...FALLING FOR MY ANIKI chapter 9...
Title: Falling for My Aniki
Pairing: TaNakamaru
Genre: Romance (with a splash of Drama, Crack and Action)
Rating: PG-15 … it’s totally safe!
Disclaimer: Sadly, I don’t own any of the JE boys in this fic. *sniffs*
Summary: Koki just graduated from college and in his hopes of finding a good job that would take him to his dream of becoming Japan’s number 1, stumbles to a group of yakuzas instead. His monotonous life takes a new turn as he meets his new boss. Meanwhile, Maru is the only heir to one of Japan’s most powerful yakuza clans. He keeps running away from his family until Koki, the new member of the mob, comes and gets assigned to be his personal bodyguard. Now, stubborn Maru meets his match… a more stubborn Koki.
Author’s Notes: This fic is dedicated to snow_guardian… I owe this plot to you hunny… Thanks for letting me write this. Hope you like it!
PROLOGUE | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8
Eighteen red marks on Yuichi’s desk calendar. Eighteen long days of not talking to Koki. The younger man didn’t seem to mind as he was almost always called by the Boss to do more business-related work rather than just staying in the smaller house with him. So they barely saw each other since Koki started going with his father in doing transactions. And even at that advantage, Yuichi can’t find himself trying to escape again… not anymore. Not when there’s someone… a certain someone whom he’ll leave behind.
Koki finds it a major relief though. Getting himself busy with work… real work as he would like to say. The real thing --- dealing and doing business with other clans. He has been tagging along with the Boss and Haru for more than a week now. At first, he was given small errands and then he was taught how to use a gun and now the Boss himself told Koki to come along with him and have himself get used to the underground business. So he was almost always out during the day then come home only to find Yuichi locked up in his room already.
Yuichi felt that it was like a stupid game of hide and seek and he hasn’t slept peacefully ever since that day. He wanted to talk to Koki, to approach him and say that he’s sorry. But his pride was in the way. Instead, he would sulk day after day, marking an X on his calendar for each chance that he just let pass.
~**~
“Oh, sorry.” Koki apologized hastily having bumped Yuichi who just walked in the kitchen.
“You’re… all dressed.” Yuichi commented reluctantly, still thinking if he should carry on with a proper conversation then maybe he could apologize. “Going out again?” he asked hopefully as Koki kept wandering around the kitchen just to grab his toothbrush by the sink.
“Yeah.” He answered casually but kept his eyes somewhere else.
“Another business?” Yuichi tried again, playing with the hem of his pajama shirt.
“Actually, more like a ceremony.” Koki explained if Yuichi understood since his mouth was stuffed with a toothbrush.
“Ceremony?” Yuichi made the most out the mumblings he heard.
“Yeah… Sake sharing.” He elaborated as he spit out the toothpaste bubbles.
“For what?”
“I’m getting promoted to *kyoudai from being a **shatei.”
The confused look on Yuichi’s face urged Koki to tell more. “It means, I’m next to Haru and Mori in rank now.”
“Okaaaay.” Yuichi bit his lip.
“If you pay even just a little attention to how all of these work, you might understand me better.”
Yuichi sighed and frowned in guilt. “Anou… Does that mean you’re staying here for good?”
“Apperently.” Koki wiped his mouth and headed for the living room. “I swore loyalty to your father. Don’t worry Young Master. I’ll try my best not to get in your way.”
Yuichi froze for a moment; Koki just called him Young Master. “No… It’s… It’s not that like that.” He stuttered, defense mechanisms slowly forming in his mind.
“Ja, I need to go now.” Koki announced ignoring the other’s words. He wore his overcoat in one smooth motion before heading for the door.
“Are you…” Yuichi started and ran to the door just behind Koki, his heart thumping loudly like it was going to jump out. “Are you still mad at me?”
Koki paused, his hand on the knob ready to be turned. “That’s not really important, right?” his voice was so cold and it stabbed Yuichi’s heart more than anything.
“I’m really sorry.” Yuichi almost whispered, voice breaking.
“Shouldn’t you be apologizing to your father?” The door opened and Koki was out of the house before Yuichi could talk any further.
~**~
“KAMPAI!!!” voices of rowdy men resonated through the paper walls of the restaurant. The solemn ritual was long over and now the gang was just having a good time… Except for one.
