Snow Petals - Chapter Four -
[Multi-Chapter] Snow Petals
Pairings: MaruDa, RyoDa, Akame, TaNaka (one-sided), Jin/Ueda/Ryo friendship, Junno/Maru/Koki friendship, Jin/Kame/Koki/Pi friendship…
Rating: 14-A? PG-13 with warning?
Warning: violence, abuse, swearing, stalking, alcohol abuse, some mentions of drugs (it was just a tranquilizer!)… who knows what else’ll come up.
Summary: There he was, running again, hoping again, escaping again… can he make it this time? If he can’t, he’ll really kill him this time. But what if the help of a compassionate stranger gives him and his friends the desperately needed strength to overcome him? What if all it takes is a helping hand and the help of a newcomer to heal the scars left from the fight?
(Bad summary but just read it and you’ll understand muaha)
Disclaimer: I don’t own these guys! Well, so far I own Shoji and Hideo and whichever other OC’s pop up but otherwise, nope! Well, Ryo’s like an OC… but that doesn’t matter.
| Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapters 2 & 3 |
Chapter 4
“Nakamaru-san,” a soft voice prods him to wakefulness. “Nakamaru-san, your alarm clock…” coughing, and the other’s presence lessens.
“My… what…? Oh, shit!” he lurches up to check the clock on the DVD. 6:40 am, he’s five minutes late. “Thanks, Tatsuya, was it? Umm, sorry, I’ve got to get ready…. You feeling okay?” he barely spares the other a glance and doesn’t see the wince, in his haste.
“I’m fine,” the other wheezes. Yuichi still doesn’t believe it, but he can’t take the time to talk properly until he’s ready for work.
Well, until he reaches the bathroom and the light almost makes him faint. A hand scrambles to catch the sink but buckles and the other one has to catch him. He crumples his eyebrows and holds his head, steadying himself. “What…”
“You look exhausted,” an equally fatigued-looking Tatsuya announces. “You should really take the day off of work. Tell them you caught a cold.”
“Switch roles with you, you mean?” Yuichi smiles wryly.
Tatsuya shrugs.
“How are you, really, by the way?” Yuichi asks the other, noticing at last the bags under the other’s eyes when his own adjust to the light. “You look like shit,” he says.
“I feel like it too, but thanks to you, I don’t feel worse,” Tatsuya replies with a ghost of a grin. The expression makes Yuichi’s chest throb painfully. Then, Tatsuya bows deeply. “Thank you for… everything. I’m really grateful.”
“Like I said last night, I couldn’t just leave you there,” he insists.
“Yes, you could. And not just that, but not giving me up to Ryo early this morning too… I can’t thank you enough. But, I had better get going… I need to find somewhere to stay for a while, and contact my boss about taking a leave…”
“You can just stay here,” Yuichi suddenly suggests, surprising even himself, but he doesn’t take it back. “That Ryo guy isn’t going to come back, and you want to be somewhere he won’t be able to find you or track you down, right? Just stay here for a while. I’ll be working most of the time anyway,” he says.
Tatsuya blushes a little and looks away. “I-I can’t ask that of you. I’ll call Jin or, or someone.”
“And put your friends in more danger than they already are just by being connected to you?”
Tatsuya looks down and says, “I can’t trouble a stranger, either.”
Yuichi feels a sudden pang in his chest and he instinctively counters, “Well, if we aren’t strangers, then there isn’t a problem. And we have plenty of time to get to know each other because you shouldn’t leave this apartment in case Ryo didn’t believe me last night and decided to stick around.” Yuichi realises with a sickening feeling of guilt that he’s won by the look of anxious terror on the smaller man’s features. Damn… that was uncalled for… “L-look, I-I’m sorry. It’s okay. If you really don’t want to, I could go find your friend Jin for you and bring him here and we could sneak you out or something. You’ll still have to stay here for a few days; at least until we know Ryo’s done with Jin, but-”
“I’ll stay,” Tatsuya’s soft voice interrupts him. “You’re right: I can’t endanger my friends like that. Even if Jin can defend himself, he has… someone now and I wouldn’t want to put them both in danger.” Not after all the pain they went through just to get together… I can’t put Kame through that again, and even Jin has a breaking point, Tatsuya thinks to himself.
