A Rainy Offer
The rainy season continued and every day after school he'd either have to share and umbrella with Yuta or Akemi as he always forgot to bring his own. He could careless though since now the Fireblade sat parked in his garage instead of the Sato's.
It was all thanks to Ryosuke who managed to convince their father of the benefits that the bike would bring Keisuke, benefits he hadn't really listened to, and instead he'd just nod at the right moments letting Ryosuke do the talking. As usual it worked and his father let him have the Fireblade at home.
Just the thought caused him to smile, beside him Akemi chatted with Yuta about their plans for the weekend.
"Say Keisuke what are you doing on the weekend?" she asked, he shrugged suddenly hearing a pair of footsteps behind them. Normally this wouldn't have bothered him, since this was a big city after all but something wasn't right. This was the fourth time this week he had heard the same voices walking behind them and they would usually stop when he turned around glaring at the two men following them.
This time he turned, both of them wore dark hoodies covering their heads and their hands were stuck in their pockets.
"We're being followed" he whispered causing Akemi and Yuta to stay quiet for a moment. "Don't look back" he instructed as Akemi was about to turn around.
"What do we do?" asked Yuta as they followed Keisuke into a small street filled with shady cafes. Keisuke took a glance back only to see the two boys follow them onto the street.
"We spilt up" he said casually as they came up to the next corner. Akemi frowned but didn't speak as Yuta nodded in agreement.
"You two take the right I'll keep going straight" he said, the rain began to subside.
"You'll be okay, right?" she asked, Yuta took her hand pulling her towards him. Keisuke nodded as they spilt up. He noticed one of the men took to the right whilst the other followed him.
Why the hell did they spilt up? He clenched his teeth quicken his pace, there was an alley up ahead, he'd lure the guy in there and figure out what the hell was going on, he just hoped Yuta and Akemi could handle themselves.
He turned into the alley and heard the footsteps behind him stop.
"Thought this was smart Takahashi?" he asked lowering down his hood, the man was a head taller and pulled out his bandaged hands out of his pocket, he had spiky dark hair and facial hair similar to Kyo's. "Shouldn't have messed with Sakamoto and his girl."
Keisuke dropped his bag. "You've been following me because of that, it was ages ago!"
"He isn't one to forgive" said the man walking closer cracking his knuckles, Keisuke took a step forward.
He was the first to strike but Keisuke dodged and struck back landing his fist against the guy's jaw, though he barely moved and instead smiled removing the blood from the side of his mouth. "Nice right hook kid, but that isn't going to be enough."
The man struck fast punching the blond boy in the face, but Keisuke didn't back down head-butting the man in the nose. He took a couple of steps back; Keisuke punched him in the stomach and again in the face.
The man stood up punching Keisuke again in the face, it was then the rain started up again. It was like bullets falling form the sky and blow after blow, soon water below them was red. At one point the man pushed Keisuke against a wall lifting him a few inches off the ground.
"Say you're sorry and I might consider letting you go" he whispered with a crooked smile, the side of his mouth dripping with blood.
In response Keisuke spit at his face causing the man to punch him in the stomach. "You got balls kid" he said as Keisuke slid down the wall holding his side. "If I hadn't been paid to do this I might actually like you."
"Screw you" said the blond looking up at the man. The man looked down at him with a smirk.
"Stay down this time." With that the man turned around, he stood up calling out to the guy who kept walking. "This was a warning, kid" called out the man turning out of the alleyway. For the first time in a while Keisuke admitted he had his ass handed to him.
He held his side and limped over to his bag which he picked up. If he had this much trouble how did Yuta and Akemi fair. Keisuke stood up straight despite the pain at his side and walked back to the corner he had left the two, luckily it wasn't too far, just at the end of the street. The rain began to make it difficult to see but if he wasn't mistaken he saw a bright pink dot in the distance and a black one, they both came towards him.
Her mouth hung open upon taking in his appearance, though it was Yuta to speak first. "Man, he really did a number on you!"
Keisuke examined his friends; Akemi was free of any injury while Yuta just had a broken lip. He nodded in response to Yuta's words. Yuta held an umbrella above him stopping the cold rain from falling onto his body.
