[Fic] The One Where KAT-TUN Are Bodyguards
Title : The One Where KAT-TUN Are Bodyguards
Pairing : Gen, everybody loves Maru (this should be a category on it's own...)
Word Count : 3690 words
Rating : G
Disclaimer : ...mine? I wish...
Author's Note : Sorry for the crappy title, I couldn't think of anything else. Might change if I can think of something better. As you can see, AU bodyguard fic. I had lots of fun messing around with KAT-TUN and NEWS's history and timeline.
Yuichi could feel a trickle of sweat making its way down his temple. His hand twitched with the effort not to wipe it off. It never boded well to show weakness in front of others, especially when you’re a team leader. And especially when the person sitting behind the intimidatingly large oak table flipping through your resignation and/or transfer letter was your boss.
Yuichi was about to give up and start twitching regardless when Johnny Kitagawa, CEO of Johnny’s & Associates, the largest personal protection firm in Japan, finally, finally, put his letter down on the shiny oak table and laced his hands together over it.
“So, YOU want to quit?” asked Johnny-san, his voice a husky whisper that everyone eventually got used to and can tell what he’s actually saying. In fact, the junior agents regularly held competitions on who can impersonate him the best.
“Yes, sir. Or else I want to request a transfer out of my team. I feel that I can no longer serve as team leader and having an ex-team leader around would be awkward for the next team leader so the best decision would be for me to leave,” Yuichi explained his carefully thought out arguments prepared the night before, after the incident that prompted his resignation and/or transfer.
“YOU know, I hand-picked YOU for a position in this firm and I was happy when I found out that YOU became the team leader for KAT-TUN. I knew that there was something special in YOU and hoped that your time here can cultivate that. And now you’re telling me that I was wrong?” frowned Johnny-san.
Yuichi winced. He hated confrontations; he’d preferred if everyone could get along together happily. “No sir, I would be happy to stay with the company and continue contributing whatever I can but I can’t stay as a team leader for KAT-TUN.”
“I see. Well, I won’t force YOU if this is really what YOU want but let me ask you something - have YOU told your team about your decision?” Johnny-san asked pointedly, giving Yuichi a look. By the expression on Johnny-san’s face, he probably already knew the answer.
“No sir, I haven’t. I thought to get an answer from you first before talking to them…,” Yuichi trailed off.
“Hmph. Why don’t YOU talk to them first about what happened that lead to your decision and if you still feel the same way then YOU come back and see me. Now, dismissed,” Johnny-san waved him off, already turning his attention towards the pile of documents needing his attention.
Yuichi got up and walked towards the door. As his hand closed on the doorknob, he was stopped by the sound of Johnny-san’s voice. “YOU know, Yuichi, as the boss of this firm, I make it my responsibility to know about all the teams under me. I know KAT-TUN was very upset about my decision to keep YOU all under the junior team status while everyone else was promoted to senior team status before finally promoting YOU all to senior team status. I also know that KAT-TUN came close to breaking up during those 5 years. But do YOU know what else I know? I know that if it wasn’t for YOU, KAT-TUN definitely would not be the most wanted personal protection team that I have now because they would have broken up by now. Now go talk to your team members.”
Yuichi swallowed hard and nodded once, opening the door and walking out. As he travelled back down the corridors that would lead him to KAT-TUN’s personal rooms, ones that they’d gotten once they had senior team status, he thought about what Johnny-san had said.
It was true, what Johnny-san had said. KAT-TUN had come close to breaking up many times during the 5 years that they had junior team status. They watched other teams promoted to senior team status before them and getting the choice assignments while they were apparently left out. They were sometimes assigned to missions with a senior team and it grated on them that they had to give way to the other team as they had higher seniority. Sometimes when the pressure was too high, tempers would flare and they would start fighting with each other.
It was during these times that the duty fell to Yuichi as the team leader to calm them down. Kouki was a big help during the physical moments, as he also had a calm head, at odds with his tough appearance, and his physical combat knowledge helped subdue those who were involved in the fighting. It was very difficult to keep the peace within KAT-TUN as each of them had their own unique opinions which contributed to the team’s highly effective strategy but wasn’t so good when trying to agree on something.
Jin and Kazuya were both quite stubborn when it came to their-way-or-the-highway. Tatsuya was mostly off in his own world, fiddling with whatever electronic device that was his current fad. Junno was mostly easy-going until you got him roused up on an issue that he feels strongly about and then you would have to deal with an enraged hand-to-hand combat expert. There were many times when the furniture in the room they were in suffered as a consequence of these many different personalities clashing together; their fights were legendary in Johnny’s.
