From Blue Sky - Chapter 4/15
Title: From Blue Sky
Status: 4/15
Fandom: Hey! Say! JUMP
Pairing: None. Main characters are Yabu, Hikaru, Yamada and Chinen.
Overall rating: PG-15 for minor character death and depictions of violence
Warnings: AU. I made Chinen 11 years old which is what the plot revolves around.
Wordcount: 3801
Summary: "He's a cute boy, isn't he?" Takaki says, his voice dangerously low as his eyes follow the young boy, probably around ten years old, walking next to his classy mother and seemingly trying to nag her into something. "I think he'd be even cuter lying at my feet with his throat sliced."
Notes: This is inspired by the Mayonaka no Shadow boy PV and a movie which I won't admit to ripping the plot from until someone calls me on it. I love the atmosphere of the PV and wanted to write something similar to it, and I've had this plot lying around for years, so I thought it was finally time. I'm planning on posting twice a week if you want to stick around~
Yabu nervously glances at the bathroom door, but relaxes a little when he hears water running and some moving around from in there.
”We'll tell him whatever makes him pliable.” Yamada suggests, voice low and determined. ”It won't help any of us to tell him his mother is dead.”
“But...” Hikaru's still looking a little sleep-fuzzy, but he wraps his arms around his knees that are still under the covers and gives Yamada a sensitive look. “Yama-chan, that's really cruel. We can't lie to him about that?”
Yamada makes an offended face at the nickname, scrunching up his nose and it's almost cute, but Yabu interrupts him before he can complain aloud about it. “You're both right. We'll just tell him we found him by the river and we don't know what happened to him, and that we're taking him to his dad, yeah?”
“Mm...” Hikaru frowns, and he still looks a little bothered, absently playing with his own fingers.
“Yeah.” Yamada nods, wetting his lips as he seems to be thinking hard. “And tell him it's better to keep it secret, so he doesn't walk straight up to a policeman or something.”
“Right.” Yabu agrees, still glancing at the bathroom door and tries to hurry the conversation along. “It could probably be a game or something.”
“... I still don't like this.” Hikaru pouts, looking between Yabu and Yamada. “It's his mom.”
“Which means he'll be crying and screaming and be as unhelpful as he can if we tell him.” Yamada says, tone short and annoyed, and Hikaru makes a face at him.
“We'll-” Yabu starts, but cuts himself off when the handle of the bathroom door turns and Chinen steps out, a worried borderline nauseous expression on his face and Yabu's insides suddenly go cold as he realizes the boy may have heard them. “Chinen-kun?”
Chinen's wearing all his clothes; the blue jeans, the grey T-shirt with some English words on it, and the little black jacket that hugs his small form, and there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with them. But he's holding the hem of his T-shirt as if keeping it away from his body, and he looks between the shirt and them, eyes darting from Yabu to Yamada to Hikaru and back to Yamada.
“What's this on my shirt?” He asks, and he looks eleven suddenly, when there's no cocky attitude and his voice trembles a little. Yabu curses the feeling clutching at his heart suddenly, the want to protect this boy much stronger today than it had been yesterday, and he wonders when he lost control of his emotions.
“I don't see anything?” Hikaru squints, and then raises a hand to wave at Chinen to come closer.
Chinen swallows but approaches, and he almost looks scared of them now, such a big contrast to his earlier confidence.
“Here.” He mumbles, and holds his shirt out for Hikaru to see, casting nervous looks at Yabu and Yamada.
“Oh, this?” Hikaru smiles and takes the hem in his own hand, and Yabu can't help but think what a small shirt it is when compared to Hikaru's hand. “I don't know, could be coffee? Do you drink coffee?”
Yabu sees a flash of dark stains and immediately understands what it is, and suddenly remembers that it's all over Hikaru's clothes as well, almost panicking as he realizes they're on the floor just next to where Chinen's standing now.
“No.” Chinen says quietly, and looks up at Hikaru with uncertainty written all over his face, and it hurts Yabu's heart a little how honest his next question is, like he trusts Hikaru will give the true answer. “Are you sure it's coffee?”
