Formed by Fire

"We Are Being Followed"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Dre's disappointed gaze is lingering on me. „I am not metal, I am a human and my girlfriend", he looks pointedly at me, "played me. I never thought, you would be the person to be shitting me, Kimiko. And THIS was mental shitting." His words hit me hard. I AM not that person. I would never hurt, mock him or use him willingly. But I knew, my granddad wanted the proof, that Dre is a good person, who would never use his power against me in any form. I knew it the moment I stepped into the dojo and saw Dre there. How Izumo Akimoto's brain works, is no mystery to me. Granddad is a "trial and error" kind of man. His karma: "Whoever fights, can lose. Who does not fight, has already lost." I grew up with this philosophy. Failing, is a part of life, that should not lead to avoiding situations, where you could fail. BUT, you should be precautious about everything around you, so you don't fail negligent. To bound yourself to the wrong person – not knowing the full extent of his or her true character – is the worst kind of negligence. You can be hurt physically, mentally and spiritually. Now, I understand, what he meant, when he told my father, that he would never let somebody hurt me ... 

I near Dre, cautious, like he could lash out on me – although I have proof, that he would never do that. "Dre ...please...I never wanted to hurt you." Dre's fiery eyes are on me in seconds. Granddad sighs. "I am to blame, not Kimmy", he interrupts my stutter. Dre turns his eyes to granddad. "Why?", he huffs out, deeply inhaling. "I feel like a lousy actor, who had to play Hamlet..." I snort a little laugh. Dre is clearly not amused, but I see a tiny, miniscule smirk on his lips. Granddad smiles softly. "You have to admit, Mister de Rocha..." "Dre, please, I am Dre", he interrupts granddad's explanation. "Okay...Dre, I am Izumo. But you can also call me master or your highness or..." "Well, I'd prefer Izumo, Sir, "Dre drawls out. Phew, I am relieved. Dre has calmed down and found his humour again. I grab his arm, stroking it. "Please, forgive me, I know, it was shitty of me. But..."Let ME, explain, Kimmy", granddad demands. I nod, yielding.

"Look, Dre. Her parents, my wife and I, her cousin and my ...", he sighs, closing und opening his eyes, "not so law-abiding family, love Kimmy to bits. Her father is against your relationship, because he thinks, that you are too old and too dangerous for Kimmy. He wanted you to break up. I calmed him down, by suggesting, to test you. If you passed, you could be together...if not, I would have found ways to get rid of you."

Granddads eyes are cold as steel. "My people spied on you, sniffed your past out, investigated every piece of your life, to find everything, there is to be found." Dre is silent, listening with a blank face, all his thoughts well-hidden. "I must say, you are an interesting young man, Dre. I heard about you before you even met Kimmy." My eyes go wide. How? Why? "You know, who I am, don't you?", granddad asks. Dre nods. "Well, I decided to enlarge our strategic business segments. We want to enter the gaming field, so we observed young talents with high potential to win them over for a partnership. You were on the top of my list." I am speechless – this is new to me. I watch Dre's reaction. He is surprised, but not euphoric. "I know, we'll never be Sony, Tencent or Nintendo, BUT we will fight to gain a fair market share. I wanted to contact you personally, now, that we live here in Boston. So, you can imagine my surprise, when I heard, that you are already associated with my family."

We all still. This is a true revelation. "Sir", Dre clears slightly his throat, "It's an honour that you even think about forming a partnership with me." My granddad snickers amused. "I see a big fat BUT coming." Dre grabs his neck. "Um, yes, Sir. Truth is, I am a loner. I work alone, control alone. Teamworking is not my thing. At the moment I am working on a new game. A very important game to me. This is the reason, why I employed two game designers and a programmer to support me. I want to start my own video game developing company."

I am stunned, but at the same moment so proud. "Dre, this is fantastic. Why didn't you tell me anything about it? Wait, are you working at the warehouse?" He nods. "Yeah, you never realized, because the entrance to our offices is on the back of the building. "Do the guys know?" He shakes his head guiltily. "Only Alex, because he makes our accounting. I have to talk to the others. Well, they will be pissed", he mutters lowly. My granddad approves obviously. His smile is warm and full of understandig. "Your mother would be very proud of you, Dre. You achieved so much on your own, it's admirable. I have a high respect for people who have visions and live their dreams. If you need help, money or a good advice, I am willing to help out." They shake hands. My granddad claps his hands. "Now, that we have fixed this ... misunderstanding, we can at last enjoy Chester's Scones and pastries." He turns to Dre. "Have you ever tried original British Clotted Creme ..."

Two hours later we are on our way home in Dre's nice red Corvette. "You know, Kimmy, you owe me a lot of ass-kissing for what you did." I am about to give him a witty reply, when I realize the sudden tense expression on Dre's face. "What's the matter? Why are you so worried?" His jaw tightens. "We are being followed." I whip around to watch above my shoulder. It's a black Porsche with dark windows. You can't recognize anything behind the glass. "Kimmy, call your cousin, please." I am shocked. He must feel something is really off, to ask for this call. I grab my cell phone with shaky fingers. "KIMMY?", Makoto's alert voice shouts.. The next thing I feel is a hard impact.

Wow, now things get real. 

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