“O-okay. Do you need to let people know where you are? And you’ll need clothes and things… why don’t we plan how to get you your stuff?”
Tatsuya nods. “Um… could I borrow your phone? Ryo broke mine when… well, it’s broken.
Yuichi nods and fetches it.
“Umm… let me think… I think it’s…” Tatsuya mumbles to himself as he types in the number and waits anxiously for someone to pick up. He holds the phone away from his ear, knowing full well that…
“Who the fuck is calling me this early?!” the slurred and scratchy voice yells from the speaker-phone.
“Jin, calm down, don’t scare whoever it is. Give me the phone,” another voice soothes Jin and Tatsuya waits patiently as the phone noisily switches hands. “Hello? Who is this?”
“Kame,” Tatsuya begins, but he’s cut off.
“Tatsuya?! Is that you?”
“Yeah, I guess Ryo’s… been asking around already, has he?”
He hears a sour laugh that could only be Jin on the other line. “Damn right he has. Almost punched me when I said I had no idea. Almost beat the guy out when he tried to hit Kame to make me talk.”
“Jin,” Kame’s voice is worried but soothing. There’s a pause and then when Kame speaks again, it’s directed to Tatsuya. “Tatchan, don’t worry, okay? He didn’t hurt anyone. He was just really worried, crazed with worry, but he was already… well, you know how he works. I’m sure you can imagine. The only reason it escalated quite so much was probably because Jin and Pi had been drinking.”
“Oh God, what’d Pi do?”
“He was just yelling and saying… things you don’t say to someone in Ryo’s position. But Tatsuya, how are you? Do you need help? It doesn’t sound like you’re on a public phone… but you definitely sound sick. Are you alright?”
Tatsuya suddenly feels embarrassed, too embarrassed to explain how reckless he had been. “Umm… I’m okay, I just caught a little cold last night. Could we… talk about this more directly? As in, face to face? Long story short I stayed over at a kind stranger’s place,” Tatsuya nods an apology to Yuichi, “but there’s a lot more to it than that. I can’t really go out in case, well, you know, but if Nakamaru-san could meet you guys and bring you here…”
“Is this Nakamaru the one who helped you?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, it’s our day off today so we should be able to do that. Where are you, exactly?”
Tatsuya gives Yuichi a pleading look.
“My apartment block is a block South of the Manga Café on 34th Street,” Yuichi explains. “I could meet them at the Starbucks across the intersection. It’ll be really busy this time of day so if Ryo’s around there, he might not notice. Of course, he might take the chance to come here,” Tatsuya pales, “but I could tell Shoji-san, who’s on duty, not to let him in and give a description. He’ll never make it this high if Shoji sends a warning through the building.”
“Thank you,” Tatsuya sighs in relief. He relays everything to Kame and Jin.
“Sounds like a plan. So, that Starbucks in an hour and a half? Jin’s still pretty hung-over so we’ll need a bit of time,” Kame explains. There’s a muffled “Oi!” from Jin.
“Thank you so much,” Tatsuya replies. “I’m so sorry to cause all this trouble…”
“Tatsuya, don’t worry about it! It took a lot of courage for you to do what you did and we’re not going to ruin your efforts. We’re here to help. Even if Ryo’s our friend too, he’s better off getting help and staying away from you. You’re doing him good too, whatever he might say or do.”
Tatsuya feels tears prick his eyes but he pushes them away. “Thank you, Kame. I’m really grateful… oh, right!” the sudden exclamation has his head spinning a little but once the dizziness goes away Tatsuya continues, “Umm, so, as for telling who it is you’re meeting, seeing as I won’t be there… maybe you could arrange some kind of thing to help you tell who to talk to?”
Yuichi nods. “Could I talk to him?” he asks.
“Kame, is it okay if you talk to Nakamaru-san and figure that out?”
“Sure. So, we’ll see you soon then, nee? You definitely sound sick still so you should go eat if you haven’t and rest up until we get there. Pass the phone over to Nakamaru-san please?”
“Yes, Mother,” Tatsuya can’t help but tease and smiles. He mentally slaps himself for it. You shouldn’t be feeling so elated. He hands the phone to Yuichi, lips still quirked in a grin and Yuichi’s heart skips a beat.
