A/N: Hi guys! How y'all doing?
Just a friendly reminder that this fanfic follows the plot of the manga after Shinoa's squad escapes, and I recommend you finish reading that if you don't want any spoilers. From this chapter forward there will be a lot of them. Just a small reminder. Anyway happy reading 💕
~•~
-Guren's POV-
We approached the others who were standing around and leaning by the cars conversing and bantering as they waited, but it was clear that they had spotted us from a distance as Mito started frantically waving,
"Yoohoo! How was it?"
Y/N ran ahead with Goshi as they both began to boast and Shigure followed suit, "It was great!"
"Yeah, we even got a whole meal!" Goshi added,
"No fair, we helped look. Besides I've known him longer than you have." Kai pointed at Goshi,
"Not my fault you were unlucky." He shrugged,
"You guys were at an advantage!"
"You owe us a meal, I don't do free labour." Mito demanded,
"Over my dead body." Goshi childishly, crosses his arms,
"Wanna bet?" She challenged, making a bee line for him, instantly alarming him,
As they bickered and argued, I felt a tight grip on my arm, I looked to find the owner of the arm, "Let's have a chat." I knew I couldn't say no, Shinya's voice was deeper than usual, and he seemed to have lost his cool, I didn't resist as I followed him to a more secluded area to find out what was bothering him.
"Well? What is it?" I leant back against the wall, I was hoping that he would get his point out quickly and wouldn't pry to much,
"Having fun?" He raised his eyebrow,
"Huh?"
He began listing, "Well, let's see the day you got possessed and killed everything in your path, then when we got arrested and you didn't, and lastly you meeting with the seventh and thirteenth progenitor and you appeared to be a bit too friendly." He finally finished, narrowing his eyes to fixate them on me,
"What about it?" I huffed, these were all things I wasn't able to discuss with Shinya, for his own safety,
"What about it? Guren, what is going on?" He questioned, "Are you doing that thing where you take the burden on yourself?"
"Shinya, I don't know what you're talking about."
Shinya was the only person who could read me the best, I hated him for it. Even the smallest of reactions he could easily pick up, and no matter how much I tried to control my facial expressions he'd still manage to figure me out,
"It's been 8 years now and you still can't trust us?" He suggested, making me outwardly exhale, "Or, let's see? Something the rest of us aren't allowed to find out." He scoffed,
He had hit the nail right on the head, I remained silent but that appeared to be the wrong option,
"Answer me, Guren." He yelled, I saw him move suddenly, but I didn't move to dodge as my vision temporarily went blurry when he landed a punch to my face.
It was strong, so strong I found myself on the concrete below, he grabbed me by the collar, "Hey! Is it my fault that you're like this?"
"Ah, shut up!" I ripped his hands off my collar and stood back up on my feet, "If you're so worried about guilt, stop asking me so many damn questions. And quit trying to read me all the time."
"So, I should be worried? Is that what you're saying? This is really my fault." He pushed me back,
I growled, throwing my own jab,"That proves nothing, you know nothing so stop prying, you idiot. Snap out of it!" I ignored the angry tears pricking my eyes, if he didn't stop sticking his nose where it doesn't belong, the incident from when we were 16 would replay all over again,
Shinya threw the last punch, "No, you snap out of it...you bastard." His voice broke, he turned away, shoulders slouched.
He was giving up, he read me again. I ran my hand threw my hair, irritated, before stuffing my hands in my pockets and storming away in the same direction.
~•~
-Y/N's POV-
We'd heard the shouting from the two and the mood immediately grew heavy. Leading us all to come to a collective decision to part ways earlier to avoid an awkward atmosphere when the two finally returned.
"I'll drive!" I offered to Kai,
"Huh? Why you?"
"Do you want to do it then?"
"Well, no...I just thought Guren would be driving, but okay." He tossed me the keys to his car and I hopped into the drivers seat,
We waited for Guren, as I filled Kai in on what had happened with Nico, I'd just finished the story and he sighed, "I see..."
The car door opened, and I turned to find Guren standing there, he was definitely confused but didn't have the energy to show it.
I winked at him, to which he, understandably did not react to, "What are you doing?"
"I'm driving, so if you'd like to get in that'll be great." I smiled up at him sarcastically,
"You don't have to. I'll drive."
"Not with that black eye you won't." I shut him down, my eyes trailing from the injury, down to the scratches on his face and the bruise on his lip, "Wanna get in so we can go now?"
He didn't argue and just nodded,
"Shotgun! You're gonna have to take the back." Kai peeked his head out from behind me, showing a peace sign,
"Oh." Guren closed the door and slid in the back.
"Well, I haven't driven in a long time so this'll be fun!" I started up the car,
"You've got to be kidding." Kai grumbled, "A single scratch and I'll seriously kill you."
