My Family's Honor (Kenji)

[Zuka]

November 15th.




There was a determination in her step and a purpose in her walk. Her usual pleasantries to the people she passed were no more today as her mind was only focused on the anger she felt and her destination.

The news had reached her four days ago; given her father’s involvement with the city when he was alive and his philanthropist nature as his time as a councilman, President Riako had decided to honor his memory with a statue in front of the Northern Water Tribe embassy. It was a great honor not only for the Northern Tribe but for her family as well and Zuka couldn’t be more proud to call herself Sota’s daughter. Arrangements were being made and the reveal was to happen two weeks from now during the Winter Festival and given that she was the only living relative in the city and the only one able (or willing) to make the trip Zuka was going to reveal the statue along with the President on her fathers behalf.

It was supposed to be a whole spectacle; foreign leaders, the press and other influential members of society were all set to be there. Zuka had started writing her speech she was to give, going through draft after draft since nothing seemed good enough. It was a little nerve wracking but she was happy to do it. Everything was going to plan until she received the letter. Not even a phone call or a face to face meeting but a letter. The letter was from Raiko stating that due to recent accusations about her father that the ceremony was being put on hold until things could be confirmed one way or another. Zuka didn’t understand, what accusations? The letter didn’t say but she wanted to know, this all had to be a misunderstanding. Whatever it was could easily be fixed and laid to rest she was sure of it.

After receiving the letter Zuka tried to get in contact with the President, she had met with him before a handful of times in preparation to the unveiling but now it seemed he wanted nothing to do with her. Zuka called and called, left message after message but she was always met with the same reply ‘The President is busy, the President is in a meeting, someone will get back to you as soon as they can.” Zuka was not dumb, she knew she was getting the run around and she didn’t understand why. But, she decided to give it a day or two.

It wasn’t until the next morning that someone from the Presidents staff finally got into contact with her and made a visit to the Blue Dragon personally. The man seemed fidgety, like he did not want to be there and like he wanted out the first chance he got. Zuka tried to calm his nerves, offered him a drink which he refused and brought him to her office so they could talk in private. As soon as they were both seated the man got right to business, wanting to be out of the club as soon as possible. With a shaking voice the man informed her that President Riako would no longer be holding the dedication for her father thanks to credible information about her father being a Equalist supporter.

As soon as the words left his mouth Zuka nearly lost it. She was livid. How dare they drag her fathers name through the mud like that.

She demanded to see what their so called proof was, demanded to know how they got this information and demanded to talk with the President directly to try to work this out but all of her request were denied. The representive told her that the decision was made and that the President would not see her as he was too busy with other obligations. Zuka could not throw the man out fast enough. Immediately after he was gone she picked up her phone and began making phone calls, trying to find out who could have started these awful rumors. When that warranted no leads Zuka decided to try to talk to Raiko face to face, he was not going to shut her out that easily. Getting into talk to him was impossible and she was promptly escorted out as soon as she arrived.

Zuka spent the next day wracking her brain trying to come up with who would have given this false information. Sadly, the list was fairly long. A lot of people had a lot to gain from this because whoever it was knew that any move she tried to make would only make her fathers case that much worse. Zuka’s hands were tied but that didn’t mean she was giving up. If she couldn’t do this directly then there was someone else who could.

Going to see Kenji was really the last thing she wanted to do and getting him involved in something personal like this really was not good for her but her choices were slim. If she could hire him to do the digging for her then she could go and take care of the problem privately. It was her only option that wouldn’t make this mess worse for her family and she would just have to swallow her pride.

Arriving at his office Zuka found the inside dark and the door locked. Great, he wasn’t here. She knew she could easily go inside if she wanted, Zuka had let herself in once already to drop off a invitation but given how she wanted his help…needed his help, letting herself in wouldn’t help her in the long run.

Deciding against breaking and entering Zuka instead leaned on the wall next to the door. She had no idea how long she was going to have to wait but she would wait as long as she needed to. This was too important to her not too.

