*YOUR POV*

I sat at home, waiting for Odagiri to come back.

Five minutes past…

Ten minutes past…

Twenty minutes past…

Picking up my phone, I dialed his number.

“I’m sorry, the number you’re calling is not available. Please hang up and try again.”

“Stupid recorder,” I muttered as I left a note for Odagiri telling him that I would be back later.

After checking to make sure everything was turned off, I threw on my jacket and headed out the door. The setting sun casted a beautiful glow on the trees as the wind gently ran through their leaves, making them swirl to the ground. I strolled through the streets and arrived at my grandfather’s house.

“Welcome home Ojou!” Seiji grinned as he greeted me cheerfully. “It’s been a while, ne?”

“Hey dork,” I patted him on his head. “Man, you keep getting taller!”

Seiji was six foot five inches with the most gorgeous brown eyes ever. His tousled blonde hair complemented his tanned skin, showing off his lean and muscular body. My grandfather had found him in the streets when he was five and brought him home, unofficially adopting him.

“________,” my grandfather greeted me as he walked in.

“Ojiisan!” I squealed as I dashed out to hug him. When I pulled back, I saw a clump of brown hair belonging to the little boy hiding underneath it.

“This is Seiji. He’ll be living with us from now on, okay? Treat him like your oniisan- he’s a year older than you.”

I stuck out my hand, peering curiously at him. “Nice to meet you, I’m _______.”

He looked up and my breath caught in my throat. His eyes were a clear brown, deeper than any night sky I had ever seen. “Yoroshiku,” he whispered.

“I guess… you’ll stay in the room next to mine?” I looked up at my grandfather. He nodded. “Let’s go!”

I grabbed his hand and led him through the house, showing him around.

That night I made sure that he had everything he needed and promptly fell asleep on my bed. I woke up a couple hours later, startled as I heard whimpering come through the wall. Leaping out of bed, I rushed to Seiji and found him huddled on the floor, crying.

“Seiji?” I knelt beside him.

He continued crying.

I placed my arms around him, trying to comfort him. “It’s okay… it’s okay.”

We both fell asleep on his floor.

From then on, we were the best of friends.

“You still killing all the ladies with your looks?” I teased, well aware of how popular he was with the opposite gender.

He rubbed his neck, looking sheepish. “They flock to me whenever they see me. I’m seriously getting scared.”

I laughed. “Most guys would die to be like you, you know that?”

“Whatever.”

“Anyways, where’s Ojiisan?” I looked around the entrance. “Where is everyone?”

Seiji’s face grew dark as he kicked at a stone. “Some idiotic newbie group attacked Itsumi and a few others last night.”

“How bad was it?” I grew anxious.

“They’re in the hospital. Ojiisan took the men to go show that group whose boss around here.”

“They’re snubs. How can any yakuza group not know about the Nakamura Family? Freaking Idiots!” Rage built up in me as I shook my head in disbelief. “How many men did he take with him?”

“About thirty.”

“… then where’s everyone else?”

Seiji grew quiet. “That’s the weird thing. Everyone who wasn’t with Ojiisan was supposed to return two hours ago. They haven’t shown up yet…”

Alarm rose in me. “You don’t think…”

He nodded, his eyes anxious. “I think it’s all part of an attack. I called the Oedo family a little while ago and they said they’ll send men here soon.”

“I hope they arrive like, now!” The front door burst open off its hinges as a flood of strange men pushed through.

Their leader stepped forward. “It really worked, huh.”

Seiji yanked me behind him, glaring at the intruders. “Who are you?”

The man kicked a plant to the ground, shattering the pot. “We’re the Kobayashi Group.”

I laughed. “You think you can mess with us? Nooooobs.”

“I am Sosuke, the son of our leader. How dare you laugh at us!” He stepped forward.

“Dang. There are thirty of them. I don’t think we can take thirty trained men…” Seiji whispered to me as we slowly crouched into a fighting position.

“We just have to hold up until Oedo gets here.” I ran my hands through my hair, thinking about our situation.

“Hopefully we can.”

“Now pretty lady, please step out of the way. We don’t want to have to hurt a delicate woman like you,” the leader smirked.

I kept a calm smile on my face. “You should be the one worried. If word gets out that we took down the Koporashi Group with only two of our men…” I shrugged.

“It’s Kobayashi. KOBAYASHI! Not Koporashi,” he glowered at me.

“Sorry I don’t know who you are,” I scoffed, dodging his fist as he swung at me. Twisting my upper body, I took hold of his hand and, using the momentum, I sent him sprawling across the room. “Freaking bastard.”

“Well, here it comes,” Seiji grinned as the fighting began.

Occasionally taking a blow, I rammed my fist into any piece of flesh that I could. Everything was a blur as I dashed around, drawing close to hit and then backing away, circling, circling, circling through the brawl like a ninja. That’s right. A Ninja.

“_______, you okay?” Seiji called out to me in English while blocking a kick, whipping around, and slamming his foot into the attacker’s… tender area.

“Relatively,” I grunted as a fist smashed into my stomach. “Oh that actually hurt. How are you holding up?”