However, this did not mean that they hated each other. On the contrary, KAT-TUN was a pretty tight-knit group when they were not fighting. When they were still under junior team status, Yuichi and Kouki were often assigned on short missions that required two agents. Yuichi found that although they might not look like they have anything in common on the outside, they had a similar sense of humour on the inside.
Yuichi, Jin and Kazuya attended their job interview at Johnny’s on the same day, although they weren’t known as KAT-TUN until about 2 years later. Before they were assigned to KAT-TUN, they didn’t really have a chance to work together much, but Yuichi always found them friendly whenever they had a chance to greet each other, especially when both of them were already outstanding in their looks and skills and were very popular with the other junior agents and didn’t have to be friendly with a person of average looks and skills like himself.
Kouki really admired Kazuya’s work ethics and respected his opinion and this was really an achievement as Kouki rarely had time for people younger than himself. Junno was an enthusiastic gamer and often got together with Tatsuya in their downtime for gaming challenges. Jin and Kazuya pretty much ran around the same circles with the more elite agents of their firm, such as Takizawa-kun or Yamashita-kun, before they were assigned to KAT-TUN. Yuichi and Tatsuya often ate together after work as their home was in the same direction.
Kamenashi Kazuya, Akanishi Jin, Taguchi Junnosuke, Tanaka Kouki, Ueda Tatsuya and himself, Nakamaru Yuichi, made up KAT-TUN. They’ve stuck out the rough parts, gone through thick and thin and now here they are, one of the most popular personal protection teams in Johnny’s.
Newcomers to Johnny’s were given junior agent status and they were often sent as back-up with senior and junior teams to observe the way things are done. In the meantime, they were given training in all forms of martial arts and weapons as well as schooled in the art of strategy and leadership.
Then after a few years, if the juniors were outstanding enough, they were often assigned into teams and given junior team status. Junior teams were often given low-risk, low-exposure assignments, such as black-mail or kidnapping of not-so-public figures. During this period of time, some adjustments were needed in order to work together effectively as a newly established team. They needed to work out the kinks of each and every member and figure out how to maximise each member’s skills. This responsibility fell to the team leader. Barring some extraordinary occurrence, this would normally be the agent’s team for the rest of their time in the firm.
After a few more years of experience, junior teams were normally promoted to senior team status. Senior teams had the high-risk, high-exposure assignments, such as death threats of public figures. Senior teams were admired, legends each and every one of them, and every junior agent that came into the firm aspired to one day be a member of a senior team.
As for KAT-TUN, Tatsuya and Kazuya were pretty much the most fragile-looking on their team and Yuichi, as team leader and the oldest among them all, pretty much coddled them as much as he possibly can when it came to assignments. As Tatsuya was the surveillance and electronics expert on their team, this was usually easy to do as he was normally not in direct contact with their client. Yuichi usually sat with Tatsuya in their field command center to co-ordinate their movements and issue in-field commands if necessary. Kazuya on the other hand, as their team’s blades expert, he was normally within mid-range of their client and Yuichi encouraged this as much as possible as it meant he wasn’t within direct contact.
Kouki and Junno were their hand-to-hand combat experts and so they were often right next to their client, both as protection and deterrent. Theirs was the most dangerous job of all as if the enemy was not neutralized by either Kazuya or Jin, their firearms expert, they were the last wall of defence. Their job was the most nerve-wrecking on Yuichi, and Yuichi prayed every time he sent them out that they would come back all right. Jin, on the other hand, was different from what Yuichi had initially expected. Yuichi didn’t have problems with Jin on the field, as he usually followed the instructions Yuichi issued to the letter, which Yuichi found quite surprising as Jin didn’t take authority too well.
So deep in his musings, Yuichi nearly missed the door of their personal rooms. Now that he was paying attention, there were faint sounds of bickering on the other side of the door. Yuichi sighed, what were they arguing about now? And so soon after what happened too. He put his hand on the doorknob and opened the door.
He was greeted by the sight of five furious faces, one of them on conference call with holographic display capabilities. Yuichi gaped. “Aren’t you supposed to be resting after the surgery?”
“How can I rest when the second I close my eyes I get a phone call from Jin blaming me for injuring myself, Kazuya smacking his head after that and them brawling like sailors soon after?” Junno rolled his eyes as Jin glared at him.
“Well, it is his fault,” sulked Jin, crossing his arms.
This time is was Kouki’s turn to roll his eyes. “We heard,” he directed this at Yuichi.
