The Reckless & The Brave Book 2: A Crack In This Castle of Glass [Iwaoi]

Part 1

Iwaizumi Hajime kneels in the ruins of what used to be someone's house, he's exhausted. More tired than he's ever felt in his life. He thinks that the sand might be worse than the exhaustion though. It's everywhere, in his clothes his hair. It's managed to sneak through the bandana he wears tied around his face and clouds his goggles. He could probably build a castle with the amount in his shoes. He'd need water for that though and there's so little left that they wouldn't be able to waste a single drop. It's been three days since the sandstorm that separated them from the rest of their team and Kyotani and Yahaba had been carrying most of their supplies.

He shifts his gun in his hands and keeps a close eye on the sun outside the window as it makes its way across the sky. They'd cleaned their weapons as well as they could once the sand had died down but there was really no telling if the weapons would be any use when the time came to fight. Hajime had never been that good of a shot anyway, he didn't have the kind of pinpoint accuracy that Tooru could manage. He preferred hand to hand anyway.

When the sun hits the middle of the sky Hajime sticks his foot out to nudge at the shoulder of the boy who sleeps closest to him. The boy sits up and looks around their temporary shelter with half-lidded eyes. He puts his goggles on and then ties his scarf around his head to keep out the sand and the sun. Kunimi isn't always the most energetic of the bunch but since he usually conserves his energy early on he's able to pick things up at the end of the missions. They've never been on one like this before though. It's been two weeks since they were sent into the middle of this warzone and though Hajime would never tell the two young members of their team he was starting to think that they might not make it out at all.

"Three hours," Hajime instructs him. "Wake Turnip up then and make sure he knows to wake us after his three hours." He sets the timer on his watch just in case, he usually wakes pretty easy so he's not worried about the low alarm tone alerting anyone else of their presence. They need to get out of their hiding spot and locate the rest of the team. They'd all been too naive, Hajime had barely had time to grab onto their two youngest team members before the sand hit them all. He settles himself in the corner of the room keeping his weapon in his hands so he can be ready as quickly as possible.

He knows that the odds are the rest of the team got split up as well. He wondered if Tooru was with anyone else. Their team leader had been standing a bit separated from the group but Kyotani and Yahaba had been arguing, Tooru was moving to break them up when the storm hit them, surely he'd been smart enough to grab onto them like Hajime had grabbed Kunimi and Kindaichi. He needs to rest while they have the chance, needs to stop thinking about what's going on with the others. At thirteen Kindaichi and Kunimi are the youngest members of their team, as the oldest and second in command, it's Hajime's job to keep them safe on this mission. It's why he'd made sure to get them instead of going for Tooru like he'd wanted to.

***

Hajime and Tooru have been together for most of their lives. One of Hajime's earliest memories is of the day they met at four years old. Sometimes it felt like it had happened in another lifetime. Hajime's father had just died and with nothing left in America, his mom had packed their whole life up and brought him back to Japan to live in her hometown. The first thing Hajime had noticed about their new apartment building had been Tooru. He'd been a tiny wisp of a boy then, sitting on the steps of the building in clothes that he'd clearly outgrown and covered in dirt from his head of curly brown hair to his bare feet. Iwaizumi had offered him what was left in his bag of goldfish and they'd been friends from that moment on.

Tooru's parents weren't really present even though they hardly ever left the house. Hajime hadn't really understood it as a child. Tooru had always been hungry and dirty, his clothes never fit and at first, he'd hardly ever spoken. That all changed when he'd opened up more to Hajime's mom. They didn't have that much money themselves beside the benefits they received from the American military but she welcomed Tooru to their home. She made sure he bathed and ate and had clean clothes to wear. At first, he'd worn Hajime's hand me downs but after a year of eating properly, he grew quickly. Hajime hadn't cared when he'd ended up the one wearing hand me downs. Tooru was his brother and his best friend, Hajime would have done anything to protect him.