A Man of Honor.

Chapter 17: Stepping Up.

"It takes many steppingstones, you know, for a man to rise. None can do it unaided" ~ Joe Bonanno "Joe Bananas''

I continued on with business as usual after that night. I made my collections as usual and carried on like nothing had changed to.

But even after all of that O-Ushi was a little distant to me. She really was concerned that I had been pushing myself too hard and that it would lead me behind bars or into an early grave. I myself pondered if she was right.

I had been pushing myself in the business but I had only been doing it for the sake of my mission. Every job I did or lien I made for the Clan I felt like I was getting closer to my goal. At least that was what I was telling myself. Ever since O-Ushi had made me an associate a part of me wondered just how good I could be at this business, I might not ever be more than an associate for the Clan but I wondered just how big of an associate I could be. And the part of me that wanted to take this further and further had grown bigger and bigger at this farce went on.

And I was full of pride. I was proud of what I had built for myself, I was proud of my small illegal businesses, I was proud of running a small crew and pulling in big scores for the Clan, and I was proud to be a part of this neighborhood. I was even a little proud that I had handled the Clan's problems with the 24k Dragons and the Atlesians. Bloody as that had been I was at least happy that my actions had protected the neighborhood, that I had made a blow against the drugs and flesh trafficking in this city. Even though it was supposed to all be a sham I was proud of all I had done, and for the short time I had been here it was a lot.

Perhaps my ambitions did need to be kept in check. But more than that I thought long and hard about O-Ushi's words about being reckless. My little stunt had almost led me to the trunk of a car or the bottom of the harbor, if I was going to continue on I was going to have to be a lot more careful and plan my moves well.

The rest of the Clan took notice of my cut pinky finger. I would catch them looking at my left hand now and then but as the tradition demanded the offense I had committed was considered forgotten. If anyone knew about what I had done they never mentioned it and no one asked me about it. The twins were the only ones to even verbally acknowledge it and they just told me, "it's better to lose a knuckle early, you learn sooner for it," and we went about our date like normal.

The shortened finger was in it's own way a badge of honor to the clan and everyone in the neighborhood who was affiliated with it. Sure it told everyone that I had fucked up bigtime. But it also showed that I took responsibility and chose to pay the price. And the fact that I wasn't even Mistrali made me an anomaly in the Kuroi Kuma Clan.

Thankfully Cardin and the rest of my crew weren't too angry about me getting them caught by Roman. I made my apologies and I thanked them for keeping their mouths shut. I explained to them why I had put them all at risk by going behind Junior's back and to be safe I promised them all a raise just to help keep relations smooth. But I'm sure that my cut finger and the beating was enough for them, they didn't hold anything against me.

I started training with them as they had suggested. Getting my ass kicked hijacking that truck was a well needed wake up call so I started waking up earlier in the day just so I could train with one of them. Dove and Russel both helped me on my blade work, I practiced with everything from daggers to a long sword. Kaiu had a training room in his establishment and since I was with the Clan he didn't charge us to make use of it or his training weapons.

It was a good time to start training too since the grip of my left hand was off now because of my shortened digit, so spending an hour every day holding a blade helped me quickly adjust to my weakened grip.