Warning: AU fic, Soma x Female Protagonist
Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my OCs and the plots.
Enjoy! :D
Lost a loving father at the age of ten and have an irresponsible, despicable woman as a mother was already hard enough to handle for the little girl. And things had only gotten worst and worst as she grew up because she had to work herself to death to deal with her sorry excuse for a mother's endless debts, in the result of her being a dropout from college.
So having a day off from her part-time jobs under the mercies of her kind (not so) and understanding (probably) employers without having her wages deducted was a pure luxury. She was utterly grateful and delighted that she could finally take a day off. Away from numerous part times, away from unreasonable debtors, away from harassers that often dine in the restaurants and cafe that she works in, and a whole day for herself alone without giving a damn of which misfortune bastard run themselves into the light pole out there…
It was an utter luxury, a heavenly gift she dared not ask for more.
Which was why, how? Why was life being so cruel to her for not allowing anything to go as she planned for once? Just how? How on earth did Hatsuyuki let herself be talked into something as abominable as a blind date?
Ah, right.
Now she remembered, the two best friends of hers- correction, insane devils which she now have no reservation in addressing, threaten to call her employers from her multiple part-time jobs to discharge her from employments regardless how much they knew she was currently in critical period of paying off the new ridiculously large amount of debts, all thanks to that woman.
And then there she goes, wasted her rare day off and sat like a log in the cafe only to receive a phone call from one of her two blasted friends in return, telling her that the guy she was supposed to blind date with ditched her in the very last minute.
"What on earth, Kota?!" Hatsuyuki finally let her temper runs wild over the phone once she made it back her small and old apartment from the cafe. It was already late evening when she was back after an hour walk from the cafe. She was clearly upset, not because of being ditched by her date, since she has no intention to date anyone just yet while she was still in destructive financial crisis. She was upset because of most of her day had been wasted into something she was forced into and not to mention it was caused by her two most trusted friends.
"I told you we were sorry!" It doesn't take a genius to know that her red-haired friend was cringing at her outburst at the other side of the phone, "We seriously didn't expect him to ditch without a day earlier prior notice! We swear!"
"I'm not talking about that anonymous date you set me up with! It's not like I know him either way so he can just be a history and rot in my past! I'm upset because of the both of you!"
Kota cringed again at his friend's rage transmitted from the receiver of his phone. It has been awhile since his friend was this furious. It seems that he and Alisa had gone overboard on their methods for the sake of getting Hatsuyuki to agree to attend the blind date while she has no doubt, reached her breaking point because of the recent appearance of the new debt bills. To think that she had almost paid off most of the old one's last month and looking forward to resuming college soon...
"So..." Kota scratches the back of his head as he has no idea of what to say to make his friend feel better, "You still have to go to work tomorrow?"
Uh-oh, wrong choice...
He immediately braces himself for the next fit of heat ranting from his friend, he didn't retort or complain, though, just hoping that his distressed friend could feel better after yelling her heart out for the time being.
But nothing came.
"Yuki?" Kota called out, wanting to make sure that the line wasn't being cut off. As the result, he only received a heavy sigh followed by a soft reply from his now apparently sulking friend, "Of course I still have to go to work tomorrow. Day off won't just rain down on me like it did for college students like you and Alisa..."
Negative emotions are really infectious as Kota literally found himself sulking along upon hearing Hatsuyuki's sad voice, he forced his own voice to be more cheerful as he replied, intended to lighten the mood, "C'mon Yuki, don't be silly! You're a college student yourself!"
"A dropout," Hatsuyuki corrected tiredly, "I can't pursue my studies until the debts clear up."
"Then don't bother! Those debts aren't yours to begin with! Let that woman clean her own messes!" Kota flailed with his free hand, immediately mouthed sorry to his younger sister, Nozomi, who happened to walk by almost being smack on the head by his sudden movement.
"And risk having her reek-of-men-corpse being dumped in front of my doorstep to haunt me for the rest of my life? No thanks." Hatsuyuki taunted sarcastically.
This conversation is certainly turning from real heat to real gloomy. Kota lifted Nozomi and had her sat beside him on the sofa while he was still on the phone, pondering what to say next.
"Look, since your shift ends before evening tomorrow, Alisa and I planned to hang out at your place and have a Bugarally series marathon together for the whole night!" Kota stated cheerily.
'Again?' Hatsuyuki frowned at that. Of course, she was aware of what her friends are planning to do, this two tend to stay over at her place very much recently and had made their intention clear through actions.
"No." Hatsuyuki sharply declined the suggestion.
"Oh no, we are not backing out on this one!" Kota retorted. Frowned and shivered as he remembered the incident merely two months ago. Half a year after Hatsuyuki forced to live in the order less district, she had fallen sick due overworked herself for days. If it weren't for Alisa and Kota felt the sudden urge to visit her after class, Hatsuyuki would have become a victim of one of her mother's many lovers, and a brutal one at that during her vulnerable state.
