Free Nogitsune by Amaris Laurent, Jonathan D. Alexanders IX

done with her last customer, another woman entered her doors as Yuki was putting up her tools.
     
    “I’m sorry, I’m not doing any more tattoos for today. We’re closed,” said Yuki anxious to get back home to see her father.
     
    “That’s not why I’m here,” said Illicit.
     
    “What do you want?” said Yuki.
     
    “A week ago, your best friend’s mother was murdered viciously on the streets and nothing has been done about it. Illicit said. “Nor will be considering the fact that it was yakuza related. It will be just another beautiful life lost to the senseless violence of the yakuza.”
     
    “Who are you and how do you know all of this?”
     
    “I go by the name of Illicit and I’m a very good friend of yours.” She looked up at Yuki with her eyes glowing red. “A very good friend that you haven’t seen in a long time.”
     
    As Yuki stood there in a trance, powerless to move.
     
    Illicit smirked and shouted her name. “Yuki!”
     
    Yuki shook her head and glanced a second time at Illicit before jumping up from her chair and running over to hug Illicit! “OMG! Illicit, is that you? It has been ages.”
     
    “Yes! It’s me.”
     
    "So am I going to have to guess the reason for this visit or are you going to tell me already?"
     
    Illicit went into her serious mode. "I will. But right now I have to tell you something.”
     
    “What is it?” 
     
    Illicit cleared her throat. “Iyaka Ioka is dead.”
     
    Yuki covered her mouth and immediately began to tear up. “Oh my god! Iyaka? How did she—”
     
    “Seven stray bullets from Kento Karahawa struck and killed Iyaka and the baby she was carrying.”
     
    “Ayame must be devastated.”
     
    Illicit placed her hand on Yuki’s and tried to comfort her, “Now is not the time for tears, Yuki. I have a job for you.”
     
    “What do you need me to do?”
     
    “I need you to help me incite a war between the Inato and Fukushima,” said Illicit.
     
    “But how,”
     
    Illicit circled around Yuki’s tattoo seat. “I need you to help me recruit some members for an all-woman organization. I want you to build something that will stop all yakuza factions once and for all.”
     
    Illicit’s eyes began glowing once again, leering at Yuki. “Talk to Ayame tonight about this and convince her of our cause. If we can get her to join us, we can bring the yakuza to their knees. Do you understand?”
     
    Yuki nodded without saying a word.
     
    Illicit got close to Yuki’s face as if she was going to kiss her. Yuki opened her lips slightly as Illicit breathed a red mist into her mouth and whispered in her ear.
     
    “You belong to me now! We…are…one!”
     
    Yuki gasped and looked around, but there was no sign of Illicit. She remembered her being there and the conversation they had about the yakuza but she couldn’t remember her leaving.
     
    The only thing she knew is that she felt a strong compulsion to go to call Ayame.
     
    ****
     
    At a bus stop near the Zushi train station a couple of days later, Yuki Williams made a few calls to her friend, college student Ayame Komatsu, daughter of the deceased Iyaka Ioka and stepdaughter of Fukushima gangster Hideyoshi Ioka. Her calls went unanswered.
     
    For several days, Yuki called Ayame obsessively and just when she was about to give up, Ayame pulled up in front of Yuki’s tattoo parlor in a hot bubble gum pink Rolls Royce Wraith, burst through the doors and told Yuki, "I need a drink."
     
    Yuki just shook her head, grabbed her purse and jumped in the car.
     
    Within minutes they were headed to one of her favorite bar in Yokosuka, a small bar called Soul Power , near the Fleet Activities Yokosuka Naval Base. They went to the bar area and Yuki ordered shots of tequila for her and Ayame. When the bartender gave them the shots, Yuki and Ayame took the glass and raised them.
     
    "To Iyaka," Yuki said. "May she find peace in the loving arms of whatever she believes!"
     
    "To Mom," Ayame