It’s been a while since I’ve walked along the garden yards of Tokyo. The scenery has not changed much, but the atmosphere sure doesn’t feel the same.
When you’re a kid, growing up on the road, sharing the dreams of your parents, the things you see and do seem to fade into the background with what’s important at the time.
Watching Mom and Dad square up in the ring, training for their opponents, I often wondered who was giving it their all, and who was being lenient with the other. With them, competing meant everything, but so did family and should one of us get injured, well, that just meant bad news for the inflicting person.
We were never allowed to train without giving our best, anything less than 110% meant you were weak. We worked our bodies until they gave completely out. If there was even a chance to take another step, to lift your arm, or to roll over for a pin, you did not stop!
This was the code…the curse of New Breed. The ultimate sacrifice: if you could breathe, you could continue.
As I looked at myself in the mirror this morning, I asked myself, “Did I give my all in the match the last night? Did I step up when my family needed me?” I sat and contemplated my own answer, and while Hara was victorious, I failed my best friend, I failed my family. Could I have been more prepared to handle the situation Kami was in, of course! Would it have any difference in the outcome, I doubt it. I have had my fair share of matches, faced men and women twice my size; winning some and losing some, but the one thing I have never had to face before, was the severity of that type of match.
Those were my dad’s specialty! Not even Colton faced the likes of The Red Reapers before. The thought process behind the “New Breed Rules” match left us completely blindsided as the match went on. I…we, were not prepared for what took place that night.
The feeling of course, granulated sand of Katsura Hama Beach was refreshingly pleasant between her toes at six o’clock in the morning. Cassie walks along the shoreline alone, deep in thought, the waves crash silently while the sun’s horizon begins to peek over the trees far off in the distance.
She stops; taking in the fresh, saltwater smell of the Pacific Ocean; the scenery is breath taking and she begins to indulge herself in the calm serenity of the morning. Coming to a corner section, aligned with various sizes of polished rock and moss covered stone, she takes a seat. She nuzzles her back into the stones until she is comfortable. Closing her eyes, feeling the warmth coming from the rising sun, she exhales deeply and retrieves her cellphone from inside her pocket.
She hesitates, but she begins to scroll through notifications from earlier that morning. She opens her camera, staring at the mirror image of her bruised and battered face. The swollen lip, the black eye, the battle scars from the war last night. It was no ordinary bout, it was not a wrestling match, it was a test of strength, of willpower, of endurance; it was a battle of survival.
She recapitulated the match over in her mind, looking for excuses, any excuse to justify Kami’s horrific onslaught against her, though Hara was right, Kami was their sole target.
“I am sorry I failed you, my friend.” She whispered softly.
Starring at the phone screen, she continues to ignore her notifications; several calls from William, and text messages from Colton and Lily; she sighs, swipes upward to her contact list, and stares at the image of a man she has not spoken to in weeks. With a heavy sigh, she touched the video chat option and waited patiently for him to pick up.
The image of a much younger version of Colton opened the call. A handsome, spunky 7-year-old with dark hair and blue eyes smiled and greeted her from across the ocean. He wears faded blue jeans and a blue Tennessee Titans shirt. He is standing behind an old, black, pick-up truck with the tail gate down as he holds the cell phone in his hands.
“Auntie Cassie!!”
His mighty little voice yelled with excitement. A smile formed along her battered face as Cassie greeted the young man.
“Hello, Sammy!”
The young boy’s face quickly went from a wholehearted smile of excitement to a rough frown of anger. He lowers the phone for a moment as you can see his dirty boots step close to a larger pair, scrolling upwards to the frame an older, more rugged male, wearing faded blue jeans, and a dirty black t-shirt with tattoos up both arms. His hair is a darker shade of gray with a short beard of white with hints of gray. The boy begins to share the screen with the older man, but before any sound from either party could be heard, the man drops a black box he was holding to the ground and takes the phone from the young boy.
