Underneath It All [Ch. 1]
Title: Underneath It All
Author: NatsuAisu
Word Count: 2,349
Pairing: DaiNoo (main), YabuHika, TakaYama
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance/Comedy
Warning: Excuse and grammatical errors or spelling mistakes I make! I do not have a beta! C:
The shop on the corner wasn’t anything special. It was small and in a good position where the people who lived in the neighbourhood were within walking distance of the shop; nicely placed between a button store and a blank cement wall which had a few traces of erased graffitti. Inside the shopkeeper was chatting to one of the customers who was telling him about her grandchildren having come to visit her and their trip into town, a story the shopkeeper gladly listened to and enjoyed. A few people were roaming inside the store, browsing the items and picking out their needed objects. By the entrance (also the exit) of the store was a worker, or to be more accurate, the only worker in the store who was also a close friend of the shopkeeper. He was busy stacking some batteries on the shelf from a now half empty cardboard box on the floor, humming lightly to himself as he did so.
He stopped his actions momentarily, but then went straight back to what he was doing. Out of the corner of his eye he had spotted a teenager, a prime example of a delinquent too, with the sports cap, baggy jeans hanging low on his hips, dusty sneakers and a tattered denim jacket; the teenager had looked over his back and sideways to make sure that nobody was watching him, and then swiftly grabbed a object off of the shelf and turned briskly around while making his way towards the exit. The whole thing happened in less than a few seconds, but before the teenager could successfully make his way out of the store a hand grabbed him by the wrist.
“You’ve got to pay for that.” The teenager turned around and came eye to eye... or actually, eye to hair, with a rather short boy. He tried to lightly free himself from the grip.
“What’re you talking about? I didn’t take anything.” The grip on his arm tightened for a split second before releasing him completely. The teenager began to make his way towards the exit once more, but to no avail.
“Show me your hands.” The shorter boy said. His tone wasn’t demanding or fearful, just natural.
“What?” The teenager smiled a bit. This guy...
“I said show me your hands. I need to check that you haven’t taken anything.” Letting out a small laugh the teenager hold out his hands and shook his head in disbelief. Really now...
The shorter boy let his eyes roam across the delinquent’s hands. There wasn’t anything in his hands. The teenager began to put his hands down when they were suddenly held up again by the shorter boy. He stuck his fingers into the teenager’s left sleeve and gentley pulled out the stolen item. The teenager gulped out of embarrassment and just stared as one of his arms was still held by the shorter boy and his ‘item’ was being held in front of him.
“This, huh?” The shorter boy said. His eyes looked at the item held between his fingers and just smiled.
“L-look man, it must’ve fallen off the rack or someth-“
“And slipped into your sleeve? Nice try.” The teenager bit his tongue and opted for being quiet right now. The position he was in made it evident for people who came in what was happening, and the little talk between him and the shorter boy had attracted the attention of a few of the customers.
The shorter boy dropped the delinquent’s hand and went back to the rack where he had stolen the item from, placed it carefully back on the correct rack and retrieved another similar item from a different rack. He threw the item at the teenager who could only awkwardly catch it in shock. He looked at the object just thrown on him and read: ‘XS Trojan Condom’
He looked back at the shorter boy who was now grinning slightly. “There is no way you’re ‘Large’.”
Out of embarrassment the teenager just dipped his head low and quickly exited the shop, ignoring a few of the snickers that came from the cashier line with a very amused shopkeeper winking at his friend.
“Nice one Dai-chan.” He said as he handed back the change to the current customer. The boy just turned around and waved a hand in front of his face, disregarding the comment. “You truly are harsh.” He beeped in the item for the customer and handed her the receipt. “But definitely fair.”
A abrupt laugh was elicited from the short boy and he made his way back to his cardboard box and continued unpacking the batteries. “Well, when you’re young you do a lot of dumb things, right? You just gotta have one experience that puts you off of it.”
The shopkeeper waves goodbye to the customer who left and let out a sigh of relief. No one was in the shop for now so he could take a momentarily break. “Your methods are quite strange. And your way of thinking too.” The shopkeeper replied.
The short boy turned around to face the shopkeeper. “Like your way of thinking isn’t strange Takaki!” The shopkeeper let out a tingling laugh at the shorter boy’s outburst. “You’re like a child...!” He continued as he placed the final packs of batteries on the shelf and picked up the box before he stood fully upright. He held the box up to the shopkeeper. “Do you need this?”
