強い人と弱い人
The Strong and The Weak
Chapter 7 : Ruby and Sapphire Hostilityー
"Punks and gangsters?" Yata held his beanie in place as he increased his acceleration. He narrowed his eyes and grunted,"What does she know anyway?" Despite his anger, he was growing increasingly guilty about the things he said to her before Kamamoto had knocked her out cold. He cursed to himself; for once in his nineteen year old life he wondered why he had rode out blindly like an idiot without hearing the rest of what Kusanagi-san had to tell him.
He remembered that he didn't close the door to the girl's room before heading back to Bar HOMRA. "Some good civilian probably closed it for her." He mumbled to himself. However, the thought of one person who happened to have the intent of taking advantage of the open door made him increasingly irritated. Hotheadedly, he changed his course and rode back to the apartment.
"Damn it!"
Saruhiko made it to that apartment several blocks away from his clan's base of operations. There had been several reports of a verbal ruckus that seemed to have escalated to physical violence and a sighting of two HOMRA members. This building was one of many along the block that housed civilians of Shizume City. A handful of his subordinates were housed in this area because they were too paranoid about the rumored 'surveillance cameras' within the Scepter 4 dorms. His own request of moving out of the dorm was still pending.
He walked up the stairs of the first apartment on the block and realized something. He accompanied that schoolgirl from yesterday to this same apartment. As soon as he climbed the steps to the second floor, he saw it. The scorch marks leading from Room 18 to the painted sky blue side railings. The door was open and he decided to check it out in the inside. A familiar sound of skateboard wheels reached his ears. The maniacal grin that was formed on his face moments before he left headquarters reappeared once more.
Haruna held a mug of freshly brewed coffee in her lap as she waited for it to cool down.
"You put a lot of sugar and cream in there. I don't serve coffee often, but you used a lot of what I have." Kusanagi raised a brow at her,"You're not the type to go 'bonkers' with an extra dose of caffeine and sweets, are you?"
She looked at the pile of ripped, open individual sugar packets and the jug of vanilla creamer on the table in front of her before laughing nervously at the bartender,"No, not that I know of." She stirred the drink even more to ensure that everything dissolved properly.
Kusanagi's cell phone that he placed on the bar's surface went off; buzzing violently on the wood surface as it began to slowly move to the very edge. Before it could fall, he quickly snatched it and placed the device to his ear,"Yata-chan?"
Haruna's attention shifted to the blonde who started gesticulating with his hands,"Could you say that slower, please? No. Much slower. I thought I told you to- Yata-chan, calm down. Haruna Aigasa?" She perked up with the sound of her name. "There's no harm to it. We'll comply. Don't do anything idiotic."
His hands fell at his sides and he addressed Haruna who started blowing the swirling surface of her beverage,"It seems like our time is up with you, Aigasa-chan."
"Huh?" She placed the mug onto the table and asked him,"What do you mean? What did Yata-san say?"
Kusanagi crushed his cigarette on an ashtray and slipped on his coat. Another smile had grazed his lips,"Scepter 4 wants you back. The commotion that they made back at your place wasn't unnoticed, since you live fairly close to their headquarters." Haruna stood up as he motioned towards the door,"But before we give you back, I'd like to ask you the question we've been meaning to ask."
"I'll ask you again, Aigasa-san."
Gee. This is beginning to sound awfully familiar.
"I want you to see this video first."
"Shut your trap, you damn monkey. I'm going to beat your face in."
"Ah. How unpleasant. Really. Where is Haruna Aigasa?"
"Away from you blues." Yata sneered as he tightened the grip he had on the edge his skateboard,"She's probably sick and tired of the bullshit you keep pulling her into."
"I only drugged her, but why do you care, Misaki?" The blue clansman shrugged,"You thought she was your chance to get laid? Don't get optimistic now; women always come and go at the last second, so there's always a next time." He leered at Yata,"However, I don't think even you're capable of holding one for that long, you virgin."
"I'm getting real tired of your shit, too. I just wanted to close a god damn door." The flushing vanguard grumbled as he threw his ride on the ground in front of him,"I-I'll kill you!"
"Fushimi! Ready!" His ex-best friend drew his sword,"Come at me then, Mi-sa-ki!"
