Story Title: Void in the Heart
Chapter Title: Crashing Face First Into Void
Author: Mathais
Rating: T
Fandom: Yoroiden Samurai Troopers
Warnings: Pro-Jun, BL
Pairings: Ryo/Jun
Summary: The Troopers find out exactly what the meaning of the saying, you don't know you have something until it's gone, is when Jun is in a car accident. Will they be able to bring him back, or will Jun just let his life go?
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters and elements of Yoroiden Samurai Troopers.
OoOoO
He was cold.
Was cold the word?
Freezing maybe.
He didn't know.
Darkness enveloped him.
It was biting into him.
His skin.
His heart.
His very soul.
The void was just hovering right there.
Should he take it?
Just one touch and oblivion would take him.
It was so very close.
Yet, right there, a barrier of fire stood.
A figure shaped like a woman warded off the cold.
The darkness.
As long as she was there, he wouldn't touch the darkness.
The void would be thrown aside.
But it would always be there.
Just waiting for her to let her guard down.
To tempt him with nothingness.
The woman of fire wrapped their arms around him. "You'll be fine as long as I'm here, Jun. The darkness won't take you."
"Nasuti." fell from his lips.
OoOoO
Yamano Jun woke with start. His fifteen-year-old body was drenched with sweat, the soft cotton of his pajamas slightly wet. Slowly, the graceful, almost feminine, curves of his body shifted, allowing him to stand. There was a tingling feeling along his skin, a testament to how close he came to that void. With a sudden lurch, he threw open the door to his room (which thankfully didn't slam) and raced down the hall. At the bathroom, he opened the door and threw open the door and lifted the toilet seat and started to heave. After seeing his dinner and snacks up again, Jun flushed the toilet and fell down against the cool tiles, breathing heavily.
"Jun, are you all right?" A soft voice asked from the doorway.
Jun didn't reply, only closed his eyes and continued to breathe heavily.
The person padded forward, bending down and wiping his forehead. "You're a little warm. A nightmare?"
The teen nodded.
"How bad?"
"Darkness." was the simple reply.
The person wrapped their arms around his neck. "You'll be all right. Are you sure you're up to your job today?"
Jun nodded. "Yeah."
"Good. Get some rest." The person stood.
"Thank you for being my light to drive away the darkness," Jun whispered, "Nasuti."
Yagyu Nasuti nodded and smiled. "You'll never have to be afraid of the darkness if there's light. Now shoo, you don't want the others to find out, do you?"
Jun shook his head and stood, brown hair matted against his skin. "Thanks."
"No problem."
The two parted ways, heading back to their rooms.
OoOoO
Jun was bored. It was only an hour until he had to leave to his part-time job (thank god that his high school actually allowed it) and it was horrible weather outside. Rain fell and lightning flashed, lighting up the sky. He sighed and shivered, the cold sending shivers up his arms. Nasuti had left, leaving him with strict orders that if it was too stormy to leave, to not risk it. Heaving a sigh, Jun decided to make headway into his homework.
Standing up, he winced, as the cold grew stronger. Almost shivering, Jun reached for his bag, but frowned when he couldn't find it. Sighing at the fact that he would have to leave the warmth of his bed, Jun stood and padded out of his room in a pair of black slippers (the only one that approved of them was Nasuti, the others had complained at Jun's choice, or lack there of, of colors. He had merely snorted, wondering why they cared about what he wore), toward their small library.
Opening the door, Jun was careful to be quiet. Not that it helped. Someone had pushed him into the room, thinking it'd be a nice joke. The usual "pick on Jun" game. This time, Jun tumbled, but from the build his fingertips touched when he pushed the offender, he knew it was the holder of Rekka who did it.
Jun crashed into the floor with a resounding smack, knocking over a pile of books into the blue-haired man that was in there.
"Jun!" The man glared.
"Sorry Touma." The teen mumbled, looking for his bag.
