“So, I just don’t get it…” Aliyah was complaining, scowling at me, her hair-beads jingling as she tossed her head. Luciana had tried to stop her drinking, confiscating her glass numerous times, but Buck had found it rather funny, so he kept giving her more. Eventually Luciana gave up, and she was now talking with Buck and the girls, leaving me to the ‘tender mercies’ of Aliyah, who was glaring at me harshly.

“… what the hell is up with that fat lardball? You know something, don’t you? I’m not stupid, you better spit it out. We had him in restraints, yet the obese fuck managed to get an arm free and knock out one of our guys. That’s no mean feat, you know! It shouldn’t have been possible!”

She was right in my face now, drunkenly spitting all over me, her voice elevated. Some guys might approve of a beautiful woman getting so close to them, but I’m not enjoying this at all… swallowing a sigh, I leaned back a little. “You might want to keep the volume down a bit.” I advised. “I’m sure your organisation wouldn’t want to involve bystanders in their troubles, would they?” Not that I know what organisation you are part of…

“Oh shut it, pretty boy. I hate you. Why are all those gorgeous young girls interested in a … a man… like you? Beautiful girls should stick together. I’ll leave the men for Trey…” with that she took another big gulp of her whiskey and swung a punch at me, the air whistling as she struck.

She may be drunk but that’s quite the blow. I angled my head and her fist went past, and as she stumbled I caught her by the shoulders to prevent her falling. Parts of our body made unavoidable contact, and she hissed at me, her knee aiming for my groin, but again I dodged.

“Pervert, groper… touching me up with your fiancée there. She should dump you. I’d console her…” she elbowed at me, and I caught her arm, then dodging a headbutt. “Let me fucking hit you, you smarmy handsome fuck.”

Wow, she’s got a vile tongue. Not at all like she was during the tournament… after a while more of dodging blows, my sister, Eri and Shaeula looking on with amusement, Buck perplexed, and Luciana burying her head in her hands and muttering in Spanish, Aliyah finally staggered to a halt, her t-shirt soaked with sweat, clinging to her. Yeah, she has a great figure. Her muscles are tight, nothing like the girls I know. Her personality wasn’t one I was used to either. Japanese girls would never act like that.

“Why can’t I hit you?” Aliyah complained, pulling off her sweaty t-shirt, slumping down and taking another hit of whiskey. “Even Trey can’t evade all my punches…”

Buck was looking away like a gentleman, while Eri was glowering me, as I happened to glance at her ample chest in her simple black bra. Yeah, her muscles are better than mine. She’s got one hell of a six-pack.

“Sorry about that… well, actually no, I’m not that sorry, I don’t see why I should let you beat me up. But I’m afraid I’ve been undergoing some pretty intense training recently, so don’t feel too bad. You’ve got some pretty good moves.”

“I don’t need to hear that from you…” she pouted. “What’s so good about you anyway?” she turned to the girls. “Seriously. Why won’t anyone come play with me? Luciana, they are being mean to me!”

Luciana actually facepalmed. Wow, I’ve never seen anyone do that in real life before. Who knew it was a thing. With a sigh she spoke. “You promised your brother you would take this seriously. Ugh, Por qué yo? At least put on your t-shirt… not this again… we aren’t in the barracks now…”

Aliyah looked down, and then up at Luciana for a moment. She looked down again, then at me. Buck had slipped out while Luciana was chewing her out, and I was now regretting I hadn’t followed suit. I guess age does bring wisdom…

Ducking backwards I dodged another punch, trying not to be distracted by how other things were swinging at me. After another few moments of this Aliyah slumped down, shaking her head. “Fuck, can’t beat you. I never thought I’d find a man who could dodge all my attacks. Maybe I’m drunk and it's throwing off my aim. Hey Luciana, am I drunk?”

Luciana went into a tirade of rapid Spanish then, which I didn’t understand, but I’m guessing the content was along the lines of ‘Yes, you are very drunk’. Before anyone could react, Eri was there, and she had draped the cardigan she was wearing over her dress around Aliyah’s shoulders, covering her.

“You really shouldn’t be so immodest in front of a man.” Eri said kindly, though she shot me a sidelong glance that caused me to nod an involuntary apology.

“Oh, well… thanks.” Aliyah had the grace to be embarrassed, and for a moment I thought she was cute again, until she started sniffing the cardigan. “Oh wow, it smells like beauty.” Eri stepped back, looking rather disgusted, but when Aliyah spoke to her she stopped. “Hey, seriously though. I get this guy is strong and rich and handsome, I guess… but… just what do you see in him? Wow, that didn’t come out right… Ugh, seriously, all men are wolves, and they treat women like crap. I’ve seen it too much where I grew up. If Trey and I hadn’t got out, well… there aren’t many jobs for women in places like that…”

Luciana was gesturing for her to stop talking, but Aliyah was not done. “So, are you sure you won’t regret this? Do you really want a life of looking after all his needs, popping out one brat after another, until you are old and worn out? It isn’t a life I wanted, I wanted… needed to be strong, or the world would just chew me up and spit me out. Only women know how to take care of other women. If all the men were gone… well, I suppose we can leave Trey and his kind alone, but… the world would just be better and kinder.”

