Authors notes: Let it be said , I am still figuring out how to write certain characters. So please excuse any oocness. (Buried under Tokyo Revengers fic, manga pages, and the anime) I've been known to get better once I get in full swing of writing with them. So please enjoy the chapter and even let me know what you think.
"Eh?" The siblings stared in shock, Mikey releasing the pair just as Meiko's eye twitched in annoyance, and moved away before the girl could even dare to grab ahold of him.
Takemichi even having to grab ahold of his sister's arm as she angrily raised it as she whispered. "Imma hit him."
"No! Aren't you supposed to be the responsible one between the two of us?! You're going to get us killed!" He panickedly hissed, as the pair watched Mikey walk up towards Kiyomasa.
"Are you the one running these matches?" He casually asked, as Kiyomasa nervously replied.
"Y-yes."
Smiling at the teen's response, Mikey suddenly kicked Kiyomasa directly in the face.
The two Hanagaki siblings gasped in shock, Meiko herself even wincing once she noticed that the teen's nose no longer simply had a popped blood vessel, but had now been broken. As Mikey grabbed a tight hold on Kiyomasa's head through his hair. "Who the hell are you?" He coldly questioned, punching the semi-conscious teen's face repeatedly as the whole crowd watched uncomfortably.
"Kiyomasa..." Red nervously whispered, watching as his leader was then dropped as Mikey harshly planted his sandaled foot onto the unconscious man's head one final time.
"Okay, then." Mikey sighed, turning back to his much taller friend with a blood-splattered face and smile. "Let's get going, Ken-chin." Stepping over the unconscious Kiyomasa's head, the blonde began to walk away. "Taking bets at this little fight club is lame."
Glaring down at the unconscious Kiyomasa, Draken annoyedly ordered before following behind his friend. "Stop bringing Toman's rep down."
"Takemitchy... Ei-chan..." Stopping to call back at the two Hanagaki siblings, Mikey happily smiles at the pair. "See you later!" He almost burst out laughing, as he noticed Meiko angrily twitch at his nickname for her.
Moving to open her mouth as her brother quickly covered it, to panicky hiss in her ear. "Meimei, don't!!"
A chuckle did escape though when he noticed the girl able to break her hands-free enough to flip him off. 'Fuck you!! You- You- Stupid... Stranger danger cutie!' Meiko angrily exclaimed in her mind, still upset with the boy's claims of her and her brother being his 'bitches'.
Though he caught sight of this strange interaction, between his friend and the Hanagaki girl. Draken simply remained quiet on the matter, as he began to order and wave the crowd off. "Y'all wake up and scram already."
July 7, 2005 Draken
Falling close behind Mikey, Draken gave a final glance back to the fights club area as the majority of the groups left leaving only Takemichi, Meiko, and the other Mizo boys behind. "Took them long enough."
"Ne, ne, Ken-chin." Mikey called out, causing Draken to sigh as he looked back at the shorter boy.
"What is it Mikey?"
The image of Takemichi holding his ground, and Meiko running in to save her brother, flashed through Mikey's mind. He smiled and turned back to his friend, "I think I really like those two. Let's go play with them tomorrow."
Taking note of his friend's interest, Draken only smiled in return. "Whatever you say..." The pair began to walk in silence until "By the way... Why bitches?"
"Hmm...? Isn't that just a way to call someone your friend?"
"... Emma is gonna kill you when she finds out you called her friend your bitch."
"Ah! That's right Ei-chan was her friend first... Oh, well." He turned to grin back at the taller teen. "I've really taken a liking to her, so I think I'll make her mine."
Draken's eyes became wide, and a light blush even crossed his face at the implication behind his shorter friend's words. "Wait when you say yours you don't mean–"
"Hmm, I'm hungry. Hey, let's go eat, Ken-chin."
"Don't just change the subject!"
July 7, 2005 Takemichi
As night fell, Meiko tended to her brothers and bruises. The other Mizo boys gathered around the pair, holding painfully at their ears, after having Meiko both physically and verbally twist them into telling her all that she missed. As well as scolding them after as she was treating her banged-up little brother.
'So he's Toman's boss, Sano Majiro.' Takemichi thought as Meiko pulled away to put the last of her first aid kit materials away.
"There, that should do it." She sighed, closing the first aid kit shut as she let two of the boys, Yamagishi and Makoto, take her place before Takemichi.
"Stare..." Takemichi actually flinching back as he finally noted the two boys getting too close for comfort.
"Hm?!"
"That was fucking amazing Takemichi!!" Yamagishi exclaimed.
"I was totally moved!"
"Huh?" Takemichi confusedly blinked, as his sister then smiled down at him.
