I'm His

8

Chance takes another step forward, hands twitching at his sides. They flex, fingers stretching out as though anxious for something to grab. We make eye contact, neither of us speaking. 'That's so much...that's so much blood.' Chance recovers first, flashing me an innocent smile that clashes with the blood splattered on his face. "I'll be right back. I need to get changed." I manage to swallow past the lump in my throat to speak. "Are you sure you...?" I frown, not really knowing what to say. "It'll be quick. I have experience in getting bloodstains out." Vanishing to the elevators, Chance leaves me standing there completely shocked. 'At least he doesn't...seem hurt.' The first thing that comes to my mind is relief, that he's uninjured. Then a flash of fear, flooding out confusion. "What happened in..." I turn back to the open doorway to the gambling room, heart beating faster. "There...?" Going towards it, I steel myself and try to move in...but there's nothing out of the ordinary.

"I'm not going crazy, am I?" Just then, the far corner of the wall slides right up. I jump at the shadowy figure emerging from within...until I see it's only Hideyoshi. Walking out and closing the door behind him, Hideyoshi rolls his shoulders and stretches before noticing me. "Oh! Hey, prince." He smiles at me, unwinding a length of soiled white bandages from his knuckles. They're blotchy, pink with flecks of blood. Even with the protection, I can see the damage to Hideyoshi's knuckles. "Sorry I kept Chance from you for so long. I needed him for something." He gives me a curious look. "What's up with you? You look like you've seen a ghost." I'm surprised he even notices my composure. "Chance walked out of here covered in blood." I stare behind him, noticing now that one segment of the wall looks different from the rest. 'A secret room?' Laughing, Hideyoshi waves my concern aside. "Oh, don't worry. It wasn't his blood." 'How does that make it better? I mean it does....but not a lot...' "No, Yoshi....he was COVERED in it." I enunciate the word covered to make him understand. "Oh. Yeah...well, head wounds bleed a lot, you know?" I purse my lips in a thin line with worry.

"Is Chance in danger? What's going on here?" Again I look to the secret room, anxiety boiling up inside me, tightening in my throat. 'Chance has been working hard to make sure I don't see these things. But it's not like I made the job especially hard for him. I'm sure it was much easier when I kept turning a blind eye to reality.' Intimidating and threatening people while we were on dates, making deals with FBI agents....'I know there were more meetings that he didn't invite me to.' And then Giovanni and him coming to visit us out of nowhere...Hideyoshi rubs the back of his neck, grimacing. "Nothing as sinister as your implying. Listen, I hate to change the subject, but my hand really hurts. I'm gonna grab a painkiller."

"I got you covered." Making me jump, Marcus reaches past me, slapping a handful of pills into Hideyoshi's hand. "Oh, thanks! You're a lifesaver." Ash and Phaedra enter the room, too. Hideyoshi is about to pop the pills without another word when Marcus starts tutting at him. "Don't swallow it dry! That's bad for your throat." Phaedra giggles. "That's what he said..." Ash unscrews a bottle of water, handing it to Hideyoshi. The yakuza just rolls his eyes at all of them before drinking the over the counter medicine. "Did you take care of it?" 'IT? What does Ash mean, IT?' "Yeah, Chance and I did." Standing next to me, Phaedra puts an arm over my shoulder. It's a casual, affectionate gesture, like she often does with Hideyoshi. Still, I have to resist the urge to flinch, keeping my mouth shut. "We didn't miss anything exciting, did we?" 'After all she did for me when I first got here, and I still can't stop acting like she was going to hurt me...what a great person I am...' "No. My part went off without a hitch. How about you guys?" Hideyoshi's serious, and it catches me off guard. "Mmm...a little boring." Ash shrugs. Marcus shakes his head, sitting down at the bar and pouring a shot for himself. "Only you all would be disappointed by everything going according to plan."