FALLEN CROW

Crows Zero fanfiction

Chapter 3: Chicken-game

It wasn't anything new for students of Suzuran to see Yakuza storming to their campus, demanding to see Serizawa. 'At least, not to the second and third years,' Yui thought with a head shake as she glanced back at the group of angry Yakuza men. Only to notice that the guy in a white suit had disappeared somewhere.

His men kept calling, to be more precise, demanding, for Serizawa Tamao to show up when the guy in question wasn't even anywhere near the school. The King of Beasts had gone with Tokio to the hospital, and Yui was already planning on grilling him for details. If her friend was sick, she wanted to know. She'd find out, one way or another.

'Well then,' Yui thought with a grin. 'This may just be enough to kill time, and not to make me ask for another sparring match with Megumi.'

She knew that Rinda-man wasn't a fan of sparring with a girl, but after realizing that it was the only way she'd shut up - he gave in. Not that she'd left him with much of a choice, and Megumi was aware that Yui needed to keep her ability to fight as fresh as possible. That is if she wanted to survive in Suzuran.

Outside school, she'd occasionally test her skills on her uncle, and his men. It was fun, more than she'd originally thought. Not to mention, Yui's uncle was right that it was a good way to vent her pent-up anger.

Anger.

She was more than familiar with it, having had years of practice. Yui had become good at hiding her emotions from others, often pretending to be fine when in fact all she wanted to do was scream or cry. Her current issue was Izaki demanding she picked a side in this never-ending Suzuran war. And acting as though she was fine with being friends with Tamao. That she wasn't hurt.

Sometimes, Yui wondered how exactly she'd gotten into this mess and why on Earth did she let her uncle pick Suzuran, instead of that all-girls school her mother had wanted her to attend. But then, she thought about his words and his hopes for what he wanted Genji to achieve, and why her parents were killed.

The answer was pretty simple: it was to prepare her for what was coming. To mold her into the person her father was after having gone to Suzuran himself.

Genji didn't know that Yui was in the running to take over the business, she didn't dare to tell him as it was something he really wanted. Her uncle had thought it to be interesting when he let her know she had a choice if she so desired it. She remembers the look he had, knowing full well that the girl only wanted to know why her parents died.

But to know the truth meant entering the business in one way or another, that was a decision she'd eventually have to make. Until then, she could enjoy her life as it was.

Yui's dark eyes followed the five yakuza men on her school campus, contemplating her choices, "They aren't strong enough to break out a sweat." She didn't realize she'd said it out loud. "But doable to have some fun."

Yui grabbed the edge of the staircase and flung herself over it, not paying attention if she'd accidentally hit one of the boys behind her. The landing impact hurt more than she'd expected, causing her to grimace.

She could feel eyes on her as some of the boys had just noticed a girl's presence for the first time, wearing blissful looks for having caught the sight of what was under her black skirt. It wasn't panties, she was wearing gymnastic tights under her skirt that allowed Yui to move without worrying too much. Still, she'd be occasionally reprimanded by either Tokio or Tamao, or both, whenever they caught her fighting.

The smarter bunch pretended they hadn't seen anything, having heard the stories surrounding the girl, even if they never quite believed in them. Then again, Suzuran was full of such stories.

"What's she doing?"
"Just look, and you'll see."

"Is she crazy?"
"Probably."

Yui stretched her hands as she walked towards the Yakuza men, recognizing them from her uncle's rival group. She'd seen them walking around. One of the guys had thought of testing his luck with her, which was the reason why Tamao beat them up. Hence why Yui was already involved in this.

However, her fun never came as she spotted a familiar guy calmly walking towards the Yakuza, hands pocketed and appearing to be incredibly bored. His path was cleared in an instant by the freshmen, who thought him to be the infamous Serizawa Tamao.

But Yui knew better. That man was no Tamao.

She stopped near the football goal, leaning against it as she knew that Takiya Genji wouldn't let her fight. A nasty habit, in her mind, he's had since they were kids. It eventually became the reason why she hid the life she led from him. He didn't know about Tamao, the reasons why she was in Suzuran, or that she was stronger than he imagined her to be.

Come to think of it, Yui wondered if Genji had ever seen her fighting, not sparring but fighting. Without holding back.

Probably not.

The Yakuza instantly surrounded her cousin, attempting to look as intimidating as they could. Not realizing that Genji was the last guy to find them scary.

"You're Serizawa Tamao?" The guy with the glasses demanded, making Yui sigh in annoyance – what was she, a liver chopper?

"Hey!" He added when Genji merely kept walking on with no word.

"Hold it!"

'He may not be Tamao. However, that doesn't mean you can underestimate Gen-chan,' Yui thought, a playful smirk on her lips.

She let out a small approving whistle as Genji punched the first guy to make an initiative to move down on the ground, causing the fallen Yakuza's comrades to charge at him angrily.

She shook her head, and Yui just knew that it wasn't going to end up well. For those idiots, that is.

Genji would either send them to the hospital (and this time make him their new target besides Tamao) or keep fighting until the cops arrived (there was no doubt in Yui's mind that cops were going to show up, eventually).

It was about fifteen minutes later when there was a familiar sound of a bike engine getting closer to them and a familiar voice shouting. Upon closer look, Yui's eyes widened at the sight of Serizawa Tamao riding (correction: attempting to ride) on Tatsukawa Tokio's bike with no helmet and shouting for people to get out of the way. His hands were erratically waving to show he wasn't messing around.

Her mouth parted in mixed amazement and from being stunned, not knowing wherever she was supposed to laugh or be worried over the King of Beasts' well-being and his intelligence. Maybe both?

"Out of the way!" Tamao called out, riding straight towards the Yakuza guy, who was trying to crawl towards Genji only to instantly throw himself back after taking notice of Tamao and the bike. He narrowly missed being flattened.

