Prince of Tennis: Ibu Shinji, 022: Enemies
Title: Catalyst
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Characters: Ibu Shinji; Kamio Akira, Oishi Shuichiro, Ibu Nami, Ibu Kenta
Prompt: 022: Enemies
Word Count: 2,033
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Oishi demands a reckoning.
Author's Notes: You have NO IDEA how many fits this one gave me! This is a bit different, as Shinji never actually speaks in this one, but he is the prime motivator for all of the characters’ actions, so I still say this is Shinji-centric. And this marks the end of the Broken arc!
This fic follows Light of Some Kind.
Main table can be found here and here.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Kamio couldn’t stop watching Oishi as they sat in the train. He had to admit, for a long time after Shinji had started dating Oishi, he had thought that Oishi was completely wrong for his best friend. In Kamio’s mind, Oishi was too mild, too agreeable…and too in love with his former doubles partner. Even with Kikumaru out of the picture, Kamio had walked away from every encounter with Oishi thinking that Oishi was just too…nice. Kamio knew that Shinji needed some strong, something who could match Shinji’s stubborn will and not bend under it or be walked over. Oishi just came off to Kamio as too much of a pushover. He had privately given the relationship three months at best. Six months into it, Kamio had started to question if he was wrong about Oishi, but he had never fully realized just how wrong he was until that moment.
Sitting across from Kamio, Oishi was completely silent. His hands were folded loosely in his lap, and his face radiated a bland pleasantness that no one would look twice at. Kamio, looking more than twice, saw the things that others would miss. The stiffness of Oishi’s spine as he sat just a little too straight. The slight tension of his jaw that spoke of clenched teeth and worry.
Most telling, to Kamio, were Oishi’s eyes. The green seemed to be set aflame, and they seemed to be both hot and cold at the same time. If it was possible for eyes to both blaze with anger and be cold with contempt, Oishi’s eyes encompassed it all.
Looking into Oishi’s eyes, Kamio could see just how much Oishi loved Shinji, how badly he had been affected by his boyfriend’s current state, and how much Oishi needed this confrontation. Looking into Oishi’s eyes, Kamio was actually scared, and he was glad that he was not the person who would have to face Oishi at the end of this train ride.
Kamio felt a need to break the silence, after those long moments spent watching Oishi. “What are you going to do?”
Oishi blinked, as if snapped out of a trance. “Death’s too good for the bastard.”
“I agree. But we can’t kill him. If we end up in jail, Shinji will hate us.” Kamio shook his head. “And, if his sisters are there….”
“Tachibana called his sister. He’s having Tachibana-chan come over to take the girls shopping and for ice cream.” Oishi looked down at his hands. “What I need to say…what might happen…they don’t need to see that.”
Again, Kamio asked, “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. I…I want to hurt him. I want to give him everything he made Shinji feel, make him experience every moment of it. I just…I want him to understand pain.” Oishi’s hands clenched into fists as he spoke.
Kamio leaned forward. “I want the same thing. I really do. But would Shinji want that? Even after all of this?”
Oishi opened his mouth, then closed it. He wanted to say yes, that Shinji would want his father punished…but Oishi knew otherwise. Even with the pain, the hatred, the suffering…Shinji wouldn’t want that to happen to his father. Shinji was loyal to a fault, and even with this, it still wouldn’t negate twenty years of love and care in Shinji’s head.
“No,” he finally whispered softly. “It wouldn’t. But…what can we do? Something needs to be done.”
Kamio bit his lip. “I want to destroy him. We can’t, physically. We can’t legally, because Shinji will never press charges.”
Oishi nodded slowly. “But if we never lay a finger on him…if it’s all in his mind and heart, assuming he has one….”
Kamio grinned suddenly. “I see why Shinji loves you so much now,” he said. “I’ll get this things. You break dear old dad.”
“What?!” Oishi’s head shot up. “I can’t do that…I wouldn’t know how!”
Kamio just kept grinning. “I know you’ll figure it out.”
Oishi kept silent for the rest of the train ride and as they walked to Shinji’s home…well, former home. He had never met Shinji’s parents before, but when the door opened, Oishi found himself staring at almost a carbon copy of Shinji, only older and female.
“Akira-kun,” she said, smiling nervously. “Shinji’s at…school. He decided not to come home for break….” He eyes were everywhere but on the two young men in front of her.
“Ibu-san…that’s a lie and we both know it.” Kamio’s voice was soft but blunt.
“I….” She sighed. “We don’t know where Shinji is. He and his father had a fight, and he ran off….”
