In Honor of Kyoko
Tohru, Yuki, and Kyou walked home in silence, Tohru still in her work uniform—her street clothes had been kept in a destroyed section of the building. Despite the fact that she'd been Kyoko's daughter, Tohru had never seen gang violence firsthand like this. News about gang fights aired on TV all the time, but Tohru and Kyoko had lived in a fairly good neighborhood, and it had always seemed so far away from them. The rude awakening had taught her just how much street gangs would do, just for a small piece of territory. And how innocent lives were so easily taken. She missed Ikami and his pleasant way of talking with her already.
As they'd searched for Yuki and Kyou, Souta had told Tohru all about the fight. Until recently, that neighborhood had been a sort of neutral zone and was not under the control of any one gang. But recently, looking to expand their small territory, his gang, the Kamikaze, began to move onto the land. The Silver Falcon's land bordered it as well, and they'd not taken kindly to this invasion of "their borderland."
"So for now," he'd told Tohru, "this neighborhood belongs to them."
"For now?" she echoed.
"This area has been a sort of buffer zone for about five gangs," he explained. "It separates all of their territories. But you saw how the Silver Falcons reacted to our trying to take over here; there are several others who will most likely do the same. So this area isn't gonna be safe for residents—or workers—until it's secured by one gang or goes back to being neutral, which is possible. 'Till then, I'd advise you to look for new work. I'll be surprised if that business doesn't go right down anyway, seeing as half of it got blown up."
Presently, they arrived at the house. The three looked at each other; all of them were covered in dust. They'd need to shower. Yuki opened the door, and they trooped in together.
"Aaaaahhh, is that my little flower I hear?" Shigure called from the kitchen. "I was getting hungry!" He cut himself off abruptly as he saw them. His eyes scanned quickly over them, noting the dirt and dust that covered them and Tohru in her work uniform instead of street clothes. "Was there a problem at work?" he asked.
"Can we just get fucking clean first?" Kyou growled. He'd mentally beat himself up all the way home. While Tohru had been scared, he'd been hiding behind a rock like a little boy with the damn rat. Needless to say, he was in a wonderful mood.
For once, Yuki had to agree with him, so Shigure had to wait for the story. Once all three had gotten clean and changed, they all sat down to talk. All three contributed to the retelling, which gave them a better view of what had happened as well. Both Kyou and Yuki realized that Tohru must have still been in her niche when they'd entered the building, which seemed to create a great deal of irony about the situation. Tohru explained how Souta had found her hiding and helped her to look for the boys. Telling of Ikami's death brought fresh tears to her eyes. Finally, they all had a clear picture of the afternoon. Tohru, Kyou, and Yuki were all thoroughly exhausted as well. It was time to sleep.
That night, Tohru lay awake in bed. She couldn't forget how horrible Ikami had looked; his broken body sprawled on the ground. Although she hadn't known him especially well, besides the friendly conversations they'd had while at work, she felt as if she'd lost a close and irreplaceable friend. Her mother had been injured in gang clashes before, but somehow Tohru had never actually thought of these fights in terms of herself; never imagined being one of the civilians stuck between two warring sides, never imagined a friend as one of the casualties of these shallow quarrels. How was it she'd been so sheltered from reality and the harshness of life for so long with a mother like Kyoko? The world is full of cruel ironies.
Kyou spent the night on the roof playing the events of the day over in his mind again and again. Just how had that damn Yuki convinced him to hide behind that rock, leaving Tohru in the building? He edited the memories flashing through his mind like a movie, imagining himself continuing across the street, hunting for Tohru and keeping her safe during the fight. That's what I should have done, he thought grimly. That's what I will do anytime she's in trouble in the future! Satisfied by this resolution, he curled up, closed his eyes, and waited for sleep.
Yuki was having a hard time getting to sleep as well. Kyou wasn't the only one who wished he could have been more useful. He still couldn't quite believe the good luck the three of them had been blessed with. There was no way in hell Tohru's friend Ikami was the only one who'd died as a result of the gang fight. The three of them had been at great risk. Then, that one of the gangsters had actually helped Tohru, and that he and Yuki had found them in the park, completely by chance was almost too perfect. Their odds that day had been extremely bad, yet they'd all come out unhurt. Yuki sent up a thank you to whatever deity had felt particularly kind towards them and rolled over in bed.
