Kaori struck the match and it flared to life.
Her large almond eyes were alive with mischief. Her long glossy black hair, usually tied in a ponytail, hung free around her shoulders. Her smile lit up the room as well as her beautiful face. She could have been a fashion model if she wished. Kaori was tall and drop dead gorgeous. She never wanted for admirers.

Kaori and Yukie sat cross legged on the floor of her bedroom, dressed only in their white bras and panties. They leaned their cigarettes toward the flame until they flared to life, almost touching foreheads.

Yukie coughed. Kaori thought she was cute. Yukie wore her clothes in the Harajuku style, complete with the purple highlights in her naturally black hair. She had pigtails on each side of her head. Yukie looked like an anime character when she dressed like this. A nice, cute, large breasted anime character.

“No, not like that,” Kaori said. “Inhale the smoke and hold it. Like this.”
Kaori leaned her head back, took in a lungful of rich tobacco smoke, held it a moment, then exhaled.

The door suddenly burst open.
“Kaori,” Nobuo breathed, as if relieved.
Kaori recognized him as her father’s most loyal lieutenant. He was once his trusted bodyguard, but now he had his own piece of her dad’s territory. She supposed he would be considered handsome by most women, even though he was about twice her age.

“What the fuck?” Kaori snapped. “I know my dad doesn’t want me to smoke, but this is ridiculous!”
“Are you all right?” Nobuo asked, checking the perimeter of the room. “No one else is here?”
“Only Yukie here,” Kaori said, referring to her friend, who was watching in stunned silence.
Nobuo kept checking the windows. “Good.”

“So why did you bust in here like that?” Kaori asked, recovering from her shock.
“We need to get you out of here,” Nobuo said. “It isn’t safe.”
“This is my house!” Kaori protested,
“Which is why it isn’t safe. Get dressed.”
“What is going on?” Kaori shouted.
Nobuo looked into her eyes. “Please, Kaori. Your life depends on it.”
Kaori blinked. “You’re serious.”

Nobuo nodded. “Hurry.” He looked at Yukie. “I’ll make sure someone gets you home safely, young lady.”
Kaori narrowed her eyes at him as she pulled on a sweatshirt. “She’s my girlfriend. She comes with me.”
“I know you want to protect your friends, Kaori, but…”
“She’s my girlfriend. I mean my we-take-a-shower-together-after-having-sex girlfriend.”
Nobuo nodded. “You are right then. She may be used against you.” He looked at Yukie. “Get ready, quickly.”
The girls dressed quickly. Kaori went to pack a bag, but Nobuo stopped her.
“Leave it. My men can come back for anything you need. We must go.”
Kaori looked at Nobuo. “What the hell is going on?”
Nobuo ushered the girls toward the door. “I will explain on the way.”

Kaori and Yukie sat in the back of the bulletproof limousine with Nobuo.
“OK,” Kaori snapped, impatient. “Out with it. It’s my dad, isn’t it?”
Kaori was not naïve. She knew who her dad was. He was one of the biggest, most powerful yakuza bosses in Tokyo. It was the reason her mother finally ran off, she couldn’t take the violence any more. Her father had done her mother a favor and didn’t go after her.
The incredible riches he garnered from his business had given Kaori a great life. As his only daughter, Masahiko Ichida spoiled her, giving her anything she wanted.
Nobuo still had not answered her, as if afraid to speak the words aloud.
“Kaori-san…your father was murdered while in the country with his mistress.”
Tears rolled down Kaori’s face. Yukie put her arms around her and held her. Kaori always knew that it was possible with the life he led that he could be killed someday, but he was always so careful…
“No…”

“I am sorry.”
Kaori shook her head. “It’s not your fault. You’re not his bodyguard any more.”
“If it helps to know, he died fighting.”
Kaori nodded. “I never doubted it a minute.”
“I am afraid that is not all.”

Kaori’s eyes went wide. “There’s more?”
Nobuo nodded. “Your mother was shot to death in a shopping mall in Kyoto.”
Kaori screamed. “Mama too? Oh…” She cried on Yukie’s shoulder.
Nobuo put a hand on her back. “You see why I came to find you. They were trying to exterminate your family. They want the Ichida line to end. We cannot let that happen.”
“Who cares?” Kaori cried. “I have no one now.”
“You have me, Kaori-san,” Nobuo said. “I pledge my life to you.”
Kaori touched his hand. “Thanks, Nobuo. You have always been loyal to my father.”
“As I will be loyal to you.”

Kaori blinked. “Me? What are you saying?”
Nobuo sighed. “The clan is in chaos. Your father is dead. All his lieutenants were slaughtered. I barely escaped an attempt on my own life. Our only hope is you.”
Kaori laughed. “Me? I’m just a nineteen year old girl. My biggest worries are how I’m getting through college, what outfit I’m going to wear tomorrow, and how to tell my dad I don’t want to marry one of the boys he has picked for me because I like girls. How the hell can I help you guys?”

Nobuo looked into her eyes. “You are an Ichida. The last one. Only you can bring order to the chaos.”

Kaori shook her head. “Oh no.” She paused. “Are you fucking crazy? Is this a fucking joke? Did dad put you up to this? He’s not really dead, right? He’s just testing me.”
Nobuo looked down. “Kaori, listen to me.”
“I hear you. I just can’t believe my ears.”
Nobuo took her hand. “I will help you, Kaori-san. But you must do this. This is your family’s legacy.”

