FAKE
Stupid Sakura!
Chapter 2 Felt This Way Before
Six months passed with little incident in Ryo's busy household. Bikky had grown to like Sakura, and they were finally on speaking terms and a first-name basis. They usually made it through the day without killing each other. This obviously wasn't going to be one of those days.
"Ryo!" Sakura shouted. It had taken a while to get her to call Ryo by his preferred name; for several weeks, she had insisted on calling him Detective Maclean. Now they acted like she'd been there forever. "Ryo!" she shouted again.
"What?" With a toothbrush in hand, Ryo wandered into the kitchen to prevent the potential catastrophe. Bikky was clutching a box of cereal and laughing. Sakura was holding the carton of milk, and she looked furious. Ryo sighed. These two seemed to cause him to do that far too often. "What is it this time?"
Bikky tattled like a four year old. "Sakura won't give me the milk for the cereal."
"Well, Bikky's gonna finish the box and then I won't get any!" Sakura whined.
"So? I got here first." Bikky emphasized this last remark by sticking his tongue out at her.
Ryo shrugged. "First come, first serve. Sakura, why don't you just get some Chex from the closet and stop fighting Bikky for the Corn Pops?"
"Because I HATE CHEX!" Sakura yelled.
Ryo shrugged again. "Sorry, you're gonna have to work it out yourself. Don't make me late for work, and don't the two of you be late for work either."
"But Ryo...how am I supposed to work on an empty stomach?"
"Then eat the damn Chex!" Ryo had finally gotten frustrated. Deep breath. Sure, the kids were annoying, and of course, he expected more maturity from a seventeen-year-old and a thirteen-year-old, but they were good kids. "Tell you what, Sakura. I'll get you a few boxes of Corn Pops for your birthday tomorrow. Now eat the Chex, share, or do without. Whatever you decide, give Bikky the milk and both of you knock it off."
Sakura rolled her eyes, slammed the milk on the table, and huffed off to the cabinet to find the Chex. Ryo chuckled and headed back to the bathroom to brush his teeth and get ready for work. At least the kids kept him occupied. Besides, they were almost grown up. They'd be moving on to bigger and better things soon enough, and then he'd have the peace and quiet he'd almost forgotten he ever had. He didn't regret taking in the orphaned kids; they were his family and he loved them. He just couldn't always deal with the trouble they caused. It had taken Bikky years to straighten out from a full-time street punk in to a reasonably well behaved young man. Sakura could get rather whiny (even more so than Bikky!), but she was friendly, sweet, a wonderful conversationalist, and a great help around the house. He wouldn't have traded this kind of life for anything. He just vaguely looked forward to having a quiet and (a shouting match can be heard in the background) peaceful apartment once again.
Ryo pushed the still fighting pair out the door as he headed to work. Hopefully they wouldn't have a fistfight on their walk to the bakery where they worked together. He didn't have time to worry about that now; he was going to be late for work himself if he didn't hurry up.
Ryo rushed into the 27th precinct, just barely arriving on time. Dee smiled. "Hey, Ryo. Isn't it my job to be late?"
Ryo plunked down in a chair. "It's been a tough morning, okay? Those two were at it again. Fighting over cereal. Can you believe them?"
Dee made a funny snorting sound with his nose. "I told you all along that those kids were trouble. But nooo, don't believe Dee, he's no good for advice."
Ryo made a rather similar snorting sound, but with a bit more of a whistling, blowing noise. "You just don't like it because you can't try and put the moves on me when they're around. You couldn't care less if they make my mornings hell!"
"Technically...that's true," Dee conceded.
"I've got you all figured out." Ryo smiled. "Well, I don't have to worry about them right now, since they're off at work killing each other instead of in my kitchen doing likewise."
"Right. So, what's on the menu for today?"
Ryo sighed. "Paperwork to straighten out your, shall we say, antics yesterday. As usual."
