Notes: Happy new year and happy birthday Hajime Hinata!

And, uh... happy 5th anniversary to this fic? holy-

(though I'm a day late for all three of the above events by the time this is going up sobs)

I'm really sorry it's been so long since my last update! I've been dealing with a lack of confidence and depression and pandemic stress and just 2020 in general was a chaotic mess for everyone I bet, huh?! I really hope this year will be better haha.

To be honest I'm still not confident at all in how this new story arc will go, but I know that if I don't just sit down and finally get this out I'll never get it done. So here we go with the first chapter of the ~FINAL STORY ARC~ of Waiting for Rainbows!

I'm glad to be back, and I hope you enjoy!

Waiting for Rainbows
Chapter 20: There's no lock on that door

After several months of serious dating, with the biting winter mellowing into a crisp, fresh spring, Hinata and Kuzuryu had fallen into a comfortable sort of pattern.

Their weekday schedule wasn't exactly regular—with Kuzuryu apparently taking on more responsibilities within the clan, his visits to the koban had decreased in frequency from nearly every day to about thrice a week—but the firm constant had become Hinata's overnight stays at the Kuzuryu household every Friday night.

Spending time there made Hinata feel... conflicted, even after he had come to terms with being in the midst of criminals. It was nice to be able to spend the nights with Kuzuryu at his side, a warm presence sharing the same futon, even if it was never more than that with his family around. Kuzuryu apparently felt no need to hide the fact that he was dating a man while in the house, which was refreshing, but at the same time Hinata couldn't help but sense some sort of deception in it all. He just couldn't immediately put his finger on what it was.

Sometimes while they were in the house, be it in front of others or alone behind closed doors, Kuzuryu would reject certain shows of affection, pushing Hinata away with a stern glare. At other times he would apparently be fine with it, and would even take the initiative in embracing or kissing Hinata himself.

It was all a bit puzzling, and at first Hinata couldn't identify any sort of pattern that could explain it. After a few weekends, though, he had finally settled on a reasonable hypothesis.

"You know," Hinata said low in his throat, as they prepared to turn in for the night, "that neither one of us is more of 'the man' in our relationship than the other, right?"

Kuzuryu finished pulling off his shirt and peered at Hinata as if he had just grown another head. "The fuck? Of course I know that."

So maybe, Hinata mused, Kuzuryu wasn't even aware of what he was doing himself.

Whenever Kuzuryu pushed Hinata away, it would be when, he supposed, he was acting in a way that would imply dominance over Kuzuryu. It wasn't something that he ever really thought about—he considered Kuzuryu and himself to be equals in their relationship. Dominance wasn't a factor. But it seemed that Kuzuryu, at least subconsciously, felt pressured to show no weakness when around his family.

All things considered, it made complete sense. Kuzuryu was still in the midst of a long-fought battle to be seen as the worthy successor to the clan, and in that vein, being romantically involved with another man wasn't necessarily an issue in itself—so long as Kuzuryu was the one in charge.

Hinata wasn't entirely sure how he should feel about that, but he figured it was probably fine. It wasn't so bad to be the one doted on, after all. It was easy enough to adjust to the new dynamic once he had it figured out, and the only real inconvenience was how he would sometimes be briefly roused into half-wakefulness overnight as Kuzuryu adjusted their positions. (Slumber couldn't hide Kuzuryu's cuddly tendencies, apparently.)

So when Hinata felt himself coming back to the surface of consciousness one night, he assumed that it was just Kuzuryu making adjustments again. The realization that something was different came quickly—Kuzuryu wasn't at his side at all, and the loss of warmth abruptly brought Hinata into full wakefulness.

"Kuzu—" he quieted his call before even finishing when he noticed hushed whispering at the bedroom door. Blinking into the darkness, he could just make out Kuzuryu's familiar figure standing at the doorway, speaking to someone in the hall—Pekoyama? It was probably Pekoyama.

"—get the car ready, I'll be there in a few." Hinata managed to catch the tail end of the conversation before Kuzuryu softly shut the door and turned around, frustration etched into his face as he ran a hand through his short hair and opened his closet.

"What's going on?" Hinata murmured, prompting Kuzuryu to freeze.

