10 Chapter 10: Splendor Beginnings

Katya had arrived with tired eyes and a handful of people at the front entrance of the dilapidated building that Touya called La Fleur only to find the man himself sitting to the side on what appeared to be a collapsible beach chair while the rest of his gang either stood around him or sat on the ground leaning against the chair. As soon as he had spotted her he got off his chair with a wide grin and walked up.

"Good that you keep your promises," he said standing by her side and facing towards the building like her. "Pretty much wasted isn't it."

Katya groaned as he looked at the place. If an earthquake had happened the place would not look so trashed. She looked, with tired eyes, towards Kovit who stood next to her and he had the grace to act with shame.

"What do you want us to do," she asked.

"Ah-," Touya started when suddenly a tall, slender woman wearing what could only be designer dress came tutting over in her high heels exiting from the side gates, she wore sun glasses and held a particular manner about her that screamed arrogance and wealth.

"Touya," she called over in the posh accent of a country which Katya couldn't make out, it was however not Asian, she however looked it, maybe she was half, much like herself.

"Mei," greeted Touya amicably as she came to stand right next to him and she stood perhaps a several inches taller than Katya, there was even a feeling of intimidation there as Katya gently cleared her throat and stepped back only for Touya's hand to reach out and grab her back into the fold.

"Who is this?" Mei asked looking at her in surprise.

"This here is Xander," said Touya introducing her, not allowing her a chance to speak as he put his hand around her shoulders. "He leads a gang here."

"A gangster," said Mei and Katya saw a look of disgust flash past her face and she immediately knew that she did not like this woman, this woman was a witch.

"Well no, not really a gangster," said Touya frowning. "I mean I've been to there place, they have a really friendly atmosphere."

At those words Katya herself scoffed, friendly atmosphere. There was no friendly atmosphere at her hideout, all her gang members were absolutely terrified of her, such was her reputation. As she thought about this, she nodded approvingly, giving herself an imaginary pat on the back.

"This was the boy that occupied your hotel?" asked Mei looking down on Katya quite literally and at this point she realized, she really didn't like this woman, the feeling was slowly developing into hate, she was not a boy, the least this woman could do was call her a man.

Katya sent a short glare at the woman who seemed somewhat surprised.

"Xander did indeed look after this place in my absence," said Touya nodding and Mei scoffed, recovering from Katya's glare.

"Look after it, please, Touya have you seen its condition?" asked Mei.

"I have," deadpanned Touya looking right at the hotel, Mei paused as she registered the reply and Katya almost giggled but then she realized the man still had his hands around her.

She pulled back her elbow to push it into his gut, she was at the perfect height but then she looked at the woman who seemed to be looking at her and then at Touya and for some reason she pushed back her urge.

"Can you help with repairs?" asked Ly from behind Mei, joining in on the conversation.

"Why…I mean I think this gives the place character," said Quedell coming up behind.

Ly turned in annoyance to Quedell who smiled at him innocent, "As much as character is a needed component, so is hygiene and guest safety, the thing despite its structure looks like a death trap in certain places."

At these words Katya again turned to glare towards Kovit who avoided her eyes like the plague, she then turned towards the members she brought who all looked down.

"It needs renovations," Kyler agreed quietly still not moving from his place.

"Can you give me a plan and an ETA?" asked Touya looking at Mei.

"Yes, I can…I already have one in fact," said Mei. "I just needed to make some revisions to the original ones, I'll have it all emailed to you soon, but you might wish to consider cleaning the courtyard, there are all manner of animals in there."

"We know," said Touya as he sighed, he the nodded towards Katya, his arms still around her. "We need to clean the area out before we can start work…that's why they're here."

"The people that destroyed the place should only rightly help with the cleaning of it," nodded Mei.

"Yep," said Touya with a grin as he then winked at Mei. "If you could send those plans to me that'd be a real help, Mei dear."

Katya looked on with a cold expression, does this man flirt with anything that comes by him. Katya took back her elbow and jutted it into his gut catching him unawares as he stumbled back. Mei let out a gasp as Katya turned to look at Touya with satisfaction. This was the first time she had managed to land a blow on this man.

