Sequence of Upsets: A Heisei Kumi Fanfic (7/23)
Author: ryosukekoibito
Pairing: Keito/Shoon (Shoto?), with some side Ariyama and Chiitaro
Rating: R, for violence and dark themes
Genre: Slice of life/Angst
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
Summary: Keito has been in the Heisei Kumi for nearly 2 years now. He has a wonderful boyfriend, and he's become a strong fighter and an important member of the Kumi. Life has been good, but life as a Yakuza can never stay peaceful for long. This is a direct sequel to my first Heisei Kumi fic My New Family. This fic may be confusing if you haven't read that one, which you can find here. This fic takes place 8ish months after My New Family ends, so...yeah. I hope you like it!
Previous Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
That night at dinner he found himself wincing, not only at the constant twinges of pain he found stinging his hand from all of the little cuts as he tried to eat, but also from embarrassment when Inoo mentioned their practice session, turning to Hikaru and announcing
"I don't know how you did it Hika. He's difficult to teach now; I can't imagine having to teach him the basics on how to fight. How did you manage not to kill him?" Hikaru glanced over at Keito, and Keito averted his eyes, not really wanting to hear the confirmation of his inadequacy.
"I never found him to be infuriating. He always worked his ass off, and he didn't complain." His tone was gruff, but Keito looked up in shock. He knew Hikaru had resented teaching him. Hikaru quickly dropped the subject, instead getting Takaki to tell them about some rich older woman he had swindled the night before. Keito was grateful for Hikaru's nice words, but after dinner as they sat together talking comfortably, he couldn't help but bring it up.
"You lied earlier." He mumbled once there was a pause in the conversation. "You used to hate having to train me." Hikaru frowned at him.
"I didn't know you very well then. I got over it once I realized just how determined you were to do well." He paused. "Inoo was being out of line. He's just impatient, he should be glad you're so damn hard working." Hikaru slung an arm across his shoulders, the action familiar and comforting. "Don't let what he said get to you. You'll figure it out, and then you'll be great, you little bastard." Keito nodded, forcing back a grin, embarrassed by Hikaru's nice words; and he looked down into his lap, fingertips tracing the bulge of the knife in his pocket, trying to come up with a proper, honest way to thank Hikaru-not only for his kind words, but also for his amazing birthday present, his faith, and support. Words were not an option, not one that would be acceptable really, so instead he just put on his very best smile and hoped Hikaru would understand.
The next few days passed putting in long hours practicing with his knife, hanging out with Yuto, playing guitar for his regular gigs, and going on the occasional date with his boyfriend. Shoon had been wanting to spend less and less time out and more time just laying around on a couch or in bed, his head in Keito's lap, or sitting side by side, hands intertwined, sharing kisses and talking quietly about nothing in particular. He was looking rather tired, and would often massage his temples, dismissing Keito's concerns with reassuring mumbles about work catching up with him. The sex was great, and Shoon never failed to make Keito feel loved, and afterward if they had the energy they would hop in the shower, and if they didn't they would just lay there tangled in Shoon’s sheets, wrapped around each other until they fell asleep.
Keito trained hard during his free time, sparring with Daiki and Ryutaro while still working with Inoo whenever he got the chance to improve his knife skills. To his relief, his range of ability with the knife was improving at a much faster pace than Inoo had been expecting. Hikaru told him it was due to his renewed dedication. Keito thought that Inoo had just set his standards very low. But he did practice all of his tricks every day, working hard to master the things Inoo showed him. Sometimes Hikaru and Yabu would help tutor him, working with him when Inoo was busy, and Keito was grateful for their knowledge. The newly cultivated set of skills came to be of use much sooner than Keito had anticipated.
It was thirteen days after Keito's birthday, and they were a sitting at the dinner table, talking amiably and joking around when the front door slammed open, and for a moment it seemed as if the world had frozen, Keito staring in shocked disbelief as Wakaba members burst through the open door. Ryutaro immediately flicked his pocket knife open, pivoting around and throwing it at the first person across the threshold. Hikaru too reacted immediately, cursing loudly and standing, rushing at the attackers. These combined actions seemed to break the moment of shock, and they all jumped from the table as what seemed to be a never ending wave of people spilled in. It was unreal how many were pouring through the door, more than Keito had ever seen, and he was stunned by the sheer numbers. Before he had even managed to get around the edge of the table he was overtaken, combat beginning instantaneously.