"Did I wake you? Sorry." Kuzuryu continued to search through the closet without turning to address Hinata, eventually picking out a high-quality robe and shrugging it on. "Some shit's gone down, and I need to run to the office real quick. Go back to sleep."

"What kind of shit?"

"Don't worry about it, Hinata."

"Can I come with you?"

Kuzuryu finally faced him then, an odd expression on his face. Truthfully, Hinata was just as surprised; he hadn't really thought about what he was saying before he said it. Maybe it was due to some sleep-addled desire to not be separated from his boyfriend.

After a moment's consideration, Kuzuryu answered slowly. "You really want to?"

"I mean... sure, I guess."

"Then get some pants on. We're leaving in two minutes and I'm not bringing you in your boxers."

As Kuzuryu finished tying his robe and dug out a long trench coat, Hinata slipped into his pants and overshirt, mind whirring as the fog of sleep faded away. What exactly had he just agreed to? Whatever was going on had to be something fairly major if Kuzuryu was being woken up at three in the morning for it...

Hinata shivered, despite his newly-donned layer of clothing. Part of him wanted to back out, afraid that he was about to thrust himself into a part of the criminal underground that he wasn't prepared for. At the same time, the thought of staying behind as Kuzuryu went without him into a potentially dangerous situation... that didn't sit well with him, either.

He almost certainly goes into plenty of dangerous situations when you aren't around, though, a voice whispered sourly at the edge of his consciousness. He quickly pushed it aside. It was too early to be thinking about that.

"All right, you ready?" Kuzuryu turned back towards Hinata, the dark trench coat making him look a bit more threatening, despite otherwise only donning a robe and pajamas. He looked Hinata up and down skeptically.

There was a soft knock on the door, and it slid open for Pekoyama to peek inside. "Young master, are you ready to go?"

"Just about." Kuzuryu waved a hand at her. "Peko, go find a coat Hinata can wear. We'll be in the car in a sec."

After hesitating for just a moment to look at Hinata curiously, Pekoyama nodded and bowed out of the room.

"Now..." Kuzuryu frowned at Hinata, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "...yeah I got it. Come with me real quick."

Confused, Hinata followed him out of the room and around the corner of the hallway. Kuzuryu stopped in front of a door—his sister's room?—and motioned for Hinata to wait before disappearing inside.

Confusion mounting, Hinata shifted his weight on his feet awkwardly, but he only had to wait for less than a minute before Kuzuryu re-emerged...

...and promptly tossed a large dark mass atop Hinata's head.

"Wh—" Hinata spluttered, spitting strands of something—hair?—from his lips and parting the black curtain that had fallen over his face. "What is this?"

"It's a wig, obviously," was Kuzuryu's easy reply as he began leading them towards the front entrance.

"I can see that," Hinata muttered, running his fingers through the long, synthetic hair in an attempt to work out the tangles and get it to lie more comfortably against his scalp. "But why am I wearing this?"

Kuzuryu gave a small grunt. "What, you wanna get recognized if the cops show up?"

Hinata's hands froze. "There'll be a police presence?"

"For this? Definitely fuckin' possible."

Hinata felt his stomach churn. In areas with an established yakuza presence, the general rule of thumb within the police force was to turn a blind eye to altercations and incidents related to organized crime. Yakuza groups were largely self-policing; as long as they kept their matters contained, it wasn't the place for legitimate law enforcement to step in. But if Kuzuryu thought police might show up, then...

Silently, Hinata straightened the wig on his head, tucking away any stray tufts of his own hair. He may not have figured out exactly what he wanted to do with himself yet, but he certainly wasn't ready to make such a bombastic declaration that he was headed elsewhere.

They met up with Pekoyama in the front hall, and she again looked at Hinata strangely—Totally fair, he thought. She sighed, handed Hinata the coat she had brought out for him, then stepped around him and began running her fingers gently through the wig.

"When was the last time this was styled?" she asked.

"Iunno, ten years ago?"

"I can tell."

Hinata bit back a chuckle in response to her dry quip, then felt her chilled fingertips pulling the hair back and away from his face.

"This should help him look a bit more presentable."

"Okay, great," Kuzuryu grumbled, impatient. "He's a veritable beauty queen, now let's go."

