Whitewash High Ch. 23

"I taught you all I know about combat. PSIA or the JDF would salivate at your talents. I still pity your first kill."

"Why?" Gale asked.

"Inexperienced technique. The man's neck didn't snap cleanly."

"His buddy's neck snapped cleaner. I'm a quick study."

"I'll go back and send the letter to Tsubasa. Knowing him, he won't run."

"Gives me an excuse to take a vacation home to Nagoya," Gale replied. "I have to return at some point. I'd hate to clean my laundry during the honeymoon though."

"When are you setting it?" Keishu asked.

"Whenever. Maybe the summer. No big rush. We've already announced it to the clan. We can plan our intimate getaway when all this nasty business is put to rest."

"I wonder who got the bigger shock, the lieutenants or his sluts."

"The lieutenants," Gale chuckled. "The girls knew one day one of us would get married to him. Hell, maybe all four of us will marry him in some form. I don't care."

"I've got to admit, Kaze, this surprises me the most. You waited years to get him for yourself but you happily share him. I couldn't do that."

"You're not the head of a family. I could disappear any woman who looks at him but he'll drift away from me. I've got to swallow a little pride to accomplish all my goals. I'm not some dumb, cuckold slut who'll happily finger herself seeing her man fucking some skank. It is a price for something greater outside the pleasures of the flesh."

"What if he goes back into the business?"

"Won't happen. He did that as a means to an end. He avenged his lover and overpaid his debt. No desire inside him to go back on camera."

"But what if you're wrong?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, but he is happy. He has four sluts to fuck at will, any way the wind blows his perverted sails," Gale answered.

"You've got it all figured out. Musashi would have welcomed your insight into matters."

"Yamahashi follows instructions well enough. Is there anything else you need to report to me?"

"Yeah, your form is slipping."

Gale and Keishu suddenly burst out laughing at the random comment, breaking up the tense mood created from the political workings of their organization.

"I'll leave you now and report back soon."

Keishu left, leaving Gale alone with her thoughts again. The conversation made her remember the first time she killed a person, a man as fate would have it. All the families had female assassins and soldiers, not common but effective. Sex is a powerful weapon to make a man lower his guard to allow a knife to slip into his gut.

Gale swore long ago she would not be a princess needing saving. Her knight in shining armor can't protect her twenty-four hours a day. She looked up to Keishu, long before the kidnapping incident. Men under her father and brother's command, men who looked and were hardened killers, showed Keishu a level of decorum and respect not given to any other woman working for the family.

Part a need for survival, and part wanting the same level of respect, she made sure Keishu trained her relentlessly. That is why when an American affiliate of the Ueno clan tried to kidnap her again, the soldier died in excruciating pain. The man became the first rung of the ladder towards her ascension. Gale could remember every moment of the melee, the neck bone slowly cracking, and the man begging for mercy.

Nik was not the only person whose fate forked on the street that rainy night. Before the attempt on her life, Gale had no interest in joining in the family business. She knew what her family did, and understood she lived a life of luxury because of it, but she sought a different path than them. Sometimes she wondered what her life would have become if that moment ceased to exist. Would it only become a curved path, destined to follow the same fate, or would she be a doctor, lawyer, or beach bum? The only guarantee would be not meeting Nik, and their destinies intertwining together.

X

Suzy leaned up against a pillow, pen in hand, as she worked on an essay for homework. Sammy brought in some school work on the way to school.

"Got time for a visitor?" a female voice asked from the doorway.

Suzy looked up to see Gale leaning up against the doorframe, decked out in biker clothing.

"I've got nothing better to do," she scoffed.

"Still playing the tough girl act, cute. I talked to your doc. You'll be out of here tomorrow. Wanted to let you know I'll be here to pick you up."

"Still giving me charity?" Suzy asked.

Gale shrugged, pulling out a small case from her jacket pocket.

"If you're going to act like a bitch, live the gimmick and look the part."

Suzy opened up the box to see a fancy pair of biker shades.

"So I can still stay with you?" Suzy asked.

"Yeah, the spare is all yours. No more heading to your home without me though. We don't need another incident."

"I have no home," Suzy coldly stated.

"Why haven't you pressed charges against the guy who roughed you up?" Gale asked.

"I can't tell you."

"Don't tell me you're one of those pathetic victim girls who won't turn on their abuser."

"Fuck you, chink. Do you think I'd let someone run roughshot on me and get away with it?" Suzy snapped back. "Do you really want to know why?"

"If I didn't want the answer, I wouldn't have asked."

"Cause I'm going to kill him, that's why. I can't kill him if he is in jail."

Gale walked over and grabbed Suzy by the chin. Suzy immediately slapped Gale's hand away but the yakuza overpowered her.

"You can't fight off my one hand. You'd need a lot of luck to get your revenge."

Suzy slapped the hand away again, this time Gale relented.

"You want to use my spare bedroom like a second home; it'll come with a price."

"There always is a price," Suzy commented.

"I've got a friend, more like a sister. No nonsense girl who has an expertise in these kinds of matters. Get trained by her and you'll pay off my generosity."

Suzy raised an eyebrow, curious but guarded.

"You're investing a lot into me for someone you don't know. Is it you or Mistah Cracka-man talking?"

Gale smirked.

"This is between me and you. He knows you've been staying with me and that is everything he needs to know."

Gale spoke like a trained businesswoman. No flash or burnout styling when with Nik and the harem.

"He is your boyfriend, isn't he?"

"Of course."

"Why?"

Suzy didn't look at Gale while asking the question, not wanting to see joy in the Asian woman's eyes when she responded.

"I'm the type of woman who doesn't give up a good thing. I'm sure there are men out there who are richer, stronger, hotter, and packing larger equipment, but the only thing that matters is I feel happy when I'm with him. No one else replicates that happiness. And what made that happiness is a secret."

Suzy sighed.

"Fine, I'll get trained by your sister. I don't want to hear you two doing it when I'm home though."

"He is far too professional to do that. You're old enough to look after yourself when I'm gone. Don't bring any hoods into the building. I'll pick you up tomorrow morning."

"Wait," Suzy called out, just before Gale left the room.

"Can you teach me how to drive?" she asked.

"You don't know how already?"

"Do you think my mother cared about teaching me? She barely put food in the kitchen. Why do you think I'm so scrawny?"

"Yeah, sure, I can teach you. Piece of cake."

"Thanks," Suzy mumbled out.

Gale smiled. She heard the words, words that no doubt took a lot of effort to come from the girl's lips. Gale spoke the truth when she told Suzy that this was a deal between the two of them. Nik had no involvement in this arrangement, nor would he. A long-term game required long-term machinations.

To most people who looked at Suzy, they'd see a broken, bitter, ill-mannered hoodrat that fit in nowhere. Loads of potential suppressed by a situation fate's cards dealt out to her. To Gale, she saw a protégé, someone who mirrored parts of her own teenage years. With proper guidance and mentoring, Suzy would make a quality addition to her grand chess board.