“I don't see what else it could be?” Hikaru tilts his head with a small smile, and Yabu's honestly impressed with this guy, and can't help but think he may have misjudged him a little yesterday. “But you don't want to walk around with it, do you? We'll get you a new one.”
Yamada makes a sound that is most likely the start of a protest to that, but Yabu quickly shoots him a dark glare to shut him up. Yamada makes an exaggerated face of irritation, but doesn't say anything, and glances at Chinen with crossed arms, looking like he's already so done with this situation.
“Or I could go home and get one.” Chinen mumbles, but he lets go of his shirt and sits down on the edge of the bed with a sigh, facing away from them. “Where are we?”
Hikaru turns his head to catch Yabu's eyes, raising an eyebrow in question, and Yabu nods at him to continue.
“We're in a hotel room in town. We found you yesterday night, by the river, and you were really cold, so we brought you here.” Hikaru explains gently.
“... Why was I there?” Chinen asks, and his voice is a little upset now. “I don't remember going to any river. Where's my mom?”
“... What do you remember?” Yabu asks, and he glances at Yamada to see if there's any suspicious reaction that could indicate his involvement. There isn't.
“I...” Chinen starts, but then breaks off like he's in thought. “I was about to go to bed. Mom made me hot chocolate because dad had just left for a work trip, and he doesn't like us having chocolate late at night. Then...”
He trails off again, and Yabu clings to every word, wondering what might have happened to the boy.
“Then there were... men in our living room, with dark clothes and guns. Mom grabbed my arm and gave me my jacket, and then tugged me out the back door. I don't... remember more, I know we started running, and I was really scared.”
His voice is thin now, and Hikaru reaches out to put a hand on the boy's shoulder, face full of pity.
“Where's my mom?” Chinen asks again, more fiercely, looking at Hikaru who doesn't respond. He turns to Yabu and Yamada for answers then, and he looks close to crying.
“We don't know.” Yamada says, and for having been so irritated with the situation this far, his voice is really gentle now. “We were planning to bring you to your father. He's in Tokyo, right?”
Chinen nods slowly, looking at Yabu and Hikaru too for confirmation. He seems to see it since he turns back to Yamada. “Can we go home first?”
“I don't think that's a good idea.” Yamada says, and he slowly steps forward until he can crouch down before Chinen. “You see, those men with guns may be looking for you still. It's probably safest to go straight to your father without letting anyone else know, yeah?”
Yabu frowns, because he doesn't get Yamada's behaviour at all. He's like three personalities in one and Yabu can't figure out which the real one is. But what he's saying seems to work, because Chinen slowly nods. “Mm.”
“But first, we'll eat, right?” Hikaru asks, effectively breaking any tension left as he stretches and smiles. “I'm really hungry, bet you guys are too.”
“I'm hungry.” Chinen agrees, and Yabu sighs.
There has to be people looking for this boy by now, police and ordinary people, and he has no idea how they're supposed to smuggle him out and be able to feed him. At least it's still early.
“And I want a new shirt.” Chinen adds, his earlier spoiled attitude slowly returning.
… Or get him a shirt.
~*~
Hikaru trots along the aisle of the small convenience store with the basket dangling on his arm and helps Chinen pick out all the good stuff they want to eat.
“This, too.” Chinen insists and stands on his toes to reach some cream-filled bread on the top shelf.
“Yeah, that looks awesome.” Hikaru agrees, and he doesn't even care about how much food they're buying because he doesn't have any money anyway so he assumes Yabu's paying.
He glances back to where Yabu and Yamada waits by the entrance, almost looking like security guards. Yabu staked out a plan of how to keep Chinen from the big crowds, and Yamada helped out with sneaky shortcuts and paths where people hardly seem to walk. Hikaru's not that bothered with the planning part, doesn't really see the point, so he's just doing what they tell him to, which now happens to be helping Chinen pick out food at a convenience store at 6.30 in the morning.
