Ichigo sighed as she crawled up the stairs to her apartment with her shoes in one hand and backpack in the other. Her feet hurt, her body hurt, her brain even hurt. She was just ready to go home, go to bed, and be done with the day. She looked down at her watch; it was a quarter past midnight. She would have been home sooner, but two of her coworkers called in, leaving her with just two other people cleaning a five-story hotel by themselves.
She walked up, but before she made it to her apartment, she couldn't help but walk over and lean against the railing, looking up at the sky. The moon shined so bright tonight. There was not a cloud in sight, leaving the moon to own the sky. She smiled as she closed her eyes, enjoying the silence around her. There was no wind, nothing to shake the trees or cause her hair to fly around her face. It was peaceful, serene almost.
Her night of silence was interrupted when she heard a motorcycle pull up below her. She looked down from the railing, seeing a motorcycle driving through the parking lot to park right next to the only handicap spot. She had seen the bike many times before, but never the driver. The person hopped off the bike, walking towards the building without glancing in her direction.
She stood there staring down at the small open grassy area in the middle of the complex curiously as she watched the figure walk up. It was too dark to make out the man, which made him look mysterious in any way. His short hair seemed familiar to her, but she couldn't put her finger on it. But what she did know was that the man was injured. She observed as he walked over to the building with a limp and was nursing his arm.
She then turned her head away as he disappeared behind the building. He must live on one of the level floors seeing that the only thing other there was the stairs. She shrugged her shoulders as she headed back to her door, ready to call it a night, when out the corner of her eye, she saw the biker walk onto her floor. Now she was curious. She stood there watching his movement as he slowly walked down the hall, not noticing her presents at all, giving her a better look at him. That's when she realized exactly who he was with his short light lilac hair walking over to the apartment that was five doors down from her.
"Mitsuya?" She questioned out loud, seeing if that was really him. His eyes snapped open when he recognized her voice. He froze and looked over to see her leaning against the railing. They stared at each other in shock.
"You're home pretty late, Pretty Boy," Ichigo pointed out quietly in shock as she looked him over. She could now get a better look at him.
His left eye was bruised under it, slightly swollen and bloodshot like someone had punched him. Blood trickled from his nose, and some dried-up blood came from his mouth, making him look grimier than he already was. She could also tell that there was something wrong with his ankle as she watched him shift all of his weight into his right leg. They both were quiet for a while as they stared at each other. Takashi took one last look at Ichigo before turning around silently and walking over to his door. Not wanting to have any sort of interactions with her.
Ichigo looked after him and bit her lip as he reached for the doorknob but hesitated before turning the knob. "Stop," she ordered him. He stopped midway and turned to her as Ichigo leaned on the railing and crossed her arms as she looked him in the eyes. He stayed silent, waiting for her to say whatever it was she wanted to say. "Come with me," she demanded.
Takashi blinked and shook his head before speaking, "Where and why?"
Ichigo shook her head in disgust before taking a step off the railing as she looked down at him, "My apartment. You're getting cleaned off before you go home. The girls don't need to see you like this."
He stared at her and sighed deeply before nodding. He stepped away from his door and started hobbling down the hallway. He held his side as the pain hit him hard. Ichigo sighed in frustration as she stomped after him and helped him inside.
Once inside, she turned him around to sit on the couch and placed her hand gently on his shoulder. Takashi winced, feeling himself lean on his bad leg as she removed it. "Stay here," she ordered him.
He didn't question it as he sat down and closed his eyes, trying to ease the pain. After a moment, she returned with a first aid kit and a glass of water handing the water to him as she gave him a pain relief medicine instructing him to take it. When he finished, she went back to get a damp washcloth and some paper towels. She brought everything back to him and set everything down beside the coffee table.
"You want to tell me what the hell happened to you?" She demanded.
Takashi sighed and shook his head before speaking, "No, not really."
"I'm going to ask again, and I swear if you won't answer me this time..." She warned before grabbing the rag and wetting it.
Takashi looked at her as her hands glistened with water as she started cleaning him. "Got caught up in a little mess with the Golden Snakes."
"Golden Snakes? What's that?" Ichigo asked, confused.
He smiled lightly at her as he ran a hand through his hair, "A growing gang that used to camp out in the east of Shibuya."
Ichigo raised a brow as she continued wiping the blood off of his face and neck, "Used to?"