"They're not wrong." She proudly noted, "The way you stepped in to protect Takuya and the others and stood your ground was really grown up of you."
"Mei-nee...!" Takemichi almost began to tear up with a smile until he was flicked harshly by his older sister.
"But the next time you think of picking a fight with some giant that can snap you like a twig without so much as letting me know." She drew her thumb across her neck smiling.
"Wha– seriously?!" Takemichi exclaimed, gapping up at his sister as she simply shrugged.
"Hey, I need to have some idea of what to tell our mom a dad when you fuck up and bite the dust. By the way, can I have your motorcycle poster if you do?" She nonchalantly explained as Takemichi yelled at her.
"That's beyond morbid and messed up!"
"Then don't fuck up!" Meiko yelled back, arms crossed.
As Yamagishi and Makoto only continued to fanboy over the siblings and the day's events.
"Invincible Mikey totally took a liking to you too!"
"That's friggin' awesome, Takemichi, senpai!"
"Huh?" Meiko blinked, with a tilt of her head. "We did?"
Takemichi on the other hand had to shut his eyes as he thought. 'I wasn't imagining it then.' Then proceeded to freak out as he grabbed ahold of his face in shock. 'That monster took a liking to not just me but Meimei too!?' He proceeded to allow his mind and imagination to run wild. 'I went from being Kiyomasa-kun's slave to the plaything of some eccentric monster!' He turned his almost tear-filled eyes up to his unimpressed and uncaring sister as she seemed lost in her own thoughts. 'This is an even worse hell. I even dragged Meimei into this too! I've already failed my own mission! Why us, though?!' He thought, turning away from the two boys to almost curl up into himself.
'I really don't think we left much of an impression that guy though.' She thought, rubbing the back of her head. 'Also why did he look so oddly familiar?' Her mind conjured up the image of Emma and the boy Mikey side by side, 'Wait a second... could they be?'
Tapping the back of Takemichi's shoulder, Yamagishi and Makoto began to tease their distressed friend. "Guess you're 'Takemitchy' from now on."
"That's what Mikey said, Takemitchy." Turning to tease Meiko, the pair thought twice when they noticed the ominous look she sent them while smiling. "A-ah, but... Meiko-senpai is fine as she is."
"Y-yeah!"
"Teehee!" She giggled, and the boys cheered at their avoided death sentences.
Takemichi, though, silently cried to himself. 'Must be nice to be so stupid.'
"Ta-kun!" Meiko proceeded to move towards Takuya, "Let me look over your wounds."
"H-huh?!" Takuya exclaimed, "Bu-but I didn't fight today, Mei-senpai."
"But you were hurt before, right? Come on let me see, we all know you don't have the best constitution."
"A-ah, okay."
Watching as Yamagishi and Makoto fooled around and Meiko checked up on Takuya. Akkun sighed, as he watched the two groups from beside Takemichi. "They're so dumb..."
"Huh?" Takemichi turned to look down at his sitting friend. "Oh, you mean Yamagishi and Makoto."
Akkun nodded, "Yeah. I haven't heard them say dumb things like that in a while." Looking towards Meiko, as she patted a blushing Takuya's head he added. "It's been even longer since we've had Meiko-chan even join in. I'm sure the others were missing her as much as we were." He noted watching as she shoved Takuya off to the two idiots of their friend group, as they tried acting out the events of Takemichi's and Meiko's meeting of the Toman leader.
"Man, what total kids." Meiko huffed, resting her hands on her hips. She moved to go sit by Takemichi and Akkun, only to stop when she noticed Akkun's sudden dark mood as he spoke to Takemichi.
"Takemichi... I... Honestly, I was thinking about stabbing Kiyomasa-kun."
Meiko's eyes went wide, as she just barely caught on to what their friend had just admitted. 'No way...'
"Huh?"
"I mean, think about it. At this rate, we could've been slaves forever. That would mean we needed to take Kiyomasa out."
'Akkun...' The two Hanagaki siblings could not help but think.
Takemichi in particular, coming to his own realization. 'He always did care about his friends a lot.'
Watching Akkun begin to rise from his seat, Meiko quickly turned herself away from the two boys and hoped neither Akkun nor Takemichi noted her listening in. 'Shit! Shit! Shit!'
"Thanks, Takemichi."
"Huh?"
"We don't have to be slaves anymore because you toughed that out." Akkun boldly complimented, as he smiled at his blonde friend. "You were really cool back there."
Meiko quietly snorted to herself, taking the moment to turn to watch her brother become embarrassed by his latest ego boost.
"Oh, stop. You're making me blush." He said, rubbing the back of his head as Akkun laughed.