"Don't you fucking call me by that name!" Yata charged at full speed with his skateboard and threw a fist into his face; disregarding a vase he had punched instead off of its end table. Saruhiko made a side step; barely evading his swing. He laughed giddily as he continued to blocked his crimson coated punches with azure sparks and knocking off the many pieces of decor and furniture from the walls and floor.
"What was that? Where are you aiming?" He taunted him,"Misaki?!" The blue thrust his sword towards the shorter man, which he blocked with skateboard.
"And what the fuck do you think you're doing?" Yata hurled back,"Thinking you could scratch me with such a weak attack?"
"No, I didn't think so." He admitted as he slowly unsheathed three daggers from his sleeve, coated with a red aura between the fingers of his other hand,"But try this." Saruhiko flung it to the vanguard who was able to evade the first two successfully; allowing them to sink into the whitewashed walls behind him.
Haruna watched the all out brawl in her apartment's living room. Sashimi threw several daggers at Yata with a red aura. A red aura. How could he be a part of Scepter 4 and have two auras? She turned to Kusanagi, hoping that she could have a clear answer, but the brooding air that he started to emit stopped her from doing so.
"Yata-chan. I thought I told you not to do anything idiotic!"
Distracted, he turned back and averted his attention to Kusanagi,"Kusanagi-san?! I just need to beat his face into the ground real quick."
Growing annoyed by the sudden interference, Saruhiko cursed,"Damn it, Misaki! Don't ignore me!" Haruna had no idea he could put on such an absorbed, crazed face. Catching Yata's attention at the last second, he attempted to evade the last knife, but ultimately failed when he felt the sharpened metal puncture his arm. Yata tumbled off his skateboard and to the ground rolling. Saruhiko advanced towards the vulnerable vanguard with his saber coated in a blue aura. Before he could get any closer, Kusanagi sent out a red wave of flame between them and Haruna took this chance to run to Yata.
She shook him slightly and prepared to bandage his arm with the cloth from her arm. He opened and his eyes; blinking blankly for a minute before yelling at her,"O-Oi! What are you doing?! Stay out of this!"
Haruna removed the knife from his skin; earning a grunt of pain in return,"Shut up! You're ruining my living space! You can't fight in a place like this as long as I'm around!"
Saruhiko stepped closer and closer to the fallen boy and Haruna who crouched next to him as she tied the dark cloth around his arm until he towered above her,
"Move."
"No." She refused.
"Then come back with me."
"I won't do that either." She refused him again,"I was completely fine until Scepter 4 overreacted and your stupid face showed up."
"Ha-ru-na." Sickeningly, he let her name roll of his tongue in syllables,"You wound me. A normal civilian such as yourself should just accept your role and not affiliate yourself with thugs."
"The deeper the wound the better." The girl replied irritably as she finished tying up the cloth on Yata's arm.
"Misaki, you have guts to abduct such a brutish woman. So fitting for someone such as yourself." He grabbed the collar of her uniform from behind and started to drag her away,"Oh, but wait- she's in her last year of high school and you're just a middle school dropout. You're too stupid for her standards!"
"Don't decide things for me!" Haruna exclaimed as she tried to scramble away.
"Ah? So he's not too stupid for you?"
"Damn you, Saru! I-It's not like that at all!" Yata hissed as he threw the knife Haruna removed from his injured arm; which he soon regretted when it started flying towards her face,"Hey! Watch out!"
She heard Kusanagi-san called out to her,"Aigasa-chan!"
Haruna turned back to Yata and Kusanagi with the dagger flying towards her.
Reflexively, she placed her hands out in front of her and closed her eyes shut; waiting for it to puncture her. She felt Fushimi yanking her backward and she perceived the sound of metal clashing together, tearing cloth and caught a stronger scent of blood. Haruna also heard a grunt and another familiar click of a tongue following after. She opened her eyes to the back of the blue clansman facing her. He returned his saber back into into its scabbard. His other hand reached out to touch the cut on his right cheek.
"Fushimi-kun...!"
Did he just try to deflect it? She reached out to touch his shoulder, but he briskly swatted her hand away.
"It's nothing." He stated flatly,"Don't come any closer." Sashimi turned his head back towards the two HOMRA affiliates and addressed them,"We'll leave this off here, Misaki. Unlike your group of delinquents, I have an actual job to do. I suggest you leave if you've got nothing better to do." Saruhiko eyed the schoolgirl expectantly,"Haruna. "
"Killing you already sounds like something better to do!" Yata took up his skateboard again and prepared to charge once more before Kusanagi held him up by the collar. "Yata-chan, we're in the blues' territory right now. One wrong move and we'll let King down.