The shopkeeper walked out from behind the counter and took the cardboard box from the shorter boy. “I got it Daiki. You could stand behind the counter for now, I’m going to take a small break and have some coffee.” The short boy, Daiki, nodded and walked over to the counter as the shopkeeper, Takaki, followed Daiki but disappeared into a room hidden by a pair of green drapes behind the counter. “You want some by the way?” He yelled out from behind.
“No thanks!” Daiki replied. He opened the cash register and checked the money and the receipt tray to make sure there was enough paper left. Just as he finished checking to see that there was fair amount left, a customer ented the store. Daiki looked up to be greeted by a figure wearing a big navy hoodie, light blue jeans and a low cap covering most of their face. The hoodie was pulled over their head which covered up more of their face and made it look like they only had a nose. Just as quickly as they’d entered the figure disappeared from the entrance and made their way through the shop. From where Daiki stood behind the counter he could see everything that went on in the shop, so he could clearly see if the figure that had just entered was up to no good.
But nothing happened.
The figure merely walked up the drinks section, opened the door to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of vegetable juice. They then walked down towards the counter and placed it in front of the cashier, Daiki.
“Good evening. Will this be all?” Daiki asked the customer who just nodded in reply. He beeped the vegetable juice and placed it in front of the figure.
“That’ll be $1.80, please.”
A sort of deep, raspy voice spoke up. “Could you... put it on a tab?”
Daiki blinked.
“Uhh... I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’s possible.” The guy turned his head to the side before turning back to Daiki.
“Please, just could you?” he tried again. Daiki just hesitantly shook his head.
“I can’t do that, sorry. I’m only a worker here, I don’t have any authority to make decisions like that.” The guy pleaded again, this time a bit more aggressivley.
“Would you just! Nngh! ...Just, a tab? Okay?” Daiki began to get a bit angered by the guy’s behaviour and shook his head once more.
“Can’t do it. You’ve got to pay up front. With money.” He replied back. The guy was getting twitchy this time and looked to the left and right before speaking again, not giving up.
“It’s just some vegetable juice! It’s only $1.80, can you not write it up on a tab?”
“Look, no! You’ve got to pay for the item with money or you can’t have it!” Daiki took the vegetable juice and placed it on his side of the counter, all the while staring into the darkened face of the mysterious guy.
“Tss!”
“What’s going on here?” Daiki turned to see Takaki exiting through the curtains, a worried look plastered across his face. “Is something the problem?” he asked. Daiki opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted.
“It’s just... nothing!” the guy gulped and began walking backwards. “Just keep it, I don’t need it.” He headed towards the exit but turned around before leaving. “You have a lovely shop by the way.”
Takaki slowly nodded his head with a confused look on his face. “Thanks...” and then the guy waltzed right out of the shop. Takaki turned to Daiki who was still staring at the exit with a raised eyebrow.
“That was weird.” he said.
“What happened?” Takaki asked.
“I don’t know... the guy just came up and asked to have the vegetable juice put on a tab because he didn’t have any money, and I said that it wasn’t possible and that he needed money to pay for it.” Daiki answered as he scratched his head lightly.
“Did you recognize him?” Takaki asked. Daiki shook his head.
“Never seen him before. I mean, I couldn’t even see him. His face was so covered by the hoodie and cap that you could only make out his nose.”
Takaki nodded lightly and turned to place the vegetable juice back in its place. “Well, you did the right thing. If we didn’t know who it was we couldn’t have written up a tab. Especially if it was a first timer in this store. They might’ve just wanted to screw with us and steal the juice without having us suspect anyth-“ Daiki noticed how the shopkeeper has stopped mid-sentence and turned to his employer.
“Takaki, what’s wrong?” The taller male held up a very small object, but it was obvious what it was through the intense shine it emitted.
A ring.
A golden ring with decorated with three glistening diamonds; one large in the centre and two smaller ones on either side, beautifully complimenting the one in the middle and giving the ring a royal feel to it.
Daiki’s eyes widened as he turned to look at Takaki. “Where did you get that from...?!” he whispered harshly. He didn’t know why, but the sight in front of him made him lower his voice.
Takaki turned to Daiki with furrowed brows. “I... it was on the vegetable juice.” Daiki raised his eyebrows out of sudden shock.
“What?”
“You didn’t notice it before?” Daiki shook his head. When had it appeared on the vegetable juice? Or had it been there before? “Ah, maybe the guy who just came left it on there.”
“You think so?” Takaki made his way around Daiki to the other side of the counter and opened a drawer. “You think he’ll be back when he realizes it’s gone?”