“Ibu-san,” Oishi interjected. “We’d appreciate it if you’d stop lying for your husband.”
She blinked, looking confused. It hit Oishi suddenly just how much Ibu Nami and Shinji looked alike, down to the same mannerisms. “Lying? I…that’s what he told me…what happened?”
Oishi took a deep breath. “Maybe you should tell us what happened, first.”
Nami looked around, then moved outside, carefully shutting the door behind her. “Shinji came home, to talk to us…to tell us that he’s…Akira, did you know Shinji’s gay?”
Kamio chuckled bitterly. “Ibu-san, everyone knew that.”
“But not us.” She sighed. “I…I can’t believe my son is…and my husband got angry. He threw a mug, started to shout-and I was shouting, too-when he suddenly…stopped. He asked me to go do the grocery shopping while he had a man to man talk with Shinji….”
Nami looked down, twisting her hands together. “I hoped that I’d come back, that Shinji would’ve realized it was just phase, that it was wrong. I purposely took a long time, to give them that time. And when I came home…Shinji was gone. My husband was alone in the kitchen, he said that Shinji refused to change, and he…left.” She looked at the young men on her doorstep. “So he’s probably off with that…boyfriend of his, getting corrupted, doing all sorts of things that….” She shook her head.
Kamio glanced at Oishi, had to grip his arm to keep him from reaching out and shaking her, or worse.
Oishi tolerated the grip, but his eyes were flame and his voice was venom. “I am that boyfriend, and Shinji is not with me. Do you want to know where he is?” He didn’t pause to wait for an answer. “He’s in the hospital. Your husband didn’t talk to him. He beat Shinji to within an inch of his life and left him bleeding on the damn floor!” Oishi was shaking with his rage.
Nami paled. “You’re lying….” She looked at Kamio.
“He’s not.” Kamio shook his head slowly. “Shinji managed to call Kippei…they had to do surgery…he could’ve died.”
Nami leaned against the doorframe for support. “What will happen to my husband?”
“Your husband?!” Oishi almost exploded with suppressed rage, only Kamio’s arms suddenly trapping Oishi’s arms against his sides saving Nami from being slapped. “What about you son? The boy you gave birth to, that you’re supposed to love and protect! Don’t you care about him? Your fucking husband isn’t the one that almost died!”
Nami shook for a second, then drew her chin up stubbornly. “He stopped being my son when he turned away from what is right.”
Oishi saw red. He broke away from Kamio’s grasp, glared at Nami…then stalked past her and into the house. She wasn’t his true target. She might be an unfeeling bitch, but she didn’t hurt my Shinji…he did.
Nami looked at Kamio, worried. “He’s not going to hurt my husband is he, Akira?”
Kamio frowned. “No. And it won’t be because he doesn’t want to. It’ll be because he loves Shinji and doesn’t want to cause him even more hurt.” He looked at the woman who had been like a second mother to him. “It’s a shame his own parents don’t feel the same way,” he commented sadly, before following Oishi into the house.
*~*~*~*~*
Oishi found Ibu Kenta alone in the kitchen.
His eyes wandered around the room, and he, again, had to fight to rein in his temper. “Ibu-san?”
Kental looked up from the newspaper, frowning. “You don’t look familiar….” He looked over Oishi’s shoulder, his expression darkening some when he caught sight of Kamio. “Akira. Is he with you? Well, he’s not here. Thought he’d be with you, honestly.” He turned back to his paper the discussion, in his mind, over.
Kamio laid a hand on Oishi’s shoulder briefly, then let it fall away slowly as Oishi moved into the room. “Akira brought me here,” he said, evenly and softly. “But I’m with Shinji. You see, he’s my boyfriend.”
Kenta’s head snapped up, and he glared at Oishi. “So you’re the one that corrupted him?”
Oishi laughed. “You think I was the first? You’d be wrong.” He sobered. “Shinji hated keeping it from you, you know. He told you because he loves you and wanted you to know. He didn’t expect to nearly die by your hands.”
“You’re exaggerating.” “Kenta paled a little. “Maybe I smacked him a couple times, but-”
“Four broken ribs.” Oishi cut off the older man. “A concussion. Twenty-seven stitches on his left temple. A punctured lung. A ruptured spleen. More bruises and cuts then I can even name. A severely sprained ankle. Do I need to keep going?” Oishi’s eyes glittered dangerously. “A lot of damage for just being slapped a couple times, don’t you think?”
“There’s no proof of anything!” Kenta snapped back.