"Sorry?" Dee didn't really concern himself with all the trouble he made, and he never felt much remorse for sticking his partner with the paperwork. Besides, Ryo was used to it. They spent a few hours working on the paperwork, then got chewed out for half an hour by Commissioner Berkley Rose. As the pair exited Rose's office, Ryo started to give Dee a hard time about all the trouble he put him through. Ryo had barely gotten a sentence out before Bikky's friend Carol ran into the station. She was hysterical as she ran up to Ryo and Dee.
Ryo placed a hand on her shoulder and lifted her chin to make her look him in the eyes. "Carol, can you tell me what happened?"
She nodded. "It—it's Bikky! The bakery is being robbed! I was on my way to visit Bikky at work and these guys wearing ski masks went in! They pulled guns and they're robbing the place! But Bikky's not giving them the cash, so they're probably still there!"
"Shit!" Ryo muttered. "Drake!"
"What? Drake looked up from a stack of paperwork on his desk. "You need something?"
"Yes! Holdup at Tasty Pastry Bakery! Get a team on it or something! Ryo shouted as he ran out the door with Dee right behind.
Ryo drove dangerously faster than the speed limit to the bakery. He somehow managed a reasonable parallel parking job across the street and looked in through the door, which for some reason was open. One of the masked robbers was holding Sakura from behind and waving a gun in her face. It looked like Bikky was backed into a corner by two other guys holding up guns. Ryo swore profusely under his breath. There wasn't anything helpful he or Dee could do. If they interfered, they would probably get Bikky and Sakura killed. All they could do was watch helplessly while waiting for police negotiators to show up. Ryo turned away when he saw Sakura start to cry and heard Bikky start yelling at the guy holding her. Watching it wasn't going to help anyone. Dee didn't feel as emotionally attached to the situation as Ryo did, but he couldn't help but be upset when Ryo was.
Police negotiators arrived shortly, as did Commissioner Rose and several police snipers. Ryo known for his excellent marksmanship was asked to take his place as a sniper. Dee was given stern orders to stay out of the way. His itchy trigger finger was well known amongst members of the 27th precinct. Negotiations didn't go well. The robbers weren't particularly interested in money, which explains why they'd robbed a bakery and not a more lucrative business. They actually just wanted to cause as much of a scene as possible before killing the bakery clerks – namely, Sakura and Bikky. The negotiators were getting nowhere. The snipers were poised with the robbers in their crosshairs. The robbers continued to shout and wave their weapons, informing the cops that they didn't feel like talking to a bunch of "donut-eating morons." Things went from really bad to extremely bad when the apparent leader of the robbers cocked his gun and aimed for Sakura. One of the snipers fired as the leader pulled the trigger. The sniper hit the floor stone dead. Ryo gasped as Sakura, too, hit the floor. One of the other robbers raised his gun to shoot Bikky, and found himself dead before he could think about firing. The other two took a good look at their pals, dropped their weapons, and surrendered.
The police rushed in immediately. Bikky, who had been too stunned to move, was pushed out by one of the officers. Ryo, his eyes tearing up, ran towards Sakura. Dee grabbed his arm and stopped him. Ryo screamed, "What the hell, Dee? Let go!"
Dee gave him a look that expressed his pain well. "If she's dead...do you really want to see that?"
Ryo dropped his shoulders and hung his head, the obvious body language of admitted defeat. Dee let him go. Ryo immediately turned and darted to Sakura's side. The defeated look had been a clever act, and Dee had been a fool to fall for it. It would be even more foolish to try to stop him again. Ryo took a deep breath and knelt down beside Sakura, afraid of what he might see. Hm. She didn't seem to be bleeding or injured at all. Dee noticed this as well as he walked up behind his partner.
"Hey, Ryo, look at the wall behind where she was standing." Ryo did as Dee instructed. "He hit the wall I'd say a foot from her head. I'll place my bet that she was so scared she passed out."
Ryo heaved a sigh of relief. As he brushed Sakura's hair out of her face, she whimpered and twitched. She blinked at him and muttered something to the effect of what the expletive. Ryo was so overjoyed he was speechless. He hadn't realized how much she meant to him until he had to face the thought of losing her. Thank God she wasn't hurt.
