While the morning dew glistened upon the leaves of the oyama magnolia trees, a rich smell of coffee brewing became a welcoming surprise. Hara slowly began to open his eyes. Stretching his arms out he inhales the fresh aroma. “Kami?” he called out, but to no avail, there wasn't a response. He rolls his neck from left to right, popping every joint capsule, creating a fourth of July sound effect. He proceeds to stand to his feet, folding the blanket from his night’s sleep. He takes notice of the empty spot in which Kami’s backpack was placed upon the day before. He steps closer to the countertop where a piece of paper rested underneath the black tracer he had conveniently placed inside her backpack. With a sigh, he shakes his head and begins to open the folded piece of paper.
“Nice try, Toad… You need to step your game up if you plan to track me.” Hara crumbles the paper and places the tracer into his pocket. Pondering his thoughts, he takes the cup conveniently placed beside the coffee maker and pours himself a drink. “She is a slick one.” He walks to the sofa, slides the blanket and cushion to the right and sits down. Reaching for the remote, he clicks the power tab. As the screen brightens, he leans forward glaring harshly at the tv. He moves himself from left to right as the screen mimics his image and movements. “What the hell…” He now stands on his feet, still glaring at the screen as his image is replaced with colorful flashing bars and the sound of static. The screen fades to black and fades back in with storm clouds as music now echoes through the speaker grabbing Hara’s full attention.
“I’m gonna sit back and watch my flag ascend/I won’t talk myself up/I don’t need to pretend/you won’t see me coming/’till it’s too late again/I’m gonna sit back and watch my flag ascend/my name is thunder/and lightning/my name is something very frightening/my name is adrenaline/exciting/you don’t believe me/my name is thunder/and lightening/ I’ll be showing up uninvited/my name is adrenaline/exciting/if you don’t believe me/well let me show you"
The screen statics out and the tv completely shuts down. Hara, confused, jumps from the couch only to find the frame of a slender, hooded figure, dressed in black standing directly behind the sofa with its arms folded across the chest and a crooked smile upon the lips.
“WHOA..Cuz, stop where you stand.” Hara reaches for his right back pocket; fingers inside, he slides up a steel star dart; with two fingers and his thumb intact, he frantically lunges forward and slings his arm to the front, releasing the dart into the air. With cat-like reflexes, the hooded figure swings its body backwards to the left, flipping over, kicking the legs in the air and retrieves a blade which slides from the inside of the left boot. While landing gracefully upon its feet, the figure slings the blade flying directly at Hara piercing the left pant leg of his cargo pants attaching him to the leg of the coffee table. The figure slowly stands while Hara pulls his leg free, ripping his pants from the blade.
The figure lowers the hood slowly, lifting her head, unveiling her piercing green eyes.
“CUZ..what kind of Budokai Tenkaichi crap are you doing?” Hara takes a step towards Kami with a stern look. “I could have killed you; you know.” He walks over to the kitchen area and retrieves his dart which is impaled to the patio door. With a roll of her eye and a feminine grunt, Kami pulls her blade from the table’s leg and walks into the other room.
Walking to his jacket and reaching inside his pocket, Hara pulls out a small notepad. He follows Kami to her room and tosses it to her; she turns just as the notebook smacks her in the back of the head.
"Now that playtime is over, it is time to get to work. I have been following that old guy around and found out where he likes to hangout. Now if you can find some CCTV footage of him at these places, maybe we can figure out some kind of pattern we can exploit."
Kami’s reflexes nearly cause her to reach for the closest object and send it flying behind her, but Hara's voice broke the instinct. She turned in his direction and with a stern glare she picked up the notepad.
"Etsuji is a joke! You are tailing the wrong person. What I can do is, get in with the Sato family, they will be more than willing to give up any information on him and his little clan. The Hursts want information on his dealings in the states. If the Yakuzas have any connection to the Mikaelson family, we should be able to stop the dealings as well as shut them down here."
Kami hands the notepad back to Hara while she looks to her phone for the time. "You need to take the notes, I need to head out for a bit.”
Hara looks at Kami and raises and eyebrow. "The Sato family? You know we are here to watch and observe, not join the fucking Yakuza. You're supposed to be the smart one. We need to do our job till our job changes. As Mr. Hunter told me, use your head for something besides a hat rack. Let’s make a deal cuz, let’s just stay in the shadows for now then if we have the chance, you can play spy girl."
Kami lets out a muffled grunt, while she shakes her head. "You know, not many people can get away with besting me, but you're rii..." She pauses, lowering her head. Hara looks with a smile and ends the torture for her. "I'm right! It's ok cuz, you don't have to say it, just as long as you know it." Kami balls her fist up and aims it towards his face. "Don't get cute, it won't happen again."
