Omiai (1)

When they arrived, Yukiko nudged her father awake, and he woke up with a loud snort. Nodding gratefully to his daughter, the powerful Kumicho stood from his seat, stretching his stiff legs and neck.

"Let's go," he nodded towards his subordinates with his usual cold expression on his face, but his icy persona turned 180 degrees around when he looked at his daughter. "Come on, Yukki-chan!"

Yukiko couldn't help but look at her father with disgust. No self-respecting daughter can handle her father using '-chan'... especially since she no longer was a child.

"Otou-san-"

"Hurry up, Yukiko!" Togai was already half-way out of the airplane, the pilot and attendants bowing repeatedly to the Kumicho.

Yukiko rolled her eyes before she stood, careful to ensure that her kimono remained pristine. The other men followed after her, keeping a respectful distance.

Once she was off the plane, her father immediately turned towards her and grinned widely, his eyebrows almost shooting off his face.

"What?" Yukiko was irritated when she noticed her father's expression.

Instead of saying anything, Togai remained cheery as a black car stopped before them. Two men exited, bowing a full 90º at the Kumicho. "You two can remain here. Kenji."

"Hai," Kenji replied, his back straight and tone respectful.

"You drive."

"Hai."

The two members nodded and followed his orders, while Shigure, Yukiko, and the other two members that followed them from Osaka entered the car. Kenji entered the driver's side, while Togai had shotgun.

"Which syndicate?" Yukiko asked her question right after the sounds of seatbelts buckling stopped.

"No syndicate," her father replied, his smile- impossibly- widening.

"Then where?"

"A salon!"

"What?"

Togai hummed a cheerful tune as he drummed his fingers on his car door. On the other hand, Yukiko was completely silent as she pouted at her father's secrecy. Despite the unhappy expression on her fact, however, she was completely unperturbed. Instead, she was taking in each clue her father was giving her.

In fact, she had a sinking feeling in her stomach.

It couldn't be what she was thinking about... could it?

With a pouty face on the outside, but a grim one within, she watched out the window as they drove out of the private airport and into a shopping district.

The stop at the salon didn't take long. It took a total of ten minutes for the lady to finish applying natural make-up on Yakiko's face, and another thirty minutes for her to style Yakiko's hair. Compared to the usual two hours it took, Yakiko was certain that the 'fun' she was to have... was getting closer and closer to what she thought it was.

It wasn't before she sat in a seiza before an old man and a young man that her greatest nightmare came true- she was at an omiai[1]. In fact, the old woman that sat at the head of the table only confirmed her previous calculations further. The old woman was the nakōdo[2].

She hadn't wanted to believe it at first. In fact, she vehemently denied the chances that she was going to an omiai. It was improbable. She was only 16-years old. Furthermore, her mother would never allow her to get married to someone she didn't love.

In fact, the only thing that pointed towards the omiai was her kimono and her beautiful make-up and hair. The way to the enemy syndicate was exactly like what happened when she had visited a different enemy syndicate at 14-years-old. Even the way they had greeted her father and her was exactly the same- a young woman met them at the entrance and guided them to a separate room.

Furthermore, there was nobody in the four-tatami[3] room, and it was bare except for a tea table and five cushions. Growing even more suspicious, Yukiko couldn't do anything else but enter. It was too late to fight back.

After they sat down seiza-style, three people entered, and the situation that was described before occurred.

The old man sat across from her own old man, while the man that was around her age sat across from her. The nakōdo sat at the left side of her father in the middle of the table.

Yukiko could only inwardly sigh as she jabbed her father with an extended hand. Her father didn't even blink as he introduced himself and her to the two men across from them.

The old man harrumphed and then straightened up once the nakōdo said that it was time for them to introduce themselves in turn. Coughing into his palm, the old man smiled, showing off four missing teeth. He pointed towards himself first, "Yamamoto Haruhiro." And then he turned towards the young man next to him, "Yamamoto Ryunosuke[4]."

Ryunosuke?

It took all of Yukiko's years of acting to not taugh. What an old-fashioned name.

In order to distract herself, she studied the young man's features.

He couldn't have been a year or two older than her. In fact, she was sure that he was the same age as Shi-chan; they had the same type of presence.

However, his was sharper and more abrasive.

Although he didn't have Shigure's delicate features, his were manlier and seemed to be more mature. His eyes were so dark a brown they appeared black in the low-lighting, and his hair was cropped closely to his head. A pronounced jaw and eyebrows that practically screamed 'sword-like', young Yamamoto had charisma that could cause the average girl to faint with a mere glance. Fortunately, Yukiko wasn't an average girl.

After studying his face, Yukiko moved on to his body. Since he was wearing a casual T-shirt and jeans, Yukiko could see his Yakuza tattoos peeking out every time his sleeve hiked up higher. Furthermore, she could tell that he worked out often. His muscles were striking.

"You done staring?" amusement colored the young man's voice. Yukiko noticed that despite the young man's 'clear' amusement in his voice, there was nothing but indifference deep within the young Yamamoto's eyes.

"No," Yukiko said. "Strip so I can see whether or not you have enough abs."

"Yuki-chan!" Togai stared in horror at his little girl. On the other hand, old Yamamoto let out a deep chuckle at the young woman's response.

Young Yamamoto also chuckled before he lifted his shirt off and stripped in front of the young girl.

"Barely passable," Yukiko dismissively said. He only had six abs. Two less than she expected, hmph.

The young man chuckled again, but once more Yukiko could see the deep indifference within the young man's eyes.

"Glad that I passed, Ojou-san." The young Yamamoto changed his seating position, switching from a seiza to bending one of his legs inwards and lifting the other so that his feet was flat on the ground and he could rest his elbow on his knee.

Yukiko warmly smiled, but only she knew that she wanted to wipe that insincere smirk off the young man's face. Of course, that was hypocritical of her since she herself was hiding her true feelings.

But she knew that she at least gave a reasonable act.

The young Yamamoto before her didn't even try.