"Why do you have to be so damn clumsy?" Hashiba Touma snarled.
"I'm sorry!" Jun shouted, glaring defiantly into Touma's eyes as he grabbed his bag. With one last dark look from brown orbs, Jun left the room to come face to face with the one who pushed him, still sprawled onto his ass. "Why'd you do that Ryo? Was it your turn to play annoy the brat?" He spat.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Sanada Ryo glared back at Jun.
"Of course you don't." Jun snorted, tone sarcastic.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ryo shouted.
"What you make of it." Jun shrugged. "You still shouldn't have done that, especially on purpose."
Ryo and Jun continued to duke it out verbally, until the door to the side of them opened, admitting a blonde-haired man.
"Seiji." Jun murmured.
Date Seiji glared with one violet eye at the two. "Apologize Jun."
Jun made to protest, but Seiji forced him to back down.
"Sorry Ryo." Jun murmured before pushing past Ryo, elbowing Seiji, and into his room, which he locked and shoved a desk in front of.
Sighing, Jun fell onto his bed. Simultaneously, he felt three cold shivers run through his body. The heat lessened, freezing his body more than it already was. Opening his bag, Jun pulled out a notebook and a textbook and started to run through his lessons.
OoOoO
Forty-five minutes later, Jun had made a decent dent into the amount of homework he had and decided to take a break before he had to leave. The rain had steadily grown worse, but Jun didn't mind as he left his room. Unknown to him, out of the seven figures he had on his bedside stand; three fell off and broke, one green, one red, and one dark blue.
Jun walked down the hall, when he heard the sounds of battle from one of the rooms. Sighing, Jun looked into the open door and saw one of the adults playing video games. Looking at the screen, Jun noticed something. "Uh, Shuu?"
"Not now Jun." Rei Faun Shuu growled.
"But—"
"Not now!"
"I just—"
"Jun!" Shuu snarled, just as his character died. "You made me die! I was just about to beat him to!"
"But—"
Shuu glared. "Get out."
"But—"
"Out!" The voice was louder.
Enraged, Jun left the room, but turned just before he closed the door. "All I wanted to say was that you had so little life left, but the enemy still had two more forms. If you'd just listened and healed, you'd still be playing." Slamming the door behind him, Jun stalked down the stairs and ignored Ryo, who had shot him a glare from the couch, and the cold that was sent through his body. Somewhere, an orange figurine toppled over to shatter.
Finding solstice in the kitchen, Jun pushed the door open, but was met with a warning voice.
"Don't enter Jun."
"But Shin—"
"I'm busy. Please leave, there won't be enough room for me to cook if you come in and do what you usually do." Mouri Shin was upset and when he was upset, he could contend with practically anyone.
"Fine Shin." Jun backpedaled, but held the wall a little longer than necessary. Another wave of intense cold had gone through him, leaving his skin tingling and his world that much frostier. Outside, Jun could hear the storm raging, but he would rather not stay in this cold place, do he put on his raincoat, took an umbrella, put on his boots, and called into the house after taking his keys and wallet. "I'm going out!"
No one bothered to answer, as something sent a wave of unseen frost in his direction, causing him to suck in a harsh breath. Leaving and opening his umbrella, Jun thought he could hear something breaking. Jun shook his head and left. Unknown to him, there were pieces of light blue scattered against the carpet.
OoOoO
"See you later Shirana-sempai!" Jun called.
"Ah, you did well today, Jun-kun." His instructor in both clay-making and spiritual healing, Shirana Iketana, smiled. This was kind of like a job, learning and helping around in Iketana's shop, acting as cashier and offering mild services that Iketana could do, but would leave his schedule painfully tight.
"Thanks." Jun bowed.
Iketana's soft face was cheerful. "No thanks necessary. Just remember to practice your meditation. We're delving into deeper arts next time."
"Cool!" The teen's face brightened.
"How did those statues end up?" Iketana was curious.
"Ah, Shirana-sempai..." Jun blushed. "They were all right."