As they filed into the car, Hinata reached a hand behind his head; from what he could feel, it seemed that Pekoyama had used one of her hair ribbons to tie the wig into a low ponytail, and a dull pull on his scalp from a few points suggested she had secured it with some pins, as well. He couldn't tell how it looked, but it was certainly more comfortable than having it all flow down his face and cheeks.

He had questions about the wig. Hell, he had questions about everything about his current situation, but from Kuzuryu's demeanor he got the impression that a silent car ride was preferred at that moment. Still, after a couple minutes of riding in tense silence, Hinata reached over to take Kuzuryu's hand in his and gave an experimental squeeze. Surely that much was okay?

Kuzuryu glanced over to him, then with a small grin, returned the squeeze. "Once this shit is done with, what do you say to just going back to bed?"

"Ah, yeah," Hinata chuckled, nervously smiling down at him. "That sounds good."

Kuzuryu was silent for a moment, brow furrowed as he stared pensively at Hinata's face, before abruptly pulling away to take something out of his breast pocket. "Here, you should put these on, too."

Taken aback, Hinata blinked down at the item that Kuzuryu placed in his hands. "Sunglasses? But it's pitch black outside."

"They're not for practicality, dumbass, they're for your disguise."

Hinata was still uneasy; even in sunlight he'd never worn sunglasses before, and putting them on would definitely make him look like a legitimate member of the clan. "Is the wig not enough?"

"What's the big deal? Your eyes are pretty distinctive."

Before Hinata could try to think of another excuse, Kuzuryu snatched the glasses up and leaned over to slip them onto Hinata's face himself.

"There," Kuzuryu said smugly, admiring his handiwork—which surely wasn't that impressive; the left earpiece had missed its mark and instead loosely hung from the wig's tangles, and the nosepads balanced precariously on the tip of his nose. "Is that so bad? And besides," he continued, his voice lowering to a husky growl, "your gaze only belongs to me, got it?"

There it was, that subconscious dominance that he brought to their relationship with other Kuzuryu clan members around. It wasn't objectionable, just... new, and if the idea of whatever situation they were heading into hadn't put Hinata's stomach into knots, Kuzuryu's tone certainly did for a different reason altogether.

Hinata cleared his throat, warmth dusting his cheekbones, and repositioned the sunglasses on his face.

Hinata had passed by the building where the Hachioji office was housed several times before, but this was his first time actually stepping foot in it. As soon as he followed Kuzuryu and Pekoyama into the narrow stairwell off the street, he was struck by a slight but distinct scent of iron.

Blood.

The smell strengthened as they climbed the stairs, a small handful of clan members taking up the rear, and upon arriving at the office door on the second floor, Hinata saw the clear evidence of blood pooled on the landing and smeared on the wall

And, just as Kuzuryu had guessed, there was a pair of police officers waiting for them.

"There you are," grunted one, stepping carefully over the drying blood to address Kuzuryu, his tone businesslike on the surface but with thinly-veiled barbs. "Kuzuryu. Surely you must realize how unsightly this is."

Kuzuryu snorted. "I don't think it looks that bad, really. Gives the place some street cred."

The officer's gaze hardened. "We can't have common citizens seeing this. Kindly have it gone by dawn, or we'll be filing a report."

You should be filing a report regardless, Hinata couldn't help retorting in his head, but he supposed he had no place criticizing a colleague for making deals with criminals. Not when he was a cop literally in bed with the yakuza.

Kuzuryu gave a dismissive wave. "Yeah, yeah, no shit. I'll have my guys start cleaning it all up right away. You done here?"

"Just wanted to be sure you understood." The officers bobbed their heads slightly as they passed by the group of thugs to leave down the stairwell. Hinata almost bowed in response by reflex, but that would probably look strange coming from someone who for all intents and purposes looked like a mobster.

But, well. At least he hadn't been noticed. He was fairly sure he had seen both those officers at social events before, so Kuzuryu had made the right choice in forcing a disguise on him.

Once the police had left the scene, Kuzuryu gave a frustrated sigh and pointed at two of his gang members. "You and you. Start cleaning this shit up, and make sure you do a fucking good job of it, got it? I'm headed inside to take care of the rest."