“So you expect me to be some kind of big time crime lord?” Kaori asked, laughing and motioning to herself. “Me? A teenage girl? Carry a gun? Shoot people? All that blood and guts and killing and shit? Yuck.”
Nobuo sighed. “If you do not, we will all die. Including you. They will not let you live, whether you take control of this clan or not.”
“Holy shit. This is fucking unbelievable.” Kaori paused. “I really could use a cigarette.”
Nobuo obediently produced one and lit it for her.
Kaori leaned back and puffed on her cigarette (a damn good one, by the way) as she thought about all this. How the hell can she be what they want? She didn’t have a violent bone in her body. She didn’t even like to swat flies.
“We are going to a place of safety,” Nobuo told her. “I will teach you whatever you need to know. By the time things die down, you will be the strong leader you need to be.” Nobuo took her hand, looked into her eyes. “Trust me, Kaori.”
Kaori sighed, a cloud of smoke escaping her lips. “I guess I have no choice.”

The bulletproof limo pulled into a gated compound after a drive of about an hour or so. Armed guards were everywhere. Not just armed with pistols, but automatic weapons.
Kaori knew nothing about this place so she doubted anyone else did as well. Maybe it’s supposed to be that way in case of emergencies. Maybe this was Nobuo’s place.
They pulled in front of a big house. A line of men stood on both sides of the entry to the house between the limo and the front door. Nobuo got out, checked out the surroundings for a moment, then motioned for the two girls to follow.

The two girls followed Nobuo into the house, surrounded by armed men, so much so that there were no gaps anyone could have shot through. Nobuo had planned all this well.
The house was very elegantly furnished. Kaori was impressed. She saw Yukie looking around wide eyed at all the opulence. Pretty much the same as she did while in Kaori’s house. Yukie came from a middle class background, after all.

If Kaori had anything to say about it, Yukie would always be a part of this kind of opulence. She would get used to it.
“You should get some rest,” Nobuo told them. “The master bedroom is at the far end of the second floor.”

“Thank you, Nobuo,” Kaori said. “For everything.”
“It is my duty,” Nobuo said.
The girls went upstairs. A sort time later, Masao, Nobuo’s most trusted friend and clan member, walked up to his side.
“Everything is ready,” Masao said. “She will be safe here.”
“Good,” Nobuo replied.
“So that is Kaori-san,” he said. “She does not seem ready for this, my friend.”
“She will be,” Nobuo said, looking up the stair case. “She will have to be. She is our only hope.”

Kaori and Yukie lay in the big four poster bed in the huge master bedroom, their arms wrapped around each other. Neither one of them were in danger of sleeping.
“I’m scared,” Yukie said.
“I’m scared shitless,” Kaori admitted.
“I can’t see you being a crime boss,” Yukie laughed.
“Yeah, I’m so scary and all. Especially without makeup.”
“No! You’re beautiful.”
Kaori kissed her gently. “Thanks.”
“I don’t want to lose you,” Yukie said, tears in her eyes.
“You won’t,” Kaori said. “Nobuo is a good man.”
“But if they could kill your father….”
“Stop it!” Kaori snapped. “Can’t you see I’m worried? That maybe I don’t want to talk about this right now?”

Yukie lowered her eyes. “I’m sorry. It’s just…I love you so much…I don’t want you to die...”
Kaori put a finger under the cute girl’s chin, lifted her face up to hers. “I know.” She paused and smiled. “I was thinking, since we are already awake…”
Yukie smiled. “I like the way you think.”
Kaori kissed her, more hungrily this time, hotly and very passionately. She rolled Yukie over on her back as they lost themselves in each other for a while.

Akiko entered the darkened room. The only light she could see was the glowing end of a lit cigarette. She went toward the light switch.
“Leave the fucking light off,” she was told.
Akiko obeyed the command of her boss.
“Report.”

Akiko swallowed. “Our people failed. She still lives.”
A black gloved fist came down hard on the desktop, even making such a hardened criminal such as Akiko jump. “I want that bitch dead!”
“Yes, Madam.”
The dark figure rose, walked up to her. She stood so close to Akiko that she could smell the harsh nicotine on the other woman’s breath.
“I didn’t kill two of the biggest yakuza bosses in Tokyo for that teenage bitch to reap the benefits,” her boss said.

“I know, Madam,” Akiko replied.
There was a pause. The cigarette glowed red, briefly lighting up her boss’ face. Akiko again admired her beauty.
“Perhaps I need to wield a carrot instead of a stick,” her boss said suddenly.
Akiko didn’t understand what her boss was referring to. Or why. “Madam?”
“That little bitch is way over her head and she knows it.”
“Of course she is, Madam,” Akiko agreed.

Her boss paced the room, thinking. “Send her an invitation to dinner. Perhaps I can convince her of the futility of continuing her masquerade.”
“I doubt she would come,” Akiko stated. “Will she not fear for her life?”
“She will come. She will have to in order to save face with her people. And don’t question my orders again. You will pay for your insolence when you come to me tonight.”
Akiko shivered. “Yes, Madam.” Her boss would be extra nasty in the bedroom tonight.
“Now go do as I say.”
“Yes, Madam.”
Akiko turned to leave.
“Oh, and Akiko?”
“Yes, Madam?”
“See to it that those who failed me are executed.”
The boss knew Akiko was smiling even though the room was dark. Her lover had the same sadistic streak that she herself had.
“Yes, Madam.”
The cigarette glowed once more. The boss laughed. Soon she would have everything she ever desired.

To Be Continued........