Page 21 of Bound By the Yakuza

“Just a girl, like I said.” Why did it hurt my chest to call her that? I ignored the ache in my heart. The gang had to come first.

My partner shrugged and slid his helmet on. He knew me better than anyone and he knew that if I didn’t want to talk, there was no use in trying to get information out of me. He dropped the subject.

“Alright. Let’s go then.”

We gunned our engines and sped off into the night. Bikes were perfect for getting around the tight streets and alleyways of our invisible border.

I would do rounds until late tonight. I had to prove to Kenichi that I was reliable, and that nothing mattered more to me than the gang. Even Karina.

-

Around 4am I checked my phone. No missed calls or texts. Kaoru left about an hour ago and I refused to go hit a hostess bar with him, not when our borders were in jeopardy. I drove by Karina’s massage parlor, just to check on the area. The landlord still hadn’t found a tenant for the bottom floor, according to Tadao.

I didn’t like Karina being there all alone most of the day. If someone tried to attack the parlor, her employees would be defenseless and she could easily get hurt or killed. I knew she was skilled in hand-to-hand combat, but that wasn’t enough these days.

Most yakuza gangs still held to their honor; it made us different from other criminals somehow. Better in our eyes and the eyes of the public, too. The Shimazu were a whole other problem. They had killed so many of us in huge gunfights that attracted too much attention, like the one at the hostess club only a month ago. That was not the proper way to be a yakuza. They made me sick.

I parked in the alley and tucked my helmet under my arm. I lit a cigarette; I didn’t want to stink up Karina’s small apartment. One exhale would probably set off the alarm anyway.

I heard footsteps coming down the alley. I tensed, flicking the cigarette away and sinking back into the shadows. I recognized the man that we had dumped out the window of Karina’s apartment. I should have killed him when I had the chance. Now he was back for more.

I smirked. Looked like tonight would not be so boring after all.

I took him by surprise when I emerged from the shadows. He stopped in his tracks and we locked eyes.

“Who the hell are you?”

I grimaced at his Osaka accent, those always bugged me. “I should be asking you that. Why are you sulking around on Himura territory?”

“Ah, so you’re one of Himura’s dogs?” He drawled.

I raised my gun at him. “Get out of here. Consider this your first and only warning.”

The man lunged, brandishing a large knife.

I pulled the trigger.

? ? ?

KARINA

There was a loud knock at the door.

I opened the door to see Tatsuya standing there. He was holding his arm and looked to be in pain. I didn’t miss the blood on his hand.

“Oh my god, what happened?” I pulled him inside and brought him to the apartment. Thankfully, all of my girls had left about half an hour ago.

Tatsuya winced and shrugged off his leather jacket. There was a gash in his shoulder. The cut was long, but the bleeding was slow. He walked over to the sink and rinsed out the wound. “I’m fine, but my jacket is ruined.”

I chuckled to lighten the mood. “At least it was just your jacket,” I said. “What happened?” I passed him a bandage from the first-aid kit that I kept stashed under the sink.

“That guy we dumped out your window,” Tatsuya bandaged his own wound and tied it off with expert speed. I wondered how many times he had to patch himself up before. “I caught him sniffing around. You’re lucky he didn’t get upstairs. He had murder in his eyes.”

“Did you kill him?”

Tastuya nodded. “Yeah, don’t worry. He won’t be after you again.”

I brought him to the bed so he could rest. “Thank you,” I said. “But I probably could have taken care of it.”

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