Takashi nodded, "Yeah, we took them over tonight."
Ichigo frowned and dropped the rag as she got a good look at him. There was a gash across the left side of his face that bled sluggishly. She grabbed the bottle of hydrogen peroxide off of the table and poured some onto the rag, ignoring Takashi as he winced out in pain. "So what'd they'd do that they needed to be taken out by...what are y'all called again? Tomen?"
Takashi smirked at her and chuckled dryly, "It's Toman, and they've been sexually harassing girls. They've been warned multiple times to stop. But they didn't, so we had to get involved."
Ichigo furrowed her eyebrows. "Good," she stated simply and focused on bandaging up his face. He wasn't surprised by her sudden comment of approval. He knew where she stood when it came to girls being harassed.
"You're pretty good at this," Takashi noted dryly.
Ichigo scoffed softly as she cut a piece of gauze. "I've had practice over the years," she answered honestly.
"I guess that makes sense with your reputation and everything," he commented dryly. "You probably got into a lot of fights in the past."
"Not me," she corrected. She dabbed some iodine on her fingers and put it in the wound on Takashi's cheek.
"Huh?" He hummed.
"Well, not me completely. Kaigo comes home busted up some times," Ichigo told him bluntly. "Dumbass has foot in mouth syndrome, and it gets him in trouble at work," she explained as she bandaged up the gash on his cheek.
"Who's Kaigo?" He inquired curiously.
Ichigo sighed and rolled her eyes as she continued to work. "My dad," she told him flatly as she cut off a piece of tape.
"What does your dad do that get's him beaten up?" he wondered as he tilted his head.
Ichigo paused, looking up at him before answering. "We don't really talk about it. So if you don't mind, can you drop it?" She asked him coldly.
Takashi raised his eyebrows, wondering what kind of job her dad did that required him to work at night, coming back home bruised and beaten up. And if that wasn't enough red flags, they don't talk about it. He wouldn't press on it though he knew it was best to respect people's boundaries. Especially the ones that were cleaning his wounds.
He sighed and leaned back, looking around as she worked. He couldn't help but notice that her apartment looked completely 180 from his. His home looked lived in, whereas hers looked like nobody lived there. Her place felt cold and empty. She only had the necessities. One couch, one bookshelf, a TV, and a dining room table. Her fridge, stove, cupboards, and shelves looked empty and devoid of anything that wasn't food. But one thing that he noticed was the five pictures hung up on her wall. He figured they were pictures that she took due to the professionalism. There was a picture of a sunflower, a sunset, the ocean, a starry night, and another that interested him the most. It was a photo that he knew she didn't take because it was not as crisp and clean as the other ones.
In the picture was a little girl with short red hair and bright green eyes sitting on a swing giving a peace sign with a tall man who looked utterly opposite of her with long shaggy blonde hair and dark brown eyes kneeling next to her holding up bunny ears behind her head. He stared at it, admiring the look of happiness on the girl's face. It was obviously Ichigo, but who was that man, her brother? He didn't look old enough to be her dad.
"I didn't know you had a brother?" He questioned her after a moment.
Ichigo didn't glance up as she cleaned off his knuckles. "That's not my brother. That's Kaigo, my dad," she replied calmly and focused on bandaging his hand, knowing exactly what he was referring to.
Takashi looked confused before frowning at her. "So I'm guessing you look like your mom then?" He finally questioned her as he kept his focus on her.
"I guess," she spat with venom as she clenched down on his hand. She released her grip once she saw that she was squeezing him too tight and rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Sorry about that. I'm just not a fan of my mom," she explained softly and continued bandaging his hand.
"Do you mind if I ask why? I mean, I'm just curious. You never mentioned your mom before," Takashi remarked curiously as he sat patiently waiting for her answer.
Ichigo looked up at him in annoyance. "Since when did this become a therapy session?" She spat angrily as she finished wrapping one hand and then going to the next one.
Takashi smirked before chuckling humorlessly. "Don't be like that. I was just wondering, is all," he defended as he waited for her reaction. But when she stayed quiet, not even looking up at him, he asked her another one. "Do you think you can then at least feed my curiosity by telling me what your ethnicity is? I've never seen anyone with your color hair and eyes and it being natural."
She glared at him and rolled her eyes, "Fine nosy nellie, I'm Irish."