Kami stands from the bed and begins to walk past Hara, looking up with a disgusted look upon her face. Hara reaches out for her arm just before his cell phone rings. He slides the phone from his back pocket to see who’s calling. Lowering his hand from her arm, he points outside. Just as he begins to reach for the doorknob, you hear a “siren” sounding ringtone coming from Kami’s cellphone that sits on the accent table beside the front door. Hara stops and peeks before twisting on the handle. Kami seems unphased by the call as Hara looks on. “It’s Cassie, you going to get that?” It continues to ring for the fourth time, sending the call to voicemail. Hara just shrugs his shoulders and continues his way out the door. He walks to the back of the Kominka and sits down upon the lounge chair.
" How the hell are you?" He answers. "I am good Cuz.” Colton replies. “I guess you’ve met with Ice Princess?" Hara smiles as he laughs. “She does seem all serious and stuff. It will just take some time for her to relax a bit. But she did give me a hug when we met and let me stay with her." You can hear that Colton lets out a small chuckle.
"Damn Cuz you are quick on the draw. Now, I owe Cassie 20 dollars. I bet her that Kami would have kicked you in the head and thrown you out the door." Hara just laughs hard. " Cuz, you know that could never happen. Everyone loves me. Even your Pops loves it when I am around." Colton just coughs. " Hara, you know he had to buy a new phone after he talked to you. Dude, you have got to stop calling him CUZ! He hates that shit and I get blamed for it." The two continue to hold a solid conversation as Kami waits before stepping out from her room; she walks to the table, picks up her phone to see if a voicemail would be left, but it wasn’t. She walks back into her room, pulling the screen door as she sits back on the mattress and dials the number. Putting the call on speaker and tossing her phone on top of her pillow, she takes her blade from before and begins to sharpen it while talking.
“You rang, Ladybug?” Kami smirks into the phone. “Ya, did I catch you at a bad time?” Cassie replies with a snicker in her voice. “No, just sharpening my blade is all. Did you need something, Cass?” Kami continues to rub her blade against the stone.
“Nah, just checking in on ya..and wondering how you and your new friend are getting along.” There’s an awkward silence for about 10 seconds. “You know he is talking to Colton right now. He has him on speaker.” A slight grin begins to form, and Kami lowers her blade. “Really now; am I on speaker too, Cassie?” It’s quiet for a couple seconds. “Not unless you want to be.” Cassie replies, having her already on speaker.
“I’m good, unless you don’t want to tell your brother to come get this toad.” You can hear both Cassie and Colton in the background laughing. “Toad? That’s a weird pet name, but hey, if that’s what ya’ll are into.” You can still hear Colton’s laughter in the background. “Into? Pet name? What are you talking about? “Kami reaches for her phone and immediately shuts down the speaker option. “From what I can hear Hara tell Colton, you two got a little cozy last night girlfriend.” For the third time there is an awkward silence, Kami begins to speak words in Japanese that neither Cassie nor Colton can understand. “Kami, what’s wrong?” Cassie asks. “You think he’s cute, don’t you?” She waits for an answer which Kami completely ignores. “He put a tracking device in my bag, Cass. You know I cannot allow that.” Kami puts the call back on the speaker, walks into the kitchen and places it on the counter. She looks out of the patio door, keeping a close eye on Hara.
“We all just want you to stay safe Kami. The Yakuza isn’t something to take lightly and I am glad to hear that you two are getting along so well; allowing him to stay with you and all.” Kami swiftly turns her head to the phone hoping that what she heard was in fact not what she had heard. “Just don’t get too distracted by those eyes like you did with Sensei Forester’s son. We both remember how that went, and we need you to focus.” Kami takes a deep breath, exhaling slowly with her eyes closed. She continues to glare out at the patio and notices Hara laughing while still talking on the phone.
“Look, I don’t know what that Toad is telling you two, but he only stayed the night because it was storming, and for some dumb reason, you know I have a soft spot for strays! Don’t get that twisted into anything and go comparing this to, JR!” Kami’s face turns a shade of red, and Cassie can tell she was a bit aggravated. “Calm down Kami, you are going to be working together, he is on our side, your side Kami, unlike JR. so, you may as well get used to it and get to know and like him. He was hired to watch and take care of you. He is going to be staying there with you, OR we can have it arranged to find you two a smaller place together to form this partnership. It’s your choice my friend. Like it or not, Hara stays. You work for me and my family, remember that. We want what is best for you and this job, and taking these precautions is what we are ensuring, and is what you will do. Now, since I know you are about on your third stage of red face, I will hang up and allow you to redirect yourself. I will be in touch with you again soon. Sayonara my friend.” The call ends with Cassie hanging up. Kami, now seemingly distraught, pitches her phone to the sofa, and grabs her backpack. Hara turns his back to the kominka, about to stand on his feet. Kami slides the patio door just a crack to ease drop on his call. She can make out the sound of laughter from the phone, and a comment from Hara. “Ya, I’ve seen prettier lot lizards compared to her.” Hara laughs hard. Kami’s eyes widen and she slams the patio door. Hara turns around quickly to see her running out from the front door.
