me. You don’t either.”
“Now what’s that supposed to mean?” She heard her father’s voice behind her, across the room. His tone growing a little defensive.
“What do you think it means?” Angel asked back, snidely, curling up into a tighter ball on her futon. Suddenly the lights to her bedroom came on, almost blinding her. She winced and brought a hand up over her eyes.
“What’s with the attitude, Yukiko?” Masahiro asked, taking on that firm, fatherly tone to a disobedient child. “You were fine when you left earlier and now you’re being disrespectful? To me?! To your mother?!”
“No. Just you.” Angel clapped back. She heard her father walk across the room, towards her, but wasn’t expecting him to grab her by the arm. Angel immediately jerked her arm free and rolled over, sitting up to face him. “Don’t touch m--”
“That’s enough!” Masahiro’s finger was in his daughter’s face as he raised his tone, like one would when scolding their child. Angel just looked at him in disbelief. How old did he think she was? “Now, I don’t know what you problem is but you are my daughter! You are OUR daughter!” He motioned towards the door, in the direction of the kitchen where Fumiko was. “I’ve worked too hard since before you were born to have one of my own children -- no, make that both of my children -- think they can walk all over me and their mother, and for what?!”
‘Both of his children’? Those words stung. What about Tsukiko? In fact, yes. Angel wanted to know. “Both? What about Tsuki? Have you forgotten about her?”
Those words took Masahiro off guard and he hesitated. His posture relaxed some as if he thought his daughter in front of him had just been thinking about her sister and was stressed. “Of course I haven’t forgotten about Tsukiko. I’m talking about now, in this moment. Yujiro’s started hanging out with bad crowds. You’ve got the police showing up at our door for smacking those bad crowds around. With everything else going on that your mother and I are trying to take care of, the last thing we need is for Yamamoto to see police at our doorstep and get the wrong idea!”
“So you’re concerned about Tsuki then.” Angel confirmed, looking up at her father. “You’re taking care of it?”
“Of course I’m taking care of it.” Masahiro stared at his daughter in disbelief. What gave her the idea he wasn’t handling what needed to be handled?
Angel stared up at him with narrowed eyes. “What about all the money I’ve been sending from America? You’ve been using it to pay off the debt to the Yamamoto Kai?” Her father fell silent as if he could already see the trap closing in around him. Angel shot up from her bed and the man instinctively took a step back to give her room. “Or have you been GAMBLING IT ALL AWAY WHICH IS WHAT GOT US IN THIS SITUATION IN THE FIRST PLACE?!”
“Gambling it all awa--...” Her father was shocked beyond all comprehension. “Where did you even hear such a thing?” Masahiro asked, clearly trying to play innocent like he had no idea what she was talking about.
There was that urge for Angel to slap him across the face again. Gods have fucking mercy, she wanted to hit the man so bad. Still...it was her father. She couldn’t bring herself to. Even as she balled up a fist and threatened to raise it as she pursed her lips and glared up at him.
“You bastard.” Angel said low and sharp. Hissing between her teeth. “You...goddamn...lowlife...pathetic...fucking...BASTARD!!” She snatched up the first thing she could grab, a snow globe off of her nightstand and whipped it in his general direction. The glass dome of the globe hit the wall beside her father’s head as he stumbled back against it and shattered. She heard the footsteps of both her mother and brother rushing towards her room. Her bedroom door swung open as she stood over her shocked father, sneering down at him. “It’s just as Daisuke Yamamoto said! He hasn’t seen a single fucking payment from you in over a year! Despite all of the money I’ve been sending you to help get Tsuki back home! Home from being held hostage by a bunch of Yakuza scum because of YOUR goddamn ineptitude! Because of your addiction! Because of your FUCKING GAMBLING!”
“Yukiko-chan….” Masahiro stared up at her, mouth agape. Tears forming in his eyes. “I….”
Angel cut him off. “My sister - my TWIN sister - YOUR daughter - is being made to work for the Yakuza! She is being TRAFFICKED as a whore for the Yakuza!! Gods only know who of their associates are doing what to her AS WE SPEAK!!”
