by Serena Rose
Rachel was sitting at the bar, hunched over a glass of clear soda. I smiled. “Trying to be responsible already?” I really was trying to ease the tension.
“It’s the only thing I can hold down right now,” she replied. Her red hair was tied back in a limp pony tail. She was wearing a comfortable maxi skirt and a beautiful silk blouse, but her face was paler than usual. I don’t think pregnancy was agreeing with her.
“Look, I’m going to cut to the chase. Don’t worry, most…” I said as I stared at the strange man in the dark suit who was sitting in the corner, “of these men are mine. You’re in grave danger, but I know how to save you, and the baby.”
She looked at me with terror in her green eyes, mixed with relief. “Honestly?”
“Yes. You see, we have to get married.” I saw her green eyes fill with anger. I knew it wouldn’t go over well.
She punched me in the face. I felt a sharp pain as her fist nailed me square in the jaw. The bouncer sat at the door with an amused smirk on his face. Bastard. “What do you mean we have to get married?”
“You didn’t have to hit me, you know. That kinda smarts. Anyway, If we don’t, that guy in the corner will create a nice art deco painting out of your grey matter all over the inside of my bar.” I rubbed my jaw. “Can I get some ice, please?” I asked the bartender. I really didn’t want a bruise.
“Why, other than the fact that I’ll die, is it so important?” She was really pushing it. I picked up the bar towel that was filled with ice and placed it against my aching jaw.
I sighed, deeply wondering how to break the news to her. She already knew I was a kingpin of one of the most dangerous crime syndicates known to man, but how do I tell her about the Dragon? “Alright, I guess I shouldn’t hide this from you either. You saw my tattoo, right?” Well duh, of course she did.
“Yes. What about it? Well, other than the fact that it’s absolutely stunning and it’s almost a sin to cover it up.” Well, I thought, here it’s a sin to show, so I guess I’m stuck, huh?
“Every clan in the Yakuza has a few members that are so high up in rank, that they’re given special powers. Now this is going to be hard to believe, but please listen; I’m the head of the Dragon clan, the sacred Irezumi has been marked on my body, and now, I can change into a dragon, the same one on my back, actually. There’s the Tiger clan and the Kitsune clan as well.”
“And they each have…” She seemed to be skeptical.
“Yes, their own shape shifters as well. Now, the ability for the Irezumi to give a person powers is passed down from parent to child, and only if the union is legitimate.”
“So you mean, for my child to be able to become a…” She really seemed leery of this whole thing and I wouldn’t blame her.
“Our child,” I corrected her, “to become a shape shifter, yes. A very powerful one at that. The thing is, children of my line need to get the sacred irezumi at the age of eighteen or else they go insane.” I placed my hands on her abdomen. “I want to help raise this child, I don’t want you, or the baby to die. Neither of you will want nor need for anything, you won’t have to work another day in your life, your boss, who, by the way has his own unsavory reputation, will be a thing of the past.” I was sincere. I also didn’t want to sleep with that hag, Miko, for the rest of my life.
“Is there anything else you’re not telling me?” Ouch, she was way too perceptive.
“I had, that’s the key word, had, a fiancée. We had been betrothed since we were babies to bring some sort of unity to the Yakuza clans. I can’t stand her.” I said quietly. “I want you.”
She looked at me confused. “Why don’t you…”
“Because her personality is all wrong. We won’t get along, we never have, to tell you the truth, that and I’m honestly not attracted to her. She’s not my type, and there would be no way for us to work past it, and when I cheat on her, I’d wind up with a bullet in my brain.”
“I noticed you said when…” Uh, oh, she was getting frosty again.
“Well yeah, I wouldn’t want to sleep with her, but I still have my needs, right? Trust me when I say this, but there is no way I’d be able to get it up with Miko.”
“He’s right.” Kudo the bouncer spoke up. “If it weren’t for her cruel streak, the fact that she looks like a little boy is a huge turnoff. Even at twenty, she still could pass as a twelve-year-old boy.”