" Cuz, I got to bolt. Kami is trying to sneak out of here." Hara quickly goes in and grabs the notebook and puts it back in his jacket. He looks at his watch and walks out the front door. He locks it as he moves to the dirt path. He follows the trail that makes the way to a little hut in a hidden part of the woods. He sits on a stump and pulls out his notepad. After about a half an hour, he stands, walking up to the front door. He lifts the notebook, holding it up to where he knows the hidden camera is, smiles and waves in the camera's view.
While the alarm beeps on Monitor number 2, Kami's attention draws from the screen in which the Yakuza seem to be hosting an event, to a piece of paper with scribbles. She zooms in, and the paper reads. "If you are reading this, trust him! He's already found you!" Kami bangs her fist on the keyboard in frustration, and quickly gets up and unlocks the door. Standing in front of the door, Kami jerks it open and immediately snatches Hara by the collar of his jacket, pulling him forcefully into her body as she hurries to slam the door.
“WHAT THE HELL TOAD!! Are you fucking crazy following me here! This is a secret place, no one knows about for a reason.” Hara smiles as he clings to her. "Easy little one, no one knows about this place. I am not even here. You are just having a wonderful dream." He looks around at the computers and all the video feeds and lets out a slight whistle. He drops the notebook next to her keyboard and keeps walking around. He walks over to the little fridge in the corner and grabs a bottle of water, opening it and taking a drink. He notices the workout area and goes over and gives the heavy bag a few punches and kicks. He looks to Kami. "So, this is what it looks like in here. I have seen the outside so many times, always wondered what the inside was like.” He walks over, drops down on the couch and looks at her. " Now, make with the clickity click and let’s find out more about this guy."
Kami stands silent for a moment. Dumbfounded by her neglect to keep the place hidden. She walks back to her chair and shuts the alarm off. Looking back to the Yakuza event, she tries to zoom in on a dark-haired American standing amongst the crowd. His face is covered by a hospital mask and only his eyes are visible. "There!! Look! Does that look like that Mikaelson man to you?" She begins to type faster, forcing open a facial recognition ap to see what will pick up. while scanning, the man in the video, turns away and the ap shuts down. "Dammit!!! I lost him!" She reverses video footage for Hara to see. He gets up off the couch and walks over to Kami. He stands behind her with his chin on her head. "Hmm, could be. Can you take a screen grab of it and send it? Maybe they will know."
Kami begins to lift her head up slowly, looking Hara in the face. then quickly lowers shaking it. "You have a phone, don't you? Take your best shot." She leans her body away from Hara giving him room to get the shot. "Now, send that to your pretty little lot lizard friend. Or maybe Colton, whichever is prettier." Kami leans up and stands from the chair, going over to the fridge and getting a drink.
Hara takes the picture and sends it to Mrs. Hurst. He walks over and takes Kami by the arm and stares into her eyes. "So, listening in on your partner's phone calls? Just so you know we were talking about someone that used to chase after Colton a few years back. She was a mean and awful person. I hope you would never think I would say that about anyone around here. You might be mean, but you are extremely..." Hara leans down closer to her and whispers. "Cute." He spins and walks to the door. "See you at home partner." He walks out, closing it behind him.
Kami does not move, she stands silent for several seconds, processing what just happened. She goes back to her chair and sits, glaring at the screen. Looking to the right, she sees Hara's notepad; she opens it to see bits and pieces of memos, kid like drawings, some addresses of Yakuza members, with event dates and places. There was also something a little surprising towards the back that read, "I'm sure JR was a very lucky dude." Kami's eyes widen surprised; she closes the book quickly and tosses it over to the keyboard. She tries to go back to work, typing frantically upon the keys. She whispers to herself, while she glares back at his book. "I can't do this again..." She sighs, looks to the screen, and sets up her recorders. She steps away from the desk walking over to a tiny box hidden behind a tall, tower-like terminal on the other side of the room. She opens the box and takes out a picture. She stares at it for several moments, placing it back inside the box.
