The Good Fight
Chapter Three: Seperate Ways
Disclaimer: Don't own DRRR!, only this story and the OCs.
Note: Thank you Psychotic Tendency for the reviews and THANK YOU shoxxic for the awesome feedback, made me want to write more and more. If anyone has questions I'll answer them, feel free to ask in a review!
Ryuugamine Mikado stood before Tae Grocery with wide eyes.
He was frozen in place, clutching the strap of his school bag while completely ignoring his old friend and current classmate, Masaomi Kida's, constant chatter. One could say the only way that Mikado was ignoring his old friend was because he was intently examining the shattered window of the small store with pure awe.
Every little detail of the cracked glass and damaged window frame registered in his mind, and he let his curious eyes wander beyond the glass, past the wooden planks that sealed off the window and between the few gaps between the wood that were left behind. He tried to squint and peek around the panels that had been posted up in place of the no longer existent window, and could faintly make out the colossal damage that lay inside the store.
From what he saw, he could only let his imagination run rampant regarding the innards of the grocery.
Glass everywhere, liquids painting the walls, piles of nameless items all over -
"This is exactly why you should avoid – hey Mikado-kun, you listening?"
Mikado jumped at the sound of Kida's slightly irritated voice and pulled himself out of his fantasies.
"Oh-oh sorry...what were you saying Kida-kun?"
Kida glared at his friend for a few seconds before he crossed his arms, "What I was trying to tell you before you so rudely started ignoring me was –"
However, before the young teen could begin his rant, a soft, feminine voice cut him off.
"Do you kids need – oh, Masaomi-kun, it's been awhile."
Kida, patience beginning to run thin, whirled around quickly; ready to snap at the person who had just interrupted him, and as Mikado had come to expect, readied himself for some sharp-tongued insults from his friend. He would probably have to clean up the blonde's mess afterwards, but he didn't particularly mind.
Usually.
But what came out of Kida's mouth surprised him.
"Tae-san! It has been awhile! How are you?"
Mikado, interest piqued, snuck a glance at this "Tae-san" from behind Kida's back.
The teen caught sight of a pretty young woman who looked to be a few years older than him, possibly in her late teens or early twenties, holding a wooden box. Her steel grey hair was long and layered in fine chops that neatly folded into feathered bangs. She had a thin figure and was a few inches taller than himself and Kida, and was dressed in a white, buttoned up pea coat that was paired with a red scarf, dark jeans and black flats.
Mikado had not realized he had been staring at her until his eyes met her pale grey ones, which held a startling contrast against her semi-dark hair. He blushed furiously when she smiled at him softly with a pair of light pink lips, and caught his face getting hotter and hotter when he realized that he had continued staring at her long enough to notice her face was lightly freckled.
Mikado immediately shot his eyes down at his feet, and didn't notice the way the young woman's smile faded into a heavy grimace before she turned her attention back towards Kida, who seemed completely oblivious towards the whole exchange between his friend and the woman.
"I was doing well until well, you know," she replied finally, tilting her head towards her shop, as if identifying all of the world's problems.
Kida sighed and shook his head, as if he could completely understand her woes. "Yeah, yeah it really sucks...I was there when it happened, ya know."
"Oh?" Takanabbi shifted the box she was holding in her hands, "You were, were you?"
Kida seemed to become more animated, ready to tell his side of the story, "Yeah I was just standing right across the street with Mikado-kun here," he said, jerking a thumb back at his friend, "We saw the whole thing."
Takanabbi sighed, "Interesting...so how did the whole thing start exactly? I honestly still have no idea what happened. I just know a vending machine flew through my window suddenly and completely destroyed my store..."
"Well it all started when –"
Kida abruptly became quiet, which caused both Takanabbi and Mikado to look at him questioningly. He was looking off at something behind the young store owner, which caused her to glance back over her shoulder and Mikado to follow their gazes soon after.
Mikado felt adrenaline rush through his veins as the sight of Heiwajima Shizuo came into his vision. The blonde man was dressed in the same bartender uniform the teen had seen him in last time, when he had went on a rampage with the vending machine. This time however, he was wearing a pair of lightly tinted sunglasses. His hands were shoved in his pockets and a cigarette was precariously balanced between his lips.