“Now you see why I couldn’t bring myself to marry her? You’re everything I find attractive in a woman. So why not?”
She looked as if she was softening up. “Alright, I’ll marry you. Don’t take this the wrong way though, but, if it weren’t for the fact mister Ninja Face over there wasn’t about to give me a third eye socket, I would probably have turned you down.” I sighed with relief. “As for the whole shape shifter thing. I’ll believe it when I see it,” she said with a straight face as she got up. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go vomit some more.” She said this as she gracefully walked towards the ladies room.
*
I got up from the bathroom floor after barfing for the third time that morning. At least the lemon-lime soda didn’t taste bad coming back up. I looked around and finally noticed how immaculate the bathroom was. Like this was what was considered a dive bar in Japan, I guessed and the seating area was immaculate and the bathrooms were just as clean. I still couldn’t get over that part of the culture shift.
I washed my hands and made sure I was reasonably put together before I walked out of the bathroom. I couldn’t believe Kintaro. I took the damn morning after pill within the time frame, too. Maybe it was the illegal pharmacy I got it from, probably wasn’t even the legit plan B. I should have known better.
I tried to get a referral for an abortion but Japanese Law stated that I couldn’t get one unless it would put me in undue economic or physical hardship, or I was raped. Neither of those were true, so my abortion request was denied.
Pushing the door to the bathroom open, I went back out to the bar to talk to Kintaro about this stupid wedding. I sat back down at the bar as Kintaro iced his jaw. I really shouldn’t have hit him but I was so shocked at his idea that it was just reflexive. “Look I’m sorry for punching you…”
“Don’t be, I had it coming. I should have had more tact in breaking the idea to you.” Wow, he was apologizing.
“So when do we actually get this wedding going?” I figured I had a month or so to get through the Japanese citizenship red tape before getting hitched…
“Tomorrow.” Kintaro said, looking ashamed. “The elders want it performed on the full moon. They say that the lunar spirit is all about fertility and whatnot. It’s going to be a traditional Shinto wedding I guess, if you don’t mind.”
“Traditional Shinto? That usually takes time to prepare.” From the elaborate weddings I’ve been invited to attend, the Shinto ceremony was beautiful and full of deeply meaningful ritual.
“You will wear my mother’s gown. She was actually the same size you are when she married my father, I hope you don’t mind.” As he told me this I felt my heart flutter. Even though I really wasn’t ready to settle down, the thought of a wedding sent my heart fluttering, and wearing his mom’s gown just added to the romance.
“Will she mind?” Honestly, the woman never met me, so she might have an issue with it.
Kintaro’s face went downcast for a brief second and then angry. “She’s dead. She was in the airplane with my father when it crashed into the South China Sea.”
“Wow, I’m so sorry.” I touched his hand. “I didn’t even know.”
“Yeah, that’s the problem with all these rushed arranged marriages, we can’t get to know each other before getting hitched. Anyway, we’re working on your immigration paperwork now. It should be cleared by later today. After the wedding, you can go say your vows in front of a magistrate and you’ll be good to go and a legal resident of Japan.”
I nodded because I was just swept away by how fast this was happening. I was a little
upset that my friend Kristina wasn’t able to make it, since she was back in the States. “That’s, this is just happening so quickly, I can’t even…”
“I know. I’m just answering to the elders. Like, if you want to know the truth, I probably would have kept seeing you even if it weren’t for the elders forcing us to rush things, but yeah.”
“You know, if that pharmacy would have given me a pill that worked, we wouldn’t be in this mess,” I said softly.
“Wait, you went to the pharmacy I wrote down, right?” Kintaro looked kind of weirded out.
“Yeah, went in, gave them your card, told them I wanted plan B. Like, I know my spoken Japanese isn’t the best, but I thought I was pretty clear with what I wanted. I might be a bit on the heavy side compared to most Japanese girls, but I’m not so heavy for it to not work.” I would classify myself as a thicker lady, actually, but I was still well below the BMI threshold for the morning after pill to work.