“Yukiko-chan.” Her mother’s soft voice, almost pleading for her to calm down got her attention and Angel looked up at her. She had her hands clenching her apron as she looked at her with a sad, pleading look on her aging but still lovely face. “How do you know all of this?”
Angel sighed and thrust her chin down at her father. “Ask him.” She said, pausing first. “I brought some money to Boss Yamamoto this afternoon.” Angel paused and closed her eyes. The drinks she had at the bar before were still hitting her and she was trying to remain coherent before she continued. She opened her eyes again.
“You went to the Yamamoto Kai?! By yourself?!” Her father asked with horror in his voice as he stood up from the floor. Concern in his eyes. “What in the world were you thi--”
“I wanted to show them that we were all serious about paying back your debt!” Angel snapped. “About getting Tsuki back! Making things right! But as it turns out, you haven’t been making regular payments! They said you’ve been seen coming and going from the race tracks! From the casino! Yamamoto hasn’t seen a single fucking yen from you in months! But you’re not the one he takes out the repercussions on, are you? Because he’s got your daughter that gets passed around from scum to scum, trying to work off the debt that you accumulated from borrowing and borrowing and borrowing AND BORROWING!” She snapped. “Is your addiction so bad that you don’t give a fuck about trying to save my sister?!”
“Is it true, Masahiro?” Fumiko asked with a sad, mortified look in her eyes. “What Yukiko is saying? And the money I’ve been giving you? Have you been gambling that away, as well…?” Tears began to well up in Fumiko’s eyes. Tears and rage. A rage that she contained and didn’t let escape her. Masahiro, however, dropped down to his knees. After he had begun sobbing. He bowed his head to the floor. “Please! Forgive me! I-it’s true but...I was only trying to get her back faster! I knew if I could win big I could pay the entire debt off and Tsukiko could come home! I didn’t mean for any of this to happen!”
“Your gambling is what made this happen in the first place!” Fumiko raised her tone, losing her composure and starting to break down herself. “You told me you were done! You promised me! You said you were working overtime to bring in extra money! That you were working partial shifts on the weekends even! I should have known!” Fumiko put a hand to her mouth and fought so hard not to break down.
Masahiro started to get up and step towards her. His hands out. “Fumiko-chan…”
“Don’t touch her!” Angel watched as Yujiro suddenly put himself between their parents, glaring up as hard and intimidating as he could at their father. “Don’t you speak to her!” He turned around to Fumiko; his gaze softening. “Mom…?”
Fumiko put a hand on his shoulder. “Pack yourself a bag, Yujiro-kun. We are going to stay with your grandmother. Tonight. Now!” Yujiro nodded and immediately left Angel’s room to go to his own. Fumiko stared hard at Masahiro, shaking her head as tears ran down her cheeks. “I don’t ever want to see you again. You bastard.” With that, Fumiko turned to her daughter.
Angel was already shoving what she had unpacked for her visit into her bag and zipping it shut. “I’ll get you and Yuji a cab.”
“You should come with us for the night.” Angel’s mother suggested softly. “You haven’t been to see your grandmother, yet.”
Angel paused before nodding with a sigh. Her grandmother hated that she had gotten into wrestling. Wanted her to find a nice husband and settle down. She was always a loving and nurturing woman, however. “You’re right. I haven’t. I miss Oba-chan.” It was the truth. She missed that old woman something terrible. She missed her grandfather, as well. He’d been gone from this Earth for almost seven years now. It was because of him that Angel even became interested in wrestling in the first place. What did he think of his granddaughter carrying on in his footsteps?
Angel slung her bag up over her shoulder as she turned to her mother and father. She glared at her father. “Maybe once you’ve lost everything, you’ll realize how we feel. And I hope to the gods you do.” She said before walking passed the lost and defeated man, nudging her mother out of the bedroom. Angel stopped and turned back on her feel, brushing passed her father to move to her computer desk. She snatched up the framed picture of Tsukiko before storming right back out of her bedroom, leaving her father to fall to his knees again, calling out to them.