SPOILER: Click to show

It's not the best and I will probably go back and polish it up a bit and make it more worthy but its there.... Dont know if you remember what we talked about before with her coming to him to find stuff out that would lead her to taking up the talon mantle thing but this would be the start of it. If you need a refresher on that just let me know.

[Kenji]

Anyone else might have been excited to see a pretty woman waiting for them at their door.

Kenji had been in the racket long enough to know better, it was just more trouble in a pretty package.

Case in point....

He made his way to his office, coming back from a case far to easy to be interesting but far to expensive to pass up. It was then that he saw her leaning on his door. For a few minutes he highly debated turning back around, she hadn't seen him yet. He could do it. No one would ever know. However his better nature won in the end and he took a heavy step forward announcing his presence as he tilted his fedora  forward shading his eyes as he walked to the front door.

"Well, well, well, look what the pygmy panther dragged in." Kenji said as he  came to a halt " Well I don't see food, booze, or invitations so I'm guessing this is not a social call. So color me intrigued." he could have kept going with this, but he could tell that something bigger was up. It was in the way she stood, and the general vibe that was coming off of her. Might as well have had a neon sign that said: Troubled, Reluctant and Needs Help

Well with all this deducting  it was almost like he was some sort of detective.

So instead he shrugged and produced a key as he opened the door and stepped inside before gesturing at her " So are you coming in or not?' He then walked in clicking on the lights and opening the windows to let some of the late afternoon breeze flow in as he took a seat behind his desk. He then leaned back and propped his feet up, and waited. She was here for something, and he was patient.

[Zuka]

The sound of footsteps coming closer made her glance toward their source and she saw Kenji walking her way. It was about time, she was starting to second guess her decision not to let herself into his office, at least then she could sit and wait instead of stand out here like a idiot. His comment to her made it seem like he wasn't surprised to see her and now she was wondering if she should have brought something along to make this seem a little less desperate, something like a bottle that would have made it seem like she was just in the neighborhood. But, a bottle of liquor turned things into a social visit and that was not what she was here for and truth was, Zuka was desperate. "You always did have a keen eye." She responded while standing from her leaning position and waiting for him to open the door.

Once it was open Zuka followed him inside, shutting the door behind her and removing her coat, hanging it up on the coat rack next to the door but keeping the bag she had brought with her. The bag was full of useful things should he decide to take her as a client. Things like information about her father and a sizable stack of Yuans. Zuka wasn't expecting him to give her a free pass because they had a history together, she knew she was going to have to pay and probably then some and given her standing and reputation as a Triad Kenji might be a little more hesitant to take this on if he had truly gone the straight and narrow like he said he has. Part of her doubted that but it was still a option.

Bag in hand Zuka took a seat in the empty chair on the other side of his desk and waited for him to get comfortable, leaning down to set the bag next to the chair for now. Sitting back up Zuka looked over at him for a moment, she could feel the lump in her throat, she had tried swallowing her pride to come here but it did not want to go down easily. Zuka hated asking for help, she hated feeling and being helpless and she had not felt that feeling in a very long time and truth be told she couldn't remember the last time she had felt helpless in a situation. No matter what she had always managed to come out on top of things no matter how sticky a situation got, it had been one of the things she prided herself on. Yes she got herself involved in some stupid, reckless and dangerous things but never once had she needed to be rescued. Yet, here she was.

"I don't really know how else to start this expect with I need your help." Zuka finally spoke "which I'm sure you've obviously already figured out." As soon as the words left her mouth it made Zuka regret not having brought something to drink with her. Surely if she had something to wash it down with it might make things easier but..she didn't but you had better believe that once she left here she would be indulging in a spirit or two. Now that she had spoke however Zuka waited, she was sure that some kind of jab or smart remark was going to follow from him and might as well let him get it out of his system first.

[Kenji]

"I don't really know how else to start this expect with I need your help.which I'm sure you've obviously already figured out."

Indeed he had, but there was no retort in coming as Kenji briefly shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as he took a  deep breath. Normally he  would have had a clever retort, however he had a long night and from what he had observed so far it was going to be an even longer day so he was not up to his usual standards of witty repartee. He was only left wondering where the chase was and how he could cut to it.