“Heard? Heard wha - oh. How?” asked Yuichi, stepping back until he felt the sofa against his back, wrapping his arm around himself.
“Jin was with Pi, flirting with the secretaries for the more expensive cookies in the secretary’s break room when they overheard them talking,” Kazuya explained.
“And then he came back, called Junno and started shrieking at him,” added Tatsuya helpfully.
“I did not shriek. I…told him off. In a nice, calm manner,” protested Jin as Yuichi looked his way.
“It’s not Junno’s fault. It’s all mine. It’s my fault Junno’s in a hospital unable to walk for months while undergoing physical therapy for his knee,” Yuichi said miserably.
“It wasn’t your fault. It was those snipers who were hired to take out our client. Not only were they incompetent idiots who didn’t get the job done properly, they were terrible shots,” said Jin, seriously. “Take it from an expert.”
Yuichi smiled weakly at Jin, grateful for Jin trying to make him feel better about it.
“Yeah, the cement wall fragmented when the shot went wide and a piece of it hit Junno’s knee. It was out of your control, you did your best,” encouraged Tatsuya, giving Yuichi a smile.
“But all of you are my responsibility. I’m the one in charge of ensuring that you are safe. I failed. I’m not fit to be your team leader anymore,” Yuichi said.
“You’re wrong there. In nowhere is it said that the team leader is in charge of ensuring the safety of his team. The team leader has to ensure the safety of his client, yes, but it is not written anywhere that the safety of his team was also a must. It’s Yuichi who decided that the safety of his team was also a must,” Kazuya said quietly.
“Yeah, I mean look at Pi’s team. He lost one team member just one year after being promoted to a senior team. And then two members were taken in for questioning for suspicious activities and they were all relieved of team duty for half a year while under audit. Of course, half a year later they were cleared for team duty again, and went back to being one of the top teams. It just means that sometimes accidents happen that no one can prevent,” Jin added.
“And what doesn’t kill you can only make you stronger,” added Tatsuya. “Not that anyone will die or anything,” he continued quickly when Kouki gave him a glare.
“Besides, shouldn’t I get the last say? I was the one injured after all so if there was anyone to be blamed for my condition, I should be the one pointing fingers, right?” Junno said.
Yuichi nodded. “Junno’s right. We should hear what he says.”
“Well, this is what I’m gonna say and there better not be anyone to contradict me after that. I can still kill you with my hands,” Junno declared.
“Yeah, but you gotta catch me first,” muttered Jin from where he was now standing beside Yuichi. Yuichi threw Jin a reproachful look from the corner of his eyes, which died off into smothered giggles at the grin on Jin’s face which invited a partner-in-crime to share the joke with.
“I heard that, Jin! Yuichi, I’m going to tell you this once and for all. None of this is your fault. If I’m to blame anyone, I would blame those snipers and the ones who hired them, not you. Never you. Everyone here knows how hard you work to keep us together and in one piece, not just during assignments, but when we act like little children and get into fights with each other as well. My being in the hospital is not your fault, just some bad luck, that’s all. Besides, I could use a paid vacation. So, think of me getting sponge baths from cute nurses while you guys are working your butts off, ok?” grinned Junno, instinctively ducking out of range of the hologram when he saw Kouki taking off his shoe with the intention of throwing it at him.
Yuichi sniffed hard, eyes watering slightly from the touching speech Junno had made. Jin shuffled slightly closer and nudged him on the shoulder, holding out his shirt with his eyebrow raised in question. Yuichi laughed, a wobbly sound, and shook his head; he didn’t want to use Jin’s shirt as a tissue, thanks.
“We’re sorry you don’t hear it from us often enough but we all really appreciate you being our team leader. I mean, can you imagine Jin taking instructions from Kazuya? Or Jin having the same patience as you have when Tatsuya drifts off into his own world? I wouldn’t want to be there when the explosions begin,” said Kouki once he put his shoe back on. “It’s because it’s you that we managed to stay together and be one of the top teams of the firm. Without you, we’d be all over the place.”
“Besides, if you run off to other teams, who’s going to make sure you’re all right? Who’s going to make sure you go home when it’s time to go home? Who’s going to make sure they stock the fruits that you like in our rooms? Who’s going to make sure you remember to eat? There’s no way we can let you go,” Jin reasoned as he ticked off his points one by one with his fingers.
“Yeah, you gotta stay with us so that we can take care of you,” piped up Tatsuya.