“I think so. That’s what I’d do if I lost something. Retrace my steps and see where I left it.” He looked past Takaki and saw the shopkeeper place it in the drawer and shut it. It was the ‘Lost & Found’ drawer for small things like jewelry or tiny toys.
“I’ve put it in this drawer here for now then, alright? It’s unlocked so if he comes back just give it to him.” Daiki replied with a short ‘yeah’ and remained positioned behind the counter as Takaki returned to the room in the back. Two small children entered the shop and ran up to the sweets, a sight that made Daiki chuckle lightly to himself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not too far from the shop, a man is making a phone call.
One ring.
Two ring.
Three ri-
“Hello, this is the police station. What seems to be the problem?”
One breath.
“I’d like to report a theft.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
At around 7 P.M. a police car arrived at the shop. A female police officer stepped out of the car and jogged to the shop, holding up her badge as she entered and and held up her hand to show the two people in the shop to halt their actions.
“Wha-“ Takaki began but was interrupted as another two officers entered the shop, looking at the female who pointed at Daiki and then one of them made their way over to the shorter boy.
“We’ve been reported of a theft and the caller listed this place as the occupant home of the stolen good.” The female officer said directing her speech at Takaki who stood shell-shocked behind the counter.
“But we haven’t done anything!” He tried talking back but the woman had pointed at him already and the other officer had come and swiftly held his hands behind his own back and cuffed him. “Wha- what?! What’re you doing?!” He roared. The officer hauled him towards the exit and ignored Takaki’s mad protests and Daiki’s equally fierce yells. Before the officer could make it out of the shop with Takaki the female officer pulled him close and whispered in his ear.
“Watch out with those two. The caller warned us that the two would make up excuses and resist furiously to their capture.” The officer nodded and continue making his way out and towards their car. The woman yelled out to the two who were ushering the two captured men into the car. “Make sure they’re put into a cell for the night! Don’t let them out until we’ve talked things out with the owner of the stolen good!”
The two officers nodded as they slammed the doors shut, two very panicked friends in the backseat with their hands behind their back.
Something had gone terribley wrong.
A/N: Inoo & Hikaru don't appear until the next chapter!
And umm... well? What did you think? :3 This will be my first HSJ multi-chapter fic and I'm really looking forward to writing it. ^.^ It's just keeping up with it that will be my problem... ugh. D:
But I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter and umm... yeah. Enjoy your summer! 8D
Author: NatsuAisu
Word Count: 2,349
Pairing: DaiNoo (main), YabuHika, TakaYama
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance/Comedy
Warning: Excuse and grammatical errors or spelling mistakes I make! I do not have a beta! C:
The shop on the corner wasn’t anything special. It was small and in a good position where the people who lived in the neighbourhood were within walking distance of the shop; nicely placed between a button store and a blank cement wall which had a few traces of erased graffitti. Inside the shopkeeper was chatting to one of the customers who was telling him about her grandchildren having come to visit her and their trip into town, a story the shopkeeper gladly listened to and enjoyed. A few people were roaming inside the store, browsing the items and picking out their needed objects. By the entrance (also the exit) of the store was a worker, or to be more accurate, the only worker in the store who was also a close friend of the shopkeeper. He was busy stacking some batteries on the shelf from a now half empty cardboard box on the floor, humming lightly to himself as he did so.
He stopped his actions momentarily, but then went straight back to what he was doing. Out of the corner of his eye he had spotted a teenager, a prime example of a delinquent too, with the sports cap, baggy jeans hanging low on his hips, dusty sneakers and a tattered denim jacket; the teenager had looked over his back and sideways to make sure that nobody was watching him, and then swiftly grabbed a object off of the shelf and turned briskly around while making his way towards the exit. The whole thing happened in less than a few seconds, but before the teenager could successfully make his way out of the store a hand grabbed him by the wrist.
“You’ve got to pay for that.” The teenager turned around and came eye to eye... or actually, eye to hair, with a rather short boy. He tried to lightly free himself from the grip.
“What’re you talking about? I didn’t take anything.” The grip on his arm tightened for a split second before releasing him completely. The teenager began to make his way towards the exit once more, but to no avail.
“Show me your hands.” The shorter boy said. His tone wasn’t demanding or fearful, just natural.
“What?” The teenager smiled a bit. This guy...
“I said show me your hands. I need to check that you haven’t taken anything.” Letting out a small laugh the teenager hold out his hands and shook his head in disbelief. Really now...
