Ratings: PG13
Warnings: Violence, Swearing
Genre: Angst, Romance, High School, Drama, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters in this story, living (or passed) human beings or fictional characters. These events never happened, according to history or as the original author intended them. This is a work of fiction and is not intended to offend. For entertainment purposes only. Thanks.

Also, the original characters developed in this story are that of the author's creation. They are not to be copied without written permission.

Chapter 10 - The Beast In Me:

Wednesday, October 19th - Late Morning (11:30 am)

It was late morning when the doorbell at the Kise family residence rang out loudly throughout the house. Ryota's sister Rina had left to go to the agency to speak with her manager about a long-term contract offered to her for a herbal skincare company shortly after her younger brother and his friends left, leaving Ryota and Rina's mother, Satomi, at home alone. She had been busy with housework, cleaning up the kitchen and preparing a late lunch for herself and Rina to enjoy when she returned home, when the doorbell tore her from her thoughts. Drying her hands on her apron, Satomi headed down the hallway and into the front entrance, before opening the front door wide.

"Oh, Kasamatsu," She greeted the young man, recognizing him immediately. "What a surprise to see you here. You're a long way from Kanagawa, aren't you?"

"I apologize to just drop in so suddenly, Kise-san." Kasamatsu replied and bowed respectfully. He didn't appear to want to come inside. "I had no other choice but to come by because I haven't seen or heard from Ryota in a few days. I was wondering if he got sick perhaps? I tried to go by his dormitory, but I was informed by the dormitory security that he was going to Tokyo for a few days. Something of an emergency?"

Satomi laughed behind her hand. "No, no. Ryota is fine." She replied, "He's out with his friends from middle school. Apparently they had a bit of a misunderstanding, so it is something he had to come out and patch up."

"Oh." Kasamatsu's eyes widened and he nodded. "I see. His phone has been busy all morning so I couldn't get through and he hasn't texted me back, so I was worried about him since he wasn't attending any team practices. I thought I would catch him going to class yesterday, but he never showed up for class even. So I took the train over."

"That's odd." Satomi replied, then gave him an amused look. She didn't seem at all bothered by the fact that her son was ditching school. "He told me he was walking the Murasakibara brothers to the train station, and that he would come back home immediately afterwards to get his stuff and head back to school. Perhaps he's delayed at the train station? Or perhaps he went with them to Akita again? That boy of mine." She shook her head, almost laughing.

"Akita?"

"Boys will be boys." Satomi smiled at Kasamatsu. "I'm sure whatever is the trouble between all of them, they will figure it out eventually."

"Yes, I hope so as well." Kasamatsu replied, the desperation in his voice becoming obvious. "Would you be able to tell him-"

"I'm sure he'll answer you if you keep trying." She told Kasamatsu. "If not, I'll let him know you were looking for him the next time I see him." She tilted her head to the side and smiled, as if none of this were a serious matter at all. Clearly she didn't want to invite him inside to wait for her son, seeing as she herself had no idea what it was Ryota was up to, and she had no other suggestions for Kasamatsu on contacting Ryota.

Kasamatsu realized that he wouldn't get any more information or help from her, so he nodded and bowed once more. He decided that if he was going to find his missing forward, he would just have to take her word for his last known whereabouts and track him down himself. "Thank you, Kise-san." he replied, then bowed once more. "I'll take my leave then. Good day."

Fuji had managed to catch up to Atsushi and step in his path, stopping him in his tracks. He freed Kise's arm from Atsushi's grasp, informing Atsushi that he would hurt the smaller man if he wasn't careful, and put a hand on his younger brother's shoulder to hold him in place.

"We can't run from the train to the airport, Atsushi." he calmly told him, trying to keep him rational. "But we can take the bus if you can control yourself. It will be faster."

Atsushi nodded, understanding Fuji was only trying to help him. Keeping tight hold on his skateboard in his left hand, he pushed his right hand deep into his pocket and followed Kise, who led them to the bus stop. Fuji stayed back to protect his younger brother from Himuro, who despite being obviously unwanted by their small group, followed them like a stray dog.