Instead he merely said plainly " Look Zuka this is clearly uncomfortable for you so I'm gonna do you a favor a skip the usual banter, if you'll just tell me why your here and what you want."

Hopefully that would get the ball rolling.

[Zuka]

The usual smart remark never came even tho she had expected it. It was their routine, one of them would say something and the other would retort back..usually Kenji was the one that was the one to shoot back but not tonight. Maybe he was tired or maybe he was just tired of seeing her so many times in such a short span of time. Probably both but she was not going to question it. In fact, she was thankful that he wasn't being his usual self given how touchy the subject was to her Zuka might have not taken it as well as she usually had in the past.

At the push to just skip over all the usual stuff Zuka simply nodded slightly and sat back in her chair a little. "I don't know if you've heard but there was supposed to be a special dedication at the Northern Water Tribe embassy during the Winter Festival. A statue unveiling for a former Councilman." She waited a moment to see if he was familiar with the event, Kenji seemed like the type to keep up on the happenings in the city but since he was not Water Tribe she didn't know if he bothered to skim that part of the paper or not. After he gave a indication of either she continued. "But now its been canceled because of ridiculous accusation" her voice filled with a little more anger at that part. Speaking about it put a sour taste in her mouth. "and I want you to find out who came forward with this information."

Zuka knew that she couldn't leave out the part of Sota being her father forever but maybe just this once she could get away with it. Neither of them had ever been very open with their past, Kenji had known a bit about her: where she was from and her upbringing but never details that intimate and part of her still wanted to keep it that way, even if she knew that was a losing battle. It became that when she deiced to come to him for help.

[Kenji]

...and so it did get things moving.

"I don't know if you've heard but there was supposed to be a special dedication at the Northern Water Tribe embassy during the Winter Festival. A statue unveiling for a former Councilman."

Kenji vaguely recalled  reading something about it in the paper, he recalled a few of the details, however he didn't say anything. He rarely did when a client was in his office, he found that if you got a person talking they often revealed more details than they wanted. So instead he kept his mouth shut and his ears open as she continued.

"But now its been canceled because of ridiculous accusation and I want you to find out who came forward with this information."

As she finished Kenji's slightly hooded eyes widened as his mind started working. He let his feet down and leaned in slightly across  the table as he sighed briefly and held up his hand as he said " I have a lot of questions but for simplicity's sake I"ll boil it down in to five categories: Who, What, When, Where, Why." he lifted up his fingers as he ticked off the categories. " Let's start with why as in: Why do you want me to find this person?"

[Zuka]

When he asked her why she wanted him to find who started this she thought about it for a moment. There were two ways to take that question: why did she want as in why was she so invested in this or why did she want because why couldn't she do it herself. Both were viable questions and in all honesty both of them would have to be answered but Zuka decided to roll the dice and pick one. "Because if I try to do it myself I risk making the situation worse and giving people more to use against the councilman. Any pressure I try to put on just digs the hole deeper and I don't want that.

That's the last thing I want to do."

Zuka had a feeling that she was the reason all of this was happening, someone was trying to get to her by using her father. It would be a good blackmail against her but the question was..who. There were plenty of people that could be the at top of that list, she had a fair amount of enemies which is why she just couldn't do busting down doors when she didn't even know who to look for.

[Kenji]

To be honest  he was only half listening as she spoke as he was still trying to puzzle this all out in his head. Not the job itself, hat was easy enough. After all you only framed someone fro one of three reasons, and once he figured out that reason it should be a pretty easy leap to who did it. No the part he was puzzling was the person bringing him this job. It wasn't as if Zuka didn't have resources (even though he was skeptical of the effectiveness of said resources.) and he had known her long enough to how much it had to kill her to ask him for help.

He felt as if he had skipped a chapter, as if he was missing something, something to make this all fit.

Then something did make this fit. However it was just a thought, a suspicion. Only one way to find out if there was any traction, and seeing as she was coming to him for help, it wasn't as if she was any position to hold out on him. As she finished speaking he then held up his hand again.

" Okay next question is who, as in who is this councilman to you?"

[Zuka]

"Who is the Councilman to you?"

Zuka knew that question was coming but that still didn't make it easier to explain. She had done a great deal to distance herself from her father when she decided to get into the Triad game. Zuka did not want her actions to reflect on her father. Very few people knew of the connection and they were the ones that knew before hand, she had told no one since coming to the city, of course that would have all changed after she attended the unveiling but at least then it would have been on her terms.

Even with their time together in the past Zuka had never indulged much about her past to Kenji, just vague information that wouldn't be easy to pinpoint. Neither of them had told the other much about themselves and it worked for them, made things easier and now here she was giving him some intimate details about her life.

Zuka had been careful, or at least she thought she had been but apparently all that work had been for nothing.

Taking a deep sigh she slowly let it out and rolled her shoulders back a little. "Councilman Sota was my father." She watched him and waited. This was very serious and very important to her and if he laughed not only would she get up and leave she would probably kill him as well and that was not a exaggeration

[Kenji]

"Councilman Sota was my father."

...and just like that the last tile fell into place. He said nothing, kept his face blank meanwhile his mind raced behind the scenes.

He was trying to find a reason, any reason ton convince himself  that this wasn't the worse possible thing he could do. Unfortunately the well was coming up dry as the desert. This was a political minefield to start, throw in the fact that  there was some level of police involvement in following up this investigation, of that he had no doubt. He would have to move softly because  if he ruffled the wrong feathers or jumped the gun it would put a spotlight back on him, that he didn't need or want.

That was the good news.

On the opposite side of the coin, if anyone on the wrong side of the tracks heard he was taking jobs for one of the triads, even a relatively  small outfit like Zuka's it would  raise questions, and unlike law abiding citizens these criminals asked questions in a  rather brutal and final matter, which was also not good for him. There was thousands of other reasons to walk as far away from this as possible. Yet somewhere all the way in the back of his head,there was a small part of him that relished an actual challenge as opposed to the rather monotonous caseload he had the past several weeks.

And behind that was the reminder of what he had done in his own fathers memory...

So he briefly sighed and mentally upped his rates a large but not unreasonable amount before saying " So just so I'm on the same page here, your looking for me to figure out who came forward with false information, and I'm assuming while I'm in the neighborhood pick up a motive and some proof while I'm at it?" he paused " Okay, I can do that. It'll cost 50,000 yuans, in clean bills, to start and another 50,000 once I'm finished. If you can bring me the starter amount by sundown, I can have some progress fro you by this time tomorrow." he said simply

[Zuka]

When she told him who Sota was to her Zuka watched the wheels turn behind Kenji’s eyes. She could see him working this all out and weighing the pros and the cons of taking her on as a client. Zuka knew that this wouldn’t be easy, this situation could easily turn from a simple job to something much more serious very fast given what she suspected was the reason for all of this. There was a large part of her that expected him to turn her down and tell her to leave and with as long as he was taking that was starting to look more and more like a reality. Why should he agree to this? Sure, they had a history together, he had taught her a great deal back then and she had taught him the few things she knew, they had a partnership based on both of them needing what the other had. Then, after a few years they had parted ways and that had been the end of that.

He didn’t owe her anything; he had no reason to take this job and she would be right back at square one where she started. Zuka was prepared and desperate though, she would throw out a offer if he refused and money was always a great motivator in her experience.

" So just so I'm on the same page here, your looking for me to figure out who came forward with false information, and I'm assuming while I'm in the neighborhood pick up a motive and some proof while I'm at it?"

She nodded ”Yes. I need to clear my father’s name” He was actually considering this then.

" Okay, I can do that. It'll cost 50,000 yuans, in clean bills, to start and another 50,000 once I'm finished. If you can bring me the starter amount by sundown, I can have some progress for you by this time tomorrow."