“Wait! Please! Don’t go! All of you!” She heard her father’s sobbing voice as she moved to the front door and pulled her shoes back on and put on her jacket before picking her bag up. A moment later, her mother and Yujiro both appeared, carrying each a small travel bag.
“Yukiko! Yujiro! Fumiko!” Her father’s voice came from her room still. “Please!”
Angel swallowed hard, fighting back her own tears as she tried to ignore his voice. Instead she focused on her mother and brother. She gave her mother’s shoulder a squeeze and forced a smile, brushing some of Yujiro’s hair out of his eyes. “My flight leaves the day after tomorrow.” She said softly. “You’ve both got all of my attention until then.” Angel sighed and couldn’t stop one tear from sliding down her cheek but her mother wiped it away with her thumb. Angel reached up and squeezed her hand.
“We’re gonna get through this, Yukiko-chan. All of us.” Fumiko said, trying to be the strong mother she had always been as the three walked out of the apartment. The anguished cries of her husband, the father of her three children growing more distant as they descended the steps. One more blow to their family that they had to get over...but they would, one way or another. Fumiko believed it. She knew her daughter walking in front of her believed it. They were going to do this...one way or another….
“Thank you, again, Yamamoto-san.” Angel spoke softly and humbly. More so than she was used to doing. But she was here in a place where she knew she had to mind the way she spoke. The way she carried herself. She hated having to humble herself to underground criminals but it was better than being dead.
“Now then….” Daisuke said, leaning forward in his seat and folding his hands in front of him. His expression still stoic and cold as it had been the moment Angel came before him. “You didn’t just ask to see me to hand me an envelope of money and get surprised with a free lunch. Truth be told, when Ueda brought this to my attention, I almost shrugged it off and had him tell you to go to hell. But your family owes me a lot of money. Money that I’m slowly making back, plus interest because your father decided that his addiction was more of a priority than paying back what he was already indebtited on.”
Angel heard those words and she knew the look on her face gave her thoughts away. The way her eyes widened and she felt a gasp suddenly leave her chest. Heard it exit her lips. Like Yamamoto had just thrown an unexpected announcement at her.
Daisuke furrowed his brow and let out a low grumble as he watched the girl’s behavior. “You didn’t know.” He said with a realization before it came to him. “That’s right. Tanaka took you to North America to expand on your own opportunities there. An effort to help your family repay the Yamamoto Clan. Can’t say it did much. Although, like I said, I appreciate today’s effort.”
Angel looked at the money on the table and tried to process what she was being told. Yamamoto was acting like what she had just given him was a surprisingly large amount; but it was no larger than what she normally sent her parents each month to add to what her father was putting together to pay. “...Yamamoto-san...I don’t understand. The money I’ve given you just now...you’ve been getting that from me every month, now. For over a year.”
Yamamoto raised an eyebrow as if he were far from amused by her attempt at a joke. Beside him, however, Lieutenant Suzuki let out a sultry chuckle. Eido Tanaka slowly turned his attention from their Patriarch to Angel with a twisted, amused smirk forming slowly across his face.
“You’ve been sending the money to your family directly ever since I left and returned here, yes?” Tanaka asked, seeking confirmation.
“Yes!” Angel snapped her head towards her former manager but her tone was confused and desperate.
Lieutenant Sasaki leaned back in his seat and let out a laugh that pierced the air like a wild hyena. His one good eye closed shut as his chest and shoulders shook. He slapped his thigh. The leather of his glove slapping against the leather of his pants. “Eeeeeeh, heh heh heh! Her old man’s been squandering her fuckin’ dues at the track and casino!” He opened his eye to look directly at Angel and shook his head. “Some lovin’ family ya’ve got there!” Sasaki’s laugh filled the entire upper area. Some of the Yamamoto men at other tables even glanced over there, tentatively until the man suddenly slammed his hand down on the table and half stood out of his seat. “THE FUCK’RE YOU ALL LOOKIN’ AT?! Is it the eyepatch?!”
“Sasaki.” Daisuke Yamamoto said firmly and Sasaki slowly sat down. He picked up a bottle of saki and popped the cap off, drinking directly from the bottle. Daisuke watched Angel again as she sunk into her seat with the realization. All of this time. The past years of her working as a professional and “making big money” had resulted in her father’s payments to Yamamoto ceasing and were being squandered?! “You didn’t know the payments had stopped.” Yamamoto confirmed.