After Ryo was sure Sakura wasn't going to have a nervous breakdown and had assured her that Bikky was fine, he left her in Dee's almost capable hands and went to check on Bikky. He was sitting on a curb nearby anxiously waiting for someone to tell him what was up. He got up and nearly ran to Ryo when he saw him coming. "Ryo! Is Sakura – is she okay?" He'd been too shocked to look at her after he heard her hit the floor, so he had no idea what had really happened.
Ryo smiled. "She just fainted. She must have been terrified, and some people pass out when they are terribly frightened. Everything's fine, don't worry. She was worried about you, ya know. She absolutely grilled me to find out if you were okay."
Bikky tilted his head slightly to the left. "Really? That's...different."
After having spent a good part of the day panicking and stressed out, Ryo, Bikky, and Sakura headed home. Dee drove, just in case one of them suddenly snapped and lost it. Like that was likely. And, – in everyone's best interests, of course, – Dee walked them in to their apartment.
Dee sighed. He hadn't had much alone time with Ryo lately. Sakura and Bikky both immediately decided that the day would be greatly improved by sleep. Sakura headed off into the room that had been Bikky's until Ryo had declared it hers. Bikky lay on the couch without bothering to search for pj's in the closet he had to share with Sakura. For the moment, he didn't care about anything other than sleep. That had the potential for a disaster – Bikky was often the only thing that protected Ryo from Dee's advances.
Ryo smiled at Dee. He spoke to him while walking into his room. "Thanks for being so concerned about everything."
Anyone else would have taken Ryo's actions as a cue to leave, but Dee was too stubborn for that. He followed Ryo into the room. "Hey, Ryo..."
Ryo answered him distractedly. "Hm? What is it?"
Dee was getting uncharacteristically uncomfortable. He was always jealous over something, but this seemed farfetched even to him. "You sure are taken with Sakura these days, aren't you?"
Ryo gave him the must puzzled and amused look he could. "Taken?" he said with a laugh. "Are you kidding? She's a seventeen-year-old kid! What do you take me for?" The words coming from his mouth didn't quite match the thoughts in his head. In fact, he did almost have feelings for her that were a little too much and he therefore ignored. When the hell did Dee get so damn insightful, anyway? "Don't be ridiculous, Dee. I'm gonna get some sleep, so why don't you just forget it?"
"Don't dismiss me like that!" Dee smacked his hand against the wall on either side of Ryo's shoulders. If there was one thing Dee couldn't stand, it was JJ. Of course, if there were two things he couldn't stand, the other was being dismissed. He was yelling in Ryo's face as he continued speaking. "Dammit, I'm not fricken crazy! If I think you have a thing for Sakura, it's probably true!" Ryo didn't say anything for a moment. And of course, in typical Dee style, he went in for a move. Ryo saw the kiss coming, but he didn't try to do anything about it. He never did. Maybe it was time to admit to himself that he liked it...no. When Dee was satisfied, he turned his back on Ryo abruptly and walked out of the room. He called over his shoulder, "It's not like I have anything to worry about; she's not legal anyway." With that, he walked out of the apartment.
Ryo sighed. Why couldn't anything in life be simple? And just why did he feel so strongly about this girl he'd only known for sixth months? The fact that she was underage just made him all the more disgusted with himself. He'd never felt this way before. He couldn't tell if his emotions were romantic or just silly. How could he be such a perv? He pushed any thoughts of Sakura out of his mind. He knew what it felt like to have romantic feelings – he was reminded every time he saw Dee. He decided that the next time it came up, he'd tell Dee about his true feelings. For years, he'd been teasing the poor guy. Now was the time to get his feelings out in the open. With that determined, Ryo finally lay down to get some sleep.
On the other side of the bedroom closet, Sakura couldn't fall asleep. She hadn't heard the pair next door's conversation, but her thoughts were on a similar subject. Did she have a thing for Ryo? Her boyfriend of three months would be none too pleased to hear such a thing! Besides, he was way too old for her. She was no Lolita. No way. Clearly, her feelings were just a silly crush that meant nothing. Pushing the thought from her mind, Sakura drifted off to sleep.
And Bikky, fast asleep in the living room, was blissfully unaware of all the drama.
