[Fic] - The Hard Way - chapter 10 (Final) part 2
part 2
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Ryu took in a forced breath, his eyes staring into nothingness. The constriction in his chest has somewhat lifted only to be replaced by emptiness, different from what he felt at first but not completely anew to him. Images of Ren lying covered in bandages, hurt and him calling out to Ryu asking for help desperately had been floating around his mind like an endless nightmare, a familiar nightmare that he had seen when he had fought his best friend and was forced to leave his friends; Similar uselessness, different pain but same result.
He wanted to feel something, anger, hate or at least disgust, all towards himself. He knew he had it coming, never thought it would hit him this hard, yet he couldn’t. He was not able to do so as the void grew even deeper. My fault!
With shaky legs he pulled himself up half leaning onto the stall door. Somehow he dragged his feet towards the mirror and the scrawny, depressed guy before him was glaring at his pitiful state. Clothes dishevelled, hair messed up yet shielding the red puffy eyes and an expression resembling that of Yamato’s which made Ryu want to punch the guy in the mirror. Was it the after effects of Hayato’s doing or did it just happen? The brunette didn't ponder on it too much.
He focused on getting a bit relief via the cold, almost fresh water hitting on his hands and face. The droplets travelled across his head as well as on to his shoulders and top leaving a wet trail. He briefly wondered what he had done with Hayato’s jacket but the thought faded away quickly as well. He felt too aware to focus on just one thing in his mind so he let them go and for the shortest time he thanked the older boy for keeping whoever was trying to get into the bathroom out. Moreover he was grateful for Hayato himself giving Ryu some privacy and keeping out of his close radar. Maybe he wasn’t as much of a thoughtless baka as he previously believed.
The medicinal scent increased as he reached the bathroom door. He didn't hesitate twice before opening it and facing his best friend head on.
Yet, he met with a couple of curious eyes.
“Hello,” said the doctor “Are you Kazama’s friend?”
“Ah, yes. Can you tell me how he is doing?” asked Ryu.
“Come,” the man had addressed Ryu completely ignoring Hayato who was beside them “I am sorry I can’t inform you without the family’s permission.”
“But I am-” Ryu started but abruptly stopped. He couldn’t bring himself to say more so someone else completed his words.
“Ryu is his boyfriend” came the broken reply from Hayato. He sounded worse than he was given out in his looks.
“I see.” Doctor said somehow realizing the delicate situation and the tensed atmosphere. They reached the front of the room where they halted. The doctor went inside the room and took the chart from his bed side. He went back outside “I am not the one in charge but from this I see that he is stable for the time being, but can’t say anything for sure until he wakes up. He had a serious trauma on the back of his skull which has been taken care of in the operation, but we need to keep an eye on his condition.”
“So he will be fine?” They reached the front of the room where they had been standing.
“He has several fractures on his right radius, multiple contusions on several parts and heavy trauma, bruises on his chest area. There is a possibility of internal bleeding as well.”
“Say what?” asked Hayato
“He cracked his arm, hit his head and there are going to be nasty bruises on his body.”
“It’s alright then.”
“I’m sorry it’s too early to say that, but the operation seems to have gone well and we do hope for the best.”
“Thank you, doctor...?” said Ryu. He let out a relieved sigh and bowed down.
“Sorry, I am Sawada Shin, Nice to meet you.” The bright, creepy smile he showed at the boys made Ryu think as if it was plastered on his face forcefully by someone. He fought the urge to step away.
As the doctor walked away the brunette stood motionless staring at the point where Sawada had been. Hayato figured he was lost in some depressing inner thoughts and that he should be tearing them apart from Ryu. Careful not to awaken another moment of rage in the boy, he slowly touched his shoulder ready to pull away if necessary. Yet it wasn’t. The tense shoulders didn’t flinch, didn’t turn around or shove him away, they were simply accepting the kind gesture almost as if...
“Thank you” came from the shorter boy and Hayato had to spin around to see if there was someone else he could be talking to. “I did mean you.”
“Oh, yeah?” he sounded genuinely surprised which made Ryu smile warily but it was a smile nevertheless.
“Yeah.”
“Why?” Why indeed? Ryu pondered on that for a few long minutes. Was it that Hayato has been by his side even when he was at his worst? Or because instead of throwing a tantrum, he had acknowledged his relationship with Ren without hesitation, especially when himself had been questioning it? Maybe, just maybe it was due to the fact that Hayato had changed; the arrogant proud young boy had been replaced by a gentler, thoughtful version. Not a full transformation but having enough courage in bringing out the emotions Ryu knew he had been hiding.