"Now Akkun, don't you go saying such things to Michi." Meiko teasingly called back, as the boys turned to look at her. "We can't risk our Crybaby Hero getting such a big head now. Ne~"
"Ah! Mei-nee!" Takemichi angrily exclaimed as his friend burst out laughing at his sister's latest nickname. "How many times do I have to tell you to not call me a Cry baby!"
"Oi! Ya-kun, Ma-kun, Ta-kun~" Meiko shouted out to the three goofing off boys, "Is Michi a Crybaby? Aye or nay~"
"Aye!!" The three boys happily exclaimed, making Akkun burst out even harder in laughter.
"You assholes! Just who's side are you on!"
"Obviously not yours~"
"Shut up Meiko!"
The night would end, with the group laughing fooling around. Brother and sister finally at peace, once more.
July 7, 2005 Emma
"She what?!" Emma gapped at her grinning brother, as Mikey sat across from her.
"Went to save her crybaby brother, and punched the guy who was dragging Toman's name down in the face." Mikey casually hummed, "Oh, and flipped me off. I guess she didn't like becoming one of my bitches or her new nickname."
Twitching at her brother's words, Emma glared at the aloof blonde. "I'm sorry, can you repeat that last part?"
"Hmm," Turning to his sister, Mikey innocently tilted his head to the side. "Which part? The new nickname, or how I claimed her and her brother as my bi–" He jumped as his sister suddenly threw a couch pillow from her seat. "Wha– Emma!"
"You idiot! You don't just tell a girl you just met that she's your bitch!" Emma yelled, running after her brother as Mikey ran to try and avoid her wrath. "What are you, some brainless dolt! How did Draken let you get away with that!"
"Huh?! But her brother didn't seem to care!"
"Mikey!!"
The siblings ran, a good twenty minutes around their home. Their grandfather silently listening as the pair ran and shouted at one another.
"Get back here so I can teach you some manners!"
"It's not that serious!"
"You jerk! You better apologize to her!"
"No! Ei-chan and Takemitchy are now my bitches! Why should I apologize for making friends!"
"Ei-chan?! That's not how you make friends! Don't just go claiming my friend without permission."
"Too late she's mine now! I saw her kick-ass, and I liked her spunk!"
"You don't even know her! Mikey!"
Enough to say, when Meiko received a text from Emma later that night.
To Mei-chan:
I'm so so sorry for my stupid brother's comment. When he called you guys his bitches, he meant it as if he was calling you his friends.
Meiko was far from surprised if a little relieved. "Oh~! So he is her big brother, huh? I guess being cute runs in the family." Meiko mumbled around her toothbrush. "Who'd have thought?"
From Mei-chan:
It's cool I guess. If that was his actual meaning. Though seriously, I was about to hit him. Warn him not to call a girl that next time, not unless he asks at least.
Emma felt her eye twitch, as Mikey stood smirking over her shoulder looking down at her friend's response. "See~ It wasn't that big of a deal."
"She wanted to hit you!"
"Hmm... I wonder if she could have?" Mikey honestly wondered as he imagined the small Hanagaki girl throwing a punch at him.
His sister gaped at him, "What are you? A secret masochist?!"
July 8, 2005 Meiko
Walking side by side, with one another, Meiko yawned as she quietly flipped through her stack of study cards from beside her whining younger brother. "Man, going to school right now is harsh."
"Well, no one told you to get your ass kicked for fucking up." Meiko boredly retorted as her brother yawned by her side.
"That wasn't even my fault."
"Uhuh~"
"And besides, eight AM is way too early for school."
"That's just cause you suck at mornings." Meiko teased, nudging her pouting brother.
"Good morning, Takemichi-kun, Mei-senpai." A familiar female voice called out to them.
Turning to look back, the siblings spoke together at once.
"Hina!"
"Hina-chan!"
She sent the pair of siblings a grin and a peace sign, "Good for you! You're actually heading to school in the morning, like a good boy!"
"Isn't he~" Meiko cooed, "Michi was so good today he didn't even fight me to get out of bed."
"Mei-nee!" Takemichi hissed embarrassed, Hina only giggling as she ran to stand between the two siblings. "You're embarrassing me!"
"Aww~ But that's my job as your big sister." Meiko teased, "Right, Hina-chan."
Giggling at the older girl's teasing Hina nodded, "Mnn, I do it all the time with Naoto." She admitted.
"It's definitely an older sister thing..." Takemichi muttered to himself, as the two girls looked at him confused.
"Huh?"
"Nothing." Takemichi nervously brushed off, not wanting to risk the wrath of either girl if they were to find out what he and the past Naoto had talked about during his first time leap.