He was reaching for his knife when one of the Wakaba members bowled into him, knocking him to the ground, slamming his head against the wood of a chair seat as he fell, and once down he blindly reached up, grabbing at the enemy's clothes and yanking, tripping him, the other man falling on top of him with a yelp of surprise. His body landed hard, elbows and knees digging sharply into Keito's head and chest, as he jerked and flailed, trying to orient himself. Keito scrambled on top of him, switching their positions, the man shoving at his face and shoulders, but Keito was persistent, adrenaline rushing through his veins, and he managed to land a few punches on the unrecognized Wakaba guy before one well aimed push sent him sprawling off of him, and the guy scrambled on top of him and straddled his waist, raining punch after punch down on his face and torso. Each hit forced his neck to snap back against the tile floor, sending pain racking up his spine, yet through the shocks of each blow Keito managed to slip his knife out of his pocket, flicking it open and stabbing deeply into the guys left buttock, the first bit of flesh he came into contact with, causing him to scream at the surprise pain.
A heartbeat later another noise broke through the muffled curses and the sound of bone hitting bone, and bodies ramming into furniture. It was the terror inducing sound of a gunshot. Then another, and another, the beat sporadic, and Keito tried to get up to find the source, but the Wakaba guy still hadn't given up, his bleeding ass only seeming to make him all the more determined, and he lunged forward, wrapping his hands around Keito's neck, squeezing. His fingers were like metal clamps digging into his throat, and it was only made worse by his attempts to breathe, the action sending stabs of pain like that of a burning hot knife into his neck. Desperately Keito pulled his blade from the flesh of the man’s backside, the thick handle slipping from his fingertips and clattering to the floor, and he reached for the fingers around his own neck, tugging desperately as his vision became spotty, his head growing light, blood rushing in his ears.
He was saved by a sharp roundhouse kick aimed at the Wakaba guys head, knocking him clear off of Keito, smearing blood in a trail behind him. He was unconscious nearly instantly. Yuto pulled Keito to his feet, and Keito scrambled for his knife, taking big gulping breaths, his heart racing, hands shaking, and he barely had a millisecond to register how close he had been to dying before another attacker loomed in front of them. Between himself and Yuto the guy didn't last long, and Keito had to ask
"Who fired the shot?!" He felt nauseous at the thought. They didn't usually carry guns on their person. Chinen did, and so did Hikaru sometimes. Daiki had a gun, he knew that, but they didn't use them for this type of attack. That meant it was probably the enemy doing the firing, which therefore implied that one of his housemates, one of his family members, had been shot at, possibly injured or dead. Yuto gazed out over the room.
"I can't tell, to many damn bodies!"
"Where the hell did they all come from?! I don't remember this many before, ever!" Yuto aimed another well placed kick at some poor bastards head. His companion had torn his shirt, fingernail marks down his chest like claws causing real blood to mingle with his tattoo, and was sporting a dripping split lip, bruises already forming.
"I don't know! I think they've been recruiting a lot recently, but still, some of these guys-" He paused in his sentence to trip one of them, causing him to crash to the tile, and Keito stomped on his head, hearing the jaw dislocate as his foot connected. "-they're fucking idiots. It's like they have no training at all." Despite their obvious lack of skill, their sheer numbers were overwhelming, and as the fight dragged on for almost an hour Keito began to feel desperate. There seemed to be no end to the enemy's numbers. They just had ten, and they simply weren't prepared for an attack of this size.
He spotted a gun; the one he assumed had gone off, discarded on the floor, being kicked around by the people fighting. It wasn't a make that they used, this one too small, and it only confirmed that the shooter had been aiming at one of them. But there was no indication of anyone having been shot. He caught glimpses of Hikaru on the stairwell, fighting one from above and two from below. Ryutaro and Inoo were back to back, ducking and punching, Inoo's knife whirring through the air like a small dangerous bird. He could barely see anything properly in the living room, but as he looked at his companions faces he realized that they were losing. They were thoroughly overwhelmed, and as he tackled Miura Shohei to the ground he began to lose the sense that they were going to come out of this one okay.