Angel looked up at the man with anguish on her face. Worry in her eyes. What did this mean now? What kind of repercussions would it bring?
Yamamoto closed his eyes as he fell silent for a moment. When they opened, they seemed softer. Not to say he didn’t still look cold and intimidating, but strangely...not as much as a moment before. “Ueda.” Was all he said.
Angel looked over to Ueda, sitting in his usual dark red suit with a silk black shirt, with thin silver floral designs in the fabric. He was already studying her intently when she met his gaze.
Ueda’s eyes narrowed before his gaze too gave away his realization and he turned to the Patriarch. “She didn’t know.”
Yamamoto’s eyes shifted back over to Angel and he gave a small nod of acceptance. “In that case, Kusanagi-san, your offering is very much appreciated. I do hope the food was to your liking. You are free to go.” Daisuke Yamamoto looked back down to his plate and picked up his chopsticks to resume eating.
Angel placed her hands on the table and leaned forward in a quick, desperate gesture. “Wait!” She heard several clicks of handguns having hands laid upon them and blades peeking out of their sheaths. Lieutenant Sasaki barely budged an inch but her thumb pushed her katana out of its scabbard. Still, with the woman’s sword never leaving it’s home, Angel felt cold, sharp steel pressing against her throat. Her eyes shifted to her left. Ueda hadn’t gone for a weapon at all. As if he knew she wasn’t going to try anything on their boss. Sasaki, however….
In the time it took everyone else to simply reveal their weapons, Sasaki had drawn his and placed it - the blade of a magnificently crafted tanto - against the platinum blonde woman’s throat. “You so much as breathe funny...and I’ll marinate the wagyu in your blood.”
“Hey man, relax.” Ueda said tentatively. “She isn’t gonna--”
“Shut the fuck up, Ueda!” Sasaki cut the man off without even looking at him. He kept his one eye, narrowed, on Angel. “I’ve been watching you eyeball this one the moment she walked in. You wanna fuck her so you’re tryin’ t’play middle man. Where the hell is your goddamn loyalty at? Shit, if she’s so goddamn hot to you, why don’t you just have a round with her sister? They practically look the same. ‘Cept this one looks like she got scared shitless somewhere in life!”
“Sit down, Sasaki.” Yamamoto said calmly, laying his chopsticks across his bowl of rice.
“Boss…?!”
“I said sit down. And put that thing away. You handle it so much, one would think it’s your dick.”
Sasaki paused for a moment and his eyebrow hopped up and down like he couldn’t even argue that point. Before he abided his Patriarch’s command, he leaned towards Angel again. “I like that look in your eyes. Fear. Shit gets my blood flowin’!” He pulled the tanto away from her throat and slid it back inside a black scabbard and tucked it back under his snakeskin jacket.
Angel swallowed out of relief and turned her gaze back to Yamamoto. “What’s going to happen to Tsuki?”
Daisuke looked at her with his expression never changing. “She will continue to work on repaying your father’s debt herself. Unfortunately, it seems as though she’ll be staying with us for longer than expected. Payments are a bit behind, after all.”
“May I see her?” Angel blurted out, trying to keep her emotions in check. “Please? It’s been forever. I just want to make sure that she’s okay!”
“That, I cannot do.” Yamamoto said, never even budging from his position. He was like a statue. “Perhaps, in the future. Once you’ve continued to prove you’re more reliable than your father.”
“Do not worry.” Suzuki mused from her seat. “Your dear sister is in good hands. Trust me, Yukiko-san. I oversee it myself.” Suzuki chuckled and licked her lips salaciously.