“And if you go, who’s going to put up with Jin’s stupid antics? Who’s going to listen while Tatsuya goes on and on about his ‘babies’? Who’s going to put up with Junno’s dajare? And who am Kazuya and I going to run to when we need adult conversation?” Kouki added in the finishing argument.
Yuichi smiled weakly, still touched that his team members think so highly of him. After all these years of working together, he never thought of himself other than replaceable. It was everyone else who had the skills and did the hard work; all he did was sit far away in a safe location and watch helplessly while his team members faced danger. “I thought I was supposed to take care of you guys.”
“Nah, we just let you think that. Makes you easier to manage,” joked Kouki.
“So now that you know our weakness, we can’t let you leave or else…we’d have to buy your silence with lots of cakes. And chocolates. And fruits, chocolate-coated fruits,” nodded Junno, once again comfortably situated among fluffy pillows.
“Don’t we already buy him those? At least once a week?” wondered Tatsuya.
“Okay, then we won’t buy him…strawberries! And mango pudding!” Junno cried out in triumph, folding his arms across his chest smugly.
“Hate to break it to you but Kazuya brought in a box of strawberries this morning and Jin gave his mango pudding to Yuichi during lunch,” said Kouki.
“What?! But…but I wanted some too!” Junno’s lower lip started wobbling, tears beginning to glisten at the corner of his eyes.
“Ah, Junno! Why don’t you open the fruit basket that Tatsuya and I gave to you yesterday? You must not have looked into it yet,” Yuichi hurriedly cut in to prevent Junno’s waterworks. It didn’t take much to stop Junno from crying, but the key was in finding what would make him stop.
Junno sniffed and turned towards his bedside table, picking up a gaily decorated fruit basket among the other items across the surface such as a vase full of flowers and a few get-well cards. The others watched as he settled the basket on his lap and started opening the wrapper. Then a look of pure, childish delight appeared on his face as he spotted something inside the basket.
“Wai! Strawberries!” Junno cried as he pulled out a small box of bright red berries.
“Really Junno. If Yuichi hadn’t said anything the fruits would have just rotted away,” Tatsuya chided.
“I would have opened it later!” said Junno defensively, cradling the box of strawberries close to his chest as if he was afraid the rest of KAT-TUN would be able to reach through the hologram to take it from him.
“You see! That’s exactly what we mean. Who else would be able to take care of us like this? It’s all in the tiny details that you do for us that make our day better because somebody cares. It’s because of that we trust you with our safety during assignments. And all we can do in return is to buy you food,” Kazuya said dejectedly.
Yuichi looked around him. He could see varying emotions in all of his team, sadness, hurt, determination, but most of all hope that he won’t leave them. He’d never said ‘No’ to them before; what made him think he could start now? He took a deep breath and smiled, “I’ll stay.”
His announcement was greeted with cheers, Jin the first to pull him into a hug as he was the closest before Yuichi was squashed by the others. Yuichi managed to get a glimpse of Junno cheering before the holographic base got jostled and fell over sideways. Then he started waving his arms around to get someone’s attention to right the base but was unfortunately overlooked in the bustle.
Once the celebration died down and Junno was seeing things the right way up again, Yuichi felt a little breathless from all the hugging. He looked in Kouki’s direction when Kouki cleared his throat. Yuichi thought Kouki looked a little embarrassed by all the hugging earlier.
“Err…so we’re all good?” coughed Kouki, eyes looking everywhere else but at Yuichi.
Yuichi smiled. “All good,” he agreed.
“We want that in writing. I don’t think any of us can take another scare like this one,” demanded Jin, scrabbling among the items on the table for a piece of paper and pen.
“If that’s the case, then I want a guarantee that all of you will never get injured,” Yuichi retorted, folding his arms across his chest.
“You know we can’t give you that,” Kazuya pointed out. “No matter how much we want to though,” he added after receiving a glare from Jin, who flapped a piece of paper threateningly in Kazuya’s direction.
“There you go,” Yuichi waved a hand gratefully in Kazuya’s direction. “But! I can promise you this - if - if I ever want to resign from the team, I’ll only do it after I find someone whom I trust to keep you all safe in my place.”
“Well then, you’ll be our team leader forever then because there’s no one else who can keep us as safe as you can,” Tatsuya calmly said, as though as that settled everything.
“As simple as that?” Yuichi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at their faith in him to keep them safe.
“As simple as that,” nodded Junno. The rest of KAT-TUN nodded as well, most of them trying and failing to suppress their grins.
Well, after thinking it through, Yuichi wasn’t sure if he trusted anyone else with the safety of his team anyway. So maybe, just maybe, the solution really was as simple as that.