“Your Japanese is fine. I’ll find out who was on duty that day and give them a piece of my mind.” He seemed pretty upset. “Look, everything is going to be okay.” I wanted to believe him so badly.
“Is there anything else I need to know?” Better to be prepared than taken by surprise.
“Well, there’s going to be a part of the ceremony after we drink the wine together, that the elders will change into their animal forms and bless the union. Luckily, I don’t have to do it, it’s not a very fun process.” Well, he was definitely nonchalant about it. Seriously, I didn’t believe that there was such a thing. I didn’t know, honestly. A person who could shift into an animal is pretty out there, but whatever, if it helps them sleep at night. It’ll probably be a bunch of smoke and mirrors anyway, to make me feel all kinds of freaked out. Yeah, OK, whatever.
In reality, I should be excited, but I had an overwhelming sense of dread going into this. Kintaro wasn’t that bad of a guy, for a crime lord. “I really should get going back to my apartment.” I said. “I have a lot to digest and I need to rest up for tomorrow. It’ll probably be busy.”
“Yes, I’ll send people to get you ready at eight in the morning.” He gave me a kiss on the cheek and took my hands. Despite my early pregnancy, I still felt tingles of desire well up when he touched me.
The next day, I was roused by my apartment buzzer going off. “Alright, give me a minute.” I yelled while stumbling out of bed. I tossed on my bathrobe and hit the button to open the security doors down below.
I managed to make myself a cup of coffee while waiting for the knock on my door and was sipping at it when the people arrived. Yeah I’m pregnant and having a coffee, so sue me. “Alright, give me a second,” I said as I answered the insistent knocking. I put my cup down and walked over to my door and opened it.
On the other side was a matronly Japanese lady carrying a makeup case and a dry-cleaning bag. “Go have a shower, I’ll set up,” she said as she pushed her way in. Geez, not even a hello or an introduction, alright, so I just nodded and went into my small bathroom to clean up.
As the warm water streamed over my naked body, I felt another wave of nausea wash over me. I braced myself against the white shower stall wall and waited for it to pass. After a minute or so, I finished freshening up and towelled off.
I wrapped the towel around me and stepped back into my kitchen. I noticed the woman had set up at my small table. “Alright, sit down and let me get to work. I’m not used to working with curly hair, so I think we’ll just pin it up and have it cascade across your shoulder and out the hood, what do you think?”
“I think that will work just fine,” I said as the woman grunted and went to work on my hair. She first moussed it, then she took a blow dryer with a diffuser to it. “For someone who hasn’t worked with curly hair, you know what you’re doing.”
“Well, I’m a hair dresser and aesthetician. I did take courses, I just never had the chance to apply it.” She scrunched and finger combed my mass of fire red curls while she took the blow dryer to it, then she took each section and carefully positioned it on top of my head with bobby pins.
After she was finished, she did my makeup. I hoped she had picked a palette that went with my skin tone. Sometimes makeup artists want me to be darker than I really was and it really didn’t work well with me.
She worked for about twenty minutes getting the shading and contouring just right. After she was finished, she put a mirror up to my face. “So how do you like it?”
My eyes went wide. She did a perfect swept eye look that gave me a vaguely Asian cast. The eyeshadow was a brilliant emerald green which set my eyes off brilliantly. Everything was stunning. “Alright, I need to take lessons.”
She laughed. “Don’t worry I’ve been hired to keep you on point for as long as you need me.” Wait my own personal beautician, OK, when did I die and, what did I do in my life to deserve this kind of Heaven?
I got up and took the dry cleaner bag with me to my small bedroom. “Wait, I have to help you with that,” the woman said.
“First off, you need to tell me your name if you’re going to be working with me. Second, I would like to get some undergarments on first.”
“Oh, sorry.” She seemed upset, I really didn’t mean to be so harsh, but damn, I was able to put on a bra and underwear on my own. “My name is Usagi.”
“Well, give me a minute and I’ll let you in to help me put this on, okay?”
“That’s fine.” She gently took the dry cleaning bag from me. “I’ll wait out here with it.”