Takashi cocked his head to the side at the answer before looking back down at her, soaking in her image. "Irish, huh?" It made sense. She had crazy long red hair, freckles, and bright green eyes. He felt pretty stupid not guessing that before. But to his defense, she was probably the first Irish girl he's ever met. "So, how did Ms. Ireland end up in the middle of Tokyo?" He inquired.
Ichigo finally looked up at him. "I was born here. My mom and dad are both Irish. They moved down here before I was born. My dad became a big guy up in Sony," she explained calmly.
"Is that so? No offense, but your dad looks Japanese," he commented, looking up at the picture of her and Kaigo. He couldn't see any similarities between the two.
Ichigo snorted, "Kaigo's my stepdad. My parents got a divorce when I was seven."
"Oh," Takashi mumbled, mentally kicking himself for asking personal questions that he knew made her uncomfortable.
She hummed and nodded in agreement. "Yep," she added shortly, "Well, technically, he's not even my stepdad. My mom and him never got married." She didn't look up at him as she mindlessly finished wrapping his knuckles up. "My mom met Kaigo when I was 10. When I was 13, they were supposed to get married. But my mom was a whore and got herself pregnant. She and Kaigo got into a huge fight about it. I didn't understand at first. I thought, "Why would he be upset? Shouldn't he be happy?" But then I found out Kaigo's infertile. He got injured when he was younger; between the surgeries and medications and everything, the doctors confirmed that Kaigo could never have kids."
She paused a moment as Takashi continued to listen quietly, "So it didn't take a genius to find out that she cheated on him. Kaigo and her got into a huge fight, one that involved throwing things at each other. My mom ended up leaving that night. We both thought she'd be back the next day. But when Kaigo came back from work and I came back from school, she was gone. She took all the things that were important to her and left, except for me. She left me," Takashi remained silent as he continued listening. She was still looking down at his hand as he felt her shake underneath him but knowing her, it could be out of sadness or anger or, in her case, a mix of both.
She sniffled and wiped at her nose as her voice broke slightly. "I obviously wasn't important enough to her that she didn't come back to take me with her. I was sure Kaigo was going to get rid of me. After all, I wasn't his daughter. Hell, I wasn't even his stepdaughter," she choked out bitterly. "After two weeks of my mom being gone, we knew she wasn't coming back. I thought that this was it. I'll be thrown away. I was for certain Kaigo wasn't going to keep me. But I was wrong. Kaigo didn't kick me out. He didn't resent me. He didn't blame me for anything," she laughed harshly.
"He kept me. The dumbass really kept me. When we finally accepted that my mom wasn't coming back, Kaigo pulled me into him and told me he was sorry. He said, "I'm sorry you're mom didn't realize how special and amazing you are. But I do, and I'm never going to let you go. Blood or not, you are my one and only daughter, and I will protect and love you to the point where you'll never feel lonely or unloved again." That's what he said to me," Ichigo finished with an edge to her tone. Her hand gripped around his tightly, but no matter how badly it hurt, he didn't pull away from her. He'd let her break his hand if she needed to.
Takashi watched as tiny tears fell down her cheeks as she tried to roughly rub them off her face. "So even though Kaigo pisses me off half the time and is the biggest dumbass I've ever met, I love him," she muttered lowly with a hint of venom laced in her words. "I love him because he's been the best father I could ever ask for. So if he's willing to sacrifice everything for me, well, then I'll put up with his stupidity," she smiled lightly, wiping away at the many tears that were escaping her eyes.
Slowly one by one, Takashi watched tiny tears fall down her face as she struggled to keep herself from breaking down in front of him, clenching her fist in frustration. He smiled lightly at her, wanting her not to be upset anymore as he instinctively wrapped his free arm around her, pulling her close to him like he would to his sisters and mother. Ichigo froze for a moment, not knowing what was going on before burying her face against his chest and screaming into him as she clenched his jacket tightly.
"I fucking hate her! I hate her so much!" Ichigo shouted into his chest and cried harder than ever. "Why didn't she take me with her! Why did my mom leave me!"
Takashi held her tight, his arms wrapping tighter around her as she continued to cry out all the things she'd been holding back this whole time until she just broke down completely. He hugged her tightly and rubbed her back as she cried and yelled out what she felt in front of him, telling him everything that she kept bottled up inside her until now.