Kuzuryu began walking briskly to the office door, and Hinata was quick to follow, not wanting to put too much distance between them. "Um, so... whose blood is that, do you know? Did someone..."

"You'll know in a sec." Kuzuryu slammed the door open, causing the four figures inside to jump in surprise. "All right, who fucked up?! Explain yourselves!"

"Young master..." One man, sitting unsteadily on a couch, looked at Kuzuryu with fear in his eyes. "I... you gotta..." His speech was slightly slurred, but given the bloody rag pressed to the left side of his face and the red soaking the left side of his shirt, Hinata supposed that was understandable.

"Okay, you shut up. You can barely even talk." Kuzuryu whipped his gaze around to the others in the room. "I heard there were two guys involved in this. Get the other guy to explain instead."

"'Fraid that's even less likely, young master," said a man from the opposite couch, using his knee to nudge nudging a mound on the cushions with his that Hinata now recognized as a fifth man; He was even bloodier than the first man, crimson staining the whole front of his shirt, and a bandage being wrapped around his head by a gruff, scarred gangster. He didn't seem to be conscious.

Losing his patience, Kuzuryu kicked over a hat stand by the door. "Well I don't fuckin' care who it is, can someone tell me why I was dragged out of bed on a Friday night when you all know I don't wanna be fuckin bothered!"

If he didn't already feel completely out-of-place in the situation, Hinata suddenly felt totally awkward, and in an attempt to turn his focus elsewhere, he knelt down to pick up the hat stand.

"Don't bother picking that up, I'm just gonna kick it over again!"

Or not.

"Look, young master," the conscious bloody yakuza said shakily. "It weren't our fault, you know? We was doin' our job at the casino like we was supposed to, when that fuckin' Ghost comes out of nowhere and—"

"What ghost?"

"I've heard about 'im in the gambling rings," the gruff man tending to the unconscious man said, standing from the couch after tightening his bandages one more time. "Shows up out of the blue and gambles the shit out of everything. He's not undefeated or anythin', but most of the time when he shows 'is face he wins. And he wins big. The house doesn't directly lose out, o' course, but it's not too great when he essentially bankrupts all the other patrons into leavin'. And then when he's done, he vanishes all over again."

Kuzuryu snorted. "That's why he's called the ghost?"

The gruff man shrugged. "Dunno. That's just what people've been calling him."

"So this Ghost showed up." Kuzuryu gave the bloodied men a withering look. "You two were on enforcement, right? You tried to kick him out?"

The man didn't answer immediately; Hinata couldn't tell if he was genuinely hesitating or if he was actually fading from consciousness. "Well, y'see—"

"You challenged him?!"

The man gulped nervously, nearly losing his grip on the rag held to his head. "L-look, young master, we... we're both actually pretty damn good at Texas hold'em, right? So when he showed up it was like—"

"You bastards are there for security, not to play around with customers!" Kuzuryu shouted, and Hinata had to admit that, enraged as he was, he was probably scarier in pajamas than he would have been properly dressed. The cranky-yakuza-just-out-of-bed angle was certainly effective. "Tell me you at least didn't let him bankrupt yourself!"

"Y-young master, it was, you know... a matter of pride? It wasn't like I could back down, right?"

"Answer the question," Kuzuryu snarled. "Did you lose everything?"

The man took a deep breath, then two, clearly losing his nerve with every passing moment that the clan's heir glared him down. "W-well," he said finally, "I mean, I only lost one ear, so technically—"

"But that would have been after you blew through all your cash!" Kuzuryu kicked the couch in a rage. "I don't give a fuck about your ear! Give me one good reason I shouldn't be tearing off your other one right now!"

"Young master," Peko cut in, opening the door to let another man into the office. "The doctor just arrived."

"Well it's about fucking time!" Kuzuryu pointed sharply at the unconscious man, directing the doctor to prioritize him, before collapsing on a nearby armchair and running and exasperated hand down his face. Hinata quickly moved to stand by the chair, but stopped himself just short of offering any physical comfort. Not the time or the place.

"Can't believe this shit," he muttered. "Not only did you lose all that money, but the two of you couldn't even do your own goddamn job and got put through the wringer by a single guy."