~owari~
Pairing : Gen, everybody loves Maru (this should be a category on it's own...)
Word Count : 3690 words
Rating : G
Disclaimer : ...mine? I wish...
Author's Note : Sorry for the crappy title, I couldn't think of anything else. Might change if I can think of something better. As you can see, AU bodyguard fic. I had lots of fun messing around with KAT-TUN and NEWS's history and timeline.
Yuichi could feel a trickle of sweat making its way down his temple. His hand twitched with the effort not to wipe it off. It never boded well to show weakness in front of others, especially when you’re a team leader. And especially when the person sitting behind the intimidatingly large oak table flipping through your resignation and/or transfer letter was your boss.
Yuichi was about to give up and start twitching regardless when Johnny Kitagawa, CEO of Johnny’s & Associates, the largest personal protection firm in Japan, finally, finally, put his letter down on the shiny oak table and laced his hands together over it.
“So, YOU want to quit?” asked Johnny-san, his voice a husky whisper that everyone eventually got used to and can tell what he’s actually saying. In fact, the junior agents regularly held competitions on who can impersonate him the best.
“Yes, sir. Or else I want to request a transfer out of my team. I feel that I can no longer serve as team leader and having an ex-team leader around would be awkward for the next team leader so the best decision would be for me to leave,” Yuichi explained his carefully thought out arguments prepared the night before, after the incident that prompted his resignation and/or transfer.
“YOU know, I hand-picked YOU for a position in this firm and I was happy when I found out that YOU became the team leader for KAT-TUN. I knew that there was something special in YOU and hoped that your time here can cultivate that. And now you’re telling me that I was wrong?” frowned Johnny-san.
Yuichi winced. He hated confrontations; he’d preferred if everyone could get along together happily. “No sir, I would be happy to stay with the company and continue contributing whatever I can but I can’t stay as a team leader for KAT-TUN.”
“I see. Well, I won’t force YOU if this is really what YOU want but let me ask you something - have YOU told your team about your decision?” Johnny-san asked pointedly, giving Yuichi a look. By the expression on Johnny-san’s face, he probably already knew the answer.
“No sir, I haven’t. I thought to get an answer from you first before talking to them…,” Yuichi trailed off.
“Hmph. Why don’t YOU talk to them first about what happened that lead to your decision and if you still feel the same way then YOU come back and see me. Now, dismissed,” Johnny-san waved him off, already turning his attention towards the pile of documents needing his attention.
Yuichi got up and walked towards the door. As his hand closed on the doorknob, he was stopped by the sound of Johnny-san’s voice. “YOU know, Yuichi, as the boss of this firm, I make it my responsibility to know about all the teams under me. I know KAT-TUN was very upset about my decision to keep YOU all under the junior team status while everyone else was promoted to senior team status before finally promoting YOU all to senior team status. I also know that KAT-TUN came close to breaking up during those 5 years. But do YOU know what else I know? I know that if it wasn’t for YOU, KAT-TUN definitely would not be the most wanted personal protection team that I have now because they would have broken up by now. Now go talk to your team members.”
Yuichi swallowed hard and nodded once, opening the door and walking out. As he travelled back down the corridors that would lead him to KAT-TUN’s personal rooms, ones that they’d gotten once they had senior team status, he thought about what Johnny-san had said.
It was true, what Johnny-san had said. KAT-TUN had come close to breaking up many times during the 5 years that they had junior team status. They watched other teams promoted to senior team status before them and getting the choice assignments while they were apparently left out. They were sometimes assigned to missions with a senior team and it grated on them that they had to give way to the other team as they had higher seniority. Sometimes when the pressure was too high, tempers would flare and they would start fighting with each other.
It was during these times that the duty fell to Yuichi as the team leader to calm them down. Kouki was a big help during the physical moments, as he also had a calm head, at odds with his tough appearance, and his physical combat knowledge helped subdue those who were involved in the fighting. It was very difficult to keep the peace within KAT-TUN as each of them had their own unique opinions which contributed to the team’s highly effective strategy but wasn’t so good when trying to agree on something.
Jin and Kazuya were both quite stubborn when it came to their-way-or-the-highway. Tatsuya was mostly off in his own world, fiddling with whatever electronic device that was his current fad. Junno was mostly easy-going until you got him roused up on an issue that he feels strongly about and then you would have to deal with an enraged hand-to-hand combat expert. There were many times when the furniture in the room they were in suffered as a consequence of these many different personalities clashing together; their fights were legendary in Johnny’s.