“Hello, Daddy…”
Cassie’s eyes began to fill tears. She had not seen or spoken to her father in weeks, just before their trip to Tokyo. Recent events back home stirred emotions and a mutual distance was agreed upon by Cassie’s parents; to distance themselves for the sake of the family, leaving Texas behind for the time being was the only decision Hunter Hurst felt was the best option for his wife, Summer and both their children and families. At a difficult time in Cassie’s life, she felt the abandonment of her parents’ actions but respected the decision.
Damon Mikaelson, The son of Dominck Mikaelson, the American Mobster with ties to the Yakuza, the former lover of Cassie, had began trails of following in his father’s footsteps; having Cassie’s family attacked, leaving her mother, Summer comatose in the hospital for several weeks, from a house fire nearly claiming her life, having Cassie followed, and nearly attacked in her own home, and kid napping Colton and Lily’s only child, Sammy at a wrestling event back in Texas, Hunter’s rage had built to the point of no remorse. It was after the wrestling event that Hunter would come face to face with Damon. The two battled, unlike any normal fist fight. Damon, not much of a fighter, was manhandled by Cassie’s father. Beaten beyond recognition, thrown into a concrete pavilion and crushed under the pile of cemented rubble as Hunter drove a truck through the pavilion, crashing it down upon him, leaving him for dead.
It's the hurtful truth that drove the wedge between Cassie and her father, the fact he could go on with life knowing he brutally assaulted Damon with no remorse and left him to die, showed just what the Hursts were capable of.
“Baby Girl, what happened to you?”
The ill-like intent building in his eyes was a familiar sight in all the members of the Hurst family. When you hurt one, the entire pack comes to their aid.
“Who did this to you, Cassandra?”
The only time Cassie’s parents used her full name when speaking to her, was when she was either in trouble (as a young child) or when they meant business.
“It’s from the match, Daddy. Hara and Kami’s match.”
She wiped a tear from her eye as she felt ashamed by her appearance to her father.
“Rubert had this done to you? Why are you in the ring wrestling there anyway? You and Colton were sent there to send a message to that over-sized hamster in a wheelchair.”
His expression was stern, he stepped up to the back of that old truck and took a seat on the lowered tailgate. Sammy jumped up with a fire in his eyes, he leans over Hunter’s broad shoulder.
“Did you win, Aunt Cassie, Did Daddy fight too?”
Hunter smirked at Sammy’s enthusiasm, though turned his focus back upon Cassie.
“Where is your brother, and how come I am just now hearing about this?”
“Daddy, we are 14 hours ahead of you, the show was last night, I am okay, and Colton’s ok. There is nothing to worry about.”
Sammy peeks his head over again.
“What about Hara and Miss Kami. How are they?”
Cassie’s expression lowered to a hurtful sight, Hunter felt something was wrong and he needed Sammy’s attention to be elsewhere.
“Boy, go see if you can find your Sassy and tell her Cassie is on the phone.”
Hunter helped Sammy down from the truck and went back to the call.
“What happened?”
Cassie began to swallow, how was she going to tell him how she failed Kami. How they all failed her. She takes a deep breath and begins to open her mouth when off in the background a female voice wailed from the porch of the farmhouse.
“HUNTER….”
Cassie’s mouth quickly closed. Hunter’s eyes grew wide, and his focus was turned towards the house. Cassie let out a muffled grunt, as her mother stormed up to the truck with an angry stride. Cassie tried her best to shelter her face from Summer, however, her attention was solely upon Hunter, not Cassie.
“I just got off the phone with Lily. Apparently, our daughter up and left a hospital late last night without warning or letting anyone know where she is. William has been out looking for her, she is a basket case and said Colton can’t seem to control everything with Hara threatening people over Kami. He up and left to go get a room somewhere. Just what the hell is going on in Tokyo, Steven?”
Hunter sighed, turning the phone in Summer’s direction, Cassie’s shielded face was upon the screen. Summer took a long glance before snatching the phone from Hunter’s hand.
“Cassandra LeighAnn Hurst… What in the hell?”
The piercing sound of Summer’s voice stung like the sound of fingernails clawing down an old chalkboard. It cringed; it made the hairs on your body stand at attention, but when it ceased, you were left with an aftermath of numbness.
“Hi, mom.”