“That isn’t true at all.” Eri wiped the disgust from her face and stepped closer, taking her hand in sympathy. “I’m sorry if you’ve had a hard life, mine hasn’t been that bad, my family is just poor, but we have close friends who looked after us… but Akio… he wasn’t always strong. In fact, up until recently he was weak. But even so…” with that she gestured me over, and as I came closer she used her free hand to start unbuttoning my shirt.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Aliyah asked, flustered, but Eri ignored her. When she opened it to reveal my torso, where the old scars that the dog had given me still lingered, I understood. Though why these haven’t faded away entirely now I’m not sure… with the amount of Ether Healing I’ve been doing, surely they should have vanished…?

“When I was just a little girl, Aiko and I were out playing when a huge dog attacked us. I was so scared, Aiko too. We were just so small and weak, helpless… I honestly thought we were going to die then. But Akio always looked out for us, and he threw himself into battle to protect us, despite being nothing more than a child himself, just a bit older than us. He was wounded, beaten, yet he never stopped, never retreated, taking injury after injury until the beast fled. And then he smiled as us, as if to reassure us everything was going to be all right… Not all men are bad. I’m pretty afraid of them too, I don’t like them. But Akio… it isn’t fair to treat him the same as those others. He knows what it is to be weak, to be poor… though I’ve always thought him handsome I guess… but I know if I, or Aiko, or Shaeula, if we were ever in trouble, even if he was weak, he would stand up in front of us and fight, despite the odds, and once we were safe, he’d turn to us and smile again, to let us know everything was all right.” She smiled herself then, before turning to me critically. “He does have a wandering eye though, and too many women seem to like him. It’s annoying, but then nobody can be perfect…”

“I see…” Aliyah said. “Thanks for your story.” She nodded at Eri. “I guess… I guess you might have a reason to like him. I still think you’d have more fun with me though…”

“I don’t know. Last night was … fun enough.” Eri flushed adorably, and Aliyah put her free hand to her nose with a sigh.

“Damn, so blindingly cute. I’m going to get a nosebleed. Oh well… I guess that’s why you joined your organisation, right?” she started to remember her mission. “Because you realised without strength you couldn’t protect those you love? I mean, I still hate you and all, but I can at least respect it.”

What organisation? Seriously she so has the wrong idea.

“I have no idea what you are talking about. As for … the person in question… I think you should be pretty careful. As you’ve seen, he should be stronger than he appears, and he might be able to do things you can’t plan for. Ideally you want him well away from here too…”

“I’ll take your warning under consideration. Hey, Luciana, get me another drink? I’m feeling bitter right now, like this bastard has bested me.”

“Get your own damn drink!” she snapped, and laughter filled the room. It was then Buck knocked on the door and asked if it was safe to return. At his re-entry, Aliyah eyed me, before turning to the girls.

“So, how about some fun? There’s another room back there, how about a game? Poker maybe. We could make it interesting, loser has to strip…?” she took off the cardigan and hugged it.

This girl… she’s a pervert for sure. Still, she is kind of amusing…

“I’ll pass.” My sis declined sourly, and Eri also refused, but Shaeula…. Of course Shaeula can’t pass up anything fun…

“Very well-well. I shall accept your challenge.” Shaeula smirked. “But know that I do not intend to be defeated!”

“Well shit, I knew I liked you! Hey, Buck, get us another bottle, Shaeula and I are going to borrow that room…”

As Buck laughingly complied I turned to Luciana. “Want to talk about it? looks like you are having a hard time…”

“Santa Mierda, you do not know the half of it. still, at least she is not harassing me like normal. For that I am slightly grateful. Still…” she eyed me warily. “… you seem awfully composed, despite this… caos.”

“It’s been an interesting month.” I conceded, watching as Shaeula kept dodging Aliyah’s attempts to grab her playfully as they entered the other room. God, I hope nothing bad happens.

“You don’t say?” she said. “Well, I am sure that you would not be able to talk about your… work here. But…” as Eri and Aiko joined us she smiled at them. “I would ask that you give me your contact details, for… networking purposes, if nothing else.”

Seeing Eri glower at her sourly she shook her head. “I have no interest in your man, I am no desvergonzada, a homewrecker. It is a happy day, no? If you are engaged now, I offer my congratulations.”

“Well thank you.” Eri bowed shallowly. “It is a happy day, and I’ll not let anything spoil it.”

“How about this then bro? She and I can swap numbers, that way everyone is happy.”

“I would find that acceptable.” Luciana agreed.

But do I? They have the wrong idea about me, but they totally know I have some knowledge they don’t. Is it in my interests letting them find out more about us? Shit… Aliyah knows my full name after the poker tournament, and while there are probably other Oshiro Akio’s in Japan, there aren’t any other Moonstone’s about, that would be too weird… whereas I don’t know if Aliyah James is a real or fake name, and even so… James is a really common US surname… our information balance is very skewed to their favour…

“If it isn’t something you can agree to, I understand…” Luciana conceded. “After all, in our business mission secrecy, it is paramount, is it not?”

“Oh don’t worry about it. Not sure what you are talking about really, but my big bro… his business is his, and mine is mine.” With that they exchanged numbers, and I was about to speak when a loud cry of disappointment came from the back room. Fearing the worst, Buck beat another hasty retreat.

“Call me when the festivities are over.” He said. “Discretion is the better part of valour after all, and I wouldn’t want to see the girls in… compromising positions… you would do well to duck out too, Akio, my man. Your fiancée there won’t be happy…”

Yeah, I think you are right. Good advice…