The young boy again, along with the excitement pumping through him, was in awe, especially when he caught wind of Kida and Takanabbi's tenseness, which had suddenly seized the once calm air around them. Mikado couldn't see the way Kida's eyes flashed with an unknown emotion and how the young shop owner's fingernails were digging harshly into the box she was still holding.
"Tae-san..." Mikado whispered, "What is he doing here?"
Takanabbi didn't look back at Kida when she replied. "He's fixing my store...I made an agreement with him and the debt shark."
"You what?" Kida gasped, his voice jumping an octave. The way Kida reacted reminded Mikado of when he had met a certain information collector, and he became slightly aware that he could be in danger as he stood casually outside a grocery store.
Ikebukuro was truly turning out to be far more than the young teen had expected.
"Why don't you run along Kida-kun," Takanabbi suddenly suggested, her grey eyes narrowing when she turned to look at the two students, "Come by my store tomorrow after you get out of school, and we can catch up then...you can tell me all about what happened to my store."
Mikado watched as Kida nodded. Takanabbi's eyes were still slit dangerously when she gave the two boys a small smile, "Your friend can come along too...I'm sorry I'm being so rude, but I have a lot to do tonight."
Although her words were kind, Mikado almost felt threatened.
Kida once again nodded and muttered something unintelligible and soon turned to Mikado, catching him by the crook of his arm. Before Mikado could say more, he was being dragged off quickly, a thousand questions floating to his mind, curiosity reaching its limit.
Once they were a safe distance away from Tae Grocery and had found a perch on a sidewalk bench, Mikado was finally able to speak.
"So...Kida-kun, who exactly was that?"
Kida, who had plopped himself down on the crudely painted green bench with an exasperated sigh, crossed his hands behind his head before responding.
"You mean Tae-san or that blonde guy? I mean I've told you a million times –"
"Tae-san," Mikado said a bit too quickly.
Kida gave him a large, impish grin, "What you think she's cute or something?"
"Oh uh n-n-no," the dark haired teen stuttered. "I was just curious...since you seemed to know her well."
Kida lifted his hands from behind his head. He rested his elbows on his knees and leaned forward, looking at the dirty sidewalk instead of Mikado.
"Well she owns that grocery store; it's been in her family for quite some time. Her brother was supposed to inherit it and take over after her parents left but he...he uh didn't so she did," the blonde explained. "I met her one morning while I was walking to school. I forgot to pack a bento so I decided to buy one from her store...it was kind of weird though, because I never really noticed the place before that day."
Mikado sat down beside Kida, staring at him expectantly, wanting more.
Kida continued, eyes still downcast. "I went to pay for the bento and she was working the cash register and we just got to talking...I started going by there more often because it was a quicker route to the Academy...but then I found another way that was even faster than that so I stopped going by her store."
Kida finally lifted his eyes up, glancing around at the Ikebukuro crowds that were surrounding their bench. "When we saw that fight yesterday and when Simon was too late to intervene to stop that Shizuo from throwing the vending machine, and when I saw that it had gone through Tae-san's window...I was a little worried, that's why I brought you there today."
Mikado gave his friend a look and Kida blushed, "No it's nothing like that. Although she doesn't seem like it, she's actually a really nice and loyal person and people like her are hard to come across in Ikebukuro."
Kida stood up then, stretching his arms out and glancing down at Mikado, "Let's get going, it's getting late."
"Oh yeah...okay," Mikado said, standing up as well. "Are we going to go to her store tomorrow?" he then asked.
Kida was silent for a moment.
"Sure...but Mikado-kun..."
"What?"
"Don't go and see Tae-san alone, ever."
Mikado's eyes widened, startled by such a request, "W-why?"
Kida smiled that wide, goofy grin of his. "Because I might get jealous! She's so cute!"
Mikado smiled back at his friend, but it was half sincere. Kida's crimson eyes were so serious even though his words sounded lighthearted and joking. The look in Kida's eyes and his words of warning, about never seeing Takanabbi alone, caused Mikado's interest to spark once again.
And as the two teenage boys began walking home, eventually going their own ways, Mikado forgot a very important, age-old saying:
Curiosity killed the cat.
Back in Tae Grocery, Shizuo stood before Takanabbi, looking down at her through his lavender tinted glasses.
The young woman looked back up at him, and remained silent, which made Shizuo a bit uncomfortable. He was used to staring, as people did it all the time. But they usually did so at a distance. This woman before him though was merely a foot away from him, clutching a box with a claw-like vice.