"Let's go to my house, Dad's out on a business trip" said Akemi her hand wiping the blood above Keisuke's eyebrow. "Hopefully you won't need stiches."
"She's right" said Yuta as they walked back the way they came. "What did those guys want?" asked Yuta looking at Keisuke curiously.
"Sakamoto, he paid them" said Keisuke plainly, Akemi flushed.
"I'm so sorry, I'll make it up to you!" she said taking his hand, Keisuke pulled away.
"It's not your fault" he said looking away "I threatened him and he's too much of a coward to come and face me."
"He's right Akemi, it wasn't your fault" said Yuta rubbing her back as he held the umbrella above him and Keisuke's heads.
He sat on the large four poster bed alongside a shirtless Yuta who was drying his hair with a towel. Keisuke too sat half-naked on Akemi's bed drying his blond hair, across the room she was still in her wet school uniform looking through her drawers. Keisuke looked down at his towel he noticed blood stains on it.
"Here are some pants and a shirts" she said walking towards them, Yuta took a red shirt and blue pants leaving Keisuke to a black shirt and a pair of khakis.
"Aren't you going to dry yourself off?" asked Yuta slipping on the red shirt, she grabbed a towel from her closet and nodded.
"I'll be in the bathroom, you two just change and make yourselves at home" she said throwing a quick glance at Keisuke who was slipping on his shirt. "Make sure goldilocks here doesn't disappear; I'll get the first aid kit."
He glared at her as she shut the bathroom door. Yuta chuckled as Keisuke threw his towel around his shoulders.
"You got a cigarette?" asked Keisuke, Yuta shook his head.
"You need to buy some Keisuke, say doesn't your face hurt, it looks pretty banged up?"
The bond shook his head slipping the khakis on, Yuta too slipped into the pants Akemi had given him. "This is a bit tight" he complained, at that moment Akemi walked out of the bathroom in a pair of shorts and a sports bra, she held a plastic box in her hands her wet hair hanging around her face.
"Thank you for watching him Yuta, now both of you stay still." With that she began to look through her plastic box looking for the rubbing alcohol, she then sent Yuta downstairs for some ice.
He quickly stood up walking out of the door whilst Akemi shouted the directions to the kitchen. Keisuke looked down at her with mild interest, as she grabbed a cotton ball full of rubbing alcohol. "What never seen a bra?" she asked causing him to quickly look away "hold still!" she shouted as he flinched when she pressed the cotton ball to his eyebrow.
"Dammit!" he shouted as she pressed the cotton ball against him. She stopped throwing the cotton ball away picking up another one and pressing it against his cheek. He flinched once more but kept quiet and instead glared at Akemi.
"Glare all you want, I'm trying to make you look decent" she said frustrated with him. She turned towards the door where Yuta stood with the ice in a small plastic bag. He had a piece of ice pressed against his lip.
Akemi sighed. "You know, I'm still going to make it up to both of you."
"There's no need" said Yuta taking a seat next to a disgruntled Keisuke took the ice bag and pressed it against the black blue at the side of his face. Akemi sighed and squeezed in next to Keisuke, she put her hand on his lap and patted him.
"Thanks, er… not just anyone would have done that" she whispered, he looked down at her and nodded.
"I'm starving, do you have any food around here?" exclaimed Yuta, Akemi quickly stood up smiling.
"I'll cook and we can watch movies! This'll be fun, just give me your clothes first and I'll throw them in the dryer!"
Keisuke watched as she picked up the clothes, once she left Yuta stood up nudging Keisuke who flinched.
"Sorry, let's go downstairs." With that the blond stood up and followed Yuta out of the room.
They spent the rest of the day together, and for the first time in a while Keisuke felt at ease as he sipped onto his tea and watched Akemi and Yuta discuss cars once more. As they went into the specifications of a certain car, his mind drifted away to his Fireblade, and the adrenaline he felt when he drove the damn thing up the mountain.
"It's getting late, Kyo's gotta be worried" said Yuta finishing his tea. "Can I borrow your house phone?"
Akemi nodded pointing him in the direction of the house phone, Yuta stood up leaving Akemi and Keisuke, she sighed.
