Gokusen 6
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OCs and whatever plotline that didn't come from the manga or drama
Loser94: Thank you for the ideas, and I will try to make my chapters longer:)
Tiryn: I tried to change it up a little bit, hopefully it's better:) and thank you for helping me.
Rynn: I promise I will finish this story, no matter how long it takes me:) I really enjoy writing it and reading your reviews, thanks:)
Shin had waited until Kurosawa had turned the corner before heading down to the riverbank. He ran a different way, which also happened to be a short cut, so that she didn't know he had "followed" her there. As soon as he got there, he saw the fourteen guys carrying chains, pipes and brass knuckles. Shit, that girl got in way too deep. I don't care how good she is, there's no way she can handle them on her own. Shin pulled out his cell to text Kuma and the guys to get down to the river, he knew if he and the boys helped her out, she would at least have a chance. Wait, why am I helping her? She clearly didn't want me here, and she's been nothing but obnoxious and bitchy since she came to our school...even so, I can't just sit back and watch some girl get the crap beaten out of her, no matter how enjoyable that concept may be… As Shin flipped open his phone and turned it on, he got absolutely no reaction. His phone was dead. Shoot! Two against fourteen isn't much better than one.
Shin did some quick thinking and realized that it might be better if he just ran back to the school to get the boys. After all, if he jumped in to help her alone, he wouldn't do that much good. He figured they would both just get beaten up if he tried. At least with his four friends coming, they would even out the odds a little better. He just hoped that she would last long enough for him to go to the school, find his friends, and get back. Then again he didn't have to hurry too much; he smirked as he ran off. Some humility will do her good.
It was about a twenty-five minute walk to get to the riverbank the way Kurosawa went, the short cut cut down the distance to little over a mile and the time to around 20 minutes when walking. With Shin now running, it only took him about 10 minutes to get back to the school. He hadn't run a mile in quite some time, so he was breathing pretty heavily by the time he reached his friends. "What's the rush?" smirked Ucchi as he leaned on a lamp post nearby.
"Come on guys, no time (pant) to explain," Shin took a deep breath, waved for them to follow him, turned around and started running again. Kuma, Minami, Noda, and Ucchi looked at each other in surprise for a moment before quickly following him back to the river. Shin figured that Kurosawa had probably been alone with the gang for about twenty minutes before he and his buddies reached the area. The trip back had taken quite a bit longer because he was tired and Kuma, while strong, had never been fast. He hoped Kurosawa wasn't beaten up too badly…
As soon as the river came back into view he jerked to a stop and his mouth fell open. Where there was once a group of fourteen strong fighters, now lay a group of disheveled and beaten boys of the same number. He didn't see Kurosawa anywhere and he had a sneaking suspicion that the next time he saw her, she would feign ignorance once again. He would have absolutely nothing to pin her there and he couldn't possibly convince any of his friends of his suspicions either. All this went though his mind in a second and he quickly shut his jaw when Kuma asked, "What did you bring us here for?"
"…"
"Helllooo Shiin? What was the big rush?" questioned Ucchi while waving his hand in front of Shin's face.
"…I saw a fight ready to happen and thought you guys would like to watch, but it appears the fight is already over. Sorry guys, you rushed out here for nothing, apparently, " Shin sighed as he ran his hand through his hair and gripped the top of his head in a frustrated gesture. It wasn't the best cover up he could come up with, but he was too tired and frustrated to care at this point. The fighters were slowly coming around and he didn't want to remain there too long for fear of inviting trouble. "Come on guys, let's go."
"ummm… ok?" the four boys looked at Shin in disbelief for a few moments before following him to their favorite hangout. Shin knew his friends thought he was acting strangely, but he just couldn't bring himself to try to explain what he thought had happened to them while they still didn't believe that Kurosawa was even capable of taking on the three from the previous fight. He was pissed off not knowing exactly what happened. He couldn't even be positive himself that it was her, but he was pretty darn sure she had taken at least some part in all of this. Maybe she even had a partner; he honestly couldn't imagine her taking on those men by herself either, but something told him it just might be possible. There was definitely something beneath the ridiculous front she showed everyone else, of that he was positive… sort of.
It was about 8:30 p.m. when Taka got back to their apartment. After the fight, she had limped away to sit down on a bench near a local park. She was too tired and sore to walk back home, so she had finished her homework while putting off the walk for as long as humanly possible. Even so, what normally took about 30 minutes on a bad day, took her an hour to walk today.
