From Blue Sky - Chapter 7/15
Title: From Blue Sky
Status: 7/15
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: 3729
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~
When Yabu wakes up, he's not sure what woke him at first, he just recognizes the feeling of something missing. He blinks his eyes open and doesn't recognize his surroundings for two long seconds, frowning at the tasteless green patterned wallpaper until he remembers where he is. And that's when he knows what's missing. Warmth.
He sits straight up in bed and looks around. Chinen is nowhere around, and Hikaru's bed is a mess of sheets and blankets. The bathroom door is closed and Hikaru's cardigan and scarf are still hanging over the same chair they did yesterday, and so Yabu figures he's there.
Yamada on the other hand lies across the couch fully dressed save for his jacket, guns right next to him as he sleeps, and Yabu can see no reason for him to be dressed when he wasn't yesterday night.
He throws the covers aside and sets his feet on the ground, stepping over to Yamada and roughly shakes his shoulder to wake him.
Yamada's eyes fly open and his hand is already on his weapons before he recognizes Yabu and curses, throwing an arm over his eyes. "What?!"
"Where's Chinen?" Yabu demands, and Yamada lowers his arm again, staring at Yabu with alarm showing on his features.
"He's gone?!" He growls, then sits up to see for himself, and Yabu's eyes narrow. Yamada does look genuinely surprised. "... And where the hell is Hikaru?"
"I assumed... Of course." Yabu groans, rubbing his forehead with his palm in exasperation as he understands the situation.
Yamada gives a matching groan, then sits up and runs a hand through his messy hair. "I fucking hate that guy."
"Let's just hope they didn't go far." Yabu says stiffly, silently considering whether it was insane to blindly trust Hikaru. He might as well have run off with Chinen.
"How do we know he didn't just take the kid and killed him somewhere? We don't know anything about him really, besides his birthday." Yamada mutters, voicing the concerns Yabu doesn't want to admit he has as well.
"He's harmless." Yabu tells him, voice firm as he tries to convince himself too. "Come on. What time is it even?"
Yamada shrugs and stands up with a deep sigh, and once again Yabu's reminded of a teenager. The tired look on his face could be any sixteen-year-old who got woken too early.
"I don't fucking care I'm not going anywhere until I've had a cigarette." Yamada grumbles, rifling his jacket for a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. "And when we find them, I'm killing Hikaru."
Yabu's eyes narrow and he opens his mouth to protest, but Yamada cuts him off, cigarette between his lips as he's working on lighting it.
"I mean that in a metaphoric way, in case you needed explaining." He says around the cigarette, then sets the lighter back in his pocket and inhales a first breath of smoke.
Yabu gets a weird urge to laugh, and figures that he's crossed some kind of line now. It's almost as if he's stepped back in time somehow, to a time when so many bad things hadn't happened to him yet, and even though the feeling is relieving, he hates that it's Yamada who brings it out.
"Whatever." He mutters, then surprises even himself by snatching the cigarette from Yamada's fingers, leaving him gaping in surprise. "I need some of that."
"Damn, okay." Yamada says, eyebrow raised in scepticism, but then sighs and reaches back into his pockets to light a new one for himself.
~*~
"Yeah, he's like my little brother." Hikaru grins, giving Chinen an affectionate look, and the girl with the ponytail has stars in her eyes.
Chinen just beams, setting his hot chocolate down and he's in such a hurry assuring the girls that he's always wanted a big brother that he spills a little on the table. Which they of course also find adorable.
"That's so sweet." The curly-haired says, leaning her head in her hand as she looks at Chinen like she'd want to adopt him. "I love boys who can handle kids."
"Yes, there's not many who like kids these days. Most think they're annoying." The ponytail girl agrees and meets eyes with her friend, both giggling.
"It's not like it's different from liking anyone else." Hikaru grins, cradling his coffee in his hands and looks between the two girls. "They're people, just a little younger. You're just like any grown up, aren't you Chi?"
"Definitely." Chinen agrees, sounding important enough that the girls laugh and Hikaru grins.
He's not entirely sure how they ended up in this situation, but he doesn't mind, the girls are pretty and keep praising Chinen, who's basking in their affection like an attention-starved cat. Hikaru wonders how much attention he's used to getting.
They woke up and were hungry, so Hikaru dug out Yabu's wallet from the empty food bags, and they went out in the hunt for breakfast. Chinen chose the café because they had cake in the display window, and Hikaru's not one to turn down cake for breakfast. So they ended up sharing a big piece of chocolate cake, fighting for the best bits with their spoons, and the girls at the table next to them kept giggling shyly while trying to act like they weren't looking, and finally came over and asked if they could sit down.