"You look like shit" she said to him breaking the silence, he looked away in the direction that Yuta had walked towards.
"I know what the hell do you want me to do about it?" he asked turning towards her, she put a finger on her chin suddenly looking thoughtful.
"I could put some make-up on those black and blues" she said, he gave her a horrified look as she went on "I mean your parents are going to kill you once they see you."
Keisuke frowned; he hadn't thought of that one, how was he going to explain his face to his parents, even better yet to his brother.
Suddenly make-up didn't seem like such a bad idea. Akemi who had already slipped into a t-shirt stood up at the sound of the doorbell, Keisuke watched as she walked away leaving him by himself in the dining room, he tapped his fingers impatiently against the table after a few minutes Yuta walked into the room mouthing something Keisuke couldn't understand.
"It's your brother!" Yuta finally whispered, Keisuke stood up surprised he walked over to the entrance of the house and effectively Akemi stood in the middle of the hallway talking to Ryosuke.
Yuta pulled Keisuke behind a wall as they heard snippets of the conversation.
"He's here..I'm just not sure you want to see him" said Akemi nervously, they heard footsteps come towards them.
"Why wouldn't I want to see Keisuke?"
"Well…you see it's my fault… " Keisuke frowned, he had already said it wasn't her fault. "You see Sakamoto…scratch that…some guys followed us-"
"Where's Keisuke?" asked Ryosuke in a firm tone of voice. Yuta watched as Keisuke came out from behind the wall into the hallway.
"Hey aniki" he said his hands in his pocket, his brother's eyes widened slightly as Akemi stood between them awkwardly.
"Keisuke-"
"I'm fine" said Keisuke as his brother walked past Akemi towards him. She watched as Ryosuke examined Keisuke's face from different angles.
"I thought I told you to stay away from Sakamoto" he said the anger in his voice only noticed by Keisuke who frowned.
"I did, that asshole sent some guys to follow us, what the hell was I supposed to do?!" shouted Keisuke irritated at his brother's attitude.
"You're coming home" said the older brother in a final tone. Akemi didn't dare speak instead she watched as the older Takahashi walked past her, before he left he bowed.
"Thank you for taking care of Keisuke, I hope he wasn't too much of a bother."
Akemi turned a light shade of pink and simply nodded as Keisuke walked past her following his brother.
"See ya" he muttered, Akemi watched as the blond shut the house door behind him.
He walked out into the cool night, above him the stars were shining brightly; it'd be a good night to ride his motorcycle.
"Keisuke" said his brother as he opened the door of his white car, the blond followed his brother into the car reluctantly, now that he thought of it this was the first time he sat in his brother's car.
He sat inside and noticed the car had similar seats to Kyo's R32, from what he had heard they were called buckets seats. Weren't those made for racing?
A few seconds past by before Ryosuke turned on the engine of the white FC. As it came to life he watched his brother pull down the emergency brake, turn on the headlights and shift the car into first gear.
"Sounds different from Kyo's car" he thought putting his head back against the seat and closed his eyes.
The drive was smooth and in less than five minutes the brothers were home, as quickly as he could Keisuke jumped out of the car only to stop when his brother said his name.
"Be careful" whispered Ryosuke genuine worry lacing his voice, Keisuke nodded before walking into the house getting a first look in the mirror.
Half of his face was slightly swollen, the top of his eyebrow covered with a makeshift bandage he frowned at the mirror.
He did look like shit.
He took a drag of his cigarette, next to him Yuta did the same as they sat in the Sato's garage; it was Friday night or rather Saturday morning. He casually blew out the smoke as Yuta turned to him.
"Heard you beat the shit out of Sakamoto today" he said nonchalantly, Keisuke looked at him holding the cigarette between his fingers.
"You're going to tell me you didn't expect it" said Keisuke before taking another drag, Yuta shrugged.
"You don't think he's going to want revenge?" asked Yuta, Keisuke shrugged as he stood up from the floor.
"No this time it's done" he said failing to mention how he broke the boy's nose on the school terrace. "Where were you today?" asked Keisuke, Yuta stretched the cigarette dangling from his lips.
"Home, didn't feel like going, did Akemi see you do fight Sakamoto?"
