The Mafia Boss's Secretary

Duel

    I woke up again at around six the next morning I didn't know what to do with the next five hours so I decided to try and get a bit of training in before I had to go up against my own trainer. The one person who knows all of my moves, strengths, and weaknesses. The perfect opponent to go up against me. I don't stand a chance in hell against him. I have to hold out long enough to to make the duel exciting for the clan, but at the same time I can't take to much damage.

    "What the hell are you doing in here?" Kaminae asked scaring me. I didn't even notice him come in. "You should be saving your energy for the duel." He stated. "You have a little over an hour before you have to fight." He sighed and started pushing me towards the door. "Go get some rest."

    "Kaminae." I said quietly turning to look back at him before I left the room.

    "What is it?" He asked.

    "I'm scared."

    He turned his head in my direction so fast an owl would be impressed. He came over to where I was standing and pulled me into a tight hug. He sighed as I gripped the back of his tank top. He hugged me tighter and pulled me over to one of the benches by the door to sit.

    "It'll be okay." He stated. "The easiest way to end the duel is to either knock out your opponent or be knocked out yourself."

    "That's it?" I asked. "Then why do most duels end up being near death duels?"

    "Because they get drug out and injuries occur." He stated. "You need to make sure not to get hit in the ribs, it could result in serious internal injury."

    "Not helping." I stated leaning away from him. "I'm going to go get ready." I sighed. 

    "I'll see you at the arena." He stated watching me leave.

    "I'll be the one in red." I stated. "Kaminae, whatever happens don't let mom or dad interfere."

    "I know." He stated.

    I gave a wave as I left. I wondered back to my room to get ready. Mom was sitting on my bed when I got back to my room. I gave a small sigh as I walked over to her. I pulled her into a hug. I couldn't tell her that everything would be okay; not with any ounce of confidence; definitely not in any way that it would be believable.

    "I'm not okay with this." She said quietly. "I have found a way to get you out of the duel though."

    "What?" I asked. "How did you find a way out?" I hope she's not thinking what I think she's thinking. "If you're thinking what I think you're thinking; no." I stated standing up to get my clothes. "You know why we can't out me for who I am."

    "By clan law you don't have to duel because the law only applies to the males of the clan." She pointed out. "You're going into a life threatening situation that is completely avoidable."

    "Mom, I'll be careful." I sighed. "If I get to injured, I'm sure dad will stop it." I turned to face her again. "I already got told to be careful by Kaminae." I shot a small smile at her. "I know to be cautious of my ribs too, I don't plan to open any direct shots for him."

    "Just because you aren't planning on it doesn't mean that it won't happen." She stated.

    "That's life." I remarked leaving my room to go and change.

    I had to go back to the training room to get the wraps for my hands. I still to this day can't fight without them, not without damaging my hands. I've been in enough fights that my hands just can't take the force and damage anymore. I found my wraps and quickly wrapped my hands. I glanced at the clock above the door and let out a curse realizing that I was going to be late. This is just great. Now, it's going to look like I'm not taking this seriously. That's exactly what I need right now. I sighed and took off running to get to the other side of the territory to the arena in time. I burst through the archway panting just as the church bell chimed its last chime. I doubled over with my hand on my side trying to catch my breath. I glanced around me to see everyone from the clan present except mom. I made eye contact with dad and held up my wrapped hand as I straightened back up.

    "How nice of you to join us." Dad said in his business tone. "We all know why we're here, so why don't we just get this over with?" 

    The medic who decides when the duels have gone on long enough steps to the center of the arena and looks between Tokiyame and me before raising his hand and letting it drop again. The duel has started. We both walked towards the middle of the arena and squared up to each other. We were standing awkwardly just waiting for the the other to do something.

    "Pretend this is just training." Tokiyame told me. "I have a plan to minimize damage done to you, but you have to play along."

    "Why are you doing this?" I asked as he lunged at me. 

    I sidestepped and landed a punch to his shoulder. Not what I intended to do. We circled each other again before I lunged at him. I wasn't intending to hit him at least not with my fist. Just as I got to him I lowered my shoulder and hit him square in the stomach. I heard as he let out a breath of air. He didn't fully double over, but it was enough for me to sweep his dominate foot I quickly rolled so that I was in front of him again. Just as he was standing up again I landed an uppercut. My knuckles popped under the force which sent a jolt of pain up my arm. He groaned and stumbled. I shook out my hand from the after math of the impact. When He was standing up again he had a look on his face that I couldn't quite make out.

    "If this is just training then I finally pass right? I asked. "Now, why are you trying to help me get out of this duel?" I asked as he got back into his fighting stance.

    "Saiyu Korikoshi didn't die fifteen years ago." He said making me freeze giving him the opportunity to land a right hook effectively knocking me to the ground. I Quickly got back on my feet and glared at him.

    "How did you find out?" I Lunged at him again. I can't have anyone knowing who I really am; I need to do something about this.