"Good. Practice often." Iketana flicked his eyes to the downpour outside. "Will you be all right? Should I arrange a cab?"
Jun shook his head. "Placing my life in the hands of someone else in this?" He waved at the rain. "Not a chance."
"Just be careful."
"I will." Jun smiled as he left, opening his black umbrella.
Iketana sighed and stared out into the sky. "Why do I get the feeling that something going to go wrong?"
Jun whistled as he went along, hoping that the cheery tune would ease the darkness and frost. The rain splattered, reminding him that he had still some distance to cover. He carefully picked up his pace, making sure he didn't slip. Jun came to a corner, where he waited for a bit.
He saw someone.
A woman and a child, walking in the middle of the street and the crosswalk. They could cross, but there were incoming headlights.
"Damn!" Jun whispered. The car's gonna hit them at full speed!
They became aware of the car, but it was too late for them to dodge—the car was too close and panic had overridden the woman's systems. The woman started screaming and tried to cover the child, but the kid acted bravely and shoved his mom out of the way, but tripped and fell.
Jun was there instantly and pushed the kid out of the way.
The kid tumbled away, safe.
But Jun wasn't.
His body hit the car, twirled over the windshield, got smacked by the windshield wipers, and thrown into the ground with a sickening crack.
"Oh god." The woman was panicking.
"Kaa-chan!" The child screamed weakly. "Dial the ambulance!"
As she fumbled for her cell phone, the child took a look around through blurry eyes. The car had sped away, was only a blur. All he made out of it was that it was blue, nothing else. He looked at the person who saved him. The person wasn't moving and suddenly he got a bad feeling.
"Kaa-chan?" The child asked.
The mother had just gotten off the phone. "Yes Yukata?"
"Is he..." Despite the heavily rain as he crawled over to his mother, who met him halfway, tears filled his eyes. "...dead?"
"I'm not sure." The mother whispered. "I'm not sure."
The ambulance came, sirens blaring.
OoOoO
Nasuti had just came home when a cold wave flew over her, leaving her gasping against the doorframe.
"Are you all right Natsy?" Ryo came over to her, but the woman waved him away.
"I'm fine." Gaining some resolve into her, she looked the holder of Rekka in the eye. "Where's Jun?"
Ryo shrugged. "I don't know."
"How could you not know?" Nasuti whispered before she barged into the kitchen.
"Ah, Natsy." Shin turned and smiled. "What can I—"
"Where's Jun?"
Shin blinked. "I don't know. I haven't heard from him in hours."
Shaking her head in disgust, Nasuti brushed past a bewildered Ryo and up the stairs. Shuu, Seiji, and Touma met her there.
"What's up—" Shuu was cut off as Nasuti glared at them.
"Where's Jun?"
The three could only blink dumbly as Nasuti was steadily growing angrier.
"Where. Is. Jun?" She punctuated each word with a pause.
"I don't know." Seiji answered, meek before the presence of an angry woman.
"You. Don't. Know?" Nasuti growled, something that scared all those in range.
"I thought I heard him say that he was going out." Ryo shrugged as he and Shin went up the stairs.
"And you let him?" Ryo suddenly found himself against the wrath of a woman who was a mother. "Did you even acknowledge it?"
"Uh... No." Ryo finished lamely, his famous temper being overthrown by his landlord.
"You..." Nasuti struggled to find a word appropriate, but decided that every one she could think of was too weak. "Did you even look outside today?"
"It was a sprinkle last time I checked." Touma spoke up.
"And when was that?"
Their resident genius then winced. "Not too long after you left."
Nasuti screamed in frustration as she threw open a curtain. All five teens paled as they saw the rain that was flung harshly from the sky.
She regained her bearings and then demanded slowly. "Do you even know where he was going?"
No one answered.