"Ouch," said Touya rubbing his chest.

"You brute," cried out Mei and Katya looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Seriously," she said. "I'm a gang leader…what do you expect?"

"How dare you hit him…?" said Mei gasping and looking at Touya who seemed to have a smile on her face.

"Mei, please…I'm fine," said Touya as he looked at Katya. "Really feisty."

Quedell let out a cackle from behind, "Even I winced at that."

"You're alright Touya?" asked Ly neutrally.

"Yeah Ly, I'm fine," said Touya whilst Mei still looked white.

He went up and tapped her forehead, "Seriously Mei, I'm fine, it was just a joke."

"A joke," Mei whispered quietly. "He elbowed you in the chest."

"Lightly," retorted Touya giving Katya a once over and she agreed with him, it was light, this woman was making a mountain out of a mole hill.

"Seriously Mei, get back and sent me the plans," he said. "We'll clean up here."

"Alright, you be careful," said Mei and she kissed Touya on the cheek a white Rolls Royce ghost of all things pulled up.

She gave Katya a distasteful once over before leaving, climbing into the back of the Rolls Royce ghost with the grace of a ballerina. Even Katya had to admit that the woman looked like a supermodel. She looked at Touya and then at the car, there had to be something there, surely. Touya then turned towards Katya who stepped back as his smile had an edge to it.

***

"You…" he said closing in on her as she took another step back.

He caught her and proceeded to put her in a mock choke hold whilst the rest of the gang watched on with thunderous disbelief.

"How could you do that to me in front of the guest," said Touya in her ears as she felt her face turning red, she however snorted as she tried to struggle out.

"She was your guest," said Katya twisting in his grasp.

His other hand had wrapped around her waist, so close to her breasts and her heart beat went up several octaves.

Freezing she said, "Let me go, right now."

She writhed in his grasp again turning to face him and as they eyed each other, they froze again. Her brain shorted out, it seemed to be happening to her a lot these days.

"God damn, the tension's real," said Quedell from behind Touya, a sentence that barely registered in her brain as she looked into his eyes.

"Boss…" Kovit said weakly from behind her.

She needed to stop getting into these situations. Hurriedly she pushed away from Touya who loosened the grip quickly and standing a fair few feet distance away, she could still feel her heart beating to get out of her chest.

"What the hell was that for?" she asked snarling, her face still red.

Touya looked at her dazedly before a tap from Ly snapped him out.

"You seriously need to stop doing that Touya," said Ly shaking his head and she wholeheartedly agreed.

"Right...yes," said Touya nodding. "Well uh, how 'bout we get to work, there's a lot to be done, very little time and all."

Touya turned around quickly and Katya gave him a once over, her heart speeding up again but she quickly shook her to look at Kovit who was standing there with an open mouth, an expression mirrored on the faces of the rest of the people she had brought.

"Dammit, get in there and get to work you useless fools!" she shouted irritated.

She then turned towards Ly who smiled at her.

"Just, tell them what you need to do," she said. "They'll get on it."

He nodded and turned towards Touya who still seemed to have his back turned to them. Ly looked at his back and then at Katya and his smile had turned a little exasperated at this

"Uh...Touya, you need to tell them what to do," said Ly.

"Right," said Touya turning around quickly, his grin back on his face as he looked at her with a twinkle in his eye.

She averted her face sideways to calm herself down again, wishing at this point she hadn't turned up at all.

"Everyone get in there and start cleaning up," said Touya. "Just get rid of anything that doesn't belong on the property, leave the grass and weeds, we'll do that after, right now chase out the wild animals and get rid of the waste."

Katya nodded towards her gang who followed immediately after through the open side gates. She herself was about to follow after when suddenly Touya's arm reached out and grabbed her again. She frowned, not again. She was about to shaking his hand off when he noticed the seriousness in his face, not just his, Quedell, Ly and Kyler all had the same look, well maybe Kyler, he always looked serious.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's about Jin," said Touya eyeing her carefully.