Chapter 1
“There is good and there is bad in this world. Do not forget which side you stand for.”
And then he died.
~
Asami Sato stood in front of the headstone – smooth, black, elegantly carved. A raindrop rolled right of its round top, falling down down down until it hit the withering bouquet of flowers resting on its front. She picked them up and replaced them with fresh lilies from the florist down the street. The rain began to pour in earnest, but she stood in silence, not caring about the chill settling into her bones.
Two years had passed since the passing of her father, business tycoon Hiroshi Sato. Two years had passed since the last innocence in Asami’s eyes had gone. She had inherited her father’s business and from there everything became worse. Stricter. Defined. Scheduled. One meeting after another, one contract after the next, one deal following another. At 23 years, Asami guessed she’d been in more meetings with stuffy businessmen than the stuffy businessmen themselves.
“Miss Sato, we really must leave. It’s raining far too heavily, and I’m afraid it’s only going to get worse,” her chauffeur urged behind her. She could barely distinguish the raindrops from each other as they pattered on the umbrella he held above her, yet she couldn’t stop herself from stepping out beneath the cover. She touched the headstone lightly, her fair hand a stark contrast against the black stone.
“Miss Sato, please!”
“Alright, let’s go. Sorry if your shoes got wet.”
They turned and left, the fresh flowers drowning in the onslaught of rain.
~
“Will you require anything else madam?”
“No, I think I’ll be okay from here. Thank you,” Asami said. “I appreciate everything you do.”
She beamed as a bashful smile spread across her chauffeur’s face, who bowed, hand over heart, and walked away. She turned and let herself into her apartment building, closing the door swiftly before the resident animal, Pabu, could escape. She giggled and bent down to pet the ferret as she heard the consequent pounding of feet running down the stairs.
“Pabu! Don’t leave, little man, I may have burned the fries but I’ll make it up to you!” Bolin yelled as he rushed down the stairs and almost ran right over the kneeling Asami. “Asami! You’re back! How you been!”
Asami laughed and hugged Bolin, who promptly lifted her and shook her side to side for good measure. “I’m alright Bolin. What’ve you been up to? Pabu giving you too much trouble?” Bolin set her down gently and beamed.
“I taught him a few tricks, actually. Did you know he has a fine affinity for fries? He gets very fussy if you don’t cook them a certain way.” Pabu squeaked in protest. “Yes you do! Don’t lie to me.”
“Is your brother in? I’d like to say hi before I head upstairs for the night,” Asami said, scratching an indignant Pabu’s head. He stuck his tongue out at Bolin, and the man retaliated.
“Nah, he’s out on duty. Official po-lice business, you understand. He’s chief inspector now,” Bolin said, sticking his thumbs in his pockets. “You know what that means – more bad guys behind bars, more paper work, more late nights.”
“Understandable. Congrats on his promotion!” Asami said, ascending the white steps to the third floor. The steps creaked under their combined weight. “What about you, how’s the restaurant doing? Any new fancy dishes on the menu?”
Bolin followed her, grabbing Pabu from the ground and placing the ferret on his shoulder. He curled his tail around Bolin’s bicep and settled in. “Restaurant’s doing good. Seen better days, but hey, can’t have a profit all day every day. Say, we’re having a special next weekend, all-you-can-eat buffet-arooni, you should come! It’ll be a change from all your fancy-schmancy business dinners.”
“I sincerely hope you’re not calling it a buffet-arooni,” she asked as they reached her apartment door. “You’re going to make people think you serve macaroni and cheese, which you don’t. But sure, I’ll think about it. Gotta make sure I’m not forgetting a fancy-schmancy business dinner, right?” She unlocked the door and turned around, giving Bolin a hug. “Hey, thanks for everything.”
Bolin winked. “Anytime. For future reference, tell me when you’re coming back? That way it doesn’t look like…that.”
That meant slightly dusty and without covers on the bed. Otherwise, it was exactly as Asami had left it six months ago. Bolin and Mako were childhood friends – long before her father’s business had boomed, they had played in the same streets, gotten the same dirt all over their faces. They’d known each other since the day they were born, but as life took them their separate ways, the trio had seen less and less of each other. During their third year of college, they’d moved into the apartment building, occupying the top two apartments with an occasional renter on the bottom.
After her dad moved out and into a house on the outskirts of the city, Asami found herself floating more and more between the two houses. Following the death of Mr. Sato, she found a third home on an airplane as she traveled from one city to another for the business. The apartment became a sort of sanctuary for her, a place she could retire to after particularly exhausting times. Bolin had agreed to look after it for her, and she could never stop thanking him.
Shedding her coat onto the corner coat rack, Asami hastily spread a bedsheet over the queen-sized bed and flopped onto it face-first. She groaned as the wear and tear of the last deal seeped out of her bones and into the mattress. Hotels were wonderful, but nothing beat home – not by a long shot. She kicked her heels off and heard them thud onto the carpet below as she rolled over onto her back. She blew a hair out of her eyes and stared at the ceiling.
Crash. Thud. Yelling.
“What?” Asami slipped silently off the bed and padded to the window, opening the blind ever so slightly. The night was setting in nicely, and it took her eyes a minute to adjust to the dark.
A woman, circled by a gang of four men. Asami was marginally close to calling Bolin and running out there herself, but before she could move, the man on her left attacked and was deftly kicked onto a pile of groaning bodies Asami had just noticed. The other men jumped on the woman at once, and Asami was breath-taken as she witnessed the three men take a sound beating to various parts of their bodies.
Thud thud thud. The attackers all fell into one pile and the woman laughed at them, yelling profanity that insinuated certain things about their mothers that Asami could hardly imagine. She walked away from the mugging, but not before raising her head to meet Asami’s gaze.
Her blue eyes pierced through the darkness, and their eyes locked for a solid minute before she walked away into the night, leaving Asami to wonder about more than a few things.