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Revenge, Inc. Part 18: A Short Story
Author's Note:
Hello everyone and welcome back. A few of you wondered where this train called Revenge, Inc. would take them and asked the question,"Are we there yet?" Well, I for one am not nearly ready to throw in the towel just yet nor am I ready to end this story abruptly as the concluding installments are right around the bend if you will. I actually envisioned the entire ending of this series by about the third or fourth installment. As the action rises, I'll be coasting away into the NOVEL's end (so let's call it what it is, right?). I assure you that you will like what will come. Although I have not yet written the ending to Revenge, Inc. I have it stored in my fleshy hard drive I call my imagination. So with that said, I ask for your patience and your trust. I greatly appreciate your coming by week-in and week-out to see this story unfold. So sit back, relax and enjoy the ride--no matter how bumpy or smooth it may be.
-ODP
As always, if this is your first time here, please please please start reading this series as it was designed and so begin reading Part One to get its full-effect. Not doing so is like getting dropped inside a very large and overwhelming maze of storyline. Thank you.
P.S. Thank you again and please enjoy.
Kosuke Lucky Fish Market
The more I listened to Katsuro, I knew that he didn’t want stop and so wanted to continue with his story and so let him finish. I needed to know how it was that he found the Four Demons or how it was that they found him.
“So what happened from there?” I asked Katsuro. “I’m guessing that this guy was the key to finding the Odas?”
“No, he wasn’t a clan member himself, but a henchman that worked for them and was a part of their network involved in their dealings. Two actual Odas died that day in the shootout. How did I know this? From the tattoos on their backs. Their tattoos make them easy to spot, but being able to see them is a whole different matter. The rest were other henchmen who were passing the time by gambling, which brings their death total to eight.” Katsuro laughed. “They’re all dead and I didn’t even have to use my katana. My ‘friend’ with the stomach wound the size of grapefruit was very cooperative. Only four words were uttered from his mouth before he went silent. Kosuke Lucky Fish Market’ he said to me. And so after he told me, I left without the threat of any real danger.”
“So why the hell didn’t you come and get Natsumi and me? We would’ve went with you!”
“That is exactly why I didn’t tell you. No, it was out of the question. I can’t be traveling around from one gang hot spot to the next in broad daylight, especially in the company of a foreigner! Such a thing is unheard of in Kyoto and would’ve attracted far too much attention, gai-jin. The last thing I wanted was attention and besides, I needed to find the Oda Clan before any one of us made any sudden moves against them. They may not be ninja, but the know how to disappear like them.
“So I went over to the Lucky Fish from the side entrance. The building was huge, taking up practically an entire block. It might look like a fish market from the outside, but their real business was racketeering, extortion, and money laundering. The Oda’s have, as you would put it, ‘Their fingers in every pie?’”
“Sure,” I said. “You could say that.”
“I was surprised to find that there was no one guarding the side entrance—no one wearing anything out of context of working for the place as a laborer. Perhaps this was just so as to not raise any suspicion. While I was outside the place, I grabbed one of the workers who was on his way to the dumpster and knocked him out. I then took his overcoat and went quickly inside to survey the place much like an inspector. I found a clipboard while walking inside and did my best to look like I knew what the hell I was doing. One of the workers looked at me with some confusion so I told him to ‘mind his own fucking business’. He then turned and walked away.”
“So what exactly were you looking for?”
“I wasn’t really sure at the time…Some kind of room hidden away from the rest of the place, much like that shit-hole bar I first walked into. I was working on my instincts. I walked to their upstairs and found nothing but offices and administrative workers who gave me a suspicious look. Inspection must be a normal occurrence there as no one else paid me any mind. Every so often, I’d pause, look down at my clipboard and scribble a check mark just for the heck of it. I’d then move on and continue looking over the place. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It was your everyday fish market and was nothing really exciting, with the exception of its obvious size. But that’s what bothered me about it. The Kosuke Lucky Fish Market was just too big for its own good. I almost gave up looking around after some time and began doubting my soon-to-be-dead informant when something happened.”
