Author: Simply Kim

Title: Little Akira... The Tokyo Terrorist!

Genre/ratings: (Shounen-ai /Yaoi) (Humour / (a bit of) Angst)

Length: (4.5/5)

Disclaimers: The series I'm referring to obviously do not belong to me, only this story does.

Side Story 3: Hands

It was a fact that whatever Sendoh Akira wanted, he got.

If he didn't, there would be hell to pay.

Coupled with an acute attitude problem, it was something nobody dared ignore... and yet, his family seemed to love him. Too much. However, of all the family members, there was one who stood out – the eldest of the brood of three, Sendoh Kaoru.

He loved Akira the most...

He loved Akira to death.

X o X o X

"It's my turn!"

Koshino Hiroaki, one of the neighbourhood kids, cowered, stepping obediently back, away from his own brand new bicycle. He couldn't help but do so, for he knew the power packed in Akira's small fists when they had their first scuffle a couple of years ago. They fought because of a lost kitty; fought for its ownership... it was just bad luck that they both had infamous tempers. And although he had learned how to curb his the moment he met Akira, Hiroaki lost it. He wanted the kitten so much.

He could still remember the goose egg he came home with – and the horribly panicky shrieking of his mother, threatening to sue his playmate's family for the damage done to his face.

"Go ahead." He said quietly. Motioning for his friend to take the bike for a short ride, not willing to say that he was supposed to use it for five minutes more. He did not even know why or how they became friends. Maybe it was because he felt pity for the only kid in the block who did not have one... but then again, when one took into consideration the fact that Akira had been the one to instigate the relationship by proclaiming selfishly that they were friends, it was not probably the case. Who cared anyway? He didn't. He was satisfied in a way, because even if they did not exactly have any sort of understanding between them, Akira was such a refreshing change from the other youngsters he was so used to bullying.

Now he knew how it felt to be bullied – though why he was resisting so weakly was something he had yet to figure out...

Maybe someday...

He shook his head, focusing once again at the ecstatic features of his playmate. He was certainly annoyed... and yet he just couldn't resist the fanged grin that was offered him when Akira was playing. What was it his Akira's brother said?

"It's part of his charm."

Surprised, Hiroaki jumped. His eyes straying wildly to whomever it was that disturbed his moments of contemplation. "Ah, Kaoru-niichan! Don't scare me like that!" He glared, all to no avail, for it took only one look on his face and the older Sendoh was immediately doubled up in complete amusement.

"You really are cute! No wonder Akira is so happy that you are his friend!" Kaoru laughed, ruffling Hiroaki's hair fondly. "Take care of him while I'm you're both at school okay?"

Hiroaki frowned. "He doesn't need it Kaoru-niichan, if someone touches him the wrong way that person would be going home with a blackened eye." He was so sure of it, and showed his confidence in his words by nodding twice. "He's evil."

Kaoru grinned, looking back at Akira. "No he's not. He's just... wilful. Something that runs in the family." He gave Hiroaki a mischievous grin.

The child shook his head. "No. You're nice!"

Kaoru only smiled.

X o X o X

"Oniichan, I want a bike like Hiro-chan's!" Akira grinned cheerfully up at his older brother. "I heard it was ex... expensive! It must mean that it's special, right?"

Kaoru smiled down at the child gripping his hand almost hopefully. He need not hope though... he was sure to get one for him. He loved him so much that whatever he wanted, he was willing to give at any cost. "I'll give you one just like it!" He answered back cheerfully.

"YAY!" Akira let go of his brother's hands and hopped happily. "Wait 'till Hiro-chan hears that I'm gonna have a bike like his maybe even better than his!"

So happy was he that he did not notice the troubled look that passed through his brother's face.

X o X o X

Akira had always loved his brother's hands. They were very warm and very soft – save from few spots where the skin was particularly stiff. But did not matter to him. He felt happy whenever those hands touched him... he felt safe – secure.

They were the hands that helped raise him, the hands that helped nurture him, the hands that led him to a better future, hands that made him feel special, hands that had given him his every whim. Of course the hands of his family were just the same, they all doted on him after all, but his oniichan's hands – they were the best.

And they were the ones that would be giving him the coveted bike tomorrow afternoon...

That would make the gift even more special.

X o X o X

The sound of blaring police sirens woke Hiroaki up. Vision bleary, he decided to look out the window and check what it was about. At age eight, he knew many things... just because he watched too much television. Now, the scene outside painted something familiar. What did grown-ups call it?

Ah... an accident.

He scratched his arm thoughtfully, alarm bells ringing in his ears.

I wonder who it is...

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. Well, he did not have anything to do with it, so why should he worry? What he should think about was Akira-chan – and how his brand new bike would look like.

X o X o X

"Ah! I was here first!"

"Don't start with me! I was here first and that's final!"

"No! I was here first! Get lost!"

In Akira took a clean swipe at the intruder. He didn't seem to be from around the area, and yet he had the guts to claim his territory! Glaring, he took another swipe using his plastic baseball bat and was gratified as the sound of hard plastic slapping against flesh entered his ears.

"OW!"

And the sound of the guy in pain was even more pleasing to the ears. That showed him! He was the boss around here! Hmph!

"Akira-chan!"

