Illicit’s eyes began glowing once again, leering at Yuki. “Talk to Ayame tonight about this and convince her of our cause. If we can get her to join us, we can bring the yakuza to their knees. Do you understand?”
Yuki nodded without saying a word.
Illicit got close to Yuki’s face as if she was going to kiss her. Yuki opened her lips slightly as Illicit breathed a red mist into her mouth and whispered in her ear.
“You belong to me now! We…are…one!”
Yuki gasped and looked around, but there was no sign of Illicit. She remembered her being there and the conversation they had about the yakuza but she couldn’t remember her leaving.
The only thing she knew is that she felt a strong compulsion to go to call Ayame.
****
At a bus stop near the Zushi train station a couple of days later, Yuki Williams made a few calls to her friend, college student Ayame Komatsu, daughter of the deceased Iyaka Ioka and stepdaughter of Fukushima gangster Hideyoshi Ioka. Her calls went unanswered.
For several days, Yuki called Ayame obsessively and just when she was about to give up, Ayame pulled up in front of Yuki’s tattoo parlor in a hot bubble gum pink Rolls Royce Wraith, burst through the doors and told Yuki, "I need a drink."
Yuki just shook her head, grabbed her purse and jumped in the car.
Within minutes they were headed to one of her favorite bar in Yokosuka, a small bar called Soul Power, near the Fleet Activities Yokosuka Naval Base. They went to the bar area and Yuki ordered shots of tequila for her and Ayame. When the bartender gave them the shots, Yuki and Ayame took the glass and raised them.
"To Iyaka," Yuki said. "May she find peace in the loving arms of whatever she believes!"
"To Mom," Ayame said.
Their glasses clinked together and they took it to the head with ease. Both let out a hiss, then a howl. Yuki asked for two more.
"So what are you going to do?" asked Yuki.
Without hesitating, Ayame looked Yuki in the eyes and spoke with pure hatred, "I'm going to kill that son of a bitch Kento Karahawa."
Yuki chuckled. "Really? With what? What army you taking with you on your fuckin' crusade?"
"I'm sure I can find someone," Ayame said. “I already have one crazy ass bitch that is down for me.
“Who?”
“You, dumb ass,” said Ayame jokingly while hitting Yuki in the arm. “Yeah, I’m going to set Kento up by getting you to give him some and while you’re on your knees blowing him—”
“Hold on! Why I gotta be sucking him?” chuckled Yuki.
“Because you suck! But listen, this is how it’s going to go down. While you’re on your knees bobbing your head up and down, I’m going to walk up from behind and bloaaaawwww!”
When Ayame made the hand gesture of a gun being fired, Yuki knew she was all too serious and figured this was the perfect time to bring up Illicit.
“It’s funny you should bring this up. A very good friend of mine came to visit me and she had heard about your mother and all the foul shit that the yakuza had been doing and she asked if I wanted to do something about it.”
“Something like what?” said Ayame while taking a sip of 1800 tequila.
“Form an all-women organization and bring every living yakuza to their knees.”
“What do we need to do?” said Ayame.
“Get as many bad ass girls together and begin turning each faction against one another so that they break their treaty and begin warring with one another. Then when they’re weakened, we strike AND I PROMISE YOU Ayame, Kento will pay for what he did to your mother.”
More than anything, the passion in Yuki’s voice convinced Ayame that this wasn’t a game and they were going to make Kento and all Japanese yakuza pay.
Ayame nodded and smirked devilishly as thoughts of Kento begging for his life while she stood over him with a gun replayed in her mind.
“I like that! Bad ass bitches.”
Yuki grinned. “Yeah! Like…what’s the word? Sukebans!”
Ayame raised her glass. “Going old school? Really?” With a slight huff, she relented. “Alright fine! To the Sukeban and the death of all yakuza.”
With the clink of their glasses, it consummated the death of every yakuza boss in Japan. From then on in the eyes of the good friends, the Inato and Fukushima crime families were on borrowed time.
“So do you have anyone in mind for this little Cosa Nostra?” said Ayame.
“I think I might know someone,” smiled Yuki.
****
She stared at the clock as if trying to hypnotizing it would make it go faster. Or maybe it was more in part because of her boring algebra teacher teaching his craft as if he was sleepwalking. Most of the teenagers around her were into their own dramas, not caring one bit about his teachings as well.
As time was ticking away before school ended for the day and on to the separate afternoon clubs, there were only two thoughts on sixteen-year-old Ayuko Fukai's mind: getting ready for her practice with her dance group and getting her chance to bag the boy crush of her dreams.
When she went outside on the field near the Nakahiro High School building, she circled around to see if she could find him. Then, turning one corner, she saw him, standing alone waiting for someone or something. Ayuko started moving and just as she was about to get close, another girl came to him and the two kissed one another.