Keisuke blew out some smoke and nodded. "Yeah, she practically pulled me out of the school after it happened."
Yuta nodded turning off his cigarette "sounds like her, she just doesn't want you expelled" said Yuta standing up from the floor and following Keisuke out to the garage door. "I don't want you expelled either, who the hell else is supposed to give me cigarettes?"
Keisuke chuckled as did Yuta they stared up at the clear night sky. "It's late" said Keisuke turning back to the Fireblade. "I'm going for a ride" he whispered to Yuta who nodded.
"You have your cell phone?" asked Yuta , Keisuke nodded pulling it out of his pocket to show it to Yuta who sighed.
"Just be careful" called out Yuta as Keisuke pulled the bike out of the garage and turned it on, it's engine roaring to life.
Keisuke placed the helmet on his head before waving good-bye to Yuta. Then he was off like a yellow bullet across the dark night. Yuta watched him disappear in the distance before walking inside.
Keisuke could feel the wind against his fists as he went faster his heart threatening to jump out of his chest; he smiled at the familiar feeling as he took Mt. Akagi's uphill.
He knew the mountain pass in and out, like the palm of his hand. He took the familiar corners at lightning speed, Keisuke manipulated the bike as if it were an extension of his own arms and legs. He was half-way up the mountain when suddenly the bike began to sputter and slow down, he frowned and stopped turning off the bike leaving him in the darkness.
Keisuke pulled out his cellphone, Yuta should know what was wrong with the bike. "No service!" he shouted looking down at his cell phone he leaned against the railing, his best bet would be to walk down the mountain with the bike.
"Dammit" he thought kicking the bike's front tire "out of all days you had to give out on me today!"
Frustrated he pulled his box of cigarettes, pulling one out he lit it. The cool taste was enough to begin to subdue his anger.
In the distance he could hear a loud noise, like the sound of various engines put together, he looked onto the side of the railing down the mountains there were lights a group of them headed his way.
Leaning against the railing he waited, a few minutes past before the lights caught up to where he was he noticed it was one car and various motorcycles surrounding it. All of them dressed in a smiliar fashion, the car flew past them but a couple of the bikes stayed behind where Keisuke was. One was exactly like his but black and red. He watched the men park next to him each of them turning of their engines, he turned off his cigarette and straighten up.
They all pulled of their helmets one of them was the man with the dark eyes and hair. "Well we meet again kid" he said walking up to Keisuke who was too shocked to speak. "This beauty belongs to you" he asked, the blond nodded.
The other guys stood quiet as if waiting for instructions from the older man in front of Keisuke. "Name's Yamada Isamu" he said extending his hand to Keisuke who shook it reluctantly.
"Takahashi Keisuke" he said between his gritted teeth, the man laughed.
"You got spunk, I like you already Takahashi, let's take a look at that bike of yours" said Yamada kneeling down next to the bike, he asked Keisuke to turn it on which he did.
"Ok turn it off" said Yamada with a smile, Keisuke raised an eyebrow. "You just need gas."
Keisuke flushed, he couldn't believe that was the reason his bike had just died on him. Noticing his reaction Yamada laughed.
"It's alright, Fuji go get some gas" he said to a blond young man whose hair was pulled back into a ponytail nodded turning on his bike.
"Why are you helping me?" asked Keisuke his brow furrowed Yamada stood up looking at him.
"Like I said kid, I like you" he said with a crooked smile "you got balls, and I like that. No one's ever faced me the way you did, most people just cower away."
Keisuke smirked as Yamada pulled out a box of cigarettes; the other offered him lighters and took only one.
"You're the leader then" stated Keisuke as Yamada blow out some smoke nodding.
"You're a quick kid, but I'm more of an older brother than a leader" he said the cigarette dangling from his lips. "You know I could use someone like you" he added, Keisuke watched him pull out a pen from his pocket and a small piece of paper. "If you ever need anything kiddo, just let me know."
Keisuke nodded as he took the small piece of paper and stuffed it into his pocket not knowing that from that day forward everything would change.
Hey readers, here's chapter ten, how did you like it? What do you guys think awaits Keisuke now that he's met Yamada Isamu? Remember to leave any little opinions in the box below.