Benzai (reupload)

Ok, this was written more than 10 years ago, this was my first fiction and I barely knew english. It doesn't make any sense and I don't even remember why I chose that title , but I still love it. I think it's hilarious. So here you go. I didn't touch it, or changed a thing. Behold and be dismayed. I regret nothing.

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note : Being a fervent fan of the manga, I would fully understand the need of the people who would read that short story to rip my head off. Please be aware while reading it that this one shot is only a private joke I wanted to write down.

Benzaï !

Following some events which we won't loose our time and yours by telling you all the details, the Vice-President Masumi Hayami had been abducted by a gang of gangsters. Which was certainly not to please Maya, our dear actress, who always forbade everyone to put his finger on him: If someone had to kill the jerk, it had to be her. End of the discussion.

So, when she heard that Masumi Hayami had been kidnapped, she got utterlyangry. Her face became red, her eyes were almost jumping off their socket, and believe me or not, smoke was actually escaping from her nostrils. Who the hell dared to provoke her that obviously?

To prevent the scandal, all the Daito's employees had been told not to call the police: the Corporation's hand men would handle it themselves and were in waiting for the Chairman instructions. However, that order of discretion toward this case didn't kept the office ladies from crying all the day, but well, that was a lost cause. Who knew what those gangsters were doing to their precious and handsome boss's face? Indeed, who knew?

Actually, those delinquents were doing quite nothing to him, besides letting him tightly tied to a dying wood chair in a dark shed, glaring at him and juggling with their baseball bats while asking themselves what they could do with him now that they know for sure that this workaholic wasn't loved enough by anyone to get a ransom. Damn! Even his own father wouldn't do a thing!

Yeah, Masumi thought it might be intelligent to tell those bastards his whole childhood story, especially the part when he had been abducted when he was a child and that his father, who didn't want to bother paying a ransom, said he had no son and let him on his own. The poor Hayami had to get rid of the gangsters all by himself, running to the dock and jumping in the sea. That touching story made one guy whip a tear. He died a few minutes later.

So, now that the gangsters were fully aware (if they actually could be fully aware of anything) of the fact that this wealthy man was totally useless, due to his cold-hearted old man and to his own jerky and cruel personality, they were trying to ponder whether they should kill him or not.

But then, something happened. Something no one would ever have expected. Something that made the gangsters startle as one man. And Masumi would have startle too, if he hadn't been stuck on this freaking chair that was truly going to collapse at any minute. A big muffled sound, pointing out that someone was simply trying to open the locked door with a sledgehammer, was resounding in the whole shed. All the gazes where now turned toward the double gate that was more trembling after each blow. The criminals tightened the hold on their bat, waiting for the great danger that was coming. Some were trembling, some were sweating, some had their legs shaking, and one didn't even make it and faint on the ground. When, after a minute, the lock collapsed and the door opened, a dazzling light blinded the gangster for a moment, and then, calmly walking out of the light, a woman made her entrance.

Well, it wasn't exactly a woman. More like a plain and short teenager with long brown hair holding a sledgehammer on her shoulder.

Maya Kitajima tried to fight a half-crocked smile, which, according to the gangsters, meant something like: I'm so going to kill you, guys…You don't know who you messed up with! Trust me: you are dead. DEAD! With a "D", like Death, Dying, Disaster, Damage, Darkness, Demon, Damnation…

And damn-fool, but well…

To Maya, this little fragment of facial expression simply meant: Oh yes! I knew that the entrance from the middle of the light with the sledgehammer would work. Tsukikage-sensei may be right: I'm a genius.

And to Masumi, it…well, he simple couldn't think. Like: at all. Forever. Please. Mommy!

The girl calmly walked toward the men who were pondering if they should step back. She looked at the one who seemed to be the boss (the first she saw that didn't look like a total fool) with her ice cold eyes, her face now completely unreadable, pointed at Masumi with her chin and said:

"Let him go."

Her tone was full of authority, and it was indeed an order she was giving. No possible discussion. The gangsters glanced at each other, truly considering the option of just obey and save their ass. But at last someone did notice the girl they were facing was just one girl, which only meant ninety-three pounds of breakable bones. And this guy said "No". This amazing speech immediately put him at the head of the clan. Maya turned her head toward him, icy.

"It wasn't a question." She said with her glare so scary that even Masumi swallowed loudly. "Let him go now."

The new boss stiffened his body, as if he was expecting a blow, clenched his teeth and repeated himself: "No."

Maya's free hand turned into a hard fist urging for a fight, but the girl managed to say calmly: "Why are you so…uncooperative?"

"B-because you are a g-girl, a-and nothing but a Chibi-chan." He stammered.

Masumi's heart stopped for a second. Oh. My. God. He didn't…

Yes, he did. And after having said that, everything blurred weirdly. No only his way too brave action had make him on the verge on fainting, but also the girl reacted at his answer really violently. All he knew was she said something like "I…am not…that…short." In a really scary way, like she was about to explode…and then next thing he knew was that he was lied on the floor, alone in the shed, his heard hurting badly, with the other guy who fainted and the one who died in a mysterious way after having cried to Hayami's story.