The minute the kiss occurred, it crushed Ayuko Fukai’s heart to the point she just stood still as her crush just followed his so-called girlfriend and her popular crew.
With one mission failed, she could still rely on the other one. She went to one of the public restrooms and changed from her school uniform that always made her want to rip it apart to her street wear that she found more comfortable.
Ayuko went from the restroom to her locker and took out some compact discs. From there, she went into the dance studio of the school where they practiced ballet and theater. She took one of the radios and put one of her CDs into the drive, press play, and turned the volume on high. She went to the mirror that showed her reflection and DJ Khaled’s “I’m So Hood” started playing.
When DJ Khaled’s part started, Ayuko touched her body as she could see that she was gaining weight around her face and waist. T-Pain was close to finishing his part and the beat started, Ayuko went into her dancing berserker mode. Just like a ballet dancer, coordination, athleticism, and the specific moves to match the right beats were an intricate part of making her one of the most exceptional if not infamous dancers in Nakahiro High.
Dance made Ayuko forget about all of her problems. Coming from a broken home saturated with yakuza loyalties to having her own apartment paid for by her older brother, she used dance to make her statements.
Her chosen piece of music played a part as well.
Hip-hop had always been popular in Japan and teenagers like Ayuko not only embrace it, but used it to rebel against their establishment; in this case, a principal thinking about budget, female teachers with nothing to teach or male teachers who were horny and desperate, catching themselves looking at the short skirts of the adolescent female population when they hiked them up to expose their sexy, athletic legs.
When Ayuko made her turns, twists her legs, pump her fist and watched herself in the mirror to see what she was doing and what she could improve upon, she let the music in her mixed CD take her to other places in her subconscious.
In her world, she was and could be anything she wanted.
Even her own gangster brother…
****
Kobe had always been a prime base for the Japanese yakuza. Not meant to be nothing more than a gateway to two significant and marketable cities, the urban metropolis Osaka and picturesque Kyoto, it became the perfect spot to hold their meetings and established policy among the yakuza hierarchy.
The head of this particular commission had been Daiichi Fukushima, being the longest-serving oyabun in Japan, with two others slightly matching it. Sittin
g at the head table of one of their homes, he stared at one in particular: the oyabun of the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe connection, Shintaro Sagawa.
Sagawa and Fukushima had been rivals since their young thug days of Fukuoka, where the yakuza wars were bloody and vicious. Being survivors of those battles, they rose to become heads of their own families with Fukushima having more control due to his main business centered between Yokohama and Tokyo.
But he never turned his back or took his eyes off of the more deceptive Sagawa. Even presently, as Sagawa spoke his peace.
"News is all over the place about your former underboss," Sagawa said. "I thought you had a handle on this."
"What can I say? I underestimate Inato's drive," Fukushima said. "Of course, it's mostly one of them that's causing all this mess. I'm sure that Inato has no control over him."
Sagawa smiled. "Something tells me that you want this to continue?"
"Inato won't last long on his throne," Fukushima responded. "Trust me on that. Even if that wasn't the case, he and his family won't interfere with what we have. It never had. Rest assured. We're good!"
"Well, I'm pleased to hear that. I guess we have to discuss the other thing."
Fukushima nodded. "Ah, yes! The wedding!"
"My son will be coming back from Singapore at the end of the month after finishing what he needs to do. Meanwhile, how’s your daughter?"
"My daughter is fine," Fukushima answered. "And she'll be ready to take her place along with your son in unifying the families."
Sagawa grinned. He couldn't have received better news.
It had been years in the making: the unification of the Fukushima and Sagawa crime families. At first, it was never close. Then came the death of Fukushima's son and heir that changed everything. Seeing power slipping and his over-mighty underbosses looking to take the mantle, he knew that unifying with his greatest rival was the most significant move he could ever make.
Both men got up from their seat and shook hands.
"I hope for our children's sake, this works out," Sagawa said.
"I hope so as well, old friend," Fukushima agreed.
Then, the men took their traditional bow to one another, neither one lowering for the other as a sign of respect and that some things will never change...
****
Secretly, Yuki Williams ruled the small port town of Yokosuka. Everyone near the Yokosuka Naval Base and around the main shopping area, Blue Street, catered to Yuki and her small circle of friends. Besides having a tattoo parlor to call her own, she also held stock in some clubs in the area known among the U.S. Navy as the "Honch" area.
Being half-Japanese, she could navigate among the Japanese because she knew the language and customs. Being half-African-American, she had the street smarts not to cater to the usual Japanese female stereotype of the submissive. Also, her beauty was unmatched and unchallenged by any Japanese or American woman.
More importantly, she had the Navy connection thanks to her father, which meant more respect among the ranks.