Chapter 2 Felt This Way Before
Six months passed with little incident in Ryo's busy household. Bikky had grown to like Sakura, and they were finally on speaking terms and a first-name basis. They usually made it through the day without killing each other. This obviously wasn't going to be one of those days.
"Ryo!" Sakura shouted. It had taken a while to get her to call Ryo by his preferred name; for several weeks, she had insisted on calling him Detective Maclean. Now they acted like she'd been there forever. "Ryo!" she shouted again.
"What?" With a toothbrush in hand, Ryo wandered into the kitchen to prevent the potential catastrophe. Bikky was clutching a box of cereal and laughing. Sakura was holding the carton of milk, and she looked furious. Ryo sighed. These two seemed to cause him to do that far too often. "What is it this time?"
Bikky tattled like a four year old. "Sakura won't give me the milk for the cereal."
"Well, Bikky's gonna finish the box and then I won't get any!" Sakura whined.
"So? I got here first." Bikky emphasized this last remark by sticking his tongue out at her.
Ryo shrugged. "First come, first serve. Sakura, why don't you just get some Chex from the closet and stop fighting Bikky for the Corn Pops?"
"Because I HATE CHEX!" Sakura yelled.
Ryo shrugged again. "Sorry, you're gonna have to work it out yourself. Don't make me late for work, and don't the two of you be late for work either."
"But Ryo...how am I supposed to work on an empty stomach?"
"Then eat the damn Chex!" Ryo had finally gotten frustrated. Deep breath. Sure, the kids were annoying, and of course, he expected more maturity from a seventeen-year-old and a thirteen-year-old, but they were good kids. "Tell you what, Sakura. I'll get you a few boxes of Corn Pops for your birthday tomorrow. Now eat the Chex, share, or do without. Whatever you decide, give Bikky the milk and both of you knock it off."
Sakura rolled her eyes, slammed the milk on the table, and huffed off to the cabinet to find the Chex. Ryo chuckled and headed back to the bathroom to brush his teeth and get ready for work. At least the kids kept him occupied. Besides, they were almost grown up. They'd be moving on to bigger and better things soon enough, and then he'd have the peace and quiet he'd almost forgotten he ever had. He didn't regret taking in the orphaned kids; they were his family and he loved them. He just couldn't always deal with the trouble they caused. It had taken Bikky years to straighten out from a full-time street punk in to a reasonably well behaved young man. Sakura could get rather whiny (even more so than Bikky!), but she was friendly, sweet, a wonderful conversationalist, and a great help around the house. He wouldn't have traded this kind of life for anything. He just vaguely looked forward to having a quiet and (a shouting match can be heard in the background) peaceful apartment once again.
Ryo pushed the still fighting pair out the door as he headed to work. Hopefully they wouldn't have a fistfight on their walk to the bakery where they worked together. He didn't have time to worry about that now; he was going to be late for work himself if he didn't hurry up.
Ryo rushed into the 27th precinct, just barely arriving on time. Dee smiled. "Hey, Ryo. Isn't it my job to be late?"
Ryo plunked down in a chair. "It's been a tough morning, okay? Those two were at it again. Fighting over cereal. Can you believe them?"
Dee made a funny snorting sound with his nose. "I told you all along that those kids were trouble. But nooo, don't believe Dee, he's no good for advice."
Ryo made a rather similar snorting sound, but with a bit more of a whistling, blowing noise. "You just don't like it because you can't try and put the moves on me when they're around. You couldn't care less if they make my mornings hell!"
"Technically...that's true," Dee conceded.
"I've got you all figured out." Ryo smiled. "Well, I don't have to worry about them right now, since they're off at work killing each other instead of in my kitchen doing likewise."
"Right. So, what's on the menu for today?"
Ryo sighed. "Paperwork to straighten out your, shall we say, antics yesterday. As usual."
