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Disclaimer: Yoroiden Samurai Troopers belongs to its respective owners.
Friendship
A Yoroiden Samurai Trooper Fanfiction
By Katanashi (Inazuma@cephiro.com)
Note: This is an alternate universe fanfiction.
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It was supposedly a quiet spring weekend afternoon at the Yagyu residence. Five high school students currently resided there while attending a local high school, because they lived too far away to commute on a daily basis. But as of the present time, only four were actually physically there.
"Why can't I get this channel?" groused Shu, his face twisted with irritation. "The show starts in five minutes!" He threw down the remote in disgust.
"Take it easy, Shu!" Shin was quick to pacify his already steaming friend. "Touma, take a look at it, can you?"
The dark haired sixteen-year old hardly glanced up from the book. "I thought it was fixed last week, Shin. Are you sure it's broken again or is the remote just set on VCR instead of TV?"
Shin shrugged. "All I know is, Shu is right- for once," he added, ignoring Shu's furiously indigant "WHAT!?" He pressed a few buttons on the remote. "It's definitely not working, Touma. Just try, please?"
Touma sighed. "Fine, fine, give it to me," he grumbled, reluctantly setting his book down on the table, carefully marking the page he had been on. Taking the remote that Shin offered to him, he shifted his position on the off-white couch he had been sitting on so he could face the TV and VCR.
Shu had flopped down on the chair opposite to Touma and was scowling darkly. "I can't BELIEVE this!" he complained. "I'm going to be missing Yoroiden for the third straight day! Friday I had an extra judo class, Nasuti grounded me Saturday for stealing that cake she made, and now the TV isn't working! It's like the world is out to get me!"
"That in itself would be an impossibility, Shu," someone announced derisively from near the door. "If the world was out to get you, you'd probably be on your knees squalling." The speaker was standing in the doorway between the kitchen and living room, his blond hair pressed neatly, wearing a fashionable-- and expensive looking-- pair of khakis and a white cotton dress shirt. They draped loosely on a lean frame hardened by years of kendo. Sharp grey eyes that glinted with an almost dangerous, I-dare-you light and a superior little smirk completed the picture.
"Seiji!" Shin grimaced at the other's choice of words. It was going to be hard enough for him to calm Shu down without Seiji's well-aimed barbs interfering.
"What?" Seiji put on his most innocent face. "It's not my fault that Shu's really a huge teddy bear underneath that ferocious exterior- right?" He smiled sweetly at Shu, whose face had blackened so much, it could very well be mistaken for a sudden eclipse, despite the fact that his face had already been dark from irritation before.
"Seeeeiiiiijjjiiii…." Shin growled under his breath. The calmest and most reasonable of them, he nevertheless was starting to lose his temper. Seiji could be so infuriating. He was naturally inclined towards peace and hated fighting and violence altogether, but many times Seiji's remarks had tempted him- oh, he had been SO tempted!- to slug him in the jaw to shut him up.
Unfortunately for Seiji, Shu had no such reservations. Striding forward, he grabbed Seiji's perfectly ironed white shirt and lifted him clear off the ground by at least a foot and a half. "Say to my face, pretty boy," he snarled, shaking the dangling blond teenager as he spoke in a threatening manner.
Seiji tossed his head haughtily, seemingly unaware of the potential danger he was in. "Gladly. You are really a huge-"
"Seiji," an authoritative voice rang out from the front door. "Shut up. Shu, put him down."
Everyone except Touma turned simultaneously towards the general vicinity from where the sound originated. The sight of a tall, well-built young man with black hair and deep dark bluish eyes wearing simple jeans and an oversize T-shirt was what their eyes were greeted with. He carried a plain black bookbag that was slung casually over his left shoulder.
"He's home early today from GameMaster," Shin commented softly to Touma, too quietly for anyone else to hear.
"With Ryo, that's pretty impressive, considering he's an arcade nut," Touma answered with a snicker.
With a final frown, Shu released his grip on Seiji's shirt without bothering to lower him the extra eighteen inches to which he had been elevated to. Luckily, Seiji was as agile as he was good at pushing Shu's buttons and landed easily on his feet, smoothing the wrinkles on his shirt with a peevish expression on his face.
"I spent half an hour ironing this shirt this morning!" he fumed disgustedly. "And on top of that, it's a Polo shirt! I can't believe Shu wrecked it--"
"Oh, stop your griping, Seiji," muttered Touma, exasperated. "Your precious shirt will be fine after an extra ironing. Besides, you're aggravating Ryo."