However, this did not mean that they hated each other. On the contrary, KAT-TUN was a pretty tight-knit group when they were not fighting. When they were still under junior team status, Yuichi and Kouki were often assigned on short missions that required two agents. Yuichi found that although they might not look like they have anything in common on the outside, they had a similar sense of humour on the inside.
Yuichi, Jin and Kazuya attended their job interview at Johnny’s on the same day, although they weren’t known as KAT-TUN until about 2 years later. Before they were assigned to KAT-TUN, they didn’t really have a chance to work together much, but Yuichi always found them friendly whenever they had a chance to greet each other, especially when both of them were already outstanding in their looks and skills and were very popular with the other junior agents and didn’t have to be friendly with a person of average looks and skills like himself.
Kouki really admired Kazuya’s work ethics and respected his opinion and this was really an achievement as Kouki rarely had time for people younger than himself. Junno was an enthusiastic gamer and often got together with Tatsuya in their downtime for gaming challenges. Jin and Kazuya pretty much ran around the same circles with the more elite agents of their firm, such as Takizawa-kun or Yamashita-kun, before they were assigned to KAT-TUN. Yuichi and Tatsuya often ate together after work as their home was in the same direction.
Kamenashi Kazuya, Akanishi Jin, Taguchi Junnosuke, Tanaka Kouki, Ueda Tatsuya and himself, Nakamaru Yuichi, made up KAT-TUN. They’ve stuck out the rough parts, gone through thick and thin and now here they are, one of the most popular personal protection teams in Johnny’s.
Newcomers to Johnny’s were given junior agent status and they were often sent as back-up with senior and junior teams to observe the way things are done. In the meantime, they were given training in all forms of martial arts and weapons as well as schooled in the art of strategy and leadership.
Then after a few years, if the juniors were outstanding enough, they were often assigned into teams and given junior team status. Junior teams were often given low-risk, low-exposure assignments, such as black-mail or kidnapping of not-so-public figures. During this period of time, some adjustments were needed in order to work together effectively as a newly established team. They needed to work out the kinks of each and every member and figure out how to maximise each member’s skills. This responsibility fell to the team leader. Barring some extraordinary occurrence, this would normally be the agent’s team for the rest of their time in the firm.
After a few more years of experience, junior teams were normally promoted to senior team status. Senior teams had the high-risk, high-exposure assignments, such as death threats of public figures. Senior teams were admired, legends each and every one of them, and every junior agent that came into the firm aspired to one day be a member of a senior team.
As for KAT-TUN, Tatsuya and Kazuya were pretty much the most fragile-looking on their team and Yuichi, as team leader and the oldest among them all, pretty much coddled them as much as he possibly can when it came to assignments. As Tatsuya was the surveillance and electronics expert on their team, this was usually easy to do as he was normally not in direct contact with their client. Yuichi usually sat with Tatsuya in their field command center to co-ordinate their movements and issue in-field commands if necessary. Kazuya on the other hand, as their team’s blades expert, he was normally within mid-range of their client and Yuichi encouraged this as much as possible as it meant he wasn’t within direct contact.
Kouki and Junno were their hand-to-hand combat experts and so they were often right next to their client, both as protection and deterrent. Theirs was the most dangerous job of all as if the enemy was not neutralized by either Kazuya or Jin, their firearms expert, they were the last wall of defence. Their job was the most nerve-wrecking on Yuichi, and Yuichi prayed every time he sent them out that they would come back all right. Jin, on the other hand, was different from what Yuichi had initially expected. Yuichi didn’t have problems with Jin on the field, as he usually followed the instructions Yuichi issued to the letter, which Yuichi found quite surprising as Jin didn’t take authority too well.
So deep in his musings, Yuichi nearly missed the door of their personal rooms. Now that he was paying attention, there were faint sounds of bickering on the other side of the door. Yuichi sighed, what were they arguing about now? And so soon after what happened too. He put his hand on the doorknob and opened the door.
He was greeted by the sight of five furious faces, one of them on conference call with holographic display capabilities. Yuichi gaped. “Aren’t you supposed to be resting after the surgery?”
“How can I rest when the second I close my eyes I get a phone call from Jin blaming me for injuring myself, Kazuya smacking his head after that and them brawling like sailors soon after?” Junno rolled his eyes as Jin glared at him.
“Well, it is his fault,” sulked Jin, crossing his arms.
This time is was Kouki’s turn to roll his eyes. “We heard,” he directed this at Yuichi.
