The Mafia Boss's Secretary

once was all it took

   My name is Hatchiko Kurosaki, I have been masquerading as a boy for the last fifteen years. Why, you may ask. Well, it is because when I was five years old I was kidnapped and tortured violently. Kidnapping me was supposed to be a way to get to my father. When just simply kidnapping me proved useless for what they wanted they started to torture me. Sending my father pictures or videos of what they were doing to me. None of us were al that pleased that I was taken in order to be used against my father for a rival clan to get more territory. It was brutal on all of us involved. I was held and tortured ruthlessly for approximately a month before I was dumped and left for dead in an alleyway on the outskirts of town. Apparently, they left a note with me saying that they would try again because they did not get all of what they wanted. When I found out about the note it was my bright idea to change my appearance and to alert the other clans to my unfortunate demise. We had my name legally changed so I have my mom's maiden name now. According to the other clans, I am an adopted son; which makes them not care about me anymore. I have to be extremely cautious at all times so that I do not blow my cover though.

   I nearly got busted once because of a terrible car crash when I was sixteen. It was so bad that I still do not remember all of the details of the accident. I had to be rushed to the hospital because of head trauma and a broken arm. The doctor was actually the one who almost broke my cover. He referred to me as a female when he was informing one of my friends of my condition. Luckily, my parents were there to intervene and correct him quickly.

   I had to stay for a few days in the hospital, and I had to request no visitors aside from my family, but the fear of my true identity getting released to one of the other clans or the press was almost more than I could handle. So much so that the doctor wanted to give me anxiety medicine. My parents were trying their best to reassure me that the hospital visit was not going to be our undoing, but it took almost a year before I believed them.

   That incident was the only one I needed for me to be extremely cautious; because of my fears of being discovered. I avoided dating, social outings, and making friends; outside of the clan, at all costs. Yes, I know that sounds like a terrible way to live, but getting kidnapped and tortured once was all it took for me to decide that I would do whatever it took to avoid a repeat of that situation.

   Nowadays I am attending classes at the local community college in hopes of perusing my aspiration to become a music composer, producer, or even being in a band . In order to help pay my way through college I made a deal with my parents to work in their office as an errand boy in exchange for them paying for my  tuition. That means that as long as I am in classes, until any internships get started, I have to spend my free time at the office. Dad is understanding enough to let me do my homework before I come in after my classes. I usually work on my homework on the car ride back to the house; since I am not allowed to drive myself, so it gets pretty much completed by the time I get back. On those days I try to relax for about an hour, take a shower, and change clothes before I head over to the office.

   On a regular day I spend my entire time at the office making copies, fetching drinks or food, and spot cleaning the office. On meeting days I am sitting in on meetings and taking notes for review later. I am basically just the time keeper of the meetings. I do also record the entire meeting so I can go back for any information that I missed during the meeting.

   I do get to miss one meeting a month. The clan meeting. As you probably guessed it; it is the monthly meeting where all of the clans come together to discuss territories, funds, treaties, events, and clan issues. The reason I get to miss this one is because the first one that I sat in on I had a panic attack. The leader of the Indigo clan, the one that kidnapped me, Shiero, was present. Because; unfortunately for me, seeing his crest, which I remember vividly because I was always staring at it while they tortured me, brought back all of those memories. 

   We were finally able to solve that ongoing mystery, but from what he told the others; after I refused to join in on those meetings, he had no idea that it was his people who took me. He quite literally begged my father for his forgiveness, they worked together long enough to find the guilty parties. However, now they are trying to work out a treaty to avoid anymore inter circle problems.

   The one thing that I cannot really wrap my head around is how the chief himself did not know what his men were doing when they kidnapped me. There is no way that it took almost ten years for it to come to light for him. Any good chief knows what his people are doing at all times, no matter if it was by his orders or someone else. I guess that just means he was not a very good chief, or he is completely lying about how much he actually knows. I am pretty sure that dad also sees right through his story though because of the way he watches him when he is around our territory. I think it is safe to say that he does not buy the story for a second. If it was not completely obvious by the way that he watches him like a hawk; it is definitely obvious by the way he watches me whenever those clan meetings take place.

   I will be moving over to the college in the next town over after my graduation to try for my bachelors degree since the community college here is just a two year school. I have already been excepted to the university so that is not an issue. The issue I have is that I will be in his  territory. I have heard that he will be passing the leadership position down to his son soon, but I do not yet know if that eases my mind or not. I do not know nearly enough about his son yet. All that I really know about him is that his name is Kai, he just got out of law school, and he is roughly my age.

   I do have a generally good feeling that Kai will be a much better chief than his father is; or well was, but I still do not feel entirely safe being on their territory with no protection or surveillance of any kind. Dad is supposed to be working out a deal with both of them so that he can track me at all times. If it was not for the fact that the only four year college nearby is on their land; I would most definitely not even be going there in the first place. It had to be approved by the chief; when I was excepted, before I could even sign up for my classes. 

   Ever since my kidnapping there has been some major tension between all of the clans. It got much worse once it was figured out that it was one of our own; instead of a rival clan, that had attacked me. That was an extremely low blow to everyone, especially since all of the chiefs are sworn brothers, and not just sworn brothers either; blood brothers. What his clan did went against one key part of the oath that they all took: To protect each other and their families to the best of their abilities. My kidnapping by his clan should not have even been possible in the first place because of the oath. My guess is that it is probably why my father no longer trusts him.

   I cannot wait to be able to reclaim my identity as a woman, but as long as he is still chief I cannot safely do that. To be honest while he is even still alive; I do not feel safe in doing so. However dressing as a man it much easier since it is quite easy to find men's clothes that fits me. It does help that I am so small and skinny. I am an average five foot five inches tall so pants are the easiest thing to find. Shirts are a little harder since I am a woman in reality so finding a shirt that fits right as well as hiding my breasts is annoyingly time consuming. I try to compensate by layering my clothes and adding a blazer, hoodie, or jacket of some sort. Shoes are also quite easy for me to find as well since I wear a size six in men's, and it is a relatively common size. The one thing that I feel like I would miss the most if I went back to wearing feminine clothes is how comfortable men's clothing is. Women's clothing is just to constricting for my taste unless I purposely buy clothes that are to big for me. 

   I know that if I return to being a woman my life will be a living nightmare. If not because of the clans then because of the press. I do not want to change my name back, but I would like to be myself again.

   Now that I have rambled away with some background to set this tale up; let us get into the part that I was fairly certain was going to be my undoing.