"Wasn't just him," the conscious man said in muted defiance. "We were 'kindly' escortin' him out when a bunch of his pals came out and gave us the beatdown. Outnumbered us maybe four to one."

"Is the Ghost from a rival yakuza clan, then?" Hinata found himself asking, before snapping his mouth shut, a bit embarrassed.

Kuzuryu glanced up at him, but didn't seem annoyed by the input. "It's possible. Not the only possible explanation, but we'll definitely look into it." He turned back to the man with the missing ear. "Tell me you at least did the Kuzuryu clan proud by getting a few good hits in?"

The man blinked slowly, clearly struggling to stay focused on the line of questioning. "I... dunno," he admitted. "I think I got m'knife out to fight back, but after that it's all hazy, and next thing I knew we were dropped outside the office."

Kuzuryu looked like he wanted to explode again, but instead he grit his teeth and sighed. "All right. Fine. It's too early for this shit anyway. Get yourself all healed up, but after that you better damn well know that you'll have to answer to me and my old man."

The wounded man gulped, but otherwise put on a brave face. "Yessir," he grunted, bowing as best as he could.

"As long as you understand." Kuzuryu pushed himself out of the armchair, giving the couch a final kick for good measure as he headed towards the door. "Now don't any of you fucking bother me for the rest of the day if you know what's good for you!"

"Yessir!" came the scattered chorus from the gangsters as Hinata followed Kuzuryu out of the office.

Back in the car, Kuzuryu slouched into the leather seat, looking utterly drained.

"Uh... good work in there," Hinata offered, and Kuzuryu huffed in response. "All the blood outside had me worried, but I'm glad that, uh... at least one of them seems to be more or less all right."

"They'll both be fine," Kuzuryu said, waving a hand dismissively. "Head wounds bleed a lot, so it makes it looks worse than it really is."

"Ah..." As they fell into silence, Hinata picked absently at one of the pins holding the wig in place, wondering how to take it off. "So... a casino?"

Kuzuryu scoffed. "The guys call it that, but really it's just a hole-in-the-wall gambling parlor. Fanciest thing we've got is an old, beat-up roulette wheel."

Hinata hummed thoughtfully, inspecting the bobby pin he had managed to pull out. "So, is it hidden in the back room of a legitimate business or something?"

"Nah, that shit's illegal."

"Gambling is illegal."

"Not in the basement of the Novoselic embassy it isn't."

Hinata made an understanding sort of noise in the back of his throat. "So it's not technically in Japan."

"Nope." Kuzuryu grinned up at him smugly. "So even if the cops do find out, they can't do a thing about it."

"I wasn't going to..." Hinata pulled out another bobby pin and paused, thinking back on his conversation with Kirigiri about ending up complicit in criminal acts. "...Well, I guess you've got us on that technicality, huh."

"Yup."

"Gosh, you're just too clever."

"Not sure I like that smartass tone of yours." Distracted by fishing for the last bobby pin, Hinata was startled to notice that Kuzuryu had moved across the back seat to all but descend upon him, a predatory gleam in his grin. Kuzuryu reached up and tugged the wig off entirely, the remaining bobby pin pulling at Hinata's real hair on its way out. "Forget about all that casino bullshit. I'm taking you back to bed with me and then we're gonna sleep the shit out of the rest of the morning."

Hinata knew that was supposed to be Kuzuryu's assertive façade again, but with that phrasing he couldn't help but give a quick bark of laughter before he was roughly captured in a kiss.

Notes: Okay, so as for my posting schedule going forward...!

I... was really hoping to go back to updating once a month by the time this chapter came out, but unfortunately I still haven't 100% figured out the early-middle part of this arc, and I don't think I can finalize the next chapter until I at least make more headway on that. I have the beginning and the ending planned out, just not... how they connect exactly, haha. So right now I'm hoping for two months from now, ie. March.

But I definitely plan on posting something else for Valentine's Day! Possibly Rainbows-related, possibly not, but definitely Kuzuhina hehe. So look forward to that if you're interested! (But if I go with a Rainbows side story, it's going to be AO3-exclusive, so my pseud there is Umekopyon if you want to check it out!)