“Heard? Heard wha - oh. How?” asked Yuichi, stepping back until he felt the sofa against his back, wrapping his arm around himself.
“Jin was with Pi, flirting with the secretaries for the more expensive cookies in the secretary’s break room when they overheard them talking,” Kazuya explained.
“And then he came back, called Junno and started shrieking at him,” added Tatsuya helpfully.
“I did not shriek. I…told him off. In a nice, calm manner,” protested Jin as Yuichi looked his way.
“It’s not Junno’s fault. It’s all mine. It’s my fault Junno’s in a hospital unable to walk for months while undergoing physical therapy for his knee,” Yuichi said miserably.
“It wasn’t your fault. It was those snipers who were hired to take out our client. Not only were they incompetent idiots who didn’t get the job done properly, they were terrible shots,” said Jin, seriously. “Take it from an expert.”
Yuichi smiled weakly at Jin, grateful for Jin trying to make him feel better about it.
“Yeah, the cement wall fragmented when the shot went wide and a piece of it hit Junno’s knee. It was out of your control, you did your best,” encouraged Tatsuya, giving Yuichi a smile.
“But all of you are my responsibility. I’m the one in charge of ensuring that you are safe. I failed. I’m not fit to be your team leader anymore,” Yuichi said.
“You’re wrong there. In nowhere is it said that the team leader is in charge of ensuring the safety of his team. The team leader has to ensure the safety of his client, yes, but it is not written anywhere that the safety of his team was also a must. It’s Yuichi who decided that the safety of his team was also a must,” Kazuya said quietly.
“Yeah, I mean look at Pi’s team. He lost one team member just one year after being promoted to a senior team. And then two members were taken in for questioning for suspicious activities and they were all relieved of team duty for half a year while under audit. Of course, half a year later they were cleared for team duty again, and went back to being one of the top teams. It just means that sometimes accidents happen that no one can prevent,” Jin added.
“And what doesn’t kill you can only make you stronger,” added Tatsuya. “Not that anyone will die or anything,” he continued quickly when Kouki gave him a glare.
“Besides, shouldn’t I get the last say? I was the one injured after all so if there was anyone to be blamed for my condition, I should be the one pointing fingers, right?” Junno said.
Yuichi nodded. “Junno’s right. We should hear what he says.”
“Well, this is what I’m gonna say and there better not be anyone to contradict me after that. I can still kill you with my hands,” Junno declared.
“Yeah, but you gotta catch me first,” muttered Jin from where he was now standing beside Yuichi. Yuichi threw Jin a reproachful look from the corner of his eyes, which died off into smothered giggles at the grin on Jin’s face which invited a partner-in-crime to share the joke with.
“I heard that, Jin! Yuichi, I’m going to tell you this once and for all. None of this is your fault. If I’m to blame anyone, I would blame those snipers and the ones who hired them, not you. Never you. Everyone here knows how hard you work to keep us together and in one piece, not just during assignments, but when we act like little children and get into fights with each other as well. My being in the hospital is not your fault, just some bad luck, that’s all. Besides, I could use a paid vacation. So, think of me getting sponge baths from cute nurses while you guys are working your butts off, ok?” grinned Junno, instinctively ducking out of range of the hologram when he saw Kouki taking off his shoe with the intention of throwing it at him.
Yuichi sniffed hard, eyes watering slightly from the touching speech Junno had made. Jin shuffled slightly closer and nudged him on the shoulder, holding out his shirt with his eyebrow raised in question. Yuichi laughed, a wobbly sound, and shook his head; he didn’t want to use Jin’s shirt as a tissue, thanks.
“We’re sorry you don’t hear it from us often enough but we all really appreciate you being our team leader. I mean, can you imagine Jin taking instructions from Kazuya? Or Jin having the same patience as you have when Tatsuya drifts off into his own world? I wouldn’t want to be there when the explosions begin,” said Kouki once he put his shoe back on. “It’s because it’s you that we managed to stay together and be one of the top teams of the firm. Without you, we’d be all over the place.”
“Besides, if you run off to other teams, who’s going to make sure you’re all right? Who’s going to make sure you go home when it’s time to go home? Who’s going to make sure they stock the fruits that you like in our rooms? Who’s going to make sure you remember to eat? There’s no way we can let you go,” Jin reasoned as he ticked off his points one by one with his fingers.
“Yeah, you gotta stay with us so that we can take care of you,” piped up Tatsuya.
“And if you go, who’s going to put up with Jin’s stupid antics? Who’s going to listen while Tatsuya goes on and on about his ‘babies’? Who’s going to put up with Junno’s dajare? And who am Kazuya and I going to run to when we need adult conversation?” Kouki added in the finishing argument.