Seiji glowered at Touma- or rather, his back, since Touma was still occupied by the TV and VCR. But slowly, as his mind began to clear of the red haze, he realized that Touma actually had a pretty good point- it would be a really bad idea to set Ryo off. Ryo, although he had a big heart, also had a temper that was as hot as the core of the sun.
Shin breathed a big sigh of relief. Seiji/Shu arguments had a tendency to turn to fistfights, which almost always resulted in damage to the house itself. That would lead to Nasuti, their landlady and a sort of surrogate mother to them all (as she had proved by successfully grounding Shu), blowing her stack at all five of them. Now that was an experience that their little group would love to never repeat. Nasuti had a tongue as sharp as a blacksnake whip.
"Hey Touma, whatcha doin' with the TV? You'd better not mess it up again," Ryo said jokingly.
"Very funny, Ryo. Shu's missing Yoroiden again due to technical problems, so I'm just taking a look to see if there's just a problem with the settings."
"Yoroiden? That's the oldest show that's even still playing," Ryo observed.
"It's a good show," Shu snapped, sensing an insult coming from Ryo. Unlike Seiji, who was surprisingly clear headed- probably due to his ten years of kendo training- Shu pretty much was like a rocket that had been lit. Once it was going, it didn't stop until it ran out of fuel or met something it couldn't knock down.
"Nobody said it wasn't," Shin said soothingly, trying desperately to cool down the situation.
"Well, if I can't watch it, that means I have to go online to find the tapes. You know how much they cost? Thirty bucks each! It's a rip off!"
Shin looked very much like a cat who'd been cornered by three Dobermans. "Eh…maybe you can tape it off the TV," he suggested lamely. He regretted his words almost instantly.
"TAPE IT?!" Shu turned to him, his eyes incredulous. "How the hell can I tape the stupid show when I can't even get the channel to work?! You're supposed to be practical and smart, Shin! Don't you know there's no way to tape a show if you don't get a channel?!"
"Actually, you can technically tape a show without getting the channel on the TV," Touma remarked absently as he fiddled with the TV controls.
Shu immediately ceased his ranting. "Really? You can tape it for me?" he asked hopefully.
"I said technically," Touma replied, not looking up as he continued his work. "If there was no way to get the cable to split, then you can connect it to the VCR instead of the TV. But if the cable isn't working period, then of course there's no way to tape it."
"ARGH!!!!" Shu threw up his hands in frustration. "You know what this means, don't you? I'm going to have NO IDEA what is going on in that stupid show when I watch it tomorrow!"
"Providing, of course, that you can watch it, tomorrow," Touma said. He tossed the remote onto the table and stood up, stretching. "Sorry, Shu, I can't fix it. I think the cable's jacked somewhere. We'll have to call the repair guy."
"If it's so stupid, why are you watching it?" Seiji jibed.
"You wanna get creamed, pretty boy?" Shu started menacingly towards Seiji again, only to be intercepted by Touma.
"Take it easy, Shu!" Touma said firmly. "It's not going to help you to beat the crap out of him! And then Nasuti will be kickin' our butts again!"
Ryo stretched languidly and sat down in a vacated armchair. "Well, if we can't watch cable, let's watch something else," he suggested.
"Like what?" Shin wondered. "We left all our tapes at our homes. Our parents wouldn't allow us to bring them."
Ryo smiled mysteriously, then leisurely reached into his schoolbag and pulled out two tapes. "Parents can't govern everything, Shin. I rented these from the video store on my way home."
Seiji smiled broadly. "Ryo, you're brilliant," he told the other with unabashed admiration. Ryo flushed, but gave a cocky grin nonetheless.
"X: The Movie, and the Rurouni Kenshin OAV. Anime again, Ryo?" Shin raised an eyebrow questionably at him.
Ryo shrugged. "You gotta admit there's nothing else out there," he pointed out. "Besides, X and Kenshin are among the best animes."
Shin sighed. Fate must have deemed that he be converted to anime freakism despite his natural distaste of it. His sister back home loved it and watched it all the time, and so did all of his roomates. Which meant, of course, that he was stuck with anime all the time, vacations or school. Glancing around at his quartet of companions, he said, "I don't know what you four see in it, but I'll stand it."
"Thanks, Shin," Seiji said. He turned to Shu, who was yelling at an impassive Touma. "Hey, Shu! Touma! Which one first, X or Kenshin?"
Shu stopped yelling as if someone had just flipped his OFF switch. "X? Kenshin?" He bounded over eagerly, leaving a bemused Touma in his wake. "As in, the animes? Awesome!" He enthusiastically grabbed X and popped it into the VCR before plopping onto the couch next to Seiji. "Isn't X just the greatest, Seiji?"
"No qualms there," the blond kendoist acknowledged.
