Hiro shielded me with his back as he reached for something in his pants pocket. The next few seconds felt like a lucid dream. Things were moving in slow motion. I saw a glint of the silver object that my friend had pulled out of his pocket. He aimed it at our mysterious intruder with a firm stance. His hand was steadily wrapped around it. The subject of our assault was unmoving and stiff behind his car door. The view of my friend's facial expression was murky from where I was crouching.
It only became clear to me that he was holding a single-action revolver when he cocked his gun and aimed for the stranger's mask. The sonorous click of the hammer echoed in my head. At a moment of panic, I pulled on the hem of his pants and begged him not to do it. Now I understood what Tadashi meant by his warning. But a dark shadow had taken its place behind my friend's eyes. As if consumed with hatred, I could barely recognize the man standing next to me.
My plead was ineffective. I tried to call out for his brothers from my mic as neither of the men around me was initiating or provoking an action. Tadashi whispered for me to calm down and stood by his brother.
The masked individual revealed his face as he slid his disguise up, "what's all of this for? Am I not allowed in my own family's land?"
* BANG! *
Roberto ducked under the protection of his bulletproof car window just in time. The bullet ricocheted sharply into a pillar of the house.
"I'm not gonna miss the next one, or the other five if that's what it takes," Hiro threatened so calmly.
"Is that really how you greet a family member?" he scoffed.
"You're right, it isn't," Tadashi gripped and squeezed Hiro's shoulder. "But this is how we welcome a criminal."
A bundle of bodyguards made a human barrier between us and the unwelcomed uncle. Tadashi clasped his hand around the revolver, pocketed it, and yanked Hiro inside the house by his neck. He dragged him throughout the hallway as I scuttled behind them when I heard more gunshots from the crossfire. Kenji had been waiting for us in Shao's prayer room while Tadashi barricaded the door with some spare wood planks from a door.
"What were you thinking? I told you not to do that!" the middle child scolded.
"You could've shot him!" Kenji echoed.
"Too bad I didn't," the youngest hissed.
"Do you know what kinda bloodshed you could've started if you were to kill him? We'll have an unnecessary clan war against our own blood," Kenji clutched his brother's collar before throwing him back to the ground.
I had never seen the oldest brother that enraged and furious about anything or anyone before. I guessed my friend's spontaneous action could have been severe to the family's well-being.
Kenji sighed, "don't do that ever again. I resented him too, but this is not how we're gonna handle the situation. Did I make it clear?"
"Yeah, whatever," Hiro mumbled.
"I said, did I make it clear?"
"Yes!" he got up on his feet.
Tadashi emptied his brother's revolver chamber and returned it to him, "the team must've handled the situation by now. I'm not hearing anymore shots."
"I have the rest of my team guarding the halls. Someone should've gotten to him. Let's make a run for it. Get out from the back entrance and hail a cab home," Kenji suggested.
"What about mother and Makoto?" Hiro reminded.
"I don't think we can risk investigating their whereabouts right now. C'mon and help me get these woods away," Tadashi commanded.
As the two siblings struggled to pile away our only protection, Kenji walked over and apologized to me, "this scenario got out of control beyond what we've conceived. Please forgive us for our lapse of judgement."
He knelt down and bowed on my feet.
"U-uh, you really don't have to do that. I agreed to help after knowing the risks. Let's just try to get home safely now," I pulled him up.
"Master Kenji! He's coming this way! Please run away to the back garden! We'll try to hold him back as long as we can," a staff warned from beyond the door.
"F*ck! What now? Should we just break the door down?" Tadashi turned to his older brother for confirmation.
"I don't think we have any other choices. But how did he get through our guys? Are you sure he was alone?" Kenji pushed me back and prepared himself.
The three siblings started to hack the rice paper walls and its bamboo structure leading to the backyard as their men charged to attack the intruder. In a snap of a finger, the sound of bodies hitting the floor faded away. Just in time, the brothers had produced a cavity large enough for us to escape the room.
"Do you think they got him?" I asked my friend.
"By looking at our sh*tty luck, no."
And he was right. It wasn't the end of our battle with the estranged family member. We snuck out and hid under the wooden platform of the patio. A single hefty footstep stomped and stopped before the prayer room. The man unsheathed his sword and slashed a considerable gash. His steps got closer and closer as time went by. I thought we were done for. He was going to stab us from above the floorboard. I was so sure.
Suddenly it stopped and something heavy dropped to the ground with a loud thump.
"I'm sorry it took me this long, father," the man groveled.