That did it. Angel lunged over the table, reaching for her with her hands. Tanaka and Ueda flew out of their seats and both caught her around the waist. Angel felt more arms grab her around the waist as lower members of the Clan rushed from their seats and fought to pull her away from their female Lieutenant. Yamamoto said nothing. Just a motion of his head prompted Tanaka and Ueda to release her and sit down while about four or five Yamamoto Yakuza held onto her and dragged her towards a back door on the upper level. Angel kicked and thrashed. Grunted and screamed as she was carried through the door which lead to a staircase. She fought all the way down as the Yakuza carried her down the stairs to the floor level. One of the men released her and moved to open the door. The other four, like it was some kind of movie, literally threw her through the doorway and to the ground in the back alley behind the restaurant.
“Get the fuck outta here! Stupid bitch.” One of the men chided her before slamming the door shut, loudly.
Angel sat there on the ground, watching as the door slammed shut and everything finally came crashing down on her, emotionally. The tears came full force with light sobbing as Angel sat there in the alley, covering her mouth so as to avoid anyone passing by from hearing her. She didn’t need the attention being drawn on her.
Angel stared out the window the entire cab ride home. Tears streaming down her face that she tried to keep wiped away. The one time the driver opted to ask if she was okay, she didn’t answer him. She didn’t say a word all the way to the bar that he dropped her off at, in Dotonbori. She didn’t say a word at the bar, except for her initial order of a lemon sour. After that it was just her tapping on the counter for refills until she was cut off and made to leave. Angel did so without a fuss and stumbled home in the early evening.
Her family was sitting down to dinner as she walked in the door and kicked off her shoes. She was drunk but not completely incoherent. She managed to hang her jacket up on one of the hooks on the wall and quietly walked passed the dinner table, towards her room. On the way by, she saw her family watching her. She didn’t even want to look at her father; still sitting there in his black slacks and white dress shirt with his sleeves rolled up and top buttons opened. It took everything in her power not to slap him across the face right there. She just kept walking.
“Yukiko-chan?” Her mother called. “Where have you been?”
“Out….” Angel responded flatly, heading for her room still.
“Oh….” Her mother’s tone said she wanted to know more but was deciding not to press, based on her daughter’s clearly upset tone. She returned to her sweet, motherly tone again. “Well, dinner’s ready, if you’d like to join us.”
“Not hungry….” Angel called back as she stepped into her room and closed the door.
Inside her room, Angel paused to stare at her open travel bag she had brought with her. She needed to pack for her flight the day after tomorrow but she just didn’t feel up to it. She dragged her feet over towards her bed and just laid down. She almost felt herself starting to drift off when a knock jarred her from her journey towards sleep and her eyes opened. She groaned.
“Yukiko-chan. It’s me.”
Dad.
Angel felt a burning inside her chest. Not a physical sensation. Emotional. Anger at even hearing his voice.
“I’d like to be left alone.” She called back, trying to sound as assertive as possible. To her disdain, the door opened with a creak.
“Hey.” Her father poked his head in carefully as if checking to make sure she was decent. When he saw she was still in her jeans and tank top, he calmly stepped in. “I don’t know a lot but I know when my daughter is upset. Do you want to talk about it?” Masahiro Kusanagi asked tentatively.
“I don’t.” Angel responded flatly, lying on her side, with her back to the man. “Trust me. You don’t either.”
“Now what’s that supposed to mean?” She heard her father’s voice behind her, across the room. His tone growing a little defensive.
“What do you think it means?” Angel asked back, snidely, curling up into a tighter ball on her futon. Suddenly the lights to her bedroom came on, almost blinding her. She winced and brought a hand up over her eyes.
“What’s with the attitude, Yukiko?” Masahiro asked, taking on that firm, fatherly tone to a disobedient child. “You were fine when you left earlier and now you’re being disrespectful? To me?! To your mother?!”
“No. Just you.” Angel clapped back. She heard her father walk across the room, towards her, but wasn’t expecting him to grab her by the arm. Angel immediately jerked her arm free and rolled over, sitting up to face him. “Don’t touch m--”
“That’s enough!” Masahiro’s finger was in his daughter’s face as he raised his tone, like one would when scolding their child. Angel just looked at him in disbelief. How old did he think she was? “Now, I don’t know what you problem is but you are my daughter! You are OUR daughter!” He motioned towards the door, in the direction of the kitchen where Fumiko was. “I’ve worked too hard since before you were born to have one of my own children -- no, make that both of my children -- think they can walk all over me and their mother, and for what?!”
