Fandom: Eyeshield 21
Title: The Fast and The Furious
Author: hana-akira AKA rurichi
Character: Kobayakawa Sena
Genre: Drama, Hurt/Comfort
Rating: 18+
Warning: OOC
Prompt: Inspired by Ch. 178 when Sena has his wonderful furious expression and Ep. 114 when Agon slightly notices Sena's fury.
Summary: In a world where Sena never met Mamori or Riku when he was younger, he gives into his fury and thus becomes a different person. Dangerous!Sena.
A/N: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak had a heavy hand in my writing of this fic. If you've read the book, you'd notice that some sentences are carbon copies or very similar: this is done INTENTIONALLY. I am not claiming credit; I am not plagiarizing. I DON'T GET ANYTHING OUT OF THIS BESIDES YOUR TIME.
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Chapter 4: Smiling Face, Sinister Feelings
Featuring:
The first day of school — Kurita Ryokan — clash on the bridge — a meeting of the eyes — and the dive
—
A LITTLE BIT OF BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Despite the incident when he was six, Sena didn't have a reputation. He did, however, leave an impression.
At six, Sena had been a small slip of a boy. At fifteen, he wasn't much better. He was still undersized for his age, still demure in his looks: the epitome of what a quiet and shy boy is if it wasn't for the little unknown fact that he was a passive-aggressive person who wouldn't let anyone touch his right cheek let alone his left. So it wasn't any surprise that after classes had ended on the first day of school, he was approached by three of his male "classmates".
"Oi, Sena!" A boy with an X-shaped scar on his right cheek—Juumonji Kazuki if he remembered right—called, and Sena could tell from the two that were following behind the taller boy—Togano Shozo with orange-tinted sunglasses and Kuroki Koji with the dark brown hair respectively—that they were going to be a problem. Bullies, or rather, delinquents, if he judged correctly from the barely hidden malice in their eyes.
(Well, Sena thought, that was fast. His standard face of forced cheerfulness fell for a second, a savage scowl and dark look in his eyes replacing it, but the transformation slipped by unnoticed before he once again was the meek-looking boy with frailty practically built into his bones and cells.)
"Yes? How may I help you three?" Sena said casually as though he was just sitting down for a cup tea instead of getting ready to head back home. All three grinned viciously to different degrees—Kuroki more enthusiastic than Juumonji, Togano more blasé, but it was clear to anyone that was around (which meant everyone in the classroom, including the teacher) that all three were itching to cause some trouble. Trouble… for him.
(And wasn't it grand how no one was stopping them? How they were all watching on the sidelines, bystanders that they are, and simply did nothing? Fury started to boil in the pit of Sena's stomach, but he didn't let it boil over yet. There were, after all, bullies to deal with. Spectators, Sena knew from personal experience, could be dealt with whenever and wherever he wanted.)
"We just wanted to know," Juumonji said, and Sena could feel his wrath building at this boy's pretentiousness, "if you could just get a little something for us," amusement plain on his rough features.
(The need to fight simmered in Sena's hands: sweating and festering like a terminal disease.)
"Of course, you only have five minutes to do it, but that's fine, right?" Togano mockingly said, and both he and Kuroki guffawed, as though what he said was some sort of sick, inside joke.
"Don't be late," Kuroki wheezed out, his expectancy literally making Sena wanting to tear the boy a new one (maybe those eyelashes or perhaps those fingernails, Sena thought briefly, nasty thoughts just beneath his smiling façade, and it was so easy to just imagine their ugliness painted on his hands and clothes).
It was not a smile he gave them—more like a tear of the mouth—and so came his ultimatum.
"Certainly," Sena pleasantly uttered, a boy in a secret garden where only he knew the answers to every question, "but I simply do not have any time for you." He started for the door, almost out of the classroom before Juumonji grabbed the sleeve of his school uniform, and everyone held their breath as they waited to see how the train wreck would come out.
They could hear nothing, but the manner in which Sena had shrugged loose was loud enough. Sena's face was detached, his eyes unreadable: a stark contrast to his previous light expression.
(Sena let the action pass—for a moment—but in the deep recesses of his mind, he did not let it go. Because Kobayakawa Sena did not forgive, but more than anything else, he did not forget, and so he would not take anything lying down.)
He placated the three with his next words, his back towards them, "If you find this dissatisfactory, you can find me in the worn down storage room in the back of the school." His face tilted back to them, a faint smile playing on his lips, and exited before anyone could have any say whatsoever.
A NECESSARY EXPLANATION:
The only reason why Sena had decided to meet those three after school was because dealing with bullies was like dealing with a band-aid: if you didn't get rid of it as fast as you can, you never will. The faster he dealt with the problem, the faster the problem will no longer be a problem.
"The American Football Club, huh? You chose a great place for your grave, Sena," Juumonji grinned toothily, more teeth than lips, and laughing sardonically. Sena simply smiled, a serene visage in the mess that was the small storage room.
"Yo, check me out!" Kuroki exclaimed, his body decked out in an American Football uniform, the clothes actually seeming to fit him.
"Ha ha, it suits you well!" Togano agreed. Sena observed the three of them fiddling around with the things in the place, eventually deciding that he might as well act now just so that he could get things over with. Before he could make a move, though, someone else came in the room.
A PLEASANT INTERRUPTION:
The appearance of the bigger teenager was unexpected, but not unwelcome. In fact, Sena was relieved because getting in a fight on his first day of school wasn't really good for his track record.
The teenager in the doorway visibly shook, excitement nearly pouring off of him, and Sena could only look on in curiosity at what was happening right in front of him.
"Could it be… that you guys want to join the club!" The older boy shouted, pointing to the four in the room.