The wait for the bus was excruciating, but it was also shorter than it felt. The bus ride in comparison felt much longer. It was only after the first sight of the airport appeared that Atsushi felt a lot better. It was the last place Akashi had reportedly been, and he was eager to see if he could find him nearby.

"If he's with Haizaki waiting for Nijimura-sempai, then he'd most likely be at the international arrivals terminal." Kise reasoned, "So we'd need to head there right away."

Himuro attempted to take Atsushi's hand as they rode the bus, but Fuji was quick to push his hands away from his brother each time the beautiful boy would reach out for him. It was obvious that Himuro knew that if Atsushi didn't want to go back with him willingly, he could continue to make any attempt to provoke Atsushi into becoming aggressive, forcing the violet-haired young man to get into trouble again. If provoked, Atsushi would no doubt be escorted back to Akita in the back of a police car – again. Aware of this, Fuji stayed between them and tried his hardest to ensure that little to no taunting from Himuro would reach his younger brother.

Kise also seemed aware of this, since he met eyes with Fuji and constantly tried to dominate Atsushi's attention the entire bus ride. He spoke in low voices with him, distracting him by looking up the best path to the international arrivals terminal online.

The bus emptied out at the airport, making it hard for their group to stay together and head to the airport as fast as they could. After struggling to get around bus patrons that were slow moving or concerned with their phones, they all began to rush towards the airport, running until the security guards were too close and would deem them too suspicious to enter.

They spent a moment reading the signs high above them, before following the arrows and finding their way to the international arrivals terminal. Atsushi stretched up on his tip toes, trying to become as tall as his eldest brother to see over the heads over everyone around them, which Kise laughed at - both the Murasakibara's were tall enough to see over everyone without standing up any taller. Still, it was a sweet gesture since it displayed his desperation to find Akashi. To Atsushi's disappointment there was no vivid crimson hair to be seen.

"There, he's there!" Fuji exclaimed suddenly, pointing towards the exit on the opposite side of the terminal.

Just visible to the two tall Murasakibaras, Akashi's bright red hair was visible, walking in between Haizaki Shogo and Nijimura Shuzo. The dark haired man appeared to be on the phone and they all appeared to be deep in conversation, leaving the airport and heading towards the exit that would take them away from the bus loop. Atsushi growled and began to head after them, leading the way for his own group to approach Akashi's.

"Aka-chin!" He called out when he was close enough. "Aka-chin, wait!"

Akashi and the other two men halted, turning to face Atsushi. They all seemed surprised to see the large group of boys that were at the airport as well. Upon recognizing his old teammates, Nijimura's face broke out into a grin.

Aware of Atsushi's larger build and recently aggressive behaviour, Haizaki pushed Akashi behind himself. Since the larger man was calling him out, he immediately feared for Akashi's safety, recalling the way the larger, older men his brother had pissed off called out to him in a similar fashion last week. He licked his thumb and surveyed the group with his eyes; Ryota was with them, which surprised him, and he wasn't entirely sure what this all was about. He realized that Ryota must have let them know where they were since his phone call to Haizaki, piecing together that Ryota and the Mursasakibara's were looking for Akashi for a while now.

Akashi didn't protest when Haizaki shielded him, not entirely sure what was going on. It bothered him; he wasn't used to being so openly challenged by those that knew him, let alone so suddenly. He peeked out from behind Haizaki to observe the newcomers, confused and apprehensive when he noted that one of the men – the biggest one – was not Atsushi. He didn't want Haizaki hurt in the crossfire of their conversation, so he reached out to tug at his arm, pulling lightly at the cuff of the silver-haired man's sleeve.

Nijimura touched his phone and the sudden heavy beats and quick English words stopped. He was distracted by his phone, attempting to turn off the distracting music, so he didn't notice the young man that approached him.

"You! What are you doing here?" Himuro stepped forwards, pointing out Shuzo, side by side with Haizaki.

Bothered by the sudden confrontation, Nijimura stepped forwards and shielded Haizaki behind himself, making their small group a single file line and raising suspicion about their small gathering.

"Himuro," Nijimura greeted him, his voice an even tone and meant to be polite. He seemed more bothered by Himuro's presence than that of the other three young men. "It's good to see you again as well."