The shorter boy let his eyes roam across the delinquent’s hands. There wasn’t anything in his hands. The teenager began to put his hands down when they were suddenly held up again by the shorter boy. He stuck his fingers into the teenager’s left sleeve and gentley pulled out the stolen item. The teenager gulped out of embarrassment and just stared as one of his arms was still held by the shorter boy and his ‘item’ was being held in front of him.
“This, huh?” The shorter boy said. His eyes looked at the item held between his fingers and just smiled.
“L-look man, it must’ve fallen off the rack or someth-“
“And slipped into your sleeve? Nice try.” The teenager bit his tongue and opted for being quiet right now. The position he was in made it evident for people who came in what was happening, and the little talk between him and the shorter boy had attracted the attention of a few of the customers.
The shorter boy dropped the delinquent’s hand and went back to the rack where he had stolen the item from, placed it carefully back on the correct rack and retrieved another similar item from a different rack. He threw the item at the teenager who could only awkwardly catch it in shock. He looked at the object just thrown on him and read: ‘XS Trojan Condom’
He looked back at the shorter boy who was now grinning slightly. “There is no way you’re ‘Large’.”
Out of embarrassment the teenager just dipped his head low and quickly exited the shop, ignoring a few of the snickers that came from the cashier line with a very amused shopkeeper winking at his friend.
“Nice one Dai-chan.” He said as he handed back the change to the current customer. The boy just turned around and waved a hand in front of his face, disregarding the comment. “You truly are harsh.” He beeped in the item for the customer and handed her the receipt. “But definitely fair.”
A abrupt laugh was elicited from the short boy and he made his way back to his cardboard box and continued unpacking the batteries. “Well, when you’re young you do a lot of dumb things, right? You just gotta have one experience that puts you off of it.”
The shopkeeper waves goodbye to the customer who left and let out a sigh of relief. No one was in the shop for now so he could take a momentarily break. “Your methods are quite strange. And your way of thinking too.” The shopkeeper replied.
The short boy turned around to face the shopkeeper. “Like your way of thinking isn’t strange Takaki!” The shopkeeper let out a tingling laugh at the shorter boy’s outburst. “You’re like a child...!” He continued as he placed the final packs of batteries on the shelf and picked up the box before he stood fully upright. He held the box up to the shopkeeper. “Do you need this?”
The shopkeeper walked out from behind the counter and took the cardboard box from the shorter boy. “I got it Daiki. You could stand behind the counter for now, I’m going to take a small break and have some coffee.” The short boy, Daiki, nodded and walked over to the counter as the shopkeeper, Takaki, followed Daiki but disappeared into a room hidden by a pair of green drapes behind the counter. “You want some by the way?” He yelled out from behind.
“No thanks!” Daiki replied. He opened the cash register and checked the money and the receipt tray to make sure there was enough paper left. Just as he finished checking to see that there was fair amount left, a customer ented the store. Daiki looked up to be greeted by a figure wearing a big navy hoodie, light blue jeans and a low cap covering most of their face. The hoodie was pulled over their head which covered up more of their face and made it look like they only had a nose. Just as quickly as they’d entered the figure disappeared from the entrance and made their way through the shop. From where Daiki stood behind the counter he could see everything that went on in the shop, so he could clearly see if the figure that had just entered was up to no good.
But nothing happened.
The figure merely walked up the drinks section, opened the door to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of vegetable juice. They then walked down towards the counter and placed it in front of the cashier, Daiki.
“Good evening. Will this be all?” Daiki asked the customer who just nodded in reply. He beeped the vegetable juice and placed it in front of the figure.
“That’ll be $1.80, please.”
A sort of deep, raspy voice spoke up. “Could you... put it on a tab?”
Daiki blinked.
“Uhh... I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’s possible.” The guy turned his head to the side before turning back to Daiki.
“Please, just could you?” he tried again. Daiki just hesitantly shook his head.
“I can’t do that, sorry. I’m only a worker here, I don’t have any authority to make decisions like that.” The guy pleaded again, this time a bit more aggressivley.
“Would you just! Nngh! ...Just, a tab? Okay?” Daiki began to get a bit angered by the guy’s behaviour and shook his head once more.
“Can’t do it. You’ve got to pay up front. With money.” He replied back. The guy was getting twitchy this time and looked to the left and right before speaking again, not giving up.
“It’s just some vegetable juice! It’s only $1.80, can you not write it up on a tab?”
“Look, no! You’ve got to pay for the item with money or you can’t have it!” Daiki took the vegetable juice and placed it on his side of the counter, all the while staring into the darkened face of the mysterious guy.
“Tss!”
“What’s going on here?” Daiki turned to see Takaki exiting through the curtains, a worried look plastered across his face. “Is something the problem?” he asked. Daiki opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted.