Because early mornings seem to be part of the keeping-Chinen-out-of-sight plan.
“I want that.” Chinen points at some chilled juice on one of the top shelves behind the glass door, and Hikaru reaches for it while giggling about how short Chinen is. He's half Hikaru's height and he looks pretty grumpy about it.
“I want candy.” Chinen says then, and Hikaru can't hold back a yawn.
“You want candy this early? Damn.” He says, but obediently follows Chinen to pick out candy, and when he glances back at Yabu and Yamada, Yabu's looking pretty stressed.
Hikaru just smiles at him, since there's not really anything to be stressed about, and then yawns again and scratches at his scalp while Chinen stuffs their basket with jelly candy.
When Chinen declares them finished, they head for the checkout, and Hikaru sneaks in some chewing gum due to the fact that he doesn't own a toothbrush.
Hikaru greets the cashier, a young girl, with a smile and sets their basket down on the counter, while Yamada gracefully steers Chinen's attention away by bringing him to the magazine stand.
“Wallet?” Hikaru turns to look at Yabu, who rolls his eyes but steps up to him to pay for them. He's not wearing a suit today and it looks odd, in a good way, making him seem more relaxed and a few years younger.
Hikaru's wearing his clothes too since his own were bloodstained and he couldn't really walk around in them. He's wearing sweats and a pale green T-shirt that's pretty tight since Yabu's a lot skinnier than him, and a cardigan that's a little gay but so fluffy Hikaru could adopt it and name it something cute.
“These too.” Yamada sighs behind him suddenly, and Hikaru can smell cigarettes and cologne as Yamada reaches past him to place two magazines on the counter next to their basket. The cashier looks up at him and smiles shyly before taking the magazines too.
Hikaru glances back at Yamada to see if he did anything flirty, but he just looks bored as Chinen demands his attention to whine about that there was another magazine he wanted.
“That'll be 3245 yen.” The cashier says and glances between the three of them before settling on Yabu, whose eyes widen as he opens his wallet and starts picking out coins and notes.
“Seriously, what did you buy?” Yabu mutters, annoyed, when they're out in the chilly morning air again, but Hikaru just smiles while Chinen bitches about wanting his food.
“You'll have to wait a little longer, we're getting you a shirt, remember?” Yabu tells him, and he's getting kinder to the boy every time he addresses him, Hikaru can't help but think. Even if Chinen frankly is acting pretty spoiled and isn't very nice to them.
Yamada seems to try the tactic where he doesn't talk to any of them and only focuses on what they're doing, and Hikaru thinks that must be kind of boring.
They find a clothing store that's open at this ungodly hour, in case someone like them is crazy enough to want to buy a shirt at 7 in the morning.
“Should I buy something too?” Hikaru asks Yabu as Chinen scurries off towards his size and tugs Yamada along by his sleeve. “I kind of like your clothes, they're comfy.”
Yabu sighs, looking like he's choosing between a rock and a hard place. “... If you don't have any money anyway, you might as well just borrow my clothes.”
“Yay.” Hikaru smiles. “I'll return them.”
“Hopefully.” Yabu sighs again, then glances down the aisle where Chinen and Yamada disappeared. “C'mon, let's see what the kid wants so we can buy it before Yamada punches him.”
~*~
“I don't like red.” Chinen wrinkles his nose at some shirt, and Yamada almost snaps at him that he should be fucking happy he's not covered in another kind of red, but stops the words before they leave his mouth.
“Then get something else.” He grunts instead, and he can't help feeling that he's so much better than this. If those fucking guys hadn't found Chinen first he could have just knocked him out and brought him to Tokyo without all this babysitting crap. At least they're catching a train in an hour, and even though they can't take the express train, it will get them on the way to Tokyo. He'd glanced at the morning paper at the convenience store, unsurprised to see Chinen's mother as headline and a picture of the boy with a question of his whereabouts.
“How are things going?” Yabu asks suddenly, and Yamada turns to meet the watchful eyes immediately fixing on him.