Koki leaned on a lamp post just across the restaurant and stared at the bright nightlights of Shinjuku. They reminded him of Yuichi, bold and daring. And like how lights brighten the dark of night, Yuichi’s smile has the power to light up Koki’s life. The bald guy gave a sad smile; he was thankful that Yuichi set aside his pride and finally apologized. But Koki was still hesitant, ego still hurting from the words that fell from Yuichi’s lips. All his thoughts that maybe, just maybe, he made the older man’s life change dissipated in thin air along with the hopes that the friendship they have could go even deeper.
“Tanaka…” the warm wrinkled hand fell on Koki’s shoulder. “Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be having fun inside?”
Koki scratched his head. “Sorry, Boss. I was just out for some fresh air.”
“You’re worried, aren’t you?”
“It’s nothing big, Sir. It’ll pass.”
“Ah. I haven’t told you…” He paused, looking at Koki just to make sure he was listening. “Yuichi...”
Koki’s head immediately spun to the old man’s direction.
“That boy, he apologized to me the very next day after what he did.”
Koki blinked, his mind trying to carefully absorb what he just heard. “He what?”
“He apologized to me.”
~**~
*flashback*
Yuichi wiped his sweat away. For the first time, he was the one to approach his father. Apparently, his father stayed in bed to rest fully before returning to work. He raised his hand, pausing mid-air, hesitation still eating him but the memories of last night, Koki’s despising look, those truthful words that stabbed his heart really hard. He gulped the lump in his throat and knocked.
Shinohara immediately abandoned the book he was reading when he saw his son entering. Yuichi walked to the side of the bed, eyes welling in tears. He got down on his knees and bowed as low as possible.
“Forgive me. I am really sorry, Father.”
“What’s done is done Yuichi. If I despise and disown you, then it’s over. This is what you want, right?”
Yuichi finally looked up, still teary-eyed. “No, Father. I am simply asking for your forgiveness. I… I am sorry for hurting you and staining Mother’s memory. I have hurt the most important people in my life with what I did. So please, forgive me.” Yuichi bowed again and the next moment, he felt his father pulling him up to stand.
“You are my son. You are the only one I have, how can I not forgive you?”
For the first time, Yuichi felt love from his father. Large and sturdy arms wrapped around his small frame and a hand ruffled his hair. His childhood days coming back, all innocent and fragile. Yuichi had tripped and bruised his knee and he cried so loud that his father came rushing, ruffling his hair, saying that it’s alright.
But since the day he became aware of his fate as the son of a yakuza leader, Yuichi had blocked all affection his father tried to show. But at the very moment Yuichi felt all his mistakes being thrown to the past as he felt all the love his father had poured in that tight embrace.
“How about Koki? I believe he deserves an apology too.” Shinohara had said when Yuichi calmed down from crying. He was currently sitting silently on the corner of the bed, looking at old pictures of his mother. He looked up when he heard Koki’s name.
“I don’t know. He was more furious than you were.”
“That’s because he cares a lot about you. You don’t want to lose a friend, right?”
Yuichi just sighed, closing the old album and getting on his feet to leave.
“Ja, I’ll go ahead. And for the record, I still don’t want to take over.” Yuichi grinned as he stood by the doorway.
“And I’m still not giving up as well.” The old man emphasized. “Now, go fix things with your friend.”
~**~
Koki furrowed his eyebrows, “He really did that?”
The Boss nodded with a genuine smile. “That was the first time ever that he apologized for causing trouble and it was because of you.”
“Me?!” Koki pointed to himself disbelievingly.
“Well, it was the first time that Yuichi had somebody else to tell him that he was wrong. And because he considers you important to his life. He wouldn’t have done that if it was otherwise.” The boss patted his shoulder. “Hasn’t he apologized yet?”
Koki mentally slapped himself. All this time he had been ignoring Yuichi and thought selfishly that he was nothing to the other when in fact, the Young Master had apologized to his father even before Koki had told him to. “Actually, he approached me a while ago. And I was so arrogant to him. I even told him to apologize to you first.”
“I think your confrontation that night opened his mind. Oh well, you’re both grown men. You know what to do.” The old man then stood and left.
~**~
Koki left the gathering soon after his talk with the Boss and decided to do his part. Go to Yuichi and fix the disagreements they had.
___to be continued___
A/N:
*kyoudai - big brothers in a yakuza clan; they come right after the wakagashira(1st) and shateigashira (2nd) lieutenant in rank
**shatei - small brothers and come after the kyoudais.
Because I thought of putting a little information about the structural organization of yakuzas.. So I did a little research… So Shinohara is the oyabun or family boss, Haru and Mori are the 1st and 2nd lieutenants… (^_^)
This is quite short ne??? Don’t worry, I’ll make it up next chap.