Strike A Deal

Masao sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes and swinging his legs over the edge. With his vision still slightly blurry, he left the bedroom and went to take a shower. He didn't know why he wasn't at home, or what had happened the night before, but he knew he was a mess. He stared at his reflection in the mirror for a while, astonished at how far he had fallen.

He didn't care much about his appearance, but today he looked worse than usual. The bandages wrapped around his head were bloody and peeling off. The dark spots under his eyes appeared darker, his face lacking any signs of life or fullness. He took off the bandages and undressed.

"This is ridiculous..." he sighed, turning on the hot water. He would take a nice, relaxing shower and then figure out what was going on.

As he stood beneath the warm water, feelings from the night before came back to him piece by piece. Someone had been with him, someone he didn't expect to see. He remembered her touch, her small body, and the way he'd held her. He crossed his arms, dropping his head as the water drenched his sorrowful posture.

When he left the bathroom, memories from the night before came flooding back, and he felt his body becoming warm with embarrassment. Yoli was sitting outside the bathroom door with her head resting on her knees. She looked up at him with a smile when he opened the door.

"I forgot that you came back," he said.

He knelt next to her, patting her on the head. "Will we be okay now?" she asked, with a clueless smile. His body tensed at her question, and he pulled her into a hug with the two of them sitting on the floor. He pressed himself against her, finding that they fit together perfectly. His wet hair rubbed against her shirt, and the smell of soap surrounded them.

"We will be okay. Don't worry about it," he reassured.

"Okay, I trust you," Yoli looked him in the eyes, and there was an awkward silence. For a second, he considered kissing her, but he was rudely interrupted by another resident of the house.

"Save the romantics for tonight," Kaho said, entering the room while swinging a keycard around her finger.

Masao's face instantly heated up, and he separated himself from the girl, brushing himself off anxiously when he stood up. "Yoli doesn't do romantics. She isn't like you," he smirked.

The fashionable woman scoffed, shooting him a dirty look. "I can't wait for you to leave. You can't go back to your apartment, though, can you?"

"Right. They'll be looking for us on the streets, so we can't leave too soon. But we can't stay here forever..."

"As long as you guys won't cause trouble, I don't see any reason for you to leave," Hideo chimed in, opening his bedroom door with a yawn.

COT had people working for them all across Japan. It didn't matter where they ran off to; they would be found eventually. Staying with the gang would provide them with protection and a roof over their heads.

The day went by slowly. Masao sat in the living room sleeping, and Yoli helped Kaho with chores around the house. There wasn't much they could do since they couldn't go outside. He felt even more helpless than before and guilty for putting his friends in danger. If he hadn't allowed Yoli to stay with him, they wouldn't be in this mess.

In the evening, a light knock came to the door, barely audible through the downpour of rain. The others were out attending to usual business, and the girls were busy sorting through Kaho's memorabilia from her teenage years. Masao had no other option but to get up and answer the door. "Coming..." he tiredly answered, mustering all the strength in his body to stand up.

His mind was foggy, and he had no clue who it could be at such an odd time of day. When he opened the door, he came face to face with a stranger.

The man was soaking wet, with long black hair that came to his shoulders in a choppy cut. His hair was dripping onto his clothes, a brown detective-style jacket with black jeans. He looked unkempt and tired, similar to Masao. The man had a lit cigarette in his hand. Masao couldn't help but stare at the man's face, since that's where his most striking feature resided: his eye.

His left eye was completely covered by a huge, discolored scar. The skin slightly sunk into where his eye socket was, like there had never been an eye there to begin with. The wound was old and healed, something the man had carried with him for his whole life.

"Are you Masao Takeda?" he grunted, lighting a cigarette.

He nodded and blocked the doorway so the man couldn't come inside. He got the feeling that he might be after Yoli, and he hoped the girls would hide.

"I'm Hajime Kono with the SPS. I assume you know what trouble you've got yourself into, kidnapping a girl and such, so you'd be wise to hand her over," he said with a serious expression. He didn't seem angry, just stern.

"Ngh...street protection service...get the fuck outa here," Masao said, his lack of energy evident in his voice. The man's expression became solid, and he pushed him aside, forcing his way into the house. "Hey! I said-"

"Damn, kids. That girl is government property. Don't go sticking your noses in things that don't concern you," he grumbled. Hajime immediately started looking around the place. He was rough and thorough with his investigation. Masao only held his breath, hoping that he wouldn't find Yoli and Kaho, who were in the storage room last he checked.

Hajime came up with nothing. Finally, he returned to the living room and made Masao sit on the floor with him. Sitting across from each other, Masao could feel the stressful aura radiating from the man. "You're going to tell me where you put the girl, or things are going to become difficult," he said.

"Honestly, I have no idea where she is. I didn't do anything to her," Masao defended.

Hajime sighed, resting his head in his palm. "Someone took the girl last night, and we know that she's with you. COT isn't too happy with you right now," he looked Masao straight in the eyes. "I don't have anything against you. I don't care who you are, where you come from, nothing...I'm just doing my job."

Masao stared at the ground. He'd gotten himself wound up in a whole world of trouble by taking Yoli in. He told himself that he was prepared for it, that he would do anything to protect her. But would he? He could go back to living a calm, uneventful life if he just handed her over. But he had grown too attached to the girl over the time they'd spent together.