Hikaru finds some atrociously patterned shirt he tries to make Chinen like, while Yamada and Yabu just look evenly at each other for a moment.
“Fine.” Yamada answers plainly.
“I can tell.” Yabu raises an eyebrow as he watches Hikaru and Chinen turn into enemies over a green T-shirt.
“I want the pink one.” Chinen objects, and Yamada can't help himself.
“That's very heterosexual.” He says, not loudly, but Hikaru turns to him with a face that clearly says he heard it.
“Yama-chan, that's not okay, you should be a good role model.” Hikaru reprimands, and Chinen looks between them in confusion while Yabu just rolls his eyes and asks Chinen if he's decided what he wants. “Boys can wear pink too, there's nothing wrong with that.”
Yamada rolls his eyes, but Hikaru comes closer, a grin spreading on his face that looks alarming, and he's already way into Yamada's personal space.
“Besides...” Hikaru grins, and leans his head on Yamada's shoulder, hands grasping onto his arm, and Yamada tries to pull away. “There's nothing wrong with gay people, is there?”
“Get the fuck off.” Yamada growls and twists away, and Hikaru lets go after he nearly manages to tug off Yamada's sleeve, but he's laughing, that fucking bastard.
“Let's just buy the shirt and get going.” Yabu says, and his tone is calm, but when he looks at Yamada, his eyes are cold as ice.
~*~
When they finally board their train, after a few minutes of quiet arguing of where they're going, Yabu breathes a sigh of relief. Ever since they left the hotel this morning he's been on edge, thinking every time they meet someone on the street or buy something in a store, that Chinen will be recognized. His picture is in the paper after all, and even though it can't be that recent, he's got a face that's not too hard to recognize. But he supposes that Chinen's behaviour saves them, since a child nagging about candy and tugging someone's sleeve doesn't look like a kidnapped child.
Chinen skips through the aisle to find their compartment, seemingly excited about travelling like this. Yabu wonders if he's travelled a lot or mostly been left home with his mother.
Hikaru follows him, yawning and swinging the bag with food leisurely as he complains about Chinen being too happy this early in the morning. It's 7.40 and their train leaves in six minutes.
Yamada follows Hikaru with his hands in his pockets, and Yabu hasn't looked away from him more than a minute since what happened in the clothing store. What he saw in there.
He knows he has to confront Yamada about it, but he's clearly dangerous and Yabu has to catch him off guard to make sure he doesn't have time to react.
Chinen disappears into a compartment, and Hikaru glances at the numbers inside before stepping in as well. They agreed on buying tickets for all six seats so they wouldn't be bothered, and so Yabu knows it's all empty.
Yamada pauses to glance out the window in the aisle, and Yabu steps inside before him. Chinen's already sitting by the window and struggling to get his jacket off while looking out at the train just opposite theirs, seemingly struggling to read the large black kanji covering the side of it.
Hikaru's stretched out over the three seats across, his blonde hair spreading over the red fabric as he clearly makes himself comfortable, rather loudly.
“Are you gonna take up all that space?” Yabu asks, dejected, hoping Hikaru's only joking but he already knows the answer.
“There are still seats for you two, right? You can fit here if you want?” Hikaru glances up with a smile, then looks over Yabu's shoulder. “Yama-chan, close the door?”
Yabu glances over his shoulder, seeing Yamada roll his eyes and then turn around to close the sliding door. Yabu strikes like a cobra once he turns back around, shoving him into the door he just closed with enough force to knock the breath out of him, pushing an arm against his throat and pinning his wrists down at the same time while pressing his hip into Yamada's stomach to keep him from kicking.
The reactions around him are immediate, Hikaru making a loud surprised noise and Chinen yelping, while Yamada just glares furiously at Yabu as his hands tries to claw at the arm that holds them down, but Yabu just puts more pressure on his arm, right against Yamada's Adam's apple, forcing him to focus on trying to breathe.