Fine, their previous making out session which rendered him breathless and took his mind, inner turmoil away could have something to do with it as well.
“So?” asked Hayato.
“Because for once you didn’t punch someone when they had bluntly ignored you.” answered the boy referring to the doctor.
The taller boy furrowed his brows and a smile was formed by his lips. “Of course.”
After a few minutes of mutual understanding, Hayato was taken aback by the silence of the hallway. Almost as if something was missing. “Where is Yamato?”
“He was here just a minute ago.” They started looking around but there was no sign of the young boy, instead a woman in high heels appeared from the doorway. She was Ren’s older sister and she seemed to have been up and around for awhile as she wasn’t the least bit of her usual self.
“Ryu-chan! So you have arrived as well.” Ryu nodded “I was by the doctor’s side. He said we had to wait until he wakes u-up... before that he couldn’t be sure of anything. He-he...” She spoke as droplets of tears have formed in her eyes and she started to sob silently. Ryu tried to calm her down rephrasing what he had heard from Sawada Shin. It seems to have work. Her crying ceased and was now nodding in acceptance.
Sensing the opportunity Hayato asked about Yamato. “He was half-running towards the entrance. I thought he required some time apart to come to terms with what has happened. He was quite rude though, yelling at people to move away and shoving them to get to the door.”
That caused Ryu to halt for a second. It wasn’t like Yamato to do those unless...of course...
“He is going after Kudo” stated Hayato sharing the same line of thought with him. They only shared a short lived look between each other before both bid their final wishes and goodbyes to the woman and ran after the angry youngster. A long black haired lady had tried to stop them in the entrance but the two boys didn’t even stop to look at her. They could hear her screams from behind something about “shouldn’t fight” and “being grownups”
Kudo’s whereabouts was no secret to those in the same neighbour as him and all it took was one call from Hayato to his Senpai-buddies to locate him. In his next call he asked for a back up from Take, Hyuuga and Tusschi. As it was going to be like an ambush to the devil’s inn he decided to let Honjo-or-whatever-his-face-his know about it. It was Ryu who had managed to reach them with his phone as all of them had been scattered around the town after the last fight.
The two leaders reached the hideout later than the others, they were aware that they had lost precious time as yelling has risen from inside.
“Yamato-brat!” hissed Hayato as he stepped in through the main door boldly. There was no need to hide as the groups had already started their brawl. Ryu could make out three of his fellow group members as well as Honjo and Kuroki from Ren’s team.
Kudo’s men were everywhere and he didn’t like how the things were going. He jumped forward to help others and soon with the remaining duo joining the fight grew even bigger. They were wining, Ryu noticed, it could be because of Hayato’s existence or his and Yamato’s vicious payback attacks. It felt somehow refreshing to avenge Ren, or using his name as an excuse to relieve his stress and beat up those bastards who hurt his friends constantly. He hit and countered without stopping even if he had been punched in the gut or kicked or hit with the wooden weapons. It was alright, he could take the pain, just like Ren had and unlike him who laid half-dead on a white bed he could counter and attack with all his might, just like he had taught him how to protect his precious ones and how to take revenge... wait but Ren never did go for the revenge did he? Ryu slowed down but didn’t stop.
He punched the next guy in front of him square on the face feeling satisfied as his opponent fall limp. His mind started to wonder which wasn’t good to happen in the middle of a fight. The next hit he got proved that. It wasn’t long before his opponents either run away or stayed down for good.
Kudo was cornered. Ryu smirked; he was going to enjoy this. Ryu wriggled between the guys and moved forward. There was still confusion within the enemy group members going on so it was easy to move so. Kudo was on his knees taking in sharp breaths. This was his chance to kick the living lights out of him. Yet he didn’t have the opportunity as it was taken by Yamato. The young boy stood before Kudo a hand holding metal bar up high ready to smack the boy with it. Ryu wished Yamato just be over and done with it and with that thought he froze. What? No, that wasn’t how it was supposed to be. They shouldn’t just attack people with metal bars and be fine with it. He knew it wasn’t right to do so but then why wasn’t he moving? Why wasn’t he stopping the young boy?