Yui, Genji, and the rest of the crowd held their eyes on Tamao as he headed straight towards the football goal gate, jumping off of the bike just before it crashed against the goal. The only girl in Suzuran facepalmed, pitying Tokio for having ever bought that bike and 'allowing' Tamao to borrow the said vehicle (those in Tamao's circle knew that he sucked at driving).

The moment Tamao crashed, Genji sent another guy flying towards Tamao, who looked at the new kid with surprise (sand was covering his uniform, including some in his dark brown hair, which was pulled back). Wordlessly, Genji ran his hand through his jet black hair, pulling it briefly up before letting it fall, trying to either look cool or intimidating (Yui would never truly understand the mind working of Takiya Genji).

"Aren't they my guests?" Tamao asked Genji, pointing at the beaten-up Yakuza guys, stopping in his tracks when he faced Genji. There was a sign of curiosity and surprise in Tamao's facial expression, Yui noted.

"How should I know?"

Yui shook her head as she pushed herself off of the pole that had been her support, rolling her eyes at Genji's painfully obvious reply, walking straight towards Tamao and Genji, neither of whom had taken notice of her yet.

"I haven't seen you before," Tamao pointed out. She could tell that he was looking at the new kid observantly, trying to make out wherever Takiya Genji was a threat or a possible ally. He was definitely curious.

"I'm new here."

"Where did you leave Tokio, Tamao?" Yui spoke up, eying the King of Beasts with narrowed eyes, drawing their attention to her. Her voice was lazy and calm, but her amusement was clear.

She knew that Tamao could tell that she was angry at him for not telling her what was going on with Tokio. For going to the hospital without her.

They both knew that Tamao knew the girl better than he would ever admit it to anyone (in that group both Izaki Shun and Hayashida "Rinda-man" Megumi belonged as well, for as all four of them, including Tokio, were her favorite targets to annoy). To Tokio, Yui was an open book to read. And vice-versa.

"He's walking here," was all Tamao said, shrugging, just as one of the Yakuza guys stood up, holding a pocket knife in his hands. The poor guy was struggling to walk straight, having been roughly beaten up by Genji.

"I figured so – after seeing your riding with his bike – how did that happen anyway?" Yui bluntly ignored Genji's demanding eyes on her, keeping her eyes fixed on Tamao. She wasn't planning on letting him off of the hook for a while, at least not so easily.

Tamao shrugged.

However, before he could reply, the sounds of sirens broke the area's silence, catching their attention as the trio (and the crowd) watched the ridiculous amount of police cars pulling up in Suzuran. The Yakuza guy immediately hid the knife and tried to get as far away as possible.

"Is this because of you riding Tokio's bike?" Yui questioned Tamao when she noticed detective Kuroiwa getting out of his car, head wrapped up in a bandage, and slightly bleeding. It was a known fact that Kuroiwa had it out for Tamao, always being there when he caused trouble.

Yui had met Kuroiwa so many times that the detective called her by her name. Somehow, he always seemed to know when they were up to no good.

"Serizawa!" Detective Kuroiwa called out, angrily, causing Yui to turn to Tamao with a pointed look.

"You're Serizawa Tamao?" Genji questioned, looking at Tamao with a newfound interest, and making Yui groan as she had spoken his name previously. Seriously, what was she?!

"That's right," Tamao nonchalantly replied as he started to walk toward the cops, leaving everyone to stare at him. "We played Chicken, Yui," he added, as he passed the girl, who had an eyebrow raised.

At his words, her eyes widened before shaking her head and muttering something inaudible, looking more amused than she should be. Before getting into Kuroiwa's car, Tamao stopped and took a good look at Genji then he turned to stare at Yui, sharing a meaningful look with her before sitting in the car. The rest of the cops were busy 'collecting' the beaten Yakuza guys.

'Seriously, Tamao, you should've known that Kuroiwa wouldn't leave it after you dared to play Chicken with him,' Yui thought, glancing back at the crashed bike, digging in her pocket to find that blasted cell phone. Planning to call Tokio and notify him where his bike was and its situation.

"I didn't know that you were at Suzuran, Yui," Genji's voice caused Yui's finger to stop in mid-air as she was about to press the dial button, making her turn and look at him. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Her face was blank, revealing nearly nothing but a faint sign of annoyance, "I did tell you three years ago, after my opening ceremony, it's not my fault that you can't remember which school your own cousin goes to."

"Sorry about that – I can only remember that -,"

"Cut it out, Gen-chan," Yui cut him in, warning clear in her tone. "Besides, we're even - I didn't know you were going to be here either."

"I couldn't get in touch with you," he shrugged, feeling a bit out of place compared to her cousin. He was curious about how she knew Serizawa Tamao. To be on a first-name basis.

"Whatever – I don't care what you do here for as long as you won't drag me into the mess you're bound to create. If I were you, I wouldn't go around telling everyone that we're cousins, although I don't give a shit about it. Trust me, it would do no good to you. Don't mess things up here, little brother," Yui added with a tease.

Genji never liked it when she called him so.

"Shut it," he said with a faint smile, watching as Yui pressed the dial button and walked towards the crashed bike to inspect it.

As Genji watched Yui walking away from him, he knew a lot was hidden in Yui that she hadn't told him at home. This time, he felt they had a chance to finally get to know each other better. If she let him, that is.

'Things are bound to be getting interesting, especially now that Gen-chan's here,' Yui thought, as she talked with annoyed Tokio, who didn't like the fact that his precious bike was crushed by one of his best friends.

She also hoped that just because Genji was here, she wouldn't be forced into picking a side for it was against her policy. Honestly speaking, she liked how things currently were.