That was a little steep but still reasonable and something she could easily do, hell, she could even write him a check for that now but she didn’t offer. Bills were easier, not as traceable. ”I will get you your money tonight. I will even throw in a extra 20,000 if you can do this while leaving my name out of it and do it all before the winter festival. I want that dedication to go on as planned.”

[Kenji]

”I will get you your money tonight. I will even throw in a extra 20,000 if you can do this while leaving my name out of it and do it all before the winter festival. I want that dedication to go on as planned.”

"Fantastic, because a ticking cock is exactly what this caper needed." Kenji muttered before speaking up and saying " Okay fine, bring the first part of it by the office tonight, say around half past six, I'll be here." He paused for a minute or two after that. Part of him wanted to offer condolences, part of him had other questions, but he suspected that he would be treading into rather choppy waters at this point. So instead he merely gestured toward the door and said " So unless you have any other questions at this time, then I bid you....good day."


(meh.....you can do a cut to later that night if you want lol)

[Zuka]

This was really happening, she was going to get this fixed and was going to restore her fathers good name. Zuka ignored the comment about the ticking clock, she was sure she was not the first client to request a completion date and it must not have been that big of a problem since he still decided to take her on as a client. When he told her to return later that night with the first half of the money she nodded and leaned over to collect her purse, standing once she had it. Zuka started toward the door and paused with her hand on the door knob. She knew that this was difficult for the both of them for their own reasons and she was thankful that he was willing to do this for her.

Turning to look back at the desk Zuka nodded her head a little "Thank you. You don't know what this means to me." Once the words were out she took in a deep breath before turning the knob and walked out the door. She had some calls to make.

-------

It took a few hours but Zuka was able to get the 50,000 Yuans in clean bills like Kenji asked. She had to make some calls and move a few things around but it was done easily enough and now that she had what was needed Zuka made the trip back toward the other side of the city to Kenji's office. The trip there seemed to take no time at all and Zuka parked her satomobile on the side of the street once she arrived. Buttoning her coat and grabbing her bag with a large envelope filled with money and a small bottle of a expensive and rare Earth Kingdom liquor from her private store, a small peace offering and thanks for this job. Once she had everything Zuka entered the building. Arriving at Kenjis office door she adjusted the things in her arms, moving the bottle to her crook of her left arm, when the right hand was free she reached up and knocked once before turning the handle and entering inside.

[Kenji]

The Kenji that opened the door was a bit different from the Kenji she had met with this morning.

For one thing he looked like he had actually had some sleep.

For another, he was dressed differently. A sharp green suit, not nobility level but still better quality then his usual fair. His shoes were shined and his hair was slicked back. He was currently fumbling around with dark emerald tie trying to get it tied, when he opened the door. There was a brief moment as he paused and then finally just nodded his head and said " Come in." He held the door open for her and waited until she was inside before closing it.

Leaving the tie still half finished he took a seat at the desk " Well your...more punctual then I thought, and you come bearing gifts." he concluded, very pointedly not saying why he was dressed this way.

[Zuka]

As the door was opened Zuka was greeted with a...she didn't want to say unusual but more like unexpected site. Kenji in a suit usually meant bad things for her in the past. Him being dressed up usually meant some kind of test for her and even if she didn't see that as the case this time it was one of those things that was kind of ingrained in her memory, like any kind of training, it stuck with you.

" Well your...more punctual then I thought, and you come bearing gifts."

"A peace offering" Zuka turned to look back once she entered and he began shutting the door behind her, explaining the bottle she had brought along with her "and I was always the punctual one." She replied just as pointedly while she set the envelop and bottle that were in her arms down on his desk. Zuka was always on time, something her mother had always stressed. "A lady is always on time" even now she could hear the words in her mothers voice "one of us had to be" there had been more than a few times that he had kept her waiting.

Now that her hands were free Zuka turned to get a better look at Kenji, had she interrupted something? On his way out to spend her 50,000 yuans perhaps? No, she didn't think that was the case, at least, she hoped not...then again, she supposed he could do with it as he pleased now. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything, seeing as your dressed to the nines."