“Yabu-chan?” Hikaru says, and his voice is careful, like he's dealing with someone out of their mind. “What are you doing? You're scaring us.”
Yabu doesn't look back at them, but he's a little impressed by how Hikaru's tone is so calm, if only trembling a little at the end of every question.
“He's armed.” Yabu explains, and uses his free hand to slip underneath Yamada's jacket to feel for himself.
Yamada growls something, but is cut off with a grunt as Yabu shoves his chin up further.
“What?” Hikaru asks, and Chinen whines something about what is going on, but his voice comes from the wrong side, so Yabu assumes he fled to Hikaru at the sudden violence.
“Here.” Yabu says, focusing on keeping Yamada still as he lifts the side of Yamada's jacket enough to show off the harness carrying a pretty impressive pistol. “There's one more.”
“... Wow.” Hikaru says, sounding a little shaken now.
Yabu reaches in to take the gun, feeling the familiar weight of it in his hand as he makes sure it's secured before tossing it onto the seat on his left, then takes the other as well, keeping it in his hand as he releases Yamada.
Yamada slumps a little, chest heaving for breath as he reaches up with a hand to rub his throat, glaring daggers at Yabu.
“Care to explain?” Yabu asks, and picks up the other gun from the seat. He feels a lot safer now that Yamada doesn't have these. He glances down at them, thinking that they are about as far from toys one could get. They also look pretty well used, which makes Yabu feel even more uneasy.
“Not really.” Yamada growls, and his eyes are shining with anger under those brown bangs, cheeks pink. “Give them back, I'm not shooting anyone.”
“You're not one of them are you?” Yabu retorts harshly, and Yamada raises an unimpressed eyebrow.
“Them?” Hikaru asks carefully, and Yabu turns to look at him. He's sitting as far away from them as he can with his arms wrapped around Chinen, who's clinging to Hikaru's neck with eyes wide open like a scared bunny, and it makes Yabu realize what he's doing.
“Those who are looking for Chinen-kun. Diabolos.” He explains, lowering his voice and tries to keep it calm, as he lays the guns down on the seat behind him again. “They're a pretty nasty gang from Tokyo.”
Yamada straightens and lets his hand fall from his neck, where the skin is an angry red, and he glares fiercely at Yabu. “... I'm not exactly friends with them, if I put it that way.”
“Not exactly friends can mean a lot of things.” Yabu comments, but keeps his voice calm, and he can see from the corner of his eye that Chinen's not trying to strangle Hikaru anymore, his grip having loosened a little.
“Yes.” Yamada agrees, and actually sits down, a clear invitation to peace. “Let's say I'd rather avoid them, if that helps you.”
Yabu sits down as well, moving Hikaru's legs away a little so he can fit, the guns lying on his left having their own seat. “It does, I suppose.”
He still doesn't trust Yamada, but he's starting to get the feeling that at least he won't shoot them in their sleep. Even though it bothers him a lot that he has no idea of Yamada's motives, but he clearly doesn't intend to share them willingly.
“Yama-chan's not a bad guy, right?” Hikaru says, and Yabu turns to raise an eyebrow at him, because he doesn't know many good guys walking around with two guns and trying to get their hands on a kid whose mother just died. “He wouldn't hurt us.”
“No, he wouldn't.” Chinen agrees, but then presses closer to Hikaru's chest almost nervously when everyone turns to look at him.
Yabu sighs as the train starts moving, figuring he can't do much right now. “Fine. For now.”
“Can I have those back?” Yamada asks, his voice calm but there's a little pinch of annoyance at his mouth as he looks at the weapons lying on the seat across from him. “Don't want the conductor seeing them do we?”
Yabu sits silent for a few moments, before reluctantly admitting to himself that Yamada's probably right and nods. Yamada rises to collect his guns, putting them back under his jacket with too much ease. But Yabu doesn't comment, deciding he at least called attention to Yamada having them.
“... Can we please eat now?” Hikaru asks after Yamada sits down again. “Traumatic events make me so hungry.”
~*~
Chapter 3
Chapter 5