She looked to Kusanagi who fanned a hand at her, gesturing her to make the right decision,
"I'll go with you."
Even with the fair amount of distance they had from each other, Haruna heard the words 'shitty monkey' from Yata's mouth before he turned away with Kusanagi. The bartender waved a hand which Haruna returned sadly. She continued to wave at the edge of the railing until they were out of sight.
"Ah... What am I going to do with this trashed place now. At least the bedroom is intact."
Placing her hand back at her side, she addressed the clearly irritated man beside her who was refusing to make eye contact with her and rubbing his pectoral muscle with his thumb.
"Sashimi."
No reply.
"You're a real asshole, you know that?"
"Says the one who always gets herself abducted."
"I don't want to be hearing that from you of all people. You know what? It's not my fault that God blessed me with this scrawny, typical shoujo heroine body that always needs her ass saved by her 'knight and shining armor'." She sulked,"It's not like I actually needed saving from HOMRA."
"You? A shoujo heroine?" He stifled a chuckle and stopped in his tracks,"More or less, it's your own fault that you're like this." He turned around and firmly grasped her chin; seductively breathing into her ear; his whisper sending shivers down her spine,"I suppose I'm your 'knight in shining armor'?"
Haruna attempted to pull away from his tight grasp,"Don't... Put words in my mouth!"
"You really remind me of him, Haruna. It makes me noxious." He remarked darkly,"It's stupid, 'knights in shining armors' don't exist."
She disregarded his first comment and slapped him away from her,"Don't call me by that name." She managed to pull away from him,"I'm glad I make you sick- Munakata will probably realize how much of a tripped out bastard you are and fire you."
Her golden eyes transitioned to a sort of chocolate color as she tilted her head down stammering,"A-Anyway. H-How's your wound?"
The bluenette lifted a brow and asked her with a voice filled with amusement,"You call me an asshole and say awfully degrading things to me before asking me how I'm doing?" He shrugged his shoulders,"If you weren't so weak and useless, things wouldn't have ended this way."
Haruna stopped in her tracks; the charcoal ends of her uncurled hair stood up as she cried out furiously,"I'm going to cut you up like sashimi...!" Saruhiko stifled a chuckle as he felt an air of anger surge up from behind him.
"Na, Haruna. Won't you bandage my wound like you did for Misaki?"
"Go to hell, you stupid fish."
As Kusanagi and Yata walked back to Bar HOMRA, the bartender had berated the boy for the idiotic behavior that he had displayed. After he had calmed down, the nineteen year old placed his hands behind his neck and asked his superior,"Did you ever pop the question to Haruna?"
The man placed his hands in his pockets and answered him simply,"Yes."
"You don't sound too happy, Kusanagi-san." Yata pointed out as he turned his head for a more specific reply.
"Aigasa-chan admitted that she's never made contact with him once." He prepared to light up another cigarette and added,"She's also unsure whether or not he attends Ashinaka, since they may be different years."
They gave out a simultaneous sigh of disappointment. Yata noticed a smirk forming on his face as he lit his smoke with a snap of his fingers,"What's so funny?"
"You referred to Aigasa-chan by her first name." He chuckled,"You should feel accomplished considering-"
"WITH ALL DUE RESPECT, STOP RIGHT THERE." The vanguard flushed up with anger and embarrassment as he grumbled to himself,"S-She's too stubborn! T-Too hard-headed to be a g-gi-g-girl!"
"Reminds me of our little vanguard-"
"KUSANAGI-SAN!"
Meanwhile, at the convenience store...
A man with a white zip up hoodie and sweats held a large cluster of plastic bags in each hand with several more laying at his sneakers.
Kamamoto wailed and tilted his head up to the cloudy sky,
"Yata-san! Please come soon...!"
A/N: Thank you for your follows Sleepyface, FreeHugs0009 and Tearful Reunion!
Anyway, while I've been trying to get inspiration, I was listening to the K drama CDs. And when it got to 'Scepter 4's Year-End Party for Two', I could not stop laughing. I was so torn between feeling bad for Munakata and laughing at him.
I ended up laughing at him (I'm so sorry, Munakata).
See you next time. C: