Beneath The Darkness

The Yakuza Shock

        Jenny

    The movers where leaving as my friends and I arrived. I walked into the foyer and was greeted by my father and a young petite Asian woman.

    "Jennifer, this is Mizore. Mizore, this is my daughter Jennifer and her two closest friends." my dad said.

    "So you're the famous Jennifer your father told me all about. I must say, you are much prettier in person.'' She held her hand out to me. ''I hope to get to know you much better.''

    ''Uh... Yeah... Jenny is fine.'' I stuttered.

    "Jenny? Okay. Is there something wrong?'' she asked.

    ''She was picturing you as a yakuza boss, so she's kinda nervous.'' Franky snickered behind me.

    ''I see you met my son.'' she said flatly. "Kaze!'

    I looked over to see the guy from first period walk into the foyer.

    ''Nani?'' he said sleepily.

    "Watashitachiha yakuzada to karera ni iimashita ka?'' she said to him.

    "Hai."

    ''Naze anata wa karera ni sore o iu no desu ka?''

    ''Anata wa kabasutori ni koshusura to iimashita.''

    "Anata wa shazai suru hitsuyo ga arimasu."

    "Gomen-"

    "Kaze, english. Please?"

    "Fine. I'm sorry if I scared you. It was not my intention." Kaze said flatly.

    "Okay. Let's have dinner." Mizore said brightly.

    "I'm not hungry." Kaze said turning around to walk away.

    "Kaze!." Mizore nervously chuckled. "I told you to play nice. It's only a few months."

    "Whatever." he sighed.

    We were sitting around the table chatting away. Mizore was asking me questions about school and my interests. Kaze was ignoring his food, messing around on his phone. Franky and Juliette were having a hushed argument.  Which apparently Franky won, because Juliette's next question stunned the table into silence.

    ''So Kaze, if you're a vampire and Mizore's son, how come you don't look like her?''

    Mizore and Kaze looked at each other with shock in their eyes. After it seemed like they had their silent argument, Kaze sighed and set his phone face down on the table.

    "Up until a few months ago I was half vampire, half angel. After a half vampire turns eighteen, they can perform a ritual that allows them to purge either half of them and become full blooded. As for why we don't look alike, it's because I look like my father.''

    When Kaze finished, Mark, Juliette's brother and pack beta walked in.

    ''Alpha, I apologize for disturbing you. But there is something that requires your immediate attention.'' He then walked over and began whispering in my father's ear. I watched as my father's features darken and then go pale in fear.

    ''I'm sorry, but I must see to an important pack matter. Jenny, I promise I'll be back for your first shift and run. Mizore, why don't you show everyone the new addition you brought from Japan.'' He stood, kissed the top of her head and then left.

    She led us to one of the first floor bathrooms, but when she opened the door, it opened into a different room. The door opened into a very oriental looking room with two curtained doorways on the other end. She led Juliette and I through the pink curtained doorway into what looked like a gym changing room. She handed a towel to Juliette and me and began undressing, we followed suit. We then followed her into yet another room, this one looked like a communal shower room.

    ''We must wash off before getting into the onsen. Did you need some help washing your back?'' she asked. We both shook our heads no. ''Okay. Make sure you get all the soap off of you before entering the onsen.''

    When she turned around to wash I was able to see the full back tattoo she had. It was a large tree with pink flowers sitting in a grass field with a black dragon curled around its base sleeping. Every detail was so intricately inked it looked like it was alive.

    ''Wow, it's so pretty.'' Juliette said from next to me.

    "Hmm? Oh. You mean my tattoo.'' Mizore replied.

    "It looks like it's moving.''

    ''That's because it does. See the dragon? Her name is Umbra, she'll move around and just hangout where she wants. And the sakura tree will bloom and and its flowers will fall at the same time ad the real trees in Japan.'' she replied.

    ''That's amazing. How did you get a tattoo that moves?''

    ''An old witch friend did it for me a lifetime ago.'' Mizores voice was filled with sadness. ''Umbra, the dragon, was a very close friend of ours. After her passing we ground up some of her scales, mixed them in with the ink and over several straight days a spell was cast with every puncture. It was done by hand in the traditional way.''

    ''What do mean the traditional way?'' I asked.

    ''Japan has a long a long storied history of tattooing. When a yakuza member gets a tattoo it's very elaborate and done by hand with a long sliver of bamboo. It is a long, tiring, and very painful process. Even more so with dragon scales mixed in. But the pain and exhaustion were worth it.'' she said. ''Don't take to long washing off.'' Then she got up and walked in to the next room.

    We finished washing off and then followed after. We walked into an open air hot spring. Through the haze of the steam we could see Mizore sitting up to her neck in the water with her hair pulled up in her towel. Juliette and I got in and pulled our hair up as a short bucket with a couple cups and a bottle drifted past in the water.

    ''Sake, girls?'' Mizore asked pouring some into the cups. We both denied the drink. ''Hmm, maybe Franky or Kaze will drink with me. Franky darling, would you like to try some sake?'' she called out.