"Aka-chin." Atsushi made to step forwards, going around Himuro and Nijimura and attempting to speak directly to the redhead.

Unsure of why he didn't trust Atsushi in the moment, Haizaki grabbed Akashi's hand and stepped back, pushing the smaller man back with him and keeping a defensive stance towards Atsushi. "Hold up," he stated, holding his free hand up, his palm facing outwards. He recalled Kise's words of warning, that Atsushi had become quite violent recently, and he didn't want the smaller man to be made a target by some abstract comment that might be said.

Haizaki's actions triggered the memory of a conversation Atsushi had just shared with Kise in their hotel room in Kyoto:

'It's why he likes you. You're dangerous. Just like Haizaki. It's the same profile: dangerous, rowdy, the kind of guy not afraid to throw a few punches. The kind of guy that Aka-chin likes.'

The memory turned Atsushi's vision red. His hands began to shake and he wanted nothing more than to tear Haizaki away from Akashi, even if that meant tearing him away limb by limb. He growled lowly, a threatening sound, and bladed his stance so he was ready to lunge at him. He hadn't come all this way, hadn't fought all these people, just to be find out Akashi had moved on with lesser-than-miracle, delinquent Haizaki Shogo. No. It wasn't fair. He wouldn't let it happen. His mind shut down, his breathing increased, and he pulled his arm back, his hand formed in a tight fist. He wasn't aware that he had taken aim, wasn't even aware that he had lunged forwards; all he was aware of was the fact that Haizaki stood between him and Akashi, and he had to correct that.

He could see Haizaki's wide eyes, his mouth hanging open in shock, and his left arm – his free arm – raised to defend his face. But Atsushi was stopped in motion for a fraction of a second, long enough for everyone to hold their breaths, and then his arm was pushed upwards so he couldn't cause harm to anyone.

Standing in front of Haizaki, his lips pressed in a hard frown, was Nijimura. His feet were wider than hips distance apart, his legs bent at the knee. He was shorter than usual because he had bent his legs, but his torso was straight and his arm felt like iron as he quickly raised it up above his head and then outwards to his left in a deflective block. He didn't appear to breath any differently the entire time, but he was calm and focused, his eyes dark and dull, indicating he was moving by memory. He breathed evenly for a moment, intently watching Atsushi for any signs of retaliation.

Fuji seized the moment and sprang forwards, coming to wrap both his powerful arms around his younger brother from behind and held him in his iron grip, despite the smaller man's struggle. "Don't be stupid. There are officers everywhere." He whispered harshly into Atsushi's ear, knowing the message would work faster than him attempting to reasonably calm him down.

Atsushi hesitated, the reminder of where they were and how they acted stopping him in his tracks. He was breathing heavily but stopped struggling to break free, his hands instead grabbing and holding tightly onto his eldest brother's arm, as if he acknowledged the help given to him, as if he surrendered to it, needed it. He nodded, indicating he had heard him, that he was trying to restrain himself. Fuji listened, keeping his arms around his younger brother, he didn't ease up.

"I expected all of you to grow up in my absence, but I did not expect to return to you all behaving like this." Nijimura scolded them, stepping out of his fight stance and frowning at each face in the crowd. "What the hell happened to you all while I was away, huh? You're acting like a bunch of animals!"

Kise stepped forwards, feeling responsible to speak on behalf of all of them. He was also the one person here that Nijimura hadn't known for very long, so he hoped by being a reasonable person and explaining everything to him that Nijimura wouldn't consider him a bad influence.

"It's a big misunderstanding, Nijimura-sempai. Honestly-"

Nijimura held up a hand and sighed softly. "I appreciate you trying to explain this all to me, Kise; it is Kise, isn't it?" He smiled at the blonde, watching him nod once. "But this is not the place for this conversation." he continued, "Let's go. We need to be somewhere we won't attract an armed audience." he nodded towards the security guards, then turned and began to lead them all out of the airport.

