Home
Summary: It's been years since the defeat of Villius and the gang is all grown up, Guren has been missing for a few years and nobody has noticed. Now he's back and he's a changed man. LEMON ALERT! GurenXBeni
Chapter 01: Homecoming
Guren walked through the long dark hallway of the airport with the other Marines. The Second Korean War was over. And The Coalition had won.
It all started when North Korea aimed missiles toward South Korea and the US, and fired. The missiles heading to the United States were intercepted and destroyed in mid-flight, while the ones bound for South Korea reached their target, killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people. One of the attacked targets was a US military base right there in South Korea. The day after the attack, while the North Korean Army moved southward, the United Stated declared war on the poor suckers, as did Russia, China, Japan, Great Britain, Israel, Canada, Australia, and a few other countries. The ego got to the NK's heads because they really thought they were invincible but they lost in a little under a year.
He touched his chest pocket and felt the damaged-beyond-repair harmonica, that had stopped a bullet saving his life, in there and smiled lightly as her remembered how he got to this point in his life.
It was during his freshmen year of high school that he took up music. He could sing and play the acoustic guitar, bass guitar, banjo, piano, electric guitar, and violin. He learned to play the harmonica while in the Marines. As a gift for passing his freshmen year, his dad got him an acoustic guitar. When he wasn't hanging out with his friends at the Dalton's diner, Mr. White's shop, or where ever, he was at home writing songs or practicing songs from famous singers and bands. He aquired a liking for country music and celtic rock. For the latter, he loved the band 'Dropkick Murphys'.
Guren joined the Marines after dropping out of college (he was studying music and any other class he could get). It was years after he and his friends, the Tenkai Knights defeated Villius and the Corrupted for good. While attending one of the major colleges in the country, Guren recieved the news that his father had died in a car accident. After the funeral, and really blurry drunk night which he can't remember, he dropped out and left without letting his friends know. Though the color pink keeps popping into his head whenever he tries to remember the night following the funeral. He wondered around with a depressed state of mind for a few weeks before stumbling into a Marines recruitment center. With his military pay, he has been paying to keep the house in which he grew up in.
Last time he heard of his friends, Gen had become a teacher, Ceylan had become a teacher as well, Chooki was member in the city's pro soccer team and its best player, and Toxsa started working full-time at his family's diner. And they were all married too (Gen married Toxsa's sister, Wakamei). Mr. White still runs that antiques shop. And Beni... well... last time he saw her was when he and the other knights defeated Villius for good, and he found himself missing her the most.
"Man, I can't wait to see my family," the soldier walking next to him muttered as he readjusted his bag on his shoulder. "What about you, Wolf?"
Guren was placed in a unit known as 'The Zoo' because the soldiers were codenamed after animals. Guren got the name 'Wolf', while the man next to him, Lucas Sands, was dubbed 'Hyena'.
Hyena was a dark-skinned man with light-brown hair in cornrows, green eyes, and a well-groomed goatee. He was a good dancer and was always posting little funny dance montage videos on the internet straight from the warzone. Besides dancing, he talked a lot about his son, Shawn, and basketball. He reminded Guren of Chooki.
"My family's dead, I'm a single child, and all my friend don't even know that I'm a Marine," Guren explained nonchalantly.
"So that's why you never received a single bit of mail?" the female marine, Lois 'Falcon' Deveraux, in front of him said, looking over her shoulder. "If you want, I can have my husband drop you off at your house?"
Falcon was the only female in The Zoo. She had short dirty-blonde hair and gray eyes, which needed glasses to see. She was a prankster, and loved pulling pranks on the other members of The Zoo and other unsuspecting victims. Guren remembered the day they took control of looked to be city hall in a semi-large city and a few of the Marines, including himself, had to go to the bathroom, so they went to the public one. While they did their business, Falcon took one of her flashbangs, pulled the pin, tossed it in there, and held the door close. It was a funny prank and they got her back by sticking gum in her hair while she slept, filling her helmet with fish guts, and pulling any revenge prank they could think. Despite this, she was the best sniper and mechanic in the team. She reminded Guren of both Ceylan and Toxsa.
"Nah," the red-haired man shook his head. "I'm cool. I'll just catch a cab."
"Alright, well, seeya," she said as they exited the tunnel in a large room filled with families waiting for them.