"MARI! Yoohoo! You home yet?" Taka yelled as she walked into their small, shoddy apartment about 2 miles from Shirokin Gakuen. Their apartment was in a rundown and poor part of Tokyo. It was a small 17 sq. m., one kitchen one bath apartment with a sleeping area complete with a loft. Mari slept up in the loft and kept a sheet hanging up around it to form a "private" room of sorts. Taka slept underneath of it and did the same to give herself some semblance of privacy. It was extremely small and crowded, especially since two people were sleeping there when it was mainly built for one person. The good thing about it though, was that it only cost 35,000 yen (approx. $450) per month and it was only a few miles from Shirokin Gakuen. It was a short enough distance that both her sister and she could walk to school together in the morning. They usually didn't meet up after school due to the fact that they were both busy with friends, part-time jobs or study groups.
Mari usually worked from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. every week Tues-Fri and from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Taka's work schedule was similar but instead of Mondays off, she would have a break on Fridays instead. She was lucky the boys had called her out on a Friday, or else she would have shown up late for work, and this time she didn't think she'd have been able to cover up the bruises and cuts eminent on her face and arms. She realized perfectly well that her priorities were messed up in that she would place a fight's importance over work, but she rationalized it by telling herself that she was doing this solely to protect Kuma…well mostly anyhow.
"I was in the bathroom," explained the young girl in an overly patient voice. "You didn't have to yell." She came out of the bathroom still drying her hands.
"Sorry, I just-"
"What the hell? You got into a fight again? What are you, a masochist?" Mari yelled as soon as she looked up and saw the bruise and the cut on Taka's left cheek. Mari ran up to her sister and held her face tenderly in her hand trying to examine her injuries, even as her anger made her voice loud and harsh. "You do realize you have to work tomorrow, right? They're going to fire you if you come in with abrasions and lacerations like this! They are not going to be happy if one of their waitresses is scaring off all of the customers." She quickly ran back to the bathroom and got her first aid kit, which she had learned to keep handy at all times.
"But they were going to beat up on a young defenseless boy and-"
"By young and defenseless you mean some stupid punk who was probably just getting what he deserved, right?" Mari was now liberally applying disinfectant to her sister's various cuts as gently as she could. Taka still winced slightly because of the burn, but she was so used to it by now that she hardly reacted at all. "Geez Taka, can't you ever just walk by and ignore crap like that? Why do you always feel the need to get involved? Violence never solves anything it only ever perpetuates more violence, you know that right?"
"Yes Father Mari, I promise to say five Hail Marys and ten Our Fathers to make up for it." Taka looked so solemn and sincere when she said this that Mari couldn't help but laugh.
"Don't think you're going to get out of this that easily. I'm still extremely angry with you," Mari was desperately trying to get herself under control and sound as stern as possible but Taka was looking at her with such round, innocent, and sincere eyes that she could hardly keep a straight face. "Seriously, you can't just go around beating up people; you're abusing your power and your knowledge of the fighting arts. You've been taught numerous times, by I don't know how many teachers, that you should only ever use physical force as a last resort. You seem to be just looking for trouble. I thought you were smarter Taka, weren't you taught better than that?" Mari sighed and started placing the bandages on her sister's injuries. "Besides, we don't have that much extra money to be wasting on medical supplies each month either. Can't you figure out a different way to protect people? One that will actually have long-term effects instead of just preventing a kid from gaining a few bruises?... Take off your shirt so I can see the rest of the damage."
"You know I won't get involved unless I honestly think something dangerous might happen. Those three boys genuinely looked like they were ready to break some bones and leave some permanent damage, so I had to step in." Taka replied as she unbuttoned her uniform shirt and revealed a long dark bruise forming across her stomach from one of the poles, a longer diagonal cut across her back from one of the chains and a few fist shaped bruises in a sporadic display all over the rest of her. Some of the hits had drawn blood, while others would leave their mark for quite some time. A bloody bruise on her arm near her shoulder and other various bruises and scrapes that she couldn't quite remember getting, stood out sharply against her pale skin. Mari hissed in sympathy and tried her best to be gentle as she attended her sister's wounds.
"Only three guys did this much damage? You must be losing your touch," Mari attempted to joke as she carefully wrapped Taka's shoulder.