Silently, the group of young men followed Nijimura down the street in pairs: Akashi and Haizaki, Atsushi and Fuji, Kise and Himuro. They stopped at a local bus stop, got on, and rode deeper into the heart of Tokyo in silence. Fuji didn't release his grip on Atsushi's arm, Akashi and Haizaki were still holding hands, and Kise was keeping a wary eye on Himuro, attempting to keep him from getting too close to any of the other boys for too long. Nijimura was gazing at each of them in turn, observing their grown bodies and trying to understand their new attitudes. When the bus finally stopped at a familiar station, the boys all got off and Nijimura led them towards what was a familiar sight to all of them. It was a large park, not that far from Teiko Middle School, where they would usually run to during weekend practices. There was a large tree that grew inside a large concrete square, and they used to use the large limbs that extended outwards to hold their jackets, towels, and bags as they stretch in the field and caught their breath from their run.

"Alright." Nijimura motioned to all of them, "Spread out, get some space. I don't want any fighting. You, Kise, tell me what happened." He leaned against the bricks that formed the short wall around the tree and sighed, his arms remaining at his sides and ready to defuse any physical conflict that might come up again.

"As I said, Nijimura-sempai, it was all a big misunderstanding. Murasakicchi saw Akashicchi last week in Akita, but they had a miscommunication of sorts. Akashicchi left the district before they could talk it out so Murasakicchi and me came to Tokyo to meet up and then go find Akashicchi in Kyoto. But when we arrived Akashicchi wasn't there, so we returned to find-" Kise turned to face Fuji, unsure of how to address him since they were neither close or well acquainted enough for Kise to decide to bestow his respected title to. "Murasakibara-sempai-Fuji-san waiting for us." he decided to go with, attempting to be as clear as possible with his titles. Since there was two Murasakibara's, it was harder for him to keep track of them, so he added the man's first name and gave him a sympathetic look, hoping the elder wouldn't disapprove of him using it.

"And then Haizaki called me last night, asking if I had Aominecchi phone number, so I called Aominecchi this morning and he told me that you were returning. When I called Haizaki shortly afterwards, he said he was meeting Akashicchi to go to the airport, so I knew it was to meet you. Since we were looking for Akashicchi, we headed there too, but Himuro met us halfway and he followed us, trying to talk Murasakicchi out of pursuing Akashicchi."

Kise was out of breath as he finished, having spoken very quickly in hopes to resolve any miscommunication before anyone could become angry enough to start throwing punches again.

Nijimura nodded and looked around at everyone. "That's a fair summary, you all agree?" He asked.

"No." Himuro scowled, "The blonde left out the small fact that Murasakibara is my boyfriend and we argued because he was trying to hook up with Akashi in Akita."

Atsushi growled threateningly, his hands forming fists at his sides. "If you keep insisting that utter bullshit, Himuro-" He began, taking a step towards the black haired man.

Fuji wrapped his arms around his younger brother from behind, holding him back from becoming aggressive again. He struggled as Atsushi fought to shake him off. Himuro's words worsened the situation for him in clearing things up with Akashi and became a major trigger for the younger Murasakibara.

Akashi had been listening intently to every words that was being said. His eyes were narrowed as he scrutinized every fact presented to him, and he found his chest feeling an odd, foreign warmth. If Atsushi had really travelled all the way from Akita to Kyoto to see him, meaning he abandoned his family, school, and team just to talk to him about what happened, then he really prioritized him. And if he were to do that, if would fight that hard to simply talk to him, maybe he really was happy with him? Maybe, and Akashi felt a wave of excitement run through him at the thought, maybe Atsushi had been happy with their relationship this entire time, and was willing to change and adapt some of the things that Akashi himself had wanted? Maybe that was the reason he had developed this newer, disobedient attitude? He wasn't sure if it was the case, but it certainly was an entertaining thought. And he had to admit to himself that the fact that Atsushi had followed him all over the country was admirable and flattering in itself.

"What a fucking clusterfuck." Nijimura chuckled. "I return and shit hits the fan, eh? Well, what can I expect when I return when you all hit puberty." He snickered, then rolled his eyes at his own joke.

"Maybe that means you shouldn't have come." Himuro stated, his voice twisting with his sneer.