"He was going to his part-time job. He should've been back before me, even in this. The fact that none of you noticed shows your incompetence in childcare." Nasuti wished she didn't have to take it so far, but it had to be done. "You've thoroughly made Jun's life here miserable and I'm his guardian. If anything happened to him because of this, I'll make sure that none of you leave this house walking." Leaving with a threat, Nasuti walked to her private study and slammed the door, locking it in the process. She went to her desk and dialed up a number.
The phone rang before someone answered it. -Moshi moshi?-
"Shirana-san?" Nasuti asked.
-Ah!- The voice answered, surprised. -Yagyu-san. How are you?-
"I'm fine. But this isn't what I called for. Is Jun still there?"
She could hear the frown in his voice. -No, he left a while ago.-
Nasuti frowned, but before she could reply, she got a call on another line. "I have another call, please hold."
-Of course.-
Nasuti switched lines. "Yes?"
-Is this Yagyu Nasuti?-
"Hai, this is she."
-Are you guardian of one Yamano Jun?-
"Yes." Nasuti was thoroughly frightened. "Is something wrong?"
-I'm sorry, but he has been admitted into the hospital after he was in an accident.-
"What happened?" Nasuti was frantic.
-It seems a car out of control slammed into him. I don't have all the details, but witnesses can tell you if you come to the hospital right now.-
"Okay." The person hung up and Nasuti switched to the other line. "I'm back."
-Who was it?-
"Jun's in trouble and he's at the hospital. I'll meet you there."
-Of course.-
Both sides hung up as Nasuti raced out and grabbed her umbrella and jacket. She was about to leave when the Troopers got to her.
"Should you be going out?" Shin asked mildly.
Nasuti glared pointedly and the holder of Suiko backed down.
"I won't be back too soon. Eat dinner without me."
"Where are you going?" Shuu asked.
"To the hospital." Nasuti slammed the door behind her and all could hear the quick footsteps and the squealing of tires as she raced out in her outdated jeep.
"Hospital?" All five turned to each other, horrified eyes meeting.
"Do you think?" Ryo started, but he couldn't finish.
Shuu shook his head, as if denying something. "He can't be."
"Shin, what's the last thing you remember about Jun?" Touma turned to their resident cook, teeth clenched.
"Me snapping at him because I had a bad day." The holder of Suiko groaned as he placed a hand to his head. "I think he might have been sick also because I thought I heard him clutch the doorway desperately."
"Shuu?" The holder of Tenku turned.
"Same, only because I didn't listen to him while playing a game." Shuu softly banged his head against the wall.
"Seiji? Ryo?" Touma was desperate, hoping that someone other than Nasuti hadn't blown Jun off that day.
One guilty look and a pair of averted eyes was enough. Touma sighed and left the room.
Touma returned to his room and buried his face into his pillow. Damn! How could we get so fucked up? Even when we're defender of the world, we still fucked up just treating one kid nicely—even one who saved out asses Kaosu knows how many times! Damn.
OoOoO
Ryo's POV
Everything's really bad right now. Without the kid—not wait, teen—around, everything's colder. I've felt it. I'm really worried about Natsy. She's been crying a lot. I guess I can understand that—Jun's her son. She can't help but cry.
Like I can't help but feel guilty. I feel that everything's my fault. From my refusal to see him as anything but that eight-year-old from all those years ago—god, was it really along the lines of seven?—to the coldness we all showed that day... It's like I really did something wrong. I know I did, but I don't understand why everything just so dark.
The world's so... less cheerful. Everyone's depressed, but that isn't what's causing the darkness. My mind keeps flashing to all the times I scoffed at Jun, all the times I've made fun of him, all the times I just wasn't ready to deal with anything and found him an easy target.
And he saved my life against Arago. I never properly thanked him for that. I can't believe that I forgot it.
The thought of him gone is really tugging at my heart. It really hurts. The only thing I can say is that I'm sorry. I'm sorry Jun, for the hell I put you through. I'm so sorry.
OoOoO
Seiji's POV
It's cold.
Everything's cold.