‘Both of his children’? Those words stung. What about Tsukiko? In fact, yes. Angel wanted to know. “Both? What about Tsuki? Have you forgotten about her?”
Those words took Masahiro off guard and he hesitated. His posture relaxed some as if he thought his daughter in front of him had just been thinking about her sister and was stressed. “Of course I haven’t forgotten about Tsukiko. I’m talking about now, in this moment. Yujiro’s started hanging out with bad crowds. You’ve got the police showing up at our door for smacking those bad crowds around. With everything else going on that your mother and I are trying to take care of, the last thing we need is for Yamamoto to see police at our doorstep and get the wrong idea!”
“So you’re concerned about Tsuki then.” Angel confirmed, looking up at her father. “You’re taking care of it?”
“Of course I’m taking care of it.” Masahiro stared at his daughter in disbelief. What gave her the idea he wasn’t handling what needed to be handled?
Angel stared up at him with narrowed eyes. “What about all the money I’ve been sending from America? You’ve been using it to pay off the debt to the Yamamoto Kai?” Her father fell silent as if he could already see the trap closing in around him. Angel shot up from her bed and the man instinctively took a step back to give her room. “Or have you been GAMBLING IT ALL AWAY WHICH IS WHAT GOT US IN THIS SITUATION IN THE FIRST PLACE?!”
“Gambling it all awa--...” Her father was shocked beyond all comprehension. “Where did you even hear such a thing?” Masahiro asked, clearly trying to play innocent like he had no idea what she was talking about.
There was that urge for Angel to slap him across the face again. Gods have fucking mercy, she wanted to hit the man so bad. Still...it was her father. She couldn’t bring herself to. Even as she balled up a fist and threatened to raise it as she pursed her lips and glared up at him.
“You bastard.” Angel said low and sharp. Hissing between her teeth. “You...goddamn...lowlife...pathetic...fucking...BASTARD!!” She snatched up the first thing she could grab, a snow globe off of her nightstand and whipped it in his general direction. The glass dome of the globe hit the wall beside her father’s head as he stumbled back against it and shattered. She heard the footsteps of both her mother and brother rushing towards her room. Her bedroom door swung open as she stood over her shocked father, sneering down at him. “It’s just as Daisuke Yamamoto said! He hasn’t seen a single fucking payment from you in over a year! Despite all of the money I’ve been sending you to help get Tsuki back home! Home from being held hostage by a bunch of Yakuza scum because of YOUR goddamn ineptitude! Because of your addiction! Because of your FUCKING GAMBLING!”
“Yukiko-chan….” Masahiro stared up at her, mouth agape. Tears forming in his eyes. “I….”
Angel cut him off. “My sister - my TWIN sister - YOUR daughter - is being made to work for the Yakuza! She is being TRAFFICKED as a whore for the Yakuza!! Gods only know who of their associates are doing what to her AS WE SPEAK!!”
“Yukiko-chan.” Her mother’s soft voice, almost pleading for her to calm down got her attention and Angel looked up at her. She had her hands clenching her apron as she looked at her with a sad, pleading look on her aging but still lovely face. “How do you know all of this?”
Angel sighed and thrust her chin down at her father. “Ask him.” She said, pausing first. “I brought some money to Boss Yamamoto this afternoon.” Angel paused and closed her eyes. The drinks she had at the bar before were still hitting her and she was trying to remain coherent before she continued. She opened her eyes again.
“You went to the Yamamoto Kai?! By yourself?!” Her father asked with horror in his voice as he stood up from the floor. Concern in his eyes. “What in the world were you thi--”
“I wanted to show them that we were all serious about paying back your debt!” Angel snapped. “About getting Tsuki back! Making things right! But as it turns out, you haven’t been making regular payments! They said you’ve been seen coming and going from the race tracks! From the casino! Yamamoto hasn’t seen a single fucking yen from you in months! But you’re not the one he takes out the repercussions on, are you? Because he’s got your daughter that gets passed around from scum to scum, trying to work off the debt that you accumulated from borrowing and borrowing and borrowing AND BORROWING!” She snapped. “Is your addiction so bad that you don’t give a fuck about trying to save my sister?!”
