It was the first week of high school. Inupi didn't think he would make it this far on his education but he did.
He enrolled in the same high school as Shiro, so he could keep an eye out for his boss. Well… More like Shiro enrolled in the same high school as him since he could never get the good enough grades for the one she was planning on going. It was the same difference. At the end, he went to school with his boss.
They were friends now. They simply spent too much time together to be formal all the time.
So yes, they were friends now.
So yes, he was acting thoughtful when he visited her classroom so they could walk to the meeting with Koko and Taiju together. He genuinely thought that he was being nice even when he shook the sleeping girl, trying to wake her up, and getting slammed down at her desk.
He almost had a pen impaled in his eye when his arm flew and caught the hand that could bring his demise. Inui was about to scream at his boss when he met her eyes.
Those scared, unseeing eyes… The hand that was shaking in his…
He thought they were friends, really. He wanted to be friends.
But Shiro proved it to be harder than he thought.
It was an awkward week for the both of them. Shiro looked out of it most of the time.
Taiju and Koko, hell, even the members could see it. Shiro was so lucky they were too loyal to her. In any other gang this would be fall of a leader.
"Okay, that's enough." Koko slammed his hands on the table. Other boys in the room looked at his bravery with awe.
"Koko-san just-"
"He chose death."
"Where did he even get the balls to…?"
Inupi wished those brats would speak quieter.
He didn't want to laugh in this serious atmosphere.
Shiro raised her head from the worksheet she was string at. It was English and normally she would've already finished it.
Something was wrong with Shiro, her little brother or his friends didn't seem to understand it. Inupi could not blame them; Shiro was very good at acting like everything was okay.
"Brats," Shiro called, "get out of the room for a moment please."
"Does that mean things will get 16+?"
Cute kids. Disgusting teenagers but cute kids. They did as they were told. Inupi watched as Koko gulped.
He had it coming.
"So, Hajime…" Shiro folded her hands, "What is it that was enough again?"
Koko looked at her with fear in his eyes. She would not beat them; she simply wasn't that kind of a leader.
Didn't mean if they got in a word war she would not destroy them.
Still, they had to talk. Even though he would love to see their boss get Koko roasted, this was more important.
"Shiro." Taiju was the one to take pity on Koko, "There is something going on with you. Please don't decline it; even the low ranking members are aware of it. If this continues, we're afraid that there will be a power shift inside the gang."
"Boss, we will help in any way we can. Just… tell us what you need." Koko added.
The girl watched them with narrowed eyes before she closed them, took a deep breath in and blurted out.
"I killed a man."
Well shit.
She hadn't killed a man, not yet.
They wish she had.
How the hell did they not know before?
How the hell Inupi never heard of it when he was enrolled in the same school as her?
It all made sense.
Boss had PTSD.
(It wasn't a doctor's diagnosis, but Koko had read books about it when… when he had an interest in healthcare and medication.)
Koko was truly disgusted by the turn of events. His boss had PTSD because a sick son of a bitch-
Koko didn't even want to say the word let alone hear it from Shiro's mouth again.
He would help the girl kill the man if she asked. He would help in a heartbeat.
"Why is he even free?"
Shiro had her head between her hands.
"Rape of a minor isn't that big of a crime apparently, maybe once he kills someone it will be."
Seishu hissed. Other boys felt the same way, honestly.
Inupi had gone to juvenile, Taiju used to be an abusive older brother and Koko did many illegal things to gain money at one part of his life but they had morals. Black Dragons had morals; it was that kind of gang. It was supposed to be that kind of a gang from the first generation to the last. It was the thing Inupi was trying to keep alive.
They could not turn a blind eye to this, especially when-
Especially when this person was someone they cared about.
Shiro was a complicated person. She was a hard person to communicate most of the time. It was hard to understand what kind of meaning lied in her smile; it could be coldness, happiness, adrenalin, even pain caused her to smile sometimes.
Shit- this girl was a mess.
Koko had read many things and he might have forgotten some of it but this person was amess. This girl had so many issues-
How was she functioning like this?
"I'll kill him." Inupi said a last; he was strolling around the room stressfully.
"You will not."
"I will fucking kill him."
"You will not do such a thing. We don't need your record getting worse."
"Record?! Who cares about-"
"Inui." The girl said with her boss voice, "Sit down."
The blonde boy huffed but did as told.
"So what will we do if we're not killing him?" Taiju asked.
"Over 60% of violent criminals repeat offences." Koko recited, "I am not about to let a r- such a man wander free. There is just such a high possibility of him coming back for you. What the hell are we supposed to do?! Wait for him to-"
"Koko!"
"Shut up Inupi, Boss already knows this."
Shiro nodded. Of course she would know. Koko had seen numerous books inside this house.
"There isn't really anything legal we can do about it. But it must be easy to control whoever comes in to our turf. We can spread the word and act if he steps a foot in wrong direction."
"This place is not in our turf though."
"I'm pretty sure I'm safe in my house."
"You walk to school and back every day." Black haired male retorted, "That's plenty of time outside your home and our turf."
"Kokonoi." Shiro had cold eyes directed at him, "Only because it happened once and I couldn't defend myself doesn't mean I'm not able to now."
Only-
Once-
"I'm so done with this shit." Koko threw hands.
"I-"
"Shiro. This isn't about-"
"Oh but it is, because she is miss perfect-"
"Enough!" Shiro yelled, "I am perfectly fine by myself so if you-"
"You are not fine!"
"I'm fine!"
"You are a mess is what you are!"
