“While you’re looking into things, give her a good scrub, too, huh? Nice and clean. Can’t have her meeting her new pal looking all gunked up.”
The big man stood up laboriously and went into the house. Seconds later, white shirts appeared like stagehands to remove the ashtray and the sofa.
“Grab the hose. Water on.”
They brought Yanagi a hose from the garden. He shot Shindo with cold water.
“Hey. Sleepyhead. Had enough yet?”
The blasting spray scraped at her bloody face. Shindo opened her mouth and guzzled down the water like it was delicious.
Yanagi smiled.
“You’re an odd duck. Either that, or you’re so stupid you’re not sure what’s going on.”
The water tapered off. The cold spray had cleaned the blood off her face, but the new bruises she had picked up in the rumble were badly swollen. Hard to imagine how she looked without them.
“Stupid’s exactly what we’re looking for. You hear me, Yoriko? As of today, you’ll be working here. With us. If you don’t like that, say your prayers. You understand?”
Shindo nodded sternly, nothing to say.
“Good. Back there, we were just playing around. From this moment on, if you so much as lay a hand on me, you won’t have time to see what happens next. You understand?”
Yanagi parted his suit jacket to reveal the plain wood sheath of a tanto at his hip. Shindo nodded once again.
“Let her go.”
When Yanagi gave the signal, the forked spears were raised away from Shindo’s body.
“Get up.”
Shindo took to her feet. Unperturbed. Her body, underneath the tattered clothes, was crazed with fresh slashes and bruises, though the pain didn’t seem to register.
“You heard us back there. Strip. Let’s make sure you’re a woman under there.”
Shindo pulled off her T-shirt, which was already in tatters, and tossed it to the ground.
“Everything.”
She pulled off her black bra without flinching. A few of the men gathering around her snickered at her naked breasts, but the definition of her abs was enough to shut them up. Her biceps too, no longer hidden, pulsed with brawny strength. Standing there, she struck a figure not unlike the fierce guardian gods at the Great South Gate of Todaiji Temple, each carved from a single tree.
“I said everything. Show us the goods.”
Keeping her eyes on Yanagi, Shindo unbuttoned her jeans and pulled them down. Her black underwear drew the men’s eyes to her big hips and sculpted thighs. Their lines of sight converged on her body.
The next moment, Shindo whipped Yanagi in the face with her wet jeans.
“What the fuck!”
The soggy denim packed a wallop. In the second that it took Yanagi to fend her off, Shindo lunged at his chest, seizing the lapel of his suit with her left hand and pulling the tanto from the scabbard at his hip with her right. This time, Yanagi fought back. Grabbing ahold of Shindo’s hair, he pulled her in and took her down in a sweeping leg throw. Once she was on her back, he kicked at the hand holding the blade, but Shindo rolled away and sat up.
“Sic her!”
A voice ordered the Doberman to pounce. Baring its white canines, the dog leapt for Shindo’s half-naked body. She grabbed the jeans off of the ground and wound them around her forearm, shoving it in the dog’s face.
With a whimpering yelp, the dog closed its jaws on the denim. It had her arm clamped hard enough to break the skin and snap the bones of anybody else, not letting go for anything. She tried to shake it off, but it only bit down harder.
The beast locked eyes with this beast of a woman.
Shindo showed her teeth and snarled. Showing the dog who was boss. While it didn’t loosen its grip, a look of fear swept through its gleaming eyes. But the dog had her. Must have been a hundred pounds. Shindo could barely move. Again the forked spears caught her, pinned her to the earth.
“Git!”
The dog let go and ran back to its master.
Yanagi combed his fingers through his hair and spat on the ground. His leather sole pressed into Shindo’s wrist. She was still gripping the tanto.
“In case I wasn’t clear, buddy, we’re gangsters. Yakuza. We’re not afraid of dying.”
Genuinely amused by Yanagi’s merciless expression, Shindo cracked a smile.
“I’m not your buddy, shit for brains.”
“Hey! She can talk.”
Yanagi stood on her wrist, bearing down. The tanto rattled from her hand.
“How come you didn’t stab the dog, bud?”