"She left me," Ichigo whispered into his chest, her voice cracking slightly as she started to pull herself back together. The last thing she wanted was anyone seeing her like this, especially Takashi, but here she was.
"You know. I'm pretty jealous of you," Ichigo scoffed a laugh through her nose before slowly pushing her head away from his chest gently but firmly. She looked at him softly, wiping her eyes off with her sleeve as he smiled slightly at her. "Yeah, and why's that?" he asked her in amusement.
"You have an amazing family. Sure it's not perfect, but you have an amazing mom and two beautiful sisters. You come home every day being greeted with nothing but cheers. Your mom loves you, and your sisters idolize you," she stated, smiling at him in admiration.
He stared back at her before chuckling. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm pretty lucky, aren't I?" He smiled, looking down at his now wrapped up hands.
"So do me a favor, Pretty Boy," Ichigo told him seriously, "Don't ever go home looking beaten up again," she ordered.
Takashi looked up at her, surprised by her demand, but before she could say anything, she cut him off. "Your mom and sisters don't need to see you beaten up. Your mom worries about you enough. Don't worry her even more. You'll upset her," she lectured sternly, glaring at him. "So if something like this happens again, you come here. I'll patch you up," she declared.
Takashi stared at her in disbelief. He opened his mouth and closed it again and again, trying to formulate a response, but all she did was glare at him as he looked her deep into her emerald green eyes and gave in as he sighed deeply, "Alright. I promise. Next time this happens, I'll come to you first."
Ichigo nodded her head as her expression softened, and a smile appeared on her face. "Good. Now come on. It's about 1:30; you should probably head home," she advised as she stood up and reached down to help him.
Takashi blinked as his eyes trailed from her hand and up to her face briefly before grabbing it tightly. He followed her lead and hopped to his feet, following behind as she guided them towards the door and out of the room without hesitation.
"Hey," he called to her as he stepped outside. Ichigo glanced over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow at him. "Thanks again, Little Strawberry," he thanked before walking away with a smirk playing on his lips, ignoring the colorful names she was calling him.
When Takashi came home, he slowly and carefully opened the door, not wanting to wake anyone up. He peeked inside before shutting the door behind him and making his way inside. He carefully slipped off his shoes, putting them next to the door, and headed straight for his room.
"Taka? Is that you?"
Takashi froze as he watched his mother slowly and carefully peek her head out of the living room sofa. His mother looked tired but smiled warmly when she saw him.
"Hey, Mom," he greeted her as he carefully walked over and leaned over the sofa, kissing her forehead softly. "What are you doing up? You should be in your bed. The sofa's not comfy."
His mother looked exhausted as she slowly picked herself up and walked over to him. Her long blonde wild hair was all over her face, and her silk pajama top was slowly hanging off of one shoulder. She tugged her hair out of her face as she looked at Takashi. "I couldn't sleep. I was worried about you. You didn't come home," she admitted as she placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.
He shook his head as he patted his mother on her head, "I told you I was going to be out late. You shouldn't wait up for me. You have work in the morning."
His mother simply shook her head, brushing the dirt and debris off his shoulders, "I'm your mother, Taka. I'm allowed to worry. What happened to you?" She was now really worried. "Why are you all patched up?" She pointed to the bandages that covered his face and hands.
Takashi frowned deeper as he shook his head. "Don't worry about it, mom. I'm fine. Ichigo patched me up," he assured her, brushing some hair out of her face.
His mother smiled weakly as she pulled him into a soft hug. "I'm glad you have someone looking out for you. I know Little Ichi will take good care of you," she drifted off. "That's what she does, you know. She takes care of people," she whispered, arms gently wrapped around his neck.
Takashi gave her a look of confusion before nodding his head slowly, walking her over to her room, tucking her into bed. His mother was right; Ichigo does take care of people. She takes care of his mother and sisters, she goes to every softball game and cheers Yuzuha on, being her number one supporter, and she helps Hakkai with his schoolwork, and tonight she took care of him, and he didn't even ask her to.
No one ever asks her to take care of them. She just does. Tonight Ichigo helped him without any hesitation. She gives and gives and gives, and he finally understands why. The worst part is that she never expects anything in return. She just wants to feel wanted, and the crazy part is that she probably doesn't even know that's what she wants.