As marines and soldiers from the other branches rush to their families, Guren continued walking. Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of Hyena getting hugged by his wife and son. Near them was Falcon embracing her husband who was holding their daughter. Another marine known as 'Bat' was welcomed back by his parents, siblings and girlfriend. Stepping out of the airport, he walked over to a waitng taxi. The driver was asleep, but woke up when Guren slammed the door closed. He gave the driver an address and they were off.
The former Tenkai Knight pressed his head against the window and thought, 'I'm home.'
"BURGER AND FRIES, HOLD THE ONION!" Toxsa yelled an order as he placed the same order on a wheel.
His sister, Wakamei, then came over and filled the customer's cup with coffee. Saturdays tended to be a bit slow, so Toxsa went to sit with his friends. It was the off-season and Chooki didn't have to do anything. The wives were sitting at a different booth along Wakamei, chatting.
The diner was decorated for Christmas being that it was already the first of December. Gold, green and red garland and ornaments was hanging almost everywhere. Colorful blinking light hung around the door and along the edge of the counter. Colorful icicle lights dangled outside, as a large inflatable Santa stood by the door. The whole city was getting into the season. Even Mr. White had a tree in his shop, though it was an artificial one.
"Looks like the troops are home," said a customer as he watched the TV, which was currently stuck on CNN.
The Knights, their wives, and the other customers turned to face TV. There was video from different airports and empty lots across the country. Wakamei noticed something in the news report and jumped up.
"What the heck!" she muttered.
"What is it, sis?" Toxsa asked, looking at her.
"I think I just saw Guren in the crowd of returning soldiers," Wakamei explained pointing at the TV.
"Really?" Ceylan asked.
"Yeah," Wakamei nodded excitedly. "I know that red hair and those purple eyes anywhere. It was definitely Guren."
"You think he's really back?" Toxsa wonder keeping his eyes on the screen.
"It's been almost two years since the funeral," Gen shrugged readjusting his three-year-old daughter on his lap. "So maybe."
The bell in the alarm for the oven went off and Toxsa got up.
"My triple chocolate fudge cake is done!"
He ran into the kitchen and extracted the cake from the oven. After letting it cool for a few minutes, Toxsa started coating it with a chocolate and cream cheese frosting.
"He's come a long way from the little boy who played nothing video games," Chooki chuckled.
"Hey I heard that!" Toxsa yelled from the kitchen. "You kept comparing life to sports!"
"I wonder how Guren could stand you two," Ceylan smiled with arms crossed.
"Yeah well, your jokes suck," Gen and Wakamei responded together.
Toxsa exited the kitchen with a plate with a slice of cake and handed it to his wife, Lillith, who was pregnant with their first child. The piece of cake had a scoop of strawberry ice cream on top and whole pickle on the side.
Lillith Dalton had jet-black hair and green eyes. Toxsa had met her in high school while in the lunch line. They dated for a while, and a week after their high school graduation, in a drunken stupor, they eloped. Thanks to some assistance from Wakamei, Toxsa managed to convince his parent to give Lillith a job at the diner.
"Thanks honey," she thanked him with a quick peck on the lips.
Suddenly, the conversation switched from Guren to family talk then to...
"What about Beni?" Toxsa asked, changing the subject again as he took a seat with the guys.
Ceylan, Chooki, and Wakamei nodded in agreement with Toxsa's question.
"I ran into her on Thanksgiving," Gen answered in a flat tone, trying to feed a tiny bit of warm pie to his daughter.
"Really," they asked with widened eyes.
Gen looked at them, then his wife and shrugged. "You told me to get out of the house while you prepared the food, and I took Annie for a stroll with me?"
Wakamei nodded.
X-0-Flashback-0-X
"If you're not going to help me then why don't you get out of here for a bit and take Annie to the park or something!" Wakamei glared daggers with her hands on her hips while blocking his view of the TV.
"But I just did all the cleaning and-" Gen defended himself then stopped. "I know I'm not going to win this, so fine, I'll take our daughter to the park."
Gen got up from the couch and pick up daughter from the floor where she was playing with one of her toys. After a quick trip to the bedroom to dress her and himself for the cold weather outside, they left the house took off down the sidewalk. One block from the park, Gen caught the scent emanating from the nearby coffee shop.