That worked, so I went into my room and picked out a really gorgeous lace bra and underwear set. The underwear faded from black to white with all the shades of grey in between, and so did the beautiful lace shelf bra. I looked at myself proudly in the mirror and saw my curvy, soft body standing before me and smiled. I knew I wouldn’t look like this forever, but I’ll enjoy it now. “I’m ready, you can come in now,” I said to the patient Usagi.
She entered the room and placed the dry cleaning bag onto the small bed and opened the zipper. Inside was the most elegant kimono I have ever laid eyes on.
The fabric was white as new fallen snow, and embroidered on it in fine, gold filament were cherry blossom flowers. The hood was also embroidered with a gold rim and the obi itself was made out of gold fabric with white cherry blossoms embroidered on it. “This is spectacular,” I gasped.
“You aren’t seeing the best part.” Usagi said as she opened the blinds allowing the sun to shine on the wedding kimono.
As soon as the sun hit it, it started to sparkle. “What on…”
“Diamonds are woven into the fabric of both the kimono and obi. There are also pearls sewn in to the obi as well. This was Mrs. Shinno’s wedding kimono. As you can see, they spared no expense. She didn’t want the traditional red lining and obi as you can see, since she was marrying into royalty of sorts.”
“That’s for sure, this must be worth…”
“Millions. So let’s get this on, shall we?” Usagi said as she held the kimono open.
I stepped back and placed my arms into the light silk robe and felt shivers go through me as the cool fabric touched my warm skin. She then wrapped the gold obi around my waist. I looked at myself in the mirror before Usagi lifted the hood. I really loved what I saw. I was the bride I had always wanted to be. Ravishing, demure and powerful. Usagi then reached in and pulled my flowing red locks out and placed them over my shoulder, splashing my hair onto the pristine white fabric. “There you go, perfect,” she said with a smile.
“You’ve got that right,” I said, completely stunned.
“We need to get going to the temple now. Just so you know, my sister is going to be the temple girl.” Usagi said with a smile.
I nodded and glided, because seriously, in a kimono such as this you don’t walk, you don’t jog, you definitely don’t glomp, you glide elegantly to your destination. I opened the door and saw two very large, burly men standing there waiting for me. “Oh, don’t mind them,” Usagi sai
d with a smile. “They’re to make sure we get there safe.” Alright…Guess I have to get used to having some body guards.
We made our way to the venue in a black van. The windows were deeply tinted so nobody could see inside. It wasn’t conspicuous at all, was it? We drove to the outskirts of Tokyo, towards a nature preserve not too far outside of the megalopolis.
“The temple is not too far now,” Usagi said. “It’s been in the Shinno family for generations.”
I watched as we pulled up next to the narrow trail that led up to the shrine. I saw Kintaro standing there in a pitch black kimono outfit. His jacket was tied at the waist with a silvery obi, embroidered with silver cherry blossoms and his hakama pants were black and silver, as well. It was obviously the match to this one. His hair was tied back with a silver ribbon that matched the obi. Oh man, he was just so god damned sexy today, I thought. To be honest, I could have landed with a real monster.
We stepped out of the car and I noticed that Kintaro’s eyes were locked on me. His face remained neutral but I could tell he was impressed, just by the way he fought to keep from smiling. I stood beside him and glanced demurely at him from the corner of my eye, forgetting I was wearing a hood, so I stared at my hands until the procession began to move.
“Are you nervous?” Kintaro whispered in my ear. I honestly couldn’t believe I was getting married to this guy.
“A little,” I replied, completely understating how I was feeling right then and there. I felt like I was going to throw up again, but I didn’t know if it was from pregnancy or nerves, so I motioned to Usagi.
“Do you have anything to settle a stomach?” I asked her. It would look very bad if I puked all over this gorgeous wedding gown.
“Yes, I have some ginger candies in my purse,” Usagi replied as she ran back to the van. When she came back she pressed a candy into my hand. “There you go, let it dissolve slowly in your mouth, but make sure it’s finished by the time you reach the shrine.”
“Not feeling well?” Kintaro asked. He seemed rightfully concerned.