"So...what's in the box?" Shizuo asked, breaking the tense silence between them. Takanabbi blinked, confused, as if she had forgotten she was even holding such an object. She blinked her grey eyes rapidly again and then looked down at the said box in her hands.
"Oh...here, you'll need these." The store owner stated, shoving the crate into Shizuo's hands.
He fumbled the box for a moment before finally gaining a solid grip on it. "These...?" the bartender began, but he soon grew quiet. Shizuo had lifted the lid of the crate only to reveal various tools. He studied the utensils before looking back to Takanabbi, who had quickly moved away from the man and towards a broom.
Broom in hand, Takanabbi glanced over her shoulder for a split second before she finally said, "Well what are you waiting for? Fix my store."
Shizuo, before he could stop himself, sighed audibly. This was the last thing he wanted to do on his evening off. He'd much rather be in his apartment, sleeping or watching some movie his brother had starred in. But no, he was stuck bowing down to a girl a third of his size just because he had done a little damage to her store.
The bartender gazed down at the tool box, looked back up and around the store, and felt his teeth grind against each other unconsciously.
He wouldn't be in this mess if that fucking flea hadn't –
"Do you plan on just standing there all night?"
The blonde snapped out of his reverie, and caught Takanabbi studying him incredulously, hands on her hips. He turned away from her while growling out a less than sincere, "sorry."
Shizuo completely missed the glare the young woman shot at him. The momentary hostility passed as soon as it came though, and the pair soon fell into a quiet yet tense working pattern. Hours passed, and no words were exchanged. The only sound heard was Takanabbi's sweeping of glass and then her mopping of the floors, and Shizuo's various reconstruction activities.
The two finally spoke when they both seemed to meet up at the vending machine...which was still stuck in the wall.
"So...I guess just lift it out of the wall?" Takanabbi suggested unsurely.
"Stand back a bit."
Takanabbi nodded and treaded back a few paces. Shizuo, who had somehow kept his sunglasses on the entire time (he had completely forgotten they were still hanging onto his face) slipped them off his nose, and stuck his hand out behind him.
"Can you hold these for a minute?"
Takanabbi blinked, moved forward a bit, and gently grabbed ahold of the blue-tinted glasses. She then stepped back again and watched the spectacle known as Heiwajima Shizuo.
The bartender nestled his hands against the red vending machine, letting the coolness of the metal settle onto his palms. He absorbed the feeling, and then silently counted to three in his head before his muscles in his legs and arms tightened. He pulled the machine out of the wall with little effort, pieces of plaster following in its wake.
Takanabbi felt herself trembling somewhat as Shizuo stood there, holding an object that weighed God knows how much. But it was not in fear necessarily. It was in awe and excitement.
"Wow," she breathed out.
Shizuo heard her and in a way, he was a bit surprised she wasn't squealing in fear (as most females tended to do when his awesome strength presented itself).
"I guess I should just take this –"
"There's a dumpster out back," Takanabbi squeaked out, a bit too fast for her own good.
Shizuo headed out back, Takanabbi jumping ahead of him a bit to open the door so he could squeeze through it, and soon he tossed it in the trash bin. It landed with a large thud and the scraping of metal echoed all around them. He then turned to Takanabbi, who was still studying him with high interest.
"So uh..." Shizuo began, rubbing the back of his head uncomfortably.
"I think that's enough for tonight," the grey eyed woman said. She turned back into the shop, the blonde hot on her heels.
While inside, the two prepared to leave, Takanabbi sliding on her coat she had taken off earlier. She found herself still gripping the bartender's glasses, and uneasily tapped him on the shoulder.
"Um...here you go."
Shizuo's eyes bore down on her and he took the shades from her delicately, almost afraid he would frighten her. But she didn't flinch or show any signs of fear.
The two eventually made their way to the door, Takanabbi locking up the doors while Shizuo stood behind her, waiting. It was late in the night, around one a.m. and he thought he would be courteous enough to ask her if she needed to be walked home. She politely declined and as she began to walk in the direction towards her apartment, Shizuo suddenly stopped her with an abrupt question.
"Tae-san...did you used to go to Raira Academy?"
The woman froze in her steps, and kept her back towards the blonde.
"I did," she eventually answered, "why do you ask?"
Shizuo turned on his heel, his large, muscular back now facing her tiny one.
"Just wondering."
And then they both went their separate ways.