"Oh, no. I took care of those three relatively easily a couple of days ago right before I headed to work. This fight involved about fourteen if I remember right… or was it eleven? No, I think it was fourteen… I think… Anyway, those three guys wanted to get vengeance or whatever so they brought along friends this time, supposedly trying to redeem themselves I guess… They said they would take it out on Kuma if I didn't go, and I really couldn't stand to have him beaten up for what I did…" Taka trailed off as Mari cut off the gauze and taped it to the last wound. Mari just stared at her. Taka was a very skilled fighter; she had trained in Aikido, Karate, and Judo. She was strong, but her muscles weren't bulky like a body builder's, she was lithe, almost more like a dancer. There was no fat on her body, she was hard as a rock and if the boys she had fought had seen her without the long sleeves of her uniform, they would have been much more hesitant in fighting her. She almost never went outside without long, bulky sleeves because of that. She figured any advantage given to her because of the arrogance and oversight of others was alright by her.
"You got into a fight with fourteen armed guys?" Mari had recognized that Taka's wounds were obviously not the type to come from fighting bare handed. "I can't believe you! And you actually survived?" Mari no longer knew whether to be angry or impressed. Her voice held a mixture of both.
"I was trained by the best you know," Taka was grinning and had a mischievous, yet slightly bitter glint in her eyes.
"I can't believe you. Who do you think you are? Don Quixote?" Mari quipped as she threw a pillow out of sheer frustration at her sister. Taka caught the pillow and grinned at Mari.
"Sure, why not? I have been reading a lot lately, and all that I read oppresses me greatly," Taka started to paraphrase the play's introduction. She lowered her voice to make it as manly as she could. As she talked about oppression, she melodramatically put a hand to her heart and she put a most pained expression upon her face. "It fills me with indignation at man's murderous ways towards man! I have pondered how to make a world full of greed, malice, deceit, and betrayal into a better place. I have been brooding and brooding and brooding, and finally, due to all this brooding, my brains have completely shriveled up!" At this she stood and pulled at her hair to mess it up, giving herself a look almost similar to a mad scientist. Her antics had Mari smiling and her grandiose gesturing had her fresh wounds smarting, but she didn't really care. "I have now lain down the melancholy burden of sanity and taken up the strangest of projects…to become a knight errant!" At these words she grandly threw open her arms as if to embrace the world. "I will sally forth on my brave steed Rozinante," she grabbed a broom and placed it between her legs "With my sword, or butter knife as the case may be, I shall go adventuring to right all wrongs, to protect the weak, and to mount a crusade against evil!"
Mari was now giggling uncontrollably as Taka started to sing,
"Hear me now, Oh, thou bleak and unbearable world
Thou art base and debauched as can be
And the knight with his banners all bravely unfurled
Now hurls down his gauntlet to thee"
As Taka drew out "thee" she hurled down her pillow at Mari as if it was the very gauntlet of the song. She held out her hand to Mari and pulled her up off of the floor. Mari got behind Taka on her "steed" and they start dancing and singing together.
"I am I, Don Quixote
The Lord of La Mancha
My destiny calls and I go
And the wild winds of fortune
Will carry me onward
Whithersoever they blow
Whithersoever they blow
Onward to glory I go"
They both fell on the floor laughing and giggling so hard they almost cried. "God Taka, why are you so crazy?"
"I'm Don Quixote, remember?" Taka smiled and rolled away from her sister so she could better communicate with her.
"Shouldn't you be Doña Quixote?" Mari could never stay too angry at Taka for long. She would be worried sick about her, especially if she was out late. She also got really frustrated when Taka would go off and do idiotic things, like fighting 14 boys on her own, but Mari and Taka were just as much best friends as they were sisters.
"Nah, I'm actually a cross-dresser, didn't I tell you that?"
"If you are, I'm going to have to kick you out. Sorry Sir Taka, but you have to go."
"You mean you don't love me anymore?" Taka's eyes went round and she put another pained expression on her face.
"Idiot! Shut up, will ya?" Mari laughed and got up to go get ice for the bruise on Taka's face. "I just hope we can fix your hair to hide that nasty bruise tomorrow. You better pray your boss doesn't see it."
"If he does, I'll just tell him my sob story about how I have an overly abusive sister at home." Taka got up and helped her sister to set the table for dinner. Mari stuck her tongue out at her sister as she handed her the plates and the silverware. It reminded Taka so much of when they were younger, she couldn't help but laugh.
Before their mother had died, these moments were a normal fact of life, but now, the times when Taka and Mari could cut loose and just have fun, were rare.
A/N: I will explain this last sentence in the next chapter, which I hope to update rather quickly, or as quickly as possible with an unpredictable schedule. I had planned to fully explain everything in this chapter, but it got too long to be smooshed into this one. So sorry about the wait, I had a lot of things go wrong with my computer lately …Ah well, please review and help me improve:) thanks.