Yuichi smiled weakly, still touched that his team members think so highly of him. After all these years of working together, he never thought of himself other than replaceable. It was everyone else who had the skills and did the hard work; all he did was sit far away in a safe location and watch helplessly while his team members faced danger. “I thought I was supposed to take care of you guys.”
“Nah, we just let you think that. Makes you easier to manage,” joked Kouki.
“So now that you know our weakness, we can’t let you leave or else…we’d have to buy your silence with lots of cakes. And chocolates. And fruits, chocolate-coated fruits,” nodded Junno, once again comfortably situated among fluffy pillows.
“Don’t we already buy him those? At least once a week?” wondered Tatsuya.
“Okay, then we won’t buy him…strawberries! And mango pudding!” Junno cried out in triumph, folding his arms across his chest smugly.
“Hate to break it to you but Kazuya brought in a box of strawberries this morning and Jin gave his mango pudding to Yuichi during lunch,” said Kouki.
“What?! But…but I wanted some too!” Junno’s lower lip started wobbling, tears beginning to glisten at the corner of his eyes.
“Ah, Junno! Why don’t you open the fruit basket that Tatsuya and I gave to you yesterday? You must not have looked into it yet,” Yuichi hurriedly cut in to prevent Junno’s waterworks. It didn’t take much to stop Junno from crying, but the key was in finding what would make him stop.
Junno sniffed and turned towards his bedside table, picking up a gaily decorated fruit basket among the other items across the surface such as a vase full of flowers and a few get-well cards. The others watched as he settled the basket on his lap and started opening the wrapper. Then a look of pure, childish delight appeared on his face as he spotted something inside the basket.
“Wai! Strawberries!” Junno cried as he pulled out a small box of bright red berries.
“Really Junno. If Yuichi hadn’t said anything the fruits would have just rotted away,” Tatsuya chided.
“I would have opened it later!” said Junno defensively, cradling the box of strawberries close to his chest as if he was afraid the rest of KAT-TUN would be able to reach through the hologram to take it from him.
“You see! That’s exactly what we mean. Who else would be able to take care of us like this? It’s all in the tiny details that you do for us that make our day better because somebody cares. It’s because of that we trust you with our safety during assignments. And all we can do in return is to buy you food,” Kazuya said dejectedly.
Yuichi looked around him. He could see varying emotions in all of his team, sadness, hurt, determination, but most of all hope that he won’t leave them. He’d never said ‘No’ to them before; what made him think he could start now? He took a deep breath and smiled, “I’ll stay.”
His announcement was greeted with cheers, Jin the first to pull him into a hug as he was the closest before Yuichi was squashed by the others. Yuichi managed to get a glimpse of Junno cheering before the holographic base got jostled and fell over sideways. Then he started waving his arms around to get someone’s attention to right the base but was unfortunately overlooked in the bustle.
Once the celebration died down and Junno was seeing things the right way up again, Yuichi felt a little breathless from all the hugging. He looked in Kouki’s direction when Kouki cleared his throat. Yuichi thought Kouki looked a little embarrassed by all the hugging earlier.
“Err…so we’re all good?” coughed Kouki, eyes looking everywhere else but at Yuichi.
Yuichi smiled. “All good,” he agreed.
“We want that in writing. I don’t think any of us can take another scare like this one,” demanded Jin, scrabbling among the items on the table for a piece of paper and pen.
“If that’s the case, then I want a guarantee that all of you will never get injured,” Yuichi retorted, folding his arms across his chest.
“You know we can’t give you that,” Kazuya pointed out. “No matter how much we want to though,” he added after receiving a glare from Jin, who flapped a piece of paper threateningly in Kazuya’s direction.
“There you go,” Yuichi waved a hand gratefully in Kazuya’s direction. “But! I can promise you this - if - if I ever want to resign from the team, I’ll only do it after I find someone whom I trust to keep you all safe in my place.”
“Well then, you’ll be our team leader forever then because there’s no one else who can keep us as safe as you can,” Tatsuya calmly said, as though as that settled everything.
“As simple as that?” Yuichi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at their faith in him to keep them safe.
“As simple as that,” nodded Junno. The rest of KAT-TUN nodded as well, most of them trying and failing to suppress their grins.
Well, after thinking it through, Yuichi wasn’t sure if he trusted anyone else with the safety of his team anyway. So maybe, just maybe, the solution really was as simple as that.
~owari~