“What’s that?”
“I saw two guys enter the cooler, one after the other. They were slightly better dressed then the rest of the day-laborers and were almost unnoticeable in comparison. No one but me seemed to pay them any mind but me. Well, after a few minutes went by and they still had yet to come out, I decided to go in after them to see what happened. As soon as I went in after them, one of them was waiting for me just as soon as I got inside. He went to stab me in the gut with a knife in which I blocked with my clipboard. I then took hold of his wrist and turned it against him. Apparently, I surprised his buddy, because he began running away from me—all the way to the back of the large, rectangular cooler. Where the hell does he think he’s going? I thought. He shoved past some hanging strips and disappeared. I got over there just in time to catch him as he began closing the heavy steel door against my face. I kicked the door open and sent the bastard reeling. I tell you, these guys are pretty damn clever…”
“So you found the hideout?”
“Yeah, I did. Who would think to put the entrance at the very end of a cooler?”
“That is pretty clever…So you killed this guy too?”
“No. He was my ticket inside. I knew that security inside must be pretty heavy and so I had this second guy lead the way with my shuriken pointing the way down one corridor to the next. And just like I thought, when finally we reached the end, another heavy door blocked a second entrance. Two ‘heavy’ armed bastards blocked my path. They must’ve weighed five-hundred kilos each. Once we were in plain sight, the stupid bastard that I was holding hostage yells out, ’Intruder!’ and quickly ducked down, like that would save him somehow. Well, the two guards then opened fire and shot my hostage immediately. I jumped up and kicked the light above all of us. It was my only hope. I then moved in for the kill. Now, this is where I get a bit hazy: I remember taking out one of the guards—the one closest to me and then moved on to the next when suddenly, I felt a pain in my neck. At first I thought I was dead, but then felt the familiar sensation of the quick-working poison my father once introduced me to and knew that I was only being knocked unconscious and not killed. With the sounds of the firing from the guards, I couldn’t hear anything else around me. Someone obviously wanted me alive. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here talking to you right now.”
The Time to Act
I was growing uneasy by the minute. I couldn’t hold it in much longer. All I could think about was Natsumi within the clutches of that Ritsuko. I was getting tense. Here we were just biding time while she remained helpless and was being held against her will. I mean what if that asshole was touching her? Or worst yet…“Well, you’re sewn up and we’re well rested,” I said getting to my feet and began flexing my fingers and the rest of my body. I was ready to act. But in response to all this, Katsuro just sat there and shook his head.
“No.” He said. I was appalled.
“No? Why the fuck not?”
“Patience, gai jin. The time is not now to strike. Right now, we wait.” He was killing me. All I wanted to do with find Natsumi. The thought of her falling prey to the Odas was inconceivable. How the fuck could he sit there and remain so calm? I thought. That was his sister that was in the hands of mortal enemy!
“Are you so far gone that you don’t understand the danger your sister is in?” After he didn’t respond, I raised my voice. “Right now they could be raping her! Do you understand me?” Suddenly, Katsuro go up and walked away. In a blind rage, I rushed toward him with my katana drawn. But before I could get within striking distance of him, Katsuro turned to me with his katana drawn. He was indeed ready for me to strike.
“So it is true…Do you take me for a fool, gai jin? Do you think I don’t know about you and Natsumi? Are you afraid that Ritsuko and the Odas will rape her the way you raped her?” My jaw muscles tightened up. I could barely speak.
“I didn’t…rape your sister, Katsuro.”
“You are a fucking liar!”
The two of us stayed that way for a long time. My entire body was shaking. I was fighting the urge to chop off his fucking head and I believed that Katsuro wanted to do the very same to me. His words were like acid to my ears. Both of us knew now where to find Natsumi but neither of us could go at it alone. Unfortunately, the two of us needed one another to help save Natsumi. There was no way that either of us could take on an army of one-thousand. There was no way in hell.
© Copyright 2010. All Rights Reserved.
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