“Is it true, Masahiro?” Fumiko asked with a sad, mortified look in her eyes. “What Yukiko is saying? And the money I’ve been giving you? Have you been gambling that away, as well…?” Tears began to well up in Fumiko’s eyes. Tears and rage. A rage that she contained and didn’t let escape her. Masahiro, however, dropped down to his knees. After he had begun sobbing. He bowed his head to the floor. “Please! Forgive me! I-it’s true but...I was only trying to get her back faster! I knew if I could win big I could pay the entire debt off and Tsukiko could come home! I didn’t mean for any of this to happen!”
“Your gambling is what made this happen in the first place!” Fumiko raised her tone, losing her composure and starting to break down herself. “You told me you were done! You promised me! You said you were working overtime to bring in extra money! That you were working partial shifts on the weekends even! I should have known!” Fumiko put a hand to her mouth and fought so hard not to break down.
Masahiro started to get up and step towards her. His hands out. “Fumiko-chan…”
“Don’t touch her!” Angel watched as Yujiro suddenly put himself between their parents, glaring up as hard and intimidating as he could at their father. “Don’t you speak to her!” He turned around to Fumiko; his gaze softening. “Mom…?”
Fumiko put a hand on his shoulder. “Pack yourself a bag, Yujiro-kun. We are going to stay with your grandmother. Tonight. Now!” Yujiro nodded and immediately left Angel’s room to go to his own. Fumiko stared hard at Masahiro, shaking her head as tears ran down her cheeks. “I don’t ever want to see you again. You bastard.” With that, Fumiko turned to her daughter.
Angel was already shoving what she had unpacked for her visit into her bag and zipping it shut. “I’ll get you and Yuji a cab.”
“You should come with us for the night.” Angel’s mother suggested softly. “You haven’t been to see your grandmother, yet.”
Angel paused before nodding with a sigh. Her grandmother hated that she had gotten into wrestling. Wanted her to find a nice husband and settle down. She was always a loving and nurturing woman, however. “You’re right. I haven’t. I miss Oba-chan.” It was the truth. She missed that old woman something terrible. She missed her grandfather, as well. He’d been gone from this Earth for almost seven years now. It was because of him that Angel even became interested in wrestling in the first place. What did he think of his granddaughter carrying on in his footsteps?
Angel slung her bag up over her shoulder as she turned to her mother and father. She glared at her father. “Maybe once you’ve lost everything, you’ll realize how we feel. And I hope to the gods you do.” She said before walking passed the lost and defeated man, nudging her mother out of the bedroom. Angel stopped and turned back on her feel, brushing passed her father to move to her computer desk. She snatched up the framed picture of Tsukiko before storming right back out of her bedroom, leaving her father to fall to his knees again, calling out to them.
“Wait! Please! Don’t go! All of you!” She heard her father’s sobbing voice as she moved to the front door and pulled her shoes back on and put on her jacket before picking her bag up. A moment later, her mother and Yujiro both appeared, carrying each a small travel bag.
“Yukiko! Yujiro! Fumiko!” Her father’s voice came from her room still. “Please!”
Angel swallowed hard, fighting back her own tears as she tried to ignore his voice. Instead she focused on her mother and brother. She gave her mother’s shoulder a squeeze and forced a smile, brushing some of Yujiro’s hair out of his eyes. “My flight leaves the day after tomorrow.” She said softly. “You’ve both got all of my attention until then.” Angel sighed and couldn’t stop one tear from sliding down her cheek but her mother wiped it away with her thumb. Angel reached up and squeezed her hand.
“We’re gonna get through this, Yukiko-chan. All of us.” Fumiko said, trying to be the strong mother she had always been as the three walked out of the apartment. The anguished cries of her husband, the father of her three children growing more distant as they descended the steps. One more blow to their family that they had to get over...but they would, one way or another. Fumiko believed it. She knew her daughter walking in front of her believed it. They were going to do this...one way or another….