Oishi looked around the kitchen. “No, there’s probably not,” he said softly. “I’m sure you cleaned well. And, unbelievably enough, Shinji still cares about you. He could press charges…do you know how severe a penalty aggravated assault carries in Japan? At least five years in prison. Considering how close he came to dying…it could be attempted murder. At least ten years, then. He’d be entirely justified.”
Kenta paled.
Oishi sighed. “But he won’t do it. He won’t implicate you. You see, he still loves you and your wife. He loves his sisters, and doesn’t want them to have to deal with the fallout from this.” He stared at Kenta. “How someone like you produced a son as wonderful as Shinji, I’ll never know.”
Seeming to gain back some of his composure, Kenta drew himself upright, smirking at Oishi. “Is that all you came for? To tell me that I’m safe? If that’s all, then get out of my house. I don’t like fags.”
“No, that isn’t all.” Kamio was shocked as Oishi’s aura seemed to grow more dangerous. “I’m not doing anything now, out of respect for the man I love. Later, though….”
Oishi’ssmile was almost evil. “If you ever try to hurt Shinji again, I won’t hold back. I have ways of having you watched.” Oishi made a mental note to call Fuji; he was sure his friend would be willing to help him for a good cause. “If you ever step out of line, if you ever hurt Shinji’s sisters, or try to keep him from communicating with them…you will regret it. I don’t care if you or your loving wife never speak to him again, but he loves those girls, and you will not keep him from them.”
Oishi turned away from Kenta, who slumped in on himself. “Kamio-kun, you know this place. Let’s go up to Shinji’s room and get anything you think he’s particularly attached to. I don’t want him setting foot in here again.
Kamio’s shock faded into an almost feral grin. “Yeah, and don’t worry. I’ll come by with Kippei and Tetsu to get the rest, later.”
Behind him, he could hear Kenta swallowing nervously, and Kamio had to stifle his laugh. Oishi might’ve gone easy on the man, but Kippei and Tetsu…they would demand a different reckoning, and Kamio knew that. Oishi clearly did, too, judging by the smile he flashed at Kamio as he packed a couple bags under Kamio’s direction.
In his mind, though, all Oishi could see was Shinji, how he had looked in that hospital bed. I’m sorry, Shinji love…you should’ve never gotten hurt over this.
And you won’t again. I swear it. They’ll never hurt you again.
--The End--
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Characters: Ibu Shinji; Kamio Akira, Oishi Shuichiro, Ibu Nami, Ibu Kenta
Prompt: 022: Enemies
Word Count: 2,033
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Oishi demands a reckoning.
Author's Notes: You have NO IDEA how many fits this one gave me! This is a bit different, as Shinji never actually speaks in this one, but he is the prime motivator for all of the characters’ actions, so I still say this is Shinji-centric. And this marks the end of the Broken arc!
This fic follows Light of Some Kind.
Main table can be found here and here.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Kamio couldn’t stop watching Oishi as they sat in the train. He had to admit, for a long time after Shinji had started dating Oishi, he had thought that Oishi was completely wrong for his best friend. In Kamio’s mind, Oishi was too mild, too agreeable…and too in love with his former doubles partner. Even with Kikumaru out of the picture, Kamio had walked away from every encounter with Oishi thinking that Oishi was just too…nice. Kamio knew that Shinji needed some strong, something who could match Shinji’s stubborn will and not bend under it or be walked over. Oishi just came off to Kamio as too much of a pushover. He had privately given the relationship three months at best. Six months into it, Kamio had started to question if he was wrong about Oishi, but he had never fully realized just how wrong he was until that moment.
Sitting across from Kamio, Oishi was completely silent. His hands were folded loosely in his lap, and his face radiated a bland pleasantness that no one would look twice at. Kamio, looking more than twice, saw the things that others would miss. The stiffness of Oishi’s spine as he sat just a little too straight. The slight tension of his jaw that spoke of clenched teeth and worry.
Most telling, to Kamio, were Oishi’s eyes. The green seemed to be set aflame, and they seemed to be both hot and cold at the same time. If it was possible for eyes to both blaze with anger and be cold with contempt, Oishi’s eyes encompassed it all.
Looking into Oishi’s eyes, Kamio could see just how much Oishi loved Shinji, how badly he had been affected by his boyfriend’s current state, and how much Oishi needed this confrontation. Looking into Oishi’s eyes, Kamio was actually scared, and he was glad that he was not the person who would have to face Oishi at the end of this train ride.
Kamio felt a need to break the silence, after those long moments spent watching Oishi. “What are you going to do?”