Ryu watched as Yamato stretched the bar further and swung it down before his widened eyes, only to be stopped by Hayato’s hand holding his arm. Hayato, of all people.
“That’s quite enough, Yamato. Leave this to me.”
The collected voice wasn’t good enough for the young boy as he turned angrily and cursed at his cousin. Hayato threw the bar out of reach and hold down the struggling boy who was throwing a tantrum about how he needed to take revenge.
Kudo on the other hand was shocked to see Hayato that way and he recovered fast enough to get up launch forward. It was Ryu’s turn now. He jumped towards the villain, elbowing him in the face and sending him flying down, unconscious.
Ryu and Hayato shared a knowing look and Yamato was drained, slumping down. He wanted to kick the fallen enemy but what good would it do if he wasn’t even going to feel it. Ryu put a comforting hand on the young one’s shoulder. It wasn’t shoved away but it wasn’t most welcome either.
“You should have let me finish him off.”
“What? With the bar ending up in his face causing a bloody mess?” asked Ichi sounding irritated.
“Yes! He should be a bloody mess. He deserves nothing more.”
“Yamato!”
“Don’t, Honjo! This goddamned bastard is the reason Ren is in the hospital. It’s his fault that he is wounded and in pain where he should be put instead! So don’t defend him to me!”
“I’m not-”
“You are right” said Ryu causing a silence to occur. Hayato eyed him suspiciously wondering what was following this. “Yes, he is responsible for Ren’s wounds, yes, he needs to be punished. Perhaps he deserved everything that came at him.”
“Thanks”
“Yet, Yamato. We can’t be the judge of that. Trust me I know what you feel and I want nothing more than torturing him but we can’t. If we do that then we will be the same as him. And I can’t face Ren knowing that I have become someone who hurt him.
“In the last few weeks I have seen a side to him that’s kind and caring. I want to be worthy of that and so do you. We have taken our revenge. We are done. Kudo knows he can’t tear us apart and he won’t mess with us anymore. Now we go back to where we should be standing.”
“By his side” completed Yamato “Yeah, I guess.”
“Yeah.” The light brunette grabbed Yamato’s arm hoisting him up.
“Let’s go” he ordered as he took his arm back from Ryu. Hayato observed his retrieving back and then Ryu’s proud hidden smile. It wasn’t how he would have ended things but it worked fine with him. So he let Yamato-brat take the lead for a few minutes. With a simple head gesture he silently told his group members to follow the new eager leader and himself remained back.
It was Ryu who turned around noticing the big absence. “Come on” he said to the dark brunette.
“Nah. You go ahead. Someone’s gotta clean this mess”
“What? You are not going to do something to him, right?”
“I had a few ideas” confessed Hayato “but no, not today.” Ryu nodded reluctantly. It was one of those times that he had to trust Hayato.
After their leave, the leader faced Kudo. He had caused so much trouble than he was worth. Now what to do with him?
“So, where do we dump him? The garbage? Or some deserted alley to bleed to death?” It was Tusschi.
“Why didn’t you go with them?”
“Ren is a good guy and all but no relation to me, Hayato. I prefer taking care of him with you.”
“Thanks, man but we are not doing that.”
“Yes, you promised Ryu-chan.”
“You suicidal? Don’t call him Ryu-chan.”
“Soorry!”
“Hold, I heard something. Another one of Kudo’s men?” He hushed Tusschi and sneaked his way to the back door where they found an amused woman ranting by herself.
“Such wonderful youth. What a wonderful friendship. How I wished I could teach them...”
Hayato raised a nonchalant eyebrow and tugged on her sleeve. Out of reflex the woman turned around swinging a fist which Hayato managed to dodge but tough luck for Tusschi.
“Oh, I am sorry.” said the woman apparently not expecting the young boys to find her.
“What the hell, old lady?” yelled Tusschi ready for a counter but Hayato coughed to stop him. The leader glared at the black haired short woman. She seemed familiar.
“I am not old! I am still young and beautiful and with nice body!” They ignored her.
“Weren’t you in the hospital? Did you follow us?” he asked voice dangerously low.
“I tracked you down.” She answered happily, clearly not affected by his glare.
“Why?” was the next growl.
“To make sure you were fine of course. I was this close from joining in with the fight but you did well stopping your young friend. Well done. Would you like to be my student, both of you?”