"Want some hot chocolate, sweetie?" Gen asked his daughter.
"Yay!" she respond with a few hops.
With a smile, he led her into the coffee shop. He got her the smallest cup the shop had of hot chocolate and a few mini-cinnamon rolls. For himself, a medium coffee and three cinnamon pretzels. It took a while for them to reach the park, and by then, they were already done with their food. Dumping the now empty cups and paper bags in the garbage, they made their way to the playground.
"Daddy! I wanna there!" Annie demanded pointing and pulling her father toward the swings.
"Alright sweetie, alright," Gen smiled and laughed, following his daughter's lead. 'Just as demanding as her mother.'
Once at the desired area, Gen sat Annie on the rubber seat and started gently pushing her.
"'igher, daddy, 'igher!" Annie said through a toothy grin
"So you want to go higher, huh?" the dark-haired man asked with a raised brow.
"Yay!" the girl nodded.
"Alright, you asked for it," Gen responded in a mock-threat tone and started giving the pushes a little more power.
His daughter squealed in delight and Gen laughed joyfully seeing his little girl having fun. Behind a crowd of moms along the waist-high chain-link fence, Gen noticed some long pink hair on the move. Continuing to push his daughter, his eyes followed pink hair. The woman cleared the moms and the former black Tenkai Knight took notice that the woman was pushing a stoller, but he could see the side of her. It was when she stopped and sat down on a bench facing the playground that Gen got a look at her face, and his eye widened in shock.
It was Beni.
But she looked a bit different. She had bags under her eye, as if she hadn't gotten much sleep. The former female knight was dressed in designer clothes, which didn't surprise Gen. He was surprised that even though she looked tired as hell, she smiled into the stroller.
Gen stopped the swing and picked up his daughter and turned her around to face her.
"Wanna go to the carousel?" She nodded rapidly. "Okay, but we'll go after I talk to an old friend of mine, then we can go, so be patient. Okay?"
"Yesh daddy," she mumbled.
Taking her tiny hand, they walked out of the crowded playground and in the direction of the bench. Gen was glad that Beni hadn't notice him. He sat down next to the pinkette and put Annie on his lap, and waited a bit before saying anything.
"Good morning, Beni," he greeted without taking his eyes of his daughter.
Beni stiffened and turned her head to face him. It took a while for her to recognise him.
"G-G-Gen?"
"The one and only." His daughter giggled at that.
"What are you doing here?"
"Taking my daughter, Annie, for a stroll through the park."
"Who'd you marry?
"Toxsa's sister, Wakamei."
"Then you married into a whole lot of crazy."
"Yeah, don't I know it."
He smiled before taking a peek into the stroller that Beni had with her. Inside was a baby girl, not even an year old. She was sucking on a pacifier and holding tightly onto a plush cat. She had short red and black hair and violet eyes looking at him, which shocked Gen.
"Is-is-is th-that..."
Beni cut him off and answered the unfinished question. "Yes. This is Guren's daughter, Pepper, and my pride and joy."
"How? When?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Does he know?
She slowly shook her head, "I don't know where he is so how am I supposed to tell him."
Gen nodded in agreement then he looked back at the baby. "How old is she?"
"Around eleven months," she replied raised her daughter up into her arms. "She turns one next month on the twenty-eighth. What about your daughter?"
"She's three," he ruffled Annie's hair a bit, "her birthday is on the tenth of February.
"Daddy, can we go cawousel now," Annie whined.
Gen laughed and got up.
"Well, I gotta go now. I promised her I'll take her to the carousel."
"Oh, okay."
"It was nice seeing you again, though."
And with that, Gen took his daughter to the desired location.
X-0-End Of Flashback-0-X
"I wonder how Guren will react when he finds out," Wakamei thought aloud.
"When do you think she was able to do it with him?" Ceylan asked
Twenty minutes later, they were so caught up in their chat that they failed to notice a taxi cab pulling up to the diner and the passanger getting out. He was dressed in camouflage. A pair of aviators covered his eyes and spiky red hair was sticking out from under the hat. He paid the driver and picked up his bag before walking toward the diner. Even after he stepped inside, nobody noticed him. Well, nobody but a few customers and Toxsa and Wakamei's parents. The Daltons instantly recognized him. Mrs. Dalton pulled out her pad and pen and waited for the customer to stop at the counter. The man sat down on a stool and opened a menu.