"So, are you staying for a while or...?" The ponytail girl asks with a promising smile and a cute blush, and Hikaru's just about to open his mouth and answer when he sees someone rapidly approaching behind Chinen and he pauses.
"Yabu-chan?" He asks, because Yabu looks stressed and a little bit like a parent who lost their child in a supermarket, even though his expression fades the second he lays a hand on Chinen's shoulder.
Chinen turns to look up at him, surprised, and Yabu's entire posture relaxes when he most likely settles that Chinen's unharmed.
"You can't run off with him like that!" Yabu bursts out, and Hikaru tilts his head at the unprovoked outburst.
"I didn't." He says honestly. "We were hungry and didn't want to wake you. You needed to sleep."
"You still shouldn't-" Yabu starts protesting, but then seems to realize the girls are there and he frowns as he looks at them. "Doesn't matter."
"Did you worry?" Hikaru asks, smiling as Yabu grimaces and he knows it's true. "That's so sweet of you."
"Yeah whatever, now come on, Yamada's looking for you guys too." Yabu tells them, tone a little scolding and Hikaru smiles at how much Yabu sounds like a father.
"Oh." Chinen's eyes widen at the mention of Yamada.
"Come on." Yabu repeats, and Chinen obediently rises, politely telling the girls goodbye.
Hikaru's about to do the same, but bumps against the table when he rises and his coffee cup tips over, spilling coffee over the small table.
"Oh shit sorry!" He exclaims as the dark brown trails reach all the way to the edge and over it and the curly-haired girl hops aside to keep it from dripping into her lap.
"Oh it's okay, no worries, no worries!" She assures, giggling, but Hikaru's already grabbed the pile of napkins and hurries around the table to save her clothes.
Yabu rolls his eyes and tells Hikaru they'll be outside.
"... Is your boyfriend always like that?" The ponytail girl asks, and Hikaru laughs.
"He's not my boyfriend at all." He tells them with a smile, wiping coffee from the surface. "But he's always like that, yes."
"Is he your best friend?" The curly-haired girl asks, and when Hikaru looks up he's close enough to her face to count her eyelashes if he wanted to.
He smiles a little, thinking for a moment. "Yeah, he is."
"It's nice of him to worry about you." She says softly, blushing a little, and she's really cute.
Then suddenly Hikaru feels a grip on his arm and he yelps as he's pulled back forcefully, facing a guy that is much bigger and much less pretty than himself.
"Hey, what are you doing to my potential girlfriend?!" The guy growls, and Hikaru tries to pull his arm out of the guy's grip but it's impossible.
"Oh please!" The curly-haired exclaims and stands up. "Did you follow me? I'm not going to be your girlfriend, let him go, I just met him!"
The guy clearly doesn't listen to her, and the girl working in the café just watches with wide eyes from over the counter, seemingly uncertain what she's supposed to do as the guy narrows his eyes at Hikaru and squeezes his arm tighter. "Stay away from her."
"I was just leaving actually, I didn't-" Hikaru starts, but the guy growls again.
"I can tell what you were doing you know." He says, and if this wasn't a café at 10.30 in the morning Hikaru would assume this man was drunk.
"Hey." A voice says behind the man, and both he and Hikaru turn to look at the owner of it. Yamada stands with crossed arms and a dejected expression. "Yabu sent me to save you."
"Yama-chan!" Hikaru exclaims, more than happy to see any kind of rescue, since he normally has to get out of these situations on his own.
"Can't you ever stay out of these things?" Yamada sighs, and the guy frowns at him, letting go of Hikaru's arm to turn to Yamada, whom he's at least half a head taller than.
"I don't like your attitude." He says and Hikaru hurries to take a step back to be out of reach, smiling reassuringly at the girls (the one behind the counter too), but they look horrified as the guy turns to Yamada instead.
"Yeah whatever. We don't really have time for this, so I'll just take Blondie and go without you causing any trouble." Yamada tells the guy, then gives Hikaru a pointed glance. "Let's go."
He turns, and Hikaru decides to round the table the other way on his way out, but the guy grabs Yamada's arm from behind to halt him, and one of the girls squeak.
If Hikaru didn't look exactly those two seconds, he wouldn't know what happened. Yamada whirls around and punches the guy straight in the face with enough force to send him stumbling backwards with a groan, then he trips over a chair and falls to the floor, and the whole thing is so fast that the girls' sounds of panic and surprise are a little delayed.
Yamada clicks his tongue at the guy on the floor, but then pauses in his turn to leave as he notices the girls sitting by the table. At least that's what Hikaru thinks he notices, until he leans forward, almost as close to the curly-haired girl as Hikaru was before, and easily plucks the strawberry sitting as decoration on top of her half-eaten cake.