Soon after that, the two friends literally begged the young lady to stay at either one of their places until her mother's debts clear up and are able to afford to find a decent place to live. But the stubborn girl refused due to not wanting to cause trouble for her friends and their parents. No one knows what the aggressive debt collectors would do when they want to make her life miserable.
So as in result, Kota and Alisa would frequently take turns or both tagging along to stay at her place occasionally whether she likes it or not just to make sure she was safe.
"Like I had told you two before, I'm capable of taking care of myself. Stop worrying so much!"
"You are tough for a chick but you are vulnerable when you are sick!"
"You did not just call me a chick!"
"Sorry! Wrong choice of wording, I meant girl! B-but what's wrong with calling you that? I mean, you're a girl after all!" Kota was on the verge to bite his own tongue.
"Do I sound sick to you right now?!"
"Er..."
"See! I-"
"Whoa! Look at the time!" Kota interjected, "Before I go I'll count to three, no respond from you after that means you agreed on the stay-over!"
"W-wai-"
"One two three! Okay, all settled! We'll wait for you in your apartment using the spare key! Bye!" Kota slammed the receiver back onto the cradle swiftly before giving a chance for Hatsuyuki to reject.
He sighed as he slumped and leaned back on the sofa, receiving a puzzled look from Nozomi.
"Big brother," Nozomi tilted her head innocently, "Big brother Soma didn't go to the date?"
"Yea... He ditched and didn't tell why..." he replied with pure exhaustion. Who knew talking over a phone with an upset Hatsuyuki would be this tired? This would be the first.
"Oh, my," Kota's mother said in concern as she steps out from the kitchen with a plate of freshly peeled orange, "Did you called him back and ask?"
"No, I can't reach him after that..." Kota sighed as he popped a slice of orange into his mouth and muttered, "Damn you, Soma..."
Hatsuyuki let out a huff as she let her phone drop on her bed and gaze out of the window beside her bed, deep in thought as she spots a drunkard accidently bumped into a wild looking man on the street outside of her apartment. A fist fight break loses between the two and no one even attempt to take the initiative to stop them, instead, people started to gather in a circle to watch, cheering and even making bets on who will the fight. These are considered normal in this lawless district. Hatsuyuki has even sworn that pigs will fly on the sky if there's a cop show up to stop the fight one day. The cops here are just as corrupted as these people.
Swearing, shouting and cheering of the crowd could be clearly heard as she was living in one of the first floor's units. She severely resent it, and definitely, feel anything but comfortable and peaceful to have to live in a rundown building with ill-mannered neighbors in a messed up district, but this was all she could afford, better than being homeless, all thanks to that woman who she, unfortunately, happened to have a blood relation with.
Feeling tired and spent, the workloads she had done for this month had exceeded her quota, exhaustion finally took a toll on her body without notice as she felt the sudden drowsiness overwhelmed her. Eventually, her mind naturally blocks out the noises of the crowd from her mind and slowly drifted off on her bed with the light on…
Hours later, the strong winter wind was started to pick up with the promising cold night in the old apartment building that Hatsuyuki was living in. Shivering with cold, the girl grabbed the hem of her quilt, attempted to wrap herself into a cocoon to cast out the chilly sensation. Normally, she would've stayed up to enjoy the moment of peace, listening to the sound of the cold wind whipped through the trees; watching the white snow descends, coating the unusually quiet and empty street out there, where clubbers and drunkards would usually wonder around in search for nice catches. It seems that even those kinds of people have low immunity to cold weather.
But tonight, sleeping in sounds more tempting to the exhausted girl as she would need most of her energy to deal with difficult costumers who dine at the cafe she works in. She stretched, yawned, and shifted herself into a more comfortable spot on her stuffy bed before covering her head with her quilt.
Just when Hatsuyuki was about to drift off again, she jolted wide awake on her bed when a huge thud resounded from the front door of her single bedroom apartment. She inhaled sharply at the sound as her mind swarmed with thoughts on who could it be outside of her apartment in... 1 a.m. in the morning, she pondered after she took a glance at her alarm clock.
Alisa and Kota were definitely out of the questions, she had warned them about the street in this district during late night and they have more than common sense to know that they should not come here in this hour. She had just paid both the debts and rent for this month. The landlord and debt collectors may be ill-tempered and could be very unreasonable at time, but if you could pay them within deadlines, they would mostly just leave you alone to do whatever as long as they could get their money; so the landlord and debt collectors was out of the question as well; her mother... Just forget it, that women was the master in the art of hiding from debt collectors and have been avoiding this apartment like plagues since the debt collectors show up from time to time unless she needed a place for her...night activities with one of her many lovers...
However, that guess was being shrugged off by Hatsuyuki as well as she remembered well that that kind of shameful acts have not happened for the past two months after Alisa and Kota had done her a big favor by chasing most those bastards away who attempted to assault her while she was sick and vulnerable... But that doesn't mean that it won't happen again, though, she thought grimly.