The sound of his name made him smile, and he eagerly looked up, ecstatic... only for his enthusiasm to fade as he saw that rather than his Kaoru-niichan with his new bike, it was Hiro-chan dragging his own bike.

Where are you, Kaoru-niichan...? He thought crossly. I want to see my bike!

"Ah! Shin-chan! You're here too!" Hiroaki grinned happily, and, noticing the lump still steaming on the other's head, winced. "What happened to you?"

"He happened." Shinichi glared at Akira, eyes slitted, effect heightened by the mole under one. "He hit me! I was just waiting for you here!"

"WAH!" Hiroaki cried out in horror, glaring at the perpetrator angrily. "Why did you do that, Akira-chan?"

His best friend glared back. "He started it!"

Maki Shinichi, even at age nine, couldn't help but be on the defensive. "No I didn't! You started it!"

"You did!"

"No, you did!"

"You –"

"AKIRA!"

He looked up in surprise. "'Neechan?"

His sister's face was paler than usual. As if on cue, a twinge erupted inside him. He wasn't sure why but he felt that something was off. He did not like it. Shaking his head, he shrugged it off. Maybe his sister just put too much powder on her face...

It was probably nothing.

She reached out her hand and he did the same.

Their fingers interlocked...

Oneechan's hands are so cold.

X o X o X

An hour later, the rain started to pour, and the boys left in the playground couldn't do anything but run for shelter. "Shin-chan, why do you think 'neechan made Akira-chan come home? It's still early..." He put his fisted hand under his chin and sighed. "Now I have no one to fight with."

Shinichi's eyebrows twitched. "You're actually looking forward to fighting with that guy?" He shook his head, slouching on the old shed bench. "You are weird."

"But I want to see his new bike!"

"He wasn't carrying any bike!"

Hiroaki sighed yet again. "Kaoru-niichan was supposed to meet us here so we can take a look at it together... I brought my bike and called you so we three can play... and you can meet my best friend..."

"I thought I am your best friend?" the darker kid pouted.

Hiroaki grinned at him. "Yup, you are... but he is too!"

"Eh? How could that work – ah... you..."

The drenched form of Sendoh Akira cut off Shinichi's words. He couldn't see his eyes, and frankly, he felt a foreboding sign of... His eyes widened. Gripped tightly in one hand was a baseball bat – not the one that hit him on the head... a longer one.

A wooden bat... What is he going to do with it? He felt Hiroaki stiffen beside him, and then shrink back. Akira's eyes, now that he could see them from the light of the lamppost dimmed by the pouring rain, were crazed.

Hiroaki's breath was faster now... and he had the sudden urge to run. What's with him... Akira-chan? Akira-chan, what's... Slowly, his friend turned to the wet bike in the corner of the shed...

And Akira lost it.

With quick strides, approached it, stopped as if meditating... and raised the bat high up in the air, tears streaming from his eyes.

And with an agonised cry, he swung.

He swung...

And he swung...

And he swung once more, repeating the process until the bike was ruined. He did not pay any heed to his friend's own tears. He did not pay any heed to the new guy's incessant screaming. All he saw was the bike... the bike that he wanted his brother to give him. He waited for him... waited, waited... but he didn't come.

The bike... because of the bike he's now...

This bike is evil... I must kill it – I must kill it!

Random thoughts swirled in his young mind. Tears fell steadily... he was lost, and yet his arms still functioned.

Pounding...

Pounding...

Pounding...

Until he couldn't see from the film of wetness, until his arms were tired. Until he felt someone's strong hands taking the bat away from him. Until he heard soothing voices whispering in his ear 'It wasn't your fault... He just happened to pass by on the way to buy your bike... The members of his school's basketball team... It wasn't your fault... He was in a gang war... It's not your fault...'. Until he could barely hear his friend's own agony of losing something so precious...

Until he couldn't feel anything else but emptiness...

He couldn't feel anything... nothing at all.

X o X o X

Hiroaki was inconsolable, and his grief showing even through his infamous flares of temper. He was just wondering inwardly whether he was grief-stricken because of what happened to Kaoru-niichan or what happened to his bike... or what would happen now that he and Akira-chan weren't speaking anymore.

The last sacrament was finally administered just yesterday morning, and here he was, staring off into a far-off space with his old friend, Maki Shinichi by his side. They weren't talking, but he could feel the support emanating from him. And for that... he was grateful.

He was lucky to have someone like him for a friend.

X o X o X

DING-DONG!

The sound of the doorbell was deafening on the outside, and briefly, Akira wondered if it was any louder inside. Maybe they couldn't hear the doorbell anymore because they had all gone deaf.

His theory was then disproved when the door opened. He was about to ask for Hiroaki when he realised that it was him who answered the door, staring back at him as hard as he was. "Ah... Hiro-chan...?"

His friend fidgeted. "Akira-chan."

Silence.

Then, much to his amazement, Hiroaki smiled. "Come in, Akira-chan..." he reached out and grabbed his hand.

Hiro-chan's hand is warm.

And Akira smiled.

OWARI

A/N: Couldn't help it. I had to explain the brother thing that kept popping up in the previous chapters... Did I do the real timeline justice through this? Hope so. What do you think? One more chapter to go!