This is CarlosTheDwarf and I was not, as previously reported, killed by ninjas.

First I want to address one point from the last thread, which I just read. People didn't believe that Colin could write so fluently in English. First of all, he spent the last four and a half years of his life in England. Second, he's not a normal twelve year old. The kid is remarkable in every facet. He is a sponge, he picks up everything so quickly.

Now, on to what happened. Tuesday morning I was on my way to my apartment after eating some breakfast at a local diner. Colin and Melissa had gone skiing but I had to work. They had left early that morning and wouldn't be back until Wednesday night, it was a two day ski trip. I didn't mind that they went without me, I really had a ton of work to do (out of the apartment) and they had never been skiing before. With this blizzard the skiing conditions couldn't have been better.

When I got into the elevator, two huge Italian looking guys got in with me. I got out of the elevator and approached my door. The two men followed me and one of them grabbed my arm. The other pointed a gun at my head and said, "Open the door".

Once we got into my apartment they took me to my bedroom and threw me on the bed. One of the men took out a knife while the other had his gun still pointed at me.

"We're not going to kill you", the man with the knife said. "But I need you to bleed". He grabbed one of my wrists and slit it with the knife.

"Stay on the bed!" the man with the gun yelled. I was bleeding heavily. After twenty seconds or so they threw a towel at me. I wrapped it around my wrist. Then they gave me some first aid supplies to wrap up the wound.

I was taken to JFK airport where the men handed me off to two large, very muscular Asian men. I was told that I would be flying to Japan. If I caused any kinds of problems my wife and son would be killed. Much like in Commando, the two Italian guys made sure I boarded the 11 AM Japan Airlines flight to Japan without incident.

I was seated in between these two Asian men. The men were named Hideki and Saburo. I tried to find out what was going on but of course they wouldn't tell me. "Hideki", I said. "Like Hideki Matsui, that Japanese player the Yankees just signed, right?"

Hideki's eyes kind of lit up. For much of the plane trip we talked about baseball, these guys were fanatics. Hideki Matsui was like a superhero to them, they sounded like nine year olds when they talked of him.

The thing was that they seemed like really cool guys. We talked about baseball, 9/11, movies, even Britney Spears.

I pretty much realized what was going on though. I knew I was being led to my slaughter. Someone in Japan wanted me dead. Why didn't they just kill me in the apartment?

The non-stop flight from NY to Narita airport took about fourteen hours. I knew that my best chance to escape would be in the airport. Hideki and Saburo were unarmed and I was sure that whoever was picking us up would be packing. When we got off the plane and entered the airport I told the guys I really had to go to the bathroom. Saburo had to go too, and Hideki decided that he could probably go as well.

We entered the bathroom and I went first while the two men stood behind me. They would then use the urinals one at a time, while the other watched me. As I said, these guys were huge. Both must have been over six foot three and at least two hundred and thirty pounds of solid muscle. At one hundred and eighty pounds, they did not fear me at all. No matter how big a guy is though, there are certain areas on his body that are extremely vulnerable.

As Hideki began to relieve himself, I bent down to tie my shoelaces. But first I had reached into my pocket. In my pocket I had finely crumbled up some crackers given to us on the plane. Once I finished tying my shoes, I straightened up and threw the cracker dust at Saburo's face, temporarily blinding him. Now, if you hold your hand straight out and curl your fingers you can make a "small knuckle" fist. Not a normal fist, the key is to strike with the smaller knuckles.

I hit Saburo flush in the throat, crushing his windpipe. With the hand blower on and the bathroom music playing, Hideki hadn't heard anything. I launched a kick at Hideki's upper back, slamming his chest into the metal pipe above the urinal. He stumbled backward and I took out his right leg, right below the knee. As he fell backwards I grabbed his neck and drove his head into the bathroom tile, knocking him out cold.

Saburo was on his knees, still gagging for air. I kicked him in the back of the head and he joined Hideki on the floor. I grabbed both of their wallets and cellphones. A man who sounded quite elderly and constipated finally let one plop in the stall next to the urinals. I stormed out of the bathroom just in time.

I rushed to the phone. It was early in the morning, NY time, and I knew that Colin and Melissa weren't due home until later that night. I tried calling Melissa's cell phone but I couldn't connect. I then got in contact with the NY police. I had planned to ask them to send some officers to the apartment to wait for my family's return from the ski trip. However, they informed me Colin and Melissa had come home a day earlier and were on their way to Japan! They weren't suspects in my murder and were free to do their own investigation. Honestly, the guy in charge of my case sounded like a real dick and didn't seem to have much of an interest in solving my disappearance.

Remember how I had said that the whole Robutaku beheading was covered up by the city of NY and Japanese government but that I wouldn't go into detail as to why? Well, it turns out that Robutaku was heavily involved with the Yakuza, the Japanese mob. I believe Saburo and Hideki were also part of the Yakuza. And those Italian guys that abducted me from my apartment? They're most likely from the NY mob. In fact, I'd bet they're from the same crime syndicate that Big Joe allied with the Yakuza many years ago.

I believe that someone in the Yakuza wanted me dead as a result of Robutaku's failed attempt to kill me. This was Robutaku's backup plan.

Once I found out that Melissa and Colin were coming to Japan I cancelled my plans to fly home and headed over to Melissa's home in Japan that she had yet to sell. It was the same home that Sensei Karurosa and had once lived in. Walking through that front door I could just imagine Big Joe crashing to ground just a few steps away. When Melissa and Colin arrived at the house they were obviously shocked and overjoyed to see me. I explained what had happened and they told me about the note that had been left in my apartment.