"Thanks." He says, then pops the strawberry into his mouth and continues heading for the door.
Hikaru hurries to follow him after a glance at the disorientated guy on the floor trying to sit up while holding his bloody lip, and at the girls who stare after Yamada like he's some kind of hero who was gone as suddenly as he turned up.
"Show off." Is the first thing Yabu says, but he does sound a little relieved and Chinen's eyes are wide as he holds Yabu's hand tightly. They must have watched through the display windows.
"Shut up, I'm hungry and I don't know what patience is right now." Yamada tells him curtly, but looks at his hand and flexes his fingers a little.
"You saved me Yama-chan, thank you~" Hikaru tells him, but he refrains from hugging him this time since Yamada does look pretty wrung out. "Come on, we'll get you something to eat. ... Maybe some strawberries?"
Yamada looks up at that and he doesn't look quite as angry, which Hikaru thinks is a definite yes.
"And then we seriously need to get moving." Yabu sighs, and Hikaru just smiles because he's so predictable.
~*~
“I don't want to go on another train!” Chinen whines so loudly Hikaru has to hush him to keep mothers from looking over in instinctive protection of a sad child.
“Well, we don't have much choice.” Yabu explains patiently even though he doesn't look very patient, motioning for Hikaru and Chinen to keep going.
“But I don't want to...” Chinen mutters, but reluctantly steps out onto the platform where they were stranded yesterday.
Yamada would like to agree with Chinen because he's pretty fucking tired of trains too, but he knows they have to get to Tokyo as soon as possible now.
He can't get the late night visit out of his head even though he tries not to think about it, and it keeps reminding him that Takaki's not happy with him. At all. And it scares him.
Yamada was trusted to get a hold of the kid because he's one of their best men. Takaki's favourite, as the others kept calling him, both in friendly mockery and in spiteful jealousy. Not that Yamada was too bothered by that. If they couldn't shoot as good as him, they only had themselves to blame for not having his position. Now he can't help but wonder what's going to happen to him even if he manages to return Chinen alive, and it sets him on edge. Takaki may like him, but the question is how much he still does after this glorious screw up.
“Yama-chan?” Hikaru asks mildly and Yamada jerks, cursing himself for spacing out. He can't keep doing that. “This is our cart.”
Yamada looks up to see their train before him, Yabu and Chinen already boarded and Hikaru waiting for him halfway up the short stairs.
“Right.” He mutters, then follows, the train looking just like the one they had yesterday that had to stop because of the weather. Maybe it's the same one.
“You're a bit off today Yama-chan, didn't you sleep well?” Hikaru asks, looking over his shoulder as he steps into their compartment, where Chinen's already curled up by the window, seemingly sulking.
“None of your business.” Yamada tells him almost automatically, and Hikaru just grins and slouches into the window seat opposite Chinen's.
“Well, now you seem like yourself again.” He comments, and Yamada rolls his eyes as he sits down, trying not to feel like he'll suffocate from another day on a train.
He shrugs off his jacket that honestly isn't entirely dry in the seams yet and drops it in a pile next to him as the train starts moving.
“Don't flash your guns like that, anyone could see you.” Yabu narrows his eyes when Yamada doesn't immediately unhook his harness too.
“Oh, quit the nagging, you sound like a dad.” Yamada rolls his eyes but reaches for the fastening of the harness.
“I think Yabu-chan would make a great dad.” Hikaru says, and Yamada sighs because of course Hikaru thinks so. “Because even though he sounds tough, he really cares, and that's a beautiful quality. I think he could make some kid's life awesome one day.”
Yamada is about to make a remark about all the cheesy stuff Hikaru blurts out, but then accidentally looks at Yabu and he freezes in the motion of removing his weapons from himself. Yabu's face is pale and he's staring straight ahead at nothing, looking like he just saw a ghost, and Yamada frowns.
“Like, can't you imagine Yabu-chan with a little kid? He's so nice to Chi, I bet he'd be even better with younger kids?” Hikaru continues, clearly oblivious to what's happening here for once and Yabu licks his lips nervously, his hands clasped together so tightly his nails are digging into his own skin.
“Hikaru.” Yamada tells him so firmly that Hikaru jumps. “Shut up.”
Hikaru frowns for a moment, but then looks at Yabu and his eyes widen in horror. “Oh my god. I'm so sorry.”
Chinen looks between them for a moment, but he seems more concerned than confused, and Yamada's a little surprised when he speaks, figuring the kid is smarter than they give him credit for.
“You are a dad, aren't you?” He asks, voice low as if to not upset Yabu, and Yabu heaves a sigh that makes his shoulders rise and fall.
“... I was.” He says, then looks up at Hikaru and Yamada, eyes fierce as if challenging them to judge him somehow, but when neither of them move a face, he lets his head drop into his hands. “He died.”