“Not much longer.”

“WHAT THE FREAKING FLAP!” I screamed in English, our code language, making everyone freeze. I swiveled on my heel, glaring at every man. “You freaking idiots are asking for a hospital visit.”

I crashed my foot into a man’s face, spinning it forward to meet another man’s chest, and finishing with a blow to a third man’s baby maker.

The fighting continued and I felt myself growing weaker as the minutes ticked by.

“Seiji… I can’t hold up much longer either,” I panted, holding my stomach. “There’s too many of them to fend off!”

He staggered to my side. “I know right? The second I hit someone, two people hit me.”

We struggled to remain strong, side-by-side. Someone brought a chair over his head and hurled it at Seiji.

“Seiji!” I cried out.

I was too late.

It slammed into him and he collapsed underneath it.

“Seiji?” I ran to his side. He was unconscious, lying on a puddle of blood.

A tear slid down my cheek as I crouched by him. “Seiji-Seiji-Seiji!”

I stood up slowly, hot angry tears dripping on the floor. “Morons freaking DIE.”

Fighting like a madman, I brought more of their guys down. Adrenaline filled me, fed by my fury.

Five of their men remained standing, but hurt. Their leader had yet to be touched. I was screwed.

Just as the final battle began, a deafening noise came from outside. Men from the Oedo Group poured into the room, making a wall between the Koporashi people and me.

“Twenty-no, thirty of your trained fighters against two?” Ren frowned.

“Ren, I am SO GLAD TO SEE YOU!” I sat on the ground, hugging Seiji.

“Who’s this?” Sosukequestioned, confusion filling his face.

“We’re the Oedo Group,” Ren smiled, danger swirling around in his eyes.

“They said they’re the Koporashi Group.” I rolled my eyes, wiping at the blood dripping down my face.

Ren stared at me perplexed as his men scratched their heads. “The who?”

“Exactly, right? That was my reaction.” I took out my handkerchief and started to clean Seiji’s face. “They hurt Seiji,” I said quietly.

Instantly Shozo and Koji stepped forward and picked him up. “We’ll take him back to our place,” they reassured me. I nodded and stood up, turning to face the panicking enemies.

“Stay back, ________-san. You’re hurt already. We can take care of this.” Ren stepped lightly toward the last six standing men.

Soon they were all tied and being hoisted onto the back of a truck. “Come with us, ________. We can’t just leave you here like this. I’ll leave a note telling your family where you are.”

We arrived at the Oedo Family’s house and I stumbled out of the car. “Aw freaking A…” Ren caught me as I fell. “Thanks man,” I smiled up at him.

He helped me into their house, gently setting me down into a chair. The head of the family stepped out.

“Kuroda Ryuichiro-san,” I bowed, “thank you so much for coming to our rescue.”

He waved it off. “It was nothing. Our families have always helped each other. Your grandfather is a great man.” He glanced at the thirty tied men. “What happened?”

“I’m not completely sure how it started since I wasn’t home. But from what Seiji told me, ne of their subgroups attacked a few of our men. When we found out, most of our men ‘happened’ to be gone so Ojiisan took who he could and went over there to teach them a lesson. The others who were out were supposed to return home soon to help Seiji keep watch. I happened to be stop by and was the only one to return.” I glared at the men. “And these bast- these… men broke in and attacked us. We managed to bring most of them down but they started fighting dirty and threw a chair at Seiji’s head, hitting him and knocking him unconscious. Thank God your men showed up when they did or we’d be goners.”

Ryuichiro clenched his teeth. “Thirty men against two?”

I nodded.

He glanced me over. “You’re pretty hurt.”

“Seiji was hurt more,” I said, rubbing my aching wrists.

Ren appeared. “He’ll be okay.”

Their head stood up, walking around the pile of defeated men. “Who are these people again?”

“Um… I think they said they’re the Koporashi? He’s the son of their leader,” I pointed him out.

Ryuichiro bent down and looked at Sosuke. “You’re the heir to the…” He looked up at me.

“Koporashi,” I raised an eyebrow, “I think.”

He returned his gaze to the young man. “The heir to Koporashi group?”

“It’s Kobayashi,” Sosuke hissed.

An Oedo man instantly slapped him across the face. “How dare you be rude to our leader!”

Ryuichiro raised his arm, indicating that no further harm should be done to Sosuke. “Do you guys have no fear of the Oedo or Nakamura Groups?”

“We are the best. We have no fear,” a Kobayashi man spoke up.

“You’re brave, I’ll grant you that.” Oedo’s leader stood up. “How are we to keep peace if fearless men like these show up?” He shook his head, sighing.

He gestured for his men to prepare. “I’ll take thirty men with me. We’ll also pay these Kobapashi men a visit.” He turned to me. “Stay here and rest.”

To the rest of the men, he ordered that they stay back and keep watch, making sure that the prisoners don’t escape. “When I come back, our two families will decide what to do with this group.”

With a wave, him and his selected men were gone.

The room filled with silence as we all watched the squirming men in the middle of the room.

The door flew open. “What happened?” A woman dashed through the door.

I stared at her. “YANKUMI?”