Plan A, while Veah was explaining it to me with her head between my thighs, went something like this:

           "I don't get it," I gasp, clutching the edge of the pool with white knuckles. "We're going to poison the Wolf? The scariest thing in Tokyo city?"

            Her tongue brushes against that soft, sensitive inner spot. My spine arches. "Yes," she whispers, her face painted in glowing turquoise light. "Once she's unconscious, I'll be in charge of the business. We can't let the European trade deal go through."

            I moan, my entire body shuddering, as a climax rolls through me.

            "So," I pant, "we're just going to knock out the most feared gang leader in the city. How? How do we even get close enough to poison her?"

            "Blackmail," Veah whispers, her fingers trailing over my hips.

            I love the sensation of her hands on me. She feels so right, like her body was made for mine. Which makes it a little hard to focus on what she's saying . . .

          "Blackmail? What do you mean blackmail?"

          "Maiko said we have sixty seconds. If we can convince Okami we're not bluffing, that we have the formula and we breached her security, it'll hit deep. She'll mentally prepare herself for an attack from me . . . not from her wine glass. Or whatever it is we poison―it doesn't matter."

           I try my best to concentrate as she plunges one finger up to the knuckle inside of me. 

          "How do we breach her security?"

           Veah's grin is wry. "It all has to do with a church."

          I didn't find out about Plan B until tonight.

          And that went something like this:

         "A secret? Really?" I say, letting Veah lead me down to the crowded Tokyo streets. She hails a cab, and pulls me inside. 

          But I trip on the side of the road, and manage to somehow collapse on top of her. Her back to the window, one of my legs between hers.

          "The high heels," I say apologetically.

          She only laughs, a storm-bright glint in her eyes, and closes the door behind me. "You look ravishing in that black dress, by the way. Have I told you that?"

          "Well, no. You haven't said ravishing exactly. Although you have said beautiful, breathtaking, stunning, gorgeous . . ." 

          "Can you really blame me? You're my girl."

          Shyly, I smile against her lips. "You know, I . . ."

          But she kisses me, and the words escape.

         "So, tell me more," I say, gasping, my forehead against hers. "What are we even doing? We're going to be late. Maiko and Ren will kill us, you know."

          "Kaneiji Temple," Veah orders the cab driver. To me, she says, "We can annul it tomorrow. It's only for tonight, just in case Plan A blows up."

          Now I am worried. "Annul it? Annul what?"

         "Kaya Lee Rivers," she begins.

          I shake my head, pulling back. "You're not . . ."

         "I can't explain it all to you now, but I need you to trust me. The Japanese crime syndicate is traditional. The Yakuza respect family. So if I die tonight―"

         "Don't be ridiculous. You're practically unkillable."

        "If I die," she continues, "I need you to do this."

        "I don't understand."

        "Tonight, when I try and blackmail Okami, it's likely she'll kill me on the spot. But if she does, I plan on taking her down with me. You have to trust me when I tell you this: if me and Okami are gone, the power of the Kogu-Ryu gang goes to someone who should never, ever have that kind of authority."

         "What does that have to do with me? Or this secret?"

         "Just trust me," Veah says urgently. "Please. Remember what I said about the Yakuza being traditional? Well, if Okami dies . . . and I die . . . the leadership will fall on my husband or wife."

         "What about Okami's spouse?"

          "Okami doesn't have one. She has never been worried about an heir because she thinks she will never lose her throne. But if that happens tonight . . ."

          "I still don't get it."

          "We're going to the Kaneiji Temple to get married."

          Is she joking? "We're a little young for that . . ."

          "Kaya." She is serious now. "Marry me. Marry me in case I die tonight. You'll be able to stop the European trade deal. They'll respect you as my wife . . . and my widow. Shut down Project Basilisk for good, and then you can give up the power to whoever you want."

           "You―you're trusting me with this?"

           "There's no one I trust more. So all that's left to say is . . . will you marry me?"

           In theory, poisoning Okami should have worked.

           But as of right now, theory sucks and I'm on my way to have a friendly chat with some suicidal bombers.

           Veah told me that if we were both still alive tomorrow morning, we could annul the marriage.

          Dear Heaven, I just hope I don't end up making you a widow first.

          My destination is clear as I approach the five guards in the hallway. Somehow, no bullets touch me―although a throwing star does whiz past my arm, scraping the skin there. 

          So . . . what was the grand plan, Kaya?

         Walk up to some crazy, devoted lunatics and introduce yourself?

         How was that supposed to go, exactly?

         Hello, my name is Kaya. Nice to meet you. Please don't blow yourself up―and while you're at it, please don't blow me up either.

         I'm actually here to, you know, drag your all-powerful ax murderer queen right to prison, so . . . if you don't mind . . .

         That would have gone really, really spectacularly.

         By the time I make it to the front of the hall, I have no idea what I'm going to say.

         But it turns out I don't have to say anything at all.

         One of them reaches into his pocket.

         I freeze. Is this how it ends? Is this―

         And then something crazy happens. Something crazy and ridiculous and flat-out miraculous. The guards move back, giving me a narrow path between them. Letting me through.

         Is this a trick?

         Well, look at that. I didn't have to get myself blown up after all. 

          But I still hesitate.

          The banquet hall is on fire behind me. Glossy pools of blood darken the floor. There are bodies everywhere―corpses dressed in black, corpses with tattoos. A Mafia massacre. Gunshots burst like rain across the room, splintering wood and shattering glass.

