"Innocent Eyes"

Part Two ==

by Vilsy

Jet Grind Radio and all the related characters, locations, etc. belong to Sega Enterprises. I'm so happy people enjoyed the first too-too short chapter of this fic, and I really appreciate the feedback and thanks to all who read and reviewed. I hope you enjoy this segment as well. There's a little bit of sick humor and I hope it doesn't take away from the story.. x_x; Peace! ^_^ BTW.. doumo arigatou gozaimasu= thank you very much... dou itashimashite= don't mention it. ^.^v

Gum checked her watch as she dashed down the sidewalk of Center Street in downtown Shibuya-cho. It was nearly 1:30 am and she feared that she would be easy prey for any wandering squad car full of donut-chomping police officers at such a late hour. On top of this, she was dead tired. It had been nearly three hours since she and Beat had parted on the rooftops of Benten-cho, and Gum was quite ready for bed. She kept hearing the sound of echoing police sirens in her ear and looked over her shoulder every now and then. She nearly missed her turn from being too distracted, and cut a hard left, letting her feet leave the cement and hit the wall in a smooth grind. When she had regained her focus, she dismounted the wall and landed back on the ground and continued skating down the alley, closing her eyes and sighing. She neared the well-hidden entrance to the GGs' garage and slowed her momentum to a walking speed. Slowly, she turned the knob and pushed against the rusty metal door that made a hideous screeching sound no matter how gently she opened it. She cringed at the ear-splitting noise and squeezed into the garage through the small opening she had made by pushing the door. She sighed and shook her head as the forsaken door made just as much racket as she closed it tight. To her relief, none of the garage's inhabitants seemed to stir. The abnormally bright moon was shining brightly through the small windows that lined the wall way up by the ceiling of the building. Gum looked back and forth, making out the outlines of her fellow GGs laying either sprawled on the floor or semi-comfortably in a few make-shift beds. This was anything but Utopia, but it was all these rudies had. Gum silently glided further into the room, then stopped as she heard the soft grinding sound that her wheels made. Using her excellent balance, Gum reached down and pulled off one skate than the other in order to keep the noise down to a minimum. Now in her socks, her footsteps could go unheard. As she walked toward a small bed in the back corner of the garage, she could her the familiar sound of wood being cut in half by a saw... or was that Beat and Tab? Ah yes, fellow GG Tab lay face down on a cot on the opposite side of the room, snoring heavily into his pillow. Not too far away, Beat was lying on their fold-out couch in the most bizarre position Gum had ever seen. The moonlight on his face revealed that his mouth was becoming more ajar as each deafening snore escaped, a trace of drool streaking towards his chin. Gum blinked a few times, not sure whether this was repulsive or... attractive? No. Definitely repulsive. She kept her eyes on Beat as she continued tiptoeing towards her quaint bed, not realizing the peril that lay before her.

*Crash*

Gum tripped and fell face first onto the floor, losing her grip on her skates and flinging them across the room. They hit the wall hard and caused another loud *crash* to echo throughout the garage. Everyone jumped awake and yelled various things such as, "I'm up, mom!" and "Crap, it's the cops!" Beat nearly choked on his own saliva as he jumped up to a sitting position on the fold-out couch and looked around.

"Wh-what the hell's going on?" he coughed out.

Potts was barking boisterously as he had been awaken-- Gum had tripped right over him. She lay there motionless, not because she was hurt but because she was mortified by her clumsiness. Beat noticed her laying here and managed to put two and two together. He stood up shakily and shook his fist at his beloved pet. "Potts! Quiet boy! Cut it out!"

"Yo, what's wrong with that dog, man?" Garam mumbled from somewhere on the darkened floor.

"There a bust or something? Did they find us? Talk to me, what's going on?" Tab's unsteady voice came from the corner.

"What happened?" a feminine voice squeaked, signaling that Mew had also been awaken by the crash. "Did someone break in?"

"No no, relax guys," Beat quickly replied as he saw the moonlight shine on the surface of Gum's helmet as she turned her head to look at him. "Potts was just startled by a pussy cat or something."

Gum smirked to herself as she realized Beat was knowingly referring to her. She turned red with both frustration and embarrassment and continued to lay on her stomach. She watched as Beat slowly walked towards her kneeled down to pet Potts, quieting the faithful dog.

"Go back to sleep guys, don't be so damn jumpy."

"Jumpy he says... sheesh," Tab mumbled, dropping his face back into the pillow.