The other, who didn't loose consciousness, experienced something even weirder. Actually after having heard the infamous sentence, Maya turned into a bull about to charge again, with the smoke escaping from her nostrils and the red face. And yes, she really said "I…am not…that…short." Only then, what the guy fortunately didn't remember was that she actually threw the sledgehammer to his face. And then everyone thought he passed away.

While the criminals' eyes were following their former leader's fall, Masumi couldn't get his eyes off Maya. She seemed so confident, and so aggressive and strong, forgetting how weak and breakable she actually was. How come she could get herself into such a great danger as of coming all alone in this shed to "talk" to those guys? And more than everything: what the hell with the sledgehammer? Where did she find the strength to break the door and to throw it that hard to this guy face?

More terrifying: was she really doing that to save him? Was she putting her life in danger for his sake? Why? Did she make a death-wish?

"Now", Maya went on as if nothing just happened "could you please free this man?"

The men glanced at each other for a while, waiting for someone to step forward and speak. A guy made up his mind, and after a short prey during which he tried really hard not to cry, he looked into Maya's temporally red eyes and stammered:

"W-who are you, t-to give us orders l-like that?" It is not fair…Damn! I wanted to seem severe and charismatic, but I think I failed…

And yes, he did. Indeed who could stand before Maya's mad eyes? The girl smirked, raised her chin and said: "Me? I am Maya Kitajima, the daughter of the great boss Koyuki Kitajima."

"You mean…the boss of a clan of Yakuza?" The speaker stammered, sweating so much we couldn't say if he didn't pee on himself or if he did.

"That is exactly what I meant, yes." She said coldly.

To Masumi, Maya had pretty much the same kind of relationship with Yakuzas than a bird could possibly have with a tire, so this sentence could have been rather funny in an other situation; but since during the five passed minutes this little actress he thought as weak and in need of constant protection had break in a shed by exposing the lock with a sledgehammer, and then threw the very same heavy sledgehammer to a gangster's face, all this in order to save the man she hated the most on planet Earth and wanted dead; he didn't react to her statement about being the daughter of a Yakuza's clan's boss.

"And now, are you going to let go off my boss or what?"

"Y-your b-boss?" The man was about to faint.

Maya sighted with disdain, which didn't suited her at all, and said, her eyes closed with exasperation: "Could you please stop repeating all my sentences with this awful stupid face and just do what I'm demanding?"

This time, Masumi truly believed he crossed the door to another dimension. He was standing in some kind of parallel universe, where Maya is self confident enough to "demand" something to a whole terrified gang.

The speaker squealed, bow at almost ninety degree and hurried to unleash an astonished Masumi Hayami. He even helped him to stand up. Masumi got aware that he wasn't really able to walk for now, being tied tightly to this weak chair- that collapsed as soon as it got free, how predictable – didn't do any good to his blood stream. Maya named another order.

"And I want a car. You must have at least one car, right?"

She glanced at the whole gang with such a icy glare that a key flew toward her in only one second, and she caught it with one hand. Someone that didn't want to be remarked stammered:

"I-It's a black v-van."

The smile she addressed him was even more frightening than her glare.

"Thank you." She glared at the man that was helping Masumi to walk. "I'll do it myself."

She walked toward them and put Masumi's arm on her shoulders to help him. The gangster stepped back with fear and respect. While they walked out of the shed, followed by something like fifty amazed eyes, Masumi slowly recovered his ability to walk. They silently searched the black van, which was parked in a piece of waste ground, near the shed. When they reached it, Maya said:

"Hayami-san, can you walk?"

"Hum…yes, I think."

She immediately let go of his arm to straighten herself, and he almost fall down.

"Then take the wheel, I can't drive."

He blinked once, and after having recovered from being given an order by this girl, and after having definitely decided to stop thinking at all, he obeyed. But inside the car, Maya turned into a completely different person. Well, actually, she rather turned back to her old normal self. Her whole body trembling, her knees on folded on her chest, her hand grabbing her hair, she stammered, her voice high-pitched:

"What are you waiting for, let's go, we got to go out of here!"

Again, Masumi just obeyed. The engine started with a big noise and the wheel squealed for a moment, struggling to get out of the mud. Maya almost cried: "No, please no!" and then yelled at the car "Oh, come on!" She punched the dashboard, and the van finally made it and got on the road. Masumi, more astonished than ever, while seeing Maya sighing deeply, kept driving as far as he could. After a moment he said.

"You know, you just saved my life."

No answer. He went on, a bit uneasy. He had to go on that topic. This was important. But he wasn't sure about either he wanted to know the answer or not.

"It's really surprising. Me, the cold-heated workaholic you hate." He tried to banish the wave of hope that was filling his heart, but he couldn't help but asking: "I wonder why you would do something like that…"

He still got no answer. Don't look at her…do not look at her…

"Of course it must have been a piece of cake." He went on, trying another subject. "Having a gang boss for father…"

Maya squealed. Masumi finally glanced at her and what he saw let doubt seep into his mind.