The next week passed incredibly smoothly, with the hype up at school that went along with any similar event in the city for the first few days, before the talk settled down and the gang fight passed out of interest. The police had marked the area as hazardous to civilians, and travel there was advised against in the news. And that was all the authorities could do about it. It was amazing, really, how subdued law enforcement had become. After huge losses in numbers as a result of fighting against the installment of gangs early on, the police force had been forced to settle for handling small outbreaks only and acting as a warning device for citizens.
For Tohru and friends however, the incident did not pass out of memory so easily. Uo and Hana-chan had almost immediately stepped into action as Reclaimers, and the area of the fight was on their top-five list of territories to look into. Just as Souta had promised, other gangs had quickly moved in and the issue of ownership of the neighborhood was in heated dispute. What the Reclaimers wanted was for the land to become neutral again, and Tohru's friends told her it was looking as if that was what would be happening, even if they left the situation alone.
Prominent gangs were in a way similar to tiny mafias. The leaders were often acquainted and a great deal of negotiation went on between them. Spies the Reclaimers sent in reported that the bosses of most gangs were opting for the area to return to its former status as a gray zone.
Hana-chan mentioned to Tohru that the Kamikaze, the losers of the fight had completely broken up. Tohru wondered whether Souta would join another gang, and told her friends so. Arisa and Saki promised they'd tell her if they heard anything about him.
"I'm not sure if they actually get much info on individual people unless you're talking about somebody on top," Uo-chan said skeptically, but she was willing to listen for any news of him. Tohru was appreciative of the offer. She'd been taken with Souta and truly hoped he'd do well.
Yuki and Kyou had by no means moved on easily either. Kyou had ranted about the sons of bitches who had nothing better to do than fight in the street until Yuki told him he did the same thing one day while the three walked home from school one day. Kyou promptly challenged Yuki to a fight then and there.
Despite his cool exterior, Yuki was just as angry about the showdown as Kyou. It was one thing for gangs to fight. It was another to involve civilians and put them in danger. Especially Tohru. The problem was that Yuki didn't see how he could do a thing about the whole situation. There was no way he could take on every gang in Japan, let alone the one that had attacked at Tohru's work. Revenge didn't seem to be an option.
Tohru spent an increasing amount of time with Arisa and Saki outside of school, and neither Yuki nor Kyou were sure why. It didn't seem to be recreational time, as the three would usually spend hours in Tohru's room, or otherwise at the other girls' houses. The boys were worried about Tohru, but as the effects of the fateful day at work wore off, she became her usual smiling self again, and they put their worries in the back of their heads.
One day, Shigure came home with an announcement.
"Tohru-kun! Are you still looking for a job?"
"H-hai; I've been trying to get a new one, but I've been busy…I'm sorry, I'll work harder to get one!"
Shigure laughed. "There's no problem, but I found you a job offer if you're interested! It's for a catering company I have some connections to; they say they want a few extra chefs. I thought the job was perfect for you!"
Tohru's eyes sparkled. Her job as a janitor had brought in money, but she liked cooking a lot! This was the kind of job that someone was supposed to look for: a job that would fit his or her passion. And wasn't cooking one of her favorite things to do?
"I'll do it!" she exclaimed. "Oh, thank you so much Shigure-san. It means so much to me!"
Shigure chuckled. He'd known she'd be happy. "Anything to help my dearest Tohru, who works so hard and is the cutest—" A plate flew from the kitchen and collided with the older man's face.
"There's about ten more where that came from," came Kyou's menacing growl from behind the partition. Shigure shut up.
A/N: So I do still have it in me, eh? I actually didn't take a break to decide what to do; I'm just a lazy sucka. So, apologies to anyone that was reading this before that is actually back. I just want to say thanks to Kyoko the Squirrel Queen for leaving the review and reminding me that I do actually have this thing on my hard drive for a reason. I actually have no idea how you found the damn thing. It was probably on page 500 at this point. Thanks also for putting me on your favorites list. I appreciate it a lot! Lots of thanks n hugs also to gotmilk, anonymous, cyjj, and Urameshi no Koibito. Sorry guys, this definitely does not qualify as "updating soon," but I certainly hope that "later" is preferable to "never."