Oishi blinked, as if snapped out of a trance. “Death’s too good for the bastard.”
“I agree. But we can’t kill him. If we end up in jail, Shinji will hate us.” Kamio shook his head. “And, if his sisters are there….”
“Tachibana called his sister. He’s having Tachibana-chan come over to take the girls shopping and for ice cream.” Oishi looked down at his hands. “What I need to say…what might happen…they don’t need to see that.”
Again, Kamio asked, “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. I…I want to hurt him. I want to give him everything he made Shinji feel, make him experience every moment of it. I just…I want him to understand pain.” Oishi’s hands clenched into fists as he spoke.
Kamio leaned forward. “I want the same thing. I really do. But would Shinji want that? Even after all of this?”
Oishi opened his mouth, then closed it. He wanted to say yes, that Shinji would want his father punished…but Oishi knew otherwise. Even with the pain, the hatred, the suffering…Shinji wouldn’t want that to happen to his father. Shinji was loyal to a fault, and even with this, it still wouldn’t negate twenty years of love and care in Shinji’s head.
“No,” he finally whispered softly. “It wouldn’t. But…what can we do? Something needs to be done.”
Kamio bit his lip. “I want to destroy him. We can’t, physically. We can’t legally, because Shinji will never press charges.”
Oishi nodded slowly. “But if we never lay a finger on him…if it’s all in his mind and heart, assuming he has one….”
Kamio grinned suddenly. “I see why Shinji loves you so much now,” he said. “I’ll get this things. You break dear old dad.”
“What?!” Oishi’s head shot up. “I can’t do that…I wouldn’t know how!”
Kamio just kept grinning. “I know you’ll figure it out.”
Oishi kept silent for the rest of the train ride and as they walked to Shinji’s home…well, former home. He had never met Shinji’s parents before, but when the door opened, Oishi found himself staring at almost a carbon copy of Shinji, only older and female.
“Akira-kun,” she said, smiling nervously. “Shinji’s at…school. He decided not to come home for break….” He eyes were everywhere but on the two young men in front of her.
“Ibu-san…that’s a lie and we both know it.” Kamio’s voice was soft but blunt.
“I….” She sighed. “We don’t know where Shinji is. He and his father had a fight, and he ran off….”
“Ibu-san,” Oishi interjected. “We’d appreciate it if you’d stop lying for your husband.”
She blinked, looking confused. It hit Oishi suddenly just how much Ibu Nami and Shinji looked alike, down to the same mannerisms. “Lying? I…that’s what he told me…what happened?”
Oishi took a deep breath. “Maybe you should tell us what happened, first.”
Nami looked around, then moved outside, carefully shutting the door behind her. “Shinji came home, to talk to us…to tell us that he’s…Akira, did you know Shinji’s gay?”
Kamio chuckled bitterly. “Ibu-san, everyone knew that.”
“But not us.” She sighed. “I…I can’t believe my son is…and my husband got angry. He threw a mug, started to shout-and I was shouting, too-when he suddenly…stopped. He asked me to go do the grocery shopping while he had a man to man talk with Shinji….”
Nami looked down, twisting her hands together. “I hoped that I’d come back, that Shinji would’ve realized it was just phase, that it was wrong. I purposely took a long time, to give them that time. And when I came home…Shinji was gone. My husband was alone in the kitchen, he said that Shinji refused to change, and he…left.” She looked at the young men on her doorstep. “So he’s probably off with that…boyfriend of his, getting corrupted, doing all sorts of things that….” She shook her head.
Kamio glanced at Oishi, had to grip his arm to keep him from reaching out and shaking her, or worse.
Oishi tolerated the grip, but his eyes were flame and his voice was venom. “I am that boyfriend, and Shinji is not with me. Do you want to know where he is?” He didn’t pause to wait for an answer. “He’s in the hospital. Your husband didn’t talk to him. He beat Shinji to within an inch of his life and left him bleeding on the damn floor!” Oishi was shaking with his rage.
Nami paled. “You’re lying….” She looked at Kamio.
“He’s not.” Kamio shook his head slowly. “Shinji managed to call Kippei…they had to do surgery…he could’ve died.”
Nami leaned against the doorframe for support. “What will happen to my husband?”
“Your husband?!” Oishi almost exploded with suppressed rage, only Kamio’s arms suddenly trapping Oishi’s arms against his sides saving Nami from being slapped. “What about you son? The boy you gave birth to, that you’re supposed to love and protect! Don’t you care about him? Your fucking husband isn’t the one that almost died!”