    "I've known this whole time." He connected a kick to my ribs, which gave me all the proof I needed to confirm that he was in fact holding back. That kick wasn't anywhere near as hard as it could have been. I winced and dropped my arm to cover my ribs. He just had to hit the already injured ribs. Asshole.

    I lunged towards him and aimed my elbow at his stomach; just like I did with the guard the other night; I landed the hit, but it didn't have the same effect as it did with the guard. Tokiyame just brought his arm down across my back. I can't tell you which hit hurt more when it comes to my ribs; the direct hit or that one. I gasped and fell to all fours trying to catch my breath. I was in so much pain that I couldn't even think anymore. I coughed and blood flowed out of my mouth. I glanced towards dad in the stands and signed 'I'm sorry'. I was still gasping for breath when I finally pushed myself back into a relatively upright position. I shot a glare at Tokiyame and lunged again. This time however I didn't even try to land a hit, my goal was to get behind him. To my surprise, it actually worked. I jumped on his back and put him in a strangle hold. I had to readjust my hold because he was trying to break my hold.

    "When does this plan of yours start?" I asked when my head was close to his. "I think this duel has gone on long enough."

    "Now." He said and leaned backwards. 

    I let go knowing that if I didn't he'd land right on me. Something I didn't factor in was the fact that we weren't in the training room so hitting the ground actually meant that I was hitting the ground. As soon as my back hit the ground I gasped from the shock to my ribs. I rolled so that Tokiyame wouldn't land on me. All that gasping for breath did was just intensified the pain I was in which made it that much harder to breathe. Tokiyame knelt down next to me. He looked me over and jumped back when I coughed up more blood. He turned me on my side which caused me to groan; as best as someone can when their coughing up blood.

    "That shouldn't have hurt you that bad." He stated eyeballing me closely as he let me roll onto my back again. "Were you already injured entering into this duel?" I just nodded slightly. "Where?" He asked before looking towards where dad was in the stands. I shifted the hand over my ribs and watched as his look of shock turned to anger. "I could have killed you." He stated quietly reaching over to check my pulse. "Close your eyes." He commanded leaning closer to me. "Don't respond to anything that anyone says or does." He sighed and raised his fist like he was going to hit me again. "This is where you have to play along." He brought his fist down, but it only grazed my cheek but I knew what I had to do. I get to play dead now.

    The medic came over, i'm assuming that Tokiyame signaled him, he checked my pulse, and did that stupid arm lifting thing that people do to see if you're unconscious. It was pretty easy to ignore what was going on around me with the growing pain in my head. I'm fairly certain that I hit my head when I fell just now.

    "This duel is over." He announced loudly. "Hatchiko Kurosaki has been pardoned for his past indiscretions."

    "I'll carry him back to his room." Tokiyame said just before I felt myself being lifted. "His mom has requested to take care of him herself."

    Trying not to react to the intense pain in my head, back, and side was probably the hardest thing I've had to do in a long time. I was unable to hide the hitch in my breathing as he started walking to take me back to my room. I was trying so hard not to cough up the blood that was pooling in the back of my throat. I didn't want to swallow it either so I did the only thing that made since. I turned my head; as discreetly as possible, and just let it flow out of my mouth. I hadn't realized just how hard that right hook was until the blood started running down my throat. It may also be from my ribs too.

    "How much damage did I really do?" He asked quietly. "How long have you been holding that in?" His steps faltered when I didn't answer. "Hatchiko?" He lightly slapped my face making me open my eyes the slightest little bit. "Are you okay?" He asked sitting me down and leaning me against the wall. Wall? Where are we? I looked around me to see that we were in the living room. I was leaning against the wall next to the door.

    "Tired...Head hurts...Pain." I managed to say before I started falling to the side unable to hold myself up any longer. "Everything." I mumbled.

    "Did you hit your head when you fell?" He asked turning my head to make me look at him. I just nodded and let my head rest on the hand he still had on my chin. "I've got to get you back to your room."

    He picked me up again and took off towards my room. The run to the arena seemed so much longer than the walk back did. I must have been fading in and out as he carried me, there's no way that the walk flew by like that. Tokiyame placed me on my bed as gently as he could when we finally made it back to my room.

    "What the hell happened?" Mom said loudly once I was on the bed and covered with my blanket.

    "She played along marvelously." Tokiyame stated. "No one thought to tell me that she was already injured though."

    "I was under the impression that everyone knew that we took her to the hospital Saturday morning after we got her back." She defended herself. "What do I have to work with here?" She sighed.

    "I am fairly certain of a concussion, and her ribs are possibly broken now, minor blood loss, and you should probably check out her right hand too." He listed off. "If I were you I'd take her in."

    "Will do." She sighed. "How long has she been fading in and out like this?"

    "Since the arena." He stated. "It made the ruse that much more believable though."