"What can I get for you, Guren?" she asked in a low tone so that the other wouldn't hear.
"I'll take a double bacon cheese burger, with a side of curly fries, some chili, a hot dog, a club sandwich, and a slice of pumpkin pie to go," he ordered, then yawned.
"Alright," she nodded after writing it down and was about to hand it to her husband when Guren said something.
"Can you double it?"
"So you want two of everything that's in your order?" Guren nodded. "Alright."
Fifteen minutes later, the order was almost filled. The other Knights have yet to notice him as he watched them being happy with their own families. It hurt to watch. When his order finished, he accepted the paper bag from Mrs. Dalton, who refused the pay, grabbed his military bag from the floor and headed for the door.
"Thanks for food, Mrs. Dalton," Guren said.
"Anytime, Guren," she returned with a smile. "Get some rest and take care."
"You too, Mrs Dalton," he waved stepping out the door. 'I'll drop this stuff at home then I'll go visit dad.'
Around thirty minutes later, Mrs. Dalton heard the conversation go back to about Guren, so she decided to join in for a bit.
"Guren was here a while ago," she muttered placing a dirty plate in with the other dirty dishes in a light gray tub.
Gen, Ceylan, Chooki, Toxsa, and Wakamei quickly turned to the older woman with wide eyes.
"When was this?" Chooki asked.
Mrs. Dalton scratched her chin in thought. "I think it was a little over half hour ago."
"Why did't you tell us sooner?" Toxsa sneared removing his apron as he and the other Knights headed for the door.
"STOP!" Mrs. Dalton barked, and they did and looked at her. "He just got back and he looked tired and drained. You guys can see him tomorrow, but for today, let him get some rest!"
"But-"
Mrs. Dalton gave them a look that scared them.
"Okay."
And with that, the Knights went back to their booth, while their wives laughed at them.
"Come on, Pepper," Beni greeted her daughter as she extracted her from the crib. "We're gonna go see your grandfather for a bit then we're going shopping for some groceries."
Pepper squealed in laughter as she was lifted up high above her mother's head.
"Ah," Beni sighed, cuddling the baby in her arms. "Innocent and sweet, just like your father."
The pinkette bundled the baby up and put her into the already opened stroller. Beni grabbed her jacket off the coat rack and slipped it on. Pulling the stroller's canopy-like cover up, she pushed the stroller out of her apartment and locked the door behind her. After a quick ride down in the elevator, she and Pepper came to the lobby of the complex on their way out. The doorman opened the door for her, and she slipped him some money. Out on the snow-covered streets, she wrapped her scarf around her neck and mouth, and continued on her way.
As they went through, for a shortcut, a tiny bit of snow fell off a tree and fell onto Pepper.
"Aw! Did the cold bad snow fall on you?" Beni mock-pouted.
Instead of crying, Pepper actually giggled which caused Beni burst out laughing before cleaning the snow off her daughter. Once there was no more snow on Pepper or the stroller, they continued on their way.
After several blocks, they reached the graveyard and walked through the wide open gates. Walking along the long driveway, they passed the cars of people that had come to see their deceased loved one, and countless graves. As Beni and little Pepper neared their targeted grave, Beni noticed a man in green camo near or at the grave she was there to visit. When she was only about twenty or so feet from the grave, the man, who was at her destination, removed his hat as he knelt down onto one knee and placed a bouquet of flowers over the gravestone. Beni stopped dead in her tracks when she recognized the man, now she was just less than ten feet away. It was the man got back up and turned to leave that he noticed her.
"Beni?" he said walking toward her. "That really you?"
She stiffened when the red and black haired man hugged.
"Guren," she nodded slowly. "I'm so glad you're back. There's something I gotta tell you..."
AN: Done with chapter one. I did this fic because there are only a few T.K. fic that has Guren and Beni as a pairing. It's obvious they like each other. Besides, she tends to follow him the most. I just wish they would admit that they have a crush on each other. I also think that the pairing between Gen and Wakamei is cute. Though I wish I knew the names of those two girls that talked to Ceylan while he was shooting some hoops before the battle at Villius's castle, because I want to pair him up with one of them. And just Toxsa, Chooki's wife will be an OC.
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