She connected dues from the different Filipina and Chinese madams trying to persuade sailors to journey into their establishments and cough up money when they got paid. If there was a problem, they would see the twenty-five year old Yuki at her shop and she would fix the issue right then and there. Some say that she did this to cater more to the Americans than to the Japanese. However, one thing they couldn't dispute was that there was peace in Yokosuka, the other Yoko as Yuki would say, as long as everyone played their part.
Unfortunately, Yuki had to play her part as well by catering to her boss.
On this day, she had to make the trip all the way to Narita International Airport to pick her up from one of her vacations she would take often to rebel against her father.
When she got there, she stood by the arrival gate waiting for her. Already, she had to deal with the eyes from older Japanese men who either like her because of her beauty or don't because of her brown-colored skin.
A few minutes into the wait, she saw her boss coming out with two suitcases. Right away, she made her customary bow. Then, they smiled and gave each other a hug.
In Keiko Fukushima's world, being the daughter of a mob boss, she would never associate herself with Yuki Williams in her particular circles. On the other hand, Keiko was a part of the new Japanese woman movement: young, ambitious, loves spending money, had lots of sex, and never wanted to be married or have kids.
All the things that connected her and Yuki.
As well as their love of hip-hop.
Right away, as they went into Keiko's red Lamborghini, and when they were on the road, Yuki catered to Keiko's hip-hop fascination by playing her what was hot and on the streets. From Narita all the way to Keiko's home in Yokohama, it was hip-hop and rhythm and blues from Yuki's personal collection with the thirty-year-old Keiko trying to be hip and speak the lingo.
When they ended up in Yokohama, it was here that Keiko blurted out what had been on her mind for the entire time.
"I'm getting married!"
This made Yuki lowered the music down. "Are...are you serious?"
"Serious enough according to my father," Keiko responded. "For all I know, the wedding might as well have happened already."
"When do we celebrate?"
"I don't know. I don't even want the marriage. If I married him, my father might as well give up the family."
"What you mean?"
Keiko explained the intricacies of her family dynamic. "My father has been planning to unify with his rival, Shintaro Sagawa. At first, it was supposed to be my brother marrying his daughter Chisato. They were supposed to unify the families. Then he had to go and get himself killed for some reason." She took a breath, thinking about her deceased older brother. "Anyway, now it falls on me to fix my father's business. So I'm marrying Sagawa's oldest son Shinji."
"Sounds complicated," Yuki commented after hearing the story.
"Just be lucky you're not in my family." Keiko cleared her throat. "What about you? How's business?"
"Good! Better now the fleet's back."
Keiko played at pleading. "I'm afraid you're going to be my saving grace. Continue to make money for me. Save me from a life of marital misery. Even better, I'll tell my father that I like women and you and I can elope. I'll cook and clean for you. I'll give you love every night."
Both women laughed.
****
When they arrived in Keiko's American-style home, Yuki put her luggage away and Keiko just lied back on her couch exhausted from her long trip. She turned on the television to see what was on. Then, she managed to catch the news where a reporter named Cionne Li was reporting on the Sakuragichō shoot out in Yokohama.
"Police are still on the lookout for the gunman responsible for the murder of one Iyaka Ioka. Some speculate that the killer responsible might be none other than Kento Karahawa, renowned member of the Inato crime family who are in dispute with the long-reigning Fukushima crime family..."
Keiko couldn't help but to stare at the screen as Yuki entered into her dining room.
"We need to stock up your refrigerator. I'll get one of the girls to do some shopping tomorrow." Then, she caught Keiko watching the news on the sudden death of Iyaka Ioka.
“Shit,” whispered Yuki.
Keiko took a deep breath and then exploded in anger. “This is the last thing I need right now. Iyaka Ioka’s dead and that thug Kento is on the loose. My father should have killed him a long time ago. If he did that, none of this would be happening and my father wouldn’t be rushing me to get married.”
Yuki grabbed the remote and turned off the television. “Getting angry is not going to solve anything because at the end of the day we are women, which means in a man’s eyes we are nothing but fuck holes, servants and babysitters subjected to live powerless in a man’s world.”
Keiko turned around unable to believe what she was hearing.
“The Inato killed Iyaka Ioka and there was nothing done. Even you play
a part in this. Your father is selling you off in a business merger and making you marry to a man that disgust you and there’s nothing you can do.”
Soon the truth of life’s reality had set in and the only thing Keiko could do was lower her head in shame of what she had become: her own mother.
“How long will it be before you’re the one that’s gunned down ruthlessly by your adversaries because your future husband is the future oyabun?” Yuki asked.
Yuki could tell that her words were piercing into Keiko’s soul. She knew that more than anything, Keiko wanted to be free from her father’s shadow and free from the world of the yakuza.
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