"Oh! By the way," Hina said, looking up at her boyfriend. "I have cram school after school today."
"Y-yeah?"
"Let's go on a date before my cram school."
Meiko's eyes went wide, looking away to cheer for her little brother and Hina in her mind with a fist pump. 'Ah!! How cute!! You go Hina! Get your man! Michi you better not fuck up!' Sneaking a glance back at the two, her smile widened as she noticed the nervous blush start to form on her brother's cheeks. 'So cute~!'
"S-sure..."
'Wahoo!'
"Is that really a 'date,' though?"
Meiko almost tripped as they walked at this, 'You idiot!'
"Heading to school together is a date, too." Hina smoothly replied, the teens slowly turning as they noticed the older Hanagaki freeze before she started to power walk ahead.
"Scuse me, I can see I am not wanted and needed. Have fun with your date." Turning quickly back to the teens she held up a proud thumbs-up to Hina. 'Good luck, Hina-chan! I believe in you, you sweet sweet cinnamon roll!'
Hina blushed but nodded determinedly back at her boyfriend's supportive older sister. 'Yes, Mei-senpai.'
'Are they having a conversation in their minds?' Takemichi could not help but quietly think, 'I knew they were getting along, but I didn't know it was this good.'
Chatting amongst themselves the pair bonded during their walk, Hina even pouting by the end as she noticed their talk about to be cut short as they neared their school. "Man... I wish I was in the same class as you, Takemichi-kun."
Takemichi could not help but have a lovestruck face, as he stared at the girl he called his own. 'Okay, school is the best.'
Meiko looking back at the pair could only be deadpan as she noticed her brothers look, 'Oh great... He's checked out for the rest of the day.' She sighed though, and could only shake her head with a smile. 'Though that's okay I guess. He is in love.'
July 8, 2005 Takemichi
"This part's important, so make sure you remember it."
Sitting in class, Takemichi was unable to even try paying attention to the teacher or the lesson before him. He silently groaned and rested his head on his desk behind his textbook. 'This is no time to let my head stay in the clouds and have a good time.'
"Sano Manjiro and Kisaki Tetta." The future Naoto relayed, "Stop the two of them from meeting. Then we can save our sisters."
'Naoto... I met Sano Manjiro.' He remembered those final moments before he time leap, glaring up at his textbook as he silently thought to the man. "Even if it was just a coincidence." He muttered aloud while balancing a pencil between his lips and nose. 'In order to save Hina, and Mei-nee, who died getting caught up in that mess,' his mind recalled the photograph of the crime scene where the truck had crashed and killed the girls in his life.
'I need to stop the strife within the Tokyo Manji Gang. And to make that happen,' His mind flashed the images of the Mikey and Kisaki of the future. 'I need to make sure the two heads don't meet in this era.' His mind flashed back to his first sighting of the still innocent Mikey as he'd entered the scene the day before. 'I managed to meet Sano Manjiro, one of the two leaders.' He became distressed though recalling everything the boy had done, from beating Kiyomasa, to showing interest in his sister Meiko.
'But I have no idea what the hell I'm supposed to do from here. And what's more–' He recalled the way Mikey's dark eyes seemed to spark whenever he looked towards his sister and her reactions to him. 'Meimei has now been dragged into this whole mess, even more, all because of me and my big mouth!' Groaning to himself, Takemichi aggressively ran his hand through his hair. "Making sure they don't meet? That seems impossible doesn't it, but Mei-nee's life might just really depend on it now!" He muttered, only to pause as an angry male voice broke over the teacher's dull lesson.
"Oi! You can't just barge into a school however you like!"
"What school you bastards from?!"
"Get the hell out!"
Hearing the sounds of a fight, and people being beaten, Takemichi and his classmates turned their gaze towards the classroom door. His heart stopped though when the door opened to reveal a smiling Mikey. "Oh, there he is."
"Huh?" Takemichi blinked in shock.
"Come play with us, Takemitchy, Ei-chan!" Mikey happily said as he walked into the room, Draken himself appearing behind the boy waiting outside the classroom door that he actually had to slightly bend to look in through. Mikey looked around though and pouted slightly, "Aw~ But Ei-chan isn't here. Doesn't she go to the same school?" He quietly muttered aloud, Takemichi palling even more at the boy's words.
"Huh?!"
"U-um, we're in the middle of class right now..." The teacher nervously tried to rein in the boy, only to be ignored, though Draken seemed to be the more respectful of the two boys as he simply apologized for the intrusion and the stealing of one of his students.