It had said, "Two people close to me were killed and I never received closure." I assumed one meant Robutaku, could the other have meant Sutebe, the first brother I killed? I called up that PI I had been working with. I asked him to look deeper into Robutaku's family. Both of his parents were dead, but it turned out that he had an older brother named Basho Nakamoto. Robutaku's brother was actually fifteen years older than Robutaku. Apparently Nakamoto had moved out his home at a very young age and changed his name. I never knew Robutaku and Sutebe had another brother.

I asked the PI to fax over a picture of Nakamoto, which he did. But he also gave me some startling news. There were two rival Yakuza crime syndicates working in Japan and Nakamoto was the head of one of them! I showed Melissa the picture of Nakamoto and she confirmed it was the same man that Robutaku had given the katana to. Great, so the head of the Yakuza wanted me dead. Nakamoto also had been the head of a secret ninjitsu dojo that was shut down about eight years ago. I'm guessing he taught his brothers the same evil form of ninjitsu that still haunts my son Colin.

My PI gave me the address to the Nakamato mansion and we drove there in one of the rental cars. It was about nine pm at night when we reached the front gates.

I glanced at Colin and he looked like he had seen a ghost. "Oh my god" he said. "This was the Hasimoto mansion!"

"How do you know this?" asked Melissa, who was never given the location of the mansion by her father.

Colin didn't answer.

Ema Hasimoto had sold the mansion after her whole family had been killed. Nakamoto had just recently purchased it. I don't think it was a coincidence that Nakamoto bought this mansion, I'm sure he knew the history behind it and was possibly even connected to the Hasimotos.

The mansion had a fence surrounding its entire grounds. A huge, brand new gold security gate was at the base of the long driveway and 4 armed men stood guard. In the center of the gold gate was a dragon with bright green eyes. It was the same dragon as the one on the katana and the stamp.

"There's the dragon," said Mellissa, pointing at the gates. "I knew I had seen it somewhere else, these gates were put it in right before I left for NY." Melissa had no good reason to think hard about these gates so she never connected them to the dragon on the katana she had last seen ten years ago.

"There's no way we're getting in there," I said.

"I know a secret way in", said Colin.

"How do you know a secret way in, have you been here with Robutaku?" I asked.

"No, but trust me" replied Colin.

We drove a few miles around the winding rode and parked the car at a public park.

"Follow me," instructed Colin. We entered a heavily wooden area and walked at least one mile through the very dense forest until we reached the back fence of the mansion grounds. The back fence was very high but it didn't have any barbed wire. Colin led us to an easily climbable tree that allowed us to make it over the fence with relative ease. I could see the huge dragon's head spewing water into the fountain. Sensei Karurosa's battle with the Hasimoto ninjas became more vivid in my head.

Once we hopped the fence we stayed hidden behind the trees that lined the back and sides of the grounds. As we got closer to the mansion we saw at least eight armed men wearing suits standing guard. Music was blasting. Next to the fountain was a hot tub. I'd imagine this was relatively new. In the hot tub was a man around forty years old, surrounded by three gorgeous topless women.

"This way" said Colin. It was very dark and we stayed hidden behind the bushes, making our way around the mansion. As we neared the front, I saw a small door. We entered the mansion.

"Colin" I said, "what the hell are we doing?"

"I've got a plan" he replied.

Two days later we were back in Sensei Karurosa's home. Our plane tickets had been bought and we were ready to fly back to NY. Prior to heading to the Nakamoto mansion I had called my friend Mike who worked for the NY Yankees. I had him Fedex pairs of Hideki Matsui signed bats, balls and jerseys. I brought them to the hospital that Saburo and Hideki were staying at and left the gifts with their family members. Included with the gifts were their wallets, cellphones, and a "sorry, no hard feelings note". I'm pretty confident that they won't come back to NY and beat me to death with those signed bats. Both were in stable condition, no permanent injuries.

Before we left for the airport I got a call from my private investigator. He said numerous rumors involving Basho Nakamoto were circulating in the Yakuza world. The most persistent rumor was that he had been found dead in his bedroom, his own katana buried in his chest. Others said that Nakamoto had fled the country, fearing for his life. The Yakuza world did seem to agree that getting Nakamoto out of power could only be a good thing. He had stepped on a lot of toes in recent years and there were many people in both Yakuza crime syndicates and the police force that wanted him dead.

I thanked the PI for all his hard work and told him I didn't think I'd need his services anymore. We drove to Narita airport and boarded our Japanese Airlines flight

With Melissa seated to my left and Colin to my right, I opened a newspaper that I had purchased in the airport, interested to see if there was any coverage of the Nakamoto rumors. Unfortunately there was none, but there were a bunch of intriguing articles on Hideki Matsui. Matsui's nickname was Godzilla. He had conquered Tokyo and was now ready to take on the New York. "Good luck to him" I thought, as I put my arm around my son. It won't be easy.

*****************

I just tucked my son into bed.

"I feel weird Dad," he said.

"How so?" I asked.

"I don't know, I feel…different. I feel like a kid." Colin said.

I smiled, tucked him under the covers, and wondered what he felt like when he didn't feel like a kid.

The last few days Melissa and I have tried talking to him about how he knew so much about the mansion, how he knew that it even was the Hasimoto mansion. His response? "What mansion?" He claims to have no recollection of that night. Since that night he's been asking lots of questions, stuff that he already knew the answers to. He seems closer to Melissa and I than ever but his memory of previous events is extremely hazy. I think he'll be just fine though. He just needs some rest.

Sleep tight, young Colin.

And rest in peace Sensei Karurosa.