    I groaned and tried to roll onto my side, but a sharp pain had me gasping and rolling right back over. I finally opened my eyes and looked around the room to see it was just mom and Tokiyame in here with me. When I made eye contact with mom she was glaring at me.

    "What happened to being careful?" She asked crossing her arms.

    "What happened to keeping my identity a secret?" I shot back trying and failing to sit up. "He's known this whole time."

    "He's your godfather." She simply stated. "That means he had to be kept in the loop."

    "It's not something that needed to be brought up in the middle of a duel in front of the whole clan." I pointed out. "What if someone heard you?"

    "My apologies." He said quietly bowing his head to me. "I'm fairly certain that no one heard, but I'll keep an ear out and do damage control as needed."

    "Can I go to sleep now?" I asked closing my eyes again.

    "No." They both answered. "We need to take you to the hospital." mom added.

    "I'm fine." I stated. "It's just my ribs, there's no point in adding another hospital bill for the same thing that I went in for two nights ago."

    "You were coughing up blood." Tokiyame stated. "That means there could be internal bleeding."

    "Did you forget about the right hook." I asked glaring at him.

    "A right hook wouldn't cause that much blood." He pointed out.

    "I have to leave for college tomorrow." I said quietly. "I can't afford to miss the first day."

    "You will get there on time." Mom gave a small smile. "I can promise you that."

    "We don't know how long this will take." I pointed out. "How can you assure me that we will get to the college in time?"

    "Because it's still early, and if we hurry you'll be home in time for dinner." She sassed. "Tokiyame here can help you to the car."

    On that note he came over and picked me up. Granted I know that I cant sit up on my own right now, but must he keep carrying me? I could just lean against him and walk. I suppose it's safer to have everyone just assume that I'm still unconscious rather than to have to explain to them how i'm awake already. I sighed and just laid my head against his chest closing my eyes. I'm so tired. I sighed once I felt myself getting put in the car. It's about twenty minutes to the nearest hospital from here, so I should be able to rest on the way. I just leaned on the door and slowly drifted off to sleep.

    I woke up a few hours later with a needle in my arm. What the hell? I looked around me and recognized that I was in a hospital room. This is just perfect. I looked over myself to get a rough understanding of what all was wrong with me. I had a cast on my right hand and my torso was wrapped up again. I finally heard the heart monitor that I'm attached to as the beeping got faster. I pulled the reader off of my finger which made it flat line. In case you're wondering that's a great way to get about five doctors to rush into your room.

    "Oh, you're awake." The first one stated when she walked in. "Why did you take this off?" She asked replacing it.

    "It's annoying, and it was less painful than ripping the needle out." I responded. "When can I leave?" I asked. "I have my first day of classes tomorrow, and I cant miss orientation."

    "I'll get your doctor, he can say for sure."

    Mom came rushing into the room then. She sighed when she saw that I was awake. She came and sat  in the chair next to my bed out of the way of the doctors still standing in my room. Once everything was back in place, and the machines were working properly everyone but mom left. I sighed and turned my head so I was looking at her. What I wanted to know was what happened to being home by dinner. That's not going to happen if I'm hooked up to machines. I sighed and just stared at the ceiling.

    "I don't even want to know how bad it is." I said. "I just want to know if i'm going to make my orientation tomorrow."

    "I don't think school is what you should be worried about right now." She snapped. "You almost died." I just sighed and rolled my eyes. "You were supposed to be careful today."

    "It had to be believable." I stated.

    The doctor came in and checked over the machines and checked my vitals before asking mom to join him in the hall. I just sighed and laid there waiting for them to come back. I dozed off at some point because when I woke up again mom was talking on the phone and pacing around the room.

    "Honey, I don't know, I'm just waiting for her to wake up." She said quietly. "She doesn't want to know anything." She said after a short pause. "As soon as she wakes up and gets dressed we'll be back home."

    "That means I need clothes." I stated scaring her.

    "She just woke up so we should be home soon." She said staring at me. 

    "Hi mom." I gave a small wave

    "I'll see you when we get back." She hung up and came over to the bed holding a bag out to me.

    "Get changed and we can leave." She helped me out of the bed so that I could get dressed in real clothes instead of the crappy hospital gown. "You're dad has dinner plans, so we need to get back soon." She smiled at me. "I really am glad that you're okay." She pulled me into a hug before helping me change into my shirt. "Don't ever scare me like that again."

    "I won't." I stated. "It shouldn't be an issue now."

    "Finish getting dressed while I go and fill out the discharge papers." She commanded pulling pants and socks that I hadn't gotten to yet out of the bag.

    I just finished getting dressed when she came back in with home care instructions and a prescription slip. Another medication to remember to take. Just great. I sighed as the doctor came in with a wheelchair and told me it was hospital policy for me to get wheeled out. Once I made it out of the doors they didn't care what I did. I slowly sat in it trying not to agitate any of my injuries. I was more than happy to see that the car was already waiting for us when we got outside. I slowly got out of the wheelchair and into the car just wanting to get home.