'This dude is totally insane!' Takemichi mentally screamed, even as Mikey began to lead him away and out the hall. The scene Takemichi was met with left him even more frightened and surprised. "A-ah, our third-years... Mei-nee is sure to hear about this..." He muttered pointing at the scene as Draken came up behind him. "Um, what exactly am I looking at here?"
"Huh? This? You mean all the trash?" His mind pulled up the memory of Mikey and him entering the school and overhearing the boys skipping speak.
"I'm telling you it's Hanagaki-chan, she's definitely got the biggest rack in this school."
"Nah, it's gotta be Nozaki. They probably only look that big with how small Hanagaki is."
"Maybe but Hanagaki definitely keeps her's more hidden than Easy Noza!"
"Dude have you seen the way they bounce when she run–"
He twitched, recalling how the boys then proceeded to notice the unamused Mikey and him, and how that led to the confrontation for the information on the siblings and the scene before Takemichi and himself. "They pissed me off, so I hosed them..." Draken simply replied, not feeling the need to explain about what he and Mikey had walked into over the boy's sister. After all, the pair had already stepped in to help defend his sister. "All of you wimps, line up. Lay down on your stomachs." Draken apathetically ordered, before sending the group of beaten-up boys a glare to hurry.
When the boys had aligned, Takemichi was left confused by what was happening, as Mikey seemed to absently look around the hall ignoring the situation as he seemed lost in thought. "Hey, you're too far apart." Draken annoyedly muttered, "This is gonna hurt you more than it hurts me."
"Huh? What's gonna happen?" One of the last boys preparing to lay down asked. Only to be answered as Mikey and Draken proceeded to step and jump upon each of the boys as a makeshift human bridge.
Takemichi following simply close behind, walking beside the row of layed out third-years. 'Yeah... The Tokyo Manji Gang is absolutely insane."
"Apparently Udagawa's crew is trying to gain control of Shinsen." Draken casually began to say as he and Mikey walked on the human bridge they'd made without a care in the world.
"Cool. Let's go kick their asses." Mikey simply and happily replied.
Takemichi had to look at the now smirking boy and Draken as he thought. 'For them, tormenting people is just a part of their daily routine. It's the same as washing their faces.'
Hearing the final school bell ring, the trio had now reached and stood amongst the school's shoe lockers. Draken even casually, if perhaps a bit friendly, slinging his arm around the still smaller Takemichi to ask. "You feelin' okay?"
"Well, it's so soon after yesterday." Takemichi tried to excuse himself, as Mikey called out to him.
"You're free today, right?"
"Err... Actually, I'm not."
"Come hang out with us a bit. Ah, we could go find your sister too!"
"Huh? Mikey-kun, are you listening to me?" Takemichi tried to brush off the two teens, as a crowd of students and onlookers began to gather around the school's entrance.
"Wha? Hanagaki-kun is buddy-buddy with Mikey?"
"Not just him, he mentioned Hanagaki-senpai too!"
"Idiot you're being too loud!"
"There's someone that awesome at our school?"
The mass of students muttered and mumbled amongst themselves much to Takemichi's embarrassment.
"Hey, that's Takemichi!" Yamagishi exclaimed as he and Makoto came to see the scene.
"I thought Mikey-kun liked him." Makoto confusedly muttered, watching the nervous boy interact with the two Toman members. "What could've happened in a single day?"
"Crap... he's gonna get killed. Should we go get Mei–" Yamagishi began to nervously panic, as a familiar short-haired girl determinedly made her way past the two boys and the crowd. "Tachibana?"
"Mikey? Mikey from Toman?"
"Then is the taller dude Draken?"
"Keep your voices down! We'll get our asses kicked again." A trio of third-years who'd recovered muttered as Takemichi only continued to become more nervous and lost in thought and Mikey seemed to note this.
"You don't need to be so nervous, jeez."
'Right. This is my chance.'
"We're just gonna talk."
'If I can get close to Mikey and keep him from ever meeting Kisaki Tetta...'
"Okay, let's go."
"Hold it right there!" Hina shouted out marching directly towards the boys as all three turned to her confused.
"And you are?" Draken was the first to speak up.
While Takemichi was left aghast at the sudden appearance of his girlfriend. 'Hina?!' Watching the girl angrily make it closer, Takemichi gave her his best smile, as he nervously began to rub the back of his head. "I'm sorry Hina... Today is actually busy for me, so–"
Her hand flew up, and suddenly Takemichi was left in shock, as Hina, his girlfriend, slapped the Toman Commander Sano Manjiro in the face.
'Hina!!!! What the hell are you doing!!?' Takemichi mentally cried, 'Can this get any worse?!!'