"Shut your face. From the collection around you, you seem to be the one not wanted here." Nijimura shot back at Himuro. He straightened up, standing up and stepping away from the tree.

"You always were one for popularity, Nijimura. Just like how you wanted to date me when we first met because you wanted in on the American basketball scene. To think I fell for your constant compliments about my beauty." Himuro rolled his own bright eyes and glared at Nijimura.

"So I made a pass at you in America? Big deal, Himuro. I didn't know you were such a bitch when I did."

"Excuse me?!" Haizaki stepped forwards, his chest rising and falling heavily as his breathing increased. His eyes were narrowed and his lips were twisted in an open mouthed expression of disbelief, but his right hand was still in Akashi's. "What about me?! Did you plan to tell me you moved on or did you just need a connection everywhere?!"

The Miracles and Fuji looked at each other, their eyes all wide with disbelief, the sinking feeling of their stomachs all dropping to the ground a mutual one. None of them were aware that Haizaki and Nijimura had dated at any given point in their time at Teiko, let alone having been dating for so long. Akashi and Kise were suddenly aware of the reason why Haizaki had been so interested in Nijimura's return. It was also probably why despite the fact that Nijimura would brutally beat up Haizaki at times, the younger man would still smile and break all the rules; the hitting and bruises were a fetish to the two young men.

Nijimura took a step forwards, meaning to close the distance between himself and Haizaki. "It's not like that, Shogo." he began, his voice falling to a quiet murmur.

"Then what's it like?" The silver-haired young man could barely speak. It was clear he was having difficulty taking in all this new information. "That's why you didn't tell me you were coming home." He moaned, "That's why I had to find out from my brother's friends. My god, Shuzo." He wiped his face with his left hand and looked away. "You're a fucking bastard."

Haizaki turned and began to walk away, not wanting to cry in front of his peers.

"Shogo, wait!" Nijimura called, reaching out to grab his right wrist. "Shogo!"

Haizaki pulled his arm away, feeling his skin burn where Nijimura had tried to tighten his hold as the younger man twisted his arm to break free. This time it was Akashi that rushed to Haizaki's defence, stepping between him and their former captain. He didn't say anything to Nijimura, only gave him a look of disgust, before he turned his attention to Haizaki.

The rough looking young man was ashamed and amazed that Akashi – of all the people present there – had come to his defence. He squeezed his eyes shut tight for a moment and his lips became a wavered line. And then he began sprinting away. In the blink of an eye he had charged away from them and was heading towards the opposite end of the park, rushing off in any direction that would take him away from Nijimura. And without a second thought, Akashi had gone after him. Despite being shorter than him, he easily kept up to Haizaki, following him to make sure he was alright.

"Wait!" Kise called out to them, beginning to run after them. After having just found Akashi again, after finally being able to empathize with Haizaki, he wasn't about to just let them run away again. "Wait up!" He called, chasing after them.

Atsushi watch his best friend, crush, and old teammate run away as fast as they could. After three days of chasing Akashi from Akita down to Kyoto and then back up to Tokyo, and finally having caught up to him, he was standing here watching him run away from him in favour of helping heal another man's broken heart. Exhausted, frustrated, and angry that other people's problems had gotten in the way of his own mission, Atsushi shook Fuji off himself and stepped away from him.

"For fuck's sake!" He shouted, screaming loudly to vent his frustration, but it didn't make him feel any better. He stepped forwards, his hand already in a fist, and slammed it into the thick tree trunk. To his surprise, a loud crack was heard nanoseconds before blood spurted out from his hand and stained the tree trunk where he had hit it. Pain resonated upwards from his hand like an electric charge, up his arm, and made his body feel on fire. He began to swear loudly, shaking his hand and spraying droplets of blood everywhere, tears forming in his eyes. He hissed, attempting to uncurl his long fingers from the loose fist he was still making, but his fingers didn't respond. His hand refused to function under his conscious control, unable to feel any more pain as it already felt like it was on fire. Atsushi hissed and whimpered, his curses ceasing immediately as his lilac eyes widened in horror as he observed the white of his bones sticking out from the knuckles of his right hand.