"Huh?"
"Huuuh?"
"Huuuuuuh?"
(Privately, Sena had an urge to say the catchphrase, too, but squished the desire down before he could.)
After seeing the three Huh Huh Brothers being literally thrown out (and filing away what the bigger teenager said about blocking by pushing with the palms of your hands), only Sena and the other teenager was left in the room. The subsequent welcome by the older teen weirded Sena out, as well as the eventual letdown (it concerned him a bit, how depressing someone could get in a minute's notice, but Sena tried to not let it bother him), but it was fun. Especially so when Kurita began talking about the Christmas Bowl.
"It's the ultimate battlefield for war! Someday, we will also stand on that field! Wouldn't you agree? Even though we lost our first battle, we will make it back into the tournament! All of us, together!" Kurita spoke avidly, zeal flowing right out of him like a tsunami. Sena, upon seeing such passion, could only feel enthralled, and somehow, enraptured.
(And a small, lonely bit of him felt hope rise up because this was most likely what he had been waiting for.)
"I'd love to join," Sena stated, the soft earth of his eyes shimmering, an iridescent light shining upon the world. Kurita observed the strangeness of the younger teen's eyes, and upon seeing them, understood that Kobayakawa Sena was worth a lot.
(Kurita offered him a dream. Sena took it, and gave back a soul. A heart full of gold, a soul made of silver. Somehow, it fit.)
Kurita took both of Sena's wrists and swung, his happiness infectious, yelling, "Let's aim towards the Christmas Bowl together!"
Later, once they had exchanged cellphone numbers, Sena headed back home. He was on the bridge above the street and was distracted by the fact that he actually had a phone number besides his home phone when suddenly a punch came towards his face. He swiftly caught the fist, pushed it away, looked up to see the perpetrator, and saw the Huh Huh Brothers.
"We've been waiting for you," Juumonji said stiffly, and Sena could see that all three were ready to fight.
"Oh? Sorry to keep you waiting, then," Sena amiably replied back, as if Juumonji hadn't just tried to smash his face right in.
"But to use a bat… Will it be alright? Isn't a little too much?" The brown-haired delinquent swung the bat in his right hand carelessly, but Sena knew better than to let it out of his sight (he made a mental note to himself to get rid of it the first chance he got).
"Well, it's not the best way, since we already have a record with the police, but if we can find a good reason to use it… Let's just say that the fat kid attacked us with it. That would put an end to that American Football Club." The delinquent with the X-shaped scar said mockingly in a joking, derisive manner. Flashes of what Kurita said appeared in Sena's mind, and it was then in that moment that Sena simply reacted.
He made short work of them, giving them the beatdown of their lives, first breaking the bat in Kuroki's hands, and then just beating all three within an inch of their lives. The expression on Sena's face was cold and said only this:
You don't interest me.
You're not even worth a moment of my time.
You don't even exist in my world.
You… are nothing.
Sena bent down to where their damaged bodies laid, smiling, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes, and merely said, "Shall I break your teeth with my fist?"
They gritted their teeth, knowing that they could do nothing but still wanting to beat up Sena. Sena's smile became wider, nearly splitting his face in two, and lifted his hands up in a manner of appeasement. He stepped back, letting them collect themselves, and they could barely stand (though, with that much hatred in their eyes, that would be a completely different story). His back was once again towards them, the image of it now becoming something unpleasantly familiar. His head once again was turned towards them, smirking, and issued a challenge:
"Catch me if you can," Sena called, a brilliant, blank smile that was as empty as an entire blue sky without a cloud in sight, and jumped on the railing, running on it as though the thing wasn't anything like running on a balance beam at all. He stopped temporarily in the crowded street he ended up in, looked over it for all the pathways in the crowd he could take, knowing that not far behind him, the delinquents were catching up. Just when one of them almost grabbed him, Sena shifted, a burst of speed and movement, and ran.
As he went pass the people through a path that only he could see, he passed by the blond who had somehow weaseled his cell and phone number. Their eyes met, and Sena could see surprise in the older teen's eyes, before Sena once again was on his way to the train he had to catch. Since the blond hadn't stopped him (probably thinking that breeze was just a strange wind and that those brown eyes he saw was a figment of his imagination), Sena felt that he was safe and therefore wouldn't get in trouble (after all, the only conclusion that could be made of one student running away from three others would be that a fight broke out and it wouldn't do Sena any good if something like detention in the first week of school happened).
He dived into the train, the doors just closing after him, and felt exhilarated beyond belief, and laughed aloud at the absurd situation he found himself in, mussed up and deliriously happy.
THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER:
Sena had gotten away with nothing. The blond had seen him all right. He was just waiting for the right moment.
The blond hadn't initially been interested in the maple-haired boy when he saw him in the crowd—at least, not much, even though he knew the kid was one who could snap at a moment's notice. Sure, he was interested in people's lives—you had to be if you wanted to be an expert blackmailer—but even evil, dark intentions needed their downtime. That changed, however, when he saw the younger teen run. He followed the kid, amazed at the kid's skill (the carry, the spinning) and swift legs, and grinned crazily when he watched the shorty dive into the train.
Already calculating all the uses the kid would have, Hiruma cackled diabolically, not unlike how kids who play Crazy Taxi, and like a king who owned the whole world, sat as though he was on a throne on Juumonji's head. He made short work of the three delinquents—an insurance in the case that they got the bright idea to jump the kid at school.
It was good to be Hiruma Yoichi, evil genius extraordinaire—he just had to wait to confront the kid and he had all the time to create an opportunity, make a chance encounter. Hiruma smiled darkly, and all was going to go according plan whether the younger teen knew it or not.