Suddenly, as if in response to Keito's negative thoughts, there was commotion by the front door, and to his amazement Shintaro, Ryu's little brother, was there. He was bigger than the first time Keito had seen him, he too having grown exponentially in the past few months, just like Ryu. He was leading a pack of five or six others, most of which he only vaguely recognized as some of their underlings, all of them probably high school age. They didn't even blink, charging into the group of enemies with fierce yells of indignation, and they immediately were swallowed up by the fighting.
Seconds later, another familiar form crossed their threshold; Shoon announced his presence by knocking one man to the floor without throwing a single fist, his jab to the back of the neck sending him crumpling at the young lawyer's feet, and Keito had never been so relieved and anxious at the arrival of anyone in his life. Relieved because he knew that with Shoon's help their chances of driving the enemy out were much greater, but anxious because he knew that being here put his boyfriend, the man he loved, in harm’s way, and there was always the sickening chance that something terrible could happen to him.
"Shoon!" He yelled, turning swiftly and elbowing his opponent in the face, kicking the guy's legs out from under him and leaving him to get trampled on the floor. Shoon was already fighting some tall guy with a knife, the man swinging the blade out in a wide arc at the smaller lawyer. Shoon ducked under his arm, punching straight up, fist connecting with the guy’s lower jaw, snapping his head back and making him stumble. Keito watched, trying to make his way over, as Shoon took hold of the guys wrist, twisting it to an impossible angle, the knife falling to the floor, until the man screamed, before kicking him in the chest, sending him sprawling to the ground. Keito yelled for him again, and this time Shoon heard, turning to look his way.
"Keito!" He was breathing heavy, eyes wide and slightly frantic as Keito made his way over to the door where Shoon had been standing. Immediately Shoon grabbed his shoulder, jerking him out of the way, slipping behind the open door with a quick
"Let's move." He was staring out at the fighting, assessing the situation. Keito stood out in front of the door, trying to keep him hidden. "They're thinning out. They'll be gone in the next five minutes." Shoon announced. As if in affirmation to his words Keito watched as one of the Wakaba guys scooped up an unconscious comrade and slipped out the door. Keito was shaking, still hyped up on adrenaline and still afraid for Shoon, and he was just so ready for this to be over.
"These bastards just-" His crude exclamation of frustration was cut off by a slightly panicky yell.
"Kumi-cho?!" Ryutaro's voice was loud, and he slashed out with his knife, slicing through his opponents collar bones. Keito automatically did a sweep of the room, searching for Chinen. The opponent’s numbers had gone down significantly, and he managed to spot...one, two, three, four...No. Just four? He restarted. Takaki, Ryutaro, Hikaru, Yabu....where the hell was everyone else?! He mindlessly threw himself back into the fight, and within the minute he found four of them. Inoo and Yuto were both on the floor, hidden behind the couch with Daiki and Yamada, the smaller two covered in blood and unmoving. Crap. Yamada's sword was on the ground a few feet away, next to the door to Chinen's office.
"Hold on." Keito said, turning back into the fray, a new fear gripping him, binding his chest. Daiki and Yamada needed help. They obviously must have been targeted by the Wakaba, blaming them and wanting revenge for Kamiki's death. Luckily, there were only a few left fighting, and with the help of Shintaro's group they were gone in minutes. Then, as quickly as they had come they left, Shin giving them a quick smile and wave, and taking his boys back out into the night. Immediately Inoo yelled for help, and Keito went to the door, checking out in the night and finding it empty, as Yabu and Inoo got to work lifting Daiki's limp, heavy body.
Hikaru began doing a head count, as Ryutaro yelled out
"Kumi-cho?!" There was a pause, as they all looked about wildly for their little leader. Ryutaro was getting more frantic with each passing moment. He had a long gash down one of his legs, and despite it he began pacing, yelling out "KUMI-CHO?!" Ryutaro was walking hastily through all of the rooms, the kitchen, and living room, throwing glances up the stairs. Hikaru shook his head.
"He never went up there."
"What about the office?" Shoon offered, and Ryutaro and Takaki both lunged to the door handle, pushing it open, and Keito turned around in time to see his housemates' eyes widen in shock, Takaki freezing in the doorway as Ryu muttered a stunned
"Fuck-NO!" He threw himself into the room, and they all scrambled after him, piling up in a conglomeration of broken bodies in the doorway. None of them however, were anywhere near was broken as Chinen looked.
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