The 10th Kingdom - Turbulence

[x-sanfuaiyaa.livejournal.com]

Shiro receives a phone call from someone unexpected, whom he wouldn't mind never having to speak to again.


The jump from Queens back to Salem Center was a quick and easy one, even the days when Shiro was encumbered by the portfolio that was literally the same size as him. He stepped down gingerly onto the walkway that led up to the mansion and adjusted the folder's strap on his shoulder when he heard his cell phone ring. Good thing he was outside, too, because no one needed to know that he had set Swing de Chocobo as his ringtone. The number on the screen gave him pause; it looked like a Japanese phone. He answered it accordingly. "Moshi moshi?"

And the voice that answered on the other hand almost made him drop his phone. Then stomp on it, blast it to pieces, and stomp on it some more.

"~Takachiho Hiro? How the hell did you get this number?~" Shiro demanded. Hiro was the son of Keniuchio Harada's bodyguard Akira, a mutant draconian metamorph. Shiro hadn't seen Hiro since Mariko's murder the previous spring, and hadn't even talked to him since before Harada disowned him. Hiro was a precocious child, only a couple of years older than Leyu, who was obsessed with two things: mechanical engineering and Shiro. The adoration still shined in his voice, and it made Shiro cringe. But not quite as much as the news Hiro delivered.

"~Listen, Hiro, I . . . Let Harada deal with his own problems.~" Shiro tapped his foot impatiently. "~You're insane. Gangsters do not just up and leave one gang for another, especially not Yakuza for . . . Hiro, stop it. You misheard. That simply doesn't happen. What ought I do anyway? I don't play Harada's games . . . No. I will not speak with him. This is one of his tricks, isn't it? He's just trying to guilt me into do his dirty work. Well, you can tell him to . . . Shut up! If Harada has a problem controlling his own men, then he can solve it. I? Am going to go have dinner. Good night.~" And good riddance.

But for all his talk, he couldn't shake the awful dread he felt. There was no way anything good could be happening now.

~*~

Over dinner, Shiro tells Marie what happened, and she offers some frightening advice.


Their semi-regular sushi ventures usually doubled as a bitch-fest of sorts. Shiro and Marie often spoke about what was troubling them, but of course with reservations. Shiro would not discuss Alex and Lorna, of course. He liked to keep the really personal things off the table, unless they were too significant to ignore. Like tonight. He didn't want to talk about his family with Marie because even three years after the Yakuza tried to abduct Illyana, it was still an uncomfortable subject for them. But this was too much.

"He says that Harada is worried," Shiro said between bites of eel. "Almost visibly so, which is like saying that the Professor is, ne?" He swallowed, but even the delicious slippery and salty fish didn't faze him. It was like he was eating just so he had something to do with his hands. His cup of tea was steaming much more than Marie's.

Marie raised an eyebrow at the steam radiating from Shiro's cup, surprised by his self-disclosure. Shiro usually kept things about his family close to his chest and the fact that he had brought it up showed her how worried he was. "Ah didn't even know you were still in contact with him," she said before popping a piece of salmon roll into her mouth.

"I'm not. Takachiho must have discovered my phone number through Harada. He didn't say." Shiro angrily jabbed at his rice with his chopsticks. "He called me and just went on about how the ethnic boundaries that separated the gangs in San Francisco are apparently disappearing. I would have just hung up but he sounded really frightened. I can only imagine that something happened to his father that has him in this state." And if something could harm Baymax so much, then it was certainly something to be worried about.

Marie frowned. She didn't know much about the Asian gangs, beyond what little she'd picked up from Shiro, but the fact that they were supposedly starting to intermingle wasn't sitting right with her. "That just...doesn't happen, Ah thought. Aren't there some pretty big rivalries that should be getting in the way of anything like that happening?"

Shiro nodded. "Part rivalry, but mostly racism. Chinese and Japanese and Korean people tend to . . . not get along well, to put it mildly. Give them the lust for power and egos the size of Siberia as is common with" - he glanced around, noting that there were many Asian people present and deciding to keep up with the euphemisms - "organized crime, and that 'not getting along well' becomes something much worse."

"So this is something that even strikes you as...strange? If it's happening the way Takachiho's describing?" Marie asked, her mind already scrolling through ways they could look into things discretely. She knew Shiro would be extremely hesitant to get involved, but her experiences with the X-Men had taught her to always be suspicious when people started acting in ways that they shouldn't. Even if those people were gang members.

"It's almost unheard of. You do not see the Korean gangs in the Lower East Side and the Chinese gangs in Chinatown working together. Ever. And they hate the Japanese more than they hate each other." Shiro picked up his tea and hissed as the boiling water came into contact with his tongue. "And now they are making me ruin my dinner."

Her frown deepening, Marie pushed her own untouched tea over and reached to take the hot cup from Shiro. "Have you thought about getting someone to look into it? Someone who has ties to the, um, seedier parts of the world who may have heard rumors of whatever's causing the sudden increase in cooperation? Or would know the people to talk to?" She hesitated and then sighed. "Someone like Remy?"

"Please tell me that you are simply channeling one of the crazier parts of your mind and are not actually suggesting that I investigate this, much less hire the Hellsing Agency to do it." Shiro stared at Marie incredulously. This wasn't his business, despite what Hiro Takachiho thought. If San Francisco's underworld exploded in gang violence, then it still wouldn't be his concern. At least not directly.

Marie let out a sigh. "Who knows? Maybe Ah am. All Ah know is that if Ah've learned anything, it's that when large groups of people start doing things outside of their nature, Ah worry." Marie set her chopsticks down in their rest almost gingerly. "All Ah'm saying is that what does it hurt to let him know and see if they have the resources to check it out? If it's nothing, no big deal..." Ah'll just have to deal with Remy giving me a hard time "...but if it turns out to be something, well, we'll be glad we said something."

She was right. Maddeningly so. Shiro stopped himself from sighing in frustration. It was beginning to remind him of last spring, when the Yakuza and The Hand attacked each other and killed dozens of innocent bystanders in the process. If American branches of the Yakuza were switching sides to the Chinese gangs, then there was no telling what atrocities would be committed to "punish" them. "Maybe you are right," he said finally. "We don't need San Francisco turning into San Diego."

"California has already been through enough," Marie said, glad that Shiro had ended up agreeing with her. "Ah can give you a ride to Snow Valley if you'd like." She knew she was coming across as a little pushy, but she also knew how easy it was not to do something if specific plans weren't made for it.

"I can go after sc . . . No, it might be better if you come with." Marie had a better relationship with just about everyone at Snow Valley than he did, so he figured that her presence could only help. And she'd probably be much better at cajoling LeBeau than he could.

If Marie had been able to hear Shiro's thought, she would've laughed. Remy would probably have a pained expression on his face when she walked in the door, though he'd at least listen to her after they had worked together in Africa. "Sounds like a plan," she said. "Now," she continued, pushing a plate of eel towards the Japanese man, "no need worrying about it too much until we get more details."