No, no falling for random -and not to mention MALE - strangers, no matter how cute their smiles are and no matter how and abandoned-kitten-like they are, Yuichi scolds himself as he greets the person on the phone. “Hello, this is Nakamaru Yuichi.”
“Hello, this is Kamenashi Kazuya. So, about the meeting…”
Tatsuya wanders to the kitchen in search of a glass of water as Yuichi and Kame discuss things over the phone. He almost drops the glass when he finally finds it, the smooth glass slipping from his weak fingers, but he catches it and breathes a sigh of relief.
Yuichi watches him out of the corner of his eye, flinching when he sees the glass slip, and sighing with Tatsuya when the other man catches it again.
“Alright, so you’ll be wearing the black scarf and burgundy sweater? It’ll be pretty hard to miss us as we are so there shouldn’t be a problem,” Kame is saying on the other line. “See you in an hour.”
“See you, take care,” Yuichi hangs up and goes over to where Tatsuya is frowning at the fridge door. “Hungry?” He asks. It pains him to see just how badly he startles the other with the simple question. What the Hell did he do to you to make you so nervous? He wonders.
“A little,” Tatsuya replies, looking nervy and embarrassed. “If it isn’t too much trouble…”
“Of course it isn’t. Would you like some soup? I think I even have the fixings for some udon in here,” he sifts through the fridge. “There’s even some pork leftover from yesterday when I made it.”
“Sure, thank you very much.”
“Alright, just sit down and it’ll be ready in a few minutes. Do you need some more medicine? You look pretty warm,” Yuichi touches Tatsuya’s forehead with the back of his hand, “You’re burning up! Here, the medicine is right here. You’d better take some with your water.”
“Thanks,” Tatsuya murmurs, getting a couple pills out. Now that he thinks about it, he is feeling pretty weak.
“I won’t leave until about fifteen minutes before our scheduled time,” Yuichi says from where he’s boiling water for the udon, “is that alright? I don’t want to risk meeting Ryo around anytime soon. In fact, after this is done, I should go down and speak to Shoji-san directly.”
And true to his word, the moment he’s sure Tatsuya isn’t going to pass out in the hot broth, he leaves for the main floor, making sure to lock the door securely behind him. I’m really glad I installed that extra bolt last month, he wonders. There’s no way the guy could get in short of sawing through the door now. And it’s faced with metal, besides. Suddenly, Yuichi is very thankful of the security measures the owners went through. I think I’ll write them a letter later, Yuichi muses. I should definitely let them know.
“Maru, good afternoon!” Shoji greets him from behind the desk. “There was someone looking for you today. He was short, dark-haired, looked pretty rough though, so I sent him off. Was that alright?”
Yuichi sighs in relief. “I guess he didn’t give you a name, right? But I’m pretty sure it’s the guy I came around to tell you about. Did Hideo say anything about last night- well, this morning, I guess?”
Shoji frowns. “No, he might’ve left a memo but I didn’t see it… let’s see… ah! Yeah! That description fits the guy I saw here. Who is he?”
“Well, I don’t really know who, exactly, but I guess Hideo mentioned the guy we brought to my apartment last night?”
“Oh yeah, the lost kitten?” A quirky smile.
Yuichi tilts his head. “He called the guy “puppy” last night, not kitten, and yeah, that one. Well, Ryo- that’s the guy who’s stalking the building- is his… well, we don’t want Ryo getting a hold of him. If he comes around, could you send him off again? He was causing trouble last night too as you heard and it might even be a good idea to call the police. He’s really violent and I think mentally unstable, even. Just don’t let him upstairs, please? I have a bolt but I don’t want to risk endangering someone else, too.”
Shoji smiles and sighs, shaking his head. “You’re way too nice, Maru. Being responsible is one thing, but think about yourself, too? And yeah, he said puppy but I figured form the description ‘kitten’ would be more appropriate. Apparently he was really cute, in a broken doll kinda way.”
Yuichi winces. “I guess he is. And I know, I know, but don’t worry about me; I can take care of myself. Well, I’ve got an errand to run- see you later,” he waves.
“Take care,” Shoji calls back.
On To | Chapter 5 |