          I don't have much time.

          At any moment, I could be hit by a stray bullet. I could be caught in the crossfire.

          I want this. I want Okami to pay for what she's done. 

          And I think of the church.

          The pale golden bowl on the altar.

           Where Veah's blood once dripped, filling it. Sealing her loyalty.

           Even if tomorrow we both survive, and I get to annul this marriage . . . I don't want her to suffer like that again.

           Heaven and hell. 

           This ends now.

           My heartbeat becomes a drum, a battle cry. As I pass through the path between the guards, my hands begin to tremble.

           I can't die now.

           Nobody gets to hurt my girl and get away with it.

           The hallway lights are dim here. When I steady myself with a hand against the wall, I find it slippery with blood.

            It occurs to me to wonder why Okami is here.

           That beautiful, bloodthirsty ax murderer. Hiding.

            A sense of wrongness descends over me.

           And the ax . . . she drove it into the table between us, starting a war, when she could have easily driven it right into my―or Veah's―heart.

           It was almost like she was baiting us.

           Almost like . . . she was setting a trap.

           And just as it hits me that this is an ambush, I see her.

           I lift Veah's gun with shaking hands.  

           I don't have to kill her. I just have to injure her.

           Okami's sky-blue kimono is now drenched in blood. Where did that come from?  In the time between the fight broke out and the moment I got here, something happened. But what?

           "Heaven's little bitch," Okami purrs. "I was expecting you."

           "Call off the trade deal," I say.

           "Oh, with pleasure," Okami says, her eyes alight with vicious glee. She is standing in the middle of the hall. Weaponless, but unafraid. "You see, though, I thought you were supposed to be intelligent." 

           Yeah, join the club.

           "What are you talking about?" I insist, still aiming the gun at her.

           Shoot her. Shoot her now.

           But there is something very, very wrong here.

           She should be afraid of my gun. Or, at least, she should be afraid that she is cornered. 

            I am ready to hurt her. She sees it in my eyes―so why? Why doesn't she run?

            Why is she standing there, smiling like she has already won?

            "I destroyed any chance of that European deal the moment I brought down my ax," Okami whispers. 

            "Then why? Why would you do that?"

            "Tell me something, Kaya. How much do you really know about your precious Heaven? How much has she told you about this life?"

             I open my mouth, but―how much do I actually know about the girl I love?

             Stop it, Kaya. Okami's words are poison. Veah told me to trust her. And I do. 

            That day in the warehouse with Imai, he asked me the same thing. How much do you really know about her? 

            What do they know that I don't?

             "You see," Okami continues in that lush, musical voice, "I think she has not told you everything. You have met her parents, have you not?"

            I try to deny it, but―

            "Oh, I have eyes everywhere," Okami says. "And I do not appreciate liars. Do not finish that sentence."

           I swallow down the words. 

           If Okami knows I visited Veah's parents, she must have surveillance on them. She must be watching them.

          The thought alone fills me with fear.

          This has to end now, I think. But I don't shoot.

         "Kaya, surely you must have asked yourself by now how it is that Veah got involved in this life. You saw her parents―normal, law-abiding citizens. They know nothing of the truth. They do not their daughter is a Yakuza boss. How easy it is for her to lie, don't you think?"

          "You made her pledge her loyalty to you," I hiss. "You took her parents hostage. You tried to use drugs as a way to ensure her tie to you."

          "And I see where I went wrong," Okami admits. "But I will not make that mistake again."

           Still, I don't shoot.

           I should. I should.

           What isn't she telling me?

           Why was she so ready to let the European trade deal collapse?

           I say, "Again? You won't get the chance to make that same mistake again."

           Okami's black eyes glitter with malice. "Kaya, ai, there are things you will never know about this world. But know this: Wherever you go, wherever you hide, I am always there. I am always one step ahead."

            This is serious stalker territory. "What do you want from me?"

            "From you?" Okami laughs sharply. "Nothing from you, although you are useful. It is Heaven I want."

           "What?"

           "I am going to let you have your happiness. I am going to give you precious, beautiful time where you will celebrate. You will think you have won. You will embrace each other with love. And then I am going to rip it away from you. I am going to take away everything Heaven has ever loved, and I am going to torture you until there is nothing left of you to scream."

            Jesus Christ. "Um. That was intense."

           "So know this, Kaya―I will never stop. Until Heaven is mine, this will not end. This is why I am giving you a chance. Leave. Leave now, and this will not happen the way I intend. Leave Tokyo city and never come back."

            "No!" I burst out.

            Her mouth twists. A cruel smile. "So be it."

           "This is starting to sound a bit like an obsession―"

          "Let it be known that I gave you a chance, then. When every bone in your body is broken, when you are begging me for your own death, remember this moment. Remember my mercy."

            "What are you―"

            Something strikes the back of my head. My gun clatters out of my hand, spinning across the floor.

           Now is not the time, karma.

          I buckle to my knees, lunging for my gun, but―

          Okami is suddenly right above me. Like a mother cradling her child, her hands are on either side of my face. 

          "Goodnight, Kaya," she whispers, her grip on my neck tightening.

          "No, wait―"

           This can't be it.

           These can't be my last moments.

           "Sweet dreams," says the Wolf.

           I love you, Veah. I'm so sorry I never got to tell you.

           And as if she knows what I am thinking, Okami smiles.

           Right before she snaps my neck.

>>>

Sorry about this one. Hopefully you don't hate me.

From the moon and back,
Sarai