The others who were awoken gave the same annoyed grumbles before they all easily drifted back to sleep. Being a rudie was not a relaxing occupation. Beat grinned to himself as he scratched Potts affectionately behind the ears and looked over at Gum who had not moved an inch. "Atta boy, lay on down and go to sleep. Good dog." Potts panted and slobbered all over his master's hand in a display of his undying fondness before he turned a few times and lay back down. Beat sweatdropped and wiped his hand on his shirt in an attempt to get the dog spit off. He then crawled over to Gum who was watching him intently with an exhausted look on her face. "Hi there," Beat said softly.

"Why hello," Gum replied in an equally casual tone.

"Are you all right, or are you just gonna sleep there tonight?"

"I am quite fine, thank you."

Beat chuckled to himself. "Heh, I suppose you're going to tell me you meant to do that."

"And what if I do?"

"I'll try not to laugh at you too hard."

Gum heaved an exasperated sigh. "You can be such a jerk..."

"Myeah, I know. Here." Beat offered his hand to his friend who hesitantly accepted it. He slowly got to his feet and pulled her up gently, placing his hands on her shoulders to steady her. "There. Are you sure you're ok? No injuries?"

Gum could barely see his face since he was facing opposite the windows, but she nodded anyway. She was curious as to whether or not he sported his eyewear even when he slept. "I've had worse falls, Beat. You know that."

".... This is true." Beat continued gazing at her until he noticed she had looked over to one of his hands. He sheepishly let go of her and let out a fake cough. "Where were you all night? It's late as hell."

"I was just out. Nothing special."

Beat glared at her hard, not fully buying her story. "No really, you couldn't have been doing 'nothing special' for four hours."

"Three hours, thank you very much," Gum snapped, voice slightly elevated.

"Shh! What are ya, psycho? People are trying to sleep," Beat shushed in a playful yet scathing tone.

Gum lowered her voice and clenched her fists. "Argh.. y-you're incorrigible!"

Beat blinked a few times, not remembering that word from past vocabulary lessons. "Incor-wha?"

"Oh never mind. I'm going to bed."

"Yeah ok, but, don't stay out so late, a'ight?" Beat cautiously placed one hand back onto Gum's shoulder.

Gum sharply wrenched her shoulder out from under his hand and sneered at him. "You're a lot of things, Beat, but you're definitely not my father."

Beat did not seem to realize that Gum was a trifle cross with him and he laughed softly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I sure as hell should think not!"

"Then stop acting like it!" Gum yelled suddenly, soliciting more annoyed groans and moans from the other GGs.

Beat jumped a bit at the tone and volume of her voice and looked at her incredulously. Before he could respond, Gum wished him a good night and stormed off to her bed. He watched her and wondered what exactly he did to make her so angry. He concluded that this was yet more evidence that he would never understand those of the female persuasion. With this revelation, he turned and walked back to his couch and flopped down on it, scratching his chest a few times before drifting back to sleep.

Gum stood by her bed and looked around the pitch-black room, then to the one spot of moonlit-space where Tab and Beat were sleeping. She decided that everyone had their eyes closed, if they were not already asleep. She slowly removed her helmet and hung it on the bedpost, running her fingers gently through her blond hair. With another soft sigh, she slid out of her dress and striped turtleneck, then reached under her pillow and pulled out a white undershirt which she pulled on snugly. Privacy was hard to come by in this setting, but Gum had become an expert of finding the right moment to do "girl things" without drawing a bit of attention to herself. She was still in the process of teaching Mew-chan the same tact. Gum was, however, quite grateful that her 'gang mates', though indeed brazen, upheld a decent level of respect for each other. No matter how difficult her lifestyle seemed, she always reminded herself that she could have joined a gang in which she would have to be gang-raped for initiation or merely treated as some sort of sexual object among the male members.. or even the more.. masculine female members. The GGs were nothing like this, and Gum enjoyed this aspect. It made life much simpler, although she did remember one time she backhanded Tab across the face for accidentally "grabbing her" after he took a inept spill towards her. Inept spill... As she lay down on her bed and pulled the blanket over her she replayed the clumsy fall she just had in her mind. She couldn't help but laugh at herself. So much for her excellent balance.

"Aw gross man! Beat! Dammit man, wake up!" Garam shouted, shaking the leader by the shoulders until he woke up.

"H-huh? What is it?" he groaned.

"Your damn dog just pissed on the floor again! Why don't you ever walk the friggin' flea bag?" the black-clad rudie inquired, letting go of Beat's black undershirt.

Beat sat up and rubbed his eyes, not answering Garam's inquiry. He reached for his goggles and put them on, and before he could get a chance to form an argument, a disturbingly cheery voice echoed throughout the garage.

"Rise and shine, GG's! Time for Mew-chan's homemade egg roll ramen soufflé!!" Mew giggled as she burst into the garage and skid to a stop in front the two bewildered rudies holding a tray full of... something.

Garam's face (if one could actually see it) lit up with joy. "All right! Food! Damn I'm hungry!"