    ''No thanks, Ms. Mizore.'' Franky said walking over to us with nothing but a small towel covering himself. Juliette and I started to freak out and cover ourselves with the towels on our heads.

    ''No towels in the water ladies. Enjoy some culture. Relax in the hot spring naked. Besides I thought wolves didn't care about being naked.'' Mizore said. ''Hmm, oh well, Kaze, sake?''

    ''Oh my god, yes!'' Kaze said from the other end of the area. I looked down to where his voice came from and through the haze I could just see him waist deep in the water leaning against the outside wall looking in our direction. Mizore grabbed the bucket and stood up without covering herself.

     ''You guys enjoy. I heard the first shift is always the worst one. So you'll want to be relaxed for it.'' Then she walked over to Kaze and began speaking with him.

    "How can she be so comfortable naked around people she just met and her son?'' I asked when Mizore was out of earshot.

    ''Cultural differences.'' Franky said with a shrug. ''Besides I'm sure she's used to it anyway.''

    ''Well how do you figure that?'' I asked.

    ''It's and effective negotiation strategy. Both participants are forced to show everything, literally. And in the yakuza world there is no more vulnerable and and safest place than the bath.'' he replied. ''In any case I don't want to talk about that. My god Jen, your new stepbrother is f*****g sexy as hell. Like if I didn't know that he was a vampire, I'd have thought he was a demon. That's how sinful it is.''

    Franky and Juliette began talking about how Kaze looked. But my thoughts and eyes were drawn to him.

    'I would love to feel him inside me.'  a voice purred inside my head. That wasn't my thought. 'Of course not darling. I wouldn't expect a human like you to recognize a powerful soul like his.' it purred again. Of course my wolf would wake up had to wake up while I was naked in a hot spring with my new stepmother and stepbrother. And she's a major horn dog. 'You're not as stupid as you seem. I'm Rose, and I'm not some 'horn dog', I recognize our mate.'  she said.

    Mate? There's no way that he he is my mate. The whole thing felt ridiculous. I looked at him talking to his mother. My eyes following all the lines of his tattoos. Wishing to run my fingers over each one, asking the story behind each one.

    'Yes girl. Get over there and get some of him stuffed inside you.'

    'No! I can't do that.'  Kaze looked over at me. Our eyes met. As his red eyes bore into my core his face never changed from his stoic expression. 'What would I even say? I know I haven't shifted yet and you may not understand wolf customs but you're my mate so let's go f**k?'

    'Well whatever you say, just make sure it gets his d**k inside our wet pussy.'

    'No! I was being sarcastic. I cannot believe this. I can't deal with this right now. Let's just focus on my first shift and then we can revisit whether he's truly my mate or not.'

    'Fine, but I'm right. Wake me when it's time to shift.' Then she retreated to the back of my head. I laid my head back against the rocks and pushed all thoughts aside. I relaxed and let the warm water soak into my bones and muscles.

    True to his word, my father returned home before we went out to the backyard. Juliette, her brother Beta Mark, and a few other pack members were outside waiting for us. My father and I stood in front of the others.

    "Whenever you're ready sweetheart.'' my father said to me. I nodded my head

    'Rose, wake up. It's time to shift.'

    'Well it's about time'.  she said as she stretched out. 'Just relax and let me do all the work.'  Easy for her to say. It's hard to relax when every one of my bones began to crack and move into its new position. After a few excruciating minutes I looked down at the massive paws my hands had become. I looked around at the other pack members who has also shifted

    'Blue Mountain pack, welcome my daughter Jennifer Monroe.'  my father said through the pack link.

    'Welcome Ms. Jennifer.'  rang in my head as other pack members welcomed me. My father let out a howl followed by others, before taking off through the woods. I followed my father and the other wolves through the woods, dodging trees and rocks, leaping over streams. The feeling of the wind rushing through my fur was indescribable. Rose was happy to be free.

    When we returned to the house Franky and Juliette were waiting for a change of clothes. I put them on while they went up to the guest rooms they normally used when they stayed over. On the way back to my room after my shower I caught the scent of fire and sweat. Rose was immediately roused and began chanting 'mate' in my head. Ignoring her I followed the scent to Mizore's office. The door was slightly ajar and the light was on. As I got closer I could hear voices. I peered inside and saw Kaze pacing back and forth in front of Mizore's desk while she she sat behind it watching him.

    ''I don't understand. Why didn't they just send a team in to take her, like they did to us?'' Kaze said.

    ''Because we were dangerous and basically war criminals, and she's just a little girl who doesn't know what she is.'' Mizore calmly said.

    ''I really hope, for all our sakes, that Fury was right and she succeeded in producing a powerful replacement.''

    ''After all the time you knew her, how often was she wrong?''

    Who were they talking about? And how did they know my mother? I stepped back, my mind reeling, and the floor creaked. Kaze's head snapped in my direction, and I held my breath.