Nami shook for a second, then drew her chin up stubbornly. “He stopped being my son when he turned away from what is right.”
Oishi saw red. He broke away from Kamio’s grasp, glared at Nami…then stalked past her and into the house. She wasn’t his true target. She might be an unfeeling bitch, but she didn’t hurt my Shinji…he did.
Nami looked at Kamio, worried. “He’s not going to hurt my husband is he, Akira?”
Kamio frowned. “No. And it won’t be because he doesn’t want to. It’ll be because he loves Shinji and doesn’t want to cause him even more hurt.” He looked at the woman who had been like a second mother to him. “It’s a shame his own parents don’t feel the same way,” he commented sadly, before following Oishi into the house.
*~*~*~*~*
Oishi found Ibu Kenta alone in the kitchen.
His eyes wandered around the room, and he, again, had to fight to rein in his temper. “Ibu-san?”
Kental looked up from the newspaper, frowning. “You don’t look familiar….” He looked over Oishi’s shoulder, his expression darkening some when he caught sight of Kamio. “Akira. Is he with you? Well, he’s not here. Thought he’d be with you, honestly.” He turned back to his paper the discussion, in his mind, over.
Kamio laid a hand on Oishi’s shoulder briefly, then let it fall away slowly as Oishi moved into the room. “Akira brought me here,” he said, evenly and softly. “But I’m with Shinji. You see, he’s my boyfriend.”
Kenta’s head snapped up, and he glared at Oishi. “So you’re the one that corrupted him?”
Oishi laughed. “You think I was the first? You’d be wrong.” He sobered. “Shinji hated keeping it from you, you know. He told you because he loves you and wanted you to know. He didn’t expect to nearly die by your hands.”
“You’re exaggerating.” “Kenta paled a little. “Maybe I smacked him a couple times, but-”
“Four broken ribs.” Oishi cut off the older man. “A concussion. Twenty-seven stitches on his left temple. A punctured lung. A ruptured spleen. More bruises and cuts then I can even name. A severely sprained ankle. Do I need to keep going?” Oishi’s eyes glittered dangerously. “A lot of damage for just being slapped a couple times, don’t you think?”
“There’s no proof of anything!” Kenta snapped back.
Oishi looked around the kitchen. “No, there’s probably not,” he said softly. “I’m sure you cleaned well. And, unbelievably enough, Shinji still cares about you. He could press charges…do you know how severe a penalty aggravated assault carries in Japan? At least five years in prison. Considering how close he came to dying…it could be attempted murder. At least ten years, then. He’d be entirely justified.”
Kenta paled.
Oishi sighed. “But he won’t do it. He won’t implicate you. You see, he still loves you and your wife. He loves his sisters, and doesn’t want them to have to deal with the fallout from this.” He stared at Kenta. “How someone like you produced a son as wonderful as Shinji, I’ll never know.”
Seeming to gain back some of his composure, Kenta drew himself upright, smirking at Oishi. “Is that all you came for? To tell me that I’m safe? If that’s all, then get out of my house. I don’t like fags.”
“No, that isn’t all.” Kamio was shocked as Oishi’s aura seemed to grow more dangerous. “I’m not doing anything now, out of respect for the man I love. Later, though….”
Oishi’ssmile was almost evil. “If you ever try to hurt Shinji again, I won’t hold back. I have ways of having you watched.” Oishi made a mental note to call Fuji; he was sure his friend would be willing to help him for a good cause. “If you ever step out of line, if you ever hurt Shinji’s sisters, or try to keep him from communicating with them…you will regret it. I don’t care if you or your loving wife never speak to him again, but he loves those girls, and you will not keep him from them.”
Oishi turned away from Kenta, who slumped in on himself. “Kamio-kun, you know this place. Let’s go up to Shinji’s room and get anything you think he’s particularly attached to. I don’t want him setting foot in here again.
Kamio’s shock faded into an almost feral grin. “Yeah, and don’t worry. I’ll come by with Kippei and Tetsu to get the rest, later.”
Behind him, he could hear Kenta swallowing nervously, and Kamio had to stifle his laugh. Oishi might’ve gone easy on the man, but Kippei and Tetsu…they would demand a different reckoning, and Kamio knew that. Oishi clearly did, too, judging by the smile he flashed at Kamio as he packed a couple bags under Kamio’s direction.
In his mind, though, all Oishi could see was Shinji, how he had looked in that hospital bed. I’m sorry, Shinji love…you should’ve never gotten hurt over this.
And you won’t again. I swear it. They’ll never hurt you again.
--The End--