"Chib-" Sledgehammer! "Maya…you do have a father, who is a Yakuza's clan boss, don't you?"

Another squeal. Masumi swallowed loudly.

"Maya, answer me."

"No I don't!" She cried out loud, and Masumi's hands held the wheel tighter. "Well, I-I don't know, maybe!" She trembled very much now. "He-he died when I was a baby, so how could I know!"

"You…were…bluffing?" Masumi said slowly, trying to keep his composure.

"Yes!" She said with a high-pitched voice. "Besides throwing things into people's faces, I don't know how to fight at all!" This time, Masumi was the one squealed. But, grinding his teeth, he did his best to stay calm. "So, I was angry a-and I didn't think too much, I just thought that if I acted as a bad girl, this might do and they would let you go!"

This was more than he could bear.

"YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!" He yelled.

Masumi braked suddenly and parked the van on the side of the road. He undid his seat belt and turned his head toward Maya.

"What if they hadn't believed you? What if they decided to fight you? What were you thinking?"

"Well…" she said sheepishly "I didn't think so much…"

"Why did you do that?!" He cried out of rage. She needs protection. She definitely needs protection! "Why did you go so far to save me?! Are you crazy?!"

Actually this wasn't the first time that he worried about her mental health. There was this time when she stand on stage despite her 40°C fever, after having spend almost the whole night in the rain to become sick on purpose in order to understand her character. This other time, when she didn't hesitate to stand on stage all alone to play fourteen characters by herself because her partner were stuck in the road. There was also this time when she had been living while being tied with bamboo to retrain her movements, all this to fully understand the doll she was going to perform on stage. And recently before she came to work for his company, when she blindfolds herself and blocked her ears to understand Helen, the blind and deaf girl she was going to perform. She hurt herself many times when she was doing something without thinking or caring about the consequences. But every time he thought "she is crazy", there was always a good connotation behind this thought, mostly admiration. Not this time.

This time, this was pure craziness and stupidity.

"Why on earth would you do something like that? You should have let the police settle this!"

"But the police wouldn't have done anything!" She cried.

"Of course they would, I'm Hayami Masumi."

"Yes. And because of that name we had been told not to call the police!" She replied, starting to be really angry. "That "The hand men of the company were waiting for the Chairman's instructions"!"

Masumi swallowed loudly. His father wouldn't have done a thing: he knew that by experience. But the situation was still making no sense. "And you, Ch…Maya, decided to go save me by yourself."

"Yes." She said with a little voice.

"Why?"

"Because…" She interrupted herself, searching a good answer. "I was angry."

Masumi pondered this answer for a moment, without knowing how to take it. She went on.

"No one has the right to touch you, I decided." She said. "If you ever had to be killed by someone, this someone would definitely be me!"

After a silence, Masumi looked deep into her brown eyes and said: "You hate me this much?" Strange thing, he was taking it more as praise. Hope was filling his heart again in a really strange way, so intensely that he wasn't able to fight it. He didn't even want to.

"Yes! I hate you!" She answered fiercely, her gaze daring him. "I claimed dibs on your murder, and no one has the right to take it from-"

But she couldn't say one more word, because two soft and warm lips were suddenly on hers.

"And then I…I kissed her!" Masumi cried out loud, his head held by his two hands, still not ready to fully believe it.

"You did WHAT?!" Mizuki exclaimed, after having thought that things couldn't have turned even weirder. But that might explain the blank look she had when she came back at her apartment.

"I-I don't know, I just grabbed her head and kissed her! I don't know what happened to me!"

"Well, now at least you have to admit that you are deeply in love with her." Mizuki said with a great grin on her face. "Now we are going somewhere!"

"Please, don't say that…this is a disaster!" He hid his face in his arms. Mizuki fought a laugh. "I wasn't prepared to that! Why is this happening to me?" He raised his head out of his arms, his gaze lost and begging.

"If you had listened to me, you wouldn't have put you in such a situation!"

"But I thought you were wrong!" He groaned. "Just thinking that I may be in love with a girl that is elev-"

"With all my respect, sir, you don't kiss people you may be in love with, like that, out of the blue!"

He hid his face again, completely desperate.

Yes, I guess I have to admit it…

"And then, what happened?" Mizuki asked.

"Well…I don't exactly know how long it lasted…but she didn't reject me the whole time."

"Wow." His secretary said with her eyes wide with astonishment. "That's good, isn't it?"

"I…don't think so." Masumi said, reliving the situation. "It was more like she couldn't move at all. As if she was shocked. Then, when I realised what I was doing, I let go of her and restarted the car. And I drove her to her apartment."

Mizuki stayed still for a minute or two, as if she was expecting something else to come.

"What…that's all?"

"No…"he answered, uneasy. "I said something."

"What did you say?" She asked, expecting the worse.

He looked at her. "Let's just say that I didn't think either. That's what I said."

"You are hopeless."