Beat sweatdropped and located his orange t-shirt and pulled it on with haste. He knew better than to stick around for the strange dishes Mew prepared on the less-than-functional old electric stove they had found in the Kogane-cho junk yard. He grabbed his blades and pulled them on as well, then stood up. "Thanks but no thanks, Mew. I'm gonna uh... take Potts for a walk." He looked at Garam and Mew who gave him the most disturbed looks imaginable. No one ever took Potts for a walk.

"I'll go with you," a voice came from behind them. Beat turned to see Gum standing there purposefully, already dressed.

"Erm... all right," he replied, not wanting to start another conflict.

The two... rather... the three of them skated slowly through one of the commercial districts of Shibuya-cho. Beat kept a slow enough momentum that he could keep his hands in his pockets without disturbing the dynamics of his movement. Gum traveled slightly behind him, swaying her hips and swinging her arms in rhythm despite their slow velocity. Potts was in a state of euphoria as he trotted behind them, sniffing several sign posts and doing his business on every other mailbox they encountered. It was apparent that the poor dog did not get out enough since he became a little too 'friendly' with a certain fire hydrant. Gum stood on the corner, still swaying her body from side to side as Beat flailed his arms wildly and shouted at the dog to quit making a girlfriend out of city-owned property. The blond rudie looked down at her skates, inspecting them cautiously.

"What's wrong?"

Gum looked back up and noticed that Beat had skated up beside her and was looking down at her skates as well. "I think my wheels are a little on the wobbly side."

Beat nodded. "Yeah, my nuts are pretty loose." Gum glared at him. "I can't get a confident grip on them lately." Gum continued glaring, her heartbeat increasing in speed a bit and her cheeks turning slightly red. Beat noticed this change in physical stature. "What?" He examined Gum's look of disbelief which trailed down from his face towards his legs. Beat coughed and followed her eyes with his. "You know... the nuts... that fasten the screws... come loose easily... I can't get my wheels to grip the pavement as well... traction... you know..."

Gum quickly whipped her eyes back up to his face and turned even redder. "Oh... oh yes."

"What did you think I meant?" Beat quickly asked.

"Nothing." Gum hastily turned away from him as she continued to blush, and bit her lip in embarrassment. "My wheels are wearing out. I think I need to replace them," she muttered.

Beat rubbed his chest with one hand and stuck his other hand in his pocket and looked the other way as well. "Well you know, a good underground wheel job can get costly, if you get it done by a professional."

"It's just a wheel replacement..."

"I know, but still... it may cost your whole allowance." Beat chuckled a bit and began rooting around in his pocket.

"Honestly Beat... you... you..." Gum bit her lip harder, still thinking about the dirt that had just run through her mind a few minutes earlier. "Argh..." she sighed in exasperation. She jumped when she suddenly felt his hand on her shoulder.

"Here."

Gum turned her head and looked at the contents of his outstretched hand. "What's this?"

"Just a little allowance..."

"No, you baka! I am not taking anymore of your money!" Gum yelled, turning around and pushing his hand away. "It's yours, not mine."

"Who cares? I'm giving it to you. I want you to have it."

"Why? Why do you insist on being my father? I don't need an allowance! Stop treating me like a little girl!" Gum cried out louder, causing passersby to gawk at the two rudies.

Beat made a face of genuine confusion. "What's your problem? Why are you so stubborn? It's just money. If you need to get your blades tuned up then why don't you just take it?"

Gum skated backwards a bit, closer to the curb. "Keep your money! I have my own! Just leave me alone and stop trying to be my dad!"

"I'm not trying to be your goddamn dad!" Beat yelled, clenching his fists and causing Potts to unleash a barrage of irritating barks. Beat blinked, realizing he had just shouted at Gum and caused her to jump into the street and skate away swiftly. He watched as she jumped onto a rail and grinded downhill, turning onto a side street at the end of the slope. "Wow..." he muttered to himself as the bystanders moved on, realizing the domestic disputes were over. "Not the right approach, Beat..." He re-pocketed the money and looked down at Potts who had stopped barking and was simply sitting there with a dumb happy dog expression. "Don't ever let me catch you bringing home a girlfriend, Potts," Beat smirked. Potts just closed his eyes and panted happily. Beat was glad that fire hydrants were neither mobile nor capable of speaking.

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Gyah... kind of a weird chapter... I'm sorry there wasn't much action. I think I'm exploring Gum and Beat's relationship a little too much and haven't started the plot stated in the summary yet. x__x; Gomen nasai! The next chapter will start to live up to the summary. BTW, I feel weird cuz I'm basically fudging the chars' personalities. I hope I'm not making them too unbelievable. Anyway, please r&r @ your leisure. Peace! ^-^