Her silence was defining. I could feel the sting from the stone-cold look in her eyes. She was not angry at me; she was angry with me. For mom, there was a difference.
“What happened to you?”
Summer nuzzled herself between Hunter’s thighs, leaning her back against his chest. The two sat quietly upon the tailgate. Cassie struggled to find the correct words to say. Admitting failure of any type was strictly unacceptable. If you done everything you possibly could do, having no regrets, you did not fail. If what you done caused you to have regrets, then you failed, and that was not the way of New Breed.
Cassie finally lifted her face slowly to the camera; her eyes closed, her body trembling; she takes a deep breath, opening her eyes. Summer gasped, she reaches for her mouth with her empty hand, turning her head away from the screen immediately squinting her eyes. Hunter done the best he could to console her from the scene, though nothing he did could prepare them for what Cassie would have to say.
“Tell us what happened, little one. How did you end up like this?”
Hunter could tell Cassie was scared, something wasn’t setting just right; he remained calm, waiting until she felt confident enough to talk. However, Summer was another story. It was no surprise who the vocal one in the family was. Summer was the match that lit the fire, the gasoline poured onto an open flame, and the hurricane after a storm. She was nothing shy of destruction in the ring, but when it came to her family, she became a catastrophic engineer.
“I will tell you what happened.” Summer stood from Hunter’s lap, she placed Hunter’s phone upon the tailgate pacing back and forth like a vulture circling its prey. Hunter sighed, picking up his phone and watching Cassie’s reaction.
“Rubert got scared, he realized he failed to heed Kami and Hara’s warnings about All Asian Pro, his roster got jumped by the element of surprise and he had to find a way to make himself look as if he never seen it coming. The kids get there, call him out, exposing his failed gesture and he sends someone to take out our kids.”
The more Summer paced, the angrier she became. Cassie sat shaking her head. Not all what Summer said was wrong, but she had to make things right.
“That’s not entirely true, dad.” She paused. “We did go into Rupert’s office, we did expose him for hiding the fact he knew about the invasion, but he is not responsible for this.”
Cassie lowered her phone; she propped it up between a couple rocks with the front camera still facing her direction. She backed away slowly, still making sure she was still clearly in frame. From there, her entire body was shown in the call. Hunter would take a deep breath and Summer sensed something was wrong. She reaches her hand out, grabs Hunter’s hand and stares at Cassie’s image in the phone. Before Cassie could speak, Little Sammy comes running back outside.
“Sassy…Grandpa…I found Ultimate Wrestling’s pay per view on youtube. I am going to watch Hara kick ass.”
Summer turned and looked at Hunter who had a smirk on his face. Cassie picked her phone back up and sat back down on the rocks.
“Is there something you want to tell me baby girl?”
Hunter had a saddened look on his face. He could tell something was bothering her, and yet when she was comfortable enough to talk, something seemed to always stop her.
“No…daddy, you will see everything on the video. Just know that I am sorry.”
Hunter looked confused, and tried to speak, however Cassie shushed him before he could.
“No…It’s okay, daddy. I know what I have to do now. I really just wanted to see your face and tell you that I love you and I understand why you did what you did to Damon. I’m sorry for ever doubting how strong your love for me is. I really wished I could hug you right now. I miss you so much. Tell mom and Sammy I love them please. Go watch the show...you’ll understand why I need to go. I love you, Daddy! Bye!”
Hunter sat in silence. From the look on his face, you could not tell if he was upset or confused. He continued to watch the feed on his phone, as Cassie thought he had hung up. Her phone was propped up once again upon the rocks; he sees her walking into the water; the current swiftly moves the further she continued to walk. Hunter could hear people yelling for her to get out, but Cassie ignores them. Hunter begins to yell, he stands to his feet nervously watching the screen.
Summer and Sammy had just walked into the house, they did not know what was going on outside. Cassie is now chest deep into the current, Hunter can barely see her but can tell her arms were up in the air. He notices several people running in Cassie’s direction, shouting and screaming. Waves started splashing all around the rocks where Cassie set her phone. The echoes of the background noise become muffled as Cassie’s phone falls between the rocks and the call loses transmission.
“CASSIE……………….”