“It’s just... nothing!” the guy gulped and began walking backwards. “Just keep it, I don’t need it.” He headed towards the exit but turned around before leaving. “You have a lovely shop by the way.”
Takaki slowly nodded his head with a confused look on his face. “Thanks...” and then the guy waltzed right out of the shop. Takaki turned to Daiki who was still staring at the exit with a raised eyebrow.
“That was weird.” he said.
“What happened?” Takaki asked.
“I don’t know... the guy just came up and asked to have the vegetable juice put on a tab because he didn’t have any money, and I said that it wasn’t possible and that he needed money to pay for it.” Daiki answered as he scratched his head lightly.
“Did you recognize him?” Takaki asked. Daiki shook his head.
“Never seen him before. I mean, I couldn’t even see him. His face was so covered by the hoodie and cap that you could only make out his nose.”
Takaki nodded lightly and turned to place the vegetable juice back in its place. “Well, you did the right thing. If we didn’t know who it was we couldn’t have written up a tab. Especially if it was a first timer in this store. They might’ve just wanted to screw with us and steal the juice without having us suspect anyth-“ Daiki noticed how the shopkeeper has stopped mid-sentence and turned to his employer.
“Takaki, what’s wrong?” The taller male held up a very small object, but it was obvious what it was through the intense shine it emitted.
A ring.
A golden ring with decorated with three glistening diamonds; one large in the centre and two smaller ones on either side, beautifully complimenting the one in the middle and giving the ring a royal feel to it.
Daiki’s eyes widened as he turned to look at Takaki. “Where did you get that from...?!” he whispered harshly. He didn’t know why, but the sight in front of him made him lower his voice.
Takaki turned to Daiki with furrowed brows. “I... it was on the vegetable juice.” Daiki raised his eyebrows out of sudden shock.
“What?”
“You didn’t notice it before?” Daiki shook his head. When had it appeared on the vegetable juice? Or had it been there before? “Ah, maybe the guy who just came left it on there.”
“You think so?” Takaki made his way around Daiki to the other side of the counter and opened a drawer. “You think he’ll be back when he realizes it’s gone?”
“I think so. That’s what I’d do if I lost something. Retrace my steps and see where I left it.” He looked past Takaki and saw the shopkeeper place it in the drawer and shut it. It was the ‘Lost & Found’ drawer for small things like jewelry or tiny toys.
“I’ve put it in this drawer here for now then, alright? It’s unlocked so if he comes back just give it to him.” Daiki replied with a short ‘yeah’ and remained positioned behind the counter as Takaki returned to the room in the back. Two small children entered the shop and ran up to the sweets, a sight that made Daiki chuckle lightly to himself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not too far from the shop, a man is making a phone call.
One ring.
Two ring.
Three ri-
“Hello, this is the police station. What seems to be the problem?”
One breath.
“I’d like to report a theft.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
At around 7 P.M. a police car arrived at the shop. A female police officer stepped out of the car and jogged to the shop, holding up her badge as she entered and and held up her hand to show the two people in the shop to halt their actions.
“Wha-“ Takaki began but was interrupted as another two officers entered the shop, looking at the female who pointed at Daiki and then one of them made their way over to the shorter boy.
“We’ve been reported of a theft and the caller listed this place as the occupant home of the stolen good.” The female officer said directing her speech at Takaki who stood shell-shocked behind the counter.
“But we haven’t done anything!” He tried talking back but the woman had pointed at him already and the other officer had come and swiftly held his hands behind his own back and cuffed him. “Wha- what?! What’re you doing?!” He roared. The officer hauled him towards the exit and ignored Takaki’s mad protests and Daiki’s equally fierce yells. Before the officer could make it out of the shop with Takaki the female officer pulled him close and whispered in his ear.
“Watch out with those two. The caller warned us that the two would make up excuses and resist furiously to their capture.” The officer nodded and continue making his way out and towards their car. The woman yelled out to the two who were ushering the two captured men into the car. “Make sure they’re put into a cell for the night! Don’t let them out until we’ve talked things out with the owner of the stolen good!”
The two officers nodded as they slammed the doors shut, two very panicked friends in the backseat with their hands behind their back.
Something had gone terribley wrong.
A/N: Inoo & Hikaru don't appear until the next chapter!
And umm... well? What did you think? :3 This will be my first HSJ multi-chapter fic and I'm really looking forward to writing it. ^.^ It's just keeping up with it that will be my problem... ugh. D:
But I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter and umm... yeah. Enjoy your summer! 8D