"You're saying that she belongs to the government. Yoli...she doesn't belong to anyone," he declared. "She is...the most amazing person I've ever met. She's an angel, and I can't live without her. You people...you think I'm keeping her for some sick, selfish reasons! That's not it at all!" he yelled, clenching his fists.

"Oh, really? Why don't you tell me then? Why does she stay with you?" Hajime blew smoke from his mouth, smirking slightly at how riled up he was able to get Masao.

"She chooses to be with me! Yoli loves being with me!" he said. Hajime raised an eyebrow, listening silently. "You can torture me, do whatever experiments you want on me, hell, you can kill me, but I'll never let you have her! I'd rather die than let that slimy, perverted freak lay his hands on my angel! Just watch me, if you even try to bring her back to that prison you call a "protected facility", me and my gang will track down all of you dickwads and kill your asses," he spat.

Hajime scowled, rubbing his temple. "That's some nerve you've got, kid. Saying stuff like that to a police officer, well, it would never fly," he shook his head slowly. "Lucky for you, I'm not one for caring."

Masao was struggling to keep himself upright as fatigue and drowsiness wrecked him from the inside.

"I'm willing to work with you. I don't think you're a bad person," Hajime said. "But I can't lose my job, and I don't want to be seen as a criminal like you."

"What's in it for you, huh? You've been calm this whole time," Masao said.

"Please understand that I am not a man who is motivated by money or underhanded gains, nor am I someone who can be swayed by emotions. I just do what I find to be the most interesting," he explained. Masao was more intrigued by the man as he spoke of himself. Since his arrival at the gang's hideout, he acted detached from the situation like a robot whose only purpose was to carry out the task assigned to it.

"Mmn, excuse me?" a sweet voice called like a wind chime to the two men sitting on the floor, and Masao but his tongue.

"What the hell are you doing, Yoli?" he said nervously. Hajime turned around and finally got to meet the short girl he'd been looking for. She was dressed in a thin white nightgown, and her hair was up in a clip. She held a tray with cups on it, steam coming out the top. She walked towards them on bare feet.

"Please don't yell at each other...it isn't polite," she smiled. She sat down beside Masao and gave them both a cup of warm tea. Hajime took a drink from the cup, closing his eyes and humming with a smile.

"I see why you don't want to let her go," he said.

"W-what's that supposed to mean?" Masao grumbled, his eye twitching.

"Oh, nothing. She's a brave little thing to reveal herself at a time like this," he responded. "Where were you hiding?"

Yoli wrapped her hands around Masao's arm and rested her head against his shoulder. "Kaho took me upstairs," she stated. Hajime looked puzzled.

"Nobody uses the upper levels in this building, but we do have a ladder that goes to the room above our storage closet...it's been used a couple times to hide from err- people like you," Masao explained.

"Interesting," Hajime put his cigarette to his lips. "Since we're discussing a deal, I'd like to ask the little lady about her thoughts," he said, gesturing towards Yoli, who was cuddling up against Masao.

"What deal?" she asked.

"We're going to work something out so that you can avoid COT's prying eyes, at least for a while. I have to ask, do you enjoy living with this man? I can't leave you here in good conscience if it's not what you want," he clarified.

Her eyes shifted down shyly, and she grabbed onto the corner of Masao's shirt. "Masao..."

"Go on, it's okay to tell him how you feel," Masao encouraged her, wrapping his arm around her to rub her skin soothingly.

"I- I love living with Masao! Masao is very nice to me, and we have lots of fun together...I don't want to..." she bit her lip as her eyes started to fill with tears. "I don't want to go back to that dark room."

Hajime nodded, deep in thought. "Can't argue with that, can I?"

Masao looked down at the girl holding his arm, his eyes softening. He'd been so wound up by Hajime's visit that he had let himself lose sight of what he was trying to do. All they wanted was to live a peaceful life, something far removed from the lustful, murderous, and evil lives that everyone else led. If he were to protect the girl who mattered most to him, he would have to control his anger.

"How about this: you two stay out of Central City, and stop your gang from committing crimes. If you agree to those terms, I'll make sure COT has no way to find you."

Masao glared at him, taking a sip of tea. After just giving himself a talk, Hajime brought up the worst deal he could've ever imagined.

"I can't do that. I agree not to come here anymore. We don't live here anyway...but my gang will not stop operations. As their former leader, I still support what they stand for, and I would never force them to stop," he said, his gravely voice trailing off into a mumble.

"Hmm, what do you propose then? I've entered the secret dwelling of the most wanted criminal gang in the city, and you expect me to turn a blind eye?"

"If you can look past me keeping Yoli, then you can ignore this, too!" Masao declared.

Hajime snuffed out his cigarette on the heel of his shoe and stood up. "Then you two get out of this city tonight. You'll be in debt to me, Mr.Takeda."

Hajime left without any further complaints, and as soon as the man was gone, Masao pulled Yoli into an exhausted hug. "You okay? You weren't scared, were you?"

"A little bit, but Masao was more scared than I was," she hummed, rubbing his back slowly.

"H-hahah...you noticed that?" he put his hand on her head, rubbing it lightly. "Did you hear what he said? We have to go home now."

She was more excited than he'd ever seen her before, jumping up and down while her eyes sparkled. "I want to go home with Masao."

Maybe it wasn't hard to believe anymore. He'd just been in shock, unwilling to accept the truth. His dirty apartment was not only his own anymore; it was her home too.