"Not if I kill us first." I immediately accelerated in order to tease him.
The rest of the journey home was incredibly quiet on Guren's part, but Kai and I spent it bickering, neither of us brought up anything to do with Shinya, and left him to his own thoughts.
"Guys are such crybabies, a girl gets behind the wheel once and they're ready to pass away." I shook my head, when we finally got back, and entered the house again,
"If road laws were still heavily enforced you would've gotten arrested just for the way you pulled out of the parking alone." Kai argued back, but his eyes followed Guren who was heading straight for his office,
I rolled my eyes at his retort, before grabbing Guren's wrist and tugging him towards the stairs,
"What are you doing?" He grumbled, lethargically,
I didn't respond. He was going to lock himself in his office and wallow in his emotions, I had no idea what he had argued with Shinya about, but I wasn't going to let him do that, especially when his demon could easily take advantage of his current state of mind.
I tugged him to his room and closed the door behind us, I pushed his taller frame to sit down on the bed,
"Don't go anywhere, or I'll shoot your legs." I warned him,
I caught his lips twitching into a small smile as I turned around to get a med kit from his bathroom. I returned sitting next to him and placing both my hands on either side of his face to turn his head to face me,
"This is going to hurt." I got some rubbing alcohol ready on a cotton ball and a pair of tweezers, gently dabbing at his wounds; he occasionally flinched at the unexpected pain,
"Shinya didn't have to go so hard, geez..." I pouted absent-minded,
Guren suddenly engulfed me into a hug, his arms wrapping around my shoulders, he buried his head into the crook of my neck and kept me there, I was shocked but returned the hug by wrapping my own arms around his torso, that was when I finally asked him,
"Are you okay?"
He shook his head no, he pulled back looking at me his eyes serious and the saddest I'd ever seen them, he looked so lost and lonely, "Y/N, I-I need to tell you something." He sighed, "Something important. It's why I've always been so secretive."
I was surprised, but most of all I was ecstatic that Guren could finally trust me to enough to tell me something he'd kept to himself,
"Take your time," I smiled at him, he rested his head on my shoulder,
"I went to high school with the others, except Kai. It was tough but we ended up getting really close." He started, as my hand gently ran through his hair, "Mahiru betrayed the Hiragi's, she developed the cursed gear and that angered the Hiragi's and several other organisations; it eventually led to Kureto ordering me to kill her or he'd kill my father and everyone else in the Imperial moon."
My jaw dropped, I knew about what happened to Guren's dad, the execution was broadcasted live but Kureto's involvement still came as a shock, "I thought it was Tenri who did that-" I muttered,
"It was, Kureto lied to make me obey him. He was going to withdraw the execution but his father and the heads of the other families overruled him."
My hand dropped from his locks and I looked down at my lap as I came to a quick realisation of something, "Guren," he looked at me confused,
I knew how much power and influence my father had, he was one of the people who despised and looked down on the Ichinose family, he definitely had a part to play with this,
"My father was one of those heads wasn't he?"
Guren said nothing,
And a sudden wave of guilt consumed me, I was furious, but the sadness overpowered the anger as I thought about how his father was relentlessly ripped away from him so soon, how helpless he must've been at the time. I could understand the frustration Guren has had to put up with all these years,
"Guren, I'm so sorry." I couldn't bring myself to look at him,
I heard him sigh and cup my cheeks to look at him, "Hey, aren't you supposed to be comforting me?" He jokingly asked, wiping away tears I didn't even notice had fallen,
"You're right, I'm sorry." I wiped my eyes with my sleeve, "What happened after they did that?" I tried to snap out of it,
"Y/N, listen. You need to stop taking the wrongdoings of your dad upon yourself."
"Hm?"
"Think of yourself as an individual, not the daughter of the L/N family, you've got so much going on for you personally, I could name them."
"Well, why don't you?" I half-heartedly suggested,
"Ah, I didn't expect you to ask." He faked disappointment causing me to scoff, "Do you really want to know?"
"Why? Have you got nothing?" I pouted,
He leaned forward, closing the space between us, "First of all you are too cute when you pout like that." Our lips were almost touching until I giggled,
"Ok I get the point." I wrapped my arms around his torso again, "But what about you?"
"What about me?"
"You need to stop taking all the burden upon yourself, you have such a strong sense of responsibility and duty and sometimes that can do a lot of harm."
He sighed, "I know."
"I'm here for you, I know it's hard being a leader for so many people who look up to you. Even though I'm not in a position to help you at work, just know I'm always read to help you any way I can."
He smiled to himself, his hand brushing away a strand of hair, the sadness had returned to his face,
"You're so sweet, I'm hesitant to tell you the truth."