"You," the girl pointed a finger on him, "you are not my caretaker or anything do not tell me-"
"You are not fine Hanagaki." Taiju spoke, "We are close enough to be friends-"
"You are not-"
"Do not-" Seishu raised his voice, "Do not finish that sentence, Shiro."
"Don't tell me what to do. Since when are we friends? Since you two tried to beat my ass and the other one let it happen?!"
"Since you helped us! Since you let us into your home! Since you introduced your brother to us! Since we gave all our loyalty to you!"
"You just wanted my help! You wanted to use me for your goal-"
"Then why did you say yes?!"
"Because I didn't want anyone to become someone like him because of me!"
A silence descended upon them. All three boys looked at the girl with their mouths hanging open.
"You thought I would-"
"Anything right?" the girl said, "You said you would do anything."
"I would never-"
"Well I didn't know! You could've. You could've become someone like that bastard. It could've been my faul-" her voice hitched.
Fuck- Fuck-
Koko groaned. There were tears dropping from the girl's face.
This wasn't a mess they could handle.
"Call Yuzuha."
"Don't call Yuzuha."
"I'm calling Yuzuha."
"If you bring anyone else into this shit-"
Inupi called Yuzuha as Shiro wrestled Taiju.
It was July 6th. Seishu and Shiro were walking from a meeting to home (which simply was the new relegation; Taiju, Koko or -mostly- Inupi would walk her to school and back to home and she would always have someone when she was out on a place outside of their turf) when they encouraged a beaten up Mizo-Middle crew.
"Hanagaki- What-" Inupi took a step forward to check up on the younger boy.
"Shiro…" the blue eyed boy started to cry and when Inupi looked at his boss, dumbfounded, he saw that her face was dry from any color.
Just- What?
"Does this mean war?"
"No." Shiro answered.
"Aww, I wanted to beat that Mitsuya's ass in a full out war."
"A full out war would be dangerous for us too." Koko commented, "They may have the littler numbers but they took down the ninth generation with even lesser members."
"The ninth generation was led by Madarame."
"Point in. But still. They have that invincible guy. It could be a risk."
"One man cannot win a war, Koko."
"Does that mean?" the taller male grinned but Shiro shook her head.
"I already said no; it is not a smart move to reach that part of Tokyo yet. Also, I do not dislike their spirit. I don't even think the little boss knows about what's going on."
Koko snorted.
"Little-"
"Yeah, I mean, have you seen the boy?"
"Y- yeah." Koko's shoulders shook.
He really deserved the slap that hit him behind the head.
"Let's look into it tomorrow. I'll not let my brothers get beaten like dogs."
"Will it be alright with only two of us?"
"You didn't even need to come, I can handle this alone."
"Yeah, yeah."
Taiju grinned as they started to hear voices cheering on a fight. But then.
"Oh- shit."
It was the boss' younger brother fighting.
She was going to kick their asses for letting it come to this.
Taiju sprinted forward and caught the guy with the cigarette before he could land another hit on boss' bro.
"You mad kid." Inupi murmured, "What the hell are you on now?"
"Inupi?" the boy looked at the older boy, "What are you-?"
"What else?" Taiju grunted as he reproached the two blondes, "We're here to pick you up. Boss ordered a cleanup."
"What?! You can't-"
"Oi, you two. What the hell are you doing in our turf?"
The crowd went wild with the new arrivals; a tall boy with a braid and a dragon tattoo and another short one with blonde hair in a half-ponytail.
Ahh- this was it, wasn't it? Inupi got back up from the place he kneeled.
"What was it again, Draken-kun? Your turf you say?" Inupi shook his head, "You younglings have no tact for real."
"What are the Dragons doing here?" the tall boy asked.
"Just here to pick up our young master." Answered Taiju, "We also have a message for your shrimp of a leader-"
Inupi hit his side before he could finish that sentence.
"He is here idiot." The blonde gestured the boy with a dorayaki.
"Ha? Really? I thought he would be more like ours, ya know?"
"Hey Ken-chin." The smaller boy called.
"What? Don't call me by that name when we're out in public."
The boy chuckled, "All my dorayaki is gone! Now," air shifted when his voice changed, "Why are you here so away from your own dump?"
"Haa? Dump-?"
Taiju was proving himself to be a dog going by how many times Inupi had to warn him.
"Boss has a… not for you, if you will, Mikey-san." Inupi said politely. Shiro told him to be when talking to the brat. Said when he read the not it would be more funny.
"Oh? You're so polite! Go on, I want to hear."
The older nodded as he took out the note and unfolded the note.
Oh god-
He was going to die.
Mikey was going to kill him.
If he didn't Shiro would, one day. One of the days. Close days.
"So?" the taller teenager demanded.
Seishu cleared his throat before reading the note out loud:
"Hello there Sano, I send you all my well wishes. I just wanted to say, don't-" Seishu sighed, "don't you fucking dare touch my underlings. I am sure they were successful with their task of cleaning your gang's fucking mess. Really, why would you even try to lead a gang if you can't even keep tabs on your men like are you dumb? Love, 10th generation Black Dragons Captain… PS: if we're lucky we won't ever meet for real; if we do, please wear gloves and a mask so your idiot won't infect me."
Seishu was met with silence when he finished. He closed his eyes and got ready for his demise.
'I will fucking haunt you, Shiro!'
Then the boy laughed.
Maybe crazy was genetic for the short people.
"I am going to kick their asses!"
"Shiro-san, don't!"
"What do you mean those two kidnapped Takemichi?!"
"Haha! Finally! It's time to kickass!"
"Taiju-san!"
They did not, in fact, kick ass.
Only becauseTakemichi reached home the last minute.
Thank god for Takemichi.