Hatsuyuki literally thanked god that she was not sick right at this moment, as she could definitely defend herself without a hitch this time without help if something really happens afterward. She cautiously steps towards her door and took a glimpse outside through the peephole, fully expected to be greeted by the sight of a random red face drunkard who latched his arm around the waist of that woman, and yet...
Hatsuyuki saw nothing but empty corridor with dim light.
She frowned soon after her momentary relieve. What had caused the noise then? After a minute passed, she decided to go back to sleep, deeming that she should feel lucky that tonight will be rather peaceful... Or so she thought...
'Thud!'
"Huh?!" Hatsuyuki jumped, throwing a hand over her chest to ease her rapid heartbeats from the startle. Annoyed, she wasted no time to look through the peephole again, hoping to get a glimpse of the face of the possible prankster.
Nothing again.
"That does it," Gritting her teeth, the sense of rational and safety flew out of the window as she unlocked the door, ready shout at whoever that was playing pranks to stop. Yet, once she swung the door open inwardly and storm out, she could hardly hold back a startled 'eep' when something heavy slumped against the lower part of her body, causing her stature to sway, losing her balance and finally fell backward with a pained groan.
Right then, Hatsuyuki let out an irritated sigh as the culprit revealed. There, lying face-down on her lap was a man. The glint of platinum gold had come from his hair which fell about his face in a disheveled mess, covering a good part of the man's features.
Hatsuyuki frowned deeply and pushed the man off her lap. Great, just great. Why did a drunkard choose to pass out in front of her doorstep out of all units available? The nearest bar should be just minutes' walk away.
"Hey," Hatsuyuki called, nudging the prone form a little, "Get up, find somewhere else to pass out. You'll catch pneumonia if you lie here in the cold winter night, and I don't want to deal with police paperwork along with Q&A's regarding frozen corpse."
The man didn't move. Sighing in frustration, Hatsuyuki proceeds to shake the man on his shoulder, in hope that the man would just wake up and leave. She was tired and she needs nothing more than sleep and rest until morning without disturbance, "Hey, wake up! You have to move!"
This close to the other man, Hatsuyuki expected to be assaulted with the awful stench of alcohol, but she noticed no such scent. Her shaking had moved the mess of the platinum blond hair, and she now had a better view of the other's face. Instead of the blank, stupid and lustful look, she had seen a few times before when she accidently stumbled upon drunkards on the street, the platinum blond man's expression was tight as if with pain. Scratches littered his face, but the lines on his forehead spoke of a greater pain. Hatsuyuki sat back on her heels in surprise. This guy wasn't drunk; he was sick, or hurt, or something else entirely.
Could it be he had been caught in a fight? Possible. Considering that this district was rather messed up.
She looked down again at the man on the floor. He looked to be about Hatsuyuki's age, maybe a bit older. He has dark complexion with sharp features that doesn't seem to be an Asian and he was grippingly handsome. A foreigner? But sadly enough, she wasn't a typical girl who would fawn over hunks or studs. Moreover, days of experiences living in this district have taught her that no men are safe to be within the same room (excluding her close friend like Kota) for more than necessary amount of time.
"Hey," Hatsuyuki tried again; pushing aside more of that platinum blond mass and lightly tapping the other's scratched cheek. "Come on. Wake up. I'll be troubled if you lie here. Come on now."
The male only moaned slightly and shift onto his stomach, hiding his face in his arms. Hatsuyuki half growled in frustration and placed her hand on the other's side, intending to shake him yet again. But as her fingers and palm pressed into the fabric, she felt something warm and sticky spreading over her cream skin. Shocked, Hatsuyuki drew back her hand.
Blood. Crimson red had stained her hand from her fingertips to her wrist.
With a violent gasp, she frantically searched him for the source. It was hard to see because of the dark colored fabric especially in the weakly lighted corridor, but she could just make out two massive ovals of darker color on the male's side and arm.
"Oh no!" she breathed. That looked bad. Really bad.
Later, Hatsuyuki would wonder why she didn't call the police or at least a regular ambulance. The stranger could have been a thief, a gang member, or something else equally violent and dangerous as she could find in this lawless district. Faced with that question, she would rationalize herself that the nearest hospital was at the safer district the town, which was a thirty minutes' drive away, and worst, she doesn't have a car. However at that moment in the snowing winter night, Hatsuyuki didn't think at all. She acted purely on instinct. Running back into the apartment, she grabbed her phone and called one of her friend she knew back in the college before she drops out. An infirmary doctor from college.
Then, she went back outside, paid no heed of her own clothes, helping the blood soaked stranger into her apartment.
A/N:
Phew! Finally done with this chapter too!
Reviews are precious to me for the sake of motivations,
So please do tell me what you think about this chapter so far! :)