“Ha?” Hayato barked gripping front of her blouse. Despite the obvious threat her eyes were shining with a proud smile. Similar to Ryu’s but far more disturbing. He let her go. “Beat it, lady.”
“But don’t you need help?” she asked curious.
“No!”
“Get away!” Tusschi yelled when she jumped on his back, very affectionately messing his hair. “Demon! You don’t mess with the hair!”
“So cute!”
“Don’t cute me! Move!”
Hayato raised an eyebrow at the strange black haired woman and his action was mirrored by Tuscchi when the said woman kept on following them while giving advice as to which route to take in order to reach the hospital without countering any fuzz. Perhaps it was the stress building up because of the day or because of his interrupted hot session with Ryu, most likely both. But he was fed up by the time they have arrived the first corner towards hospital. He made a quick turn, so fast that even he momentarily impressed himself before swinging his fist in the talkative lady’s direction. He would have hit the bull’s eye if it wasn’t for the woman to disappear into thin air before reappearing behind him, along with his arm bent -painfully- behind him. He cursed loudly and trashed against the unexpectedly strong hold. Tuscchi came to help but ended up on the sideway facedown. Only after agreeing to calm down, he was let go.
“You thank God I’m injured…” he trailed off while walking away, in hopes of leaving the monster woman behind. To his surprise, she did. Tuscchi was dazed by the sudden silence and savoured the moment as a blessing. Then they went straight into the chaos of the hospital reception.
He spotted Yamato among the sea of people going through the entrance and followed Hayato who had spotted him as well. Tuscchi has not seen Yamato this bad before, not that he knew the boy but if Hayato’s face was anything to go on, the leader’s younger cousin was in a torment. He recognised it; the same face, same expression which was worn by Hayato both on the day of the so called betrayal and in the moment he came across Ryu’s still body in the warehouse, all too familiar. It had had appeared for a few seconds before being taken over by rage but it was there, evident on Hayato’s face as he absorbed each and every word about his best friend slash team mate slash long lasting crash.
The tall boy was certain that Hayato was about to bring the end of the world both times if it wasn’t for his family or what little had remained of his dominion since friendship had held little value in his heart after such a blow. Good thing that what that storm had destroyed was being reconstructed yet even though that one was gone a younger storm was approaching. He hoped this time they would get it right and avoid it all together.
At least they had finished it with Kudo. He had feared for the worst there for a second.
His brown eyes scanned for Ryu and failed in locating him so he made an attempt to ask his leader but gave up; he seemed too engrossed in his thoughts. If Tuscchi’s eyes were not failing him then Hayato was definitely on the verge of turning back and running away.
“What do you say…” Hayato started “to someone who is about to lose his heart, Tuscchi?” Dumbstruck, Tuscchi opened and reclosed his mouth like a gaping fish. He would have been called stupid if Hayato was actually paying attention to him. “I know; nothing will make it better. No words or anything. There is no way of comforting him until, if Kazama wakes up. So what do we do?”
“Don’t do anything then…” was the taller boy’s answer “just stick with him and that’s it.”
Hayato gave out an uncharacteristic sigh but nodded nevertheless. As he took his seat by Yamato, he felt no motion from him but after a few minutes he could visibly see the relaxation in younger boy’s feature.
Ryu, on the other hand had made it up to Ren’s room. He definitely felt better now he had released a lot of energy and stress. Whoever said fighting was bad must not have any lover problems in his life he concluded. Who could give up on beating up a half-assed, good for nothing plus constantly bitching Kudo-Senpai when it was a necessity to shut him up.
“You have done it then?” the question was directed by the sister. Ryu knew what she was referring to and he wasn’t exactly hiding that he was very recently in a fight. “Yeah” he answered “It was Yamato mostly”
“Is he?”
“He is fine. Very angry and possibly about to break apart but fine otherwise. The one responsible for this is probably in custody by now too.”
“That’s good. How about you go change Ryu-chan. You can use a breather and a shower.”
“I’ll survive. I just wanted let him know that we are all ok and he can join us now.”
“Yeah, I’ll tell him that.” Sister choked back a sob and entered the room. The brunette took this as a sign of ‘please piss off and return with a better smell’ He obliged her wish passing by Hayato, Tuscchi and Yamato in the reception and avoiding the curious eyes of a woman on his way home. It would be a whole twenty four hours later that he would find the strength to gather himself up to revisit his boyfriend.
Continue;
http://shiroakuma.livejournal.com/5662.html