Shin rolled his eyes and elbowed Touma, who was reclining on his right. "Shu can be ready to murder Seiji one minute and the next minute be his best friend. Twisted logic is running rampant," he commented.
Touma cast the pair a casual glance before turning back to Shin. "It's the same with all of us, Shin. Are you still mad at Shu? Or Seiji?"
Shin shook his head. "Nah. Neither of them ever mean anything bad. It's just, they're always so downright mean to each other. I just don't get that. How can you be friends with someone you're intentionally baiting all the time?"
Ryo shrugged. "I know it's kind of strange, but that's just the way it works. I mean, it's like we beat each other up, but we help bandage each other's injuries later. You know, that sort of thing."
"That made absolutely no sense," Touma said with a laugh. "But somehow, I think I understand what you're trying to say. Let me see if I can explain." He scratched his head absently. "We're friends, and that's how we know we don't really mean what we say. I can yell at you, and you might take it the wrong way, but that doesn't change what's underneath. True friends are always going to be friends, no matter what happens."
"But Seiji's always making Shu mad!"
"What's a friend that you can't tease for a little fun once in a while?" Ryo asked. "If I called you a poof, would you care?"
"Yes."
"Oh. Sorry."
"Well, what are friends for?" Touma asked practically. "You might tease each other, but only to a certain extent. Seiji was poking a bit of fun at you last night when he joked that you'd slipped while cooking and that there were eggshells in the food. But everyone laughed. I don't think you minded at all."
"Friends are more than that," Ryo scoffed. "I know you guys probably hate your kid sisters or something, but mine's my best friend."
"Really? I didn't even know you had a sister," Shin said, surprised.
Ryo laughed. "Gomen. I don't talk about her too much, but I'll show you her picture later. We're only a year apart."
"I'm an only child," admitted Touma. "But I wish I had a brother or sister."
Shin let out a growl, remembering all too well his own siblings. "You don't want one."
"See? I know Seiji was ready to commit homicide once too, because his younger sister made him so mad. But my sister's cool. She and I talk a lot, we go out for food, and we hang out. But she listens, mostly. That's what makes us best friends."
"She's there for you when you need her," Touma said. "I guess that's what friends are for too."
"That's what friends are for," Shin repeated, thinking to himself. Yes, that's what friends were for. When one was not strong enough, there were four there to help.
Ryo slid down a bit in his chair. "Anyway, what really makes us friends is just the fact that we're being friends. We don't leave each other high and dry, and we like to hang out with each other. I mean, being friends is more important than having friends."
"Ryo?"
"What, Touma?"
"Shut up. The movie's starting."
"Che. You're an idiot-- the credits are always so boring." But Ryo's face quirked into a half grin as he complied.
As the opening credits to the movie rolled, Shin glanced around. Ryo was slouching in his armchair, sucking on a lollipop. Touma sat perfectly still, mesmerized by the images on the TV. And Seiji and Shu? The infamous duo was laughing and pointing at a character on the screen, commenting on the appearance.
"Wow! Kamui's eyes are huge! They're as big as Kotori's!"
"Yeah! And he's a guy and Kotori's a girl!"
"Well, of course Kotori's a girl, moron! What kind of guy would have long blond hair and wear a pink nightie on top of that?!"
"What! You callin' me stupid? You're asking for a beating, pretty boy!"
"Stop calling me a pretty boy!"
And they were off again, shouting and arguing until their voices drowned the movie out. Ryo and Touma were on their feet and yelling at the two of them to quit their fighting.
"It's not my fault you ARE a pretty boy!"
"If I had my shinai, I'd beat the crap out of you before you knew what hit you!"
"Seiji, I'm sure that's against your kendo code…"
"Oh, I'd know what hit me, because you just told me-- your shinai, you idiot!"
"Who's the idiot here, huh?!"
"WILL YOU TWO JUST SHUT UP?!" Ryo bellowed, getting red in the face.
Watching the scene before him, Shin had the queerest feeling. It was a warmth that seemed to spread all over his body, making his toes tingle with glee and gently tugging the corners of his mouth up in a delighted smile.
He began to laugh, softly at first, then escalating into a near fit. He laughed until his sides hurt and his face was streaked with tear stains.
Friends
, he thought. Being friends. That's what friendship is all about. __________________________________________Author's Notes: I did take quite a few liberties here, the biggest being that Ryo had a sister. This fanfic is a part of what I call the "Normal" Yoroiden universe. It's a take on what the Troopers might be like if they had not been called to the Yoroiden (armor legend). It has quite a few new characters, and some of them are Ryo's sister and also his father.
Comments and feedback always appreciated. Ja ne!
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