Yamada hates himself for feeling something right now, for feeling compassion, but he can't help it; even though a lot of important things suddenly makes sense to him now, all he can think about is how sorry he is for Yabu. And that sucks. He keeps a neutral face though, determined not to show anything.
Hikaru of course has no such restraints, looking like he might cry. “Yabu-chan I'm so sorry, I had no idea.”
“Of course you hadn't, you weren't supposed to.” Yabu mutters, taking slow deep breaths as if trying to keep himself from crying.
Yamada shifts, because he really doesn't want to see Yabu cry. No matter how much of an enemy Yabu is to him, he doesn't want to see him that weak.
Hikaru seems like he's too busy blaming himself to say something comforting, and so, Chinen is the one that takes action. He crawls across the seat and lays his arms around Yabu's shoulders in an awkward hug, because he's so small he almost doesn't reach around, but it seems to be enough for Yabu, who breathes a heavy, shaky sigh and leans into Chinen's embrace.
“What happened?” Hikaru asks, but his voice is so distraught that Yamada figures he's excused from normal courtesy rules like 'don't ask about someone's dead child'.
Yabu doesn't answer for a few moments, and Chinen looks at Hikaru and Yamada like he wants to help but doesn't really know how to. Hikaru opens his mouth to say something else, but then Yabu gently grabs Chinen's arms and unwraps them from himself, and his eyes are a little glazed but he looks okay.
“I...” Yabu starts, but then looks straight at Yamada for a moment and falls silent, and Yamada has a feeling of what's coming. “My wife and son were shot to death by policemen.”
He says finally, sounding a little mechanic, and Hikaru's face makes it look like he's in physical pain while Chinen sits back, looking confused. He probably is. Policemen in his world can only do good, Yamada thinks bitterly as he pictures what Chinen's father must have told his son.
“Accident?” Hikaru asks finally, seeming a little confused himself.
Yabu shrugs, biting his lip for a moment before seeming to remember he has to keep a strong face. “The policemen were charged for it, but it didn't get much attention. … He was four years old.”
Yabu glances at Yamada again, almost involuntarily, and Yamada doesn't bother hiding the understanding on his face.
“But, why would they do that?” Hikaru tries, still not catching on to anything and Yamada is pretty sure he won't either.
Yabu doesn't reply for a long while, but when he does, all that weakly comes out is “I don't know”, which is definitely a lie.
It's cruel, Yamada thinks, but that's how their world is. If you are highly ranked in a gang like Ivory, the police will have no qualms dispatching of you in any way possible. If they can't kill you, they'll find another way to get to you. That's why it's fucking stupid to have people close to you, and a family with a child is definitely the top of stupidity. There's a reason Yamada hasn't seen his family in years. Even if the police doesn't go to such lengths often and never officially, there are definitely other people who would.
It's ironic, because it's exactly what they're doing now, Yamada can't help but think. Taking someone's kid and killing them to get to them because they're invulnerable in all other ways.
“Yabu-chan... That's... I'm so sorry.” Hikaru apologizes again, and he does look heartbroken.
“You didn't know.” Yabu almost snaps, and it's easy to tell he doesn't want to talk any more about the subject.
They're all a little surprised when Chinen speaks up, his voice sounding small, like his entire world was just turned upside down. “I don't understand. Aren't the police supposed to help people?”
“It's not always that simple.” Yamada answers, tone short, and Yabu looks up at him, a little surprised.
“Why not?” Chinen asks defensively, the sudden maturity gone in favour of being eleven years old again.
“Why don't you ask your dad about that when you see him?” Hikaru breaks in before Yamada can give a reply, and that's probably for the best.
Chinen sinks back against the backrest, nodding slowly as he seems to be deep in thought trying to understand about Yabu's family.
Yamada feels a little confused himself, but mostly because he doesn't have a smile to try and contain. Because he understands now, can connect Yabu's mysterious disappearance from Ivory to him still being alive, because if there's something a leader would let you out for, it's losing everything you have for their sake. And to be fair, Akanishi is so reckless the whole business with Yabu's family could easily have been his personal fault. And rumours said that they were close, so there is definitely a possibility that Akanishi would let Yabu go even if he'd sworn himself to Ivory.
Otherwise, Yamada knows, Akanishi has a habit of shooting his own men who tried to back out on him.
He watches Yabu closely, and somehow he can't feel pleased with this new knowledge that Takaki would die to hear, because he also understands why Yabu's so protective of Chinen, and the struggle he must feel knowing who Chinen's father is.
If Yamada's entirely honest with himself, right now, he doesn't want to smile at all.
~*~
Chapter 6
Chapter 8