From the spirits to the overall mood of everybody, it's dark.
Enough to make me shiver.
My spiritual senses are making the rooms even colder to me.
I guess it's because he's not here.
Jun's not here.
Now, I'm not one to dwell on guilt—but that's only for small stuff. This, even I have to admit was too large to just dismiss.
I remember the last time I was against him, just because I thought he was annoying. I know I shouldn't have, but I was annoyed and didn't want to take it out on Ryo.
Damn, that was so stupid of me.
I can't help but remember that one battle against Anubis.
The one where I almost lost.
I almost did, but he saved me.
Jun did.
He had launched in and threw the staff right into there, spreading the glorious light.
I don't think I remember ever properly thanking him...
Damn, how could we have been so stupid?
I'm so sorry Jun...
OoOoO
Shin's POV
Nothing's the same anymore.
Nothing is.
That day made a difference.
Though all of us knew death, none of us expected that we would be the cause of it.
Not like this.
Maybe if we hadn't acted so cold, he could still be here.
He didn't deserve it.
We just weren't right about treating someone like that.
It's hard to make cookies now. Jun used to help me on my good days.
On my good days...
I can remember when he saved my and Ryo's lives back against Naaza.
Without his thinking, I'd be dead from Naaza's venom and Ryo would have been next.
How could I have forgotten that?
God, I'm so sorry.
It hurts... My heart hurts. My spirit is in torment.
I never properly thanked him and he might be gone.
The coma... He's in a coma...
Please get better Jun... Everyone needs you.
OoOoO
Shuu's POV
God, how could I be so stupid?
He totally shut him out. If someone did that to me, I wouldn't have reacted as calmly.
Hell, I'd be blazing and I know it.
That didn't stop me from taking it out on him.
I know I'm a big softy, but when I'm not, it's like he suddenly becomes a target for everything.
I went into Jun's room later on.
I found shattered clay figures.
When I figured out who they were, tears burst into my eyes.
One was of me!
I could tell by the head, which was of me in my Kongo yoroi.
I could see the heads of Rekka, Kourin, Suiko, and Tenku there also.
My eyes traveled upward, scared at what I would find.
A woman was the first that caught my eye. It was Natsy! She was dressed in pink and the only one fully intact.
There was another figure, one with a large crack in it and was on top of a dark plate. The black figure reminded me of someone.
Then it hit me!
That was Jun!
My mind clicked right then and there.
Jun's figure had stood on top of the six adults in his life, like we were his pillars of strength.
One by one they fell, till Natsy was the only one left.
Except one pillar wasn't enough.
Jun's figure toppled, like he is now.
Oh god, I'm so sorry!
We had each left you...
Please, survive... I, no we, need to make everything up to you!
OoOoO
Touma's POV
This just plain sucks.
Jun's still in his coma and I'm in my room, cradling the head of Jun's Tenku figure.
You'd think I am weak, but you're wrong. You just wouldn't understand.
::pauses::
If Arago wanted to defeat us, he could have killed Jun.
It would have made us easy targets.
Damn, when I look back, all I can remember is making me guilty.
I can remember that time in Africa when he made me and Shuu remember ourselves when our armors were fighting.
We'd be dead or worse without him.
God, all this is going to my head and makes we just want to cry.
It hurts, remembering everything.
I don't know if I can make it up to you, Jun, but I'll try my hardest.
Please, just please, don't die...
OoOoO
End Notes: I know I didn't characterize the Troopers correctly, but I believe that I took the characters of a Jun/Yulie ignoring fic and putting them in a situation where the real Troopers have to show through. Also, reviewers can vote if Jun survives or not, and I'll put whichever one comes out on top when I reach that particular point in the next chapter. Oh! This will not be a Nasuti/Jun. That pairing scares me for some reason. But your votes do count!
End Notes (2010): I removed the god-awful framing script that I couldn't stand to see anymore, but that and the line breaks are the only things that have changed, except some grammar errors.