"Sorry?" Dee didn't really concern himself with all the trouble he made, and he never felt much remorse for sticking his partner with the paperwork. Besides, Ryo was used to it. They spent a few hours working on the paperwork, then got chewed out for half an hour by Commissioner Berkley Rose. As the pair exited Rose's office, Ryo started to give Dee a hard time about all the trouble he put him through. Ryo had barely gotten a sentence out before Bikky's friend Carol ran into the station. She was hysterical as she ran up to Ryo and Dee.
Ryo placed a hand on her shoulder and lifted her chin to make her look him in the eyes. "Carol, can you tell me what happened?"
She nodded. "It—it's Bikky! The bakery is being robbed! I was on my way to visit Bikky at work and these guys wearing ski masks went in! They pulled guns and they're robbing the place! But Bikky's not giving them the cash, so they're probably still there!"
"Shit!" Ryo muttered. "Drake!"
"What? Drake looked up from a stack of paperwork on his desk. "You need something?"
"Yes! Holdup at Tasty Pastry Bakery! Get a team on it or something! Ryo shouted as he ran out the door with Dee right behind.
Ryo drove dangerously faster than the speed limit to the bakery. He somehow managed a reasonable parallel parking job across the street and looked in through the door, which for some reason was open. One of the masked robbers was holding Sakura from behind and waving a gun in her face. It looked like Bikky was backed into a corner by two other guys holding up guns. Ryo swore profusely under his breath. There wasn't anything helpful he or Dee could do. If they interfered, they would probably get Bikky and Sakura killed. All they could do was watch helplessly while waiting for police negotiators to show up. Ryo turned away when he saw Sakura start to cry and heard Bikky start yelling at the guy holding her. Watching it wasn't going to help anyone. Dee didn't feel as emotionally attached to the situation as Ryo did, but he couldn't help but be upset when Ryo was.
Police negotiators arrived shortly, as did Commissioner Rose and several police snipers. Ryo known for his excellent marksmanship was asked to take his place as a sniper. Dee was given stern orders to stay out of the way. His itchy trigger finger was well known amongst members of the 27th precinct. Negotiations didn't go well. The robbers weren't particularly interested in money, which explains why they'd robbed a bakery and not a more lucrative business. They actually just wanted to cause as much of a scene as possible before killing the bakery clerks – namely, Sakura and Bikky. The negotiators were getting nowhere. The snipers were poised with the robbers in their crosshairs. The robbers continued to shout and wave their weapons, informing the cops that they didn't feel like talking to a bunch of "donut-eating morons." Things went from really bad to extremely bad when the apparent leader of the robbers cocked his gun and aimed for Sakura. One of the snipers fired as the leader pulled the trigger. The sniper hit the floor stone dead. Ryo gasped as Sakura, too, hit the floor. One of the other robbers raised his gun to shoot Bikky, and found himself dead before he could think about firing. The other two took a good look at their pals, dropped their weapons, and surrendered.
The police rushed in immediately. Bikky, who had been too stunned to move, was pushed out by one of the officers. Ryo, his eyes tearing up, ran towards Sakura. Dee grabbed his arm and stopped him. Ryo screamed, "What the hell, Dee? Let go!"
Dee gave him a look that expressed his pain well. "If she's dead...do you really want to see that?"
Ryo dropped his shoulders and hung his head, the obvious body language of admitted defeat. Dee let him go. Ryo immediately turned and darted to Sakura's side. The defeated look had been a clever act, and Dee had been a fool to fall for it. It would be even more foolish to try to stop him again. Ryo took a deep breath and knelt down beside Sakura, afraid of what he might see. Hm. She didn't seem to be bleeding or injured at all. Dee noticed this as well as he walked up behind his partner.
"Hey, Ryo, look at the wall behind where she was standing." Ryo did as Dee instructed. "He hit the wall I'd say a foot from her head. I'll place my bet that she was so scared she passed out."
Ryo heaved a sigh of relief. As he brushed Sakura's hair out of her face, she whimpered and twitched. She blinked at him and muttered something to the effect of what the expletive. Ryo was so overjoyed he was speechless. He hadn't realized how much she meant to him until he had to face the thought of losing her. Thank God she wasn't hurt.
