Posting this first before I forget to finish this piece altogether. I'll do the double checking later once my head cleared a bit.
Dance
By Izzu
o
o
The moment the music ended the whole place exploded with noise and cheers from the big crowd watching them. Micchi was still in a daze as he was group-hugged by the team. He was so much in shock, that Chucky stared at him with a grimace.
"Oi, Micchi! Don't make that face! I know that I'm not Mai... she looked better in this outfit than me anyways—"
Micchi blinked. "Ah, no... Chucky! I didn't mean to—"
"Hehe... not too bad, Chucky. I actually can't imagine you looking so girly—I mean, Rika would have been a better choice... aah!" Peko jumped as Chucky pinched him hard. Everyone laughed as they watched Peko jump around, trying to avoid Chucky's assault on him.
Chucky angrily pulled off her wig as she frowned. "Sorry that I'm not girly enough but I was more familiar with Mai's solo dance routine than Rika."
"Now, now... let's not start a fight," Rat started saying as Micchi let out a small cough to call for their attention.
"Actually... I'm just speechless. It was as if...they're really here!" said Micchi, as his voice started to break.
Everyone stared at Micchi wordlessly as Takatora walked over towards them. Micchi turned around, immediately becoming tense as his brother walked closer towards him. He hastily wiped a stray tear as he skipped towards his brother. Everyone immediately went quiet as Jounouchi came to their side.
Micchi gulped nervously. "So... nii-san, how...is it?"
Takatora chuckled as he broke into a smile.
"I'm surprised. I never imagined that you could dance so well..." Micchi immediately burst into tears as Takatora cupped his face with his hands. "It really is so good to see you smiling... even more, Mitsuzane."
Micchi nodded happily, still crying before wrapping his arms around his big brother.
A couple of giggles and chuckles caused Micchi to pull himself away abruptly from his brother; as he turned around toward his friends. "What?"
Chucky and Rika giggled. "It's nothing. It's interesting to see this side of Micchi. It's cute," said Chucky as Micchi blushed.
"I-it's... not what you think!"
Zack walked over and turned towards Takatora. "So, Micchi told us about your flight. When is it?"
Micchi jumped at the mention of it as he spoke hastily. "Tonight at 7."
Takatora gasped as started looking at his watch. "Oh! That reminds me, we still need to get back home. There's still something I needed to take." He glanced back towards the beat riders. "Sorry about this, but..."
"We'll see you guys later at the airport, Takatora-san," Zack said again as Takatora stared at him, surprised. Zack later placed an arm over Micchi's shoulder. "Can't let Micchi send you off alone. It'll be lonely for him later."
Micchi hastily brushed Zack off as he grabbed on his brother's arm. "We might as well get going now. See you guys later!" he said as Micchi dragged Takatora out of the warehouse.
xxx
Takatora glanced towards his brother as the car stopped at the traffic light; noticing that the kid was a bit too quiet. And then he recalled the earlier incident back at the warehouse.
"Mitsuzane? Something wrong?" he asked.
Micchi shook his head. "No. Nothing's wrong."
Takatora sighed as he gripped the steering wheel. "You know, Mitsuzane. It's not like I won't come back to check on you. It's not as if I can't come visit here until work over there is completed..."
"I know! It's just..." Micchi sighed, "...nii-san. This time, I will really do my best to become truly strong. I'll do it properly this time. I'll learn everything that I needed... so that I could protect you. After all, my Sengoku driver really did ended up being the only one left intact."
Takatora snorted as Micchi sat up straight.
"I'm serious! Nii-san... you've always watching over me; from the very beginning..."
"Did I?" asked Takatora as he made a turn towards their home district. "If I had really... done that, I would have been more aware about the things you've been doing—I would have been able to stop you from getting involved with all of this. To keep you from harm... from Helheim or even yourself,"
"You did though, even if you're not aware of it. I mean... all the mess I did, that's all me. It's never your fault. I—nii-san, even before I knew that you were involved with Helheim... you always did... looked after me."
Takatora hit the breaks gently before turning towards his brother. "Huh? What did you mean?"
Micchi chuckled nervously. "I mean... there was this time, when Kouta-san, Kaito and me entered this other world from this strange crack in Helheim. That time when we were stuck inside the world that was like the sengoku period but with their own version of armoured warriors. That time, you did watched over me."
Takatora stared at him, dumbfounded. He frowned, as he finally remembered. "Oh? That time? That's... you can't possibly say—that time I was only concerned about taking all of you back to our world. Because you guys were still part of out 'test subjects' and there's no way we'd allowed you guys to be lost. It's not like I was genuinely worried about your safeties."
Takatora tightened his grip on the steering wheel. "I'm not even aware that you're there. Even when you've been standing in front of me. If that time you've really gotten hurt badly... I wouldn't have even noticed!"
Micchi bit his lips. "But... you're still there, weren't you? That time when you gave me a Suika Lockseed and told me to return home; there was also that time when you gave that peculiar USB drive to me, in order to turn that one Helheim fruit into a Lockseed to fight. You even fought by my side that time!"
"Mi-Mitsuzane..."
"What I'm trying to say is... the bad things; not all of it was your fault. Ryoma had a part on it, a lot of other people too. Even me. Even when I intended to want to help you at the beginning, I ended up making things even worse near the end. So this time, it's not just you that had to do something to fix all the damage. I will too. For real, this time."
"This sin, it's not yours alone. It's mine too. Even after everything, Nii-san too... have done some good things yourself. You don't have to also worry about me. I'll also make myself get better. I'll help out too. Even without the power Ygdrassil used to have on this city."
Takatora slowly smiled. "I see. I'll leave everything here to you, then."
xxx
Much later, at the airport.
Takatora sighed. "Well, this is it," he bit his lips before turning towards Mitsuzane again. "Mitsuzane, in case... it gets lonely at home, if it's hard to stay there by yourself—"
Micchi grinned. His brother was still such a worrywart. "Nii-san! I—if that happens, I'll call on the guys. Don't worry about me."
His older brother still appeared uneasy though. "I'll call home, once a while. But really, if there's any problem..."
"I'll give you a call. Sure!"
He thought he was handling this well, but his brother still looked worried. Without warning, Micchi felt himself being pulled towards his brother into an embrace. He could hear his brother sigh. "How I'm going to cope with myself, having to leave you behind... alone? You take care of yourself, okay?"
Before he could answer, several voices started to call for them.
"Micchi! Takatora-san!"
Micchi turned around as Zack and the others ran towards them. He hastily wiped the tears on his face.
"Thank goodness we managed to arrive on time!" cried Rika as she clung to Rat for support.
"We were trying to get you something before you leave," added Chucky as Takatora politely refused.
"You kids don't have to do anything..." he started to say.
"Well, we can't just let you leave alone..." Zack finally spoke as Micchi turned his attention towards him. "And I did say that I'm going to keep Micchi company to send you off. I'll watch over Micchi while you're gone. Don't worry."
Micchi stared at Zack for a moment before turning back towards his brother. As he did, they heard a call for Takatora's flight to start boarding.
"Ah, that's my cue to leave. I... I'll be going then."
"Wait!" Micchi hastily grabbed his brother's arm. "Nii-san... take care. Don't push yourself too hard, 'kay?"
His brother smiled before running his hand over Micchi's head.
"I will."
xxx
An hour has passed, before Zack dared himself to approach Micchi. The flight that Takatora was in had already departed, yet Micchi still stared towards the night sky as if still able to see the plane flying away. He gently tapped on Micchi's shoulder as he got his attention.
"Come on, let's go home."