After Ryo was sure Sakura wasn't going to have a nervous breakdown and had assured her that Bikky was fine, he left her in Dee's almost capable hands and went to check on Bikky. He was sitting on a curb nearby anxiously waiting for someone to tell him what was up. He got up and nearly ran to Ryo when he saw him coming. "Ryo! Is Sakura – is she okay?" He'd been too shocked to look at her after he heard her hit the floor, so he had no idea what had really happened.
Ryo smiled. "She just fainted. She must have been terrified, and some people pass out when they are terribly frightened. Everything's fine, don't worry. She was worried about you, ya know. She absolutely grilled me to find out if you were okay."
Bikky tilted his head slightly to the left. "Really? That's...different."
After having spent a good part of the day panicking and stressed out, Ryo, Bikky, and Sakura headed home. Dee drove, just in case one of them suddenly snapped and lost it. Like that was likely. And, – in everyone's best interests, of course, – Dee walked them in to their apartment.
Dee sighed. He hadn't had much alone time with Ryo lately. Sakura and Bikky both immediately decided that the day would be greatly improved by sleep. Sakura headed off into the room that had been Bikky's until Ryo had declared it hers. Bikky lay on the couch without bothering to search for pj's in the closet he had to share with Sakura. For the moment, he didn't care about anything other than sleep. That had the potential for a disaster – Bikky was often the only thing that protected Ryo from Dee's advances.
Ryo smiled at Dee. He spoke to him while walking into his room. "Thanks for being so concerned about everything."
Anyone else would have taken Ryo's actions as a cue to leave, but Dee was too stubborn for that. He followed Ryo into the room. "Hey, Ryo..."
Ryo answered him distractedly. "Hm? What is it?"
Dee was getting uncharacteristically uncomfortable. He was always jealous over something, but this seemed farfetched even to him. "You sure are taken with Sakura these days, aren't you?"
Ryo gave him the must puzzled and amused look he could. "Taken?" he said with a laugh. "Are you kidding? She's a seventeen-year-old kid! What do you take me for?" The words coming from his mouth didn't quite match the thoughts in his head. In fact, he did almost have feelings for her that were a little too much and he therefore ignored. When the hell did Dee get so damn insightful, anyway? "Don't be ridiculous, Dee. I'm gonna get some sleep, so why don't you just forget it?"
"Don't dismiss me like that!" Dee smacked his hand against the wall on either side of Ryo's shoulders. If there was one thing Dee couldn't stand, it was JJ. Of course, if there were two things he couldn't stand, the other was being dismissed. He was yelling in Ryo's face as he continued speaking. "Dammit, I'm not fricken crazy! If I think you have a thing for Sakura, it's probably true!" Ryo didn't say anything for a moment. And of course, in typical Dee style, he went in for a move. Ryo saw the kiss coming, but he didn't try to do anything about it. He never did. Maybe it was time to admit to himself that he liked it...no. When Dee was satisfied, he turned his back on Ryo abruptly and walked out of the room. He called over his shoulder, "It's not like I have anything to worry about; she's not legal anyway." With that, he walked out of the apartment.
Ryo sighed. Why couldn't anything in life be simple? And just why did he feel so strongly about this girl he'd only known for sixth months? The fact that she was underage just made him all the more disgusted with himself. He'd never felt this way before. He couldn't tell if his emotions were romantic or just silly. How could he be such a perv? He pushed any thoughts of Sakura out of his mind. He knew what it felt like to have romantic feelings – he was reminded every time he saw Dee. He decided that the next time it came up, he'd tell Dee about his true feelings. For years, he'd been teasing the poor guy. Now was the time to get his feelings out in the open. With that determined, Ryo finally lay down to get some sleep.
On the other side of the bedroom closet, Sakura couldn't fall asleep. She hadn't heard the pair next door's conversation, but her thoughts were on a similar subject. Did she have a thing for Ryo? Her boyfriend of three months would be none too pleased to hear such a thing! Besides, he was way too old for her. She was no Lolita. No way. Clearly, her feelings were just a silly crush that meant nothing. Pushing the thought from her mind, Sakura drifted off to sleep.
And Bikky, fast asleep in the living room, was blissfully unaware of all the drama.
